Berman: 'The Expanse' Inspired By 'Trek' Features

See Also: 'The Expanse' Episode Guide

The decision to place Earth in peril in tonight's season finale was influenced by two Star Trek movies, Enterprise executive producer Rick Berman said yesterday.

"I think one of the things that motivated us is in analyzing the 10 existing Star Trek movies, we were looking for something that would help torque up our series and add a little dimension to get a little added excitement towards the end of the season," Berman told the Sci-Fi Wire.

In "The Expanse", which airs at 8:00 p.m. on UPN tonight, a new race known as the Xindi launches a devastating attack on Earth, killing millions of people. Berman pointed to two successful Trek features with similar themes which served as inspiration for the story.

"We did a little analysis of our own, and we saw that two of the most popular movies ... were Star Trek IV, which was the one about whales, and Star Trek VIII, which was First Contact. These were both films that had to do with the future of Earth being at stake. And we decided that that would be a great place to start."

The complete interview, in which Berman also discussed similarities between "The Expanse" and the September 11 terrorist attacks, can be found here at the Sci-Fi Wire.

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