Rogue Planet
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 20 March 2002
- ON
- UPN
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Allan Kroeker
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 018
WRITTEN BYTeleplay by Chris Black; story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga and Chris Black
On a dark planet drifting without a sun, Enterprise meets a party of alien hunters, and Archer keeps glimpsing a mysterious woman in the forest.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
Enterprise visits Dakala, a rogue planet that drifts through space without a star, and finds a party of Eska hunters who have visited for nine generations to stalk its native wildlife. Archer is drawn away from the camp by sightings of a blonde woman in the dark forest. She eventually reveals that she belongs to a species of shapeshifters, the wraiths, that can take any form, and that the Eska's prey is really her people. The wraiths can sense thoughts, which makes them hard to catch, but the hunters have found ways to track them. The Eska, who see the hunt as a tradition, are unmoved by Archer's appeals. Determined to help, Archer asks Phlox for a way to hide the wraiths from the hunters. With their advantage gone, the Eska abandon the hunt and leave. The woman shows Archer her true form before vanishing into the forest.
- 01Science consultant André Bormanis pitched the idea of a habitable rogue planet, one that does not orbit a star.
- 02Rick Berman suggested drawing on W.B. Yeats's poem “The Song of Wandering Aengus”.
- 03The boar-like creatures were made by reworking a Klingon targ model.