INTERVIEW: Connor Trinneer, Dominic Keating are an ‘Enterprise’-ing duo
Photo: Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating will take place in a special virtual fan experience. Photo courtesy of Creation Entertainment / Provided with permission.
When one attends a Star Trek convention run by Creation Entertainment, there’s a good chance that Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating, two stars from Star Trek: Enterprise, will be present and ready to storm the stage with their wild antics. The TV duo were best buds while filming the four seasons of the series and remain close almost 20 years later. When they appear at cons, it’s almost always together, and the laughs are usually nonstop.
On the show, Trinneer played Charles “Trip” Tucker III, while Keating played the character of Malcolm Reed. They served on the ship with Captain Jonathan Archer, played by Scott Bakula, and were joined by the likes of Jolene Blalock, Linda Park, John Billingsley and Anthony Montgomery.
Although their appearances at conventions have been put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, Trinneer and Keating have signed up for Creation Entertainment’s new virtual experiences and are planning both a Q&A and meet and greet with their fans. The Q&A takes place via the StageIt platform and begins Saturday, May 16 at 10:15 a.m. PDT / 1:15 p.m. EST. Their exclusive meet and greet, which is only available to auction winners, is set for Wednesday, May 20 at 3 p.m. PDT / 6 p.m. EST.
Recently Trinneer and Keating jumped on the phone to talk about a bunch of topics, including the coronavirus and working on Enterprise. Here’s Part I of that conversation (click here for part II) …
On how they have been faring during the pandemic …
Trinneer: “It’s kind of hard to describe. I’ve never been in a situation where it really didn’t matter what day it was. There are lots of downtimes for actors, but it’s been a struggle to not become apathetic.”
Keating: “I’m not suffering physically speaking. I’m OK-ish for money. I can do this, but mentally and emotionally I live alone. I’m stuck on a hill, albeit a pretty one. Every now again it’s got a bit of emotional teeth to it. You look at the sky and wonder what the world is all about.”
On their presence on social media …
Trinneer: “I have been brought to tears by some Twitter videos that I would never otherwise even respond to.” [laughs]
Keating: “I tried very hard not to get too sucked into all that social media. If I catch myself scrolling, I’m like, ‘Get off dude. Go and have another drink.’ … Early on there was some information knocking about on Facebook particularly that said it was coming out of the Imperial College and some other institute. Of course, it all turned out to be bollocks, and that’s when I went, you know what, it’s NPR, KCRW, KPCC and The Guardian. That’s all I’m listening to, and that’s where I’ve got my information from since.”
[Click here for Hollywood Soapbox’s previous interview Connor Trinneer.]
On whether they like the prospects of these virtual fan experiences …
Keating: “It’s going to be fine, as long as I can technically do it. It took an hour to get me on the dry run the other day. I’ve got an old computer, and it didn’t like the staging platform or how to get there. Anyway, I think we’ll be all right.”
Trinneer: “The only difference will be we’re reading the questions, and the only difference is that we have to be our charming selves in front of a scream as opposed to live and in person.”
Keating: “And try not to look at oneself too studiously.” [laughs]
Trinneer: “By the way, I’m starting to look like Kenny Rogers.”
Keating: “Are you getting a beard going on? … I’m wondering about whether just letting my hair grow long. I’ve never gone hippie long, and I thought to myself, why don’t we do this? Why not? Like really hippie long, like surfer hippie long. I could do it all year because I always get to about this stage, and it’s like, uh, you look like Worzel Gummidge, who was a scarecrow character on kids TV in England in the ’70s. So we’ll see.”
Trinneer: “You’ve got to go with the dreadlocks. Don’t even comb it.”
Keating: “I am washing it, I have to say. That’s a mid-life crisis right there, isn’t it? I’m not even mid-life.”
On when the writers and producers realized their characters on Enterprise had good chemistry …
Keating: “We had done a couple scenes together that had worked well, and yeah it’s just good chemistry. And luckily the characters had a good contrast that would work well, one being slightly uptight and buttoned-down, and the other a gun-slinging American. That would be you. They’re always looking for something to write. That’s the truth of it, and if they see a good chemistry, there you go. We were very fortunate.”
On whether they knew how much Star Trek would change their lives …
Keating: “It didn’t change it enough, mate. I thought we were going to do seven years.”
Trinneer: “But you already had a taste of this kind of thing before with Desmond.”
Keating: “A little bit. As I facetiously told one reporter in London when they asked me what the difference being an actor in Hollywood and London, I said about $37,000 a week. I had had some idea with that Desmond show. I did a sitcom in London that blew up and became a national treasure. It was amazing. … That was my first real taste of, wow, the power of TV. That is something else. Yes, I did know. I had seen that documentary Trekkies, too, and I got a sense of the convention-al world. I was the first one out of the gate. I knew I was going to do these things. I saw the extra appendage to the revenue stream. Here we are 20 years on.”
Trinneer: “I knew something was definitely going to change because when I got it, my agent told me that you’re not doing a pilot, you’re just going to work. There’s none of this stress if it’s going to be picked up. It was just lit, green lit, and off we went. It definitely did change.”
On receiving that first check from working on Enterprise …
Keating: “I saved that first check, the double pilot check. It was the biggest check I’ve ever got. I took a picture of that one.”
Trinneer: “Did you really?”
Keating: “Yeah, I did. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten another check as big as that. That was the two episode fees back to back, I think with the repeat fee, too. So that was quite a big check. Not bad at all. God bless. We miss those days.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating will take part in a Q&A virtual experience courtesy of Creation Entertainment Saturday, May 16 at 10:15 a.m. PDT / 1:15 p.m. EST. They also will participate in an exclusive Zoom meet and greet Wednesday, May 20 at 3 p.m. PDT / 6 p.m. EST. Click here for more information.
