Sometimes I wonder if story editors Maria Jaquemetton and Andre Jaquemetton spent the entire first season of Enterprise fighting Brannon Braga and Rick Berman to maintain at least some semblance of commitment to all that Star Trek purists hold dear.
Their episode, "Dear Doctor", is simply remarkable, especially considering the context in which it appears. Told from the standpoint of Dr. Phlox, it begins as a simple tale of character development -- who is the good doctor and how is he settling in among his human crew mates -- and then develops into an intelligent philosophical consideration of the moral implications of intervention into the development of a lesser society.
For once, the tension is emotionally and psychologically driven, rather than derived from ray guns and space battles. For once the moral discussions are unflinching and well considered. And for once female characters are permitted to play an important, non-stereotyped role.
Phlox dictates a letter to a Human colleague on Dinobula, describing the details of his day to day life among Humans. Of especial interest, a fledgling relationship with Crewman Cutler (played quite wonderfully by Kelly Waymire) that seems to be bordering on a romance.
Meanwhile, Enterprise encounters a pre-warp ship floating dead in space, its dying occupants sent on a desperate mission to attract the attention of any advanced race to their planet's plight. When Archer agrees to investigate, the Star Fleet crew find a planet that has developed two distinct humanoid species, the Valakians, who are quite advanced, and the Menck, still in its early stages of development, that co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.
The problem: some kind of disease has afflicted almost two thirds of the members of the Valakians which, if no cure is found, threatens to wipe them out entirely. The Menck, meanwhile, appear completely unaffected.
The Valakians ask for help, at first simply for medical help.
Archer turns respectfully to T'Pol for her advice. Read that again. Archer turns respectfully to T'Pol for her advice. Has that ever happened before? In the past, T'Pol has offered her advice and been sneered at, yelled at and even bullied. Here, Archer asks her respectfully for her thoughts, based on the extensive experience the Vulcans have had in situations of first contact.
T'Pol tells Archer that two factors suggest that Enterprise providing the medical help would not be an inappropriate interference with a less-developed society: first, the Valakians said they had already had first contact with two other warp-capable species (including the Ferengi, by the way), so Enterprise's advanced technology and know-how is not new, and, second, the Valakians specifically sought out and asked for the help. Because of those two factors, the risk of significant contamination is low.
In his ongoing voice-over dictation of his letter, Phlox admits how impressed he is that the Human crew would feel such empathy for the Valakians, a race they met only yesterday, that Archer is willing to commit his entire ship and crew to helping them. Needless to say, Dr. Phlox is front and centre in that effort and he tells his colleague that he feels overwhelmed by the responsibility.
When Archer accompanies his team (of Phlox, Sato, T'Pol and Cutler) to a Valakian medical facility to begin their research, T'Pol suggests that a security team be assigned to protect the Star Fleet crew members and their equipment. Archer balks at the implications of this and T'Pol quite properly warns him that the temptation of technological and intellectual advances often leads members of less-advanced species to resort to inappropriate, potentially criminal behaviours.
As his investigations progress, however, Phlox discovers that the disease is in fact genetic and has been developing for centuries. It is, in other words, the natural development for the Valakians. The natural course of their species is to die out within the next two centuries.
Phlox, Cutler and Sato also discover that the symbiotic relationship between the Valakians and the Menck is predicated on the Valakians keeping the Menck dependent and available as workers. The Human scientists find this arrangement distasteful but, at first, Phlox sees nothing wrong with it. It is their culture. It has permitted the two species to live and develop side by side in peace for centuries.
Then Phlox realises that the Menck are entering into a phase of significant intellectual and physical development, one that will change them and their relationship with the Valakians forever. The Menck, Phlox comes to believe, are fated to survive the Valakians and develop into the true masters of the planet.
Now Phlox faces a significant moral conundrum. If he develops a cure and saves the Valakians, he believes, he is dooming the Menck to lives of slavery and stunted development. As a doctor, he must save his patients; as a scientist, he must not interfere with what he sees clearly as the natural evolution of the planet and its two humanoid species.
In the meantime, the Valakians, sensing that Phlox will not be successful in developing a cure, ask Archer for something more: technological help to permit them to develop warp drive so that they can reach farther into the galaxy in search of a cure.
Archer has to admit to T'Pol that she was right: the Valakians were demanding more and more from Archer as time passes. He actually admits some sympathy to the plight of the Vulcans in their relationship with the demanding, impatient Humans. I'm amazed B&B permitted these lines of dialogue to be included in the show!
Phlox approaches Archer with his concerns: if he cures the Valakians, he dooms the Menck. Archer is furious. We are here to help these people. What follows is a reasonably intelligent discussion of the moral implications of the situation and a really well-designed test of the trust that has grown between these two men.
Archer appears to come down fully on the side of helping the Valakians if a cure can be developed and Phlox, apparently despite his better judgment, admits that he has already developed such a cure. He agrees that he will follow his captain's orders but pleads with Archer not to require him to breach his ethical duty to protect the natural development of the planet, even if it means dooming the Valakians.
Then comes an odd scene, one that seems in style and character at odds with the rest of the episode. Archer arrives in sick bay to tell Phlox he is on his way down to the Valakian medical facility. Phlox, assuming Archer plans to deliver the cure to the Valakians, begs him to reconsider. The dialogue, so natural and so real throughout the rest of the episode, suddenly becomes stilted and clumsy. Archer says he has reconsidered and gives this awful, contrived speech about how Star Fleet will one day come up with some kind of a directive to govern situations like this but that, if there's one thing he is sure about, it's that Humans did not go out in to space to play gods.
So Archer is not going to give the Valakians the cure, nor access to advanced technology.
Phlox ends his letter by saying he should have trusted Archer in the first place and he feels badly for ever doubting his Captain.
There is so much to love about this episode that I am even willing to forgive the wonky ending. It is so refreshing to find a story that revolves entirely around the alien doctor and three female characters among the crew, rather than the white men. It is so refreshing to see each of these women do their jobs so professionally and to be shown respect for their work. It is so refreshing to experience an intelligent discussion of some very difficult moral and philosophical questions.
That's not to say that I agree entirely with the ending. I can't help but think that the fact that the Valakians reached out for help must also be considered a part of their natural development and further that the survival of the Valakians, thanks to the interventions of Dr. Phlox, does not necessarily mean that the Menck are doomed to their lives as slaves. So I don't agree that this was as clear cut a decision as Dr. Phlox presented it.
But at least the discussion took place and it was intelligent, thoughtful and respectful.
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