Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series) Doctor's Orders (2004) User Reviews

Humorous and exciting at the same time

[cheesustoast · 8/10 · 26 May 2014]

No spoilers here. The episode works best if you have no idea of the storyline.

This episode seems to capture humour, creepiness and excitement all in one interesting episode. The main winning point has to be the humour.

The episode mainly focuses on one character and could be considered somewhat boring at times but it does pick up as it progresses. Because the whole episode seems to focus one one character there are obviously limitations but it is carried out well.

The twist at the end makes it a very satisfying episode. It is one the few episodes that I have literally found myself laughing out loud to. It is probably one of my favourites apart from the the fact that it seems somewhat limited in scope (hence the 8/10 instead of 9/10). There is a very similar episode in Voyager. I will not say which one because it could be construed as a spoiler.

An interesting twist at the end make this one worth seeing....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 9 April 2015]

This is a very odd episode, as most of the time it's ONLY Dr. Pholox who is in the show! It seems that the part of space they are in is toxic somehow to humans and Phlox and T'Pol man the ship by themselves as the rest of the crew are in suspended animation. However, over time, Phlox starts going batty--perhaps caused by that part of space or his overactive imagination...or both. Regardless, after a while Phlox starts seeing all sorts of things that cannot be real but totally terrify him. He's so scared that he even considers wakening some of the crew...though T'Pol manages to calm him and talk him through the worst of it. At the very end comes an amazing twist that makes this otherwise unremarkable episode well worth seeing.

In many ways, IMDb is right that the show is highly reminiscent of the episode from "The Twilight Zone" with William Shatner where he is a passenger on a plane who thinks he's seen a monster on the wing destroying the aircraft. It also is rather reminiscent of a "Star Trek: Voyager" episode where Seven of Nine is also having a lot of scary hallucinations. Regardless, it is very different and a nice change of pace for the show.

Now You See It!

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 25 March 2017]

In order to cross a newly developing space disturbance, the crew must be put in a kind of stasis. Phlox is put in charge because he is not affected by the disturbance. One can sense anxiety in him from the start as he dictates a message to an old colleague. While he makes his rounds with Porthos, he begins to see things, including a Xindie insectoid. T'Pol, it appears, has been given the job of monitoring the ship's technology and engines. He is forced to deal with several crises and calls on T'Pol numerous times. At one point he doubts his ability to do the job. This is a good episode because Phlox is on screen much of the time and gives a very fine performance. The problems that exist seem to be germain to the mission.

Trans-dimensional Disturbance and Hallucination

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 23 February 2008]

While traveling to Azati Prime, the Enterprise needs to cross a trans-dimensional disturbance phenomenon that could kill the humans. Dr. Phlox proposes to put the crew in coma for four days while the Enterprise travels through the phenomenon in impulse. In the middle of the journey, Dr. Phlox hears weird noises and T'Pol helps him to stay in the command of the ship. When they realize that the disturbance is longer than expected, Dr. Phlox needs to activate the warp engines to save the crew.

"Doctor's Orders" is an original episode in the style of "Twilight Zone" with great performance of John Billingsley, who acts practically alone along the story. The surprising spooky twist in the very end is unexpected and very funny. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Ordens Médicas" ("Doctor's Orders")

Billingsley excels.

[sogoodlooking · 8/10 · 23 September 2020]

John Billingsley is a tremendous actor, and it has been a treat to see him get the chance to show it throughout Enterprise. I'd love to see him in a conventional horror film (Doctor's Orders, despite Jolene Blalock's presence, is primarily Billingsley's episode, and he plays up the horror elements beautifully), a genre I've always felt blunders by not springing for such actors when they're available for good scripts, as was done with actors like Vera Farmiga for The Conjuring films (and it paid off handsomely, in the films' quality and at the box office).

It's a pity other actors of Billingsley's impressive quality were not hired for Enterprise.

Blalock keeps up with him here, but while she's a fine actor, she was miscast particularly in the first two seasons. Scott Bakula is acceptable, but he doesn't bring much depth to the role, particularly in the more difficult third and fourth seasons where he usually responds to complicated scenes by playing them as angry. Connor Trinneer is the clearest example of an actor not up to a part that is almost as large as Bakula's Captain, while Anthony Montgomery never registers as the pleasant but forgettable Ensign Mayweather.

Billingsley's solo performance makes this reality-challenged episode fun to watch

[mstomaso · 6/10 · 15 December 2007]

Phlox is left alone and in command of Enterprise while the crew sleeps through a dangerous form of radiation which Phlox is apparently not susceptible to. As the days progress the doctor begins to have troublesome experiences and it seems that he may be in psychological or physical danger, or both. And if the doctor has a problem, so does the ship! The episode is ably directed by Roxann Dawson with her usual dramatic flourishes and good use of the camera. The script is slightly above average for Enterprise, but has much more to do with fiction than science.

Better than the average character study for this series - largely because Billingsley is such a fine performer.

Mildly recommended.

Spooky and Exciting

[zboston3 · 8/10 · 31 January 2008]

An unusual episode in some respects, but from time to time this series seems to do "horror" episodes and this veers at times in that direction.

While most of the crew are comatose, Phlox and T'Pol are running the ship until an area of spacial danger is past. Things seem smooth and quiet, but then puzzling things begin to happen. It appears that there are other beings on the ship, perhaps Xindi, or perhaps something even stranger.

As a viewer attempts to figure things out, more and more of what we are seeing becomes questionable. The good doctor and Vulcan may be having delusions. There's a little bit of an old "Twilight Zone" episode in this, right down to the last desperate acts to save the ship and crew, and then there's a great twist at the end.

The Phlox & Porthos Show

[Samuel-Shovel · 6/10 · 5 February 2018]

A large trans-dimensional disturbance stands between the Enterprise and Azati Prime. The only way for the crew to safely pass through it is to be placed in a coma to shutdown a portion of their brain affected by the disturbance. Dr. Phlox is unharmed by the disturbance and mist run the ship over the 4 day span it will take to traverse the disturbance. His mind soon begins to get the best of him as he suffers from delusional paranoia. Phlox must decipher what's real and what's fake.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Dr. Phlox get so much screentime. Him and T'Pol are my favorite main cast members and having an episode centered largely around those two was great. That being said, the episode is pretty average overall. It's pretty clear early on that Phlox is the only conscious one aboard (why else would GE be trained on commanding the bridge if T'Pol was awake as well?). So the big reveal at the end where we learn that T'Pol was a figment of his imagination the whole time had no weight or substance to it, at least in my case.

This episode is well acted, John Billingsley & Jolene Blalock always do a fine job; but the stakes never feel high and nothing exciting really occurs. The fact that it only takes 2 days for him to suffer from delusional episodes is a bit too quick for my tastes, as well. Overall, a pretty average filler episode.

I'm a Physician, Not an Engineer!

[CharoleaWood · 10/10 · 4 October 2023]

Very funny episode. It centers around Phlox and T'Pol losing their minds while the rest of the crew sleeps.

Did Voyager do this too? Sure did, and that episode, "One", s4 e25, is also excellent.

Here we get to see Billingsley and Blalock stretch their comedic legs.

We're used to comedy from Billingsley but it was particularly refreshing and funny to see Blalock play T'Pol as childlike and panicked, especially her facial expressions which were gold!

So it's just a very endearing episode and we get to laugh at ourselves and comfort our own scared inner children.

Adults are, after all, just children with a facade of confidence which will crumble when you undercut those systems they've come to rely on.

Children are much more flexible than adults, an adult on fire might be too proud to remember to stop, drop, and roll but children aren't held back by what others view as proper, rolling on the ground is not a big ask for a child.

"Doctor's Orders" is about allowing that inner child to guide you through your panic, to do those things you are scared to do when they aren't part of your adult expertise.

Phlox home alone

[tomsly-40015 · 7/10 · 6 April 2024]

This episode is basically a copy of the VOY episode "One", in which Seven also has to steer the ship through a dangerous nebula while the crew is in stasis for a long time. On Voyager, however, the crew lies in stasis chambers. On board the Enterprise the crew spends several days dressed in their uniforms in their beds without being connected to any medical equipment. I wonder what happens if after a while the bowel or bladder wants to get rid of breakfast, lunch and dinner... In addition, there is no IV fluid supply whatsoever.

However, the tension in this episode is rather low. At the beginning, Phlox is familiarized by the crew with the controls of the ship as well as with the basic functions of the impulse engine. Archer also expresses his gratitude to Phlox and his trust that the ship will now be under his sole control for several days. It is already clear here that he is the only one on board who was not put into a coma. When T'Pol suddenly appeared, I asked myself, "Wait a minute, if she's awake too - why isn't she operating the ship, after all, she's number one and knows everything about it?". So it was pretty obvious that Phlox was just imagining that T'Pol was awake too. I was just waiting for this situation to be resolved at the end.

Otherwise, Phlox does what Phlox does: he feeds his little zoo, he runs around naked in sickbay, he walks Porthos and he hallucinates. And in the end he saves the day when he also turns on the warp drive to get the ship back on course. It seems as if you don't have to study four years of warp field theory and practice at Starfleet Academy to configure and fine-tune the intermix chambers, the EPS, the plasma injectors and the warp coils to create a stable and safe warp field. It's obviously enough to read the two-page, colorfully illustrated quickstart flyer "Congratulations on purchasing your new, easy-to-use warp drive with plug and play technology."

This is a refreshing episode featuring Phlox and another.

[slshusker · 10/10 · 6 March 2021]

Episodes that feature the nearly NPC cast members tend to be good. With the human crew put into comas as the Enterprise went through a dangerous area, Phlox was the primary character and nailed it. Well done. Shout out to the beagle.

Seen It Before

[Vvardenfell_Man · 7/10 · 21 April 2024]

On top of being cheap (bottle episodes are always cheap, and that's what this is), this is like that Twilight Zone episode where William Shatner sees a gremlin on the wing of his plane. I'm pretty sure there's a Voyager episode where 7 of 9 and the Doctor are the only ones awake on the ship during a long crossing, too. John Billingsley is good here. Jolene Blalock is fine. Porthos is cute. This is a fundamentally boring premise, though. Everyone's asleep! How exciting! What next, a mind control plot where everyone but the actual mind control victim seems to be acting out of character? I'm sure they'd never...

Deja Vu

[edniekevin · 3/10 · 29 September 2020]

This is virtually identical to the Voyager episode where the entire crew is put into stasis leaving seven of nine alone when she starts to mentally unravel. The time it's Phlox.

John Billingsley is good but it is one of the weaker episodes

[snoozejonc · 5/10 · 10 November 2020]

Phlox places the crew in a coma so they can navigate a trans-dimensional space disturbance without suffering neurological effects.

I struggled with this one for a number of reasons, but it's just about watchable for Billingsley's depiction of Phlox' decent into a type of space madness and a bit of insight into the Denobulan race.

The plot is a rehash of episodes from Voyager and tries to be a scary, but doesn't do it with any real menace. We know everything is going to work out fine, so no genuine fear can be created for that reason alone.

Performances are mixed because as solid as Billingsley is, Jolene Blalock appears quite awkward during certain scenes of dialogue.

There is a twist at the end that is so predictable it is virtually telegraphed from about the 13th minute of the episode and for me renders every scene that comes after it somewhat of a struggle.

I like the character of Dr Phlox. The best parts are when he talks about the Denobulan culture and the characteristics of the people and society.

Another Dr

[cescfabulous · 25 January 2021]

No one has mentioned the line that this Doc used, which used to be a favourite of Bones in TOS. So No Spoilers from me

This was awful

[donnieziegfeld · 1/10 · 22 August 2020]

Possibly the worst episode of the season, Phlox runs around the enterprise doing nothing

Glaring plot hole

[robertjbailey-02302 · 4/10 · 9 January 2024]

I gave this a 4 because I enjoy watching John Billingsley as Dr Phlox and T'Pol is one of my favourite characters. Otherwise it has little to recommend it. In the first place, this is a rehash of ST:Voyager episode 25 of Season 4 ("One"). In that episode the entire crew is placed in stasis so that the ship can traverse a toxic nebula.

Like "Doctor's Orders" two of the cast (Seven and the Doctor) interact as Seven struggles with mental issues caused by her month long isolation plus the radiation from the nebula. Like Phlox, this causes her to hallucinate but that is where this episode falls down.

In Seven of Nine's case she interacts with a third party in the guise of a solo traveller whom she is ultimately revealed to have imagined. Phlox however interacts with T'Pol and here I come to the problem. Why didn't Phlox remember placing T'Pol in a coma with the rest of the crew? Why didn't he remember being told by the Captain that he trusted him to look after the ship? Why didn't he remember the training he received from Travis about piloting the ship and why did Trip spend time briefing him on monitoring the engines? None of this would have been necessary if T'Pol had been left awake. Duh!

I appreciate that Phlox may have been affected by the trans-dimensional space, or by his enforced isolation. But if so the affect is oddly selective. Surely he would have expected TkPol to attend movie night? He at least should have observed her failing to eat the food he prepared.

In all honesty I think this is lazy writing.

The whole time I'm thinking, "this better not all be an hallucination."

[wwcanoer-tech · 1/10 · 3 December 2021]

In the last episode they killed a trans-dimensional sphere-builder that they abducted from a section of reconfigured space and now they're going to spend 4 days traversing a new section of reconfigured space while all but Dr. Phlox, T'Pol and Porthos are asleep and can't be woken up or they'll die. No, not risky at all. They've never met anyone who's forcefully or covertly boarded their ship. Right?

So, Phlox thinks that he saw someone in engineering but we don't see he or T'Pol check the internal or external sensors. Only later doe T'Pol say that they checked them.

Phlox sees an insectoid and runs... but doesn't immediately contact T'Pol?! Oh, I forgot, no communicators yet. No reason to carry radios when only two of you awake. Right?

T'Pol agrees to spend 2 hours searching the ship for intruders but doesn't carry a weapon or scanner herself? Surely this is done to show that she doesn't believe that there are intruders, but it doesn't make sense that two people taking care of a ship wouldn't carry arms, scanner and communication devices at all times.

The whole time I was thinking, "this better not all be an hallucination."

Then they suddenly find themselves far from the edge, like they didn't have any automatic monitoring and alarms, let alone kept checking their progress. Would make more sense if they saw the edge growing and initially thought "an extra day is ok", "an extra week?" and then finally decide that they must act.

It was interesting to see T'Pol confused although it would have made more sense if the doctor had put her to sleep for a time for her to recover and then they could have more reliably started the warp engines, but they wanted the confused scene, even though there's never any real suspense.