I really liked ST: Enterprise. I remember enjoying the series more than DS9 or Voyager. I've just recently bought Season 1 on DVD. I am a bit angry with the episode 'Shuttlepod One'. Trip and Malcolm become convinced that the Enterprise has been destroyed. The rest of the show is very good as the 2 stranded men, come to terms with their own eminent deaths. However, the explanation of why they thought the ship was wrecked is never explained, it seems. It's just left hanging. Was there ever any explanation, even a half-assed one? Did they ever refer back to this incident and justify it??
'Shuttlepod One' explanation
- Thread starter Binary
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In the opening scene they find what seems to be a crash site with a huge chunk of hull that reads O1 on it. Without the necessary sensors to be sure of what happened, seems a reasonable assumption. After the opening credits, Hoshi and Archer discuss the situation, and there is a reference to the damage done to the ship.
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Yup. There was a perfectly ordinary fender-bender there that jarred loose an easily identifiable piece of the Enterprise plus lots of pieces from the other vessel (we learn this in the immediate post-credits scene aboard the ship) - and it just so happened that the shuttlepod had suffered a sensor malfunction and couldn't tell the aftermath from total destruction (Reed mentions the sensor problem in the teaser).
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
From the transcript:
TUCKER: Well, they weren't expecting us back for three days. Maybe they finished and went off to do something else.
REED: Well, with our sensor array down, we won't know when they get back until we see them. Any luck with the comm?
TUCKER: Dead as a doornail. I don't understand it.
...
REED: Commander. I think you'd better come and take a look at this.
(They are passing an asteroid with a big crash site on it.)
TUCKER: Bring us in closer.
REED: Is it a ship?
TUCKER: If the damn sensors were only working, we could. Bring us around again. There. Slow down.
(The sight of a piece of metal with 01 on it brings a lump to their throats)
...
TUCKER: How about the lifeboats? They could have launched the lifeboats before the crash.
REED: They'd be here. They only go three hundred kph. They'd be right here waiting for us to return.
TUCKER: Are we sure there are no survivors?
REED: Commander, we have to figure out what we're going to do.
TUCKER: We can't just leave. That's Enterprise. At least we should find the black boxes.
REED: With what? We have no radio. Nothing to pick up the beacons.
REED: Well, with our sensor array down, we won't know when they get back until we see them. Any luck with the comm?
TUCKER: Dead as a doornail. I don't understand it.
...
REED: Commander. I think you'd better come and take a look at this.
(They are passing an asteroid with a big crash site on it.)
TUCKER: Bring us in closer.
REED: Is it a ship?
TUCKER: If the damn sensors were only working, we could. Bring us around again. There. Slow down.
(The sight of a piece of metal with 01 on it brings a lump to their throats)
...
TUCKER: How about the lifeboats? They could have launched the lifeboats before the crash.
REED: They'd be here. They only go three hundred kph. They'd be right here waiting for us to return.
TUCKER: Are we sure there are no survivors?
REED: Commander, we have to figure out what we're going to do.
TUCKER: We can't just leave. That's Enterprise. At least we should find the black boxes.
REED: With what? We have no radio. Nothing to pick up the beacons.
I've always wondered why no mention was ever made of the "poop question" since there isn't a head on the shuttlepod (something all shuttles are guilty of).
I don't know- perhaps a satisfactory answer was given and he had nothing to add further?
IMO the original question was a bit odd since the episode had all the information needed.
IMO the original question was a bit odd since the episode had all the information needed.
And I am NOT responsible for the faulty sensors! Seriously, I want to thank everyone who responded. 'Timo' mentioned a fender/bender that was the cause of the debris with the "01" to be ripped off of the ship. A little convenient story-wise but it did account for Malcolm and Tripp's confusion. I hadn't seen it in ages and didn't remember the aliens they had taken aboard, thus causing the crash. Again thanks to everyone!
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