“Precious Cargo” 20th-anniversary reflections

A distress call leads to one of the most troubling events one can imagine: the interruption of Trip Tucker’s harmonica time. But what he finds aboard the Retellian freighter sets him on a path of adventure that more than makes up for the musical malady. Scraping the frost off a statis pod reveals a woman—the First Monarch of the Sovereign Dynasty of Krios Prime, in fact—and she’s been kidnapped. Can Trip save the day? You bet he can. But it might require a good roll in the mud.

In this episode of Warp Five, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 20th-anniversary retrospective that takes you through all of Star Trek: Enterprise, one episode at a time. In this installment, we continue Season 2 with “Precious Cargo” as we discuss why the story is perfect for Trip’s character, try to explain away Padma Lakshmi’s cardboard delivery, revel in bad cop T’Pol, and consider why the creators themselves see this as one of the worst episodes they ever produced.

Hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production C Bryan Jones (Editor and Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer)