In a Mirror, Darkly

ST episode
series = Enterprise
name = In a Mirror, Darkly


ep_num = 94
prod_num = 418
date = 22 April 2005
writer = Mike Sussman
director = James L. Conway
guest = Vaughn Armstrong
Franc Ross
David Anderson
James Cromwell
stardate = unknown
year = 2155
prev = Bound
next = Demons

"In a Mirror, Darkly" is a two-part episode of "". Its title is from 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12 (American Standard Version). The same verse (from the King James Bible, which reads, "For now we see through a glass, darkly") is quoted by Captain Picard in "Star Trek Nemesis". The episode is the only episode in the entire Star Trek franchise which takes place entirely within the mirror universe.

"In a Mirror, Darkly, Part I" was the 700th live-action "Star Trek" episode broadcast. [ [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/11001.html STARTREK.COM : Article ] ] With this episode, actress Majel Barrett, widow of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry, became the first and only actor to participate in every "Star Trek" series, including the Animated Series, as well as both the "Original Series"-based and "Next Generation"-based film series. In this episode, she provided the voice of the "Defiant" computer.

Synopsis

The episode's teaser opens with the closing scene from the feature movie "", and features footage originally used in that feature film. Most of the footage of the Vulcans landing on Earth is directly lifted from the film, up until the point where Zefram Cochrane greets a Vulcan, who has arrived on earth to make First Contact with the young human species, and attempts to perform a Vulcan salute. But the scene does not play out as viewers remember: Cochrane shoots the Vulcan, and the assembled humans raid the ship. For this episode, footage of Cochrane and the assembled humans executing the Vulcan crew and stealing the "T'plana-hath" with cries of conquest was newly created with stunt actors dressed identically to James Cromwell (Cochrane) and Cully Fredericksen (Vulcan Captain).

The credits then roll, depicting not peaceful exploration, but milestones in humanity's history of war, both terrestrial and interstellar.

The show's starring cast are crewmembers on the ISS Enterprise of the Mirror Universe, under command of Captain Forrest. The Terran Empire is on rocky ground; their hegemony over the alien races of the universe is being threatened by constant insurgency. Deep inside Tholian space, the "Enterprise" encounters the USS "Defiant", NCC-1764 fresh from its last appearance in the episode "The Tholian Web". It appears that, after disappearing into interphase, the "Defiant" was carried not only a century back in time, but into the mirror universe, where the Tholians of 2155 are intent on using it to break away from the oppressive and anthropocentric Terran Empire. Jonathan Archer takes an away team to the "Defiant" to capture it for the humans. Meanwhile, the "Enterprise" is caught and destroyed by the Tholians, with Forrest lost but the rest of the crew escaping in escape pods. Archer declares himself captain of the "Defiant" and orders his crew to take the fight to the enemy.

In Part II, Archer repopulates his ship with the escaped crew of the "Enterprise", defeats an insurgent alien fleet, and decides to declare himself Emperor, using the "Defiant" and its advanced technology as his trump card. Several crewmembers, including Archer, don 23rd Century Starfleet uniforms in lieu of wearing their environmental suits from "Enterprise". A conspiracy led by various alien members of his crew, including T'Pol, Phlox and Soval, fails to stop him. However, he is incapacitated by his lover Hoshi Sato, and she declares herself Empress upon arriving at Earth. The episode closes on that note, with the final fate of all main characters unknown (many have been threatened with death), and Archer poisoned via champagne.

Background Information

These episodes foreshadow the future of the Mirror Universe (the Terran Empire as seen in ' and its downfall and the rise of an alien-led coalition as seen in ') in its dialogue. They also include numerous references to the other parts of the original series; besides the "Defiant", they depict the Gorn on screen for the first time since the 1960s. They also contain many TOS-era sets, props, costumes and other paraphernalia, which were re-created solely for these episodes. Interestingly, the Mirror Universe version of Starfleet is shown to be considerably more diverse than in the mainstream universe, with Vulcans, Andorians and even an Orion seen serving in various capacities, although it is implied that these are conquered races.

Altered credits

The altered opening credits sequence for this episode depicts historical archive footage of World War I troops on the march, a squadron of Stuka dive-bombers, a V-2 rocket launch, a hydrogen bomb exploding, aerial carpet bombings, a T-90 tank, an F-15 Eagle, and a B-1B Lancer.

Other scenes used in the opening credits come from earlier "Star Trek" productions, including the launch of the "Phoenix" (from '), a shot of several torpedoes striking a building (from the ' episode "Dragon's Teeth"), the destruction of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey (from the ' episode "The Expanse"), an assault by a team of MACO troops (from the ' episode "The Xindi"), and a battle between "Enterprise" and the Xindi, as well as the destruction of the Rigellian Scout Ship by the Romulan Drone (disguised as Enterprise).

These credits also show scenes from different properties belonging to Paramount Pictures, including "The Hunt for Red October" (of the "Konovalov" firing a torpedo), "Call to Glory", and "The Jacket". The animated logo of the Terran Empire includes an Earth rotating the opposite way.

Production

*These two episodes mark the first time since the Original Series that the entire Constitution class bridge was rebuilt for a Star Trek episode. In previous episodes where it was depicted, for example the ' episode "" and the ' episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", only small sections of the bridge were rebuilt. Visual effects were used to fill in the gaps.
*For the Part I teaser new shots were filmed and inserted into footage from the film '. While ' was normally shot in digital, the Mirror First Contact scenes were shot on film so that they would match the appearance of the original footage.
*According to interviews with the episode's writer Mike Sussman, the "Defiant" was originally going to be used in his Season 2 episode "Future Tense". The idea was abandoned based on the premise that it was too difficult to include the "Defiant" in the episode without allowing the Enterprise crew to either see the ship or find out any information about it, as this would conflict with established canon, and pollute the timeline.cn|date=June 2008

References

External links

* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/9440.html In a Mirror, Darkly] episode guide at StarTrek.com
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/ENT/episode/9515.html In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II] episode guide at StarTrek.com