Blalock enthusiastically expounds on what she loves about ST: TOS: "The relationship, just the sense of loyalty. [It's reminiscent of] a saying - it's very rare to count your good friends on one hand, and if you can count them on one hand, that's a fortunate life. I watched these three characters - Captain Kirk, Spock, Bones - and their relationship with each other and how loyal they are, and that was intense. They would give their lives for each other."

''Gene Roddenberry's concept was not just about good versus evil, it's not us against them,'' she continues. ''I'm sure he watched many other sci-fi creations [before creating TOS] and thought, ''There's not enough characterization. There's not enough motivation. Let's bring that all in. Let's go boldly to other planets, where maybe there's polka-dotted people or whatever, and be able to talk about love and war and god and Sex and nature and all these things that create and make-up the human condition."
It's too early to tell whether the captain/science officer/doctor triumvirate or some new dynamic will be the emotional center of Enterprise, Blalock says. "We don't know yet. We can only assume. What I'd really like to happen is that same loyalty and that trust. As of right now, it's completely different. But everything needs a place to go to, everything needs a place to come from and to build from."

At present, this is what Blalock knows for her certain about her character: ''T'Pol is a Vulcan. She's second in command. First officer- she's Sub Commander T'Pol, science officer. Vulcan's live a lifespan of over 200 years. T'Pol is about 65, so I'm older than anyone else on the crew. Green blooded, of course with the pointy ears. I think when Gene Roddenberry introduced Spock in the pilot he had almost like a Satanistic feel, with the pointy ears and the bowl cut, and the intense eyes, so that was a little freaky. I think I resemble more of a pixie than Satan," she laughs.

In some respects Blalock notes, her Vulcan first officer doesn't resemble Spock at all. ''She's very feminine, she's feline in her movements." The actress offers a heart felt defense of T'Pol's somewhat aloof attitude toward the Enterprise's captain and other crew: "She's cautious dealing with humans. I know a lot of people want to think that because Vulcan's are a superior race, they look at humans as an inferior race. And humans may be less capable, but the thing is, she doesn't look at them in any condescending way, not at all. It's just if you were dealing with someone who is less competent than you, you would be more cautious. You're aware of that fallibility. There's nothing condescending about it, you're protecting yourself and protecting the mission.''

Naturally many of T'Pol's colleagues don't share her point of view including Scott Bakula's Captain Archer. "There is some conflict [among the characters],'' Blalock acknowledges with a laugh. ''I seem to suck the air out of Archer's hunger for adventure. And I don't mean to do that. You can be zealous and crave adventure and want to go boldly where no man has gone before, but there's also a protocol, there's a way to go about things. So really T'Pol is the voice of reason, she's the voice of experience, she's the voice of responsibility, and usually in the midst of this joy and the thrill of the adventure, the last voice you want to hear."

In person Blalock comes across as animated, warm, high-spirited - in shod, not at all Vulcan. What's it like for her to play someone who keeps all emotion in check? "It's been challenging for me because I'm very expressive,'' Blalock relates, 'but it's opening up avenues that I didn't know I was capable of doing well. It's taking things to such an acute level, where it's just all in the eyes. You can say everything that you need to say in the eyes, because language itself is so limiting. There's so much to say in words, but how much can words really express? I find in my own personal life there are words that I always want to say but the only thing that comes out is "Mmmp". So anytime in [Real Life] I want to talk about what I feel or anytime I'm faced with confrontation or anytime I'm faced with "What do you think?" nothing comes out. [Playing T'Pol], if you can just be present, say what you want with your presence, with your eyes with your intention, the message gets across more potently, because when your talking to someone, there's not really much you can say that they don't already know. I love the fact that T'Pol can just say everything with her eyes and her presence."

Again, Blalock feels that T'Pol's wordless reprimands should not give offence to erring humans:
"Really, it's a compliment to everyone else on the crew, because she knows they know better."
So far Blalock hasn't been personally involved in any heavy-duty action sequences, although she'd like to join some frays: "God I hope", she laughs, although it may not be anytime soon. "They won't let me do my own stunts yet, but they said like seven years from now, on the last day I might be able to."
It is rumored that one point in the development of Enterprise, T'Pol was actually intended to be a younger version of ST: TOS' T'pau. Blalock confides that her performance draws inspiration from the earlier character. "It's not written that way, but I'm playing it that way. This is completely a personal choice, it has nothing to do with the writers or the creative [arc of Enterprise] - in my favorite episode, Amok time T'pau is a Vulcan High priestess, and there was something about her that I've always loved. It's just made an impression on me and after getting this role, that's what I want to portray." Can she imagine T'Pol becoming like T'pau in about a hundred years? "Yes Absolutely".

Blalock says she'd love to compare notes about both the fact of playing a Vulcan and the likelihood of becoming a pop culture icon with a man who surely has much to say on the subject. "If there's anyone I would want to take from and who I have taken from, it's Leonard Nimoy in his portrayal of Spock. If I were to ask him one question, I would ask, 'How does it feel to know you're going to live beyond your years [as a cult figure]?' How does it feel? I don't know. I really want to [meet with Nimoy] - that's my request. A soon as I get sometime to breathe, I would love to, if I could find somebody to set it up.

Blalock has played mythical characters before notably, Medea in the NBC miniseries Jason and the Argonauts, as well as appearing with Enterprise's Dr Phlox a.k.a. John Billingsley- an episode of the US fantasy series G vs. E. Enterprise however is her ideal Television Job: "I couldn't dream of being a part of a better drama," she enthuses. "There's so much content.''

Not wanting to seem immodest Blalock nevertheless thinks that it's possible she was destined to play T'Pol: "I know that they looked for this girl for over a year and I know that the characters was in development for about two years, and they looked at everyone. And it's not that someone else was less deserving - I believe everyone was deserving - but think maybe on a higher level, above casting, "Oh this person is right," maybe there's something bigger here. It's called fate and timing. Like, I said growing upon the original Star Trek, there's a dream that Gene Roddenberry had that I feel in my soul, in my own personal life, spiritually it's a great dream to be part of."