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“Oasis” features the return of Rene Auberjonois to Star Trek! The dynamic actor had most recently portrayed Odo on Deep Space 9. He returns to Star Trek with an appearance in Enterprise that might seem familiar. “Oasis” features a plot that Trek fans have seen numerous times before, in episodes such as TNG’s “The Survivors” and DS9’s “Shadowplay“. In this episode, the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 discovered a crashed ship that is home to a small community. But there’s something strange going on – scanners show no life signs and there is mounting evidence that the group’s story doesn’t hold water. Trip might be falling in love, but with what?
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Oasis”:
Captain Archer, Sub-Commander T’Pol and Commander Tucker are dining with D’Marr, a visiting trader. He tells them of a “haunted” transport vessel that has crashed on a nearby planet, and Archer orders an away team to investigate. Once on board, T’Pol hears a noise, but detects nothing with her tricorder, while Archer and Ensign Mayweather find a computer terminal and decide to take it back to Enterprise. In engineering, Tucker and T’Pol discover a section of the ship protected with a dampening field. As they make their way to locate its generator, they find a chamber containing many armed crewmembers.
Two of the Kantare, Ezral and Captain Kuulan, tell the away team the ship was attacked by raiders three years ago. Archer offers assistance, which Ezral accepts. But all is not as it seems: Lieutenant Reed’s analysis of the ship reveals impact damage, but no weapons signatures. Oxidation of the ship reveal it crashed nearly 22 years previously. Mayweather states that the aeroponics bay isn’t big enough to feed all of the crew. Further, Reed opens an escape pod, and Tucker is amazed to see the corpse of a man he spoke to on the planet’s surface only an hour before.
On the vessel, T’Pol and Tucker are suddenly taken hostage, while Archer and Reed are ordered to leave. Enterprise then plans a rescue mission. During the raid, the Kantaran crew emerge from the walls and overwhelm them. Liana, Ezral’s daughter, removes some data cards from the computer and the crew disappear – all were holograms except Ezral and Liana. Ezral explains that he was the chief engineer on the ship, and due to his negligence, half the crew died in an ion storm. He later recreated his dead wife and the crew to provide a home environment for his young daughter. Accepting reality, he finally requests the repair components required to make his ship space-worthy.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss how a competent narrative doesn’t necessarily mean a competent story. Plus! The guys talk about being indecisive with your main character, the possible influence that Rick Berman had on the series, and yet another fake mystery!