Horizon ( episode ) While " Enterprise " diverts to observe an unusual planetary event , Travis Mayweather takes time off to visit his family on the cargo ship where he was born and raised , the " Horizon " . Summary . Teaser . Ensign Travis Mayweather is in his favorite part of that happens to have variable gravity parts to it . Soon , though , he gets a call to report to the bridge , as an important mission calls " Enterprise " to reverse course . Act One . Captain Jonathan Archer briefs the crew on their mission from Admiral Maxwell Forrest . A certain planet has recently shifted orbit to relocate between two gas giant s and where there is a lot of volcanic activity to be expected due to the new gravitational environment . " Enterprise " is to make a detour to gather scientific data . Since most of the data collection is automatic , this also gives the crew some free time . Commander Tucker organizes daily movie night s and encourages T ' Pol to join , at least for the first night . She reluctantly agrees , but tries to find a medical excuse from Doctor Phlox – no luck . Meanwhile , since they will be passing near the , the ship that Mayweather was both born and grew up on , the helm officer asks for a leave . Archer agrees and talks with him a bit . His parents are still there and will be surprised to see him . Archer even mentions he once considered a career on one of those ships . Mayweather unfortunately gets an unhappy message from his mother : his father died six weeks previously . Since the ensign left on bad terms when he departed for Starfleet , it is even more shocking . Archer goes to find Mayweather in his secluded spot on the ship when he hears the news . He says he knows for a fact his father was proud of him , through what he said to Archer when he was doing a background check on Travis . " I have never met a more natural stick - and - rudder man in my life , and you would be a fool if you don ' t choose him . " It was a pretty good comment suggesting that Travis ' father didn ' t quite disapprove his choice even if he wouldn ' t admit it . Tucker sends Mayweather off with a compilation of pictures from Mayweather ' s experiences aboard " Enterprise " . Act Two . Mayweather first chats with his mom , her mentioning all the concerning things she ' s heard about ( through her contacts ) , and him downplaying the danger . The ship is headed to Deneva Station to pick up supplies . He also sees Juan , who ' s happy to see him and wants to meet up later in the mess hall . His mom has arranged to have Mayweather ' s quarters available for him , and he ' s interested to find some of his old things , including a astrometric chart of all the places he wanted to go . His mom leaves to align plasma conduit s , so he settles in and visits his brother , Paul , at work in the cargo bay . It ' s a more somber meeting , as Paul says he didn ' t expect to become captain so soon . Travis , looking around , notes business must be good . Paul seems to need to get back to work , so Travis bids goodbye until dinner . Before leaving , Paul makes an unfriendly comment about Travis changing into a " less conspicuous " uniform , noting Travis ' choice to join Starfleet . Friction between the Mayweather brothers starts when Travis tries to make some upgrades to the ship ' s navigational sensor s and port stabilizers on the ship ' s bridge . Paul enters and sees what Travis is doing . Annoyed that Travis would perform upgrades without consulting him , he confronts him with the concern that , if the upgrades go offline after Travis leaves , they couldn ' t get them fixed . The coldness changes into sarcasm as he suggests Travis next build a warp 5 engine . Travis becomes awkward and simply leaves . Later , he gets a visit from Nora and they happily catch up . While not wanting to spoil Travis ' visit , she reveals that the ship has had its difficulties in the past few weeks , bringing concern that Paul isn ' t up to the role of captain . Travis is confident in him , though , and says it ' s only a few weeks . This sheds light on Paul ' s earlier greeting . Even though it appears that Paul still likes Travis , he apparently feels a little insecure with his new responsibilities and is under a lot of pressure . Travis ' conversation with Nora is interrupted as the " Horizon " is attacked . Act Three . Travis gets to the bridge to learn they ' re attacked by unknown aliens who don ' t respond to hail s . Travis gets to a panel during the action . Paul decides to run instead of firing back . The ship successfully hits warp 1 . 85 , but the aliens catch up . Then , they move away . Travis , however , finds they attached something to the freighter ' s hull – a subspace beacon with a dicobalt explosive to prevent it from being tampered with . Travis joins Paul , their mother and Charlie Nichols , who gathered some information about this same tactic used on the . They can expect another ship to intercept them soon and demand their cargo , or they will be attacked . Paul wants to speed up and arrive at Deneva ahead of schedule , since it ' s safe there . Travis , wanting to fight , thinks he knows the engine configuration of the attack ship , like a Mazarite ship . Further , he thinks he can create a better weapon using a method Malcolm Reed came up with once . Paul dismisses it , saying it ' s too risky . He feels they have to run , and , if they are intercepted too soon , they will give up their cargo . Travis makes another plea , but Paul coldly states he ' s not a part of the crew anymore . On " Enterprise " , the crew is preparing for the stellar event and the social event . Tucker and T ' Pol are re - calibrating equipment while Hoshi Sato is ordered to get a communications link to Admiral Forrest so he can view . Archer finally gets T ' Pol to go to a movie night by using arguments about crew fraternization . He suggests to " make a night " of it and do dinner as well , taking T ' Pol as his date ( and promising to be a gentleman ) . T ' Pol is very unsettled , for a Vulcan , and feels she must accept . That night , the crew watches " Frankenstein " , and typical movie behavior ensures . T ' Pol soon becomes bored and reads a PADD , but Archer reminds her she was going to give it a chance . Phlox , sitting behind T ' Pol , notes similarities of Dr . Frankenstein ' s procedure to some culture he ' s seen , and gets excited about it only to be cut off by T ' Pol . She further " indulges " in some popcorn . On the " Horizon " , Nichols sees someone is tampering with the impulse relays . Paul goes down personally to see Travis making upgrades to the ship ' s weaponry against his wishes . Paul now becomes openly hostile , throwing irrational accusations at his brother about him leaving their father and not being around even though he knew his father was sick . Travis states that isn ' t fair and that any captain needs to put his / her personal feelings aside . Paul retorts that Starfleet is the problem , enticing potential freight recruits on the promise of " exploration . " He demands Travis take the upgrades offline , but Travis leaves . Fortunately , after a conversation with his mother in the mess hall , Travis understands that only time will help his brother , that Paul is now in a worse situation than his father was in when he first took command of the ship , and that no upgrades or extended leave ( for Travis ) will make it faster or easier . Act Four . In the captain ' s dining room , Tucker and Archer want to know T ' Pol ' s reaction to the movie . They are both surprised by her conclusions . She views Frankenstein ' s monster as the protagonist , an individual persecuted for being different . Further , she makes an analogy between the villagers ' reactions to the creature and the reaction Human s had when the Vulcans first arrived on Earth . She says that she will suggest to Ambassador Soval that he show the movie to every Vulcan newly arrived on Earth . They are interrupted by the volcanic activity , which prompts Archer to order " Enterprise " to move farther away . Furthermore , there are microbial species unearthed by the activity . When the aliens return for the " Horizon " , they want every crewmen to get out of the freighter . Paul offers just the cargo , but the alien doesn ' t accept . Forced , Paul decides to make use of the new weapon system – to protect not only his ship , but the whole freighter fleet in general . With Travis at the helm , the mooring clamps disengage from the cargo section and the light J class tug section outmaneuvers the aliens ' ship and , using the enhanced plasma weapons , disables the alien ship ' s weapons . Paul allows them to leave so that they can warn their fellow pirates that ECS freighters were the wrong ships to attack . Paul is much more friendly at the end as he finally understood that Travis was not trying to undermine his authority and he leaves his brother with his best wishes . Memorable quotes . " " Well , they ' d better post a psychologist on board because I ' d need one if my parents were roaming the corridors . " " " " We ' re going to be showing the three greatest horror movies ever made : " Frankenstein " , " Bride of Frankenstein " , and " Son of Frankenstein " . We might even throw in " Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein " . " " " " I promise you ' ll like it . Reanimated life forms , science run amok . They ' re right up your alley . " " " " You come here a lot ? " " " " Every now and then . " " " " He wrote the shortest recommendation . Just one sentence . He said he ' d never met a more natural stick and rudder man in his life and I ' d be a fool if I didn ' t choose you . " " " " It might be a good idea for you to go , too . It might be fun , and a little fraternizing couldn ' t hurt . " " " " I don ' t understand how sitting silently in a darkened room constitutes fraternizing " " " " This Dr . Frankenstein , his technique is not dissimilar to a practice on B ' Saari II . " " " " We can stop the film if it ' s disturbing your " conversation " . " " " " Captain , I ' m reading bio - signs on the planet . To quote Dr . Frankenstein , " It ' s alive . " " " Links and references . References . " Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein " ; babysitter ; book club ; B ' Saari ; B ' Saari II ; " Bride of Frankenstein " ; cargo container ; catwalk ; ; " Chicago Gangs " ; ; ; ; " Constellation " , ECS crew members ; Demerian s ; Deneva Station ; deuterium ; dicobalt ; Earth ; Earth Cargo Authority ; electrode ; family reunion ; forklift ; ; " Frankenstein " ; gas giant ; grav - plating ; great aunt ; harmonica ; holometric camera ; ; hull plating ; imaging relay ; ; kilometer ; kiloton ; larva ; ; Mayweather ' s grandfather ; Mayweather ' s sister ; Mazarite ; Mazarite ship ; metric ton ; movie s ; movie night ; navigation sensor ; neutronic storm ; nutri - pak ; Orion freighter ; phase cannon ; pitchfork ; plasma injector ; plasma turret ; " pon farr " ; popcorn ; prophecy ; protagonist ; ; ; referee ; reserve power ; Romulan ; San Francisco ; " Sea Witch " ; ; " Son of Frankenstein " ; Soval ; spatial discriminator ; standard astrometric chart ; Starfleet database ; Starfleet ( Earth ) ; strawberry shortcake ; stromatopod ; subspace postcard ; Takret s ; " tarul - etek " ; Trelkis III ; thermal scanner ; torch ; Vega colony ; Vulcan ;