We continue now with the second and final part of the Scott Bakula interview.

Question: What about the uniforms? The other actors complained about getting in and out of them.

Scott Bakula: We have uniforms, but we're not in any spandex! They're like jumpsuits. They're made out of cotton and they've been through the wash a few times, so they're a little bit worn. The producers spent a lot of time with the submarine people — they have the feel of what it might be like. We have pockets! [Jonathan] Frakes showed up for a visit and he said, "You know, we would have killed for a suit like that — you've got a zipper and a pocket! And we had to be strapped in and everything!" Sorry, Jonathan! [Laughs]

Q: There are seven regulars, but how large is the overall crew?

SB: Seventy. Very small. The idea is that it's much more like a submarine. The ship is smaller than Kirk's — you're bumping your head on stuff. There's a great feel to it; it isn't cramped, but you're definitely in a small ship.

Q: How does playing in that smaller set form your character? It's not like the other, larger Star Trek sets.

SB: I'm still in awe of the sets, period. I just can't believe that anybody gets to build sets like this. But they explained to me, "Well, we get to depreciate them for six years, or whatever." They're amazing. Amazing.

We walked into the armory set — we hadn't had it for the pilot — and it was this unbelievably great set. These torpedo tubes that worked! It's phenomenal. So the set is still more than I ever thought it would be. And, again, I don't have a relationship with being on a Star Trek set before. I never saw the other ones, or felt what they felt like. This feels great. It feels cozy. There is plenty of room to move around. It's not expansive, but it's closer and more connected — two steps and I'm standing right here — he's right here, she's right there.

Q: Do you have portholes to see the stars streaming by?

SB: Yes. We have windows and have star fields and we drop out of warp and have impulse power and those kinds of things. I haven't seen a show yet, so I don't know what it looks like.

All the design units and all the teams are getting to do everything from the beginning — so they are getting to say, what do the shots, the bullets (which are not bullets) that come out of our phase pistols look like? They get to make everything different again. How [the stars] look outside our windows, I assume, will be different; but I don't how.

Q: Do you have replicators?

SB: No. I have a great Captain's Dining Room, which we've just been shooting in today. We have great food. We just ate Chinese with cool chopsticks.

Q: Will you be showing "firsts," like the first beaming down?

SB: There are elements in the pilot and in the first couple episodes, that will be fun for Star Trek fans because you'll see the genesis of the things that we've all come to know and expect that we immediately relate to as "This is what Star Trek is." But, we don't have them yet — we're working on them. We don't have phasers, we don't have photon torpedoes — we are before that. It's going to be new stuff, it's great for everybody.

Q: Is there anything that this show will be avoiding because they were done already in previous Star Trek series?

SB: All bets are off because we're ahead of everybody else. The mantra has become, "We've never done this before." If someone says, "This is how such-and-such works." Someone else asks, "How do you know that ?" "Well, because we did it in —" "Oh, no ... we didn't do this before, it's never been done before. So wipe the slate clean. There are no rules, there are no Federation rules, we're going to make our own mistakes and we're going to make our own things."

The biggest arguments are about, "Well, which button do you push now to make this open and this close?" and "Which opens the comm?" That kind of stuff. "Well, on Voyager —" "Nope, don't tell me what you did on Voyager." We're buttons and switches — the ship's hands-on now. Things slide and pull and push, and we're not talking to the turbolift.

Q: Is LeVar Burton the first Star Trek actor to direct?

SB: Yes. He's a great director and a great guy. It's nice having him there. He's certainly familiar with what it's like to start up, and what that energy's like in creating the relationships. And again, more than anything in terms of guidance when you start a show, it's how you find those little places and let everyone have their own voice. He's wonderful that way. Haven't worked with Roxann [Dawson] yet. Haven't seen Frakes on the list yet.

Q: Have you talked to any of the previous captains?

SB: No. Jonathan Frakes came by to visit. And Brent [Spiner].

Q: What do you say when it's time to go? [i.e. "Engage"]

SB: We haven't got that. I don't have a handle yet. The best handle I've had so far is, "Let's go." [Laughs] Which, again, informs you of the character.

Q: Have you developed anything that might be a trademark gesture or line — ?

SB: No. I've been down this road enough times — you look for things. And obviously the chore is to not make it appear studied or forced, but you look to create things. I know that I'm being watched, very carefully to say the least, and I know from doing Quantum [Leap] that your moves and your process is oftentimes poured over. So you want to make sure that you don't get yourself into any corners you can't get out of. At the same time, I love the game — the creative give and take with the fans — because I like giving little pieces and little stuff — [so they wonder] "Why did he do that? What is that all about?" And I know what's down the road, what's coming in this kind of a series. You get to enjoy that relationship, so it's fun.

But [my contributions can be] as mundane as asking, "What are we going to put on the walls in my room? And what does this guy do? And what things did he do in his past that we can bring on the trip?" And since the trip isn't planned, it's not like the captain had a designer come in and do the quarters. It's kind of a hodgepodge, and we're gone. Of course, things can be sent to us and we can add as we go along.

Q: So far, what aliens have you met? Any we might be familiar with?

SB: It's pretty common knowledge that the Klingons are around. I've certainly stood toe-to-toe with a Klingon screaming and spitting in my face with a knife to my throat — that was pretty great. We know about the Vulcans. Everybody else is brand new — so far.

Q: Is it permissible, in the 22nd Century, to say things like, "I don't like this entire species?"

SB: Well I say some pretty harsh things in the pilot about Vulcans and to a Vulcan's face. But what's great about this character is that he has a place to go. He has some preconceived notions that are not all pretty.

Q: Is there a back story of why you feel that way?

SB: Yes. It's in the pilot. The pilot is very grounded on Earth so there's a great sense of where he comes from, his history, and why he feels the way he feels about them.

Q: Are the episodes self-contained, so far, or is there an overall arc?

SB: There is an overall arc. I don't know what that overall arc is, but I know it is there. From the pilot you'll see that there is a definite overall future — arc isn't the right word — but you'll wonder about the overall future early on. I don't know when we get back to that story, but I know that we are going back and that there's a bigger plan out there that the guys on our little ship know nothing about. Which, again, is nice that I also don't know about so I can just play it as real as I can.

In terms of [the episodes being] self-contained, I guess so. Right now they all have the theme of figuring out what works, how to approach ships, how to make first contact — "Woops, they're shooting at us — that wasn't the way to do it! I know how to get out of this one!" That's the common thread. And each of the seven members of the crew are having their own experiences with being out in space all of a sudden and coming up against aliens and different things.

Q: What is your relationship to the Doctor?

SB: The Doctor is also non-human. I couldn't tell you what he is yet because I don't know! [Laughs] But he is a wonderful character that John Billingsley's created. The Doctor's so much fun and so much about his work and how much fun it is to be doing all this stuff. He's just kind of a light-hearted, carefree guy. He'll say things right out of left field, almost non-sequitur-ish. So we have a very new relationship. He is not a person known to me before we take off. So we are just kind of finding him. But he's wonderfully gifted and a bit of a mad scientist.

Q: Are there any sequences where the characters disguise themselves as aliens to go undercover?

SB: I hope that's a ways away. We really are so early into it and there's so much fun to be had first. The ship doesn't work well, so we have problems. We weren't really supposed to be going out yet, so we have all those things that don't work. "So, let's try target practice and see what that's like! Oh, that doesn't work — we can't hit anything!" You know, that kind of stuff is going on. You don't want to get into the really tricky fancy stuff that to me, is like Year 3 / Year 4 kind of shows — where we're looking for something to keep everyone excited. We've got stuff. And we also have the mundane — which is great fun. There's a squeak in the floor of my cabin and it keeps bugging the hell out of me. Just stuff that, again, is different than what Star Trek has been in the past, but it's all still in a nice package and it's fun.

Q: Are you prepared to do the inevitable "taken over by alien forces" acting?

SB: Well, I don't think it could be worse than being pregnant, [Laughs] so I think I can handle it. Again, I hope it doesn't happen for a goodly fifty episodes from now.

Q: What about romance for your character?

SB: In the pilot. Twisted romance, but it's good. I think it's going to be a pretty sexy show. There's some interesting stuff that's happened in the first six hours. Definitely some sexuality in this thing. Which is really good.

Q: Will James Cromwell do a small part?

SB: Uh. He's a sly fellow. You won't hear it from me.

Q: Have you played a lot of leadership roles before and is there something different about a character in a leadership position and one that is not in control?

SB: Leadership roles, to me, are the most fun. The reason I got into this business in the beginning was that I liked the interaction with the other actors — that kind of camaraderie. I played a lot of sports growing up, I enjoyed team sports the most, probably because there's that sense of everybody being in it together. I'm corny that way, I guess, but it's nice to see if you can create that group dynamic. That's very special — and you see it in all the successful shows, a show like West Wing, or Law and Order — the shows where you have the sense of a group of people with one goal and they're all working together. They're all different, and they've all got problems, but there's that great energy that gets created. I'm drawn to that if the opportunity presents itself.

The approach isn't any different — whether you're one guy time traveling, or the captain of a ship — in terms of trying to get to the reality of the work. But I certainly enjoy it, and if I were to fantasize about "If I weren't an actor," I would probably be somebody who worked with a lot of people in some kind of a team thing. And as an actor that's what we do — you're with a crew of forty, fifty people and you have a common goal every day. That's the joy of doing this kind of work, for me — "Can we create this? Can we make this magic with everybody together?"

Q: How far in advance do you get the scripts? Do you have trouble learning the Star Trek words?

SB: Yes. I can't remember any of the words right now. I'm blanking now. It varies. One script we got a week ahead of time. Another a day and a half.

Q: Is there anything about this experience we haven't asked about that we should know about?

SB: We've just been having a really great time, and I'm not sure that I was expecting it to be as much fun right off the bat as it has been. I think there are a couple reasons for that but I think their choice to make it a prequel, setting it back in time, was a great one because everybody's excited.

A lot of the crew guys, some of them have been here from Next Generation, and I was somewhat concerned, showing up, that it was going to be somewhat of a point-and-shoot deal — that the crew would be "Oh, yeah, well, whatever."

But they're excited about it and they're a great barometer in terms of their excitement for the show — because I can't compare it to Next Generation, or Deep Space Nine, or Voyager. I just know we are doing our work. But they are saying this is really great and really different and really exciting. All the department heads and their staff are having so much fun creating new looks and new ideas. There is a really wonderful energy that's holding the whole thing up, and together. It's fun.

Q: The season is young, but do have any projects planned for your hiatus?

SB: Don't have a clue at this point. I know how I felt during other hiatuses — is there a plural to hiatus? Hiatii? Sounds like an island, doesn't it? You know, Quantum was always like a marathon and you just tried to get to the end of it standing. I'm not sure how this is going to be. I've had much more time off already than I had in four and a half years on Quantum. So, I don't know how I'm going to feel.

The doors are open, my production company is still moving ahead. My agency is proceeding like I'm available for work, but at this point in time it's hard to get a sense of it. We're also doing 26 hours this year. I've only done 22 — that extra month is a lot. And we're not going to have as much of a break. I had a week off between the pilot and start of production.

Q: Is the reason you've had more time off due to having seven regulars?

SB: Yes, it's a big difference. And also, my other regular on Quantum — I was the only actor to work with him. So I didn't get a lot of relief from Dean [Stockwell], you know? Which he was delighted about. I was the only one who could see him — with the exception of a couple of episodes. Even then I didn't get a break from him — he's still there.

Q: Have you heard from Dean since you got the role?

SB: No. He called me on Father's Day,but we missed. I have not talked to him. But wouldn't that be great if we could get him on [as a guest on Enterprise]? It has to be; we've got to do it. But put him in a big mask so he can be miserable for once! [Laughs]

Q: Are they telling you to avoid anything? Like, don't say, "Oh boy."

SB: They haven't written it on the page, and I won't be ad-libbing it! [Laughs] No, I'm not avoiding anything. Certainly, if we got to a place where Dean was a part of a show, that would be walking a very thin line if he was a guest. But no, there's no directive about, "Scott don't do this" and I'm not really watching myself. Look, a lot of Sam Beckett was a part of me, and a lot of this captain is a part of me — I haven't split off personalities between then and now. There will be similarities. I'm just older.

Q: Do you want to direct, as you did during Quantum, or pursue your musical side?

SB: I'll see how I feel at the end of the season. I get opportunities to do theatre all the time and now I'll have a ten-week window to do something like that. The question is the energy, and where you want to spend those ten weeks.

Certainly the directing thing is fun and I always like to do it. I'm not going to do any here this year; I just want to focus on the show and my work in it and the relationships. Rick and Brannon are great about letting their actors direct at times. As much as I've done series work before, Enterprise is kind of a new thing because Quantum was so overwhelming in terms of my time. This may give me the opportunities to do more things outside of it.

Q: Do you or the rest of the cast have game plans for conventions or web chats?

SB: I don't have a plan. I can't speak for the other folks. The work has been fairly heavy so far and my thing is, "if the show is no good nobody's going to care about any of the other stuff." So my goal right now is to give everything I can to each episode and really get the show off to a great start and promote that. Let everybody get their feet underneath them. Then we'll see where everything else takes us. But again, I want to deliver a great show and, hopefully, a great captain and continue the tradition.

Q: Can you introduce yourself to Star Trek fans, and the audience at large, who may not know you as well as Quantum Leap fans?

SB: I'm a guy who comes out of the theatre and stage. I grew up in St. Louis and went to New York, spent years there and touring around the country, learning a lot. Studying in New York. Lots of musical theatre, predominantly my first love. Came to Los Angeles in 1986; did a musical out here. Did the pilot of Designing Women. My first show, called Gung Ho, was here at Paramount. Then I did a series called Eisenhower & Lutz for CBS that lasted 13 episodes, I guess. Then went back to New York in 1988 to do a Broadway show during the writer's strike — I was very lucky. And I came back from there and landed Quantum. I think most people know me from then on.

For people who don't know me, I would just say that I'm a stage actor who's tried my whole career to do as many different kinds of roles as I possible can, and try not to be limited in terms of one specific type. It's just the nature of where I come from in stage to avoid being pigeonholed. That's worked to my advantage at times and to my disadvantage at times.

Q: What do you do during your down time?

SB: I have my family, so I spend most of my down time with them, my kids. I used to like to go to the movies but don't seem to get there very often anymore. I love to go to the beach and still play a lot of sports, love to run and work out. My kids are aged 2, 5, 10 and 17 — and that probably says it all. [Laughs]

Q: Do you still play ice hockey anymore, or are you allowed to?

SB: If I were to play ice hockey any more, I would not tell them! [Laughs]

Please note: All production information is subject to change