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Star Trek: Enterprise has been curious about its treatment of the transporter. It has been there since the pilot, and the crew has shown varying degrees of fear towards the nascent technology. On a metatextual level, the existence of the transporter has been somewhat of a hindrance to the storytelling of Enterprise. Its existence keeps focusing on technology problems that could be used to solve narrative issues (why don’t they just use the transporter?). However, for a series that wants to explore the “founding” of the Federation, it also seems likely that the transporter would be an ideal candidate to explore early uses and conflicts that the magical technology would provide. “Vanishing Point” tries to merge several Star Trek storylines into a new mixture, but does so to little success.
The Wikipedia plot summary for “Vanishing Point”:
Ensign Sato and Commander Tucker are on an away mission, taking pictures and gathering data and samples from an ancient set of ruins. Their mission is cut short, however, when a diamagnetic storm approaches, but before they can make it back to the shuttlepod they are forced to use the transporter instead. Sato is reluctant to use it, so Tucker goes back first. After the incident, aboard Enterprise, Sato feels that things are not right, particularly being the first time she used a transporter. After a visit to Doctor Phlox, she goes to sleep, hoping to feel better in the morning.
She is wakened by an emergency call from the bridge having apparently overslept by three hours. On the bridge, Captain Archer informs her that Tucker and Ensign Mayweather have been taken hostage on the planet while retrieving the shuttlepod. Sato is unable to help, failing to understand the “simple bi-modal syntax” of the aliens. She is ordered to return to her quarters, where she sees her reflection in the mirror fade away and water passing through her hands when she takes a shower. Phlox still cannot find anything wrong, attributing Sato’s experience to transporter anxiety. But only a little while later, she completely dematerializes.
The crew begin to search for her, and she observes Phlox and Tucker scanning the ship for her cellular residue. She watches Archer speak with her father to inform him of her “death”. In her wanderings, she hears and later encounters two strange aliens who are planting and arming suspicious devices throughout the ship. Unable to warn anyone, she endeavours to interrupt the devices. This eventually leads her onto an alien transporting device – which mysteriously takes her back to her initial away team return in the transporting room. She is disoriented, and concerned about the aliens, but Lieutenant Reed explains to her that she has been trapped for 8.3 seconds in the pattern buffer because of the storm, and that her recent experiences were only hallucinations.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Vanishing Point” and the awkwardness of a phone call where you have to inform someone that a loved one is dead. Plus! The guys talk about episodes that are different every 10 minutes, Enterprise’s surprising success with subtlety, and learning a lesson through a dream.