Life and art imitate each other as wedding bells ring for some of the Star Trek: Enterprise cast as well as for at least one character in the show. At the press party held by UPN in Santa Monica last Tuesday where we learned a lot about Season 4 from the show's producers (related story), we also spoke with most of the actors about what they're looking forward to this year, and also about some significant developments in their personal lives.

We'll start with Scott Bakula ("Captain Archer"), who says the next season will have "a different kind of vibe" in the aftermath of the last. "We can't go back to exploring the way we did the first two years because we're different people, we're a different ship. We've all had life-altering experiences." He likens it to soldiers coming back from a war. "How do they come back into society, how do they readjust their behaviors? What has happened to them will always be inside of them, every time they're confronted with new situations." His particular challenge is to explore the emotional scars his own character bears from his actions in the Delphic Expanse. "How does he address them, how does he make peace with them, and then how does he move forward? There's no going back for this guy. It's great stuff to be able to contemplate, and great stuff for them to write."

In the midst of dealing with the repercussions of the Xindi conflict, Bakula does hope that, once the current situation set into motion by "Zero Hour" is resolved, the Enterprise crew gets some reward, perhaps "a great reception." "We did save the world, so we should get some attention for that!"

The move to Friday nights for the show is probably a very positive thing, Bakula thinks. "There wasn't anything particularly fascinating about being on Wednesday nights. Actually, I think being away from the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday UPN thing will allow us to have our own 'place,' and I'm hoping that we have a different kind of success there. I don't know what they're hoping for, but I think we're going to surprise people. The fans come to it wherever it is, and they follow the bizarre UPN schedule — which defies explanation to me — but they've found us, and they continue to hang out with us, and they're faithful all around the world. So, you know, we've got to take care of our end of it, and then the rest will follow.

Concerning reports that William Shatner could guest star on the show this season, Bakula sees the possibility as "amazing" but also "daunting." "You know, I've been such a huge fan of his for so many years, and to have him be on a bridge again, on our bridge in particular, would be mind-boggling."

Jolene Blalock ("T'Pol"), dressed in a quirky skeleton-hand t-shirt (see photo on left) was at the party with a major case of the sniffles. In less than a week after starting production on the new season, there is already a bug going around the set, which has also afflicted Dominic Keating. But she said nobody has missed work, because the actors have learned the Trekian solution to all problems: "We compensate."

Though she admitted the third season was difficult for her, she had some very positive things to say about the fourth. "I can tell you right now, this season's going to be our best. And I can tell you why, because Manny Coto has been given some freedom and some liberty to push forth a vision." She had just read the second script of the season, and said, "It was a pleasure to see the story unfold. I was interested, and the characters were rich — you could see the characters on the page."

She hopes to have the opportunity to resolve some of the emotional loose ends for her character. "I had a hard time last year. I had a real hard time with the trellium-D addiction, I had a real hard time with the sex, I had a hard time with the emotions — I couldn't justify it as an actor. Why do I find these emotions so thrilling? What's wrong with me? I just felt that she was lost. She was lost in the story arc, she was lost in resigning her commission, not having a post —- it was weird not being called 'subcommander.' I felt that she was ripped of her respect and her dignity. I just felt that she became an emotional floozy, you know? And I didn't like it."

This year she hopes to build T'Pol back up, in part by enriching the character's history, roots and beliefs. And along those lines, she revealed that T'Pol will be getting married in the third episode. Can you elaborate on that, we asked? "Nope. Except, I don't have to fight anybody." (Unlike Spock in "Amok Time.")

Speaking of weddings, there was a real-life one this summer for one of the cast members. Connor Trinneer ("Trip Tucker") tied the knot with Ariana Navarre on May 29 in France, with a two-week honeymoon in Paris. So how is married life? "The first two months have been fantastic!"

Trinneer described coming back for a renewed season as something of a relief. "You know, we left last year really having no idea what the hell was going to happen. And to come back and reconnect again, it makes it a little more clear how lucky we are."

Of course, after eventually seeing the ending of "Zero Hour" (most of the actors didn't get those script pages during production) and his initial reaction of "What?!?" he then thought, "Oh, my God! Well, they can't kill us now!"

Even though Trinneer is "psyched" about Season 4, especially with the reported guest appearances of Brent Spiner and possibly Shatner, he is not sure where his character will go this season. "I'm on a need-to-know character basis," he said. Although it's still a mystery who T'Pol will be marrying or under what circumstances, Trinneer hopes the Trip-T'Pol relationship continues in some direction. "I'd like to see it be a proactive one, whatever that may be. I think that it was exposed and then sort of just left there, and I'd like to see it, whatever it is, be explored."

Dominic Keating ("Malcolm Reed") also had some news to report from hiatus: he got engaged. His fiancée is an actress named Jilana Stewart, and they met a few years ago on "a piece of nonsense" (his words) called ChromiumBlue.com, a Showtime movie and series where Keating played "a bisexual ghost." The couple hasn't set a date yet, but it will probably be next summer.

Keating spent most of hiatus travelling around Europe, visiting family and vacationing while also attending a convention in England. He only got back into town a few days before production started up, and almost immediately upon reporting to set — like Blalock — fell ill with a throat infection. He hasn't missed any work, but he's felt "miserable." (Wouldn't dare pass up a UPN party, though!)

And like Blalock, he had some very enthusiastic words about the new showrunner. "Not to take anything away from our two boys over there, Rick and Brannon, but Manny Coto's going to be just the energy we need. He's bright, young, hungry and ambitious, and talented. A potent mix in Hollywood."

Keating has had a few auditions for small parts in The West Wing, Monk and a Brian de Palma movie — so don't be surprised if you see his face pop up outside of Enterprise. But, he added, "I'm very, very happy to be back going to Paramount every day, I love it. I want to do the seven years! I think we will."

Friday night could actually be the saving grace of the show, he said. "I think the fans will show up. I think this year's going to be our break-out-of-the-box season. I think it's the one that's going to set us apart. You can quote me on that."

Wedding bells may not be ringing just yet, but there's a solid if unlikely romance between "Hoshi Sato" and "Shinzon of Remus." Linda Park and Tom Hardy were at the party together, after having spent the summer in London producing a play. The theatre, actually, is their common passion, and that's how they got together, though Star Trek had something to do with it too.

"We had crossed paths many times — we were at the ['Star Trek Nemesis'] premiere and just missed each other," Linda recalled. But the magic didn't happen until last summer (2003) when she was on her way back from a convention in Germany and stopped in London to see a play called "In Arabia We'd All Be Kings." "I had no idea that he would be in it, my friend just said, 'Oh let's go see this play, I've heard good things about it.' And I went to see the play and thought he was brilliant, and I said, 'Who's the actor who plays Stink?' (His character's name.) And she says 'Tom Hardy' and I said 'Get out of town.'" (She didn't recognize him without the bald cap and makeup he wore in the movie.)

"I had talked about him at the Germany convention," Linda continued, "because I thought he was really great in 'Nemesis.' But of all places in the world, I ran into him on a vacation in London. There's this guy who's a really brilliant actor, and it's Tom Hardy. And then I talked to him afterwards..."  "And I'm so glad she did," Tom interjected.

After doing a play together in London this summer called "Roger & Vanessa," Linda and Tom are starting a company called Shotgun Theatre which will be an experiment in "guerilla theatre," giving working actors an opportunity to put up plays in a short period of time without the usual weeks of rehearsal. It'll be in residence in London, which won't be a problem for Linda since she's decided to live bicontinentally to remain close to her beau.

In case you're wondering what the long-term prospects for this relationship are, Tom did say — in regard to how they got together — "It's a really long and intricate, wonderfully beautiful story that we can't wait to tell our children. Well, I can't, anyway."

Blalock — who got married herself about a year ago — had commented on all the new romances occurring with the cast: "There's a fever going on, I like it. Next everybody'll be pumping babies out."