Berman Talks Spiner Appearance, Shatner Negotiations

Executive producer Rick Berman described Brent Spiner's character in upcoming Star Trek: Enterprise episodes as "an almost Hannibal Lecter-like bad guy" and reiterated that financial issues were the stumbling block in keeping William Shatner from appearing on the series.

In TV Guide's Insider column, Berman told Ileane Rudolph that it had taken him ten years to lure Spiner back to television after Star Trek: The Next Generation concluded its run and Data moved to the big screen.

Spiner will return to play an ancestor of Data's creator Dr. Soong, whom Berman called "a brilliant and dangerous scientist who messed with some genetically enhanced and outlawed Eugenic embryos." The character is in prison at first, said Berman, but when he's needed, "he's going to have to be allied with Archer."

Berman characterized Spiner as being "really excited" about his return to Star Trek, though perhaps the same cannot be said for Shatner, whom Rudolph described as "the biggest Trek catch of all." Now an Emmy winner and the star of Boston Legal, Shatner has reportedly demanded more money than was offered to make an appearance on Enterprise.

Berman said that if a deal could be reached, Shatner would play "an incarnation of Captain Kirk" in a storyline that "would have to do with an alternate reality." Previously executive producer Manny Coto had indicated that if Shatner played Kirk, it would be the authentic character, not an alternate universe version.

The original item is at TV Guide.

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