Burton Plans To Direct For 'Enterprise'

Several TNG actors, including LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge), attended a press conference organised by TNN yesterday in honour of its TNG relaunch. The actor announced that he plans to direct for the latest installment of the franchise, Enterprise.

According to Cinescape, the actor/director will be going into the studio at the end of the month to begin working on his first Enterprise episode. As previously reported, a month later Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) will be directing Series V's seventh episode (story).

One of the first cast members to follow the directing lead of Jonathan Frakes, Burton helmed several episodes of TNG, DS9 and Voyager, including the latter's 100th episode, 'Timeless.' Earlier this year, Burton expressed an interest in directing Star Trek X, but Ain't It Cool News reported this week that Frakes has likely landed the job.

At the press conference, Burton explained his love for the franchise, and his ongoing desire to be a part of the Trek phenomenon. "It is why I am not just a member of the cast, I've been a fan of the show since I was a kid," he told the media, including StarTrek.com. "I read a lot of science fiction as a kid."

"They were some of the most fun years of my life," Burton said, referring to his seven years as part of the TNG cast. Michael Dorn (Worf), concurred. "We just laughed, constantly. It was weird at times. We'd be in stitches."

The actors present at the conference were also asked to comment on Trek X, but they refused to say much. Only Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), when asked if her character would find love in the film, joked "How do you know my character already hasn't found love? Who knows, but one can always hope."

The original report of the official Star Trek site can be found here, while Cinescape has another report of the conference, focusing mostly on the various Trek X comments made by the cast members.

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