'Enterprise' Heads For 'North Star' & The Shipment

[master_q 0]

'Enterprise' Heads For 'North Star'

 

Saddle up, buckaroos, the Enterprise is heading for the Wild, Wild West!

 

Sources today revealed the first plot details for "North Star", reportedly the ninth episode of season three to enter production. The episode is said to revolve around a town known as North Star, located on a planet in the Delphic Expanse. North Star isn't any ordinary alien settlement — it looks just like a town from mid-west North America in the late 1800s, complete with a sheriff, deputy and saloon.

 

North Star is populated by humans, who hold all positions of authority, and an alien race, the Skagarans, who are treated as second class citizens. Archer gets a taste of this prejudice when he heads into the local saloon to get some information. The waiter, a Skagaran known as Cronin, is mercilessly teased by Deputy Clay, who tries to provoke Cronin into shooting him. Archer defuses the situation by dropping his glass, earning the deputy's scorn.

 

Not all humans treat the Skagarans (or Skags, as they're known derogatively) in this way. North Star's school mistress, Kit, has taken it upon herself to teach Skagaran children — illegally. When Archer is found with Kit and Skagaran children in her schoolroom, Deputy Clay throws them both in gaol. Their incarceration gives the pair a chance to talk, and Kit tells Archer how humans came to end up in the Delphic Expanse.

 

In 1857, a wagon train travelling across North America was transported by the Skagarans to the planet and the abducted humans were enslaved. Thirty years after the humans arrived, a man named Cooper Smith let a revolt against the Skagarans, and the victors instituted new laws that made their alien oppressors second-class citizens. After 300 years, Kit feels the Skagarans have changed and the people of North Star need to alter their attitudes towards the aliens.

 

The Sheriff issues an ultimatum to Archer: he must leave North Star by morning. But Kit will probably be sentenced to hard labour on a work farm for her attempts to teach the Skagaran children. Will Archer depart North Star quietly and leave Kit to her fate? Don't bet on it.

 

Please note that these plot details come from an early draft of the script and details can and will change before the episode enters production. You should treat this information as you would any other rumour from an unofficial source.

 

"North Star" will likely air in late 2003.

--TrekToday http://www.trektoday.com/news/110903_01.shtml

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

[captainfreeman 0]

Sounds like a throwback to the days of TOS.Should be interesting.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

Sounds like a great story. I was hoping they would do some stories like this. I loved last years 2nd episode, Carbon Creek too.

[master_q 0]

"The Shipment"

 

 

The Enterprise crew embark on a hunt to find the Xindi's "weapon of mass destruction" in an upcoming season three episode.

 

StarTrek.com recently released the below official plot synopsis for "The Shipment", currently scheduled to air on October 22:

 

 

Archer, Reed and Major Hayes infiltrate a Xindi-Sloth industrial colony to learn more about the weapon of mass destruction that will be used against Earth.

 

"The Shipment" was penned by co-executive producer Chris Black ("First Flight") and new consulting producer Brent V. Friedman. "The Shipment" is his second Enterprise outing after "Raijin". Regular Enterprise director David Straiton ("A Night In Sickbay" helmed the episode.

 

The episode features the following guest actors:

 

Steven Culp as Major Hayes

Randy Oglesby as Degra

John Cothran Jr. as Gralik

John Eddins as Xindi Reptilian

Jack Alsted as Sloth #2

Sam Witwer as Sloth #3

Steven Culp reprises the role of MACO commander Major Hayes from "The Xindi", while Randy Oglesby makes his third appearance as Xindi Humanoid Degra after "The Xindi" and "Raijin".

 

John Cothran Jr., who plays the lead Xindi-Sloth, Gralik, has appeared on Trek twice before, playing Captain Nu'Daq in TNG's "The Chase" and Telok in DS9's "Crossover". The actor also featured in the Star Trek: Borg computer game. His other credits include guest roles in The West Wing, NYPD Blue and 24.

 

John Eddins had a recurring role as Agent Richards on 24 last season, while Jack Alsted's only credit listed on the IMDB is a part in a BMW short film. Sam Witwer has guest starred in Angel, Dark Angel and ER.

 

Production on "The Shipment" wrapped Tuesday after a seven-day shoot. Most of the filming took place on sets representing a Xindi-Sloth settlement, including Gralik's house, a forest and a cave. These scenes required several extras dressed up as Xindi Humanoids, Reptilians and Sloths. The B-story revolving around Trip's efforts to dismantle and examine a Xindi rifle was shot on standing NX-01 sets.

 

Previous spoilers for the episode indicate that Gralik tells Archer the Xindi-Sloth do not know they are producing materials for a weapon, and the Sloth are being manipulated by the other Xindi sub-species. "The Shipment" will reportedly shed some light on the history of the Xindi and the relationships between the various sub-spcies.

--TrekToday http://www.trektoday.com/news/140903_02.shtml

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I love these kinds of OS type episodes. Trek Lives On!

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I re-read it and it just sounds like a fun episode. I can't wait to see it.

[master_q 0]

Production News - "North Star"

 

 

The Enterprise production team went on location for the first time this season, but only up the Hollywood Freeway a few short miles to Universal Studios, to film a Western-themed episode that put some of the NX-01 crewmen in cowboy outfits and on horses.

The dusty "Western Town" portion of the Universal backlot was the primary location of "North Star." The script, written by consulting producer David A. Goodman, has Enterprise discovering settlements of humans on a Delphic Expanse planet, living a 19th-century Wild West existence. Visiting the town in local garb, Captain Archer learns they're descendents of a wagon-train group abducted three centuries ago (i.e., late 1800s) by a race called the Skagarans, who enslaved them to build a colony on this planet. The humans revolted and essentially took over the colony, relegating their former oppressors to second-class status. Archer must now figure out what to do about these Earthlings trapped out of time.

 

In recent chats with STARTREK.COM, Scott Bakula described "North Star" as having "the earmarks of being a very classic Star Trek, sci-fi episode" (09.22.03 transcript). "We end up in the Old West, complete with hangings and six-guns, and what makes the episode interesting is the relationships between the humans on the planet and the Skagarans," he later added (10.01.03 transcript).

 

Veteran director David Straiton was in charge of the shoot that spent five of its seven-day schedule at Universal. The backlot settings included the main Western Street and various side streets, a Livery Stable, Schoolhouse and Saloon. The exterior Western Streets saw the bulk of the action, and even included a sequence where Archer decides it's time to reveal himself by arriving in a shuttlepod. A few angles were shot to allow for a flying pod to be optically inserted later, but an actual Shuttlepod set piece was brought in and deposited in the Western town for the actors to step out of. Fans and "air movers" were used to kick up a cloud of dust to give the effect of the shuttle landing.

 

The town was filled with several dozen "townsfolk" — extras dressed in period costumes — going about their business in some scenes and reacting to the bizarre events in others. There were also a number of "Skags" (Skagarans), including a few children, that the makeup people had to produce, involving a few simple prosthetics. A total of 12 horses were used, handled by five wranglers. In one scene Trip Tucker and T'Pol ride a horse together, but due to safety considerations they were doubled by stunt people in some of those shots. In fact, throughout the shoot numerous safety meetings were held concerning working around animals, and also about the use of firearms on set, since there was a fair amount of old-fashioned gunplay. The stunt crew was particularly important in this show, with numerous dangerous moves to perform such as one where a character takes a bullet and falls out of a horse-drawn buckboard. As usual, Vince Deadrick Jr. supervised.

 

The first and last days of the schedule were shot back in the comfort of home at Paramount, where soundstage sets included a Jail Cell and certain exterior night settings. Principal photography officially concluded Tuesday, but the production immediately went into B-unit the next day to shoot Bridge and other ship scenes, overlapping with the first day of the next episode ("Similitude" directed by LeVar Burton), sending the actors literally back and forth between two soundstages and two scripts. (But they're professionals, they're used to it.)

 

The large guest cast includes Emily Bergl as the lovely "Bethany," a local teacher who helps Archer understand the situation on the planet. Bergl appeared in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries "Taken," and has also been seen in Gilmore Girls, Providence and other shows. "Sheriff MacReady" is played by Glenn Morshower, who has been in Star Trek several times before, including "Peak Performance," "Starship Mine" (ST:TNG), "Resistance" (ST:V) and "Star Trek Generations." James Parks was "Vel" in "The Chute" (ST:V), and here he plays "Deputy Bennings."

 

This is director Straiton's third episode of the season, taking it on literally back-to-back with "The Shipment" (two episodes prior). Writer Goodman's previous credits include "Judgment," "Precious Cargo," and the Futurama Trek-parody episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (which, by the way, included references to "Spectre of the Gun" ... coincidence?).

 

"North Star" is tentatively scheduled to air on UPN November 12. More information can be found at its Episode Detail page.

 

Please note: All production and story information is subject to change.

--StarTrek.COM http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/3155.html

 

 

StarTrek.COM Pictures:

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Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com