Dominic Keating Reflects on STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE and DISCOVERY's Surprising Nod

In a candid interview with TrekNews.net, Star Trek: Enterprise actor Dominic Keating shared his unfiltered thoughts on a recent twist in Star Trek: Discovery that left him feeling a mix of nostalgia and frustration. The twist involved a callback to the character Daniels, played by Matt Winston, which Keating found particularly irksome.

"That pissed me off, I gotta say. Well, only the last bit. [Kovich] turns out to be f—ing Daniels. I mean, really? That was a slap in the face," Keating revealed during his conversation with Kyle Hadyniak. Keating, known for his role as Lieutenant Malcolm Reed on Enterprise, didn't hold back on his feelings about the way his character and others were sometimes sidelined in favor of guest stars.

Reflecting on the experience, Keating noted, "But if I’m gonna be honest, it kind of used to piss me off that they bring him back two or three times a season for really good episodes. And I’d get the ‘Yes sir, no sir, three bags full, sir’ lines. All right. I mean, I was surfing. But there was resentment there, I gotta be [honest]. I wasn’t as resentful as some. They underused us, I think."

Keating’s frustration wasn’t just about his character’s lack of development but extended to the complex storyline involving the temporal timeline, which he admitted he struggled to follow. "And Christ knows, I’ve watched Enterprise now twice, and if I can understand that temporal timeline storyline… I still haven’t got a clue what the f— was going on."

The actor's reaction to the recent reference to Daniels in Discovery was equally dismissive. "But the fact that they referenced Daniels at the end of Discovery was like, ‘Whatever.’ (laughs) There you go. I’m being honest. I’d have rather had the baseball."

For fans familiar with Star Trek lore, the baseball Keating mentions is a significant Easter egg. It refers to the baseball belonging to Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one of the many nostalgic artifacts in Doctor Kovich's office in Discovery's series finale.