Host: Scott is here!

Scott Bakula: Hello! Welcome to the afternoon before the biggest show of the year! You're not going to believe what happens tonight! Hope you like it!

SamanthaBeckett: Does Scott ever have a day off?

SB: That's an interesting name. A day off, from shooting, yes. But between shooting and my life, and everything else, and doing promotional things, chatting online, dogs, relationships, I don't have a lot of down time. For instance, I just finished shooting, I came straight here to do this chat and from here I'm going to do two hours of behind-the-scenes interviews for the Quantum Leap Season One DVD release. And then, go home and take care of my two sick sons.

Sibyl: I'm curious as to how many takes were required for the scene in "Doctor's Orders" when Porthos jumped up on the bed and licked your face? Thanks.

Scott Bakula
Porthos is pretty talented. I would say only about five or six.

vax: On the bridge set, what do you see when you look at the main viewscreen? Do you get any cues from it?

SB: No cues from the bridge screen. Depending on how the shot is positioned, it's either a starfield, just the backstage wall, or a green screen. If I'm lucky, sometimes the actors will be off camera and if not, then our script supervisor or one of our first AD's [assistant directors] read the off-camera lines.

fergysferny: Hi Scott, I'm a huge fan of yours. Do you know if there will be any deleted scenes on the Quantum Leap DVD set that's coming out this summer?

SB: I don't have a clue.

Cupsy: Do you know what episode is being shot today?

SB: Today, actually there are two episodes being shot. "Countdown," which is the second to last episode of the year and "The Council," which is the third to last episode of the season. Quite often we're shooting more than one episode at a time.

absolutelyfreezinguk: Hi Scott. If Andrew Lloyd Webber telephoned you now and said "Hey Scott, I am writing 'Enterprise-The Musical' would you be interested? If not, who would you like to see to play your character??

SB: Well, I definitely would be interested in anything he does, I'm a huge fan. If it weren't myself, it would probably be appropriate, why not Brent Spiner? He sings and he's familiar with the uniforms and he certainly can dance. And we've never seen his real skin tones.

Lamylew: In "Hatchery" were those bugs crawling all over you real? If they were, how did you cope?... ewwww

SB: No, our lovely visual effects guys and gals created those digitally after we shot the scenes. But the little tiny ones were built. We had a couple small "babies" that were practical, for instance the little baby that died. His little head and hands moving, that was real. With any luck we'll all have Christmas ornaments made from those little insectoids for our tree next holiday season.

Vulcanation: What was the last scene you just shot before lunch?

SB: Today? A scene with Degra and myself, it actually was ... Oh, I don't want to give it away!

Timetraveller: Why is there a break between March and May?

SB: If I could explain UPN's philosphy of scheduling, I would probably be qualified for brain surgery. I don't get it, I never have. Plus the fact that they're changing our timeslot in reruns, so go figure.

JoMan: Hi Scott. Thanks for answering our questions so often. May I ask you, which one is your favourite Beatle?

SB: My favorite Beatle would probably be Paul.

Anita: Hi Scott. I just wanted to thank you and Chelsea for taking time to meet with so many fans after the "That's What Friends Are 4" benefit for the Hamilton High Musical Theater program this past weekend. We really loved having the chance to see you and Chelsea perform the very funny, "Nobody's Perfect" from I Do! I Do! Is there any chance that you and she might perform the whole show again during the summer hiatus? Enterprise Rocks!

SB: I doubt that it'll happen this summer. That was our original intention, but the producers fell through on us so we'll look to reschedule that at a later date.

Melissa:) With Archer's mood being so dark this season, do you find it difficult to let go of that mind set at the end of the day?

SB: Not at all. I've always been very clear about when the work stops, the work stops. And it's never been part of my way of working to carry any of it off the set.

SKa: How is everyone feeling with the end of the third season so close?

SB: It's a mixed bag of feelings, every year at the end, most everyone is pretty exhausted, and at the same time, with the future of the show not being in cement, there's a certain amount of trepidation about ending the season. But I think that is being offset by the great shows that we're shooting. Everyone is very excited about all the work right now. So it's kind of a mixed bag. The good news about this cast and crew is that we're not sick of each other, as sometimes happens.

Host: You said on the Wayne Brady Show that your son liked The Next Generation. Do you ever get a chance to sit down with him and watch any Star Trek, or is that like bringing work home?

SB: I dont' get a chance to sit down and watch much television at all at home and my kids don't watch much television themselves. So at this point, we haven't done that, but I'm sure that it'll happen and I'll be able to point out all the things that Patrick did wrong.

Carmen K.: I would like to know where you see Captain Jonathan Archer in ten years' time? Will he still be a Starfleet captain, retired or living permanently on some planet other than Earth?

SB: I don't think he'll be retired, I don't see him living on Earth. I think that the events of this season have changed him to the point that he'll never be able to go back to his old life. So I see him kind of pushing the limits of Starfleet and human exploration as much as possible. But that's just me talking. That's not Rick [Berman] or Brannon [Braga]. Because when we're in the middle of Season 13, I don't want anybody reminding me of what I said today.

Torghn: Are we going to see the birth of the federation in Enterprise?

SB: Daniels continues to bring up the Federation, and how that will play out and what part I'll have in it still remains to be seen.

Boris: HI SCOTT! I'm Boris from CROATIA: First-I'm your big fan, you are an excellent actor and you are excellent like captain J.Archer!(good work). Secondly-you have excellent body!How did you succeed at that?? Do you regulary exercise in gym??? Thank you for this chat!! Bye.

SB: I work out as much as I can, given my schedule. I run a lot and lift weights and play a lot of sports. Also I think, my children keep me young. They're hard to keep up with.

ravenrock: Last week's episode mentioned the "imaging chamber" of Dr. Phlox. Any other QL [Quantum Leap] references that I've missed?

SB: I don't know that that was an intentional reference. Certainly the very first time, and I believe it was in Season One when I mentioned time travel, it was good for a chuckle from everyone. But I think that's the extent of it. There's been no reference to Ziggy as far as I can remember.

Simaz: People always complain that Linda Park and especially Anthony Montgomery don't get enough screen time on Enterprise! What do you think?

SB: I would agree with that. I would throw in John Billingsley also. Certainly Linda's going to get a large share of screen time by the end of the season for the Linda fans out there. And I hope that next season we're able to spend more time with all three of those characters.

KristaT: Hi Scott, Love Enterprise. Saw you in "Romance, Romance" in New York a while back - you were fabulous. Any broadway role you've always wanted to do but never had the chance? Thanks from all your Canadian fans.

SB: Well, I've always wanted to do "Sweeney Todd" and came close a couple of times and I'm sure someday I'll get a chance to do that.

Chris: I want to tell you that as someone who watched the original series in the 1960's I think that this is the first Star Trek show to really pick up the torch passed by Captain Kirk. The other shows were great and I watched them all, but your Enterprise has a real sense of exploring the unknown. My question is: What can I, as a fan, do to keep Enterprise on the air. Thank you. Live long and prosper.

SB: Send any kind of response or any kind of pleas to Les Moonves at CBS.

Desert Crossing: What is your favorite bit of dialogue? Many thanks Scott, best wishes to you and the cast.

SB: I think I had a line that we used in the pilot, which was the last line of the pilot - I think it was "We can't be afraid of the wind, Travis."

Trekguy: Mr. Bakula, How hard is it to act with something that is not there until the effects guys put it in? Do you use props to keep your eyes focused on something?

SB: We use marks. If it's on a green screen, they'll put marks on the green screen. If it's something offscreen, we'll put targets up. If it's a moving target, people will move around off-camera with the targets. If it's an Insectoid, we have actors who basically mime the insectoid parts so we get a sense of where they might be. And then they step out and we do the scene with them 'not there' and that's all computer generated.  I've said this before, but you're always at the mercy of your effects team and our team here is phenomenal. They always make us look great.

vulcan3324: Which is your favorite Xindi sub-species?

SB: Well, it's hard not to love the Aquatics. They're somewhat familiar and they have a reserved, distant quality that's intriguing. We actually will get to know them better before the season is out.

Anita: I was just blown away by "Hatchery." The acting from all the regular cast members was just great in this one but your performance was so special - multi-layered, subtle and haunting. It was hard to tell until the very end whether Archer was rational and had some greater plan in mind or whether he was under an alien influence.

SB: Thank you for that. I thought that the script was very well crafted and gave me a lot of different things to work with. The goal, of course, being to keep the audience unsure about where Archer was coming from for as long as possible. And from the reports that we've gotten, most of you were pulled into Archer's sanity and that made the story work very well.

Starspy: The thing I like best about Star Trek is the way it deals with ethical and moral issues, and "Hatchery" certainly started a heated debate among fans regarding ethics and treatment of the enemy in war. Did the cast and crew express any opinions?

SB: We talk about all the issues of every episode when we're taking the scenes apart when we're rehearsing them and you're right, we've had some great episodes which have dealt with some wonderful moral questions.  And any television that sparks any kind of debate among the viewers, I think, is doing a wonderful job so I'm glad to hear that there's been a lot of conversation about that. Certainly in today's climate, it's very topical.

Morgan: Hi Scott! Can you comment on tonight's episode ["Azati Prime"]? Is it going to be somewhat of a cliffhanger? Thanks!

SB: Tonight's episode is most definitely a cliffhanger. One of the best cliffhangers we've had.
And the intention, of course, is to keep everybody on the edge of their seats until we come back with new episodes that will come hurtling at all of you to the very climactic end of Season 3.

darnley: Hi Scott - I am a big fan - Calgary Alberta Canada - What do you think of the new "decency" restrictions in the USA - i.e.  Clear Channel knocking Howard Stern off the air?

SB: Well, I think, as often happens, there's an initial over-reaction to what are perceived to be words or acts that come on the heels, and are linked to some other perceived catastrophe, i.e. nipples exposed, etc. There's a snowball effect. Hopefully, everyone will calm down and focus on more relevant issues that are in the line of violence, graphic depictions, images that are potentially damaging to us all. I could go on for a long time about this, as there's always been a fine line between letting the individuals edit what they watch and what their families watch, and what the government or the networks choose for them to see. I think the element of hypocrisy is the biggest issue here and that's where everyone, I think, needs to slow down and think a little bit more about a general attitude about a lot of things, instead of just knee-jerk reactions.

Orc: What type of Pizza do you like the most?

SB: I guess I like pepperoni pizza the best.

Host: Are you following the news about the Mars missions?

SB: I'm absolutely following the news about the Mars missions. We all are here. It's very exciting. We've been invited out to JPL and down to NASA, and Washington D.C. to participate in various functions involving all facets of our space program.

Rick, NJ: I find this season's storyline the most interesting of the three seasons. As an actor, do you and other cast members feel more challenged as each character gets more developed?

SB: Well, it's your hope, always, as an actor, that your character does get developed and does experience events that give you new things to play and respond to. So it's challenging, but again it's what we do and what we hope for.

Mojje: I would love to see a Star Trek special featuring nothing but bloopers. Could You pull some strings on that one? Or are all the bloopers under safe lock-and-key ...?

SB: (laughter) I think that each franchise has their own relationship to bloopers, and I would say that we're the least concerned about that. But that really is a studio and more of a Rick and Brannon question. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we live in an age where the suspension of belief is interrupted by television appearances, radio shows, online chats, etc., where the fan has a different relationship than just the once-a-week viewing that used to be.  Which is better? I'm not sure.

Host: Thank you very much for chatting with us again, Scott! We're looking forward to "Azati Prime" tonight, and an exciting finish to this great season of "Enterprise."

Scott Bakula
I'm going to sign off now , but I leave you in good hands, especially with tonight's episode. I think it'll give you something to talk about, hopefully for 5 more weeks. And please pay attention to when we're coming back, because you don't want to miss any of the upcoming episodes. They're great and each one integral to the next. So have fun! I'm jealous because I know what's coming, but you all get to see it fresh.

Orc: Bye! Thank You for coming!

Spry: Thanks alot scott!

Louct: Take care, God Bless

mike_uk: Thanks Scott!

Veggie: Bye Scott keep up the good work

Fredalope: Thank you Mr. Bakula

CptRob: Thanks Scott, continue the great work.

ted: That was fun