[S] First Flight

[Takara_Soong 4]

 

Here is the synopsis from Startrek.com for First Flight

 

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Fifty hours of Enterprise are now in the can, as LeVar Burton takes the pilot's seat for production number 50, his second episode almost in a row.

 

Keith Carradine guest-stars in "First Flight," a story that owes a lot of its inspiration to "The Right Stuff," the 1983 movie about the original seven U.S. astronauts. The Enterprise crew discovers what appears to be a dark matter nebula, and just as they begin to investigate, Archer hears from Admiral Forrest that an old colleague of his, A.G. Robinson, died in an accident. During a shuttlepod mission into the nebula, a despondent Archer relates to T'Pol how he competed with Robinson for "first flight" — the attempt to break the Warp 2 barrier.

 

Most of the episode takes place in flashback, to the days of the NX Test Program when Archer was a commander, Forrest (Vaughn Armstrong) was a commodore, and Trip Tucker was a lieutenant working on the engineering team headed by Captain Jefferies (get it? — an homage to Matt Jefferies, who created the saucer-and-nacelle design of the original Starship Enterprise in the '60s). We will get to see some of the test vehicles post-Phoenix and pre-Enterprise, and the facilities those early warp pilots worked in. Plus... remember in "Shuttlepod One" when Trip and Malcolm talked about a little bar in Mill Valley where all the Starfleet trainees used to go, with a waitress that both guys had a thing for? Well, we'll get to visit the 602 Club and meet the beautiful Ruby.

 

Carradine plays A.G. Robinson, the cocky fly-boy intent on besting Archer for the historic Warp 2 flight. The statuesque Carradine is a popular actor in Hollywood with an extensive list of TV and movie credits (he's also a musician, and even earned an Oscar in 1976 for his song "I'm Easy"). He is the son of legendary horror movie actor John Carradine and half-brother of Kung Fu star David Carradine (Keith actually played a younger version of David's character on that show at times). For Armstrong, this was his most substantial gig yet in the Forrest character, working five of the seven shooting days.

 

Production on this episode started last Monday, March 10, with simple scenes inside the shuttlepod between Scott Bakula and Jolene Blalock, as most of the other cast members were involved in second-unit photography on prior episodes including "Horizon" and "Regeneration." Day 2 of "First Flight" finished off the present-day scenes in the Bridge and Launch Bay, then the rest of the schedule took place in the past. A very impressive space capsule built next door in the wood shop served as the test craft, seen in the NX Hangar set. The cockpit of the craft was actually a separate set piece, which Carradine and Bakula took turns in, rigged to shake violently at times, and backdropped by a "greenscreen" where unusual warp effects will be optically inserted later. Other swing sets built include the 602 Club and NX Mission Control. Principal photography concluded yesterday.

 

Among the guest cast were three crewmen from the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise CVN 65 selected by the Navy as "Sailors of the Year." In what has become an annual tradition, these honorees came to Paramount to be a part of the Star Trek universe — but this year, instead of playing 22nd-century Enterprise crewmen, they will appear in the background of the NX Mission Control scenes as a Tech (James D. Frey), a Senator (Kathleen J. Grant) and a Senator's Aid (Thomas P. Hunt). Those scenes were shot Monday, March 17, and during the day the cast and crew took a break to let the sailors present Bakula, Burton and Connor Trinneer with a flag that flew over the carrier earlier this month, in gratitude for the support and encouragement the Enterprise team has given to the crew of the real U.S.S. Enterprise. (See related story and picture.)

 

Other guest actors in this episode include Trek veterans Michael Canavan as a Vulcan Advisor and Victor Bevine as a Flight Controller. Canavan played Maquis terrorist "Tamal" in "Defiant" (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and "Curneth" in "Unforgettable" (Star Trek: Voyager). Bevine was the Bajoran "Belar" in "Things Past" (DS9), a Security Guard in "Pathfinder" (Voyager) and a Guard in "Star Trek: First Contact."

 

This is Burton's fourth Enterprise episode, but his second of the season, literally back-to-back. Burton started pre-production on this project concurrently with post-production on his prior one, number 48, "Cogenitor." Burton has experience directing milestone episodes — he was at the helm of Voyager's 100th, "Timeless." (If you want to get technical, this is actually the 49th episode, but the two-hour "Broken Bow" is counted twice.)

 

"First Flight" was written by John Shiban & Chris Black, and is tentatively scheduled to air May 14 on UPN.

 

 

 

Link to discuss this upcoming episode: First Flight