Posted:
08:09:35 on August 20 2001
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: Enterprise | www.stenterprise.com
TV Guide has hit the stands with three collectible covers (see TrekWeb's Friday story for more images) that are sure to guide wayward 'Trek' fans back into the ranks for September 26th and here's the lowdown on all the important info.
Star Trek: The First Generation by Michael Logan
Logan visited the ENTERPRISE stage 18 at Paramount for his article and reveals a an intense scene between Charlie Tucker (Connor Trinneer) and T'Pol (Jolene Blalock) that he witnessed: "Several of the characters are stranded on a storm-tossed alien planet where they have been infected with a toxic pollen. Some are almost comatose, while others — like chief engineer Commander Charles "Trip"
Tucker III, who is holding a phase pistol on his superior, the Vulcan Sub Commander T'Pol, and threatening to kill her — have gone stark raving mad. Back on the starship, their captain, Jonathan Archer, is desperately trying to save T'Pol's hide by having his communications officer, Hoshi Sato, radio advice in T'Pol's native tongue that Trip won't understand."
News of the "first human male pregnancy" comes in the form of a quote from Connor Trinneer who was tight-lipped about the issue. But Berman commented that Trinner's character, 'Charlie "Trip" Tucker" will get pregnant in an episode that will be "very funny." The online version of the feature includes the first view of the Enterprise sickbay, seen to the right (goto tvguide.com for a larger view).
In addition, the mag also includes a view of alien face masks, worn by characters playing a new alien race -- the Axanar -- in ENTERPRISE's second episode.
Much of the article, which you can read nearly in its entirety here, deals with summarizing the known information about the series's background and premiere episode, with familar quotes from Rick Berman like, "We needed to bring back the wonder and excitement and scariness of outerspace." Berman adds that the last two series, DS9 and Voyager, had crews who themselves weren't very interested in being where they were -- and that that deterred viewers as well.
Even writer Michael Logan calls Berman's bluff in his previous TV Guide interview regarding the nature of T'Pol's costume, which Logan describes as an "eye-popping, seemingly sprayed-on catsuit."
One interesting remark comes from co-creator and executive producer Brannon Braga, who admits that "there's a part of me that thinks Paramount should fire and replace me," when asked about the importance of getting fresh blood behind the franchise. But even media analyst Steve Sternberg of TN Media agrees that the importance of Star Trek demands that experienced pros like Braga and Berman take the helm.
Braga also goes on to say that "Compared to contemporary shows like 'The Sopranos', the characters on 'Trek' can seem like androids at times, because they're so far in the future that they take on this remote, stylized, sort of period-piece feel." John Billingsley, who plays Doctor Phlox, adds to this sentiment when he says "Getting rid of the Prime Directive helps a lot."
Billingley also relays a quick anecdote about shooting in the bronze spacesuits shown on the cover of the issue (image above). "They're absolutely gorgeous but feel like you're carrying a pachyderm on your back," Billingsley says. "We wore ours for a half day at a time, but Scott wore his every hour for three straight days, and a the end of the last scene on the third day -- when the rest of us are going, 'Please, God, let this be OVER with!' -- Scott says, 'Let me have another take. I think I might be able to pull my pistol ouf of my holster a LITTLE more smoothly'." Clearly Scott Bakula is taking the kind of interest in ENTERPRISE that indicates he is truly an off-camera leader as well.
Of dropping the brand "Star Trek" from the title, Braga says it'll give the series "a bit of a postmodern vibe. Hopefully the people who've been put off by the enormity of the Trek backstory will check us out, because you don't have to know anything about Trek to watch this one." Berman also admits that while the ENTERPRISE crew won't have holodecks at their disposal, that doesn't preclude aliens they encounter from having that technology.
Logan asks Berman about a rumor that Lieutenant Malcolm Reed would be a homosexual -- a rumor that I don't ever recall existing -- and Berman replies, "That's totally untrue. Well I shouldn't say totally untrue. It has not been discussed. One of these characters may turn out to be gay. We've just decided not to make an issue of it for the time being."
Even actor Scott Bakula feels the pressure for ENTERPRISE to succeed, saying "People are wondering if Berman and Paramount should've waited a while -- maybe laid low for a year -- before doing another spin-off, but I'm sensing a groundswell of excitement."
The TV Guide issue also includes small featurettes with each of the cast members, as well as beautiful photographs of the Enterprise NX-01 sets and detailed views of the armpatch Enterprise logo exactly as TrekWeb revealed it back in May.
STAR TREK X
Rick Berman finally confirms that the movie involves aliens from the Romulan sister planet, Remus -- a race "that we've never seen before." Berman also says that "there is a major surprise at the end," (this all after Logan confronted him with rumors of the script from the Internet). Berman says even though Stewart and Spiner are the only actors to sign and that the studio still has not greenlighted the project, he expects shooting to commence in October for an August or Thanksgiving 2002 premiere. He also denies that Sean Connery ever had a part in the script but that he'd happily write him one if he desired it.
For all of this and more quotes, pick up your issue of TV Guide on stands now.
All images copyright © TV Guide / Paramount.
