Several of the Enterprise cast spent extra time in the makeup chair in order to blend in with the locals on an alien planet during a seven-day shoot for "The Communicator," which wrapped principal photography on Friday.

The eighth episode of the second season explores a premise hinted at in the original Star Trek. Remember the end of "A Piece of the Action" when Dr. McCoy confessed to leaving behind his communicator on the gangster planet, and Kirk joked that it "upsets the whole percentage"? Well, "The Communicator" picks up on this idea, but with a far more serious tone. When the NX-01 crew goes undercover to survey a pre-warp society on the brink of war, Lt. Reed loses his communicator. He and Archer go back to retrieve it, and things do not go well.

Production started last Thursday, Sept. 12, with principal cast members in interior ship sets such as Launch Bay One, Bio-Scan and Locker Room. On Friday most of the action moved into an alien tavern built on the soundstage adjacent to Sickbay and related sets, with several of the episode's guest stars in attendance. Monday and Tuesday were spent in Sickbay, on the Bridge and in the Launch Bay. The rest of the week was almost all alien locales — including an interrogation room and both the interior and exterior of a military compound (all shot on the soundstages), which involved the guest cast along with several "stunt soldiers" in the climactic action scenes.

During most of the schedule, Scott Bakula (Captain Archer) and Dominic Keating (Lt. Reed) wore the same forehead prosthetics as the guest actors. Linda Park (Hoshi Sato) also endured the extra makeup, but only for one day.

On Thursday, Bakula, Anthony Montgomery (Travis Mayweather) and John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox) were diverted from "Communicator" for a short time to do second-unit photography for "A Night in Sickbay" and "Dead Stop" under the direction of visual effects producer Dan Curry.

The guest cast of this episode includes three veterans of Star Trek: Voyager — two from "Live Fast and Prosper": Francis Guinan ("Zar") and Dennis Cockrum ("Orek"). Tim Kelleher was last seen as ex-Borg "Four of Nine" in "Survival Instinct."

"The Communicator" is the third episode this season directed by James Contner, who also helmed "Carbon Creek" and "Minefield," as well as last year's "Dear Doctor." The teleplay was written by Andre Bormanis from a story by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It is tentatively scheduled to air November 6.

For more information about the second-season episodes, visit the Synopses and Cast & Crew sections of Production News.

Please note: All production information is subject to change.

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