Sussman Offers Biographical Tidbits on Archer & Sato
By Michelle
May 2, 2005 - 9:34 PM
A discussion thread about Jonathan Archer and Hoshi Sato's biographies from the U.S.S. Defiant database has led "In a Mirror, Darkly" writer Mike Sussman to reveal details which did not make it onscreen during the two-part episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
A post at the TrekBBS by Aatrek contains screen captures of the biographies of Sato and Archer as they appeared onscreen in the episode. The images reveal that Archer will become president of the United Federation of Planets in 2184, and that of the two planets that the Mirror Archer said were named after him, one is Archer IV from The Next Generation episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" while the other is in the Gamma Trianguli sector. The historian who called Captain Archer the "greatest explorer of the 22nd Century" is John Gill, later infamous as the Fuhrer of the planet Ekos from the original series episode "Patterns of Force."
Sussman commented in the thread that he was unaware the text would be visible onscreen to HDTV users, so he allowed several errors to slip in, including the date Archer took command of the NX-01. He added that a final segment of text did not appear onscreen: "Archer died peacefully in his home in upstate New York in the year 2245, exactly one day after attending the christening ceremony of the first Federation Starship Enterprise, NCC-1701."
The biography of Sato states that she retired a lieutenant commander and created the linguacode translation matrix. The Mirror Archer told the Mirror Sato that he could tell her who her alter ego had married, and in response to fan questions, Sussman revealed that information as well:
Tragically, Hoshi and her family were among the four thousand people who died on Tarsus Four in 2246 when a food shortage caused by an exotic fungus threatened the colony's population. Governor Kodos ordered the deaths of Sato and the others in order to save the rest of the colony. She was buried in Kyoto with her husband, Takashi Kimura.
The events on Tarsus Four were described in the original series episode "The Conscience of the King."
Some other tidbits include a list of Archer's commendations, including the Medal of Valor with clusters, the Star Cross, the Preantares Ribbon of Commendation, and the Federation Citation of Honor, as well as his appointment as an honorary member of the Andorian Guard by General Thy'lek Shran in 2164. (Shran's first name does not appear in his biography on StarTrek.com.) However, Sussman notes that information on the viewscreens should not be considered strict series canon, particularly the data on the characters' deaths which did not appear onscreen.
For more comments, see the original thread at the TrekBBS.
http://www.trektoday.com/news/020505_01.shtml
