The beautiful Jolene Blalock plays Sub-Commander T'Pol, the Vulcan liaison onboard NX-01 Enterprise. Before setting foot onto the starship's bridge, Blalock had amassed genre appearances in G vs. E and the NBC miniseries, Jason and the Argonauts as a powerful sorceress. While filming the upcoming miniseries Diamond Hunters with Roy Scheider in South Africa, the skateboarding enthusiast took up photography, and it has since become another of Blalock's passions. While driving to the Paramount studios on a Thursday afternoon, the actress shared her thoughts on T'Pol, and her genuine love of Star Trek...

Hello, Ms. Blalock, how are you today?

I'm very good, thanks. How are you?

Just fine. Thanks for wanting to be part of our series of features for trekgalaxy.com - we understand things have been very hectic on the Enterprise set!

Yes, but I certainly can't complain. I'm loving it!

Before we get started, we just wanted to say that you are a very lovely lady, and that your character, T'Pol, is lovely, too. We're really looking forward to seeing your work this season on Enterprise.

Thank you very much! And thank you for saying that about T'Pol, too. I so appreciate you saying that. I really do.

Can you introduce us to T'Pol? Take us into her universe, if you will. Who is she?

Are you asking to go behind the curtain? Are you asking to see Oz? (Blalock laughs) T'Pol is the voice of reason. She's the voice of responsibility. She's Vulcan. They have a life span of over 200 years, but T'Pol is 65. She's got the green blood, unlike Spock who was half human. T'Pol's fully green-blooded. She's extremely diplomatic, and always comes from a very positive place, a place of integrity, which is the best for the most amount of people. She has best intentions for the greatest amount of people. It seems like she's got this chip on her shoulder, that she's got an attitude against humans. But that's not true at all. It's just the way she is. It's her demeanour. She actually does want the best for this crew. Unfortunately, she's just got the logical side of it, where they've also got the zealous, adventurous side of things, so they clash.

Can you explain the genesis of how you won the role of T'Pol?

Well, you know what, it's a strange thing. The auditioning process, just like everybody here in Los Angeles or New York or anywhere in the industry knows, can be so random. I don't know why I was chosen over anyone else. Every woman who went in and read for this role deserved the part. They were looking for this girl, T'Pol, for a year, casting for a year. They had the character in development for two years. So they saw everyone and anyone in the business. As to why I landed the job, I just have to revert to my own theory of why they might have chosen me. Some time ago, I read an interview that Gene Roddenberry did for his pilot, 'The Cage'. In it, he talked about the original concept of Star Trek, and about nurturing the imagination. To him, it wasn't about just about being cowboys, or a show about the good guys getting the bad guys. He wanted to nurture the imagination of the people with this show by asking, 'what worlds do we create in our minds?' And I completely agree with that. It's not just about good versus evil. It's about what do we create? What do we discover inside ourselves, and through each other? That is what I completely agree with, even down to the multi-racial crew. It's no longer about segregated races. United we stand, divided we fall. So inside myself, my own personal belief system agrees whole-heartedly with Gene Roddenberry's original concept, and maybe that's why.

Like a lot of characters on Enterprise, T'Pol underwent a name change. She was originally supposed to be T'Pau.

This is true -

Why did they change her name?

I'm not exactly sure. We never really got into why that happened. T'Pau is a character from the original Star Trek. She's the Vulcan high priestess who presided over Spock's wedding in the episode, 'Amok Time'. I think the producers wanted to tie that in when they initially began developing the character. They wanted T'Pol to be T'Pau. Then, somewhere along the line before I came into the picture, they decided to change that. So, I don't have the answer to that, but I guess they just changed their minds. Who knows? Maybe they want to keep their options open to have T'Pol actually be related to Spock. That would be really cool. I could be Spock's grandmother - I'd really love that!

You seem really knowledgeable about the Star Trek mythos. Are you a fan of the Sci-fi genre?

I grew up with Star Trek. Star trek, the original, takes me right back to my childhood. It was very much a part of my family. It takes me right back to my living room, sitting on the carpet Indian-style, watching it with my dad and brothers. It's very much ingrained in me. Lost along the way when they came out were The Next Generation and Voyager. I never really watched them. I'm a fan, though. I'm collecting the episodes, everything from the unseen pilot, 'The Cage' to the seen pilot, to episode 82. And I have some memorabilia. I own one of the original sketches that Paramount did for Spock way back when. I'm trying to collect some stuff along the way. So yes, I'm a fan. I'm a huge fan!

Unlike previous Star Trek prosthetics, those on Enterprise seem less involved. What do you have to do every day to transform yourself from Jolene Blalock to Vulcan Sub-Commander, T'Pol?

It's a two-hour process, between makeup call and set call. They give us two hours. It's really not that difficult. They stick the ears on. I mean, it involves more than just scotch tape. (Blalock laughs) And a standard issue Vulcan wig. It's not that difficult.

Roxann Dawson, who played B'Elanna Torres on Voyager, had arduous prosthetic makeup.

Roxann directed our seventh episode, which we just finished a few days ago. She did a fantastic job! She's a lovely woman, and even with her prosthetics, I can still see her through the makeup. But the guy who played Worf on The Next Generation, Michael Dorn, I wouldn't know him from the man on the moon if you look at him before and after makeup! That had to take some time!

We were told in our recent story pitch meeting that there are plans to introduce T'Pol to her betrothed. Can you shed any light on T'Pol's love life?

We're working on that episode right now. We're four days into it. Yeah, she's betrothed. And she's dealing with what to do, because obviously you can't have a relationship, emotional or not, in any species, and have a position on a starship. And that's the dilemma. She has to deal with that. Is the marriage going to be postponed, is T'Pol going to work it out, is she going to stay on the ship or what? I won't give it all away, but the episode is called 'Breaking the Ice'. It's our eighth episode.

What about any behind-the-scenes stories from your time on Enterprise?

Gosh, everyday is something. I wish I had some of the dialogue in front of us because we've had some strange things said! Everyday is quite strange, but in a wonderful way. I was so adamant in the beginning that I was going to be the best 'shaker' - you know, when the ship shakes? Even before we started to go through our little training sessions where they showed us how to shake, I said, 'you know what, guys, I'm letting you know right now that I'm the best shaker!' And then we get into it, and I'm shaking my little booty - when the director comes up to me and said, 'ahem, Vulcan's don't really shake.' So I've had to tone down my shaking. But I would have been really good at it! They all hold that over my head now. When I pass them on the set, they say, 'there goes the best shaker'.

We read in your bio that you are now into photography.

I dabble.

Can you talk about what interested you in picking up a camera?

I went to South Africa when I was filming Diamond Hunters. We were there for a little over two months. Before that, I had wanted to learn how to take pictures. So I went to a pawn shop, picked up a cheap camera, took it to South Africa, and learned about the aperture, the light, everything. And then I just took pictures. But I came back with some pretty amazing stuff for an amateur. It's all to do with the beauty of South Africa, and not with me. But it was so much fun. I just love it.

And rumour has it that you're something of a female Tony Hawk. You're into skateboarding?

Yes, I am! Skateboarding was something that my brothers did, and I got their hand-me-down boards when we were younger. They were always out building ramps. I wanted to be with my brothers, and my dad thought skateboarding was cool, so I wanted to do it and make him think I was cool. I took their hand-me-down skateboards and skated with them. Of course, they always tried to stick me with the video camera - 'Film me!' (Blalock laughs) I love skateboarding. I still skateboard a little every week.

What would you like Star Trek fans to know about Jolene Blalock and T'Pol?

That we're two completely different people. (Blalock laughs) T'Pol's got her stuff all together. She's really cool, really calm, really collected. She's logical. She's got all the answers. I don't.

You seem pretty cool, Ms. Blalock.

Thank you! But in a nice, dorky way.