'Awakening' To Feature Legendary Vulcans

See Also: 'Awakening' Episode Guide

Familiar Original Series characters Surak and T'Pau will be making their first Enterprise appearance in the upcoming November sweeps episode "The Awakening.".

The official site yesterday posted a report about the second installment of the Vulcan-themed trilogy, started in "The Forge". In this episode, Archer and T'Pol discover the hideout of the Syrrannites, the religious sect suspected of bombing Earth's embassy on Vulcan. The Syrrannites say they are the true followers of Surak, the father of the Vulcan philosophy of peace and logic, but Archer highly doubts their pacifist nature - and so does the Vulcan High Command, which is planning a campaign against the Syrrannites that could seriously endanger Archer and T'Pol.

In the T'Karath Sanctuary, the desert cavern serving as the hideout of the Syrrannites, Archer and T'Pol meet with one of the group's leaders, a woman named T'Pau. This character first appeared on the Original Series episode "Amok Time," in which she was to preside over Spock's wedding, and was revealed to be the only person to ever turn down a seat on the Federation Council. In that episode, she was played by Celia Lovsky, then 70, the younger version of T'Pau seen in "Awakening" will be played by 24's Kara Zediker.

The desert cavern will also be where we'll get to see mystical visions of Surak himself, as he appeared 2000 years ago during the Time of Awakening. Surak, or at least a replica of him, appeared in the Original Series episode "The Savage Curtain", and was played there by then-50 years old Barry Atwater. On Enterprise, Surak will appear to be quite a bit older, as the role will be taken over by Bruce Gray, who's 65. Gray previously appeared on both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine as the viewscreen-bound Admiral Chekote.

Behind the scenes, "Awakening" is in the hands of several Trek veterans. The episode was written by longtime Trek staff writer Andre Bormanis, while the director's seat was taken by Voyager's Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres). Below you can find the full guest cast list for the episode:

• Joanna Cassidy as T'Les
• Gary Graham as Soval
• Kara Zediker as T'Pau
• Bruce Gray as Surak
• John Rubinstein as Kurak
• Robert Foxworth as Administrator V'Las

Both Graham and Foxworth also already worked on"The Forge", while Cassidy will make her first appearance as T'Pol's mother T'Les in "Home," airing two weeks from now. John Rubinstein appeared on Trek twice: as John Evansville in Voyager's The 37s, and as the Mazarite Captain in "Fallen Hero".

Production on "The Awakening" lasted from Thursday the 23rd of September to Friday the 1st of October, with filming mostly taking place on the ship sets and the desert cavern set serving as the T'Karath Sanctuary. Full production information can be found in the official site's report, while the episode itself will make it to your television on Friday the 26th of November.

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