Post by magicmuggle01 on Sept 27, 2018 10:36:09 GMT
Earth launches its first starship of exploration, Enterprise, on a mission to return an injured Klingon to his homeworld. (Series Premiere).
Summary
Young Jonathan Archer.
In San Francisco of the year 2121, a young boy named Jonathan Archer paints a model of his father's spacecraft. When he recites a famed quote from a speech by Zefram Cochrane, Henry Archer tells him the inventor of the warp drive would be proud of him. Jonathan curiously asks about his father's upcoming ship, wondering if it will be bigger than "Ambassador Pointy's" ship. Henry corrects his son, noting that the ambassador is actually named Soval, an extremely helpful Vulcan. Jonathan responds that – according to Billy Cook, an acquaintance of his – Humans would already be flying at warp five, if the Vulcans had not intervened. Although Henry Archer does not fully understand the reasons behind the Vulcans' constraint, he believes that there must be an explanation.
Thirty years later, the Broken Bow Incident takes place in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, on Earth. A pair of aliens pursue Klaang through a corn field, the Klingon pilot of a crash-landed K'toch-class scout ship, attract the attention of a farmer named Moore. Although Klaang eventually manages to kill the aliens by blowing up a corn silo with them in it with his disruptor, he is shot with Moore's plasma rifle.
Act One
Several Starfleet and Vulcan personnel discuss Klaang
Aboard a inspection pod, Orbital 6, Jonathan Archer, now a captain in Starfleet, and Commander Charles Tucker inspect the prototype NX-class starshipEnterprise NX-01 in the Orbital Drydock Facility, a spacedock orbiting Earth. After being urgently called back to Starfleet Medical, Archer attends a meeting where a group of high-ranking Starfleet officers, including Admiral Forrest, discuss Klaang with several Vulcan dignitaries: Ambassador Soval, Tos, and Sub-Commander T'Pol. Archer also meets an alien doctor who is providing Klaang with medical care. Eventually, it is decided that Enterprise will launch ahead of schedule on a mission to return Klaang to the Klingons' homeworld, Qo'noS. The Vulcans completely disagree with this; they had objected to Humans returning Klaang out of fears that a perceived provincial attitude and accompanying volatile nature of Humans would complicate Human contact with the Klingons so soon. However, Archer manages to convince Forrest to approve Enterprise delivering Klaang to Qo'nos over Soval's protests. After the Vulcans leave, Forrest reminds Archer to not "screw this up." Archer looks at the alien doctor treating Klaang and taps on the glass to get his attention.
Aboard Enterprise, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Travis Mayweather discuss the vessel's transporter, a brand-new piece of equipment first installed on their ship. As they walk through a corridor, Mayweather reminisces about his childhood aboard cargo ships, particularly about their artificial gravity. When they enter engineering, Reed introduces Mayweather to Commander Tucker. Meanwhile, Archer travels to Brazil to recruit linguist Hoshi Sato as his communications officer. Sato is reluctant at first, but Archer plays a Vulcan recording of Klingonese, and tells her to think that she would be the first Human to talk to these Klingons. "Do you really want somebody else to do it?" She smiles at him.
Another addition to Archer's crew is Sub-Commander T'Pol, whose assignment for the position of executive officer and science officer was obligatory in exchange for Enterprise's use of the Vulcan star charts. In the captain's ready room, T'Pol is introduced to Commander Tucker by Archer and she gives him a PADD confirming her new assignment. An embarrassing encounter with the captain's dog, Porthos, then follows, since Vulcan females have an heightened sense of smell. Along with T'Pol – whom Archer saw as a Vulcan "chaperone" – the doctor he met before, at Starfleet Medical, is also added to Enterprise's crew.
The spacedock where the Enterprise was constructed
At Enterprise's launching ceremony, Admiral Forrest makes a speech and remarks there is no better person to captain the first warp 5 starship than the son of its inventor, Jonathan Archer. After this, a recording of a speech by Doctor Zefram Cochrane is played, from the dedication ceremony of the Warp Five Complex, 32 years ago.
"On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will some day help us to travel a hundred times faster than we can today. Imagine it. Thousands of inhabited planets, at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds and seek out new life, and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly, where no man has gone before."
As these historic words are spoken, Archer remembers his childhood, when he and his dad placed an anti-gravity controller into the model. Mayweather then asks for instructions. He responds, "Take her out, Mr. Mayweather. Straight and steady." And so, the NX-01 Enterprise leaves spacedock and jumps into warp.
Aboard a strange alien complex, an alien officer talks to a mysterious figure
Meanwhile, in a strange chamber aboard an alien complex, a Suliban officer confers with a mysterious silhouetted figure and promises to recover evidence that the figure requires. This evidence apparently was in the hands of Klaang when he was pursued by the Suliban.
Act Two
Aboard Enterprise, Archer observes a jar full of immunocytic gel worms in sickbay. The doctor he met earlier, a Denobulan in the Interspecies Medical Exchange program named Phlox, asks the captain to make sure that he doesn't shake the worms. Archer helps Phlox unpack medical equipment and an Altarian marsupial, an animal that makes the captain squirm because its droppings are used as medicine. Meanwhile, Travis Mayweather shows Commander Tucker the "sweet spot", an area of every ship where gravity is reversed. Mayweather is a well-traveled "space boomer" and has visited the planets Trillius Prime, Draylax, and both the Teneebian moons. Later, when Tucker enters the ship's mess hall, he is offered a seat by Crewman Fletcher but the engineer replies that he has already been asked to the captain's mess. There, the engineer eats with Archer and T'Pol while they discuss Human evolution.
However, all is not well – during a test of the ship's warp reactor, a verbal conflict between Hoshi Sato and T'Pol arises. When Ensign Sato insults T'Pol in the Vulcan language, the science officer retorts that she herself was instructed to speak English during her assignment aboard the ship and expects Sato to do the same. Later, the vessel loses main power while Archer, Sato, and Phlox are in sickbay, trying to interrogate Klaang. Alien soldiers board Enterprise and attack the Starfleet officers. Klaang recognizes the aliens as Suliban and, although Archer manages to shoot one of the aliens, the Klingon is abducted from the ship.
Act Three
On the bridge, an irritated Archer asks his crew why the Suliban were not detected by Enterprise's new state-of-the-art sensors. When Lieutenant Reed tells him that the starboard sensor logs did record a spatial disturbance, the captain orders the bridge crew to conduct a full investigation into the incident. T'Pol advises Archer to consult the astrometrics computer in San Francisco, believing that he himself has no hope of finding Klaang. However, the captain decides not to take her advice and forbids T'Pol from contacting Starfleet. In sickbay, Phlox shows Archer the corpse of the alien soldier that was left aboard Enterprise. The doctor has learned that the alien has Suliban DNA, but its anatomy has been radically altered by very sophisticated genetic modifications.
Enterprise heads to Rigel X
In engineering, T'Pol helps Tucker to review the sensor data. Archer and Sato soon enter. Using both Sato's translation of Klaang's words as well as T'Pol's reluctant assistance, Archer learns that Klaang visited Rigel X just before his scout ship crashed on Earth. The captain contacts the bridge and orders Mayweather to set course for the tenth planet in the Rigel system. Meanwhile, an alien officer aboard the Suliban complex interrogates Klaang in Klingonese. This Suliban officer asks Klaang where he left a particular unnamed item, but the Klingon claims ignorance. He tells the officer that he was sent to meet a Suliban woman named Sarin on Rigel X but that Sarin did not give him anything. As Enterprise approaches the planet, Archer and T'Pol brief an away team in the ship's launch bay. Archer informs the officers that Klaang was a courier and tells them to find the person who gave the Klingon whatever he was carrying, so they might find out why the Suliban have captured Klaang.
The team travel to Rigel X in Shuttlepod 1 and search in a trade complex on the planet's frozen surface. Reed and Mayweather are persuaded, by a man who claims that he saw Klaang, to watch a pair of alien females performing with butterflies. The pair of officers doubt the man's honesty and soon leave. While T'Pol investigates, Tucker finds difficulty with accepting several aliens that he encounters, including a Lorillian mother and son. Archer and Sato meanwhile catch a fleeting glimpse of a group of Klingons. Soon after, the entire away team is attacked and captured by Suliban.
Act Four
Sarin
Sato, T'Pol, and Tucker are imprisoned by the alien soldiers in a section which is sealed by a force field. Archer is taken to a woman who looks Human but who changes her appearance after she kisses the captain. The woman's name is Sarin – the same Suliban female that Klaang met on Rigel X earlier. Sarin was once a member of the Cabal, the Suliban military. She informs Archer that the Cabal are following orders from a faction in the Temporal Cold War, a conflict which is being fought through time. The Suliban are promoting internal strife within the Klingon Empire, making it appear that one house is attacking another and Klaang was transporting evidence of this back to Qo'noS to prevent a civil war.
Sarin offers to help Archer find the Klingon, but agents of the Suliban Cabal discover them and open fire. Sarin frees the Starfleet officers but is killed in the fight between the Cabal and her small group of renegade Suliban. Archer, injured while on the run, manages to escape in the shuttlepod. With a damaged thruster, the shuttlecraft ascends into the atmosphere as T'Pol contacts Enterprise and announces that she is taking command of the ship. When Captain Archer starts to lose consciousness, he dreams about himself as a child flying his model spacecraft on a beach with his father. He is disappointed when the model crash-lands in the sand, and his father tells him that he can't be afraid of the wind as T'Pol watches from the shore.
Act Five
T'Pol and Tucker decontaminating
After Shuttlepod 1 has returned to Enterprise, T'Pol and Tucker use the decon chamber to rid themselves of a protocystian spore they picked up on Rigel X. Here, Tucker questions whether he should take command rather than T'Pol, because she was only assigned to the ship as an "observer". The engineer worries that T'Pol will not continue the search for Klaang if she takes command.
Six hours later, Archer regains consciousness in sickbay. Phlox removes, from Archer's leg, an osmotic eel that the doctor used to cauterize the captain's wound. T'Pol and Tucker visit and the Vulcan informs Archer that they have tracked a Suliban ship that left Rigel X just after the captain was injured. Archer is surprised that T'Pol didn't order a course back to Earth, but the Vulcan states that, as acting captain, she was obligated to anticipate Archer's wishes. Archer responds that, as acting captain, she could have done whatever she wanted.
As Enterprise continues to follow the Suliban ship, Archer, back in his quarters, is making a log entry, pausing the log several times to question himself about T'Pol's motives to continue the mission.
"Enterprise starlog, Captain Jonathan Archer – April 16, 2151. We've been tracking the Suliban ship for ten hours, thanks to our... science officer, who came up with a way to tweak the sensors. I have no reason to believe that Klaang is still alive, but if... what the Suliban woman told me is true, it's crucial that we try to find him. I still haven't decided whether to ask Sub-Commander T'Pol about this 'Temporal Cold War.' My instincts tell me not to trust her."
Archer hears the warp drive changing and looks out his window to see that the ship has dropped out of warp. He contacts T'Pol, who asks him to come to the bridge.
Gas giant
There, a class 7 gas giant is displayed on the viewscreen. T'Pol tells Archer that the Suliban craft entered the planet's radiation belt a few hours ago, scattering the vessel's warp trail. T'Pol instructs Reed to run a spectral analysis on fragments he has detected nearby. The bridge crew finds that the fragments were left from fourteen different ships. Realizing that Enterprise has found an area used frequently by the Suliban, Archer orders Reed to activate the ship's weapon systems and to polarize the hull plating. The captain then directs Mayweather to lay in a sixty degree vector that will take the ship into the planet's atmosphere.
Act Six
Aboard the alien complex, the Suliban officer talks with the mysterious figure. The officer is unsure whether Sarin gave the Enterprise crew anything, but he knows that Enterprise has followed a Suliban ship and is nearby. He promises the figure that he will destroy the Human vessel before it locates the helix, the complex that he is currently on. The figure says that he didn't intend for Humans or Vulcans to become involved yet, and demands that the officer must stop Sarin's message from reaching Qo'noS.
In the atmosphere of the gas giant, Enterprise almost loses the warp trail. T'Pol estimates that the ship's condition should improve, shortly before the bridge starts to shudder. She uses a viewer at her station to determine that the quakes are being caused by unexpected liquid phosphorus. When the ship's condition improves, the officers detect two Suliban cell ships and the helix. Sato reads more than three thousand bio-signs aboard the alien station, but is unable to find Klaang with the ship's sensors. When Suliban ships start attacking, Enterprise returns to the phosphorus layer, where the enemy vessels can't find the Starfleet craft. T'Pol reports that the helix seems to be comprised of hundreds of other vessels, locked together by magnetic seals. When Sato finally detects Klaang aboard the complex, Reed suggests using the transporter to get him out but Archer finds Reed's plan too risky. The captain decides to use Enterprise's grappler to retrieve one of the attacking cell ships and bring it aboard Enterprise.
In the situation room, aft of the bridge, Mayweather questions Archer and Tucker about the workings of the captured Suliban vessel. As the engineer seems to be slightly unsure of the craft, Mayweather believes that he would make a better pilot. Archer replies that the ensign is needed on board Enterprise and Tucker believes that piloting the Suliban vessel won't be as hard as it seems.
In the captain's ready room, T'Pol attempts to discourage Archer from leaving. She suggests that he appeal for support from a nearby Vulcan ship. The captain suspects the Vulcan is displaying emotional concern, but T'Pol claims that the Vulcan High Command will hold her responsible if anything happens to Tucker or the captain. Reed enters, carrying two cases into the room – one holds a magnetic device and the other holds two newly-designed weapons called phase-pistols. According to the lieutenant, the weapons have two settings – stun and kill. He advises Archer not to confuse the two.
Archer and Tucker operate the stolen cell ship
Archer and Tucker leave Enterprise and use the captured cell ship to travel to the helix, where they eventually locate Klaang. Although the Klingon is initially hostile, Archer threatens the alien with his phase-pistol so he will cooperate with the captain's orders. Together, the three men move through the helix and attack any Suliban guard that approaches them. The captain instructs Tucker to return to the cell ship with Klaang while he stays behind and tries to separate the helix using the magnetic device. After doing so, Archer contacts Tucker and tells the engineer not to return for him, but to take Klaang to Enterprise. Tucker complies as several of the drifting enemy ships surrounding the commandeered cell ship collide.
Act Seven
Tucker ignites the cell ship's thruster exhaust, giving Sato, on board Enterprise, the opportunity to tell T'Pol what to look for. When T'Pol detects Tucker's position, she thanks Sato in the Vulcan language.
Aboard the helix, Archer fights with the alien officer. The alien nearly kills Archer with his own phase-pistol, but the captain moves out of the way just in time. The alien chases Archer into another room where a strobing, pulsating light throbs. Just as the alien shoots again, Archer is beamed aboard Enterprise. Tucker apologizes for using the transporter, but claims it was the only way to recover the captain. Enterprise immediately leaves the gas giant at warp speed.
Klaang confronts the Klingon chancellor
After arriving on Qo'noS, Archer, Klaang, Sato, and T'Pol enter the Klingon High Council Chamber. As Klaang addresses the High Council in Klingonese, Sato tries her best to interpret his words. According to the linguist, Klaang says something about disgracing the Klingon Empire and mentions that he's ready to die. The Klingon Chancellor approaches Klaang and makes a small cut in his hand with a jagged dagger. The Klingons then pour some of Klaang's blood into a vial which they examine with a large scientific device. The extracted DNA from his blood contains a wealth of Suliban information. The Klingons shout in gruff approval, but soon quiet again. The chancellor approaches Captain Archer and, holding the dagger against the captain's throat, says something in Klingonese that Archer interprets as a thanks. Once the Chancellor leaves, Sato comments that the captain's interpretation was incorrect, and claims that Archer wouldn't want to know what the Klingon actually said.
Aboard Enterprise, Archer tells his crew that the starship's mission is to continue forward. Tucker begins work on repairing the starship as Archer orders Mayweather to set a course for an inhabited planet nearby. Although there is an ion storm between the starship and its destination, the captain tells Mayweather that they can't be afraid of the wind. He orders Enterprise to engage at warp four.
Archer with his father, Henry
Archer remembers himself as a child, standing beside his father as his model spacecraft flew across the sunny morning sky.
Deleted scenes
There are several deleted scenes from the feature version of the episode. There were three presented in the extra features of the Enterprise season one DVD release. The numbers on the scene tag are the numbers of what the scenes would have been in the episode.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 092
The alien dockmaster
Archer and Sato are meeting with an alien dockmaster in a landing port control tower, asking questions about Klaang, and querying what business he had on Rigel X. Although the dockmaster is preoccupied monitoring the traffic to the planet's trade complex, including a craft he calls Elkan Nine, he is curious to learn that the officers are Human and, with some persuasion from Archer, researches Klaang in Rigel X's records. He informs the officers that the Klingon visited the planet in a K'toch-class vessel seven days earlier, but does not elaborate on what Klaang did, or whom he met, stating that visitors to Rigel X "value their privacy". When Archer mentions the Suliban, the dockmaster claims he has never heard of the word, and suggests that the officers' translator must be malfunctioning. Sato, holding the translator, confirms that the device is not at error, however.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 099
This scene features Reed and Mayweather, moments after having observed the butterfly dancers on Rigel X. The same alien who persuaded them to watch the dancers follows them through a crowded, narrow arcade and presents them with the opportunity to view an "inter-species performance". Seeing Reed consider this, Mayweather realizes that the alien knows nothing about Klaang and advises Reed that their "guide" is trying to take advantage of their interest in the new surroundings. Reed declines the offer and, as he and his companion walk away from the alien, Mayweather exclaims disbelief that they were almost fooled by the man. While the officers move past an entertainer demonstrating fire-breathing skills, Reed replies by reminding his companion that they are explorers.
This version of the scene slightly differs from the scene as it was written in the episode's script, which mentions a "topless fire-eater" of unspecified sex earlier than when the fire-breathing female, dressed in a bikini, appears in the filmed version of the sequence. Also, in the script, the alien reacts to Reed's dismissal of his offer by shaking his head in disappointment and disappearing into the crowd. The filmed version of the scene, however, shows none of this and the camera pans away from the alien while he is standing still in the position where the officers leave him.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 154-155
T'Pol's original look
In this scene, Sato and Reed discuss the symptoms of frost bite (as Sato is convinced she has it) while Enterprise tracks the vessel they are following. When an alarm rings, and Mayweather alerts T'Pol (who we see, for a split second in her original look) to the fact they are losing sight of the ship, she orders an increase in speed. Mayweather reminds her that he cannot do so without authorization, which they subsequently receive from engineering.
Memorable quotes
"Where no man has gone before."
- Said twice, first by young Jonathan Archer, reciting a speech by Zefram Cochrane, which is heard later- This was the very first line of the series.
"How big will it be?"
"Pretty big."
- Jonathan Archer, asking his father Henry about the upcoming starship to have the first warp five engine
"Neptune and back in six minutes."
- Archer, marveling at Enterprise
"Great... you scratched the paint."
- Archer, after a small inspection pod piloted by Tucker bumps into the bottom of Enterprise
"Where'd he come from?"
"Oklahoma."
"Corn farmer named Moore shot him with a plasma rifle."
- Archer, asking about Klaang, a Klingon, with Williams and Forrest's response
"Volatile? You have no idea how much I'm restraining myself from knocking you on your ass."
- Archer's first words to T'Pol, in response to her claim that Humans are not ready to make their own decisions
"Don't screw this up."
- Forrest, after Archer declares he and the crew of Enterprise will return Klaang to Qo'noS
"It's a Klingot."
"A Klingon."
- Admiral Leonard and Tos, while observing Klaang
"Listen to me, you're making a mistake!"
"When your logic doesn't work, you raise your voice? You've been on Earth too long."
- Soval and Archer
"You're upside down, Ensign."
- Tucker, to Mayweather while in the sweet spot of Enterprise
"I heard this platform's been approved for bio-transport."
"I presume you mean fruits and vegetables."
"I mean armory officers and helmsmen."
"I don't think I'm quite ready to have my molecules compressed into a datastream."
- Mayweather and Reed, discussing the ship's brand new transporter
"Keep your shirt on, loo-tenant."
- Said twice, first by Malcolm Reed doing an impression of Trip Tucker, then by Tucker himself
"Four days and four days back. Then she's gone. In the meantime we are to extend her every courtesy."
"I don't know. I'd be more comfortable with Porthos on the bridge."
- Archer and Tucker, discussing T'Pol
"I took a shower this mornin', how about you, Cap'n?"
- Commander Tucker, making fun of T'Pol's heightened sense of smell
"You ever slept in zero-G?"
"Slept?"
"It's just like being back in the womb."
- Mayweather and Tucker, while upside down in the "sweet spot"
"T'Pol tells me she's been living in the Vulcan compound in Sausalito."
"No kidding. I lived a few blocks nearby when I first joined Starfleet. Great parties in the Vulcan compound."
- Archer and Tucker
"Grandma taught me to never judge a species by their eating habits."
- Tucker, in response to T'Pol's criticism over Humans still eating the flesh of animals
"You can't be afraid of the wind."
- Said twice, first by Henry Archer when young Jonathan Archer was having trouble flying a model starship, then at the end of the episode by Captain Archer, in reply to Ensign Mayweather's suggestion to fly around an ion storm, a minor spatial disturbance
"On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will someday help us to travel a hundred times faster than we can today. Imagine it - thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips... and we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds, and seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly... where no man has gone before."
- Zefram Cochrane's speech from the dedication ceremony for the Warp Five Complex, in 2119
"Take her out, Mr. Mayweather... straight and steady."
- Jonathan Archer, ordering Mayweather to leave space dock
"Let's go."
- Archer's order to engage warp and depart Earth
"Optimism, captain!"
- Phlox's advice to Captain Archer, before the Denobulan doctor smiles a massive grin
"Ponfo mirann!"
- Hoshi Sato's Vulcan insultAccording to Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, this phrase can be translated as "Go to hell!" (Episode's audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD)
"I'm not interested in what you think about this mission, so take your Vulcan cynicism and bury it along with your repressed emotions."
- Archer, to T'Pol
"How complicated can it be? Up, down, forward, reverse... I'll figure it out."
- Tucker's response to learning the controls of the captured Suliban vessel
"He says, 'his wife has grown ugly'?"
- Hoshi Sato, translating Klingon spoken by Klaang
"I think the doctor's right, captain; unless "stinky boots" has something to do with all this?"
- Hoshi Sato, after Phlox explains that Klaang has no idea what he is saying
"Do you know how to tell him to shut up?"
"Shut up!"
- Archer, asking Sato to translate his request into Klingon, and Sato, not even bothering to do so
"Now get the hell out there and make yourself useful."
- Archer, to T'Pol
[Klaang says something in Klingon]
"I don't particularly like the way you smell either!"
- Trip Tucker, while flying back to Enterprise with Klaang
"Ensign Mayweather tells me that we'll be at Kronos in about eighty hours. Any chance he'll be conscious by then?"
"There's a chance he'll be conscious within the next ten minutes. Just not a very good one."
- Archer and Phlox, discussing Klaang's condition
"Your superiors don't think we can flush a toilet without one of you to assist us."
- Archer, to T'Pol
"A seven-foot Klingon doesn't go unnoticed."
- Archer, on Klaang
"That's... never happened before."
- Archer, to Sarin after she kisses him and transforms into a Suliban
"Bridge, we're taking damage down here! What's going on?"
"Just a little trouble with the bad guys."
- Tucker and Archer
"I'll take that as a thank you."
"I don't think they have a word for thank you."
"What did he say?"
"You don't want to know."
- Archer and Sato, in reference to the Klingon chancellor's response to Klaang's return
"I hope nobody is in a big hurry to get home. Starfleet seems to think that we're ready to begin our mission."
- Archer
"I'm reading an ion storm on that trajectory, sir. Should I go around it?"
"We can't be afraid of the wind, ensign. Take us to warp four."
- Travis Mayweather and Jonathan Archer
Summary
Young Jonathan Archer.
In San Francisco of the year 2121, a young boy named Jonathan Archer paints a model of his father's spacecraft. When he recites a famed quote from a speech by Zefram Cochrane, Henry Archer tells him the inventor of the warp drive would be proud of him. Jonathan curiously asks about his father's upcoming ship, wondering if it will be bigger than "Ambassador Pointy's" ship. Henry corrects his son, noting that the ambassador is actually named Soval, an extremely helpful Vulcan. Jonathan responds that – according to Billy Cook, an acquaintance of his – Humans would already be flying at warp five, if the Vulcans had not intervened. Although Henry Archer does not fully understand the reasons behind the Vulcans' constraint, he believes that there must be an explanation.
Thirty years later, the Broken Bow Incident takes place in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, on Earth. A pair of aliens pursue Klaang through a corn field, the Klingon pilot of a crash-landed K'toch-class scout ship, attract the attention of a farmer named Moore. Although Klaang eventually manages to kill the aliens by blowing up a corn silo with them in it with his disruptor, he is shot with Moore's plasma rifle.
Act One
Several Starfleet and Vulcan personnel discuss Klaang
Aboard a inspection pod, Orbital 6, Jonathan Archer, now a captain in Starfleet, and Commander Charles Tucker inspect the prototype NX-class starshipEnterprise NX-01 in the Orbital Drydock Facility, a spacedock orbiting Earth. After being urgently called back to Starfleet Medical, Archer attends a meeting where a group of high-ranking Starfleet officers, including Admiral Forrest, discuss Klaang with several Vulcan dignitaries: Ambassador Soval, Tos, and Sub-Commander T'Pol. Archer also meets an alien doctor who is providing Klaang with medical care. Eventually, it is decided that Enterprise will launch ahead of schedule on a mission to return Klaang to the Klingons' homeworld, Qo'noS. The Vulcans completely disagree with this; they had objected to Humans returning Klaang out of fears that a perceived provincial attitude and accompanying volatile nature of Humans would complicate Human contact with the Klingons so soon. However, Archer manages to convince Forrest to approve Enterprise delivering Klaang to Qo'nos over Soval's protests. After the Vulcans leave, Forrest reminds Archer to not "screw this up." Archer looks at the alien doctor treating Klaang and taps on the glass to get his attention.
Aboard Enterprise, Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Ensign Travis Mayweather discuss the vessel's transporter, a brand-new piece of equipment first installed on their ship. As they walk through a corridor, Mayweather reminisces about his childhood aboard cargo ships, particularly about their artificial gravity. When they enter engineering, Reed introduces Mayweather to Commander Tucker. Meanwhile, Archer travels to Brazil to recruit linguist Hoshi Sato as his communications officer. Sato is reluctant at first, but Archer plays a Vulcan recording of Klingonese, and tells her to think that she would be the first Human to talk to these Klingons. "Do you really want somebody else to do it?" She smiles at him.
Another addition to Archer's crew is Sub-Commander T'Pol, whose assignment for the position of executive officer and science officer was obligatory in exchange for Enterprise's use of the Vulcan star charts. In the captain's ready room, T'Pol is introduced to Commander Tucker by Archer and she gives him a PADD confirming her new assignment. An embarrassing encounter with the captain's dog, Porthos, then follows, since Vulcan females have an heightened sense of smell. Along with T'Pol – whom Archer saw as a Vulcan "chaperone" – the doctor he met before, at Starfleet Medical, is also added to Enterprise's crew.
The spacedock where the Enterprise was constructed
At Enterprise's launching ceremony, Admiral Forrest makes a speech and remarks there is no better person to captain the first warp 5 starship than the son of its inventor, Jonathan Archer. After this, a recording of a speech by Doctor Zefram Cochrane is played, from the dedication ceremony of the Warp Five Complex, 32 years ago.
"On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will some day help us to travel a hundred times faster than we can today. Imagine it. Thousands of inhabited planets, at our fingertips. And we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds and seek out new life, and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly, where no man has gone before."
As these historic words are spoken, Archer remembers his childhood, when he and his dad placed an anti-gravity controller into the model. Mayweather then asks for instructions. He responds, "Take her out, Mr. Mayweather. Straight and steady." And so, the NX-01 Enterprise leaves spacedock and jumps into warp.
Aboard a strange alien complex, an alien officer talks to a mysterious figure
Meanwhile, in a strange chamber aboard an alien complex, a Suliban officer confers with a mysterious silhouetted figure and promises to recover evidence that the figure requires. This evidence apparently was in the hands of Klaang when he was pursued by the Suliban.
Act Two
Aboard Enterprise, Archer observes a jar full of immunocytic gel worms in sickbay. The doctor he met earlier, a Denobulan in the Interspecies Medical Exchange program named Phlox, asks the captain to make sure that he doesn't shake the worms. Archer helps Phlox unpack medical equipment and an Altarian marsupial, an animal that makes the captain squirm because its droppings are used as medicine. Meanwhile, Travis Mayweather shows Commander Tucker the "sweet spot", an area of every ship where gravity is reversed. Mayweather is a well-traveled "space boomer" and has visited the planets Trillius Prime, Draylax, and both the Teneebian moons. Later, when Tucker enters the ship's mess hall, he is offered a seat by Crewman Fletcher but the engineer replies that he has already been asked to the captain's mess. There, the engineer eats with Archer and T'Pol while they discuss Human evolution.
However, all is not well – during a test of the ship's warp reactor, a verbal conflict between Hoshi Sato and T'Pol arises. When Ensign Sato insults T'Pol in the Vulcan language, the science officer retorts that she herself was instructed to speak English during her assignment aboard the ship and expects Sato to do the same. Later, the vessel loses main power while Archer, Sato, and Phlox are in sickbay, trying to interrogate Klaang. Alien soldiers board Enterprise and attack the Starfleet officers. Klaang recognizes the aliens as Suliban and, although Archer manages to shoot one of the aliens, the Klingon is abducted from the ship.
Act Three
On the bridge, an irritated Archer asks his crew why the Suliban were not detected by Enterprise's new state-of-the-art sensors. When Lieutenant Reed tells him that the starboard sensor logs did record a spatial disturbance, the captain orders the bridge crew to conduct a full investigation into the incident. T'Pol advises Archer to consult the astrometrics computer in San Francisco, believing that he himself has no hope of finding Klaang. However, the captain decides not to take her advice and forbids T'Pol from contacting Starfleet. In sickbay, Phlox shows Archer the corpse of the alien soldier that was left aboard Enterprise. The doctor has learned that the alien has Suliban DNA, but its anatomy has been radically altered by very sophisticated genetic modifications.
Enterprise heads to Rigel X
In engineering, T'Pol helps Tucker to review the sensor data. Archer and Sato soon enter. Using both Sato's translation of Klaang's words as well as T'Pol's reluctant assistance, Archer learns that Klaang visited Rigel X just before his scout ship crashed on Earth. The captain contacts the bridge and orders Mayweather to set course for the tenth planet in the Rigel system. Meanwhile, an alien officer aboard the Suliban complex interrogates Klaang in Klingonese. This Suliban officer asks Klaang where he left a particular unnamed item, but the Klingon claims ignorance. He tells the officer that he was sent to meet a Suliban woman named Sarin on Rigel X but that Sarin did not give him anything. As Enterprise approaches the planet, Archer and T'Pol brief an away team in the ship's launch bay. Archer informs the officers that Klaang was a courier and tells them to find the person who gave the Klingon whatever he was carrying, so they might find out why the Suliban have captured Klaang.
The team travel to Rigel X in Shuttlepod 1 and search in a trade complex on the planet's frozen surface. Reed and Mayweather are persuaded, by a man who claims that he saw Klaang, to watch a pair of alien females performing with butterflies. The pair of officers doubt the man's honesty and soon leave. While T'Pol investigates, Tucker finds difficulty with accepting several aliens that he encounters, including a Lorillian mother and son. Archer and Sato meanwhile catch a fleeting glimpse of a group of Klingons. Soon after, the entire away team is attacked and captured by Suliban.
Act Four
Sarin
Sato, T'Pol, and Tucker are imprisoned by the alien soldiers in a section which is sealed by a force field. Archer is taken to a woman who looks Human but who changes her appearance after she kisses the captain. The woman's name is Sarin – the same Suliban female that Klaang met on Rigel X earlier. Sarin was once a member of the Cabal, the Suliban military. She informs Archer that the Cabal are following orders from a faction in the Temporal Cold War, a conflict which is being fought through time. The Suliban are promoting internal strife within the Klingon Empire, making it appear that one house is attacking another and Klaang was transporting evidence of this back to Qo'noS to prevent a civil war.
Sarin offers to help Archer find the Klingon, but agents of the Suliban Cabal discover them and open fire. Sarin frees the Starfleet officers but is killed in the fight between the Cabal and her small group of renegade Suliban. Archer, injured while on the run, manages to escape in the shuttlepod. With a damaged thruster, the shuttlecraft ascends into the atmosphere as T'Pol contacts Enterprise and announces that she is taking command of the ship. When Captain Archer starts to lose consciousness, he dreams about himself as a child flying his model spacecraft on a beach with his father. He is disappointed when the model crash-lands in the sand, and his father tells him that he can't be afraid of the wind as T'Pol watches from the shore.
Act Five
T'Pol and Tucker decontaminating
After Shuttlepod 1 has returned to Enterprise, T'Pol and Tucker use the decon chamber to rid themselves of a protocystian spore they picked up on Rigel X. Here, Tucker questions whether he should take command rather than T'Pol, because she was only assigned to the ship as an "observer". The engineer worries that T'Pol will not continue the search for Klaang if she takes command.
Six hours later, Archer regains consciousness in sickbay. Phlox removes, from Archer's leg, an osmotic eel that the doctor used to cauterize the captain's wound. T'Pol and Tucker visit and the Vulcan informs Archer that they have tracked a Suliban ship that left Rigel X just after the captain was injured. Archer is surprised that T'Pol didn't order a course back to Earth, but the Vulcan states that, as acting captain, she was obligated to anticipate Archer's wishes. Archer responds that, as acting captain, she could have done whatever she wanted.
As Enterprise continues to follow the Suliban ship, Archer, back in his quarters, is making a log entry, pausing the log several times to question himself about T'Pol's motives to continue the mission.
"Enterprise starlog, Captain Jonathan Archer – April 16, 2151. We've been tracking the Suliban ship for ten hours, thanks to our... science officer, who came up with a way to tweak the sensors. I have no reason to believe that Klaang is still alive, but if... what the Suliban woman told me is true, it's crucial that we try to find him. I still haven't decided whether to ask Sub-Commander T'Pol about this 'Temporal Cold War.' My instincts tell me not to trust her."
Archer hears the warp drive changing and looks out his window to see that the ship has dropped out of warp. He contacts T'Pol, who asks him to come to the bridge.
Gas giant
There, a class 7 gas giant is displayed on the viewscreen. T'Pol tells Archer that the Suliban craft entered the planet's radiation belt a few hours ago, scattering the vessel's warp trail. T'Pol instructs Reed to run a spectral analysis on fragments he has detected nearby. The bridge crew finds that the fragments were left from fourteen different ships. Realizing that Enterprise has found an area used frequently by the Suliban, Archer orders Reed to activate the ship's weapon systems and to polarize the hull plating. The captain then directs Mayweather to lay in a sixty degree vector that will take the ship into the planet's atmosphere.
Act Six
Aboard the alien complex, the Suliban officer talks with the mysterious figure. The officer is unsure whether Sarin gave the Enterprise crew anything, but he knows that Enterprise has followed a Suliban ship and is nearby. He promises the figure that he will destroy the Human vessel before it locates the helix, the complex that he is currently on. The figure says that he didn't intend for Humans or Vulcans to become involved yet, and demands that the officer must stop Sarin's message from reaching Qo'noS.
In the atmosphere of the gas giant, Enterprise almost loses the warp trail. T'Pol estimates that the ship's condition should improve, shortly before the bridge starts to shudder. She uses a viewer at her station to determine that the quakes are being caused by unexpected liquid phosphorus. When the ship's condition improves, the officers detect two Suliban cell ships and the helix. Sato reads more than three thousand bio-signs aboard the alien station, but is unable to find Klaang with the ship's sensors. When Suliban ships start attacking, Enterprise returns to the phosphorus layer, where the enemy vessels can't find the Starfleet craft. T'Pol reports that the helix seems to be comprised of hundreds of other vessels, locked together by magnetic seals. When Sato finally detects Klaang aboard the complex, Reed suggests using the transporter to get him out but Archer finds Reed's plan too risky. The captain decides to use Enterprise's grappler to retrieve one of the attacking cell ships and bring it aboard Enterprise.
In the situation room, aft of the bridge, Mayweather questions Archer and Tucker about the workings of the captured Suliban vessel. As the engineer seems to be slightly unsure of the craft, Mayweather believes that he would make a better pilot. Archer replies that the ensign is needed on board Enterprise and Tucker believes that piloting the Suliban vessel won't be as hard as it seems.
In the captain's ready room, T'Pol attempts to discourage Archer from leaving. She suggests that he appeal for support from a nearby Vulcan ship. The captain suspects the Vulcan is displaying emotional concern, but T'Pol claims that the Vulcan High Command will hold her responsible if anything happens to Tucker or the captain. Reed enters, carrying two cases into the room – one holds a magnetic device and the other holds two newly-designed weapons called phase-pistols. According to the lieutenant, the weapons have two settings – stun and kill. He advises Archer not to confuse the two.
Archer and Tucker operate the stolen cell ship
Archer and Tucker leave Enterprise and use the captured cell ship to travel to the helix, where they eventually locate Klaang. Although the Klingon is initially hostile, Archer threatens the alien with his phase-pistol so he will cooperate with the captain's orders. Together, the three men move through the helix and attack any Suliban guard that approaches them. The captain instructs Tucker to return to the cell ship with Klaang while he stays behind and tries to separate the helix using the magnetic device. After doing so, Archer contacts Tucker and tells the engineer not to return for him, but to take Klaang to Enterprise. Tucker complies as several of the drifting enemy ships surrounding the commandeered cell ship collide.
Act Seven
Tucker ignites the cell ship's thruster exhaust, giving Sato, on board Enterprise, the opportunity to tell T'Pol what to look for. When T'Pol detects Tucker's position, she thanks Sato in the Vulcan language.
Aboard the helix, Archer fights with the alien officer. The alien nearly kills Archer with his own phase-pistol, but the captain moves out of the way just in time. The alien chases Archer into another room where a strobing, pulsating light throbs. Just as the alien shoots again, Archer is beamed aboard Enterprise. Tucker apologizes for using the transporter, but claims it was the only way to recover the captain. Enterprise immediately leaves the gas giant at warp speed.
Klaang confronts the Klingon chancellor
After arriving on Qo'noS, Archer, Klaang, Sato, and T'Pol enter the Klingon High Council Chamber. As Klaang addresses the High Council in Klingonese, Sato tries her best to interpret his words. According to the linguist, Klaang says something about disgracing the Klingon Empire and mentions that he's ready to die. The Klingon Chancellor approaches Klaang and makes a small cut in his hand with a jagged dagger. The Klingons then pour some of Klaang's blood into a vial which they examine with a large scientific device. The extracted DNA from his blood contains a wealth of Suliban information. The Klingons shout in gruff approval, but soon quiet again. The chancellor approaches Captain Archer and, holding the dagger against the captain's throat, says something in Klingonese that Archer interprets as a thanks. Once the Chancellor leaves, Sato comments that the captain's interpretation was incorrect, and claims that Archer wouldn't want to know what the Klingon actually said.
Aboard Enterprise, Archer tells his crew that the starship's mission is to continue forward. Tucker begins work on repairing the starship as Archer orders Mayweather to set a course for an inhabited planet nearby. Although there is an ion storm between the starship and its destination, the captain tells Mayweather that they can't be afraid of the wind. He orders Enterprise to engage at warp four.
Archer with his father, Henry
Archer remembers himself as a child, standing beside his father as his model spacecraft flew across the sunny morning sky.
Deleted scenes
There are several deleted scenes from the feature version of the episode. There were three presented in the extra features of the Enterprise season one DVD release. The numbers on the scene tag are the numbers of what the scenes would have been in the episode.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 092
The alien dockmaster
Archer and Sato are meeting with an alien dockmaster in a landing port control tower, asking questions about Klaang, and querying what business he had on Rigel X. Although the dockmaster is preoccupied monitoring the traffic to the planet's trade complex, including a craft he calls Elkan Nine, he is curious to learn that the officers are Human and, with some persuasion from Archer, researches Klaang in Rigel X's records. He informs the officers that the Klingon visited the planet in a K'toch-class vessel seven days earlier, but does not elaborate on what Klaang did, or whom he met, stating that visitors to Rigel X "value their privacy". When Archer mentions the Suliban, the dockmaster claims he has never heard of the word, and suggests that the officers' translator must be malfunctioning. Sato, holding the translator, confirms that the device is not at error, however.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 099
This scene features Reed and Mayweather, moments after having observed the butterfly dancers on Rigel X. The same alien who persuaded them to watch the dancers follows them through a crowded, narrow arcade and presents them with the opportunity to view an "inter-species performance". Seeing Reed consider this, Mayweather realizes that the alien knows nothing about Klaang and advises Reed that their "guide" is trying to take advantage of their interest in the new surroundings. Reed declines the offer and, as he and his companion walk away from the alien, Mayweather exclaims disbelief that they were almost fooled by the man. While the officers move past an entertainer demonstrating fire-breathing skills, Reed replies by reminding his companion that they are explorers.
This version of the scene slightly differs from the scene as it was written in the episode's script, which mentions a "topless fire-eater" of unspecified sex earlier than when the fire-breathing female, dressed in a bikini, appears in the filmed version of the sequence. Also, in the script, the alien reacts to Reed's dismissal of his offer by shaking his head in disappointment and disappearing into the crowd. The filmed version of the scene, however, shows none of this and the camera pans away from the alien while he is standing still in the position where the officers leave him.
"Broken Bow" deleted scene 154-155
T'Pol's original look
In this scene, Sato and Reed discuss the symptoms of frost bite (as Sato is convinced she has it) while Enterprise tracks the vessel they are following. When an alarm rings, and Mayweather alerts T'Pol (who we see, for a split second in her original look) to the fact they are losing sight of the ship, she orders an increase in speed. Mayweather reminds her that he cannot do so without authorization, which they subsequently receive from engineering.
Memorable quotes
"Where no man has gone before."
- Said twice, first by young Jonathan Archer, reciting a speech by Zefram Cochrane, which is heard later- This was the very first line of the series.
"How big will it be?"
"Pretty big."
- Jonathan Archer, asking his father Henry about the upcoming starship to have the first warp five engine
"Neptune and back in six minutes."
- Archer, marveling at Enterprise
"Great... you scratched the paint."
- Archer, after a small inspection pod piloted by Tucker bumps into the bottom of Enterprise
"Where'd he come from?"
"Oklahoma."
"Corn farmer named Moore shot him with a plasma rifle."
- Archer, asking about Klaang, a Klingon, with Williams and Forrest's response
"Volatile? You have no idea how much I'm restraining myself from knocking you on your ass."
- Archer's first words to T'Pol, in response to her claim that Humans are not ready to make their own decisions
"Don't screw this up."
- Forrest, after Archer declares he and the crew of Enterprise will return Klaang to Qo'noS
"It's a Klingot."
"A Klingon."
- Admiral Leonard and Tos, while observing Klaang
"Listen to me, you're making a mistake!"
"When your logic doesn't work, you raise your voice? You've been on Earth too long."
- Soval and Archer
"You're upside down, Ensign."
- Tucker, to Mayweather while in the sweet spot of Enterprise
"I heard this platform's been approved for bio-transport."
"I presume you mean fruits and vegetables."
"I mean armory officers and helmsmen."
"I don't think I'm quite ready to have my molecules compressed into a datastream."
- Mayweather and Reed, discussing the ship's brand new transporter
"Keep your shirt on, loo-tenant."
- Said twice, first by Malcolm Reed doing an impression of Trip Tucker, then by Tucker himself
"Four days and four days back. Then she's gone. In the meantime we are to extend her every courtesy."
"I don't know. I'd be more comfortable with Porthos on the bridge."
- Archer and Tucker, discussing T'Pol
"I took a shower this mornin', how about you, Cap'n?"
- Commander Tucker, making fun of T'Pol's heightened sense of smell
"You ever slept in zero-G?"
"Slept?"
"It's just like being back in the womb."
- Mayweather and Tucker, while upside down in the "sweet spot"
"T'Pol tells me she's been living in the Vulcan compound in Sausalito."
"No kidding. I lived a few blocks nearby when I first joined Starfleet. Great parties in the Vulcan compound."
- Archer and Tucker
"Grandma taught me to never judge a species by their eating habits."
- Tucker, in response to T'Pol's criticism over Humans still eating the flesh of animals
"You can't be afraid of the wind."
- Said twice, first by Henry Archer when young Jonathan Archer was having trouble flying a model starship, then at the end of the episode by Captain Archer, in reply to Ensign Mayweather's suggestion to fly around an ion storm, a minor spatial disturbance
"On this site, a powerful engine will be built. An engine that will someday help us to travel a hundred times faster than we can today. Imagine it - thousands of inhabited planets at our fingertips... and we'll be able to explore those strange new worlds, and seek out new life and new civilizations. This engine will let us go boldly... where no man has gone before."
- Zefram Cochrane's speech from the dedication ceremony for the Warp Five Complex, in 2119
"Take her out, Mr. Mayweather... straight and steady."
- Jonathan Archer, ordering Mayweather to leave space dock
"Let's go."
- Archer's order to engage warp and depart Earth
"Optimism, captain!"
- Phlox's advice to Captain Archer, before the Denobulan doctor smiles a massive grin
"Ponfo mirann!"
- Hoshi Sato's Vulcan insultAccording to Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, this phrase can be translated as "Go to hell!" (Episode's audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD)
"I'm not interested in what you think about this mission, so take your Vulcan cynicism and bury it along with your repressed emotions."
- Archer, to T'Pol
"How complicated can it be? Up, down, forward, reverse... I'll figure it out."
- Tucker's response to learning the controls of the captured Suliban vessel
"He says, 'his wife has grown ugly'?"
- Hoshi Sato, translating Klingon spoken by Klaang
"I think the doctor's right, captain; unless "stinky boots" has something to do with all this?"
- Hoshi Sato, after Phlox explains that Klaang has no idea what he is saying
"Do you know how to tell him to shut up?"
"Shut up!"
- Archer, asking Sato to translate his request into Klingon, and Sato, not even bothering to do so
"Now get the hell out there and make yourself useful."
- Archer, to T'Pol
[Klaang says something in Klingon]
"I don't particularly like the way you smell either!"
- Trip Tucker, while flying back to Enterprise with Klaang
"Ensign Mayweather tells me that we'll be at Kronos in about eighty hours. Any chance he'll be conscious by then?"
"There's a chance he'll be conscious within the next ten minutes. Just not a very good one."
- Archer and Phlox, discussing Klaang's condition
"Your superiors don't think we can flush a toilet without one of you to assist us."
- Archer, to T'Pol
"A seven-foot Klingon doesn't go unnoticed."
- Archer, on Klaang
"That's... never happened before."
- Archer, to Sarin after she kisses him and transforms into a Suliban
"Bridge, we're taking damage down here! What's going on?"
"Just a little trouble with the bad guys."
- Tucker and Archer
"I'll take that as a thank you."
"I don't think they have a word for thank you."
"What did he say?"
"You don't want to know."
- Archer and Sato, in reference to the Klingon chancellor's response to Klaang's return
"I hope nobody is in a big hurry to get home. Starfleet seems to think that we're ready to begin our mission."
- Archer
"I'm reading an ion storm on that trajectory, sir. Should I go around it?"
"We can't be afraid of the wind, ensign. Take us to warp four."
- Travis Mayweather and Jonathan Archer