All language subtitles for The Center Seat 55 Years s01e11 The Stars Above.eng

[Captain Kirk, echoing]
Space: the final frontier.

[Gates McFadden]
For well over 50 years,

a fearless crew of pioneers
have faced the unknown...

Out there.

[McFadden] ...on an endless quest,
looking for stars.

Thataway.

[McFadden]
But not up there in space.

More that direction.

[McFadden] Down here in Sector 001,
otherwise known as Hollywood,

where you'll find every species
in the galaxy.

You see, I'm an actor.

Every actor in town
worked on those shows.

[McFadden]
And this is the story.

- Not of the captains...
-Aye, Captain.

[McFadden] ...or the ships they commanded
but of the first officers...

-Fire.
-[McFadden] ...crew...

It was a great part to get to play.

[McFadden]
...the occasional doctor...

That's odd.

[McFadden]
Actually, that's me.

And of course,
there were many, many aliens.

[all screaming]

[McFadden]
From the original series...

Captain! [laughs]

[McFadden] ...to the movies
and every TV series since.

Engage.

Yes! It was one
of those great actor moments.

It was horrifying.

[McFadden]
Star Trek means so much to so many.

You're Brad Pitt, mate,
and they all want a piece of you.

You get Trekkies from birth to death.

[McFadden] And be it the big bucks...

or SAG minimum...

Co-workers were a pain in the ass.

[McFadden] ...it's the actors
who bring Star Trek to life.

I fake for a living. It's what I do.

-[groans]
-[squawks]

[McFadden]
From the series regulars...

I was hired to play this character
on the pilot and that was it.

[McFadden]
...bit parts, guest spots...

Guest stars.

And I played Rain Robinson
in Star Trek: Voyager in 1997.

[clapperboard claps]

[McFadden]
So beam aboard and hold on tight

as we boldly meet the actors
of Star Trek.

And you can see it all from here
in The Center Seat.

During stardate 1950s,

mankind had long been looking up
at the stars...

and quickly back down again
toward movie screens...

That is correct, sir.

[McFadden] ...fascinated by
an unknown fictional universe

out of reach from science

but well within the grasp
of our imaginations.

We have come to visit you
in peace and with goodwill.

[McFadden]
So for a young actor back then,

making it big
sometimes meant shooting for the stars.

I think they're all dead.

I was always interested in science fiction
and I had worked in science fiction

all the way back to 1950,
Zombies of the Stratosphere.

[McFadden] Instead of plummeting
through the stratosphere

and back to earth with a thud,

Leonard Nimoy was destined
for far greater heights.

I was working pretty good at the time.

My career was moving along nicely.

[McFadden] So when an ex-World War II
fighter pilot turned airline pilot

turned LAPD officer
named Gene Roddenberry

turned his hand to scriptwriting,

well, Leonard Nimoy's
ears didn't exactly prick up.

"He's going to produce a pilot.
You might be cast in it.

It might be sold
and it might go on the air."

You know, it was all those maybes.

[McFadden] And if it was going to happen,
they'd probably need a...

-Captain?
-Yes, sir.

Shatner, I think the one big film that
he got was Judgment at Nuremberg

and everything, his career
pointed right to him becoming,

uh, you know, the next movie star.

Okay, Judge.

I would have kept him away from television
if I were his agent.

But as it turns out,
look at this long, long, long career.

Head Warp Factor One.

And there's just a magnetism to him
in his portrayal

that I think is really key
to the success of the show.

[McFadden]
But they could not do it alone.

Regarding the casting,
the easiest place to go

was people that we
were both familiar with

that we had both used
on The Lieutenant.

My first television thing I did,

the producer-director
was Gene Roddenberry.

I was just like, "Hey, let's go!"
You know?

[McFadden]
And boldly go they did.

It was an interracial show

of equal people doing equal things.

Transmission has been cut off.

I was the first African American actress
in a leading role on television.

[McFadden] But in Hollywood,
opportunities to play an iconic character

like this
are few and far between.

It's the luck of the draw
for freelance actors.

You never know
what's coming down the pike.

This business is so extraordinary
in terms of the serendipity,

in terms of the coincidence.

I know this saying.
It was invented in Russia.

Three years before Star Trek ,
I was brought in to read

for a role of a Russian student
who is defecting.

It was a show called Mr. Novak.

"You Americans live
in a world of dreams."

I remember that was one of the lines.

Three years later,
I get the call for Star Trek .

It makes me homesick.

Just like Russia.

More like the Garden of Eden, Ensign.

Of course, Doctor. The Garden of Eden
was just outside Moscow.

You know, he looked like a Beatle,
but that was okay.

[McFadden]
Be it the original series or today,

actors need gigs,

and Star Trek had plenty.

As an agent, I thought that Star Trek
was a great starting point

for a lot of people,

and often it would be
their first television job.

I always thought that I would come to LA

and be on a great cop show
like NYPD Blue,

but then I started booking Star Trek .

That was my first gig.

[McFadden]
The same was true for Sarah Silverman.

You know, I was taking it really seriously
and I took a...

I went to an acting coach.

Go back down the hall,
take a left at Mars,

right at Haley's Comet.

I got to say really serious lines like...

What the hell?

And "Say hello to Saturn for me."

[McFadden]
Not just the shows, movies too.

Star Trek was my first job as an actor.

What?

It was the most integral part
of my career

because it not only
put my foot in the door,

it shoved me through the door.

Thank you, sir.

[McFadden]
It was Star Trek.

Once you get in, you never get out.

I was so happy to have a job.

It's a very unstable industry
and when you get on a show,

you never know if it's gonna go.

Star Trek is a very unique animal
in that way

because this is, like,
the one rare occurrence

where you know that
if you're signing a seven-year contract,

you're probably going seven years.

Holy cow, I don't know if
I'm gonna be alive in seven years.

It's a nice little income coming in
for seven years,

and that's precisely what I wanted to do
at that time in my career.

And suddenly I'm looking at these houses
that I've passed every day

for years and years and years
and going,

"Might get one of those."

Always the optimist.

A Mercedes came down the road,
"Might drive one of those."

[McFadden] But before you can
live long in a prosperous fashion,

you need to get cast,

and the gatekeeper
in the Star Trek universe...

Well, no, it wasn't Gene Roddenberry.

It's this guy.

I was casting director on Star Trek
for 15 years,

throughout most
of the four different TV series

and three movies.

[McFadden]
The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine,

Voyager, Enterprise, Generations,
First Contact, and Insurrection.

My job was to cast every speaking role
in each episode,

and every year there were
four or 500 actors cast on the shows.

[McFadden]
But before you try to calculate

just how many faces Ron Surma
must have seen over those years,

he did cheat a little.

Once you kind of get in the door,
you're in that world.

You're on their radar.

I've done more different characters
in the Star Trek franchise

than any other actor.

In fact, somebody told me it was
in any episodic franchise in television.

[McFadden]
So he may have been Ron's favorite,

but he wasn't exactly his number one.

Make it so, Number One.

The first thing I auditioned
for was Riker in that show,

and they had me in
maybe three times to read for him.

Didn't get him.

[McFadden]
Nope, this guy did.

I'm here. [laughs]

[McFadden]
Jonathan Frakes' portrayal of Riker,

though some said a little stiff
in the beginning...

And I'm trying not to smile...

[McFadden] ...soon became
a relaxed and beloved member

of The Next Generation crew.

Our lives were changed.

[McFadden] So it's no wonder
that getting an audition for Star Trek

could be the biggest moment
of some actors' careers.

No pressure.

Walk in the door
and there are five or six other guys

that kinda look just like you.

And he's more famous
and a bit better looking. [laughs]

As I waited outside,
this minivan pulled up

and the door slid open
and out came this leg

and in full Seven of Nine regalia,
it was Jeri Ryan.

And I thought in that moment,

"This is what they want.

I mean, who am I kidding?
I'm not gonna get this part."

You would know in the first minute

if they had a chance
of getting the part or not.

[McFadden]
With not long to impress,

some actors bend over backwards
for the job.

At the very last minute, I decided...

There was a chair there,
so I got in the chair,

I turned around upside down,

I threw my legs over,
and I did the audition upside down.

[British accent] So I went in
and I'm doing the audition like this.

You know, with a bit of an English,
you know, accent.

You know, like, kind of Cockney-ish.

[normal voice]
One of the producers come over to me

and says to me with a very stern face,

he goes,
"There are no accents in Star Trek ."

You're not from this province, are you?

And neither are you.

And I cranked it up as far as I could

'cause I thought there's...

"I'm not leaving anything on the table
when I walk out of here"

'cause I really wanted...
I really wanted to get it.

[McFadden]
Don't worry, he did.

Yes, sir.

[McFadden]
Sometimes it's a grind.

So I had a couple of auditions.

Which I think I came in four times.

It was another audition among many.

You were brought in for,
like, six auditions.

I auditioned, uh, seven times
over six weeks.

And now you want to try it again?

You have to make
an immediate impact in the room.

[McFadden] And sometimes
you need a little luck.

I guess so.

I went in there, Avery says,

"You were the only person
that gave me a hug in the audition."

"You know, you said 'Dad'"
and he gave me a hug.

[chuckles]

And that was a smart move
as the young Cirroc.

[McFadden] And then sometimes
you just have to wing it.

I had never seen the series,
so I went, "Hi, I'm Gates," you know.

"Is there a part
you want me to audition for?"

And they said,
"Well, there's three women's parts.

Just pick whichever one you wanna do."

And I picked the one
that I thought was the funniest.

And it was about the last funny scene
I ever saw for the character.

These aren't the remains
of the ambassador.

[McFadden]
But it's not just the main characters.

A big part of Star Trek
is the supporting cast.

All that water.

When I went in to read,
the producers would say,

"No, we want him to be meaner."

[groans]

I kept telling them,
"I don't agree."

It's a shame.

I remember thinking in my mind,
"Oh, man, I'm either gonna get this job

or I'm never gonna
work in this town again." [laughs]

Some of the best auditions you get,

you'll ever do, don't go anywhere,

and some of the ones
you don't think twice about,

suddenly the next thing you know...

-[screaming]
-[gasps]

[McFadden] John Billingsley, who played
Dr. Phlox on the series Enterprise ,

made an interesting actor's choice
for his audition.

I punctuated the scenes
with occasional squawks.

I thought perhaps in moments of
rapture or joyous transport, he would...

[squawks]

And I auditioned
and they seemed to like it

and they brought me back
and I squawked

and they brought me back again
and I squawked

and we had the first table read
and I squawked,

and all the time I'm thinking,
"Am I a bird? I don't know.

They're not making me look like a bird."

[squawks]

I happened to be there when
he was gonna shoot his first scene,

which was the scene he'd auditioned with,
and he went... [squawks]

And you just heard this.

And bear in mind, he's done this
through all the auditions that he's had.

[squawks]

And you just heard this, "Cut, cut, cut!"

"Are you... me?" [laughs]

[McFadden]
Or as John himself remembers it...

"John, quit... around!"

Which is how I knew I wasn't a bird.

[McFadden] Of course, some characters
have been more successful

in developing a trademark sound.

[roars]

That is how the Klingon lures a mate.

When I called my agent,
and the producers say, "Look, you know,

we wanna see him
for the part of a Klingon

'cause we're gonna put
a Klingon on the bridge,"

and I went, "Wow, what a great idea."

Do not approach me unannounced,
especially when I'm eating.

[McFadden]
Worf became a series regular

and an integral part
of The Next Generation crew.

I am a Klingon.

[McFadden] And it worked out so well
that he later became a series regular

on Deep Space Nine as well.

-Because when they call you...
-[phone rings]

...they want you,

and it gives you a position of power

that we don't have as actors
99% of the time.

[McFadden]
He's not wrong.

Most of us are lucky
if we just get one big break.

[McFadden]
Every Star Trek actor has their story.

I have been a Star Trek fan
as long as I can remember.

[McFadden] And often with
a personal connection to the show.

When I was growing up,
my brother and I watched the original,

and it really did speak to us

because it was dealing
with a lot of great stuff

and a lot of wonderful actors
and they took chances.

One of the main reasons I loved it

is because I was in love
with this guy named Bob.

And every week when the TV show was on,
I got to go to Bob's house

and make out with him on the sofa
without his mother objecting,

while we were watching Star Trek.

[F. Murray Abraham]
I had a history with Star Trek

as so many of us did from television.

I mean, it was a part of my life.

And I looked at it, it sounded like fun,
it sounded like a good idea.

And my kids said, "You better do it,"
so that was that.

[McFadden] Movie star Whoopi Goldberg
had her reasons too.

Before Nichelle Nichols, we didn't exist
anywhere in science fiction.

So I want to carry that female woman...

Of course, female woman, crazy.

Carry that woman thing forward,

so some little girl looks up
and sees me and says,

"Oh, phew, we are there."

A few molecules off and poof,
it's all gone, all of it.

Well, as a matter of fact,
in 1977 in high school,

my friends and I
did a reel-to-reel video of Star Trek .

When the other kids wanted to play
Star Wars or A-Team or Knight Rider,

I was like, "Can we play Star Trek ?
I wanna be Mr. Spock."

[McFadden]
Who doesn't?

[screaming]

[McFadden] But there are a lot more aliens
than just Vulcans

in the Star Trek universe.

When I got the phone call, they're like,

"Yeah, so they want you
to play a Ferengi."

And I'm like, "What's a Ferengi?"

Ferengi as a species was started
in Next Generation ,

and I was fortunate enough to be

one of the four actors
who played that original,

those original four Ferengi.

We will accuse the humans
of preparing to ambush us.

Ah.

I had no idea what a Cardassian was.

You know, if you told me
it was a form of a pastrami sandwich,

you know, I would have said, "Oh okay,
I'm playing a pastrami sandwich."

[McFadden]
So how do you play an alien?

I'm still asking myself to this day,

"How do you play a Vulcan?"

"Is it burlesque?
Do you go over the top?

Are they really weird?
You know, do you do a voice?

Can you be funny?"

[McFadden] All they really had to do
was look in a mirror.

"I don't have to play alien.
I am an alien."

[McFadden]
Because no amount of acting talent

can turn this face into this one.

Such is the power of makeup.

-Makeup?
-[McFadden] That's right.

Special effects makeup.

I looked in the mirror and I thought,
"Oh, my God, this is extraordinary."

And so I immediately got the character
and what to do with him.

You know, you're a work of art.
You're made into something.

You don't have to practically do anything.
It's all done.

It kind of makes the character.

You know, when you look the way
you imagined yourself looking,

it works.

[McFadden] And the man
who made it work is Michael Westmore.

I was the makeup supervisor and designer
on Star Trek: Next Generation,

Deep Space Nine,
Voyager, Enterprise, four of the movies.

Anything that Star Trek touched
over the 18 years, I was there.

He was a huge part
of the success of our show.

Every week,
he had to come up with something,

some alien race
that nobody had ever seen before,

and create magic,

and that's what he did.

[McFadden] But the real magic happens
when there's a collaboration

between the makeup artists
and the actor.

So I get this lovely roll of Qatai.

Go down to the Westmore habitat
on Paramount

and on the makeup shelf
were a series of masks, faces, and heads.

I look up and I see, da-da-da...

the lions face.

Slightly damaged.

I went, "I love that."

And he went, "Okay, let's try that,"

tried it and looked in the mirror

and I began immediately
to resonate with the mask.

I understood the value of the makeup
through that four-and-a-half-hour process

because after we had finished with it,
I was in that character.

While they're putting it on,
I'd be sitting there

looking in the mirror, going, "Well,
why did this character evolve this way?"

The Cardassians
have this big neck thing

and I'd look at that and think,

"Man, these guys must have
been really uptight for some millennium

and they're finally getting
these things in their neck

just from straining
from how much they hate everybody,

you know, for so long."

[McFadden] But this wasn't a shortcut
to finding your inner alien.

Uh, it was horrifying.

[McFadden] So horrifying, in fact,
that many actors said...

-No.
-I will not do it.

There were often times where I
would get an appointment for a client

and they would refuse to go in because
they knew that it did involve makeup.

It's a lot to get used to.

My call time in the makeup trailer
was 1:00 AM,

and we all assembled on the set
at 7:00 AM to begin work.

[McFadden]
And if that isn't tiring enough,

there are other problems too.

So we had to make molds of my ears.

And I'm a little bit claustrophobic.

I just...
There is something about it.

I'm very claustrophobic.

If you have claustrophobia problems,

think twice before
taking a job on Star Trek .

I think I had three calls

prior to shooting
with prosthetics and with makeup.

And by this time,
I was starting to get a little...

I was starting to get a little nervous
about what I was in for.

[McFadden]
Well, perhaps with good reason.

The initial mold,
you're completely isolated.

And the only way you can breathe,
the only way you can breathe,

is through two tiny straws
that are stuck up in your nostrils,

which stick out of the plaster of Paris.

As it settles, you can feel it
constricting your face

and you can feel that you're
becoming dependent on these two straws.

And I was like... [screaming]

And they're putting this stuff on
and I'm... [screaming]

I'm just, like, going crazy,

and the one guy is standing next to me,
holding me.

You know, he said,
"It's okay, it's okay."

[sighs] I still find gold in my,
you know, various pores.

[McFadden]
Even the great Vulcan himself

raised an eyebrow
when it came to makeup.

The process, makeup process,
did not get easier.

It became more difficult, actually.

Not only the ears,
the eyebrows were very complicated too

because I shaved the outer half
of my own eyebrows

and Freddy put on hair by hair every day.

You know, 2:00 in the morning,
I'm tearing my nose off.

But I've got... [laughs]

I've got marks from that first year or so

when I didn't wanna take the 20 minutes,

so I learned very quickly to...

not quickly enough
to avoid damage to my nose.

[McFadden] And if that wasn't enough
skin off your nose,

there are even worse things to face.

People who didn't drink water
would seize up

in the sense that
it would get harder and harder

to keep lines in your head
because you would be dehydrated.

I remember we filmed a scene
and they said, "Okay, that's perfect.

We're just gonna bump in
a little bit closer

and we're gonna do it again,"
and I said, "What are we doing?"

The said, "The exact same scene.
You've got it."

And I said, "Oh, you're gonna
have to give me the script."

I had no idea where we were,
what we were doing.

And then one of the associate producers,
I think it was David Livingston,

stepped in and said,
"We gotta get him out of that suit.

We gotta get him out of here.
He's unraveling."

So you're locked into this rubber mask.

At one point they say,
"What's going on there?

There's something."

And I have had a collection
of sweat so bad,

it's pooled and pushed the latex out
back here.

So they lance it. [laughs]

And this just wash of warm water
goes down my back,

and it's just one of the joys
of show business.

[McFadden] These dedicated actors
are either suffering for their art

or talking out of their...

Butt.

[McFadden] But in Matt Malloy's case,
both are true.

They show me the thing,
this foam thing,

that they mount on your head.

I said, "It looks like a baby's ass,"
and they said,

"Oh, the original had been a dip
of a baby's ass."

[baby crying]

[speaking alien language]

I mean, it really did look like a butt,
you know, I mean, a talking butt.

And doing scenes, I'm thinking,
"How can they take this seriously?"

But yet it was absolutely compelling.

They were very careful about that,

to let me know
what it was gonna look like.

It looked good.

By the way,
they showed me the derivation of it.

It came from insects and creatures,
live creatures,

that they borrowed things from.

I thought that was really smart.

The characters who were alien

really look like
they could have occurred in nature.

[McFadden] But if actors had a call
of nature while in costume, good luck.

Going to the bathroom was an issue.

Bathroom breaks didn't happen
unless we got almost completely undressed.

That was the only way that occurred,

and there were enough of us that it
slowed things down every once in a while.

We had to kind of take
a good 15, 20 minutes

so everybody could get undone,
they could head out,

head back in, get hooked back up again,
and go back to work. [laughs]

Well, I had a bathroom buddy.

Bathroom buddy, bathroom buddy,
please meet Tosk in the men's room.

And he would be on his knees
in front of me

in front of my crotch,
unhooking my suit

with me in this lizard mask.

-[zipper unzips]
-[McFadden] For some,

all this was
understandably just too much.

Wash!

[McFadden]
As was the case for one actor.

At one point while he was about to shoot
and he stood up,

he took his wig off,

he walked out
to the front gate of Paramount,

threw the wig in the garbage can.

He just left.

They found one of the ears
in a trash bin outside the stage.

[McFadden] But with acting,
you can't walk the walk

until you've talked the talk.

[McFadden] Getting into character
on Star Trek isn't always easy.

And if the horrors of the makeup chair
or the ill-fitting costumes aren't enough,

wait until you actually have to speak.

I'm at home, just running it, running it,
running it, just saying it out loud,

over and over and over again
while washing dishes, cooking,

doing something like that,

just so that when
we finally get there to shoot it,

that it, as Shakespeare would say,
runs trippingly off the tongue.

It was tough
and you only have a couple of shots at it

and you've got long speeches
and what have you.

You have to give the impression
that you're having a good time.

We would receive the episode,
the new episode, the night before.

So if you had a 6:00 call,
that means you were studying your scenes

maybe into 2:00, 3:00 in the morning.

[McFadden]
Well, we all had different techniques.

My words, my words, my words, my lines.

If I didn't really need
to read the whole script

and I knew exactly what
Reed was doing in his said scenes,

I didn't read 'em.

No, I didn't. I read them.
I actually did read them.

And then sometimes you'd show up

and the scene that
you were working on that same night

had been rewritten.

[McFadden]
And we're not talking your average,

run-of-the-mill dialogue rewrites.

Not everyone is fluent
in the language of Star Trek.

Star Trek seemed
to consistently call for theater actors,

Shakespearean actors in particular
because the language is not comfortable

and had to be kind of highfalutin
and stand a little straighter

and all that sort of stuff
in order to do it,

and that had to do with
having a theater background.

You have some really good actors
who are doing things like Star Trek,

if there are any like Star Trek.

Yeah, 'cause we're used to language.

[McFadden]
However, unlike the Bard's rich prose,

the words of Trek are sometimes
a little less meaningful.

They were just gobbledygook to me.

I want you to install a bypass

between the main phaser array
and the secondary generators.

I also want to run
the main deflector pathway

through the warp power grid

and the auxiliary conduits
through the lateral relays.

In some ways,
it's almost like verse

in that there is a lot of,
yes, technical...

What? Uh...

Technobabble.

Vent a couple of LN2 exhaust conduits
along the dorsal emitters.

I could not get in on the day.

Make it look like
we're in serious trouble.

It's the only line that I remember.

"Vent a couple of LN2 exhaust conduits
around the dorsal emitters."

[man] Understood.

I've gotta say something about the...
[sighs] I don't know.

The cumulus or the whatever the hell.

It's all that static-discharging gas.

I kept screwing up my lines.

May I speak, sir?

I was doing this elevator scene.

I remember I had an opportunity
where I could look different.

[McFadden]
Well, not that different.

I don't think it was a robe.
I think it was a top.

[McFadden] Of course.

[Kirstie Alley] And I was on my way
somewhere as a civilian

and I had some idea in my mind,
which I have with every script.

I don't know why I've always done this.

Like, I probably need
to flirt with Shatner,

you know, with Kirk, a little.

I wanted to wear my hair down
because I was waiting for my moment

to be glamorous.

But every time
I'd walk out of the elevator,

right before it would open,

Bill would go like,
"Line line, line, line line."

Now I'm going to go.
I'm like... [gasps]

Deer in headlights.

You're bothered.

And I was ready to cry.

And I kept coming out
and I kept blowing the line,

and then he'd go, "All right,
now this time you're gonna do it.

Line, line, line, line."

Oh, I wanted to kill him!

It's a test of character.

And then Nick took me aside.

He goes, "If you get it, good.
If you don't, you don't."

And of course I got it.

Who's been holding up the damn elevator?

I think it was Garrett Wang that told me.

He said, "Oh, just be glad your character
is not in engineering

'cause they get hammered
with the technobabble."

Can I help you?

Uh, unless you can reroute
the plasma regulator

to silo off the relay junction,
then, uh, no.

And then the very next script
that came out,

I'm asking Chakotay
for an assignment in engineering.

I was like, "Oh, God, here we go!"

It was one of the banes of my existence,

was writing some of the technology
and the tech talk of the show.

A tetryon beam is approaching, Captain.

We'll have to infuse it
with a class-four, uh, whatever, you know.

There were just too many arguments
in the writers room,

yelling at each other about
what warp drive could and could not do.

[McFadden]
But if you thought...

It's based on an FTL nanoprocessor
with 25 bilateral kelilactirals,

with twenty of those being slaved
into the primary heisenfram terminal.

Now, you do know what
a bilateral kelilactiral is?

[McFadden]
...would be hard to memorize.

And of course you have to learn Klingon
and so...

[imitating Klingon]

[speaking Klingon]

It's written out
and then they have

the phonetic pronunciations
underneath it as well.

So fortunately, that grad school
phonetics class came in handy quite a bit.

[speaking Klingon]

It was incredible. They made up
this entire language that worked.

I had one word and it seemed
to be very important and it was...

[speaks Klingon]

Which I think means
"Let's get the hell out of here"

or something like that.

Somebody sent me
a hardbound edition of Hamlet

that had been translated
into Klingon, which was astonishing.

You know, just the idea of translating
Hamlet into French makes my head explode.

So it's one of my prized possessions.
It's just...

It's really, really something.

I had to sing a song
in Klingon, Klingonese.

[singing in Klingon]

I cannot remember it,
so don't ask me.

[singing in Klingon]

[singing in Klingon]

[singing in Klingon]

[singing in Klingon]

-[man] Awesome.
-[laughs]

[man] In English?

"Let's go kick some ass." [laughs]

[McFadden] No matter the alien race,
from Andorian to Xindi,

all Star Trek actors
must master the script,

whatever the language.

You gotta know every line verbatim.

They don't want you to change
an "and" or an "or" or a...

Dabo?

You gotta know it cold.

-You're in pain, Seven.
-[sighs]

I can help you.

[McFadden] But surely
there was a little improvisation?

No, no, no, no.
You can't improvise with the text.

Yeah, you don't. You don't, uh,
paraphrase on Star Trek. [laughs]

I ad-libbed.

No, I'm kidding.
-[man] Yeah.

Say the wrong thing, Torg!

[groans]

[McFadden]
It seemed that the real overlords

of the Star Trek universe
weren't the Klingons...

[speaking Klingon]

[McFadden]
...the Borg, or Q.

Moi?

[McFadden]
Well, is he really a baddie?

Did you ever watch the show?

At our first meeting,
you seized my vessel.

You condemned all humans as savages.

[McFadden] Good point.

It's the writers.

Basically, it's "This is how it's written,
this is what we want, deliver it."

Star Trek is the only show
I have ever worked on where

if you used a synonym for a word,

they would cut,
the script guy would come over

and say, "You said 'cat'
and the line is 'kitty.'"

[McFadden] Some actors had absolutely
no issue with the writers whatsoever.

Probably the most vivid thing
I remember about the whole thing

is that the first day
I was on the set for a half-hour

and I was in bed with Deanna Troi.

I rather like that I'm more difficult
to read than your other men.

I don't know who put that together.
[chuckles]

But it worked for me.

[McFadden]
Some things worked well again and again,

and that wasn't lost on the crew
who'd spent years sitting uncomfortably...

In dark corners, you know,
on hard, wooden apple boxes.

[McFadden] And be it the set
of Enterprise, Voyager,

or the original series,

it's the crew who most noticed
the writers repeat themselves.

He says, "Yeah, every character gets
killed and then they bring them back."

He's brain dead.

Commander.

I said, "Really? I didn't know that.
What else can you tell me?"

"Well, I'm sure you're gonna do an episode
where your age a lot

and then they bring you back."

[The Doctor] Commander Chakotay
is suffering bone decalcification,

tissue necrosis, decreased visual acuity,
all classic signs of aging.

"And there'll probably be an episode
where you fall in love with an alien."

[McFadden] Despite the...

Apple boxes.

[McFadden]
...the crew were also quite comfortable

in letting an actor know

when the writers had put
the writing on the wall.

"So sorry to hear about
what's happening to your character."

I said, "Why, what's happening
to my character?"

And he said,
"Oh, uh, maybe I better not tell you."

And I went in to Ron,
I said, "Ron, do I die?"

Yes.

And he says, "Oh, I just didn't
have the heart to tell you.

Who told you that?"

"It doesn't matter, doesn't matter."

[McFadden]
And if your character does die,

think twice about taking a memento home

because as they say,
you can't take it with you.

You cannot take anything off the set.

You would be in major trouble.

Any of their brand,
any of the Star Trek brand,

they protected.

They had a checklist.
They came back for your wardrobe.

[McFadden]
Well, a few things slipped through.

There they are. Look at those.
Look at those dusty old pair of boots.

[McFadden]
With props and costumes

going for thousands
on the collector market...

I did keep one other thing, but I sold it.

I had a friend that got a good hunk
of the console years ago,

and I think he got about 40 grand for it.

[McFadden] ...the producers
had to crack down on the bit parts:

taking bits.

When I was doing these things,

I never thought
of asking to take anything.

[McFadden]
Well, Mark Rolston did.

So I asked and got
the most resounding, like,

"Don't you dare."

[McFadden]
Richard Herd dared.

Very difficult learning how to chat away
with the Klingon teeth,

which I saved,
and sometimes I chased

my wife Patricia around the bedroom
with my Klingon teeth. [laughs]

[McFadden]
And Scott MacDonald dared.

This is a prop

from the set of Enterprise.

When I played Commander Dolim,

there was a scene where
the Xindi reptiles were eating mice

as they discussed their plans
to take over the universe.

And the pièce de résistance...

This is an unbelievable thing to have.

I don't know that
very many actors have these.

[McFadden] But while some requests
were thoroughly denied...

"Don't you dare."

[McFadden] The biggest props
go to showrunner Brannon Braga,

who was dating...

-A Borg babe.
-[McFadden] That'd be this Borg babe.

[sighs] I'm bored.
Let's do something fun.

[McFadden] And thusly, Jeri Ryan had her
dreams of taking part of the set home...

-Sweet dreams.
-[McFadden] ...fulfilled.

Yeah, I have my alcove.

I figured, you know, four years
of that makeup and that costume,

the least I can do
is get my alcove to bring home.

[man] Was it hard to get it?

Uh...

-How hard was it to get the alcove?
-[man] Yeah.

Uh, to my recollection, not at all.

I was, you know, dating Brannon Braga,
so he had a little extra pull, probably.

[McFadden]
He'd need all the pull he could get.

It was hard to deliver
'cause it's such a huge thing.

[horn honks]

[McFadden]
Be it hours in the makeup chair,

finding ways to nick props from the set,

or lifting heavy set pieces
into your girlfriend's apartment,

only a few actors have attained
the one role that steals the show.

[McFadden] On any Star Trek show,
it's important to know who's at the helm.

Take us in.

We had fine directors
and we had directors,

really, really well-known directors
in television,

seeking to do Star Trek.

And you know, all actors, here's
what they wanna know about the director.

"Is he crazy?

How crazy?

Am I going to live?"

[McFadden] Armin Shimerman, appearing
as one of the first ever Ferengi...

If he moves, kill him.

[McFadden]
Sounds like he had a crazy one.

The director, uh, was giving us
all sorts of bizarre directions.

[all grunting]

I got this one!

And in fact,
my first four years as Quark

was to try and eradicate
the mistakes I made as Letek.

Because I'm a people person.

[McFadden] But perhaps
trying to avoid having a crazy director,

many of the actors themselves
stepped behind the lens.

And the tradition of
Star Trek actors becoming directors

extends all the way back
to the great Spock himself.

People would often say to me,
"You should be directing."

[chuckles] The fact is, I was...
I was insulted.

I thought, "Are these people telling me
there's something wrong with my acting?"

[laughs]

[McFadden]
But it wasn't a bad idea

because as of the end of Star Trek II ,
Spock was dead

and Leonard Nimoy was resurrected
as a feature film director.

In all, 15 cast members directed

over the hundred episodes
and films.

So I threw my hat in the ring.

Obviously I had done
a bunch of episodes.

By then, I was really into it.
I was really psyched.

They took a chance.
I thought, "Here we go."

And then that movie
was a huge success

and made a lot of money
and everybody liked it.

I loved him

when he was my first officer
on the Enterprise.

Take us out of orbit, Ensign Crusher.

I love him when he directs me
on Star Trek and on Leverage.

I love him when I call him
because I need advice.

[McFadden] But not all actors
make great directors at first.

My first day of shooting was a disaster.

We had this huge set and the first set-up,

I think it was, like,
took about eight hours.

So the first day,
I immediately fell a day behind.

[all grunting]

[Andrew Robinson]
And Berman and Ira hated the episode.

You've never been right about anything.

Then they took me in the office and
they made me go frame by frame by frame

because I was contracted
to direct two more.

And Berman said,
"If you weren't under contract,

I just wouldn't let you direct anymore,"
essentially. [laughs]

Now step aside, Toran, and allow me
to finish this sorry business.

[McFadden] It seemed like everybody
had the chance to direct.

[Robinson]
Well, Avery directed.

"Hmm, I don't know if I can see him

directing this kind of stuff."

I don't care if the odds are against us.

Well, I was completely wrong.
He was a wonderful director.

Such a great actor's director.

All the males were allowed to direct,
whoever wanted to.

[McFadden]
But as for me...

Did I have to campaign hard
to direct an episode?

What do you think? Yeah.

It took until my seventh year to get it

and they gave me this
kind of scary, spooky episode,

which was very un- Star Trek in a way.

I was so grateful that I got that script.
I really was.

I had so much fun with it.

[McFadden] As one of the first women
to direct Star Trek,

I hope that I had some small role in
opening the door to other women directors.

And now Hanelle Culpepper
is leading the way

with the Star Trek: Picard series,

becoming the first female director
to launch a new Star Trek series.

But back in front of the camera,

it wasn't until year 2371

that a woman was finally put in charge.

Voyager had a female captain.

What can I do for you?

[McFadden] And with Kate Mulgrew
commanding the ship,

Voyager was on course
for seven more years of Star Trek.

But audiences were hardly
bowled over in the beginning.

The ratings kept going lower and lower,
and I think if you talk to the fans,

they would blame it on the writing.

[McFadden]
So those writers wrote in a new character.

People saying it's a blatant attempt
to up the ratings,

well, yeah, that's why
they added the new character.

The ratings were lagging.
The show was tanking.

[McFadden] And as they say,
all publicity is good publicity.

We took a lot of criticism that we were,
you know, cheapening the show

and we're turning
into Baywatch in space.

Like, we got a lot of crap
from the Deep Space Nine writers,

who thought we were kind of selling out

and bringing a bimbo
onto the ship and all,

which frankly, kind of sexist.

And I see the way your pupils dilate
when you look at my body.

Some of the members of cast
thought that all the publicity

that this new character was going
to be getting was sort of due them.

It was a mild shock.

[Vaughn Armstrong] There was
a little conflict there, you know,

and usually when the cameras go off,
there's some banter,

either work-wise or, uh,
just to make things comfortable.

And I look to one of them
in between the scenes

and she's staring at the board up here.

I looked over here
and she's staring up at the board too.

I thought, "Well,
I probably shouldn't interrupt them.

They must be, you know, just staying
in a frame of mind that they need to."

Come to find out
they could not stand each other.

You came here hoping to stop me.
You will fail.

Turn this ship around. That's an order.

Your orders are irrelevant.
I'm no longer under your command.

[McFadden]
Jeri Ryan's character, Seven of Nine,

proved to be a fan favorite,

and ratings did begin to climb
after her arrival.

Take off your clothes.

Uh...

[McFadden] However...

Coming into an existing show
midway through is never easy.

It's never gonna be easy.

And when the attention shifts
because there's somebody new

and the publicity machine is going crazy
and they're making this huge push,

that's not gonna be easy.

It's just not.

But it was a very difficult four years.
It was very tense.

It was not...

I don't, unfortunately,
I don't look back...

As many laughs as I had

and as much as I adored
working with all of them, I don't...

I can't look back on that four-year period
with this wonderful, glowing memory

because it was so difficult.

It was so tense and difficult,
so that's unfortunate.

I'm sorry that I can't look back on it
with better memories.

Set a course.

[McFadden] When Voyager 's last episode...

For home.

[McFadden]
...screened May 23rd, 2001,

the fifth successful series
of the Star Trek franchise was over.

But fans didn't have to wait long at all.

[announcer] Enterprise.

[McFadden] Because the promos
were already rolling out for the next one.

Star Trek: Enterprise was to be
the sixth series in the franchise.

However...

They kind of flooded the market
with the three different series

at the same time.

[announcer 1] Star Trek: Voyager.

[announcer 2] Deep Space Nine.

You know, every time they
turn on the television, there it was.

-Are you sure?
-[Hawkins] Damn sure.

I remember taking the phone call
about the show ending

and we were gonna have the big class photo
outside the gates of Paramount.

And I'm standing with Brannon Braga,
the chief guy.

And I saw Brannon turn around
and he looked at this... [laughs]

...this hairy looking thing
called the Tellarite,

standing there with the sun
glancing off his nose.

And we all just looked at it.

He just went, "Yeah, it's time."

[laughs]

[man] That's funny.

Ah...

[man] That's good.
-Ah.

[McFadden] And with that,
for the first time in 18 years,

there would be no new Star Trek episodes.

So it's like, "Okay, let's take a break."

And now, ten years, ten years later...

[McFadden]
It all started again.

And actors once again
began looking for work.

When I heard
they were doing a new Star Trek

and Star Trek: Discovery ,
I just begged my agent.

I just said,
"I would love to meet the producers.

I'd love to see if there's
anything that I might be right for."

I say bring it on.

And they said,
"How about Harry Mudd?

It's a couple of episodes,
might recur more."

And I was like, "Yes!"

It was one of those great actor moments
of like, "Oh, this is delicious!"

And I will have my revenge.

Also, I'm gonna kill you
as many times as possible.

[McFadden] However, Rainn Wilson
was in an unusual position,

along with some other
new Star Trek actors,

in that he was playing a role that already
had a long history with the series.

I don't believe it.

I went back and watched
the original Mudd episodes

and saw what he was doing.

You should refer to me
as Mudd the First.

It was very similar to playing
Dwight on The Office,

where I was inheriting a role
from a previous actor.

So that's a great place to be in 'cause
you get to steal what they do really well

and then you get to add your own mojo.

[McFadden] In recent years,
mojo is flying everywhere.

J.J. Abrams' three Star Trek films
made big bucks at the box office

by recasting characters
from the original series.

It's not easy for all those actors
to step into those roles. Not easy.

Treacherous. It's a treacherous step.

Very flattering to me
that the character is strong enough

to be carried on
by somebody else successfully.

I think it's great,
and he's a very good actor,

very intelligent actor,
so I'm very happy about it.

Oh, I think she's marvelous.

She told me,
"I was so nervous when I got this role."

And I said, "Why? You're so good."

And she said,
"I thought you would hate me."

And I said, "I do,
you're just too damn good."

You know, so... [laughs]

[McFadden] We even saw a reprise
of Star Trek 's greatest villain.

Khan!

[McFadden]
As we know, originally played by...

Ricardo Montalban.

[laughs]

[McFadden] ...both in the '60s and '80s,
but in 2013's Into Darkness...

You exploit my savagery.

[McFadden]
...Benedict Cumberbatch took on the role.

Shall we begin?

[McFadden] And even though
his pecs were nowhere to be seen,

his acting muscles were on full display.

My name is Khan.

Here's the English accent.
They told me I can't have one.

Look at him!

[McFadden]
Well, whether you like it or not,

there is a place where
every Star Trek actor can go

and be praised for their part
in a TV show like no other.

For an actor, Star Trek is the gift
that keeps on giving.

After you've done your Star Trek episodes,
you can do conventions.

[McFadden] And as unique as they are,
Star Trek conventions are not a new thing.

We did a convention
almost immediately that the show was over.

[McFadden]
And they are still here in some kind of...

Well...

What's the word I'm looking for?

I mean, it just generates
again and again and again.

The best fans in the whole world...

...are Star Trek fans.

[McFadden]
And Star Trek fans live for Star Trek.

You suddenly realize

how much they give a damn.

[McFadden] But in some cases,
Star Trek actors live

because of Star Trek fans
and the conventions.

It's still a huge part of my life,

and a big part of that is the fandom

and going all over the world
doing conventions.

That's a whole new world
that's opened up for me, uh,

signing Harry Mudd photos now.

-[camera shutter clicks]
-Ugh.

I have signed so much in this world.

I mean, you know, and the fact
that anybody wants

another of my signatures,
I just can't believe it.

[camera shutter clicking]

Nobody really recognizes me
unless I do this. [laughs]

[camera shutter clicking]

My situation is always
people come up to the table

and they look at the pictures
and then they look at me

and then they look at the pictures
and then they look at me.

So I sit there kind of dealing
in that sort of uncomfortable stew.

Actor ego stuff, I guess.
I don't know.

[McFadden]
Aw. Cheer up, guys.

It was depressing at first.

But they really want to meet you.

And it's...

for some of them,
the high point of their life.

It's not difficult to make somebody's day
when you're in this position.

It's really nice and it's nice
to be able to make somebody smile.

[McFadden]
Not everyone's approach is so altruistic.

I mean, the minute you walk in that hotel,
you're Brad Pitt, mate,

and they all want a piece of you.

If you're not careful, you can wind up
thinking you're Jesus Christ.

[chorus sings]

It was maybe too enjoyable.

I'm going to have
to remind myself every day...

...that we didn't come out here
to play God.

God, I remember my first convention.

Pushed open the bathroom door
and there's two Klingons standing there.

[laughs]

And when they saw Malcolm Reed walking in,
they were like... [imitates Klingon]

And I'm like, "All right, lads."

So I nip around the corner for a pee.

I can hear them whispering.

Presumably about me.

Well, that's obvious, sir.

Because it was in Klingon.

[laughs]

[imitates Klingon]

Well, as far as the perks of the show, um,

some of them I won't go into
because I'm married now.

No, I'm not talking about groupies. Um...

[man] They exist?

Sort of. I mean, yeah,
I won't say they don't exist.

Well, you know, when I was single, um...

Yes, you could find, uh...

You could have a nice, charming evening.

I can see the attraction.

Some women find those necks sexy.

-[laughs]
-[man] That's awesome.

[McFadden]
For all that Star Trek brought us,

the laughs, the tears, the pointy ears,

there's one thing that all of us
lucky enough to have been part of it

are the most proud of.

I was pleased with the fact
that we were dealing with issues

that had a socio-political reference
and relevance.

[Nichelle Nichols]
Gene set it all up, he did it,

and this is what we're going to do.

And you've got the script
and you read the script and you go...

We'll start to live the way
the Führer meant us to live.

"Is he kidding?
They'll never let him get away with it."

[Michael Dorn]
There was an episode where the guy

was black on one side
and white on the other.

I mean, I mean,
you'd have to be an idiot not to get that.

[D.C. Fontana] We were one
of the few shows that could approach

the question of the Vietnam War
'cause nobody else could.

There's nothing good in war
except its ending.

We could call it something else
and still have it be about the war.

And nobody ever said a word to us.

Spock.

[Rick Worthy] There was so much happening
racially and politically in the world.

And then you turn on your TV
and then there's this white fellow

and this lovely Black woman
and they have a kiss.

[McFadden]
But not just any kiss.

This was the very first interracial kiss
on television, so it was a big deal.

It wasn't a big deal to me.

[laughs]

Jesus!

Let's get on with it.

-[man] Did Shatner wanna do it?
-Oh, yeah. Are you kidding?

[cheers and applause]

Genius.

That's why, for me,
Star Trek has endured for 55 years

because everybody got the message
that we are the same.

It doesn't matter whether we're Black,
white, Hispanic, green, blue,

half-Black, half-white,
we're all the same.

[Brannon Braga]
Gene's vision, he was very clear.

The humans of the 24th century
didn't have war, disease,

poverty, hunger.

Gone.

Religion too for that matter.

A secular, enlightened society.

For us in this country, it's sort of
the idealization of American values

and, you know, how we see ourselves.

People of color
and how people all over the world

can see themselves in the future

with important parts
and important jobs in life,

and everybody's represented.

It's not just a fun TV show
and it's not just a good TV show,

it's just...

It's special.

Gene Roddenberry was just amazing.

And I never forgave him for dying.

It was like someone you depend on

to keep bringing
the beauty of the world to be.

Mm.

Well, I really think that's,
in large part,

what the success of Star Trek
as a franchise is.

Saving the galaxy.

It's because
it's an optimistic view of the future,

and I think that's what
people want to grab onto.

I think that we need that.

As long as we as a species have something
to learn, Star Trek will be relevant.

To have created in this culture
something that is as iconic

as the show,
that lasts as long as the show,

that involves as many people as it has,

is quite extraordinary.

So it's a testament to the adventure
that Roddenberry wanted to create.

Star Trek reflects
in its various characters

different portions of the human condition.

[McFadden] And it's the actors
who brought those characters to life

that we need to thank most of all.

You are sort of part of a legacy,

and there are legions of people
that have been on the road

and the journey before you.

Most people are pretty proud
to be in Star Trek.

You know, of any other show in the world
that you could have gotten on,

a pretty cool one to have gotten on.

It was awesome, you know,
to be a part of something that is iconic.

I was a Star Trek fan who was
in a Star Trek series as a series regular.

I had won the lottery.

[Robinson] Being a part Star Trek ,
I'm not exaggerating here,

it really did change my life.

It opened up.

I thought
what was going to be one episode

ended up being literally a life,

certainly a career-changing experience.

[McFadden]
I've been so fortunate.

The whole energy of the show,
the cast, the fans,

actually, I should be so lucky.

That's kind of trite and sentimental,
but whatever.

[man] No, it's good.
No, it's the way you feel.

And I love everybody. And you know,
I love Dr. Crusher.

My experience on Star Trek
is it would be hugely ungrateful of me

to have any kind
of negative thoughts about it at all.

It's been a great blessing.

I mean, I got a picture of me
with a ray gun, for God's sake, you know.

[Keating]
Those years changed my life.

They continue to, you know,
define my life in many ways.

Seven of Nine was a gift as an actor.
She really was.

In every way, this character was.

This gave me a career.

And you couldn't...

I couldn't have asked
for a richer role to play.

Star Trek is the most important thing
I've done in my career.

The best, best part of having
been part of the Star Trek experience

are the people I've gotten to know.

It was a gift to be able to be with
those people all those hours every day.

We laughed all the time.

We're still, to a person,
really close friends

all these years later.

They're family.

And that was really
the greatest gift of all.

I'm really proud
that I got to participate

because, you know, you don't get
to say that with a lot of stuff.

This is one thing that, you know,

I always am lit when I think...

No, that didn't sound right. Hmm...

I always light up. [laughs]

[McFadden] To be an actor
in the Star Trek legacy is an honor,

and as one
of the 8,000-and-counting actors

who've become part of sci-fi lore,

there's one truth that can't be ignored.

[Armin Shimerman]
I wonder sometimes whether playing Quark

was a detraction from my career.

Because Star Trek ,
although very popular around the world,

it's not very popular in Hollywood,

that it is a lesser franchise
in most producers',

studio heads' minds.

The list of actors or actresses
who have won awards

like Emmys or Oscars
from working in a science-fiction project

is a very short list, very short list.

It is simply not recognized
by members of the Academy

as a level of work that calls for honors,

calls for being honored that way.

Technical honors, yes,

wonderful special effects,
wonderful sets, wonderful music,

and so forth,
but not for the actors.

Actors who work
in science fiction,

particularly then in those years,

are seen to be working
in a kind of a subgenre,

that it's something less than wonderful,

something less
than qualifies for honors,

and that's why actors avoided it.

I found a level of comfort doing it.

[McFadden] The great Leonard Nimoy
passed away in 2015.

I shall simply say... good luck.

[McFadden]
Having won neither an Emmy nor an Oscar.

And joining a list of acting legends
who will live forever on our TVs,

whenever we need them,

knowing they were part
of the most wonderful, celebrated,

long-running,
and important TV shows ever made.

You see, I'm an actor.

[McFadden] But for those of us
who love Star Trek,

in whichever series or timeline,
we owe Star Trek's original actor,

and all those who came after him,

a lot.

What I wanted to do
was make a living as an actor,

and I probably would have been happy
in a stock company somewhere in Kansas,

doing plays week after week,
playing different characters.

Instead, I was given a role that
took me on a wonderful, wonderful journey.

[McFadden] From Roddenberry's vision
to the writers who gave it life,

to the wizards who brought
this utopian world onto our TV sets...

The reruns now plays every day,
and in a way I have reached immortality

for at least another 50 years, maybe.

[McFadden] ...to the original actors
who showed up on set and made history.

And we really never knew what
was going to be in the future,

whether we had a future,

but this has been such
a momentous circumstance in my life.

It was really, uh, profoundly wonderful.

I'm Star Trek and Star Trek is me.

Couldn't ask for more.

[man] I imagine you wouldn't trade
your career for any other.

No, thank you.
No, thank you.

I'm a very, very lucky guy.

[theme music playing]

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