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'Enterprise' Crew To Journey To 'Babel'

By Michelle
November 17, 2004 - 6:42 PM

See Also: 'Babel One' Episode Guide

Though it's canon from the original Star Trek that no one had ever seen a Romulan until Captain Kirk's Enterprise in the episode "Balance of Terror", the Vulcan-like aliens trigger an unlikely alliance among Andorians, Tellarites and humans in a Star Trek: Enterprise trilogy beginning with "Babel One" - an episode whose title refers to the original series' "Journey to Babel", which also featured the Andorians and Tellarites.

In "Babel One", the 12th episode of the fourth season, a mission of peace for Enterprise is disrupted by Shran. He claims that a Tellarite ship has destroyed his own ship, triggering more attacks between the adversaries. It appears that the Tellarites and Andorians are provoking one another, but Archer suspects that someone else has a reason to stir enmity between the two species. The official site posted the following official synopsis:

Enterprise journeys to Babel with a Tellarite ambassador on board for peace talks with the Andorians, when a distress call from Shran is received.
"Babel One" was written by Michael Sussman & Andre Bormanis, who between them have written four other episodes for the fourth season and who collaborated on "Hatchery" last season. David Straiton, who directed "Storm Front, Part Two" and "Daedalus", helmed the episode.

The guest cast list for the episode is as follows:

  • Jeffrey Combs as Shran
  • Lee Arenberg as Gral
  • Brian Thompson as Valdore
  • J. Michael Flynn as Nijil
  • Molly Brink as Talas
  • Kevin Brief as Naarg
Longtime Trek guest star Combs returns for the second time this season as Shran. This time his character is romantically involved with Brink's Talas, with whom he had a somewhat more contentious relationship in "Proving Ground." Arenberg appeared as two different Ferengi on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

Thompson, who plays a Romulan, is a multiple-prosthetic previous guest star, having played two Klingons and a Jem'Hadar. Other Romulans appear onscreen in "Babel One", yet StarTrek.com promises that while the audience will see the Romulans, the Enterprise crew will not, so continuity may be maintained with original Star Trek canon.

"Babel One" filmed for seven days, wrapping on Wednesday, November 10th. The most complicated makeup was Brink's since she appears in her underwear, requiring that the actress be "sprayed" blue over much of her body. She had to report to the set at 4:30 a.m. each day, as did her double.

"Babel One" is tentatively scheduled to air on January 28th, following a rerun the week before. UPN has announced that after "Kir'Shara" airs on December 3rd, the network will show reruns for the remainder of December, with "Daedalus" premiering on January 7th and "Observer Effect" on January 14th.

For the original production report, please head over to this page on the official Star Trek site.

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