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dominickeating-source · 8 months ago

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Starburst Issue 320 (2005)

THE DOMINIC PRINCIPLE

Steven Eramo finds Star Trek Enterprise's Dominic Keating excited yet strangely uncomfortable- about the shows future.

We can put a man on the moon, but we can't make a spacesuit that's comfortable for him to wear. Sadly, things don't get any better 150 years from now as Dominic Keating, who plays Star Trek Enterprise's Lt. Malcolm Reed, can attest to. We recently finished shooting a story arc where Connor Trinneer [Commander Charles Trip Tucker III] and I were wearing the EV [environmental] suits for three episodes, recalls the actor. Jeez, those things just crucify you. It hurts so bad you have to laugh or you'll cry.

We probably worked five or six days in those suits over a two-and-a-half week period. All I can say is thank God it was with Connor. He has the patience of Job, and I don't. I was the last in line when they were handing out the patience, and I walked off. I was too impatient, chuckles Keating. Seriously, I love working with Connor. He and I always have a good time on-set together and I've really made a wonderful friend in him on this show.

EV suits aside, these three episodes [Babel One, United and The Aenar] are great. For our bit, Connor's and my character are transported to a drone ship, and sufficed to say they have to figure out who's running the show. It's a fun ride aboard the drone vessel, with a lot of action and a nice partnership between Trip and Reed.

The aforementioned trilogy, which features appearances by the Tellarites, Andorians and Vulcans, is just one of several mini-story arcs this fourth season on Enterprise. At the end of last year, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) and the Enterprise NX-01 crew were transported back into Earth's past after saving Humankind from being destroyed by the Xindi. Having since made it back to their own time during this seasons two-part opener Storm Front, our heroes are still going where no one has gone before. However, their course is now being charted by a new showrunner, Enterprise head writer/executive producer Manny Coto.

This season of Enterprise is unfolding rather beautifully, and I would lay that largely at Manny's feet, says Keating. A big part of that probably has to do with the fact that he grew up watching the original Star Trek and is himself a big fan. Manny has hired some new writers for the show who share his vision as well as understanding of Star Trek folklore, and together they've kept in the real spirit of Sci-Fi.

Manny has been very smart with his approach to the storytelling and, fingers crossed, this fresh new blood in the configuration of the show might just be its saving grace. I say that not wishing to do any disservice to Brannon Braga [series co-creator/executive producer]. He is still heavily involved in the production of the show. Manny just took over the day-to-day running of things.

As ship's tactical/security officer, Lt. Malcolm Reed received plenty of training as a Starfleet officer prior to being assigned to Enterprise. Over the past three-and-a-half years, his skills have been further sharpened during encounters with various hostile aliens. Keating feels that his tour of duty on the show has been a positive learning experience as well.

It's funny, I was saying to someone just recently that I've grown up on this series, finally, as an actor, he muses. Now I can go to a set anywhere in the world and know exactly what's going on at all times, whereas before I couldn't do that. All the guest-spots and movie roles I'd done previously were, quite honestly, too few and far between. However, almost four years of filming into Enterprise, I much better comprehend the inner workings and rhythms of a film set.

I come from a stage background and I think I have a natural understanding of working in the theatre. Some actors may feel that way about working in front of a camera, but not me. I had to learn it, and believe me I've learnt a lot. That, in turn, has given me greater confidence in myself as well as my abilities and helped me grow more into my part on the show. Malcolm Reed and Dominic have met in the middle if you will, and that feels good.

Just prior to this interview (early December 2004), Keating had been on vacation for a week and was getting ready to head back to work on Enterprise. From what I've been told, Malcolm is featured quite heavily in the next episode we're shooting, so that should be fun, says the actor. It's been an odd year because I didn't have much to do in the first 10 or 11 episodes, but things sort of heated up a little bit in the last two or three. I don't mind, though. Our writers and producers have given me quite a few meaty bits over the past three seasons, so it's not as if I'm chomping at the bit to show them what I can do.

When asked to name his favourite Malcolm moment so far this season, the actor is quick to reply. In one of the episodes I spoke about earlier with Trip and Malcolm on the drone ship, there's a scene where Malcolm rescues the two of them by making a bomb out of his phase pistol. There's a huge explosion and as they're running down this corridor Trip turns to Malcolm and says, 'You did all that with one phase pistol? Malcolm says to Trip, You build things, commander. Well, I blow them up'.

I thought that was a fantastic line. I hadn't had one like it since the pilot where Archer is holding a phase pistol and Malcolm tells him, 'Stun and kill; it'd be best not to confuse the settings, captain'. It's obvious from talking with Keating that he enjoys not only being an actor, but also working on Enterprise. While some might take a regular TV gig for granted, he knows better. "This is an absolute blessing", says the actor. "Yes, sometimes it can get a bit tedious, especially when you're sitting for hours on the bridge with only three things to say, but, you know what, I like it. I'd be very sad if this was our last year. However, the reactions have been pretty encouraging, so here's hoping, things might just work out".

Star Power

As in previous seasons, Star Trek Enterprise has managed to attract an impressive and memorable array of guest-stars this year. "I only had one or two scenes with him, but it was still a pleasure working with Brent Spiner [Dr. Arik Soong] in the Augments story arc," says Keating. "I found him to be a very smart and funny man who enjoys being around people".

"I thought Abby Brammell [Persis] and the Scottish actor, Alec Newman [Malik], did an amazing job as the two lead Augments. Then there's Paul Wight [a.k.a. Big Show], who played the big green Orion in Borderland. The guy is the size of a mountain. He lifted up Jolene Blalock [Commander T'Pol] with no effort at all", jokes the actor.

Joanna Cassidy was inspired casting as T'Pol's mother T�Les, and it's always a thrill to welcome back Gary Graham [Vulcan Ambassador Soval] to the set. Gary is such a gifted actor and he's had a nice run so far on Enterprise this season. Our writers really gave him some good material to work with in the Vulcan story arc.

Wicked Fun

We may know him now as the clean-cut and conscientious Lt. Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, but a few years back, Keating was getting up to no good as the devilish Mallos in the short lived fantasy TV series The Immortal starring Lorenzo Lamas. "They had initially earmarked me for the part of Lorenzos [Raphael? Rafe Cain] sidekick, who, I think, was originally called Joe", says Keating. However, the producers then decided that they wanted the show to appeal to a younger and broader audience so they hired Steve Braun to play Joe, who was ultimately renamed Goodwin.

"As for me, they felt I could play the lead demon and Lorenzo's main onscreen nemesis, Mallos. He was a neat character, wasn't he? You had the devilishness, sheer camp and pure evil all wrapped up in one. I just loved the audacity of Mallos, and the fact that he was also written with a terrific sense of humour. On top of all that, he drove flash cars, wore expensive suits, and had a beautiful woman [Kira Clavell] on his arm. What more could you ask for in a job? I certainly had a good time working on the show".

Source: www.dominickeating.com

#dominic keating #the keating cult #star trek enterprise

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gentlemanjimcraddock · 10 months ago

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Wanna Try Star Trek? 3 - The Joy of Jeffrey Combs

John Startrek here, reporting in for our third entry in this beginner friendly series of Star Trek episode summaries, designed to help show all you curious tumblr users just how fun this silly little franchise can be. Conveniently enough, the Great Wheel of Trek has selected for us today a third new show for us to look at, Star Trek Enterprise. So whether you’re new to Trek, or an old hand, replicate yourself a raktajino and settle in.

Star Trek Enterprise, known simply as Enterprise in its first two seasons, is a prequel to the rest of the franchise. It’s set in the early years of human interstellar exploration, back before the formation of the United Federation of Planets to which Earth will one day belong. Our Captain this time around is Johnathan Archer, played by Scott Bakula. There’s no manual for how to handle all those Trek-y situations yet, so Archer’s figuring this stuff out as he goes.

Enterprise had an even more rough production history that Voyager did, and has never really had the best reputation. But as the years roll by, the show is being increasingly reevaluated in a positive light. This was only my second time watching this episode and yeah, it’s definitely better than I gave it credit for at the time.

So let’s get started on season 1 episode 14 Shadows of P’Jem.

We open with Soval, the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth, having a rather tense discussion with Admiral Forrest over the events of a previous episode, The Andorian Incident, in which Archer made an unscheduled visit to a Vulcan monastery and uncovered a secret spy station. It was being used by the Vulcans to keep tabs on Andorians, with whom they’re currently in a state of cold war.

Soval makes a fair point that Archer is having a destabilising effect on the region after only six months, and implies that he should be removed from his post as captain of the Enterprise. Forrest responds by pointing out that the Vulcans are actually guilty of the spying the Andorians were accusing them of. He further asserts that Vulcans do not appoint Starfleet personnel, and Soval leaves to go back to Vulcan in a huff.

Science Officer’s Note: Vulcans are one of the most important and popular alien races in Star Trek, and you probably know them from the deeply logical and deeply gay Spock. In order to suppress their powerful emotions, Vulcans practice a philosophy of strict logic and emotional suppression. In Enterprise, they’re trying to act as stuffy den mothers to humanity, who by and large are not fond of the mollycoddling.

On Enterprise, Archer is having a nice dinner in his quarters with his Chief Engineer, Charles “Trip” Tucker III, a good old Florida boy. He’s talking about their next destination, an inhabited planet called Coridan. He ribs Trip that he’s not going to take him along, leaving Trip to have the most kicked puppy look on his face.

But things can’t stay happy forever, and they’re interrupted by a call from Admiral Forrest, who tells Archer what happened at his meeting with Soval. Apparently the monastery at P’Jem was bombed by the Andorians shortly after Enterprise left.

Science Officer’s Note: The Andorians are blue and have antennae, which made many of the people working on Trek to think they were too silly to be brought back after the original series until they finally showed up again in an important role on Enterprise. In contrast to the stoic and logical Vulcans, Andorians revel in their fiery tempers. Also, their antennae move like a cat’s tail to symoblise their mood thanks to an impressive blend of prosthetics and remote control work.

There’s some additional bad news, which Archer decides to deliver to T’Pol in person. T’Pol, a Vulcan who was assigned to Enterprise as the Science Officer and second in command, is being recalled to Vulcan to be reassigned. Now, Archer doesn’t like Vulcans very much, to the point of bigotry. But over the course of this season he’s grown attached to the frosty Vulcan. For her part, T’Pol doesn’t let her mask of Vulcan stoicness falter, though she does admit to feeling like the destruction of P’Jem was her fault.

After a short scene of Archer telling Trip he can’t go to Coridan for real this time so he can take T’Pol with him, we arrive at the mess hall where the ship’s Doctor Phlox tries to coax T’Pol into fighting her transfer. T’Pol remains unmoved.

In a shuttle ride to the planet, Archer tries to start up some small talk but T’Pol’s not the chattiest. She does, however, ask why she was chosen for this mission. Archer makes a decent point, that Vulcans do business with this planet but they’ve never met humans before, so a Vulcan is well suited to introduce the two peoples. He also says that if she really doesn’t want to go, they can always turn around.

T’Pol’s excuse for staying on mission to spend some time with Archer is that it would be illogical to waste fuel by turning back now. The nice moment is broken by somebody shooting at them, which isn’t very nice. They try to fight back, but get shot down and captured.

We go right into Archer and T’Pol tied up in a cell, where they banter about Houdini until their captors show up to interrogate them. Their leader claims they’re a rebel faction, acting against a corrupt regime held in power by the Vulcans.

He asks about their sidearms, which Archer replies are called phase pistols. When questioned about the Enterprise, Archer gives them some lip and gets smacked across the face for it. T’Pol claims that Archer is the ship’s cook, and they’re here to cook a banquet for the planet’s chancellor. The captors assume she, therefore, is the captain.

Speaking of the chancellor, Trip is third in the chain of command and so has assumed command of Enterprise while Archer and T’Pol are away. He’s on a call with Coridan’s chancellor, who doesn’t take kindly to Trip’s assertions that they should have been warned about the rebels and that the Coridans have failed to protect a pair of diplomatic envoys. He gets cut off for his troubles, and the crew look into ways to track Archer and T’Pol.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: This is followed up by a scene of Archer & T’Pol trying to escape that isn’t really worth going over in detail, except to talk about the sexualisation of female characters in Star Trek. See, in this scene, they do the whole guy falling over and ending up with his face in a woman’s boobs gag.

While the original 60’s show was actually pretty progressive for including the miniskirt, a symbol of women’s liberation at the time, and TNG/DS9/VOY had been pretty good about this stuff, they weren’t perfect. Deanna Troy famously spent most of her screentime in low cut dresses despite being a Starfleet officer, and Seven of Nine was explicitly added to the show to look good in tight catsuits. Enterprise is the nadir of the franchise in this respect, with T’Pol not only donning her own set of catsuits, but the show contriving a lot of excuses to see its two female stars in various states of undress over and over.

Back to the plot, Malcolm Reed, Enterprise’s Security Officer, thinks he’s located the shuttle in a shanty town just a few kilometres from the planet’s capital. He wants to take an armed team in to investigate, but Trip tells him to hold fire. Just then, the rebels called Enterprise to demand 40 phase pistols or they’ll kill their hostages. Not two minutes after they hang up on him, a Vulcan ship hails Enterprise to say they’re here to pick up T’Pol. Trip gets annoyed at them too, and the captain, Sopek, gets all haughty and says they’ll take over the investigation.

Cut to later on the Enterprise, with Sopek on board, where the Vulcan captain insists on storming the compound. Trip accuses him of not caring about the safety of Archer & T’Pol, and conveniently forgets to tell Spoke their location when asked. He then tells Reed to fire up the shuttle to go rescue them themselves.

A guard brings food for Archer & T’Pol, and because of the way they’re bound, Archer is forced into a degrading position to eat anything. T’Pol refuses to follow suit until Archer orders her to do so. I know what the Counsellor said earlier about sexualisation in the show, but this isn’t really an example of that. The reason we’re talking about this scene is that Archer finds a doodad in his meal with a blinking light. Looks like somebody’s on their side.

The ship’s Communications Officer, Hoshi Sato, is on Enterprise for the customary “sorry my parents aren’t home” call when Sopek realises another shuttle has left Enterprise, and cuts him off with static.

In the shanty town, Trip & Reed have barely gone twenty feet from the shuttle when they themselves get captured. It’s not the rebels though, it’s Commander Shran, the Andorian from the incident in The Andorian Incident. He says they’re there to aid the rebels in overthrowing the Vulcan-backed government but after P’Jem, he owes Archer a debt and is planning to rescue him. Trip & Reed insist on coming along.

Ship Counsellor’s Note: Jeffrey Combs is something of a Star Trek legend. As an actor, he’s been in many projects over the years, but Trekkies love him for his two recurring roles on DS9 as Weyoun and Liquidator Brunt. He’s a very charismatic actor who commits hard to the role, and Shran is one of the highlights of the show.

The glowing doodad is a communication device, which lets Trip explain the plan to Archer & T’Pol. While the rescue is pretty successful, they’re interrupted by the Vulcan raid. Shran tells Archer hsi debt is repaid, but on their way out the Vulcans and Andorians run into each other and enter into a standoff. It’s resolved when a wounded rebel tries to shoot Sopek, only for T’Pol to jump in front of the shot.

Back on Enterprise, everyone’s crowded around T’Pol’s bed in sickbay. Sopek is clearly concerned about her, and Phlox says that her prognosis is not good. Archer tries to commiserate with him, and asks him to put in a good word for T’Pol at Vulcan High Command so she can stay on Enterprise. Sopek can’t take T’Pol with him while she’s wounded, but he does have a meeting with the High Command soon, and might have time to bring it up with them.

When a shaken Sopek leaves, Phlox revives T’Pol from her induced coma and tells her she’s not to leave sickbay for 24 hours. When Archer tells her he thinks he’s managed to sort out that whole T’Pol being transferred issue, T’Pol said he shouldn’t have interfered. Archer says she’s free to go chase down Sopek if she really wants to tell him not to. T’Pol chooses her excuse this time to be that she can’t, as that would be disobeying doctor’s orders.

This is not as good an episode as our previous two. It is one of the better ones in Enterprise’s first season, which is not really a great season of television. Something you might have noticed from this summary is a number of times when a scene transitions from one part of a discussion, to that same discussion happening at a different time or location. Take Sopek’s call to Enterprise, for example. What was really accomplished by Sopek coming aboard that couldn’t have been done over the video call?

It’s also not entirely clear whether Archer & T’Pol’s scenes or Trip’s scene really constitute the a-plot of the episode. Both have scenes that don’t really need to be there, like Hoshi’s call with Sopek, or the boobs-in-face scene. The potentially intense and complex political situation of the Vulcans and Andorians fighting a proxy war via Coridan is something DS9 could have handled in its sleep, but Enterprise passes over the opportunity.

So is this a bad episode of television? No, it’s just a bit of an underdeveloped one. Like much of Enterprise, it’s a bunch of unrealised potential with some moments of undeniable charm.

Speak to me, oh Great Wheel of Trek. Please, grant unto us some TNG. so we can go four for four on this.

Well, would you look at that. Ask and you’ll receive I guess.Now tell me, oh Great Wheel of Trek, should I buy a lottery ticket next week?

#star trek #enterprise #jeffrey combs #wanna try star trek

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mistylacrimosa · 2 months ago

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OH MY DEVIL THE SONG WAS NOT A ONE TIME THING

WHY STAR TREK,WHY?

So I just finished the first episode ST Enterprise and it was... interesting. I'm trying (and failing) not to be too harsh. So far the only likable character is T'Pol (and Porthos obviously). I'm hoping that will change. Also I don't understand the title song... just why? What were they thinking?(Hopping it's an one time thing)

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best-star-trek-character · 2 years ago

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#best ent character competition #trip tucker #charles tucker iii #commander tucker #commander trip tucker #Jhamel #Jhamel Star Trek #the Aenar #st #ent #enterprise #Star Trek #best star trek character competition

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tvsotherworlds · 1 year ago

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myenterpriseisparked · 1 year ago

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I first heard this information on the Shuttlepod Podcast (told by Connor Trinneer himself), but here is the story as told by Memory Alpha:

Tucker's nickname was initially planned to be "Spike". ("Broken Bow" audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD) At one early stage, he was also intended to hold the rank of lieutenant. A character description of Tucker was meanwhile written into the series bible for Star Trek: Enterprise, referring to him as having the nickname "Spike" and the rank of lieutenant. The document elaborated by describing him thus; "Chief Engineer. Early 30's. A Southerner who enjoys using his 'country' persona to disarm people. He has an offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humor. Although Spike is a brilliant engineer and an outstanding officer, he has very little first-hand experience with alien cultures, and he's often a 'fish out of water' when dealing with new civilizations." While Tucker's nickname was still to have been "Spike" though his rank had changed to commander, a character breakdown sheet that Paramount sent to talent agents, upon seeking an actor to assume the role, largely matched this text from the series bible, apart from a couple of formatting tweaks. [2] However, the series bible went further, elaborating, "As a young man, he spent time deep sea diving in the Florida Keys, working on an ocean reclamation project. Bold and fearless, this thrill-seeker didn't stop there. His skills at working in a hostile environment, with no gravity, dependant on artificial life-support, would eventually lead to a career in Orbital Engineering, building starships at Utopia Planetia, where he earned a reputation as a trouble-shooter who would take on challenges that most engineers think impossible […] Spike is a part of our 'troika' [along with Archer and T'Pol]."

Since there was a character on Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the name "Spike", this ENT character's nickname was altered before series pilot "Broken Bow" first aired. The change of nickname was just before "the very end" (in Brannon Braga's words) of the development process. ("Broken Bow" audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD/Blu-ray) The nickname was changed to "Charlie", and the alteration was listed as one of six revisions of character names in a one-page "script note" at the start of the final draft teleplay of "Broken Bow" (the page was dated 1 May 2001).

In the revised final draft script of "Broken Bow" (dated 11 May 2001), the notion of this character's name being the third consecutive iteration of "Charles Tucker" was not yet established (he was still referred to as having the nickname "Charlie"). When introduced in the same teleplay, he was characterized as being in his "early 30's." The script went on to comment, "[He] is a Southerner who enjoys using his offbeat, often sarcastic sense of humor to disarm people […] He likes to get a rise out of people." [3] Only later was the character given the full name "Charles Tucker III" and the nickname "Trip".

Every day I am so so thankful that Buffy the Vampire Slayer exists so that I don't have to be obsessed with a guy named "Spike."

#im sososo glad his name isnt spike #i would still love him #but GOSH it doesnt suit him at ALL

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