A Night in Sickbay
The episode was written by executive producers Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, and directed by David Straiton.
In this episode, after visiting the planet Kreetassa, Captain Archer's (Scott Bakula) dog Porthos falls ill with an unknown pathogen.
Archer stays overnight in sickbay to look after his dog with Doctor Phlox (John Billingsley), knowing that afterwards he must take part in an elaborate apology display to the Kreetassans.
She was required to lie still for long periods, jump into Bakula's arms on command, and also act on her own while her trainer was not on set.
During the night, as he dreams of Porthos' funeral, Archer also deals with unresolved and suppressed sexual tension with T'Pol.
Executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga had worked together to write a series of episodes for Star Trek: Enterprise, with "A Night in Sickbay" amongst them.
Berman originally described the episode at a press junket when talking about season two at an event held by UPN for the Television Critics Association.
He said that this meant that the viewer will "find out a lot of stuff about [Phlox] that we may not have wanted to know; like what he does when he's in his off hours... he has things to cut and trim!
[4] Armstrong is better known for his recurring role in Enterprise as Admiral Maxwell Forrest, but had previously played the Kreetassan captain in the first season episode "Vox Sola".
[8] In order to prepare for the scene where Porthos leaps out of an immersion tank and into Archer's arms, Rowe had a mock-up created so he could practice it with Breezy.
[8] A further challenge for the dog actor was to lie still in an isolation tank and not move even when petted by Bakula or Billingsley during some long scenes whilst on screen.
[11] Alexander Chase at USA Today said the numbers "confirm a ratings turnaround for the newest Trek series".
[12] The episode placed Enterprise fourth in a list of the most highly rated science fiction or fantasy genre shows on television for that week, behind Alias, Smallville and John Doe.
[12][13] Herc of Ain't It Cool News rated the episode three out of five, and praised the story about how Porthos was named and the elements of sexual tension between Archer and T'Pol.
He thought the Odd Couple type relationship between Archer and Phlox did not work all the time, that there were too many misfires in the comedic elements, and the episode was repeating things that had already "Been seen done.
[15] Jamahl Epsicokhan of Jammer's Reviews called it "easily the dumbest concept for an episode of Star Trek since Voyager's holodeck was hijacked by the residents of Fair Haven", and gave it a score of one out of four.
[20] Screen Rant ranked "A Night in Sickbay" the 14th worst Star Trek episode, highlighting what they felt were poor character development choices and a weak plot that revolved around a sick dog (Porthos) that peed on a tree.
