Posted:
13:55:39 on July 20 2001
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: Enterprise | www.stenterprise.com
This article, the latest no doubt based on Monday's press conference at Paramount, was in the print edition of USA Today and is up on the newspaper's website as well.
Bakula leaps into 'Trek' role
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY
UPN
Scott Bakula is Starship's first commander in Enterprise.
LOS ANGELES — For Scott Bakula, the lure of the latest Star Trek franchise, Enterprise, was the chance to boldly go where no captain had gone before: a time that preceded the era of the original series.
As Capt. Jonathan Archer, Bakula will command a more primitive and cramped 22nd century starship, a century before the adventures of Capt. James Kirk. The UPN series, which succeeds the recently concluded Star Trek: Voyager, has a two-hour premiere on Sept. 26.
"I don't believe I would have done the show if it had been the next version of Voyager 20 years later. But to be the first captain, that was a nice carrot to dangle out there," Bakula says on the Paramount Pictures lot, not far from the submarine-like set of the latest Enterprise.
Bakula, 46, who appeared in the Oscar-winning American Beauty, is at home in the world of science fiction, having starred in other sci-fi projects, including the time-travel hit Quantum Leap. That series and the Star Trek franchise share "a certain morality and a hopefulness" that have a strong pull on the audience.
Science fiction roles "require a certain kind of belief, for me anyway, in the possibility," he says. "I guess the little kid in me is still hoping some of this stuff will happen while I can see it."
Quantum Leap, which ran from 1989 to 1993, also gave Bakula some experience with cult followers and fan conventions, although something smaller than the ardent devotion of Star Trek fans. He's a fan, too.
"I go back to the original series," he says. "We used to watch that ad nauseam in college."
The popular actor brings a welcome following, including many female fans, to a 35-year-old Gene Roddenberry creation that has its own huge fan base, executive producer Rick Berman says.
"It was like a godsend, because we were looking for somebody with a little bit of Chuck Yeager and a little bit of Han Solo and someone who was charming," Berman says. Scott "fits the character perfectly."
Of the previous captains, Archer will most resemble Kirk. He has an eye for the ladies and doesn't run away from a good fistfight.
In Archer's time, The Federation has yet to be formed, alien species are new acquaintances, and he and his multiethnic (including Vulcan) crew have a wide-eyed enthusiasm for exploration.
"His heart's on his sleeve, and he's so excited to be out in space," Bakula says.
However, he also doesn't want to be too much like captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko or Janeway.
"If I can just let go of worrying about what (William) Shatner and Patrick (Stewart) did, then I can just do my own thing," he says.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/tv/2001-07-20-scott-bakula.htm.
(Thanks to Lee Jamilkowski for sending this in).
