The Xindi

As Enterprise travels deeper into the Delphic Expanse, a secret council of aliens discuss what to do with the lone human spaceship. Meanwhile, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) directs Enterprise to a mining penal colony within the Expanse. He then strikes a deal with the mine's foreman (Stephen McHattie): in exchange for a half-liter of liquid platinum, Archer and Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III (Connor Trinneer) will be allowed to meet a Primate worker named Kessick (Richard Lineback).

Archer requests the coordinates of Xindus, the Xindi homeworld, from Kessick. But the alien refuses to help unless Archer helps him escape. Archer declines, but he soon learns that the foreman had ulterior motives, since he has ordered three warships to overpower Enterprise and enslave his crew. Kessick claims to know how to escape the mine, but asks for Archer's help in return for guiding the Starfleet officers. Archer reluctantly agrees, and Kessick leads him and Tucker through the mine's sewage removal system. However, the group is soon detected in a conduit, and the foreman floods the system with plasma in an effort to kill them. They narrowly escape being killed, but quickly fall into the hands of the mine's security forces.

Meanwhile, Sub-Commander T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) persuades Lieutenant Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating) to allow the newly assigned MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations) to attempt an extraction. Led by him, they perform remarkably well in combat, and manage to rescue Archer, Tucker, and Kessick. Enterprise then leaves orbit just as the warships arrive. Unfortunately, Kessick dies, but not before providing coordinates for the Xindi homeworld. When the ship reaches this position, there is nothing but a 120-year-old field of space debris (implying a destruction around the year 2033).

Though universally derided,[1] "Vulcan Neuro-Pressure" becomes a routine "Enterprise" activity beginning with this episode and provides the structure for the ongoing development of the "Trip'Pol" (Trip + T'Pol) relationship. The sexualizing of both Ms. Blalock[2] and T'Pol[3] has been discussed to almost exhaustion, and it is in this episode where she appears topless alone in the same room with Trip. As noted previously, Trip can't sleep because he is haunted by his sister's death. Quantum anomalies from The Expanse (which will be explored throughout Season 3 in general and in the next episode in particular) are disturbing T'Pol's ability to sleep as well. Vulcan Neuro-Pressure (VNP) can release mental stresses and allow sleep probability to increase. Because of these weaknesses, the two agree to "treat" each other. Again, the transparency and/or dubiousness of this plot device can be discussed and read about elsewhere. But there is one noteworthy thing that the nudity and controversy might cloud.

T'Pol is the VNP expert. Trip is the novice. T'Pol is disturbed by The Expanse on a cellular level. It is reasonable to assume that she is less disposed to the benefits of VNP than ever in her life. But as each character "treats" the other, the scene is written and played such that the treatment is far more effective on T'Pol than on Trip. So the foundation is laid that Trip is more effective at reaching T'Pol and giving her comfort than T'Pol is at giving solace to Trip. This is counter-intuitive since "comfort" in most instances is an emotional experience, and therefore T'Pol should be less disposed to it than the routinely agitated Trip. But the comfort flowing to T'Pol (as evidenced at her wedding[4] ) is a dynamic that is constantly revisited throughout Season 3.

The episode followed up on the plot introduced in the final instalment of the second season[5] in which a probe from an unknown alien race attacks Earth.[6] A number of new sets and costumes were required, with preparations beginning for some departments up to three weeks before filming began. One change which was made was a new outfit for T'Pol, with costume tests taking place a week before filming began.[5] The redesign was because of studio executives wanting the show to appeal more to the 18–49 male demographic.[7] The production team looked to the mid-series boost that the introduction of Seven of Nine provided on Star Trek: Voyager and sought for Enterprise to appeal to that demographic in the same manner. Kate O'Hara of New York Magazine later joked in reference to the change, "Women of the future will certainly choose to wear tight, uncomfortable, skin-tight catsuits!"[7]

"The Xindi" was seen as a new pilot by executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, who also wrote the episode. Braga said "We were re-establishing an Enterprise that was going to be a little bit different this year, so we had to think of it in those terms." They felt the best way to do this was to immediately reveal the Xindi to the audience, and to give the MACOs something to do in order to introduce them as well. He called it a "big episode" as they sought to set up the rest of season.[8] The shoot began on June 26, 2003, with the expectation that it would take nine days (as opposed to the usual seven) to complete.[5] One of the special effects on the episode used ground Styrofoam which had been painted blue and processed through a wood chipper. It was used to represent the mineral Trellium-D within the mine. However, the ground Styrofoam stuck to the actors' shoes and costumes and ended up being spread throughout the Paramount lot where the series was filmed. It would turn up in unexpected places on set for the rest of the series, and was found in among the sets as they were being dismantled after the end of season four.[9]

Guest cast

"The Xindi" marked the first appearance of several actors in recurring roles, including Daniel Dae Kim (pictured).

"The Xindi" featured several actors who would go on to recur in their roles throughout the third season of Enterprise. These included the MACO marines under the command of Major Hayes, played by Steven Culp, in his first of five episodes. At the time of his appearance in "The Xindi", he felt that he did not have any characterisation to work with. During the production of his second episode, "The Shipment", Culp read an article in the Los Angeles Times about a troubled youth who joined the military and in serving in the Iraq War had found himself. After discussing it with the director, this became the basis for the character.[10] Daniel Dae Kim made his first of three appearances in "The Xindi" as Corporal Chang; he had previously appeared as Gotana-Retz in the Voyager episode "Blink of an Eye".[11] Nathan Anderson had previously appeared as Namon in the Voyager episode "Nemesis";[12] he made one further appearance as Sergeant Kemper in the following episode, "Anomaly".[13]

Other actors appearing in "The Xindi" included the members of the Xindi council. As with Kim and Anderson, Tucker Smallwood had already appeared on Voyager. In his case, it was as Admiral Bullock in the episode "In the Flesh". He appeared as his Xindi character nine times during the third season of Enterprise.[14] Randy Oglesby, who played Degra, was another Voyager alumnus. He had appeared as Kir in the episode "Counterpoint".[15] Rick Worthy had appeared as several different characters in the Star Trek franchise, including an appearance in the 1998 film Star Trek: Insurrection. As well as Kornan in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Soldiers of the Empire", he too had appeared in Voyager, but in two roles; first as the androids 3947 and 122 in "Prototype" and then as Noah Lessing in "Equinox".[16] In addition, making a return to the Star Trek franchise was Stephen McHattie, who had previously appeared as the Romulan senator Vreenak in the Deep Space Nine episode "In the Pale Moonlight".[17]

"The Xindi" was first aired in the United States on UPN on September 10, 2003. According to Nielsen Media Research, it received a 2.6/5 percent share among adults. This means that it was seen by 2.6 percent of all households, and 5 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. It was estimated that "The Xindi" was watched by 4.1 million viewers. The following episode, "Anomaly", received the same rating but the viewer number increased by 200,000.[18]

Robert Bianco reviewed "The Xindi" for USA Today, giving it two out of four stars. He said that while the Xindi storyline "does promise to provide more action and excitement", some of the alterations "smack[ed] of desperation". He called T'Pol "Seven of Vulcan", and said the main issue with the series was the "subpar" writing. In this episode, he felt that Tucker was written so poorly that Trineer seemed like he was overacting to compensate for it.[19]

A reviewer by the moniker KJB watched the episode for IGN, giving it one out of five stars. He said it was "like watching a television episode made up of all the things from the 'Stuff We've Tried That Doesn't Work on Star Trek' list." Criticism was directed at the introduction of the MACOs, which were described as Starship Troopers clones, and at the modification to the theme tune. The Xindi themselves were described as "bad Farscape knock offs", and the reviewer said that they set a poor tone for the rest of the season.[20] Michelle Erica Green said she was in a "double mind" about "The Xindi" in her review at TrekNation as there were both good and bad elements. She praised the action sequences, the make-up and McHattie as the alien foreman. Green enjoyed the twist at the end with the Xindi homeworld being already destroyed, and felt that the Xindi races would be interesting. On the other hand, she thought that the MACO scenes were too dark and that the T'Pol nude scenes were unnecessary.[21]

"The Xindi" was adapted as a novel in conjunction with the preceding episode, "The Expanse", by J.M. Dillard. Entitled The Expanse, the book was published by Pocket Books in trade paperback format in October 2003.[22] The first home media release of "The Xindi" was as part of the season three DVD box set, released in the United States on September 27, 2005.[23] The Blu-ray release of Enterprise was released on January 7, 2014.[24]

• The Xindi at IMDb

• The Xindi at StarTrek.com

• The Xindi at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)