25 WORST Episodes Of Star Trek EVER

Porthos deserved star billing on Enterprise. He was the Spock to Archer's Kirk. One could easily imagine Archer up against that Plexiglas, promising Porthos that he had been and always would be his friend.

Those lines above make for a better storyline that this episode offered, if I do say so myself.

Porthos gets sick and has to spend the night in sickbay. Captain Archer, who has sent men and women to their deaths in missions and commanded a starship, completely freaks out and can't stand to be away from the dog. Any dog owner can understand this, to a point. The episode then proceeds to make Archer the most unlikable, argumentative owner that the show has yet seen. The fact that Dr. Phlox didn't kick him out of the infirmary is baffling, Captain or not.

John Billingsley, conversely, enjoyed this episode and enjoyed the amount of time he got to spend with Scott Bakula. He remarked that he knew that episode drew criticism from fans but he could deal with that for this enjoyment of it. Somehow, the episode was nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form.

Yet in its runtime, it obliterates the character of Archer, making him impulsive, aggressive and downright stupid. And there is a dream sequence set in a dog cemetary. It is unclear what the producers were thinking when this episode was conceived but with a lot of luck, that thought process will never come back again.