Risa

Risa

Designated as a "pleasure planet", Risa was an inhabited Federation planet. This planet was the homeworld of the humanoid Risians. It was orbited by at least two moons and located in a binary system about ninety light years from the Sol system. The planetary government was named the Risa Hedony.

The planet was located close to Starbase 12, a Federation starbase.

A deleted scene in ENT: "Fallen Hero" mentioned Risa having three moons, and that the planet was Minshara-Class, with a gravity approximately equal to Earth sea level. In the episode's final draft script, though, the detail about the planet's gravity referred to it as instead being "equivalent to point-nine-one of Earth sea level." The planet's three moons were again referred to in the final draft script of ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights".

In the script for TNG: "Captain's Holiday", the planet's temperature was described as "the equivalent of a balmy eighty-three degrees Fahrenheit", and that "a warm breeze prevents the heat from becoming oppressive".

Culture and climate

Risa was originally a dismal, rain-soaked, and geologically unstable planet covered with vast jungles and plagued by violent earthquakes. However, the planet was transformed by the native Risians with a technologically sophisticated weather control network that provided almost-constantly desirable weather, and seismic regulators to eliminate the geological instability for optimum tourist comfort. By at least the mid-22nd century, Risa became known for its beautiful tropical resorts and abundance of pristine beaches, making it a popular tourist destination. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights"; TNG: "The Mind's Eye"; DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")

Risa was most noted for its native population having a frank and open attitude to sexuality. By the mid-24th century, Risa had developed a reputation as being a most peaceful planet, where weapons weren't allowed. (TNG: "Captain's Holiday"; DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")

Popular attractions

Suraya Bay

Suraya Bay at night with its two moons

• Suraya Bay, where the Lohlunat, the Festival of the Moon, was held. One recommended restaurant was a little boat that sailed into the bay every evening, just after sunset. Patrons waded out to it, and they were served seafood right off the deck. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")
• Galartha, a cliff face that changed pitch while a person climbed it. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")
• Temtibi Lagoon, where it never rained, the water was warm and the wind smelled sweet. (DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")
• Subterranean gardens with luminescent plants. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")
• Risan steam-pools, which were said to be very relaxing. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")
• Risa water recreation park. (VOY: "Riddles")

There were many nightclubs on Risa, but the Vulcan database advised visitors to be wary of occasional crimes. Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed, for example, were left tied up in their underwear by two alien thieves, who had been disguised as two "gorgeous" Risian females. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")

According to the Vulcan database, Risa had over 200 registered Nuvian masseuses. (ENT: "Fallen Hero")

History

The Enterprise-D orbits Risa in 2366

In 2152, Enterprise NX-01 visited Risa for two days for some shore leave. This stop-over marked the first official visit of an Earth starship to Risa and also the farthest any Human had officially traveled from the Sol system up until then. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")

Also during the 22nd century, a time-travelling scientist from the 27th century called Kal Dano came to Risa. Here, he hid an invention of his called the Tox Uthat – a device capable of halting all nuclear fusion within a star – from Vorgon criminals who considered it to be a formidable weapon.

By the 24th century, the history of the Uthat had passed into local legend and both the Vorgons as well as Federation archeologists tried to recover it. (TNG: "Captain's Holiday")

On stardate 34180.7, Risa hosted a Starfleet bridge tournament, in which Jean-Luc Picard won a Silver Spade. (Star Trek Nemesis)

In 2366, Vash, a Human archaeologist who was concluding years of search by Professor Samuel Estragon, found the Tox Uthat buried in a cave. She wanted to conceal her discovery from other interested factions, such as vacationer Jean-Luc Picard, but as Picard discovered her deception and the Vorgon's longing for the dangerous device, he destroyed it. (TNG: "Captain's Holiday"; DS9: "Q-Less")

In late 2367, Risa hosted an artificial intelligence seminar. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")

According to Starfleet Intelligence, it was believed that Federation Ambassador Krajensky was kidnapped by the Dominion while visiting Risa in 2371, so that he could be replaced by a Changeling impersonator. (DS9: "The Adversary")

In 2373, the New Essentialists, who led a campaign to turn the Federation away from its perceived decadence, successfully sabotaged Risa's weather modification network. They attempted to do the same to the planet's vital seismic regulators, but were stopped when Lieutenant Commander Worf became disillusioned with them and refused to continue the demonstration. (DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")

Visitations

A tourist resort on Risa (2366)

In 2135, while working for the Vulcan Ministry of Security, T'Pol tracked down the fugitive Vulcan operatives Menos and Jossen to Risa and pursued them into the planet's jungles. She killed Jossen but Menos escaped. (ENT: "The Seventh")

In 2152, several members of Enterprise spent two days and two nights on Risa, where they visited various locations, such as Suraya Bay and the Galartha cliffs. (ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights")

In 2366, Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise-D followed a recommendation from his first officer by taking a shore leave on Risa. (TNG: "Captain's Holiday")

Geordi La Forge was scheduled to attend an artificial intelligence seminar on Risa in late 2367. He was ordered by Captain Picard to arrive a few days early to have some fun and relax. However, several hours before his arrival, he was kidnapped by Romulans and replaced by a double who attended the seminar in his place. (TNG: "The Mind's Eye")

Riker visited Risa in 2368, where he met Ktarian operative Etana Jol. (TNG: "The Game")

The two suns of Risa

In the same year, Captain Picard suggested a hypothetical choice whether to holiday on Corsica or on Risa. (TNG: "A Matter of Time")

In 2369, Grand Nagus Zek had decided to go to Risa or Balosnee VI for his first vacation in eighty-five years. (DS9: "The Nagus")

In early 2371, a Boslic captain filed a flight plan from Deep Space 9 to Risa after selling some wreckage to Quark. (DS9: "The Abandoned")

Later that year, Thomas Riker (while posing as Will Riker) claimed that he was on his way from the Enterprise-D to a vacation on Risa. (DS9: "Defiant")

Hoping to stop her from further helping the Maquis, Benjamin Sisko told Kasidy Yates they should visit Risa. Yates turned him down, but told him she would meet him there, if he wanted to travel there alone in a runabout. (DS9: "For the Cause")

Jadzia Dax, Worf, Julian Bashir, Leeta and Quark all visited Temtibi Lagoon on Risa in 2373. (DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...")

Caves on Risa

Later that year, arms dealer Farrakk visited Risa for a vacation, instead of opening negotiations with the Verillians. (DS9: "Business as Usual")

At some point in 2373, Raimus was on Risa and talked a Starfleet officer, who was in command of the weather control system there, to become an informant for the Orion Syndicate. (DS9: "Honor Among Thieves")

In 2374, Odo asked Bashir if an upcoming medical conference he was to attend would be on Risa. It was actually on another "sunny resort," Casperia Prime. (DS9: "Inquisition")

A resort on Risa

When told by Jadzia Dax that she wanted a suffer-free honeymoon, Worf was worried she wanted to visit Risa again. She had actually chosen Casperia Prime. (DS9: "Change of Heart")

When Grand Nagus Zek disappeared in mid-2375, Quark believed he was probably on Risa. In fact, he had traveled to the mirror universe. Zek himself knew that Quark would say he was on Risa. (DS9: "The Emperor's New Cloak")

Doctor Bashir asked Sarina Douglas if she wanted to go to Risa. Their relationship ended before they could go. (DS9: "Chrysalis")

Grand Nagus Zek and Ishka retired to Risa in 2375. (DS9: "The Dogs of War")

Following the Battle of Cardassia and the prospect of a larger battle with the Dominion, Ezri Dax told Captain Sisko, "All things considered, I'd rather be on Risa." Sisko noted, "That makes two of us." (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")

Further information

Spaceport authorities

• Risa Control

Points of interest

File:Risian birds, The seventh.jpg

Risian birds in 2135

• Galartha
• Suraya Bay
• Temtibi Lagoon

Zoological

• Risian bird
• Risan sea turtle

Appendices

Appearances

• ENT:
  • "Two Days and Two Nights"
  • "The Seventh"
• TNG:
  • "Captain's Holiday"
  • "The Game"
• DS9:
  • "Let He Who Is Without Sin..."

Background information

There are two pronunciations for Risa. In the script for "The Mind's Eye", the pronunciation was "RYE-sa". [1] In the script for "Q-Less"", the pronunciation was "RYE-suh". [2] The latter pronunciation was used in the script for "Fallen Hero".

Years after working on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Patrick Stewart once claimed that Risa was the only planet from TNG that he could remember the name of. (The Captains Close Up)

For DS9: "Let He Who Is Without Sin...", sets representing guest chambers on Risa (such as Pascal Fullerton's as well as one used by Worf and Jadzia Dax) were built on Paramount Stage 17.

In ultimately omitted dialogue from the final draft script of ENT: "Desert Crossing", Jonathan Archer and Charles Tucker III agreed that, when they arrived on Risa, the first thing they would do would be to "jump into the nearest swimming pool" they could find. In the same script, Risa was depicted as appearing in the episode's final shot, referred to in a scene description as "a beautiful, blue-green planet," despite the fact Risa does not appear in that episode's final version. Nonetheless, Risa was also referred to as a "blue-green planet" in the final draft script of ENT: "Two Days and Two Nights" and in incomplete visual effects footage from a deleted scene excluded from that episode (the latter of which can be seen in the special features of the ENT Season 1 DVD and Blu-ray).

One of the shots in which Risa was intended to replace green screen

In the version of the ultimately deleted scene from the final draft script of "Two Days and Two Nights", a scene description reads, "Risa hangs enticingly outside the windows," and another scene description mentions "the promise of Risa shining through the windows." The filmed version of the scene demonstrates that, if the scene had been completed, the planet would have been inserted into the footage with replacement of green screen.

In another scene description from the final draft script of "Two Days and Two Nights", Risa was referred to as a "spectacular planet." The surface of the planet was also scripted to be extremely serene.

In a scene that was scripted for the end of ENT: "Home" (and included in the ENT Season 4 Blu-ray) but never filmed, Risa was briefly mentioned, as one of several small rocks which Archer left at his father's grave had been taken, by the captain, from Risa. In the same scene, Archer commented, as if to his deceased father, "That's a place I wish you could've seen."

A reference to Risa was included in the first draft script of the aborted film Star Trek: The Beginning, set in 2159. Risa was noted to be the location where Archer and Enterprise were during a series of Romulan attacks in the Sol system, which took place on 13 August 2159 and initiated the Earth-Romulan War.

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 53), the planet Risa (Epsilon Ceti B II) was Class M and its government was the Risan Hedony. This planet was admitted into the United Federation of Planets in 2249. The Risan capital was Nuvia. The population of Risa, which included Risans and individuals from many other species, in 2378 was 2.81 billion, and, in an average year, up to 1.3 billion tourists visited the world. Points of interest included the Temtibi Lagoon, the Suraya Bay. and the Eluvian Mud Baths. The tropical climate was controlled by a weather control system.

According to Star Trek: Star Charts (p. 56) and Stellar Cartography: The Starfleet Reference Library ("Stellar Cartography" p. 15; "Federation Historical Highlights, 2161-2385"), the Risa (Epsilon Ceti) star system was located in the Beta Quadrant. This was a tertiary system of three F-class stars. The system was a stop on the major space lanes in the late 24th century.

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia (3rd ed., p. 412), Risa was a tropical Class M planet.

According to StarTrek.com, Risa was located in the same sector as Starbase 12.

Apocrypha

The non-canon Star Trek: Destiny novel mini-series depicted Risa as one of the many worlds decimated during a Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant in 2381.

Before ENT: "Rajiin" established "Nuvians" to be a separate species, the reference to Nuvian masseuses on Risa in ENT: "Fallen Hero" was misinterpreted by the non-canon Star Trek: Star Charts, which lists the city of "Nuvia" as the capital of Risa.

External link

• Risa at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Epsilon Ceti at Wikipedia