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History Recap / StarTrekEnterpriseS03E09NorthStar

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* MedievalStasis: The human/Skagaran colony is still stuck at an 1860s level of technology and culture. Justified, as the humans destroyed all the advanced technology in the slave revolt so the aliens couldn't use it against them, and their population is only 6,000 or so. After things are settled, it's possible that the database Archer left for them will help them along.

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* MedievalStasis: The human/Skagaran colony is still stuck at an 1860s level of technology and culture. Justified, as the humans destroyed all the advanced technology in the slave revolt so the aliens couldn't use it against them, and their population is only 6,000 or so.so, making a mass industrial movement out of the question. After things are settled, it's possible that the database Archer left for them will help them along.
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Archer leads T'Pol and a security team to the planet, now in uniform, and when he leaves the shuttlepod, he explains to [=MacReady=] that he is from earth. He also tells [=MacReady=] that while he can't transport all of them back to Earth, he will send help, and that humans have outgrown bigotry, so the humans from the planet need to give it up if they want to live on Earth. Archer takes [=MacReady=] to the shuttlepod and introduces him to T'Pol. They prepare to take him to ''Enterprise'', when Bennings shoots [=MacReady=].

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Archer leads T'Pol and a security team to the planet, now in uniform, and when he leaves the shuttlepod, he explains to [=MacReady=] that he is from earth.Earth. He also tells [=MacReady=] that while he can't transport all of them back to Earth, he will send help, and that humans have outgrown bigotry, so the humans from the planet need to give it up if they want to live on Earth. Archer takes [=MacReady=] to the shuttlepod and introduces him to T'Pol. They prepare to take him to ''Enterprise'', when Bennings shoots [=MacReady=].



** Downplayed for Sheriff [=MacReady=], who's suspicious of the Skagarans and believes that the oppressive laws against them are necessary so that humans can remain free, but he's nowhere near as prejudiced as Bennings and doens't believe in killing innocent ones.

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** Downplayed for Sheriff [=MacReady=], who's more of a NobleBigotWithABadge. He's suspicious of the Skagarans and believes that the oppressive laws against them are necessary so that humans can remain free, but he's nowhere near as prejudiced as Bennings and doens't doesn't believe in killing innocent ones.ones. He's also willing to let go of his prejudice after a few conversations with Archer.
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* GodzillaThreshold: Archer initially insists on maintaining the idea that they've just popped into town from another settlement, but when Bethany is shot during their jailbreak, he is forced to call for a beam-out and then returns with a shuttlepod, making it abundantly clear who they are.


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* TeleportationRescue: Archer blows his cover when he has to call for a beam-out to survive Bennings and save Bethany.
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* WrittenByTheWinners: Archer says that everyone seems to have their own version of what happened between the humans and the Skagarans, and that he's not likely to get the truth from most of the former.

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* WrittenByTheWinners: Archer says that everyone seems to have their own version of what happened between the humans and the Skagarans, and that he's not likely to get the truth from most of the former.former.
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%%* BadassLongcoat: Archer wears one while in disguise.

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%%* * BadassLongcoat: Archer wears one while in disguise.
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* PlotDetour: At this point in the show, the ''Enterprise'' is on a mission to save the human race where every second counts... but upon detecting a planet with humans on it, they apparently decided to stop and take a look around, even though realistically speaking their response should have been to make a note in the log and suggest that someone ought to go check it out some time when, you know, ''humanity's future isn't hanging in the balance''. Archer even notes near the end that there isn't a lot they can do for the colony until they've dealt with the Xindi.
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* WouldHitAGirl: [=MacReady=] shoots Bethany. Justified, since he's a sheriff and it's his job to shoot whoever breaks the law and she was escaping from jail. Also justified with the guy who threatens to kill T'Pol, since he's also law enforcement.

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* WouldHitAGirl: [=MacReady=] Bennings shoots Bethany. Justified, since he's a sheriff sheriff's deputy and it's his job to shoot whoever breaks the law and she was escaping from jail. Also justified with the guy who threatens to kill T'Pol, since he's also law enforcement.
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* ShootTheHostage: During the shootout, one of the deputies takes T'Pol hostage. Malcolm [[StunGuns stuns her]], and then stuns the confused cowboy.

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* ShootTheHostage: During the shootout, one of the deputies takes T'Pol hostage. Malcolm [[StunGuns [[TheParalyzer stuns her]], and then stuns the confused cowboy.

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* HangingAround: The episode starts with a Skagaran being lynched.



%%* KangarooCourt: Bethany claims that even if the Skagaran hadn't been lynched, he would've faced this.

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%%* * KangarooCourt: Bethany claims that even if the Skagaran hadn't been lynched, he would've faced this.a trial with his killers on the jury. Either way, he was screwed.
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* RealityEnsues: ''Enterprise'' obviously can't transport 6000+ people back to Earth, even if they weren't already on an important mission. Archer tells [=MacReady=] it'll be years before Starfleet can muster enough ships to bring them all home.

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* RealityEnsues: ThisIsReality: ''Enterprise'' obviously can't transport 6000+ people back to Earth, even if they weren't already on an important mission. Archer tells [=MacReady=] it'll be years before Starfleet can muster enough ships to bring them all home.

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''Enterprise'' comes across a human colony straight out of the Old West, who had been kidnapped by alien slavers and now keep their former oppressors under their boots.

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''Enterprise'' comes across We begin in what appears to be the Wild West, where several men on horseback lynch another man, who they call a human colony straight out of "Skag". The ''Enterprise'', while searching for the Xindi, discovers a planet that is inexplicably populated by humans and resembles the Old West, West. They go to the planet and find out that the people living there were descended from some Americans who had been kidnapped were abducted around the 1860's by alien slavers a species called the "Skagarans", who then enslaved them. Malcolm, who is still on the ship, informs the others that there is a town populated by aliens ten kilometers away, so Archer tells Trip and now keep T'Pol to explore that town while he goes to a bar. Trip decides to rent a horse and the two ride off.

At the bar, Archer learns that a man named Cooper Smith liberated the humans from the Skagarans back in the day, and meets Bennings, the deputy sheriff, who starts harassing Draysik, a Skagaran waiter. Archer stops Bennings, and then the sheriff enters and asks what's going on. Bennings claims that Archer interrupted a "conversation" between him and Draysik. The sheriff, whose name is [=MacReady=], asks why Archer is in town, and he lies that he's on his way to visit his brother. He leaves, and [=MacReady=] tells Bennings to "keep an eye" on Archer.

Archer visits a teacher who he'd met prior, and when she asks why he "barged into" her house, he replies that he wants data on the Skagarans. She says that everyone knows about them, so he claims that he lives in a northern town where none are around. He claims that he behaved that way in the bar because he believes they deserve equal treatment, and she asks if he wants to meet some more. He nods, so they head off to what's known as "Skag town" while several men, including Bennings, watch.

The teacher and Archer arrive, and she tells the Skagarans that Archer isn't dangerous. While walking through the remains of a ship, Archer spots T'Pol and Trip and introduces them to the teacher, whose name is Bethany. Bethany invites Archer to attend one of her lessons on the Skagaran language and he accepts, sending Trip and T'Pol back to the ship to get information.

At school, Bethany teaches six Skagaran children
their former oppressors under times tables and them to describe their boots.
history to Archer. They explain that their ancestors abducted and enslaved the humans, but then Bennings and two other men named Nash and Franklin arrest Bethany. Archer tries to protest, but then he gets arrested too. In jail, Bethany explains that the humans, led by Cooper, revolted against the Skagaran oppressors, but that Cooper was "ruthless", killing civilians as well as the oppressors. She explains that he subsequently made unfair laws that, among other things, prevented Skagarans from being taught to read and write and getting married.

[=MacReady=] calls Archer to his office and claims that the laws are necessary to keep humans free. He gives Archer an hour to leave town but sentences Bethany to ten years in prison. Feeling responsible, Archer bails Bethany out of jail, subduing Bennings. They escape on horseback, but [=MacReady=] finds them and starts shooting at them. Bethany is shot, but survives, and Archer beams himself and her up to the ship.

While Phlox treats Bethany's injuries, T'Pol expresses concern over Archer using the transporter in front of the locals. Phlox also finds out that Bethany is one-quarter Skagaran. Archer calls a staff meeting, telling the other senior staff that the logs have been translated and confirm Bethany's story. He decides to make himself and his crew known, stating that the humans deserve to know that Earth has not abandoned them.

Back on the planet, Bennings tells [=MacReady=] that he believes Archer to be a "Skagaran sympathiser", since the Skagarans are rumoured to also be able to disappear into thin air. [=MacReady=] is unconvinced, but Bennings, fearing an uprising, wants to kill all the Skagarans. [=MacReady=] insists that they must uphold the law and not murder the innocent, so Bennings resigns.

Archer leads T'Pol and a security team to the planet, now in uniform, and when he leaves the shuttlepod, he explains to [=MacReady=] that he is from earth. He also tells [=MacReady=] that while he can't transport all of them back to Earth, he will send help, and that humans have outgrown bigotry, so the humans from the planet need to give it up if they want to live on Earth. Archer takes [=MacReady=] to the shuttlepod and introduces him to T'Pol. They prepare to take him to ''Enterprise'', when Bennings shoots [=MacReady=].

Archer tells Bennings that he is from Earth and asks to let him prove it, but another man provokes a shot from Malcolm, starting a firefight. T'Pol and Archer drag [=MacReady=] to safety, then Bennings shoots Archer, leading to a one-on-one fight in the stable. Archer wins despite his injured arm. T'Pol, meanwhile, is captured by one of Bennings's men, who threatens to kill her if Malcolm doesn't drop his weapons. However, Malcolm stuns T'Pol and then shoots her captor.

The shuttlepod returns to ''Enterprise'', where Bethany laments on how barbaric her society is compared to Archer's, but he reassures her that they didn't progress overnight and that Bethany's society has time to change. Bethany returns to the surface and teaches her students, now joined by some human kids and [=MacReady=], about the Wright brothers.



* AlienAbduction: The humans on the planet are descended from some people who were abducted by Skagarans.
* AnAlienNamedBob: Downplayed for Bethany, who's only one quarter alien.



* BadassLongcoat: Archer wears one while in disguise.

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* %%* BadassLongcoat: Archer wears one while in disguise.disguise.
* BigotWithABadge:
** Deputy Bennings is prejudiced against Skagarans, having no qualms about killing all of them, and (until he resigns) is a law enforcer.
** Downplayed for Sheriff [=MacReady=], who's suspicious of the Skagarans and believes that the oppressive laws against them are necessary so that humans can remain free, but he's nowhere near as prejudiced as Bennings and doens't believe in killing innocent ones.



* CowboyEpisode: Certainly a change of pace from the Xindi arc.

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* CowboyEpisode: Certainly a change of pace from the Xindi arc.arc; this episode involves a planet with a Wild West-type aesthetic.



* EskimosArentReal: Justified. Due to everyone on the planet who's seen Earth being long dead, [=MacReady=] thought Earth was mythical.



* KangarooCourt: Bethany claims that even if the Skagaran hadn't been lynched, he would've faced this.
* MassOhCrap: Everyone in Skagtown when Bennings shows up.

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* %%* KangarooCourt: Bethany claims that even if the Skagaran hadn't been lynched, he would've faced this.
* LaResistance:
** In the past, the humans revolted against the oppressive Skagarans, but they went too far, killing civilians and making unfair laws.
** Discussed when Bennings wants to kill every Skagaran because he's afraid they'll form an uprising.
%%*
MassOhCrap: Everyone in Skagtown when Bennings shows up.



* ObviouslyEvil: Deputy Bennings.

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* %%* ObviouslyEvil: Deputy Bennings.



* RecycledPlot: Alien slavers abducted pre-spaceflight humans who eventually overthrew their overlords. [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E1The37s Didn't Voyager already do this?]] Although in fairness this episode explores a different aspect of that premise (in the "The 37's", the alien slavers had long since departed).

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* RecycledPlot: Alien slavers abducted pre-spaceflight humans who eventually overthrew their overlords. [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E1The37s Didn't Voyager already do this?]] Although [[DownplayedTrope in fairness fairness]] this episode explores a different aspect of that premise (in the "The 37's", the alien slavers had long since departed).departed) and the ''Voyager'' episode wasn't a CowboyEpisode.


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* WouldHitAGirl: [=MacReady=] shoots Bethany. Justified, since he's a sheriff and it's his job to shoot whoever breaks the law and she was escaping from jail. Also justified with the guy who threatens to kill T'Pol, since he's also law enforcement.

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!! Tropes in this episode include:
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* EveryoneHasStandards: The bartender may be the direct descendant of Cooper Smith, but even he is disgusted by Bennings.

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* EveryoneHasStandards: The bartender may be the direct descendant of Cooper Smith, but even he is disgusted by Bennings. Similarly, Sheriff [=MacReady=] thinks that Bennings goes too far in his harassment of the "Skags".
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* RRatedOpening: The lynching in the teaser seems to be there to justify the TV-14 rating as the rest of the episode is fairly pedestrian with regard to violence.
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* RealityEnsues: ''Enterprise'' obviously can't transport 6000+ people back to Earth, even if they weren't already on an important mission. Archer tells [=MacReady=] it'll be years before Starfleet can muster enough ships to bring them all home.
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* NiceMeanAndInbetween:

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* NiceMeanAndInbetween:NiceMeanAndInBetween:



* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: [=MacReady=] lets Henry the bartender/barber keep an illegal bottle of Skagaran whiskey as an makeshift anesthetic.

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* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem: [=MacReady=] lets Henry the bartender/barber keep an illegal bottle of Skagaran whiskey as an a makeshift anesthetic.



* ShoutOut: Bennings and Macready are both named after characters from ''Film/TheThing1982''.

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* ShoutOut: Bennings and Macready [=MacReady=] are both named after characters from ''Film/TheThing1982''.



* TheTeetotaler: The Skagaran who was lynched during TheTeaser. Bennings asks if a sober skag would really have the nerve to shoot a man.

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* TheTeetotaler: The Skagaran who was lynched during TheTeaser. Bennings asks if a sober skag Skag would really have the nerve to shoot a man.

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'''Bennings:''' ''[Unconscious on the floor]'' The silver key.\\
'''Archer:''' What?\\



'''Archer:''' What?\\
'''Bennings:''' The silver key.\\
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* EveryoneHasStandards: The bartender may be the direct descendant of Cooper Smith, but even he is disgusted by Bennings.
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* HumansAreWarriors: The Skagarans learned this the hard way when the humans they kidnapped and enslaved rose up against them.

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* HumansAreWarriors: The Skagarans learned this the hard way when [[AlienAbducteesFightBack the humans they kidnapped and enslaved rose up against them.them]].
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* HilariousOuttakes: This is what happens when you get your keys mixed up.
--> '''Bethany:''' What are you doing?\\
'''Archer:''' Where I come from, it's called a "jailbreak".\\
'''Bethany:''' It's called that here too.\\
'''Archer:''' ''(struggling with the lock)'' Sometimes it's called that. Other times, it's called "playing with the lock".\\
'''Bennings:''' The silver key.\\
'''Archer:''' What?\\
'''Bennings:''' The silver key.\\
'''Archer:''' Thank you.
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* ActorAllusion: This isn't the first time Emily Bergl has played an [[Series/{{Taken}} alien-human hybrid]].
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* ChangedMyJumper: {{Averted}}, as Archer's team wear wild-west costumes their first time down. When they return in uniform, it's because Archer's decided to come clean about who they really are.
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* ShoutOut: Bennings and Macready are both named after characters from ''Film/TheThing1982''.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ent_northstar_330.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Only ''Enterprise'' would take a breather from something as threatening as the Xindi to go play cowboy for a while.]]
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* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Bennings vs [=Macready=].

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* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Bennings vs [=Macready=].[=MacReady=].



'''[=Macready=]:''' And you've always harassed them while I looked the other way, and that's gonna change right now.

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'''[=Macready=]:''' '''[=MacReady=]:''' And you've always harassed them while I looked the other way, and that's gonna change right now.
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* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Bennings vs [=Macready=].
--> '''Bennings:''' You've always been too soft on 'em, Mac.\\
'''[=Macready=]:''' And you've always harassed them while I looked the other way, and that's gonna change right now.

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