Spoiler for episode Borderland. Brent Spiner. -- Enterprise and All Things Trek

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[> INSIDE: Contains spoilers -- Computer Geek!, 03:10:47 09/05/04 Sun

08.27.2004
Production Report: Brent Spiner Begins Trilogy with "Borderland"

SPOILER ALERT!!!
Well, Ol' Yellow Eyes is back � but this time his eyes aren't yellow. Brent Spiner has returned to Paramount to create his fifth major character in Star Trek (after Data, Lore, Dr. Noonien Soong and B-4), and was able to do it without a lot of makeup. With "Borderland," which completed principal photography on Monday, Spiner began a three-episode arc featuring an ancestor of Noonien Soong, Dr. Arik Soong, a notorious figure of the 22nd century whose crimes now threaten to ignite a new Eugenics War.

The episode also features an appearance by J.G. Hertzler and the largest wrestler in the WWE. Oh, and there's an Orion Slave Girl.

Many of the details of "Borderland" and its sequels were spilled by showrunner Manny Coto at a recent UPN press party (related story). Arik Soong has been incarcerated in a high-security facility after stealing 20 embryos of genetically enhanced humans and bringing them to life. "He believes that genetic engineering was on the right track," Coto explained. "He wants to improve humanity, and he believes that the Eugenics Wars were an aberration, that these individuals are the future of humanity. Of course he's wrong." Those individuals � referred to as "Augments" � have grown up on an isolated planet, and now they have begun to wreak havoc by hijacking a Klingon ship and massacring its crew. It's a very volatile situation which could lead to war with the Klingons, so Archer and the Enterprise crew must interrupt their leave (per "Home") and hunt down the Augments. But Archer needs the help of their creator, Dr. Soong. Soong is very much a "Hannibal Lecter"-type character � he is widely feared, he's constantly trying to escape, and he loves to psychologically toy with everyone he talks to.

"Borderland" refers to the area of space between the Klingon Empire and the Orion Syndicate. That is where the trouble erupts.

Spiner's presence on the set of Star Trek: Enterprise was certainly auspicious, and greatly energized the cast and crew. "When Brent and Scott [Bakula] are on screen together, it's just electric," one crew member told us. "It looks really, really good."

Army Archerd, senior columnist for Daily Variety, interviewed Spiner and wrote this in his Tuesday column: "Star Trek: Enterprise welcomes back Brent Spiner after a 10 year absence... Now he plays the great, great grandfather of Data's creator, Dr. Soong. I asked Spiner who does he look like? 'I look like me,' he said � no gold makeup or yellow eyes. 'The yellow eyes � that's what was difficult in the original. Remember, in those days we filmed 16-20 hours a day.' Does Spiner survive this outing to return in another 10 years? 'I've only been shown two scripts' he admitted, 'and I'm told I live in a third.' Stay tuned..."

It was a very involved and elaborate production which began on Friday the 13th. Not risking any bad luck, the company stuck to basic Bridge scenes on that day, with only the principal cast plus one scene with Alec Newman as the Augment named "Malik." You might recognize Newman from the "Dune" TV miniseries. Other standing ship sets took a day and a half, then another day and a half was spent on the swing sets of the Klingon ship.

J.G. Hertzler, best known as "Martok" in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played his third Klingon role, that of the unnamed Klingon Captain. Hertzler had previously donned a ridged forehead to play "Kolos," Archer's advocate in "Judgment." He's also been a Vulcan, a Shapeshifter and a Hirogen (and even a human once).

A half day was spent in a Starfleet Detention Cell where Archer first approaches Soong, a scene that could go down as one of the most memorable of the entire series. The remaining two days of the schedule were some of the craziest this crew has seen � they staged an Orion Slave Market, occupied by several dozen extras dressed as "Slaves," "Slavers" and "Traders." It's one of the widest arrays of aliens seen in Trek outside the movies � some familiar (such as Tellarites) and many new. Needless to say, the makeup people and the costumers had some very long days preparing for and executing these scenes.

The most striking aliens in this group were the Orions themselves. This is the first time we've actually seen Orion males, and their look was extrapolated from the Orion females introduced in Gene Roddenberry's first pilot for Star Trek, "The Cage" (and aside from "The Menagerie," only seen one other time in "Whom Gods Destroy"). We'll talk about the males in a second. The "Orion Slave Girl" we see in this episode � played by model Bobbi Sue Luther � perfectly captures the seductive presence of the similar role performed by Susan Oliver ("Vina") in 1964. Pitch-black hair, dark lips, mysterious eyes, and an outfit that's barely even there. And of course, she's green.

Based on that, the Enterprise team decided that the Orion males should also be green, and should look the part of slave traders (as they have been established several times to be). And that they should be really, really big.

Where do you turn for the largest, most intimidating guys you can find? How about taking a cue from "Tsunkatse"? Enter the largest wrestler in the WWE, known as "The Big Show," Paul Wight � at 7'1" and 450 lbs. � as "Orion Slaver #1." It took a lot of green body makeup to cover that hulking form. (Sorry for the pun.)

There were several other Orion Slavers, all played by professional stuntmen, all very tall, shaven bald, with bolt-like objects in their scalps, dressed in intimidating leather-strap costumes. Not exactly Jolly Green Giants. There were quite a number of other stunt people employed for this episode, in the roles of "Stunt Slaves," "Stunt Traders," "Stunt Augments" and several of the regular non-speaking MACOs (Paul Sklar, Dorenda Moore, Shawn Crowder, Kevin Derr, etc.). They were all directed by stunt coordinator Vince Deadrick Jr., who performed a few scenes himself.

There was a very special guest stuntman on set for the Slave Market scenes � Vince Deadrick Sr. The stunt coordinator's father has a lengthy Hollywood resum� that includes several Original Series credits, including a Romulan in "Balance of Terror" and the unfortunate redshirt "Matthews" in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" He was also the stunt double for Finnegan in "Shore Leave," for Decker in "The Doomsday Machine," and McCoy in "Mirror, Mirror." The elder Deadrick was a prominently placed alien Trader in the Orion Market. Two days prior to his set call, Vince Sr. celebrated his 72nd birthday, so the production crew all signed a large card created from a still of his appearance in "Little Girls."

The episode wrapped Monday, the 23rd, but Spiner and several of the Augment guest stars were right back on Tuesday to begin part 2 of the Arik Soong arc, called "Cold Station 12."

"Borderland" was helmed by veteran Trek director David Livingston, whose last Enterprise job was "The Council." Though Coto, as head writer, guided the conception of the story, the script itself was penned by Ken LaZebnik, a new staff writer on the show with the title of Supervising Producer. He has previously written for Providence and Touched by an Angel. Ken is the brother of Philip LaZebnik, who wrote episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and DS9.

The fourth episode of Season 4 � and the 80th hour of Enterprise overall � is tentatively slated to air Friday, October 29.

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[> [> Ooo.. this sounds good. I saw a bit of the previews. I was under the impression Brent Spiner was in fact playing DATA. I was wondering how they were going to EXPLAIN that. LOL! -- Luoodles, 20:53:45 09/06/04 Mon

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