of T'Pol's?'" The show had been criticized for the inconsistent characterization of the Vulcans, the lies and deception in '"The Andorian Incident" seemed out of line with what was previously known about the Vulcans, but Black felt there was a logic to their acting in their own self interest when they needed to. Black felt that "Fallen Hero" provides balance by showing a Vulcan "who's noble, who is self-sacrificing, who—when confronted by Archer—tells him the truth because he deserves to know". Black said the episode was one of his favorites, he particularly liked that detail that ship was pushed to Warp 5 for the first time and that Trip was stressed about the engine "I don't know how much more I can give you" as fun homage to Scotty in the original series. He also said that V'Lar comments about there being "a great bond" between Archer and T'Pol, was a nod to the relationship between Kirk and Spock in the original series. Guest star Fionnula Flanagan played Ambassador V'Lar. Flanagan was offered the part without having to audition. She previously made guest appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Inheritance" (as Juliana Soong, Data's "mother"), and on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the episode "Dax". Bakula compared her character Ambassador V'Lar to Indira Gandhi and praised her performance: "She is incredible. She has this whole thing with T'Pol and me. It's a really good episode." She found it challenging to play such an emotionally reserved character, a change from the roles she usually plays that have a lot of emotion attached to them. She found the role interesting as the character was both tough and also affectionate. John Rubinstein, who plays the Mazarite Captain previously appeared in the Voyager episode "The 37's" as John Evansville. J. Michael Flynn previously appeared in Star Trek:The Next Generation "The Hunted" and would return in a recurring role in season 4 as the Romulan scientist Nijil. The episode featured a Vulcan spaceship, a Suurok-class combat cruiser called the Sh'Raan. The ship was based on a design by Doug Drexler, revised and updated by Pierre Drolet. It was ranked as the 22nd most powerful spacecraft of the Star Trek franchise by CNET in 2016, and the 14th best spacecraft of Star Trek by Space.com in 2017. The Sh'Raan class starship made an appearance in the Star Trek book The Romulan