Future Tense (Star Trek: Enterprise)

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"Future Tense"
James Whitmore, Jr.
Written byMike Sussman
Phyllis Strong
Featured musicDennis McCarthy
Production code216
Original air dateFebruary 19, 2003 (2003-02-19)
Guest appearances
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"Future Tense" is the 42nd episode (production #216) of the

television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the 16th of the second season
. Set in the 22nd century of the Star Trek universe, a spaceship and its crew deal with aliens as they explore space.

The NX-01

Tholian
, ships seeking its possession.

This episode aired on UPN on February 19, 2003; it was written by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong, and directed by James Whitmore, Jr. Vaughn Armstrong guest stars as the Admiral Forrest, and the episode has additional music done by composer Dennis McCarthy.

Plot

The discovery of a derelict pod with a long-dead human pilot opens up a mystery. Some of the crew speculate he is the first human to invent

Suliban ship arrives and claims salvage rights, but Captain Archer
refuses to yield it without explanation. They open fire, and beam in a boarding party, but are finally repelled.

Undaunted, Enterprise then sets course to rendezvous with Tal'Kir, a

Temporal Cold War
.

Tholians
arrive, demanding the pod and warning Enterprise of temporal radiation. Again, Archer refuses, and they leave after he threatens to destroy it. The crew, reaching the rendezvous destination, discover that the Tholians have disabled the Tal'Kir, and soon disable Enterprise as well. The Suliban arrive and a battle ensues between them and the Tholians. The Tholians succeed in destroying the Suliban ships. After working through another time-loop, Archer and Reed booby-trap the pod and send it out into space, but the Tholians immediately disarm the device. Tucker then gets the temporal distress beacon to power up, and soon the future ship and its contents dematerialize. The Tholians leave, and Enterprise assists the Vulcan ship, as Archer's way of thanking the Vulcan High Command for their support and help.

Production

The episode was originally titled "Crash Landing" before it was changed to "Future Tense".[1]

Director

James Whitmore, Jr. previously directed the episode "Acquisition". Whitmore has also directed episodes of 24, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files and many other shows.[2]

The episode mostly used existing sets. A new set was built for the remains of the salvaged vessel, and a wall for the Suliban ship shown on the viewscreen.[2]

Reception

"Future Tense" was first broadcast February 19, 2003, on UPN.[3] It had a

Nielsen ratings share of 2.9/4. It had a total average audience of 4.62 million viewers.[4][5]

In 2019, Higgy Pop noted this episode as one of the time travel stories of the Star Trek franchise.[6] The review also compares the spacecraft they discover to the TARDIS of the Doctor Who television show, noting, "The pod and the Doctor's TARDIS are both bigger on the inside than the outside, and able to travel across time."[7]

Jammer's Reviews described the episode as "hardly informative or conclusive, but pretty fun." It added, "This is a plot that doesn't supply much that's tangible in terms of the temporal cold war storyline. It's more a means to an end — the means being the storyline and the end being sci-fi action. An ideal situation, of course, would probably have those particular elements of means and end reversed."[8]

In 2021, The Digital Fix said that "Future Tense" was "one of the highlights of the season" and noted how it connected to the temporal war story arc, begun earlier in the series.[9]

In his 2022 rewatch, Keith DeCandido of

Tor.com gave it 3 out of 10.[10]

Releases

The first home media release of "Future Tense" was as part of the season two

Blu-ray Disc for season two occurred on August 20, 2013.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Production New: Home Sweet Home". StarTrek.com. 2003-02-07. Archived from the original on 2003-02-16.
  2. ^ a b "Production News: Rhymes with "Bolians"..." StarTrek.com. 2002-12-18. Archived from the original on 2003-02-01.
  3. ^ "Viewers Show Love for 'Bachelorette' on Wednesday". Zap2it.com. Feb 20, 2003. Archived from the original on 2003-04-20.
  4. ^ "Episode List: Star Trek: Enterprise". TV Tango. Archived from the original on February 15, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  5. ^ Brian Lowry. "Reality: They're still on top". Calendarlive.com. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 April 2003. 84. Enterprise UPN 4.62
  6. ^ "Complete List Of Time Travel Storylines In Star Trek". Higgypop. February 18, 2019. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  7. ^ Kooser, Amanda. "It's Star Trek First Contact Day! Here's how to party". CNET. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  8. Jammer's Reviews
    . Retrieved 2020-02-18.
  9. ^ Baz Greenland (2021-03-22). "Star Trek: Enterprise Revisited - A Look Back At Season Two". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 2021-04-08.
  10. Tor.com. Archived
    from the original on 2022-10-03. Retrieved 2022-10-07.
  11. ^ Ordway, Holly E. (August 7, 2005). "Star Trek Enterprise – The Complete Second Season". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on July 28, 2015. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
  12. ^ "Enterprise Season: Two Blu-ray Available August 20". StarTrek.com. May 23, 2013. Archived from the original on February 18, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2016.

External links

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