Braga: MACOs Will Enhance 'Enterprise'

See Also: 'The Xindi' Episode Guide

Enterprise's new Military Assualt Command Operations (MACO) team will not only beef up the ship's security forces but also provide the storytelling possibilities next season, executive producer Brannon Braga said recently.

"We want some new cool stuff on the ship," Braga said in the latest issue of Dreamwatch magazine (via Sci-Fi Pulse). "I've always thought our security forces on Star Trek looked a little lame — these guys running around in Starfleet uniforms with little pistols. I always thought it was kind of goofy."

Apart from being bigger and badder than the regular security forces, the MACOs are newcomers to the crew and will likely butt heads with Enterprise's lead characters. "I think there's something interesting about having these soldiers on board. We can use them to highlight regular characters, because there's some inherent conflict to be had in it. Having them around will allow us to do some cool stuff on an action level, which will be evidenced in the first episode."

The MACOs will be played by a team of rotating guest actors, including Steven Culp (Major Hayes), Daniel Dae Kim (Corporal Chang) and Nathan Anderson (Sergeant Kemper). "These are not people we will see week after week and have to develop and highlight," Braga said. "That's not to say that one or two of them might not catch on, but they're here to service our regulars, not to supplant them."

Actor Daniel Dae Kim, who starred in Crusade and featured in Voyager's "Blink of an Eye", told Dreamwatch's Abbie Bernstein he's had a ball appearing on Enterprise this season. "There was an immediate bond on the set, so much so that one of the crew guys asked whether we'd all worked together before, and we'd just met that day. We already had nicknames for each other by the end of the first day and it's just a great bunch of guys."

The full interviews are available in issue 109 of Dreamwatch magazine, out now. Alternatively, excerpts can be found here and here at Sci-Fi Pulse.

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