ich habe hier auf startrek.com ein Interview mit Scott Bakul über die Entwicklung der Serie und seines Charakters gefunden. Hier hae ich es allerdings noch nicht gesehen... Was meint ihr dazu????
SPOILER08.30.01 Journalists Have an Audience with Bakula, Part I
During his lunch break while filming a recent episode of Enterprise, Scott Bakula, sat down with invited journalists and discussed his new ascension to the Captain's chair.
Question: How does it feel to sit in the captain's chair?
Scott Bakula: It feels great! The first day, I kind of got this vibe that people were kind of waiting for me to sit in the chair, you know — a lot of people milling around, not working. And, of course, being the person I am, for a long time I didn't sit. [Laughs] I made everybody wait. But it feels great and then they could go back to work
My character spends more time moving around the bridge than sitting in that chair. I want to be over here and see what the communications officer's doing, and then right behind the navigator. Real hands on. Not a regal kind of a thing at all, to me.
Q: From the time you were approached about doing the show, till now, how has your character changed?
Brannon [Braga] and Rick [Berman] were really great about setting this character up and explaining him and selling him to me. They pretty much delivered on that. That doesn't always happen. Sometimes you'll be told, "Well it's going to be this, this, and this." Then you get to the page and it's not there at all and then you're forced to find it.
But they've done a good job of making him dynamic, interesting, and giving him a lot of room to grow which means — when you're faced with a series that's going to run for a while, hopefully — you're not stuck in a corner somewhere with a character you're trying to invent fun things for him to do.
Q: What did they say to you that sold you on the character?
SB: They talked about going back to a feeling of the Kirk/Spock/Bones relationship — more about the relationship between the crew, the captain, and his officers as opposed to a relationship to the universe. And that, right away, was very appealing to me — a human approach in terms of the emotional and volatile relationships and things going on onboard the ship that the captain's not always happy about.
This guy is a Starfleet brat — he grew up in the system, his dad was part of the whole thing — and he's fulfilling this lifelong dream to captain a starship. And, then — being the first one to go out. All of these things were very appealing to me — being an avid fan of the original Star Trek series. And to get an opportunity to go before [the original Star Trek] was a big carrot - a good one to put out in front of me.
Q: You were always a Star Trek fan when you were growing up?
SB: Yes.
Q: What is it about the original show that appealed to you?
SB: Well, I loved the relationship that those folks had — especially the three guys. I thought there was a lot of humor. We all kind of smiled about the effects back then. The other day somebody asked me about a … is it a Gorn? I hadn't thought about him in a long time, but oh my gosh it was just so terrible. But they treated it so seriously — I love that whole thing.
I think — and this is more Rick talking — I think there's an optimistic nature to the series that's appealing. It's about us getting it right, and then moving on. And again, I think those three characters just jumped out. And, at the time there wasn't anything like [Star Trek] — Star Wars didn't come till '77, something like that? — so they had that area to themselves pretty much. I know there were others — The Invaders, stuff like that [Laughs].
Q: You mentioned the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic, what is the big dynamic for the Captain so far in this show?
SB: The big dynamic is that I have a female Vulcan science officer. My character is not fond of Vulcans and never has been. We're at cross-purposes a lot. Also the captain is a pretty emotional fellow and her rational approach really bugs me.
Q: Do you have a sense, so far, of how the relationship with the Vulcan woman will work out?
SB: I'm trying! She's the same. They just don't change, those Vulcans! Her character actually has changed a little bit so far, in her desire to help out and not totally be a stick in the mud. We're trying to acknowledge that she's at times helpful. She's talented at what she does. She's a talented science officer. Am I hanging out with her? No.
It's an interesting question, I think about it a lot, because the great thing about Spock was that he had this half-human side of him that you could relate to — you could hang out with a little bit. And she doesn't. I don't know how that will play out.
Q: You signed on a Thursday and started shooting on Monday? Take us through that.
SB: I sat with [executive producers] Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] on Thursday morning, then came into this room [in the Paramount Commissary] and we had lunch with the cast and a read-through. And then went away and rehearsed two or three scenes that day — that we knew we were going to shoot on Monday. Then I had fittings with Bob [Blackman]. Came back Friday and rehearsed three or four hours, and more fittings. And went away for the weekend. No weekend work at all — hit it Monday running.
Q: How was it to meet the cast for the first time? First impressions?
SB: Everybody's very different in the cast. Which is great. You look around to see, just to get a sense of who's going to be what kind of person. Ultimately, when you're doing a series for a long time, that comes into the show so much. You've got a Vulcan — who's not half-human, she's Vulcan — so she's limited in a lot of things; and you've got this other doctor guy we don't know what he is yet — so you're just tying to get a sense of who these people are. I know what the hours are, and you live with them for a good portion of your life. The vibe from the very beginning is very good. There's just a great energy there; everybody's been extremely enthusiastic about being here, extremely enthusiastic about the show and the work. And they did a really good job of casting; it's an excellent cast.
Q: What was your biggest surprise during the first few days?
SB: Just how hard it was. The language was so hard, and so precise. It's not technobabble, but they are very concerned that what they've written on the page gets played back, and that's always an adjustment to make. I've done a lot of different work where it's not as precise as that.
I've done a lot of special effects work, so I know what that's like. But you're in that Bridge and you're looking at that empty black screen and you're hoping that the special effects guys are really good! [Laughs] "Tell me again, now, what is that helix going to look like, and how big is it going to be? And how are the pieces going to break off?" And I've done that, but you're there doing seven pages of four different scenes on the Bridge, and usually I'm driving those scenes. So there's a lot of "around the horn" stuff going on and it's difficult work. And of course the trick is to make it not look difficult.
Q: Since you've had experience with special effects and blue screens, do you give advice to actors who do not?
SB: No. There are so many people there. The people who are going to create the effect are always there to describe what it will look like. The directors are not new to the franchise and are versed in talking about it. I'm learning a lot. It's a talented group.
Q: How many episodes have you filmed so far?
SB: We're in the middle of hour six. The pilot is two [hours], so this would be our fourth episode.
Q: Since you're past the pilot stage, have you started developing a synergy with the writers about your character?
SB: Rick and Brannon are incredibly available, which is really nice. I can pick up the phone and say, "It's a great script: I have two issues I don't understand — I don't get this," or "I don't think that I would do this." I'm at a point where I can say that, "It doesn't seem to me that this is where we want the captain's character to go, yet." And they are fantastic.
Q: Just to set the universe, you have starships, but they've been limited?
SB: We're going on a mission — but I refuse to say too much about the pilot. What's limited us is our warp capacity. We've been working on this engine, which my father's been working on in conjunction with the Vulcans for a good 50 years, and we're finally able to achieve a warp speed that will allow us to really travel. So for instance, Travis Mayweather, he's my navigator, is a "Space Boomer" — he's grown up on cargo ships. He's got a line about, "… in the third, fourth, and fifth grade I was on my way somewhere." So, it's more about finally having the capacity to get out there and go into entirely different solar systems.
So we're a hundred years before Kirk and Spock. There's no Federation. No rules. That's, again, what was kind of exciting about it. It's the Wild West. And there's nobody out there to complain to. So you have to find your own way out there. My character and the ship, we're taking Earth into the universe. How we do that and how we present ourselves, the mistakes that we're going to make — he's a very fallible kind of captain — makes it really exciting.
Q: You don't have a Prime Directive?
SB: No. There's no Federation.
Q: Would you say this Star Trek has a looser feeling — more humor — and that you represent the "common man"?
SB: Comedy is a tricky thing. We think we are achieving a level of humor and hope that people find that.
We were saying, yesterday on the set, that 150 years from today is not very far. We were talking about what companies would still be around. We were out on location and LeVar Burton is directing this week and he had on this Eddie Bauer getup from head to toe. And we said to him, "You know what? Eddie Bauer will be around in 150 years." Then someone says, "Hey, what about LL Bean?" [Laughs] You can kind of get your mind around 150 years from today. There are some things that you say definitely will not be here in 150 years — when you start to think about it.
My character is very much a part of the space program, very much part of that world — but the feeling of the show is, We're the first guys. We're the first people to go and see what's behind that moon over there. And we're the first to go out and see a dead ship in front of us and there are no life forms on it — what should we do? That's the kind of excitement and fear and uncertainty that comes up [on the show] that I think we can relate to more than, "Oh yes, look at that. Well, you know, let's pass that one by." There's a very human grounding to the series, and casualness, and different clothes. We get dirty and bleed.
Q: How physical is this role? Kirk always seemed to get in a fistfight?
SB: I just heard that I get my ass kicked in the next episode, actually! It's pretty physical. And they're enjoying writing to that. The pilot was very physical. But it's a very physical cast; everyone's very able to get up and go. There's kind of an open opportunity to do a lot of things.
Check back for Part II of the Scott Bakula interview.
Please note: All production information is subject to change.
Gruß und Kuss Sebastian
SPOILER08.30.01 Journalists Have an Audience with Bakula, Part I
During his lunch break while filming a recent episode of Enterprise, Scott Bakula, sat down with invited journalists and discussed his new ascension to the Captain's chair.
Question: How does it feel to sit in the captain's chair?
Scott Bakula: It feels great! The first day, I kind of got this vibe that people were kind of waiting for me to sit in the chair, you know — a lot of people milling around, not working. And, of course, being the person I am, for a long time I didn't sit. [Laughs] I made everybody wait. But it feels great and then they could go back to work
My character spends more time moving around the bridge than sitting in that chair. I want to be over here and see what the communications officer's doing, and then right behind the navigator. Real hands on. Not a regal kind of a thing at all, to me.
Q: From the time you were approached about doing the show, till now, how has your character changed?
Brannon [Braga] and Rick [Berman] were really great about setting this character up and explaining him and selling him to me. They pretty much delivered on that. That doesn't always happen. Sometimes you'll be told, "Well it's going to be this, this, and this." Then you get to the page and it's not there at all and then you're forced to find it.
But they've done a good job of making him dynamic, interesting, and giving him a lot of room to grow which means — when you're faced with a series that's going to run for a while, hopefully — you're not stuck in a corner somewhere with a character you're trying to invent fun things for him to do.
Q: What did they say to you that sold you on the character?
SB: They talked about going back to a feeling of the Kirk/Spock/Bones relationship — more about the relationship between the crew, the captain, and his officers as opposed to a relationship to the universe. And that, right away, was very appealing to me — a human approach in terms of the emotional and volatile relationships and things going on onboard the ship that the captain's not always happy about.
This guy is a Starfleet brat — he grew up in the system, his dad was part of the whole thing — and he's fulfilling this lifelong dream to captain a starship. And, then — being the first one to go out. All of these things were very appealing to me — being an avid fan of the original Star Trek series. And to get an opportunity to go before [the original Star Trek] was a big carrot - a good one to put out in front of me.
Q: You were always a Star Trek fan when you were growing up?
SB: Yes.
Q: What is it about the original show that appealed to you?
SB: Well, I loved the relationship that those folks had — especially the three guys. I thought there was a lot of humor. We all kind of smiled about the effects back then. The other day somebody asked me about a … is it a Gorn? I hadn't thought about him in a long time, but oh my gosh it was just so terrible. But they treated it so seriously — I love that whole thing.
I think — and this is more Rick talking — I think there's an optimistic nature to the series that's appealing. It's about us getting it right, and then moving on. And again, I think those three characters just jumped out. And, at the time there wasn't anything like [Star Trek] — Star Wars didn't come till '77, something like that? — so they had that area to themselves pretty much. I know there were others — The Invaders, stuff like that [Laughs].
Q: You mentioned the Kirk/Spock/McCoy dynamic, what is the big dynamic for the Captain so far in this show?
SB: The big dynamic is that I have a female Vulcan science officer. My character is not fond of Vulcans and never has been. We're at cross-purposes a lot. Also the captain is a pretty emotional fellow and her rational approach really bugs me.
Q: Do you have a sense, so far, of how the relationship with the Vulcan woman will work out?
SB: I'm trying! She's the same. They just don't change, those Vulcans! Her character actually has changed a little bit so far, in her desire to help out and not totally be a stick in the mud. We're trying to acknowledge that she's at times helpful. She's talented at what she does. She's a talented science officer. Am I hanging out with her? No.
It's an interesting question, I think about it a lot, because the great thing about Spock was that he had this half-human side of him that you could relate to — you could hang out with a little bit. And she doesn't. I don't know how that will play out.
Q: You signed on a Thursday and started shooting on Monday? Take us through that.
SB: I sat with [executive producers] Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] on Thursday morning, then came into this room [in the Paramount Commissary] and we had lunch with the cast and a read-through. And then went away and rehearsed two or three scenes that day — that we knew we were going to shoot on Monday. Then I had fittings with Bob [Blackman]. Came back Friday and rehearsed three or four hours, and more fittings. And went away for the weekend. No weekend work at all — hit it Monday running.
Q: How was it to meet the cast for the first time? First impressions?
SB: Everybody's very different in the cast. Which is great. You look around to see, just to get a sense of who's going to be what kind of person. Ultimately, when you're doing a series for a long time, that comes into the show so much. You've got a Vulcan — who's not half-human, she's Vulcan — so she's limited in a lot of things; and you've got this other doctor guy we don't know what he is yet — so you're just tying to get a sense of who these people are. I know what the hours are, and you live with them for a good portion of your life. The vibe from the very beginning is very good. There's just a great energy there; everybody's been extremely enthusiastic about being here, extremely enthusiastic about the show and the work. And they did a really good job of casting; it's an excellent cast.
Q: What was your biggest surprise during the first few days?
SB: Just how hard it was. The language was so hard, and so precise. It's not technobabble, but they are very concerned that what they've written on the page gets played back, and that's always an adjustment to make. I've done a lot of different work where it's not as precise as that.
I've done a lot of special effects work, so I know what that's like. But you're in that Bridge and you're looking at that empty black screen and you're hoping that the special effects guys are really good! [Laughs] "Tell me again, now, what is that helix going to look like, and how big is it going to be? And how are the pieces going to break off?" And I've done that, but you're there doing seven pages of four different scenes on the Bridge, and usually I'm driving those scenes. So there's a lot of "around the horn" stuff going on and it's difficult work. And of course the trick is to make it not look difficult.
Q: Since you've had experience with special effects and blue screens, do you give advice to actors who do not?
SB: No. There are so many people there. The people who are going to create the effect are always there to describe what it will look like. The directors are not new to the franchise and are versed in talking about it. I'm learning a lot. It's a talented group.
Q: How many episodes have you filmed so far?
SB: We're in the middle of hour six. The pilot is two [hours], so this would be our fourth episode.
Q: Since you're past the pilot stage, have you started developing a synergy with the writers about your character?
SB: Rick and Brannon are incredibly available, which is really nice. I can pick up the phone and say, "It's a great script: I have two issues I don't understand — I don't get this," or "I don't think that I would do this." I'm at a point where I can say that, "It doesn't seem to me that this is where we want the captain's character to go, yet." And they are fantastic.
Q: Just to set the universe, you have starships, but they've been limited?
SB: We're going on a mission — but I refuse to say too much about the pilot. What's limited us is our warp capacity. We've been working on this engine, which my father's been working on in conjunction with the Vulcans for a good 50 years, and we're finally able to achieve a warp speed that will allow us to really travel. So for instance, Travis Mayweather, he's my navigator, is a "Space Boomer" — he's grown up on cargo ships. He's got a line about, "… in the third, fourth, and fifth grade I was on my way somewhere." So, it's more about finally having the capacity to get out there and go into entirely different solar systems.
So we're a hundred years before Kirk and Spock. There's no Federation. No rules. That's, again, what was kind of exciting about it. It's the Wild West. And there's nobody out there to complain to. So you have to find your own way out there. My character and the ship, we're taking Earth into the universe. How we do that and how we present ourselves, the mistakes that we're going to make — he's a very fallible kind of captain — makes it really exciting.
Q: You don't have a Prime Directive?
SB: No. There's no Federation.
Q: Would you say this Star Trek has a looser feeling — more humor — and that you represent the "common man"?
SB: Comedy is a tricky thing. We think we are achieving a level of humor and hope that people find that.
We were saying, yesterday on the set, that 150 years from today is not very far. We were talking about what companies would still be around. We were out on location and LeVar Burton is directing this week and he had on this Eddie Bauer getup from head to toe. And we said to him, "You know what? Eddie Bauer will be around in 150 years." Then someone says, "Hey, what about LL Bean?" [Laughs] You can kind of get your mind around 150 years from today. There are some things that you say definitely will not be here in 150 years — when you start to think about it.
My character is very much a part of the space program, very much part of that world — but the feeling of the show is, We're the first guys. We're the first people to go and see what's behind that moon over there. And we're the first to go out and see a dead ship in front of us and there are no life forms on it — what should we do? That's the kind of excitement and fear and uncertainty that comes up [on the show] that I think we can relate to more than, "Oh yes, look at that. Well, you know, let's pass that one by." There's a very human grounding to the series, and casualness, and different clothes. We get dirty and bleed.
Q: How physical is this role? Kirk always seemed to get in a fistfight?
SB: I just heard that I get my ass kicked in the next episode, actually! It's pretty physical. And they're enjoying writing to that. The pilot was very physical. But it's a very physical cast; everyone's very able to get up and go. There's kind of an open opportunity to do a lot of things.
Check back for Part II of the Scott Bakula interview.
Please note: All production information is subject to change.
Gruß und Kuss Sebastian