Transporter creators and alternate Kirks on ENTERPRISE

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Thursday, October 07, 2004
Source: Trek Today, San Francisco Examiner, TV Guide, Science Fiction Weekly

The more that's learned about the direction that the fourth season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE is headed, the greater the connection to TREK's old school mythology seems to be. And if new series showrunner Manny Coto has his way, that will hopefully mean the return of STAR TREK fans.

"If I hear that they're doing a Vulcan Reformation, they're bringing the Orions back, Spiner is coming on, they're possibly doing the Shatner thing, they're doing Eugenics Wars characters -- I'm going to tune in," Coto is quoted as saying to the San Francisco Examiner (and reported by Trek Today.) "I'm a fan and this season I'm like a kid in a candy store with the stuff I want to bring back and I'm doing all the episodes I would want to see."

We've already heard about Coto's plans to mount story arcs that will see to grandfather of the creator of THE NEXT GENERATION's Data, more of the genetically engineered superman of Khan's generation (called "Augments" in ENTERPRISE), and the spectre of a civil war on Vulcan which will bridge the gap between the Vulcans of ENTERPRISE's era and those seen in the original TREK series and Spock's time. Now comes word of two more intriguing story ideas being formed for ENTERPRISE's fourth season.

According to Trek Today's sources, a new episode titled "Daedalus" is in development as the tenth episode of ENTERPRISE's new season. In it viewers will finally meet the creator of one of STAR TREK's greatest scientific gadgets, the transporter. According to the site's sources, the show will introduce the character of Emory, a brilliant but haunted science man that created the transporter for humans. Emory comes to the Enterprise with a grand vision to create a new version of his transporter that can beam explorers from planet to planet, doing away with the need for starships altogether.


"One of the ideas that I've had is, we've seen Zefram Cochrane, the originator of the warp drive," Coto told Science Fiction Weekly. "But we've never seen the individual who invented the transporter, which I think is as important an invention as the warp drive, when you really think about it. So I want to do a story about an individual who is kind of a Daystrom, if you remember the old series character, who's invented the transporter, and a story about him."

Also being worked on behind the scenes is a plan to have William Shatner make a guest appearance on the show. Shatner, currently starring in BOSTON LEGAL, is in delicate salary negotiations with UPN and so far no contract has been brokered between the two parties. Until now nothing was known for sure as to what role Shatner's appearance would have (if it even happens) on ENTERPRISE, but a comment by Rick Berman to TV Guide has given us a taste of what it could be. According to the veteran TREK producer, if a deal can be cut with Shatner he would play a different version of Captain Kirk, one from an alternate reality that somehow interacts with Archer and his universe. Or maybe -- and we're just guessing here -- the universe that we're watching ENTERPRISE take place in is the different reality from the universe of THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE and VOYAGER?

You can find out how the new season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE will fare by tuning in tomorrow night for the season premiere.


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