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Star Trek: Enterprise Doctor's Orders 2/18 (Spoilers)
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Posted by: JYoung

Doctor’s Orders
By Chris Black

Phlox has to man the ship by himself when he puts the crew under in order to traverse a dangerous region of space..

My notes:

It’s Porthos! But why is he even in the Expanse?
Not that good of a teaser.
So we don’t get to hear Mayweather.
No line about taking care of Porthos.
Didn’t I see this in Austin Powers?
Phlox likes Danny Kaye, he can’t be all bad.
I was wondering if T’Pol needed to go under.
Wait a minute, T’Pol’s a hallucination. Otherwise, why would Archer turn the ship over to Phlox.
The life sign is Porthos.
Does T’Pol represent Phlox’s logical side?
The shower scene from Psycho! Where's Bernand Herrmann?
Warp Drive.
“I’m a physician, not an engineer.”
Yes, RTFM.
No shot of them exiting the field?

Ugh. I didn’t like this episode when it was titled One on Voyager. It hasn’t gotten any better on Enterprise.
It’s a shame really. I like Billingsley and he did the best he could with what he had to work with as did director Roxanne Dawson, who at least tried some interesting camera shots.
But the writing falls down again because it’s so pedestrian and disinteresting.
The other problem was that I figured out that “T’Pol” was a hallucination in the first 30 seconds and it took something away from the story.
For a sweeps episode, this was a poor choice.

I’d like to grade this higher because of Billingsley but I can’t.

Grade D+

Posted by: LoadStar

I was bored waiting for Angel, so I flipped through this - and in a nutshell, this is why I stopped watching this series. This was such a blatant ripoff of Voyager's "One" except not half as good. I don't mind them remaking episodes - but at least try and alter it a little bit, and try looking at older episodes to remake, rather than fairly recent ones.

If I were a writer of "One" I'd sue for writing credit for this episode as well.

Posted by: epsilondelta

Phlox realizes Archer's appearance in the turbolift must be an illusion, 'cause he remembers putting him under, but he doesn't remember sedating T'Pol when she suddenly appears??? And T'Pol's appearance was early, before the other illusions, I think?

I mean, the anomaly made him hallucinate, but there was no mention of memory loss --- or am I losing more of mine? :)

epsilondelta

Posted by: bobjohnson

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who thought "Great, Voyager Redux."

It wasn't obvious to me that T'Pol was a hallucination until the very end. I knew it was absurd that Phlox would be maintaining the engine if T'Pol was awake, but I just chalked it up to typical crappy writing.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

I never saw the Voyager episode, and once I figured out that T'Pol was an illusion, it was actually pretty effective--when Phlox wanted to go into stasis himself and leave the ship in T'Pol's hands, it was downright chilling. And every time he sent her to do something, I wondered if he would ever assume she had actually done it.

I guess I have to question the wisdom of an episode that depends on the viewer figuring out a fairly subtle plot point (although as it went on, it seemed more and more obvious) for its suspense, however...

As for the memory loss issue, it doesn't really need to be an issue. I know that when I awaken from a dream, for a moment the dream-reality trumps the real world. I see no reason why that wouldn't happen in a hallucination.

Posted by: digdug

Ok so I missed the fact that T'pol was actually in stasis. It went right over me. The Guide description said that all but T'pol and the doc were in stasis, so I took it at face value. Now the loopholes you all point out make more sense. It was chilling to me when the doc realized she was not really assisting him.

I vaguely remember "ONE", but thought this was done well. I like the B movie shadow play when the doc thought the Xindi was around the corner.

Posted by: Rcrew

If T'Pol was 'in charge' of the engines, why did Trip spend time teaching Phlox the procedures, and make sure he knew to do it every two hours? Ok, minor flaw.

Anyone else feel like the writers missed a big opportunity to give us more insite into Phlox here?

Posted by: Ladd Morse

I don't remember the Voyager episode "One", but did instantly think of the movie "Sixth Sense". Especially when at the beginning when it was obvious that T'Pol clearly wasn't touching or moving anything. It was all disappointingly downhill from there.

Posted by: digdug

quote:
Originally posted by Rcrew

Anyone else feel like the writers missed a big opportunity to give us more insite into Phlox here?

Yes Rcrew, I'd agree. They had a great chance to give us some depth of character here. I think we could have done without the rambling narrative to his fellow Dr. Instead I'd have liked to see Phlox interact with an alien race without the Cap'n & crew to assist.
While I did like this episode, there are many other ways they could have done this.

Posted by: Dale Sorel

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
“I’m a physician, not an engineer.”

"Damn-it Jim!" ;)

Posted by: ntrprize

This is one of the episodes I didnt like. Im a big fan of Enterprise, but this one stunk.

I must admit that I had no clue about T'Pol until the end. I was wondering why she was up and around. They got e good on that one.

Overall the episode had me wishing for the end.

I hope Dawson get another chance with a better script.

Posted by: super dave

How about him walking around nude, he wouldn't have done that if he didn't know he put everyone under.

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by Rcrew

Anyone else feel like the writers missed a big opportunity to give us more insite into Phlox here?

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

What have we learned about Phlox by the end of the episode that's new? That he'd like to go back to Denobula in the future? That's about the only thing I can think of.

It's a shame because Phlox is just about the only character that I give a damn about and Billingsley deserves better.

Posted by: Dago Red

quote:
Originally posted by LoadStar
This was such a blatant ripoff of Voyager's "One" except not half as good.

I knew I had seen this story somewhere before. I kept thinking that it must be a repeat or something. Thanks for reminding me that it was on Voyager.

I have been a Star Trek fan since the beginning - I remember signing a petition back in 1968 to keep the original series on the air after it was canceled. But I honestly couldn't wait for this episode to be over. I stuck in there and got a nice surprise with T'Pol at the end, but it was a lot to pay for such a small reward.

The show had so much potential before it started - what Trekkie wouldn't want to witness the discovery of warp travel or the creation of Star Fleet, but the series jumped in the middle somewhere and has never had any real direction.

Maybe I was just expecting too much.

Posted by: Idearat

I think every show has done this episode.

Stargate SG-1 did it a few weeks ago. Sam on a ship alone, had delusions, figures it out, saves the day.

I ffw'd that episode too.

Posted by: Dale Sorel

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
It's a shame because Phlox is just about the only character that I give a damn...

Interesting...a friend and I just recently discussed how the doctors (McCoy, Crusher, Phlox) tended to be amongst the most interesting characters in the various Star Trek universes.

Posted by: cptodd

I think it was a good guess but I knew that T'Pol was "in bed" just like everyone else. That made the episode a bad one for me. I also remembered the Voyager episode but I thought that one was better. Oh well let's hope for something better next week.

Posted by: EchoBravo

Enterprise's staunchest defender is sitting here mute. There is no defending that episode and it's 44 minutes I'll never get back. Somebody above captured my thoughts... About being bored the whole time and really wanting it to be over. If this is what they're serving up during February sweeps, maybe the end is near. :(

Posted by: LlamaLarry

Poor episode. :( I did not get UPN until DTV offered it on my locals and missed most of Voyager. Kind of annoyed me that one of the few episodes I did see ends up being redone on Enterprise. :)

I knew DD'Pol was not real when she showed up, why else would they not be using warp from the start?

Posted by: sa-gamer

Yeah - I pretty much figured that T'Pol was a figment right when she showed up. This was confirmed when she couldn't do anything in the engine room.

Posted by: Rcrew

quote:
Originally posted by sa-gamer
Yeah - I pretty much figured that T'Pol was a figment right when she showed up. This was confirmed when she couldn't do anything in the engine room.

Even before that when she challenges Phlox about what he is doing in her engine room. Scenes prior to the hibernation had Trip specifically training Phlox on hourly procedures.

Posted by: LlamaLarry

I guess if I were in a jam I would conjure up T'Pol as my imaginary helper. I'd be willing to bet that T'Pol gets conjured up quite a bit to help the crewmen out of sticky situations.

Posted by: zync

quote:
Originally posted by LlamaLarry
I'd be willing to bet that T'Pol gets conjured up quite a bit to help the crewmen out of sticky situations.

Or into sticky situations.

Posted by: lordrichter

I was actually excited at the end that Enterprise actually had an episode that had some decent character development along with an appropriate amount of action that was worth watching. I never saw the Voyager episode "One" (or don't recall it) so I have no preconceived comparison based on that.

I went into the episode believing that only T'Pol and Phlox were awake, as per the guide information, but I started wondering early on where she was.

I was not sure that he was a hallucinating T'Pol until they were trying to get the warp drive online and I realized that she never actually *did* anything in the episode. I suspected before that. I did not know that T'Pol was also asleep until the end. I considered the possibility that she was awake and Phlox was hallucinating her "help" in the engine room. Part of me was wondering if there would be a call on the intercom asking what was going on down there from T'Pol on the bridge.

Unfortunately, people not doing things that might be considered their job is normal for Enterprise, so the fact that the doctor was running the hand scanner while the science officer stood by and complained was not immediately considered abnormal.

A lot of the "inconsistencies" mentioned by others in this episode do not appear to be inconsistencies to me. It made perfect sense why he might think that Archer was a hallucination but failed to realize that T'Pol was one. It also makes perfect sense to me that an appearance by T'Pol would snap him out of a hallucination.

I was amused by the use of a flashlight while searching for the Xindi intruder. I did not see any indication of a hand scanner until a later scene

I liked that they returned to the Phlox dictating a letter mechanism for the episode, but from a structural point they had few alternatives as he has to talk in order to narrate the episode and Porthos just doesn't cut the mustard.

After the episode, I went back and looked to see if B&B wrote it. I did not look the first time. If I had, I probably would have picked up on the imaginary T'Pol much earlier.

The sad thing is that, in a few scenes, T'Pol was actually played as if she were a Vulcan, only to discover at the end that it was all a hallucination. :)

So, I am willing to give this episode a B, for a series that is averaging a C this season, at best. The teaser wasn't one and I am tired of stories that include flashbacks. Writers must get paid extra for the number of different time shifts they can incorporate into an episode.

I always postpone watching Enterprise to put off being disappointed. This episode might be a rehash for some of the Voyager fans, but I thought it was much better than the average this season.

Posted by: Peter000

I was one of the few that enjoyed this ep as well. I have no expectations of the show in terms of Trek lore or continuity, so I've been able to take it as fun storytelling. I've liked the whole Xindi storyline; the Enterprise waging a one ship war effort to stop the destruction of Earth. Imagine the pressure Archer is under! Being on their own with no way to resupply from Earth, and horrific consequences should they fail.

Anyway, this episode was far better than I expected it to be. I'm not a huge fan of Phlox, but he carried it pretty well. I figured out (or at least toyed with the idea) that T'Pol was a hallucination early on, and by the time the engine room climax happened I was sure of it. I loved the call back line "I'm a physician not an engineer!" And why doesn't Phlox trim his toenails? :)

Enterprise isn't in my top 5 shows, but I'm liking it as a TV staple. :)

Posted by: DancnDude

Could someone give a quick run-down of what happened right after the Phlox got the ship to warp 2? TiVo cut off the end of the rerun today - they started the program about 5 minutes late.

Anyways, I liked it. I didn't see the Voyager ep and I actually didn't catch on that T'Pol was an illusion. I thought some things were strange, but never made the connection. Apparently that must be explained in the end...

Posted by: SnakeEyes

At least with Voyager's "One" they had the character issue of Seven of Nine being afraid of being alone as an individual, outside of the collective.

Posted by: super dave

quote:
Originally posted by DancnDude
Could someone give a quick run-down of what happened right after the Phlox got the ship to warp 2? TiVo cut off the end of the rerun today - they started the program about 5 minutes late.

Anyways, I liked it. I didn't see the Voyager ep and I actually didn't catch on that T'Pol was an illusion. I thought some things were strange, but never made the connection. Apparently that must be explained in the end...

After that he started to make the rounds awakening the crew, starting with Archer. He then went to T'Pol's room to thank her for the assistance and she was laying there asleep in a different color uniform. That's when he realized he was hallucinating. Then it was all happy happy joy joy, usual ST ending.

Posted by: LoadStar

quote:
Originally posted by SnakeEyes
At least with Voyager's "One" they had the character issue of Seven of Nine being afraid of being alone as an individual, outside of the collective.

As opposed to Phlox' comments to his pen pal about the loneliness of being an individual, outside of Denobulan society? :D

Posted by: RGM1138

"Okay, hot shot, pop quiz. You're traveling through a "trans-dimensional disturbance", the entire crew is in hiber-sleep. You have zero combat training."

"Two Xindi star cruisers approach, one off the port bow, the other, astern. They're powering up their proton disruptors. The first shots take out your phase cannons. There's a hull breach in main engineering. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?"

Put another way: The USNS Bob Hope is steaming into the Persian Gulf. All hands aboard are under heavy sedation. Except for the Chief Medical Officer.

Show of hands, who thinks this is a good idea?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Bob

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

Well, I don't think they had to worry about meeting the Xindi. I mean, let's face it, what kind of idiots would go through a trans-dimensional dist...

Oops. Never mind.

Posted by: Jonathan_S

I sort of wonder if the sensor reading from the bridge were also part of the hallucination? Is is possible the Enterprise was out of the disturbance (or about to be) but Plox hallucinated that it was much larger, and therefor all the messing around with the warp engines was unnecessary? (And of course damaging) After all the confirmation of the readings by T'Pol is worthless since we know she was a hallucination.

Probably not, that would be too much of a twist for Trek.

Posted by: Redleg

Didn't love it, didn't hate it, never saw any Voyagers, and I was half-asleep watching it so I never figured out T'Pol was a hallucination. I guess I'd give it a C+, maybe a B- because I do think Billingsley/Phlox is watchable.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by epsilondelta
Phlox realizes Archer's appearance in the turbolift must be an illusion, 'cause he remembers putting him under, but he doesn't remember sedating T'Pol when she suddenly appears??? And T'Pol's appearance was early, before the other illusions, I think?

That seems very natural, human actually, given the situation and the scenario of hallucination. Phlox needed an anchor to get through the stress. All he needed was T'Pol, the most versatile crewmember, with whom Phlox shares a special affinity with being a fellow fish-out-of-water. The other "appearances" were, if anything, a defense mechanism trying to get Phlox to realize he was hallucinating.

quote:
I mean, the anomaly made him hallucinate, but there was no mention of memory loss --- or am I losing more of mine? :)

Memory suppression is a common aspect of hallucination.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by Medieval Guy
I guess I have to question the wisdom of an episode that depends on the viewer figuring out a fairly subtle plot point (although as it went on, it seemed more and more obvious) for its suspense, however...

Well, let's keep in mind that it was made very very clear at the start that Phlox was being given control of the ship, solo. Why bother teaching him how to navigate if T'Pol was going to be awake? Heck, why wouldn't the risk an hour in warp if T'Pol was going to be awake? And finally, of all the humanoids on the ship, it seems clear that it would be T'Pol who would be MOST effected by the anamoly, not least. So everything the viewer needed was there.

So it appears the episode WORKED, at least for some viewers, because you and I, at least, were confused enough by T'Pol's appearance to not immediately guess that was a hallucination. (My wife did, incidentally.) That confusion was almost assuredly the aim, since it made us feel what the character was feeling, very effectively.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by Rcrew
If T'Pol was 'in charge' of the engines, why did Trip spend time teaching Phlox the procedures, and make sure he knew to do it every two hours? Ok, minor flaw.

Not at all. Phlox was in charge of the engines. He simply wished T'Pol was, and therefore twisted his mind to believe it.

quote:
Anyone else feel like the writers missed a big opportunity to give us more insite into Phlox here?

I feel we got an incredible amount of insight into Phlox from this episode: Who he is most likely to identify with, how he responds to pressure, his relative discomfort with dogs as pets, etc.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by super dave
How about him walking around nude, he wouldn't have done that if he didn't know he put everyone under.

Why not? Phlox has made it clear in the past how amused he is at the human antipathy towards nakedness; he doesn't walk around naked in his own quarters because it would make the humans feel uncomfortable. He knows that that is not the case with T'Pol or Porthos.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by EchoBravo
Enterprise's staunchest defender is sitting here mute. There is no defending that episode and it's 44 minutes I'll never get back.

Strange, given that I'm pretty non-committal about Enterprise (other than it is much better than DS9 and Voyager), and found this episode to be one of the better ones this season.

Posted by: bicker

quote:
Originally posted by DancnDude
Could someone give a quick run-down of what happened right after the Phlox got the ship to warp 2?

I loved that whole scene, especially the part where Phlox told T'Pol to do something, and she turned to do it, turned back and looked at him quizzically, with her finger vaguely pointed in the direction she was supposed to be doing something. LOL! The look on her face was so unexpected!

It should be noted, that in this scene, it was Phlox who came up with the idea that the problem was partical containment (?), not T'Pol. The writer was meticulous about T'Pol not providing anything specifically useful.

Posted by: Rob Helmerichs

quote:
Originally posted by bicker
So it appears the episode WORKED, at least for some viewers, because you and I, at least, were confused enough by T'Pol's appearance to not immediately guess that was a hallucination. (My wife did, incidentally.) That confusion was almost assuredly the aim, since it made us feel what the character was feeling, very effectively.

I meant almost the opposite--the episode worked for me, because I knew almost instantly that she was a hallucination, and thus the tension of whether or not Phloz would depend upon his imaginary friend to do something critical was there. I was noticing a lot of criticism from people who DIDN'T figure it out, and thought that probably the episode would not have had the same level of tension for these people.

It worked for you, obviously--but a lot of "fans" of the show dislike it, and probably just assumed that any confusion they were feeling was just bad writing.

Posted by: allan

It was ok, but I liked it better when Seven of Nine did it.

Posted by: bobjohnson

That's because Jeri Ryan is ten times hotter, and ten times a better actor than Jolene what's her name. :)

Posted by: Dale Sorel

quote:
Originally posted by bobjohnson
That's because Jeri Ryan is ten times hotter, and ten times a better actor than Jolene what's her name. :)

I don't know, I'd say that Jolene is a halfway decent 'actor':

http://www.lufbrasnowsports.com/images/tpol.jpg

:p

Posted by: bobjohnson

Now I certainly don't remember seeing that umm, formation last show. Jeri's still ten times hotter, but I guess I can revise my statement and say Jolene ain't so bad. :)

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by bicker
I feel we got an incredible amount of insight into Phlox from this episode: Who he is most likely to identify with, how he responds to pressure, his relative discomfort with dogs as pets, etc.

I'll give you that we got insight as to how he reacts under pressure but the rest of it was nothing new.
In fact, we rather saw how he reacts under pressure in The Crossing, Regeneration.......

quote:
Originally posted by bicker
Why not? Phlox has made it clear in the past how amused he is at the human antipathy towards nakedness; he doesn't walk around naked in his own quarters because it would make the humans feel uncomfortable. He knows that that is not the case with T'Pol or Porthos.

The whole nudity thing didn't make sense if you remember that he was very modest and inhibited about disrobing in front of T'Pol in Bounty. Why would he be walking around naked if he thought T'Pol was up and around?
(on the other hand, I didn't think his attitude made sense in Bounty)

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by bobjohnson
Now I certainly don't remember seeing that umm, formation last show. Jeri's still ten times hotter, but I guess I can revise my statement and say Jolene ain't so bad. :)

that's a body double.

And thanks to JJ and the Super Bowl, that shot was framed higher depending on where you lived and what affiliate you watched.

Posted by: TeeSee

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
The whole nudity thing didn't make sense if you remember that he was very modest and inhibited about disrobing in front of T'Pol in Bounty. Why would he be walking around naked if he thought T'Pol was up and around?
(on the other hand, I didn't think his attitude made sense in Bounty)

According to tvtome the scene "was partly the result of production calling Billingsley's bluff". I think it was more an inside joke than anything else. But it wouldn't have happened if they wanted to stay true to how the character had been written in past episodes. We all know that continuity means nothing to the producers of this show.

Posted by: bobjohnson

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
that's a body double.

And thanks to JJ and the Super Bowl, that shot was framed higher depending on where you lived and what affiliate you watched.

Next you're gonna pull a Doug and tell me it's a man... Come to think of it, the hair is mighty short......

Posted by: JYoung

quote:
Originally posted by bobjohnson
Next you're gonna pull a Doug and tell me it's a man... Come to think of it, the hair is mighty short......

(insert obligatory Austin Powers joke here)

Posted by: ccwf

Finally got around to watching this episode. Now, normally, I turn my brain off when watching Trek so as not to get too worked up over inconsistencies. However, I thought it was extremely obvious that T'Pol was a hallucination. Now, the really unexpected twist would have been if Porthos had turned out to be a hallucination. :)

And for anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend you watch The Court Jester (the Danny Kaye movie Phlox was watching).

Posted by: vman41

quote:
Originally posted by ccwf
And for anyone who hasn't seen it, I highly recommend you watch The Court Jester (the Danny Kaye movie Phlox was watching).

Yes, to this day I avoid Flagons with Dragons :D

Posted by: Mike20878

quote:
Originally posted by JYoung
that's a body double.

And thanks to JJ and the Super Bowl, that shot was framed higher depending on where you lived and what affiliate you watched.

Oh man, you're right. I thought that scene didn't look entirely familiar. Guess they trimmed the "bottom" off that one...:)

Posted by: martinp13

I'm nearly caught up! Watched a few more episodes today, and kinda enjoyed this one. I like Phlox episodes, so it was a treat. Amazingly I picked up immediately that T'Pol was a hallucination, since her first appearance in the engine room came at JUST the wrong time. Her condition deteriorated exactly like his did, and per Sixth Sense, she never touched or did anything. They got me on SS, but not here. :)

I'm curious what his final report looked like... if he revealed everything.

Posted by: SparkleMotion

quote:
Originally posted by vman41
Yes, to this day I avoid Flagons with Dragons :D

Ah, then you know the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!

Amazing what the memory holds, ain't it? Now bow to my strawberry birthmark, please. ;)