Enterprise Wednesday #54 - Extinction - Star Trek Enterprise Commentary & Review

Qapla' All... Today we continue the adventure... It will be a long road... We'll watch Star Trek Enterprise (officially named now) season 3, episode 3, Extinction. Watch as Captain Archer and crew become Earth's first Warp 5 starship crew to boldly go where no man has gone before!

Enterprise S03E03 Wikipedia -
"Extinction" is the 55th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the third episode of season three. It first aired on September 24, 2003 on the UPN network in the United States. This was the first episode to include the prefix "Star Trek" in the title of the series. Set in the 22nd century just prior to the formation of the United Federation of Planets, the series follows the adventures of Starfleet's first Warp 5 starship, Enterprise, registration NX-01.

Season three of Enterprise features an ongoing story following an attack on Earth by a previously unknown alien race called the Xindi. In this episode, while investigating a planet visited by the Xindi, several crew members, including Captain Jonathan Archer, become infected with a virus that mutates them into another species. While they develop a cure, the Enterprise crew must prevent an alien race from exterminating the mutated crew members. The episode was written by story editor André Bormanis and directed by Star Trek: The Next Generation alumnus LeVar Burton.

"Extinction" was shot across seven days, with the soundstage transformed into an alien jungle for filming. John Eaves designed a Xindi pod, as well as an alien spaceship which he strongly disliked. Jolene Blalock, Scott Bakula, Linda Park and Dominic Keating were each required to undergo extended make-up sessions during six days of the shoot in order to show their characters in various states of mutation. Around four million viewers watched "Extinction" on first broadcast, but the critical reception was mixed. Although the actors who underwent additional make-up were praised, the plot was found to be similar to previous episodes in the franchise and the ending was considered poor.

On Enterprise, Sub-Commander T'Pol is called to the command center by Captain Archer. Archer tells her that he has located a nearby planet that the Xindi recently visited. Both then travel down to the surface with Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato. They discover a Xindi shuttle along with two dead crewmembers, one of whom has been incinerated. With little warning, Archer, Sato and Reed begin to transform physically and mentally into a different species. Within seconds they are fully changed. T'Pol, however, is only mildly affected physically, appearing somehow resistant.

After a physical altercation with her newly transformed crewmates, T'Pol is able to communicate with Archer by gaining use of the universal translator. She learns they have been overcome with an overwhelming instinct to reach a city called "Urquat", the homeland of their species. Meanwhile, Commander Tucker and an away team of MACOs, equipped with biohazard suits, manage to capture and return Reed to the ship. Archer and Sato flee and T'Pol opts to stay with them. Doctor Phlox soon determines that they were infected by a mutagenic virus, and concludes that T'Pol's Vulcan genetics rendered her partially immune.

Two "containment ships" soon arrive, demanding access to Enterprise in order to stop the virus that killed millions of their people 60 years earlier. Tucker refuses, but invites their leader, Tret, aboard. Tret explains that the original inhabitants of the planet, the Loque'eque, created the virus in a last ditch effort to continue their species. Believing it impossible to cure, he sends a team to the planet's surface to neutralize Archer and Sato. Archer leads Sato and T'Pol to Urquat, but they find it in ruins. Tucker beams down with a team of MACOs and rescues them. Enterprise warps away, but the alien ships pursue and attack the ship. Tucker asks Tret to allow Phlox more time to synthesize an antidote with T'pol's genes, but Tret refuses. Before he can board the ship, Phlox arrives with Archer and Sato—now mostly restored—and promises Tret a sample. Later, as Phlox plans to destroy the last vial of the virus, Archer tells him to keep it as the last remnant of the near-extinct species.

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