20 posts tagged “sebrt”
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 40th 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 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
I would like to invite you to join me, Sebastian Prooth in a LIVE Q&A and DVD Commentary of Star Trek First Contact on April 28th 2007 at 8PM GMT, that is 3PM Eastern Time. Get there early because there are a limited number of places!
The session will require the participants to have the program Skype as the session will be a Skype Cast. It will cost you nothing to take part in the session.
You do not need to have a microphone if you do not wish to have the opportunity to speak during the Q and A.
The session can be reached here:
https://skypecasts.skype.com/skypecasts/skypecast/detailed.html?id_talk=697259
Click here for more of my Star Trek related work
Click here for a recorded DVD Commentary of Star Trek First Contact.
Welcome to Volume 1 of my Star Trek Compendium: Join me, Sebastian Prooth of Seb’s Raw Takes on a guided tour of my latest Star Trek blog entries and exclusive DVD commentaries you can download here for free! Please check below the main body of this post for my personal, recommended Star Trek links. If you haven’t already guessed from the content here, I am a Star Trek fan but I am more interested in learning from the production so that I can apply it as a writer / producer one of these days.
Make sure you bookmark Seb’s Raw Takes because there will be more interviews with Star Trek actors and production personnel very soon! Look forward to seeing Robert Picardo, the Emergency Medical Holographic Doctor from Star Trek Voyager interviewed here within the next month!
Interviews with the Star Trek Family
Dennis Madalone - Stunt Coordinator on Star Trek TNG, DS9 and Voyager
Dan Curry - Visual Effects Supervisor/Producer Star Trek TNG, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise
Rick Sternbach - Senior Illustrator on Star Trek TNG, DS9, and Voyager
Ronald B. Moore - Visual Effects Supervisor Star Trek TNG, Voyager, Generations and Enterprise
Andre Bormanis - Science Consultant Star Trek TNG and DS9, Co-Producer on Enterprise, Star Trek Writer, Author
Coming very soon. The interview is complete and is in the formatting stage! This is one of the best interviews yet from SebRT.com
EXCLUSIVE DVD Commentaries
Those of you who are new-comers to Seb’s Raw Takes might not know that I have produced 4 exclusive, full length, DVD commentaries for the Star Trek Movies following the TNG cast. The links to the posts with the downloadable commentaries are below.
Star Trek VIII – First Contact
Other Star Trek Writings and Links
Star Trek Only Chooses The Best! - My Thoughts about Star Trek XI
My Profile on the Star Trek Wiki – Memory-Alpha
Interviewed by Rico of the Treks in Sci Fi Podcast Show #112 - Download Mp3
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the interviewees for generously sharing their time with us, the Star Trek Community. I would also like to acknowledge Artie Wayne for the concept of these compendium blog posts. If there are any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.
First off, I would like to say, Happy First Contact Day! It is April 5th and in 56 years the Vulcans might land in Montana as long as the Borg don’t screw it up! (Kidding about the Vulcan thing, but it is supposed to be the day that Earth first makes contact with Earth on Star Trek)
This is the fourth downloadable commentary I have made available for download, the subject film, Star Trek Generations. Generations was the first feature film adventure for Star Trek The Next Generation cast. It has been, until recently, not one of my favourite Star Trek films. I used to think the writing was quite weak, didn’t like the Enterprise B scene etc. When I watched the film the other day to record this commentary, I noticed quite a few things I hadn’t seen before and hopefully it makes the commentary an interesting one.
I have not listened to the commentary myself yet but as far as I remember no major factual mistakes were made by me this time. One thing you may notice is for a great deal of the final act, I am pretty silent. I just didn’t have much to say in the character scenes between Picard and Kirk.
This is the last Star Trek TNG movie commentary left so from here, if I continue to record these, I would go for The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. If there are any episodes of Star Trek TNG or Voyager you would like commentary over, please drop me a line and I will put it on the list.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD STAR TREK GENERATIONS AUDIO COMMENTARY
Recently I had the pleasure of speaking to Ronald B. Moore, who was the Visual Effects Coordinator on Star Trek The Next Generation and Visual Effects Supervisor on Voyager and Enterprise. Throughout his entire career he has worked on films such as last years Miami Vice to the 1984 hit Ghostbusters! Ron has won 5 Emmys and been nominated for 9. Most recently Ron has lent his talent to the widely acclaimed “Star Trek New Voyages.” I spoke to him for a couple of hours for the interview, during which we talked extensively about motion control photography used in episodes like Endgame and Lifeline of Voyager. Ron is a fan of the show and truly an all around awesome guy to talk to and I was privileged to speak to him amongst his busy schedule.
Ron! Non one could be more welcome at SebRT.com, I had admired your work on Star Trek for years. Thank you for joining me for this short interview.
Are you working on the next Star Trek feature Star Trek XI?
It would be very unlikely. It’s all new people now. I’m glad to see JJ (Abrams) coming in and the names they have coming in. Like Matt Damon as Captain Kirk… They have huge shoes to fill. The charisma, the chemistry, of the original series will be hard to match.
Are you a fan of the show?
Oh yeah. Very much so! I never was able to get into Deep Space (Nine). I didn’t work on DS9. At the end of TNG I left to do Generations and then came back to do Voyager and then moved to Enterprise.
Do you get recognized in public ever?
Not really. I do have many friends and fans that I have met over the years at conventions and on the Trek cruises. It is always fun to run into them around the world. The cruises have taken me to many places and allowed me to meet many people in many countries. I consider this one of the best perks of all that I have received by working on Star Trek.
What effect that your produced stands in your memory?
There’s a show that was TNG, Identity Crisis. I know the director didn’t like it, but I loved it. I liked the concept of the show. We got on and it was a Friday, a complicated day, we were on stage 16 there was black light and dirt and dust. I remember sitting there and waiting for a shot that was really complicated. It was about 12:30AM and we started setting up the shot and it was just totally wrong. I wondered what I was going to do! I started moving things around - everything was crucial for the shadows and I got it set up. LeVar (Burton) came up to me and told me that he saw why we had to make the change.
How has the work you do evolved with the advancement of computers and technology?
It grew every season! Nothing is the same from TNG to where we ended up. When we started we were on 1 inch tape and Enterprise was shooting on digital!
What kind of work have you done for Star Trek New Voyages?
My work on New Voyages has been mostly consulting with the directors and some of the crew putting the latest episode together. I think it is a really great episode. Mark Zicree shot it in HD and the story is really good. I consider George Takei a friend and it is always good to work with him though sadly we didn’t spend much time together during this project. George has been on many of the Trek cruises I have been on. The latest episode of New Voyages in nearing completion. I believe they are having a screening in Florida at the end of March. There will be some work that needs to be done after but you should be able to see it before long.
Do you watch the show when it is on TV and say – ah, now that was a hard one to do!
It is fun to watch episodes I have worked on. Some make you think that you could have done better and others make you proud. I find it hard to watch some of the early episodes as we improved so much over the years. And yes, now and again I will see a shot that was hard and still wonder how we pulled it off in the time we had. Trek was a really great show to work on.
Did you ever work closely with Michael Piller?
I can’t say I worked closely with Michael but did work with him on the Trek shows. I have a lot of respect for what he added to the show and the work he did after. He was a highlight to the years I did work with him on Trek. He is missed.
What are you working on at the moment?
I spend some time last year working on Smallville and Miami Vice and a few other projects working with a company in Santa Monica. At the end of the year and the first of this year I have been involved with Rush Hour 3 doing some visual effects editing and producing. It has kept me busy but I am also involved in looking for another project to get into.
Do you have any exciting future plans?
Nothing at the moment. I have enjoyed doing the Cruise Trek conventions over the years and they have one this year to Australia and I hope to manage to pull that off. I did a The Cult TV convention in England last year and play guitar with the Enterprise Blues Band and we put out our second CD last year. It is a great bunch of guys mostly actors that have played parts in Trek over the years.
Ron asked me to add the following statement to the end of the interview:
One final word. It is important to understand how many people it takes to pull of the shots in any TV show or Movie. I have been blessed to work with some of the most talented people in the field of visual effects. On Trek I have worked with Dan Curry, Rob Legato, Gary Hutzel, Paul Hill and so many many more really super people it is something to remember. I hope to work with them all again. I have worked on many TV shows and features and of all of them, Star Trek was a highlight. I owe my being here to real stars like Richard Edlund, Jo Westheimer, Gene Roddenberry and the people associated with them. In this business it is many times the people you work with that make it all happen.
And with that I would like to thank Ron for spending two hours with me. It was truly a pleasure to “meet” you. Talking to you was as inspiring as I thought it would be!
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If you would like to find out more information about Ronald B. Moore check Star Trek.com or click here for his Memory-Alpha Page. Please send any questions to questions@sebrt.com - Thank you and come back in a week or so as I will have an interview with Andre Bormanis!
Well, it’s true. The release is not official as the commentary that Jonathan Frakes, the Director of Star Trek IX, made never made it to the DVD. That doesn’t mean there doesn’t have to be one though and today I went ahead and recorded a commentary for playback as you watch Star Trek Insurrection.
I know - I didn’t direct, produce or star in the film but my study of film production and my interest in Star Trek coupled with my knowledge of film production gave me an unique perspective to commenting over this film. Of course 15 years of Star Trek technical knowledge helps a little as well.
I have never made one of these commentaries before and I will be doing more of them. There are some minor sound issues in this but overall the recording is a good one.
In order to make use of the commentary the way it is intended you must play it directly in time with the film and line up when I start talking with the beginning of the Paramount Pictures logo. You will figure out the timing pretty quickly, another pointer is make sure I say “LeVar Burton” when LeVar’s name is on the screen in the credits. I refer to things and talk around events in the movie so timing is critical.
If you like the commentary feel free to comment…if there is something you think didn’t get covered and should have in the genre of my commentary, by all means comment, I’d like to know that too. This recording is not intended as a podcast but just something different for next time you watch Star Trek Insurrection!
If anyone has any requests for the next Star Trek film they would like me to comment over please make them known here or drop me a line.
You can find more Star Trek related information about me on my Memory-Alpha Profile.
I had the chance to catch up with another Star Trek / Paramount Pictures alumni, Rick Sternbach. I have admired Rick’s work for years as I have Dan Curry, who I interviewed a few months back. Rick Sternbach is the guy who designed the Klingon Vor’Cha class Attack Cruiser, the Delta Flyer, the Starfleet Phaser and Tricorder, the Dauntless from Voyager’s “Hope and Fear” and about a million other things we have come to know as normal in the Star Trek universe.
Rick it is truly a pleasure to have you for an interview, I had admired your work for as long as I can remember!
What exactly did you do as the Senior Illustrator and Technical Script Consultant for Star Trek TNG, DS9, Voyager?
The illustrator part was pretty straight forward. The Production designer would have specific requirements for the show. Since it’s science fiction, everything has to be designed. It wasn’t at all like doing a western or a police show…where you could rent something. There was something new every week. The script would say “a fabulous alien gadget” and you can’t just go and rent something. For the most part we had to invent everything, it started from the script. We would talk about it, modify for the budget and present the drawings, get estimates. Every 10th working day we had a new episode. We would establish all the hand props we would see form week to week, tricorders, phasers, hyposprays…etc.
You have been designing things for many years. It seems you favour objects that fly in space. Why is that?
I grew up in a time before there was anything in Earth orbit. As a kid growing up when the first satellites were being put up and rocket powered aircraft were breaking records left and right. It caught a lot of imaginations and mine was one of them. I knew a lot of people with the same interests, we would gravitate together and fly rockets and design rockets for science fictional things. As a career path it certainly has been different from my pals. I haven’t quite got anything in to space for real yet…
How much did you work on Star Trek Generations, First Contact and Insurrection?
I did little bits. I blueprinted the enterprise-e based on sketches provided by John Eaves. I simply made it easier for ILM to build the ten foot model. I did very little for Insurrection. I did little bits on the various on the feature.
Are you working on the next Star Trek feature film, Star Trek XI?
I wish! I have sent my resume in, with a few visual samples but so far it has been a one way conversation. I would welcome a call from them.
Are you a fan of the show(s) yourself? Do you watch it, see a Cardassian ship and say, I did that?
I’ve always considered myself a follower of the franchise, but not a complete fan. I like a lot of what the franchise has to offer in terms of design. I appreciate what the franchise has done over the last 40 or so years just in terms of how it has got into our social consciousness. I tune into the re-runs every so often, I have not seen every episode of Enterprise as it didn’t hold my interest as much as the other series did. I don’t need to say “I did that” because I know I did that!
A question I asked my last interviewee, If I wanted to vaporize my neighbor’s dog, what setting would I set this Phaser to?
Probably jam it all the way up to setting 8..I think that would do. Anything higher is overkill!
What was your favourite design for Star Trek?
These days I think it is a toss up between the Voyager and the Klingon Vor’cha Class Attack Cruiser. The Prometheus was a close third. With the Prometheus the important thing was to get these designs to evolve. It was a little further along than I would have wanted. I’m not sure how much more advanced that ship could have been.
Is drawing about the hand or the brain?
The two are tied together. Whatever tools are being used, whether it be pencil or the computer mouse. There has to be ways to get the ideas down on paper, into the computer, printed out..somehow conveyed. It of course starts with an idea in my head. I get a lot of pleasure out of sitting here with a very wet felt pen and drawing shapes.
Are you recognized in public or can you lead an anonymous existence?
If I go to a con..people might know me from online pictures. No one knows me out and about! I have gone to space symposiums and given talks and in those situations, they all know me. At the grocery store or gas station I am just some Joe from the neighborhood!
How long does it take you to design a Starship or a Phaser?
It depends. For episodic stuff it might take as little as ten minutes. Show a few drawings at a production meeting and they would say, Love it! A ship like Voyager, the producers wanted to make sure it took 5 months! Not constant work mind you, but it takes a lot of time to get right!
Anything exciting on the horizon?
At the moment I am president of Space Model Systems Incorporated (SMS Inc) – We produce products for the space education and hobby market. We produce a lot of aftermarket decals for historical space models. Terrain models and the moons of Jupiter. Places that space probes have seen. There are some days where I will just sit and doodle.
Thank you so much for your time Rick, you are welcome to come back at any time!
It’s been great!
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If you have any questions for Rick Sternbach please send them to questions@sebrt.com – Please check out Rick Sternbach’s official website at www.RickSternbach.com
A few days ago I managed to catch up with another Star Trek / Paramount Pictures employee, Eric Stillwell. My meeting Eric on the internet was initiated by my recent interest in the life and work of Michael Piller. Piller was the head writer on Star Trek TNG from the 3rd season, co-created both Deep Space Nine and Voyager and then went on to write the 9th Star Trek film Star Trek Insurrection. Eric Stillwell was fortunate enough to work with Michael for many years and last night I found myself talking with him over instant message. The conversation graduated to telephone after two hours and for the remainder of my day, approx 5 hours Eric and I spoke about Star Trek while I periodically filled in answers to the questions I had quickly thrown together for an impromptu interview.
My conversation with Eric Stillwell was a very productive one a few major things are going to be taking place because of our discussion. I am keeping the information about what is going to happen close to my vest at the moment but I will say that I have asked Eric to guest write here on SebRT.com in the near future. The following is the interview, which in reality was massive and if I had written everything Eric and I talked about it would be about 25 pages.
SebRT.com Welcomes Eric Stillwell, Star Trek TNG Script Coordinator and the Assistant to the late Michael Piller.
You worked for Star Trek like a lot of SebRT guests. What exactly did you do?
I started off as the production assistant on Star Trek The Next Generation in ‘87 and I did that for two years. Then I was promoted to script coordinator and worked on TNG until ‘93. After I finished with Star Trek the TV show I went to produce Star Trek conventions and in 1996 I returned to Paramount Pictures and worked for Michael Piller. At that time he was Executive Producer on Star Trek Voyager and I spent time as a production associate and his assistant. He stepped down and left the studio in 1999 to work on other projects and I went with him (as vice-president of Operations for Piller Squared) to do that. He created the Dead Zone TV series and I was an associate producer on that and then he and his son created Wildfire and I was an associate producer on that. As the vice president of operations for Piller Squared I was in charge of a lot of aspects of the company.
I read you are a genuine Trekkie yourself, if I wanted vaporize my neighbor’s dog, what setting would I set this phaser to?
[laughs]I don’t have to know all that stuff to be a Trekkie!! But if you do that you have to go have a meeting with Counsellor Troi.
You worked with the late and great, Michael Piller. In the past I have published how I would like to have known him. What was he like?
Michael was a complicated personality. It took me a long time to get to know him genuinely. On the outside sometimes he can seem abrupt and I don’t want to sound like I am saying he was terrible. He hated cocktail parties…it was easier for him to have a discussion with a potted plant. He was actually quite charming in person. It was all in his writings. Michael could write a scene that could be completely innocuous, but underneath it was about the humanity of things. If you watch the Best of Both Worlds, the personal problems of Riker being offered his own command are taken from Michael’s own life experiences of the time. He knew that the humanity was important, and the characters even though he technical stuff in Star Trek is important.
It seems like you and I might have met when I was 7 years old in my home town of South Bend, Indiana at a trek convention. What was your involvement with the conventions?
At that time frame I did some conventions in South Bend. I was the MC of the event and introduce all the guests and handle all the celebrity appearances and handle all that stuff so it very likely.
What are your thoughts about the upcoming “prequel” of Star Trek TOS in the form of Star Trek XI?
I think prequels are a questionable approach to doing Star Trek because I don’t even think it was a viable option for Enterprise regardless of how good the production was. I think JJ Abrams is terrific.
Your work after you left Star Trek has been very successful and you even have your name on a Star Trek novel – Do you have any more plans to work with anything Star Trek related?
I don’t have plans to but you never know what the future holds. Somehow I think my career path is heading towards politics. Star Trek influences my political views on things and it’s all mixed together in weird ways. The whole 34th rule novel is inspired by George Takei’s life in the internment camp. There’s always possibilities.
Most recently you have been working on Children’s television, how does that compare to working on the biggest television franchise of all time?
For me its like the difference between being a small fish in the big ocean and being a big fish in a small pond. I got to be the head writer and a producer on the Children’s show. I was not just the 47th person down the production list.
What is the work (out of your entire career) that you have found most rewarding and you are most proud of?
Co-Writing Yesterday’s Enterprise was certainly the highlight of my Hollywood career. I did something creative and it got realized in front of my eyes. Getting to work with Whoopie Goldberg was great as well.
Do you have any pieces of Trek in your possession such as a prop or set piece to remember the show by?
Most of the things I received were “crew gifts” including stuff from your friend Dennis Madalone. I have a picture of me with Gene Roddenberry on the bridge set that Gene autographed that is really special to me.
Star Trek Insurrection’s story was not a typical Star Trek story and many felt it was not loyal to what trek had established. 9 years on, what did you think of the story when you were script coordinating on that picture?
The final project was not what Michael originally intended. Patrick Stewart made a lot of changes to the script that fundamentally changed the script as far as I am concerned. Originally the bad guys in the story were Romulans.
What are you working on at the moment? Got any exciting plans to share with SebRT readers and the internet at large?
I’ve been trying to revise my political blogging career because I’m currently unemployed and looking for work. So looking for something in the political realm. I’m going to Italy on vacation for a Star Trek Convention –not running for President.
Thank you very much for your time Eric and you are most welcome to come back sometime!
Thanks, I enjoyed it! (after 5 hours on the phone)
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If you would like to ask Eric any of your own questions or contact any of the interviewees here at SebRT.coom you can email “questions@sebrt.com”
I was recently given the idea to write a paragraph that was a complete story in the space of one paragraph. Here are the three results I came up with in the last hour and a bit. I tried a couple of different time periods and setups. Please bear in mind these were written in 10 minutes each when you give your feedback.
Helen Roberts was running as fast as she could but she knew it was not fast enough. Her husband, Roy who had just come out of the kitchen was very drunk as he usual and was holding his prized hunting knife and she knew she just had to get away from him. She slammed into the front door, using the full force of her momentum weight to budge the thick wood. It was the only thing between her and freedom. Roy was on her tail, he grabbed her arm and he got to her just as the door popped open! They flew outside together rolling along the cobble stoned porch of their new home. Roy was stronger than Helen but she had one advantage, the SOB weighed more than her…the scuffle continued…then everything was quiet…Helen pulled away, repulsed by her husbands motionless body. Her world was unsteady, it was shaking. The knife was protruding in an obtuse angle in her husband’s chest. She heard the sound of sirens in the distance and looked up – her neighbours were all around. “….And that is all you remember?” The prosecutor asked suspiciously. “Because we have a very different idea of what happened on the morning your husband was killed. You killed your husband on Thanksgiving when he was preparing the turkey Mrs. Roberts, your blood test showed high levels of the mind altering drug LSD!”
And my second attempt:
All Clear Down Range! The quartermaster spoke into the loud speaker. Commence firing. Richard reloaded the Glock semi-automatic pistol he had in his hand. He had always wanted one of these beauties. Bang! Bang! Hitting targets, he was doing well! Bullseye! Yes! Bang! There was a shout and an older man a few rows down from him fell to ground clutching his side…The quarter master came back over the loud speaker to the two occupants of the range: “All Shooters Stop, and Unload Firearms. Step Back From the Red Line!” Richard knew that something awful had happened. I didn’t shoot him! Richard shouted as the quartermaster ran to the fallen man. What happened to him? BANG! The quarter master was struck, he lay dead on the floor… Oh My God!! Richard was beside himself and reeled around…to see the attacker and saw nothing. His gun was still on the bench…but the magazine was in it. He had taken it out. Christ! Richard suddenly realized that he had been set up. What was he supposed to do now though? Fingerprints on the murder weapon….and the only other person there. In a quick second Richard decided on his course of action. He grabbed his Glock and his gun bag. He packed everything up and then went into the office and erased his name on the sign in book. He got in his car and left. Just after he leaves, the police show up. Hey Boss! One of the police man says: How do you suppose no one was here if there is a target in 9 shots in it?
And the third attempt:
The crowd on the dock was immense and there were people as far as the eye could see. Edward’s foot slipped on wet ground and he looked at his feet to make sure of his balance. Under his boot was a newspaper that read: Titanic Reported to Have Struck Iceberg. – Sunk with 1,300 lost. At first Edward didn’t realize what he was looking at. It was the Times but it was dated April 15th 1912. That was 5 days from now! This newspaper was from the future…Edward realized if he was going to do anything about it he would have to board the great ship and speak directly to the Captain! He scooped up the soaking newspaper and headed for the boarding line. He ran between the people standing on the dock, his small size was for once an advantage. As he got up to the door he leapt aboard. Do you have a ticket son? –Edward replied: The ship is going to sink, I have to tell the Captain. The officer quipped: You sound like Chicken Licken. This ship is unsinkable son so if you don’t have a ticket, get off and be on your way! No! Edward Shouted but the officer grabbed him and carried him off towards the White Star Line offices on the dock. Edward found himself waiting in an office with the newspaper clutched in his hand. The Manager came in: Now son, what’s all this I hear about you claiming my new beautiful ship is going to sink!? —Edward couldn’t think of the right words so he just held up the newspaper. As the Manager read the words and they sunk in his exclamation of surprise was drowned out by the blowing of the ships massive horn. Titanic pulled out and the two stood and watched in shock and amazement. There was nothing that could be done now. Get out of here! The Manager said and Edward ran away. The Manager threw the newspaper on the fire and walked away. –balderdash! He said as he continued about his day…
