Star Trek: Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman today said last season's cliffhanger will be resolved within the first few episodes of season four.

"We've already mapped out the first six or seven episodes, in a general sense," Berman said in issue 116 of Star Trek Magazine. "We've got a story beat out for the first episode. The Xindi arc will be resolved within the first three episodes.

"And when I say the Xindi arc I mean the predicament of where our characters now find themselves," he said, referring to last season's cliffhanger episode, "Zero Hour", in which Archer wakes up in the custody of an unknown alien wearing a Nazi uniform.

Instead of a storyline that unfolds over the course of an entire year, season four will be comprised of a series of "very high-concept mini-arcs", Berman said. "Just as when we did Star Trek: First Contact, we couldn't do a movie about Picard and company saving the future from being destroyed, we can't do another season-long on Enterprise that involves Archer and company trying to save humanity. On the other hand, we don't feel that we want to go back to the season one and season two concept of 'we're out there exploring space,' period."

Former Odyssey 5 writer Manny Coto, who joined the Enterprise staff as co-executive producer last season, will take a more active role in the creative direction of the series. Coto has been working with Berman and executive producer Brannon Braga to map out these arcs, which "will run two, three, maybe four episodes".

"We've got a couple of them that I think are going to have some big surprises and things that will hearken back to perhaps The Original Series. We'll bring in some actors, and possibly some characters, that are very familiar to our audience."

To read the full interview, pick up issue 116 of Star Trek Magazine, on sale from July 15.

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