Unexpected (Star Trek: Enterprise)

In Engineering, Commander Tucker is trying to solve ship-wide problems with power supply and life support. Sub-Commander T'Pol discovers a distortion in the wake of Enterprise. Captain Archer ignites the plasma, revealing a cloaked ship. He hails the vessel and a Xyrillian, Captain Trena'l explains that they have been tapping Enterprise's exhaust to recharge their engines. Archer offers assistance. Tucker is to visit for three days, and he is given injections by Doctor Phlox so his body can adapt to the alien environment.

Once aboard, Tucker meets Ah'len, the Xyrillian engineer. They become ever more friendly while repairing the ship. Ah'len takes him to a holodeck to show him Thera, the Xyrillian homeworld. During the tour, Ah'len engages in a seemingly innocent game that allows them to share their thoughts and desires. When the repairs are completed and Tucker returns, he notices a strange growth on his wrist. He visits Phlox, who tells him that he is pregnant (though Phlox also states no genetic material is taken from the male involved). Tucker mentions the telepathic game and Phlox says that it might be the transfer medium for the alien fetus. Later, as the embryo grows, Archer asks T'Pol to locate the Xyrillian ship.

They discover it hiding in a Klingon warship's plasma wake. Archer hails Captain Vorok, and helps them to detect the Xyrillian ship. Vorok is angry, and wants to destroy the ship, but T'Pol reminds him that Archer was the one who found Klaang and saved Qo'noS from civil war, and that the Chancellor himself called him "brother" in the Klingon High Council. Tucker goes to the Xyrillian ship, and Ah'len notes the embryo is young enough to be safely transplanted. She apologises to him, informing him she was not aware pregnancy was even possible with another species. Vorok ends the encounter after securing the Xyrillian's holodeck technology, but warns Archer against a future meeting. T'Pol later informs Tucker that his was "the first recorded instance of a human male pregnancy".

Staff member André Bormanis later explained that the inclusion of a Klingon battlecruiser design that had been used previously in the franchise (in time periods set later in the timeline) was to indicate the slow evolution of Klingon ship design. He compared this to the speed of changes seen in the rockets used by the Russian Space Agency, and said that the philosophy for the Klingons was that "if the design works, why change it?"[1]

In 2016, SyFy included this episode in a group of Star Trek franchise episodes they felt were commonly disliked but "deserved a second chance".[2]

In 2017, ScreenRant ranked the Xyrillians, the aliens featured in this episode, as the 14th most bizarre aliens in Star Trek.[3] Digital Fox ranked this episode as the third worst episode of all Star Trek up to 2018.[4] This episode was noted for alien Xyrillian impregnating Trip, and for showing a nipple on screen, but not in the way the audience might expect.[5]

WhatCulture ranked this episode the 10th worst episode of the Star Trek franchise.[6]

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