Speaking at UPN's Enterprise press conference yesterday, John Billingsley provided reporters with an explanation of why no members of Dr. Phlox's species were seen in any of the other series - they may all have been in hiding!

"My own sense of it is that [he's from] a planet of hyper-intellectual philosophers who have become so wedded to their intellects that they've sort of decided to in effect become monastic and retreat from the universe," Billingsley told the Sci Fi Wire. "And I'm one of the few who actually considers it valuable to go out and dig around. I'm as much an anthropologist as I am a physician. [...] I was part of the Vulcan Interspecies Medical Exchange Program."

Before being assigned to the Enterprise, Dr. Phlox was sent to Earth. Billingsley assumed this this was to look over the medical side of things. But while there, Phlox and his highly alien appearance were likely also being looked at with wonder by the human population.

"I've got three prosthetic pieces," Billingsley said. "I've got a forehead, ears and a chin, and all of that is painted over in a kind of burnt sienna and a mottled brown. So it's a sort of a striated and mottled complexion I have. And I have giant blue eyes. And my hair is pretty much my own, with one little piece that sort of augments it."

In addition to Billingsley, the conference was attended by all his fellow main cast members, and by producers such as Brannon Braga and Rick Berman. Berman revealed that he is taking much more of an active hand in the Series V writing process than he did for the other series. "Brannon and I wrote the pilot, and we've written the first and third hour episodes, and we're finding ourselves having a great time working together. Very much so."

A bit more from Berman can be found in the full Sci-Fi Wire article. This also includes some comments by Scott Bakula, who describes Jonathan Archer as "a brat of the space program" and talks about some of the fun encounters he had in his role. Also included is another set visit report, including the news that the helm will not only feature a joystick, but also an actual steering wheel.

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