Former Castmates Celebrate ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’ in Reunion With Scott Bakula
Cancelled prequel series said to be a victim of the “changing face of TV”
Although Star Trek: Deep Space Nine often has been called the “redheaded stepchild” of the Star Trek franchise, I think it’s fair to say that the series that sadly deserves that dubious honor even more might be Star Trek: Enterprise.
The prequel series set a century before the adventures of Captain Kirk and his crew during the original series, Enterprise was oft-maligned by fans during its abbreviated first run. While the previous Star Trek spinoffs since Star Trek: The Next Generation each got a dignified send-off after seven seasons, Enterprise was unceremoniously axed after just four.
Fortunately, it’s only grown in the popularity and respect it’s seen with fans in more recent years since it’s been available for streaming on Paramount Plus and reruns on conventional television.
So the cast reunion this weekend, in which series star Scott Bakula joined as a guest on the recently relaunched podcast produced by his former castmates Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer was especially welcome.
It became immediately clear that these three were not merely one-time colleagues but friends who recall fond memories while expressing pride in what they and rest of the cast and crew created on Enterprise.
Bakula, who played Captain Jonathan Archer in the series, was a very special guest for Keating and Trinneer, who played Armory Officer Malcolm Reed and Chief Engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker, respectively on the series.
Keating and Trinneer have been hosting Trek-related podcasts for the last few years, which they relaunched this summer as The D-Con Chamber.
Bakula’s appearance marked the season finale of the podcast, which Keating, Trinneer and the rest of the D-Con Chamber team have been hyping in recent days.
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Keating was particularly effusive in his praise as he visibly choked up during his introduction of Bakula.
“If I could borrow, and embellish, the iconic line from Mr Walt Whitman, ‘Oh, Captain, our captain,’” he said with a wide smile. “Connor and I will be forever in this gentleman's debt for giving us, frankly, four of the most precious, glorious, fun-filled, memorable years of our lives.”
Keating became particularly emotional as he said of Bakula, “He was a mentor, he was our best mate, he was a big brother, he was a leader and he made those years [on Enterprise] absolutely joyous.”
Bakula returned the affection in equal measure.
“I’m honored to be sitting here sitting with you, just as it was a joy spending four years knuckling around the way we did, and creating something we’re proud of and my understanding is that it continues to grow in popularity,” he said. “If you're going to spend as much time as we spent together, I was lucky to have it be with you two guys -- and the rest of the gang. Really, it was special time.”
The nearly 90-minute podcast became a wide-ranging conversation among these three veteran actors, retracing their lives and careers before, during and after they worked together on the series which was cancelled in 2005.
Watch The D-Con Chamber here:
The three recalled that Bakula befriended actor Harry Groener, who guest-starred as Tam Elbrun in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Tin Man,” long before later appearing in two episodes of Enterprise near the end of its final season.
Bakula also mentioned that he directed Groener in an episode of the first sci-fi series that made Bakula a star, the time-travel adventure, Quantum Leap.
“I directed an episode of Quantum and I said, ‘I'm doing this thing, will you play a part in it?’ He was very gracious about that,” he said.
They also reminisced about Bakula’s late Quantum Leap co-star, Dean Stockwell, who also made an appearance in an episode of Enterprise.
“He was a man's man, wasn't he? He was great when he came in our show,” Keating said. “He just passed away, didn't he, just a couple of years ago?”
Confirming his old friend’s passing, Bakula revealed, “We had a real bad run with our family and friends, for like a solid year.”
Bakula talked about how he came to be cast as the heroic Captain Archer on Enterprise, and how he was initially reluctant.
Bakula had pitched Paramount executives on another series he wanted to make, but passed on.
“They called me the next day and said, ‘But, do you want to come do our next Star Trek?’” he said.
Bakula said that he paused to answer and was told that Enterprise would be a completely different Star Trek series for the time as the first prequel of the franchise, set a century before the events of the original series.
Bakula explained his immediate initial reluctance as well as what immediately convinced him to head up the new cast.
“I didn't know that would be, and being a huge fan of the franchise -- and especially the original show, because that was more my era,” he said. “But immediately, on ‘100 years before Kirk,” I'll do that.”
Keating asked Bakula if he felt “robbed” that Enterprise was cancelled prematurely.
Bakula noted that since The Next Generation, Star Trek series had been sold in first-run syndication. But that Enterprise was intended to anchor Paramount’s fledgling network, UPN.
“If we had been in syndication, we would have had seven — no problem. They would have gone to seven; we would have been great,” he said. “... No franchise would have survived on a regular network. So the fact we got four years is great, and I'll leave it at that.
“And I'm grateful we got the four years, and I'm so grateful we got the fourth season so we could kind of finish that whole Xindi arc and bring that to a close,” he added.
The three former castmates noted the high amount of executive turnover at Paramount in those years, although Bakula disagreed that Les Moonves who was the top TV executive of the time was specifically looking to kill Star Trek.
“But he was a numbers guy, and we were on a regular network. They never had anybody to pair us with. Think about who they put us with; we never had anybody who we were simpatico with, in terms of programming, so we were always the odd man out,” Bakula said. “And it sounds like I'm crying over here about spilled milk.”
“It was the changing face of TV, really,” Keating observed.
“It was, and we were caught in the middle,” Bakula added.
Bakula said he was disappointed when Enterprise was killed.
"It was sad for a lot of reasons but mainly because we got along. The workplace was a pretty darn good workplace,” he said. “We great people, such talented, creative people that we got to work with. Just the best in the business.”
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