Crewman Daniels

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Daniels
Daniels
Species:	"Human, more or less"
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Brown
Eye color:	Brown
Home planet:	Earth
Affiliation:	United Federation of Planets
Position:	Temporal Agent
Portrayed by:	Matt Winston

Crewman Daniels is a fictional character in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise who is encountered in several episodes. He is portrayed by Matt Winston.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Daniels (a possible code name, real name, or nom de guerre), is an operative in the cross-history conflict called the Temporal Cold War. Daniels is from the 31st century, c. 3064 CE. He was first seen in Cold Front as a member of Archer's crew. Soon after, he is apparently killed during a Suliban incursion aboard Enterprise. His quarters, which contain several time travel-related devices, was locked down and banned to all crew members, except in cases of emergency involving the Temporal Cold War.

Daniels explained little of the nature of his organization, preferring to keep the group's nature, organization and abilities mostly unknown, in order to keep Captain Archer from learning too much about the future. His method of transporting others through time was unusually subtle, lacking any obvious visual effects or disorientation. Typically, Archer would walk through a door on the Enterprise and suddenly find himself in an unfamiliar location and time period; Daniels would then appear to talk to him. Daniels pulled a similar feat on a much larger scale in the episode Storm Front: When the Enterprise returned to Earth after the battle with the Xindi, it discovered that it had arrived during World War II. (See below.)

Exactly how Daniels survived being vaporized in Cold Front is not explained; however, with the non-linear nature of time travel being what it is, it is entirely possible that he did not survive at all; subsequent appearances in later episodes of the show may have simply taken place earlier in his life before fighting his last battle in "Cold Front". (On the other hand, Daniels' appearance in that episode could have been a very futuristic hologram, as when Daniels is shot he appears to vanish as a hologram would have.) In the first season finale, Shockwave, Daniels transports Archer to an altered version of the 31st Century in which the United Federation of Planets had never existed. Daniels, apparently the only other person besides Archer left on Earth who knew about the main timeline, helps the captain restore the original timeline.

Daniels continued to make occasional appearances, and returned in the third season episode "Carpenter Street", in which he sent Archer and T'Pol back to the year 2004 to investigate why some Xindi Reptilians were on Earth in that time period. He was also seen in the episode "Azati Prime", in which he transported Archer into the future - placing him aboard a future starship called the Enterprise-J, to inform him about the Sphere Builders and their relationship to the Xindi. He later transported Archer to the year 2161, giving him a glimpse of the inauguration ceremony for the United Federation of Planets (later seen in "These Are the Voyages..."), warning Archer that allowing the Xindi to change history would result in the destruction of the UFP before it even existed.

In his final appearance in the fourth season premiere, Storm Front, he was apparently extremely ill: parts of him were more than a hundred years old while other parts were almost at a fetal stage; apparently the result of some sort of weapon or failed attempt to time travel, due to the ongoing war. He used his last remaining strength to transport Archer and the Enterprise to Earth in the year 1944 to stop an alien race from changing history and allowing the Nazis to win World War II. After warning Archer that the Temporal Cold War had exploded into a full-fledged conflict, Daniels apparently died, but with the collapse of the Temporal Cold War, Daniels reappeared and returned Archer to his original timeline.

At this point, Archer told Daniels in no uncertain terms he never wanted to see him again; the relative unpopularity of the Temporal Cold War storyline among some fans, as well as the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise seems to eliminate the possibility of Daniels returning again to "Star Trek" continuity. Of course, all filmed and televised episodes of Star Trek are considered canon, so though not popular with certain fans, the "IDIC" principle of including even unpopular storyline information will continue to include Daniels and the Temporal Cold War.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Lieutenant Daniels

There is a Starfleet officer, Lieutenant Daniels (played by Michael Horton), who is the tactical officer on the Enterprise-E during the events of Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. The name appears to be a coincidence, since this Daniels has never been shown to be related to Crewman Daniels.