ENT's "Twilight"

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ENT's "Twilight"

 

 

The obvious allusions invited by the title to a certain other classic TV show are not inappropriate as Enterprise delves into what Scott Bakula describes as "possibly our most interesting, complicated, compelling episode to date" under the direction of Robert Duncan McNeill.

In "Twilight," written by co-producer Mike Sussman, Archer is hit with a spatial distortion that leaves interdimensional parasites in his brain which prevent him from forming any new long-term memories. Because these organisms exist outside normal space-time, Dr. Phlox is unable to treat the captain. Archer therefore wakes up each morning unaware that any time has passed since the day he was infected. One morning he finds himself in a strange dwelling on an alien planet, and T'Pol is there to relate to him the devastating history of the last 12 years.

 

In Bakula's own words, "I can barely explain it myself, but it does involve time travel into the future, parasites in my hippocampus, and Xindi and subspace implosions." He said this during yesterday's chat with STARTREK.COM (related transcript). In his September 10 chat, he also called it "potentially the best script we've had and the best show to date" (related transcript).

 

He actually did that chat during a break from the first day of filming for "Twilight" (the day of the Season 3 premiere). The script calls for scenes taking place not only in the present day of the series (October 2153), but at various points in the future, up to 12 years hence. The first few scenes were shot in Archer's Quarters, when he wakes up in the "very near future" and "near future." In one sequence he grappled with a Xindi-Reptilian invader played by stuntman Jacob Chambers (Bakula was doubled by stunt coordinator Vince Deadrick Jr.). At the end of the Sept. 10 chat, Bakula revealed, "I have to go now and fight a Xindi-Reptilian. I don't want to give anything away, but he loses."

 

For Thursday's shoot, the Bridge and Corridor sets were modified to reflect years of wear and damage, and the actors were also aged (there were also extra pips on their uniforms). As implied above, there is a Xindi-Reptilian invasion of the ship at one point, and Chambers was joined by Joey Anaya and Ian Eyre as fellow stunt-Xindi. Keith Campbell, Gil Rosales and Justin Sunquist did stunts as both NX-01 crewmen and MACOs in action scenes with the Xindi. Thursday was September 11, and the entire cast and crew took some time to observe a period of reflection to honor the victims of that day two years ago.

 

On Friday Gary Graham joined the cast for one day as "Soval." He did one "viewscreen" shot, and then a near-future scene with Jolene Blalock as "T'Pol." The actors found themselves literally time-jumping all day, as scenes were filmed on standing ship sets in several different time periods, which meant their makeup had to change between practically every set-up.

 

The production was marred by tragedy as the team reported to work Monday morning to learn that First Assistant Director Jerry Fleck had died over the weekend of natural but unknown causes. By 10:00 a.m. it was decided that the company would shut down for the day to mourn the loss of the beloved crew member (related story, updated with photos and new info). Fleck was not actually working on this episode, but was in pre-production on the next one, titled "North Star." This season Fleck has worked as 1st A.D. every other episode, alternating with Arlene Fukai and Michael DeMeritt. DeMeritt was 1st A.D. on "Twilight," but when production resumed on Tuesday, he moved over to pre-production duties on "North Star," and Fukai stepped in to complete "Twilight."

 

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent doing mostly future scenes on ship sets including Sickbay, Engineering, and Corridors. On Thursday, an "Old Porthos" joined Bakula and Blalock for an entire day in the abode Archer wakes up in 12 years in the future. Friday the entire cast reconvened for ship scenes involving some severe damage and injury, mainly on the Bridge and in Engineering. As many as 15 extras filled out the NX-01 crew throughout the schedule, along a few background Xindi in addition to the stunt players.

 

This shoot had more than its share of somber moments, so to help lighten things up on the final day, Friday, McNeill came to work wearing his old Voyager uniform (i.e., the one he wore as "Tom Paris"). According to Bakula, McNeill bragged all day about the fact that he still fit in it.

 

Besides Graham, the guest cast includes Brett Rickaby as "Yedrin Koss," an alien who complicates matters for Enterprise in one of the future scenarios. Rickaby recently appeared in HBO's Carnivale, which is executive produced by former Trek writer/producer Ronald D. Moore and features "Silik" actor John Fleck (no relation to Jerry Fleck, by the way). Rickaby also portrayed Frank Gorshin (an Original Series guest actor) in the TV movie "Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt." Richard Anthony Crenna, son of the late Richard Crenna, plays an NX-01 Security Guard.

 

This is McNeill's third Enterprise episode in as many seasons. He previously directed "Cold Front" and "The Breach." Writer Sussman has many Enterprise scripts to his credit, the most recent being last week's "Anomaly."

 

"Twilight" is tentatively set to air November 5. UPN has scheduled October 29 for a repeat episode (to be determined). As always, this information is subject to change. More about "Twilight" can be found at its preliminary Episode Detail page.

 

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

--StarTrek.COM http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/2914.html

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com

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More Info / Spoilers

 

 

Robert Duncan McNeill, director of the upcoming Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Twilight", said that when he read the script he said, "'Holy crap how are we going to do that?'"

 

Speaking to Star Trek Monthly, the former Tom Paris actor wondered whether he was chosen to direct this episode because of the action sequences he oversaw last season. "This one is just loaded with lots of action and special effects," he revealed.

 

Though he had just read the outline of the episode at the time of the interview, McNeill said it "looks to be a really challenging show to do...right now it reads as if Enterprise is [going to be] destroyed."

 

McNeill said that at one point in the episode the bridge is "literally blown apart, with bodies sucked into space...bulkheads in corridors are supposed to get blown away." He added that he did not know how they were going to "blow the roof off the bridge" and show people being sucked into space."

 

"Things change dramatically once you actually get into prepping a show. You realise you can't afford things or you realise something is just impossible to shoot," he noted.

 

The episode apparently will include Silik and the Suliban, and will focus on Archer moving forward in time. "This is jumping into the future with Archer and seeing something that he does that affects the timeline, as well as affecting the past and affecting all sorts of other things, in terms of big issues with hunanity and civilization ans also interpersonal relationships," said McNeill. "We get to peek 20 or 30 years down the road."

 

"Twilight" is currently scheduled to air November 11th.

 

The full interview is available in issue #110 of Star Trek Monthly. Many thanks to Jeanette for the transcript!

--TrekToday http://www.trektoday.com/news/141003_04.shtml

 

 

Master Q

StarTrek_Master_Q@yahoo.com