Dominic Keating likes the new direction Enterprise is taking. Sending Captain Archer and the crew into the Delphic Expanse, adding commando-like troops known as MACOs to their number, introducing the mysterious Xindi, and increasing the action have resulted in what he feels is a better show, especially judging by season three's opening episode.

'I've been very, very pleased by all the changes and the results,' says Keating, who's back on board the Enterprise as Lieutenant Malcolm Reed. 'I thought our first episode back, The Xindi, was great. I probably shouldn't say this, but I'm not really a great fan of action, visual effects entertainment. It's not the sort of thing that generally floats my boat, to be honest. But I've got to tell you that I was really excited by The Xindi. I loved the incarnation of the foremen [Stephen McHattie] we encountered when we tried to find the Xindi prisoner. I thought he was an absolute revelation. When i went in to do the looping [audio recording] and saw what he'd done I called [co-creators/executive producers] Rick Berman and Brannon Braga and said, 'More of that, please!' The episode had fantastic sets and was beautifully lit and it kept me on the edge of my seat - and I knew what was going to happen.

'The second episode [Anomaly] wasn't quite as extraordinary, but for those who love visuals I thought some of the special effects - the coffee floating in the air, the warp drive fritzing and the electrical waves sparking out - were extraordinary. It was a nice episode for setting the audience up for the kinds of anomalies we're going to meet in this Delphic Expanse.

'Episode three is Extinction. That's a good show. We had a lot of fun making that,' he says, referring to the episode which sees Captain Archer, Hoshi and Reed transformed into members of an alien race. 'As actors, it was terrific to devise whole physical and vocal characteristics on the spot. It was quite a bonding experience for me, Scott [Bakula, Captain Archer] and Linda [Park, Hoshi]. I know there were some worries about how it was going to look, but I saw [director] LeVar Burton and he was very pleased. I haven't seen the final episode, but I think I'll like it. The make-up was murderous, mate, but I have to say it was very effective. I hated the prosthetics. I get very claustrophobic and have very sensitive Irish skin which doesn't like the solvents that take all the glue off. After five days my poor face looked like a blob. I look at [Phlox actor] John Billingsley with all new respect.

'So, all things considered, we're in good shape,' he notes. 'The ratings haven't been extraordinary, but they've been robust and healthy and better than they were, especially given that we don't enjoy a lot of promotion.'

Malcolm Reed hasn't changed much at all as a result of the revamp. He remains the same character who played key roles in the show's first season episodes Shuttlepod One and Two Days and Two Nights, and season two's Minefield, The Communicator, Singularity and The Crossing. And despite the introduction of the MACOs, Reed remains the ship's tactical officer and still likes to blow stuff up - although now he does get to blow more stuff up!

'I've had a lot more action and running around with guns and stuff since the changes were implemented,' he says. 'We're all there at Paramount more than we ever were. My workload has gone up exponentially. The days have been longer and I've had less time to pick up my dry cleaning, go to the gym, go to the bank and do other things. It's a lot of hours. And that's because it takes longer to do an action scene than a talking scene. There's more shooting involved. There are more camera moves. You shoot action scenes, usually, in smaller pieces and the scene is put together in the editing room.

'We're about to shoot an episode that's like a Western [North Star], and we're going over to the Universal backlot to do that one. But what I'm doing hasn't changed so much. It's not like they've overhauled Malcolm or taken him to another level. There's just been more for me to do. I think I have an episode coming up in which I'll be infiltrating the Xindi Council, so that should be fun.'

While the introduction of the MACOs initially looked set to be a continual source of conflict between Reed and their leader, Major Hayes [Steven Culp], Keating reports that the disputehas been downplayed during the new season's opening instalments. 'There is a little tension. I don't think Malcolm's particularly happy in some respects,' he explains. 'But I think professionally he understands that they need to be there.'

Naturally, Enterprise's overhaul has been widely interpreted as a sign that the show is in trouble. When asked if he felt the changes were necessary, Keating pauses for thought before responding.

'It probably was, all things said and done,' he admits. 'I do think that somewhere in the second season, out of the 26 episodes there were four or so that weren't very good. And it only takes four or so that aren't very good to cause a problem. Scott and I had a big conversation about this, and I don't mean to give myself any airs and graces, but we talked about the nature of episodic television and the challenge of wrapping up an episode each week neatly and happily within an hour's confines. That's tricky, particularly after so many years of writing Star Trek stories. So I think they were right to think of a season, at least, where each episode is joined and has an arc, so there's a story for the audience to follow. It's in the nature of 24, and ER has had major arcs at times that are like this.

'I think putting us in the Delphic Expanse and having us chase the Xindi is a clever move for keeping an audience interested. People don't mind missing an episode or two or even three if they know it's just a particular episode. But if they miss an episode in an arc of episodes that has a story that interests them and has got them on the edge of their chairs somewhat, then they're missing something any time they miss an episode. So, when you've got a high stakes arc, they'll be more inclined to make sure that they watch it. And, hopefully, they'll watch us.'

In the wake of Star Trek:Enterprise's revamp, Dominic Keating feels a renewed sense of enthusiasm about the show's future. He also reports that the mood on the show's set has lifted tremendously this season.

'I can't say there wasn't a kind of quicksand feeling for a while,' acknowledges the actor. 'I'm a bit of a worrier, definitely, and I got a little worried. The seven-year contract we signed was not as secure as it seemed when we signed it. I started thinking, "Bloody Hell!"

'I think we are going to run. I can't see Viacom letting this just dribble down the drain. I go to conventions and talk to the fans. There's such a groundswell of support for this show. Yeah, they bitch a bit about continuity and stuff that niggles them, but all in all if you ask them, "Do you want to have a show or don't you want to have a show?" they'd rather have a show.

'Right now, all of us on Enterprise are feeling OK. The [US] ratings for The Xindi matched the ratings for [second season finale] The Expanse. The ratings for the second episode were up there too. I don't want to get too much into the politics of the franchise and its relationship with the network because these are conversations I'm just not privy to. We just want to do the best work we can and hope people will tune us in.'

* * end * * *