| File:Jonathan Archer.jpg | |
| Caption: | Captain Jonathan Archer in 2151 |
| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Human |
| Father: | Henry Archer |
| Actor: | Scott Bakula |
| File:JonathanArcher2154.jpg | |
| Caption: | Cpt. Archer in 2154 |
Jonathan Archer (played by Scott Bakula) was Captain of the first full-fledged Starfleet starship, the Enterprise (NX-01). In that role, he was responsible for greatly expanding Earth's presence in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants and making first contact with more than a dozen species, among them the Klingons and the Xindi.
Childhood
Archer as child.
Jonathan was born in the 2110s to Henry Archer, the renowned warp scientist, and his wife Sally. Despite being born in upstate New York, Archer spent his entire life in San Francisco. From an early age he wanted to join Starfleet; as a child he often built model spaceships with his father. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "North Star")
As a child, Archer achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America. (ENT: "Rogue Planet") He was called to the principal's office only once, for passing notes to Katy Bentley. (ENT: "The Council")
Henry Archer died from Clarke's Disease when Jonathan was only twelve, leaving his mother to raise him. (ENT: Cold Station 12)
A few years before Starfleet was chartered Archer gave serious thought to serving on a cargo ship, but decided against it. (ENT: Horizon)
Early Years in Starfleet
Jonathan Archer in 2143, while observing Starfleet's first warp 2 flight.
When he was 24 and in flight school in San Francisco, Archer met Margaret Mullin, with whom he became romantically involved. The night before he graduated, he asked her to marry him. She turned him down. She did not want to become a "Starfleet widow." (ENT: "Twilight")
As a Commander, Archer was one of four test pilots in the NX Program in the 2140s. In 2143, he achieved warp 2.5 with the NX-Beta together with A.G. Robinson. That same year, Archer also befriended Charles Tucker. (ENT: "First Flight")
Later in the 2140s, Archer was on Titan as part of the Omega training mission together with Tucker. As a malfunction with Tucker's environmental suit occurs, Archer saves his life by preventing him taking off his helmet on Titan's surface. (ENT: "Strange New World")
Around that same time, Archer also had been romantically involved with Erika Hernandez, who would later become commanding officer of the Columbia (NX-02). However, Jonathan discontinued the relationship, since he became her superior officer. In 2154, after Erika advanced to the rank of Captain herself, both would revive their relationship. (ENT: "Home")
In 2150, he was ultimately selected as the Captain of the Enterprise. (ENT: "First Flight")
Commanding the NX-01
In March 2152, after it appeared his ship's mission was over because of the destruction of the mining colony on Paraagan II, Archer was transported to April 9, 2151 by Crewman Daniels, who revealed the Suliban were responsible for what had happened. Returning to 2152, Archer used knowledge given to him by Daniels to board a Suliban stealth-cruiser and prove what they had done. As a result, Silik demanded Archer, and to save him Daniels transported him to the 31st Century, causing a major disruption in the timeline that apparently destroyed Earth. Archer and Daniels were able to repair the timeline, but Archer managed to learn that he was vital to the creation of a "United Federation of Planets" in the future. (ENT: "Shockwave, Parts I and II")
Soon afterwards, Archer would make a regrettable First Contact with the Romulan Star Empire (ENT: "Minefield".
In late 2152, Archer was captured by the Klingons after assisting Rha'daran rebels. Put on trial on Narendra III, he was sentenced to labor in the dilithium mines on Rura Penthe, but managed to escape. (ENT: "Judgment") He was hunted by the Klingons for this offense, at first through bounty hunters like Skalaar (ENT: "Bounty") and then directly by Duras. (ENT: "The Expanse")
The Delphic Expanse
The Xindi superweapon in 2154.
After the Xindi probe attack on Earth in 2152, Archer was given a new mission: The search for the Xindi superweapon, which required entering a dangerous region of space known as the Delphic Expanse, in order to find the ones responsible for the attack, and prevent them from launching their superweapon to destroy Earth. It would take nearly six weeks before Enterprise would come into contact with an actual Xindi, and even then, he proved to be of little help, directing Archer to coordinates that contained nothing but a field of debris which used to be a planet.
In September 2153 Archer was transformed into a Loque'eque. Even after being cured by Phlox, Archer continued to suffer from a residual infection and strange dreams of the Loque'eque city. (ENT: "Extinction")
Archer suffered a mild concussion from an encounter with a spatial anomaly in October 2153. (ENT: "Twilight")
In an alternate timeline, the anomaly infected Archer's hippocampus with interspatial parasites, causing anterograde amnesia by impairing the synaptic pathways that allowed him to form new long-term memories. Though the crew tried to keep Archer up to date so he could function as captain, the Starfleet Command Council eventually relieved him of command; he spent most of his time in his quarters. Earth was destroyed in 2154, but he remained there until 2156 when Enterprise reached Ceti Alpha V. T'Pol took care of him for nine years, when Phlox arrived from Denobula with a cure. Destroying one of the clusters of parasites, Phlox and T'Pol discovered that destroying them now destroyed them in the past. As Enterprise was boarded by Xindi forces, Archer initiated a subspace implosion, eradicating the remaining parasites and thus preventing himself from ever having been infected in 2153. (ENT: "Twilight")
During his time in the Delphic Expanse, Archer was constantly forced to bend the morals he once adhered to. Though he told T'Pol he could not save humanity if he lost what made him human, Archer committed several "gray" acts, including the torture of an Osaarian pirate, creating a clone of Charles Tucker named Sim, and killing three Xindi on a listening post. At that point he declared he was not going to order any more deaths, instead choosing to personally destroy the superweapon, despite attempts by T'Pol and Daniels to talk him out of it. However, the Xindi intercepted and captured him, though they released him after a lengthy interrogation. (ENT: "Azati Prime", "Damage")
In another alternate timeline, Enterprise was flung to the year 2037 while en route to the Xindi Council planet. Archer decided that the ship would become a generation ship, and that the crew's descendants would be the ones to complete the ship's mission and stop the Xindi superweapon. Archer eventually married an Ikaaran woman named Esilia. One of his descendants was Karyn Archer. (ENT: "E²")
In February 2154, Archer went before the Xindi Council to convince them to not launch the Xindi superweapon at Earth. He had a hard time, but quickly made an ally of Degra. The other Xindi-Primate councilor, Jannar, and Kiaphet Amman'sor soon came around to Archer's side as well, but Commander Dolim betrayed the Council and stole the weapon. (ENT: "The Council")
Archer was believed to have been killed having been aboard the Xindi superweapon as it exploded while approaching Earth. (ENT: "Zero Hour")
Homecoming
Place in History
Archer was remembered as being "The Greatest Explorer of the 22nd Century", and in integral part of the formation of the United Federation of Planets. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
Miscellaneous
The Federation named two planets after him, in honor of his contributions. Archer IV is probably one of them. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II]]")
The name of Archer was originally supposed to be "Captain Jackson Archer", but eventually the name 'Jackson' was switched with 'Jonathan'.
Needs season 4-information.
Template:Attentionneeded