By GustavoLeao / 20:26, 30 August 2004 / Enterprise

The latest issue of Starburst magazine, just out in the UK, features an exclusive interview with ENTERPRISE star Scott Bakula. Here are a few excerpts :

Bakula admits that the show's renewal was a last-minute decision, he maintains that he never had any fears that his job would be cut short after just three years.'I have a good relationship with the head of Paramount Television, and we had a lot of talks about what was going on, and Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga] and I talk a lot about what ENTERPRISE means to UPN, because it has meant a great deal to them business-wise," says Bakula. 'And at the same time, I knew that Les [Moonves, who heads both CBS and UPN] runs the show, and if Les says we're gone, we're gone. But, happily, he didn't. So we get to go again, and they're trying a lot of new things."

New things such as a new night, Friday, which has become a wasteland of sorts on the TV landscape in recent years. Bakula, ever the optimist, prefers to see things differently, likening the situation to the last time the end of the week was the end of the world in small-screen parlance. 'All of a sudden MIAMI VICE came, and it was kind of a hit, and people started making a point to get home to watch MIAMI VICE." Then there are the cuts in the budget, by some reports up to 35% from last season, that were part of the deal that saved ENTERPRISE. Again, no panic in Bakula, who praises one of the consequences of the reduced money flow, the conversion from film to high-definition video. 'It saves a great chunk of money every week," he says. 'HD is the wave of the future, so it's just a question of time, and we're getting very, very good quality."

To read the full interview, get the latest issue of Starburst, at your local newstand.