Happy Star Trek Day! Today in history Star Trek The Original Series first aired 41 years ago at 8:30PM EST! It was only fitting this special day would be the day that we release the cast list for Star Trek: The Continuing Mission.

Star Trek: The Continuing Mission has launched an updated version of the website at www.continuingmission.com today and along with it the most major news release yet.

NOW AVAILABLE! The cast names with biographies and who they are playing, more information about the pilot, an hour long podcast with an appearance by a cast member are all on the site!

The episode artwork is also available for download on our official website.

Yesterday, Andy and I released a short discussion podcast that covered various aspects of plot development and pre-production which is also available in our downloads section!

Keep checking the official website and don’t forget to sign up to our forum at www.continuingmission.com/forum

 

NOW HEAR THIS!

A few weeks ago a good friend and fellow Star Trek enthusiast, Andy Tyrer, asked me if I would be interested in working with him on a new audio Star Trek production. We discussed the project at length and many hours later had hammered out in generalities what we wanted.

I took on the role of co-executive producer and began working with Andy on the pilot episode, characters and what we wanted this show’s vision to be. We are now ready to cast our 8 characters, the command crew of the new Trieste class, USS Montana.

We are looking for adult voices. This show is being produced by people with audio and film production experience. The writing, which has so far been a collaboration or singular effort of Andy and myself is also the work of experienced and dedicated scribes. To top it all off we the producers have the Star Trek enthusiasts at our core fuelling the whole enterprise!

Visit our site at WWW.CONTINUINGMISSION.COM

We are looking for 8 main cast members to fill the boots and voices of the crew of the USS Montana. Crew members include Captain Paul Edwards, Commander Darius Locke, Lt. Commander Thomas Plumber, Lt. Commander Jack Maguire, Doctor Kyle Wilson, Lt. Stephen Knight, The beautiful Lt. Numi Natusukov, and Helmsman Ensign William Palmer…

See www.continuingmission.com/crew.htm for details about each crew member!

We are looking for guest stars for every show, so even if you are not interested in becoming a series regular or you read for a part and we don’t choose you chances are you will be asked to come back in a guest starring role!

Email us at continuingmission@gmail.com

Be a part of the NEXT Star Trek series!

-Sebastian Prooth & Andy Tyrer

A few months ago I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Robert Picardo and it has taken more than 5 months to pull it all together as Mr. Picardo’s schedule and mine have been very full. Mr. Picardo eventually decided that it would be easier for him to actually record the answers to questions that I send him so he could do it between appearances or stage calls or whatever and that turned out to work perfectly. It would a pleasure to speak to Mr. Picardo live and hopefully something can be arranged in the future.

I would like to thank Robert Picardo’s assistant / webmaster Pat for being so patient and helpful helping me pull of this interview and getting my initial request to Mr. Picardo. “The Doctor” on Star Trek Voyager has always been a character that was dear to me as he was always putting his foot in it. He reminds me of myself in that way!

I would like to thank Mr. Picardo for graciously answering all of my questions and actually working through them, it was a true treat to have worked on this project with him.

I hope everyone enjoys the interview. I know it has been a long time in the coming. As a taster treat my interview with Michael Westmore went very well and I am still in the process of transcribing that one! Look for more big actors coming soon, and branching beyond Star Trek. Think CSI… think.. Boston Legal

You have had quite an impressive career as an actor and as well as releasing musical albums and working with the Planetary Society. What remains the most fulfilling thing in your life?

I would have to say being a father and a husband..they remain the most fulfilling things. Next to that I would point to very challenging work on stage. Those have been the times that I remember feeling most gratified as an artist as they are the most technical demanding.

Do you prefer to act on stage or on a TV soundstage?

I love working in all media. I love working in theater, movies and television. I also like to appear on stage at personal experiences and just try to make people laugh and tell them stories as myself. I just think that the most demanding situation for an actor is to play a leading role on a stage especially if the role is very challenging. For example last fall I played the leading character in an Arthur miller play called “broken Glass” – It was a late career Miller play and not his greatest but it was a very demanding role and extremely dramatic. It is a great feeling as an actor to feel like you are riding a great wave of emotion and technique that helps to carry you through a performance.

-Having said that it is also very challenging to have to shoot 12 pages of a television script with reams of dialogue especially if you are playing a computer programme that speaks in paragraphs rather than individual sentences. There are all sorts of challenges an actor faces and they each have their particular demands. I began acting working on stage and that is still more gratifying when I have the opportunity to do it.

What is your take on the “Roddenberry Vision” of the future?

I am proud to have been part of the Star Trek saga and I think it presents a very positive view of the future where man kind and other alien races work in harmony. It is also a time where technology serves man rather than serves to destroy it. I think it gives us hope that we seem to need more desperately now than ever. In the wake of 9-11 in a world where terrorism threatens everyone’s daily life and also threatens the personal liberties of Westerners because it is such a difficult thing to protect all of us from. I think that we need more than ever to focus on the kind of hope and positive vision that Star Trek represents.

Have you had any thoughts about the upcoming Star Trek feature that supposedly will involve a “reboot” back to The Original Series?

I am happy that the franchise will be re-vitalised in 2008 which will be directed by JJ Abrams who did a marvelous job on Mission Impossible III and I think he’s a great talent and a really good choice to reboot the franchise. I do understand that it is supposed to be Kirk and Spock as younger men just completing their Starfleet training and I think it is a very good notion to do with the franchise. It certainly worked with Batman Begins and even though they will be using a completely different cast of actors if it revitalises the franchise all of the Star Trek family will benefit from it.

Did you have the foreknowledge that the character would grow or did you think the EMH would never leave the sickbay set?

I had no idea that the doctor would become such an integral character. In fact when I took the role I told all of my friends that I just got a good job on the new Star Trek show and it will probably run seven years and would put my daughters through college…but I had the worst character on the show. When you accept a role that is described as “colourless, humouless, a computer programme of a doctor” you don’t necessarily have great expectations for how the character will develop. What I didn’t realize, because I wasn’t familiar with Star Trek at the time was that the artificial intelligence characters kind of replaced Spock as the outsider character who is not human but aspires to be human. In the same sense that Data became a breakout character on Star Trek TNG I think the Doctor captured the audience’s imagination and the writers responded by giving me (The Doctor) wonderful things to do.

I remember when they first proposed liberating me from sickbay with the mobile emitter, I thought it wasn’t a good idea. I thought the character’s popularity was linked to his limitations and the challenge it was to try and exceed them. I thought that if he had the mobile emitter he would become just like the other characters and I have said it before and will again [Executive Producer / Writer] Brannon Braga was right and I was wrong.

We share a favourite episode of Voyager, “Nothing Human.” It is an excellent drama piece that involves the EMH working with another holographic doctor whose work just happens to be grounded in medical impropriety. I also understand that the guest star David Clennon is a longtime, personal friend of yours. Can you describe what it was like doing such a heavy, responsible character piece?

He is a longtime friend of mine, in fact he just called me two hours ago and I owe him a call back!

Nothing Human in my estimation is Star Trek at its best. It enables the viewer to examine an important moral question without the contemporary trappings of the question. You can really examine the core issue that was in this case: Is an advancement in medicine tainted by the manner in which it was accomplished?

Do you have a responsibility not to use those discoveries in respect to those who might have suffered or died as a result?

I think it is a very dramatic piece and I have shown clips from it at a medical ethics panel at the Yale School of Medicine a little over a year ago. I believe it was the 40^th anniversary of NASA in a panel discussion that I showed two clips from Star Trek Voyager. I showed clips from “Message in a Bottle” – the Andy Dick episode and clips from the episode in question, “Nothing Human” for drama.

There are some wonderful questions that are raised in my arguments with the Krel Moset (Clennon) such as the hyposcay of medical experiments on lower animals yet we are shocked by someone experimenting on people (in this case Bajorans.)

Another related episode, “Critical Care”, this race of people assigns medical treatment according to the perceived worth to their society of the ailing individual.

What did you consider the worst “The Doctor” episode of Voyager?

My personal least favourite was called “Warhead” in which a sentient bomb commandeers the Doctor’s holographic programme. The Doctor becomes a walking bomb. I remember this episode least fondly because I had to do a lot of yelling and screaming and looking nasty which gets quite tiresome after a while. Originally the bomb was supposed to be a gueststar and I think the producers decided to just turn it into the Doctor because they saved a gueststar’s salary. That is my personal theory, I could be wrong, but knowing Paramount I am probably not.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Andre Bormanis who mentioned you while discussing his involvement in the Planetary Society. How long have you been involved with the society and what do you do with them?

The first time I was asked to participate in a fundraiser for the Planetary Society was a reading of a selection from Ray Bradbury to honour him. I believe it was in 1998, there were a number of readers and it was a wonderful evening. Two of the three founding members called me and asked me to become a member of the advisory board of the Planetary society. From their point of view, they liked that I had access to a science fiction audience and was recognisable to that audience and that I could help bring their message, their mission statement of encouraging the exploration of space and the various governments to strengthen their mandates in both manned and robotic exploration of space.

So I have been involved with the advisory board for about 8 years now. I have been involved in promoting “Red Rover Goes to Mars” which was designed to stimulate young people and their interest in space exploration. I encourage anyone reading this interview to type in” www.planetarysociety.org and see what is happening in space!

When you are not learning lines for your next show, acting or singing how do you spend your time?

I love to spend time with my children. I have two teenage daughters one 15 and half and one eighteen. I love to do stuff with them. My wife, Linda is also great company. I love to cook, I have been cooking my whole life so cooking is a hobby. I also enjoy working out, smoking cigars, reading and hanging out with friends.

What was it like to work with Andy Dick? How did you two get any work done around the laughter?

It was a hoot to work with Andy Dick! I remember the first thing he said to me was “So you name…Bob Picardo it’s kind of funny..do you get teased by Star Trek fans because it is so close to Captain Picard?” And I said, wait a minute your name is Andy Dick and you’re making fun of my name? He laughed at that and from that point on we had a lot of laughs together. I think it was one of the two funniest Voyager episodes I had a significant involvement in, the other being Tinkor Tenor [Doctor Spy]. Also it is the episode I remember having the most lines I suggested make it to screen. I proposed six jokes to Brannon Braga during the shooting – my favourite one being an exchange between the Doctor and the EMH Mark II (Andy Dick) where the Doctor says: “Stop breathing down my neck!” and the EMH Mark II replies, “my breathing is merely a simulation” and the Doctor retorts, “so is my neck, stop it anyway!” I thought this was pretty funny “hologram to hologram” type humor.

What is the difference between the science fiction productions of Stargate Vs. Star Trek? I have always thought the production standards of Star Trek were so high. What is your take as an actor / director?

The thing I have noticed the most about working on Stargate is their set seems to be a little more relaxed than ours. Their producers come down to the set more often and they are not off in an ivory tower the way the producers on Voyager were. We didn’t see them as often as they were on the other side of the lot from the soundstage. I think there is a kind of a mellower, more relaxed feeling working on Stargate. This is not to say I didn’t have a wonderful time working on Star Trek but I just wouldn’t call it a mellow experience!

I love my guest appearances on Stargate and I think they have taken a character that started out as a bad guy, Richard Woolsey and have humanised him somewhat. He is still a stick in the mud and annoys people but at least he means well. He is truly committed to civilian oversight of secret military operations. He believes in that and is committed to it. Now that they have given him as a director of the IOC, they have given me a lot of latitude for appearances in the show.

There was one day when we were shooting the episode “The Scurge” – my character is yelling at Carter, and in the middle of reaming her out the line was: “I’m going to report you to Stargate Command!” and of course I said “I’m going to report you to Star Trek Command” Then all 120 people on the soundstage burst into laughter as I turned beat red. I suppose that was an error that had to be made at least once, and it struck me as odd that I didn’t say Starfleet Command I said Star Trek which was obviously a phrase we weren’t supposed to be uttered on screen. Well that was a mistake and it was a funny one and I hope I don’t make it again!

As far as what the difference between the shows: I don’t feel like I can generalise in that respect. The shows have different styles. I think there is much more tounge-in-cheek in a regular Stargate episode than there was in an average Voyager episode. I think they handle the humor quite well but they do go out on a limb in that direction more than we did in Trek.

What is the key to good television directing?

Gee! If I knew that I probably would have directed more! I only directed two Voyager episodes and had a terrific time doing it, particularly the second one I did. It was “One Small Step” which was a tribute to the early years of Space Exploration. It dove tailed well with my passionate involvement with the Planetary Socety. We had a great guest star, Phil Morris who was a wonderful actor he did a great job.

I think the key is preparation, to stay on schedule because if you fall behind it will hurt you at the end. I think preparation, pace and of course having a good relationship with your actors.

What kind of character do you most enjoy playing?

I love variety. I like playing the character with the best sense of humor in a drama show. Rather than do an out and out comedy, I enjoy doing a show that is a drama but having a character that has a good sense of humor, and has the potential for humor. I think that describes my characters from both China Beach and Star Trek Voyager.

The Doctor in Voyager could be in a script that was very dramatic and the audience would believe and follow his journey but he could also be the heart of a very comic episode. There was a great deal of potential in his illusions about himself as a character. His arrogance and his puffed up nature as a character. When the chips were down he could drop a lot of his self-image problems and really deliver the goods.

If I had to choose a character as an actor it is playing a character that the audience at first doesn’t like yet they grow to like as the show progresses. Even characters like “Coach Cutler” on the “Wonder Years” even though he is much stupider than most of the characters I have played, he’s very obnoxious but so obviously insecure the audience starts to like him in spite of his first impression.

The episode of Star Trek that you share story credit with John Bruno, “Life Line” was a tremendous technical achievement with the motion control. What made you collaborate on an episode for Star Trek? Do you have other literary aspirations?

I am very proud of that story idea. It really was taking one of my favourite plays “I never sang for my father” and adapting it to the computer programme and the engineer who designed him. In other words, why not do a father / son drama where the father is the designer of a piece of technology and the technological offspring has somehow disappointed his creator by not being what he thought he was creating. There are the same issues of dissapointment from each side, why aren’t you proud of me for what I have accomplished? What can’t you accept me as I am? The father’s point of view: Why aren’t you what I designed you to be? What aren’t you what you what I hoped you would be? – after working so hard, why didn’t you turn out the way I hoped you would.

I think those issued worked very well in the Star Trek setting. There was quite a bit of motion control for a TV show of that era. It made it very difficult to shoot. I was constantly acting with an actor that I have always admired and always wanted to work with……me.

It did get a little boring to do both sides of the scene as you are only imagining the performance on the other side. You are making eye-contact with nothing and it is very very technical. But I am proud of how it turned out.

Did you consider getting involved with Tim Russ’s (Tuvok) “Star Trek of Gods and Men?” As we speak they are trying to acquire rights to make it an official CBS Star Trek production!

I love Tim Russ and I think he is enormously talented. I was not asked to take part in that particular project although I have worked with him on others and I hope to work with him in the future. I have not seen it but I have heard it looks good. I hope they manage to get as wider audience as possible. As I said earlier any Star Trek helps all Star Trek! That’s my honest opinion.

Do you consider yourself politically active? For instance do you publicly back any particular party?

I am a from the cradle liberal democrat. I find this to be a very exciting time as we have a lot of potential candidates for the next election. I have not, at this point, become active in this campaign. I am really looking forward to recapturing the white house and trying to fix as many of the disastrous problems that have been created over the last 8 years.

What’s next for Robert Picardo?

I am working on a movie for the cartoon network called “Ben Ten and the Hand of Armageddon.” Ben Ten is a popular animated series which I have appeared in voice only but this is a live action version. Lee Majors is starring in the production and I am playing Ben’s Middle School principal who starts out as a jerk and turns out to be a really nice guy. There is a perfect example of a character you don’t like and then learn to like.

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If you have any questions about this interview or its contents please email questions@sebrt.com - Mr. Picardo has plans to read this interview so any comments you make on the interview may be read by Mr. Picardo himself, although this is not guaranteed. No part of this interview may be reproduced without my permission and it is copyright Sebastian Prooth 2007.

I want to apologise to all of you who are expecting to see another chapter of the late Star Trek writer and producer, Michael Piller’s unpublished book. I just received a letter from Paramount’s lawyers, which will explain why I’m unable to post it (see below)

Dear Mr. Prooth:

I am writing on behalf of CBS Studios Inc., successor in interest to Paramount Pictures Corporation’s rights in the STAR TREK franchise (”CBS Studios”). CBS Studios understands and greatly appreciates the fact that the STAR TREK series’ strong fan base is a crucial element of its long term success. In that regard, CBS Studios is supportive of its fans’ desire to share and communicate information about the series. However, as rights owner, CBS Studios is obligated to protect its rights in the series, both for itself and for the large community of people involved in creating the series, including the talent, artists, producers and writers. CBS Studios therefore seeks to strike a balance between encouraging legitimate use and discouraging infringements of valuable rights.

It has come to our attention that you are posting chapters of Michael Piller’s unpublished book entitled “Fade In: From Idea to Final Draft, The Writing of Star Trek Insurrection“ on various websites. As copyright owner, CBS Studios is entitled to exclusive rights concerning copying, duplication and distribution, among other rights. Accordingly, CBS Studios cannot permit your posting and distributing this book. We respectfully request that you voluntarily remove the content from your websites at www.sebrt.com and http://tektrekgamer.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/michael-piller-chapter.pdf and any other site for which you are responsible and agree to refrain from posting this in the future.

We trust that you understand our concerns over CBS Studios’ rights and will cooperate with us by complying with our requests within three (3) days of your receipt of this letter without the need for further action. Should you chose to ignore these requests, we will have no option but to contact your ISP demanding the immediate removal of the copyrighted material pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me at the number above should you have any questions.

The foregoing is without waiver of any and all rights of CBS Studios Inc., all of which are expressly reserved herein.

Sincerely,

Mallory Levitt

After reading the book, I see how far away Star Trek has strayed from Gene Rodenberry’s vision and I realise Paramount will do anything to suppress in their view such archaic ideas. Principal photography on the new Star Trek movie starts in two weeks with a unwelcome view of the future and they don’t want to be reminded of a battle that they thought was gone.

In 1969, when the original TV show was cancelled, a hundred thousand fans wrote in and their complaints were met with deaf ears at Paramount Pictures. In 2007 there are millions and millions Trek enthusiasts who potentially have power to influence Paramount and CBS to finally release the book as Michael Piller requested, days before he died.

Last week CBS gave reprieve to the cancelled TV show “Jericho” when fans protested here’s the story…

http://www.startribune.com/459/v-print/story/1230719.html

Ironically, my last post had to do with the power that bloggers now have. The time has come for millions of bloggers to unite…for e-mailers and letter writers to bombard Sumner Redstone at Paramount and CBS until Michael Piller’s book is released.

We all deserve to look inside “Rodenberry’s Box” (which I won’t be able to post) all comments will be appreciated and passed along on to Sumner Redstone.

To our future…

-Sebastian Prooth

For our  “Advanced Guide to Blogging” go to www.guidetoadvancedblogging.com

Bloggers are influencing the political, technology, show business and personal communities and their effect is staggering. As the numbers grow from the 70 million bloggers that exist now, imagine what kind of storm they will be creating next year. The availability of information on a blog and the immediacy of which it is published has serious power, power enough to influence public elections and alter perceptions.

Recently, I was thinking about closing my blog since I was trying to become a serious journalist, but then I realized that I have been given an opportunity really help change the world. Since playing field has been evened out we all have a chance to communicate at warp speed in ways that no one has done or gone before. You all know that I have been excited about the late Star Trek writer and producer Michael Piller’s book that I have been entrusted with. I realize now that with millions of fellow Star Trek fans that if each one told another enthusiast that the entire community would be enlightened! I have had the opportunity to read the entire book and I can promise you all that it has changed my life. It is important that each of you who are inspired as I am, blog about it. In fact I would like you to share something that Michael said in an interview that continues to inspire me:

When we conceived this idea (1998, Star Trek Insurrection) it was at a time in my career and in Star Trek that I saw the franchise moving away, perhaps, and a lot of people felt this way, by necessity, moving away from Gene Roddenberry’s philosophy of Gene (Roddenberry) I had a very simple goal as a writer for this film: I wanted to do one for Gene.

…I thought I had a responsibility as the keeper of the flame. I wanted it to be optimistic about the future, the way gene Roddenberry would have appreciated it! –Michael Piller, 2005.

Not only can assimilate the information we are given in our own collective consciousness but the philosophy that we all know and believe in could change the course of the future for the better.

If you don’t have know how to blog and make your voice heard around the world wide web my friend Artie Wayne and I have come up with an idea for you. We both believe in the power of blogging which is why we wrote a 25 page booklet, Guide to Advanced Blogging that shows you how to write better, use effective headlines and tags strong enough to land your article on page one of Google searches.

If you want to know more information about the Guide to Advanced Blogging please click here.

Now here this: There will be another fascinating chapter from Michael Piller’s unpublished, unknown and unavailable book that chronicles the writing of Star Trek Insurrection with a look inside “Roddenberry’s Box”…In Michael’s own Words! 

Right here THURSDAY at MIDNIGHT UTC!

Copyright 2007. Sebastian Prooth.

To reach Artie Wayne: http://artiewayne.wordpress.com

As I promised you, the new crew, here’s your chance to continue the voyages the late Star Trek mastermind, Michael Piller began. This is your chance to read one of the pivotal chapters in the unpublished, unsettled and unreleased Michael Piller book chronicling the writing of Star Trek Insurrection. Assimilate it while you can! While you are here, don’t forget to check out my Star Trek compendium with loads of interviews, commentaries and more!

AS PER PARAMOUNT’S REQUEST ON THE 13^TH JUNE 2007, I HAVE REMOVED MICHAEL PILLER’S UNPUBLISHED BOOK FROM WWW.SEBRT.COM  - SEB’S RAW TAKES

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End left me more than stone cold…it left me, shall I say, stone-crab cold?

The film opens with a scene that, in my opinion does not belong in a film with a 12 rating. The villain in this film is hardly defined in the plot and the decision of who the true villain’s identity is left very much to the viewer’s discretion. If you choose the character of Cutler Beckett as the main bad guy I would have to say he has less fear inducing power than a blind guy with an unloaded gun.

As I watched the film I found myself predicting what was going to happen next and usually I was right. I was excited at so few points in the film, I can point them out in my memory which is somewhat of a whirlwind…or should I say, whirlpool at this point. The scene where it is discovered that someone among them who belongs to neither side and the humor that accompanies it comes early in the film and remains one of the high points throughout.

Depp’s character, Jack Sparrow is on his best form as a bumbling idiot in this, the latest and in my opinion worst installment of the Pirates franchise. As a film producer myself I can comment on the scale of the film and how obvious the blue screen on the ships is. When Keira Knightley’s character is promoted to King of the Pirate Brethren I realised that the writers of this film really had run out of ideas when wrote the last film.

The usual super display of CGI effects from Industrial Light and Magic including the stunning “Davey Jones” character will not disappoint the film viewer who is only interested in the graphics budget however the film lacks the substance of Pirates of the Caribbean I and the soul of Pirates of the Caribbean II. All in all, it is unlikely that there will be a Pirates of the Caribbean IV, at least, not one that I will jumping up and down to see.

Although you see Jack Sparrow on his own in a tiny boat at the end of the film, you can’t help but wonder if they have set it up for a sequel or if they are proclaiming that, as the first Pirates film began with Jack alone on a tiny (sinking) boat it is only fitting that the last should end with him in the same position.

It is so difficult to choose an angle to praise someone for whom you have the greatest respect. This is my gift to one of the twentieth century’s most talented writers. This is a name that only a few of the most privileged have got to use in person. This is a name that so many have read on their television screens and simply shrugged off as so often producers and writers are.

Michael Piller was relatively unknown to me until the beginning of last year, sure I had watched the special interviews with him and noted him for a strange presence that seemed to speak to me and until recently, I never knew why. It was not until the middle of last year when I opened a book that had been on my shelf for what seems like decades without being touched, The Making of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Held within the pages of this rather non-descript book are little jewels of information that someone wanting to write drama for episodic television, especially Star Trek cannot live without! I learned that Michael ran a program to make it easier for young screen writers to get started! The news couldn’t have been better, but I was twelve years late reading the book, seven years late for writing for Deep Space Nine and unfortunately seven months late to impress Michael Piller who had died the previous November.

I stopped thinking about it for a while as for most of 2006 my Star Trek interest lay dormant but around December my interest peaked again. I had to do something about “this writing thing” of mine which was fast becoming my life. I would speak to members of the Star Trek family about their experiences with Michael and they would always tell me of a gentle man, somewhat gruff to those he didn’t know, but with a towering intellect. None of this was getting me any closer to Michael, and without sounding crazy that is what my heart most wanted. I knew deep down that I had to get to a place that I could receive this gift that I was sure Michael had left for me. The answer came to me with a sudden jolt, I should contact Michaels ex-assistant, Eric Stillwell. I did a little research and came up with a method of contact and within 24 hours I was talking and interviewing Eric. We spoke of our mutual admiration for Michael and his work and after 5 hours on the phone Eric told me of a book that Michael had written chronicling his experiences writing Star Trek’s 9^th feature film, Insurrection.

What had seemed cloudy the day before began to reveal itself before me, all of this was for a purpose! When Eric told me of the book, and that it was one of Michael’s final wishes that the book be made available to the public for free online I told him that I wanted to be the one to be involved. That would be my gift to Michael and in some way, I believed it would be Michael’s gift to me. It was decided in those early hours and we are in the producing stage now. The book will delight Star Trek fans and give new, relevant insight into the creation of a Star Trek feature screenplay.

I invite you the new crew to continue the voyages that Michael Piller began. It is to us that he committed his legacy. With his overwhelming spirit Michael empowers us to boldly go where no one has gone before!

-Sebastian Prooth. Copyright 2007.

This following is an excerpt from the book that remains unpublished and its ownership unsettled. The book is secure in my possession. I am of course referring to the book mentioned in my tribute to our hero, Michael Piller.

“Rick Berman wasn’t sure that I’d want the job. The first thing he said when he came into my office was, “Don’t say ‘no’ until I finish talking.” And when he finished talking about his hopes for the next Star Trek movie, he asked me if I would be interested in writing it, and I surprised him by saying ‘yes.’ It may seem odd that anyone would even consider passing on a chance to write a feature film, but Rick knew I’d been moving away from the Star Trek franchise for the last couple of years.

I had been in space with Rick for almost a decade. We first met at a lunch with Gene Roddenberry and Maurice Hurley, the head writer of The Next Generation during its first two seasons. Hurley was leaving the show and thought I might be a candidate to replace him. I wasn’t hired at that lunch (Rick and Gene had already hired another friend of mine, Michael Wagner), but I did agree to write a script for the coming season.

My agent was furious. Writing a free-lance script would look like I hadn’t been able to find a staff job. No show would ever hire me as a staff writer again, he said. But I really wanted to write a Star Trek script so I ignored my agent’s advice. Today, in his lovely new home, he’s happy I did.” –Michael Piller.

I recently heard the Nickelback song “If Everyone Cared” and was both shocked and uplifted by this, their latest release. “If Everyone Cared” carries a similar message as Lionel Richie’s and Michael Jackson’s inspiring “We Are the World” of 1984 and even makes references to Live Aid. It is an incredible example of a modern, socially conscious band and although Nickelback were already a successful and well liked group this masterpiece makes them unpredictable and unstoppable.

After watching the music video above in excess of 60 times in the last two weeks I have a few comments as an American living abroad. I find it very interesting how in this Canadian Band’s video there was little or no reference to events that have taken place inside or because of the United States. I am referring to such monumental events as the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King and the turbulent decades of the Civil Rights Movement. Although I am a patriotic American I am aware that my countrymen are among the most violent and combative people on this small planet. I think it is possible that Nickelback in their writing wisdom opted not to show American events in order to avoid offending Americans by not mentioning the politically correct tragedy of the week. This song, among other messages tells us that our problems are within us and and be fixed within us.

Although the lyrics of “If Everyone Cared” are somewhat over optimistic for the modern world it is truly a “We Are the World” an inspirational and uplifting anthem for the twenty-first century and beyond. I encourage all who read this to share this video and its message with those you love, and maybe, just maybe we might be able to play this song again in the twenty-second century.

For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal. – John F. Kennedy

Copyright 2007. Sebastian Prooth.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Andre Bormanis. Andre was not only a Science Consultant, Writer and Producer on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise, he is also an extremely accomplished and interesting guy in other ways!

A few weeks ago I managed to catch up with Andre as he is working on a few different writing projects and combing Hollywood for his next major gig!

Andre! It’s a pleasure to have you for an interview at SebRT.com – I don’t say this to everyone, but ever since I first saw you interviewed, I have wanted to talk to you.

We know what the job title was, but what exactly did you do on Star Trek?

I started as the science consultant on the final season of ST:TNG. I wrote about a half a dozen episodes of Voyager. I was brought on as a full time writer on Enterprise in 2001, and became a co-producer on that show during its fourth season.

I understand you worked as a writer on Brannon Braga’s Threshold. What would have happened if the show had not been cancelled after 13 episodes?

Threshold was a lot of fun. It was a terrific show…we had a great cast! It was a wonderful experience working on that, an opportunity to write a show set in the present day, which was a nice change of pace from Star Trek. I thought it was a terrific idea, based on this “contingency plan” that [lead character Molly Caffrey] created. She had to put together a group of mis-fit scientists. Clearly not squeaky clean! The character dynamics were just terrific. Unfortunately we only got to do 13 episodes. I would love to do a show like that again.

The plan that Molly created anticipated three phases if the aliens who contacted us were hostile. If the aliens established a base of operations on Earth we’d go to phase 2: Foothold. That was kind of what we imagined season 2 of the show would be about. If they actually ended up capturing most of the Earth we’d move to phase 3: Stranglehold. The human remnants would be fighting a guerrilla action against the aliens to take back the planet. That was just sort of a very rough outline of how the series might have developed. When you’re writing a TV show you can only get so far ahead of yourself! You don’t want to put yourself in a straight jacket and make the show dictated rather than written. You can buy the DVD box set, I encourage you all to do that J!

Describe a day in the life of a writer / producer on Star Trek.

Mostly my responsibilities involved developing stories, writing stories, and writing and re-writing scripts. At any given time there were 7 or 8 people on staff. For the first two seasons of Enterprise we did 26 episodes each season and we had to have a new script ready roughly every 10 days or so. We started writing about 5 weeks before the season began production. We had several stories figured out, initially; we tried to be 5 scripts ahead. As the season went on we tended to fall behind. The hard part is not writing the script, it’s coming up with the stories.

I understand that you have been working on a screenplay. What is it? And what is it about?

It’s a science fiction comedy. A two-hour, feature length movie. I wrote it with Clay Graham, who was the Executive Producer of The Drew Cary Show. We grew up together in Arizona. We wrote it last summer. It’s a present-day science fiction comedy about a group of people who meet in high school…they see a UFO… it haunts them. All of their plans for college and what they want to do with their lives fall apart. We move to 20 years later and the guys have become friends and are still kind of obsessed with this UFO. Then they see it again on CNN. The airforce says it’s a classified military experiment. Our guys know this is crap. So they decide to break into Area 51; they recruit a Vietnam veteran to get them in. Tonally it’s along the lines of Men in Black - that sort of humor.

I am holding your book “Star Trek Science Logs” – Interesting book. How did you come to write it?

It came out about ten years ago! I used to do a lot of magazine writing, popular science style. The science behind the science fiction was my job on Trek. I thought it would be fun to look at some of the science on the show and look at the basis in reality for some of the technology.

You had writing credit on an interesting episode of Star Trek Voyager, “Waking Moments.” What made you choose to write about dreaming? Do you dream lucidly yourself?

I used to have lucid dreams…I have not had them for a number of years now. I was thinking about a possible story for Chakotay. Given that he has a Native American heritage I thought this would be a good area for him. I pitched it to Jeri Taylor and then I sat down in the writers room and we broke the story. Ken Biller helped a lot on the script.

Did (Do) you find yourself gravitating to a particular character to write for?

On Star Trek: Voyager I really liked Seven of Nine, and Tuvok and Chakotay. On Enterprise, Phlox, Trip, Archer and T’Pol were fun to write for. As I evolved as a writer I started to devise stories as journeys and conflicts among the characters, rather than starting with a science fiction premise…

I understand you’re trying to get signed onto a new show at the moment. What shows would you like to work on? In what role?

My goal is to be a writer / producer again, as I was on Threshold. There are a lot of pilots being shot right now. There are several that look interesting. It is hard to say at this juncture what shows are going to get picked up. It’s a little early to start picking winners at this point. Bryan Fuller who worked on Voyager wrote a new pilot that looks really good. If that goes to series I would really like to work on it.

Tell me about The Planetary Society. I understand you work with Star Trek Voyager’s Robert Picardo there…

The Planetary Society was founded over twenty-five years ago by Carl Sagan to promote public interest in space science and exploration. Bob Picardo is on the Board. I’ve worked with them over the years as an informal consultant, and a writer for their magazine. We do a lot of public education, conferences, special events to celebrate milestones in space exploration – it’s a great group, well worth supporting. Check out their website at www.planetary.org.

What excites you about physics and astronomy?

So many things! The discovery of extra-solar planets – one was just found that could be “Class-M” as we used to say on Star Trek: Earth-like. There’s a new particle accelerator that’s being built in Europe that will hopefully answer some basic questions about the origin of matter. These are exciting times in science.

I understand that you are an accomplished pianist…what is your style?

Mid-nineteenth through early twentieth century classical, but I’ve been learning modern jazz lately too. I love Chopin, Satie, Ravel, Gershwin, and Burt Bacharach.

Can you recommend any books to people who want to do what you do?

In terms of writing for film and television, “Story” by Robert McKee is pretty good. You can also buy lots of published screenplays these days. Read all the classics: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Chinatown, and anything else you can get your hands on. Pay close attention to how they’re written, particularly in terms of structure and dialog.

Do you have any advice or helpful tips for young people wanting to produce/write [for TV or film]?

Keep writing. The only way to get good at it is to do it day after day, year after year. Most of what anyone writes is junk. The people who eventually succeed are the ones who keep working, keep improving their craft.

One last question, I am asking everyone this at the moment: What are your thoughts about Star Trek XI and would you be interested in working on it?

I hope it’s a great success. I’m really looking forward to seeing it. I wouldn’t be particularly interested in working on it though. I spent thirteen years in the Star Trek universe. I’m interested in doing other things now.

What’s next for Andre Bormanis?

I wish I knew! But not knowing what’s next is part of the fun. Like most of our Star Trek characters, I believe that life should be an adventure. It’s not as much fun if you know everything that’s coming…

A very special thanks to you Andre for joining me, best of luck this season!

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If you would like to find out more about Andre Bormanis or read his credits please see his profile on IMDB. If you have any questions please send them to questions@sebrt.com and make any and all comments here with the comment button. Stay turned to SebRT.com for an interview with Robert Picardo, the holographic doctor!

Copyright 2007. Sebastian Prooth. www.SebRT.com