[ENT] Bakula's Bold New 'Enterprise'
SW4747
By DAVID BIANCULLI
Daily News Feature Critic
Scott Bakula, formerly of "Quantum Leap," is about to boldly go where no
established TV star has gone before - into the leading role of a "Star Trek"
television series.
Until now, the great unknowns in each show included not only the unexplored
universe but the largely unfamiliar cast members.
When the original "Star Trek" series was launched by NBC in 1966, Capt.
James T. Kirk and crew were given "a five-year mission" - the number of
years it would take Paramount, the studio behind the show, to amass enough
episodes to have a successful second run in syndication.
The series, and the mission, lasted only three years, but the "Star Trek"
franchise managed, somehow, to live long and prosper. The original series
was syndicated eventually anyway, and daily reruns grew so popular with
college students that it developed a loyal cult audience.
"Star Trek: The Motion Picture" fed that appetite in 1979, jump-starting a
movie franchise that continues to thrive almost a quarter-century later. A
first-run syndicated series called "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
successfully followed William Shatner's Kirk in 1987 with another
charismatic hero, Patrick Stewart's Jean-Luc Picard. Other series, and other
captains, followed: Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko in 1993's syndicated
"Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway in 1995's UPN
flagship series "Star Trek: Voyager."
And now, starting Wednesday night at 8, UPN unveils the latest series in the
franchise, and the first not to incorporate "Star Trek" in its title.
"Enterprise" essentially reinvents the universal wheel by making the show a
prequel and building it around a central character played by someone who was
an established TV star before sitting in the captain's chair.
The star of "Enterprise" is Bakula, playing hotshot, headstrong Capt.
Jonathan Archer.
"Enterprise" is set 150 years in our future, but in an already specified
point in the "Star Trek" continuum. It's about a century after the Earth of
2063 as depicted in the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact," and about a
century before Kirk and company would take the reins and seek out new life
and new civilizations.
It's also a frontier world of space, where phasers are untested,
transporters are untrustworthy and Klingons are a complete unknown. The
two-hour pilot is a wonderful show - the best start for a "Star Trek" series
in its long and amazing history - and Bakula's instantly likable
characterization is no small part of it.
"It's probably as romantic a role as I've ever had," Bakula said in an
interview as he was finishing the eighth hour of "Enterprise" (and, it
should be noted, four days before the terrorist attacks). "Just the idea of
being the captain of your own ship, that's romantic right there. And my
character is supposed to be like Kirk, in that he'll get, uh, involved."
As early as the pilot, Bakula is tempted by, and succumbs to, a seductive
alien siren.
"I expect it to be a sexy show," he said, laughing.
"We're all so familiar with what 'Star Trek' has been," Bakula said when
first meeting the press after joining the show. Because it's intended as the
first chapters, "we have to kind of unlearn all that and start from scratch.
"So this character is bold and brash - and, yes, the closest to Kirk, even
though I'm 100 years before Kirk, than any of the other captains." Because
"Enterprise" presents the starship's first launch, its crew is not a
smooth-running, sleekly costumed, seamlessly working unit.
There's dissension in the ranks, from distrust of the Klingon science
officer (Jolene Blalock, who's like a female Spock) to obvious bafflement
when it comes to repairing, or even operating, the ship's new - quaint to
"Trek" fans - equipment.
And Bakula admitted that even his chameleonic turns on "Quantum Leap" were
not as demanding as his "Enterprise" role is shaping up to be. "In 'Quantum
Leap,' everyone says I was playing a different character every week," Bakula
said, "but I really wasn't. I was playing one character who was exploring
aspects of what it was like to experience another person's identity each
week.
"It was only near the end, with shows like [the one where he inhabited the
body of Lee Harvey] Oswald, where we took creative license and had my
character lose himself a bit in the character he was inhabiting." Bakula
spends much of his time acting against a green or blue special-effects
screen. "I hope I'm seeing something scary," he said.
"I really do."
But there's one aspect of acting in a "Star Trek" series he's glad he doesn'
t have to endure.
"I don't know if I would have taken the role," he said, "if it would have
required a lot of makeup, and hours in the chair putting on prosthetics each
day.
"I'm at the stage of my career, especially after 'Quantum Leap,' where I don
't think I could do that."
Archer, like"Enterprise," is set exists at a time150 years in our future,
but in an already specified point in the "Star Trek" continuum.
It's about a century after the Earth of 2063 as depicted in the 1996 film
"Star Trek: First Contact," and about a century before Kirk and company
would take the reins and seek out new life and new civilizations.
It's also a frontier world of space, where phasers are untested,
transporters are untrustworthy and Klingons are a complete unknown.
The two-hour pilot is a wonderful show - the best start for a "Star Trek"
series in its long and amazing history - and Bakula's instantly likable
characterization is no small part of it.
"It's probably as romantic a role as I've ever had," Bakula said in an
interview as he was finishing the eighth hour of "Enterprise" (and, it
should be noted, four days before the terrorist attacks). "Just the idea of
being the captain of your own ship, that's romantic right there. And my
character is supposed to be like Kirk, in that he'll get, uh, involved."
As early as the pilot, Bakula is tempted by, and succumbs to, a seductive
alien siren.
"I expect it to be a sexy show," he said, laughing.
"We're all so familiar with what 'Star Trek' has been," Bakula said when
first meeting the press after joining the show. Because it's intended as the
first chapters, "we have to kind of unlearn all that and start from scratch.
"So this character is bold and brash - and, yes, the closest to Kirk, even
though I'm 100 years before Kirk, than any of the other captains."
Because "Enterprise" presents the starship's first launch, its crew is not a
smooth-running, sleekly costumed, seamlessly working unit. There's
dissension in the ranks, from distrust of the Klingon science officer
(Jolene Blalock, who's like a female Spock) to obvious bafflement when it
comes to repairing, or even operating, the ship's new - quaint to "Trek"
fans - equipment.
And Bakula admitted that even his chameleonic turns on "Quantum Leap" were
not as demanding as his "Enterprise" role is shaping up to be.
"In 'Quantum Leap,' everyone says I was playing a different character every
week," Bakula said, "but I really wasn't. I was playing one character who
was exploring aspects of what it was like to experience another person's
identity each week.
"It was only near the end, with shows like [the one where he inhabited the
body of Lee Harvey] Oswald, where we took creative license and had my
character lose himself a bit in the character he was inhabiting."
Bakula spends much of his time acting against a green or blue
special-effects screen. "I hope I'm seeing something scary," he said. "I
really do."
But there's one aspect of acting in a "Star Trek" series he's glad he
doesn't have to endure.
"I don't know if I would have taken the role," he said, "if it would have
required a lot of makeup, and hours in the chair putting on prosthetics each
day.
"I'm at the stage of my career, especially after 'Quantum Leap,' where I
don't think I could do that."
Star Trek
Years: 1966-69
Televised: NBC
Captain: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk
Premise: futuristic starship crew boldly goes where no one has before
Best Villain: Ricardo Montalban's Khan (reprised in movie "Star Trek II: The
Wrath of Khan")
Best Crew-Member Babe: Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, especially when pretending
to be her alternate-universe evil self
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Years: 1987-94
Televised: first-run syndication
Captain: Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard
Premise: even more futuristic starship crew boldly goes where someone has
gone before, then keeps going
Best Villain: the ubiquitous Borg
Best Crew-Member Babe: Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Years: 1992-99
Televised: first-run syndication
Captain: Avery Brooks as Benjamin Sisko
Premise: futuristic space station crew boldly stands still while other
people and aliens come and go
Best Villain: The Cardassians - until they changed sides and joined forces
with the federation
Best Crew-Member Babe: Nana Visitor as Kira Nerys, especially when she was
her alternate-universe evil self
Star Trek: Voyager
Years: 1995-2001
Televised: UPN
Captain: Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Premise: futuristic spaceship crew gets lost, boldly tries to get back to
where it was before.
Best Villain: Once again, the Borg
Best Crew-Member Babe: This time, a partial Borg: Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
Enterprise
Years: 2001-?
Televised: UPN
Captain: Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer
Premise: slightly less futuristic starship crew - a century pre-Kirk - very
boldly goes where absoluley, positively no earth vessel has gone before
Best Villain: as yet undetermined
Best Crew-Member Babe: as yet undetermined, but keep your eyes on Jolene
Blalock as Vulcan science officer T'Pol.
Original Publication Date: 9/24/01
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