Enterprise executive producer Manny Coto yesterday said he intends to bring the focus closer to home in season four's final arc.

"We'd like to bring our sights back to earth, to feature areas or landscapes of Starfleet we haven't seen, the Martian colony, the moon colony, our own solar system," Coto told Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune. "The final story [of the season] will be mankind overcoming its own prejudices, to begin this process of [founding] the Federation. The last challenge will be our own solar system. The final obstacle will be ourselves."

Coto has other ambitious plans for the remainder of the season, including an episode set in the Mirror Universe introduced in the original Star Trek's "Mirror, Mirror". "We're really excited about that one. It'll be as if you changed the channel to Enterprise and you get the mirror universe version of the show. We're even going to change the title sequence. People will be wondering, what show is this?"

While a guest appearance by William Shatner (James T. Kirk) is still in limbo, Coto said he wouldn't "rule out" a return visit by Brent Spiner, who played Arik Soong in the Augments arc earlier this season. The writer/producer also said he was enthusiastic about the upcoming Klingon arc, set to begin in February sweeps with "Affliction". In addition to revealing the reason why the Klingons in the original series had no ridges on their foreheads, Coto said the episodes would include "a conflict between Archer and Reed and the beginnings of Section 31".

As to whether the good ship Enterprise will be kept in service for a fifth season, Coto said "it's still pretty much up in the air". But UPN entertainment president Dawn Ostroff sounded upbeat about the show's future: "We've gotten great feedback from fans. The show is at a great place [creatively] and we're very happy with the ideas and execution."

The original interview can be found here at the Chicago Tribune. Thanks to Lysette Van Erp for this!

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