Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula plays Captain Archer in the new Star Trek franchise Enterprise. And he's a man happy with a role which barring accident or a Klingon attack will soon see him the focus of unprecedented public interest. But Bakula seems to be relishing the prospect.

ReviewGraveyard: What's the big attraction for you of Enterprise?

Scott Bakula: I believe that starting this show at the beginning of the Star Trek universe is going to allow people to keep putting that word out, that you don't need to have seen the last seven or fourteen years to understand or enjoy Enterprise. That is a big message we are trying to get out there.

RG: How's the new show going to differ from previous Star Trek series?

SB: On Enterprise, we have a great sense of where the show will land, so we've had, before we've even started, a feeling of the need to be ready from the get-go, because people are going to be watching. And that adds a little bit more importance to almost everything you do.

RG: What attracted you to the Archer role?

SB: What hooked me and brought me into the piece from the beginning was the description of this character, who they wanted him to be. He's much more in the Jim Kirk vein of Captains, an emotional, heart-on-his-sleeve kind of guy. He makes mistakes, he's brash in the face of authority at times, and he's not afraid to say what he thinks. And I just thought if you are approaching something over a long period of time, you want as many character flaws and variables and anything you can find emotionally interesting.

RG: There's a real feel of frontier spirit on Enterprise, so I've heard.

SB: Everything doesn't work perfectly on the ship, so we are still getting out a lot of the bugs, and there's a lot of frustration involved with that. In episodes right now, there's a lot of flying by the seat of their pants and a kind of unexpectedness, which I think it going to be fun for the audience, because there is nothing routine about what we are trying to do here - it's all new.

RG: You're not new to science fiction. You seem to be happy working in the genre.

SB: Science fiction has been a big part of my life for years now. I loved it as a kid. I loved reading it and watching it, and it is kind of ironic that a lot of the sci-fi work has come my way. But I suppose when you are attracted to something that often you attract it back.

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