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That's the death of corporal Hawkins, whom we met in “impulse...

And this is degra's demise in “the council“.

Degra had appeared throughout much of the third season.

Scott MacDonald plays the xindi reptilian commander.

MacDonald's first Star Trek credit was the alien, tosk, who befriended o'brien in “captive pursuit“.

MacDonald later played a romulan officer in “face of the enemy " And a jem'hadar in " hippocratic oath“.

He even played a starfleet officer, ensign rollins, in “caretaker, parts I and iiii.

Andrew borba is the xindi reptilian lieutenant.

Borba's credits include appearances on alias, the west wing, and a recurring role on the shield.

This is the second-to-last episode of both the third season and the season-long xindi war story arc.

The command center set was located next to the bridge set and the video control room.

This made it relatively easy to connect the computers in the control room to the monitors on set, since they were so close.

The command center featured a large screen onto which computer graphics were rear-projected.

The area behind the rear-projection screen had to be draped off to prevent stray light from washing out the screen image.

The reptilians' uniforms were originally made for the remans in Star Trek: Nemesis. The wire armor was added for the xindi.

Those “cages" were surprisingly delicate, and great care had to be taken to avoid damaging them.

Tucker smallwood plays the xindi humanoid.

Smallwood played commodore Glen Van Ross in numerous episodes of the 1995 series space: Above and beyond.

His genre appearances also include the x-files, seven days, Babylon 5, and Star Trek: Voyager.

Smallwood's mainstream credits include the practice, Malcolm in the middle, and curb your enthusiasm.

The bridge of degra's ship was originally described in scripts as an ilauxiliary control room."

Writers, mindful of the many expensive episodes this season, hoped that an “auxiliary control room“ would be cheaper than a "real“ bridge set.

Of course once the set was built, everyone started referring to it as "degra's bridge.“

That window had previously been seen in the alien bazaar in "rajiin".

It would later be used in the romulan control room in “united " and " babel onell.

The interior of the xindi aquatic ship was, of course, a digital rendering.

A detailed control room was created for the aquatics, including control consoles, although the murkiness of the digital water mostly obscures this.

Dan curry was principally responsible for the design of the xindi aquatic creatures.

He also oversaw the design of the computer-animated xindi insectoids.

These wide shots of the sphere interior were entirely computer generated, including the walking figures.

The digital model was also used to extend the real set, which was built on stage 9.

The sphere-weapons control room was built on platforms, about eight feet above the stage floor.

This allowed some of the dramatic opening shots, in which the camera looked up at the xindi reptilians walking across the catwalk.

It also facilitated this shot, which used a green screen on the stage floor for a set extension.

Still, the platforming tended to slow down filming a little, since cameras, lights, and other equipment had to be hauled up and down for use on the set.

These minor delays do add up, and must be factored in when planning an episode to be sure the work can be completed in the time available.

The sphere-builders' written language was conceived as a series of pictograms, read both horizontally and vertically.

Interconnecting lines indicated linked concepts.

The command center also had about 16 small computer monitors on the walls.

Marvin rush concealed tiny fluorescent lamps behind these monitors, creating small splashes of light on the wall.

Those splashes of light served to visually separate the monitors from the wall.

The lit gizmos on the wall behind t'pol came from the nx-of sickbay.

They were removed from the medical facility when the set was revamped at the end of the first season.

That was the only wall in the command center that had no computer monitors.

This was because that wall was designed for easy removal when needed for camera and equipment access.

Marvin rush frequently used this access when he mounted his camera on a small crane, allowing complex camera moves in this small set.

The xindi reptilian bridge was largely made with recycled wall pieces, but with distinctive paint and graphic treatments.

The main viewscreen was probably the most recognizable element; It was the screen from Ben sisko's defiant bridge in dsq.

The back wall of the reptilian bridge came from the starship voyager's science lab.

The sphere-builder woman is played by Josette digarlo.

In addition to her four appearances on Star Trek: Enterprise in this role, dicarlo's credits include er, Chicago hope, and six feet under.

Look at the two small monitors to the right of the big screen.

That thin coil between the two monitors is a security cable, used to lock the screens onto the set when the film crew wasn't present.

Star Trek employed two full-time security officers to protect the sets and to prevent unauthorized visitors from disrupting filming.

Most of the standing enterprise interiors were redressed to reflect damage incurred during the xindi war episodes.

In some cases, this damage was relatively minor burn marks, applied with paint.

In other areas, entire wall segments were replaced with damaged versions.

This was an added scene, written and filmed after the completion of principal photography for this episode.

Added scenes were occasionally necessary when an episode turned out to be shorter than expected.

The bridge was also redressed to show battle damage.

Scorch marks were painted onto the walls, and conduits and other stuff hung from the ceiling.

And several control panels and monitors were replaced with copies that looked badly burned and damaged.

The "transdimensional realm“ was a small white wall with a coved white floor on stage 9.

The spinning gizmo was once a “gyroscope" exercise machine in the enterprise gym.

The ball at the center had seen duty as the romulan mine in iiminefield“.

The welder on the upper level is played by one of enterprise's special effects technicians.

All of the enterprise background welders were played by effects technicians Rick hester or Dennis drozdowski.

The "avionics control“ console had previously seen duty in the starship defiant engine room on dsq.

Back then, it was much thicker, as it had been originally designed to fit a tube-style television monitor.

The maco shoulder patch depicts a make shark.

Maco, of course, stands for military assault command operations.

Steven culp's credits include two performances as Robert f. Kennedy.

He played the sixties political figure in thirteen days, as well as in the 1996 TV movie, Norma Jean & Marilyn.

Culp also made an unseen appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis.

He played commander Madden, new first officer on the enterprise-e in a scene from the end of the film that ended up on the cutting room floor.

To no one's surprise, Porthos proved to be a fan favorite character, even though the space beagle didn't appear very often.

Of course, Porthos was hardly the first dog in space.

That honor goes to laika, who flew into orbit aboard sputnik ll, way back in 1957.

Laika Was the first living creature in space.

Porthos was also preceded into space by another beagle, snoopy, from Charles schulz's comic strip, peanuts.

In 1969, the crew of Apollo 10 named their lunar module for schulz's heroic pooch, making snoopy the first dog to fly to the moon.

Oddly enough, the gyroscope gizmo was not motorized to rotate.

Prior to each shot, special effects technician wil thorns gave the unit a firm spin with his hand.

The xindi reptilian control panels made extensive use of flashing blue leds, which were still relatively rare.

The show's effects department ordered nearly every blue blinking led available in North America at the time this episode was made.

The shortage of bright blue blinkies did not last long, however.

The following season, numerous blue and green blinking lights materialized on the enterprise bridge.

Those new blinkies appeared when the ship was repaired and upgraded in "home".

This episode was honored with an Emmy award for outstanding achievement in visual effects.

Dan curry, Ronald b. Moore, Liz Castro, and six other key members of the effects team all received statuettes on September 12, 2004.

Also winning that evening was William shatner, who was recognized for his role as Denny crane on Boston legal.

Look at the round computer graphic behind t'pol.

That graphic was inspired by the I'op art" moiré pattern on Spock's bridge station on the original enterprise.

It was intended as a more primitive version of Spock's console.

The xindi reptilian corridor set was built on stage 18, right next to the shuttlepod launch bay.

The day before they used the corridors, the crew filmed on the reptilian bridge on stage 9.

The day after shooting the corridors on stage 18, the crew returned to stage 9 to film the weapons platform.

The reason for this complicated schedule was to allow the construction crew to finish the weapons platform while the film crew was shooting the corridors.

Ruth Williamson plays the sphere-builder primary and Mary Mara plays the sphere-builder presage.

Special effects supervisor rich ratliff was responsible for on-set physical effects like these spark hits.

Ratliff provided clear covers for the computer monitors and some of the control panels to minimize damage in such scenes.

The control graphics on degra's ship resembled those on the reptilian bridge, but the colors were different.

The blinkies on degra's ship were green, while the reptilians' were blue and the insectoids' were red.

Star Trek paint supervisor Chuck Clark gave all the xindi reptilian ship interiors a multilayered metallic copper / gold / bronze finish.

Even though the reptilian sets were made from pieces with a fairly wide range of design styles, Clark's paint tied them together into a unified whole.

The blinking lights on the xindi panels were the handiwork of effects technician John peyser.

The transporter console was another redressed voyager veteran.

The console and the transporter chamber back wall were upgraded at the beginning of the fourth season.

The xindi reptilian rifle was designed by illustrator berndt heidemann.

Chuck Clark used an unusual paint on the gyroscope frame and the ball.

The paint actually changed colors, depending on your viewing angle as it rotated.

This, of course, was Steven culp's final appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise as major Hayes.

Culp went on to win a 2005 screen actors' guild award as part of the outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series for desperate housewives.

Rick worthy plays the xindi arboreal.

Worthy played an elloran officer in Star Trek: Insurrection, and he was a starfleet officer in voyager and a klingon on d59.

He also played automated personnel unit 3947 in the infamous "prototype".

This episode was directed by Robert Duncan mcneill.

Mcneill, of course, is the actor who played Tom Paris on Star Trek: Voyager.

Mcneill earned his director's stripes during the third season of voyager, when he was in charge of “sacred ground“.

He went on to direct three other voyager episodes, and later helmed four segments of Star Trek: Enterprise.

Mcneill has also directed episodes of one Tree Hill, everwood, summerland, and several segments of Dawson's creek.

Before his role as Tom Paris, mcneill guested on “the first duty“, as a starfleet cadet who tried to cover up his role in a deadly accident.

“Countdown" was the penultimate episode of the third season.

The third season's xindi war arc represented a bold experiment in Star Trek storytelling.

It was the longest continuous storyline since Star Trek: Deep space nine's dominion war.

The fact that much of the reptilian ship was recycled and comes from other sets was virtually undetectable because of Zimmerman's ingenious reworking.

One unfortunate exception is the reuse of dsg's defiant viewscreen, whose distinctive shape gives it away.

Star Trek's fans were intrigued with the season-long xindi war saga.

The fans' support was a significant factor when the studio decided to return the show for the fourth season, despite lower-than-hoped-for ratings.

Once again, Star Trek's fans proved themselves a force to be reckoned with.

Everyone who worked on Star Trek was touched and grateful for this fan support.

It made all this hard work worthwhile.