Canamar (episode)

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Archer and Tucker are mistakenly arrested and placed on a prison ship bound for the infamous penal colony of Canamar.

Summary

Teaser

The crew of Enterprise finds Shuttlepod 1, dead in space and without main power. There are no life signs.

Act One

Playing back the captain's log, they hear Captain Jonathan Archer describe a successful first contact with the Enolians. Another log describes a sporting match. Sensor logs are badly damaged, but Doctor Phlox' forensic analysis uncovered blood traces that matches Archer and Commander Trip Tucker. This leads Lieutenant Malcolm Reed to conclude that the crew have been abducted. Sub-Commander T'Pol orders a course set for Keto-Enol.

Meanwhile, Tucker and Archer are shackled to benches on a ship. Archer tries to get the guard's attention, but the guard instead uses a device to shock Archer instead. Another prisoner, named Kuroda Lor-ehn, advises him not to ask questions, so Archer tries to ask him where they are being taken. Archer overheard them say Canamar, but doesn't know it. A different prisoner, named Zoumas, confirms and clarifies it is a penal colony. Tucker and Archer were accused of smuggling earlier, and realize they'll be tried and found guilty without a fair trial.

Eventually, the prisoners are given (barely edible) food. Tucker makes a comment on the food and a Nausicaan prisoner behind him then demands the food. Tucker refuses and the Nausicaan stands up to fight him, only to be shocked by the guards. Tucker thanks him and gets shocked for that, too. Zoumas continues talking to Tucker, asking him what he smuggled. Tucker says they're innocent, but Zoumas doesn't believe them.

After contacting the Enolian authorities, an Enolian official hears T'Pol's request for information, but, as a busy trading post, they have many visitors. He nevertheless accepts a description of Archer and Tucker to see if his officers have seen them. Later, the official boards Enterprise and informs T'Pol that they were caught by Enolian guards and charged with smuggling contraband. They are now on a transport ship on its way to Canamar. As soon as T'Pol explains the situation, the official agrees to release Archer and Trip and they inform the transport crew. T'Pol ensures the official will stay with them to ensure there are no more mistakes.

On the ship, the guards are ordered to release Archer and Tucker. Unfortunately for the two Enterprise crewmembers, when the other prisoners hear about it, they object. One of the prisoners is able to get out of his restraint and attack the guard. He frees the Nausicaan, but no other.

Act Two

The two freed criminals shackle the guard and announce for everyone to stay silent. Sounding an alarm, they draw out the other guard from the cockpit, who Lor-ehn stuns. The pilot tries to close the door, but the Nausicaan jams it, gets in and knocks him out. It appears they had a plan, part of which required the (conscious) pilot. When they seem to need a pilot, Archer decides to play out his smuggler role. While the Nausicaan stays in the cabin and has his way with the guards (now in shackles) Lor-ehn holds Archer under gun as he slowly figures out the controls. Lor-ehn directs him to a nearby binary star system, but no other information. On the way, Lor-ehn reveals he had served seven years on Canamar and he had subdermal implants installed to depolarize triburnium alloy (that was how he broke from his constraints) before he left.

Enterprise detects the distress call, but it stopped transmitting. The Enolian official recognizes the frequency, but not the exact ship. He starts to contact Enolian patrol ships in the area.

On the transport, Zoumas becomes very excited and chatty with Tucker, talking about tojal and planning to visit a surgeon to reconstruct his face on Burala Prime, given that he is a fugitive now. Tucker isn't interested. Meanwhile, Lor-ehn tries to learn more about Archer. Soon, two patrol ships are in range to intercept.

Act Three

Since they were found much sooner than he expected, Lor-ehn suspects Archer activated the transceiver before it was off, but Archer balks at that. Lor-ehn wants to fire their weapons, but Archer promises they'll be destroyed if they put up a fight. Instead, he says he has a plan, but needs Tucker to execute it. Tucker prepares to release plasma into a cloud. Lor-ehn pretends to surrender and Tucker releases the cloud and, with quick weapon fire, the ships' propulsion systems are knocked out. Lor-ehn wants to finish the job and destroy the ships, but Archer refuses, not wanting to add murder charges to his list.

With this development, the Enolian authorities have figured out Lor-ehn is involved, and they want to destroy the ship. T'Pol objects to the official, but the official can only recommend that Enterprise find the transport first.

Lor-ehn is now taking a liking to Archer, having enjoyed his trick earlier. Realizing Archer's resourcefulness, he asks the captain to join him when they rendezvous with his friends. Archer keeps pretending and says he doesn't have a lot of options at the moment. Lor-ehn reveals where they are going, and that a ship is meeting them there. Later, The former prisoner then tells a little more about himself. He was fourteen when he first went to prison. The first time he was innocent, but he explains that Duronom's guards taught him more than his father ever could. When he was released, five years later, he put his new skills to "good" use and had a pretty interesting life since then (and is grateful for it).

When they arrive at their rendezvous point, Tamaal, Archer asks what the plan is. Lor-ehn tells Archer to put the ship in a decaying orbit around the planet so it will look as if the transport has merely crashed trying to land with everyone aboard.

Act Four

Enterprise has found the transport and is in pursuit. The Enolian official explains Tamaal is a large trading post, and easy to get lost in the crowd. Unfortunately, they can't use the transporter since the transport is heavily shielded. Soon, they detect a smaller ship with Enolian life signs, and the official confirms it isn't one of theirs.

Meanwhile, Archer now realizes he needs to take control of the ship, since they can't wait for Enterprise. He then gets Tucker freed in order to repair the docking hatch, which had been damaged in the previous attack. There, he informs his engineer of his plan. Though Tucker is able to take out the Nausicaan, he fails to disable Lor-ehn because Zoumas shouts out a warning, not believing Tucker when he warns all the prisoners of his real plan. Lor-ehn stuns Tucker and goes back to keep Archer at bay, but Archer reminds him he needs him to fix the hatch.

Tucker wakes up in shackles as Archer finishes fixing the hatch. However, when they finally dock with Kuroda's "friends", there is a team from Enterprise on board which emerges from the hatch and stuns Kuroda and his partner. Still in a decaying orbit, they proceed to transfer the prisoners and Enolian crew to the shuttle. Reed and team free the prisoners and they all flee to the ship while Archer keeps the ship up as long as he can. Just as everyone is to be evacuated, however, Kuroda, who recovered quickly from his stun, and Archer have a fight, ending in Kuroda's refusal to go with them to avoid being taken back to Canamar – he tells them he would prefer to die. Archer is forced to leave without him.

Back on Enterprise the Enolian official apologizes to Archer, and insists on a report, but the captain is pretty acid in his remarks. He doesn't accept the mistake very well, and, from his new-found understanding of the Enolian penal system, he says that he wonders "how many others don't belong there [on Canamar]". They leave the official lost for words.

Memorable quotes

"I'd stay quiet if I were you. The guards don't like questions."

- Kuroda Lor-ehn, to Archer after he receives a shock

"I wouldn't want to be accused of smuggling. They'll probably make an example of you."

- Zoumas, when Archer and Tucker explain what they are charged with

"You don't listen too well."
"Then why don't you save yourself the trouble and stop talking to me?"

- Nausicaan prisoner and Tucker

"You should be careful with the Nausicaans. Nasty tempers."
"Thanks for the advice."

- Zoumas and Tucker

"You ever fly a warp ship before? It's harder than you think."
"He's right."
"You hit the wrong control, you could overload the plasma manifolds or shut down the antimatter containment field. We'd all end up a cloud of ionized gas."
"You're a pilot?"
"A damn good one. I'm a smuggler, remember?"

- Archer, backed up by Tucker, offers his services to Kuroda

"Is this really necessary? I just saved your skin and you still don't trust me." (The Nausicaan prisoner continues replacing Tucker's restraints.) "Do you know how much power flows through those plasma circuits?"
"How much?"
"A lot. I could have been electrocuted. God, the least you could do is say 'thanks'."
(sardonically) "Thanks."
"That was nice. It reminds me of the time I was on..."
"Shut up."

-Tucker, Zoumas, and the Nausicaan prisoner

"We can't wait for Enterprise. We've got to try to take control. Think you can handle him?"
"Yeah, piece of cake."

- Archer and Tucker, referring to the Nausicaan prisoner

"Captain, my superiors will want a report on what happened..."
"I'll give you one right now. Kuroda's dead, the other eleven prisoners are under guard. As you're aware, my engineer and I were falsely arrested. We almost wound up in Canamar! Makes me wonder how many others don't belong there. You wanted a report? You've got one."

- An Enolian official speaks with Archer after he and Tucker are released from custody (last lines)

Background information

This episode originally developed from the initial ending of "Judgment", which involved Enterprise attempting to intercept a prison ship which Archer was aboard and rescuing him from that vessel. "As we were breaking that, Brannon [Braga] really liked that part of the story, so much so that he decided it was all one episode," remembered David A. Goodman, "and he and John Shiban worked that out, and Chris Black – all worked on that story, and it became 'Canamar', later in the season." ("Judgment" podcast/audio commentary)
The remote control for the prisoner cuffs was a reuse of the Bajoran tricorder. The Enolian hand phaser was a reuse of the EM-33 plasma pistol. Kuroda's uniform, and that of the other Enolians, was a reuse of the Miradorn costumes. The Enolian guards' uniform was a reuse of the Mokra costume. The rank pin worn on the Enolian official's collar was a modified version of the Red Squad pin. The little jiggly-things hanging from Zoumas' face were artificial fishing lures. The cockpit of the prison ship was a reuse of the Class 2 shuttle from Star Trek: Voyager. ^{(citation needed • edit)}
Tojal was previously mentioned in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Destiny", where Quark served it to Ulani Belor and Gilora Rejal, who did not care for it.
Melvaran mud fleas were later mentioned in the 2009 film Star Trek.
This was the first of two second season episodes featuring music scored by Brian Tyler. The second was "Regeneration".
This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for its prosthetic makeup effects.
Among the items which were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay were two Enolian restraints. [1]

Links and references

Starring

Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest Stars

External links

"Canamar"
"Canamar" at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
"Canamar" at Wikipedia

Previous episode:
"Future Tense"

Star Trek: Enterprise
Season 2

Next episode:
"The Crossing"

Canamar (episode)

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