Future Tense 

Enterprise discovers a pod with the body of a human, that seems to be wanted by both Sulibans and Tholians.

Director:

James Whitmore Jr.

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (based upon "Star Trek" created by), Rick Berman (created by)

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
Vaughn Armstrong	...	Admiral Maxwell Forrest
Cullen Douglas	...	Suliban Soldier

Storyline

Enterprise discovers a strange pod. After towing it in, the doctor confirms the dead pilot is human. Captain Archer suspects this man may be Zefram Cochrane, who developed the warp drive on earth, and disappeared with an experimental ship. When Tucker and Reed discover a stairway in the ship that is bigger than the ship itself and Phlox finds out the man's DNA contains several alien genomes, they begin to suspect there's something more to it. Then Suliban as well as Tholian ships appear on the scene. They want to have the pod and don't take no for an answer.

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Plot Keywords:

suliban | unidentified starship | vulcan starship | micro caliper | tholian starship | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site

Release Date:

19 February 2003 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Network Television, Paramount Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Did You Know?

Trivia

A working title for this episode was "Crash Landing". It is also the episode title used by Sky in the UK.

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Goofs

When Archer turns the human from the future around inside the pod, you can see his eyelids move.

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Quotes

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Now, if I had a chance to see the past, I'd jump at it. I always wanted to meet a stegosaurus.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: He'd probably make a quick meal of you.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: The stegosaurus was an herbivore.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: If I could travel back in time, I know exactly what year I'd pick: 1588.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: What happened in 1588?
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: England defeated the Spanish Armada.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Oh, I'm sure someone named Reed had a lot to do with that.
[Trip and Malcolm pull a piece off the ship. Time rewinds and they re-enter the room]
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: If I had a chance to see the past, I'd jump at it. I ...
[...]

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Connections

References Star Trek: Metamorphosis (1967)

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Soundtracks

Where My Heart Will Take Me
Written by Diane Warren
Performed by Russell Watson
Episode: {all episodes}

User Reviews

A Really Thought Provoking Episode

Things get a little dicey when the idea of time travel comes into play. In this episode, a strange space ship that looks pretty much like a chunk of metal, is found with a dead man inside. The Enterprise is first on the scene and pulls it into a cargo bay. It turns out that there are some incredible physical aspects to this ship. Also, the man inside it has an odd combination of DNA that show things that just can't exist at this time. Archer soon suspects that time travel is involved. Soon some old friends show up. The Suliban and the Tholians want their hands on the newly discovered ship. Unfortunately, the Enterprise has a moral obligation to hang on to the ship and they soon come under serious fire. The good thing is that the two attacking parties begin to go after each other. I really enjoyed the way this turns out because it plays well with the realities of time travel.