4x07 The Forge

[Dimitris]

Production: 083
Season: 4 Episode: 7
Air Date: 11.19.2004

Earth's embassy on Vulcan is bombed, and the ensuing investigation puts Archer and T'Pol on the trail of a Vulcan religious faction hiding in a treacherous desert.


Synopsis

The Earth embassy on Vulcan is bombed, killing 31 humans and 12 Vulcans. Enterprise is called to the planet to help investigate, but the Vulcan High Command already suspects a dissident religious faction known as "Syrrannites." T'Pol learns from her husband Koss that her mother T'Les has been forced into hiding to avoid arrest — because she is a Syrrannite. Koss also brings her a mysterious heirloom containing a map. Believing this is a message from T'Les, T'Pol and Archer set out to follow that map across a treacherous desert, without the High Command's knowledge.

[Dimitris]

Cast & Creative Staff

Cast:
Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
John Billingsley as Dr. Phlox
Jolene Blalock as T'Pol
Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed
Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather
Linda Park as Hoshi Sato
Connor Trinneer as Charles "Trip" Tucker III

Guest Cast:
Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest
Gary Graham as Soval
Michael Nouri as Arev
Robert Foxworth as V'Las
Larc Spies as Stel
Michael Reilly Burke as Koss

Creative Staff:
Director: Michael Grossman
Written By: Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

[Dimitris]

09.27.2004
Production Report: "The Forge" Begins Three-Part Vulcan Saga


SPOILER ALERT!!!
Enterprise is back at planet Vulcan for the second time this season to begin the second trilogy of episodes in a row. "The Forge" is the first of a three-part epic about a Vulcan Reformation which has been teased since mid-summer by executive producer Manny Coto, and it was scripted by two of the most prominent authors of Star Trek literature.

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens are now staff writers on Star Trek: Enterprise, after establishing (as a couple) one of the most impressive resumés of any writers in the Star Trek world. They are most well-known for collaborating with William Shatner on a number of novels featuring the continuing adventures of Captain James T. Kirk, the latest being "Captain's Blood" and the newest coming out next year called "Captain's Glory." Besides the Shatner books, Judy and Gar have written several other Trek and other science-fiction novels, as well as four non-fiction books about the making of Star Trek, including "Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series."

Their expertise in Trek lore will show through in the script for "The Forge." In the story, Earth's embassy on Vulcan is bombed, killing 31 humans and 12 Vulcans. A complex investigation ensues, and evidence points to a religious faction known as "Syrrannites," a group following a revolutionary interpretation of the teachings of Surak, the father of Vulcan logic (introduced in the Original Series episode "The Savage Curtain"). After T'Pol receives a clandestine lead, she and Archer embark upon a treacherous journey through the Vulcan desert known as "the Forge," following the same path Surak took in ancient days to attain enlightenment.

This episode will be a Trek trivia-lover's dream. It brings together practically everything we know about Vulcan culture and history from past shows, with numerous references pointing to "Amok Time," "Journey to Babel," "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" and many others. (Quick, what is Kiri-kin-tha's First Law of Metaphysics? Anyone?) The script even owes itself in no small measure to the animated episode "Yesteryear" written by D.C. Fontana — when Spock goes back in time to meet himself as a child — and that is where the term "Forge" is first used. ("Vulcan's Forge" was mentioned in DS9's "Change of Heart" and has been utilized a number of times in Trek novels including a book of that name by Josepha Sherman and Susan Schwartz). Among other things, the Earth embassy is located in the city of Shi'Khar, which in "Yesteryear" is identified as Spock's hometown.

At a July UPN press party, Coto spilled the beans to STARTREK.COM about the three-part Vulcan arc. "If you've watched Enterprise and you watched the old series and Next Gen, you know that there's a difference between the Vulcans of our era and the Vulcans of later eras," the producer said in our interview with him. "Our Vulcans lie, our Vulcans are monolithic, our Vulcans are not pacifistic. What we've done is develop an idea: What if an individual appears on Vulcan who is saying to the populace that we have strayed from the teachings of Surak? This individual is like a Martin Luther. And he spawns a Vulcan civil war." Coto continued to explain that the Vulcan High Command is likened to the Catholic Church of medieval times, and the pacifistic movement threatens the planet with political instability. But by the end of the trilogy, "we will begin to see Vulcans approaching what they were in the later eras. We'll see the beginnings of a new Vulcan." (Related story.)

In a separate interview we conducted with the Reeves-Stevens, which will be posted later this week, Judy and Gar didn't reveal any specifics about "The Forge," but they did talk about it in general. "We've come in [to the staff] just in time to start working with the other writers on what's called the 'Vulcan arc,' which is really going to be a big, major piece of Enterprise, and of Star Trek. It's really exciting," said Garfield. "The enthusiasm in the room when Manny leads us through these story break[ing] sessions is really wonderful." Judy adds, "It's very infectious and this is just a wonderful time to have joined them."

Vaughn Armstrong is back again as "Admiral Forrest," and Gary Graham, as you might expect, returns as "Ambassador Soval," and in fact this episode deepens his character a great deal. Michael Reilly Burke reprises his role as "Koss" from this season's first trip to Vulcan, "Home."

There is another very exciting guest star in this episode. We get to meet the Administrator of the Vulcan High Command — the de facto world president — named "V'Las," and he's played by Robert Foxworth. Foxworth is familiar in Star Trek as "Admiral Leyton" in the DS9 two-parter "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost." But Gene Roddenberry fans will recognize him as the android "Questor" in the 1974 TV movie "The Questor Tapes," the pilot of a series which never came to be. Foxworth's "Questor" was the progenitor of Brent Spiner's "Data." (Rumor has it Foxworth will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming Questor remake, which has been delayed but is still on track for production.)

Production on "The Forge" began Tuesday, September 14, and ran for the usual seven work days through last Wednesday. The first three days were spent on standing ship sets, especially Sickbay, where a number of extras were made up as some of the human casualties of the embassy bombing. The Launch Bay set was converted into a basketball court for one scene for which the entire principal cast, minus Jolene Blalock, practiced their hoops during lunch on the last day of the previous episode (related production report). At the end of the third day, shooting began on sets depicting certain interior portions of the Vulcan desert scenes, namely a Refuge Cave, and the T'Karath Catacombs. Day 5 was spent mainly on the Embassy sets, specifically the Entrance Hall where the explosion takes place, with lots of extras dressed as 22nd-century diplomats, Starfleet officers, embassy guards and Vulcans.

The final two days of the schedule took place at a location depicting the Forge itself. Scott Bakula, Blalock and guest star Michael Nouri as the Syrrannite "Arev" joined the production crew at an industrial site north of Simi Valley (in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles). The expansive land there is reddish and rocky, but in many shots the landscape will be enhanced with optical effects. (The actual location used is owned by a mining company called P.W. Gillibrand, but there are a number of adjacent industrial firms. At the turnoff leading to the location serving as the Vulcan desert, one of the signs on that corner reads "Vulcan Materials Company." Heh.)

Besides extending the landscape, visual effects will be used in the exterior shots for a number of plot points including an electrical storm called a "Sandfire." There will also be a Sehlat. Remember what that is? We learned from "Journey to Babel" that Spock had a pet called a Sehlat — a large teddy bear with six-inch fangs. And in "Yesteryear" the animal was visualized in animation. Well, a less-than-cuddly wild Sehlat attacks Archer and T'Pol. But we will only catch brief glimpses of the animal, its presence depicted mainly through off-screen sound effects. (On a TV budget, it's hard to create a believable-looking fully articulated creature.) What we do see of the animal will be mostly digital, but the makeup department did create a physical "Sehlat Paw" that enters frame at one point.

"The Forge" was directed by Michael Grossman, who cut his teeth on Enterprise with last season's "Hatchery." This was the Reeves-Stevens' first script ever for a Star Trek show (not counting video games). They do have other experience in genre TV fare including the animated Flash Gordan and Batman in the 1990's.

The three-part Vulcan saga is tentatively scheduled to air the three Fridays from November 19 through December 3.

[Dimitris]

Plot Summary:

Seventeen years in the past on Vulcan, a man in a cave lifts a small statue engraved with Surak's name. In the present on Vulcan, Admiral Forrest tells Ambassador Soval that he is hopeful the High Command will conduct joint missions with Starfleet in the future, but Soval warns him that many on Vulcan are concerned about working with humans. Suddenly an explosion rocks the embassy; Forrest dives to protect Soval. Three days later when Enterprise arrives, 12 Vulcans and 31 humans - including Forrest - have died. Archer is told that the Vulcans have two groups of suspects: the Andorians and the Syrannites, a group of Vulcans who follow a radical form of the teachings of Surak, the father of Vulcan logic.

In the embassy wreckage, Reed and Mayweather uncover an undetonated explosive. Reed is able to scan it and finds Vulcan DNA, which Phlox identifies as belonging to T'Pau, whom the Vulcans identify as a well-known Syrannite. Soval warns Archer not to trust the High Command, which is refusing to let the humans assist in the investigation, but to go to Vulcan and try to piece together what happened on his own. Meanwhile T'Pol's husband visits her with the disquieting news that her mother was a Syrannite, that she has gone into hiding, and that she asked him to give her a family heirloom - an IDIC medallion containing a map of the desert known as the Forge. She shows it to Archer, who takes her to the desert, leaving Tucker and Soval to try to piece together what happened at the embassy. No sooner have they left than Phlox discovers that T'Pau did not commit the crime: the DNA on the bomb was taken from her as an infant and was planted there. A human guard who is in a coma may have seen the terrorist enter, but they have no way of questioning him.

On Vulcan, T'Pol tries to explain how Surak brought logic to Vulcan, but their conversation is interrupted by a sehlat that drives them up a hill. Hours later a Vulcan announces that the path is safe and identifies himself as Arev, a follower of the path of Surak in meditation. Archer claims to be on a pilgrimage to study Surak and Arev reluctantly allows him to accompany himself and T'Pol, though he warns that the desert will test and destroy the human. While Archer gives away his ignorance about Vulcan culture, Arev reveals that he does not believe the High Command follows Surak's true path. An electrical sandstorm drives the trio into a cave, where Arev sees T'Pol's IDIC, realizes that she is the daughter of T'Les, and guesses that Archer is the man held responsible for the destruction of the monastery at P'Jem. Because they exposed the High Command's hypocrisy, he agrees to lead them to the sanctuary where T'Pol's mother is hiding.

Soval performs a mind-meld on the comatose guard, in whose mind he sees the head of Vulcan security arriving in disguise at the embassy carrying a package. He accuses the man in front of V'Las, the head of the High Command, but is told that telepathic evidence is not admissible and that he will be summoned before the entire High Command to account for his shameful actions. Back in the cave on Vulcan, Arev tells Archer that the High Command has involved itself in matters beyond the exploration of space. He explains the IDIC, adding that according to the story of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, Surak died on Mt. Seleya but his katra, the essence of the Vulcan mind, was spirited away and transferred to another body, where any Vulcan who performs a mind meld can touch it.

Bolts of lightning from the storm penetrate the cave, striking first T'Pol, then Arev. Realizing that he is dying, Arev says, "You must carry it to the sanctuary," then performs a mind meld with Archer, telling him to remember. When he next opens his eyes, Archer finds Arev dead and T'Pol caring for his injuries. They move quickly into the night once the storm has passed and he leads her through what appears to be solid rock into an underground temple. "Don't resist," he warns her just before they are siezed by a group of presumable Syrannites.


Analysis:

"The Forge" beautifully melds together threads from every Star Trek series in a way that's deeply satisfying to this lifelong Trekker, and even if it resorts to the eye-rolling gimmick of having Surak's probable katra deposited in Archer's mind, I can think of no greater shortcut to bring about Vulcan-human understanding. After all, Soval and T'Pol can both touch the minds of humans directly if they wish: we've now seen them both perform mind-melds, despite the stigma attached to that act in their era. But if Archer's got who I think he's got in his head, he's going to understand logic on a level that no other human ever has - at least perhaps not until McCoy, who had a katra as famous in his own head.

If there were a number of "in jokes" in the Augments arc for fans of previous series - Malik's Khan-crawl across the bridge, Archer's talking about Klingons commanding garbage scows, Soong's interest in cybernetics - there are even more in this first installment of the Vulcan arc, which includes everything from an IDIC (first seen in "Is There in Truth No Beauty?") to the Live Long and Prosper salute (from "Amok Time") to the touching-fingers greeting of a married Vulcan couple ("Journey To Babel" and later "Body and Soul") to the path to Mt. Seleya, a mystery we've heard about from the first and third Star Trek films. It's been a couple of years since I've seen some of these sources, but nothing struck me as out of place or significantly altered; what's been altered, as many have commented, is the behavior of the Vulcan High Command, based on what one would expect from how Vulcans behave in later years, so everything about "The Forge" feels like a swing back in the direction of continuity and, well, logic.

Of course, it's all framed by a storyline right out of contemporary headlines: a terrorist attack on an embassy, ostensibly carried out by quasi-religious fanatics whose own government has driven them into hiding in the desert. The biggest shock of the episode isn't Archer getting some else's katra dumped in his brain but finding out that T'Pol's mother is a Syrannite. And T'Pol husband, for reasons yet unknown, is willing to bring his resentful wife a message from her that he surely knows will lead her to the outlaws. Is he genuinely trying to help the new members of his family, or is he trying to ruin either T'Pol's mother or T'Pol herself, with the same twisted logic that made him wish to marry in the first place? Michael Reilly Burke plays Koss so coolly that it's impossible to guess. In fact, he's the most traditionally Vulcan-like of any of the Vulcans we've seen thus far on this series; he reminds me of Sarek. Even Arev shows more overt emotion, expressing skepticism about Archer's claim to be studying Surak.

I have mixed feelings about the killing of Forrest. I suppose it had to be him, because I can't name a single other Starfleet high-up off the top of my head, and it needed to be someone who mattered to Archer as well as someone of importance on Earth. And I suppose he needed to die a hero's death, saving Soval, so we'd believe Soval's complete switch from a guy who didn't trust humans at all in "The Expanse" to a guy who's perform a mind meld and challenge the High Command in Archer's name. (Speaking of which: do all Vulcans have an instinctive understanding of how to do a mind meld despite the stigma attached to the act? Or are we to suspect that Soval is not what he has always seemed?) No matter what happens with this mission, I would imagine this should create a huge power vacuum at Starfleet - which could be a good thing, if the series goes another year. But it's going to be hard for the writers to come up with someone convincing to fill Forrest's shoes, and while his death isn't exactly gratuitous, it's very abrupt, almost as much so as Tasha Yar's.

Most of my points of frustration with this episode were the same as with every single other episode this season: Sato had absolutely nothing to do, Mayweather had very little to do (would it have killed them to let him do the scan instead of Reed, so he could make an important discovery for a change?), and I don't believe the Vulcans are as stupid as we have been led to believe, even if an evil faction is controlling the planet right now - how could they not guess Phlox would realize they'd manufactured evidence against T'Pau? And, okay, for the first time I really felt like I could see the cheaper production values this season: some of the green screens used in the desert scenes were painfully obvious. But there were a number of lovely small things as compensation: the crew basketball game that Phlox compares to a fertility ritual only clothed, the visual impressions of Soval's mind meld, the Indiana Jones style Vulcan map, the sehlat and T'Pol's pet reminiscences, Archer saying that he finds Vulcan problems of interpreting their messianic texts familiar.

It's too soon to know how to feel about the teachings of Surak as they are portrayed here, or about the apparent stupidity of the High Command - we need to see more of the arc for the story's shape to come clearer. But thus far it's been completely engrossing and quite satisfying. If I gave stars, this one would get my maximum.