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Why enterprise’s trip & t’pol romance was so controversial (but still good).

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The romance between human Charles "Trip" Tucker III & Vulcan T'pol on Star Trek: Enterprise was very controversial for a few reasons, but still fun to watch. Star Trek: Enterprise , which ran from 2001-2005, has long been regarded as one of the least successful iterations of the franchise, but it introduced many unique story elements not seen in other Star Trek series. Nearly two decades since the series ended, their romance is still a subject of heated fan debate. For all that it remains controversial, Trip and T’Pol’s relationship was ultimately a good addition to the franchise, allowing Star Trek to explore relationships in ways it never had before.

This relationship was controversial for several reasons, and one big one is that it involved more obvious sex than other Star Trek relationships. In most Star Trek romances (such as Star Trek: The Next Generation 's William T Riker and Deanna Troi’s love story ), physical intimacy is more implied than shown. For instance, viewers see passionate kisses, and then the door is kicked closed. If a couple is in bed together, the light level is too low to see anything explicit. In Star Trek: Enterprise , however, viewers saw extended, well-lit love scenes, such as the infamous steamy shower scene. While some didn't enjoy this departure from the norm, others liked seeing a show for adults explore relationships in this way.

Related: Star Trek Just Missed A Perfect Enterprise Archer Cameo

The Problems with Enterprise's Trip & T'Pol Romance

However, Star Trek: Enterprise fans who enjoyed the more explicit aspects of the relationship could still see some problems with it. First, it seemed to come out of nowhere. T’pol and Trip had no lead-up to a relationship until the end of season 2 when tragedy struck with the Xindi attack on Earth. Their weapon killed millions, including Trip’s sister, Elizabeth. As a result of his grief, Trip couldn't sleep. T'Pol was asked by starship Enterprise doctor, Dr. Phlox, to use Vulcan neuropressure to help him relax. This was the catalyst for T'Pol and Trip developing feelings for each other, culminating in sex.

After they were somewhat improbably brought together, Trip and T'pol faced many threats to their relationship. Trouble and heartache existed around every corner. No sooner had T'pol confessed her feelings to Trip than she was convinced to go through with a long-arranged marriage to another Vulcan. She quickly divorced, but then she and Trip discovered that a rogue group had stolen their DNA and created a child. They warmed to the idea of raising a child, but it turned out that errors in the genetic engineering of the baby meant she would not survive. In the end, Trip’s self-sacrificial death for the Enterprise denied them both any chance of a happy resolution to their relationship.

Charles Tucker III

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Commander Charles Tucker III , known affectionately as "Trip" Tucker , was a 22nd century Human male Starfleet officer . He served for ten years as the chief engineer and Second officer of Earth 's first warp 5 -capable starship , Enterprise NX-01 , under the command of his best friend, Captain Jonathan Archer . ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " These Are the Voyages... ", " Cold Front ", " Affliction ", " Divergence ")

• 1 Childhood
• 2.1 Early career
• 2.2 Assignment aboard Enterprise
• 2.3 The Xindi mission
• 2.4 The return home
• 2.5 Later career and ‘death’
• 2.6 Tucker's legacy
• 3 Personal interests
• 4.1.1 Jonathan Archer
• 4.1.2 Malcolm Reed
• 4.1.3 Hoshi Sato
• 4.2.1 Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tucker
• 4.2.2 Elizabeth
• 4.2.3 Lorian
• 4.3.1 Natalie
• 4.3.2 Ah'len
• 4.3.3 Liana
• 4.3.4 Kaitaama
• 4.3.5 Amanda Cole
• 4.3.6 T'Pol
• 5 Alternate realities and timelines
• 6 Memorable quotes
• 7 Key dates
• 8.1 Appearances
• 8.2 Background information
• 8.3 Apocrypha
• 8.4 External links

Childhood [ ]

Born in 2121 , Charles Tucker III grew up in Panama City , Florida. ( ENT : " Strange New World ", " Fusion ") He was born with a birthmark on the right side of his body. ( ENT : " Similitude ") Tucker acquired the nickname "Trip" due to the fact that he was the third (the "triple") Tucker to be named "Charles", after his father and grandfather . ( ENT : " First Flight ")

Tucker when he was young

As a child, Tucker read The War of the Worlds with his mother . Growing up, he always wanted to be a starship captain, but his father thought he should be an engineer while his mother thought he should be an architect . ( ENT : " Similitude ")

At the age of seven , Tucker's mother bought him a copy of Emory Erickson: Father of the Transporter , and he made her read it to him every night for a month. It was his childhood admiration for Emory Erickson that made him finally decide that he wanted to be an engineer. ( ENT : " Daedalus ") As Tucker later recalled, he was extremely skilled at taking things apart, but not so good at putting them back together. ( ENT : " Observer Effect ")

Tucker used to take his younger sister, Elizabeth , to a movie theater near their house. He later remembered that she would "scream like a banshee" if he didn't take her. ( ENT : " The Expanse ") Tucker once put a garden snake in his sister's doll house, and his family once had a large dog named Bedford . ( ENT : " Similitude ")

On several occasions, Tucker went on camping trips with his friends. They would spend half the night looking up at the stars and wondering what Earth 's sun would look like from a distant planet . ( ENT : " Strange New World ")

During his early childhood, Tucker attended Bayshore Elementary , where he attended his first dance. He knew before the event that Melissa Lyles , a girl who he had a crush on, would be there, and spent weeks practicing dance steps with his brother in preparation for the event. On the night of the dance, Melissa wore a red dress, and Tucker believed she was the prettiest girl there. He desperately wanted to ask her to dance with him, but he was not courageous enough to approach her. Tucker caught the girl looking at him a few times, but he eventually ended up standing in a corner with his friends. Twenty years later, he still regretted not asking the girl to dance. ( ENT : " Fusion ")

Tucker as he appeared at age seventeen

In Tucker's tenth grade biology class , a Vulcan scientist who the children referred to as "Mr. Velik " came to teach the class about life on other worlds. Tucker, who had never seen a Vulcan up close before, was terrified of the teacher. Velik often reminded his students, " Challenge your preconceptions or they'll challenge you. " Tucker went on to associate this advice with his memory of Velik. ( ENT : " Strange New World ")

During the late 2130s , Tucker used to drive his car out to Chatkin Point , park along the shoreline, and stare at the moon with his girlfriend. He later compared the size of his first car to that of a Retellian escape pod . ( ENT : " Precious Cargo ")

According to Tucker, his grandmother taught him to never judge a species by their eating habits. ( ENT : " Broken Bow ") His personal favorite food was pan-fried catfish with hushpuppies. ( ENT : " Unexpected ", " Dead Stop ", " These Are the Voyages... ") Tucker had no allergies that he knew of. ( ENT : " Unexpected ")

Early career [ ]

Trip was self-taught, having learned engineering from working on boat engines. Tucker first joined Starfleet in 2139 , at which time he lived in Sausalito , a few blocks from the Vulcan Compound . He subsequently recalled that he "got into a lot of trouble" at Starfleet Training Command . ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ", " Broken Bow ", " Unexpected ", " Observer Effect ")

Lieutenant Tucker in 2143

By 2143 , Tucker was a member of Captain Jefferies ' engineering team, with the rank of lieutenant . After the destruction of warp-2 prototype vessel NX-Alpha in that year, Tucker met Commander Jonathan Archer . He later assisted Archer and A.G. Robinson in stealing a backup warp-2 prototype vessel, the NX-Beta , in an attempt to prove to Starfleet Command that the engine design was sound. ( ENT : " First Flight ") Shortly thereafter, Tucker taught Archer how to scuba dive off the coast of Florida . ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Tucker did his survival training during two weeks in the Australian Outback in a group that included Archer. ( ENT : " Desert Crossing ") Additional Starfleet training simulations familiarized Tucker with mind-altering agents. ( ENT : " Strange New World ")

In 2147 , Tucker was on Titan as part of the Omega training mission , together with Archer. A malfunction with Tucker's environmental suit occurred on Titan's surface, so Tucker desperately tried to take off his helmet, but Archer saved his life by preventing him from doing so. ( ENT : " Strange New World ", " Unexpected ")

Assignment aboard Enterprise [ ]

By 2151 , Tucker held the rank of commander . Renowned as a gifted orbital engineer , he first served aboard the starship Enterprise NX-01 as chief engineer . His quarters were on B Deck , in one of the starboard sections. ( ENT : " Broken Bow ", " Shockwave, Part II ", " Cogenitor ", " Precious Cargo ")

He experienced existence in a weightless environment when Ensign Travis Mayweather showed him the " sweet spot " on Enterprise . Aboard the starship, one of Tucker's self-appointed responsibilities was overseeing movie night . Tucker took part in the efforts to return the Klingon Klaang to his homeworld with information that could avert a civil war , and he and the rest of the crew came into conflict with the Cabal , who were attempting to ignite a war on orders from a strange humanoid from the future . The mission was successful. ( ENT : " Broken Bow ")

Tucker was part of the away team that became infected by the pollen of the plant life on a deserted planet Enterprise was exploring. The pollen caused paranoid and delusional behavior in the away team; Tucker thought that each member was trying to kill him. ( ENT : " Strange New World ")

Tucker's pregnancy

In the course of first contact with the Xyrillians , Tucker boarded their ship to fix their engines. The physical environment was considerably different to his usual and Tucker found acclimatisation difficult. During his stay on their ship he developed a relationship with Ah'len , an engineer. After the ship left, Tucker discovered he was pregnant. Although he had not knowingly had a sexual encounter, a game he and Ah'len played that enabled them to read each other's minds may have served as a medium to transfer genetic material. While Tucker was the first Human male to become pregnant, as well as the first known Human participant in interspecies reproduction , Doctor Phlox said the embryo was not techinically Tucker's child, but that he was simply serving as a host. When the ship was tracked down, the embryo was successfully transferred to another host. ( ENT : " Unexpected ")

While visiting a Vulcan monastery at P'Jem , Tucker, along with Captain Archer and Sub-Commander T'Pol , became involved in a dispute between the Andorians and Vulcans. He was held hostage along with the others until they were rescued by Lieutenant Malcolm Reed . It was discovered that the monastery was a front for a listening post operated by the Vulcans. ( ENT : " The Andorian Incident ")

Tucker gave a tour of Enterprise to a group of Borothan pilgrims that included Silik , who was in disguise and tried to sabotage the ship. ( ENT : " Cold Front ")

On a mission to Coridan , Tucker and Reed attempted to rescue Archer and T'Pol from rebel forces, but were captured themselves. They were freed by the Andorian Shran and his men, who helped Tucker and Reed rescue T'Pol and Archer. ( ENT : " Shadows of P'Jem ")

Tucker and Reed became stranded in a shuttlepod after they mistakenly believed Enterprise was destroyed when they found debris at the coordinates where they were supposed to meet the ship. In reality, the debris was from another ship, the crew of which Enterprise had rescued and was transporting back to their planet. With their air running out, Tucker jettisoned the impulse engines as a flare, which Enterprise saw and thus was able to come to their rescue. ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

The Ferengi hijacked Enterprise after rendering the crew unconscious. Tucker, who was in a sealed compartment, was not affected. He woke T'Pol, and both worked to play the Ferengi against each other, trapping them and regaining control of the ship. ( ENT : " Acquisition ")

Tucker was captured by a symbiotic creature which had stowed away on Enterprise . The creature integrated Tucker's nervous system along with other crewmembers it captured to its own system, but after the crew learned that the creature wished to return home to reunite with its main host, it released Tucker and the others. ( ENT : " Vox Sola ")

Tucker, as part of an away team to salvage an abandoned ship on a planet, found that there was a settlement there. They were called the Kantare ; after their ship crashed, they were stranded on the planet. Tucker became romantically involved with Liana , but it was discovered that the settlement was a hologram created by Liana's father, Ezral , to keep his daughter company. ( ENT : " Oasis ")

Tucker and Archer, after helping to repair Zobral 's ship, were invited to visit his village. Zobral was really a rebel fighting against an oppressive government, and when the village was attacked, Tucker and Archer became stranded in a vast desert until they were rescued with help from Zobral. ( ENT : " Desert Crossing ")

Tucker and Reed, after being robbed on Risa

While on shore leave on Risa , Tucker and Reed were robbed by two beautiful aliens who turned out to be morphs using their disguises to lure their victims. ( ENT : " Two Days and Two Nights ")

When Enterprise was captured by Silik and the Suliban , and Archer was transported to the future by Daniels , Tucker helped retake engineering , restore the timeline , and return Archer to his own time. Required to build quantum beacons , Tucker was forced to learn quantum engineering at a level beyond his training. ( ENT : " Shockwave ", " Shockwave, Part II ")

Tucker on the floor of the bridge of Enterprise with Reed

While attempting to discover the powers of an automated repair station Enterprise had entered, Tucker was transported off the station back to Enterprise in an effort to stop the investigation. He later discovered that the station was using humanoid lifeforms to power its computer. ( ENT : " Dead Stop ")

Tucker was affected by a black hole 's radiation, and became obsessed with fixing Archer's captain's chair . ( ENT : " Singularity ")

Tucker trained miners in self-defense on a planet the Klingons were pillaging. He befriended a young child on the planet, and gave him a tour of Enterprise . ( ENT : " Marauders ")

Tucker with a cloaked appendage

Tucker rescued Archer and Reed from a planet that had given them a death sentence, and modified a Suliban cell ship with a cloaking device in order to save them. While doing so, however, he accidentally "cloaked" his right forearm . ( ENT : " The Communicator ")

Tucker saved an alien princess, Kaitaama , from kidnappers, and had a brief romantic relationship with her during the rescue. ( ENT : " Precious Cargo ")

Tucker and Zho'Kaan on the moon's surface

Tucker became stranded on a barren moon with an Arkonian who had tried to shoot his shuttle down. At first, they tried to kill each other, but realized that the only way they could survive was to cooperate with each other. Zho'Kaan 's dehydration was causing cellular breakdown, which made using the transporter not an option. Tucker refused to leave him, and cared for him until a modified Arkonian shuttle rescued them. ( ENT : " Dawn ")

When three aliens who boarded Enterprise warned that a deadly neutronic wavefront was quickly approaching and the crew needed to take shelter to be protected from the storm's deadly radiation, Tucker suggested that the one heavily-shielded place on board that might suffice for the eight-day ordeal was the cramped quarters of the catwalk , the maintenance shaft that ran the length of each nacelle . While they were in the catwalk, alien intruders attempted to steal Enterprise , and Tucker helped drive them off. ( ENT : " The Catwalk ")

During a stop at a medical conference, Tucker met Feezal , Phlox's wife. Feezal became attracted to him and tried to seduce him, and when Tucker told Phlox about this, he was told by Phlox that he should have taken advantage of Feezal's offer. While assembling a neutron microscope Feezal delivered, Tucker bragged he could put back together just about any equipment he had ever met. ( ENT : " Stigma ") Later, Tucker and Reed discovered that a derelict ship Enterprise salvaged was from the future. Even the few papers he read on spatial geometry could not explain the ship's dimensions. ( ENT : " Future Tense ")

While investigating an alien ship, Tucker's body was invaded by an alien wisp that began to control his actions. Their plan was to take over the bodies of the crew and steal Enterprise . ( ENT : " The Crossing ")

The Vulcans and Andorians were again involved in a dispute over a planet, Weytahn . While Archer tried to mediate the dispute, Tucker, commanding Enterprise , stopped the ships of both sides from engaging in battle when he steered Enterprise between the two fleets, giving Archer time to settle the dispute. ( ENT : " Cease Fire ")

Tucker and Archer were unjustly sentenced to the penal colony of Canamar . A prisoner, Kuroda , took over the ship and enlisted Tucker and Archer's help in escaping. His plan was to transport off the ship to another he was meeting, and crash the ship along with the other prisoners and guards. Tucker and Archer foiled his plan, and were rescued by Enterprise . ( ENT : " Canamar ")

Tucker led an away team to rescue three Denobulan geologists from the planet Xantoras . The government had ordered all aliens to leave their world immediately, and Tucker had to persuade the geologists to leave. ( ENT : " The Breach ")

Reed and Tucker look for any sign that his sister might be alive in Xindi-devastated Florida

Tucker's encounter with the Vissians proved costly. The Vissians used a cogenitor , a third gender, to reproduce; these cogenitors were treated as an inferior class with no rights. After meeting with a cogenitor, Tucker found that it had the same mental capabilities as the other Vissians, and took it upon himself to convince the cogenitor he met to fight for her rights. He also secretly taught the cogenitor how to read, play go , and educated it about its rights as an individual. The cogenitor chose the name "Charles" for itself, in honor of Tucker. Later, it asked for asylum on Enterprise , which, after several meetings, was denied. Archer finally decided that to grant asylum would ruin any chance of Starfleet making successful trade with the Vissians. Several days later, Tucker was informed that the cogenitor had killed itself, and blamed himself for the suicide. ( ENT : " Cogenitor ")

Tucker was devastated to learn that his sister, Elizabeth , was killed in the Xindi attack on Earth . ( ENT : " The Expanse ")

The Xindi mission [ ]

Tucker's sleepless nights begin

Tucker became bitter after his sister's death, and was full of hatred and revenge. His mental state led to many sleepless nights. Phlox tricked Tucker into taking Vulcan neuro-pressure from T'Pol; this helped him sleep properly, and moved his relationship with T'Pol to another level. Tucker's first contact with the Xindi occurred at a mining camp where a Xindi, Kessick , was rescued. Kessick was killed in the escape, but gave the coordinates of the Xindi homeworld before he died. ( ENT : " The Xindi ")

Commander Tucker in 2153

An away team consisting of Captain Archer, T'Pol, Lieutenant Reed, and Ensign Hoshi Sato was endangered on the homeworld of the extinct Loque'eque race when a virus left on the planet mutated Archer, Reed and Sato into the lost species. When another alien race landed on the planet, determined to exterminate any of these species, Tucker led a MACO team to stop the alien exterminators and rescue the away team. ( ENT : " Extinction ")

Tucker and T'Pol tried to replicate trellium-D , a substance that would protect Enterprise from the Delphic Expanse 's deadly anomalies. The attempt ended in an explosion. ( ENT : " Rajiin ")

Tucker attempted to "rewrite the book on warp theory " once he realized the Cochrane equation wasn't constant in the Expanse, with spatial gradients destabilizing the warp field. Eventually, he succeeded, as he rerouted the system taps, compressing the antimatter stream before it entered the injectors , thus stabilizing the warp field. ( ENT : " Anomaly (ENT) ", " Similitude ")

Tucker was badly injured, ending up in a coma , due to a primary injector flare during an encounter with a polaric field . He was cloned using a mimetic simbiot in an attempt to harvest brain tissue from the clone in order to save his life. The clone, Sim , attempted to escape Enterprise to save his own life, but decided against it at the last minute and allowed Phlox to transplant the tissue even though it meant his death. ( ENT : " Similitude ")

After recovering a small craft in the Expanse with an unknown alien in it, Tucker determined that the alien was a test subject to see what effects the atmosphere would have on it. This was the first indication that an alien force was behind the Xindi and their attack on Earth. ( ENT : " Harbinger ")

After coming in contact with a Xindi-Insectoid ship, Tucker questioned Archer's ability to captain Enterprise after Archer had been infected with a toxin that made him believe he was the caretaker to the eggs of the Xindi-Insectoids, and was endangering the mission. Tucker led the crew in a mutiny to retake the ship from Archer before he could be cured. ( ENT : " Hatchery ")

Tucker during the Battle of Azati Prime

Tucker piloted a captured Xindi-Insectoid shuttle and discovered the location of the Xindi weapon . In the battle of Azati Prime , Enterprise took heavy damage and lost eighteen crewmen. Tucker was terribly affected, and it did not help when he had to compose letters to the families of the slain crewmembers, a task that reminded him of his sister's death. To make matters even worse for Tucker, he found it extremely difficult to forgive Degra , one of the Council members of the Xindi who had designed the Xindi weapon, and had a couple of tension-filled encounters with him, as Archer was trying to gain Degra's trust. Eventually, however, the experience of consoling others helped Tucker finally deal with Elizabeth's death. ( ENT : " Azati Prime ", " The Forgotten ")

Tucker helped steal the primary warp coil of an Illyrian ship to replace Enterprise 's after it was damaged in the Battle of Azati Prime. ( ENT : " Damage ")

After an accident using Xindi subspace corridors , Enterprise met its future counterpart. Enterprise 's counterpart was captained by Lorian , the son of Tucker and T'Pol. The crew of the future Enterprise helped Enterprise keep an appointment with Degra, so peace could be discussed. ( ENT : " E² ")

Tucker destroys one of the Delphic Expanse Spheres

Tucker played a large role in the final battle with the Xindi. He destroyed one of the spheres that disrupted the energy field that the Sphere-Builders , who were behind the Xindi attack, were using to help the Xindi; this gave time for Archer and the MACOs to board the weapon, destroy it and save Earth. ( ENT : " Countdown ", " Zero Hour ")

The return home [ ]

After traveling back in time to 1944 , Tucker was assaulted by Silik , who stole a shuttle . The time shift was part of the Temporal Cold War . Tucker and Reed returned to Earth to try and rescue Archer, but were captured by Nazis and their alien allies, the Na'kuhl . The Na'kuhl were trying to change history by helping the Nazis win World War II . Fortunately, the plot was foiled, and the timeline was restored. ( ENT : " Storm Front ", " Storm Front, Part II ")

On returning home to a hero's welcome, Tucker faced heartbreak when he traveled to Vulcan and witnessed T'Pol 's marriage to Koss . ( ENT : " Home ")

In 2154 , the Augment crisis began. Dr. Arik Soong had genetically-engineered Human embryos; reaching adulthood, these Augments attacked a Klingon ship and killed the crew. When the Klingons demanded justice, Enterprise was dispatched to capture the Augments, with Soong on board to help them. After T'Pol was captured by the Orions and sent to a slave market, Tucker was able to decode a neural restraint and free her. He discovered that the Augments had captured Cold Station 12 , where other Augment embryos were stored, and took part in the operation to retake the Augments' ship and stop the threat. ( ENT : " Borderland ", " Cold Station 12 ", " The Augments ")

Following the destruction of Earth's embassy on Vulcan, Archer and T'Pol searched for the Syrrannites , who were believed to be the perpetrators, on Vulcan's surface, leaving Tucker temporarily in command of Enterprise . With help from Ambassador Soval , Tucker uncovered a conspiracy in which the Vulcan High Command attempted to cover-up the bombing as well as launching a preemptive strike against the Andorians, who they believed had constructed a devastating weapon based on Xindi technology. Tucker warned Shran , and participated in the engagement between the Vulcan and Andorian fleets. ( ENT : " The Forge ", " Awakening ", " Kir'Shara ")

Under the control of Organians , Hoshi Sato and Trip Tucker discover they are being watched

Tucker was infected with a silicon-based virus while part of a landing party on a planet's surface, looking for salvage amongst Klingon waste. Although Tucker initially died due to the virus, he was resurrected by two Organian observers, who were watching the crew's reaction to the virus. ( ENT : " Observer Effect ")

On November 12 , 2154, Enterprise was escorting a group of Tellarites to a conference with the Andorians to settle long-standing disputes. However, the Andorian ship was destroyed by what appeared to be a Tellarite ship. Among the survivors was Shran. The Tellarites denied any involvement, and then Enterprise was attacked by an Andorian ship. In reality, the ship was a Romulan drone ship piloted by a neural interface . This was an attempt by the Romulans to start war among potential allies. Tucker and Reed transported over to the ship and discovered that it was unmanned. They attempted to sabotage the ship and after doing so, ejected out into space where they could be transported back aboard Enterprise . Tucker built a telepresence unit for Enterprise in order to prepare it for battle against the Romulan drone ships. The Romulans' plot was foiled with the cooperation of Humans, Tellarites and Andorians; this would be the foundation for a federation of planets . ( ENT : " Babel One ", " United ", " The Aenar ")

Tucker transferred off Enterprise to Columbia NX-02 due to his feelings for T'Pol. He later returned to Enterprise to help them deal with the Klingons, who faced extinction due to a genetic virus caused by their experiments with Augment DNA . ( ENT : " Affliction ") Tucker transferred back to Enterprise permanently shortly after an encounter with Orion females who attempted to take over the ship by influencing the minds of the male crew; he proved to be immune due to his new-found psychic bond with T'Pol. ( ENT : " Bound ")

Terra Prime , a xenophobic terrorist faction led by John Frederick Paxton , threatened to disrupt a conference to form a coalition of planets , and had created a clone using the DNA of Tucker and T'Pol, with the plan of using the child to stir anti-alien feelings. When Tucker and T'Pol tried to infiltrate Terra Prime, they were captured and taken to a secret base on Mars . From there, Paxton threatened to attack Starfleet Headquarters with a laser cannon unless all aliens left the Sol system . Tucker tried to sabotage the weapons system, but was discovered and thrown into a cell. He escaped and was able to meet with a team from Enterprise who had come to rescue him and T'Pol. Tucker led them to Paxton's complex where they were able to deactivate his weapon and end his threat. Sadly, the child, whom T'Pol named " Elizabeth " after Tucker's deceased sister, died due to a flaw in the procedure used in her creation. It was initially believed that the causa mortis was an incompatibility between the Vulcan and Human DNA, a hypothesis Doctor Phlox shortly afterward determined to be wrong. ( ENT : " Demons ", " Terra Prime ")

Later career and ‘death’ [ ]

A holographic representation of Commander Charles Tucker III in 2161

Tucker continued serving as chief engineer aboard Enterprise until 2161 , when the ship was scheduled to be decommissioned prior to the signing of the Federation Charter . En route to Earth to attend the founding ceremony of the alliance that would give birth to the United Federation of Planets , Enterprise made a detour to Rigel X to rescue Shran's daughter, Talla . Tucker participated in the rescue operation. Knowing Archer's importance to the upcoming ceremony, he attempted to persuade Archer to remain aboard Enterprise , as it was safer, but Archer insisted on joining the mission. Ironically, it was Tucker himself who was nearly killed on the mission when the catwalk he was on was shot out from under him. Fortunately, Archer was there to save him, and the mission was successful.

A holographic representation of Tucker's final moments

Unfortunately, according to Starfleet’s official history, the victory ultimately came at the cost of Tucker's life. Shortly after Enterprise left Rigel X, Talla's abductors somehow managed to board the ship. When the alien trespassers threatened Archer, it is believed Tucker quickly thought up a plan to lure the aliens away from Archer. Despite orders from Archer to remain quiet, he insisted and persuaded one of the aliens to render Archer unconscious. With his captain safe and no longer in the way, Tucker lured the aliens away to a nearby plasma junction, which he claimed was a communications system which he would use to contact Shran in order to bring him to the aliens. With the intruders fooled, Tucker rigged the junction to explode, killing the alien trespassers. It is believed Tucker was also critically injured in the explosion and he ultimately died, having sacrificed himself for his captain. ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Tucker's legacy [ ]

Following Tucker's sacrifice, Archer ultimately went on to be an instrumental figure in the formation of the United Federation of Planets.

In 2370 , Commander William T. Riker of the USS Enterprise -D used historical records of the events surrounding Tucker's death in a holodeck simulation to help sort through a personal moral crisis related to the USS Pegasus , a ship he once served on. The historical events used in the program included the mission to Rigel X to save Shran's daughter and Talla's former captors storming Enterprise . After seeing Tucker give his life to save Captain Archer, disobeying Archer's orders in the process, Riker decided he, too, would do the right thing regardless of the cost. ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Ensign Brad Boimler mentioned Tucker in 2380 , comparing him to Lieutenant Jet Manhaver , specifically, that Manhaver was "like a Kirk sundae with Trip Tucker sprinkles ." ( LD : " Cupid's Errant Arrow ")

Personal interests [ ]

Tucker often looked forward to the days when Chef served pecan pie

Tucker had many likes and interests, ranging from personal to professional, especially in the engineering field. He often enjoyed studying alien engines, or even certain Human ones. In 2151 , Tucker was in awe of the Vulcan ship Ti'Mur and its ringed-engine drive. Unfortunately, Vulcan engine schematics were classified. Later that year, Tucker was interested in visiting the legendary Coridanite Fleet Yards, rumored to build starships capable of warp 7 . Other alien species with engines he was particularly amazed by were those of Zobral's species and the Vissians . ( ENT : " Breaking the Ice ", " Shadows of P'Jem ", " Desert Crossing ", " Cogenitor ")

Tucker was also interested in seeing the ECS Horizon 's warp core in hopes that the rumors that Zefram Cochrane had personally signed the inside of the frame were true. ( ENT : " Horizon ")

Tucker's favorite dessert was pecan pie . After a long day of work, Tucker said it was all worthwhile to come to the mess hall for a slice of it. He even suggested that T'Pol might like it. ( ENT : " Breaking the Ice ") On a separate occasion, he noted that his favorite dessert was key lime pie . ( ENT : " Similitude ")

Tucker's favorite food was pan-fried catfish . His mother made it perfectly and if anyone asked his favorite food, Tucker would say that she would "give you the recipe for pan-fried catfish and not let you leave until you promised to cook it right." ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ", " Dead Stop ", " These Are the Voyages... ")

Another of Tucker's favorite foods were Georgia peaches . Before leaving for the Delphic Expanse in 2153 , he made sure to take a crate of them aboard, and also suggested that T'Pol might enjoy them as well. ( ENT : " Extinction ")

Tucker occasionally watched water polo with Captain Archer, who seemed to have gotten him hooked on the sport as he didn't like it so much at first. ( ENT : " Vox Sola ", " The Seventh ") He enjoyed playing the harmonica in his spare time as well. ( ENT : " Precious Cargo ")

Another of Tucker's interests was ancient cinema . Upon signing on to Enterprise , he suggested they have a " movie night ," which often served to help crew morale. Although, since he chose the movies, some of the crew often complained about his selecting what seemed like the same movie plots over and over, often from the middle of the 20th century . ( ENT : " The Catwalk ", " Cogenitor ")

Frankenstein's monster figure

Tucker's favorite film was Frankenstein and its two sequels, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein , which he deemed the "three greatest horror movies ever." He even kept an action figure of Frankenstein's monster in his quarters. ( ENT : " Horizon ", " These Are the Voyages... ")

Hailing from Florida, Tucker went diving in the ocean before he joined Starfleet . He kept a picture of himself scuba diving in his quarters, as well an old-style skin-diving suit helmet. ( ENT : " These Are the Voyages... ")

Some of the ancient books (on paper ) Tucker kept copies of in his quarters included Gulliver's Travels , The Gorilla Hunters , and A Pictorial History of the American Indian . He was apparently an experienced player of an ancient Chinese game called go . ( ENT : " Cogenitor ")

Personal relationships [ ]

Friendships [ ].

Tucker's initial job as first officer was to be the liaison between the captain and the crew. Even though the position was later given to Sub-Commander T'Pol, Tucker was still well-liked by most of his shipmates.

On the first day of Enterprise 's voyage, some friends in the mess hall invited him to sit with them for dinner, but he reminded them that he had plans: dinner with Captain Archer in the captain's mess . ( ENT : " Broken Bow ")

Jonathan Archer [ ]

Tucker pours Archer a drink in memory of Henry Archer

The two officers met when Jonathan Archer was a commander in the NX Program and Tucker was a lieutenant on Captain Jefferies' engineering team. After the first NX prototype, the NX-Alpha , was destroyed and the project was going to be canceled, Tucker and Archer teamed up with Commander A.G. Robinson to save the program. They launched the NX-Beta , the second NX prototype, without permission, and were ultimately successful. ( ENT : " First Flight ")

Tucker and Archer began to develop a strong bond of friendship, enduring harsh survival training in the Australian Outback together and saving each other's lives many times. During an Omega training mission on Titan , Tucker's EV pack froze up and he got nitrogen narcosis. He tried to remove his helmet, but Archer ordered him to keep it on. Later, in 2152 , Archer saved a delirious Tucker from heatstroke when they were stranded in the Torothan desert. Likewise, Tucker rescued and saved Archer's life quite a few times. He saved him from execution on a pre-warp alien planet, after Archer and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed tried to find a communicator left behind. Tucker also rescued Archer from bounty hunters who wished to turn Archer over to the Klingons . ( ENT : " Desert Crossing ", " The Communicator ", " Bounty ")

Tucker was always there when the captain needed cheering up. When Archer was depressed about Enterprise 's botched first contact with the Kreetassans , his chief engineer lightened the mood with a data module of the Stanford versus Texas water polo match. They ate their meals together, and shared many interests. ( ENT : " Vox Sola ")

This did not mean that their relationship was always stress-free. Tucker once interfered with the Vissians' customs; the Vissians used a third gender, called a cogenitor , for reproduction, and Tucker persuaded one such being that it was being treated unfairly. Archer was furious, and told Tucker that he was in no position to judge the fairness of the Vissians' culture. When the cogenitor was later denied asylum on Enterprise and committed suicide , Archer told Tucker that he hoped he had learned his lesson about interfering. ( ENT : " Cogenitor ")

Malcolm Reed [ ]

Tucker and Reed bond

Tucker and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed formed an unlikely friendship. They were polar opposites: Reed was stuffy and all work as opposed to Tucker's zest for life. When the duo was stranded in a damaged shuttlepod for several days, they initially clashed, but discovered that they had more in common than they thought. At one point, Tucker even tried to sacrifice himself so that Reed would have a better chance of survival. Luckily, they were both rescued by Enterprise . ( ENT : " Shuttlepod One ")

Tucker and Reed shared a unique shore leave together on the pleasure planet Risa when the two went in search of fun at a Risian nightclub and picked up two beautiful aliens. The women turned out to be morphs who robbed them, not only taking their money, but also their clothes. Tucker and Reed managed to escape, but promised not to tell their fellow crewmembers about the incident. ( ENT : " Two Days and Two Nights ")

Hoshi Sato [ ]

Tucker was always jealous of how Ensign Hoshi Sato was able to hear only a few words of a language and suddenly speak it fluently. He and Sato got to know each other a little better while stuck in the decon chamber for several hours while infected with a silicon-based virus in 2154 . ( ENT : " Observer Effect ")

Tucker claimed that Sato was his wife when Enterprise was boarded by Ferengi raiders. ( ENT : " Acquisition ")

Tucker was named after his father, Charles Tucker, Jr. , and his grandfather, Charles Tucker, Sr. Both of his parents were alive as of 2161 , living in Mississippi . ( ENT : " Home ", " These Are the Voyages... ")

His grandma was known for doling out at least one piece of advice to her grandson during his lifetime, specifically to " never to judge a species by their eating habits. " ( ENT : " Broken Bow ")

Tucker practiced the two-step with his brother for weeks in preparation for a school dance. ( ENT : " Fusion ")

Tucker stated in 2151 that his grandfather saw the first transmissions from Terra Nova as a child , sometime around 2078 . ( ENT : " Terra Nova ")

Also in 2151, Tucker had a nephew in the fourth grade , whose class sent drawings to the Enterprise crew. ( ENT : " Breaking the Ice ")

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Tucker [ ]

A photo Tucker kept of himself and his sister, Elizabeth

Tucker was very close to his younger sister, Elizabeth ("Lizzie"), and was traumatically affected by her death in the Xindi attack in 2153 . ( ENT : " The Expanse ", " The Xindi ") He later recalled he had been so profoundly affected by her death there were times when he just wanted to close up and retreat inside himself. ( ENT : " Daedalus ")

When Crewman Jane Taylor was killed in the Battle of Azati Prime, Tucker found it was his responsibility to write a letter to her family. While writing it, he kept transferring his feelings of loss from Lizzie to Jane, and mentioned how she "died too young." Eventually, Tucker was able to overcome this and finish the letter. ( ENT : " The Forgotten ")

Elizabeth [ ]

Seeing his daughter

Mourning the baby's death

Upon learning about the existence of his and T'Pol's daughter, Trip was initially surprised, but eventually warmed to the idea, noting that his father had always wanted a granddaughter. He demanded to see her when Paxton informed him the child was safe.

Later, after being informed of little Elizabeth's terminal genetic condition, he approved T'Pol's choice to name the baby Elizabeth after his sister, saying she would have liked that. He stood with T'Pol by Elizabeth's incubator until the child's death, after which he mourned her with tears. ( ENT : " Terra Prime ")

Romance [ ]

Natalie [ ].

Before Enterprise was launched, Tucker was dating a woman named Natalie , from Florida. He was unable to say goodbye to her before the ship launched, but wished he would have gotten the chance to, face to face, after receiving a Dear John letter . He said maybe he would get a chance to, when Enterprise headed home after being rendered defenseless by a mysterious alien vessel. ( ENT : " Silent Enemy ")

In mid- 2151 , Tucker had a brief, unintentional sexual encounter with a Xyrillian female named Ah'len , which resulted in Tucker's inadvertent impregnation. Ah'len assumed that Tucker would be physically incompatible with her people. Tucker became the first Human male to become pregnant, as well as the first known Human participant in interspecies reproduction . ( ENT : " Unexpected ")

Tucker had a brief encounter with the Kantare female Liana . ( ENT : " Oasis ")

Kaitaama [ ]

Tucker had a brief encounter with Kaitaama , the newly-selected First Monarch of Krios Prime . He rescued her from kidnappers, and during the course of the escape, they became romantically involved. ( ENT : " Precious Cargo ")

Amanda Cole [ ]

Corporal Amanda Cole became attracted to Tucker, who had given Vulcan neuro-pressure to her because of headaches. Cole attempted to tell T'Pol that she had a great deal in common with Tucker and was very fond of him. ( ENT : " Harbinger ")

A neuro-pressure session

When his sister died in the Xindi attack on Earth in 2153 , Tucker experienced difficulty sleeping due to nightmares about the event. He was assisted in recovering from these difficulties by Sub-Commander T'Pol's application of Vulcan neuro-pressure . Over the course of their neuro-pressure sessions, Tucker began to develop feelings for T'Pol. They finally admitted it to one another in January of 2154 , though T'Pol later denied her emotions. ( ENT : " The Xindi ", " Harbinger ", " E² ")

After Enterprise was heavily damaged at Azati Prime in February 2154, Tucker threw himself into repairing the ship, going two straight days with no sleep until Doctor Phlox forced him to take a few hours' rest. He was haunted by visions of Crewman Jane Taylor, a member of his engineering team who had died in the battle with the Xindi. Tucker was supposed to be writing a letter of consolation to her parents, but was unable to do so, as Jane reminded him so much of his sister. Finally, with T'Pol's help, Tucker was able to work his way through the grief he felt concerning both his sister and Crewman Taylor. ( ENT : " The Forgotten ")

When Enterprise returned to Earth, Tucker accompanied T'Pol on a visit to Vulcan and her mother, T'Les . While on Vulcan, he was forced to put his emotions aside and watch T'Pol marry Koss for political reasons. Even when Koss later divorced T'Pol, Tucker was torn as she showed no interest in rekindling their relationship. ( ENT : " Home ", " Kir'Shara ")

T'Pol kissing Tucker in December of 2154

In November 2154, Tucker decided that his unrequited feelings for T'Pol were interfering in the performance of his duties. He left Enterprise , accepting a request from Captain Hernandez to join the crew of Columbia NX-02 , which was launching behind schedule due to engine trouble. With his help, the ship was ready to go in a few days. ( ENT : " The Aenar ", " Affliction ") Shortly after, Tucker transferred back to Enterprise , at the same time as discovering that he and T'Pol shared a psychic bond as a result of their previous mating – which he stated wasn't that big of a deal, although he did insist until she admitted that she wanted him back. ( ENT : " Bound ")

In January 2155 , Tucker and T'Pol discovered that they had a daughter that was created with their stolen DNA by Terra Prime . ( ENT : " Demons ") After rescuing her from Terra Prime, they decided to call her " Elizabeth ", after Tucker's late sister, but they were heartbroken when it was discovered that there was a flaw in the procedure used in creating Elizabeth, and she died. ( ENT : " Terra Prime ")

Alternate realities and timelines [ ]

Captain Tucker in 2165

In an alternate timeline where Jonathan Archer was relieved of command in 2153 due to an infection by interspatial parasites , T'Pol became the captain of Enterprise. She turned over command to Tucker in 2156 , when the ship reached Ceti Alpha V with the last surviving Humans . He was killed in 2165 , when a Xindi assault destroyed Enterprise 's bridge. ( ENT : " Twilight ")

In a different alternate timeline where Enterprise was stranded in the year 2037 , Tucker married T'Pol in a traditional Vulcan ceremony; it took Tucker weeks to learn how to pronounce the vows. Afterward, they honeymooned in Cargo Bay 3, which had been filled with sand gathered from an asteroid and a palm tree manufactured by Tucker. They had a son named Lorian , but unfortunately, Tucker died when his son was only fourteen years old. ( ENT : " E² ")

Memorable quotes [ ]

" I assume you were watching the attack – calculating the blast yields. Boy, you must have been pretty damned excited. I mean, that beam cut one hell of a swath through Florida. That's the name of one of the places you destroyed, Florida. Did you actually see the cities burning, the houses, the people being vaporized? You know, I had a sister there… "

" Every time I start, I hear myself saying what a fine young woman she was – how smart and full of potential. And I realize, I'm not thinking about Taylor at all, I'm thinking about Elizabeth . "

" You can all go straight to Hell! "

Key dates [ ]

• 2121 : Born in Panama City , Florida on Earth to Charles Tucker II and Mrs. Tucker
• 2139 : Enlisted in Starfleet
• 2151 – 2161 : Chief engineer of the Enterprise NX-01
• 2154 : Temporarily leaves Enterprise to become chief engineer of the Columbia NX-02
• 2161 : Dies by sacrificing himself to save Jonathan Archer

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 "
• " Carbon Creek "
• " 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 "
• " First Flight "
• " The Expanse "
• " The Xindi "
• " Anomaly (ENT) "
• " Extinction "
• " Impulse "
• " The Shipment "
• " Twilight "
• " North Star "
• " Similitude "
• " Chosen Realm "
• " Carpenter Street "
• " 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... " (hologram)
• VST : " Holograms All the Way Down " (hologram)

Background information [ ]

Charles Tucker III was played by Connor Trinneer in all ninety-eight episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise . Adam Taylor Gordon played eight-year-old Tucker in a flashback scene in " The Xindi " (though that boyhood version of the character was scripted to be twelve years old, rather than eight) as well as Young Sim in " Similitude ".

The character of Tucker was invented by Star Trek: Enterprise creators and Executive Producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga . Regarding how the character was conceived, Berman noted, " We picked a young country boy. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 20) Braga added, " We knew we wanted a southern guy who is a brilliant engineer but who doesn't have a clue as to how to handle himself with alien races. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 9 , p. 21)

Tucker's nickname was initially planned to be "Spike". ("Broken Bow" audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD ) At one early stage, he was also intended to hold the rank of lieutenant. A character description of Tucker was meanwhile written into the series bible for Star Trek: Enterprise , referring to him as having the nickname "Spike" and the rank of lieutenant. The document elaborated by describing him thus; " Chief Engineer. Early 30's. A Southerner who enjoys using his 'country' persona to disarm people. He has an offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humor. Although Spike is a brilliant engineer and an outstanding officer, he has very little first-hand experience with alien cultures, and he's often a 'fish out of water' when dealing with new civilizations. " While Tucker's nickname was still to have been "Spike" though his rank had changed to commander, a character breakdown sheet that Paramount sent to talent agents, upon seeking an actor to assume the role, largely matched this text from the series bible, apart from a couple of formatting tweaks. [2] However, the series bible went further, elaborating, " As a young man, he spent time deep sea diving in the Florida Keys, working on an ocean reclamation project. Bold and fearless, this thrill-seeker didn't stop there. His skills at working in a hostile environment, with no gravity, dependant on artificial life-support, would eventually lead to a career in Orbital Engineering, building starships at Utopia Planetia, where he earned a reputation as a trouble-shooter who would take on challenges that most engineers think impossible […] Spike is a part of our 'troika' [along with Archer and T'Pol]. "

Since there was a character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the name "Spike", this ENT character's nickname was altered before series pilot " Broken Bow " first aired. The change of nickname was just before "the very end" (in Brannon Braga's words) of the development process. (" Broken Bow " audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu-ray ) The nickname was changed to "Charlie", and the alteration was listed as one of six revisions of character names in a one-page "script note" at the start of the final draft teleplay of "Broken Bow" (the page was dated 1 May 2001 ).

In the revised final draft script of "Broken Bow" (dated 11 May 2001), the notion of this character's name being the third consecutive iteration of "Charles Tucker" was not yet established (he was still referred to as having the nickname "Charlie"). When introduced in the same teleplay, he was characterized as being in his "early 30's." The script went on to comment, " [He] is a Southerner who enjoys using his offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humor to disarm people […] He likes to get a rise out of people. " [3] Only later was the character given the full name "Charles Tucker III" and the nickname "Trip".

Immediately upon seeing Connor Trinneer audition to play Charles Tucker III, Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were impressed by him and believed he was right for the part. (" Broken Bow " audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu-ray )

The role of Tucker ultimately came down to Trinneer and another actor, Eric Close. Close was the studio's preferred choice, due to his work on the short-lived CBS series Now and Again , but Braga preferred Trinneer, who ultimately won the role. ( To Boldly Go: Launching Enterprise )

He found that an early challenge of portraying Tucker was dealing with all the technobabble the role required. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 7 , p. 20)

The way Tucker was depicted was obviously influenced by the casting of Connor Trinneer. Regarding how the actor made an impact on the character, Brannon Braga explained, shortly after ENT Season 1 began, " Connor Trinneer is so […] much funnier than we thought he would be. And he's funnier not when he's making a wisecrack, but when he's put in uncomfortable situations, which we didn't know until he got the role. " ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 2, Issue 9 , p. 22)

Charles Tucker III was an early favorite ENT main character of the writing staff. Shortly following the start of the first season, Brannon Braga commented, " I think now we're finding, at least early on, that Trip is really a character that's popping out and with whom we're really having a lot of fun. " ( Broken Bow , paperback ed., p. 253)

In fact, Brannon Braga continued to approve of how Tucker further developed. Following ENT Season 2 , Braga stated, " It's fun to put Trip into awkward situations. You can't go wrong with him because Connor Trinneer's such a talented actor. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 145 , p. 26) Concerning how the character is portrayed in ENT Season 3 , Braga pointed out, " Trip embodies the idea of people who lost people back on Earth; he's a microcosm of that. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 151 , p. 33)

Ultimately, Rick Berman was extremely pleased with Connor Trinneer's portrayal of Tucker. " As the years went by, he just got better and better, " Berman enthused. (" Broken Bow " audio commentary , ENT Season 1 DVD / Blu-ray )

Apocrypha [ ]

Despite the events depicted in "These Are The Voyages…", Charles Tucker III continues – alive and well – in the Pocket Books " relaunch " of Star Trek: Enterprise .

As teased at in Andy Mangels ' and Michael A. Martin 's Last Full Measure , the Enterprise novel The Good That Men Do (also by Mangels and Martin) reveals Tucker's "real" fate. In the novel, an imminent threat forces Tucker to ally himself with Section 31 in order to prevent a Romulan attack on the soon-to-be-formed Coalition of Planets . With the help of Archer, Malcolm Reed and Doctor Phlox , Tucker fakes his own death in a manner similar to what is shown in the Enterprise finale, only six years earlier. With his life on Enterprise behind him, Tucker infiltrates Romulan space to prevent interstellar war. This storyline continues in Mangels' and Martin's Kobayashi Maru .

In addition to upgrading Tucker's status from dead to alive, the novels also expand upon the engineer's background. In The Good That Men Do , Tucker's family life is revealed, with scenes involving his parents Charles "Charlie" and Elaine "Gracie" Tucker. The book also mentions Tucker's brother Albert and Albert's husband, as well as provides him with a middle name: Anthony. The novel Last Full Measure depicts an aged Tucker, mentoring a young Larry Marvick , designer of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) , and, in the final chapter, making his first visit to the Starfleet War Memorial at the same time as 9-year-old Sam and 5-year-old Jimmy Kirk .

External links [ ]

• Charles Tucker III at StarTrek.com
• Charles Tucker III at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Charles Tucker III at Wikipedia

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Mar 19, 2024

The Best of Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

For Connor Trinneer's birthday, let's celebrate the NX-01's chief engineer!

StarTrek.com

That's why we chose this life, right? See things we've never seen before. Hell of a ride, though. Hell of a ride.

Trip Tucker, "Dawn"

We recently saw the return of Charles "Trip" Tucker III in the Star Trek: very Short Treks ' " Holograms All the Way Down ." Among the reaction, one thing's for sure — fans can't get enough Trip adventures starring actor Connor Trinneer.

In celebration of Trinneer's birthday today, we're highlighting a couple of our favorite Trip-centric Star Trek: Enterprise episodes that showcases the gifted orbital engineer's good humor, sense of humanity, and charisma.

" Shuttlepod One "

"Shuttlepod One"

The list kicks off with the episode "Shuttlepod One," which highlights the start of one of Star Trek 's best unlikely bromances — the congenial Trip Tucker and buttoned-up Malcolm Reed — in quite the predicament in the early days of space travel.

Returning from a mission, Trip and Reed happen upon a debris field at the Enterprise 's rendezvous point. With their sensors array and comm systems down, and seeing parts of their ship on an asteroid's surface, the duo assume the worst — the Enterprise is destroyed and their crew dead. Stranded with only 10 days of air, the odd couple start to get on each other's nerves as Trip hopes to be found alive clashes with Reed's "realistic" pessimism. Reed finds Trip's optimism "treacly" while Trip sees Reed as "the grim reaper."

Freezing and sharing a bottle of Kentucky bourbon, the duo start to see they have a lot more in common than they realized. However, their damaged shuttlepod is in a much dire state. Facing the slim possibility of survival, Trip tries to sacrifice himself so Reed has a better chance of survival. However, Reed would rather have Starfleet find two dead bodies instead of one. Thankfully, Enterprise arrives in time to save the two from lack of oxygen and hypothermia. And so begins an excellent friendship.

" Unexpected "

I'm the chief engineer. I spent years earning that position. I never had any intention of becoming a working mother!

Trip Tucker, "Unexpected"

"Unexpected" is another bright spot in the series. This is the one where Trip goes down in history as the first human male to become pregnant.

Following a three-day mission aboard an Xyrillian ship to help with repairs, Trip returns to the Enterprise . Noticing an unusual growth on his wrist, he visits Dr. Phlox. Turns out, the growth is a nipple, plus there's an embryo forming in his ribs. Congrats - Trip's pregnant! Phlox, Archer, and T'Pol refuse to believe the flirt was a mere "gentleman" aboard the Xyrillian ship. He suddenly recalls a pebble game, which was where the genetic material transfer occurred. The embryo contains none of his genetic material; he's simply a host for the alien embryo.

As the Enterprise tries to track down the Xyrillians, Trip begins to experience the gamut of pregnancy hormones like irritability, increase in appetite, and the overwhelming concern about the safety aboard the ship for the future child. Luckily for trip, they're able to locate the Xyrillians and transfer the embryo, but not without revealing his growing state to a ship of amused Klingons.

" Cogenitor "

"Cogenitor"

Not all first contacts go smoothly.

Preparing to study a hypergiant star, the Enterprise makes first contact with the Vissians, another species in the area studying the same phenomenon. When Archer invites Captain Drennik and his crew aboard the Enterprise , his crew starts to mingle with the Vissians. Trip meets a Vissian couple and their "cogenitor," a a member of the Vissian's third gender. Cogenitors are viewed as less than a pet; they're nameless and not allowed to learn. Despite having the same mental capacities as other Vissians, their only function is to facilitate pregnancies among Vissians.

Believing the couple's congenitor to be mistreated, Trip secretly begins to teach it how to read and to view itself as equal to other Vissians. However, Trip learns a hard lesson in non-interference with other cultures when the cogenitor requests asylum, and Archer had to deny the request. Archer comes down on his friend and colleague reminding him he's not a first-year recruit. Despite coming from a good place, Trip's impulsive actions led to the ruin of the lives of the Vissian couple who were planning on having a child as well as cogenitor who took their own life knowing they would not be able to live a fuller life.

" Similitude "

"Similitude"

When Trip is near-fatally wounded, Archer and Dr. Phlox decide they cannot afford to lose their chief engineer during this critical moment in the Xindi crisis. To save Trip, he uses one of his larvae to create a mimetic simbiot, or clone of Trip, to harvest its necessary organs for a transplant.

Over the course of "Similitude," the simbiot would grow and die in the span of 15 days. We witness "Sim" age from baby to kid to teen to adult. While Sim develops his own memories and relationships with the crew, he also possesses the original Trip's experiences and memories. As the crew bonds with Sim, they learn that the transplant to save Trip will be fatal to Sim. As Sim argues for his right to live, he starts to grow resentful towards Trip, who is also him.

" The Forgotten "

That's the name of one of the places you destroyed, Florida. Did you actually see the cities burning, the houses, the people being vaporized? You know, I had a sister there.

Trip Tucker, "The Forgotten"

"The Forgotten"

"The Forgotten" is a culmination of events in Season 3 following the Xindi's attack on Earth, which took 7 million lives including Trip's sister Elizabeth, as well as the most recent attack that took the lives of 18 crewman. Fueling Trip's drive is to track down the Xindi in the Delphic Expanse.

Trip is forced to confront his grief and loss when Archer orders him to write a condolence letter to the engineering crewman's family and the presence of Degra and Xindi-Arboreal from the Xindi Council. The Xindi weapon is to be launched in a matter of days; however, they have offered to stop it if Archer can provide concrete evidence that they've been manipulated.

In a standout moment, Trip calls out Degra for the Xindi's actions on Earth, forcing him to see its affects on others. Degra admits to Archer he never expected to meet anyone affected by what he's done. However, it's his private moment with T'Pol when he finally confronts what he's been suppressing all this time. He expresses his envy of the Vulcan's ability to express emotions. Comforting Trip, T'Pol helps him comes to terms with the grief and difficulty of the past few months. And in writing the letter to the crewman's family, Trip finally says goodbye to his sister as well.

" Demons " / " Terra Prime "

"Terra Prime"

The most ardent fans consider the penultimate two-parter "Demons" and "Terra Prime" as the series' conclusion, exemplifying Star Trek 's vision of an optimistic future. It's the NX-01 crew and their missions that paves the way for the good established by what will become the United Federation of Planets.

The two-parter's story and message is still very relevant to our world today. During a historic conference that sought to form a coalition of planets, an underground xenophobic terrorist group — Terra Prime — make known their opposition. Disgusted by Starfleet's alliances with other worlds, the group's leader John Frederick Paxton is intent on returning Earth to its "rightful owners" — humanity. In addition to taking control of Mars' verteron array, Terra Prime has also created a human-Vulcan hybrid infant from T'Pol and Trip Tucker's stolen DNA to show how humanity's genetic pool will be diluted and corrupted if alien-human relations continue.

In the series' finest moment, the Enterprise fights for Star Trek 's very ethos at a crucial time in Earth's progression and future. Confronting a Terra Prime member's hatred towards Vulcans, the two-parter holds a mirror to the start of the series as Archer and Trip often clashed with T'Pol's presence on their ship due to their mistrust of Vulcans, demonstrating the crew's growth across four seasons.

BONUS: " First Flight "

"First Flight"

While not a Trip-centric episode, we had to close out the list with another episode that gives us the origins of one of Trip's bromances.

"First Flight" serves as a prequel to Enterprise as Archer reflects on his early days of the NX test program, demonstrating Starfleet's pioneering spirit, as he and his rival competed to be the first to break the Warp 2 barrier. It's here Trip meets his future captain and builds the foundation of their friendship as they examine what went wrong with the NX-Alpha test, which utilizes a warp engine designed by Archer's father.

In addition to breaking up Archer's brawl with rival A.G. Robinson, Trip decides to help the two pilots keep the NX program on track with an unsanctioned test run with the NX-Beta. Manning the ground, Trip wishes he could be out there with Archer and Robinson. Archer promises Trip that he will be out there one day; and when he's commanding his own ship, he'll ensure the engineer will be right there among his crew. It was their actions that night that ensured the NX program continued, furthering human exploration.

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Christine Dinh (she/her) is the managing editor for StarTrek.com. She’s traded the Multiverse for helming this Federation Starship.

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?

• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired May 6, 2005

While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenoph... Read all While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenophobic organization Terra Prime. While attending a conference on a proposed interplanetary alliance, Trip and T'Pol find out from a dying woman that they have a baby. Investigation shows the woman was a member of the xenophobic organization Terra Prime.

• LeVar Burton
• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Brannon Braga
• Scott Bakula
• John Billingsley
• Jolene Blalock
• 10 User reviews
• 4 Critic reviews

• Capt. Jonathan Archer

• Cmdr. T'Pol

• Lt. Malcolm Reed

• Ensign Travis Mayweather

• Ensign Hoshi Sato

• Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

• Nathan Samuels

• Daniel Greaves

• Colonel Green

• Gannet Brooks

• Coridan Ambassador

• John Frederick Paxton

• Alien Miner
• (uncredited)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In The Savage Curtain (1969) , Colonel Green is featured as one of the 'evil' combatants. It is explained here why he is considered evil a century into the future. Originally, the makers wanted to establish him in Borderland (2004) as one of the key figures in the Eugenics Wars, which resulted from an attempt to genetically enhance humanity. He was re-written as a notorious military leader during World War III, who killed off victims of radiation poisoning afterwards in order to keep humanity "pure".
• Goofs It makes no sense to send Tucker and T'Pol under cover. Even if they were not very well known on Earth (as they almost certainly would be) it would be likely that the faces of both Tucker and T'Pol would be known to the group they are attempting to infiltrate. It is their child that tips them off to the existence of the terrorist plot.

Commander T'Pol : Trip, the moment Phlox said that the child was ours, I knew it was true.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : But you said you'd never been...

Commander T'Pol : I haven't.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : Then what are you saying?

Commander T'Pol : I can't explain how it exits, but I know it does. There's a child out there, and it's ours.

Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker III : How do you know that?

Commander T'Pol : I'm Vulcan.

• Connections Referenced in Star Trek: Legacy (2006)
• Soundtracks Where My Heart Will Take Me Written by Diane Warren Performed by Russell Watson Episode: {all episodes}

User reviews 10

• claudio_carvalho
• May 3, 2010
• May 6, 2005 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (studio, also Paramount Theater as Starfleet assembly hall)
• Paramount Network Television
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 43 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Dr. Plastic Picker

The star trek enterprise romance of t’pol and trip: i’m going to give them the ending they deserve.

May 23, 2020 | Dr Plastic Picker | Posted in COVID-19 , Mr. Plastic Picker (My Real Life Romance) , Star Trek/ Philosophical Tangents

May 23, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I’m not sure how you have been dealing with the COVID-19 quarantine, but I have been watching Star Trek. I mean A LOT of Star Trek. I grew up watching reruns of the original Star Trek. Spock, the Vulcan Science Officer, spoke to me. Even then, the action scenes were corny and the alien world settings unrealistic – but the storylines and the pseudophilosophical delvings into space and time and logic, touched something in my teenage heart. Then Star Trek the Next Generation ran 1987-1994, right during my middle school and high school years, I watched that too. I became a big fan of Captain Jean Luc Picard and his Shakepearan take on a Starship Captain. But there was not a great Vulcan on the show, so I have always been more of an Original Star Trek fan and of course Spock.

Right after Star Trek the Next Generation ended, I graduated from High School. I was Valedictorian of my high school class and my Star Trek adoration (which was common among the Academic League and Science Fair kids) was well known. I had many classmates and teachers request that I not talk about Star Trek during my Valedicctory address. The past several Valedictorians had referred to Star Trek extensively during their speaches. The Valedictorian right before me somewhat alienated the audience with the extensive Star Trek references, but he returned to our community and founded a very successful biotech company so I think he did okay. I gave my commencement speach without any Star Trek references and it went over well. I had been a state level speech competitor and always did well in the Impromptu category. But I slipped into the end of the speech “As promised, I did not make any Star Trek references” which got some laughs.

For the next 25 years, I was busy with college and life and was anchored firmly in the real world. In fact, I now realize that I got my happy ending and married the man who combines the very best of Spock and Captain Jean Luc Picard. Mr. Plastic Picker is not a trekkie at all. But he actually looks more like a Vulcan than not and studied Shakepeare in college – so gives him the essence of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

When the COVID-19 quarantine descended upon us about three months ago, Mr. Plastic Picker signed me up for CBS All Access commerical free (totally worth the extra $2 since I’ve been watching so much). I finished Star Trek Picard (2 seasons), Star Trek Discovery (2 seasons), and then I settled into Star Trek Enterprise (4 seasons). Star Trek Enterprise ran from 2001-2005, right during the time I was in medical school and residency. I honestly was so busy with actual life, that I don’t think I watched actual TV for that entire time. So the actors and I are the same age as Mr. Plastic Picker and I.

I finished the last episode last night, and I was disappointed. I had been drawn into the the relationship of T’Pol, the Vulcan science officer, and Trip Tucker, the chief engineer. I fell in love again while they were falling in love. Dr. Plastic Picker is a sucker for romances. But the ending was awful. I even started watching some fanfiction montage videos and was searching for fan fiction on them last night, to salvage the storyline. I can honestly say of all the Star Treks, I have come to love Star Trek Enterprise right after S tar Trek the Original albeit the last episode. The actors that played both T’Pol and Trip really did not end up doing much more work outside of this series, and both went on to have happy marriages thus far with other people and have healthy children. For that I am so grateful.

I honestly needed the distraction these last three months, and had the right mindset to accept new characters into my heart. And so I will always love T’Pol and Trip and Star Trek Enterprise and that they helped me get through the last three months. I remember reading all of Victor Hugo the summer after college while my sister and I were traveling through Europe on one of those pre-packaged budget bus tours. It was the right time and right author. The summer after senior year of high school, I read all of Charles Dickens. I remember being enraged while reading Tale of Two Cities. And now my daughter is twelve, and we’ve begun reading my old time favorites outloud together from Madeleine L’Engle. We are midway through Arm of a Starfish. And the first three months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, I watched all of Star Trek Enterprise.

But I wanted to write this post to give Trip and T’Pol the ending they deserved. I wanted to write this post to wipe away the travesty of the last episode.

This is my ending for them. T’Pol and Trip finished serving on the Starship Enterprise together for the full 10 years. On the show they had two children on the show, Baby Elizabeth who was a baby cloned by the human terrorist faction Terra Prime. Baby Elizabeth was cloned from stolen DNA from the human Trip and Vulcan T’Pol. She died because the terrorist scientist had made a error in the process to clone her, and therefore died of genetic instability. But Doctor Phlox had told Trip that there was no reason to believe a half Vulcan and half Human baby could not exist. Spock who was born Stardate 2230 about 100 years later is proof of that. Trip and T’Pol also had also a son Lorian in an alternate universe that was formed when Star Trek Enterprise entered into the Expanse and was loss in a vortex.

In my ending, those above scenarios happened. But T’pol and Trip finished servings for the full 10 years but remained together after Baby Elizabeth (the cloned one) died. T’Pol continued to have more emotions than other Vulcans due to the neurological damange she sustained from the Trellium, but her relationship with Trip helped her manage her emotions. They married and were given larger quarters from Captain Archer. I think he probably gave them adjoining quarters and they were the first married couple on a Starship. Captain Archer allowed Trip to just put a door between two single rooms so they could have larger quarters. I think they married on the Enterprise maybe 2-3 years after the Cloned Baby Elizabeth episode. Captain Archer presided over the weeding, and Lietenant Reed was the best man and Ensign Soto was the bride attendant. But then Vulcan Ambassador to Earth Soval found out, and they had a special second ceremony on Vulcan.

T’Pol would have been careful, and she asked Doctor Phlox to research more to make sure the Vulcan DNA and Human DNA would combine. T’Pol would have been smart, and would not have wanted to have children on a Starship. Trip lived and survived and was not killed off in the last episode, and he and T’pol would have been married about 5-6 years after Star Trek Enterprise ended it’s last mission.

T’Pol and Trip would have had contact with Trip’s parents who were still alive in Mississippi. Remember Florida was destroyed during the Xindi attack on earth, when 7 million people died including Trip’s sister Elizabeth. T’Pol and Trip maintained two homes, one in Mississippi near Trip’s parents and one on Vulcan that T’pol rented out as an Air B’nb. Perhaps her former husband Koss helped maintained it for them. Remember T’Pol and Koss were bonded as children, married but never really had relations. He loved her too, because how can anyone not love T’Pol.

T’Pol and Trip had two children. The oldest was a girl, who looked very much like Elizabeth. I believe they named her T’Les Elizabeth Tucker. T’Les after T’Pol’s mother, and Elizabeth also after Trip’s sister. And they had a little boy they named Johnathan after Captain Johnathan Archer. Both children were healthy and Vulcan DNA and Human DNA combined just fine and T’Pol had natural childbirth and fully vaccinated her children and raised them vegetarian. T’Pol and Trip became academics and diplomats and concentrated on raising their two children between Mississippi and Vulcan. The children were beautiful with Vulcan ears, and Trip’s hair and eyes. They smiled like Trip but had their mother’s beautiful posture. They both were very intelligent and accepted to Starfleet Academy.

Trip and T’pol, this is the ending you deserved. You had two beautiful children, half Vulcan and half Human. And with that my heart is full.

And below is my happy ending. I’ve been living in this Star Trek Enterprise world and curled most of the time in bed, watching it on my iPhone. I’ve been making random nonsensical comments to Mr. Plastic Picker who has been sitting at his work station mostly reading xrays from home, and does not understand any of the Star Trek references. I look over to him and he’s my real life Vulcan come to life.

I had a decently busy day at work yesterday and was pretty tired. I just wanted to feed the kids a quick pizza and watch some more Star Trek. But I walked in and Mr. Plastic Picker had purchased this outfit and the kids were in on it too, without my knowing. And I laughed and I laughed, and it was one of the best days of my life.

I got my happy ending, and I live the “happily every after” every day at home. I am happy I was able to give T’Pol and Trip their happily every after. I think they probably had a dog too, that would hang out with Captain Archer’s Porthos.

Live Long and Prosper my blogfriends. Live your authenic self.

LOL. I just submitted this blogpost to several of the Star Trek top fan sites. We’ll see if they pick it up.

For those that also have come to love T’pol and Trip, this is the best FanFiction continuation I have read. Its a really fun read and several chapters. Excellent writing. http://guardian-of-forever.scifi-online.org/fics/ENT/alelou_commander_tucker_proposes_ch1.php

Tags: Dr. Plastic Picker drplasticpicker Star Trek Enterprise

44 thoughts on “The Star Trek Enterprise Romance of T’Pol and Trip: I’m going to give them the ending they deserve”

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Fascinating history you’ve added to this epic. Trip reminds me of George W Bush who took on challenges and gave hope when all seemed lost.. Plenty people remember 9/11 and Enterprise was a ship of inspiration which many of us do remember. T’pol strips and Trip is hypothesised by her beauty which I expounded about in 2007 – Star Trek Fun Facts Part2 not that I was digressing butt the point being stories and characters are well scripted in Star Trek and conversely unscripted.

Thank you spacerguy for stopping by the blog! This was one a blogpost near and dear to my heart, and to have a bonafide trekker/trekkie blogger stop by and comment – is a dream come true! I have bragging rights now to a certain fellow pediatrician who works one hallway over! Thank you thank you. I’m rewatching Enterprise yet again, and enjoying the evolution and Trip and T’pol’s relationship in a more subtle way. So many layers to their relationship. I’m thinking of making a trashart piece ode to vulcans soon with ocean platsic pollution. Love your blog and thank you for compiling all this trekker/trekkie. I’m a trekkie for sure, old school.

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I so agree! I was so very upset with the ending. I do not know why they wanted that ending. I kept thinking I know they get married because of the episode of the future when we saw T Ppl old and her and Trip’s son a grown man! That was NOT the episode of the alternate timeline. Thanks for your ending.

I am truly honored that you read my alternate ending! It’s not the typical fanfiction but it helped me put that storyline to rest. I am also hoping that at some point they revisit it!!!

I am new to the Enterprise. What a miss I had over the years!

I watched all of the episodes in about 3weeks. I feel very upset now… T’pol and Trip didn’t deserve such an end… I searched everywhere to see if they would come together and have a Vulcan-Human family with cute kids. I can’t find much info other than some hinting… I guess your version is the one I could accept…till we get something better, if ever…Sad…

I felt the same way! As a fellow Trip and T’Pol fan, I am honored that you read my alternate ending.

I am so glad you wrote an alternate ending for Trip and T’Pol! I loved it!! And I loved your background history on yourself – thank you for providing that. I’m a MAJOR fellow Trek fan, myself being 69 and in high school when the original Star Trek series came out. Always being a sci-fi lover, I was immediately hooked and have seen every incarnation of the Star Trek franchise (plus movies). I always loved Roddenberry’s vision for humanity – he promoted women before anyone else, valued animals; in general he always saw the best that the human species could be. I hope someday we actually live up to what he thought we were worth. My favorite of all the series was probably TNG, but I came to really love Enterprise for being what seems like a very accurate envisioning of the first foray into space. Of course, I’m in love with Discovery too, for boldly going where no franchise has gone before! At any rate, kudos for providing the ending Trip and T’Pol SHOULD have had. Reminds me of the ending that the creator wrote after the series ended, for Susan Ivanova and Marcus Cole in Babylon 5 (another huge favorite of mine that I highly recommend if you never watched!)

The enterprise should totally continue. I too watched it during quarantine for the first time, cried over baby Elisabeth as intended, but that last episode just did not make any sense on any level. The way they killed off Trip was game of thrones level senseless… Thanks for this ending, I especially liked the airbnb house on Vulcan and the vaccinated half-half kids 🙂

It made absolutely no sense. This was partly due to the internal strife going on at Paramount and CBS in 2004/2005. UPN network was going bankrupt and they axed Enterprise announcing it’s cancellation after the mirror mirror episodes if i remember correctly.

Halfway through season 3 Manny Coto took over writing and production from Berman and Braga both of whom were producer and writer for TNG (really their best work), DS9 (2nd best), Voyager (very distant 3rd) and initially Enterprise.

Unfortunately, Berman and Braga took almost no risks in seasons 1 and 2 of Enterprise despite having all kinds of directions they could have gone with the episodes and stories given where this series took place in the Star Trek universe, long before the Original Star Trek Series.

But no they didn’t take ANY risks and wasted almost 2 full seasons recreating Voyager like episodes that went nowhere and were sooo slow. Don’t get me wrong, some of the material was good but it was very Voyager like and it drove fans away in droves due to shear boredom. The temporal cold war episodes were agonizing.

As a result of their lack of preparedness and refusing to bring in fresh writers the ratings flatlined at the end of season 1 heading into 2 and that’s when Paramount and CBS really started to take notice that things were not going well. They began pushing for changes and everyone started pointing fingers at one another. At one point they wanted to get rid of Bakula (Archer) blaming him for the lackluster ratings when it fact it was poor writing, uninspiring stories, etc. of Berman and Braga who had clearly run out of ideas from writing and producing soooo many Star Trek series. This really was evident in the last 4 years of Voyager but Paramount kept going with it despite the mehhh ratings.

All that said, Paramount eventually forced them to hand over writing and production to Manny Coto midway through the Xindi story arc and he made some major adjustments that really started to turn the series around. Unfortunately, it was too late and Enterprise was going up against reality TV which which became all the rage in the early 2000’s and the show got cancelled despite the pleas of Manny. He even brought in concept scripts for season 5 episodes that outlined episodes about the Earth Romulan War, etc., but Paramount wasn’t interested and had made up their mind. I think a lot of it had to do with UPN going bankrupt. You can see midway through season 4 that despite having great material from Manny that the episodes are rushed and the budget got cut almost in half. Watch the camera action in the Romulan drone episodes where the camera is jumping around like crazy.

Once it became evident that the show was cancelled Terra Prime was partially rewritten to have Trip and T’Pols baby die (that was not the plan had a season 5 happened). The final scene of them holding hands in her quarters in a moment of grief was meant to be the final scene of the series, implying that despite the tragedy there was hope for the two of them and the future of humanity and vulcans together after Phlox’s findings that human and vulcan DNA was in fact compatible.

Unfortunately Berman and Braga were not happy with this being the final episode and intervened despite the vehement protests of Coto. They insisted on an episode reliving Berman’s TNG glory days and wrote that final horrible episode “these are the Voyages Episode” that blew up the whole Trip T’Pol relationship and killed off a major character (something Berman had become obsessed with doing during season 3 of Enterprise but Paramount refused to let him do for whatever reason). Years later both Berman and Braga admitted that they had made a huge mistake in that final episode and openly apologized to Trek fans about it in conventions, etc. They realized just how badly they screwed up that episode and the series early one.

What a shame. Enterprise had a great cast, good chemistry (actually the best out of all five series to that point if you read some of the accounts of DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise actors and actresses) and they messed it all up. Makes me more angry thinking about it. Enterprise was such a squandered opportunity. Sigh

I’ve been a Trekkie my whole life but never really knew the details like that. OMG that helps explain so much. That there was possibly going to be an Earth Romulan War arc and that Trip and T’Pok’s baby wasn’t always intended to die, that is just tragic. Are the scripts for Manny Coto’s other 5 episodes available to read at all? Wow. Thank you thank you. Answers so many questions and leaves so many unanswered.

Glad to offer the perspective. I pieced together this information from many sources that would be too difficult to outline here, but essentially that is what happened in a nutshell.

Manny Coto spilled much of the beans about what happened in that final season because he was at odds with Braga and Berman later on in season 4 as they continued to interfere with his vision for the series despite Paramount forcing Berman to turn over the reigns to him and them essentially checking out of everyday writing and producing duties by season 4. I always avoid watching “These are the Voyages” because it has Braga and Berman’s finger prints all over it (surprisingly they did take responsibility for that horrible episode which really soured fans view of the whole series in ST conventions) and acknowledged it was a colossal mistake on their part based on the fan’s reaction. They just ruined the T’Pol Trip relationship. Blalock and Trinneer both commented that they never could decide what exactly to do with Trip and T’Pol after season 3, “are they a romantic couple or not.”

Really “These are the Voyages” was Berman’s last hurrah (he retired in 2005). Braga should never have been involved in writing Enterprise. He later let slip that he actually totally opposed to the Enterprise series saying Paramount should have waited 5 or 6 years before another writing and filming another series after the conclusion of Voyager, but instead the dove right into another Trek series immediately. If it had been up to him Enterprise would never have been filmed so i guess we are lucky we got 4 seasons of Enterprise in hindsight.

I really really wish they would bring this series back for a reboot to conclude the story. ST Discover and ST Picard are doing TERRIBLE and have horrible fan ratings low 40’s uper 30’s which is much much lower than Voyager and even Enterprise back in the day both of which were in the low 70’s for fan approval. Bakula is not involved in any projects now too as NCIS has concluded and he is looking for work. He’s a great actor that just loves acting. They could easily retconn Trip back in (who also loved the series) based on Kate’s post and it would totally make sense given the upcoming Earth Romulan conflict that was hinted at several times in season 4 and the fact that “These are the voyages” was technically just a made up holodeck scenario in the TNG universe based on second hand accounts of what happened 100 years later and Riking’s own limited understanding of what happened.

Earlier this year I DID HEAR that Paramount was talking to Bakula (which is great news) about returning to the Trek franchise in some capacity but i have no idea how far that conversation has gone or what capacity they had in mind. Paramount has done this before to gauge interest in characters and strategize upcoming series and no doubt they’ve noticed that Enterprise has been at the top of Netflix scifi series for months and months during the pandemic and that no doubt has piqued their interest. When can only hope it leads to something else hint hint Paramount. I encourage everyone to write to CBS and Paramount. Yes it takes some time and effort, but fan campaigns have succeeded in the past.

In fact from what i’ve read and heard in videos the ENTIRE cast is willing to come back albeit they would be much older (still doable but they are quickly running out of time), but sadly it appears that Blalock is totally disinterested in a reboot (she is very reclusive from what i’ve read) and has more or less retired from acting and has also said she is only interested in doing movies. Understandable i guess considering she is married, has kids, and is deeply invested in her charity. She also had a very contentious relationship with Berman and Braga throughout the Enterprise series and was constantly at odds with them about how to portray T’Pol which might have soured her viewpoint on doing future Star Trek roles. It’s really a shame because i thought she did a wonderful job in the role.

I miss Enterprise.

I forgot to answer your question regarding the concept scripts. I’m not sure if they were ever made available to the public but i’ve heard they did exist for a time, but it’s also been 16 years since the show was cancelled so your guess is as good as mind as to whether or not they are still around. I also don’t know if they were full episode scripts (probably unlikely) or just outlines. TV Show writers will often do episode outlines with some character lines in them to sell the concept to the producer and the executives so it’s hard to say how far Manny got with them.

I just hope that if by some slim chance this series is EVER revised that they bring back Coto to write and produce it and keep it away from Alex Kurtzman who has totally butchered ST Discovery (just my opinion) and that he is not involved at all in writing and production.

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I also fell in love again when I started watching T’pol and Trip romance on Enterprise, grew up watching The original Star Trek and think that CBS should bring Enterprise back to conclude the story. According to the ENT books Trip did not die. Thanks for your post.

“Bring Back Enterprise” thank you for reading my post and creating your youtube channel. Just watched a few and I am absolutely a fan. I’m there to bring back enterprise and give it the ending it deserves. Thank you for existing out on the virtual universe.

hi, i also saw Enterprise in quarantine, and i loved the trip and t’pol couple !! For me the last chapter does not exist, it was horrible that they canceled the series just when it got so interesting … I loved your ending, I hope that with the new series strange new Worlds they could mention something and save that ending. As a separate note, there are some books that talk about the Romulan wars and why Trip Fake hola dearh and they suggest that in the end the two of them stay together. I have not read all the books yet but I recommend the good that man do.

Agee the ending was entirely unsatisfying and yours is immensely better but in my version there are modifications 😉

1. They start having children fairly quickly because after seeing baby Elizabeth they understand the joy of children and that tommow is not a promise. Though they can’t replace her, their loss begins healing once they recognize the void she leaves and they decide to build a family. They end up with four beautiful children.

2. Though all the children long for plomeek broth when ill, they enjoy a good steak with their salad on occasion.

For those who just cannot get enough of Trip, T’Pol, and other ENT characters, there are ENT relaunch novels. The storyline is that Trip’s death was faked so that he could become a spy. The denouement of their relationship is the realization that years later he is gardening at T’pol’s home on Vulcan (she is now an ambassador,) and he, T’Pol, and their two nearly grown children sit down to share a meal.

Omg really??!!! Do you have the titles? I will need to buy Stat! The best news is that one of my patients has a role in Star Trek Picard! I’m trying to finagle myself on set! I’ve been their pediatrician since she was in kinder!

The book titles are: 1. The Good That Men Do. 2. Kobayashi Maru. Then there is the 2 part “Romulan War” series of books: 3. Beneath the Raptor’s Wing 4. To Brave a Storm.

These 4 books are all connected and are best read in order. Imo, they are fantastic! You can find them all on the Amazon Kindle app.

There are also 5 additional “Rise of the Federation” novels by a different author, also on Kindle, which are worth reading for Enterprise fans, but imo not as good as the first 4 named above.

Please let us know where to find the relaunch novels Phoenixvoice! 🙂

If you find out about where to get those novels, please let US know!!

THANK YOU so much for this awesome ending! I’ve now watched every Star Trek series (except for the 60’s original) am absolutely appalled they ended this series-long love affair the way they did. Makes zero sense for them to build it up the entire time for nothing, very frustrating so it’s really great to read the rightful ending they should’ve been given…well done! 🙂

Katie K! I’m so glad you could share in my alternate ending! I’m rewatching Enterprise right now too. I’m going to look for those novels as well. Hopefully they have it online!

I just absolutely ADORE your version of their ending. You are SO right – T’Pol and Tucker deserved so much more than they got on Enterprise. I also agree with you – Right behind Star Trek: TOS stands Enterprise!! LLAP

Trish, thank you so much for reading this piece. It’s actually one of my biggest joys in life to know that this gave some of us out on the Star Trek fan world some closure!

People need to write CBS and Paramount to do this. It’s really the only way to get their attention. They might be receptive to it assuming the cast is interested in coming back, but the fans have to push for it. It will take a lot of coaxing to bring back Blalock from what i understand though.

I actually read your blog before watching the end of Star Trek Enterprise I was worried something like that would happen thank you so much for your ending I think I will stick with that one

I also only “met” Trip and T’Pol last year, during lockdown. I wasn’t taken by “Enterprise” at first, but I really got into it as it progressed, and bought in to the characters it portrayed. Like you, I was devastated that the story ended where it did – I just watched “Terra Prime” again tonight, and even though I knew the last scene by heart, it still moved me to tears. I have never watched the final episode. But I really appreciate your take on “what really happened” as it were…and it’s much more satisfying! Thank goodness for imagination!

Ruth, thank you for reading! I’m so glad to be able to share it with others.

Well it was interesting and quite funny with the whole vaccinated part though I’m not sure how that set in with star trek in anyway lol which is what made it interesting and funny

i liked the way it rewritten trip lives and married t’pol had kids better then the sucky end they did killing trip was because director didn’t like trip that why he was killed off, The ending sucked all why till the end

Sitting here this evening, I have Star Trek on while I’m working. It’s the episode that includes T’Pol and Trip’s cloned baby girl. This reminded me of how things ended for them when the series ended. That prompted me to do a quick search for alternate endings and I found your blog post here. First of all, I absolutely love your alternate ending for T’Pol and Trip! Secondly, I laughed out loud when I read, “…. and one on Vulcan that T’pol rented out as an Air B’nb. Perhaps her former husband Koss helped maintained it for them.”

Thank you Tiffany for reading! I’m so happy this blogpost has brought smiles to many people’s faces.

Even though I’m an old guy (81) I am a sucker for a good love story. I just finished Lucifer and then fell in love with the Trip/T’Pol love story on Enterprise. As an old Trekkie from the 60s I think Enterprise was the best of all the Star Trek shows except for the lousy ending. For all you folks who have written such excellent stories to follow up the ending of Enterprise Thank you. Thank you..

Anyone who wants a better story for Trip, T’Pol, Lorian, and Karyn, should read all the Enterprise stories by HopefulR on FanFiction .net; they essentially add up to a 2 part novel. Soval & Archer get their own storylines too. HopefulR went on to write a few official Enterprise novels but I don’t know what they are called; the first one is mentioned on her old website in the notes to a few of her stories.

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Star Trek | Archer and T’Pol Were Enterprise’s Real Love Story

While Star Trek: Enterprise tried to force a T’Pol and Tucker romance, the real power couple and One True Pairing was Archer and T’Pol.

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In most entertainment - television shows, books, and movies - there's something satisfying about seeing the primary characters get together romantically. It's the essence of great storytelling.

Joseph Campbell, a Jungian psychologist, understands the art of storytelling; he’s been cataloging story similarities between cultures and mythos. Among good storytelling, Campbell also addresses romance. He describes three types of love. One is a love for humanity, an impersonal, general love. Base desire – such as pornography – is eros . Amor is more idealistic – it’s romantic love. Amor , he urges, is the most personal type of love because it includes the mind and heart.

In television, movies, and books the most exciting love is when those loves align – there is eros , but more importantly, there’s amor – true love.

That’s why one of the most compelling pairings in Star Trek is that of Star Trek: Enterprise ’s Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and his first officer, Sub-Commander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock).

Looking for Amor in Kirk/Spock

I’ve always loved Star Trek: The Original Series. I started watching in syndication back when I was about four years old. I had the entire Star Trek bridge toy set, Star Trek Color forms, View Masters from episodes, etc. At an early age, I was a nerd. When I was around ten, I picked up a fanzine at a bookstore that discussed the possibility of a Star Trek movie, before Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) became reality.

As I leafed through the zine, I saw a story about Kirk (William Shatner) and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) being a couple … a romantic couple.

Despite being heterosexual, I understand why those stories exist. Kirk and Spock risked their lives and reputations for each other regularly, defying orders. That kind of devotion is certainly love ( amor ), and it’s not a leap to call it romantic love.

Before there were Kirk and Spock, there was Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his first officer, Number One (Majel Barrett). Pike relied on her but didn’t notice her romantically until the Talosians offered her as a potential mate for him in the unbroadcast Star Trek: The Original Series pilot episode ‘The Cage’ (S1, Ep?) . Maybe they had insight into her and Pike’s desires? When offered, though, Pike thought the idea was tempting.

To take a more recent (relatively) example, in Star Trek: Voyager there’s chemistry between Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). He’s her sounding board and confidant, willing to risk his life and reputation for her. She’s willing to do just about anything for him. Again, it’s not a stretch there’s amor .

Star-Crossed Lovers Outside of Star Trekl

Forget Star Trek for a second. Science fiction is filled with examples of potential couples. In just about every incarnation of Doctor Who , the Doctor has a companion he/she relies on. Nine (Christopher Eccleston) and Ten (David Tennant) had Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Eleven (Matt Smith) had Amelia Pond (Karen Gillan), Twelve (Peter Capaldi) had Clara (Jenna Coleman), and Thirteen (Jodie Whittaker) had Yaz (Mandip Gill).

The chemistry – often romantic, sometimes quasi-romantic – between leads is why people tune in.

There’s Farscape – where John (Ben Browder) and Aeryn (Claudia Black) – start as enemies and learn to trust each other, becoming a couple. And John Crichton’s only competition is … well John Crichton. In The X-Files , Scully (Gillian Anderson) and Mulder (David Duchovny) are equals with opposing viewpoints. He wants to believe in UFOs and the paranormal, but she’s a physician devoted to science. Along the way, they’re both changed to meet in the middle. It’s the same with Flash Gordon , Babylon 5 , Buck Rogers , Space 1999 , Blake’s 7 – they all have male and female leads that cause viewers to keep coming back.

More than Cheers or Moonlight ’s “will they, won’t they” – there’s caring and support in life and death situations.

Shakespeare pairs couples together based on meeting some specific criteria – they’re attracted to each other and they have similarities. For example, in Much Ado About Nothing (1598/9) , Beatrice and Benedict may spar and spark at each other, but they are both quick-witted, funny, and underneath it all kind. In the Taming of the Shrew (1590/2) , Petruchio and Katherina may initially lash out at each other, but they are well-matched. They’re both head-strong and both smart.

In Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (1813) , Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy are equals who immediately have a strong negative reaction to each other. The book demonstrates how once Elizabeth gets to know Darcy that he’s really her equal.

Again, these examples outside of science fiction show amor and eros working together.

Shipping Archer and T’Pol

Shippers aren’t people who like Constitution-class vessels. In fandoms, shippers are known as someone who cares about relationships (usually romantic).

Although I liked Spock’s attachment to the Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville) in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode ‘The Enterprise Incident’ (S3, EP2) , I don’t really care about romance. I never knew what a shipper was until Star Trek: Enterprise . I was in it for the Trek .

I cringed when I saw Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and Sub-Commander T’Pol in the decontamination chamber together, rubbing gel on each other under faint blue light. It seemed silly. It seemed cliché. In fact, I was ready to stop watching. Eros .

But when the episode was over, I noticed a friendship blooming between two different characters: Captain Jonathan Archer and his first officer, T’Pol. Nearly every week, Star Trek: Enterprise had an episode where two characters cared a lot about each other. He sacrificed his life. She gave up her career. It was true in episode after episode. Amor . Archer and T’Pol grew on me.

What I loved most about it is what I missed from Star Trek: The Original Series – character-driven plots that explored Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and character relationships.

I also loved that Archer and T’Pol had the classic elements of romance building – not getting along, becoming equals, admitting attraction, standing up for each other, and saving each other’s lives.

Archer and T’Pol’s Initial Conflict

There’s conflict between the two leads immediately. Jonathan Archer’s father was personally held back by the Vulcans, never getting to see his engine completed. T’Pol believed humans were inferior to Vulcans. When T’Pol was assigned to Enterprise, sparks flew. Neither she nor Captain Archer trusted each other until he risked his life defending her in the Star Trek: Enterprise pilot ‘Broken Bow’ (S1, Ep1-2). From there, a friendship slowly emerged.

Although the issue of him not trusting Vulcans comes up after the first season – such as in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘Impulse’ (S3, Ep5) – viewers know they do indeed trust each other. In fact, they’ve given their lives for each other.

After Surak (Bruce Gray)’s katra inhabits Archer in ‘Awakening’ (S4, Ep8) , the captain understands even more about what being Vulcan is about. In one episode, he’s even able to help T’Pol conduct a Mind Meld. By understanding more about her race, he’s bridged the divide completely between them.

Archer and T’Pol Discover Mutual Respect

It’s important in every type of romance that the two leads are equal not necessarily in rank (although there are arguably issues of consent), but in other aspects, such as intelligence, wisdom, and emotional stability. Because T’Pol is a more emotional Vulcan, she needs a less emotional human – which is the exact opposite of what Sarek (Spock’s father) needs. It’s why his relationship with Amanda (Spock’s mother – a human) sort of works.

T’Pol leans on Archer’s emotional stability several times, such as in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘The Seventh’ (S2, Ep7) when she’s capturing Menos (Bruce Davison). She doesn’t need just someone she trusts; she needs someone who’s grounded. It’s that support that also helped her in ‘Impulse’ (S3, Ep5).

There are a variety of episodes that show Archer and T’Pol are equals, including the Star Trek: Enterprise episode ‘Shockwave, Part II’ (S2, Ep1) , where T’Pol stands up for Archer and the humans. Her telling Ambassador Soval (Gary Graham) the humans are ready to explore space puts Vulcans and humans on equal footing. She even joins Archer at the viewscreen.

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Brad Wright's Conversations in Sci-Fi: The Wright Cut

Brad wright's conversations in sci-fi (abridged), cgi fridays, star trek | a history of starfleet uniforms from fashion disasters to gender equality, upcoming events, basingstoke comic con collaboration, brad wright: how to recharge your creativity, teryl rothery: embracing mental health as a fandom - part 5.

Star Trek: Enterprise: T’Pol and Trip’s baby would have survived for season five

By rachel carrington | jul 11, 2023.

Star Trek: Enterprise had some sad episodes but none so sad as Terra Prime, the next to last episode of the series

Star Trek: Enterprise was on its final mission in the last part of season four, already having been given the axe from the network. The 20th and the 21st episodes of the series were a dramatic arc for T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) and Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) when they discover they have become parents as a result of a cloned baby. But there was a problem with the cloning process of Vulcan and human DNA, and Elizabeth (as she was named) couldn’t survive.

In the next to last episode of the series, Terra Prime, T’Pol and Trip get the devastating news from Dr. Phlox that there was nothing he could do to save the infant’s life. The emotional impact is a breaking point for T’Pol who was just getting used to the idea of being a mother. Needless to say, Elizabeth’s death was a crippling moment for both the parents, but it didn’t need to happen.

A Star Trek: Enterprise renewal would have saved Elizabeth’s life.

According to Whatculture , had Enterprise been renewed for a fifth season, the writer of Terra Prime, Manny Coto, had the idea that the baby would have survived. But the cast and crew had already received the news of the cancellation so the episode proceeded as it was originally written.

Having a baby aboard the Enterprise, especially with T’Pol and Trip as parents, would have provided the writers with plenty of fodder for future episodes, much like what could have happened had Tom and B’Elanna’s baby been born earlier on Star Trek: Voyager.

This episode was sad, but what was sadder was, even though the series was cancelled, Coto could have allowed the child to live and provided fans with a little brighter ending. If Elizabeth would have survived for season five, there was no reason to let her die in season four. It was an emotional hit the fans didn’t need.

Next. Jolene Blalock disliked how T’Pol was written. dark