2.9 "Singularity" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Sub-Commander T'Pol

Due to her Vulcan physiology and logical mind, T'Pol is the only one who seems to have been able to maintain control of her faculties and to stay conscious.

The camera pans over many crew members, all unconscious as she makes her log entry:

"Science officer's log, August 14, 2152. Enterprise remains on course for the trinary system. I've transmitted a distress call, but the nearest Vulcan ship is more than nine days away. By the time they arrive, they may only find debris... if that. Even if Enterprise makes it past the black hole without being destroyed... it seems likely the crew won't survive."

After the opening credits, T'Pol continues, and the audience gets more context:

"...I'm continuing my analysis of the condition that's stricken the crew. But without Doctor Phlox's assistance, I'm not hopeful about reversing its effects. I'm documenting my findings so that Starfleet will at least have a record of what happened. The symptoms began not long after we set a course for the trinary system. That was nearly two days ago."

Sub-Commander T'Pol was portrayed by Jolene Blalock.

Answer: It is part of a trinary system

While discussing the scans of the black hole, Commander Tucker notes that the Vulcan star charts have records of more than 2,000 black holes, and Sub-Commander T'Pol responds that none of them are part of a trinary system (originally three suns, one of which has collapsed upon itself to form the singularity).

Despite the warning against extreme gravitational shear and the resultant need to stay at impulse, Captain Archer decides to approach and investigate.

The roles of Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander Charles Tucker III were played by Scott Bakula and Connor Trinneer, respectively.

Answer: To fix the captain's chair

Captain Archer asks Trip to fix his chair when he has some free time, noting that he always feels like he is going to slide off the chair when he leans back.

Over the course of the episode, Trip ends up doing a complete overhaul on the chair, adding different 'creature comforts' and gizmos. At various points he is making a ruckus while working on it on the bridge, or trying to get the captain to try it out (and getting rebuffed, since the captain is preoccupied with his own concerns).

Answer: Tactical alert

When Lt. Reed brings his suggestions for a more comprehensive security protocol than simply 'battle stations', Captain Archer is already preoccupied with his own issue.

Malcolm suggests 'security protocol' and 'condition red' (accompanied by a raucus klaxon) while Archer scathingly suggests 'Reed alert'. Lt. Reed dismisses 'security protocol' as "not very dynamic" and after brief consideration, deems 'Reed alert' as being "a bit narcissistic".

In the end, 'tactical alert' is chosen to remain, and is the precursor to the different-colour alerts system (as seen in the other "Star Trek" series).

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed was played by Dominic Keating.

Answer: Her grandmother

Hoshi refuses to use the protein resequencer, wanting to make the oden recipe from scratch. But whenever she has someone try it, she is unhappy with their response, and keeps trying to make it better. Anyone who asks for something different is ignored and only served the oden.

Linda Park played the part of Ensign Hoshi Sato.

Answer: His father, Henry Archer

Archer explains to T'Pol that he has already had the manuscript for two weeks, and has been putting off working on it. The problem is that he has been asked to only write a single page preface to his father's biography, and he is unsure about how to accomplish this. As he put it, "How am I supposed to sum up my father's life in a page?"

As he becomes more obsessed with it, he ends up writing pages upon pages (over 19 of them), and when he asks for Trip's opinion on it, the response is less than overwhelming: "It's a little longwinded."

Archer responds, "You're lucky you're a decent engineer, because you obviously don't know anything about writing."

Trip's retort: "I'm not the only one."

Answer: A headache

Ensign Mayweather, still feeling some of the effects of his ordeal in episode 5 ("Dead Stop") when the alien repair station tried to incorporate him into its bio-network, comes in to sickbay with a headache and just wants to get a simple pain-reliever so that he can return to work.

Dr. Phlox, however, becomes obsessed with finding the root cause of the headache, to the point that he surreptitiously sedates Travis under the guise of giving him a simple analgesic hypospray.

Dr. Phlox was portrayed by John Billingsley, while the role of Ensign Travis Mayweather was played by Anthony Montgomery.

Answer: Fear of a reprimand for missing his duty shift

Ensign Mayweather doesn't have too much of an opportunity to 'sweat the small stuff' before Dr. Phlox sedates him, but in the time he is in sickbay, he continually frets over missing his duty shift and the potential reprimand he might receive. He escalates that in his thoughts to even consider that he might be court martialed.

Answer: No

T'Pol's first option is to get the ship's helmsman Ensign Mayweather to pilot the ship, but she finds him heavily sedated and about to undergo brain surgery. To save his life, she delivers a Vulcan nerve pinch to Dr. Phlox, knocking him out.

Her second choice is Captain Archer, but when she finds him in his quarters, he is only semi-conscious. She throws him into the shower and makes him drink coffee to try to wake him up enough to help her with the piloting.

Answer: Lt. Reed

The debris field through which T'Pol and Archer must navigate becomes too challenging when a large, unavoidable asteroid crosses their path, and a collision seems imminent. Just when it looks like all hope is lost, Lt. Reed's security protocols automatically engage, klaxon blaring, and the ship's weapons come online, fully charged and ready to fire. T'Pol is able to clear a path with the phase cannons and successfully extricate the ship from danger.

Oh, and after it was all said and done, Commander Tucker's 'fix' on the Captain's chair was to lower it by one centimeter.