Star Trek: Enterprise

“The xindi“ marked the beginning of the third season and the start of a singular experiment in Star Trek storytelling.

For the first time, a single story arc would stretch across an entire year's worth of episodes.

Actually, the xindi storyline began at the end of the second season and extended into the first two episodes of the fourth.

This was our first glimpse of the secret xindi council chamber.

The set was built for this episode and remained standing for the entire third season.

The xindi comprised several different species.

These included the xindi humanoids, arboreals, and reptilians, who were played by actors wearing makeup.

The xindi also included the insectoids and the aquatics, both of whom were represented by computer-generated characters.

And this was the first view of the enterprise's command center.

Here, we're introduced to major Hayes and the macos, the “space marines.“

corporal Chang is played by Daniel dae Kim, who also played Jin Kwon on lost.

Nathan Anderson plays sergeant kemper.

Anderson played convicted murderer Scott Peterson in the 2005 TV movie witness: The Amber frey story.

Daniel dae Kim starred as John Matheson, one of the series leads in j. Michael Straczynski's Babylon 5spin-off, crusade.

This is the corridor on stage 18 that connected to the engine room, as well as to the transporter and decon.

Normally, this corridor didn't connect directly to the cargo bay set, but a short corridor extension was added for this scene.

Although the wall is real, the cargo was all digital models to facilitate these gravity-defying movements.

It was faster and cheaper to have artists build the digital replicas than it would have been to rig real cargo props to ilflyll on wires.

The back side of phlox's neutron microscope screen is adorned with a small piece of perforated plastic.

That piece was added to hide the manufacturer's specification plate on the small flat screen TV.

The xindi corpse was discovered in the wreckage in iithe expanse, “ the last episode of the second season.

The xindi corpse was burned in the crash, nearly beyond recognition.

This not only helped emphasize the violence of the crash, it also helped hide the fact that a final design for the xindi did not yet exist.

T'pol resigned her vulcan rank at the end of the second season, and this episode marks the first appearance of her more colorful wardrobe.

(We're not quite sure why she wears a different uniform than other crew members, but maybe Archer was just letting t'pol explore her vulcan fashion sense.)

It's unusual for Star Trek to have three visual effects shots in a row.

Now, we're in stage 9's multipurpose cave sets that stood in for so many different planets during the run of the series.

Each time the caves were used, they were modified to meet the needs of that particular episode.

Over time, the caves gradually got bigger and more complex, allowing for more elaborate scenes.

Stephen mchattie plays the mine foreman.

Mchattie appeared in illn the pale moonlight“ (dsq) As vreenak, romulan senator and vice chair of the dreaded tal shiar.

In genre television, mchattie's credits also include appearances on birds of prey, mutant x, lexx, poltergeist, the outer limits, mantis, and the x-files.

Mchattie also appeared with Scott bakula in a 1993 episode of quantum leap.

The foreman's office was located in the exact spot where star fleet mission control had been built for “first flight“ (ent).

The basic framework of the set was reused many times throughout the series.

This re-usability saved money, allowing more sets to be built for many episodes.

Trip's dream was filmed in front of the Paramount theatre on the studio lot.

Young trip is played by Adam Taylor Gordon, who also played sim trip in "similitudell (ent)."

His grown sister is played by Erin price.

Several Star Trek movies had their premieres at the Paramount theatre.

The theater was also used for the star fleet command hall in “demons " and " terra prime“ near the end of the fourth season.

One of Star Trek's basic assumptions is that life on many planets is very similar to earth life.

In “bread and circuses" (tos), this became known as “hodgkin's law of parallel planet development."

On the other hand, other episodes have established more than one ancient race that "seeded" life throughout the galaxy.

Whatever the reason, numerous species from numerous worlds seem to use DNA that is remarkably similar to our own.

Some scientists have taken exception to this notion.

They point out that while parallel development seems plausible, it's very unlikely that evolution would duplicate genetic structure so closely.

"“Liquid platinum" would appear to be a precursor to Star Trek: Deep space nine's “gold-pressed iatinum.“

the actual platinum container was made from a modified cigar humidor.

Some of the controls on the foreman's desk are recycled from the solar bathysphere in “cogenitorll (ent).

Trellium ore was made from large blocks of blue styrofoam.

The styrofoam blocks were shredded in a wood chipper, yielding blue particles of many different sizes.

And the walls and set dressing were sprayed with diluted blue-gray paint, giving them a grungy blue surface.

Blue powdered paint was also sprinkled liberally around the mine, adding to the set's grunginess.

The effect was enhanced with the use of non-toxic fog, giving the atmosphere a dusty appearance.

The blue chunks and dust got everywhere.

During filming, trails of blue particles led away from stage 9 into the alleys and walkways, much to the studio's chagrin.

Immediately after this episode was filmed, a cleanup crew attacked the set, removing the particles and dust.

They shoveled, swept, vacuumed, and mopped. Repeatedly.

Despite their best efforts, little blue styrofoam chunks managed to cling to corners of the sets and elsewhere on the stage.

Even when the enterprise sets were finally dismantled at the end of the fourth season, you could still find little blue bits on stage.

“Tactical alertll was not used on the bridge when the show first started.

At the beginning, it was thought that the traditional “red alertll had not yet been invented at this early point in star fleet history.

Finally, in “singularity“ (ent), Reed proposed the use of a "tactical alertll system during crisis situations."

In “singularity," someone jokes that it should be called "Reed alert."

Some members of the Star Trek production crew continued to use the term for the rest of enterprise's run.

In tactical alert mode, the columns of blinking icons on the right all turn yellow and red, and they blink much faster.