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What single episode of Enterprise holds up best and which one do you wish had never happened? Braga: Ironically enough, my least favorite episode was a very, very early one called "Terra Nova." There happens to be an irony there. It was about finding a lost colony of humans, but it was boring and it was unfortunate that it was such an early ...
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investigates the mystery of a lost Earth colony whose inhabitants disappeared decades before. But that doesn't mean they left.
Teaser
The crew of Enterprise NX-01 is heading towards the planet Terra Nova to investigate what happened to the long lost colony. Helmsman Ensign Travis Mayweather is the most excited to visit, as he has been fascinated by the colony since his childhood.
Act One
At lunch, Captain Jonathan Archer informs Sub-commander T'Pol about the colony. Terra Nova was the first Earth colony outside of the solar system, after New Berlin on Luna, Utopia Planitia on Mars and a few asteroids were colonized by Humans just in the Sol system. The colony was referred to as "The Great Experiment" and Earth had lost all contact after a couple of unfriendly transmissions. It turns out that the colonists were opposed to a second wave of Humans going to live in the home they struggled to build. When Enterprise arrives at the colony, the crew finds no one, only a ghost town, built from disassembled components of the SS Conestoga, the vessel that transported the colonists for nine years to the colony. The site also has a low level of radiation that would be harmful to Humans in the long term. A landing party composed of Ensign Mayweather, Sub-Commander T'Pol, Captain Jonathan Archer, and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed is dispatched, going down to the planet in Shuttlepod 1. After Reed notices some rustling in the forest, the crew converge at a cave entrance. Archer and Reed head into the cave to investigate. The two make an unfriendly first contact with strange humanoid figures, resulting in Reed being shot with a projectile weapon and being taken hostage. Archer is forced to exit the cave, and Mayweather, T'Pol and Archer scramble back to the shuttlepod, where T'Pol reveals that the inhabitants in the cave are actually Human beings.
Act Two
After returning to Enterprise, Archer calls a briefing in the ship's situation room. Trip Tucker reports they know where Reed is, but he is too deep for the transporter. Also, the geology is unstable, with the Humans forced to live underground and hunt for food. They start to tactically assess the positions of the Humans and Reed, but Archer is insistent at finding a way to communicate with them, especially since they are Human. He orders T'Pol and Tucker to continue investigating the geology and Hoshi Sato and Mayweather to get information from their transmissions. He asks chief medical officer Doctor Phlox to accompany him back to the colony. They return alone, unarmed, to try to build trust with the residents. Speaking out into the forest, two of them approach and take them underground. Archer shows Nadet There, they are taken to Reed, who is alive but with a wound in his leg. One of the Humans who seems to be a leader approaches, and reveals they speak a certain kind of English. They accuse Archer and his crew of wanting to finish the job they believe earlier Humans did to them, including the "poison rain" and "gutting" the adults. Archer explains it wasn't Humans, but, rather, the radiation. It appears they also don't know they descended from Humans. Archer asks them to prove their friendliness. The doctor offers to take Nadet, an elderly Novan, to Enterprise to treat her lung cancer. The leader agrees, but insists he comes with them and Reed stay there. Reed consents, so Archer agrees.
•"Captain's starlog, supplemental. Sub-Commander T'Pol has discovered the remnants of an impact crater that could explain the radiation."
"I'm not familiar with the early years of Human space exploration."
"Really? Every school kid on Earth had to learn about the famous Vulcan expeditions."
"Name one.""
- Tucker and T'Pol
"Asking favors of the Vulcans usually ends up carrying too high a price."
- Tucker, to T'Pol
Production history
•Production number: 011-40358-006 •Final draft script – 6 August 2001 •Working title: "Roanoke" •Filming: •Wednesday 8 August 2001 – Ready room, bridge, situation room (Paramount Stage 18) •Thursday 9 August 2001 – Corridor, sickbay (Paramount Stage 8); Int. Shuttlepod 1 (Paramount Stage 18) •Friday 10 August 2001 – Bridge, situation room (Paramount Stage 18) •Monday 13 August 2001 – Terra Nova surface: clearing, colony, forest, Int. and ext. Shuttlepod 1 (Filming location Polsa Rosa Ranch) •Tuesday 14 August 2001 – Corridor, turbolift (Paramount Stage 8); Captain's mess, underground tunnel and cave (Paramount Stage 9) •Wednesday 15 August 2001 – Adjoining tunnel, gutting room, underground tunnels, cavern (Paramount Stage 9) •Thursday 16 August 2001 – Underground tunnels, gutting room (Paramount Stage 9); Int. Shuttlepod 1 (Paramount Stage 18) •Friday 17 August 2001 – Underground shaft; gutting room (Paramount Stage 9) •Re-shoot – Tuesday 11 September 2001 – Captain's mess (Paramount Stage 8) – Production shut down on this day due to the terror attacks on New York City. •Re-shoot – Wednesday 12 September 2001 – Captain's mess (Paramount Stage 8; scene 3) •Air date: 24 October 2001
Story and script
•Scenes 51 – 54 of the script were not filmed during production of this episode. (Call sheets) •Scene 11, planned to be filmed on Monday 13 August 2001 on location, was also not part of the episode. According to the description on the call sheet, this scene features Travis Mayweather inspecting the communications tower of the colony and hearing a hawk. (Call sheet) •Scene 25, planned to be filmed on Tuesday 14 August 2001 on Paramount Stage 9, should have Archer and Reed finding graves of Novan children in an underground tunnel. The set description on the call sheet is "Int. Underground Cemetery". This scene was also not part of the episode. (Call sheet)
Production
•Stunt Coordinator Vince Deadrick, Jr. was pleased with the amount of space that the stunts for this episode were given. He later reminisced, "We had Scott [Bakula] dangling from a ledge, and we had him on a cable, which was great. We had some meat there." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 138 p. 42) •For the stunt climbing scene near the end of the episode, stunt doubles Vince Deadrick, Jr. and Steven Lambert as well as actor Scott Bakula were stunt rigged. Responsible for the stunt safety in these scenes on the set were stuntmen Mark Ginther and William De Vital who had a set call at 10:00 am. (Call sheet) •This episode had one day of filming on location. On the fourth day of production, the Polsa Rosa Ranch in Acton, California, was used to portray the surface of Terra Nova. As usual, Lisa White was the location manager. (Call sheet) •Guest actress Mary Carver was the only cast member who had a company pickup at home and had not travelling on her own to the studio. Jolene Blalock was also picked up and brought to the set on the day of filming on location. (Call sheets) •On Thursday 9 August 2001, the second day of production on this episode, second unit filming took place on Paramount Stage 18. (Call sheet) •On the third day of production, Friday 10 August 2001, a pick-up shot in engineering for the episode "Fight or Flight" was filmed on Paramount Stage 18. This shot is scene 82 in the episode and included Connor Trinneer and background actors. (Call sheet) •On the sixth day of production, Wednesday 15 August 2001, a second unit meeting took place at the Cooper Building, room 205, 10:00 am. (Call sheet) •The call sheet for Tuesday 7 August 2001, the seventh day of production of "Unexpected", is listing a schedule for the planned scenes filmed on Thursday 9 August 2001. According to this schedule, second unit was planned to film shuttlepod interior scenes on Paramount Stage 18. These scenes, 86, 88, 90pt., and 92pt. include a preliminary cast list which had Scott Bakula, Anthony Montgomery, Mary Carver, and Erick Avari as well as stunt doubles for all four actors. In the final episode, a few shakes with the actors inside the shuttle can be seen. (Call sheet)
Starring
•Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer •John Billingsley as 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 stars
•Erick Avari as Jamin •Mary Carver as Nadet
Co-stars
•Brian Jacobs as Athan •Greville Henwood as Akary
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"Terra Nova" was cited by Braga as his least favorite episode, deeming it too boring. Coda [] Once Brannon Braga became a staff writer on Star Trek his responsibilities expanded to organizing writing work shops at
