Star Trek: Enterprise’s T’Pol & Trip Had Baby Hopes (But Misunderstand Every 7 Years Rule)

Connor Trinneer wanted Commander Trip Tucker and Subcommander T’Pol (Jolene Blalock) to try to have a baby if Star Trek: Enterprise season 5 happened, but there is a common misunderstanding regarding the ‘rule’ that Vulcans can only have sexual relations every seven years. Trip and T’Pol became an unlikely but electric couple starting in Star Trek: Enterprise season 3. The Vulcan Science Officer used to savagely critique good ol’ boy Trip, but T’Pol and the Chief Engineer of the NX-01 Enterprise grew close physically and emotionally when she helped him heal from his trauma after an attack on Earth killed Trip’s sister, Elizabeth.

Trip and T’Pol discovered they had a child in the Star Trek: Enterprise season 4 episodes, “Demons” and “Terra Prime.” The xenophobic extremist group Terra Prime used Tucker and T’Pol’s DNA to create a binary clone infant they named Elizabeth after Trip’s deceased sister. The baby Elizabeth was part of Terra Prime’s plot to ‘prove’ that human and alien coupling is dangerous. Tragically, Elizabeth didn’t live very long due to a mistake in her cloning, but it was a seed planted that Trip and T’Pol could have had a child of their own if Star Trek: Enterprise continued into season 5.

Connor Trinneer Wanted Trip & T’Pol To Have A Baby In Star Trek: Enterprise Season 5

Trip and T’Pol’s romance could have continued

At ST-SF: Trek To San Francisco, Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating, who played Lt. Malcolm Reed, were featured in a Star Trek: Enterprise panel and fielded a fan’s question about what they would have liked to see if Enterprise continued with season 5. While Keating lamented Star Trek: Section 31 happening without him and Reed possibly becoming a Captain, Trinneer brought up Trip and T’Pol having a baby. Check out his quote below:

I would have been interested to see what kind of relationship that Trip and T’Pol could have actually had. That would have been an interesting storyline. They were going to try once every seven years to have a baby, so that would have been interesting.

Star Trek: Enterprise season 4’s “Demons” and “Terra Prime” established that baby Elizabeth Tucker was the first known human-alien hybrid, and that it was possible for humans and Vulcans to procreate. This is an important retcon that sets up how Spock (Leonard Nimoy) was born to Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (Mark Lenard) and his human wife, Amanda Grayson (Jane Wyatt), decades later. However, Connor Trinneer seems to misunderstand the Vulcan pon farr and its ‘every 7 years’ rule.

Vulcans’ Every 7 Years Mating Rule Is Misunderstood

Pon farr isn’t the only times Vulcans can mate

The Vulcan mating ritual pon farr was introduced, along with many aspects of Vulcan culture, in the classic Star Trek: The Original Series season 2 premiere, “Amok Time.” Mr. Spock was gripped with blood fever-induced madness and was compelled to return to Vulcan with an uncontrollable urge to mate. Vulcans undergo pon farr every 7 years, but this isn’t the only time a Vulcan is allowed to mate. Vulcans can have sexual relations any time they wish; pon farr is just a manifestation of Vulcans losing their logical control and reverting to their savage natures every 7 years.

For example, the younger Lieutenant Spock (Ethan Peck) and T’Pring (Gia Sandhu), his Vulcan fiancée, were perfectly intimate in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ series premiere. As such, if Trip and T’Pol continued their love story on Star Trek: Enterprise, they could have indeed tried to have a baby together, and it could have happened as often as they wished. Trip wouldn’t have needed to wait for 7-year intervals to try to have a baby with T’Pol. However, humans love to poke fun at the uppity Vulcans, so pon farr is an easy way to mock T’Pol’s pointy-eared species.

Star Trek: Enterprise is available to stream on Paramount+