Zero Hour (Star Trek: Enterprise)
The twist at the end of "Zero Hour" was originally conceived by the writers as a joke, but was developed over the course of the third season to become the concept of "alien Nazis".
It implodes, setting off a chain reaction that destroys the rest of the spheres, ending all spatial anomalies in the Delphic Expanse.
Meanwhile, Captain Archer, accompanied by Lieutenant Reed, Ensign Sato, and a team of MACOs, enters the vortex created by the Xindi super-weapon.
Arriving near Earth, Archer receives an unexpected transmission from Commander Shran, who engages and then destroys the Xindi-Reptilian ship.
In a World War II German field-hospital, a doctor summons some SS officers to examine the unfamiliar uniform of a burn patient.
"Zero Hour" was the culmination of a season-long story arc first introduced by the events of "The Expanse", wherein an alien race called the Xindi attacks Earth and kills seven million people.
[2] Executive producer and writer Brannon Braga felt that the end of the season in a three-part arc composed of "The Council", "Countdown" and "Zero Hour", which he compared to three acts of the same story.
However, the producers and writing team would joke that there would be a "bizarre twist" such as the crew returning to Earth and discovering that it was now ruled by giant cockroaches.
[7] Actor Dominic Keating, who portrays Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, called the ending a "lovely twist... that just makes you scratch your head and wonder at what you've just seen.
[11] It was later stated in the timeline published in Voyages of Imagination by Jeff Ayers that the events of "Zero Hour" took place on February 14, 2154, a day after the setting of the episode "Countdown".
[4] Because there was no ability to shoot scenes using a second unit during the production of a following episode, ten pages of script were shot on the final day of filming instead of the normal seven or eight.
[13] "Zero Hour" was the final episode of Enterprise to be shot on film stock, as for the following season, the decision was made to switch to high-definition digital video.
[16] The additional actors appearing in "Zero Hour" included J. Paul Boehmer, who portrayed an SS agent at the end of the episode.
Boehmer had appeared several times previous in the Star Trek franchise, and his first part ever as an actor was as a holographic Nazi Captain in the Voyager episode "The Killing Game".
Also appearing was Brian D'Arcy who gained his role through a charity auction held by Wired magazine to benefit the Starbright Foundation.
[16] UPN decided to renew the series, but moved it for season four to Friday nights, and so "Zero Hour" was the final episode of Enterprise to be broadcast on a Wednesday evening.
[24] Michelle Erica Green, in her review for TrekNation, found the ending of the episode amusing, describing it as an "insane left hook of a cliffhanger".
[28] James Gray writing for The Digital Fix was positive about the episode, concluding that it was a "satisfyingly action-packed climax to the season".
"[30] Michael Westmore, make-up supervisor on Enterprise, was nominated for Outstanding Makeup for a Series, Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Prosthetic) at the 2004 Emmy Awards for his work on "Zero Hour".
