EPISODE: "North Star" PROD#: ENT061 TRAN#: 3.09 RATING: 14-V AIRDATE: wed-12-nov-2003-20:00 EPDATE: [not stated; at least two days] OFFICIAL: startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/3150.html FROM: Phillip Thorne, thorne@underbase.org POST-TO: rec.arts.startrek.tech REVIEW#: 51.0 FORMAT#: 5.0 URL: underbase.org/dept/trek/ent309_north_star.txt I. INTRODUCTION This technical overview is intended to support discussion of the current episode, and to later serve as a reference: it contains PLOT SPOILERS; CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Whenever possible, it indicates who did/claimed/knew what. Spellings of technobabble and alien nouns are obtained from TV closed-captioning ("CC") -- which is imperfect: it may not match spoken dialogue, or the website, or be consistent within or between eps. In the Synopsis, I sometimes condense or reorder scenes, for clarity. If you have corrections or clarifications, please contact me, and I'll (eventually) make corrections. "Star Trek" and all related indicia are copyrights of Paramount Pictures, while this overview is (c)2003 Phillip Thorne. Some details provided by _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_, 1st ed., 1994. Feel free to use this document as a reference, but please give credit where due. Abbreviations commonly used: -(m/f/?) name belongs to mel/fem/unclear, (os) on [viewer] screen, (vo) voiceover, -(?) quote is uncertain, -(sp?) spelling is unclear; VDB Vulcan database, XDB Xindi database, VHC Vulcan High Command; series: TOS TAS TNG DS9 VGR ENT. Although CC uses "Launch Bay," "Sick Bay," and "shuttle pod," I often condense those terms to single words. II. TERMINOLOGY TECHNICAL: Quantum scan BIOLOGICAL & MEDICAL: sun viper, bluehorn CULTURAL: Skag, Skagaran, Harmonica, John Ford film LOCATIONS, POLITIES and ORGANIZATIONS: Skagtown, "rokdar", upstate New York, San Francisco NAME DROPPING: Cooper Smith, Orville and Wilbur Wright III. ANALYSIS 1. What we get... A new 99%-human alien species. Actual use of names for the secondary characters. MACO weapons on stun, and a phase-pistol used to cut. Continued shortchanging of Mayweather. 2. What we don't get... A date. 3. The shirtless files... In Sickbay, Bethany lies under blue surgical drapes, her shoulders, arms and midriff exposed. 4. Arcs... None. 5. Skagarans are near-human in physiognomy, with clusters of round nodules at the temples, the base of the jaw at the ears, and the larynx. They can crossbreed with humans. Their innards are apparently sufficiently different that such a hybrid will give Phlox pause. Skagarans apparently don't react well to alcohol, but "Skagaran whiskey" has a mean kick for humans. 6. 300 years earlier (c.1850), a group of Skagarans (probably with a single ship, equipped with handheld beam weapons and probably transporters) abducted an unknown number of humans (and horses) from the American West (and possibly elsewhere) to serve as labor in building a colony. The humans soon overthrew their masters and destroyed their advanced technology. They recreated society and technology as they remembered it, established several settlements within 1000 km of planetfall, and remained static for the next three centuries, apparently with no visits by other Skagarans or XTs. Stories of Earth had attained the status of legend. 7. There is no mention (not even from T'Pol) of non-interference with the locals. (Aside from enslaving the Skagarans and ranching bluehorns, they hadn't even altered their culture.) Archer insisted they be told that "Earth hasn't forgotten them," but nobody wondered how they'd react to, "But sorry, we can't take you right now." They left a PADD with updated history files for Bethany (and possibly supporting tech), but no mention of a subspace comm (to link with the relay they dropped just inside the Expanse, also unmentioned for the past eight eps). IV. NITS 1. Why would the Skagarans travel all the way to Earth for slaves? Was their ship faster than warp 5, so the trip was practical? Was it the nearest planet with easily-abductable natives who fit their physical requirements? Did they get bad advice from a passing trader? 2. How does a starting population of (not stated, but probably under a thousand) recreate all the expertise/industry to build a completely familiar Western town -- bricks, steel, glass, clocks, gunsmithing? V. THIRD-PARTY COMMENTS [...] VI. EPISODE SYNOPSIS TEASER: Night 1: A town out of the 19cen American West, complete with music. Four horsemen (including DEPUTY BENNINGS) lynch a "Skag" (Skagaran) (DRAYSIK), who's left to dangle in the wind. ACT 1: Day 1: The Skagaran lies in an upright wooden coffin, attended by an undertaker; it's being paid for by BETHANY (the local schoolteacher), who explains tartly to SHERIFF MACREADY that Skagarans don't bury their dead. "He killed a man. Self-defense or not, that's a hanging offense," defends MacReady. Nearby, Archer (in local garb) watches, then joins T'Pol (her ears, but not eyebrows, concealed by a headscarf). She's confirmed the locals are human; the DNA is a perfect match. They meet Tucker. Archer calls Reed. Aboard ENT, he and Sato report that they've scanned 90% of the planet's surface, finding 6000 humans in several settlements with "several hundred kilometers" of Archer's location; and less than 1000 of the aliens. "Quantum scans" date the earliest structures to over 250 years old; and although Terran in design, they're built of indigenous materials. Tucker and T'Pol acquire a horse to go scouting. To match the $20 price, Tucker trades his harmonica ("I haven't seen one of these in years," says the STABLEHAND) and adds his revolver as collaterol for the loan, with the story that they need to retrieve their gear from outside town. "Do you have any experience riding these animals?" asks T'Pol skeptically. "I've seen every John Ford film," he answers, blindly confident. Native species: "sun vipers." Archer enters the local saloon. The barkeep proudly declares himself the only descendent of "Cooper Smith," who "overthrew the Skags." Deputy Bennings and his cronies enter, and bait the Skagaran waiter by speaking of Draysik, who killed CLAY STANTON. Skagarans don't hold liquor well. Archer intervenes, and then the Sheriff. Native species: "bluehorns." Night 2: Tucker and T'Pol discover an encampment amid the wreckage of a spacecraft; T'Pol estimates its age at over 200 years. In town, Archer enters [the schoolhouse], and ingratiates himself with Bethany. He arranges to go with her to the "Skagaran" camp, but they're followed by Bennings... ACT 2: At the camp, Archer inspects the wreckage, then meets Tucker and T'Pol, who've found some coin-sized discs from the "data module." He sends the two back to ENT, while he sits in on Bethany's illegal lesson. She teach multiplication tables to five kids. Their ancestors took humans from their planet to work. Bennings arrives; Archer and Bethany are taken. In the town jail cell, Archer draws the story from Bethany. 300 years ago, the Skagarans captured the humans, seeking workers for a colony-building project. The aforementioned Cooper Smith, known to humans as the liberator, is called by the Skagarans "Rokdar": "butcher." He burned the ship, destroyed their weapons, killed families; then wrote the laws that outlawed property, learning and marriage for the former captors. Day 2: Archer's taken to see Sheriff MacReady, who's being shaved by HENRY, the barber. He shares a shot glass of "Skagaran whiskey" (illegal, but he lets Henry keep it for surgery), and asks Archer why he was in "Skagtown;" Bethany's minimum sentence for teaching them will be ten years. Why? He refers to stories of "guns that could kill a man with a beam of light." Archer is released. He calls ENT. Tucker, T'Pol and Sato report: still translating those logs they were able to recover. He next breaks Bethany out of jail (punching Bennings), suggesting she move to another town. The Deputy recovers, gathers NASH and FRANKLIN. They manage to shoot Bethany, who falls from the wagon. Archer leaps out, rushes to her, and calls for a beam-up... The nonplussed gang rush to the suddenly-vacant spot. ACT 3: A mel-black-bluestripe [hasn't he been a security guard previously?] checks a medscan, while Phlox removes the bullet from Bethany. Archer and T'Pol stand by. Phlox has news: although the "cranial genes are recessive", Bethany is one- quarter Skagaran -- probably her maternal grandmother. Citing stories that they could move through the air, Bennings takes Archer's departure as evidence of Skag plot, and suggests burning out Skagtown. MacReady refuses to act without proof; so Bennings hands in his badge. Sato briefs Archer, T'Pol, Tucker and Mayweather: yes, the Skagarans abducted humans for their colony-building project, finding them "suited to the environment;" but the workers were trouble, and six months after arrival, the logs end. Archer decides that, once they've dealt with the Xindi, they'll return for the humans; but for now, the settlers deserve to know Earth hasn't abandoned them... ...so he lands the shuttle in the middle of town. He, T'Pol, Reed, and two MACOs disembark. He has a long talk with MacReady. (Born in upstate New York, but spent most of his adult life in San Francisco -- which the sheriff recognizes as located on the "Pacific Coast".) "We've moved past intolerance and prejudice," the captain declares. He brings MacReady out to the shuttle and BANG! the sheriff falls... ACT 4: ...Talking doesn't dissuade Bennings, and a firefight ensues: bullets, orange beams, blue MACO bolts. Reed provides covering fire, as Archer dashes along the sidewalk. He stuns one gunman, adjusts his phase-pistol ("brr-beep") to cut through the roof and drop a second, then adjusts again ("brr-beep") to stun him too. Then he gets hit in the right shoulder (from behind -- exit-wound squib) by Bennings; fortunately, the former deputy's gun jams. They run off... T'Pol gets grabbed, a gun to her head. "Drop your gun," the local orders. Reed shrugs, then shoots T'Pol, who slumps to the ground. "Whuh?" wonders the local, who gets shut in turn. Blue bolts can stun. "Secure the area! Find the captain!" Reed orders. ...into the stable. Manly punches, kicks and evasions; Archer subdues Bennings. Archer and Bethany look at her world through the windows of the Mess. She feels fine, and doesn't even have a scar. He speaks of where they'll go from here; MacReady admits some of their laws might be outdated. Schoolhouse: Bethany teaches a mixed class of humans and Skagarans. Consulting a PADD, she explains that, "Almost 40 years after my ancestors left Earth," humans first flew (the Wright Brothers). MacReady watches from the door. VII. VFX SHOTS ENT in orbit. MACO popup telescopic POV. Bethany looks at surface of her world. ENT breaks orbit. VIII. PRODUCTION REGULAR CAST: Scott Bakula as Cpt. Jonathan Archer Connor Trinneer as LtCdr. Charles "Trip" Tucker III Jolene Blalock as Sub-Commander T'Pol Dominic Keating as Lt. Malcolm Reed Anthony Montgomery as Ens. Travis Mayweather [one line] Linda Park as Ens. Hoshi Sato [two lines] John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox [one line] [No Porthos] GUEST CAST: Glenn Morshower as Sheriff MacReady James Parks as Deputy Bennings Paul Rae as Bartender [So-and-so Cooper?] Emily Bergl as Bethany Steven Klein as Draysik Gary Bristow as Stablehand Mike Watson as Skagaran John Baron as Yral [not named] Alexandria M. Salling as Taliyah [not named] Jeff Eith as Cowboy #1 [Nash?] Cliff McLaughlin as Cowboy #2 [Franklin?] Tom Dupont as Cowboy #3 Dorenda Moore as MACO #1 Kevin Derr as MACO #2 [Somebody] as [Henry the barber] [no lines] [Extra kids] as [Extra Skagaran and human children] CREATIVE STAFF: Directed by David Straiton Written by David A. Goodman NEXT WEEK: In 3.10/062-"Similitude" (whoo, almost as good as "Cathexis"), Phlox grows a clone to repair Trip. Unfortunately, the clone has a brain. See: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/3203.html