Jonathan Archer

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Jonathan Archer
Jonathan Archer
Species:	Human
Gender:	Male
Home planet:	Earth, Upstate New York
Affiliation:	Starfleet
Posting:	Enterprise commanding officer Starfleet chief of staff Ambassador to Andoria United Federation of Planets Councilman Federation President
Rank:	Captain Admiral
Portrayed by:	Scott Bakula

Jonathan Archer is a fictional character from the television show Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005). Archer was played by Scott Bakula. Archer was the captain of the Starship Enterprise (NX-01) in the fictional television series Star Trek: Enterprise from 2151 to 2161 and later President of the United Federation of Planets from 2184 to 2192. He spent many years of his life in San Francisco, California.

According to a computer display in the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly", fictional historian John Gill considered Archer "the greatest explorer of the 22nd century." The same display states that two planets were named after Archer: Archer IV and Archer's Planet.

Archer's favorite sport is water polo. He has a pet dog named Porthos.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Seasons 1 and 2: The explorer 1.2 Season 3: Military commander in the Expanse 1.3 Season 4: The diplomat 1.4 Temporal Cold War 1.5 Relationship with T'Pol 1.6 The Mirror Archer 1.7 Place in history 2 Trivia 3 External links

[edit] Biography

Born to famed warp engineer, Henry Archer, and his wife Sally, Archer was born and raised in upstate New York (2112- 2245). His dream of exploring started as a boy. Eventually landing in San Francisco, where he later claimed to have spent the majority of his life, he joined Starfleet. He grew up with a distrust of Vulcans, since he perceived them as having held back Humanity's progress, particularly with regard to his father's warp five engine. As a youth Archer earned the Eagle Scout award, along with 26 Merit Badges, from the Boy Scouts of America.

At Starfleet, he served as a pilot on the NX warp tests with people like A.G. Robinson, Duvall and Gardner (all mentioned in "First Flight"; it's assumed it is this Gardner who eventually becomes admiral when Admiral Forrest dies in "The Forge"). Robinson pushed the limits of a test ship, ending in its destruction. The Vulcans recommended the warp trials end, which Starfleet agreed to, until Lt. Charles "Trip" Tucker (who later became commander under Archer) fixed the intermix ratios and Robinson and Archer stole the ship to prove its readiness.

Although Archer was suspended for the act, it is believed his risk (and the fact it paid off) eventually secured his role as captain of the Enterprise, the first warp five starship.

[edit] Seasons 1 and 2: The explorer

Jonathan Archer gets his sea legs. As a man who loves to travel amongst the stars, he realizes being captain is a larger duty than manager and astronomer. Quickly, he runs into species from all over the quadrant trying to kill him and his crew. Run-ins with the Mazarites, Tholians, Suliban and Klingons cause him to become more of a military commander.

In addition, he learns the duties of captain should include diplomat. During seasons 1 and 2, he's somewhat uncomfortable with the role, especially in "A Night in Sickbay" where Porthos contracts an illness while on an alien world.

While the captain is exploring, he makes quick enemies of the Klingons on his first mission. In a dispute with the Klingon Empire in 2152, Archer was convicted and sentenced to exile on Rura Penthe, even though Archer was innocent of charges and in spite of the fact that the Klingons acknowledged his previous service to the Empire. With his escape, a bounty was put on his head and tensions with the Klingon Empire increased.

During this era, Archer had the distinction of making Earth's official first contact with dozens of alien races, including the Andorians, the Axanar, the Suliban, the Romulans, the Tandarans, the Tellarites, the Tholians, and, eventually the Xindi.

[edit] Season 3: Military commander in the Expanse

With the Xindi attack on Earth in 2153, Archer became a changed man, determined to seek out and confront the perpetrators. This pushed him to commit desperate acts of questionable morality to ensure a future for Earth. It also changed him from a congenial captain, to one who was driven, secluded and focused.

While on his mission to locate the Xindi, Archer was briefly transformed into a member of the extinct Loque'eque species by a mutagenic virus ("Extinction"). He later was afflicted by subspace parasites, creating an alternate timeline in which the Enterprise mission failed and Earth was destroyed ("Twilight"). With the help of Crewman Daniels, he and T'Pol traveled back in time to 2004 Detroit to prevent the release of a Xindi-reptilian bioweapon ("Carpenter Street"). By the end of the third season, Archer was presumed dead when the Xindi superweapon was destroyed. However, he was transported back to the early 1940's, as was the Enterprise herself.

The character commits many controversial acts including torturing a prisoner in "Anomaly," stranding 86 aliens to steal their needed warp coil in "Damage" and cloning Trip in order to harvest body parts in order to save the chief engineer.

[edit] Season 4: The diplomat

In 2154, Archer helped a faction of Vulcans fight an oppressive government on their planet. During this incident, he was the recipient of the katra, or living spirit, of the great Vulcan philosopher Surak. The katra was later transplanted into a Vulcan priest and Archer was left unharmed. This would lead to the reforming of Vulcan society, and which explained why the Vulcans of Archer's time were so different to the Vulcans of Kirk's time. In the process, he became the first known human participant in a mind meld. Since that experience, Archer has used that knowledge at least once: to assist Commander T'Pol with conducting her first mind meld, gaining information about who captured Doctor Phlox (as seen in "Affliction").

The captain was also involved in one of the first, and possibly most significant treaties yet, being asked to escort Gral, the Tellarite ambassador, to the Tellarite-Andorian negotiations. En route, they run into the Andorian Shran, a long-time friend/enemy/ally of the Enterprise. During his stay, Romulans attack in disguise and cause the fragile alliance to crash to a halt. In the mix up, a Tellarite kills Shran's mate Talas. Shran avenges her death by asking the Tellarite who killed her to fight to the death. Archer takes that challenge instead. And before the captain is about to (as his colleagues presume) meet his doom, T'Pol comes to reason with him, whispering, "If anything were to happen to you..." (T'Pol in "United"). The fight proceeds, Shran is incapacitated, but not hurt and the alliance remains. What fans call the Andorian Arc is just another stepping stone to the Enterprise, and specifically Archer, gaining the credibility they need to help the universe form a coalition that eventually leads to the United Federation of Planets ("Demons", "Terra Prime", "These are the Voyages").

[edit] Temporal Cold War

Although initially optimistic, Archer became involved in his first mission as captain of the Enterprise in the middle of the Temporal Cold War. The Temporal Cold War begins at the beginning of "Broken Bow," the first episode of the series. In that episode, the audience is introduced to the Suliban and a man referred to as "Future Guy" (a being from the future who is guiding the Suliban). As the TCW continues, we also meet a character named Daniels whose purpose seemingly is to safeguard Captain Archer in particular and Enterprise in general. Daniels' comments are that Archer will be the man who builds the Federation. It becomes apparent by the third season that Daniels is representing the United Federation of Planets throughout the Temporal Cold War.

[edit] Relationship with T'Pol

Although initially distrustful of his science officer, T'Pol, Archer has grown to trust her implicitly and supported her when she chose to resign her Vulcan commission in order to stay aboard Enterprise for the Xindi mission. Episodes in the first and second seasons seemed to suggest that Archer and T'Pol had the potential to become more than just close friends. Archer is openly jealous when a Vulcan suitor pursues T'Pol in "Fusion"; he insists the Vulcans won't take something away from him that's important ("Shadows of P'Jem") — meaning her. He assists her in finding help with her Pa'nar syndrome and indicates he's happy she'll be staying aboard ("Stigma") and many other instances. However, it appears his drive to complete the Xindi mission and save Earth diminished this possibility. In the alternate timeline of "Twilight" T'Pol becomes Archer's caretaker for more than a decade after the subspace parasites rob him of his short term memory; the question of how far their relationship had progressed in this timeline goes unanswered, but it is made clear that some bond of love existed by that point, albeit somewhat one-sided as this alternate future Archer is unable to retain memory of it. It remains to be seen whether anything close to this occurs in the "real" timeline, even though the author of "Twilight" indicated in the Star Trek Communicator magazine that eventually Archer and T'Pol would marry in the real timeline, a point some think was in jest. The finale of the series gives no clue as to whether this outcome actually occurs, but leaves it open for the possibility.

[edit] The Mirror Archer

In the Mirror Universe, Archer held the rank of Commander and was the first officer of the mirror Enterprise. In this universe, Archer served under the command of Captain Maximilian Forrest - the alternate version of Admiral Forrest. Unlike in the normal Trek universe (where Forrest and Archer are close friends and comrades), the mirror versions of the characters did not get along well at all - the mirror Archer (like most characters in the Terran Empire) was treacherous, cunning and scheming. Archer even led a mutiny against Forrest and took over the ISS Enterprise. However, with the help of T'Pol and other Vulcans, Captain Forrest was freed and the ship was retaken. Archer surrendered but had locked the ship's navigation controls so its heading could not be altered. Archer's reason for the mutiny was brought to light as he had been informed about a ship that seemed to be from another dimension. With the ship's course unable to be changed and Starfleet now intrigued by what Archer has become aware of, Captain Forrest was ordered to investigate. On arrival, they discovered the ship, the USS Defiant (a Starfleet ship from the normal Trek universe). Archer led a team to take control of the Defiant, while Enterprise was destroyed by the Tholians. Archer and his team, plus survivors from the Enterprise, discovered the Defiant is not only from another dimension, but the future and that the alternate dimension never had an Empire. After successfully crushing a rebellion against the Empire, Archer attempted to take the futuristic vessel to Earth where he would proclaim himself Emperor. However, before he could do so, Archer was killed by his universe's Hoshi Sato, who poisoned him and took the ship for herself.

[edit] Place in history

The time traveler Daniels had revealed that Jonathan Archer would eventually have a major role in the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161. He briefly took Archer ahead in time to the point where Archer is about to sign the Federation accords on Earth. We see this same ceremony (from the 'real' Archer's perspective) in the final episode.

Archer's fate is revealed in the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly Part II" when a computer information screen aboard the 23rd Century vessel Defiant is briefly visible. According to the computer profile, Archer was an admiral and the Chief of Staff at Starfleet Command at the time of his retirement. Archer later went on to serve as Ambassador to Andoria from 2165-2175. From 2175-2183, Archer served as a member of the Federation council followed by eight years as President of the United Federation of Planets (2184-2192).

Unused artwork shows that Archer dies peacefully in his sleep at his home in Upstate New York, in 2245 - exactly one day after he attends the commissioning ceremony of the Constitution class starship USS Enterprise NCC-1701. (This is the first canonical confirmation of the date the NCC-1701 was launched.) However, this computer display gives 2160 as the year Archer's captaincy of Enterprise came to an end, which is contradicted by the 2161 date given in "These Are the Voyages..." A reason for this inconsistency could be the fact that "These Are The Voyages" is meant to be a holographic recreation; this would also explain the other inconsistencies with the episode. [1]

[edit] Trivia

• Some fans have nicknamed Archer "Captain Quantum", because of Scott Bakula's previous role of Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap. Bakula himself once suggested that Captain Archer's middle name is Beckett^{[citation needed]}.
• In early stages of writing, the character of Jonathan Archer was called Jeffrey Archer. This was reportedly changed to avoid clashing with the notorious UK politician/author Jeffrey Archer. Another name considered for the character was Jackson Archer, until it was discovered that only one person in the country was named Jackson Archer.

[edit] External links

• Jonathan Archer article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
• STARTREK.COM: Jonathan Archer
• Production artwork showing Archer's biography, from In A Mirror, Darkly

Regular characters on Star Trek
The Original Series	Kirk | Spock | McCoy | Scott | Uhura | Sulu | Chekov | Chapel | Rand
Animated Series	Arex | M'Ress
The Next Generation	Picard | Riker | Data | La Forge | Worf | B. Crusher | Troi | W. Crusher | Yar | O'Brien | Guinan | Pulaski
Deep Space Nine	B. Sisko | Kira | J. Dax | Odo | Bashir | O'Brien | Worf | J. Sisko | Quark | Rom | Nog | E. Dax | Garak | Martok | Damar | Dukat | Weyoun | Winn
Voyager	Janeway | Chakotay | Tuvok | Paris | Torres | Kim | Doctor | Neelix | Seven | Kes
Enterprise	Archer | T'Pol | Tucker | Reed | Phlox | Sato | Mayweather

Captains of Star Trek vessels named Enterprise
Jonathan Archer	Robert April	Christopher Pike	James T. Kirk	Willard Decker	Spock	John Harriman	Rachel Garrett	Jean-Luc Picard	William Riker	Edward Jellico