In A Mirror, Darkly Article Index for
In A
Website Links For
Mirror
 

Information About

In A Mirror, Darkly




  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 <br /> Franc Ross <br /> David Anderson ,<br /> James Cromwell
  Stardate unknown
  Year 2155
  Prev Bound
  Next Demons


''In a Mirror, Darkly'' is a two-part episode of ''. The episode is the only Star Trek episode 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 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

Commander Archer ]]

The episode's teaser opens with the closing scene from the feature movie '''' 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 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. 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 a 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 , but since their deaths have not been explicitly depicted, it is not known for certain whether they are actually dead, with the exception of Forrest, Soval, and Admiral Black).


BACKGROUND INFORMATION


These episodes foreshadow the future of the Mirror Universe (The Terran Empire as seen in '') in its dialogue. They also include numerous references to the other parts of the original series; besides the ''Defiant'', they depict Tholian s and Gorn on screen for the first time since the 1960s. They also contain many TOS-era sets, props, costumes and other paraphrenalia, which were re-created solely for these episodes. Interestingly, the Mirror Universe version of Starfleet is shown to be considerably more diverse than its real world counterpart, 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 '''' 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 ''.


NOTES

  • 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 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 '''' 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 Season 4 Showrunner Manny Coto , this story arc was originally intended to bring back the character of Captain Kirk . How this was to be achieved, and whether it would have been the regular Kirk or the mirror Kirk is unknown.

  • 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 time line.



REFERENCES



SEE ALSO




EXTERNAL LINKS