Observer Effect (Enterprise episode)

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Observer Effect is the name of the 87th episode from the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. "Observer Effect" first aired on January 21, 2005 on the American television network UPN.

[edit] Plot summary

Official Short Synopsis: Noncorporeal aliens study the Enterprise crew as they respond to a fatal viral infection brought on board from an away mission.

Official full synopsis: Curious aliens inhabit various members of the crew to observe aspects of humanity; Phlox works feverishly to cure a lethal virus contracted by Trip and Hoshi during an away mission.

Plot Details A viral infection hits Trip while on an away mission and he collapses in the shuttlepod. Aliens inhabit Malcolm Reed and Travis Mayweather, and they discuss the trivality of chess and the responses of the crew.

MALCOLM "Humans don't want to interact with dying crewmates any more than Klingons do. If it was left to me I would stop observations immediately. We have nothing left to learn from the humans."

MAYWEATHER "Oh I don't know, they're showing concern for one another. The Cardassians did that when they were here, didn't they?"

MALCOLM "In the end they killed their infected crew just as the Klingons did. The only difference is the time they took to reach that decision."

MAYWEATHER "Maybe the humans will surprise us."

MALCOLM "I've been observing aliens for 800 years. I'm yet to be surprised."

It turns out that the virus is a silicon based life form, rather than a carbon based one. Archer explains to Trip that T'Pol and Phlox are looking for a cure. Trip realizes that the human immune system can't fight silicon.

One of the aliens notes increased intelligence. One fully expects the humans to destroy themselves, whereas the other believes that they should inhabit the doctor and the captain to observe the solution to this problem first hand. The first believes that this would interfere with the unfolding of events.

We learn that during her Starfleet training, Hoshi Sato broke a commander's arm after he caught her running poker games on weekends, and was thrown out. Archer was the one who convinced Starfleet to reinstate her.

The noncorporeal aliens have been conducting first contact with species for the last 10,000 years based upon the way they handle this virus. If they are incapable of finding a cure for the silicon based virus, they will be forced to destroy themselves. This seems to ensure their race is not discovered, because first contact never occurs with races with the intellectual capacity to combat the virus.

Sato breaks out of the decontamination chamber and releases the virus into the rest of the ship. Archer attempts to seal out the different areas of the ship, as Hoshi tries to go out the airlock. Trip uses a hypospray to inject a chemical compound into Hoshi and then himself.

The alien species moves beyond the physical world, which allows them to exist without host bodies. There is a noticeable difference in opinion between the two aliens -- one that seems determined to allow species to die despite the fact that they could be saved. Archer sacrifices himself to save Sato by conducting an operation instructed by Phlox. This act of selflessness seems to capture the aliens' interest. They use a futuristic defibrillator to jolt her heart back into operation.

Archer encounters the aliens and in a compassionate speech convinces one to break protocol and remove the virus. They allude to a first contact occurring approximately 5,000 years from now. (Actual first contact with these aliens - the Organians would occur about a century later, during the events of the original series episode "Errand of Mercy".)

Preceded by: Daedalus

Star Trek: Enterprise episodes

Followed by: Babel One

[edit] External links

• Observer Effect article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.