Romulan mine

A Romulan mine

File:Minefield Damage.jpg

Damage caused by a Romulan mine

A Romulan mine was a dangerous explosive device utilized by the Romulan Star Empire which utilized boridium power cells.

In 2152, the Enterprise NX-01 encountered a field of these mines, which were cloaked, surrounding a planet that the Empire had annexed. The explosion of one such device caused a significant amount of damage to Enterprise's port forequarter. Another mine lodged itself on the hull, dangerously close to the ship's starboard impulse reactor, but failed to detonate. Lieutenant Malcolm Reed and Captain Jonathan Archer attempted to disarm the mine, but were unable to do so before two Romulan Birds-of-Prey arrived, demanding that Enterprise leave the system. Archer and Reed managed to separate the section of hull plating where the mine was attached to the rest of the ship, and detonate the mine at a safe distance from the vessel. (ENT: "Minefield")

As no parts of the Romulan mine were added with CGI in post-production and everything it did had to instead be shown with practical machinery, creating the mine turned out to be a challenging project. "We had two weeks to come up with this prop," recalled set decorator James Mees. "After much searching, I found a large, used fiberglass buoy, the kind used to mark channels for ships. We ended up cutting it open to add the Romulan 'electronics' and the spike that you see in 'Minefield,' along with the machinery to make it work." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 152, p. 35)