Official 'First Flight' Details Released

See Also: 'First Flight' Episode Guide

Enterprise will journey back to the very beginnings of Starfleet's space programme in its fiftieth episode, entitled "First Flight".

StarTrek.com yesterday released the below synopsis of the episode, currently scheduled to air on May 14:

While Enterprise is investigating what appears to be a dark matter nebula, Archer receives news that A.G. Robinson, his old rival in the early days of the NX test program, has died. During a shuttlepod mission into the dark matter phenomenon, Archer reminisces to T'Pol about the time he and Robinson were pilots competing for the honor of being the first to break the Warp 2 barrier.

"First Flight" was penned by Enterprise co-executive producers Chris Black and John Shiban, their second joint effort after "The Breach". The episode was directed by familiar Trek actor-director LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), who helmed Star Trek: Voyager's one hundredth episode, "Timeless".

The following guest actors will appear in the episode:

• Keith Carradine (Robinson)
• Vaughn Armstrong (Forrest)
• Brigid Brannaugh (Ruby)
• Michael Canavan (Vulcan Advisor #1)
• Victor Bevine (Flight Controller)
• John B. Moody (Security Officer)

Veteran actor Keith Carradine has appeared in numerous films, including The Duellists, A Thousand Acres, Andre and Nashville. In 1976, Carradine's song, "I'm Easy," which he wrote and performed in Nashville, won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. The actor has also featured in several Broadway productions, scoring a Tony nomination for The Will Rogers Follies.

"First Flight" marks the eleventh appearance of regular Trek guest star Vaughn Armstrong as Admiral Forrest, except in the flashback portions of the episode, when he will be playing the younger Commodore Forrest. Brigid Brannaugh, who will portray the infamous Ruby, mentioned in "Shuttlepod One", guest starred in several episodes of Angel, Citzen Baines and two episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Michael Canavan featured as Tamal in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's "Defiant" and Star Trek: Voyager's "Unforgettable"; he has also appeared in 7th Heaven, JAG and CSI: Miami. Victor Bevine played Belar in the DS9 episode "Things Past", and a guard in Voyager's "Pathfinder" and Star Trek: First Contact. John Moody appeared in The Practice and East of Hope Street, which was co-written by Tim Russ (Tuvok).

Principal photography on "First Flight" ran from Monday, March 10, to Tuesday, March 19. The scenes shot on the first two days utilised regular NX-01 sets, before production moved to the new locales constructed for the flashback scenes. These included the NX-Hangar, NX Mission Control and the 602 club, frequented by Starfleet officers and the workplace of Ruby.

The original production report can be found here at StarTrek.com.

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