Billingsley Would Return To Star Trek

"My favorite aspect of Phlox is positivism and Zen outlook," said John Billingsley, chatting with fans about his life after Star Trek: Enterprise. "Least is easy. Putting on the rubber head. And the horrible contact lenses."

Though he was asked whether there was any possibility that Paramount might change its mind and produce a fifth season of the prematurely cancelled series, Billingsley insisted in the chat at TrekFansUnited that he "hate[d] to be a wet blanket" but he saw "no chance in hell" of the series coming back. "The contract expired when the show was canceled," he noted. "If anything were to ever happen again, re, our cast returning, it would be a brand new negotiation."

"God knows I'm not busy," added the actor, who performed a voice role earlier this year in several episodes of Duck Dodgers and who will appear onscreen in the supernatural thriller Room 6. "I am, as they say, 'between engagements.' Got a job?" He said that he was hoping to appear in an upcoming movie with Forrest Whitaker, The Ripple Effect, "but it hasn't started shooting yet. And God knows anything can happen in this business." One day he would like to play a character like Columbo, but he joked that he generally gets cast as the serial killer instead.

Billingsley added that he would "absolutely" be happy to appear as Phlox or another character in a future Star Trek incarnation. "I don't think the franchise is dead. I think it is going to sleep for a few years," he stated. "I am sure another incarnation of Star Trek will appear down the road, but under 'new management.'" He said several times that he believes science fiction is still relevant and holds appeal for audiences, citing the success of Battlestar Galactica, The 4400, Lost and Stargate; "In fact I think it is possible this will be seen as a renaissance period of sci-fi on television when the book is written."

While shooting Enterprise, Billingsley owned up to having been the practical joker on the set - "The fart machine under Connor Trinneer's corpse was my idea" - and said that although the cast is friendly, "we all have busy lives, so we don't see each other often. I have a lot of wonderful memories. Probably one of my favorites was winning first prize in season number one's Halloween contest. I won as Phlox in bondange. The pictures are locked in my drawer." He noted that although he hasn't been in close contact with the other actors, "no doubt we will be bumping into one another down the road. Dominick [Keating] and I will be appearing at a con in New Zealand...and I'm sure I'll be seeing Connor fairly soon since we have a lot of friends in common."

For more, including Billingsley's role models and whether he's a glass half-full or half-empty kind of guy ("Depends upon what's in the glass"), the original transcript of the chat may be found at TrekFansUnited.

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