Scott Bakula: Hi! Hello everybody!

Question: Mr. Bakula, when you're on summer hiatus, what do you like to do?
Thatsme

SB: I spent most of my vacation coaching two of my children's baseball teams.

Q: When you were told that you were going to be playing the Captain of the Enterprise, what was your first thought/reaction?
Jensen

SB: I was very excited. I was a huge fan of the original Star Trek, and I'd never even dreamed that I would someday be a captain of a starship.

Q: How long does it take to create one Enterprise episode?
Ben

SB: Anywhere from seven to nine days. Twelve hours a day, minimum.

Q: Hi Scott! You're so cool! I'm a big fan of Enterprise as well as Quantum Leap! My favorite episode of Quantum Leap was the one when you were Elvis and you got to sing! Do you think they'll ever let Captain Archer sing? Because "Enterprise: The Musical" would just be the most awesome thing ever!
Edwina

SB: Well, that kind of a show is more of a gimmicky show, and we haven't had time or really a need for that kind of an episode yet. But should the time come, we actually have several other cast members who are wonderful performers in their own right. So it would be a blast.

Q: It is an interesting choice of college water polo being Captain Archer's favorite sport to watch. Is that also a favorite of yours or did the writers come up with that one? Also, do you have a favorite college football team? Thanks.
Tom0

SB: The water polo idea came from the writers, specifically Rick. His son plays, one of his sons plays. I actually played some when I was growing up. I pushed for giving me some lacrosse as a second sport also. And my favorite college football team would probably be - this is tough for me - my college, the University of Kansas. [They haven't] had a good team in years, and I'm waiting for them. In the meantime, I probably would say either USC or UCLA.

Q: Hey, Scott, where do you see the Jonathan Archer character going over the next year? Should we expect a much more vengeful captain? Thanks.
djball

SB: I wouldn't say expect a more vengeful captain, but certainly a captain who is more focused, more driven, less willing to compromise. There's a great sense of purpose that surrounds the whole show right now. It's very energized and very exciting.

Q: Have you ever been injured during [filming] of either Enterprise or Quantum Leap? I have heard how dangerous some TV show sets can get.
stingerX

SB: I've been injured but nothing real serious. The worst I was ever injured was probably shooting [the film] "Necessary Roughness" and that was a shoulder injury. I've been cut up and banged up. Last year I got a chipped tooth and threw my back out. The list could go on and on, but basically I'm in one piece.

Q: Is the actor who plays Porthos as much of a diva as the tabloids make it out to be?
PsiQueue

SB: More. Nobody pets me.

Q: First off, let me thank you for providing a guiding light as Captain Archer during my turbulent years as a teenager in high school.Captain Archer's so far my favorite character on Enterprise, and I find that he is very much like me. Do you have an interest in flying like your character?
Colin F

SB: Yes, I'm a big fan of flight and the history of flight. And I'm a big fan of the future of space program on this planet, especially if it's a space program that can proceed in a peaceful fashion, i.e. keeping weapons out of space.

Q: Hi Scott. Do you or any of your fellow cast members have an interest in directing an Enterprise episode?
galaxiigrl

SB: I haven't directed any yet. They've offered me from the beginning the opportunity. But I've found my time has been better spent focusing on scripts and my work and working with each director that comes through. We're very lucky to have a great group of talented directors; they all add to each episode. So far the only cast member who speaks about directing on a daily basis would be Lord Dominic Keating, the tyrant.

Q: Mr. Bakula, do you get involved with the screen writing process, contribute your own ideas and views on the story, and influence the written development of Jonathan Archer, along side the writers of the show?
Daydreamer

SB: Yes, I'm very fortunate to be working with two extremely collaborative executive producers in Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga]. They have welcomed my ideas and encouraged them from the beginning as well as all the cast members. This is a very rare thing in Hollywood.

Q: Any chance for more romance for Archer?
Chris37

SB: [It] doesn't look like Captain Archer will ever get laid in space. And I'm okay with that, I just plan on taking it out on the Xindi.

Q: What is the favourite episode you've done so far?
Talzuz

SB: I love the Season One finale [Shockwave, Part I], it was, I thought, a wonderful episode. I have a lot of favorite episodes, actually. I loved "A Night in Sickbay." It's hard for me to narrow it down. We just started an episode today that's potentially the best script we've had and the best show to date, called "Twilight." I keep running into fans and they have different favorite episodes, which means that we're doing well on a lot of different levels.

Q: Have you met the actors who play the captains on the other Star Trek shows?
Remus L.

SB: I have only met Patrick [Stewart] and Kate [Mulgrew] and Avery [Brooks], I haven't met [William Shatner] Captain Kirk.

Q: What was it like working with Dean Stockwell again in the episode "Detained?"
Quantum_Leap_Girl

SB: It was wonderful. We had a ball; we picked up right where we left off. One of the best things about Quantum Leap was the relationship Dean and I formed outside of work, something that I cherish and am grateful for.

Q: I dreamed of being a starship captain when I was a kid.What did you dream of?
cj

SB: I probably dreamed more about being successful on some level as a professional athlete, be it baseball or soccer or tennis.

Q: You have played Archer for a couple of years now. I'm wondering if you have any insights you could share now about Archer that you didn't have when you started playing him?
Scott P.

SB: I'd hoped when we started that he would have dimension as a character and that he would provide me with the opportunity to go different places. And that was the design that Rick and Brannon and I talked about. The great news is that as we enter Season Three, he's proving to be more complex and more interesting and more surprising as we go, which makes it more fun for me and hopefully for you all out there.

Q: I'm Soledad, a girl from Argentina. I'd like to ask you, what was the Enterprise episode which was most fun filming, and the one in which you had the hardest time (because of your lines, the set, make up, etc.) and why? Thank you!!!

SB: Hmmmm. Well, probably shooting the pilot was the most exhilarating and most fun, there's something about that cast coming together for the first time, the first time on sets, costumes, etc., that just makes every day special. (Not to mention the butterfly girls. Whom I didn't work with, I wasn't there.) And the toughest probably is an episode we just finished called "Extinction," where I had about 3-4 hours of makeup going on every day and an hour and 1/2 taking it off.

Q: Scott, did you have a chance to see the Hollywood Reporter ad paid for by fans welcoming Enterprise back for Season 3?
beckettslady

SB: Yes I did. And I want to say on behalf of all of us, to all the fans who contributed to that, you didn't have to do it. But it sure was nice and all of us are grateful for it and I was able to mention to [network president] Dawn Ostroff at UPN yesterday when I was chatting with her, that the fans had taken out an ad. She was delighted.

Q: Hey Scott, you rock my world. Of course Enterprise is gonna go on for years to come, but do you have any other performing plans?
Steph

SB: I'm not sure about next hiatus at this point. I'm always looking for a good movie to be a part of, and potential theatre projects. [My wife] Chelsea and I are considering doing a musical together and if that happens, everyone will know about it, probably before us.

Q: What is your favourite Star Trek Movie?
elly

SB: Well, I loved "Wrath of Khan," I love ["Star Trek IV"] the whale movie, and I loved "First Contact."

Q: Will the Enterprise theme song be changed this season?I hope so!
MikeyS

SB: I've seen the first episode and the theme song is still the same song, but I believe it's been reworked.

Q: Mr. Bakula if you could chose any other TV show or movie to act in what would it be? (I think you would make a great James Bond)?
stoned_vulcan

SB: (laughs) Well, that's very nice of [you] to say. Of course, playing someone like James Bond would be wonderful, but I don't think anyone's going to accept my English accent at this point. I'd love to do something on Six Feet Under, that's currently my favorite show on television, next to Enterprise.

Q: Hey Scott, what is it like seeing an action figure of yourself in the toy stores?
usa

SB: It's always a little shocking and it kind of makes you laugh.

Q: What is it like to act in front of a green or blue screen?
Maquis

SB: I've been acting in front of blue and green screens a long time now. That [type of] acting is all about putting your faith in your visual effects people, that they will ultimately make you look good. And we are so fortunate to have a wonderful effects group here that not only keeps getting Emmy nominations and Emmy awards, but keeps coming up with crazy, wonderful inventions to the delight of all of us.

Q:At what age did you know you wanted to become an actor?
shielsy

SB: I decided to professionally pursue acting when I was 21, but I had started seriously thinking about it when I was 19. I'd performed since I was very young, but it was always for fun.

Q: Do you do your own stunts?
Carolan

SB:: I do a great majority of my own stunts, sometimes to the disappointment of the producers, but my philosophy's always been to do as much as I feel is safe to do, as it speeds up production and ultimately gives you more usable footage.

Q: I think the friendship between Trip and Archer is one of the best things about Enterprise.In "Cogenitor" there is a rift in that friendship.Do you think this incident will affect their friendship in the future, or do you see them continuing as before?
NoDakGirl

SB: I see us continuing as friends, I think in all friendships you hit rocky spots and it's the strength of the friendship, really, comes out of how you deal with the tough times. Obviously, I was upset with the choices he made in the "Cogenitor" episode but we all had to move on.

Q: Mr. Bakula, if Captain Kirk and Captain Picard were going over historical information on Captain Archer, how would you want them to perceive Archer?
kirk1701a

SB: Hmmm. As oneof the men who paved the way, who made deep space a more accessible reality, somewhat of a maverick, a little bit like what we think of sheriffs in the old west.

Q: What was it like working with former Star Trek actors like Roxann Dawson and LeVar Burton?
captpicard

SB: It's so wonderful to work with Roxann [Dawson], LeVar [Burton], Robbie (Duncan McNeill), who's directing this week and Rene (Auberjonois). They've all embraced Enterprise and what we're trying to do and embraced the difference between Enterprise and their shows and allowed themselves to recreate their Star Trek experience in a positive way. We do kid them all mercilessly about anything that they might have done before, insisting that since we're first, we should be the originals.

Q: Hi Scott, Thank you for entertaining us all with your acting talents. I love your singing. Are there any plans to record a CD?
crystal_blue

SB: I'm not planning on recording anything right now as it takes an enormous amount of time. That's something I'd love to do again, I love being in the studio but I'm not sure what shape it would take right now in terms of what kind of music, etc.

Q: Who is your favorite actor, besides yourself of course?
patjbj

SB: Whew, that's a tough one. I have a lot of favorite actors. I've loved Robert Duvall for a long time. I think he's really terrific. I've become more and more of a Meryl Streep fan. But I love Susan Sarandon, Paul Newman ? probably one of my favorite actors of all time was Cary Grant.

Q: What's your favorite genre of music?
Fma42081

SB: I couldn't say. I love music so much, obviously I'm a fan of the Broadway musicals, I'm a big rock 'n' roll guy, Ilove jazz, big band, classical. I love country too. I'm a big proponent of music being the great connector.

Q: Which character do you believe will go through the biggest development this coming season?
Blahblah

SB: Hmmm ... that's hard for me to answer because I don't know how the whole season's going to lay out. There are great changes in my character, but I believe we were starting to see the seeds of that in the last five or six episodes last year, so it may ultimately be Jolene as she gets further and further away from her Vulcan influences. But again, I think they've created a great group of characters who all have so much unexplored potential left.

Q: Following pro football at all?If so, gimme a quick Super Bowl pick :)
CapnSoth

SB: (laughs) I'm from St. Louis, so I've been living and dying with the Rams the last few years, though not as long as the LA fans have lived and died (mostly died) with the Rams. But realistically, we could be looking at Tampa Bay again and maybe Tennessee [in the Super Bowl].

Q: What's your favourite gadget?
Daniel

SB: I'm not a real gadget person per se, so I'm delighted with almost anything.

Q: You have Porthos in the show, but do you have any pets in real life?
jh2003

SB: Two dogs, Hobo and Chloe, couple of fish, and a hermit crab. These aren't all my pets.

Q: What's your take on the time travel elements of the show?
SeaB

SB: Well, I think that they're very complicated and I, like many of the fans, are curious as to how they're all going to play out. I think time travel is a very fascinating area to explore and certainly it's very fanciful and a huge part of the sci-fi world. So I enjoy it, but I just don't always understand it. The first time I had to say a line about time traveling on Enterprise, I was secretly smiling inside.

Q: Do you like to travel? Among the places you've been, what locations have been the most pleasant?
Spruha

SB: I love to travel, I love going to warm locations near a beach. I haven't traveled nearly as much as I'd like to because of the ages of my children. One of the last great trips I had was to Paris, which was beyond description in all areas.

StarTrekHostTwo: Scott has been called back to the set for his next scene.

SB: I have to go now and fight a Xindi-reptillian. I don't want to give anything away, but he loses.

SB: Goodbye, Joel. Everybody watch tonight, and tell everyone else, people on the street, the network is counting on word of mouth! And I'm not kidding, so it's up to everybody out there!

Lwaxana: Thank you, Scott!

whanomylee: Thanks for your time, Scott. We love ya!

captainamerica: Bye Scott

aromagik: Thanks for chatting, Scott!

tilde2003: thanks for chatting

doepiddle: I am, and will always be, your friend! Thank you, Scott.