Enterprise Spoilers Revealed
Rick Berman, executive producer of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, revealed to SCI FI Wire several spoilers for the upcoming fourth season, including the possible casting of original Star Trek star William Shatner (Capt. Kirk) in a familiar role. "We're still discussing it with Bill," Berman said in an interview at UPN's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "He had a terrific episode [idea], and we had a nice long lunch meeting with him a couple of weeks ago. And there's a lot of things that need to get ironed out in terms of scheduling, in terms of money. ... But he would play an incarnation of a Kirk, yes. He would not be playing another character."
Berman added that the upcoming season will feature several stand-alone episodes and "miniarcs" of two or three episodes, as contrasted with season three's season-long Xindi storyline. "We're going in new directions for the fourth season, and hopefully there's going to be a mixture of smaller arcs," Berman said. "The first two episodes are going to be a small arc. And then there's going to be a single episode. And then there's going to be a three-episode arc. And there's going to be some levity, and there's also going to be some heavy subjects dealt with."
Among the other spoilers Berman and cast members revealed to SCI FI Wire:
•In addition to the previously announced guest appearance of Star Trek: The Next Generation star Brent Spiner as an ancestor of Data's creator, guest stars will include Girlfriends' Golden Brooks and The Sopranos' Steve Schirripa. "He plays a character in 1944," Berman said, referring to the season premiere.
•T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) may find herself getting married in episode three, Blalock said in an interview.
•The long-standing Temporal Cold War arc will be resolved in the first two episodes.
•The new season will be the first shot entirely on high-definition digital video instead of film as a cost-saving measure. UPN renewed the ratings-challenged Enterprise in part because Paramount, which produces the show, agreed to lower its license fee for the series.
•Manny Coto, a writer (Showtime's Odyssey 5) who joined the series in the third season and was responsible for many of the Xindi storylines, has been promoted to "show runner," in charge of the day-to-day operations and writing, while previous show runner Brannon Braga steps back into a more executive role.
Star Trek: Enterprise returns to UPN on Oct. 8 in its new 8 p.m. ET/PT Friday timeslot.