SPOILER ALERT!!!

After two stand-alone "bottle" shows, production of Star Trek: Enterprise kicked into high gear again with the beginning of a new trilogy of episodes pitting Andorians, Tellarites and humans against a furtive enemy — Romulans.

Part 1 is titled "Babel One," and it follows in the footsteps of its Original Series namesake "Journey to Babel." Enterprise is assigned to transport a Tellarite ambassador across Andorian space to the neutral planet Babel, where Earth mediators will try to settle a bitter dispute between the Tellarites and Andorians. The journey is interrupted by a distress call from Shran, whose warship Kumari was destroyed by what he believes to be a Tellarite vessel. Other attacks ensue by what appears to be an Andorian vessel. This puts the Tellarites and Andorians at each other's throats, but we come to learn someone else is actually behind the attacks. The events of this and the next two episodes will serve as a precursor to the Romulan Wars which, according to canon, is imminent within a few years (per "Balance of Terror" as well as "The Defector" and others).

Jeffrey Combs is back for the second time this season as "Shran," and this time he's accompanied by Molly Brink, the Andorian female "Talas" introduced last season in "Proving Ground." Turns out a romantic relationship has evolved between Shran and Talas since the Kumari was in the Delphic Expanse.

Most of the other guest actors are long-time Trek veterans. Brian Thompson has played several heavy-makeup roles, including two Klingons — "Klag" in "A Matter of Honor" and a helmsman in "Star Trek Generations" — plus the Jem'Hadar "Toman'torax" in "To the Death," and the Dosi "Inglatu" in "Rules of Acquisition." But he's probably best known as the menacing "Alien Bounty Hunter" in The X-Files. Here Thompson's makeup isn't so heavy — he plays a Romulan named "Valdore." You might recognize Valdore as the name of Commander Donatra's warbird in "Star Trek Nemesis" (it's a matter of conjecture whether that ship was specifically named for this character in Trek history).

J. Michael Flynn plays "Nijil," the other prominent Romulan in this episode. (For you canon purists, rest assured that while we the audience see the Romulans, the other characters do not.) Flynn was in Enterprise once before as the "Mazarite Official" in "Fallen Hero," and earlier he was in the TNG episode "The Hunted" as the Angosian "Zaynar."

Lee Arenberg is used to playing Ferengi, but this time he's a Tellarite named "Gral." In an odd coincidence (and we've been assured it is a coincidence), one of his earlier characters was also named "Gral" — a Ferengi subject in "The Nagus." Arenberg also played "DaiMon Prak" in "Force of Nature" and "DaiMon Bok" in "Bloodlines," as well as the Malon "Pelk" in Voyager's "Juggernaut." The other Tellarite in this episode, "Naarg," is played by the only newcomer on the cast list, Kevin Brief.

The seven-day schedule on episode 12 of season 4 ran from Tuesday, November 2, through last Wednesday, the 10th. The first scene shot repurposed the Andorian Bridge set we've grown familiar with, but now it's been wrecked. Smoke, fire and sparks completed the effect of a ship about to be abandoned, with Combs announcing the order to do so. His scenes continued on the standing Enterprise sets, including the Bridge and Situation Room, Crew Quarters, Corridors, Conference Room, Captain's Mess and Sickbay. He was constantly shadowed by his antenna "puppeteer" Paul Elliot. (John Fifer was Brink's puppeteer.)

Combs' Andorian makeup — which included wounds — typically took about three to three-and-a-half hours to apply, which required his call time to be as early as 5:00 a.m. But Brink's makeup was actually a little more involved, at least on her first day (day 3 of the schedule). Both she and stunt double Bevin Kaye Franco reported at 4:30 in the morning, first to get their face and hair applied. Then they each moved to a "spraybooth" for a full-body application of blue. That's because the first scene shot with "Talas" shows her in underwear (the script calls it "functional but form-fitting undergarments"). Removing full-body makeup is almost as complicated a task, so it was done using the shower facilities at the studio's Executive Gym — just as they had to do with the green Orions in "Borderland."

It took the Andorian females about four-and-a-half hours to get into makeup and costume, and two hours to get out. By contrast, it took the Tellarites three-and-a-half hours to put on their furry faces, and less than an hour to get out. The Romulans, who only had one day of shooting on this show, had three hours allotted for makeup and hair, and an hour for removal.

Swing sets constructed for this episode included several parts of the mysterious ship which is stirring up all the trouble. Some of the monitors on those sets happen to display Romulan-language graphics created by Mike Okuda's art department.

Other stunt players on this episode included Jermaine Soto and regulars Shawn Crowder and Dorenda Moore as MACOs, Kim Koski as a stunt Andorian, and Clark Tucker as a double for Malcolm Reed.

Last Wednesday, concurrent with day 7 of "Babel One," Dan Curry directed a second unit to capture shots for "Awakening" (airing a week from Friday), "Kir'Shara" and "Daedalus" which will be merged with visual effects. One of those shots was an over-the-shoulder angle with Archer and T'Pau looking upon a Vulcan city at twilight. Scott Bakula worked the second unit for that and other shots, but a stand-in was used for T'Pau rather than actress Kara Zediker (cost practicalities). Donovan Knowles, the actor playing "Quinn" in "Daedalus," worked extensively that day, and part of his job was to be scanned for a CG rendering of him that will be used for a weird transporter-related effect.

"Babel One" was written by Mike Sussman and Andre Bormanis, two staff writers and Trek fans who have been with the franchise for years. This season alone, Sussman has already written "Home," last week's "The Augments," and "Kir'Shara." Bormanis last wrote "Awakening." Sussman and Bormanis collaborated previously on "Hatchery."

The episode was directed by David Straiton, who this season also helmed "Storm Front, Part II" and "Daedalus."

"Babel One" is tentatively scheduled to air January 28, 2005. Stay tuned to Episode Detail for updates.

UPN has changed the previously reported airdate schedule for December and January. After "Kir'Shara" airs on December 3, there will be four straight weeks of reruns (to be determined). Kicking off the new year now will be "Daedalus" on January 7, 2005. "Observer Effect" will follow on January 14, and then a TBD rerun will air on January 21.