Changes: Similitude (episode)

Revision as of 19:31, 12 May 2009

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During an engine performance test, Trip is critically injured and left comatose in sickbay. Phlox suggests that Trip's only hope for survival is the creation of a "mimetic symbiont" – in other words, a clone.

Summary

At a funeral ceremony, Captain Jonathan Archer is eulogizing a dead crewman who appears to be Charles Tucker III.

In a flashback to events that began two weeks earlier, Trip wants to do some tests about compressing the antimatter stream (in the warp core) to get the engine running more smoothly and be able to achieve greater speed. Unfortunately, only seconds after the experiments begins, a primary injector flare forces Trip to do a manual shutdown. While on the top of the warp core, the engineer is then blown by a nearby explosion and falls.

In sickbay, Phlox informs Captain Archer that Trip has slipped into a coma due to extensive neural damage. He also proposes to use a Lyssarrian desert larvae to make a clone of Commander Tucker and harvest neural tissues from it. Due to highly sensitive ethical implications, Archer does not make a decision right away.

T'Pol then informs Archer that some particles from the the field they are into (also probably the cause of the initial injector flare), are building on the ship's hull. The highly magnetic property of the particles could become a problem if they are not able to clear the field on time. Archer then says that he allowed the cloning procedure, sacrificing the ethical implication to the mission's objective.

The clone then grows from a baby to a child and eventually begins to ask questions about its existence. The captain tells him the truth. As Sim (the clone) ages, the repairs to the warp drive go on, but slowly. As the particles building on the hull have a dampening effect, every system on the ship will fail before the repairs are completed. By the time Sim becomes an adult, he helps with the repairs. He even comes up with a solution to the particles problem. At about the same stage, he confesses "his" feelings for T'Pol.

Some time after, Phlox informs the captain that, according to his predictions, Sim won't survive the transplant. What would only mean a couple of days for everyone still means half a lifetime for Sim. The clone also informs the captain about an enzyme he learned about that could slow down the aging process. However, based on a complete layout from Phlox, Archer says that the odds are too thin and that he is not willing to jeopardize the mission (in case of a failure, the clone would have become too old for the transplant).

A little later, Sim plans an escape, but he aborts it. When the captain meets him in the launch bay, Sim says that what stopped him was the thought of his sister. He insists on the fact that she was his sister as well as Trip's. Just before the surgery, T'Pol comes to Sim's quarter to say her goodbyes with a kiss (a thing she hadn't even done with Trip at the time), showing that he meant something to her, more than just being a clone to save Trip's life.

At the funeral ceremony, the dead crewman seen earlier is revealed to be Sim. The crew, including a recovered Trip, pay their last respects as Sim is placed in a torpedo tube and fired out into space.

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Memorable quotes

"The most difficult test facing any captain, any crew, is the loss of a shipmate. We've come here to honor one of our own. In the time we knew him, he showed us just how much one life can truly matter. We will never forget what he did for us, and for the ship he loved so much. We will go forward with renewed determination to complete this mission, so that his sacrifice won't just have been for the people on this ship, but for all the citizens of Earth."

- Captain Archer's eulogy for a lost crewman, apparently Trip

"Regarding the Lyssarrian procedure Doctor Phlox proposed, may I ask if you've reached a decision?"
"I approved it."
"Are you aware that the Lyssarrian Prime Conclave has banned the creation of simbiots?"
"We don't answer to the Lyssarrian Prime Conclave."
"Simbiots are living, conscious entities. We'll be growing a sentient being for the sole purpose of harvesting tissue."
"I'm aware of the ethical implications. If we weren't in the Expanse, maybe my decision would be different. But... we've got to complete this mission. Earth needs Enterprise. Enterprise needs Trip. It's as simple as that."

- T'Pol and Captain Archer, discussing the controversial procedure Phlox has proposed in order to revive Trip

"Can he do any tricks?"
"I haven't taught him any. Mostly what he does is eat, sleep, and, uh, not fetch."

- Young Sim and Archer, discussing Porthos

"I'm not talking about an adolescent crush. That was... well, that was two days ago."

- Sim, to T'Pol

"I have his memories. I have his feelings. I have his body. How am I not Trip?"

- Sim, to Archer

"I must complete my mission! And to do that I need Trip! Trip!"
"Even if it means killing me?"
"Even if it means killing you."

- Archer and Sim, arguing over his right to survive

"I was all ready to do it."
"What stopped you?"
"Where the hell was I going to go? We're nowhere near any habitable planet. Didn't really want to spend the rest of my life floating around in a shuttlepod, which doesn't even have any toilet facilities. Can you imagine a lousier way to spend your old age – cooped up in that thing, peeing in a bottle? Actually, I can imagine a worse fate."
"What would that be?"
"Being stuck in there with Malcolm!"

- Sim and Archer, with an obvious reference to Trip's experience as documented in the season one episode, Shuttlepod One

"Do me a favor when this is over. If Commander Tucker decides to do any more modifications to the engines... tell him to watch his ass!"

- Sim. to Archer

"I'm sorry I doubted you, Doc."
"No need to apologize."
"Yes, there is. You see, I don't just remember Trip's childhood. I remember mine. You made a damned good father."
"You were a damned good son."

- Sim and Phlox

"You said to me once that commanding a starship was what you were meant to do. I guess this is what I was meant to do. Good luck, Captain."

- Sim's last words to Archer

"You owe me one!"

- Sim's last words, to the still comatose Trip

Background Information

This episode marks the first written contribution of the new Co-Executive Producer, Manny Coto.
This episode was chosen as the #3 fan favorite in an on-line poll conducted by UPN. It was re-broadcast on March 25, 2005 in that context. Note: The poll was conducted before the final 6 episodes of the series had aired.
Adam Taylor Gordon, who played a younger version of Tucker in "The Xindi", played the version of Sim at age 8 in this episode.
The model Archer played with as a boy in "Broken Bow" reappears in this episode.
This is the first occurrence in the Star Trek universe, chronologically, to have a funeral on board the starship.
This episode is very similar to the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tuvix" in which a minor character must give his or her life through a medical operation held within sickbay to save one of the main characters. A notable difference however, is that in "Tuvix" the Chief medical officer, The Doctor, refused to perform the procedure because it would result in killing an innocent being. Captain Kathryn Janeway ended up performing the procedure herself. However, The Doctor also refused to do the procedure because Tuvix was being forced against his will to do it, while Sim ultimately willingly agreed to undergo the procedure.
This episode won an Emmy Award for Velton Ray Bunch's music composition.

Links and References

Previous episode:
"North Star"

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 3

Next episode:
"Carpenter Street"

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Changes: Similitude (episode)

Revision as of 19:31, 12 May 2009

Summary

Memorable quotes

Background Information

Links and References

Main Cast

Co-Stars

Uncredited Co-Stars

References