Doctor's Orders (Star Trek: Enterprise)

"Doctor's Orders" is the sixteenth episode from the third season of the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. It's the sixty-eighth episode of the series, first airing on February 18, 2004.

Plot

While traveling through the Delphic Expanse, Enterprise encounters a trans-dimensional disturbance that lies directly within its navigational course. The crew also learns that the disturbance causes permanent neurological damage to humans. Apparently, the risk to Vulcans is similar. To avert the danger, an idea to have Doctor Phlox disable the neocortex of all crewmembers, except himself, is deliberated. During that time, all responsibility for the well-being of the ship and the crew would lie with him, and despite Commander Tucker's misgivings, Archer approves it.

While the crew is sedated, Phlox attends to his extended duties aboard the ship. As he does so, he takes the opportunity to compose a letter to an acquaintance of his. Unfortunately Phlox himself begins to hallucinate, and he is easily spooked by regular ship noises. In Engineering, falsely perceiving movement, he becomes increasingly tense and nervous. This becomes paranoia when he later believes two Insectoids have somehow boarded the ship.

As the episode progresses, however, Phlox's delusions escalate to include an imaginary Sub-Commander T'Pol and 'zombie' Ensign Sato. Phlox also fails to recall that T'Pol was not exempted from sedation, and spends many hours with her searching the ship. The T'Pol delusion reassures him there is nothing there, until they discover that the anomaly is much larger than they thought. Phlox, now easily agitated and distracted, battles to master and engage the warp drive, but finally succeeds. That done, he escorts his T'Pol to her room, only to find her already sleeping there.

See also

• "One," an episode of Star Trek: Voyager which earlier used the same plot.
• The Court Jester, The movie Doctor Phlox watches during movie night.

External links

• "Doctor's Orders" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Doctor's Orders" at TV.com

• "Doctor's Orders" at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

• "Doctor's Orders" at StarTrek.com