Line #39 Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E19Acquisition


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ent_acquisition_127.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Starfleet meets the Ferengi! ...wait, wasn't that supposed to happen a couple hundred years later?]]
3	Ferengi approach the ''Enterprise'' and board it, wearing gas masks. They explore the ship, finding everyone unconscious and apparently having passed out while doing their usual activities. They disable a device in engineering and then remove their gas masks, implying that the device was what knocked the crew out. Then, they go to the bridge (where the bridge crew are also unconscious) and one of them reports to someone named Ulis. Meanwhile, in decon, Trip is awake and he calls for Phlox due to having been in decon for an hour; forty minutes longer than was expected, but Phlox is also unconscious.
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5	While the Ferengi wheel trolleys in and start stealing the sickbay equipment, Trip breaks out of decon and starts spying on them while still in his undies. The Ferengi then start stealing more objects, including weapons, clothing, chairs, food, and the dedication plaque, then they drag all the women, plus Archer, into the launch bay. They handcuff Archer to a handhold, wake him up, and demand to know where the "vault" is. He tries to explain that the ''Enterprise'' doesn't have one, but they don't believe him. They discuss the situation, revealing that one of them is named Krem and is Ulis's cousin, and Archer sees Trip.
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7	When Krem plans on selling the ''Enterprise'' women into slavery, Archer pretends that the ''Enterprise'' does indeed have a vault, full of gold bars. He offers to help them find the vault if he can keep half the gold, then downgrades it to 35%, but the Ferengi aren't interested and decide to proceed without his help. Krem then makes Archer help him load the stolen objects onto his and Ulis's ship, and the two talk. Archer learns that the species is materialistic and that Krem is at the mercy of Ulis when it comes to business but doesn't seem to mind. Archer then sees Trip approaching and gets Krem out of the way by having him retrieve food and water, which Krem does, but not without handcuffing Archer again.
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9	Trip tells Archer that all the hyposprays and phase-pistols have been stolen, so Archer tells Trip to get the hypospray that woke him from the launch bay. Krem comes back, Trip leaves, and he injects T'Pol with the hypospray and makes several failed attempts to inject Hoshi. T'Pol wakes up and concludes that the device they retrieved from the moon must have been put there by the aliens and knocked everyone out. Krem and Archer enter, so T'Pol pretends to still be unconscious and Trip hides. Krem takes a shine to T'Pol, then Archer and Krem leave with the captain. Trip realises that since the hypospray is evidently empty, he, T'Pol, and Archer will have to take back the ship on their own.
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11	Trip borrows a science officer's uniform, while T'Pol observes Ulis with two other Ferengi named Grish and Muk in sickbay. Ulis and Grish think the imaging chamber is the vault, but Muk isn't sure. They open it and find a medical tool, which Muk wants to keep, and the others only agree to let him keep it if he can have less gold. Trip puts a security lock on the bio-matter resequencer, while T'Pol spies on the Ferengi discussing how to search for the vault in the situation room. She causes the com system to make a loud squealing noise, which bothers the Ferengi, and takes the three scanners the Ferengi stole. The Ferengi find and turn off the noise, while T'Pol puts two of the scanners in Ulis's bag to make it seem like he stole them from Muk and start an argument. Muk notices the third scanner is still nowhere to be seen and chases after Grish, while T'Pol watches.
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13	In engineering, Krem has Archer take apart the warp core, and Archer tries to convince Krem to help him put the others in the brig in exchange for half the money, but Krem refuses. Meanwhile, Grish and Muk try to interrogate Porthos, and when he doesn't understand, they wonder if Archer wants to eat him since he's a "lower life-form". Muk puts Porthos into a cargo container in the launch bay, but then sees Trip and chases him, telling the other Ferengi that a crew member is awake. Trip runs into the mess hall, where he steals Muk's weapon, but is attacked with an energy whip.
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15	While Krem and Archer load items into the Ferengi ship, Archer tries to convince Krem that he's being exploited, then the rest of the Ferengi enter with Trip, considering taking what they have to avoid running into more crew. Muk and Grish prepare to start hauling the women onto the ship, but Trip stops them, pretending that he will show them the vault if they leave the women alone, and that Hoshi is his wife. Archer pretends to be mad at Trip for disobeying them and Ulis accepts the offer. The Ferengi follow Trip, except for Krem, who tries to protest, but is eventually made to stay behind and finish loading the ship. Archer pretends that he has an injury that's flaring up, so Krem handcuffs him and keeps loading.
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17	He encounters T'Pol, who pretends the humans are keeping her prisoner. He asks her to give him ''oo'mox'' (a type of Ferengi foreplay involving stroking the earlobes) and she does, but then nerve pinches him and leaves with the keys to Archer's handcuffs and a phase-pistol. Trip leads the rest of the Ferengi to the bio-matter resequencer and pretends it's the vault, then T'Pol stuns them all.
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19	She rescues Archer, then the two, now armed, force the Ferengi to give everything back and Archer gets Porthos back. The Ferengi then get handcuffed on their own ship, except for Krem, who Archer warns that he will tell the authorities about him and his species. The ''Enteprise'' leave, with Krem's coworkers still handcuffed.
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21	----
22	!!Tropes in this episode include:
23	* BadassBandolier: One of the Ferengi wears crossed bandoliers. Given his species, he needs all the help looking badass that he can get.
24	* BaldOfEvil: The opening shot is of the camera moving over the top of a Ferengi's head to reveal their target: ''Enterprise''!
25	* BigShutUp: When Krem is the only Ferengi not shackled to the bulkheads.
26	--> '''Ulis:''' Let me go, you idiot!\
27	'''Krem:''' SHUT UP!
28	* BloodFromTheMouth: Used non-fatally. Archer is bleeding in the mouth after [[JackBauerInterrogationTechnique being punched in the face during his interrogation]].
29	* BondOneLiner: After Trip and T'Pol stun the Ferengi in the "vault".
30	--> '''Trip:''' Sorry, fellas...bank must be closed today.
31	* CallForward:
32	** Krem takes an obvious liking to T'Pol. His...[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Vulcan Love Slave]]?
33	** Krem mispronounces the name of Archer's species as "hu-mon," which either coincidentally resembles or actually ''originates'' the mild slur used by Ferengi toward humans in [=DS9=].
34	* CassandraTruth: The Ferengi are convinced that ''Enterprise'' has a vault of valuable goodies, and refuse to believe Archer when he tries to convince them otherwise (even giving him a [[PistolWhipping phaser rifle to the face]]).
35	* ContinuityNod:
36	** The Ferengi never mention the name of their species.
37	** "Do I look like a [[Recap/StarTrekEnterpriseS01E13DearDoctor Menk]] to you?"
38	%%* [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard on The Enterprise]]: For the chronologically first, but certainly not the last, time.
39	* DistractedByTheSexy: T'Pol starts giving Krem ''oo'mox'' to make him pliable--and neck-pinches him out.
40	* DramaticIrony: Muk wonders if Archer wants to eat Porthos, when we viewers know that Porthos is Archer's pet.
41	* EnergyWeapon: The Ferengi [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E4TheLastOutpost energy whip]] is back.
42	* FakeAFight: Archer and Trip pretend to fight each other to make it look like Trip is giving in to the Ferengi's demands.
43	* GrewASpine: Krem starts standing up to Ulis and refuses to do any more manual labor. {{Subverted}}, though, when Ulis yells at him to get back to work, and he does.
44	--> '''Krem:''' I'm tired of doing this job! I don't want to do all the menial work!\
45	'''Ulis:''' Krem!\
46	'''Krem:''' It's time that I showed a little in-initiative! I have the lobes for business! You just never give me the chance to prove it!\
47	'''Ulis:''' ''Get back to work!''\
48	'''Krem:''' ''({{beat}})'' Yes, cousin.\
49	''(the others snicker and leave)''\
50	'''Archer:''' You...sure told him.
51	* GroinAttack: Of a sort. This episode establishes how sensitive a Ferengi's ears are as an erogenous zone early on, so when Trip bites a Ferengi on the ear later on it spiritually amounts to this.
52	* GuileHero: Archer and T'Pol take advantage of the Ferengi's greed to play them against each other while Trip sets a trap for them.
53	* InterspeciesRomance: Krem the Ferengi is attracted to T'Pol the Vulcan.
54	* KickTheDog: One of the Ferengi stuffs Porthos into a cargo container.
55	* LuredIntoATrap: Trip lures the Ferengi into a room that they think is the secret vault--where T'Pol stuns them.
56	* MrFanservice: Trip spends half the episode in his undies.
57	* NoOSHACompliance:
58	** The entire crew is knocked out by an alien artifact (actually something the Ferengi planted) which released KnockoutGas throughout the ship. Rather than examine it in a contained area, it was opened in the middle of engineering.
59	** For a room that's supposed to contain the crew and screen any potential hazards, Trip is able to escape decon from the inside pretty easily.
60	*** To be fair, it's not the brig, just a containment area, and this is the [[MacGyvering chief engineer]] we're talking about.
61	* ObfuscatingDisability: At one point, Archer pretends to be suffering from an old water polo injury.
62	* ResetButton: In order to protect the canon first contact with the ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Enterprise-D]]'', the Ferengi never identify themselves and promise to stay as far away from Earth or Vulcan ships as possible.
63	* TheyJustDontGetIt: The Ferengi are not able to comprehend that United Earth is a post scarcity society. When Arher tells Krem that the way of life that the Ferengi hold religiously almost destroyed Earth, Krem, totally baffled tells him his people should have managed their businesses better.
64	* TranslationByVolume: PlayedForLaughs when the Ferengi reach Archer's quarters and...
65	--> '''Grish:''' Where is the vault? '''Do you understand me?'''\
66	'''Porthos:''' ''(barks)''\
67	'''Grish:''' I can't lock onto its language.\
68	'''Muk:''' ''("Seriously?" expression)'' It's a lower lifeform, you fool! Probably the captain's next meal.\
69	'''Grish:''' Are you sure? Look at its ears
70	* TranslationConvention: Averted; the Ferengi are introduced speaking their own language.
71	* {{Troll}}: Archer talks up how awful T'Pol is to stop the [[MarsNeedsWomen Ferengi taking off with her]]. In payback, T'Pol [[NotSoAboveItAll refuses to release Archer until he apologises]].
72	--> '''Archer:''' Open these [handcuffs], Subcommander. ThatsAnOrder.

Context Recap / StarTrekEnterpriseS01E19Acquisition