4x18 In a Mirror, Darkly

[Dimitris]

Production: 094
Season: 4 Episode: 18
Air Date: 04.22.2005

In the mirror universe, Commander Archer mutinies against Captain Forrest in order to capture a future Earth ship found in Tholian space.


Synopsis

In an alternate universe, an amoral, imperialistic version of the Enterprise crew, led by Captain Forrest with Archer as his treacherous first officer, makes an astonishing discovery during a mission into enemy alien territory.

While a power-hungry Archer schemes against Captain Forrest, his lover Hoshi, and loyal slave T'Pol, so he can lay full claim to the discovery. Later, Phlox happily tortures a captured Tholian for information requested by Archer.

[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

Creative Staff:
Director: James L. Conway
Written By: Michael Sussman

[Dimitris]

01.27.2005
Production Sneak Peak: Mirroring History


Fans of Star Trek: Enterprise know that the fourth season has been a milestone in connecting the history of the prequel series with the rest of the Star Trek universe.
We've seen great story arcs including one dealing with Vulcan socio-history, set on their rather inhospitable homeworld, and one centered on Dr. Arik Soong, an ancestor of Data's creator, Noonien Soong. Other episodes include "Daedalus" about the "father" of the Transporter, Emory Erickson, and an upcoming storyline addressing the Klingon forehead mystery. Those, along with a trilogy starting tomorrow night fleshing out Original Series-era aliens — Andorians, Orions, and Tellarites — and presaging the Romulan Wars, give us a mix of stories that demand attention by the long-time fan.

And if these stories aren't enticing enough, perhaps the coup de grâce of Season 4 will be the two-part story "In a Mirror, Darkly," a script that revisits the mirror universe but focuses on the power struggles of Captain Forrest and Commander Archer and the discovery of a rather special starship. This story is the brainchild of writer Mike Sussman, who wrote both teleplays, along with executive producer Manny Coto, who wrote the story for "Part II." According to Sussman, the episode is "a prequel to 'Mirror, Mirror' and a sequel to 'The Tholian Web,' two of my favorite episodes."

The history of getting this episode made included a long gestation period. "When I initially pitched this idea two or three years ago, it was too big for a one-part episode. But Manny suggested we do in two parts, and that was the key to realizing it," says Sussman.

Fans of Vaughn Armstrong will be glad to hear that he reprises his role as Forrest, albeit with a twist. This Forrest is everything that the good admiral from our universe is not. For the most part. The beauty of mirror universe characters, of course, are the subtle nods to their real-universe characters. Archer, as second in command, is given carte blanche to plot his way into command of the ship (remember "Mirror, Mirror") not to mention regaining the woman (Hoshi) who's loyalty changes, depending on whomever is in command.

Playing the alterna-Forrest has been great fun for Armstrong, who's now completed filming his scenes. On his last day, the always jovial actor commented about his "action" as the commander of the mirror starship. "In 25 years [of acting], I haven't gotten the girl, but I come back here and I get the girl! This is great."

Scott Bakula was also able to find humor in Vaughn's return. "Didn't we kill you already?" he joked outside the Enterprise sets.

"Yes, but this death is much better!" replied Vaughn on his mirror character's imminent doom. His "real" character, the upstanding Admiral Forrest, met an untimely but heroic fate saving Soval from a bomb blast at the United Earth Embassy in "The Forge." For a character we had followed for over three years, it was all over very quickly, perhaps too quickly. But the beauty of the mirror universe is that there are second acts, even if it is a dangerous place with a short life expectancy. Vaughn Armstrong, one of the most prolific guest stars dating back to the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, may be done for now but he will no doubt be back again one day. For now, we will wait and see what's in store for Captain Forrest and his command in this "Mirror."

On Tuesday, even though it was the last day of shooting for the James Conway-directed part one of "In a Mirror, Darkly," it was historic as well. The highlight came when filming moved on to the Bridge of the Constitution-class Defiant, the one from the TOS era as seen in the episode "The Tholian Web." We won't tell you how the two ships meet, but it is in Tholian space. That's all we're saying for now.

For these historic scenes, production designer Herman Zimmerman was responsible for what is perhaps the most awe-inspiring set done for Enterprise to date. It may not be the most complex set, but the fact that it was done, and done to perfection, is due to a tremendous production team who made sure that every last detail was in place prior to filming. Although it is the Defiant, it is, for all intents and purposes, the Original Series U.S.S. Enterprise. There are subtle differences, but viewers will be amazed at the detail used for this full three-quarters around set, the likes of which have not been used for filming since the final Star Trek episode, "Turnabout Intruder," in 1969.

Special kudos for the Defiant set must go to members of Zimmerman's team, such as set designer Ahna Packard, who spent days drawing the set in incredible detail and also to senior illustrator Doug Drexler, who pioneered most of the original research for the DS9 "Trials and Tribble-ations" episode and the set built for the London Hyde Park exhibit. Truly a group effort, many more details of the Defiant set were worked on by such art department veterans as scenic art supervisor/technical advisor Mike Okuda and scenic artist James Van Over.

Acknowledgement must also go to construction coordinator Tom Arp and his department. After all, they are the ones who physically build the amazing sets you see week in and week out. For the Defiant, they've gone that extra parsec and produced a stunning vision of this older, but at the same time futuristic, ship.

Writer Mike Sussman is impressed by the efforts of the crew in constructing sets for "In a Mirror, Darkly": "I think the bridge set is remarkable. I hope fans will be thrilled to see that set again in all of its glory. I feel that it probably looks better than the original in many respects, if you compare them side by side."

The "In a Mirror, Darkly" saga is set to air on April 15 and 22, on UPN.

[Dimitris]

01.31.2005
Production Report: "In a Mirror, Darkly" Portrays Evil Enterprise


SPOILER ALERT!!!
Have you ever sat around thinking, "Gee, I wonder what's happening in the alternate universe? What is my evil counterpart doing right now?" Well, if you've ever wondered that in regard to Captain Archer and his squad, there's a treat in store for you. The latest episode to complete photography is the first of a two-part adventure taking place entirely in the parallel universe introduced in "Mirror, Mirror" (and reprised several times in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), but contemporary to the NX-01.

The Enterprise sets have been redressed and the cast re-outfitted to convert them into members of the Terran Empire, the tyrannical counterpart to Starfleet and the eventual Federation. And a character who has kicked the bucket in the regular universe is still alive and kicking here: Maxwell Forrest — only this time, instead of being an Earth-bound admiral, he is sitting in the captain's chair of the evil Enterprise ... with a first officer named Commander Archer. Vaughn Armstrong makes a triumphant return to the set, happy that in science fiction, nobody really stays dead (Admiral Forrest, a recurring character, was killed in "The Forge").

The two-part episode is called "In a Mirror, Darkly," and both scripts were written by long-time staff writer Mike Sussman. As previously reported, Sussman describes the story as "a prequel to 'Mirror, Mirror' and a sequel to 'The Tholian Web,' two of my favorite episodes." All the action takes place in the mirror universe, without any interplay with the regular Star Trek realm. In "Part I," Commander Archer has gained information that a ship has been found in Tholian space that would give the Terran Empire a distinct tactical advantage over an interstellar rebellion. Archer tries to convince Captain Forrest to skip a rendezvous with the rest of the fleet and go in pursuit, but he refuses. So the ruthless Archer stages a mutiny and takes over Enterprise. It turns out the mysterious ship is an Earth vessel, from 100 years in the future.

That ship, we learn, is the U.S.S. Defiant NCC-1764, the Constitution-class starship which disappeared into a spatial interphase in Tholian space (almost taking Captain Kirk with it) in "The Tholian Web." That gave the set designers, art directors and construction crew the exciting opportunity to reproduce the Original Series bridge, down to the most intricate detail — though with subtle differences to make it the Defiant, such as the gold plaque next to the turbolift. This is the third time the TOS bridge has been depicted in a post-TOS show, but this is the first time it has been reproduced this completely, with a full three-quarter-round set. In "Relics" (Star Trek: The Next Generation) only about half of the full bridge set was built and shown on screen. In "Trials and Tribble-ations" (DS9) only small segments were used as background for the contemporary characters, the rest of the Enterprise bridge seen in repurposed TOS clips (though corridors and other sets were fully reproduced). This new set starts with the science station at the far left and goes all the way around to the viewscreen, with the captain's chair and the helm in the center.

But that's not the only interesting set design applied to this episode. The standing Enterprise sets had all the standard NX-01 logos replaced with the Terran Empire symbol, the same one from "Mirror, Mirror" with a vertical sword through the Earth. (Note: The term "Terran Empire" was actually introduced in DS9's "Crossover.") All the sets were redressed in various ways, but Sickbay in particular was made to look like a vivisectionist's lab, with dead creatures scattered about. The mirror Dr. Phlox is despicably evil — in one scene he is dissecting a still-breathing animal. Aside from the set dressings, the lighting was arranged differently to give the scenes a darker, more ominous feel.

There was one new Enterprise ship set: an Interrogation Room, complete with an "Agony Booth" as seen in "Mirror, Mirror." Turns out Phlox and "Major Reed" had something to do with its invention. Sorry, mirror-Chekov.

All the principal actors were given a makeover for a harsher, or at least alternate, look. For instance, Scott Bakula's hair was dyed black; Jolene Blalock's hair was lighter and longer; Linda Park got a heavy dose of eye makeup (she's got Marlena Moreau duty); and Connor Trinneer had half his face covered with radiation burns, from years of exposure to a less-than-code warp reactor (with that and his haircut, he might remind you of Captain Pike in "The Menagerie").

The evil-universe uniforms follow the same pattern as "Mirror, Mirror." The blue NX-01 jumpsuits were embellished, for the males, with leather straps and weapons belts (everyone carried a dagger), along with the Terran badge and medals as appropriate. The women had their jumpsuits radically altered with a very revealing bare midriff. Phlox's outfit was a black leathery number to give him a Dr. Mengele quality (the suit was so thick and rigid John Billingsley couldn't sit down in it). In this dimension Travis Mayweather is a MACO sergeant, so Anthony Montgomery wore altered fatigues.

Principal photography on "Part I" took place from Monday, January 17 (they didn't break for Martin Luther King Day) through last Tuesday, the 25th. Six of those days were spent on the altered Enterprise sets; Day 7 was devoted to the Defiant sets, which will be the principal setting in "Part II." In addition to the bridge, a TOS-style corridor was built, including a Jefferies tube, with substantial damage. Though these are not the same setpieces used in "Trials and Tribble-ations," the same blueprints were used as a basis. In that corridor there is a certain type of hexagonal grating used, familiar from the Original Series, and we learned that the set designers obtained that grating from the very same company that constructed it in the '60s!

In Part I the Defiant is trashed, partly from the chaos in "Tholian Web" and partly from Tholian salvaging attempts (it was cleaned up for "Part II"). In addition, when Archer and company first enter it, they find dead crewmen scattered about the bridge in exactly the same positions as the NCC-1701 crew left them.

There are so many exciting details about this production that we could go on for pages and pages. If you're intrepid enough to keep reading, we'll entice you with a few more fun facts. For the first time ever, we'll finally get to see what Tholians really look like. In "Tholian Web" we see Commander Loskene on the viewscreen with a very angular visage, but it's never clear whether that is his head or a helmet, or whether the species is humanoid or something more exotic. These answers will be revealed as a Tholian is beamed into the Decon Chamber and Archer goes eye-to-eye with it through the glass. The Tholian will be created digitally in post-production, but during photography there was a person in a "tracking suit" performing the creature's movements in Decon.

Two more significant spoilers if you dare to go on: The opening sequence of the episode is a shocking revision of Star Trek history for the mirror universe. These scenes were actually shot on film with an "old-fashioned" Panaflex camera — rather than the Sony high-definition digital cameras now in standard use on the show — so that those revisionist scenes will blend smoothly into clips from a certain movie. It shouldn't take you too long to guess which one.

That opening sequence will then segue into a revised title sequence with images of exploration replaced by images of violence, and "Faith of the Heart" replaced with a militaristic "drums of war" march, culminating triumphantly with the Terran Empire symbol. (This is what Sussman's script calls for; the title sequence has yet to be produced, so things could change before the show airs.)

As mentioned, Vaughn Armstrong is back on the set as the mirror-Forrest, after being absent from Enterprise since "The Forge." Besides his familiar role as the good admiral, Armstrong has been the most prolific guest actor in the Star Trek franchise, having played at least 11 different characters of eight different races, starting with the Klingon "Korris" in TNG's "Heart of Glory." All the other guest players in this episode are very small or non-speaking. Several familiar-looking stuntmen play mirror-MACOs, including Shawn Crowder, Yoshio Iizuka, Paul Sklar and Mickey Cassidy; Craig Baxley Jr. plays a Tactical Officer who takes one for the team. There is also a Tellarite and a few Vulcans aboard the mirror-Enterprise, played by extras.

"In a Mirror, Darkly" was directed by James Conway, who has experience on every Trek series since TNG. He kicked off Enterprise with the pilot "Broken Bow" and has directed one episode per season since, his last being "Damage." This is Mike Sussman's sixth script of the season, including last week's "Babel One" and the upcoming "Affliction."

"Part I" of the mirror universe arc is tentatively set to air April 15, with "Part II" the following week. Be sure to pull out your DVDs and watch "The Tholian Web" and "Mirror, Mirror" beforehand.

[Dimitris]

Plot Summary:

In the Mirror universe, the first contact with Vulcans ends with Zefram Cochrane shooting one of the Vulcans while humans raid the Vulcan ship. In the following years the Terran Empire grows, using Vulcan technology and treating Vulcans as slaves. By the time Forrest has become captain of the ISS Enterprise, Reed and Phlox have helped to develop the agonizer booth and his first officer, Archer, has learned of a powerful ship hidden in Tholian space. When Forrest insists that Enterprise will rendezvous with the fleet instead, Archer leads a mutiny with the help of Reed. Recruiting Mayweather as his lackey, Archer takes up romantically with Sato - who had left him for Forrest when Forrest was promoted over Archer - and heads into Tholian space, ordering Tucker and T'Pol to get the Suliban cloaking device on the ship installed and functioning.

When Enterprise encounters a Tholian ship, Archer has it disabled and beams the pilot aboard. After some torture advice from Phlox, he learns that the captured ship is being kept in a system dominated by a gas giant. He also learns that the Tholian emits a distress tone if not sedated. Tucker and T'Pol work on the cloak, but an explosion sabotages their work. Archer believes an agent of Admiral Black must be responsible, beats up Forrest when he can't name the spy, and has Tucker tortured when the engineer denies responsibility. It makes no sense to him that Tucker would have done such an incompetent job, however, and by the time he begins to suspect T'Pol, she has led a counter-insurgence to free Forrest. The former captain retakes the bridge, but Archer has set the ship's auto-navigation to reach the gas giant's system and it will take several days to break the system's encryption. Not even ten hours in an agonizer booth makes Archer tell Forrest anything more.

Intrigued by the data Archer has sent to Starfleet, Admiral Gardner orders Enterprise to investigate the ship the Tholians have supposedly discovered. Archer explains that the ship is not only from a parallel universe, having fallen through an interphasic rift, but that tests on its materials indicate that it is from a hundred years in the future. T'Pol finds this ludicrous, but Forrest insists that they will investigate anyway. Privately she admits to Tucker that she made him sabotage the power grid by planting a telepathic suggestion during a sexual encounter, then performed another mind-meld to wipe his memory. Tucker vows revenge, but first he gets the cloak working, enabling Enterprise to approach the Tholian system undetected. There the crew discovers the USS Defiant, which has fallen through a rift between universes just as Archer said.

While Archer takes an away team onto Defiant and gets the ship's systems back in working order, Forrest plans to bring the futuristic database on board and then destroy Defiant since he doesn't believe the ship can successfully piloted through Tholian space without detection. He also orders T'Pol to assassinate Archer, but before she has an opportunity to do so, the Tholian in sickbay regains consciousness and sends out another distress call. Phlox kills the alien, but not before numerous Tholian ships close on Enterprise and begin to create a web around the vessel. Under heavy fire, Forrest orders his crew to abandon ship and buys time by shooting at the Tholians. While Archer, T'Pol, Tucker and Reed watch from the Defiant's bridge, a vast explosion rocks Enterprise.


Analysis:

"In a Mirror, Darkly" is an entertaining and respectable if somewhat pointless addition to the Mirror universe lore created on the original Star Trek and furthered on Deep Space Nine. There are certain aspects to that parallel universe which have never made any sense: if so many people are assassinated or die in gratuitous attacks, for instance, how is it that the Terran Empire maintains its population of humans aboard its ships, and how do all these people who want to kill each other manage to survive in the same place and time as their equivalents in the Trek universe? But these are quibbles, just like the question of why interphasic rifts that sent Kirk and Kira into eras identical to their own would send the Defiant back a hundred years in the parallel universe. The Mirror universes are might-have-beens, asking what certain characters would be like had they lived under much more brutal circumstances. Some, like Spock, remain quite similar to the familiar character from the Trek universe, but some, like Odo, become completely different people with the same names and faces. On Enterprise, most people become quite altered as well, though their areas of expertise remain largely the same.

There's great fun to the opening and credits, even though it's quite predictable from the moment the Vulcans land that Cochrane will blow them away. (The Vulcans, we are led to believe, are little different at least when it comes to first contacts, though Archer believes they intended to enslave humans before the tables were turned on them.) The credits feature not the history of humanity's exploration but the development and deployment of weapons of mass destruction from the sailing warship to the hydrogen bomb, culminating in the rise of the Terran Empire. That, I must admit, is my favorite part of the episode, not because it's the mirror universe, but because it could well be our own universe...indeed, the footage of battleships, tanks, fighter jets and atomic weapons are from our own universe, and the Mirror Enterprise doesn't look all that different from the NX-01 outfitted for combat with the Xindi. It isn't that the Mirror universe has a design flaw, but that certain critical choices and mistakes have allowed the worst rather than the best of humanity to thrive.

The rest of "In a Mirror, Darkly" is a darkly comic adventure story, but since there's no interaction with the "real" Trek universe, it's all of little consequence. Forrest is depicted as a captain who can be brutal, but who has a conscience and wants what's best for the Terran Empire - he tells Sato, his lover, that he is very concerned about the loss of twelve ships in combat - whereas Archer, who claims only to care about the Empire rather than his own ambitions, will evidently do anything in pursuit of glory. This means he isn't utterly ruthless, like Reed who's happy to torture or shoot anyone at all; Archer knows that he may need Forrest alive to avoid a court-martial, and that T'Pol is more of an asset as a first officer than the vicious Reed would be. Some of the relationships have parallels to those in the Trek universe, for Tucker and T'Pol are attracted yet cruel to one another. Sato, however, will attach herself to the most powerful officer around, be it Forrest or Archer, and Mayweather (who I'm betting is the admiral's spy) will work for whoever will give him the best position on the ship.

We get to see the origins of the agonizer booth, skulls on MACO ID patches, the bare midriffs on the women's uniforms that continue into Kirk's era; we get to see a (pretty cheesy looking CGI) AU Tholian, Porthos as a big scary dog, Sato pulling a knife on Archer the way Uhura pulled one on Sulu - hasn't anyone considered locking up the weapons in the armory? And, of course, we get to see the Defiant, which looks wonderful in that modified Tholian spacedock, and T'Pol sitting at the equivalent of Spock's science station, and Archer at the equivalent of Kirk's chair, which has undeniable appeal even if it's very hard to like these alternate versions of familiar characters. T'Pol's resentment of the treatment of Vulcans seems justified at first, but then she uses her Vulcan talents to violate Tucker's mind; Tucker seems a decent guy and a decent engineer, but he babbles about personal revenge instead of worrying about the risk T'Pol placed the ship in by tampering with the sensors; Reed's just a thug, Phlox is psychotic, Forrest keeps underestimating his adversaries, Archer's a selfish creep and Sato is, to speak politely...but wait, there's really not a polite word for what Sato is.

I'm a little blurry on the Starfleet politics going on in the background. Apparently Admiral Black and Admiral Gardner are in competition and are using crewmembers on Enterprise for their own personal power plays. I'm also rather unclear on the relations between the Terran Empire and everyone else in the universe; if they're torturing Tellarites for sport, who, exactly, are their allies? Clearly the Tholians are quite clever, using tricobalt warheads to open rifts between universes, and boy they build their webs fast over there! Kirk would have been history in ten minutes if the Tholians on this side could do the same a hundred years later. Again, it's fun and lighthearted in a twisted sort of way, but if someone had asked me what two-parter I'd most like in the waning weeks of Enterprise, it would have focused on the real crew and the real universe, not on the history of a parallel dimension and a missing starship whose history has never been all that important in the first place.