Scott Bakula may be on a new TV show but he still thinks fondly of his time back as Capt. Jonathan Archer on Star Trek Enterprise. In a new interview the actor talks about his place in Trek history, and also about tonight’s season finale of Men of a Certain Age. We also have a sneak peek and photos from the episode as well.
Zoe in NYT Mag
Bakula spoke to 411Mania about various topics, including Star Trek, here are some excerpts:
Al Norton: People who have played Captains on Star Trek are in an elite club so I am curious if you saw the movie last summer and if so, what did you think of the job Chris Pine did?
Scott Bakula: I saw the movie last summer and thought he was fantastic. I though the movie was fantastic, I thought they did an incredible job of creating a new franchise for the studio. I thought it was great.
Al Norton: When you go to see the movie do you still feel a part of the whole ongoing Star Trek saga?
Scott Bakula: I know it probably seems goofy but yes. You’re part of the lore and history of this 45 year or so legacy. I don’t think there’ll ever be anything like it again and I have to say I’m honored to have been a part of it.
Image of Scott Bakula in season finale of "Men of Certain Age"
They also spoke briefly about tonight’s finale of Men of a Certain Age
Al Norton: Can you give me a quick preview of the Men of a Certain Age finale?
Scott Bakula: Well, my career as an apartment building manager is in jeopardy and I’ve rekindled my passion for acting and movies, and that doesn’t go the way I hope it will.
The Men of a Certain Age season finale ("Back in the S#!t") airs tonight at 10PM on TNT. Here is a sneak peek.
Go to 411mania.com to read the rest of the Bakula interview
Image of Scott Bakula in season finale of "Men of Certain Age"
Images: TNT
Yay! First! :)
Keep on Trekkin’, Scott.
Well, he was mentioned in the movie, so he should feel part of it… It was a great captain, it would have been nice to have it cameo in the movie, christening the Enterprise or so… I have always felt he is a nice guy, since I first watch him in “Quantum leap”, and I think he deserves better luck in his career.
I loved Scott Bakula, a great actor.
Loved him as Jonathan Archer and I thought Enterprise was a cool show and Quantum Leap is a classic show which I adore.
I loved Quantum Leap grwoing up, and now own all five seasons on DVD, so was thrilled when Scott Bakula was cast as Captain Jonathan Archer in Enterprise! He was excellent in Enterprise and it’s great to hear that he still feels a part of Star Trek. He seems to be a genuinely nice guy so I wish him all the best of luck with his current series and the rest of the career :)
I would love to see Bakula as Adm. Archer in one of the next films. Though not a big role like Spock Prime, but a larger cameo maybe. I’m still kinda angry that they canceled ENT. It was a great ensemble, and the show was really going somewhere.
Members of the elite club: Moonwalkers: 12
Members of the elite club: Regular Captains of the Enterprise (Star Trek): 3
Always enjoyed Quantum Leap growing up but I truly loved Enterprise, much more than I ever expected to and honestly, it was because Bakula really created a fantastic character in Captain Archer.
It’s really a shame that the show ended on its best season, by far!
Congrats on the new show Scott and I hope you continue to have success.
PS. I would love to see him in a cameo for Star Trek II… I mean XII
Love ‘Men of a Certain Age’!!! A little humor and a lot of life mixed with great acting and ironies. Bakula deserves a return as Capt. Archer. Perhaps a Made for TV Movie. Paramount/CBS needs to resolve the “Trip” issue. Pocket Books has already addressed it. Yea I know the studio has sold all the sets, closed “Star Trek The Experience” and turned off their hearing aids, and washed their hands. JJ has done a great job, but people still like “Classic Coke”… what ever happened to “New Coke” ????
Please send more Enterprise. If SG-1 can have all these extra movies done post-series, why not a viable series like Enterprise, especially with the lack of any new ST books or even a movie. With the new JJ-verse, Enterprise could move forward without affecting either of the timelines.
Ah, but I guess that would be too much to ask.
Sorry, I meant no new book or movie for now.
Unfortunately, Paramount & CBS have an all or nothing attitude with Star Trek. They will not allow one of their shows to have anything like SG-1. Either it’s a full blown TV series or motion picture, or it’s nothing. I am convinced they will never authorize any telemovies or direct-to-video movies of any of the series. As far as Paramount and CBS are concerned, the new JJ universe is the future. DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and the Next Generation are all DOA as far as they are concerned. And isn’t it true that the head of CBS looks down his nose at anything Star Trek? I’d really be surprised to see any Star Trek television series in the near future.
I am afraid the PocketBooks are about all we are going to get out of these prior series. And with all the problems they are experiencing, I would not be surprised if they wrap up the other series in the next year or so for good.
Scott is a great actor and I like all of his work. From Quantom Leap to a Funny movie he did Necessary Roughness to Ent and now Men of a certen age. I would love to see him at least in a cameo role as Archer in the next Trek Movie.
@ Damian
Well Paramount does have a point for not allowing any tv shows of trek.
The reason why Trek required a reboot was because it got too convoluted. There was soo much detail and too much information. The regular public just gave up watching it. Cannon had become a huge issue with the franchise. If they limit the franchise to movies only… then they don’t risk the same problems that arised before.
He could have a brie cameo in a sequel, maybe sitting on the Federation council.
Dan….I would like to see him in a very small cameo in the movie…but that’s it:) It would be a great nod to the series like they did with Porthos.
I’ve been watching Enterprise reruns and think Scott is a different type of captain than Kirk, Janeway or even Picard. He seems real life like , like a real star ship captain of today would be. NO theatrics, just a guy who you would both lay down your life for and trust with your own life. Maybe because this is the prequel to Star Trek series, the beginning of the Starfleet and the Prime Directive , which wasn’t issued during his tenure as captain. HE reminds me more of the NASA astronauts than any of the other. More realistic. I think he is great!
However those Insectoids , I can barely watch. Ugh!
I loved “Enterprise” and thought Bakula was terrific. He is one of those actors that is always likable in whatever role he is playing. I haven’t seen this new show (I’ve stopped watching new shows in favor of DVD releases) but have heard nothing but good about it.
I don’t watch “Men of a Certain Age,” but I’m very happy that Scott Bakula has found his way onto a hit show.
And before we forget: Happy birthday, Jeri Ryan! :)
I really like Scott Bakula, love his new show, but for some reason he didn’t click for me as a Trek captain. Maybe it’s because he had the most average voice of all Trek captains. After following the vocal cords of Shatner, Stewart, Brooks and Mulgrew (arguably the most macho of the bunch), his very average voice just didn’t carry the power and authority. And while he’s probably in the best shape of any of them, his physical presence was less as well.
I guess it comes down to presence. He’s kind of like Kevin Costner to me. I love Costner when he plays the regular guy thrown into incredible situations. But when he tries to play characters who are larger than life (Wyatt Eart, Robin Hood, a guy with gills who swims a lot) he just doesn’t succeed. Maybe it’s the same with Bakula.
I wanted Bakula to grab the role of archer and chew it up, but I don’t think he’s that kind of actor. There seemed to be no real fury in him. Maybe I was just burned out on TV Trek. To me it was never the same after DS9. Voyager and Enterprise were only so-so in my eyes.
But like I said, being an old fogie myself, I really enjoy “Men” and hope that it can continue. Bakula’s great in it, he’s an excellent actor and I really enjoy his show.
hey Bakula fans–find a copy of clive barkers lord of illusions to see scott starring in a more intense type of horror thriller-evil waits on the other side–
I also loved Enterprise-its too bad paramount doesnt do side projects with a great franchise like trek–maybe they will someday-there is room for at least one trek on tv-
Bring back Bakula as Admiral Archer in Star Trek: Something Something! He can keep pestering Scotty and trying to re-vanquish him back to Delta Vega. “That’s what you get for atomizing Porthos, you jerk!” It’d be an awesome running gag.
Archer could have been an even tougher captain than Kirk, or Sisko, but was failed by the producers in the first 3 seasons. By season 4 the damage had been done and it was too late to save things, IMO.
Quantum Leap = all time fave show
ENTerprise = sadly got canned when it became superb
STXI = the Scotty beaming Archer’s dog somewhere part is funny and a nice acknowledgement (confirmed by JJs Crew).
Would love to see Bakula in a future Star Trek film/series.
I don’t understand why the success of the Trek movie hasn’t pushed Paramount to do something on other fronts of Trek? There hasn’t been any talk of a new TV show (which is where Trek does its best work), nor talk of any new movies besides a sequel. I would think Paramount would want to jump all over Trek while it’s hot.
I think they could make a killing with a series of DVDs from past crews. It’s been enough years that you could tell the adventures of Riker, with Riker as captain and maybe some other Trek favorites onboard from DS9 or Voyager. Just make them 2 hour long movies on DVD, offer them on PPV, and then 6 months later have a big TV event on SyFy or something. I think there would be a lot of interest, especially with the TNG crew.
#25 I like the idea of straight-to-video feature-lenght films, as long as they don’t turn the crew into some generic action heroes like they did in the TNG movies, e.g. with Picard.
Since we’re talking Bakula/Archer, why not end Enterprise in a *proper* way? :)
The theatrical movies should however be reserved for the new Trek. I’m not sure, but it may be sorta irritating for the audiences to read “Star Trek” and don’t see what they’ve now gotten used to.
25–CBS owns the rights to Star Trek. Paramount gets to do the films. When it comes to TV, CBS is in charge, and I just don’t think they are interested in developing Star Trek. Basically, they want to milk what they can out of the old series through DVD sales and licensing, but I really don’t get the impression they want to put out money and resources on new Trek right now.
22–A Bakula cameo would be great. I noted before that would be a great nod to the hard-core fans without detracting from the story. However, Archer was never one to hold a grudge. He was able to make peace with the Xindi, who would have destroyed Earth. I’d rather see him forgive Scotty for the incident. That would be more in character for Archer.
Re: #5. Schultz
“…I’m still kinda angry that they canceled ENT. It was a great ensemble, and the show was really going somewhere.”
It seems to me that someone wanted an excuse to cancel Star Trek TOS because in later interviews the cast members said people wrote in and it was renewed but the show was moved to a time when the fans would be less likely to be able to watch it (Fridays at 10 p.m. I think they said).
I’ll bet they did the same with Enterprise. I was SO disappointed it was cancelled. I love ALL of the Star Trek series. Didn’t see why they cancelled Enterprise unless people got sick of the Xindi thing and wanted it to go back to episodes that were resolved in the hour time slot. (I admit I got a little weary of the ‘to be continued’ thing. Maybe it’s the A.D.D. Difficult to maintain focus for me…)
kg
Hated QL, thought he was gonna blow in a Trek series, and as a Captain, no less!
I was wrong.
He was regular Starfleet.
Series ended too soon.
I really try to like this new series but I can only enjoy bits and pieces of each person’s life. Mostly I can’t relate to a lot of their ‘issues’ but I like all the actors in it.
I was never a big QL fan until the last season and when they didn’t let him come home to his wife – well – I still haven’t forgiven them!
I liked Star Trek Enterprise from day 1 even though it had some problems which were finally straightened out in season 4 mostly. There should have been a season 5 and I will never accept “THESE ARE THE VOYAGES” as an ‘Enterprise’ Episode. It’s nothing but a terrible Next Gen ep. YUK!
Good luck Scott!
I honestly really didn’t like him as Archer at first, but as I watched more Enterprise he really grew on me and I think is the most under rated captain of all. Maybe the writters planned that development, but by the end I thought he did a great job with Archer and made him very relateable.
It’s great to see so much ENT love here! I warmed up to it slowly and now count it among my favorite Treks!
easy for scott to say!? his crew is the only one that didn’t get cheated out by jjverse. lol
Wow, and here I thought I was the only one who actually liked Enterprise! :-D They should deff make direct-to-dvd films based on Enterprise or any other series, methinks. I too am surprised that they haven’t been talking about making new Trek after the success of the movie.
Also, #20 — you make a good point about Archer’s lack of voice in relation to the other captains. Don’t get me wrong, he’s fine, but all the other captains have much more of a presence, I think.
#20, the voice thing hit the nail on the head for me. I couldn’t put my finger on why Archer never had much effect on me, but that’s it exactly. Thanks :D
#16 ditto on Bak’s captaincy. I liked the differences between Archer and other Trek Captains–maybe more under-stated? I saw Archer as more of a team player type and with less ego, but still a great strength of character. Loved the whole Enterprise feel, the more industrial feel to the ship, etc.
Being 40+ I can REALLY appreciate Men of a Certain Age. An excellent show–the moments of squirming awkwardness are caviar, like the best of TV and good theatre combined. Really intense but with a great sense of humor.
Bakula made a fine starship captain. Since he was under the Vulcan’s thumb and scrutiny, I’m not sure how much tougher he could have been earlier on.
He was a bad ass later when it came to stopping the Xindi. Yeah, he was conflicted and showed remorse, but this gave the character depth.
And Bakula made the best faces after drinking shots of alien hooch.
I’m really enjoying the Enterprise reruns., The show definitely improved as it progressed. Many of the sets and Klingon make-up really hold up on HDTV.
It’s really a shame that the plug was pulled as it was. Making the last episode a subplot of a mediocre TNG episode was an undignified ending and real slap in the face to the Enterprise series.
It deserved better.
Just like TNG; Enterprise caught its wind in Seasons 3 and 4.
Season 3 and 4 should have been 1 and 2 in an arc…
Seasons 3, 4 and 5 Romulan War
Seasons 6 and 7 formation of the Federation…
Oh that is right the only planning ahead Braga and Berman did was wanting a decontamination (shower) scene every episode…
Bakula should feel honored. Enterprise and the first Star Trek movie are the only canon left in the Star Trek saga.