Star Trek Enterprise Season 1 Episode 7: The Andorian Incident

 One of the most important episodes of season one written by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga & Fred Dekker setting up not only the rest of this show but the universe we all know and love. The opening sees a Vulcan monastery being taken over by a group of Andrians lead by Thy'lek Shran, an important character that will come back time and time again.

Tucker and Archer tell T'Pol they want to visit the monastery that was just taken over. She is against it at first but Archer over rules her. Phlox points out to T'Pol that Vulcans and humans are not that different. Something that she doesn't much care to hear. We learn that the Vulcans here don't have technology so the Enterprise is showing up unannounced. There are a great many rules for dealing with them but Archer and Trip decide that it is worth it.

The Vulcans pretend like nothing is wrong but T'Pol notices that things seem to be out of place. She has a sharp eye. Archer doesn't accept the goodbye gift and starts walking around looking for clues. The Vulcan looks annoyed, something that is a weird fit on Vulcans. Archer sees the Andorian hiding, he points him out to Trip. The two of them attack the man and take his phaser from him. Too bad their are more of them. Now Trip, Archer and T'Pol are prisoners as well.

It seems the Andorian's have never heard of Earth or Humans before. Shran doesn't trust Archer or the others. He makes a claim that this monastery is really a surveillance planet that is being used to spy on them. The three of them think that they are crazy and trust the Vulcans. That is a mistake if I ever heard one. It seems that the Vulcans and the Andorians don't like each other. There is a treaty in place but the Andorians believe that the Vulcans are breaking it by spying on them and that is why they are here. The Vulcans think that they will just leave when they don't find anything. They tell Archer that him showing up has only made things worse.

The Enterprise is in orbit and Reed finds out that another ship is in orbit. He is also starting to worry about the fact that the crew hasn't called in yet. He starts talking about what should be standard procedure  for Earth ships. Something that will come to pass.

Archer keeps trying to tell Shran that he doesn't work for the Vulcans but he doesn't want to hear it. Instead he keeps beating the captain up. Shran calls the Enterprise and tells them that the captain is their prisoner he then breaks the communicator. Breaks all of them.  Reed orders a shuttle-pod to be made ready, despite the fact that he was told doing that would mean the death of his 3 superior officers.

Archer tells the Vulcans that if they can't call the ship soon than Reed will storm the planet. The Vulcans tell him that there is an old transmitter below them. It might be able to call the ship. Things are starting to look fishy with these guys if I do say so myself!!!

Trip goes down below to try and get it working so they can call the ship to tell Reed to stay put. Trip finds an even deeper passageway but the Vulcans take him away from that to an old transmitter. The Andorians come to check in on them in the middle of the night but lucky Trip and his guide make it back in time.

Archer wants to have a team teleport in but T'Pol points out the fault in the logic. The two of them get into an argument about it. We see a bit more of Archer's dislike for Vulcans shine through. Trip calls into the ship and tells the crew what the situation is like on the planet. He tells them to sit tight.

Trip tells them there is stairs leading down the old room but the Vulcans say that it is blasphemy to go down there. The Andorians are starting to think this is all a waste of time but Shran is holding his ground. He is sure something is here he just has to find it. Archer tells him he needs to speak to him alone, he has information for them. Archer starts talking about nothing to buy time. The Andorians want none of it. He gets a tiny figure and manages to drop it in the mouth formed into the wall to see if it leads to the back rooms that Tucker found.

Trip finds the figure, their plan can work! Reed leads a team onto the teleporter and beam down to the planet. The Andorians detect it but see no signs of anything. T'Pol tries to play it off but Shran is having none of it. He leaves his men behind to watch them. Reed gets his team in place. The Andorians detect more humans on the planet but before they can find out where they are Reed makes his move. One of the Andorians keeps hitting on T'Pol but Archer puts a stop to it.

Archer and Trip take out the Andorian guarding them while Reed takes out the rest. Shran and a few others escape into the tunnels. The Vulcans blame Archer for everything that happened. Telling him that this is a place of peace and that violence is not welcome there. The Andorians go into a room that the Vulcan who goes with them won't let them go into. Archer goes anyways. A firefight starts out in the middle of all the stuff that the Vulcans were worried about destroying. That is when Reed spots a mechanical door and Archer goes to open it.

He yells for a cease fire and calls Shran over. It turns out the man was correct. The Vulcans have been using this location to spy on the Andorians this whole time. T'Pol is in shock, Archer orders her to take all the images he can but the Vulcan threatens to shoot Archer. He doesn't stay conscious for long. Archer orders T'Pol to give it to Shran. He then tells the Enterprise to let them go. Archer is not happy with the Vulcans right now and the Andorians are now in his debt.

T'Pol feels a great sense of shame in her people, you can see it all over her face. She didn't think her government was capable of something like this and it hurts her to learn the truth. Such a great episode that leads to so many great things. And Shran is such a great character, I always enjoy it when he shows up.