Why Scott Bakula's Hair Created A Huge Problem For Star Trek: Enterprise
Every single detail matters when filming a scene. Sometimes, though, a mistake slips through the cracks and winds up in the final cut. That's why "The Last of Us" had its "Game of Thrones" Starbucks cup moment. Still, even a caught mistake doesn't guarantee the footage is salvageable, and sometimes, shots must be thrown out. In one tragically hilarious instance, "Star Trek: Enterprise" lost more than a few shots ... it almost lost an entire week while filming the pilot over actor Scott Bakula's unapproved hairstyle. No, seriously.
As chronicled in "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J.J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek," director James L. Conway remembers a time when a dispute revolving around Bakula's hair caused five days worth of footage to be scrapped. "I had to reshoot the first five days of the pilot because of Scott's hair," he said. "When we started shooting, [producer] Kerry McCluggage — who was a good friend of Scott's and really had a lot to do with Scott getting the show in the first place — was in New York and didn't see dailies until he came back from New York. [McLuggage] wanted it one way, Scott wanted it another, and somehow, the message didn't get to us. So we had to go back and reshoot all of Scott's close-ups for the first five days and change his hair."
Conway added that Bakula's hairstyle reverted to the original look for a later episode in Season 4.
Star Trek: Enterprise was counting on Scott Bakula
From an external perspective, it seems like Scott Bakula and Kerry McLuggage went to war over something minor and caused serious financial strain on a budding project. However, it's important to note that "Star Trek: Enterprise" pinned its hopes on Bakula's shoulders. During an episode of "The Shuttlepod Show," James L. Conway confessed that no alternative actor was lined up to portray Captain Jonathan Archer if the actor backed out.
When discussing casting, the director said, "The hardest ones to cast were T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), and then we didn't know about Scott until the weekend before we started shooting. And they hadn't closed his deal. Everyone was sort of sure it was gonna close but not 100% sure ... there [was] no backup. [It was] him or no one."
With so much riding on Bakula's commitment to the project and television being a visual medium, it seems less destructive for the studio to invest a few extra days in perfecting his aesthetic, even if it feels a little silly. At least the whole hair situation is settled now. If Bakula's Star Trek return happens and his hair holds up production again, then TikTok will roast him alive.