Hatchery (25 Feb. 2004)
"Enterprise" Hatchery (original title)

Captain Archer orders the crew of Enterprise to save an insectoid Xindi hatchery.

Director:

Michael Grossman

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, Jolene Blalock

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Scott Bakula	...	Captain Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley	...	Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock	...	Sub-Commander T'Pol
Dominic Keating	...	Lieutenant Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery	...	Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park	...	Ensign Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer	...	Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Corporal Chang
Sean McGowan	...	Corporal Hawkins
Steven Culp	...	Major Hayes
Paul Eliopoulos	...	Crewman #1

Storyline

The Enterprise finds a Xindi ship crashed on the surface of a planet, and while the team lead by Captain Archer is investigating, they meet an insectoid hatchery in a compartment protected by heavy and reinforced bulkheads. Reed realizes that the air inside is breathable and the group removes the helmet of the breathing apparatuses, but Archer is hit by a sort of substance on his face and sent to the sickbay. After the examination, Dr. Phlox realizes that no damage was caused to Captain Archer, but the crew notes that he becomes obsessed to save the insectoid offspring claiming humanistic reasons. When he orders to give one third of the supply of antimatter to restart the reactor of the Xindi ship to maintain the life support system of the hatchery, T'Pol questions his command and is confined in her cabin. Then Reed, Trip and Dr. Phlox are successively dismissed, and the senior officers decide that only a mutiny can save the Enterprise.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Release Date:

25 February 2004 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Network Television, Paramount Television

Did You Know?

Goofs

After the mutiny, T'Pol's supplemental log entry states that they have resumed their course to Azati Prime (you can see the Enterpise at warp), but when Trip is in the Captain's quarters, he states that they have just retrieved the balance of anti-matter, and Archer tells him to resume course to Azati Prime

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Quotes

Captain Jonathan Archer: My great-grandfather was in North Africa during the Eugenics Wars. His battalion was evacuating civilians from a war zone when they came under attack. There was a school full of children directly between them and the enemy. If his men had returned fire, they might have hit it. So he called the commander on the other side, got him to agree to hold his fire long enough to evacuate the school. There are rules, Trip - even in war.

User Reviews

Filler in the Xindi Arc

The problem with The Hatchery is that it is a very highly improbable self-contained story which is connected to the Xindi story arc, and which introduces some very radical concepts which never emerge again in the arc. In other words, it is a bit of filler within a story arc which had no room for filler.

Enterprise discovers a hatchery for Xindi Insectoids aboard a wrecked insectoid ship and Archer decides to try to save the offspring for humanistic reasons. Obsessed, he loses sleep and his grip on reality and begins dismissing his senior officers when they fail to anticipate his command decisions.

The dynamics between four of the principal characters (Archer, T'Pol, Tucker and Reed) are examined in this episode, but are presented in a way which is consistent with most of the series. The story presents some rather extreme new ideas, but these are never really made use of again later in the series. Instead of what should have been a pivotal episode, the audience is left wondering why this filler episode was necessary.

Bakula uncharacteristically overacts the manic and obsessed Archer, and Blalock, Trineer and Keating carry the episode. Mike Grossman's directing is admirable, considering what he had to work with in terms of story.