Carpenter Street

"Carpenter Street" is the 63rd Star Trek: Enterprise television episode. The 11th episode of the series' third season.

Plot

Temporal Agent Daniels informs Captain Archer that three Reptilian Xindi have traveled back in time to Detroit, Michigan, Earth, to the year 2004, where they intend to hide out and produce a bioweapon to destroy Earth (the Xindi Council had banned the use of bioweapons, forcing the reptilians to take extraordinary measures). Daniels later sends Archer and Sub-commander T'Pol back in time to investigate. He also gives Archer temporal tags to bring back anything that doesn't belong in the 21st century.

Soon after arriving Archer informs T'Pol that they need currency, using 22nd century technology Archer withdraws some money from a nearby ATM, and later finds a car. Archer succeeds in "piloting" a car after a few failed attempts.

Using a hand scanner T'Pol locates the Xindi bio signs leading them to an abandoned factory on Carpenter Street. They notice Loomis, a blood bank employee, exiting the building. Suspecting something, they follow Loomis to his apartment. After he tries to escape, he runs down the fire escape and T'Pol uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to stop him. Later, he wakes in his apartment, and thinking Archer and T'Pol are police officers, Loomis admits delivering six out of eight bodies to his employers, one for each blood type, for which the Xindi pay him a lot of money. Loomis reveals the details of the plan in hopes of striking a deal - perhaps amnesty - from the "officers."

Archer comes up with a plan and poses as one of the newly delivered bodies. After being escorted and "sold" by Loomis, Archer realizes that the Xindi are developing some sort of a bio weapon. Archer begins destroying the technology of the Xindi and in process kills one of the three Reptilians. Two others try to escape with a canister of deadly bio-agent. Archer manages to kill another Xindi.

The last Xindi escapes due to the interference of Loomis. T'Pol uses her phaser to subdue Loomis. After a short chase, Archer corners the last Xindi who is holding the bio-agent canister. The Xindi threatens to release the bioweapon but is subdued. Archer and T'Pol then collect all non-21st-century artifacts by using their temporal tags, and quickly return to the Enterprise. Loomis, on the other hand, wakes up surrounded by real police officers and attempts to explain that he was manipulated by "lizard people" and their "ray guns."

Notes

• There is no Carpenter Street in real-life Detroit; however, there is one in Hamtramck, Michigan, a small city surrounded on all sides by Detroit.

• T'Pol implies that the unfinished bioweapon, calibrated to six of the eight ABO-h blood types, could kill three-quarters of Earth's population. Given the rarity of the two remaining types, B-negative and AB-positive, it is likely that the weapon would have an even more devastating effect.

• "Carpenter Street" is the first Star Trek episode to have a TV-14 rating, due to a small part of the plot involving prostitution. Other episodes carry either a TV-G or TV-PG rating.

• It takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds of running time (out of 41:04, or 18%) before any of the series regular characters appear on screen. John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox), Anthony Montgomery (Ensign Travis Mayweather) and Linda Park do not appear in the episode at all; neither does Dominic Keating, but he does have a couple of voice-over lines.

External links

• Carpenter Street at the Internet Movie Database
• "Carpenter Street" at TV.com
• Carpenter Street at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Carpenter Street at StarTrek.com