Future Tense 

"Future Tense" is an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise starring Scott Bakula, John Billingsley, and Jolene Blalock. 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.

---

Plot Keywords:

suliban | unidentified starship | disabled starship | vulcan starship | micro caliper | 

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

---

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

Among the images in "Daniels' database" are schematics for a Klingon Raptor-class ship, an Intrepid-class starship (possibly USS Voyager), an Intrepid-class aeroshuttle, the Mir space station, the US space shuttle, a Nygean ship, a 24th century Romulan D'deridex-class warbird, a Nova-class ship from the same era, the unnamed ship that attacked Enterprise in "Fight or Flight", and an upside-down Suurok-class starship.

---

Goofs

When Archer and the Doctor are discussing the dead future human's DNA, his eyes move.

---

Quotes

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Suppose you could look into some... future book, find out the name of the woman you're gonna marry. Would you wanna know it?
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Absolutely. Think of all the awkward first dates I could avoid.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Fine. So, one day you meet Jane Doe. You go out a few times, and you pop the question. She says 'I do', and the two of you live happily ever after.
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Sounds perfect.
Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III: Now - did you marry her for love... or because some book told you to?
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed: Well, if we're happily ever after, what difference does it make?

---

Connections

References Doctor Who (1963)

---

Soundtracks

Archer's Theme [Enterprise - Music from the Original Television Soundtrack]
Written by Dennis McCarthy
Performed by Dennis McCarthy

User Reviews

Really good but it sagged a bit when things started repeating themselves.

When the show begins, Enterprise encounters a very odd space capsule. Inside they find a dead man--and he'd been dead for a long time. However, Dr. Phlox's autopsy discovers something that shocks them all--the human has traces of Vulcan DNA! And, later, Phlox also finds evidence of other alien DNA. Slowly they come to realize that the capsule is from another time--1000 years in the future and the dead man inside was a time traveler!

Soon, Suliban ships show up and insist that Archer turn over this capsule. When he naturally refuses, more Suliban ships appear and begin attacking. Enterprise takes off in space and soon finds that their support, a Vulcan ship, has been attacked by Tholians--and now the Tholians want the capsule as well!! Is there any way out of this mess?

This is a pretty exciting episode and I liked the idea of them finding a dead Dr. Who-like being. But the show also suffers from two things--too many occurrences where scenes are repeated again and again due to 'spatial anomalies' and this is quite annoying. Also, by the end of the show, nothing is really accomplished. Worth seeing but a bit weak.