1.13 "Dear Doctor" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dr. Jeremy Lucas

We never see Dr. Lucas in this episode, but we do meet him in person eventually (in Season 4). The two doctors are part of the Interspecies Medical Exchange, an initiative of the Vulcan High Command designed that includes many species of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

Phlox makes a point of advising caution to his medical friend, as the mating season on Denobula can be very complicated.

Dr. Phlox was played by John Billingsley.

Answer: Elizabeth Cutler

Phlox and Crewman Cutler attend a movie night together, and Phlox spends the time wondering at the human propensity for being moved emotionally by fiction. After the movie, we learn that Denobulan males are generally averse to touch, but after Phlox asks Cutler if physical touch is normal for such social interactions, she responds by giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Kellie Waymire played the part of Crewman Elizabeth Cutler. Sadly, Kellie Waymire passed away in November of 2003 from a cardiac arrhythmia.

Answer: Valakian

The two Valakians had travelled more than a year away from their home planet of Valakis in the hopes of finding help for fighting the disease that had taken the lives of more than 12 million people in the year before their departure. They sent three ships out into space in the vain hope of finding help before it was too late - and against all odds, they found someone.

Answer: The aliens had already had contact with other warp-capable species.

The two species that had already made contact with the Valakians were the M'Klexa and the Ferengi. When Captain Archer asks Sub-Commander T'Pol if she knows of these species, she shakes her head 'no'. Archer bemoans the fact that there is no guiding directive from Starfleet to help guide his decision here, but the prior contact with warp-capable species tips the scale in their favour.

Captain Jonathan Archer was played by Scott Bakula, while Jolene Blalock played the role of Sub-Commander T'Pol.

Answer: Ensign Sato

As the resident linguist on board the Enterprise NX-01, Ensign Sato's interest in bettering her grasp of Denobulan is understandable. She uses their conversation to inquire about Phlox's relationship with Ensign Cutler, all the while being corrected on her vocabulary and needing reminders to speak in Denobulan instead of English (when concepts became difficult). Sato is able to turn the tables on him, though, when she asks if Cutler made physical contact... Phlox responds in English.

Ensign Hoshi Sato was played by Linda Park.

Answer: Menk

Finding two disparate species coexisting on a planet is a rare find. It is noted that in most cases, the dominant species wipes out its competition. In a conversation later in the episode, Dr. Phlox notes (to Captain Archer) that Earth's history of the Cro-Magnons wiping out the Neanderthals is the usual result.

The Menk are a subservient species to the more advanced Valakians. In fact, Ensign Sato's translator is unable to decipher their language. As a less advanced species, the Menk are provided everything they need by the Valakians, but at the same time they are essentially treated as sentient pets.

Dr. Phlox, however, witnesses signs of a developing intelligence: one of them begins to learn rudimentary English; and another demonstrates a strong reasoning and organizational ability.

Answer: More than 50 million

Phlox comments on the size of the Valakian population in his letter to Dr. Lucas, while mentioning another outbreak he had dealt with in the past (involving only 50 people) had nearly overwhelmed him.

Answer: Three

This conversation occurs while Phlox and his team are taking samples from the Menk population in hopes of finding something to help the Valakians. With their different evolutionary development, the Valakians and Menk are so genetically different that only one of the coexisting species was suffering from the pandemic. Even so, Phlox hopes to find the answer to the puzzle within the Menk physiology.

Phlox reveals to Crewman Cutler that not only does he have three wives, but each of his wives also have two husbands in addition to himself. Nonplussed, Cutler is still willing to pursue a relationship with Phlox, although she does mention that she has no interest in becoming "wife number four."

Answer: Yes

Phlox IS able to find a cure for the genetic flaw that is killing the Valakians, but he withholds that information from Captain Archer (for a couple of days) for fear that the Captain will not agree with his ethical decision to NOT cure the Valakians. When asked directly if he can find a cure, however, Phlox admits that he has already found one.

Phlox's dilemma rests in the relationship between the two species on Valakis. Without his intervention, the Valakians will become extinct, but the Menk (exhibiting new intelligences) will flourish. If he DOES give them the cure, the Valakians will continue to keep the Menk as a subservient species, in spite of their newly demonstrated potential.

This is when he brings up Earth's history of one species wiping out the other. What if a spacefaring species had prevented that from happening, or given the advantage to the Neanderthals?

Answer: Within two centuries

When Phlox first determines the cause of the Valakian illness as being a genetic flaw, he also notes that it had been developing over thousands of years, and was now accelerating to a predictable ending timeline.

At first, Captain Archer intends to give the Valakians the cure, but Phlox's cogent argument sways him to decide against it. Despite his great sympathy for the plight of the Valakians, he decides that giving them the cure would, in essence, be 'playing God'.

He also refuses to give the Valakians the knowledge of warp travel (which they asked for in order to find others who might be able to help them). In the end, all that the Valakians receive is medicines to lessen the painful effects of the illness - enough for a decade (and the instructions to synthesize more).