Scott Bakula: Hello everyone, and Happy New Year!

Ska: Mr Bakula, does filming for Enterprise allow you any time to do guest appearances in other shows?

SB: I suppose if they wanted to create an opportunity like that in my schedule, they could. But so far there hasn't been anything that I wanted to do enough to be written out of the show for an episode.

magicchicken: Enterprise has been gaining more and more momentum, and the fans have surely appreciated the stronger bond forming between all the crew members from dealing with so many tough situations. If the conflict with the Xindi ever gets resolved, what kind of setting do you expect the crew to be dealing with back on their mission of exploration?

SB: Well, I think this conflict with the Xindi will change all of us forever. So the return to normalcy is going to be difficult and I personally don't see us ever being the same as we were before. Which again, will set us into new places with different approaches from here on out.

expatprincess: I'm an American living in Kuwait. We have a friend in the US who tapes the show and sends them to us every few weeks, and we are so happy to watch. You all seem to be having a good time and are hitting a groove, and the stories are great! Will we be seeing more about the development of the Federation?

SB: The Federation does come up again. I guess most recently with Daniels, who mentions it again. I don't know if we'll get into it much this year, but it looks to be something that will be coming up in the future.

whanomylee: In the process of saving the world, is there any chance that we will find out who got the Xindi started on this course in the first place?

SB: I would say there's a very good chance that many of the questions we've all been having about the Xindi and their direction will be answered very soon.

eMailbag: Hi Scott, First, I just wanted to say that you get better looking every season! Secondly, I wanted to know if the whole Xindi storyline will wind up by this season's end? Thanks.

SB: [Laughs at first comment] I'm not 100% sure of that, but it looks like our visit to the Expanse will wrap up.

PreacherBoy: Hello Scott. I appreciate what you are doing with the show. You're an incredible actor. I wanted to know who you most enjoyed doing a Decon Chamber scene with?

SB: Porthos. Phlox would be a close second.

Stephany: Scott, did you like Star Trek when you were younger and not yet an actor?

SB: Yes, I loved the original Star Trek. And a wide variety of other sci-fi shows when I was growing up, including Lost in Space, Voyager to the Bottom of the Sea, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," Time Tunnel, to name a few.

eMailbag: Arnold: Hey Scott, How long did you live in NY making it as a stage actor before you moved on to television? Thanks

SB:  Ten years in New York. While I was in New York, I did some television, but it was limited there.

Timetraveller: Speaking about Daniels ... will we see more about the Temporal Cold War?

SB: The Temporal Cold War has taken a back seat to the Xindi and finding the Xindi weapon. When we get out of the Expanse, I imagine that the Temporal Cold War will come into play again.

JeanLucArcher: Can you comment on tonight's episode?

SB: It's a wonderful show — we kinda call it the Mission: Impossible show. Randly Oglesby, who plays Degra, is quite wonderful in the show. This is the first time I've met or worked with any of the Xindi Council members, so that was a lot of fun. And there are a lot of interesting elements in all of our relatonships as we hurdle towards the end of this season and finding this weapon, that have been great fun to play.

exxar1: If it hasn't been asked already, can you tell us which episode you're currently shooting today? Or are you allowed to give anything away?

SB: Probably the most, and the least, I can say about it is the title: "E²" [pronounced "E-Squared"]. And if you think about that title, it is actually giving a lot of the episode away. But it's a great episode along the lines of "Twlight" and "Similitude." It's a classic sci-fi and Star Trek episode.

Cetera: Scott, can you shed some light on when Quantum Leap will be available on DVD? Can you put pressure on the studio to have them release the episodes on DVD, and which season did you enjoy more?

SB: I'm not sure of the release date, but I do know they're getting ready for a release on DVD. It would be hard to pick a favorite season because each year had highlight shows that were very very special, and it's not about one year being better than another, you just go episode by episode. But if you're talking about Enterprise, this is definitely my favorite season. It's been a very expansive (no pun intended) and creative year for all of us. It's kinda been our 24 season.

trek_fan: Mr. Bakula, if NASA offered you a ride on the space shuttle when it starts flying again, would you go?

SB: I would love to go on the space shuttle. We were very fortunate to have a visit last week from an astronaut. I don't quite remember his name, but his nickname was "Beamer," as in "Beam me up." But I'd love to — I don't know if my family would want me to go. They've made a lot of strides since the Columbia tragedy last year. I'm very excited about what they plan for the future — without putting weapons up there.

Ska: When the "Rajin" episode aired, I was left with the feeling that Rajin played a key role in the Xindi building their weapon. Will she be in the show again?

SB: I do not know the answer to that. But a lot of people are hoping that she will be back.

joe40001: What do you think are the chances of a Porthos-centric episode?

SB: Porthos has had more screen time than I have in some episodes! Certainly in "Doctor's Orders" he gets a lot of screen time.

Kal: Scott, who wrote "E-Squared" and who's directing it?

SB: Michael Sussman wrote "E²" and Roxann Dawson is directing.

Lamylew: The calibre of the acting in this season is incredible. We just want to thank you so much for a job well done. Thanks to you and all the cast.

SB: Thank you all for supporting us this season. We all have to make a big push — we get five original episodes in a row, then a break in March, then we're back for original shows until the end of the seaon. Thanks for the support, keep bugging the network. We've been working really hard to give you a great product and something we're all proud of.

eMailbag: Phillip B: Do you have any plans to come back for a visit to St. Louis?

SB: I don't have any immediate plans to get back, I'm trying to finish the season. I'm not sure what I'll be doing during my hiatus, but I'll try to make it back sometime.

eMailbag: Charlie C. I notice you often deftly avoid the beams in the ceiling of the captain's quarters. How often do you not miss them during filming?

SB: I've left my mark on the beams in my Ready Room several times, as have many others. The most prone are new directors — it's kind of an initiation. But we always offer them a hardhat. Very few take us up on it.

LadyJane
Have you been on the ride at the Hilton in Las Vegas? And are you going to be assimilated after March when the new one opens?

Host: Referring to the "Borg Invasion 4D." 

SB: I haven't been there yet; there's talk about making sure I get there for the opening. Nothing's been finalized yet.

MissTazula: Scott ... while taping any of the Andorian episodes... have you ever had the urge to suddenly rip off one of the antennae? Or perhaps seen the antennae do some strange things and make you laugh?

SB: Well, the antennae always make me laugh. The only time I'm feeling the urge to rip them off is when I'm looping. Because of the nature of the mechanics, they make noise when they move, so we always have to replace the dialog. I've about had it with their cuteness! But I loved the opening shot that showed the antennae coming out of my head as I was blocking Jeffrey on screen. That was David Livingston's idea. The puppeteers are quite wonderful. And definitely it's part of their characer and personality. And they react like an actor on screen, and they do some funny things.

NickMcCart: You're in a musical family, and you sang "Imagine" for Quantum Leap. Is there any chance we could see a singing Archer?

SB: Well, I don't see that fitting into this franchise at this point. We certainly haven't found a place where we were so bored in deep space that we needed a Friday night talent show. And I think it would be more fitting for this character to work out some dog tricks with Porthos rather than sitting at the piano and sing. But, you never know. I think I've sung in every series I've done, so we'll see.

Rob: Any chance of spoofing the original Star Trek with an evil-alternate universe episode? You know we'd all love to see you with a goatee :)

SB: (laughs) Again, y'know, who knows! We're doing a lot of crazy things this year, so anything could happen.

eMailbag: loretta652: Mr. Bakula, I realize that this is off-topic, but I enjoyed your recent appearance at the December Kennedy Center Honors tribute to Carol Burnett. How did it come about that you were invited to participate in the tribute?

SB: I've known Carol for, I guess, 8 or 9 yeas now. I've done one of her specials on TV, "Men, Movies and Carol." And then she asked me to perform with her at the Hollywood Bowl. So when they were putting this tribute together, her music directors, Ken and Mitzi Welch, invited me to partricipate, which I was honored and thrilled to do. Carol is one of the greatest people I have ever met in our business.

soleta: Where does all the outdoor shooting take place, i.e. the green fields or the deserts? And do you have a favourite shooting place?

SB: A lot of the outdoor places occur inside a copmuter — they're generated by our incredible visual artists, and we never get to go to those places! In fact, we've only been on location for the show, maybe, 5 episodes, out of the 71 or 72 we've shot so far.

tripster47: Hello Mr. Bakula, I am curious, what did you actually use to drink for the Andorian Ale in the episode 'Proving Ground'? Thank you for taking the time to answer questions from your fans!

SB: I think that that was one of the blue PowerAdes, I'm not positive. We might have just augmented something with blue food coloring.

qlotti: Any chance of seeing any of the past Star Trek actors in Enterprise soon?

SB: No one that I know of is scheduled from any of the earlier shows. Casey Biggs did a show with us a couple of weeks ago, and he was on Deep Space Nine ... And our Xindi council members have been on the show before. But no regular cast members from the previous series are scheduled to be on the show at this time.

tara_lil_babe: Did you watch the Super Bowl ? If you did what did you think of the half time show?

SB: I did watch some of the Super Bowl. I'm from St. Louis, so my team [Rams] was not playing, which kinda took the excitement out of it for me. I was watching the half time proceedings, but I was actually going from one room to another when Janet lost her right breastplate.

joe40001: Are you guys ever going to let Dominic Keating direct an episode? I've heard he's been dying to direct an episode for quite some time.

SB: That's a question for Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] to answer, but I imagine at some point he will get a chance to direct. He's very intent upon it, and I'm sure he would be very good at it when and if he gets the chance.

[This very popular chat then experienced a delay due to a temporary network failure.]

SB: [commenting on outage] The Expanse is very very far away ... sometimes communications go down. Obviously our subspace transceiver took a hit. And it wasn't the Suliban this time!

Host: Scott needs to get back to the set soon ...

Host: Tell us a bit about next week's episode?

SB: Next week's episode, "Harbinger" is an interesting episode. It's actually a three-pronged episode. We find a body floating in a pod in a nebula, and we try to figure out who he is. Meanwhile, Dominic and the MACOs get into it. Big power struggle on board. And Trip and T'Pol get into another kind of struggle ... of a physical kind. There's a lot going on.
Then there's a big episode featuring John Billingsley and Jolene ... and Porthos ["Doctor's Orders"], followed by an encounter with an Insectoid "Hatchery."

Host: Thanks very much to Scott Bakula for chatting with us today!

SB: And I gotta go back to work! Thanks again, and I'll see you on March 3rd! And we'll talk about that night's episode ["Azati Prime"]!