While Captain Archer and his crew are set to encounter several all-new races over the coming weeks, in two episodes airing late October they will return to more familiar territory, dealing with Vulcans, Andorians, and even plain humans.

Sources suggest that in the fourth regular episode after the premiere, 'Terra Nova,' the Enterprise encounters an old Earth settlement of that name. Terra Nova was one of the first long-distance colonies established by humanity, in the years before interstellar space travel was possible. The journey took the colonists several years, and upon arrival they disassembled the ship to have ground materials for the colony.

After the colony was established, Earth wanted to send a second wave of colonists, but the inhabitants of Terra Nova refused. Earth threatened to send in more people anyway, but the colonists bluntly told them there'd be some serious trouble if they did. Shortly thereafter, communications with the colony ended, and with the planet nine years travel away, no one ever went to investigate. Terra Nova was never heard from again.

By the time of Captain Archer, Starfleet of course has a ship capable of making that journey in far less time - the Enterprise. The crew is sent to investigate what happened, and see if any humans are still alive on Terra Nova.

'Terra Nova' was directed by Trek veteran LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), and is currently expected to air on the 24th of October. More information can be found in the 'Terra Nova' Episode Guide.

A week later, UPN will be airing 'The Andorian Incident,' an episode directed by former Voyager actress Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres). The episode has already received some attention for featuring frequent Trek guest actor Jeffrey Combs, and of course it will be the first Star Trek episode since the Original Series focusing on the Andorians.

Like in the Original Series, the Andorians are a rather aggressive species, and in the Enterprise timeline they are in conflict with the Vulcans. The Andorians accuse the Vulcans of spying on them using a long-range sensor array, which they claim is hidden in an old Vulcan monastery.

In the episode, Captain Archer decides to visit this monastery, used for retreat and introspection, in order to engage in some interstellar cultural site-seeing. Unfortunately, upon arrival the crew walk into an ambush, as only shortly before a rogue team of Andorians (led by Combs' character) took over the monastery in order to find the sensor array. Getting very little help from the pacifistic Vulcans in the monastery, Archer then has to come up with a plan to defeat the Andorians.

While the Andorians will still have many of the characteristics of those seen in the Original Series, their make-up has been updated a bit to modern standards. In particular, their two antennae are more on the front of the head than on the back, and they also move around.

'The Andorian Incident' is expected to air on the 31st of October. More information can be found in the 'The Andorian Incident' Episode Guide.

As usual, please be aware that Paramount has released no official plot information on these episodes yet, and until that happens any such information from unofficial sources should be treated as you would any rumour.

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