Star Trek: Enterprise: Scott Bakula on Movie Shoutout and What Might Have Been

Though Scott Bakula’s Star Trek: Enterprise only lasted four seasons (versus other Treks that lasted seven), no one can accuse the actor of resting on his laurels.

Since the end of Enterprise, Bakula has had recurring roles on Chuck, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and State of the Union, and co-starred in The Informant feature film. He’s now got a starring role as past-his-prime actor Terry in TNT’s new dramady, Men of a Certain Age.

TrekMovie recently interviewed Bakula and asked him about the brief mention of his character in the JJ Abrams Star Trek movie, in which Scotty has been punished for “losing” Admiral Archer’s dog.

Scott Bakula: It went by so fast and there was so much going on that I almost didn’t think that I had heard it, because it was the dog reference and I was like “did I just hear that?” My two sons, they were all caught up and they didn’t care about my backstory, so when I asked them if they heard it, they didn’t remember it. So I had to confirm it with other people. I thought it was very clever. I thought JJ Abrams did a great job with the movie and everybody was great and it was a huge success for the studio.

TrekMovie: I talked to Bob Orci, who co-wrote the movie, and he told me that in his mind that reference was to your character, who was still alive at that time.

Scott Bakula: I really appreciate that. Maybe I will get in the next one. All I want to do is beat Shatner out for being in the next one.

The interviewer then went on to ask Bakula about what he would have liked to have seen happen to Archer had the series run for a few more years.

Scott Bakula: I think everything that happened to Archer in the first four years was about expanding his–his life experiences were limited by growing up in the system, and yet he had this incredible imagination and incredible believe in the possibilities. His character was hampered by that, because he was such an insider and such a company guy because of his father, there was a lot of breaking down that needed to go along with his taking over of the ship, which seemed natural and correct. But as he kept experiencing the possibilities and dealing with the formation of the Federation — that is where we were going, obviously — and contributing to that, and creating that politically and creating all the different factions and everything. I thought that was great. And as a human being, what we could have done with him in terms of opening his eyes more and lightening him up and different things that I thought were all elements of his character that I hoped we would have the time to explore and expand up.

You can read the complete interview here. Men of a Certain Age premieres tonight on TNT.

What do you think? Would you like to see a cameo by Bakula in the next Star Trek movie?