The Forgotten (episode)

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Two members of the Xindi Council offer to stop the launch of the weapon if Archer can prove that the Xindi have been manipulated; the crew holds a memorial for their dead shipmates.

Summary[]

Teaser[]

While on the way to rendezvous with Degra and the Xindi Council, the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 gathers for a memorial service in honor of the eighteen dead after the Xindi attack. Captain Jonathan Archer speaks of their resilience and the ship's in the face of all that has happened. He thanks them for their service, and regrets not being able to thank the eighteen. He promises they will succeed in their mission for everyone on Earth, and the eighteen.

Act One[]

In the ready room, Commander Tucker reports that the last unaccounted for crewmembers have been found, Jane Taylor and Kamata, and Sub-commander T'Pol reports Lieutenant Malcolm Reed has weapons back online and the hull plating is at 80%. Archer says it'll have to do and T'Pol leaves to continue supervising. Afterward, Archer assigns Tucker to write a letter to the parents of Crewman Taylor, since she was a member of his engineering team. Tucker is initially reluctant with his workload, suggesting another crewmember under him, however, Archer insists, saying her parents deserve to know what happened.

T'Pol visits sickbay for further treatment for her trellium addiction. Doctor Phlox happily says he hardly finds a trace of it in her system, but she isn't glad to hear it. She tells him that she is concerned that the new emotions will overwhelm her. Phlox counsels her that it will take time to learn to control the emotions, but she will get used to it. He tells her of the Earth cautionary tale of the genie who, once let out of the bottle, is difficult to control.

The Enterprise arrives at the rendezvous on schedule, but no ships are to be found. Then, a spatial anomaly hits the ship. They ride it out for a bit, but Archer soon thinks no one is meeting them. Just as he orders them out, however, Degra's ship arrives, leading them to a Delphic Expanse sphere. There, Degra invites Archer aboard his ship to discuss. Degra and Jannar reveal that they arranged for Archer to be returned to his ship and away from the Reptilians. Archer acknowledges the risk they're taking, and Jannar asks Archer to provide more proof. Archer cannot time travel himself, but promises to show him some proof on his ship as long as the weapon won't be launched in the meantime. Degra promises that.

In what's left of the mess hall, T'Pol finds Tucker trying to write his letter and doubtful anything he can say will matter to Taylor's parents. T'Pol notes he has not slept since the Xindi attack in nearly two days and almost orders him to do so. Moments later, their meal is interrupted by a nearby explosion. T'Pol and Tucker respond to the emergency and assist in shutting down the damaged systems and summoning Phlox. A power relay exploded and, although further damage inside the ship was prevented, the hull is now leaking atmosphere, unbeknownst to the crew.

Act Two[]

Archer attempts to convince Degra and Jannar that what he is saying is true; that the Xindi are being misled by the Sphere-Builders. Archer first shows them the bodies of the Reptilians he stopped from releasing a bio-weapon in 2004. Degra recognizes one of them, noting that they disappeared soon after their plan was rejected. Jannar doesn't see evidence of time travel, however, as they could have been captured in the present. Archer then shows them the bio-weapon itself and invites the Xindi crew to test it for traces of time travel and confirm it's Xindi. Jannar still doesn't see evidence of time travel. Archer leads them elsewhere.

Meanwhile, Tucker is continuing to work on little sleep. While angrily ordering crewman Rivers, Phlox walks by and says he learned about Tucker's lack of sleep. He orders the extremely resistant commander to get some rest just as Archer calls Phlox to sickbay. While sleeping, Tucker has a dream where he is confronted by Crewman Taylor in her quarters, who demands to know why he has not written that letter yet. She wants to know why it is so much that Tucker simply remember her. Tucker tries to run from Taylor, but finds the exit blocked. He awakes in a cold sweat, alone in his quarters.

Archer and Phlox then show Degra and Jannar the scans of the Sphere-Builder test subject they rescued several months ago. The cellular degeneration is stated to be a product of evolution in a different dimension with different physical laws. Further, that the Spheres' purpose is to restructure space to suit them and, in the process, unsuitable to any of them. Archer says they're destined to form an alliance to stop them.

On Degra's ship, Jannar and Degra discuss the evidence. Jannar can still only see conclusive evidence of Reptilian deception. Despite chronometric distortions detected, he states they could have been fabricated. Jannar stays on the ship for the rest of Archer's evidence, but warns Degra not to let his judgement waver due to his original doubts about building the weapon.

Tucker confronting Degra — "*Did you actually see the cities burning? The houses, the people being vaporized? I had a sister there.*"

In the command center, Tucker tries to fix the equipment while T'Pol explains to Degra their data reconstruction. Tucker pauses and starts to compliment Degra on his weapon, with subtle provocation, and gets further provocative as he names Florida as one of the places the weapon hit. He gets in his face and mentions his sister when T'Pol orders him silent. Archer enters and, seeing the situation, takes Degra away while Tucker and T'Pol finish the repairs.

Also meanwhile, the crack in the hull has been growing. One of the warp plasma EPS conduits ruptures out of the ship's hull, and making itself known. The crew must reach the manual cutoffs of the flow regulators from the outside. Degra briefly offers to help, but Tucker dismisses him. Reed accompanies him to fix it in environmental suits.

Act Three[]

With Archer overhearing the communications, and Degra observing, Tucker and Reed each go to a panel, Reed's being extremely close to the venting plasma. Tucker's opens without a problem, but Reed's requires a torch, as the heat must have warped the metal. The temperature in Reed's suit soon rises to near-lethal levels, but Reed ignores orders to stop his task, and nearly dies of overheating. Tucker hurries up and rushes Reed back into the ship, where the lieutenant is hurried off to sickbay. Degra follows Archer to the airlock, and, after he expresses his hope that Reed survives, Tucker cannot help but verbally lash out. Tucker accuses Degra of hypocrisy and asks if "seven million and one" is too many deaths for the Xindi to take. Archer orders Tucker to stop and escorts Degra from the room, but not without Degra pausing mournfully before he exits.

Archer takes Degra back to the command center to show him the information they have acquired on the spheres. Degra says there are more spheres than Archer has determined. Archer pauses to apologize for Tucker, and Degra admits he never expected to meet someone who would be harmed by what he had done. He understands. He also says the Reptilians were right about Archer's ability for deception, as they've had this conversation before, "escaping" from prison. Degra turns to the Sphere's insides, which they have limited data on. Archer then shows their data, surpassing that of the Xindi. Degra comments that he is surprised by the detailed nature of the scan, considering that Enterprise is a warship, to which Archer responds that Enterprise was originally a ship of exploration. Degra replies that if their mission succeeds, it will be again.

As Tucker finally starts recording the message for Taylor's parents in his quarters, a tactical alert sounds. On the bridge, the crew detects a Xindi-Reptilian ship arriving at the sphere, having followed Degra, despite his attempt to mask his warp trail. He promises Archer it was not intended.

Act Four[]

Degra defends Enterprise from Reptilians — A Xindi-Reptilian warship confronts *Enterprise*

Moments later, a Reptilian captain contacts Jannar and demands that they undock with the Enterprise so that appropriate action can be taken against it. Degra, from the Enterprise bridge, asks Jannar to hold on while he talks to Archer. Archer begs Degra for some piece of information about the Reptilian ship that would give the still-weakened Enterprise an advantage in the imminent firefight, but Degra is very hesitant to fire on his own people. Degra and Jannar are conflicted. They know that Archer has provided them with compelling evidence of the Reptilians' deceit, but to aid in an attack upon another Xindi ship would be treasonous. Degra's ship leaves Enterprise, but instead of docking with the Reptilian ship, it attacks in conjunction with Enterprise, quickly targeting key systems of the Reptilian ship. Once the ship is disabled, Enterprise stands down, but Degra continues his attack, destroying the Reptilian vessel. Degra tells Archer that to leave the Reptilians alive would only make matters worse for them, as the Reptilians would have reported to the council immediately.

T'Pol finds Tucker and provides him with some portable power cells from Degra. Tucker knocks it over, refusing to accept help from them. As he expresses his frustration, he reveals that it is not Jane's death that's bothering him; it is his sister, Elizabeth. He wants to know how someone so young and full of promise could just die. He has been repressing his emotions for months now, but finally lets go and cries for his sister. Tucker says that he envies the Vulcans, and how they do not feel any emotion. T'Pol tells Tucker that Vulcans feel sadness at the loss of family and colleagues, just as Humans do, but Vulcan emotions can be so strong that they would be overwhelming if they were not suppressed. As such, it is she who envies him.

Degra convinces Archer that he must provide the evidence he's shown them to the Council. The biggest hurdle is actually the Aquatics, he says, not the Reptilians. He provides Archer with coordinates for a subspace corridor that can take him to the Xindi Council planet a lot faster than with warp, however, there is a hostile species which preys on ships in the area.

Having finally accepted the loss of his sister, Tucker finally writes the letter to Crewman Taylor's parents.

Memorable quotes[]

"We're in bad shape – I can't deny that, but we're still in one piece. Enterprise is a tough ship. She took more than anyone could ask her to and then some. And so have all of you. I wanted to say thank you. I only wish I could thank the eighteen crewmen who were lost. Like you, they understood how important our mission is, and they accepted the risks. We came into the Expanse not knowing what we'd find, with no one to rely on but ourselves. We're going to succeed – to accomplish our mission – for everyone on Earth who's relying on us, and for the eighteen."

- Captain Archer, to the assembled crew of Enterprise

"Perhaps you can demonstrate your ability to time travel."
"That might be a bit – difficult."

- Jannar and Archer

"I'm relieving you of duty. You will go to your quarters and not return to your post before 0500 tomorrow."
"Six hours?"
"Please don't make me involve Security."

- Phlox and Tucker, as the doctor orders Trip to take his first rest break in two days

"Well, Commander?"
"I could give you two hours."
"I believe the number was six."
"If I'm gone longer than three there may not be a ship here when I get back."
"Four. Not a minute less."
"Done. And remind me never to buy a car from you."

- Phlox and Tucker, as Trip attempts to negotiate for less time away from his duties

"I assume you were watching the attack – calculating the blast yields. Boy, you must have been pretty damned excited. I mean, that beam cut one hell of a swath through Florida. That's the name of one of the places you destroyed, Florida. Did you actually see the cities burning, the houses, the people being vaporized? You know, I had a sister there…"

- Tucker, to Degra, before he is cut off by Captain Archer entering the room

"I hope he'll be all right."
"What's one more dead Human to you? You had no problem killing seven million of us, but seven million and one is more than you can stomach?"

- Degra and Trip, as Reed is taken away to sickbay after returning from their EVA

"I apologize for Mister Tucker."
"I never expected to meet anyone who'd suffered because of what I'd done. At the time, I thought the attack was necessary to save my people."
"I know. Believe it or not, we've had this conversation before."

- Captain Archer and Degra

"The Reptilians are correct about one thing, captain – you have an impressive facility for deception!"

- Degra, to Archer

"These scans are remarkably detailed for a military vessel."
"Enterprise was designed to be a ship of exploration."
"If we're successful, it will be again."

- Degra and Archer

"We found Taylor over there, outside her quarters. She was probably trying to get to her station. If she'd made it a few more meters I wouldn't be trying to write this damn letter. 'Cause every time I start, I hear myself saying what a fine young woman she was — how smart and full of potential. And I realize, I'm not thinking about Taylor at all, I'm thinking about Elizabeth. There's so many people dead. I tried not to see her any differently than the other seven million, so I've spent the last nine months trying to pretend she was just another victim. But she's my sister, T'Pol. My baby sister." (Crying) "I envy you Vulcans."
"You think that the loss of a colleague or friend doesn't affect us? It does. But if we give in to those emotions, they overwhelm us. You're the ones to be envied."

- Tucker, to T'Pol, finally realizing why he is having so much trouble writing a letter to Crewman Taylor's parents

"Goodbye, Elizabeth."

- Tucker, as he touches a picture of his sister, Elizabeth (last line of the episode)

Background information[]

The Forgotten hull set — A set from this episode, used to show a damaged portion of *Enterprise*'s hull

The final draft script of this episode was issued on 22 January 2004.
The writing of this episode was a collaborative effort. Co-writer David A. Goodman said about the outing, "I know that I'm not given credit for writing one of the best [episodes of Star Trek ever] […] It was a real collaboration [with Chris Black]. We split up the script and we helped each other […] Writing that script with him elevated that episode for me […] That was a true one-on-one collaboration with a very gifted writer who was also very confident and understanding of what the rules were for writing for Star Trek: Enterprise." [1]
The photograph of Tucker's sister was a photo of the actress portraying her standing on a terrace on the Paramount Pictures lot.
At the beginning, Archer holds a memorial speech for eighteen lost comrades, but in the previous battle, only seventeen are lost (fourteen counted dead and three unaccounted for), though one more could have died from injuries sustained. The eighteenth could also refer to Crewman Fuller, who was killed in "Anomaly (ENT)".
Archer's address to the crew is reminiscent of Kirk's address to the crew of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
The attack on the Reptilian ship is referenced in "The Council", when Dolim confronts Degra.

Links and references[]

Starring[]

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

Guest stars[]

Previous episode:
"Damage"

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 3

Next episode:
"E²"

The Forgotten (episode)

Contents

Summary[]

Teaser[]

Act One[]

Act Two[]

Act Three[]

Act Four[]

Memorable quotes[]

Background information[]

Links and references[]

Starring[]

Guest stars[]

Co-star[]

Uncredited co-stars[]

References[]

External links[]

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