Future Tense (Star Trek: Enterprise)

Last updated
"Future Tense"
Star Trek: Enterprise episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 16
Directed by James Whitmore, Jr.
Written by Mike Sussman
Phyllis Strong
Featured music Dennis McCarthy
Production code216
Original air dateFebruary 19, 2003 (2003-02-19)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Cease Fire"		Next →
"Canamar"
Star Trek: Enterprise season 2
List of episodes

"Future Tense" is the 42nd episode (production #216) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise , the 16th of the second season. Set in the 22nd century of the Star Trek universe, a spaceship and its crew deal with aliens as they explore space.

Contents

The NX-01 Enterprise finds a derelict ship, apparently from the future, and is attacked by Suliban, and later Tholian, ships seeking its possession.

This episode aired on UPN on February 19, 2003; it was written by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong, and directed by James Whitmore, Jr. Vaughn Armstrong guest stars as the Admiral Forrest, and the episode has additional music done by composer Dennis McCarthy.

Plot

The discovery of a derelict pod with a long-dead human pilot opens up a mystery. Some of the crew speculate he is the first human to invent warp drive technology, Zefram Cochrane, but DNA profiling reveal the remains are not his. Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed examine the mysterious pod and discover, via a floor panel, that it is larger on the inside than the outside. They also recover a device from the core which still has a weak energy signature. Shortly afterwards, a Suliban ship arrives and claims salvage rights, but Captain Archer refuses to yield it without explanation. They open fire, and beam in a boarding party, but are finally repelled.

Undaunted, Enterprise then sets course to rendezvous with Tal'Kir, a Vulcan ship. Doctor Phlox's scans reveal the dead pilot has multi-generational DNA fragments from several alien species including Vulcan, Terrelian, and Rigelian. Seeking answers, Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol enter time-traveller Agent Daniels' cabin, and they learn from his enclyopedic database that the pod is from the 31st century. Meanwhile, Tucker and Reed, on returning to the pod, get stuck in a recurring time-loop. This heightens T'Pol's concerns and she discusses the situation with Archer, who feels they must have more information on the Temporal Cold War.

Tholians arrive, demanding the pod and warning Enterprise of temporal radiation. Again, Archer refuses, and they leave after he threatens to destroy it. The crew, reaching the rendezvous destination, discover that the Tholians have disabled the Tal'Kir, and soon disable Enterprise as well. The Suliban arrive and a battle ensues between them and the Tholians. The Tholians succeed in destroying the Suliban ships. After working through another time-loop, Archer and Reed booby-trap the pod and send it out into space, but the Tholians immediately disarm the device. Tucker then gets the temporal distress beacon to power up, and soon the future ship and its contents dematerialize. The Tholians leave, and Enterprise assists the Vulcan ship, as Archer's way of thanking the Vulcan High Command for their support and help.

Production

The episode was originally titled "Crash Landing" before it was changed to "Future Tense". [1]

Director James Whitmore, Jr. previously directed the episode "Acquisition". Whitmore has also directed episodes of 24 , Buffy the Vampire Slayer , The X-Files and many other shows. [2]

The episode mostly used existing sets. A new set was built for the remains of the salvaged vessel, and a wall for the Suliban ship shown on the viewscreen. [2]

Reception

"Future Tense" was first broadcast February 19, 2003, on UPN. [3] It had a Nielsen ratings share of 2.9/4. It had a total average audience of 4.62 million viewers. [4] [5]

In 2019, Higgy Pop noted this episode as one of the time travel stories of the Star Trek franchise. [6] The review also compares the spacecraft they discover to the TARDIS of the Doctor Who television show, noting, "The pod and the Doctor's TARDIS are both bigger on the inside than the outside, and able to travel across time." [7]

Jammer's Reviews described the episode as "hardly informative or conclusive, but pretty fun." It added, "This is a plot that doesn't supply much that's tangible in terms of the temporal cold war storyline. It's more a means to an end — the means being the storyline and the end being sci-fi action. An ideal situation, of course, would probably have those particular elements of means and end reversed." [8]

In 2021, The Digital Fix said that "Future Tense" was "one of the highlights of the season" and noted how it connected to the temporal war story arc, begun earlier in the series. [9]

In his 2022 rewatch, Keith DeCandido of Tor.com gave it 3 out of 10. [10]

Releases

The first home media release of "Future Tense" was as part of the season two DVD box set, released in the United States on July 26, 2005. [11] A release on Blu-ray Disc for season two occurred on August 20, 2013. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Archer</span> Fictional character from Star Trek: Enterprise

Jonathan Archer is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He is one of the protagonists of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, where he was portrayed by Scott Bakula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T'Pol</span> Character in Star Trek

T'Pol is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. Portrayed by Jolene Blalock in the series Star Trek: Enterprise, she is a Vulcan who serves as the science officer aboard the starship Enterprise (NX-01).

"Broken Bow" is the two-part series premiere of the science fiction television series Enterprise. It originally aired as a double-length episode, but was split into two parts for syndication, though releases on home media and streaming maintain its original one-episode format. A novelization of the episode, written by Diane Carey, was published in 2001. The episode won the 2002 Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series, and was also nominated for sound editing and make-up.

"Extinction" is the 55th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the third episode of season three. It first aired on September 24, 2003 on the UPN network in the United States. This was the first episode to include the prefix "Star Trek" in the title of the series. Set in the 22nd century just prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets, the series follows the adventures of Starfleet's first Warp 5 starship, Enterprise, registration NX-01.

"Shadows of P'Jem" is the fifteenth episode of television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and was written by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. Mike Vejar served as director for the episode.

"Civilization" is the ninth episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and was written by Phyllis Strong and Michael Sussman. Mike Vejar served as director for the episode.

"Cold Front" is the eleventh episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and was written by Stephen Beck and Tim Finch. Robert Duncan McNeill served as director for the episode. The episode reveals more about the Temporal Cold War story arc first introduced in "Broken Bow". Captain Archer is confronted by a member of his crew who claims to be from nine hundred years in the future – and is there to capture a Suliban operative who has boarded Enterprise.

"In a Mirror, Darkly" is the eighteenth and nineteenth episodes of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and originally aired on April 22 and 29, 2005. This installment was developed to be a sequel to The Original Series episode "The Tholian Web" and a prequel to "Mirror, Mirror". The decision to set an Enterprise episode in the mirror universe originated with a pitch to enable William Shatner to appear in the series. The teleplays for both parts of the episode were written by Mike Sussman, with Manny Coto contributing the story for the second part.

The Expanse (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> episode) 26th episode of the 2nd season of Star Trek: Enterprise

"The Expanse" is the fifty-second episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, the twenty-sixth episode of the second season, and the Season Two finale. The episode launched a change of direction for the series, starting with a cataclysmic attack on the Star Trek version of Earth and introducing a new alien foe, the Xindi.

"Bounty" is the 51st episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, the 25th episode of the second season. It presents the Tellarite aliens, seen previously in "Journey to Babel" of the original series. There is a Pon Farr sub-plot with T'Pol.

"Dawn" is the thirty-ninth episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the thirteenth of the second season. Set in the 2100s of the Star Trek universe, the Enterprise has set out to explore the galaxy.

"Acquisition" is the nineteenth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise that originally aired on March 27, 2002, on UPN. The episode was developed into a teleplay by Maria and Andre Jacquemetton from a story by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, and was directed by James Whitmore, Jr. Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship, Enterprise, registration NX-01. In this episode, a group of interstellar alien thieves knock out the Enterprise crew and begin looting the ship. Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III is the only one left to stop them.

"Detained" is the twenty-first episode of the first season of the American television series Star Trek: Enterprise. The episode was developed into a teleplay by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong from a story by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. David Livingston served as director. It guest stars Dean Stockwell and is the first time he had worked with Scott Bakula since they had starred together in the series Quantum Leap.

"Desert Crossing" is the twenty-fourth episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. Set in the 22nd century of the Star Trek universe, Captain Archer commands the NX-01 Enterprise on a mission to explore the galaxy.

"Shockwave" is a two-part episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. Part one is the first-season finale, the twenty-sixth episode, and part two is the second season opener, the twenty-seventh episode. Because of this, common to the Star Trek franchise in this period, part one aired on UPN on May 22, 2002, with a cliffhanger ending, but it was nearly four months before the second part aired on September 18, 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Seventh</span> 7th episode of the 2nd season of Star Trek: Enterprise

"The Seventh" is the thirty-third episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the seventh of the second season. In the Star Trek universe, a spaceship has set out from Earth in the 2100s to explore the galaxy.

The Communicator (<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i>) 8th episode of the 2nd season of Star Trek: Enterprise

"The Communicator" is the thirty-fourth episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the eighth of the second season. Set in the 22nd century, the starship Enterprise has set out from Earth to explore the galaxy.

"Fallen Hero" is the twenty-third aired episode of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.

<i>Star Trek: Enterprise</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of Star Trek: Enterprise, an American television series, began airing on September 26, 2001, on UPN. The season concluded after 26 episodes on May 22, 2002. The series was developed by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, who also served as executive producers. Season one regular cast members include Scott Bakula, Jolene Blalock, Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating, Linda Park, Anthony Montgomery and John Billingsley.

References

  1. ↑ "Production New: Home Sweet Home". StarTrek.com. 2003-02-07. Archived from the original on 2003-02-16.
  2. 1 2 "Production News: Rhymes with "Bolians"..." StarTrek.com. 2002-12-18. Archived from the original on 2003-02-01.
  3. ↑ "Viewers Show Love for 'Bachelorette' on Wednesday". Zap2it.com. Feb 20, 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-04-20.
  4. ↑ "Episode List: Star Trek: Enterprise". TV Tango. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  5. ↑ Brian Lowry. "Reality: They're still on top". Calendarlive.com. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 April 2003. 84. Enterprise UPN 4.62
  6. ↑ "Complete List Of Time Travel Storylines In Star Trek". Higgypop. February 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  7. ↑ Kooser, Amanda. "It's Star Trek First Contact Day! Here's how to party". CNET. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  8. ↑ Jamahl Epsicokhan. "Future Tense". Jammer's Reviews . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  9. ↑ Baz Greenland (2021-03-22). "Star Trek: Enterprise Revisited - A Look Back At Season Two". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  10. ↑ DeCandido, Keith (3 October 2022). "Star Trek: Enterprise Rewatch: "Future Tense"". Tor.com . Archived from the original on 2022-10-03. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  11. ↑ Ordway, Holly E. (August 7, 2005). "Star Trek Enterprise – The Complete Second Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on July 28, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  12. ↑ "Enterprise Season: Two Blu-ray Available August 20". StarTrek.com. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.