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Visit to the set of Enterprise

-Jonathan Krieger

On October 8, 2003, I was fortunate enough to visit the set of the UPN TV series Enterprise (see our article from last year). Viewers Voice member Joe Stryzewski and I arrived on the Paramount lot early in the day and met with publicist Melissa Gieringer. We learned that she was originally from Milwaukee, like Joe and I, so we had an instant connection. She led us over to Stage 18, one of three stages where Enterprise is filmed.

This was the 6th of 7 days they were filming the episode “Similitude”, directed by LeVar Burton. You might remember LeVar as Jordie Laforge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as the host of Reading Rainbow, or perhaps from Roots. As we waited outside, Linda Park (Hoshi) arrived on the set, not yet decked out in her uniform.

We headed onto stage 18, where they were taping a scene in launchbay 2 (the one with a big “3” and “4” on the floor). We didn’t know exactly what was going on, but it involved Scott Bakula (Captain Archer) and Adam Taylor Gordon (Sim-Trip Age 8). Last year, I was lucky enough to meet Connor Trinneer, who plays Trip. Apparently, “Sim-Trip” is a clone of Trip. We weren’t given any more information than that. Interestingly, in the call sheet for October 8 (which tells everyone who is supposed to be on set that day and what they are doing), the actor playing Captain Archer is “Archer”, not Scott Bakula. We’ve seen method actors, who only want to be referred to as their character once their on set. Sometimes they will have the character’s name on their dressing room door, and even their parking spot. I don’t know if that’s the case for Mr. Bakula, but it’s always interesting to look over these call sheets.

In this scene (scene 46A, if you were interested), Sim-Trip was controlling a model starship. We couldn’t actually see the model ship; presumably, it will be added later as a special effect. He had a remote control prop that he operated as if he was controlling it. Both he and Captain Archer (Bakula) were standing on the catwalk overlooking the shuttle bay. The camera panned and tilted to follow the imaginary spaceship as the scene progressed. In the first take we saw (take 2 of this shot), the crewmember in front of us remarked that the camera tilted up before Gordon (Sim-Trip) tilted up the control. This was probably the Director of Photography, or maybe one of the Assistant Directors. He wanted to make sure the camera was always slightly behind the model ship, like a real cameraman, trying to follow the model but never knowing where it would go next.

It was fascinating to watch this taping. Every so often, LeVar would enter the frame to give direction (which, unfortunately, we couldn’t hear). I was surprised how much the image we saw on the monitor looked like the show. All programs go through “color timing” during the editing phase, where they adjust the colors so that all the shots look the same, and so all of it has the “look” of the series. In this case, it looked exactly like we were watching a broadcast of the show.

It was particularly confusing to look around the room. The monitor was up against one of the doors of the brig, a new set this season. We were about six feet away from the monitor, and that put us in a kitchen set, which I don’t recall seeing before. It appeared to be unfinished. Perhaps this was the set used in the first season when the ship is boarded while the crew is holed up for protection for a storm. A bit farther away, there was one of the shuttles. They are pretty big.

They had a few more takes of the scene. Each take ended with a crew member shouting out “crash”, and Sim-Trip would run off the set. This was something of a mystery. There was damage to the engine room on this episode, and one of the props is “broken starship model”. So either he crashes the model, or the Enterprise is damaged, or both (as in, one caused the other). Once the scene was done, Bakula walked around the floor of the shuttle bay, swooping a large model (probably 3 feet across) around in front of him. I’d guess he was doing it so the special effects guys would have lighting reference.

As we were heading out of the area, LeVar walked in and told other crew members, “I think he did a terrific job creating the airplane, and giving you a specific place to put it.” It seemed like he was referring to how Adam Taylor Gordon operated the remote control for the imaginary spaceship model. Perhaps this is the first place Adam can hear about LeVar’s compliment!

Next we went to the engine room. That room is just so impressive, even without the engine lit up. The warp drive is huge, and there are catwalks, ladders, and controls panels everywhere. Looking up, I notice that there was a huge hole in the wall. The panels were ripped apart and bent outwards, and there were broken pipes inside of the wall. Some of the scenes being filmed later this day were “assessing the damage” and “repairs still unsuccessful”, presumably referring to this set dressing. Joe didn’t seem quite as impressed with the size of it as I was, but he’s a pretty big guy. Maybe that impacted his impression. He made a point of trying out the controls on one of the engineering stations.

We then headed over to the main bridge. The wedge shaped wall that holds the main viewscreen was removed, and the lights were out, but the monitors were all turned on. Some of the displays seemed different from last year, such as one set that showed the ship’s pitch and yaw. One thing I hadn’t noticed before was the small monitor built into the armrest of the captain’s chair. Mayweather’s (Anthony Montgomery) navigation station has a chair that can slide on a rail from its center position to being in front of a steering control. His station is pretty neat, with LEDs flashing in a row down the center, and all sorts of cool controls. Unlike Joe, I didn’t try any of them. I did, however, check out T’Pol’s (Jolene Blalock) station, with its pop-up “view tube” (I’m sure there’s some official name for it), similar to the one Spock looked into on the original Star Trek series. We noticed a small office off one side of the bridge, but none of the three of us could remember whose it was.

As we walked back through the wall where the main viewscreen sits, Melissa told us she’d been on the set recently when that spot was filled with dirt and a crashed space ship. Perhaps that was the episode where the crew is infected and turns into aliens, since they find a crashed shuttle pod in the beginning of that one.

We then headed outside, where we spotted Scott and Linda Rowe, animal trainers responsible for the non-human star of Enterprise, Breezy (who plays Porthos, Captain Archer’s dog). Joe and I were lucky enough to be seated with Scott, Linda, and Breezy at last year’s Viewers Voice awards dinner. I’m not sure Breezy remembered us, though Linda thought she might remember the chicken we fed her. Breezy was notable for being the first award winner to finish her acceptance by chewing on the award plaque. Scott and Linda have had fascinating careers, and they were a real treat to talk to at our 2002 conference, so it was great to see them again. Clearly, we aren’t the only ones with soft spots in our hearts for Breezy, as Anthony Montgomery (Mayweather) had to stop to say hi to Breezy.

Melissa was kind enough to then take us into Stage 8, where the rest of the Enterprise set, as well as miscellaneous other sets, are held. We walked straight into sick bay, which was pretty dark when we walked in. It doesn’t seem like that particular set has changed much since the first year of the series. We walked around the outside of the scanner (where people lay on a bed which slides inside). That chamber has a large, semitransparent plastic dish on one end with a huge light outside of it. It must get pretty warm in there when it’s being lit for the show.

We then walked through another maze of corridors. It was possible to make three turns through these hallways without exiting the set. At the far end, we came out by a large room, with tall simulated stone walls. We were looking into the room through a huge, round window. Joe didn’t recognize it right away, which I suppose only says he’s not as big a science fiction geek as me. I’ll give you a couple hints: first, there was a conference table inside that should be surrounded by a diverse group of aliens. Second, it’s a set new to the second season of Enterprise. This was the conference room of the aliens that are tracking the progress of Enterprise, trying to come up with ways to defeat humanity. We were standing in the area that the whale-like aliens float in liquid, looking in the window at their conspirators.

From there we walked on the outside of the Enterprise. On the show, this would be very dangerous, as we would have been in space. On one side, there were the windows to the mess hall. On the other, there are a couple large sheets. They can choose to put either a greenscreen or a field of stars outside of the ship windows. Either one is huge: about twelve feet tall and fifty feet long. The green screen was lifted up, exposing the star field. The last time I was here, I couldn’t see the star field very well. It is actually just black fabric with little foil squares attached to it. The squares were different sizes, though most were about a quarter inch on a side. We noticed that the windows were all covered with a strange wire mesh. This was a bit confusing, until we looked over the call sheet, which refers to “encrusted windows” as one of the set dressings for the day. There was also a scene being shot called “Hull’s almost clear”. I guess we’ll just have to wait for the episode!

The exterior wall to the main mess hall was open, so we stepped inside. From there we headed into the Captain’s mess, then peeked into someone’s quarters. Strangely, from there we walked into a set under construction. It looked like a standard 20th century home, perhaps something built in the 1950’s. Much of season two’s story revolves around Trip’s dreams of earth and his sister dying when aliens attacked, so it might have to do with that. Of course, the show also has time travel and historical episodes, so who knows how this set fits in (another case of wait and see).

We then got lost, walked around the sets a couple times, and finally looked into Stage 9, where the cave sets are. Since they were spray painting, we couldn’t actually go in. The various wall pieces they use for alien buildings (prisons, bars, etc) were stacked just inside the door, and I could see an alien landscape in the distance.

Visiting the set of Enterprise was an incredible experience. Thanks to Melissa for her time, to the crew, who accommodated us during taping, and to Paramount, for making this visit possible.