Stigma (Enterprise episode)

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Star Trek: Enterprise episode
"Stigma"
T'Pol is diagnosed with Pa'nar Syndrome Syndrome
Episode no.	40
Prod. code	214
Airdate	February 5, 2003
Writer(s)	Rick Berman Brannon Braga
Director	David Livingston
Guest star(s)	Melinda Page Hamilton Michael Ensign Bob Morrisey Jeffrey Hayenga Lee Spencer
Year	2152
Stardate	unknown
Episode chronology
Previous	"Dawn"
Next	"Cease Fire"

Stigma is the 40^th episode (production #214) of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Synopsis
2 Plot
3 Production history
4 External link

[edit] Synopsis

In the episode T'Pol learns she has an incurable condition called pan'aar syndrome contracted from her mind meld in "Fusion" and must face being ostracized by Vulcan society and losing her position on Enterprise as a result.

[edit] Plot

Dr. Phlox tells T'Pol that his treatment of her possibly fatal Pa'nar syndrome is losing effectiveness, and he'd like to make confidential inquiries about the disease with Vulcan doctors attending an interspecies medical exchange on the planet Enterprise orbits. She resists, but Phlox chooses to go anyway. Before he does, one of his wives, Feezal, arrives to help install a new microscope.

Phlox's inquiries with the Vulcans yields little information. When the Vulcans come on board Enterprise and interview Phlox and T'Pol, it's clear that his subterfuge had failed. The Vulcans trick T'Pol into giving a medical sample, which confirms to them that she has Pa’nar.

Archer is upset that he had to learn about T'Pol's condition from the Vulcans. It then comes out that T'Pol could lose her commission because Pa'nar is a stigmatized disease. It's only transmitted via mind meld, and the Vulcans have a low opinion of the practice. Archer then pays his own visit to the Vulcans -- which is no more fruitful than Phlox’s first visit. That is until one of the doctors, Yuris, sets up a secret meeting with T’Pol to give her the information she seeks. He is a mind melder, and feels a sort of bond with her. But she lets it be known that the infectious mind meld, her only experience, was forced. He tells her to tell the others before the Vulcan High Command is informed of her condition. She refuses.

Archer uses a loophole in Vulcan protocol to force a hearing. T'Pol stands by her silence, and Archer stands by his science officer, all the while arguing with the Vulcan doctors. Dr. Yuris then exposes T'Pol's secret, and comes out of the mind meld closet himself. As a result, he's suspended, but T'Pol is allowed to remain on Enterprise. T’Pol continues to take the high ground and will inform the High Command about the events - Yuris shouldn't be condemned without a fight.

While all of this was going on, Feezal was making constant amorous advances on poor Commander Tucker. He can't quiet wrap his mind around a culture where polygamy from all sexes is the norm. He bows out as gracefully as he can, but Phlox and Feezal can only shake their heads in bemused wonder... "Humans."

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[edit] Production history

In the fall of 2002, Viacom, the owners of the UPN network on which Enterprise was aired, mandated that all fictional programs on its schedule would, sometime during the 2002-2003 season, produce an episode addressing the AIDS crisis. This proved to be a challenge for Enterprise since it, being science fiction series set 150 years in the future, presumably takes place after a cure for AIDS had been discovered.

The issue was addressed by indicating that T'Pol contracted an HIV-like condition during an incident in a first season episode in which she experienced one of her first mind melds, but from a Vulcan not sufficiently trained in the art.

As with most Enterprise episodes, "Stigma" was controversial with many Star Trek fans who felt it was both untimely (it was not so daring as to make a plea for compassion for people living with HIV) and a cop-out; the episode never mentions the history of the AIDS pandemic on Earth, and it reminded many fans of how the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation had rejected a 1987 David Gerrold script ("Blood and Fire") which was also an AIDS allegory. Even some producers of the series publicly remarked that the episode was something of a "cop-out", in that dodged the issue of sexual orientation all together and offered a mild plea for compassion.^{[citation needed]} Yet, many fans of the Vulcan race applauded the episode for revealing more background about the Vulcan race.

T'Pol's pan'aar syndrome was only occasionally mentioned in future episodes, and it became a fan complaint that years passed without it being even spoken about. This was finally rectified in the fourth season episode "Awakening", part of a story arc that addressed a number of issues first raised in "Stigma". It is revealed in the "Awakening" story arc that the oppressive faction seen in charge of Vulcan at the time of "Stigma" had disseminated untruths about the Vulcan race even among its own people (it is suggested the Romulans might have been responsible). Among these untruths was the claim that only a minority of Vulcans were capable of mind-melds. "Awakening" revealed this to be far from the truth, and it further clarified that T'Pol's condition was caused by an improperly trained melder, rather than a virus.