"Minefield," the third second-season episode to go before the cameras, completed principal photography yesterday after a strenuous week-and-a-half schedule.

This installment represents the first script written for Enterprise by John Shiban, who joined the staff this season after seven years on The X-Files. It finds Enterprise encountering a minefield planted near a planet, and when one of the mines attaches itself to the ship's hull, Malcolm Reed steps out into the vacuum of space to disarm it. When he runs into trouble, Captain Archer takes it upon himself to save him.

The episode's schedule started Friday, July 19, with a half day on the Bridge set. It then kicked into full gear the following week with four days of shots on miscellaneous ship sets, including a practically full day on Thursday in Sickbay, where a number of extras made up as injured crewmen were treated by Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley).

Then on Friday, a special set piece built to represent the external hull of the ship was put into service. For the rest of the schedule (through yesterday, the 31st), the only cast members reporting to work were Scott Bakula and Dominic Keating, along with Stunt Coordinator Vince Deadrick, Jr. Bakula and Keating had the difficult task of acting in the bulky environmental suits we've seen in such episodes as "Fight or Flight" and "Breaking the Ice," trying to relate to each other as characters while also portraying the nerve-racking effort of defusing an intricate piece of machinery in zero-gravity.

"Minefield" is directed by James Contner, who also helmed last year's "Dear Doctor." Contner's other directorial credits include The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Dark Angel, Roswell and Smallville.

On a side note, there was an odd bit of synchronicity associated with the first episode to be produced this season (see related story). At the beginning of July, scenes were shot depicting a coal mine accident at Carbon Creek, Pennsylvania, and the rescue of a trapped group of miners. Within the same month, a real coal mine accident occurred at Quecreek, Pennsylvania, where a group of miners were trapped for three days. To the nation's great relief, the real-life men emerged alive and relatively healthy. (But as far as we know, there were no alien visitors involved in their rescue.)

Season Two is scheduled to premiere Wednesday, September 18, on UPN with "Shockwave, Part II." The airdate order for the subsequent episodes is not yet confirmed.

Please note: All production information is subject to change.

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