Man on a Mission

February/March 2002

 
Star Trek's new captain tells Metrosource he'll confront more than evil alien forces by Nick Steele

Scott Bakula is in a unique and somewhat nerve-wrecking position. As heir to the future's most coveted driver's seat, he's being watched, carefully studied and judged on every move he makes. Even those without a passing interest in Star Trek, or many of its incarnations, probably understood what's at issue- you don't want to screw up something that took over three decades to build or derail a franchise that hasn't been off the air for a day, in some form or another, over the past 35 years.

"There's a different kind of scrutiny that goes one with these shows and it's a little bit of a handicap, but most of the time it's an encouragement to do better work," Bakula explains of his new role as Captain Jonathan Archer on Enterprise, the fifth series to be spun off from Gene Roddenberry's original series. "To know that you just can't blow through something or idily make a choice, because somewhere out there is wondering what it all means. It's also a huge franchise that for the studio and you certainly would not want to be the captain of the ship that went down.

But Bakula shouldn't worry.  He's had more experience making things go up than come down. A virtually unknown Bakula vaulted a modest little TV show called Quantum Leap into a cult hit that still has a massive international fan base, turned up the heat on Murphy Brown, back when being on Murphy Brown was tantamount to being on Friends, and drew headlines with small turns in big films like American Beauty.

Bakula, as he puts it, is a "known quantity" and that's exactly why he's been enlisted to help bail out the somewhat ailing Star Trek franchise. "This is the first that a Star Trek series has ever had that going in. The public's familiarity with me has helped us get off to a good start," he offers. "I've been able to bring in some new viewers and get some people to sample the show that might not have otherwise".

One of the things, besides an established fan base, that Bakula also has on his side, is that the show's creators have decided to travel back in time rather than further ahead with the new show. "These are the pioneers going out into space for the first time. We're all so familiar with what Star Trek has been, but we have to unlearn all of that and start from scratch," he asserts. "I'm a hundred years before Kirk."

Bakula is counting on the fresh start to invigorate the series and make the show a little more accessible than shows like The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine. "I think the reason that I've had some success in the sci-fi arena is because, as an actor, my goal is always to become as close to the reality part as possibly can. I think that's been a strength for me and allows me to do my best work," he explains. "I told them from the beginning that I was going to play it as if I believe that I'm out there on this ship and I want everybody that's on planet Earth to wish they were on the ship with us. They responded by writing scenes like us answering questions from a forth grade class. That to me is is a very real notion. If we were out there, we would be on the front pages everyday and our tales of exploration would be spread around the world. I think we have to make that as real as possible. I do believe that eventually these kinds of experiences will be had from somebody from this planet."

But for now, it's Bakula who is really excited about the future. "The bait they out out there, was that this version of the franchise would be emotional, full of human frailties and all the good and bad things about humanity. That to me was very intriguing," he says with tangible enthusiasm. "To be this first captain going out and representing an entire planet."

To listen to him talk, you'd think he really believes it. And, in a truth-stranger-than-science-fiction sort of way, he does. An therein lies the first hurdle, not so much much for Captain Archer, but for Scott Bakula.

Bakula had indeed been charged with representing an entire planet, but until our meeting he hadn't fully understood what sort of a legacy he was inheriting. Though he was an avid viewer of the& original series while growing up, he admits to having missed out on The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. "I go back to the original series," Bakula explains. But there have been 21 years of new shows since The Next Generation went on. I'm an old cat."

Hopefully the same things are true for old dogs aren't true for "old cats,", since Bakula is about to come up to speed on a debate that has been raging between Paramount and the gay community for the past 15 years or so years - a debate that has involved fans, critics and former cast members. "I'm not really familiar with the history of this particular issue with regards to Star Trek, in fact the first time I ever heard of it was at our first junket when somebody asked if there was going to be an opportunity for a gay or lesbian character on the show. I was surprised at the question, because I had just assumed that over the course of the years that it had been addressed. I was surprised it was even an issue," Bakula admits tentatively. "Since then I haven't sat down with Rick and Brannon (the show's co-creators) to discuss it. It does seem awkward [that nothing has ever happened]. I haven't heard anything coming down the pipeline, but I would hope it would be handled in a great way.  It would be be wonderful, in my opinion, if it was not such a huge issue, but was just there."

It is clear that Bakula has been caught off-guard, but he does not shy away from the topic. Instead, he seems to be processing it as we talk and one can see his position on the issue forming with each passing moment. "I'm not a producer on the show, so I don't have the kind of..I don't..You know what, I do have the ability to throw stuff at them and put it back on the table, because I have been negligent in pursuing it. I would have no problem at all in pursuing this issue with them," he continues with conviction. "We did a very controversial episode on Quantum, which was fantastic and very important.  I have no problem bringing it to Rick and Brannon. I'm certainly in favor of it and more than happy to have a conversation with them about this."

The "Rick and Brannon" of which Bakula speaks are the two men holding the keys to the castle and believed to be in strong opposition to the idea.  Rick Berman and Brannon Braga are not only the show's creators and co-excutive producers, but also happen to be Bakula's bosses. Both men have been involved with the franchise for a great many years and have confronted and allegedly knocked down the possibility of such characters in the past. (For a more in-depth examination of the subject, see "The Very Final Frontier" on page 53.)

What the two men might not have counted on when they recruited Bakula for the job was that the man behind the character comes with strongly formed ideas on the subject and has been known to go head-to-head with studios when it mattered. Bakula ran into a storm of controversy during the filming of Quantum Leap when NBC began balking about broadcasting an episode involving a military cadet who has been harassed by the other cadets because he's gay. The network was afraid of advertising losses because of the theme and initially threatened to withhold payment of the network licensing fee if the episode failed to pass NBC's standards and practices scrutiny and to hold Don Bellisario responsible. Bakula and Bellisario stood firm and faced down the network. "We had a lot of different moments when people were pulling out for different reasons.  I would say, "What? Why is this a problem?" Bakula recalls"But it happens all the time.  If there's any mention of certain things, certain advertisers are gone. It's their prerogative. It's just when they're controlling the material and the content, to the extent that the network is saying, Don't do that. Don't write that episode, that it gets out of hand. That episode got a lot of attention before it did, which is interesting, because how do you know whether you are going to like something or dislike something until you've seen it. I love that episode because at first we're trying to figure out if someone is gay or not and ultimately the message was, it shouldn't be an issue. The whole message of the series was let people be who they are going to be.

Bakula's enlightened attitude of tolerance and understanding may go a long way to explaining why Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes asked he and Sam Robards to join the cast of his critically acclaimed American Beauty. In the film, Bakula plays one of Kevin Spacey's gay neighbors in a pivotal role that helps the film make a powerful statement regarding homophobia and delivers a stinging punch of irony. "What I loved about the script is that they're the 'normal' couple on the block and that's what turns the whole thing upside down. They are not trying to be anything or hide anything. They're living their life the way it should be, he enthuses. "Ideally, it should be that way for all of us. Everybody should be able to do their own thing and be respectful of other people. Our own lives, behind our own doors, is our business. "

If there was any doubt, it disappears from view as Bakula opens up on the ccore of his beliefs.  "We should stop judging or fellow human beings by the color of their skin or sexual disposition and judge them by what kind of human beings they are," he continues. "That should be all that matters to any of us and hopefully that day will come. Ultimately that's they way I believe the world should be."

Forget Star Trek Captain, let's make Bakula leader of the free world.