Acquisition (episode)

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"Acquisition"
ENT, Episode 1x19 Production number: 019 First aired: 27 March 2002
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Teleplay By Maria Jacquemetton & Andre Jacquemetton Story By Rick Berman & Brannon Braga Directed By James Whitmore, Jr.
Unknown (2151/2152)
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A group of interstellar thieves stun the Enterprise crew and begin looting the ship. Trip is the only one left to stop them, but can he do that in his underwear?

Contents 1 Summary 2 Memorable Quotes 3 Background Information 3.1 Video and DVD releases 4 Links and References 4.1 Main Cast 4.2 Guest Stars 4.3 Uncredited Co-Stars 4.4 References

[edit] Summary

A Ferengi ship is closing on Enterprise. The alien crew of the approaching vessel speak in an undecipherable language, although they seem to be discussing the Starfleet craft.

They board Enterprise and find that the entire ship's crew is unconscious. Since the Ferengi are wearing environmental masks, they seem to have been informed of the crew's condition before boarding the ship. In reality, Trip Tucker brought back an artifact from a planet and the item released a sedative gas when T'Pol was examining it. Since Trip was in decontamination, he is the only one not affected.

After disabling the gas device, the Ferengi then proceed to steal valuables from Enterprise and, unable to find any latinum, they wake the captain so he can tell them where the ship's vault is located. Although there is no vault aboard the ship, Archer realizes that he should pretend there is, to gain some time. When he is finally able to have contact with Tucker, he asks the engineer to wake others with the same hypospray the Ferengi used on him. Unfortunately, the hypospray is nearly empty and the only person Trip is able to wake is T'Pol. The three officers then begin playing a game of deception with the Ferengi, pitting them one against each other.

With only minimal ruse, a Vulcan nerve pinch and a phase pistol set to stun, the four thieves are easily driven into a trap and subsequently disabled. They end up bringing all the stolen items back to Enterprise under the supervision of the ship's crew, who have since awakened.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"Who the hell are you?"
"Who we are is unimportant."

- Archer and Ulis

"What do you need all this for, anyway? You seem to already have plenty of technology."
"One can never have too much! The Rules of Acquisition say 'Expand or Die.' "
"Rules of Acquisition?"
"That's rule number forty-five. I've memorized all one-hundred and seventy-three, including the most important one: 'A man is only worth the sum of his possessions.' "
"Back on my home world that kind of thinking almost destroyed our civilization."
"You should've managed your businesses better."

- Archer and Krem

"Come on! We have a lot more moving to do."
"We?"

- Krem and Archer

"'Never allow family to stand in the way of profit.' "
"Another one of your rules?"
"Number six."

- Krem and Archer

"Just because a guy's in his underwear you think the worst."

- Trip, to T'Pol, when he sees she's startled by his lack of clothing

"This female... is different from the others. What species is she?"
"She's a Vulcan."
"Vulcan."
"They're really not all that interesting once you get to know them."
"I'd like to get to know this one. Maybe I won't sell her... not right away."
"Trust me. She's got no sense of humor. She's always complaining."

- Krem and Archer

"There are times I wish Vulcans hadn't learned to repress their violent tendencies."

- T'Pol

"Rule of Acquisition number twenty-three: 'Nothing is more important than your health... except for your money.' "

- Ulis, to Muk and Grish

"Do I look like a Menk to you?"

- Muk, to Ulis

"Are you calling me a thief?"
"Everybody knows you'd steal the wax out of your own mother's ears."

- Ulis and Muk

"I'm surprised your friend didn't get electrocuted. You can't just yank out an antimatter injector like it was a light bulb!"

- Archer, to Krem

"Where is the vault? Do you understand me?"

- Grish, interrogating Porthos

"I can't lock onto its language."
"It's a lower life-form, you fool! Probably the captain's next meal."
"Don't be so sure. Look at the size of its ears!"

- Grish and Muk, sizing up Porthos in the captain's quarters

"Sorry fellas... bank must be closed today!"

- Trip, to the newly incapacitated scavengers

"Do you have the key?"

(T'Pol shows Archer the key, but hesitates to use it)

"'Not that interesting. No sense of humor. Always complaining'?"
"I'll make it up to you."
"How?"
"Five bars of gold? (He pauses.) Open these things Subcommander. That's an order!"

- Archer and T'Pol

"Isn't there a more direct route?"
"That's the beauty of this thing. It's impossible to find unless you know exactly where you're going."
"How much further?"
"Keep your shirt on, its close."

- Grish, Trip and Ulis on their way to the "vault".

[edit] Background Information

• This episode goes out of its way to not reveal the name of the race to which the marauders belonged, since official contact wouldn't occur until well over two centuries later in TNG's "The Last Outpost".
• Muk references the episode "Dear Doctor" when he asks "Do I look like a Menk to you?". In "Dear Doctor", the Valakian astronaut informs Archer that his people had made contact with the Ferengi, a species unknown to the humans, and who had refused to help the Valakians and Menk cure the genetic plague devastating their planet.
• Referenced Rules of Acquisition #6, #23 and #45.
• This episode states that the sixth Rule of Acquisition is "Never let family get in the way of profit". By the 24th century, it will have changed (slightly) to "Never let family get in the way of opportunity" (DS9: "The Nagus").
• Ethan Phillips (Ulis) previously played Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager, Dr. Farek in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Ménage à Troi" and the holographic maitre'D in Star Trek: First Contact.
• Clint Howard previously played Balok in the original series episode "The Corbomite Maneuver" and Grady in the DS9 episode "Past Tense, Part II". Howard's appearance in this episode makes for the longest time period between an actor's first and last appearances in a Star Trek TV series (1966 & 2002).
• Jeffrey Combs had previously played several other roles, most notably Brunt, Weyoun, and Shran. This would be his only appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise not playing Shran.
• We learn there are only 173 Rules of Acquisition at this point in history, as opposed to 285 by the 24th century. By that reckoning, 112 rules will have been added by the time of TNG and DS9.
• The energy whip is seen here for the first time since the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
• T'Pol's masquerade as a "Vulcan Love Slave" might be the genesis of the Ferengi fascination with the idea, and the resultant holosuite program. DS9 Relaunch's novel This Gray Spirit claims that Krem is one possible author of the original Vulcan Love Slave novel.
• This episode was highly criticized by fans for the series' alleged abuse of established continuity. In an interview with the magazine Star Trek: Communicator, series writer Mike Sussman admitted that "Acquisition" may have stepped over the line.
• The Ferengi PADD used in DS9, appears here with added LEDs as a Ferengi scanner.
• The Ferengi vessel would later reappear in "Stigma" as the Dekendi ship that carried one of Phlox's wives.
• "Acquisition" was once described by the creators as ENT's version of Die Hard, in which Bruce Willis fights terrorists in his underwear.
• Being without his own uniform, Trip borrows a junior science officer's uniform and wears it throughout the episode. Trip is the only crew member to wear all three division color versions of the Starfleet uniform in the series as he would later wear the gold, command division uniform in the episode "Twilight".

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 1.10, 23 September 2002.
• As part of the ENT Season 1 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

• Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
• Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
• John Billingsley as Phlox (no lines)
• Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed (no lines)
• Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather (no lines)
• Linda Park as Hoshi Sato (no lines)
• Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

[edit] Guest Stars

• Jeffrey Combs as Krem
• Clint Howard as Muk
• Matt Malloy as Grish
• Ethan Phillips as Ulis

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

• Solomon Burke, Jr. as Billy
• Mark Correy as Alex
• Hilde Garcia as Crewman Rossi
• Aldric Horton as Unconscious Crewman in Engineering
• Prada as Porthos

[edit] References

anesthesia; antimatter injector; armory; beetle snuff; Bolian; booby trap; Chef; crow bar; DaiMon; dedication plaque; dog; Earth Starfleet; energy whip; Ferengi; Ferengi gas canister; Ferengi language; Ferengi Rules of Acquisition; filtration mask; Gavarian ship (Gavarian); gold; hand scanner; injector assembly; latinum; latinum pen; lemon meringue pie; light bulb; Malurzian Zoo (Malurzian); micro-charge; NX class; oo-mox; phase pistol; pecan pie; scanner; serving case; slave market; spatial torpedo; Stameris; Ulis's starship; underwear; vault; Vulcans; Vulcan High Command; Vulcan nerve pinch; warp core; water; water polo; wax

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Star Trek: Enterprise Season 1

Next episode: "Oasis"