Production Report: Final Enterprise Episode Wraps
As this is the last Production Report for a while, STARTREK.COM would like to thank writer Sandy Stone for putting these together, plus the Enterprise cast, crew and production offices for their support and help over the years. We wish everyone the best of luck in all of your future endeavors and we look forward to talking with you in the future, in order to reflect on the past. Live long and, well, you know the rest. - Ed.
After an eventful final day of shooting on Tuesday, the sets are being struck, departments are finalizing their affairs, and the actors are clearing out their trailers as photography on Star Trek: Enterprise has wrapped for the final time.
The series finale is called "These Are the Voyages ..." and it's probably no secret by now that this last episode of the Star Trek prequel features two very special guest stars: Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis.
We are keeping mum on story details right now, but Frakes and Sirtis are indeed playing their Next Generation personas Riker and Troi. As co-executive producer Manny Coto mentioned in a recent interview, the finale does not involve time travel - the most we'll tell you here is that it does involve the Holodeck.
Another guest star in this episode is Jeffrey Combs, getting blue one last time as the Andorian " Shran ".
Production number 98 commenced late in the day on Friday, February 25, after half a day was spent completing episode 97, " Terra Prime." That Friday was the day of the "Save Enterprise" rally which took place in front of the Paramount main gate. In fact, the demonstrating fans caught glimpses of Frakes and Sirtis arriving in their cars. And when Combs reported for work and parked on the lot, he immediately came back out to the gate to visit with the demonstrators. Anthony Montgomery was another cast member who came out and spoke to the crowd.
During the eight-day principal photography schedule (one day longer than usual), most of the shooting took place on standing NX-01 sets, but there were new sets constructed to represent 24th-century locales. Among them: Ten Forward, the Observation Lounge, Troi's Quarters, and TNG-style Corridors. We will also see scenes in the Hologrid, but those were shot in front of a greenscreen for rendering later.
Another swing set restored for this episode was a section of the complex on snowy Rigel X. Rigel X was the planet Archer's crew visited during their very first mission in " Broken Bow." Also, the rarely-seen Chef's Galley was set up and used.
Throughout the eight days of shooting, Frakes was at various points dressed in a TNG-era uniform; as an NX-01 crewman; as a MACO; and ... as one other person who perhaps should remain a surprise.
There were other special guests in the cast of this episode. Playing an NX-01 Engineer in one scene was NASA astronaut Mike Fincke. Fincke made news on STARTREK.COM in December when he and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka received a "Starfleet Award" after their return from a six-month mission on the International Space Station. During his stay in orbit, Fincke had an opportunity to speak with Scott Bakula using a very-long-distance phone connection; now he was able to chat with him in person!
In the cast list, you will see Jasmine Anthony playing "Shran's Daughter." Jasmine is an 8-year-old actress who was seen in "Catch Me If You Can" and a few other films. There is also the name "Solomon Burke" playing an Ensign; this is not the 64-year-old R&B singer known as the "King of Rock and Soul" - he is simply a young actor, who, as far as we know, has no relation to his more famous namesake. (Oddly enough, the very day this Solomon Burke was on set at Star Trek, "the" Solomon Burke was in New York taping an appearance on Conan O'Brien!)
On a side note, in the production report for " Demons " , we mentioned that the part of " Colonel Green " - seen giving a speech in archival footage on a monitor - had not been cast yet. That footage was shot last Monday, Feb. 28, during B-unit photography, and the part was played by Steve Rankin. A popular character actor for military roles, Rankin previously played the Romulan "Patahk" in TNG's " The Enemy"; a Cardassian officer in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's " Emissary"; and the Klingon " Yeto" in DS9's " Invasive Procedures." That B-unit day, directed by Dan Curry, was spent capturing numerous insert shots for "Demons" as well as the two parts of " In a Mirror, Darkly," mostly involving visual effects and stunts. That included shots involving the computer-generated Tholian and Gorn (although a physical "Gorn claw" created by Makeup was used in one shot), and a fight between mirror- T'Pol and mirror-Hoshi, performed by stuntwomen Boni Yanagisawa and Diana Inosanto, respectively.
The final day of principal photography on "These Are the Voyages..." - this past Tuesday - was similar in spirit to that of the Deep Space Nine finale " What You Leave Behind," in that a large crowd scene for late in the episode consisted almost entirely of behind-the-scenes crew people, production and creative staff, and other special guests to the set. Without giving away specific story points, there is an Auditorium filled with a large crowd (most of which will be computer generated) that includes a "VIP Section." Within that crowd you may spot showrunner Manny Coto as an admiral; writer Andre Bormanis in a civilian suit; writer Garfield Reeves-Stevens in a Starfleet jumpsuit; and his wife Judith in a futuristic civilian dress. Larry Nemecek, editor of Star Trek Communicator magazine, was also there in a suit, with his hair slicked back. (Larry's suit, rumor has it, was the same one worn by Avery Brooks in " Far Beyond the Stars "!) All told there were about 15 "VIPs" along with two dozen other extras appearing in that Auditorium scene.
There was a lot of great energy on and around the set that afternoon. Crew members, staff members, cast members, extras and others were getting pictures taken with each other, getting scripts and call sheets signed by the actors, and bidding each other farewell and good luck. It was like being a senior on the last day of high school.
After that buzz died down late in the afternoon, things started to get bittersweet as the principal actors completed smaller scenes and each, in turn, were "released" for the last time by unit production manager Brad Yacobian. With each actor, their dismissal was marked by applause from the crew, and a lot of hugs and emotional good-byes. (When John Billingsley left the set, he was heard to say, "Well, that's much better than being released from prison!" Have some experience with that, John?)
Jolene Blalock and Scott Bakula were the last of the principal cast to be released, so Bakula took the opportunity to say a few words to the entire company. In particular, he thanked the crew members who had been working on Star Trek for 18 years since the beginning of Next Generation, for making him and his castmates feel so welcome during the four years of this show's run. And he got emotional as he reminded everyone to "remember the people we lost" (without naming names, he was apparently referring to assistant director Jerry Fleck and "Ensign Cutler" actress Kellie Waymire, who each died before their time).
Principal photography was officially done on Tuesday, but Frakes and Sirtis were actually not finished yet - they came back on Wednesday, March 9, to complete several greenscreen shots where their characters are moving in and out of the Holodeck/Hologrid.
Of course, there is still work to be done over the coming weeks, as editing, visual effects, sound effects, music scoring and other post-production activities will continue into May.
The final get-together for the entire cast and crew of Enterprise will be the wrap party in mid-April.
Now that the show has wrapped for good, several of the creative staff and a couple of the actors will be in attendance at Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam convention this weekend in Pasadena. Connor Trinneer will be there on Saturday, and Jolene Blalock will be present Sunday in her first convention appearance. Also going on stage Sunday will be several members of the Enterprise creative team, including Coto, Bormanis, the Reeves-Stevens couple, and Mike Sussman. They will be taking questions, so see what other details you can get out of them regarding the finale.
"These Are the Voyages..." was written by the show's creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, the pair's first and only script of the fourth season. The episode was directed by Allan Kroeker, making this his third Star Trek series finale in a row, after "What You Leave Behind" and Voyager's "Endgame."
The final installment of Enterprise is scheduled to air May 13 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT), immediately after "Terra Prime" at 8:00. Watch Episode Detail for updated information, as it becomes available.
The airdate schedule from UPN is unchanged since the last production report. The next new episode is " Bound" on April 15, followed by the two-part mirror-universe arc, followed by the two-part Earth-Moon-Mars story, followed by the series finale.
From: http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/9996.html
.jpg){kind=link}
