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sshbpodcast · 1 month ago

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Character Spotlight: Charles “Trip” Tucker

By Ames

Screw Jonathan Archer. Trip Tucker is the real hero of Star Trek: Enterprise. He’s more likeable. He grows more as a character. Unlike John, he actually overcomes some of his racism. He commits way fewer atrocities than John too! We testify all the time on the podcast that he has the character journey that Archer should have had. So this week, your A Star to Steer Her By hosts are here to analyze the best Florida Man out there.

Don’t let the accent fool you: Trip knows his engineering shit. This Southern charmer is not only personable to everyone he meets, he’s more emotionally self-aware than most characters across the franchise. We need more Trip Tuckers in the world. So read on below and listen to this week’s podcast episode (tightrope walk over to 45:57) as we highlight our catfish-loving friend. And pass the pecan pie.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Challenge your preconceptions or they’ll challenge you One of the early moments of growth we see from Trip comes in “Strange New World.” He spouts some absolutely horrid racist jargon at T’Pol while under the influence of space pollen, but when he snaps out of it, he not only apologizes, but he recognizes that he’s still learning to overcome the systemic racism he grew up surrounded by, which is hella introspective.

I feel like I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar Speaking of Trip apologizing to T’Pol, he knows to come clean to her after he read her very personal letter in “Breaking the Ice.” It’s Trip’s suggestion to Archer to have Hoshi decrypt the message instead of to (ya know) ask T’Pol about it, which is shitty, but then he’s honest enough afterwards that T’Pol sees in him someone she can trust to ask for advice about her arranged marriage.

I am just going outside and may be some time Who other than Trip could get Malcolm Reed, ship introvert, to come out of his shell? Their friendship becomes a show highlight after their misadventure during “Shuttlepod One.” Trip is even willing to Captain Oates himself to give Reed a fighting chance, but then ends up saving their asses when he prolongs their life support and then detonates their engine to get the Enterprise’s attention.

We all scream for ice cream Earlier in “Breaking the Ice,” Trip advised T’Pol to do what’s best for her (and eat pecan pie). Now in “Oasis,” we see him continue the trend when he advocates for Liana to make her own decisions, and it won’t be the last we see him champion others’ decisions. He also introduces Liana to ice cream, which makes him a goddamn hero. Someone, get this girl a bowl of rocky road.

It’s the CAPTAIN’S chair This is one of the cute moments we couldn’t help but include. It’s also a fun little acting showcase for Connor Trinneer when Trip gets absolutely fixated on tuning up Archer’s chair in “Singularity.” And when he’s clear-headed enough again not to redesign the whole thing, he figures out all he needs to do is lower it one centimeter. Work smarter, not harder, friends.

I’m not leaving him here We get even more benevolence from Tucker in “Dawn” when he’s stranded on a moon with Zho’Kaan, an Arkonian with whom he has no way of communicating. Though they’re distrustful and combative at first, the two men learn to help each other survive as the oppressively hot sunrise approaches. It’s just Geordi in “The Enemy” again, but that’s hardly a bad thing.

They would never let me learn those things There was a bit of a debate about which list to put “Cogenitor” on. You can’t deny that Trip is NOT the person to be making the legal and psychoanalytical decisions on Charles’s behalf. Problem is, there IS no such person on the Enterprise and the one person who could have granted them asylum resolutely refused. So that’s on Archer. Trip, on the other hand, is the only person treating Charles like a person, being the most compassionate crew member yet again.

You owe me one Turns out Sim, Trip’s symbiote in “Similitude,” is just as honorable a man as the original. First off, his engineering ingenuity saves the ship from the polaric field it was stuck in. And what a phenomenal job from Trinneer, distinguishing this subtly different character from Trip, and fighting for his right to exist. It’s a gut punch watching Sim accept his fate after his short life. Ow, my gut!

I’ve been putting off writing this for a while Trip’s emotional journey in season three is probably the most profound. We get to witness various stages of the grief he goes through after his sister’s death to the Xindi probe. Most of the season is anger, which is to be expected. But by the end of “The Forgotten,” we see how far he’s come when he writes the condolence letter to the Taylors, reflecting heavily on his own loss.

If I had suffered your loss, I’d feel the same way All the season three growth really does go to Trip! While Archer is torturing people and trying to kamikaze the Xindi, and T’Pol is a junkie for no logical reason, Tucker is here developing as a person. It’s just before Degra’s death in “The Council” that Trip and the Xindi weapons designer come to a sort of understanding with each other. There’s hope in this universe after all!

I think it was called: “The Ship that Couldn’t Slow Down” It may be pure spectacle, but it’s also impressive as hell when Trip shimmies through space between the Columbia and the Enterprise on a skinny little wire in “Divergence.” As usual, Trip is the only person who can save the day when the Enterprise has taken a cue from Speed and can’t slow down. Who else can say they tightrope-walked between ships at warp?

You’re sweet-talking the wrong guy While I would have much preferred if any of the lady crewmembers of the Enterprise did literally anything when the Orion slave girls take over the ship in “Bound,” I guess I’ll take the next best thing and see Trip do it. Because the typical Vulcan immunity is apparently transferable to their boytoys, Commander Tucker gets to save the day because pheromones don’t work on him.

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Worst moments

Three hours of decompression in each direction Having to undergo decompression to visit an alien ship is a pretty cool concept we don’t see enough of in Trek, and maybe it’s for good reason. When Trip is decompressing during “Unexpected,” he’s absolutely insufferable. He spends the whole three hours whining and whining and whining, and flips the hell out even while Ah’len is assuring him everything’s fine.

Roll a stealth check Though we get some fun guest stars out of “Acquisition,” it feels like it’s missing something all episode long. I posit that what we’re missing is literally any clever engineering tactics from Trip, the only crew member free on the ship after it’s been taken over by Ferengi. Not only does he not do anything “Starship Mine”-y, but he gets himself nabbed by those doofuses!

A Night at the Risa-bury You wanna get your kicks on Risa, you go for it, Trip, but don’t be so disgusting about it. Watching him and Reed ogling all the aliens in the club in “Two Days and Two Nights” gets real gross real fast. But having the two of them get so thoroughly tricked by shapeshifting con artists until they were left tied up in their underwear shows how out of their depths they are.

I’d hate to be responsible for giving the crew the runs Considering how often you see other crewmen sitting in the chair whenever the captain is off gallivanting, it seems peculiar how utterly clueless Tucker is when he’s left in command during “The Seventh.” It’s like he’s forgotten how to make decisions. Or communicate with Vulcans. Or let Phlox and Reed do their damn jobs. Why is he suddenly inept?

Gives a whole new meaning to doing “The Stranger” Like we talked about a lot in our Kes post, some bad moments are actually things that don’t happen when they should. In this case, there is absolutely no pay off when Trip’s arm turns invisible in “The Communicator.” Nothing comes of this! In an episode where it would behoove everyone to be able to retrieve something undetected, wouldn’t an invisible hand work nicely?

Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder! Aside from just plain being a bad episode, “Precious Cargo” also contains a lot of terrible work from Commander Tucker. There is absolutely no chemistry between him and First Monarch Kaitaama, and yet they go to bone town just because the plot needs them to. You’d think someone who’s gotten pregnant before from engaging in less would show a little more restraint.

I was brought up believing you don’t play around with another man’s wife Let’s be clear: Trip does nothing wrong in how he associates with Feezal in “Stigma.” This is one of those moments that’s all on the writers. Someone continuously and gratuitously coming on to another person who displays no interest is sexual harassment. And yet the jokey, cutesy tone suggests it’s Trip’s error in not banging someone he shows no desire to bang. That’s gross.

You can’t do that on the balcony, buddy? This show is pretty much four seasons of white men not listening to a woman, and it’s enraging. T’Pol, as logically as usual, suggests that Tucker not test the Xindi rifle in the middle of the armory (of all places!) in “The Shipment,” but Trip refuses to listen and nearly blows the thing up in the most explosive area of the ship. Go outside and blow things up like a normal person!

This mission is to save Earth, not an alien hatchery I’m not done shitting on “Hatchery,” which I started doing last week. And in our season three wrap. And in our series wrap. I just find it so detestable that the show tries to glorify Tucker organizing a full mutiny because the captain is trying to save the baby Insectoids. Exactly no one on the ship seems to understand that that is the ethical thing to do, even during war time. Especially during war time.

Bugs Bunny sawed off Florida too, you know We just spent a couple points above praising Tucker for overcoming his hatred of the Xindi, but to get there, he first had to be overwhelmed with wrath. It’s understandable after the lancing of Florida, but when Trip just starts riling Degra in “The Forgotten,” it is not the right time, dude. At this point, Degra is working with Starfleet. Save the guilt trip for when you’re less busy.

Taking my ball and going home The will-they-won’t-they shenanigans between Trip and T’Pol have gotten very tired by the time we get to “The Aenar.” The both of them are acting so juvenile because they can’t work through their emotions nor act professionally around each other. So it’s frankly pathetic that Trip runs away from his feelings by asking for a transfer to the Columbia. And the Tri’Pol shippers lament.

Have a nice Trip. See you next fall. No Worst Moments list would be complete without the awful, awful way that they kill off a beloved character. “These Are the Voyages…” does Trip even dirtier than Nemesis does Data in how pointless a death it is. It feels like a slap in the face to fans, ya know, like that whole finale does. The explosion scene is rushed. The acting is subpar. A piss-poor way to go.

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We, however, still have a long road to go ourselves, with several more character spotlights on the way. So make sure you’re following along here, keeping up with our watchthrough of Discovery over on SoundCloud (among all the other podcast places), get some neuropressure with us over on Facebook, and save us some popcorn at movie night!

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