By TRexx / 17:45, 19 August 2005 / Enterprise

Dominic Keating recently stopped by the BBC Radio UK studio for a schmooze with Five Live host Phil Williams. Keating responded to e-mails sent in by ENTERPRISE fans, and spoke of his latest projects. Here are excerpts from that broadcast...

PW: We've been joined by Dominic Keating on Five Live this afternoon: Lieutenant Malcolm Reed on "Star Trek 'colon' Enterprise." The colon very important in that.

DK: Um, yeah. We started out just as "Enterprise." I think, um, the Powers That Be were trying to, sort of, just gradually divorce themselves from the "Star Trek" mantle so they could stop paying vast amounts of, you know, commission money to, um...

PW: To use the name.

DK: Exactly. But, um, by about the second season they added it back on, at our network's behest, and it stayed.

PW: And, how many seasons did you do?

DK: We did four. Wasn't quite the seven they promised, but syndication is a tough, you know, line to cross, and we got there. So, I'm very happy, somewhere in the world, that show will be playing, and I should be remunerated accordingly.

PW: Did they, uh... Is that what the contract said, then, seven seasons?

DK: Uh, yes, we did sign for seven. Yeah, the magic number.

PW: So, the cash has landed, whatever the weather.

DK: It's pretty good, man. I mean, they don't have to honour the seven years, but the four that they did, and will, should, you know, keep the wolf from the door for a bit.

...

PW: Loads of questions coming in for you, you would imagine, so we maybe rattle through a few just before the news, and do a few more after.

DK: Sure.

PW: Chris Carlin, in Cumberland, says "Hi, Dominic, were you, or any of the cast members, annoyed that the last episode of Enterprise wasn't a proper sendoff, and was basically turned into an episode of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation'?"

DK: Ah, this old nugget. Um...

PW: Explain, first of all, so people understand.

DK: Well, for those that aren't aware, our last episode actually was not, in earnest, a finale episode of "Star Trek: Enterprise," of our show. It actually harked back to "The Next Generation," and we had two guest stars from their show onboard.

PW: On the face of it, it sounds like a clever...

DK: I thought, yeah -- given that Brannon Braga and Rick Berman were in fact tying up 17 years of their watch of "Star Trek" -- you know, I wasn't too, uh, put out by the fact that they went back to "The Next Generation," which was clearly, you know, the most popular, and the flagship show of their watch. So, I really didn't get too, uh, you know, too knickers-in-a-twist-y. So, but a... a lot of other people did, and one or two of my cast members, I know, had voiced their, you know, disdain.

...

PW: "The Enterprise series is a lot darker than previous Star Trek series. Was that just a marketing need for today's audience," says Mike, "and do you think it made the series too far removed from the traditional Star Trek ethos?"

DK: I think it was a device that they used, and I think it was probably a needed one. When we first started the gig, I know they were intent on trying to just rearrange the, um, sort of, the belly of the cow, as it were. But, we got into some deep water, fairly early on, and I know that Rick quickly turned the ship back. And, uh, I think we, sort of, I think we tried to sort of sail this line that was a bit meandering, and a little flabby. By about the end of the second, beginning of the third season, we'd really found our feet with it. And, um, it was a... those were tough waters, to continue the analogy, the first few episodes. I know that they wanted to change the face of it, but they were worried that the vanguard of support would not follow. But, they wanted to try and pick up, you know, a younger audience. You know, America is always about trying to pick up the younger audience. There was some memo, that came from somewhere, that they wanted to put a boy band in the mess hall scenes.

PW: Would you have been up for that?

DK: [Laughing] Oh yeah. Boyz II Men, in space. Yeah.

PW: Mind, you know, some of their song titles lend themselves aptly to that! Simon in Frombes says, "Could Dominic reveal what the producers have got planned for the next Star Trek franchise?"

DK: Oh, well, our guys have, uh... are on sabbatical, and Brannon has gone on to other things. He's producing a new show for NBC -- no, CBS, sorry -- called "Threshold," which I think got a life, it got a pilot. I didn't get a part in it! And, um ... So, I don't know. Rick has got a contract still, at Paramount, and I'm sure he'll be developing away.

PW: What about "Enterprise" the movie?

DK: Not going to happen, I don't think. Uh, it's... I would eat my hat, if I had one. So, I would think it's done and dusted. I have a feeling that, um, if it does come back, it'll come back under the auspice of a man called Les Moonves, who now runs Paramount and CBS and UPN. And, uh, if he does reinvent it, it will have his paw mark on it.

...

RB: One thing that I was interested in: You were talking earlier about the sort of feeling among the cast about the darkness of the series, and it took you til the third series [season] before you got it sorted. Is that something you could actually talk about, or was that just within the realms of the producer and the director and the writer?

DK: Mostly. Mostly, Richard. I mean, I did call in, and I did have a couple of meetings with Brannon about story developments in a couple of episodes. And, I did get one idea that went "on the table," in parentheses, which was quite good apparently. That means it actually gets put on, you know, one of those blackboards in rub-off-able ink. And I did know it was there for a while, but then it was rubbed off. Um, no, Brannon and particularly Rick were very much masters of their own domain. They liked to keep their... that strangle hold, somewhat.

...

PW: What's next for you, then?

DK: I just finished a little film, in the States, which looks like it's going to go to Sundance, called "Certifiably Jonathan." And then I'm going back to do a horror film, in a couple of weeks, called "Hollywood Kills." And I'm waiting to hear about a couple of other things, and I had my first audition here at the BBC on Friday.

PW: You had or have?

DK: I had it.

PW: Oh, yeah, what was that for?

DK: It's, um, it is a comedy, and it was for "Broken News," it's called. It's a sort of, uh, a spoof on 24-hour news services. Something like what you do.

PW: Something like this, really.

DK: Gabbing on about nothing in particular!

Dominic Keating's complete 18-minute session may be heard at the BBC Radio website.

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