In a Mirror, Darkly (Enterprise episode)
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In a Mirror, Darkly is a two-part episode of . Its title is an homage to Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly, which itself was an allusion to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 12. The same verse (in the King James Bible, the relevant text reads "For now we see through a glass, darkly") is quoted by Captain Picard in .
"In a Mirror, Darkly Part I" was the 700th live-action Star Trek episode broadcast [link].
The episode opens with the closing scene from the feature movie , in which Zefram Cochrane greets a Vulcan, who has arrived on earth to make First Contact with the young human species. But the scene does not play out as viewers remember: Cochrane shoots the Vulcan, and he and the other humans seize the T'plana'hath with cries of conquest. The credits then roll, depicting not peaceful exploration, but milestones in humanity's history of war, both terrestrial and interstellar. Notably, it appears that the human history of conquest and exploration up to that point are different from both regular Star Trek chronology and from regular history. Though, the differences are also nuanced in their commonality, such as the depiction of the V-2 rocket directly leading to a successful Moon landing. Yet, if there is a single "point of divergence" for the Mirror Universe, this is not it.
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 rebellion. 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. 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 lifeboats. 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 rebel alien fleet, and decides to declare himself Emperor, using the Defiant and her 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 (humanity's downfall and the rise of an alien-led empire as seen in ) in its dialogue. They also include numerous references to the Original Series: besides the Defiant, they depict Tholians and Gorn on screen for the first time since the 1960s. They also contain many TOS-era sets, props, costumes and other paraphernalia, which were recreated 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.
- 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.
- The altered opening credits sequence for the episode In a Mirror, Darkly shows a scene from The Hunt for Red October -- also a product of Paramount Pictures -- of a submarine firing a torpedo.
| Preceded by: Bound | Followed by: Demons |
| Preceded by: None | Star Trek Mirror Universe episodes | Followed by: "Mirror, Mirror" |
References
External links
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