All language subtitles for The Center Seat 55 Years of Star Trek S01E11 The Stars Above 1080p AMZN WEB-DL DD+5 1 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Space, the final frontier.

For well over 50 years,

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

Out there.

...on an endless quest,
looking for stars...

- That way.
- ...but not up there in space.

More that direction.

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.

And this is the story,
not of the captains...

- Aye, Captain.
- ...or the ships they commanded,

- but of the first officers...
- Fire.

- ...crew...
- It was a great part to get to play.

- ...the occasional doctor.
- That's odd.

Actually, that's me.

And of course,
there were many, many aliens. -

From the
original series... - Captain.

...to the movies and
every T.V. series since... - Engage.

Yes! It was one of those
great actor moments.

- It was horrifying.
-Star Trek means so much to so many.

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

You can get Trekkies
from birth to death.

And be it
the big bucks, or sad minimum...

Co-workers were
a pain in the ass.

...it's the actors
who bringsStar Trek to life.

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

From
the series regulars...

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

...big parts,
guest spots...

Guest stars.

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

So, beam aboard
and hold on tight

as we boldly meet
the actors ofStar Trek...

and you can see it all
from here inThe 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.

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.

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.

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.

So, when an
ex-World War II fighter pilot turned airline pilot

turned LAPD officer
named Gene Roddenberry,

turned his hand
to script writing,

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.

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.

Set 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.

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 in The Lieutenant.

My first
television thing I did,

the producer-director
was Gene Roddenberry,

I was just like,
"Hey, let's go!" you know.

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.

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 pipe.

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 was defecting.

It was a show
calledMr. 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.

Makes me homesick,

just like Russia.

More like the Garden
of Eden, Ensign.

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

Now he looked like a Beatle.
But that was okay.

Be it
the original series or today,

actors need gigs,
andStar 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.

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."

Not just the shows,
movies too.

Star Trek wasmy 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.
-It wasStar 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 going to 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.

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

But before
you can live long in a prosperous fashion,

you need to get cast.

And the gatekeeper
in theStar Trek universe,

well, no, it wasn't
Gene Roddenberry, it's this guy.

I was casting director
on Star Trekfor 15 years,

throughout most of
the four different TV series and three movies.

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
4-500 actors cast on the shows.

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 Trekfranchise

than any other actor.
In fact, somebody told me

it was in any
episodic franchise in television.

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.
-Nope. This guy did.

I'm here.

Jonathan Frakes'
portrayal of Riker,

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

And I'm trying
not to smile at him.

...soon became
a relaxed and beloved member of theNext Generation crew.

Our lives were changed.

So, it's no wonder
that getting an audition forStar 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 kind of look
just like you.

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

As I waited outside,
this minivan pulled up and the doors 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.

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.

So, I went in and I'm doing
the audition like this, you know,

but with a bit
of an English, you know, accent, you know,

like, uh, kind of Cockney-ish.

One of the producers comes 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 because I thought there's...

I'm not leaving
anything on the table

when I walk out of here
because I really wanted it.

- I really wanted to get it.
-Don't worry. He did.

- Yes, sir.
-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're 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.

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 you gave me a hug."

And that was a smart move
as the young Cirroc.

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, um, audition for?"

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

"Just pick whichever one
you want to 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.

But it's not just
the main characters.

A big part ofStar 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."

I kept telling them
I don't agree.

It's a shame.

Uh, I remember thinking
in my mind, "Oh, man,

"I'm either going to get
this job or I'm never going

"to work in
this town again."

Some of the best auditions
you'll 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...

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, joyous transport,

he would...
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."

I happened to be there
when he was going to shoot

his first scene,
which was the scene he'd auditioned with.

I think he went with...

And you just heard this,
and bear in mind,

he's done this through
all the auditions that he's had.

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

"God."

"Are you me?"

Or as John himself
remembers it...

"John, quit around"

Just so I knew I wasn't a bird.

Of course,
some characters have been more successful

in developing
a trademark sound.

That is how the Klingon
lures a mate.

When I call my agent
and the producer was saying,

"Look, you know, we want
to see him for the part of a Klingon."

because they were
going to put a Klingon on the bridge.

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

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

Worf became
a series regular... -

...and an integral part
of the Next Generation crew...

- I am a Klingon.
- ...and it worked out so well

that he later became
a series regular on Deep Space Nine as well.

Because when they call you...

...they want you and it
gives you a position of power

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

He's not wrong.

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

EveryStar Trek actor
has their story...

I have been a Star Trekfan
as long as I can remember.

...and often with
a personal connection to the show.

When I was growing up,
and 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.

I had a history withStar 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 sounds like a good idea,

and my kids said,
"You better do it."

So, that was that.

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,
a female woman, that's crazy.

...uh, carry that
woman thing forward

so some little girl
looks up and sees me

and says, "Oh."

We're on 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-real video ofStar 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 want to be Mr. Spock."

Who doesn't?

But there are a lot more
aliens than just Vulcans in theStar Trek universe.

When I got the phone call,
they're like, "Yeah, so they want you to play a Ferengi."

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!

And I had no idea
what a Cardassian was.

I couldn't, you know...
If you told me it was a form of pastrami sandwich,

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

So, how
do you play an alien?

I'm still asking
myself to this day,

how do you play a Vulcan?

This... Is it Burlesque?
Do you go over the top?

I mean, really weird, you know.

Do you do a voice?
Can you be funny?

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

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

...because no amount
of acting talent can turn this face

into this one.

Such is the power
of makeup. - Makeup?

-That's right.
- Special effects makeup.

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

And 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, you look the way
you imagine yourself to be. It works.

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,
for the movies.

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

He was easily 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.

But the real magic
happens when there's a collaboration

between the makeup artists
and the actor.

So I get this
lovely role 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,
dun, dun, dun,

the lion's face,
slightly damaged.

I went, "I love that."
and he went, "Okay, let's try it."

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 millennia,
and they're finally getting these things in their necks

"just from straining from
how much they hate everybody, you know, for so long."

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

Uh, it was horrifying.

So horrifying, in fact,
that many actors said...

- No.
- I will not do it.

There were oftentimes
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 a.m.,

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

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's 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.

Well, perhaps,
with good reason.

The initial, um, mold,

you're completely isolated.

And the only way
you can breathe, the onlyway 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,
and they're putting this stuff on,

and I'm like,

I'm just, like, going crazy,

and one guy
is standing next to me,

holding me, you know,
saying, "It's okay, it's okay."

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

Even the great Vulcan
himself raised an eyebrow

when it came
to make up.

The process,
the 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 Freddie put on
hair by hair everyday.

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

But I've got...
I've got marks

from that first year or so,
when I didn't want

to take the 20 minutes.
So, I learned very quickly

to not to,
not quickly enough, to avoid damage to my nose.

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 were dehydrated.

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

"We're just going to bump in
a little bit closer and we're going to do it again."

And I said, "What are we doing?

"This is the exact
same scene you've got."

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 one
of the associate producers,

I think it was David Livingston,
stepped in and said,

"We've got to get him out of
that suit. We've got to 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,

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

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

These
dedicated actors are either

suffering for their art
or talking out of their... - Butt.

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

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

I mean a talking butt,

and doing scenes,
I'm thinking, how can I take this seriously?

But, yet, it was
absolutely compelling.

They were
very careful about that

to let me know
what it was going to look like. 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.

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 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.

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.

For some, all this was, understandably,

- just too much...
- Wash.

...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.

But, with acting,
you can't walk the walk until you've talked the talk.

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's 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
that we're...

the new episode
the night before.

So, if you had a 6 o'clock call,
that means you were studying your scenes,

maybe into 2, 3 o'clock
in the morning.

Well, we all
had different techniques.

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

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.

And we're not talking
your average run-of-the-mill dialogue rewrites.

Not everyone is fluent
in the language ofStar Trek.

Star Trekseemed to have
consistently called 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 they had to do with
having a theater background.

You have some
really good actors who were doing things like Star Trek.

if there are
any like Star Trek.

Yeah, because we're
used to language.

However, unlike
the Bard's rich prose,

the words ofTrek 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 it
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 along the dorsal emitters.

Understood.

And I've got
to say something about the...

I don't know,
the... cumulus

- or the... whatever the hell.
- It's all that static discharge and 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.

Well,
not that different.

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

-Of course.
- ...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'm probably
gonna 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 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. "You...
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,
and he goes, "If you get it, good.

"If you don't, you don't."
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's 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 4," uh, whatever, you know.

There were just
too many arguments in the writer's room,

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

-But if you thought...
- It's based on an FTL nano-processor

with25 bilateral kelilactiral
with 20 of those being slaved

into the primary
Heisenfram terminal.

Now you do know what
a bilateral kelilactiral is.

...would be
hard to memorize...

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

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.

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...

...which, I think, means
"Let's get the hell out of here"

or something like that.

Somebody sent me
a hard bound edition of Hamlet

that had been
translated into Klingon, which was astonishing.

You know, just the idea
of translatingHamlet 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.

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

Awesome.

Let's go kick some ass.

No matter
the alien race, from Andorian to Xindi,

allStar Trek actors
must master the script, whatever the language.

You got to know
every line, verbatim.

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

You've got to know it cold.

You're in pain, Seven.
I can help you.

But surely there was
a little improvisation?

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

You don't paraphrase
on Star Trek.

I ad-libbed.

- No, I'm kidding.
-Yeah.

Say the wrong thing, Torg.

It seemed that
the real overlords of theStar Trek universe

weren't the Klingons...

-...the Borg, or Q.
- Moi?

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.

Good point.
It's the writers.

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

Star Trekis 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.'"

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, but it worked for me.

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.

And be it the set
ofEnterprise, Voyager or the original series,

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

So, 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?"

Uh, what you're gonna do is,
I'm sure you're going to do

an episode where you age a lot,
and then, they bring you back.

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.

-Despite the...
- Apple boxes.

...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, maybe,
I better not tell you."

and I ran into 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. It doesn't matter."

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 Trekbrand,
they protected.

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

Well, a few things
slipped through.

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

With props and costumes
going for thousands on the collector market,

I did keep
one other thing. But then, I sold it.

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

and he... I think
he got about 40 grand for it.

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.

Well, Mark Rolston did.

So, I asked, and got
the most resounding, like,

"Don't you dare."

-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.

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

we're eating mice
as they discussed their plans

to take over the universe.

And the piece de resistance...

This is...

an unbelievable thing to have.

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

But while some requests
were thoroughly denied...

"Don't you dare."

...the biggest props
go to showrunner, Brannon Braga,

- who was dating...
- ...bored babe.

That be
this bored babe. - Bored. Let's do something fun.

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

- Sweet dreams.
- ...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.

Uh...

How hard was it
to get the alcove? - INTERVIEWER: Yeah.

Uh, to my recollection,
not at all.

I was, you know, dating
Brannon Braga. So, we had a little extra pull, probably.

He'd need
all the pull he could get.

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

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.

On anyStar 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 want to know about the director.

Is he crazy?

How crazy?

Am I going to live?

Armin Shimerman,
appearing as one of the first ever Ferengi,

If it moves, kill it.

Sounds like
he had a crazy one.

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

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.

But, perhaps,
trying to avoid having a crazy director,

many of the actors themselves
stepped behind the lens,

and the tradition
ofStar Trek actors becoming directors

extends
all the way back to the great Spock himself.

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

The fact is,
I was insulted.

I thought, are
all these people telling me

there's something wrong
with my acting? -

But it
wasn't a bad idea

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

and Leonard Nimoy
was resurrected as a feature film director.

In all, 15 cast members
directed over 100 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.

It 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 Trekand on Leverage.

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

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 setup, I think,

was, like,
took about eight hours. -

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

And Berman and Ira
hated the up episode.

You've never been
right about anything.

Then, they took me in the office
and they made me go through 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.

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

It seemed like everybody
had the chance to direct.

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.

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.

As one of the first women
to directStar 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 theStar Trek: Picard series,

becoming the first
female director to launch a newStar Trek series.

But back
in front of the camera, it wasn't until year 2371

that a woman
was finally put in charge.

Well, Voyager
had had a female captain.

What can I do for you?

And with Kate Mulgrew
commanding the ship, Voyager was on course

for seven more years
ofStar 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.

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.

And, as they say,
all publicity is good publicity.

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

and were turning it
into Baywatchin space.

Like we got
a lot of crap from the Deep Space Ninewriters

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 the cast thought

that all the publicity
that this new character

was going to be getting
was sort of due them.

It was a mild shot.

It was a little conflict there,
you know, and usually, when the cameras go off,

there's some banter,
either work-wise

or just to make
things comfortable.

And I looked to one of them,

in between the scenes,
and she's staring at the board up here,

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

And I thought, well, I
probably shouldn't interrupt them.

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

I come to find out
they could not stand each other.

You came here hoping
to stop me. You'll fail.

Turn this ship around.
That's an order.

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

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.

-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 there making this huge push.

That's not going to be easy.
It's just not.

But yeah, 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...

WhenVoyager's
last episode...

...for home.

...screened
May 23rd, 2001,

the fifth successful series
of theStar Trek franchise was over.

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

Enterprise.

...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 three different
series at the same time.

-Star Trek: Voyager,
-Deep Space Nine.

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

- Are you sure?
-Damn sure.

I remember
taking the phone call about the show ending

and we were going
to 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
hairy looking thing called the Tellarite

standing there with
the sun glancing off his nose,

and we all just looked at it
and he just went,

"Yeah, It's time."

That's funny.

- Oh.
-That's good.

And with that,
for the first time in 18 years,

there would be
no newStar Trek episodes.

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

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

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 agents,
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,

"This is delicious."

And I will have my revenge.

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

However, Rainn Wilson
was in an unusual position,

along with some other
newStar 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.

Well, 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 because you get to steal

what they do really well,
and then, you get to add your own mojo.

In recent years,
mojo is flying everywhere.

JJ Abrams's
threeStar 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.

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...

We even saw
a reprise ofStar Trek's greatest villain...

Khan!

...as we know,
originally played by... - Ricardo Montalban.

...both in the '60s and '80s,
but in 2013'sInto Darkness,

- To exploit my savagery.
-Benedict Cumberbatch took on the role.

Shall we begin?

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.

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 Trekis the gift that keeps on giving.

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

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.

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.

Star Trekfans.

AndStar Trek fans
live forStar Trek.

You suddenly realize
how much they give a damn.

But in some cases,
Star Trek actors live

because ofStar 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, um,

signing Harry Mudd photos now.

Oh, 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.

Nobody really recognizes me
unless I do this.

You know, it's almost like...

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 and that sort of

uncomfortable stew,
actor ego stuff, I guess. I don't know.

Aw, cheer up, guys.

It was depressing at first,
but they really want to meet you.

and it's, for some of them,
a 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.

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.

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.

When they saw Malcolm Reed
walking and they were like,

I'm like, "All right, lads."
So, I nip around the corner for a pee

and I can hear them whispering,
presumably about me.

That's obvious, sir.

Because it was in 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...

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...
You could have a nice, charming evening.

I can see
the attraction.

Some women find this neck sexy.

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 sociopolitical reference and relevance.

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've read the script and you're going,

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

Is he kidding?

They'll never let him
get away with it.

There was an episode where
the guy was black on one side and white on the other. I mean,

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

We were one of the few shows that could approach

the question of the Vietnam War
because nobody else could.

There is 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.

There was
so much happening racially and politically in the world.

And then, when you
turn on your TV, and then,

there's this white fellow
and this lovely black woman,

and they have a kiss.

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.

Jesus.

Let's get on with it.

Did Shatner
wanna do it? - Oh, yeah. You kidding?

Genius.

That's what... That's why,
for me, Star Trekhas 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.

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 people all over the world.

can see themselves
in the future

with important parts
and important jobs in life,

um, and everybody's represented.

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

Mmm.

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, and I think we need that.

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

To have created in this culture
something that is as iconic as this show,

that lasts as long as this show,
that involves as many people as it has,

it's quite extraordinary.
So, it's a testament to the adventure

that Roddenberry
wanted to create.

Star Trekreflects,
in its various characters,

different portions
of the human condition.

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, if 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 Trekfan,
who was in a Star Trekseries as a series regular.

I had won the lottery.

Being a part ofStar Trek,
I am 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.

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.

- That's good.
-Yeah, that's good.

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

My experience on Star Trekis,
it would be hugely ungrateful of me

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

It's been a great blessing.

So, I mean, I got
a picture of me with

a ray gun,
for God's sake, you know?

Those years changed my life,
and 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 Trekis
the most important thing I've done in my career.

The best best part
of having been part of the Star Trekexperience

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.
Um, they're family,

and that was really
the greatest gift of all.

I'm really proud
that I got to participate in it 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. It's always light up.

To be an actor
in theStar 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.

I wonder sometimes, whether playing Quark,

was it a detraction
from my career?

Because Star Trek,
although very popular around the world,

it is 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 sub-genre.
as 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.

The great Leonard Nimoy
passed away in 2015...

I shall simply say, good luck.

...having won
neither an Emmy nor an Oscar,

but 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.

But for those of us
who loveStar Trek in whichever series or timeline,

we oweStar Trek's
original actor and all those who came after him a lot.

What I wanted to do
is 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.

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.
In a way, I have reached immortality,

uh, for at least
another 50 years, maybe.

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
profoundly wonderful.

I'm Star Trek
and Star Trekis me.

Couldn't ask for more.

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

No, thank you.
No, thank you.

I'm a very, very lucky guy.