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Zero Hour (Enterprise episode)
Encyclopedia
"Zero Hour" is the title of an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise
; it was the season finale
for season three. The episode was the end of a season-long story arc
in which the crew of the Enterprise
try to stop the Xindi-Reptilians from destroying Earth
.
and his team's efforts to destroy the Xindi weapon, and the Enterprise crew's attempt to destroy a sphere in the Delphic Expanse.
orders the Enterprise to Sphere 41. She plans to destroy it in an attempt to take out the entire network of spheres. In response to this threat, the Sphere Builders enhance the matter-altering effects of that sphere in the region around it.
Phlox
determines that the increased spatial distortion will kill the crew if they are exposed for too long. He synthesizes a compound to allow them to retain consciousness during the encounter, but warns that exposure for longer than fifteen minutes will be deadly and that he cannot prevent deleterious effects on the epidermis.
Commander Tucker modifies the deflector dish so that it can be used as a weapon to destroy the sphere. He is forced to disable some other systems (including the impulse engines) in order to make the weapon effective, and he warns T'Pol that overuse will destroy the ship. She heeds his and Phlox's warnings, but is determined to destroy the sphere.
Travis Mayweather
pilots the ship into the region of distorted space around the sphere. Using only the thrusters, he is able to bring the ship in close enough proximity to the sphere for Tucker to activate the weapon. However, after a few moments, a small group of trans-dimension Sphere Builders arrive on the Enterprise and begin dismantling the engineering section in an attempt to disable the deflector.
At the same time, the crew's skin begins to experience the effects of the spatial distortions, as it starts turning into what looks like parchment. Phlox warns them not to scratch it and concludes that the space has been altered enough to allow the trans-dimensional creatures to exist. He alerts the crew to modify their weapons by modulating their fire, and this is able to hold the Sphere Builders off long enough for Sphere 41 to be destroyed.
As the crew races to depart the area to prevent impending death, the destruction of Sphere 41 sets off a chain reaction
that destroys the rest of the spheres. This terminates the space-altering effects that permeated the region, and the crew realize that they are safe. After a brief scene in which T'Pol reveals her age (not yet 66) to Trip, something considered intimate in Vulcan
culture
, the Enterprise reaches its rendezvous point with Archer.
, Hoshi Sato
, and a team of MACOs. They enter the vortex created by the Xindi weapon, which is headed for Earth under the escort of a powerful Xindi Reptilian ship. Since Degra's ship is faster than the weapon, they are able to catch up to it as it approaches Earth.
Hoshi is still recovering from her drugging and interrogation at the hands of the Xindi Reptilians. She is also angry at herself for revealing the third access code to the Xindi weapon. Reed tries to keep Archer from pushing her too hard, but the captain is determined to use her to decode Degra's schematics to the weapon. There are several scenes in which he tries to comfort her while getting her to focus on learning how to deactivate the weapon.
In the meantime, Archer is pulled into the future by Crewman Daniels, who warns him not to board the Xindi weapon platform. Daniels brings him to a significant event in Earth's future: the founding of the United Federation of Planets
. He says that Archer will play a role in the founding of the Federation and that risking his life aboard the weapon could affect the future timeline. Archer says that saving Earth is his only objective and demands to be returned to Degra's ship.
Archer and his team arrive in the solar system
at nearly the same time as the Xindi weapon and ship. The Xindi Reptilians vastly outgun Archer, aboard Degra's vessel. As such, the plan is to deposit Archer, Reed, Sato, and the MACOs on the Xindi weapon and avoid space conflict.
But the Xindi reptilians are not interested in peace. They were instructed by the Sphere Builders to destroy all humans after the Xindi weapon is detonated. The Reptilian Commander decides to preemptively execute the order; he destroys the Yosemitie civilian research station orbiting Earth. He then turns his attention to Archer.
The Reptilian ship prepares to attack Degra's ship, and Archer fears that he might not be able to board the weapon in time. However, he soon receives a transmission from Shran, an Andorian
friend who has arrived to provide assistance. Shran protects Degra's ship and lures the Reptilian ship away, despite suffering damage.
In the meantime, Archer and his team are able to beam aboard the Xindi weapon. A fierce firefight ensues between the Xindi and the MACOs. Archer and Sato begin to disable the weapon. A MACO soldier delays a Xindi soldier in a hand to hand fist fight but is impaled through the stomach and thrown over the side. The soldier shoots at Sato and she loses her copy of the schematics, which also go over the side. Reed is able to kill the Reptilian, but Sato's further instructions to Archer are based on memory. After he completes the deactivation, Archer prepares to plant the bombs that will destroy the weapon entirely. Reed interjects, saying that he is responsible for the weapon's destruction as tactical officer, but Archer orders him and the rest of his team to depart, and they oblige.
Archer plants and detonates the bombs and these disable the weapon for good. He prepares to exit the weapon platform when the Reptilian Commander beams aboard and attacks him. A fight ensues and Archer is nearly knocked off the platform to his death several times. However, he cleverly plants a bomb on the Reptilian Commander himself, hides behind a support pillar and detonates it. The commander is reduced to a fine, red spray. Archer then races away from the weapon platform as it is exploding, but the crew on Degra's ship cannot get a transporter lock on him and he does not escape the blast by being transported onto their ship. The Xindi-Reptilian ship is destroyed by Shran and his ship in the meantime.
Nevertheless, Enterprise returns to Earth inside a Xindi-aquatic ship. After bidding farewell to their comrades, they hail Earth but receive no communication in response. In fact, they fail to establish contact with any orbital platform or with the lunar base. Surprised, T'Pol orders Tucker and Mayweather to investigate by flying a shuttlepod down to San Francisco.
They remark that everything looks normal on the way down, but soon they are attacked by what seem to be P-51s.
The final scene in the episode is of a Nazi
camp, presumably on Earth in the same time. An SS
officer is summoned by a doctor to examine a patient who was recently brought in. The officer follows the doctor to the interior of a large tent. The doctor remarks that the badly burned patient has an unfamiliar uniform, and shows him to the officer.
Here, the audience discovers that the patient is in fact Captain Archer. Soon, three SS
figures emerge from the shadows. Two are human; the final figure is Vosk, an alien who has been helping the Nazis alter history.
This storyline continues in "Storm Front".
(who plays Archer) stated in an interview that two endings had been filmed. One ending, in which Archer survives, was to be used if the series was renewed, while a second ending, in which he dies, was shot in case the series was cancelled. Bakula later said this was a joke, and that only one ending had been filmed. This has led some to speculate that the show's producers had been assured of the program's renewal, despite media reports that the series was on the verge of cancellation at the time.
Star Trek: Enterprise
Star Trek: Enterprise is a science fiction television series. It follows the adventures of humanity's first warp 5 starship, the Enterprise, ten years before the United Federation of Planets shown in previous Star Trek series was formed.Enterprise premiered on September 26, 2001...
; it was the season finale
Season finale
A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program...
for season three. The episode was the end of a season-long story arc
Story arc
A story arc is an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, boardgames, video games, and in some cases, films. On a television program, for example, the story would unfold over many episodes. In television, the use of the story...
in which the crew of the Enterprise
Starship Enterprise
The Enterprise or USS Enterprise is the name of several fictional starships, some of which are the focal point for various television series and films in the Star Trek franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. It is considered a name of legacy in the fleet...
try to stop the Xindi-Reptilians from destroying Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Plot summary
The episode contains two concurrent stories: Captain ArcherJonathan Archer
Jonathan Archer is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. He is the protagonist of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, where he is played by Scott Bakula...
and his team's efforts to destroy the Xindi weapon, and the Enterprise crew's attempt to destroy a sphere in the Delphic Expanse.
Sphere 41
T'PolT'Pol
Commander T'Pol is a fictional character played by Jolene Blalock in Star Trek: Enterprise. She is a Vulcan who serves as the science officer aboard the starship Enterprise.-Concept and creation:...
orders the Enterprise to Sphere 41. She plans to destroy it in an attempt to take out the entire network of spheres. In response to this threat, the Sphere Builders enhance the matter-altering effects of that sphere in the region around it.
Phlox
Phlox (Star Trek)
Phlox is a fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, played by John Billingsley.Dr. Phlox is the chief medical officer aboard the starship Enterprise.-Overview:...
determines that the increased spatial distortion will kill the crew if they are exposed for too long. He synthesizes a compound to allow them to retain consciousness during the encounter, but warns that exposure for longer than fifteen minutes will be deadly and that he cannot prevent deleterious effects on the epidermis.
Commander Tucker modifies the deflector dish so that it can be used as a weapon to destroy the sphere. He is forced to disable some other systems (including the impulse engines) in order to make the weapon effective, and he warns T'Pol that overuse will destroy the ship. She heeds his and Phlox's warnings, but is determined to destroy the sphere.
Travis Mayweather
Travis Mayweather
Travis Mayweather is a fictional character, played by Anthony Montgomery, in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise, serving as a navigator and helm officer aboard the starship Enterprise. He holds the rank of Ensign, and is in the command division...
pilots the ship into the region of distorted space around the sphere. Using only the thrusters, he is able to bring the ship in close enough proximity to the sphere for Tucker to activate the weapon. However, after a few moments, a small group of trans-dimension Sphere Builders arrive on the Enterprise and begin dismantling the engineering section in an attempt to disable the deflector.
At the same time, the crew's skin begins to experience the effects of the spatial distortions, as it starts turning into what looks like parchment. Phlox warns them not to scratch it and concludes that the space has been altered enough to allow the trans-dimensional creatures to exist. He alerts the crew to modify their weapons by modulating their fire, and this is able to hold the Sphere Builders off long enough for Sphere 41 to be destroyed.
As the crew races to depart the area to prevent impending death, the destruction of Sphere 41 sets off a chain reaction
Chain reaction
A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events....
that destroys the rest of the spheres. This terminates the space-altering effects that permeated the region, and the crew realize that they are safe. After a brief scene in which T'Pol reveals her age (not yet 66) to Trip, something considered intimate in Vulcan
Vulcan (Star Trek)
Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...
culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, the Enterprise reaches its rendezvous point with Archer.
The Xindi weapon
Archer boards Degra's ship with Malcolm ReedMalcolm Reed
Malcolm Reed, played by Dominic Keating, is a fictional character on the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. He is often confused with Martin Short, with whom he shares an uncanny appearance....
, Hoshi Sato
Hoshi Sato
Hoshi Sato , played by Korean American actress Linda Park, is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise....
, and a team of MACOs. They enter the vortex created by the Xindi weapon, which is headed for Earth under the escort of a powerful Xindi Reptilian ship. Since Degra's ship is faster than the weapon, they are able to catch up to it as it approaches Earth.
Hoshi is still recovering from her drugging and interrogation at the hands of the Xindi Reptilians. She is also angry at herself for revealing the third access code to the Xindi weapon. Reed tries to keep Archer from pushing her too hard, but the captain is determined to use her to decode Degra's schematics to the weapon. There are several scenes in which he tries to comfort her while getting her to focus on learning how to deactivate the weapon.
In the meantime, Archer is pulled into the future by Crewman Daniels, who warns him not to board the Xindi weapon platform. Daniels brings him to a significant event in Earth's future: the founding of the United Federation of Planets
United Federation of Planets
The United Federation of Planets, also known as "The Federation" is a fictional interplanetary federal republic depicted in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures...
. He says that Archer will play a role in the founding of the Federation and that risking his life aboard the weapon could affect the future timeline. Archer says that saving Earth is his only objective and demands to be returned to Degra's ship.
Archer and his team arrive in the solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
at nearly the same time as the Xindi weapon and ship. The Xindi Reptilians vastly outgun Archer, aboard Degra's vessel. As such, the plan is to deposit Archer, Reed, Sato, and the MACOs on the Xindi weapon and avoid space conflict.
But the Xindi reptilians are not interested in peace. They were instructed by the Sphere Builders to destroy all humans after the Xindi weapon is detonated. The Reptilian Commander decides to preemptively execute the order; he destroys the Yosemitie civilian research station orbiting Earth. He then turns his attention to Archer.
The Reptilian ship prepares to attack Degra's ship, and Archer fears that he might not be able to board the weapon in time. However, he soon receives a transmission from Shran, an Andorian
Andorian
Andorians are a fictional race of humanoid extraterrestrials created by D. C. Fontana for the Star Trek universe. They are native to the icy M-class moon Andoria , which orbits a blue, ringed gas giant. Definitive traits include their blue skin, a pair of cranial antennae, and white hair...
friend who has arrived to provide assistance. Shran protects Degra's ship and lures the Reptilian ship away, despite suffering damage.
In the meantime, Archer and his team are able to beam aboard the Xindi weapon. A fierce firefight ensues between the Xindi and the MACOs. Archer and Sato begin to disable the weapon. A MACO soldier delays a Xindi soldier in a hand to hand fist fight but is impaled through the stomach and thrown over the side. The soldier shoots at Sato and she loses her copy of the schematics, which also go over the side. Reed is able to kill the Reptilian, but Sato's further instructions to Archer are based on memory. After he completes the deactivation, Archer prepares to plant the bombs that will destroy the weapon entirely. Reed interjects, saying that he is responsible for the weapon's destruction as tactical officer, but Archer orders him and the rest of his team to depart, and they oblige.
Archer plants and detonates the bombs and these disable the weapon for good. He prepares to exit the weapon platform when the Reptilian Commander beams aboard and attacks him. A fight ensues and Archer is nearly knocked off the platform to his death several times. However, he cleverly plants a bomb on the Reptilian Commander himself, hides behind a support pillar and detonates it. The commander is reduced to a fine, red spray. Archer then races away from the weapon platform as it is exploding, but the crew on Degra's ship cannot get a transporter lock on him and he does not escape the blast by being transported onto their ship. The Xindi-Reptilian ship is destroyed by Shran and his ship in the meantime.
Ending
Sato and Reed return to the Enterprise with the sad news that Archer did not make it off the weapon. This sadness spreads throughout the ship, and it becomes acute for the still emotionally unsettled T'Pol when she has a conversation with Phlox about how Porthos will handle life in the future.Nevertheless, Enterprise returns to Earth inside a Xindi-aquatic ship. After bidding farewell to their comrades, they hail Earth but receive no communication in response. In fact, they fail to establish contact with any orbital platform or with the lunar base. Surprised, T'Pol orders Tucker and Mayweather to investigate by flying a shuttlepod down to San Francisco.
They remark that everything looks normal on the way down, but soon they are attacked by what seem to be P-51s.
The final scene in the episode is of a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
camp, presumably on Earth in the same time. An SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
officer is summoned by a doctor to examine a patient who was recently brought in. The officer follows the doctor to the interior of a large tent. The doctor remarks that the badly burned patient has an unfamiliar uniform, and shows him to the officer.
Here, the audience discovers that the patient is in fact Captain Archer. Soon, three SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
figures emerge from the shadows. Two are human; the final figure is Vosk, an alien who has been helping the Nazis alter history.
This storyline continues in "Storm Front".
Multiple endings
Prior to the episode's broadcast, actor Scott BakulaScott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
(who plays Archer) stated in an interview that two endings had been filmed. One ending, in which Archer survives, was to be used if the series was renewed, while a second ending, in which he dies, was shot in case the series was cancelled. Bakula later said this was a joke, and that only one ending had been filmed. This has led some to speculate that the show's producers had been assured of the program's renewal, despite media reports that the series was on the verge of cancellation at the time.