I just started my first rewatch and is it just me? Or did anyone else get the idea that is was not above Phlox to claim that Trip and T'Pol needed that decon in Broken Bow when in fact it was a harmless placebo? He did express almost manic joy in observing humans interact. Even wanted to watch that one couple mate! And then later on the neuropressure was all his idea. Im sure he had some other treatment regimen at hand in the event a Vulcan was not handy to treat human insomnia. TnT was all Phlox's idea from the pilot.
So you think he's a big perv? Treating them like his lab animals, sticking them in the blue room to see if any primitive courtship rituals occurred?
If you feel the need to blame someone for those godawful decon gel scenes, don't blame John Billingsly. Blame the suits at UPN for wanting to inject random pointless "sex" into Star Trek in an effort to boost the ratings with the lowest common denominator of viewer. In-universe explanation: Phlox is an alien, and you can't attribute human mores and behaviors onto an extraterrestrial being. Now with that said, it's totally obvious that Phlox was trying to get those two together from the start. Maybe he saw Trip's extreme racism toward Vulcans (and T'Pol's admittedly low regard for humans as well) and decided that he was going to play goodwill ambassador.
As the series goes on, there are continual clues that Phlox is just a leering doctor who loves talking about sex.
Well when you put it that way.....yeah I guess I am I had always thought his idea to pair them originated after the Xindi attack. Was just shocked to realize that it's conceivable that the genesis of TnT is in S1:E1!
SO in this scene Phlox was really going mad experimental then. I'm surprised this was allowed on television.
Cue UPN insisting Enterprise do an allegory episode to internet porn addiction... Any reason to have John Billingsley wander around sickbay again, tackle out!
The goo rubbing was creepy and a little embaressing to watch at times. And yeah, Phlox is a creepy peeping tom. I never could warm up to him.
Not sure why but I find it more acceptable that the decon gel was more the idea of a voyeuristic doctor but for some reason that's the case lol
Because decon gel is stupid. VERY stupid. But if Phlox wants to see people rubbing stuff on each other, that actually makes sense. Really though you would think T'Pol would have pointed out how illogical and inefficient decon gel was. Unless she liked the rubbing, which since she didn't point it out must be the case!
No doubt it's common knowledge and been talked about ad nauseum in these corridors, but for someone not really familiar with the history, why would the suits have felt the need to push this content right at the beginning of the series? Was it merely the desire to ensure as dynamic an entrance to this vehicle after the less than sizzling bowout of the previous one? Of course sex sells generally, so perhaps the more overt presentation of suggestiveness than generally seen before in Trek was formulated as just another factor in producing a winning and attractive,at least as regards ratings, product. Were there doubts about the viability or acceptability of the show as it had been constructed that might have prompted pressure for the inclusion of a prurient misdirection initiative? It just seems that slipping (sorry) such content in while not making it part of any kind of genuine change in the franchise's representation of sensuality in the Trekverse, notwithstanding the show being set at a much earlier point in history, would be an instrument more likely used to resuscitate an already ailing program, not one just aborning. In any case, I can certainly appreciate the disdain that was widely expressed about it in the midst of so many other stylistic and substantive "issues" Enterprise presented to viewers innured to the Trek progression as it had evolved up to that point.