|
No worries, archer. They already have the klingon episode finished. If it doesn't get to air, you know trek fans will allow it to leak.
Spoiler: "Affliction" is the first of a two-parter, written by Mike Sussman from a story by Manny Coto. The second part is called "Divergence," written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, and those episodes will air in February. (During sweeps ... clever, huh?)
The Klingon forehead issue is a complicated one, because it has to take into account a number of factors if one is to stay true to the Star Trek universe as previously established (related feature). The simplest theories (e.g. "southern" vs. "northern" breeds) have to be thrown out because Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reprised three Klingon characters from the Original Series — Kor, Koloth and Kang — and gave them forehead ridges in "Blood Oath." Then there was "Trials and Tribble-ations," where the crew went back in time to Station K-7, looked around and said, "Those are Klingons??" They turned to bumpy-headed Worf for an explanation, and he would only say it's a long story and "We do not discuss it with outsiders." (I laughed so hard when he said that)
Well, rest assured the writers have taken all that into account and have come up with a scenario consistent with all those elements. We won't give it away here, of course, but we will say that it ties very neatly into other aspects of Trek history.
Enterprise heads back to Earth for the official launch of the Columbia NX-02, commanded by Erika Hernandez. After visiting his favorite Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, Phlox is abducted by aliens (Rigelians, actually). He finds himself in the presence of Klingons who tell him the Empire is facing its gravest threat in centuries. Along the way, as Archer and company investigate and pursue, it's revealed that one of our main characters has a secret past which comes into play.
Ada Maris, introduced in "Home" as Archer's old flame, returns as the Columbia's captain. Another face back in uniform is that of avid Trek fan Seth MacFarlane, creator of the animated comedy Family Guy (which currently is being made into a movie). The 31-year-old MacFarlane had a brief cameo last season as an Engineer in "The Forgotten" (related story). He's still an Engineer but now he's got a Columbia patch on his uniform, and he's got a name: "Ensign Rivers." He's also got more scenes this time.
Will we actually see the Kirk-era Klingon visage in this episode? Why yes! In fact, we'll see four of them (referred to in the production notes either as "Klingons, Type Two" or "Semi-Klingons"), the principal one named "Marab." And yes, they have that swarthy complexion and that Fu Manchu facial hair. They do, however, have a very slight remnant of the forehead ridge. Their outfits are leathery brown like we've seen on Klingons before, but a lot less bulky.
|