Fallen
Hero
Cast & Crew
Director: Patrick Norris
Story By: Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Chris Black
Teleplay By: Alan Cross
Starring
Scott Bakula as Captain
Jonathan Archer
Connor Trinneer as Chief
Engineer Charles Tucker III
Jolene Blalock as Sub-commander
T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Lt.
Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery
as Ensign Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Ensign Hoshi
Sato
John Billingsley
as Dr. Phlox
Guest Cast
Fionnula Flanagan as V'Lar
Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest
John Rubinstein as Mazarite Captain
J. Michael Flynn as Mazarite Official
Dennis Howard as Vulcan Captain
Airdate Information
Originally Aired: May 8, 2002
Season: One
Episode: Twenty-three
What
Happened
En route to Risa, the captain receives a communiqué from Starfleet command.
It appears that the Vulcans need them to pick up an ambassador (V'Lar) who's
run afoul with the local government Mazar. Archer orders a course change and
the crew's trip to Risa is postponed.
Archer and company are immediately taken aback by the ambassador's demeanor.
She's warm and congenial, going so far as to shake everyone's hand. She thanks
Archer for delaying their shore leave to help her. T'Pol is suspicious and a
little disappointed in V'Lar, but greets her just the same.
Shortly after leaving Mazar, the Enterprise is hailed by a transport,
requesting they turn the ambassador over to them. Archer says he'll need to
check with his chain of command before doing so. Before he has a chance to send
that transmission, the Mazarite ship attacks. Enterprise manages disable
the ship and make a run for it.
Meanwhile, Archer confronts V'Lar about this turn of events. She gives him
no information. With no other alternative, he turns the ship around and heads
back to Mazar.
Along the way, V'Lar takes in the Enterprise and her crew, never having
met Humans or visiting Earth, she is curious about every aspect of their culture.
She sips tea with Hoshi (who graciously gave up her quarters for the ambassador's
stay) and finally confronts T'Pol about her disappointment. It turns out that
V'Lar, while negotiating a treaty, took questions from some young Vulcan students,
including an adolescent T'Pol. It was that exchange that set T'Pol on the path
of science and exploration. After finding out that her "hero" was
wanted for crimes on Mazar, she became frustrated and bitter. T'Pol also persuades
V'Lar to trust the captain and give him a reason for not turning her over to
the Mazarite authorities.
V'Lar reveals that she was on Mazar, by request, to help weed out massive government
corruption. She apparently got in too deep and is now wanted by those she would
expose.
Archer turns the ship back around and heads back to the arranged meeting coordinates
with a Vulcan transport. However, before they can make it, the Enterprise
is accosted by three Mazarite ships. Unable to fight, Archer orders the ship
to maximum speed. Even after breaking Warp 5, they can't outrun the Mazarites.
In a last ditch effort, V'Lar and Hoshi use an old diplomatic carrier signal
to alert the Vulcan ship to speed up and help them out.
Dropping out of warp, the Enterprise is boarded. Archer stalls as best
he can, but he finally leads them to sickbay where Phlox reports that she cannot
be removed from the medical bay until she is healed. The Mazarites, don't wait
and blast the chamber that held the ambassador. About this time, the Vulcans
arrive and proceed to blast the Mazarite ships. The Vulcan captain orders the
boarding party to drop their weapons or he'll finish off the three ships attacking
Enterprise. Once done they are escorted off the ship, but not before
a hidden V'Lar admonishes them and bids them farewell, at least until their
trials.
V'Lar says good-bye to the crew of the Enterprise, commenting that she
doesn't think this is last of humankind she'll encounter.
Review
Another nice episode. Good guest cast, Fionnula Flanagan played an excellent
ambassador. She knew when to be herself, and when to "do as the Romans
do."
The cast is really pulling itself together and finding their parts. I'm really
looking forward to the next few episodes as the season winds down.
High Point
Archer: "It's called a 'Warp Five Engine!'"
Trip: "Yeah, on paper!"
Anyone involved in engineering wishes they could say this on a daily basis.
Low Point
Some of the T'Pol/V'Lar scenes can be a bit dry, but then again, what do you
expect when you get two Vulcans together for a heart-to-heart.
The Scores
Originality: Fairly unique. It was nice having Enterprise save the Vulcans,
not the other way around. 4
Effects: Pretty good stuff for the fight scene at the finish of the episode.
4
Story: Showing a softer side of T'Pol was nice. Don't we all have a hero to
worship? 4
Acting: Good stuff from everyone. V'Lar "attempt" at humor was a
nice touch, as was Trip's reaction. 5
Emotional Response: Nothing too surprising, we all knew that V'Lar would be
redeemed in the end. Star Trek rarely lets characters fully fall from grace
(DS9 being the exception, of course). 4
Production: Nice work with Engineering. Glad their putting that massive set
to use. 4
Overall: Everything fell together pretty well. No major pacing problems. 4
Total: 29 out of 42
Episode Media
From StarTrek.com
Completely Useless Trivia
- First time the Enterprise breaks Warp 5, though it nearly blows the
engines apart
Featured Star Trek Web Site
Warp Drive When? From
NASA
Next Time on Enterprise (May 15, 2002)
Another Double-Feature! One new and one old.
Two
Days and Two Nights
When the crew takes shore leave on the famous pleasure planet of Risa, Archer
has a mysterious encounter with an alien woman; Hoshi has a surprising romantic
rendezvous; Mayweather has a rock-climbing accident; and Trip and Reed go clubbing
only to end the evening as unwitting victims of robbery. Meanwhile, Phlox stays
on board the Enterprise with T'Pol to take his annual 48-hour hibernation and
exhibits some uncharacteristic oddities when they have to wake him up after
an injured crew member returns from shore leave.
Shadows
of P'Jem
Archer and the crew are disappointed to discover that T'Pol has been ordered
by the Vulcan High Command to leave the Enterprise - and equally frustrated
at her seeming indifference to leaving their ranks. T'Pol's last mission as
a Starfleet officer, however, proves eventful when she and Archer are kidnapped
by a militant faction on an alien planet and find themselves once again at the
mercy of the volatile Andorians.
