Terra Prime

"Terra Prime" is the 21st episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, and originally aired on May 13, 2005.

In this episode, John Frederick Paxton, the leader of the xenophobic human group Terra Prime, threatens to use an array on Mars to destroy Starfleet Command, unless all aliens leave Earth immediately.

The script called for a reference to the United States space program and so the Carl Sagan Memorial Station and the Mars Exploration Rover Sojourner were included in a shot added in post production.

"Terra Prime" received a Nielsen rating of 2.0/4% and it was praised by critics who described it as a "real" episode and there were suggestions that had Enterprise gone into a further season then the story could have acted as an ongoing subplot.

[3][4] Prior to broadcast, Coto characterized "Terra Prime" as effectively the finale of Enterprise, in contrast to the actual last episode "These Are the Voyages...", which he likened to an epilogue.

Under the urging of Minister Samuels, the crew of Enterprise conceive a way to approach the deadly station undetected, using a shuttlepod hidden inside the tail of a comet.

Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens created the story with André Bormanis and developed it into a script with show runner Manny Coto.

The Reeves-Stevens felt that a "ticking clock" was required for "Terra Prime",[6] and so the 24-hour deadline set by Paxton's group was written into the end of "Demons".

In order to represent the shuttlecraft entering the comet, rather than using camera movement, the set was placed on rollers and physically moved to appear turbulent.

[7] Several guest stars who had appeared in "Demons" continued in their roles in "Terra Prime"; Harry Groener, Peter Mensah and Adam Clark, along with Weller and Watts.

[7] The script requested two post production shots to be added as references to the American space program, which would have been shown as the shuttlepod landed on Mars.

[15] In a SyFy interview, some of the cast recommended this episode as a favorite, and suggested that the combination of "Demons" and "Terra Prime" was an alternate finale for Enterprise.

[16] "Terra Prime" was released on home media in the United States on November 1, 2005, as part of the season four DVD box set of Enterprise.