Star Trek: 10 Enterprise Storylines That Were Never Resolved

Star Trek: Enterprise has canonically become one of the most divisiveStar Trek series. While it definitely has its fans and some great moments, it also has some serious lows. The fact the network abruptly canceled the show does not help its case, giving it by far one of the worst Star Trek finales of all time. The show was really about Commander Riker all along, right?

Amidst all the sketchy episodes and that sudden ending, of course, that means there are quite a few subplots and story-threads that got rudely abandoned when they really deserved much more explanation. That, or they never got any sort of conclusion at all.

Here are 10 Enterprise Storylines That Were Never Resolved.

10 Klingon Capture Rule - "Broken Bow"

In this two-part series opener, a subplot emerges about the horrible things that happen to Klingons if they are captured instead of losing their lives in battle. Ergo, if their captured messenger goes home, he will be dishonored and executed. This isn't the first time this concept is mentioned in Star Trek, either, as The Next Generationdiscusses it.

However, the writers promptly ignore that concerning subplot. Absolutely nothing bad happens to Klaang when they get to Qo'noS with the message. Not that fans want him dishonored or executed, but what the heck?

The writers never resolve this complete disconnect from its own subplot and Klaang lives a long, happy life.

9 Risa Robbed - "Two Days and Two Nights"

Risa is the infamous vacation planet throughout all of Trek history. In true homage fashion, the Enterprise crew find their own way there and experience some hijinks. Archer has a collaborator romance, Trip and Reed get mugged, and Hoshi has a one night stand. However, nothing comes of these potentially consequential events.

No use for that romantic favor later? The muggers didn't steal anything important? Hoshi didn't commit any awkward, diplomatic faux-pas? This episode, and all of its story-lines, never effect Enterprise's characters (or plot) in the slightest.

Even though another encounter with the collaborator would have been great and resolved the episode better.

8 Playing God - "Dear Doctor"

This episode talks about humanity trying not to play god, while subsequently, definitely, playing god. The Valakians are a species desperate to travel through space to try to get help for the plague decimating their species. While in orbit, Dr. Phlox creates a cure. However, he ultimately chooses to keep it from them because he doesn't think it's his place to meddle. Moreover, maybe the universe means for the other species on the planet to supersede them.

Eugenics is a yikes.

The writers could have redeemed the episode if Dr. Phlox's choice caused something horrible to happen on the planet or to the two species. Instead, this story-line lacks any active consequences. That's not a conclusion, just a depressing cop-out.

7 Male Pregnancy - "Unexpected"

Enterprise and all other Trek shows always end up exploring complex human/alien interactions. Moreover, it definitely has a fascination for the romantic angle. In "Unexpected," Trip gets pregnant by an alien lady engineer he gets along with.

While she presumed having an encounter with him wouldn't result in anything, she was very, very wrong. He grows an embryo in his arm for half the episode. Though the problem seems to be easily resolved, the crew nor Trip never mention the fact he has a child again. Guess inter-species relations don't factor into child support.

6 Transporter Nightmares - "Vanishing Point"

During this episode, Hoshi Sato, whose never transported before, has a bizarre experience her first time through. She ends up slowly de-materializing into nothingness and fighting alien terrorism. However, by the end of the episode, she re-materializes 8.3 seconds later after that first transport. According to the crew, her experience was a hallucination caused by the interfering storm.

Considering transporter accidents are much more common in this time, Sato probably should have either known about this possibility or Phlox should have cataloged it for further study. Conversely, the writers don't really explore the phenomenon and, other than an errant comment to Lt. Barclay in Star Trek: TNG, don't bring it up again. Way to drop a subplot on scientific discoveries about the adverse effects of transporters.

5 Hybrid Child - "Demons"; "Terra Prime"

Throughout Star Trek: Enterprise, one of its strongest relationships is the one that grows between the serious, pragmatic T'Pol and the goofy engineer, Trip Tucker. Near the end of the series, their dynamic has turned romantic. The couple really has learned to care about each other. Using that relationship for their own good, an anti-alien group uses their DNA to create a clone of what a child of theirs could be like.

Unfortunately, they cloned the baby poorly so she passes away a short time later. Despite being such a big, personal event for T'Pol and Trip, they don't mention the possibility of them having a baby again. Moreover, neither is the trauma of the event really explored. The complex, emotional possibilities are endless, but Enterprise just dropped the story-line like it didn't happen.

Considering Tucker gets unceremoniously offed in the finale, though, maybe no one should be surprised his baby's story got cut short.

4 Zombie Son - "Daedalus"

During "Daedalus," the Enterprise crew meets up with a scientist who lost his son in a transporter experiment years ago. With some extra power modifications and subterfuge, he succeeds in re-materializing his lost son. However, his son's cells are so degraded that he only lives for a few moments. No one talks about this again, even though, in theory, they never should have been able to do it.

However, since they could do it, this should have a lot more transporter research going into it, right? With how many transporter accidents there are in this time period, this would be a vital discovery in recovering people before any of their cells degrade.

But no, don't worry about that. No one needs to talk about those kinds of groundbreaking implications.

3 Maternal Nature - "The Hatchery"

Throughout a good chunk of the series, the Xindi species plague the Enterprise and humanity. During a mission to deal with them, the crew finds an abandoned ship with a bunch of Xindi eggs in it. While investigating, those eggs spray Archer with a chemical substance that makes him protective of them, causing some serious chaos. He hurts a lot of people trying to save them, but they ultimately leave the eggs to die once he's cured.

Not to be that guy, but they could have at least kept the eggs for scientific analysis and study, right? For people desperate to solve this Xindi conflict, they really ignored this important subplot. It could have given them some answers and given this episode a real resolution and purpose.

2 Building a Federation - "These Are The Voyages"

In its conception, the writers intended for Enterprise to depict the formation of the Federation. During its run, though, that wasn't quite what happened. Instead, the series ended just as it got to the beginning of the organization's birth. Then, the writers ended the series with a weird clips-based episode centering around Commander Riker.

It sucks that this series long story-thread dropped dead in its final moments. After all, fans would have loved to see the continuance or conclusion of how Archer and his crew helped shape the Federation. By the end, all they got were some ethics and scientific encounters that sort of met Prime Directive and Federation standards.

1 All About That Dog - "A Night In Sickbay"

Star Trek is known for having a dumb episode every so often, but this one is a fan favorite for dumbness. Between Archer's weird, short-lived attraction to T'Pol and addressing the "beagle in space" thing in the worst way, "A Night in Sick Bay" fails to accomplish anything. It doesn't say anything interesting about bringing foreign species to planets. It also doesn't spark a complex relationship between Archer and his first officer.

Overall, the episode was just a way for the writers to acknowledge that it's weird to bring your dog to space. However, they also made it clear that they don't really care about the consequences.

Source: screenrant.com