The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Still Plenty of Strange New Worlds for Star Trek to Explore

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Star Trek has never been more popular, with five series made since 2018 and another one focused on Star Fleet around the corner. The continued popularity of the series remains rooted in its long-standing formula of strong character development, visually stunning space exploration and a quest for a better future. A look at the legacy of the franchise and why it remains relevant more than 50 years after the premier of the original series, with Robert Picardo, who played the Doctor on seven seasons of Star Trek Voyager. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There have been precious few television and motion picture franchises that have captivated audiences for six decades. But Star Trek has. From the original series to the next generation. From Deep Space Nine and Voyager and Enterprise and many, many more. Not to mention 13 movies as well. Its success is just astonishing. Uniting generations over its mostly positive vision of the future. Robert Picardo is a big part of that legacy. He began playing the Doctor on Voyager almost 30 years ago and is now back in Ontario's capital city working on a new Star Trek series. And with that we welcome Robert Picardo to TVO. It's so great to have you in that chair.

Thank you Steve. I'm excited to be here. I hear it's been quite some time since you had an interview with a Star Trek actor. You know what? Not to date either one of us, but the last guy from Star Trek I interviewed was Leonard Nimoy probably 30 years ago. Well, I'm proud just to be the next one.

Amen. Amen to that. I'm going to ask a very odd first question, because my suspicion is people probably thought you got here in a chauffeur-driven limousine. How did you get to this studio? I had my first experience with the Toronto subway. Now I'm used to New York so it was disturbingly clean for me and the cars felt very much like the metro in Rome. I don't know if they're made by the same

company but I felt exactly like I was in the Rome metro except people were not speaking Italian everywhere of course. Right, but it was a lovely experience. So I have you to thank for introducing me to the Toronto subway. Well, you actually texted me saying, now should I take an Uber or should I go on the subway? And I said, you know, an Uber, I know for sure you'll get here on time,

but you insisted on using the TTC, so good for you. Well, my wife is coming to visit this beautiful city shortly. And I just wanted to know enough in case we wanted to go and explore somewhere when I was off of shooting for a day. If you don't complain about the subway here, you're not going to make it as a Trontonian. Let me tell you. Really, I don't know why, I guess because you're used

to your subway system. I heard that it was a little behind. I think they were doing some track search. Oh my gosh. Don't get us started. Don't get us started. Don't get us started. Anyway, take us back. How did you get the part of the holographic doctor

on Voyager to begin with? Well, it was the regular audition process for an actor. I remember that I was finally working at a theater that I'd longed to work at for however many years I'd been in Los Angeles called the Mark Taper Forum in the Music Center in downtown LA. I was doing a new play by Lisa Loomer, and I was playing, strangely enough,

a physician with a terrible bedside manner. Didn't realize that was going to pay off. And the point is I was not available for the pilot. I had a job. And like any good agents, my agent said, lie. Don't tell them you're working. And I went in and I read. But I didn't, I looked at the sides for my character.

And here's how he was described. Colorless, humorless, a computer program of a doctorate. And does that sound like a bucket of fun for a potential seven years? I do wonder about when you read the script and you are not a real person in the show. You're a holographic image. Did you ever ask yourself, how exactly am I supposed to save people's lives if I don't exist? Exactly.

And I thought, how do you grab a medical instrument if you're... But that's sort of pseudo-science of Star Trek. The magnetic containment field that creates the illusion of my body can be modulated to allow matter to pass through it or not at my directive. You know, you just make an excuse for the fact that I can handle, you know, of course we're just using transporter, the same technology, transporter to whatever, matter and energy, energy to matter, you get it. So you almost seem like you know what you're talking about there. That's the key.

Almost, yeah. That's the key to working in Star Trek. So in any case, I read the script and I thought, I don't really, this part, it's got only nine lines, it seems really boring. Let me read for this other part, which was Neelix, which is the makeup character. Now they don't tell you how much makeup it is.

If my agent called and said, you know, how long will the makeup process be? And they go, oh, we'll get back to you. Well, an helix must be four or five hours a day. Exactly, so you know what they said to my agent? How long? More than 15 minutes, and it's true, five hours is more than 15 minutes.

So I actually auditioned for that role, and thank God I didn't get it, because I got 6,000 hours of my life given back to me that I would have spent in makeup. And I don't think I could have handled the makeup as graciously as my co-star, Ethan Phillips, who's one of my closest friends, by the way. I didn't realize that I was competing for the same role. But after I didn't get it, the producer said something

that never happened in Hollywood. There's something about his voice. Would he consider coming back and reading for the role we were originally interested in? And now usually, once you've tested for a role, you've gone to the final audition with all the network executives and all. Once they're through with you,

you're like a used paper towel. They don't come back. So I was impressed with the fact that they wanted to see me in this other role. I didn't know, really I didn't understand it, but I knew they wanted it to be funny. So I ad-libbed a joke which got me the job. Do you remember the joke?

I do indeed. The last moment of the audition, my character, who's a program, has been left running in sick bay and has nothing to do. And the last scripted line was, I believe someone has failed to terminate my program. And I took a long, droll look at all of the executives in the room, and I said, I'm a doctor, not a nightlight.

And they all laughed, and I was hired that day. Oh, that's great. Out of 900 actors who had auditioned, I was later told. Oh, my goodness. So ripping off DeForest Kelly turned to be the lead. So you knew about that, obviously. Well, I don't even remember. I didn't know much about the original Star Trek. I don't know if it was subliminal.

I just came up with a joke, but I must have been channeling him. And when I met DeForest later that year, who was just the nicest man, couldn't have been nicer, I said, you know, my character pays homage to you. And he goes, ah, you mean you steal from me? I said, yes, sir, that's what I mean. Isn't that great? Because, of course, he says, DeVorse Kelly, of course,

Leonard McCoy on the original Star Trek series plays the Doctor, and he must say 20 different versions of that line. You know, I'm a doctor, not an escalator. I'm a doctor, not an engineer. And you somehow had that ready to go when you needed it. I must have known that. Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer. Right on.

So yes, you can go on the internet and search all of the I'm a doctor, not a blank, and then all of us, all the doctors from all of Star Trek's, they have us edited together every time any of us edit. Now there is a certain irony in your saying that, because of course when you went to Yale, you went there to be a doctor. Yes.

How come you're not a doctor today? I often wonder. It was easier to be a real doctor. Well to be a fake doctor is easier. You don't have to carry malpractice insurance. Although I can name a number of actors who I think should have to carry malpractice insurance. Although I can name a number of actors who I think should have to carry malpractice insurance. It's I'm married to a classmate of mine from Yale.

We met in biology 101. She is a doctor of more than 40 years. And I'm the fake doctor in the household. And people often ask her, does your husband get asked for medical advice? She goes, oh, oh yes he does. And she says, he actually sounds like he knows what he's talking about until you listen

to what he's actually saying. So I have the authority, but none of the education to be a real doctor. Right on. When you got the part on Star Trek, on Voyager, so we're going back 30 years now, did you at that point talk to any of the other sort of previous series Star Trek actors to get a better sense of what you were signing up for?

Yes. Armin Schimmerman who played Quark, the Ferengi on Deep Space Nine, his character actually guest starred in our pilot. So he was the first one we all befriended. And he gave us the lowdown on how your life would change. Which is what? Well, let's put it this way. My agent called and said, you got the part, and you got your first three convention offers.

They were outstanding offers for whomever got the part. So you become part of a long-running international phenomenon, which is Star Trek fandom. And Star Trek is obviously very big in the States, but huge in the UK, and huge in Germany, and quite big in Australia, and then elsewhere in the world. Even in the time I've been on,

it's become much more popular in Italy and France just in the three decades that I've been associated with franchise. So you have opportunities to travel all around the world and meet people who love your work. They may have seen you dubbed into Italian, or Spanish, or Japanese, or they had enough English in them to watch it in the original English,

but they are fans of the show. So you become part of a few. You're joining a phenomenon that's been in existence way before you. I described it. The premiere of our show is as it was like boarding a bus that was already going 60 miles an hour. It was kind of a shock, the leaping on. But then it's a very nice ride.

And how far, have you gone to those far flung places to go to conventions? Absolutely. You dive in. Some actors, of course, don't want to do all that stuff, they just want to do the work. Yeah, you know, it's, I mean, I say to people, okay, here's the burden that you're going to face.

You'll walk into a room of two or three thousand people who will cheer the moment you enter, stand up and clap for five minutes, and then they'll laugh or be on the edge of their seats for everything you say for the next hour. Does that sound that terrible to you? No. No, it doesn't sound that terrible at all.

I said, especially if you're used to living in a household where no one pays attention, Dad, you know, you're kind of, you're happy to have people's interest. I hear there's a cruise too. Have you done the cruise? Oh yes. Now there were cruises years ago, but they were just small blocks of fans

on a regular cruise ship, where there might be 200 or 300 Star Trek fans on a ship that had 2,500 people on it. But now, as of the last eight years, seven years, there was an entire dedicated Star Trek cruise, which is an enormous success. And shockingly, it's a lot of fun for the performers. The fans love it, but I meant shockingly,

you're one of 40 or 50 celebrities from Shatner all the way down the food chain from all the other series. And you're on a boat with 3,500 fans and you can't walk out. So, but I, the fans are so polite. They're not allowed to ask for a selfie, they're not allowed to ask for an autograph unless it's a dedicated session for Photoser and that makes all the difference. So they just say, hi. Everybody knows me now.

I feel like the mayor of a floating town. Hey, Bob. Hi, Bob. And I chat with people that I recognized from before. It's a complete delight. And we get to perform with each other, which is a joy, because all of these wonderful actors in all the other series that I never got to work with,

we get on stage together and do whatever, a comedy sketch, we sing a duet together, we'll do a scene. And you sing. I like to sing, yeah. No, no, but you're really, I mean, for those who don't know, you've got a magnificent voice. Well, thank you. I would put it two pegs below magnificent, very good, but that's kind of you. But I love, I really enjoy the performance on the cruise. We do stuff that's completely dramatic, and then all the way to the silliest thing you've ever seen. And the fans love it because they see actors

outside of the character that they know them from, but also from different iterations of the franchise working together. For example, different iterations of the franchise working together. For example, in one of the shows, I did a comedy duet with Doug Jones, who was on Discovery, playing the alien character, who is a very accomplished mime. So we did Me and My Shadow, where I was singing the song and he was my uncooperative shadow. It was like a vaudeville sketch, where he simply would not mirror what I was doing until I got furious at him, and then we have a big fight.

So it was a comedy sketch. In the same bill, you had David Ajala from the Royal Shakespeare Company, who was on Discovery, and Armin Shimmerman from Deep Space Nine, very accomplished, classically trained actors doing a scene from Macbeth together, with Armin playing Claudius to David's Macbeth. I'm sorry, to Hamlet.

Hamlet. So that kind of experience is unique for the fans, but it's unique for us, too. Let me ask you one more follow-up about the fans. Because ever since William Shatner went on Saturday Night Live and did that piece where he said, come on, you people, move out of your parents' basement. Get a life. There is the sense that Star Trek fans because ever since William Shatner went on Saturday Night Live and did that piece where he said, come on you people, move out of your parents' basement,

get a life. There is the sense that Star Trek fans are a bunch of nerds who don't have a real life. You've known thousands of them. What are they really like? First of all, they're optimists by nature because Star Trek is all about optimism. After 9-11, we got all this very pessimistic,

apocalyptic science fiction, right? The world is going to be destroyed shockingly, and there are a few stragglers still living in the future. But Star Trek is an optimistic vision of humanity's future in space. And they're also the most accepting fan group in the world because one of the core principles of Star Trek is inclusion and diversity. So basically I have had nothing but remarkably wonderful interactions with the fans.

Some of them are a little intense, some of them are on the spectrum in some places where they were once they engage you they don't want to stop talking to you. But by and large, I have met some incredibly interesting and diverse individuals that are fans. And some of them are very accomplished attorneys. Some of them work at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, work for NASA. Some of them own a sci-fi comic store. Whatever, they just, but whatever they, they're passionate about Star Trek.

And usually they're passionate about what they do in life. So it's, I have nothing but great experiences. Good. Should we see some of your work? I don't know, do we have to? We do. Okay. I we see some of your work? I don't know. Do we have to? We do. OK.

I'm going to ask our director Sheldon Osmond to run a clip of you from Star Trek First Contact. This is you playing the doctor in the movies. Roll it. Shh. We state the nature of the medical emergency. 20 Borg are about to break through that door. We need time to get out of here.

Create a diversion. This isn't part of my program. I'm a doctor, not a doorstop. Well do a dance, tell a story, I don't care, just give us a few seconds! According to Starfleet Medical Research, Borg implants can cause severe skin irritations. Perhaps you'd like an analgesic cream. Ha ha ha. Now there's that line again. I'm a doctor, not a doorstop.

Was that in the script, or did you make that one up? No, no, that one was in the script. Remember, I did the one at the audition. Yeah. So I clearly showed them that I had the cadence. OK. That, I have to admit that I'm in that movie. That was a movie with the next generation cast. It was the first solo movie they did. OK. I have to admit that I'm in that movie.

That was a movie with the Next Generation cast. It was the first solo movie they did. The prior one had been the handoff from the original cast to the Next Gen cast. So this is their first movie. And what the heck am I doing there? I'm in Voyager. And the reason I'm in that movie is because I planted

little breadcrumbs to them. I was in talking to our producer, Rick Berman, who was overseeing everything in the franchise, all the different shows, plus the movie. I was in there to talk about directing our show, but as I left, sort of like Peter Falk in Colombo as I'm leaving, I kind of go, you know, I don't understand. I said, first of all, you're gonna have a brand new enterprise in the new movie, because you destroyed it at the end of the preview.

He says, yeah. I said, well, I don't understand something. Why does Voyager have more advanced technology than your flagship? What do you mean? I said, well, how come they've got this emergency medical hologram program, and the enterprise doesn't? And he laughed.

I said, look, I'm not trying to pad my part. I'm just looking out for your logic. And he laughed just like that, and he said, that's a very interesting idea. Then I went around and had the same conversation with the two guys writing the script, and ultimately, every one, it was the same thing, you know, I don't understand something.

And then when I did, they said, oh, that's a very interesting idea. Finally, after Jonathan Frakes was going to direct the movie, and I told him the story, and he went, that's a very interesting idea. Then I got a call from the producer one day and said, we have decided to put the emergency medical hologram in the new Star Trek movie. And I went, oh, that's a very interesting idea.

I wonder where they got that idea from. I was going to say, it was literally like, it was like, what do you call it, the La Ronde, right? They are just passing a secret around and having it come back to you. Well, well done, that part went well. Now, I have visited your IMDB page, which could go from here to New York City.

You've done, I mean, I just, okay, I made a few notes here. You made your Broadway debut 40 years ago, more than 40 years ago. More than 40 years ago. You've done innumerable television series, everybody's heard of these series, Kojak, Taxi, Golden Girls, Benson, St. Elsewhere, L.A. Log, Grey's Anatomy, you've done a ton of movies as well. Is it annoying that you will always, always, always, probably first and foremost be remembered

for this? You know, I thought about that when I first got the role. I said, forever, that'll be the first, that's the first line of your obituary, is that you were, you know. And first of all, Star Trek has been so good to me and made so many remarkable changes in my life that I am perfectly happy that that is the first thing

people think of me. But they're also delighted. The fans are so loyal that they'll watch you in another show just because you're in it. So many of them will say, I'm so excited to see Starfleet Academy now because your character's in it. This is what you're in Toronto doing right now. I'm in Toronto. They've taken me out of holographic mothballs. And now 30 years on, I'm in Toronto. They've taken me out of holographic mothballs, and now 30 years on, I'm playing, the character is in artificial intelligence.

He's now several hundred years old, because, and I'm not saying anything I'm not allowed to say. This has already been said by the producers publicly, but it is set in the more distant future that Star Trek discovery propelled itself into. So in that future, my character is now several hundred years old, maybe 900 years old. So remarkably, I don't look that much older.

But I'm having a ball, working on it, revisiting the character. We've got Holly Hunter, who's an extraordinary movie star, Oscar-winning actress who is leading our show as the chancellor of Starfleet University. First season villain is Paul Giamatti. And then there's this incredible cast of new young actors. Many of them have credits that they're just new to me, but they're just really

talented and unique and their characters are very, I find, both in the writing and their performance very well defined. So I'm excited. It's gonna be a while until people get to see it. When's it coming out? I've heard early 2026. OK. Now, it's interesting, you looked in the camera there and said, I'm not saying anything I'm not supposed to say. Oh, yeah, we're very secretive in Star Trek. How come?

Well, first of all, the fans are. Well, they kept the secret of my participation for months. I mean, I was first approached a long time ago. And sitting on that secret was tough. But I know that there are severe consequences if you don't. So we all understand. We sign a very long NDA that is longer than my IMDB page. But it's important because you want the fans to be surprised

and delighted when they finally see the show. They have little bits of tantalizing information, the fans to be surprised and delighted when they finally see the show. They have little bits of tantalizing information like the casting of these extraordinary actors like Holly Hunter and Paul Giamatti, but they hear that. But all they know is that it's about Starfleet Academy and it's set way in the future because if you follow Discovery, this terrible thing called the Burn basically destroyed Starfleet Academy had to, you know, everything was destroyed in the future. So now it's come back. So it's about, it's really about, you know, rebirth,

redemption, all the great themes of after a tragedy of rebuilding. So that's all I can say and I don't think I violated any rules. I'm having a ball working on it, and it's a wonderful circle of life experience for me personally, because everything is, it's the same, but somehow bigger, different, and better. Let me ask you one last question,

which is, of course, many of us of our generation, we saw Star Trek when it first came out in the middle of the 1960s. And you know, it was Bill Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley, and it was their responsibility to take that thing and keep it alive until the next generation could take over and then they did it, kept it alive until the next and the next and the next. And now it's kind of your responsibility, you're the keeper of the flame for this generation to keep it going so that future generations will also have the pleasure of watching and experiencing. And I just wonder how you regard that responsibility.

First of all, that's a sweet way of looking at it. And I am the bridge. I mean, our executive producer, Alex Kurtzman, has said you're the bridge between the past of Star Trek and the future. And that touched me to hear that. So yeah, I do feel. I feel that it's a responsibility of a saga that has meant so much to now three generations, I guess, of Americans, right? I mean, if you count, I mean, a generation's 25 years, Star Trek is in its 58th year or something,

so we're working on three generations that find some kind of solace and comfort in the fact that we'll not only have a future, that far out humanity, but that it will be a positive one. And all sorts of problems we seem to have in the present that are kind of toxic seem to be worked through in the future. And obviously, Star Trek is darker, a little darker now

than it was in newer shows. The fact that this thing called the Burn happened in the future. And really, so many different cultures were damaged or destroyed. But now the optimism of renewing our commitment to our ideals and rebuilding, all of that is, those are really important things, messages to hear in troubled times. Obviously the original Star Trek was during the turbulent 60s and you know

times are fairly turbulent right now with a lot of disagreement and I am always surprised that we have fans on both sides of an election for example where from my perspective I think well gee gee, the core values of the show seem to suggest this, but we have very dedicated fans who love the show, who feel quite differently about some present day issues. So the most important thing is you hope that the overall message of, you know,

we are at our best when we find commonality and we work together in spite of our difference. That that overriding, whatever the outcome is of our present election process in the states, that we will go beyond and look at the greater message of Star Trek is that people from all different backgrounds and alien backgrounds and all that working together in harmony toward a common goal.

Amen. I am delighted, first of all, that you can take yourself away from what I know are probably 14-hour long shoot days to spend some time with us here and that you decided to boldly go where many don't go because it's a difficult way to get around, namely our public transit system here. But I'm so glad you made the time for us. Robert Picardo, thank you so much.

Thank you, Steve. I had a wonderful time.