Scott Bakula's Take on the New Movie & Fan Reaction

[cooleddie74]

I'd have much preferred more TOS backstory in the show than we got, but all things considered it more or less filled out the role and the shoes of a prequel fairly well. When it was all over, you could buy this was the era and century that led up to the era of Kirk and Spock even if some fans couldn't seem to get past the more modern set technology and "Akiraprise" design of the ship herself. ENT was flawed as all TREK shows have been, but at least I don't think it lived past its prime or squandered most of its potential the way VOYAGER did. And Jonathan Archer was simply...with all due and loving respect to Kate Mulgrew and Kathryn Janeway...a better captain and lead character than she was.

 

[cubbie]

Well, he was better by far by the end of the run, but I can't agree that he was better in the earliest seasons.

 

[cooleddie74]

Some Season 1 Archer was too wimpy and too green...even for an early-era Starfleet captain. And I'll admit some of Bakula's acting in 2001 and even into '02 could be too wooden and corny.

 

[siskokid888]

^I think Scott, as I mentioned, being the only "name" in the show, tried to be bigger than life in the first 2 seasons, both to ease the pressure on the other actors and to live up to the "Trek Captain" mantle. I think he was finally able to scale back during the Xindi arc, and let the other actors handle some of the load, and thus I felt he was much more subtle (and better) in the last 2 seasons.

 

[Admiral James Kirk]

The only thing I don't understand is why Bakula was doing an impression of President Bush. That ain't a slam on either Bush or Bakula but... Archer was such a rube and always seemed to make the wrong choices despite meaning well. Was playing it like Bush a commentary or something?

 

[adg]

^Always?

How much of the show did you watch?

Also, Archer was SUPPOSED to make mistakes. He was the first, "noob" Starfleet Captain. It was inevitable - and very realistic I might add - that he make mistakes. Some people just can't get over the fact the ENT wasn't TNG. I for one am glad it wasn't. I watched ENT with interest. Even the first two seasons were far better than VOY's, or even TNG's first two seasons. Sure, it wasn't fantastic, but it got to be really good in Season 3 and 4. I am really sorry it was cancelled. A bad, bad call there. Much worse shows have survived.

 

[ChristopherPike]

While it can be claimed Kirk shared character traits with JFK, Archer was no more G W Bush than Sisko was Bill Clinton.

Sure there's an over idealistic approach in Scott's portrayal before the Xindi mission. He's the boy scout type, who got where he is because of his connections. But for the character, leaving behind Vulcan intervention (or so he thinks) Archer is bursting with enthusiasm for exploration. The last thing he expects is clenched fist resistance from the races he's reaching out to. Turns out humans are viewed as being well and truly in bed with the pointed eared race, epecially among future Federation races like the Andorians. We're made to feel small, either not heard of or just another system within a much older race's province.

Many of those later Season 1 episodes are hit and miss, but Enterprise got off to a great start, immediately after the Pilot with Fight or Flight. Watching that episode in particular rams home, the kind of dilemmas which were to become common-place for future Starfleet Captains. The difference being Archer is more alone in coming to his decisions than any of them. Many painful lessons to be learnt, often at odds with Gene Roddenberry's 'single-handedly saving the day and flying on by' archetype.

 

[M'Sharak]

Sure there's an over idealistic approach in Scott's portrayal before the Xindi mission. He's the boy scout type, who got where he is because of his connections. But for the character, leaving behind Vulcan intervention (or so he thinks) Archer is bursting with enthusiasm for exploration. The last thing he expects is clenched fist resistance from the races he's reaching out to. Turns out humans are viewed as being well and truly in bed with the pointed eared race, epecially among future Federation races like the Andorians. We're made to feel small, either not heard of or just another system within a much older race's province.

Many of those later Season 1 episodes are hit and miss, but Enterprise got off to a great start, immediately after the Pilot with Fight or Flight. Watching that episode in particular rams home, the kind of dilemmas which were to become common-place for future Starfleet Captains. The difference being Archer is more alone in coming to his decisions than any of them. Many painful lessons to be learnt, often at odds with Gene Roddenberry's 'single-handedly saving the day and flying on by' archetype.

I'd agree with the above assessment, by and large. The character writing and the story quality may have been somewhat uneven in the first two seasons, but that's something I thought they did pretty well: the humans were the new kids in the quadrant, and the resistance they encountered from the already-established players would be just what you'd expect in such a situation. Archer regularly getting the snot beat out of him for misstepping over some line he hadn't known was there was symbolic of the process of humanity finding its way and learning the ropes in a big, new, and not-always-very-forgiving universe -- sometimes getting its nose bloodied for sticking it in somewhere it oughtn't -- and I thought Bakula managed to convey that well, in spite of some pretty erratic character-writing in the early seasons.

 

[blockaderunner]

Shouldn't Bakula just go away or something?

 

[cooleddie74]

The only thing I don't understand is why Bakula was doing an impression of President Bush. That ain't a slam on either Bush or Bakula but... Archer was such a rube and always seemed to make the wrong choices despite meaning well. Was playing it like Bush a commentary or something?

I never read it that way. Why would liberal-leaning Hollywood writers and actors want to turn the lead of a STAR TREK series into a bumbling, well-meaning boob who'd be an indirect nod to W.? What kind of strategy is that?

"Let's make the hero a well-intentioned ditz who makes a zillion mistakes and hope the audience doesn't lose respect for him and stop watching the show!" Nope. Don't see it.

 

[Classic Fan]

I like Bakula, always have since his Quantum Leap days.

He's honest, doesnt force his views onto people. He says whats there from his point of view.


Hes a great actor and very clever in what he does. Yeah, some of his acting is awful but hey, even the best actors in the world either cant be bothered or sleep walk a performance from time to time.

Its a sad fact that the show was cancelled, but, by doing so, it didnt over stay its welcome like Voyager or TNG. Just as it was getting better there was a drop in ratings. Sad story.


Im glad, like FatShat, he has a positive outlook for the new franchise reboot. Infact, all actors and producers have wished the project well.

Im glad that even the most recent Trek veteran isnt bitter about either not having a movie for his show or being cancelled before its time.

 

[Cyke101]

Shouldn't Bakula just go away or something?

What good would that do anyone? I'm an Enterprise hater, but the cast (Bakula included) is probably a likable bunch.

 

[Danoz]

ENT would have made a great Trek reboot. Bakula made a solid Kirk. Make Spock female to heighten the sexual tension. An alien McCoy makes more sense than a human one.

The cast was in place. They even had the right title. Ah, what could have been...

I think Bakula is right. The show was killed by Star Trek fans who couldn't embrace change-- as if, we never endured bad writing in TOS, TNG or VOY. I, for one, really liked the opening sequence and the theme song... but I knew far too many people completely unwilling to give it a chance-- scoffing at every little detail; I even heard others succumb to prejudice at there being a “southern accent” in the show. Enterprise had some truly exceptional moments, but we sat here and complained about our annoyances to no end... nothing was going to make “Star Trek Fans” happy. We are a diverse fanship with a thousand different opinions on what qualifies as “good trek.” What's the right thing to do? Screw ST-Fans, make good television.

Those of us who want the Star Trek world we know and love can keep reading novels . Go DS9 Relaunch!

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ What? So now we're going to blame the fans' rigidness for the death of Enterprise? Most everyone was actually excited by the promise of getting back to the basics and the root of Star Trek, they didn't deliver. It was all window dressing, hull plating = shields, they didn't need Hoshi's translating skills after the first couple of weeks, the phase pistols had stun settings, and so on. They gave us the same old thing they had been delivering all along but now they had pockets on their uniforms and whatever, there was nothing ambitious about Enterprise.

 

[StarTrek1701]

^ What? So now we're going to blame the fans' rigidness for the death of Enterprise? Most everyone was actually excited by the promise of getting back to the basics and the root of Star Trek, they didn't deliver. It was all window dressing, hull plating = shields, they didn't need Hoshi's translating skills after the first couple of weeks, the phase pistols had stun settings, and so on. They gave us the same old thing they had been delivering all along but now they had pockets on their uniforms and whatever, there was nothing ambitious about Enterprise.

QFT. Hey I like Enterprise, but it was nothing new till the 4th season but by that time it was already too late. It was just a redress of the same-old same-old.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

My own take is different - to me, he's saying that ENT tried nobly to make the jump, but was shot down unreasonably by people who hated the show for such petty reasons as the theme song.

Which really wasn't too good. ~grin~

Clooney good naturedly admits to killing off the Batman Franchise for years - I'd much prefer to see Bakula say something along the lines of "Maybe we shouldn't have had so many Time-Nazi-Aliens..."

Excuse, me, but what the fuck did Clooney do to Batman? Nothing!


He didn't write the script, didn't direct the movie, didn't create the sets or costumes-it was Joel Schumacher, Akiva Goldsman, and whoever it was that did the costumes and sets that destroyed the franchise. Actually, it was Mary Scoccer Mom that destroyed the franchise by complaining that it was too dark and their kids couldn't see the first two Batman movies-that was what changed the third and fourth ones. So please stop saying this shit, and leave George alone.

And the same goes for Bakula. Also, he was right the first time-too many whiny morons who call themselves 'fans' is what helped destroy Enterprise by whinning and complaining way too much, and commiting the cardinal sin of watching a show that they hate and still complain about it online (most people at Trek BBS and at Trekweb as well; that why I have the sig that I do. As for the Alien Nazis: at least they were better written than the final five Cylons eveybody's been gushing over.

I think Bakula is right. The show was killed by Star Trek fans who couldn't embrace change-- as if, we never endured bad writing in TOS, TNG or VOY. I, for one, really liked the opening sequence and the theme song... but I knew far too many people completely unwilling to give it a chance-- scoffing at every little detail; I even heard others succumb to prejudice at there being a

 

[Temis the Vorta]

"We were trying to make that bridge with our series, and we had resistance. There was no question that some of the Star Trek fan base was not ready to go there (laughs).

Fan resistance wasn't the problem with ENT. The fact that Berman and Braga were stuck in moldly old ways of approaching Trek was the problem. Thank grud we have some people in charge who are interested in kicking some life into it, and who seem to have some idea how to do that successfully.

Wouldn't mind seeing someone tackle the "Birth of the Federation" concept in a future TV series, this time actually doing that concept and not playing around rehashing VOY scrips. Bakula's not the right guy to play a Starfleet captain but I could see him in various other roles.

The show was killed by Star Trek fans who couldn't embrace change-- as if, we never endured bad writing in TOS, TNG or VOY.

It was cumulative. After seven years of crap with VOY, a couple more from ENT was too much. Also, we had the counter-example of DS9 and we knew it didn't have to be like that.

And what change are you talking about? I wanted BIG change from ENT! That's what was so exciting about the premise. It was a huge disappoinment to see that there was effectively no change at all except the captain was even more annoying than on VOY.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Bakula's not the right guy to play a Starfleet captain but I could see him in various other roles.

I couldn't disagree with this sentiment more... Bakula did fine with the role, especially when he loosened up and wasn't required to carry the whole story. He's no scenery chewing Shatner, I'll admit... but that's not a bad thing. Enterprise looked like a fun set to work on and it's a shame more of that didn't translate to the screen. Scott pretty much shows a lot of chemistry with the rest of cast, in those outtakes and candid moments. Any decent scriptwriter should have been able to transplant some of that fun into Archer...

 

[dkehler]

Bakula's not the right guy to play a Starfleet captain but I could see him in various other roles.

I couldn't disagree with this sentiment more...

Nah, I like him, but he was pretty weak in Enterprise. And no, not intentionally so.

 

[M'Sharak]

My own take is different - to me, he's saying that ENT tried nobly to make the jump, but was shot down unreasonably by people who hated the show for such petty reasons as the theme song.

Which really wasn't too good. ~grin~

Clooney good naturedly admits to killing off the Batman Franchise for years - I'd much prefer to see Bakula say something along the lines of "Maybe we shouldn't have had so many Time-Nazi-Aliens..."

Excuse, me, but what the fuck did Clooney do to Batman? Nothing!


He didn't write the script, didn't direct the movie, didn't create the sets or costumes-it was Joel Schumacher, Akiva Goldsman, and whoever it was that did the costumes and sets that destroyed the franchise. Actually, it was Mary Scoccer Mom that destroyed the franchise by complaining that it was too dark and their kids couldn't see the first two Batman movies-that was what changed the third and fourth ones. So please stop saying this shit, and leave George alone.

It's a joke; nobody's badmouthing Clooney. Now chill out.