There's a new intensity on the set of Enterprise in the third season as the new direction of the show puts the characters into their most serious situations yet, creating new tensions among them and possibly even some romance, according to actors interviewed Tuesday night in Hollywood.

Following the press conference held that afternoon by the show's executive producers and three lead actors (related story), the rest of the cast partook in a party thrown by UPN for the Television Critics Association (TCA), which allowed press access to the stars of the network's shows. Attending from Enterprise were Jolene Blalock ("T'Pol"), Connor Trinneer ("Trip Tucker"), Dominic Keating ("Malcolm Reed"), Anthony Montgomery ("Travis Mayweather"), John Billingsley ("Dr. Phlox"), and Linda Park ("Hoshi Sato"). Amidst the noise of the party and hordes of reporters vying for their attention, we managed to catch up with some of our Trek actors during the course of the evening.

Keating was enthusiastic about the new season of Enterprise, and a bit amused that he was just about the only character who didn't get any kind of "new look" this year. "I felt left out! Connor got new hair, Jolene got new hair, Hoshi got new hair... Connor was apparently jealous of my hair — he felt that I had cool hair and he had very boring hair. So his is slightly up a bit." Who knew "button-down, boring ol' Reed" would be the fashion standard-bearer of the show?

On a more substantial note, Keating's character is going to have an interesting time dealing with the presence of the new soldiers on board Enterprise, known as the MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations). "Ah, yes — the younger, virile MACOs!" he smirked in that very genuine British accent. "I don't want to paint myself into a corner too much early on about what Malcolm's reaction to them is, but don't get me wrong — there is some frisson there, there is a little tension. There's a good scene between me and Steven Culp, who plays Major Hayes. My instinct as an actor was to play it a bit rudely, but Allan (Kroeker, director of the season premiere 'The Xindi') came over and said, 'You know what? Don't give too many of your cards away just yet — there's a ways to go with this.' I don't think Malcolm's particularly happy in some respects — his ego is allowing him to think that he's been passed over. But I think professionally he understands that they need to be there."

He continued, "Even though they have the training, it has only been in simulated conditions on a Jupiter moon. They have not actually been in the field, and we have had two and a bit years in the field, baby, and there's nothing that can replace that! So I'm playing it with a slight quizzical look in the eye — 'You better be up to it. You look like you're up to it. Your papers say you're up to it. Are you up to it?'"

There are some female MACOs in the group, in particular one in the second episode ("Anomaly") named "McKenzie." Keating found out that the scene used in auditions for that character was one that "had a definite sexual tension between her and Mr. Reed," but the scene did not remain in the shooting script. Could that character interaction re-emerge down the road? "There might be some mileage in Reed getting a love interest this year. I wouldn't be surprised if that happens."

Keating was fully conscious of the criticism the show has gotten from the press and other quarters. But from his perspective, he sees a lot of ambiguity. "I was at a convention in Tulsa a couple of weeks ago, and I got a lot of flak and grumbly this and grumbly that. And I looked out across the audience and I went, 'You know what? This is the biggest audience I've ever played to!' There were 700 people sitting on my talk, and they had 10,000 people through a three-day weekend. 'Which is it? Do you love this show or do you hate this show? You tell me!'"

Keating also confessed that he has developed a taste for directing, and he is in the process of cutting his teeth in the same way Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill and others who've gone through the "Star Trek school" have. During hiatus he directed a public access TV show called "Heartbreak Café," and he is currently prepping a short film project. He hopes to gain enough experience to eventually get a chance to direct Enterprise.

Montgomery was his usual ebullient self and happy to talk up a storm with reporters. So what's new this season? "It's a lot more intense on set. We're on a mission to save mankind! That brings a different level of intensity. We're all there on the new ride, on the new journey. Let's see where it goes."

But just to be clear, it's not that serious on the set. "We all still laugh a lot, that hasn't gone away. Now we're even more comfortable with each other, so we even laugh harder, because we understand and we love each other. We are truly a family. When we went on hiatus and came back, it was like going to a family reunion. Everybody hugs and says, 'Hey, how was your summer, what'd you do?'"

How does Travis fit into the new story arc? "Not as much of the youthful exuberance that you've seen. I still want Travis excited about seeing new things, but just the idea of being on a mission to save mankind, that raises the stakes to a completely different level. It's not just about going to a different planet, going to different places and seeing what excitement or what adventures we can get into." He added, "Or misadventures — he's always the thrillseeker, but he always gets hurt doing that!"

What's on the horizon (pun intended) for his character? "We've seen the adventure side, so let's see that romantic side!" he smiled. "We've heard about the women on Draylax, but we've never met one of them!" he sort of half-joked. On top of that, "Travis has been the only one who hasn't had a Decon scene! Think about it!" We've seen him shirtless, "but you haven't seen him in his blue skivvies being gelled up! Never seen it. Even Porthos has been decontaminated!"

While Keating was cutting his teeth as a director during hiatus, Montgomery was developing a taste for producing. This came while putting together the play "Dutchman" which he also performed in. He hopes to someday produce a television show himself, and while he's not sure what kind of show it would be, he does have a particular love of animation. "Crazy as that sounds, I grew up reading comic books and watching cartoons, so I know I'm going to make a big splash in the anime world at some point." (Yes, he's interested in the more stylistic and mature forms of animation.)

Billingsley was quite a bit more contemplative than his counterparts during his interviews, having particular views on what themes the show could tackle in light of the current world climate and how his character would fit into that. "It seems to me as if everybody on the ship has been energized by the assault on Earth. There's a level of bloodlust that drives everyone forward. I'll be interested to see if the doctor stands somewhat in opposition to that," he said.

While the producers stated earlier that day that they are not intentionally drawing analogies between events on the show and events in real life, Billingsley thinks there may be some topical parallels nevertheless. "I think it's possible that my character might be the guy who says, 'Okay, in your thirst for vengeance, in the need you have to stop the bad guys, don't start torturing people, don't lose your humanity."

"Personally I think what I always liked about the Original Series was that they did a Vietnam show, and they did a racism show, at a time when those issues were real hot-button issues in this country. The biggest hot-button issue in this country right now is, how much of our freedoms are we willing to set aside for security? I think that's what the show is potentially going to be asked to grapple with, and I hope they do."

He believes the writers may have "tapped into a new vein" this season that "might be very positive." "They're constantly busting their butts trying to tell fresh stories after having told 700 Star Trek stories. I don't envy them their job." And regarding the controversies that had been brought up throughout the day, he commented, "I think it's unfair and unfortunate that the writers get almost all of the heat for the perceived problems of the show. I think the problem with the show is that there's only 39 or 40 minutes for each episode, which isn't enough time to tell a nuanced story driven by character with multiple layers of meaning." To illustrate, he talked about a pickup scene (one shot after principal photography) he did during the second season: "The director said, 'We have 39 seconds to do this scene.' Which meant that I was basically being asked to spit-out-the-words-as-quickly-as-I-could-so-we-could-get-the-scene-into-39-seconds! That's a problem. And that has nothing to do with the writers. Give us four more minutes! Let us tell a better story!"

Also present at the party was Billingsley's wife, Bonita Friedericy, who guest-starred in "Regeneration" as "Rooney," a human scientist who got assimilated. "I loved being a Borg! It's pretty cool!" she beamed. She revealed that her Borg costume was actually a re-use of the one worn by Roxann Dawson in "Unimatrix Zero" — "Which was quite an honor!" But it was an odd experience for her since the costumers hadn't done the Borg for so long. "When they were fitting me, they were like, 'Oh my God, does anyone remember how these suits go? There's a hole here, what tube went in there?' They couldn't remember how to use them anymore."

The character of Rooney is gone, so is there any chance of Friedericy coming back to the show, perhaps as an alien? "I would like to. The costume people are rooting for me to come back and play another character, because I fit in their clothes!"