Category: Star Trek

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

The Forge

Star Trek: EnterpriseAdmiral Forrest is on Vulcan to attend a meeting about possible joint Vulcan-Starfleet missions, when a bomb lays waste to the Earth embassy; Forrest dies trying to save Ambassador Soval from the blast. The Enterprise is diverted to Vulcan to head up the investigation. Though the Vulcan investigators initially suspect at the Andorians, Reed and Mayweather find other evidence pointing toward a Vulcan woman named T’Pau – and they find it on a bomb left over to destroy what’s left of the embassy. The Vulcan investigators assisting Archer’s crew suddenly become less cooperative, admitting only that T’Pau is a member of the Syrrannite movement, a sect which embraces a different interpretation of Surak’s logical teachings than most Vulcans. Privately, Ambassador Soval tells Captain Archer that the investigators are not to be trusted. T’Pol is visited by her new husband Koss, who brings her a gift from her mother T’Les – and brings word that T’Les has gone into hiding as a member of the Syrrannite movement. The gift is her mother’s IDIC, which has been fitted with a holographic projector that may offer a way to find the Syrrannites. The hologram is a map of a Vulcan desert known as the Forge, a desolate region that suffers from such violent geo-magnetic disturbances that transporters, shuttles, and equipment like tricorders and phase pistols are rendered useless. Archer decides to cross the Forge on foot, while Soval and Trip find new evidence that shows that T’Pau is being framed – and that the embassy bomb may have been planted by one of the Vulcans in charge of the investigation. And in the desert, Archer and T’Pol are challenged, and then helped, by a Vulcan man, but when he is mortally wounded in an electrically supercharged dust storm, he entrusts a legacy to Archer without the captain’s knowledge.

Order DVDswritten by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
directed by Michael Grossman
music by John Frizzell

Guest Cast: Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Gary Graham (Soval), Michael Nouri (Arev), Robert Foxworth (V’Las), Larc Spies (Stel), Michael Reilly Burke (Koss)

Notes: This episode features the first appearance of the Vulcan sehlat creature in a live-action Star Trek episode; the creature was previously depicted in the animated Classic Trek episode Yesteryear, in which a young Spock was seen raising a sehlat as a pet (apparently a common practice, as T’Pol had a pet sehlat as well). It would seems that mind melding is still considered deviant behavior among Vulcans, but apparently the stolid Ambassador Soval is familiar enough with it to perform one.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Awakening

Star Trek: EnterpriseAmbassador Soval loses his position within the Vulcan High Command and returns to the Enterprise to help the crew search for Captain Archer. On the surface, in the hidden compound of the Syrrannites, Archer meets T’Pau, the Vulcan woman who has been framed for the bombing of the Earth embassy, and finds that T’Pol’s mother is also there. T’Pau denies any involvement with the bombing, and when Archer tells her about the Vulcan who died helping him reach the Syrrannites, she reveals to him that he was not only the movement’s leader, but he was carrying the living soul – the katra – of Surak himself, the Vulcan who led his people to embrace logic and self-discipline. T’Pau intends to retrieve Surak’s katra, even if it should prove to be harmful or fatal to Archer, while T’Pol isn’t even convinced that such a thing as the katra exists. Yet Archer can’t clear a vision from his mind – encounters with Surak himself, in which Archer is urged to find something called the Kir’Shara. The Vulcan High Command continues to consider the Syrrannites an extreme threat, and orders are given to bomb their compound from orbit and to drive the Enterprise out of Vulcan space. Soval reveals to Trip why the High Command wishes to eliminate the Syrrannites, even if it means resorting to violent means atypical of Vulcan: the Sryrannites’ pacifist ways are increasingly in conflict with a government secretly planning a war with the Andorians. As the Syrrannites flee their damaged compound and T’Pol witnesses her mother’s death, Trip takes it upon himself to warn the Andorians.

Order DVDswritten by Andrè Bormanis
directed by Roxann Dawson
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Kara Zediker (T’Pau), Gary Graham (Soval), Bruce Gray (Surak), Robert Foxworth (V’Las), Joanna Cassiday (T’Les), John Rubinstein (Kuvak)

Notes: T’Pau, though seen as something of a liberal pacifist here, is indeed the same character as the more rigidly traditional overseer of Spock’s mating ritual, and combat with Kirk, in the original Star Trek episode Amok Time. The katra concept is apparently not widely believed on 22nd century Vulcan, though it seems to have gained more ready acceptance by the late 23rd; the term was first coined in the film Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. A decidedly younger Surak also appeared in the original series, as an illusion in The Savage Curtain.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Kir’Shara

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise races to Andorian space. Soval cryptically leads Trip to a location where Vulcan intelligence says Commander Shran’s task group is hiding; Trip hopes that Shran will listen to the warning about the impending Vulcan attack more readily than any other Andorians. Shran is naturally suspicious, and when Soval mentions that the Vulcan High Command is planning the attack based on intelligence that the Andorians are arming their ships with Xindi weapons of mass destruction, Shran denies it. The Andorian returns to his ship and then kidnaps Soval via transporter, torturing him to make sure that the tip about the Vulcan attack is accurate. On Vulcan, V’Las has directed his forces to stop trying to capture the Syrrannites – and to start trying to eradicate them completely. Reassured that Soval is telling the truth – at the cost of much pain to the ambassador – Shran convinces the High Command to head off the Vulcan assault force. Trip puts the Enterprise between the two fleets, trying to stop a war, but it quickly becomes apparent that, despite the fact that no illegal weapons are detected in use by the Andorian fleet, someone is all to ready to take plunge an entire quadrant of the galaxy into war, regardless of the evidence, the consequences, or the truth.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Sussman
directed by David Livingston
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Robert Foxworth (V’Las), Jeffrey Combs (Shran), John Rubinstein (Kuvak), Gary Graham (Soval), Michael Reilly Burke (Koss), Kara Zediker (T’Pau), Todd Stashwick (Talok), Jack Donner (Vulcan Priest), Melodee M. Spevack (Andorian Com Voice)

Notes: T’Pau reveals that the “disease” T’Pol contracted from her mind meld in Fusion is an easily-corrected condition whose supposed “severity” has been exaggerated by the High Command in order to discourage the practice. This would appear to explain why Spock and Tuvok, among others, have never suffered from the same disorder. Soval mentions a chapter of Vulcan history involving the city of Gol; presumably that’s also the origin of the Stone of Gol, a Vulcan artifact of immense power which was the subject of an intense search in the Next Generation episode Gambit. Actor Robert Foxworth previously appeared as Admiral Layton in the Deep Space Nine episodes Homefront and Paradise Lost, a guest appearance which led to the demise of his recurring Babylon 5 character General Hague (he was double-booked by his agent for both SF series at the same time and chose to appear on Star Trek).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Daedalus

Star Trek: EnterpriseTrip is nervous about the arrival of Dr. Emory Erickson, the man who invented Earth’s transporter technology. Captain Archer is a little bit less in awe of the crotchety, wheelchair-bound scientist – Archer, Erickson’s daughter Danica and his son Quinn grew up together, their fathers both demanding pioneers. Erickson has gotten permission from Starfleet to conduct experiments in a new transport technique aboard the Enterprise, a breakthrough which Erickson claims could make star travel obsolete. But en route to Erickson’s destination coordinates for the experiment, something infiltrates the ship, killing a crewman. Erickson, who had previously conducted experiments in that region, says he’s never seen anything like it before. The phenomenon occurs again, and this time T’Pol records a visual record – a record which reveals that the roaming anomaly is, in fact, Quinn Erickson, who Archer thought had died in a transporter accident years ago. Erickson finally reveals that Quinn volunteered to be the first test subject for the long-range transporter, and was trapped in subspace, presumed lost. Erickson confesses that he thinks he’s made a breakthrough, something that will bring Quinn back, and over the senior officers’ objections he pleads with Archer to help him. And despite the fact that Quinn seems to leave a trail of death and destruction with each visit, Archer agrees.

Order DVDswritten by Ken LaZebnik & Michael Bryant
directed by David Straiton
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Bill Cobbs (Emory Erickson), Leslie Silva (Danica Erickson), Donovan Knowles (Quinn Erickson), Noel Manzano (Ensign Burrows), and Porthos

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Observer Effect

Star Trek: EnterpriseReturning from a planetary survey with Hoshi on board, Trip collapses at the controls of a shuttle. Hoshi brings the shuttle back to the Enterprise, and both she and Trip are quarantined. Dr. Phlox isolates a silicon-based virus as the cause of their illness, but since their carbon-based immune systems are ill-equipped to fight a silicon-based virus, they have mere hours to live. With T’Pol’s help, Phlox begins racing to find a cure as Trip and Hoshi become gravely ill, with Hoshi even making a frenzied attempt to escape the quarantine area. And as the search for the cure becomes more and more critical, two alien observers leap from host body to host body, leaving no trace of their presence, debating whether or not humans have what it takes to survive – and wondering how many, if any, of the Enterprise’s crew will survive the spreading disease.

Order DVDswritten by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: none

Notes: This episode marks humanity’s first encounter with the Organians, the non-corporeal life forms who enforced a truce between the Federation and the Klingons in the original series episode Errand Of Mercy. According to the conversation between the Organian-possessed Reed and Mayweather, the Organians have already studied the Klingons and the Cardassians, although it would be at least the 23rd century before humans and Cardassians would meet. Also, Trip counts The Andromeda Strain (1971) among his horror movie favorites. Hoshi sheds light on her status at the beginning of the series: she had been discharged from Starfleet on a disciplinary violation, hence her training civilians in linguistics in Broken Bow before being recruited by Archer; she says her re-enlistment in Starfleet was accepted only on a probationary basis, and doesn’t indicate that this probation has ended.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Babel One

Star Trek: EnterpriseCaptain Archer puts a polish on his worst manners to welcome aboard a delegation of Tellarites. The Enterprise is ferrying the Tellarite ambassador and his staff to a peace conference with the Andorians on the planet Babel. En route to the summit, however, the Enterprise receives a distress call from an Andorian ship and responds as quickly as possible. When the Enterprise gets there, the ship has been destroyed, and only a few life pods remain. Captain Shran, Archer’s occasional ally, was commanding the doomed vessel, and claims that a powerful Tellarite ship was behind the attack. He’s also incensed to discover that there is a Tellarite delegation aboard the Enterprise, and the Andorian captain makes is clear that he’s out for blood. The Enterprise itself is soon attacked by an Andorian ship, but T’Pol spots something unusual in the sensor readings – this Andorian attacker’s energy profile matches the readings given off by the Tellarite warship that destroyed Shran’s ship. The Enterprise puts up a fight and eventually the Andorian ship breaks off and falls back. Archer doubles back to confirm his growing suspicions, and the ship that the Enterprise eventually finds is neither Andorian nor Tellarite – and it seems to have no life support or crew. Trip, Reed, and a small squadron of MACOs board the damaged ship in environment suits, but when it appears that the ship is undergoing repairs and beginning the move again, the MACOs are beamed back to the Enterprise – and Trip and Reed are stranded with only the breathable air in their suits.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Sussman & Andre Bormanis
directed by David Straiton
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Lee Arenberg (Gral), Brian Thompson (Valdore), J. Michael Flynn (Nijil), Molly Brink (Talas), Kevin Brief (Naarg), Jermaine Soto (MACO Crewmember)

Note: Mere days after this episode aired, UPN announced the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

United

Star Trek: EnterpriseTrip and Reed find their way to the bridge of the unidentified ship, where find no one else aboard. The ship changes course violently, and they realize it’s being remotely controlled to engage in another attack. This time, the target is a Rigellian scout ship – and the attacker takes on the guise of the Enterprise, creating another potential incident. On the real Enterprise, Archer tries to force a compromise between the Andorians and Tellarites, but the death of Shran’s mate at the hands of the Tellarite ambassador complicates matters. While the Tellarites and Andorians agree in principle to let Archer lead a coordinated, multi-species effort to find the alien ship, Shran vows to coordinate with no one until he can fight a duel with his wife’s killer. Archer finds a loophole in the rules of an Andorian blood fued and replaces the Tellarite as Shran’s opponent – but even that won’t stop Shran from carrying out his vendetta and endangering the already fragile alliance. And aboard the alien ship, Trip and Reed become the first humans to communicate with an enigmatic species known as the Romulans.

Order DVDsteleplay by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
story by Manny Coto
directed by David Livingston
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Brian Thompson (Valdore), Lee Arenberg (Gral), Molly Brink (Talas), J. Michael Flynn (Nijil), Kevin Brief (Naarg), Geno Silva (Vrax), Scott Allen Rinker (Pilot)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

The Aenar

Star Trek: EnterpriseWith Trip and Reed safely recovered, along with their tricorder readings from the remote-controlled attack ship, Captain Archer decides to continue following the leads on the attackers that nearly drove a wedge between the major species in the Alpha Quadrant. One such lead is the brain wave pattern of the telepathic pilot who was controlling the attack ship: Phlox believes the ship’s controller was at least related to the Andorians. Shran, who elects to stay about the Enterprise to help Archer investigate, consults with his government and learns that the brain waves are that of an Aenar – an elusive, pacifist Andorian subspecies that few living Andorians have seen. The Enterprise travels to Andoria, where Archer and Shran beam down to seek the Aenar. Shran is injured in the treacherous ice caves, but struggles onward, until he and Archer are found by the Aenar – albino, blind Andorians with strong telepathic abilities. The Aenar provide little help, though a young Aenar girl reveals that her brother is missing. She offers to go search for him with Archer and Shran, breaking the Aenar code of non-involvement. Reports come in that more attacks have been carried out by a ship similar to the one that nearly sent the Andorians and Tellarites to war. On the Enterprise, Phlox, T’Pol and Trip are readying a telepathic piloting device of their own, though at best they can only hope to use the unit to disrupt the control signal controlling the attack drone. But this time, the mysterious Romulans have dispatched two of the drones – and the Enterprise crew, even with the help of an Aenar, can only hope to disrupt control to one of them.

Order DVDsteleplay by Andre Bormanis
story by Manny Coto
directed by Mike Vejar
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Jeffrey Combs (Shran), Alexandra Lydon (Jhamel), Brian Thompson (Valdore), Geno Silva (Vrax), Alicia Adams (Lissan), Scott Allen Rinker (Gareb)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Affliction

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise returns to Earth for the launch of her sister ship Columbia, and so Trip can transfer to the new ship as requested, a move that still has his crewmates baffled. During a routine visit to Earth, Dr. Phlox and Hoshi are attacked by a group of Rigellians, who kidnap Phlox. He is taken to a Klingon colony, where he is forced at the point of a phaser to help a Klingon doctor determine the nature of a virus that is said to be spreading through their entire race. On Earth, Lt. Reed is contacted by a superior officer from a top-secret security organization within Starfleet, and given a few clues about what may have happened to Phlox – and is also given orders not to tell Archer about his assignment, or his connection to the organization known only as Section 31. The Enterprise leaves Earth early to search for Phlox, and is attacked by a Klingon ship and boarded by its crew, who sabotage the engines. One of the Klingons is captured, but Archer and the crew are stunned to find that he looks human, without the characteristic cranial bone structure of a Klingon.

Order DVDsteleplay by Mike Sussman
story by Manny Coto
directed by Michael Grossman
music by Velton Ray Bunch

Guest Cast: Ada Maris (Captain Erika Hernandez), John Schuck (Antaak), James Avery (General K’Vagh), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Terrell Tilford (Marab), Kate McNeil (Lt. Collins), Seth MacFarlane (Ensign Rivers), Marc Worden (Klingon Prisoner), Brad Greenquist (Alien #1), Derek Magyar (Kelby)

Notes: There are several familiar faces among the Klingon crew; John Schuck’s Klingon career predates the Star Trek spinoff era with his appearance as a blustery Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and has also played a Cardassian Legate on Deep Space Nine. Marc Worden also appeared on Deep Space Nine, as the grown-up version of Worf’s son Alexander. Eric Pierpoint has appeared in each of the previous Star Trek spinoffs, and starred in Fox’s series adaptation of Alien Nation. This story marks the first official explanation of the difference between the Klingons’ appearance in the original series and every other iteration of the franchise. Prior to this, the closest to an official explanation was Gene Roddenberry’s assertion that the Klingons, in fact, were always meant to look more alien, but the 1960s series wasn’t budgeted for it; this clashes somewhat with a key plot point of the classic episode The Trouble With Tribbles, in which Klingon undercover operatives were indistinguishable from humans except to tricorder sensors.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Divergence

Star Trek: EnterpriseColumbia pulls alongside Enterprise so Trip can transfer to his old ship to sort out the engine damage. On the Klingon colony, Phlox has discovered that an attempt by the Klingon military to splice their own DNA with that of human Augments has created a highly contagious plague. Worse yet, the Empire’s response to that plague has been to begin a widespread program of “sterilization” – destroying any infected colonies, ships or outposts – and the colony where Phlox is fighting the odds to find a cure is next. Captain Archer gives Lt. Reed one last chance to help, and Reed leads the Enterprise and Columbia to the colony where Phlox is being held. Phlox has narrowed his research down to four possible antiviral strains, but even if he finds one, he won’t have enough time to create the cure. Captain Archer beams down to the colony to rescue Phlox, but he may be forced to take on a new role as a human incubator for the cure.

Order DVDswritten by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
directed by Dave Barrett
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Terrell Tilford (Marab), John Schuck (Antaak), James Avery (General K’Vagh), Ada Maris (Captain Erika Hernandez), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Kristin Bauer (Laneth), Wayne Grace (Krell), Matt Jenkins (Tactical Officer)

Star Trek: EnterpriseNotes: Section 31 is, of course, the same covert intelligence organization within Starfleet that takes an active role in the 24th century Dominion War (and recruits Dr. Julian Bashir of Deep Space Nine). Given Section 31’s ambitious attempts to manipulate other governments, it’s not entirely unlikely that Admiral Cartwright (and, in added scenes for the home video and DVD releases, Colonel West) may have been working for Section 31 in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Section 31’s interest in the Augments exists in an alternate timeline as well (Star Trek: Into Darkness).

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Bound

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise encounters an Orion trading vessel whose captain, Harrad-Sar, claims to have an offer that Captain Archer can’t refuse. Harrad-Sar says he’s found a planet loaded with the ore needed to build new warp cores, but the Orion Syndicate doesn’t have the means to extract it; the Orions want to form a pact with Starfleet for the ore. As a token of his good will, the Orion captain also gives Archer something else: three tantalizing Orion dancers, whose female charms quickly overpower everything from common sense to the command structure aboard the Enterprise, even affecting Archer’s judgement. Phlox detects unusually powerful pheromones capable of swaying just about any male crewmember, but Trip alone isn’t affected at all – and T’Pol thinks she knows why.

Order DVDswritten by Manny Coto
directed by Allan Kroeker
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: William Lucking (Harrad-Sar), Cyia Batten (Navaar), Derek Magyar (Kelby), Crystal Allen (D’Nesh), Menina Fortunato (Maras), Christopher Jewett (Crewman #1), Duncan K. Fraser (Crewman #2)

Notes: Cyia Batten, seen here in green skin and not much else, was the first of several actresses to play the role of Tora Ziyal, Gul Dukat’s half-Bajoran, half-Cardassian daughter on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. William Lucking also appeared on DS9 as Furel, a former resistance comrade of Major Kira’s, in Shakaar and The Darkness And The Light.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

In A Mirror Darkly Part I

Star Trek: Enterprise100 years after a Vulcan ship landed in Bozeman, Montana, where a hungry human mob killed its crew and stripped the ship of its technology, the Earth Empire is already carving a swath of fear across the galaxy. Humanity’s greed for technology and territory has made the Empire’s Starfleet a formidable force, especially its flagship, the Enterprise, commanded by Captain Forrest. Forrest’s ambitious first officer, Jonathan Archer, is keen to follow up on leads regarding unusual activity in Tholian space. When Forrest dismisses Archer’s plans to see what the Tholians are up to, the Empire’s typical policy of attrition comes into play: Archer relieves Forrest of command by force, but leaves the captain alive and in the brig. Archer sets a course deep into Tholian space and locks the Enterprise’s helm controls. En route, an incident in engineering cripples many of the ship’s systems and sensors, and marks the beginning of another uprising – this time, science officer T’Pol and the other Vulcan crewmembers, who have survived only by existing in near-slavery to the Empire, sabotage the ship and free Forrest.

But their efforts are far too late – the Enterprise is already in Tholian territory, where they’ve found a ship that seems to be based on Earth Empire technology, but is far more advanced than the Enterprise. Archer theorizes that it could be from an alternate timeline, but again finds little support for his idea. Despite misgivings about Archer’s loyalty, the reinstated Captain Forrest sends his first officer on a mission to salvage the massive ship – the U.S.S. Defiant – but also sends T’Pol along as well, with orders of her own: Archer isn’t to return from this salvage operation alive. But before Forrest can see his orders carried out, the Enterprise becomes the Tholians’ primary target.

Order DVDswritten by Michael Sussman
directed by James L. Conway
footage from Star Trek: First Contact directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner
music from Star Trek: First Contact by Jerry Goldsmith

Guest Cast: Vaughn Armstrong (Captain Forrest), Franc Ross (Grizzled Human)

Appearing in footage from Star Trek: First Contact: James Cromwell (Zefram Cochrane), Cully Frederickson (Vulcan)

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

In A Mirror Darkly Part II

Star Trek: EnterpriseArcher’s gambit to salvage a ship from a hundred years in the future works as he watches the destruction of the Enterprise from the bridge of the U.S.S. Defiant. Liberating the Defiant from the clutches of the Tholians is no easy matter, however, and even once the ship is free from their asteroid salvage yard, Archer discovers an unwelcome passenger aboard. With the most advanced ship in the fleet, Archer experiences delusions of grandeur and power, but after hearing the service record of the Captain Archer who lived in the alternate universe from which the Defiant came, he begins to experience other delusions as well. The Empire’s top brass proves incapable of removing Archer or his mighty new ship, and an uprising among the enslaved Vulcans proves no more effective. But Hoshi, lusting for a power beyond what she can achieve as the “captain’s woman,” may just succeed where Archer’s other opponents have failed…

Order DVDsteleplay by Michael Sussman
story by Manny Coto
directed by Marvin V. Rush
music by Dennis McCarthy & Kevin Kiner

Guest Cast: Gary Graham (Soval), Gregory Itzin (Admiral Black), Derek Magyar (Kelby), John Mahon (Admiral Gardner), Pat Healy (Alien), Majel Barrett (Computer voice)

Notes: This episode marked the first appearance of the Gorn since the original Star Trek episode Arena; there were some notable physical differences, with some subtle touches lost in the rubber suit-to-CGI transition, but those can probably be chalked up to evolutionary differences between “our” Star Trek universe and the Mirror universe. The Defiant’s service records of the 22nd century Enterprise crew note that Archer was considered that century’s pioneering explorer and has even had planets named after him (possibly including Archer IV from Yesterday’s Enterprise), and also credits Hoshi Sato, in her late 30s, with the development of the Linguacode translation matrix first mentioned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Guest star Gregory Itzin appeared with Scott Bakula once before in a 1993 episode of Quantum Leap; he has also appeared in Max Headroom, twice (as different characters) on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and in the Critical Care episode of Star Trek: Voyager. He also appeared alongside classic Trek alumnus George “Sulu” Takei in the TV movie DC 9/11: Time Of Crisis, in which Itzin portrayed Attorney General John Ashcroft to Takei’s Norman Mineta.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Demons

Star Trek: EnterpriseThe Enterprise returns to Earth to be on hand for four weeks of talks between Earth, Andorian and Tellarite officials to lay the groundwork for a peaceful interplanetary league of worlds. But during a reception after the first discussions, a wounded woman approaches T’Pol, gives her a hair sample and a warning that “they’re going to kill her” – and then dies. Dr. Phlox analyzes the hair sample and concludes that it comes from a six month old child who happens to be the offspring of T’Pol and Trip. Trip confronts T’Pol about this news, but she denies ever having been pregnant – and yet she cannot deny her instinct that the child is theirs. Reed investigates, even re-opening some of his severed contacts at Section 31, and discovers that the dead woman was a member of a human separatist movement called Terra Prime. Further investigation reveals that the woman had recently been to a mining colony on Earth’s moon, and also exposes a visiting reporter (and old flame of Mayweather’s) as a Terra Prime spy. Trip and T’Pol infiltrate the mining colony, but are quickly captured by Terra Prime loyalists who use the colony as a recruiting ground. They are taken to meet Paxton, the leader of the Terra Prime movement, and are helpless to watch as he commandeers a verteron array based on Mars, intended to deflect comets from the inner solar system, but now twisted into an interplanetary weapon. Paxton demands that all aliens vacate Earth space immediately, or he’ll train the array on a populated target.

Order DVDswritten by Manny Coto
directed by LeVar Burton
music by Paul Baillargeon

Guest Cast: Peter Weller (John Frederick Paxton), Harry Groener (Nathan Samuels), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Peter Mensah (Greaves), Patrick Fischler (Mercer), Adam Clark (Josiah), Steven Rankin (Colonel Green), Johanna Watts (Gannet Brooks), Tom Bergeron (Coridan Ambassador), Christine Romeo (Khouri)

Notes: The character of Colonel Green was first glimpsed as a historical figure recreated by the Excalbians in the original Trek episode The Savage Curtain (also the third-from-last episode of its respective series, coincidentally), in which Phillip Pine played the character of a genocidal military leader whose reign of terror ended at least a generation before Archer’s Enterprise was launched. Harry Groener appeared in the Next Generation episode Tin Man, and in Voyager’s Sacred Ground installment. Peter Weller may be best known in SF circles for originating the role of the title character in the first two Robocop films, and as heroic guitar-slinging scientist Dr. Buckaroo Banzai, as well as starring in Manny Coto’s Showtime series Odyssey 5. In some respects, Terra Prime is very similar to the ethnocentric, anti-alien Home Guard organization which was a recurring threat in the first season of Babylon 5.

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Enterprise Season 04 Star Trek

Terra Prime

Star Trek: EnterpriseWith Paxton aiming his array on Starfleet Command in San Francisco, Archer backs the Enterprise off – and the ship still suffers damage when Paxton blasts a low-power warning shot toward it, demonstrating that he’s more than capable of destroying a target on Earth. Trip and T’Pol are trapped with Paxton, who confesses that he created the baby with samples of their DNA to serve as a scare tactic to recruit more humans for his Terra Prime movement. Archer tries another approach, leading a team from the Enterprise to reach Mars by hiding a shuttlepod in the wake of a nearby comet, but that mission almost becomes a disaster – someone aboard the Enterprise has sabotaged the shuttle’s systems. Mayweather is able to bring the shuttle in for a smooth landing under manual control, but even if Archer and his team can thwart Paxton’s plan, will the threat derail the conference on Earth?

Order DVDsteleplay by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Manny Coto
story by Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Andre Bormanis
directed by Marvin V. Rush
music by Jay Chattaway

Guest Cast: Peter Weller (John Frederick Paxton), Harry Groener (Nathan Samuels), Gary Graham (Soval), Eric Pierpoint (Harris), Adam Clark (Josiah), Peter Mensah (Greaves), Johanna Watts (Gannet Brooks), Derek Magyar (Kelby), Joel Swetow (Thoris), Josh Holt (Ensign Masaro), Amy Rohren (Tactical Officer)

Notes: Guest star Joel Swetow appeared as Gul Jasad in the two-hour premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and later as a Yridian information merchant named Yog in the First Born episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Dr. Phlox confirms here that human and Vulcan DNA are compatible in a natural mating – Paxton’s genetically-engineered child was created with flawed cloning techniques. Jay Chattaway‘s music was somewhat reminiscent of a score he composed for another television program involving Mars, the 1992 PBS documentary Space Age; Chattaway joined the Star Trek franchise in 1990, scoring the third-season Next Generation episode Tin Man, which also guest starred Harry Groener, and this was his final musical score for the series.

LogBook entry by Earl Green