Star Trek: Enterprise (TV Series)

Shuttlepod One (2002)

Connor Trinneer: Cmdr. Charles 'Trip' Tucker III

Photos 

Quotes 

• [the shuttlepod's navigation is down] 

  Commander Tucker : You come from a long line of navy men and you got a real good memory. Look hard at those stars, find something that looks familiar, and tell me which way to go!

  Lt. Reed : Sir...

  Commander Tucker : That's an order!

  Lt. Reed : I don't suppose you have a sextant handy?

  Commander Tucker : ...I left it with my slide rule.

• Lt. Reed : Sometimes I think you North Americans read nothing but comic books and those ridiculous science fiction novels.

  Commander Tucker : Well, I'll have you know that Superman was laced with metaphor - subtext layered on subtext.

  Lt. Reed : Oh, if only Dr. Cochrane had been a European, the Vulcans would have been far less reticent to help us. But no, he had to be from Montana.

• Lt. Reed : I was just beginning to think that Captain Archer was invincible, you know? Just serving on the same starship as him made me feel safe for some reason. He had a knack for getting us out of trouble, didn't he?

  Commander Tucker : Yeah, he's always been that way. When I first taught him to dive, it really got on my nerves. He'd come down to the Keys at least once a month, and whatever it was I was teaching him, he'd get it the first time. Did you ever try clearing your mask?

  Lt. Reed : Clear my mask?

  Commander Tucker : Everybody's got to do it before they get certified. You go down and the instructor fills your mask with water, and you have to clear it by blowing out through your nose. Nobody likes to do it.

  Lt. Reed : The Captain?

  Commander Tucker : Got it the first time. Filled it with water a second time just so he could clear it again. I took him on a night dive once into some caves I'd been to a hundred times before, and for some reason I got a little lost. So what does Archer do? He swims ahead of me and finds a way out.

  Lt. Reed : I can't imagine why you'd have a problem with that.

  Commander Tucker : I was the instructor. I'd been diving all my life. Then big Mister Starfleet comes down and does everything faster and better than I could. That's when I decided to introduce him to old Waldo.

  Lt. Reed : And who was that?

  Commander Tucker : A green moray. It's said he's thirty years old. Must've been two-and-a-half meters long. So I took the Captain into Waldo's hole. Told him there was some beautiful starfish inside, and he reached in. Damned if old Waldo didn't take hold of his forearm.

  Lt. Reed : A moray eel? Are you out of your mind?

  Commander Tucker : I was breaking just about every rule in the book, but he was wearing titanium mesh. I figured the worst thing that could happen would be that Waldo would scare him a little. He deserved to have the piss taken out of him.

  Lt. Reed : So?

  Commander Tucker : No such luck. He pulled Waldo clear out of the hole. I don't think I'd ever seen that eel's tail before. He found some pressure point under it's lower jaw, right about here. Waldo just let go. Went back down his hole.

  Lt. Reed : That must have been the last time the Captain ever went diving with you.

  Commander Tucker : That's the thing. He found it all funnier than I did. He took me out to dinner that night. Steaks, lobsters...

  [sighs sadly] 

  Commander Tucker : Kentucky bourbon.

• Commander Tucker : To the brave men and women... of the starship Enterprise.

• [Tucker is indulging in reminiscences about a long lost love] 

  Commander Tucker : Ah, Ruby... Whatever happened to you?

  Lt. Reed : Ruby? You don't mean the waitress Ruby?

  Commander Tucker : You knew Ruby?

  Lt. Reed : Uh... I knew her more times than I can remember.

  Commander Tucker : Ouch!

• [Reed tries to prevent Tucker from sacrificing himself, threatening him with a phase pistol] 

  Commander Tucker : What're you gonna do, kill me?

  Lt. Reed : It's set to stun. I don't want to use it. But I will.

  Commander Tucker : Put it down!

  Lt. Reed : Go to hell!

  Commander Tucker : Stop trying to be a hero. It doesn't suit ya!

  Lt. Reed : What would you know about being a hero? It takes nothing but a coward to crawl up inside a hole to die!

  Commander Tucker : Then go ahead and shoot me. But you better hope we don't make it, because if we survive, the first think I'm gonna do is bust your ass back to crewman second class for insubordination!

  Lt. Reed : Be my guest! I could use a little less responsibility! Now... get down here!

  Commander Tucker : Who the hell do you think you are?

  Lt. Reed : Your Armory Officer, and perhaps your friend.

  Commander Tucker : Friends don't shoot each other!

  Lt. Reed : D'you know, I'm not a doctor; but I'm pretty sure you use up a lot more oxygen, WHEN YOU SHOUT LIKE THAT!

• Lt. Reed : Does that sound modulated enough for you?

  Commander Tucker : Modulated?

  Lt. Reed : The radio! Or is it just the galaxy, giggling at us again?

  Commander Tucker : It can giggle all it wants. But the galaxy's not gettin' any of our bourbon.

• Lt. Reed : We have less than nine days of oxygen left. It seems a waste to use it up sleeping.

  Commander Tucker : If I don't waste some oxygen sleeping, I'm gonna start gettin' real cranky. And you don't wanna spend your last nine days cooped up with me when I'm cranky!

• Commander Tucker : Who's Stinky?

  Lt. Reed : [waking up]  I beg your pardon?

  Commander Tucker : You were talking in your sleep. Kept calling for some guy named Stinky.

• [Reed is recording another letter to a former relationship] 

  Lt. Reed : "My dearest Rochelle. By this time, I'm certain you've learned of the tragedy..."

  Commander Tucker : Wouldn't it be easier just to record one message and then add the "dear whoever" afterward? This is your fifth or sixth identical letter!

  Lt. Reed : That's not true. There've been subtle differences. I would never refer to Rochelle as having a "beautiful smile".

• [Reed has suggested to jettison their impulse drive and blow it up, to send Enterprise a signal] 

  Commander Tucker : I can't blow up our engine. We'd be adrift, dead in space.

  Lt. Reed : What's the difference between that and traveling at a snail's pace?

• Commander Tucker : I saw a great cartoon once. There are these... two snails sittin' on the back of a big old turtle. One snail turns to the other and says... "Hold on, Fred. Here we go."

• [Tucker has lit a candle] 

  Lt. Reed : D'you really think that's gonna provide any heat?

  Commander Tucker : The bourbon will provide the heat. The candle's just for mood.