star trek enterprise does trip die

Connor Trinneer didn’t understand Trip’s death

By rachel carrington | aug 6, 2021.

Trip Tucker’s death was a bone of contention

The series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise after four seasons still stands out sixteen years later and not for good reasons. Most everyone disliked the inclusion of characters Will Riker and Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as the jump forward in time and the holodeck simulation. Overall, few fans have “These Are the Voyages” on their to-be-watched-again list. And faithful viewers who had grown attached to all of the characters on Enterprise were livid at the death of Chief Engineer, Charles “Trip” Tucker, III.

Trip had gotten out of a lot of situations in his time as the chief engineer, including almost dying from dehydration in the desert, almost dying aboard a shuttlepod in the freezing cold with Lt. Reed, and being trapped on a planet with an enemy who kept trying to kill him. That was another situation where he almost died from heat exposure. On top of those, Trip had helped get the Enterprise out of some pretty gnarly situations without dying. So what ends up killing him is his decision to blow up intruders on the ship? A fact Connor Trinneer said was “scripted somewhat arbitrarily because “I’ve gotten out of much worse scrapes than that”.”

Trip’s death just didn’t make sense

In reality, Trip was killed because, according to Trinneer, someone was going to die, and he just happened to get in the way.

"“They were going to kill somebody and I just happened to get in the way!”"

But the simple fact was the death was just thrown in with no lasting effects whatsoever. Less than three days later, Hoshi, Reed, and Travis were having a conversation like nothing had happened. Not one of them mentioned Trip. In fact, after Captain Archer’s short conversation with T’Pol in Trip’s quarters, he wasn’t spoken of again. Even Dr. Phlox seemed particularly jovial once the Enterprise had returned to Earth. We didn’t even get a death scene for Trip like they gave Sim in “Similitude.”

A beloved crew member died for no reason. The Enterprise’s crew would have been more than capable of handling the intruders who, by the way, shouldn’t have been able to catch up with the Enterprise and board her without any advance notice anyway. It was a flimsy reason to kill a character, and it’s no wonder it didn’t make sense to Trinneer or any of the rest of us.

Next. Enterprise’s Stigma caused a firestorm among fans. dark

Star Trek: Enterprise Ending Explained: Those Were The Voyages...

"Star Trek: Enterprise" — originally just called "Enterprise," – was once considered by many Trekkies to be the black sheep of the pre-Abrams era. While it still had many of the same creative people working behind the scenes (the show was created by longtime Trek honchos Rick Berman and Brannon Braga) it deliberately struck a different tone, exploring the early, raucous days of Starfleet: before the formation of the United Federation of Planets, before the writing of The Prime Directive, way back when there was only one Earth ship trekking through the cosmos. The goal was to create a Trek show that was less anodyne than its predecessors, recapturing some of the frontier spirit occasionally seen in the original 1966 TV series. 

Other changes included an wholly updated aesthetic; the Enterprise looked a lot more like a submarine than a cruise ship, and the crew wore uniforms that looked a little bit like NASA jumpsuits. There were only two alien species aboard this time: Vulcan first officer T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) and the genial Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley), playing the previously unseen species of Denobulan. Additionally, the traditional orchestral opening of the previous five Trek TV shows was replaced by a truly, truly awful Rod Stewart ballad called "Faith of the Heart" a.k.a. "Where My Heart Will Take Me," sung by Russell "The Voice" Watson , written by Diane Warren, and originally included on the soundtrack to "Patch Adams."

"Enterprise" debuted in 2001 and was met with mixed reactions. Some critics, if recall is to be trusted, positively praised its production value and novelty, while others missed the reliable Trek iconography.

It's Been a Long Road...

When it debuted in September of 2001, "Enterprise" struggled almost immediately. Fans weren't taking to the show in the same way they took to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" or "Star Trek: Voyager" as it was set in a new time frame which required a new push for audiences to refamiliarize themselves. What's more, it was the only Trek show on the air at the time, with "Voyager" having ended its run in May of the same year. Previous Trek shows had been doubling up, and it was the first time since 1993 there weren't at least two "Star Trek" shows on the air at the same time. "Enterprise" had a lot to prove. 

Some of the early story arcs didn't play well to mythos-minded fans, and the Temporal Cold War story, featuring an evil species called the Suliban , is rarely brought up in conversation I have with other Trekkies. A little more attention is given to the Xindi  who, in a story arc beginning in season 3, destroyed Florida in what was very clearly a 9/11 metaphor. Yes, check again the month and year of "Enterprise's" debut. 

"Star Trek: Enterprise" season 4 introduced more multiple-episode arcs, and "Star Trek," along with most TV shows at the time, began to evolve into longer-form stories and season-long arcs rather than stand-alone mini moral dilemmas that had been Trek's stock in trade for decades. But the change was too little, too late, and "Enterprise" was canceled after an inauspicious four seasons. For comparison, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine," and "Voyager" all ran for seven years each. 

A pity, really, as some have said (anecdotally) that the show was just finding its feet.

Getting from There to Here

The final episode of "Enterprise" was ... Well, it was an interesting choice. A big part of the appeal of "Enterprise" was its placement as a prequel to the original "Star Trek" series, meaning there was a mild thrill in seeing how certain things would come to be. This was, of course, after the same thing was being done with "Star Wars" starting with "The Phantom Menace" in 1999, but before "Batman Begins" pretty much popularized the "reimagined origin story" as a dominant storytelling trope throughout pop media. All of this is to say that "Enterprise" was meant to tie into what good Trekkies knew was coming in the future. 

As such, the final episode of "Enterprise," titled "These Are the Voyages..." (originally aired on May 15th, 2005), had to rush to finally connect series back to the Treks were knew and loved. Enter Jonathan Frakes, Will Riker from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," a series that was set about 200 years after the events of "Enterprise." Rather than merely recite the official denouements of Capt. Jonathan Archer , T'Pol , Trip Tucker , Malcolm Reed , Hoshi Sato , Dr. Phlox , and the memorable, memorable character of Ensign Mayweather , we were given a broader view of "Enterprise" history as seen by William Riker, who was recreating life on the original "Enterprise" via a holodeck some 200 years after the fact.  

In "These Are the Voyages...," Riker imagined himself as the hardworking galley chef on the original Enterprise, a character that was often talked about but never seen. As Riker envisioned it, the ship's chef served as a personal confidant to the crew, allowing him to have elaborate one-on-one discussion with each character. He also wanted to talk to the crew of the Enterprise shortly before the original ship was to be decommissioned, meaning the episode was also a flash-forward. 

In short: "Enterprise" ended with a 200-year-old recreation of the future events of "Enterprise," as interpreted through the eyes of William T. Riker. The final episode of Trek was Mary Sue fanfic written by a Trek character. This is a nerd turducken of the highest order. 

This approach, of course, allowed for a great deal of convenient historical fudging on the part of "Enterprise's" writers. If there was any sort of plot or character inconsistency, a viewer could chalk it up to Riker changing history to fit his own holodeck fantasy. More broadly, it was a comment on how we, as a species, tend to romanticize history, altering our past into heroic narratives and easy-to-consume stories rather than a complex timeline of daily events. 

It's Been a Long Time

A bit of editorializing, if I may...

Reaction to "These Are the Voyages..." was largely negative. The inclusion of Riker, not to mention the eventual addition of NextGen's Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) robbed the "Enterprise" characters of their moment. While one can easily understand that the show's creators wanted to bring the timeline of "Enterprise" to a meaningful conclusion, skipping ahead in time and treating the show's events like a textbook column for other, different characters makes them feel distant and rarified, rather than exciting and immediate. Mild spoiler : The impersonal and abrupt death of one of the main cast members certainly didn't help either. 

If one recalls the ending of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," it was made clear that the adventures of the Enterprise-D would continue — only without us, the audience, being able to see them all. A series needn't definitively conclude if we leave comforted that everything will work out fine for the characters. Perhaps a similar approach would have made for a better final episode of "Enterprise." Please, leave us with comforting send-off that would leave audiences assured that the cast would make it safely into Trek history, even if we don't get to see it.

That second approach would also open up the Trek "expanded universe." That is: Plenty of studio-mandated novels, source books, and speculative fiction writers could fill in any gaps that were left in the narrative. Indeed, given the historical element of "Enterprise," leaving gaps in history would be perfectly appropriate. Sadly, we were left with a final episode of Trek that left a bad taste in our mouths.

Maybe that's why so many audiences embraced the 2009 "Star Trek" feature film. It was an entirely new beverage, but at least it washed away the old one.

Now, where do we rant about the Paramount+ era?

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Published May 21, 2017

Admiral Archer and... Section 31 Agent Trip Tucker?

Veteran Star Trek author Christopher L. Bennett will return to the fold once again with his latest adventure, Star Trek: Enterprise/Rise of the Federation: Patterns of Interference , due out late this summer from Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books. StarTrek.com is pleased to share the synopsis and an exclusive First Look at the Doug Drexler-created cover:

The time has come to act. Following the destructive consequences of the Ware crisis, Admiral Jonathan Archer and Section 31 agent Trip Tucker now both attempt to change their institutions to prevent further such tragedies. Archer pushes for a Starfleet directive of noninterference, but he faces unexpected opposition from allies within the fleet—and unwelcome support from adversaries who wish to drive the Federation into complete isolationism. Meanwhile, Tucker plays a dangerous game against the corrupt leaders of the clandestine Section 31  hoping to bring down their conspiracy once and for all. But is he willing to jeopardize Archer's efforts—and perhaps the fate of an entire world—in order to win?

Star Trek: Enterprise/Rise of the Federation: Patterns of Interference will run 304 pages, cost $7.99 and be available on or about August 29 in the mass market paperback and eBook formats. Go to amazon.com to pre-order it.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired Oct 9, 2002

Enterprise seeks repairs from their encounters with the Romulans, where they stop at a desolate but idyllic repair station. But all is not what it seems when Mayweather is suddenly found dea... Read all Enterprise seeks repairs from their encounters with the Romulans, where they stop at a desolate but idyllic repair station. But all is not what it seems when Mayweather is suddenly found dead. Enterprise seeks repairs from their encounters with the Romulans, where they stop at a desolate but idyllic repair station. But all is not what it seems when Mayweather is suddenly found dead.

• Roxann Dawson
• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Brannon Braga
• Scott Bakula
• John Billingsley
• Jolene Blalock
• 11 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

• Capt. Jonathan Archer

• Sub-Cmdr. T'Pol

• Lt. Malcolm Reed

• Ensign Travis Mayweather

• Ensign Hoshi Sato

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• (uncredited)

• Ensign Billy

• Engineer Alex

• Repair Station Computer
• Enterprise Crewman
• Ensign Hutchison
• Alien at Repair Station
• Enterprise Sciences Crewman
• Command Division Ensign

• Starfleet Crewman
• Brannon Braga (showrunner)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In the audio commentary for this episode, the writers reveal that this episode was an attempt to diverge from previous episodes of Star Trek in which a ship is critically damaged in one episode, but miraculously repaired in the next, with no mention of repair work.
• Goofs Although Archer was correct in his suspicion that the repairs were too good to be true for the requested fee, Enterprise had spent the previous year offering assistance (repairs, medical supplies, etc.) to anyone that needed it, and rarely asked for anything of significant value in return.

Captain Jonathan Archer : They even fixed the squeak in the floor. Starting to wonder if we had a gremlin under the deck plating.

[T'Pol gives him a questioning look]

Captain Jonathan Archer : A mythical creature. British pilots used to blame them for problems they couldn't explain.

Sub-Commander T'Pol : Perhaps I should scan for one.

• Connections References Star Trek: The Changeling (1967)
• Soundtracks Where My Heart Will Take Me Written by Diane Warren Performed by Russell Watson Episode: {all episodes}

User reviews 11

• claudio_carvalho
• Jan 6, 2008
• October 9, 2002 (United States)
• Official Site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Network Television
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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"Changing How Comic Fans View Star Trek": Eisner Nominated Trek Team is Only Getting Better (Exclusive)

10 star trek aliens who don't look human, 9 versions of the borg in star trek.

I just watched the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise .

Let me just come right out and say that I am so angry and disgusted that I don't know where to begin. A while back Jolene Blalock (who plays T'Pol on the show) was quoted as saying that the final episode of Enterprise was "appalling"... Jolene, how right you were. What a sad, sad ending to a series that was just starting to find it's voice. What a slap in the face to the cast and the fans of Enterprise . I can't stop shaking my head in disbelief and the only conclusion I can come to is that Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have truly come to hate Star Trek and it's fans.

There, I've said it.

Up until the last couple of weeks I've given the benefit of the doubt to B&B, but no more. The awfulness of "These are the voyages..." (title of the series ender) was even more evident in that it was broadcast immediately after the "Terra Prime" episode, written by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, authors of countless Star Trek novels and finally brought in this season as writers for the show. Sure, "Terra Prime" had some stuff in it that bugged the heck out of me, but overall it felt like Star Trek . It seemed like finally, with that episode characters that had been marginalized for 4 seasons came alive at last.

But then came the final episode...

I had read bits here and there about the finale and the fact that it involved Riker, Troi, and a holodeck recreation of the Enterprise crew, but I didn't want to spoil the episode for myself so I left it at that. I had read a lot of the reaction to the episode as well, but my thought was "Hey, go easy, you haven't even seen it yet." I had also read that the cast was (to put it mildly) unhappy with the episode and they didn't feel it was about Enterprise .

I'm here to tell you those voices of outrage where on the money.

The difference between the Coto-helmed "Terra Prime" and Berman and Braga written "These are the voyages..." is absolutely jarring . In no uncertain terms it showed on the one hand why the show had finally become worthwhile and on the other why fans left it in droves and led to it's cancellation.

And still Berman refuses to take responsibility in any way shape or form. He actually had the gall to refer to the episode as a "valentine for the fans". What a load of crap. I don't know about you, but I don't recall anyone clamouring for the return of Will Riker, Deanna Troi or the Enterprise D.

I suppose I should get around to the specifics of the episode. It opens on the bridge of Enterprise 6 years after "Terra Prime", and 10 years after the start of the show. The ship is going to be mothballed after 10 years of service, and is heading back to Earth for the signing of the declaration that is basically the founding of the Federation. Suddenly we see Will Riker on the ship and soon after that we realize that what we've been watching is a re-creation of events on a holodeck on the Enterprise D.

The episode ties in with something that happened during Star Trek: The Next Generation , where Riker had a crisis of conscience and was struggling with a decision. Apparently he felt the need to visit Archer's Enterprise during a pivotal sequence of events in order to help him make the right decision. Immediately this marginalizes everything going on with Archer's crew and makes the show about Riker. Seeing him pop up here and there on Enterprise is positively jarring and just feels COMPLETELY wrong.

As things progress we discover that Shran (the ever-excellent Jeffrey Combs) was thought dead for three years but has actually been in hiding with a wife and daughter. His daughter has been kidnapped and he demands Archer's help in getting her back.

While we are watching this, they keep intercutting Riker and Troi on the Enterprise-D with what's happening, and then when returning to Archer's crew, skipping ahead to the parts that are relevant to Riker .

This leaves the story feeling rushed, choppy and disconnected. To add insult to injury, the cook aboard ship, who has been talked about over four seasons but never shown, and is all of a sudden is referred to as the crew's confidant, is portrayed by... Riker.

I can just imagine the actors grinding their teeth during these scenes in the ship's kitchen.

Here and there cute little comments are thrown out like Archer toasting and saying "Here's to the next generation." Ooooh, did that give you chills? Yeah, me neither.

But wait, there's more... how about the death of Tripp just because, well, you know... killing someone will make the episode more interesting. You remember that is the same deep thought process that went into the death of Captain Kirk on some backwater planet.

By the end of this episode I was so thoroughly pissed that I could just spit. :evil:

I can only hope to God that when the next iteration of Star Trek surfaces neither Berman nor Braga are let within 100 miles of the show. How Paramount continues to entrust this franchise to this pair defies logic to an extreme degree.

Oh well, I'll always have classic Trek on DVD...

Weird Star Trek Novels That Are Enjoyable To Read

I n February 1970, Bantam Books published the first original Star Trek novel. James Blish's Spock Must Die! received mixed reviews from critics, but it laid the foundation for many hundreds of further novels . Perhaps the golden era of Star Trek prose was under Pocket Books, who produced an ambitious continuation of TNG and DS9 long before Star Trek: Picard .

Some of the tie-in novels are good, some are bad, and some are just plain strange. From vanity projects to starship-sized plot holes, Star Trek's authors went where no one had gone before (and sometimes where they shouldn't have gone). Though they may be on the stranger side, here are a few books that fans of the franchise will doubtless enjoy.

The Enterprise War - John Jackson Miller

John Jackson Miller's 2019 novel answers a pertinent question: where was the Enterprise during Star Trek: Discovery 's Federation–Klingon War? Miller shows Pike's Enterprise caught in a different war between the Boundless and the Rengru, aliens who hope to use the starship to tip the scales in their favor.

RELATED: Most Charismatic Star Trek: The Next Generation Characters, Ranked

The Enterprise War has an exciting plot, but stumbles slightly when it comes to reconciling the Pike era with the rest of contemporary Trek. Spock's references to Michael Burnham seem out of place alongside obscure characters from Star Trek 's failed pilot, while the Enterprise 's saucer separation recalls TNG rather than TOS or Discovery . Miller's novel walks a fine line between anachronisms and tropes. The result is a weird blend of eras, but one that readers are sure to enjoy.

The Good That Men Do - Andy Mangels & Michael A. Martin

Few fans were impressed when Star Trek: Enterprise ended by killing off one of its crew. In terms of both scriptwriting and direction, the noble sacrifice of engineer Trip Tucker is an anticlimax. This shortcoming inspired authors Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin to consider an alternative: what if Tucker's death was a hoax?

RELATED: Star Trek: The Relationship Between Vulcans & Romulans, Explained

The Good That Men Do (2007) claims that Tucker never died; instead, he left the Enterprise to work for Section 31 . This coverup allowed him to investigate a new threat posed by the Romulans. The book holds a strange place in Star Trek canon: it is as much an apology as it is a novel, although the Romulans' machinations make for an entertaining read.

Disavowed - David Mack

While the Star Trek Relaunch series provided fans with some franchise highpoints, it had started to stumble by the time of David Mack's Disavowed (2014). Six years earlier, Mack had torn up the status quo with his Destiny trilogy, focusing on a massive Borg invasion . The trilogy is excellent—but its fallout left subsequent novels unsure of where to take the series.

Mack's story, centered on Julian Bashir, reinvents the Star Trek novel as a tense espionage thriller as the Starfleet doctor and Section 31 operative travels to the Mirror Universe to halt a scheme by the evil Breen. Mack's prose is propulsive, but Disavowed represents the Star Trek world at a crossroads. The book's weirdness lays not in its writing, but in its attempt to reinvigorate the series with a focus on espionage rather than exploration.

Broken Bow - Diane Carey

Star Trek 's writing has been the subject of parodies aplenty, from shows like The Orville to movies like Galaxy Quest . In 2020, the franchise itself got in on the fun, with cartoon series Lower Decks spoofing on Star Trek 's tropes. Yet Lower Decks was not the first time that Star Trek' s own writers took a swipe at the franchise. The 2001 novelization of "Broken Bow" derided the Star Trek: Enterprise episode it was meant to retell.

RELATED: Star Trek: Enterprise Actor Slams How Her Character Was Written

Author Diane Carey wrote extensively for Star Trek 's novels (the hero of her 2000 novel Challenger was written to resemble Enterprise 's Scott Bakula, though the book predated his casting). Yet when it came to novelizing Bakula's first real adventure, Carey was so unimpressed with the script that she used the characters' internal monologues to criticize the story's plot. The author was allegedly blacklisted for her mischief, but she turned an otherwise by-the-numbers novelization into a sneaky practical joke.

A Singular Destiny - Keith R.A. DeCandido

Readers might expect a sequel to TNG and DS9 to feature a hero like Captain Picard, or a fan favorite like Kira Nerys. Yet although Keith R.A. DeCandido's 2009 novel does feature DS9 's Ezri Dax, its star is diplomat Sonek Pran, a wholly original character. This stylistic deviation allows A Singular Destiny to interrogate the state of the Relaunch universe . The Borg may be gone, but a new threat is rising in the form of the Typhon Pact, an alliance of several hostile states including the Breen and the Gorn.

Despite the scope of its universe, Star Trek can become bogged down by revisiting the same characters and tropes. DeCandido's novel bucks this trend, making this immersive political thriller an essential chapter in the Relaunch saga.

Fearful Symmetry - Olivia Woods

Viewers of DS9 may recall the episode "Second Skin," in which Bajoran Kira Nerys was disguised as a Cardassian. Fearful Symmetry claims that the woman that Kira impersonated, Iliana Ghemor, was also altered to look like Kira, but fell into the clutches of Gul Dukat , who imprisoned and abused her. Driven mad, the impostor plots her revenge in Olivia Woods' 2008 novel.

While it's odd that Dukat never mentioned his prisoner, the novel's true weirdness is its two-in-one physical format. Fearful Symmetry is made up of two narratives: the front cover depicts Kira, while the rear is an alternate cover showing Ghemor. Starting the book in one direction shows Kira's investigation into her duplicate, while starting in the opposite direction provides the troubled life of Ghemor. This parallel structuring allows the novel's form to mirror its content, a clever gimmick.

Killing Time - Della Van Hise

The possibility of a deeper, potentially romantic bond between Kirk and Spock has intrigued fans for decades (the term "slash fiction" is attributed to stories about the pair), but Star Trek 's writers were unwilling to offer any confirmation. Father of the franchise Gene Roddenberry was particularly opposed to the idea. He was displeased, to say the least, when author Della Van Hise snuck suggestive material into her 1985 novel.

RELATED: Captain Kirk's Redemption Of Spock In The Mirror Universe

First editions of Killing Time (which involves the Romulans altering history to try and defeat the Federation) were recalled and destroyed, although some were purchased by fans. A revised edition removed the offending content. Rumors circulated that an even more explicit version existed, although Van Hise denied these claims. If nothing else, Killing Time demonstrates the importance of checking a book before it's sent to the printers.

Malcolm Reed

• View history

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was a 22nd century Human Starfleet officer who served as armory officer on board Enterprise NX-01 under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer .

• 1 Early life and family
• 2.1.1 The first year
• 2.1.2 The second year
• 2.1.3 The third year: the Xindi mission
• 2.1.4 The fourth year
• 2.2 Later years
• 3.1 Technical advances
• 4.1.1 Charles "Trip" Tucker
• 4.2 Romance
• 5 Memorable quotes
• 6.1 Appearances
• 6.2.1 Reception
• 6.3 Apocrypha
• 6.4 External links

Early life and family [ ]

Malcolm's father, Stuart Reed

Malcolm Reed was born on September 2 , in the early 22nd century , into an English family with a strong naval tradition . His grandfather was an ordnance officer in the Royal Navy and his father and great-uncle (who had died in the line of duty aboard HMS Clement ) had served as well. Reed was 36 years old in the year 2151, when the crew of Enterprise celebrated his birthday. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

Growing up, Reed was raised on the water . He knew how to handle a boat before he could ride a bicycle . He studied all the great naval battles , and like his ancestors before him, he wanted to serve aboard a seafaring vessel, but his aquaphobia , which he thought he might outgrow, rendered him unable to follow in the footsteps of his family. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ", " Minefield ")

Reed had one sister named Madeleine , an uncle named Archie , and at least two unmarried aunts . Reed had a rather distant relationship with his parents, who questioned if he was in "some kind of trouble" when contacted by Archer. He also found it hard to make close friendships, and he had several unsuccessful romantic relationships before joining the Enterprise . ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ", " Shuttlepod One ", " Affliction ")

As a child , Reed had always wanted to build a time machine to see the future . ( ENT : " Future Tense ")

Reed was an Eagle Scout , holding twenty-eight merit badges, including one in exobiology . ( ENT : " Rogue Planet ")

When asked about his favorite foods , his parents conveyed that Malcolm rarely expressed personal preferences, normally eating whatever food was put in front of him. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

Reed was allergic to dust mites , oak pollen , tropical grasses , and plant enzymes , including bromelain . He took injections to treat his bromelain allergy. Pineapple , which contained bromelain, was one of his favorite foods. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

Throughout life, Reed did not follow the sport of soccer , or football as it was known in England. In fact, he did not particularly follow any sports. ( ENT : " Minefield ")

Starfleet career [ ]

Unable to follow his family's tradition, Reed decided to join Starfleet . ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ") Reed took a rather serious and traditional approach to his position as a Starfleet officer, finding it, for instance, rather improper to socialize with senior officers . When Captain Archer invited him to eat breakfast with him once, he felt rather awkward and uncomfortable, and as a result could not relax in the captain's presence. ( ENT : " Minefield ")

Around 2149 , Reed, as a young ensign , was recruited into Section 31 through former Starfleet Security officer Harris . At the time, Reed was a fresh officer who was excited to be in "covert operations." However, he later left the organization, or so he thought, and initially having no further contact with Harris after 2151, until he was contacted again in 2154. ( ENT : " Affliction ")

Over the course of his career, Reed kept track of the number of planets he had stepped foot on, which had reached 32 with Mars in 2155 . Other planets include Rigel X , Archer IV , Terra Nova , P'Jem , Coridan , a rogue planet, the Torothan homeworld , Risa , Tessic 's colony, Gosis ' homeworld, Xantoras , a Trellium mining planet, the Loque'eque homeworld , the Xanthan planet , a Xindi-Arboreal colony, the Skagaran colony, and Vulcan . ( ENT : " Terra Prime ")

Enterprise [ ]

The first year [ ].

Reed was the senior armory officer aboard Enterprise . He helped complete the ship's first mission, which was intervening in a Suliban plot to cause civil war in the Klingon Empire . ( ENT : " Broken Bow ") His quarters aboard Enterprise were located on B Deck . ( ENT : " Shockwave, Part II ")

Reed was a master of adapting to difficult situations. In an early battle, during the mission an alien force attacked and attempted to capture the crew so they could drain them of their bodily fluids. After Enterprise 's weapons failed to penetrate the enemy's shields , he cooperated with an Axanar cargo ship to drive off the enemy. ( ENT : " Fight or Flight ")

He was part of the landing party that landed on Terra Nova , a lost colony of Earth colonists who believed that Earth had poisoned their air . The Novans attacked the party and Reed was shot in the leg with a projectile weapon and held hostage in the underground caverns . He was released after Archer was able to reason with the Novans. ( ENT : " Terra Nova ")

He led a rescue team onto a planet housing the monastery at P'Jem when Archer was caught in a dispute between the Andorians and Vulcans . He and his team planted charges behind the wall of the atrium . When the walls collapsed, his team was able to rescue Archer, T'Pol, and Tucker. He also helped to expose P'Jem as a listening post of the Vulcan High Command . ( ENT : " The Andorian Incident ")

He and Travis Mayweather became two of the first Humans to walk on a comet . They were stranded, and the Vulcans saved them by the use of tractor beam technology. ( ENT : " Breaking the Ice ")

Later that year Enterprise was attacked by an unknown enemy. The weapons on Enterprise were not powerful enough to deter the enemy. Reed and Tucker led the team that built phase cannons so that the ship would be prepared in case of another attack. The weapons of Enterprise had no effect on the enemy, until Reed recreated a power surge and transferred it to the weapons. The blast disabled the enemy ship and it retreated. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

He and Hoshi Sato boarded a disabled Klingon ship that was losing orbit and falling into a gas giant . The crew had been disabled by a toxin . They became trapped, and in order to push the ship to a higher orbit so they could be rescued, Reed fired the ship's torpedoes , which pushed the vessel into higher orbit. ( ENT : " Sleeping Dogs ")

He and Tucker attempted to rescue Archer from Coridanite rebels. They were captured by the Andorians, who had become involved in the civil war. Shran set Reed and Tucker free, and helped in the rescue effort. ( ENT : " Shadows of P'Jem ")

When Enterprise came upon a Kantare settlement on a planet after crash landing, Reed discovered that there was no way the settlement could survive with so many people. It was discovered that the settlement was a hologram , as were all the people except for two. ( ENT : " Oasis ")

Reed and Tucker struggling to survive aboard Shuttlepod 1 in 2151

Reed and Tucker, while on a shuttlepod mission, were cut off from Enterprise and, seeing debris , believed that the ship had been destroyed. As they lost life support , they were contacted by Enterprise . They were not aware that the shuttle was damaged, but Reed and Tucker jettisoned their impulse drive and imploded it as a signal to Enterprise . With air running out, Tucker decided to leave the shuttle and seal himself in the airlock, so Reed could survive. Reed argued him down and even pointed a phase-pistol at him, though it was set to stun . Reed would have both of them dead than one. They were rescued. ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

Reed, in the disguise of a Suliban infiltrated a Tandaran concentration camp where Archer was being held along with innocent Suliban. Detonating explosives, Reed knocked out the guards, while creating a way to freedom. He helped disarm the commander Grat and released Archer and the other prisoners. ( ENT : " Detained ")

Archer, Tucker, and three others were captured by a symbiotic being that was trying to integrate them into one being so it could survive. Reed and his security team fired EM radiation at the creature. The organism writhes in pain, but when the bio-signs of the trapped crewmembers become erratic, Dr. Phlox orders Reed to stop firing. The organism was absorbing the crewmembers' nervous systems into its own. Reed installed an experimental EM force field to limit its growth. Once Hoshi Sato communicated with the creature and found that it only wanted to go home it released Archer, Tucker, and the other three crewmembers. T'Pol, Sato, Reed and Phlox take it to the planet's surface. During a vacation on Risa , Reed and Tucker made dates with two exotic females. The females turned out to be morphs who robbed the two and left them half-naked, tied up in a cellar. ( ENT : " Vox Sola ", " Two Days and Two Nights ")

The second year [ ]

Silik and the Cabal took over Enterprise after Archer was transported to the future by Daniels , a temporal agent. Reed used a piece of equipment that Daniels had left behind in a previous visit to help Archer return to his timeline, and retook the ship. ( ENT : " Shockwave, Part II ")

Reed is impaled by a Romulan mine

In 2152 Enterprise became trapped in a Romulan minefield. When one of the mines attached to Enterprise , Reed went out in an EV suit to try to disarm it. During an attack by the Romulans, the mine was jostled and a metal spike from the mine pinned Reed's leg to the hull . Archer went out to help Reed, who talked Archer through the disarming of the mine. Reed was rescued when Archer used a torch to cut him free, despite Reed attempting to commit suicide with the intent of compelling Archer to leave him behind. During a stop at an automated repair station, Reed's leg was healed by the station. Reed participated in covert exploration of the station at the urging of Tucker. The station was discovered to be a parasitic cyborg harnessing humanoid brains for use in its computer core. ( ENT : " Minefield ", " Dead Stop ")

Reed also helped a mining colony defend itself from Klingons who were stealing their deuterium . He taught them self-defense and target practice. He almost was executed by a pre-warp society that he and Archer visited. Reed left his communicator and when they went back to retrieve it, they were captured. The general who captured them believed they were super soldiers developed by his enemies. They were ordered to be executed, but saved by Enterprise . ( ENT : " Marauders ", " The Communicator ")

After Enterprise gave asylum to Takret men fleeing the military, everyone had to take refuge in the catwalk to escape a deadly radiation storm. The Takret military boarded the ship to capture the refugees. Thinking the ship is empty, they tried to restart the warp engines which were shut down during the storm. This endangered the ship and crew and Reed left the catwalk, shut down the engines and saved the ship. ( ENT : " The Catwalk ")

Reed discovered that a ship found by Enterprise was from the future and could hold the key to the Temporal Cold War . He also led a rescue party to free Archer from a penal ship. ( ENT : " Future Tense ", " Canamar ")

Reed's personal emphasis on starship protocol caused him to notice the inefficiency of Enterprise 's crew when reacting to combat situations. This prompted him to devise a state of Tactical alert , which he saw as a means of improving readiness. Captain Archer approved of his idea, only mandating he find a less annoying alert signal to replace the grating klaxon , and it was quickly implemented. ( ENT : " Singularity ")

Enterprise encountered a large vessel unlike any the crew has seen before. Reed along with Archer and Tucker take a shuttlepod into the ship for exploration. An alien wisp takes over Tucker's body and informed Archer that that it wants to peacefully explore Humanity. Reed is overtaken and attempted to mate with T'Pol . Phlox was able to rid Reed and the rest of the crew from the aliens who really wished to keep their Human bodies. ( ENT : " The Crossing ")

In the latter part of the year , he encountered the Borg , although he did not know what species they were. While pursuing the Borg, Reed and Archer boarded the transport and fought off these lifeforms, attaching several charges to the ship's EPS manifold , then transporting back to Enterprise . The resulting explosion crippled the transport, which was then destroyed by a few torpedoes. ( ENT : " Regeneration ")

He met a Vissian who used a Cogenitor to get pregnant. He also helped rescue Archer from bounty hunters . ( ENT : " Cogenitor ", " Bounty ")

The third year: the Xindi mission [ ]

In the early days of the mission to stop the Xindi from destroying Earth , Reed accompanied Archer to a mining planet to interrogate a Xindi. They were imprisoned by the foreman of the miners who intended to use them as slave labor. They rescued the Xindi, but he was killed in the escape attempt. He managed to give Enterprise the coordinates of the planet before he died. ( ENT : " The Xindi ")

Reed was part of an away team that boarded a stranded Vulcan ship in the Expanse . The crew had gone mad and tried to kill the team. After escaping, the ship was destroyed by Enterprise . ( ENT : " Impulse ")

He was a part of an away mission on a planet whose population was extinct. However, the Loque'eque had left behind a virus that would change other humanoids into their species. Reed became one of them, but was cured by Phlox . ( ENT : " Extinction ")

Reed subsequently met with a merchant, B'Rat Ud , who could sell him trellium-D , a substance that could protect the ship from spatial anomalies which were a common feature in the Delphic Expanse . During this visit to the Xanthan planet , he helped Archer rescue Rajiin , a woman who was being sold by a slave trader. She turned out to be an agent of the Xindi. ( ENT : " Rajiin ")

Much like the rest of the crew, Reed's nerves were on edge during the hunt for the Xindi. One night he heard some clicking noises in his quarters and, for a moment, thought he was seeing a Xindi-Insectoid in the shadows. ( ENT : " Exile ")

He, Major Hayes , and Archer infiltrated a Xindi industrial facility to examine what the Xindi weapon would be powered by. They tried to persuade the Xindi-Arboreal that Earth was no threat to them. The Xindi gave them a canister of the power source. ( ENT : " The Shipment ")

Reed in 2165 of an alternate timeline

In the alternate timeline where Earth was destroyed, Reed grew a goatee . In 2165 he was promoted to captain of Intrepid , but died in a Xindi attack before he could assume command. ( ENT : " Twilight ")

Reed and the MACOs retook Enterprise after it was hijacked by religious zealots who wanted to use it against another religious faction. ( ENT : " Chosen Realm ")

During the mission to find the Xindi weapon , Reed was unhappy with the assignment of Major Hayes and his team of MACOs to Enterprise . He felt that Hayes was trying to subvert his authority in an attempt take over security on the ship. This caused Reed to react poorly when Hayes suggested a series of training sessions for the senior officers with his team. A "training session" between Hayes and Reed ended up as little more than a fist fight, and both were chastised by Captain Archer. This had the effect of clearing the air between them, so much so that Hayes told Reed that he and his people no longer felt like outsiders. ( ENT : " The Xindi ", " Harbinger ", " Countdown ")

Though Reed was fortunate enough to escape injury in the Xindi attack in the Azati Prime system , two days later he suffered from severe exposure to heat when helping Commander Tucker close down a leaking plasma conduit that was creating a huge plasma fire . Fortunately, he recovered quickly. ( ENT : " The Forgotten ")

Reed helped stage a mutiny to take the ship from Archer, who had been affected by an Insectoid toxin and was endangering the mission. ( ENT : " Hatchery ")

In a different timeline where a subspace corridor stranded Enterprise in 2037 , Reed was the only senior officer to die unmarried, a fact which left him slightly distressed. ( ENT : " E² ")

During the final days of the mission, he led a team that boarded a sphere in order to get information about the Sphere-Builders , the aliens who were behind the plot to destroy Earth. During this action one of the MACOs, F. Hawkins , was killed by the sphere's defenses. This had a profound effect on Reed. After Major Hayes was killed in the attempt to rescue Hoshi Sato, Reed took over the MACOs. He led them on the final mission aboard the weapon and helped to successfully destroy it. ( ENT : " The Council ", " Countdown ", " Zero Hour ")

The fourth year [ ]

Reed aided in restoring the timeline after aliens tried to change it by aiding the Nazis in conquering America . He also defended Phlox in a bar fight against a group of xenophobic Humans. ( ENT : " Storm Front ", " Home ")

During the Augment incident he, along with Archer, tried to retake Cold Station 12 where Augment embryos were stored. He was also part of a rescue team along with Mayweather when they attempted to rescue T'Pol and Archer from the The Forge before the Vulcan High Command attacked the religious sect hiding there. ( ENT : " Cold Station 12 ", " Awakening ")

Controlled by Organians, Reed and Mayweather play chess

Along with Mayweather, his body was taken over by an Organian observer who wished to experience Human customs and ways. While teaching the inhabited Mayweather how to play chess , he revealed he was the ship's champion . ( ENT : " Observer Effect ")

When the Romulans sent a ship with "chameleon"-like capabilities to further destabilize Andorian and Tellarite relations by attacking their ships, Reed and Tucker boarded it and became stranded when Enterprise 's transporter went off line. Their oxygen supply was running low but they continued to investigate and were shocked when they found no one on the alien ship. It was a remotely-controlled drone ship .

Reed with Shran on the bridge of Enterprise

They began to sabotage the drone ship as it engaged in a fire fight with Enterprise . After damaging the ship, Reed and Tucker ejected themselves out into space where Enterprise transported them back to the ship. ( ENT : " Babel One ", " United ")

Reed had not had contact from Section 31 since he joined the crew of Enterprise . This affected his loyalties during a crisis involving the Klingon Empire. The Klingons had attempted to develop their own Augments using DNA from their contact with Malik and the other augments developed by Arik Soong . The Human DNA caused a virus that threatened to wipe out the Klingons. Reed was contacted by Harris , an agent of Section 31, who had a job for him. At first he refused, but was told if he did not cooperate, Phlox, who was kidnapped by the Klingons, would die. He covered up the fact that the Rigelian ship that kidnapped Phlox was destroyed by Klingons. When Archer found out Reed lied to him, he was relieved of duty and put in the brig .

After Augment Klingons sabotaged Enterprise , Reed was released and helped Tucker repair the ship. Archer found out about Reed's involvement with Harris and demanded answers. Harris contacted him and told him that Section 31 shut down a security grid on Earth that allowed Phlox to be kidnapped. They believed that if Phlox did not find a cure, the Klingons would react with all-out war, which would have grave implications for many worlds. Reed felt his loyalties were with Archer and he informed Archer the location of the base where Phlox was held. Phlox did cure the virus and Reed, along with Archer, rescued him. Reed contacted Harris once more and told him never to contact him again. ( ENT : " Affliction ", " Divergence ")

Reed contacted agent Harris to acquire information about the terrorist group Terra Prime – despite his previous attempt to withdraw from Section 31, Archer, now that he knew of Reed's involvement, decided to use that connection to get better answers than those he had received from Earth political figures. In a rescue attempt to free Tucker and T'Pol from the group on Mars, his shuttle was sabotaged and he had to return to Enterprise . ( ENT : " Terra Prime ", " Demons ")

Later years [ ]

A holographic representation of Malcolm Reed in 2161

Reed was still serving aboard Enterprise with the rank of lieutenant when the ship was decommissioned in 2161 . He participated in the crew's final mission to rescue Shran's daughter, Talla , from alien kidnappers on Rigel X . Although the mission was a success, his friend and crewmate, Trip Tucker, sacrificed himself shortly thereafter in order to save Captain Archer. Afterward, Reed was in attendance at the founding ceremony for the United Federation of Planets . Prior to Archer's speech, Reed conveyed his desire to continue working with Captain Archer on the latter's next assignment, believing Archer was not yet ready for the Admiralty. ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Personal interests [ ]

Technical advances [ ].

Reed was frustrated that Enterprise left space dock before all the ship's planned weaponry was installed and tested.

Reed has had to improvise against hostile aliens with superior weaponry many times. The Enterprise crew was nearly captured to be drained of their fluids after the ship's torpedoes failed to penetrate an enemy ship's defenses. It took cooperation between Reed and an Axanar captain to destroy their common foe. Reed would lead his team in building phase cannons from scratch while in mid-space, after being attacked by an unknown race. The weapons that Enterprise had did not affect the alien ship. While the first deployment of the phase cannons was less perfect, they were successful in warding off the aliens by disabling their shielding which allowed Reed to fire two spatial torpedoes , blowing a hole in the ship. Even then he showed ingenuity, by overloading the phase cannons to boost their power.

Malcolm Reed is the man the crew turns to for weapons training and target practice. It was Reed who presented Captain Archer with the crew's new hand weapons called phase-pistols , and training the crew in their use.

Although Reed was initially skeptical about using the newly approved bio-transport platform, he has used the transporter probably more than anyone on the crew because of its tactical advantage. When Archer and other crew members were taken hostage in their first encounter with Andorians at the Vulcan sanctuary P'Jem, Reed led a munitions team to the surface via the transporter, to mount a rescue attempt which he accomplished.

He has made technological strides in other ways, such as perfecting a stable EM barrier, also known as a force field . When a strange, growing organism invaded Enterprise and tried to absorb several crew members, Reed needed a way to stop the creature from spreading and capturing more people. He used a prototype based on specs in the database and found a way to control the particle density, something which hadn't been accomplished before. ( ENT : " Vox Sola ")

Another accomplishment was a " tactical alert " that saved Enterprise at a crucial moment. Because of this, Archer recommended that the alert and accompanying protocols be made standard procedure. ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Fight or Flight ", " The Andorian Incident ", " Vox Sola ", " Singularity ")

He had also boosted the phase-pistol and phase rifle power to 10 megajoules when Enterprise was being attacked by cybernetic lifeforms . ( ENT : " Regeneration ")

Personal relationships [ ]

Reed mostly kept to himself aboard Enterprise and generally appeared a private person who had a hard time opening up to people. He was not very close to his parents and found it difficult to make close friendships. His closest friend at Starfleet Academy , Mark Latrelle , knew very little about Reed. He came to view the crew of Enterprise as his family. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ", " Shuttlepod One ")

Friends [ ]

Charles "trip" tucker [ ].

Reed, with Tucker, after being beamed to the bridge of Enterprise by the automated repair station

Reed and Tucker were initially at odds and were quite diametrically different in personality; while Reed was reserved and private, Tucker was energetic and personable. When trapped on Shuttlepod 1 , the two had heated arguments very frequently. However, their near-death experience helped them bond, to the point where Reed considered Tucker his friend by the end of the ordeal. ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

Three months later, the two men shared their shore leave together on Risa where they visited several bars hoping to meet women. ( ENT : " Two Days and Two Nights ") When Tucker's sister Elizabeth was killed and his hometown destroyed during the Xindi attack on Earth, Reed offered his condolences to Tucker. ( ENT : " The Expanse ")

While sharing Vulcan neuropressure sessions with Corporal Cole , Tucker remarked of Reed: " Malcolm can be a tough man to get to know, I'll grant you that. He likes to keep to himself. But, spend enough time around him, you come to realize there's no-one you'd rather have watching your back ". ( ENT : " Harbinger ")

Romance [ ]

Prior to the launch of Enterprise Reed had a relationship with Ruby , a waitress at the 602 Club on Earth, and a number of other women, among them former girlfriends named Deborah , Rochelle , and Caitlin . However, all those relationships ended because Reed was never able to get close to any of the women. ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

Reed never became particularly close to anyone while on board Enterprise . When, in 2154 , the Enterprise encountered a future version of itself, Reed discovered that throughout his tenure aboard the ship, he remained single, prompting him to begin questioning his attitude towards his life. ( ENT : " E² ")

Reed also had feelings for T'Pol, telling Tucker he found her attractive. He also dreamed that after he was rescued from a shuttlepod, that T'Pol then made advances toward him. When he was taken over by an alien wisp, the alien in control of his body tried to mate with T'Pol. ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ", " Two Days and Two Nights ", " The Crossing ")

When Enterprise encountered the Vissians , Reed and the Vissian ship's tactical officer Veylo express interest in one another. ( ENT : " Cogenitor ")

T'Pol knew of Reed's feelings towards her, as when she prematurely started her pon farr ; she cornered him and asked when the last time he had sex, and said that she had seen the way he looked at her. Reed did not respond in kind. ( ENT : " Bounty ")

Memorable quotes [ ]

"…we're still off by .02 %. It's unacceptable." ( ENT : " Fight or Flight ")

"Us? Not interesting?" ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

"Sometimes I think you North Americans read nothing but comics. And these ridiculous science fiction novels." ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

"If only Dr. Cochrane had been a European, the Vulcans would've been far less reticent to help us." ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

"An officer at his best is always well groomed." ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

"What's more important – my leg or your ship?" ( ENT : " Minefield ")

"Deception and surprise can be just as potent as brute force." ( ENT : " Marauders ")

"I'm afraid I haven't started following [a sport] since breakfast." ( ENT : " Minefield ")

"Reed alert. Not bad." ( ENT : " Singularity ")

"It's a chair…" ( ENT : " Singularity ")

Appendices [ ]

Appearances [ ].

• " Broken Bow "
• " Fight or Flight "
• " Strange New World "
• " Unexpected "
• " Terra Nova "
• " The Andorian Incident "
• " Breaking the Ice "
• " Civilization "
• " Fortunate Son "
• " Cold Front "
• " Silent Enemy "
• " Dear Doctor "
• " Sleeping Dogs "
• " Shadows of P'Jem "
• " Shuttlepod One "
• " Rogue Planet "
• " Acquisition "
• " Detained "
• " Vox Sola "
• " Fallen Hero "
• " Desert Crossing "
• " Two Days and Two Nights "
• " Shockwave "
• " Shockwave, Part II "
• " Minefield "
• " Dead Stop "
• " A Night in Sickbay "
• " Marauders "
• " The Seventh "
• " The Communicator "
• " Singularity "
• " Vanishing Point "
• " Precious Cargo "
• " The Catwalk "
• " Cease Fire "
• " Future Tense "
• " Canamar "
• " The Crossing "
• " Judgment "
• " Horizon "
• " The Breach "
• " Cogenitor "
• " Regeneration "
• " The Expanse "
• " The Xindi "
• " Anomaly (ENT) "
• " Extinction "
• " Impulse "
• " The Shipment "
• " Twilight "
• " North Star "
• " Similitude "
• " Carpenter Street " (Voice only)
• " Chosen Realm "
• " Proving Ground "
• " Stratagem "
• " Harbinger "
• " Doctor's Orders "
• " Hatchery "
• " Azati Prime "
• " The Forgotten "
• " The Council "
• " Countdown "
• " Zero Hour "
• " Storm Front "
• " Storm Front, Part II "
• " Borderland "
• " Cold Station 12 "
• " The Augments "
• " The Forge "
• " Awakening "
• " Kir'Shara "
• " Daedalus "
• " Observer Effect "
• " Babel One "
• " The Aenar "
• " Affliction "
• " Divergence "
• " Terra Prime "
• " These Are the Voyages... "
• VST : " Holograms All the Way Down " (background hologram)
• LD : " Empathological Fallacies " (photograph)

Background information [ ]

Malcolm Reed was played by actor Dominic Keating .

Originally, Reed's rank was supposed to have been lieutenant commander , but it was changed to lieutenant before the pilot aired. [3] The character of Reed was invented by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga , who imagined him as a multifaceted Brit. " We wanted our armory officer to be a character who was rather shy and staid, " Berman commented. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26)

In the series bible for Star Trek: Enterprise , Reed was characterized thus: " British, male, late twenties. Armory Officer. In the new age of humanity's enlightenment, Reed is a bit of a throwback. He's a 22nd century 'soldier,' all spit and polish and by-the-book. His hair is cut razor-short. He maintains a rigorous daily schedule; when he isn't on duty, he's working out on a futuristic exercise apparatus he keeps in his quarters, or toiling in the munitions lab, perfecting some new kind of torpedo […] Reed is always trying to expand his weapons inventory, storing ammunition in parts of the ship designated to Engineering […] Reed is filled with contradictions. Despite his near-obsession with regulations and munitions, he's also soft spoken, shy, and awkward around women. When testing a new photon weapon, he's liable to put on a pair of space age ear-plugs because he doesn't like loud noises. "

In a character breakdown sheet sent from Paramount to talent agents upon seeking an actor to play Reed, the character was described thus: " Armory Officer. British. Late 20s – early 30s. In the new age of humanity's enlightenment, Reed is a bit of a throwback. He's a 22rd Century 'soldier', all spit and polish and by-the-book. Reed is filled with contradictions. Despite his near-obsession with munitions, he's soft-spoken, shy and awkward around women. When testing a new weapon, he's liable to put on a pair of space-age earplugs because he doesn't like loud noises. " [4] Dominic Keating later recalled, " Reed was described in the breakdown as 'buttoned-down wry, dry, and shy around women.' " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26)

When Reed was introduced in the script of the Enterprise pilot episode " Broken Bow " (in both the second draft and revised final draft of the script), he was described thus; " Reed is a buttoned-up Englishman in his 30's. " [5] Rick Berman noted about the part, " There was just something about it that screamed out for an English actor. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26)

When Dominic Keating auditioned for a role in Star Trek: Voyager , Rick Berman suspected he had found the right actor to play Malcolm Reed. Berman and Brannon Braga were meanwhile in the very early stages of development on the script for "Broken Bow". Though Reed wasn't cast for VOY, Berman felt sure Keating was ideal to portray Reed, so Berman put the actor's photograph and resume on his desk. ("Broken Bow" audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu-ray ) The photo remained on Berman's desk for longer than a year. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26) " I said to Brannon, 'I saw […] the guy to play Malcolm Reed,' " Berman continued. " And he came in; he was the first person who came in to read for us when it was time to cast the role of Reed, and he was perfect for it. " ("Broken Bow" audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu-ray ) Keating initially had other ideas, though, with some objections to how Reed was described in the character breakdown sheet, such as the references to him being "soft-spoken, shy and awkward around women." " I thought, 'I'm so not like that!' " the actor exclaimed. The part nonetheless went to Keating. " When they'd given me the role, " he reflected, " I sat with Brannon and Rick and said, 'I'm thrilled to get the job; I'm really happy – just please don't make him the English guy on Star Trek ! Brannon said, 'What, you don't want us to write things like 'My dear old mum?!'' " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26)

Shortly after the start of ENT Season 1 , Brannon Braga postulated that the character of Reed might become more appealing to write stories for during the course of the season, Braga speculating, " By the end of the season, we could discover that Reed is really jumping off the page. It's hard to say. " ( Broken Bow , paperback ed., p. 253) Dominic Keating felt there was "plenty of time for us to look at Reed down the line." ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26) Later in the first season, Braga observed about Reed, " He's had some great stuff to do in terms of action. But we're only now at this point starting to dig a little deeper, and I'm not sure exactly where we're going to take him. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 9 , p. 22)

Upon originating the role of Lieutenant Reed, Dominic Keating tried to see more similarities between the character and his own personality. For example, he admitted that, like Reed, he himself could occasionally be shy around women. Keating believed another likeness between them was that he, at the age of seventeen, planned to leave school and join the army. " That's who Reed is, " Keating remarked. " He's slightly naive going into space; he's exactly as I was. The more I look at him, the more I see that I can actually be him. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 26)

When asked, Dominic Keating did not specify where Lieutenant Reed's quarters on Enterprise were, but in " Shockwave, Part II ", it is implied that Reed's quarters were on B Deck. Keating also stated, when asked about Reed's romantic life, that " God knows I played him gay! " but it is rather difficult to tell if he was serious or joking. [6]

An interview with Keating from 2013 confirms the speculation about Reed's orientation: " I played him so gay ... I mean, it was always rumored that Malcolm was gay, wasn't it?" he says. " It was that one line of his three-line bio, 'Shy around women,' that just shockwaved across the gay community. " He includes some remarks on the showrunners' reluctance to portray a gay character on screen. " I don't want to say it was dry and they didn't want to take any risks, but there was an element of that. " [7] (X)

In " Singularity ", the producers hinted that the familiar " red alert " often used in the rest of Star Trek likely is a further development of Reed's idea of introducing a "tactical alert", for which Trip Tucker initially suggested the name "Reed alert".

The Suliban costume Keating wore as Reed in " Detained " was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [8]

Reception [ ]

In 2003 , Mark Jones and Lance Parkin , writers of the review reference book Beyond the Final Frontier (pp. 363 & 365), commented therein that, in episodes such as "Silent Enemy" and "Shuttlepod One", the depiction of Reed made them feel as though the ENT writing staff were "desperately trying to figure out Reed."

Apocrypha [ ]

In the novel Last Full Measure , a flashback reveals that Reed's aquaphobia was caused by a traumatic experience with a school bully when the bully nearly drowned Reed in a school fountain, with Reed briefly attempting to take revenge before the look in the bully's eyes forced him to realize that he had sunk to the bully's level.

In the novel A Choice of Futures , following the Romulan War, Reed serves as T'Pol's first officer on the USS Endeavour before being promoted to captain of the USS Pioneer , during which he also worked with Doctor Tobin Dax to carry out various modifications to the ship.

External links [ ]

• Malcolm Reed at StarTrek.com
• Malcolm Reed at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Malcolm Reed at Wikipedia