Sussman: The Xindi Need Therapy

"I think we'll see Xindi with differing opinions on the conflict with Earth," Star Trek: Enterprise writer and producer Mike Sussman told fans in a chat this week. "The Xindi are obviously a species with a lot of 'issues' to work out. They should be in therapy."

Sussman, who took fan questions at TrekWeb when story editor Andre Bormanis was unable to attend, talked about this week's widely praised "Twilight", which he wrote, as well as "Anomaly" and episodes written with former partner Phyllis Strong.

"'Archer not remembering anything' was really the basic idea for the show," Sussman said of "Twilight", which aired on Wednesday night in most markets. "The central notion was that someone with Alzheimer's disease, in some ways, could be thought of as a time-traveller."

Asked about the hinted-at intimacy between Archer and T'Pol in the episode, Sussman joked, "Maybe they'll release the NC-17 version on DVD." He said that they deliberately left the subject unresolved, saying, "If there was intimacy, I don't think there was a lot of it."

On the other hand, Sussman added that he thought Scott Bakula and Jolene Blalock "did a wonderful job and have such great chemistry," and noted that "T'Pol was stuck on Ceti Alpha for twelve years...she goes into heat once every seven years...just a matter of doing the math."

Sussman demonstrated a knowledge of Trek history including the origins of The Doomsday Machine, the function of fal-tor-pan and the unfortunate continuity issues preventing the Gorn from appearing on Enterprise. Asked whether the Romulans would return, he opined that though Earth has its hands full with the Xindi at present, he heard that screenwriter John Logan had pitched stories about the Romulans but again, there were potential continuity issues.

Citing the influence of Rick Berman and Brannon Braga on each script, Sussman agreed that Mayweather needed more to do on the show, promised that Shran fans would enjoy "Proving Ground" and said that he couldn't say much about the script he is currently writing, which centers on the Xindi Degra, "without getting called into the principal's office tomorrow."

To read the full chat, visit TrekWeb.

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