Dead Stop (episode)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

"Dead Stop"
ENT, Episode 2x04 Production number: 031 First aired: 9 October 2002
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Written By Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong Directed By Roxann Dawson
Date Unknown (2152)
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Enterprise docks with a strange, automated repair space station, which proves too good to be true.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Log Entries 3 Memorable Quotes 4 Background Information 5 Links and references 5.1 Main cast 5.2 Uncredited co-stars 5.3 References

Summary

Following an encounter with a Romulan mine, Enterprise has suffered damage which requires extensive repairs. In fact, Trip Tucker estimates that he would need three to four months to complete the repairs, assuming they could even find tritanium alloy. Moreover, the damage is so extensive that Enterprise cannot travel faster than warp 2.1, and the ship is essentially dead in space.

Captain Jonathan Archer then orders Hoshi Sato to send a distress call. The call is answered by a Tellarite freighter passing by, which points them to a repair station. When Enterprise arrives at the station, they find it to be completely automated and quite sophisticated: it can adapt its environment to its guests (after scanning them and their entire database) and it has impressive technology (replicators, a kind of protoplaser, and more). Even more interesting is its offer to completely repair the ship in less than a day and a half in exchange for a trivial compensation of 200 liters of warp plasma.

Following a great first impression, Archer slowly discovers that all is indeed too good to be true, and surmises that something definitely does not feel right. While the station does not seem to pose any immediate threat to the ship or crew, it turns out to be very self-protective: Tucker and Malcolm Reed are teleported back to Enterprise when they attempt to learn more about its computer core.

The situation takes a tragic turn when Ensign Mayweather is found dead in launch bay 1. The evidence suggests that he disobeyed orders to stay out of the sections under repair, leading to his death, but Archer refuses to believe that Mayweather was that foolish. The autopsy from Phlox confirms the captain's doubts: the body is not Mayweather's, but that of a quasi-perfect replica: even if Mayweather was dead, there would still be microorganisms living on the corpse, but they are also dead. Phlox then suggests that replicating living organisms is beyond the abilities of the station.

The captain decides to investigate the matter in more detail and assembles a team to reach the computer core. They easily disable the protective mechanisms and are surprised by what they find: dozens of unconscious bodies, connected to the computer, still alive but with irreversible brain damage, as their cerebral cortices have been reorganized by the station's core.

When they unplug Mayweather, the station turns hostile. With everyone finally back aboard Enterprise, the station refuses to let the ship disembark. It threatens to destroy the ship, locking out the crew from all systems.

Archer still has an ace up his sleeve, however, as he had arranged to place a detonator next to the warp plasma canisters that were delivered as payment for the repairs. The detonator ignites the plasma and destroys the station, and Enterprise is finally able to escape, repaired and with its entire crew.

As the Enterprise warps away, some parts of the wreck slowly come together to repair themselves...

Log Entries

• "Captain's starlog, supplemental. It's been almost four days since the incident in the Romulan minefield. Repair teams have been working around the clock. Nerves are definitely frayed."

Memorable Quotes

"It's unethical to harm a patient, I can inflict as much pain as I like."

- Phlox

"Your inquiry was not recognized."

- Automated repair station

"It's ironic, in a way. The station can duplicate a dead Human body in all its exquisite detail, yet a living, simple one-celled organism is beyond its capability."

- Phlox describing the station's bio-replicator

"But what about all those other people?"

- Mayweather, concerned for the other lifeforms kidnapped by the station

Background Information

• The plot of this episode continues on from "Minefield", with Enterprise seeking repairs after being damaged in that episode.
• The automated repair station's medical re-generator is a modified reuse of the exocomp from TNG: "The Quality of Life".
• The access tunnel hatch seems to be nothing more than a white furnace filter, designed and marketed by 3M.
• Ensign Mayweather has a model of the Nomad probe, in its initial configuration, in his quarters.
• Among the many alien bodies are a Klingon, a Vulcan, a Cardassian, a Xepolite, a species that closely resembles the Vaadwaur, and a member of Kago-Darr's species. This marks the only appearance of the Cardassians in Star Trek: Enterprise, although they are later mentioned in ENT: "Observer Effect".
• Speculation that the repair station is somehow a precursor to the Borg is incorrect due to the timeframe of the Borg established in other Star Trek episodes (see The Origin of the Borg for details). Nonetheless, the similarity between the two (replicating automata that abduct members of sentient species to form a collective) is notable.
• In the video game Star Trek: Legacy, there is a fairly involved history of the Borg that includes V'Ger and the repair station from "Dead Stop". This could be considered a non-canon Borg explanation.
• It is also possible that the builders of the station are the same race which constructed the Tan Ru space probe:
  • If the station builders also made Tan Ru, it would explain why that probe was able to so easily meld itself with Nomad; like the repair station, it would have an ability to interface with any alien technology it encountered.
• Roxann Dawson not only directs this episode, but also performs as the voice of the automated station.
• Trip Tucker makes reference to scratching the hull in an inspection pod. This is reference to ENT: "Broken Bow", where he does indeed scratch the hull. Broken Bow took place about a year before this episode, and the time reference is correct.
• This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series.

Links and references

Main cast

• Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
• John Billingsley as Phlox
• Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
• Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
• Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
• Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
• Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Uncredited co-stars

• Roxann Dawson as the Repair Station Computer (voice)
• Hilde Garcia as Crewman Rossi
• John Jurgens as a command division crewman

References

automated repair station; Britain; catfish; computer core; cytokinetic enzyme; deuterium; duranium; Fisher; gelatin; Hayes; isolytic surge; Regulan bloodworm; replicator; Rigelian fever; Romulan; strawberry; subspace amplifier; Tarkalean; Tellarites; Tellarite freighter; Tessik Prime; transporter; transtator; warp coil; warp plasma

Previous episode: "Minefield"

Star Trek: Enterprise Season 2

Next episode: "A Night in Sickbay"