Bakula On Creating Trek's 'New Sensibility'

Before Scott Bakula accepted the role of Captain Archer on Enterprise, he wanted to make sure that the series really would represent a departure for the franchise.

"The questions I asked Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] before I agreed to do Enterprise were along the lines of: 'You say you want it to be different, but how will it be different? Will it look different? Will it feel different?'" he told Ian Spelling at Inside Trek.

The actor is conscious of the fact that the series must have something unique to offer fans and new viewers alike. "We will get to create not Star Trek, because that's already been created, but a new sensibility about the franchise," Bakula said. "That was my foremost concern. Rick said, 'We've got to try to make it different. We want to give the fans Star Trek, but we want it to feel fresh and new and invigorating to them, as well as to all of us here.'"

Fortunately, Bakula feels that Enterprise's premise has given the franchise a new lease of life. "The ship, for example, is different," he said. "In a sense, being able to go back to the very beginning of Star Trek has given all of the different departments new gas in their tanks. They're all so excited about the new environmental suits and the new, regular flight suits, and the way the ship works and looks now. It's smaller and more like a submarine, not the high-tech sleekness you see on the other ships. I kept saying, 'Will we see that on the page, too?'"

It may be difficult to gauge exactly what the fans are thinking, but Bakula is optimistic in his hopes for Enterprise. "It's hard for me to measure what the fans' thirst is," he said. "All I can tell is that there seems to be a tremendous and building enthusiasm. There seems to be an underground swell, and I think that's because we're going back to the beginning."

The full interview, in which Bakula also talked about his reasons for accepting the role of Archer, can be found here at Inside Trek.

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