Sunday TV Week | 15th April 2002 ::.::.:..

'Enterprise' episode is a 'Leap' reunion

 

When Scott Bakula was cast as Starfleet Capt. Jonathan Archer on UPN's Enterprise, one of the first questions he had to answer was: "Any chance of a guest appearance by Dean Stockwell?"

From 1989 until 1993 on NBC, Bakula starred in Quantum Leap, playing Dr. Sam Beckett, a scientist who time-traveled by "leaping" into people's lives. His guide was the holographic observer Al (Stockwell), who used a handheld device to access a computer named Ziggy.

Fans of the show have long awaited a reunion of the show's stars, and they get their wish on April 24, in the Enterprise episode, "Detained".

Stockwell guest stars as Col. Grat, who runs a detention camp for Suliban, a race introduced in the Enterprise pilot. Many Suliban have dangerous genetic enhancements, but not, says Stockwell, those in the camp.

"Some of them are bad, some of them are good," Stockwell says. "I'm detaining a whole bunch of the good ones, so they won't go out and get bad."

Bakula adds, "They were being kept in this camp for their own, quote, protection, because some of them had been killed. When the genetically engineered Suliban started their evil ways, they were all lumped together. You might draw some comparison in today's world." Stockwell says he did not actively pursue a role on Enterprise. "I was not discussing it… Then, someone over there got the idea, and they rewrote the character, and there it was.

"When I heard they were sending the offer and the script, first thing I did was to call Scott up and ask him about the makeup, because I didn't want to have a big growth coming out of my head."

Stockwell got his wish. "I'm totally recognizable. Scott comes into my office, the first scene we have, and I turn into a big old close-up, and, for all intents and purposes, there's Al, looking at Sam.

"I go over to my desk, and they've got this little device that's got a little screen on it and three buttons. I pick it up, punch something in and get the data out of it." After a hearty laugh, Stockwell says, "Somebody was watching the old show and knew about Ziggy."

"We just picked it up where we left off," Bakula says.

Stockwell has a recurring role on the CBS Court drama First Monday, executive-produced by Donald P. Bellisario, the creator of Quantum Leap. Talk has circulated for years about a Quantum reunion movie, and now there are rumors that Universal is mulling over the possibility. According to Stockwell, the studio is the only hurdle.

"We've always wanted to do it, but Universal wouldn't do it. Who knows? They're idiots. Don will do it in a second, Scott will do it, and I'll do it."


Credit: Kate O'Hare
Tribune Media Services