Star Trek Magazine Special 2014

SPECIAL 2014 CLASSIC INTERVIEWS: SHATNER, FRAKES, NIMOY, MULGREW
O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E
TORY OF
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TR EK
THE E S S E N T I A L G U I D E
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EDITORIAL
• Editor: Christopher Cooper
• Senior Editor: Martin Eden
• Designer: Dan Bura
350.1
Stardate: 67
RE
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ENTU
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AD G.”
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of Kirk, Sisko, Janeway, then back to Kirk again (albeit one that inhabits an alternate
• Circulation Manager: Steve Tothill
• Marketing Manager: Ricky Claydon timeline), it’s been an astonishing voyage through space and time for Star Trek.
• US Advertising Manager: Jeni Smith We’ve seen the show cancelled, saved, revived as a cartoon then promoted to the
• Advertising Assistant: Sophie Pemberton silver screen, revived again, spun off (twice), prequeled, rebooted and… what next? Time
• Advertising Manager: Michelle Fairlamb will tell, but Star Trek sure as Gre’thor isn’t going away anytime soon.
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In just a few years, the show will pass the half-century mark, now existing in a world
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• Executive Director: Vivian Cheung and PADDs – have become real-world essentials we couldn’t live without. When Star Trek
• Publisher: Nick Landau makes it back onto TV screens, it could all seem startlingly contemporary!
Talking of the real and the Trek worlds coming ever closer together, we’re well on track
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Total Publisher Services, Inc. became the first ever human-made object to leave our solar system, venturing into the
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Gordon & Gotch Actually, yes – we interview Into Darkness villain Peter Weller in this very issue!).
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this special issue sets out to reveal. It’s your essential guide to the history of Star Trek,
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CONTENTS
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FEATURES
06 A BRIEF HISTORY OF 74 UNSEEN TREK: GHOST

STAR TREK SHIP – STAR TREK
Star Trek has benefited from any number
of second chances, as we find out in this PHASE 3
essential guide to the history of the franchise. The inside story of how a bold new Trek comic
book series almost made it out of space dock.
30 BY THE FANS, FOR

THE FANS 134 UNSEEN TREK: ALIENATED
A love letter to Trek fans past, present and
future, from one of a new breed of social- The forgotten aliens of J.J. Abrams’ alternate
networking Trekkers. Star Trek timeline.
46 A NEW BEGINNING
In 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation took
the crew of a new Enterprise on ever bolder
missions, changing the face of television in
the process.
67 FOUR COLOR
FLASHBACK
Explore a strange alternate universe of splash
panels and word balloons, as we examine the
history of Star Trek in comic form.
80 UNDISCOVERED “WE ALL WALKED OUT VERY PROUD OF

COUNTRIES J.J. AND OURSELVES, BECAUSE IT WAS
Replacing a shiny starship with a gothic space
station is far from the biggest difference
SO BEAUTIFULLY DONE.”
between Deep Space Nine and the other Treks.
114 SUCH SWEET 140 REALITY BITES

SORROW To hell with the temporal prime
directive! We explore Star Trek’s
Revisiting the swan song episodes of every diverging timelines, temporal
Star Trek series. incursions, and alternate realities.
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4 STAR TREK MAGAZINE
CONTENTS
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INTERVIEWS
14 WILLIAM SHATNER
The original Captain Kirk invites us to enter Shatner’s World.
22 ROBERT JUSTMAN
A fascinating interview with one of the driving forces behind Star Trek
14
and The Next Generation.
34 PETER WELLER
A brand new and exclusive talk with Kirk’s true nemesis from Star Trek
Into Darkness.
38
38 & 128 LEONARD NIMOY
In an extensive two-part interview Leonard Nimoy looks back at life as
Spock, and how busy retirement can be...
52 JONATHAN FRAKES
The Enterprise-D’s Number One talks about how Star Trek pushed his
career in exciting and unexpected directions.
60 JOHN DE LANCIE
Join the Q, as we speak to the amazing Professor Quadwrangle and star
60
of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic!
74 HERMAN ZIMMERMAN
We speak to the award winning Deep Space Nine art director and
production designer.
80 ARMIN SHIMERMAN 108 MANNY

The Deep Space Nine and Buffy star on Quark, an actor’s life, and Shakespeare.
COTO
94 BRYAN FULLER Enterprise showrunner
Manny Coto discusses
The Deep Space Nine and Voyager scribe discusses his work, and the what might have
future of Trek. been, had the show
100 KATE MULGREW

continued.
A classic interview with Voyager’s formidable Captain Janeway.
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STAR TREK MAGAZINE 5
T O R Y O F
K
IEF H I S
E
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A BR
TR G
FROM THE
R E A T B I R D T O
L E
L A C K H O
THE B r
Hollywoo
e rare in pilot or your
d: if
n c e s a
ha our
Second c your pitch or y r Trek’s story
u fa il w ith e . Ye t Sta g with
yo
fi lm , y o u’re do chances, startin
n
fir s t c o n d c ti o n .
r y of se s produ
is a histo arliest days of it ayes
the e ddard H
By K. Sto
time viewing. In 1969, real time was the only

1966-1969 viewing, and Friday was the worst night of
TO BOLDLY GO the week. The Friday time slot combined with
Gene Roddenberry’s first pilot for his new budget cuts and declining quality killed Star
science fiction series, “The Cage,” was rejected Trek with hardly a whimper.
as being both too brainy and too pessimistic.
Getting a second pilot was unprecedented, yet 1969…
Roddenberry got his second chance, and the INTO ETERNITY
result was a different tone and a new crew. Star Trek would have faded like any other
He had pitched the series as “Wagon cancelled show, except that it had just enough
Train to the Stars,” thanks to the dominance episodes to make it valuable in syndication
of Westerns at the time. The show became (today, 100 episodes is considered the
much closer to classic stories of life on a minimum). Its weekday evening syndicated
naval vessel (the Hornblower series; Master timeslot was highly visible, and again,
and Commander; Run Silent, Run Deep), compared to today, had little competition, as
portraying a crew of highly professional even the largest US cities offered only three
officers with very human qualities, facing network channels plus a few local stations.
challenges that often seemed insurmountable. Syndication saved Roddenberry’s
Though Star Trek earned a respectable masterpiece. The audience grew steadily,
audience and critical praise, it never had the attracting new fans and securing old ones,
ratings NBC wanted. Each year, renewal came until the first Star Trek convention in New
down to squeaking by with the numbers, plus York in 1972 was attended by 3,000 people,
intense fan letter campaigns. The decision with convention attendance doubling a year
to move it to late Friday night was a death later. Roddenberry himself told the audience
sentence for a struggling show. Even with that, thanks to their numbers and enthusiasm,
today’s post-broadcast watching via DVR, he now believed a Star Trek movie might
Gorn but not forgotten.
discs and streaming, networks still prize real- someday happen.
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A BRIEF HISTORY OFTREK
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CASTING THE
CAPTAINS
While each of Star Trek’s Captains seem
inevitable casting now, only Scott Bakula
actually landed his role without the
intervention of fate.
The very first captain, Jeffrey Hunter, was
unavailable for the second pilot, opening the
way for William Shatner. It’s impossible now
to imagine Star Trek without Shatner’s larger-
than-life screen presence and comic timing,
or the chemistry with Nimoy and Kelley that
created a legendary on-screen trio.
Patrick Stewart was also a long shot,
with Roddenberry refusing to consider a
British actor to play his French Captain. Only
after tireless lobbying by Rick Berman was
Roddenberry finally convinced that no other
actor could fill such commanding boots.
Although Deep Space Nine’s producers
wanted an African-American for the role of
commander, they didn’t insist on one. They
auditioned many actors of Hispanic, European,
and South Asian descent as well as African-
Americans, before they found Avery Brooks.
Fans were happy to learn that Star Trek’s
first female lead, Voyager’s Janeway, would be 1973-74
played by big-screen star Genevieve Bujold. RE-ANIMATION investment by converting Star Trek: Phase 2
But when Bujold abruptly quit after a single First, though, Roddenberry took Star Trek into Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
day of production, Kate Mulgrew stepped in at to a new frontier – an animated series. It
the last minute and made Janeway her own. was produced under his control, with many 1979
Chris Pine, Star Trek’s youngest Captain, now celebrated Star Trek writers and actors THE VOYAGER
is also the only one to audition solely for a contributing to its 22 episodes. Animation RETURNS
film role, not a series. When he was offered allowed them to introduce non-humanoid Anxious to ride the wave of Star Wars’
the part of Kirk, he nearly turned it down aliens and large-scale effects for little cost, success, Paramount was frantic to get the
in favor of a role in a George Clooney film. and the quality of the stories won Star Trek first Star Trek movie into theaters. The rush
Pine’s choice proved especially serendipitous its first Emmy. While the series has never was especially frustrating to director Robert
for his career, since that other film remains officially been designated as canon, so many Wise, who found himself, for the first time
unproduced. of its details have been re-used by later Star in a long and distinguished career, starting
Trek productions (notably Kirk’s middle name, a movie production without a finished script.
Tiberius) that it might as well be. Under enormous studio pressure to hurry up
and finish, he was not given adequate time
1977 for finished editing, sound mixing, special
A SECOND PHASE effects, or previews. Never happy with the
The explosion of fan interest in the ‘70s rushed theatrical version, he would have the
led Paramount to propose a second TV series opportunity, two decades after the original
with the same cast – another unprecedented release, to put together the polished version
second chance, as spinoffs even from of the film he had always wished for, with the
successful shows were still relatively rare. Director’s Edition DVD. Yet despite the rush,
Sets were built, scripts were developed, and despite weaknesses in the script and
and a broadcast premiere was scheduled for the pacing, the movie was a great financial
early 1978, when Paramount’s network deal success, thanks mainly to fans’ hunger for
fell apart. But 1977 was the summer of Star any new Star Trek material. The film franchise
Pike Mk1, Jeffrey Hunter
Wars, and Paramount decided to recoup its was launched.
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1982 important, of course, it resurrected Spock. No one could have guessed in

THE NEEDS OF THE ONE 1984 that the beloved Vulcan’s return would lead to the longest-lasting
The second Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan, began inauspiciously portrayal of a Star Trek character by one actor.
with a series of rejected script drafts. Producer Harve Bennett, joining
the franchise in 1980, suggested to director Nicholas Meyer, who was 1986
starting from scratch, that the next movie should bring back a memorable THERE AND BACK AGAIN
villain from the series - Khan. Meyer himself did an uncredited rewrite With the crew still in exile on Vulcan at the end of Star Trek III, another
to produce the final story. Meyer also remembered Montalban’s Khan as installment of their story was mandatory. And whether you prefer II or IV
having “a Lear-like grandeur. The arrogance and the pain walked hand in as your favorite original series film depends on whether you favor tragic
hand.” While Montalban sometimes deprecated his Hispanic accent for drama or comic action. Either way, Star Trek: The Voyage Home was among
the role, Meyer considered it irrelevant: “His enunciation… was perfect.” the most successful of the original cast movies, and remains perhaps the
Montalban’s performance, a solid script and the heroic death of Spock most beloved, thanks to considerable character humor and an uplifting
made The Wrath of Khan one of the most successful and highly praised story. Its biggest revelation may be the teaming of DeForest Kelley and
Star Trek films ever. James Doohan in a masterful con; their collaboration is so practiced, so
effortless, that this writer is convinced McCoy and Scotty must have a long,
unseen history of pranking their fellow officers.
1984
I AM NOT THE RESURRECTION 1989
We owe the subsequent Star Trek films to Meyer losing an argument with HARD TIMES
Bennett. Meyer insisted that Spock should stay dead; Bennett, having seen Harve Bennett recalled that part of the problem with the decision to carry
the devastated audience reaction at the second film’s first test screening, on past the “trilogy” of II, III and IV might have been that everyone was
realized the ending needed to leave hope for Spock’s return, in yet another so exhilarated by the success of The Voyage Home, they felt they couldn’t
second chance. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, written by Bennett possibly do anything wrong. Unfortunately, they could. William Shatner’s
himself, may be less beloved, and less financially successful, than the directing debut Star Trek V: The Final Frontier became the least successful
two films that bracketed it. Yet it still has many iconic moments, including of the original cast films, both financially and critically. Its production was
some awe-inspiring shots of Vulcan, the loss of the Enterprise, and some beset with all kinds of problems, including budget cuts that gutted the
film best moments for the supporting cast (“Don’t call me tiny!”). Most special effects, plus a crippling teamsters’ strike.
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WRITING STAR
TREK ’S WOMEN
Roddenberry described his original first
officer, Number One, as “almost glacier-like
in her imperturbability and precision.” He
probably thought making her an emotional
icicle was the only way to get a 1966 audience
to accept her rank and competence – yet both
NBC and the test audience detested her! While
Uhura, Janice Rand and Christine Chapel play
rather stereotyped supporting roles in the
series, the first six movies saw them and other
female characters become more visible. The
1990s proved a decade of rapid evolution
for women on television, and Star Trek was
no exception. The writing team that initially
struggled with Tasha Yar and Deanna Troi was
soon writing complex, fascinating characters
like Kira, Dax, and the women of Voyager.
Now, well into the 21st century, few audiences
would accept a female character playing an old
stereotype, meaning Zoe Saldana’s Uhura does
far more than just “answer the phone.” 1987-1995 of the 1960s; and Meyer, mindful of the recent
A NEW GENERATION collapse of the Iron Curtain, took the Klingon-
After years of toying with various ideas for Federation cold war into the future as well,
returning Star Trek to television, Paramount in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He
finally committed itself to a new TV series, to wrote Chang as a deliberate opposite of Khan,
be distributed in syndication. Many of the new an antagonist who is more head than heart,
series’ concepts, and even some of its stories, immersed in politics, rather than personal
were recycled from Star Trek – Phase 2; but the big revenge. He also wrote the part specifically
innovation was setting the story a hundred years with Christopher Plummer in mind, though he
after the original series, with an entirely new crew. had no idea whether he could even get Plummer
Rick Berman, brought in early on to help develop for the role. Thanks to its focus on Cold War
the show, became the day-to-day showrunner, style realpolitik, the film farewell for the
initiating a new generation of Star Trek leadership. original cast has an unusually world-weary
Despite uneven quality, especially at first, tone, as the old warriors Kirk and Chang
Star Trek: The Next Generation’s production contemplate their place in a universe where
values, its splendid cast and above all its war threatens to become obsolete.
success in capturing the spirit of Star Trek for
a new era, made it a solid ratings success. It 1993-1999
gave the Star Trek franchise – and indeed, all LIFE ON THE EDGE
television science fiction – a much needed The success of The Next Generation guaranteed
infusion of life. The strongest proof of The that Paramount would venture yet another
Next Generation’s success is that it remains syndicated series. The seed was Paramount
the only Star Trek spin-off series to have Chairman Brandon Tartikoff’s suggestion, “Let’s
moved from television to the big screen. do The Rifleman in space,” providing the widowed
father and son at the heart of the story. Berman
1991 worked closely with Michael Piller to create a
THE END OF THE storyline that would stand apart from The Next
BEGINNING Generation. They conceived the wormhole, the
After the disappointment of Star Trek V, the broken-down space station, and especially the
director’s chair was handed back to Nicholas non-Starfleet crew, to create more character
Meyer, along with the script. The first Klingons conflict and to avoid the sleek, deus ex machina
Denise Crosby in The Next Generation. and Romulans had reflected Cold War tensions efficiency of Starfleet’s ships.
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ALL IN A KISS
While the kiss in “Plato’s Stepchildren” is
famous as the first interracial kiss on US
network television, the presence of Sulu and
Uhura from the start of the series was far more
revolutionary. When black and Asian actors
appeared on US screens in the 1960s, their
roles were nearly always defined exclusively
by their race. So it’s impossible to overstate
the importance, in 1966, of George Takei and
Nichelle Nichols portraying senior officers
whose competence was taken for granted, and
whose ethnicity was merely one element of
their individuality.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was the only for its grueling production schedule. While
spin-off never to be on the air by itself. It may not a blockbuster success, the film did please
Kirk and Uhura get friendly.
also be the most controversial series, with some most fans, and earned enough to encourage
RED SHIRTS
fans considering its focus on war a betrayal of Paramount to greenlight a second film.
Roddenberry’s utopian vision; while others insist
that its gritty realism, its remarkable ensemble 1995–2001
cast, and its many-threaded story arc make it the DELTA FORCE As early as the first broadcast of the series,
best of Star Trek. Meanwhile, Paramount had already approved a attentive viewers realized that a landing
third new series, featuring Star Trek’s first female party’s red-shirted security officers were
1994 lead as the ship’s captain. Writer Bryan Fuller generally doomed. The term “red shirt”
CHANGING UP recalled the biggest difference between writing for gradually became Star Trek fan shorthand for
Paramount announced a Next Generation movie Deep Space Nine and writing for Star Trek: Voyager those unlucky extras. Nearly five decades on,
well before the series had finished airing, was that Paramount had made a reactionary it is now a widely accepted term for disposable
and gave it to Berman to produce. While he choice on story and character arcs. “At the end characters in any action story.
was delighted with the movie’s larger budget, of the episode, there was a history eraser button
coming up with the story was more challenging. and we moved forward to the next adventure.”
He knew from the first that he wanted a “passing Unfortunately for Paramount, American television
the torch” story that would feature both original was already embracing serialization, especially
and new cast members. While Nimoy declined a in character development. Viewers had come to
role for creative reasons, Shatner was happy to expect beloved characters to change and grow, and
play Kirk one more time and bring the legendary the most frequent criticism of Voyager was always
Captain to a heroic death. its “reset button” characterizations.
The cast and crew may best remember Yet Voyager was a success in many ways,
the shooting of Star Trek: Generations as an running for seven seasons, introducing Star
exhausting marathon. They started work on Trek’s only female lead and other memorable
the film almost immediately after finishing the characters, and above all, making the Borg "Remember, men - let's be careful out there!"
final scenes of their series, which was notorious definitively its own big bad guy.
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WHERE NO MERCH
HAD BEEN BEFORE
Today’s catalog of Star Trek merchandise
seems almost endless, from action figures to
production quality replicas, to knick-knacks
and even a doggie poop bag dispenser (yes,
really!) But in the 1960s, fans had to do some
serious scrounging for Trek swag. There were
a few model kits, a handful of books (notably
James Blish’s classic episode adaptations
and The Making of Star Trek), a series of
comic books, and a Fan Club offering scripts,
insignia and a newsletter. Action figures were
unknown, while uniform replicas were strictly
do-it-yourself.
Star Trek merchandising had its first
boom with the release of Star Trek: The
Motion Picture, when licensed movie tie-ins
appeared everywhere, including the first
McDonalds movie-themed Happy Meal. Since
then, both licensed merchandise and fandom
have multiplied exponentially, and Star Trek
goodies have more than kept pace.
1996
MAKING CONTACTS
For the production of his second film, Star Trek: First Contact, Berman felt
confident enough to go with what he knew best. He gave scripting duties, again,
to Ron Moore and Brannon Braga, and offered Jonathan Frakes his first big-screen
directing credit, thanks to Frakes’ success at directing a number of Star Trek
episodes. Perhaps most important, the creative team chose two story elements
that The Next Generation had always done with distinction – the Borg and time
travel. The result was a production which Berman remembers as a joy to work on,
and a film which remains the best box office performer of any in the franchise,
and one of the most popular Star Trek films ever made.
1998
INTO INSURRECTION
Eager to capitalize on the success of First Contact, Paramount immediately greenlit
a third Next Generation film. Insurrection found heavyweight guest stars, and
Michael Piller’s thoughtful script explored some old-fashioned Star Trek ideals.
Yet the film faced an almost insurmountable obstacle – living up to its predecessor.
Saving Paradise from the bad guys just isn’t as much fun as saving Earth from the
Borg, or watching the Borg Queen seducing Data. Insurrection was far from a flop
financially, yet fans greeted it with the most damning of movie spin-off criticisms:
it felt like an overblown TV episode, instead of a movie.
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THE VIDEOTAPE
REVOLUTION
Commercial videotapes of original series
episodes and movies began appearing about the
time the first movies were released. By the late
80s, the full series was available in VHS format,
along with movie box-sets and re-releases. For
the first time, fans could watch the entire series,
uncut, whenever they wanted. Fan fiction, and
fan quibbling, would never be the same!
In 2006, Paramount announced a 40th
anniversary remastered release of the originall
series, with new digital effects and score.
Distributed first to syndication and then to
recording media, the remastered series has
become the default on services like Netflix,
allowing effects-heavy episodes like “The
Immunity Syndrome” and “The Doomsday
Machine” to be seen in high-definition
digital detail.
The commercial success of VHS in general,
and Star Trek VHS in particular, led to the later
series getting their first video releases while
they were still in production. By the time
DVDs, Blu-ray discs and streaming arrived,
Star Trek was a solid video moneymaker, whose
distribution on these new media was assured.
STAR TREK:
2002 2001-2005 THE ACADEMY
THE FINAL FRONTIER
Paramount took four years to get around to
releasing the next and final Next Generation
A NEW ENTERPRISE
The last Star Trek television series to date,
Enterprise (later re-christened Star Trek:
YEARS
Star Trek (2009) was not the first time someonee
film, Star Trek: Nemesis. By then, franchise Enterprise, as if viewers had been in any doubt proposed a story about the Enterprise crew
fatigue was clearly setting in, both with what they were watching), made a major story meeting at Starfleet Academy. After The Final
audiences and with the cast and creative departure from its predecessors, shifting its Frontier, Paramount invited Harve Bennett to
teams. Paramount was already considering a setting to the earliest days of human interstellar develop his premise for an academy-set story
franchise reboot, and the cast, who by then had exploration. While the showrunners may have into a film starring younger actors. Several
many other pots on the fire, never seemed at hoped to capture a sense of pioneering adventure, script drafts were written before Paramount
home in their characters. Director Scott Baird they were instead captured by the weight of canned the idea in favor of a sixth film with the
was completely new to the franchise, and established canon. Promising story ideas could original cast.
creative conflicts between him and the cast and not be explored without altering Star Trek’s future
crew were widely reported during and after history, and die-hard fans pounced on the smallest
production. The story aimed for Shakespearean contradictions. With constant shakeups in the
grandeur, and fell to the level of including a car creative staff, and thanks in no small part to the
chase. Worst of all, Nemesis killed off one of aforementioned “franchise fatigue”, Enterprise
Star Trek’s most beloved characters, Data. While never really found its dramatic identity, nor the
Rick Berman still believes that his last Star Trek audience it needed to become a ratings success.
production was a solid film, its commercial and With its premature cancellation after only four
critical failure put the Star Trek film franchise seasons, Star Trek appeared to have finally ended
on ice. its voyage of discovery.
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2009
20
REALITY 2.0
RE
Param
Paramount’s announcement that J. J. Abrams would take the reins of a new Star Trek movie franchise,
crucially with an entirely new cast, caused both excitement and consternation among fans. Writers
crucia
Alex KKurtzman and Roberto Orci (a lifelong Star Trek fan) seized on the origin story of Kirk’s crew
because it had never been told. Leonard Nimoy’s willingness to bring Spock back to the screen gave
becau
them a way to relaunch the Star Trek universe while still connecting it with the original. Though some
ffans
fa ns ((inevitably) rejected the new timeline, the resounding box office and critical success of the
2009 film brought Star Trek back in a big way.
2013
20
THE NEEDS OF THE MANY
TH
Plans for the second film in the rebooted Star Trek universe began the moment the first film’s success
was aapparent. Thanks to the usual tight security for blockbuster film productions, the secret of which
villain Benedict Cumberbatch would play survived the furious speculations of the Internet right up
uuntil
un til tthe movie’s premiere. The production’s second biggest secret may be Leonard Nimoy’s cameo,
about which there was not even a whisper in advance. Fans remain divided on whether the franchise
shoul
should go gritty and political, and even more on the merits of repeating so many elements from the
origin
original Khan storyline. However, the film’s financial success, while not as great as its predecessor,
still gguarantees a third film with this cast.
W
With so many false dawns, glorious re-births and tragic finales across five decades, one thing
rem
remains
emai undeniable: Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek endures.
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FIRST APPEARED IN ISSUE #44
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It may be two decades since William Shatner

hatner last
officially played the role of James T. Kirk,
r but it’s
rk,
the role he’ll forever be associated with
h – and these
th
days, he’s fine with that. With his one-man
m show
man
Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It currently
rrrently
touring theaters, Shatner tells Tara Bennett
ennnett
why he now has an understanding of the hee
unity of the world.
A
ctor, writer, director, singer, documentarian, Enterprise for over
horse breeder… Most people would aspire to three decades in
become proficient at just one or two of those the original Star
pursuits during their lifetime, but William Trek series and
Shatner (who turns 82 this March) juggles and subsequent films.
intermixes all of them, often at the same time – These days, despite
if his daily schedule demands it. the fact it’s been 20 years
Of course, it’s still the role of the confident, since he last formally
courageous, and brilliantly strategic James played the Federation Captain
Tiberius Kirk which defines his career, with (and later Admiral) in Star Trek
Shatner standing on the deck of the U.S.S Generations, Shatner seems happy to
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WILLIAM SHATNER: INTERVIEW
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SHATNER SINGS!
The erstwhile Captain Kirk isn’t just a talented
actor, director, and author – he’s also a unique
musician and spoken word artist.
Shatner’s most celebrated musical endeavor
remains his 1968 debut The Transformed
Man, which introduced the world to his
unorthodox vocal style (closer to speaking
than singing). The album saw him mash
together poetry readings and Shakespeare
soliloquies with bonkers covers of classics
such as “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Lucy in
the Sky with Diamonds”. The result was
bizarre, campy, and unforgettable.
There were further soliloquies in 1978’s
live double-album Captain of the Starship.
Kirk takes command Meanwhile, Shatner’s rendition of Elton
of the U.S.S. Enterprise
John’s “Rocket Man” at the 1978 Saturn
Awards was a performance few could forget
accept that he and Kirk will forever be “I keep branching out into areas that either – not least Seth MacFarlane, who lampooned
synonymous. It appears that the man who interest me or I have the opportunity to do,” it in a Family Guy episode.
caused consternation in an infamous 1986 Shatner says about his eclectic array of current Shatner doesn’t always take his musical
Saturday Night Live sketch by bellowing “Get pursuits. “I think I have a knack for making these career too seriously, as witnessed by his
a Life!” at a convention hall full of (fictional) documentaries... They’re an exploration of subject cover versions of the Best Song nominations
Trek geeks, has come full circle. matter that interests me. It’s partly curiosity (including “(Everything I Do) I Do it For You”
and “I Wanna Sex You Up”) at the 1992 MTV
Shatner now exudes an almost Zen-like peace about the people. And it’s partly the adventure of
Awards. But his audio work can’t simply be
about his colorful life, and the once albatross-like making a documentary, and seeing it on film.”
dismissed as a joke: his 2004 album Has
weight of the Kirk role has certainly diminished A progressive user of technology to connect Been, produced by Ben Folds, earned serious
with a quarter century of other successful creative with people, Shatner has been video blogging acclaim. He followed this with the typically
pursuits. In those years, Shatner’s won two Emmys (or ‘vlogging’) on YouTube since 2007. He tweets offbeat live album Exodus, which saw him
playing Denny Crane on The Practice and Boston regularly, signing off each tweet warmly with the reading Bible passages to the sounds of the
Legal, and headlined the short-lived sitcom $#*! tag MMB (My Best, Bill). Last year, he launched his Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
My Dad Says. He’s hosted the series Shatner’s first Shatner-branded app, which allows users to Following a string of memorable live
Raw Nerve and Weird or What?, and executive- creatively play with words and sentences that are performances (including a version of “My
produced two feature-length documentaries about then read aloud in Shatner’s distinctive voice. “It’s Way” at the AFI’s tribute to George Lucas,
Trek and fandom – The Captains and Get a Life! called Shatoetry,” he says proudly. “At the time of complete with dancing Stormtroopers!),
Shatner returned with his third album,
In 2012, in keeping with the reflective place its launch it was a best-selling app, something like
Seeking Major Tom, in 2011. Its all-star
in which he seems to be dwelling now, he put 700,000. I loved it when we were talking about it,
line-up, including Sheryl Crowe and David
together a one-man show called Shatner’s and then when it came out, I thought it was really Gilmour, highlights Shatner’s transition
World: We Just Live in It, for Broadway. He’s great. I hoped other people would like it, and that’s from novelty act to serious artist.
now touring with it throughout North America. the case, so I’m delighted.”
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy reunite

in Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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MIRROR, MIRROR
On this particular day, Shatner is relaxing in his
office in California, where he’s decompressing
after a weekend of Shatner’s World performances
in his native Canada.
The time off is well-deserved, as
demonstrated by a side-story about the
weekend. “On Saturday in Hamilton, Ontario
I did an afternoon matinee, and an evening
performance of the show, which, you can
imagine, is quite tiring,” he says. “At the same
time, we were shooting it all for a film. So I was
filming and acting in the one-man show, and in
addition to that, I decided to call the restaurant
chain, Tim Hortons [the sacrosanct Canadian
bakery/coffee house that fuels the citizens of the
Great White North]. I talked to the CEO, and told
them we were coming to the city and would like
to put on a party prior to the show. I asked if he
would help me put on the party. He said yes, and
that their headquarters is in Hamilton! All of the
Tim Hortons executives came to see the show,
and put on a happening party!”
Circling back to his show, Shatner explains
that Shatner’s World grew out of his current
interest in digging deeper into many of the
experiences and people that have shaped his
life. “I sort of made an arc, in which I thought it
would be fun to talk about saying ‘yes’ to life,
and plunging into life,” he explains. “I tried to
find stories in my life that followed that track.”
He says he covers topics such as horses, love,
death, comedy, acting, and of course, Star Trek.
He’s honed the show since it premiered on
Broadway, and says he’s happy with it as a piece.
“The show is pretty much the same thing every
night. I have a lot of visuals in the show, and
they need cues to hit the button so they come up
on the screen,” he laughs. “There needs to be
definitive things that happen, so that makes the
show less of an improvisation and more of a set.”
METAMORPHOSIS
The one-man show also dovetails nicely with his
current documentary work. Through The Captains
and Get a Life!, Shatner says he’s been
fascinated by delving into life’s universal
“I FEEL CLOSER TO THE

AUDIENCE, NOW THAT I
HAVE A MORE PURE
UNDERSTANDING OF WHY William Shatner
THEY ARE THERE.” as James T. Kirk
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Kirk faces the press in

Star Trek: Generations
questions through the prism of the Star Trek and funny talks with Patrick Stewart (Jean Luc
fandom, and his Trek acting peers. “The problem “IT’S BEEN SO LONG, Picard), Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko), Kate
is there’s no answer to any of the questions,” he
chuckles. “For the questions that are the most WHENEVER I CATCH A Mulgrew (Kathryn Janeway), Scott Bakula
(Jonathan Archer), and even the rebooted film-
profound, there are no answers. Either you
accept the fact, and the terror, that there is no GLIMPSE OF ME IN THE verse James T. Kirk (Chris Pine). Together they
make up a very exclusive club of people who can
answer, or you seek an answer that may be more
based on faith or wish-fulfillment than factual.”
SERIES, IT’S LIKE truly understand what it means to be at the
epicenter of Trek devotion. “The essence of what
I ask if getting to know the fandom that
surrounds Star Trek more profoundly through Get
ANOTHER PERSON.” I took away from talking to those people was
how beautiful they are, how much I admire them,
a Life! has at least provided him with a new kind you have a camera on, it becomes a documentary. and how bonded I feel to all of them,” Shatner
of understanding of human nature. Shatner mulls But trying to understand it, at least the ways and says of the experience. “I suspect, from later
that over for a moment before saying, with the whys, as against having a specific answer, are conversations and being with them, that they
consideration: “That’s a terribly interesting equally interesting – as long as you can accept feel the same way. In the short moments we had
thought: trying to strive for an understanding, there is no real answer to the riddle of human together, we became friends; all of us.” There is
against getting an answer. Yeah, I think you are nature, and the riddle of existence.” a touch of awe in his voice as he adds, “Isn’t that
right. When you put it that way, the exploration is The films have given him the opportunity to something? And I feel closer to the audience,
part of the understanding, and whether it’s the connect differently. In The Captains, for the first now that I have a more pure understanding of
mystery of life and death, or whether it’s why a time Shatner sought out, and interviewed, each why they are there. I see in them a fulfillment of
person did a certain thing, or how did an event actor who played a starship Captain in the Star a need that we all have, and that they are more
take place, it’s the talking about it. And then if Trek universe. The film documents his insightful purely enjoying. It’s thrilling, actually.”
Kirk bids farewell to Spock in

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
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Since Shatner is a lifelong horsebreeder and
enthusiast, I wonder whether he equates his
feelings towards horses to the way Trek fans feel
about Gene Roddenberry’s universe? He chuckles
at the idea. “I don’t know if I would put them as
‘my Star Trek’, but I would say horses, for me,
have led to an understanding of the unity of the
world, and the way that animate and inanimate
objects relate. Even to those beings that are
somewhere in between, whether it’s a crystal that
reproduces itself, which is one of the definitions
of life, or a tree that gives off pheromones as
signals to other trees, in effect talking to other
trees. Plant DNA has enough similarity to ours to
make us realize that we are kin to every living
Kirk meets Picard in
thing – plant, animal, or vegetable.” Star Trek: Generations
It sounds like, in his seven decades of
traversing the globe, boldly going where few He’s also looking into revisiting his popular only 10 books, so they would be new detective
have gone before him, that the brash side of TekWar science fiction novels (written with Ron stories. Actually, there are a couple of book
William Shatner has been tempered with the Goulart), in a new medium. “It might come series that I think would make a great series in
very Buddhist outlook of living in the moment. back in animation,” he reveals. “It would some manner, either live action or an
Shatner is a little startled by the observation, probably be based on fresh stories. There are [animation] series.”
but replies warmly, “Well, the Buddhists are
borne out by scientific research.” William Shatner as Kirk in an early
publicity photo for Star Trek
THE OMEGA GLORY

On the brink of celebrating 60 years as an actor,
Shatner says that when it comes to deciding
what roles to take next, he does spend more
time considering whether or not to commit to
long-term projects with demanding hours. “But,
on the other hand,” he laughs, “going away for
months at a time is not attractive either. If
something comes up that is really interesting, I
will do it, no matter the medium. The medium is
less important than what is interesting. And
right now I’m in the middle of selling a new
television series.”
DISCOGRAPHY
The Transformed Man (1968)
Captain of the Starship:
William Shatner Live (1978)
Spaced Out: The Very Best of Leonard
Nimoy and William Shatner (1996)
Has Been (2004)
Exodus: An Oratorio in Three Parts (2007)
Seeking Major Tom (2011)
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BRAND SHATNER James T. Kirk may be an all-American hero,
but Shatner himself was born in Montreal,
Canada in 1931. After studying economics,
Shatner begun acting on stage and screen
in the early 1950s. Highlights from his
early career include star turns in Alfred
Hitchcock Presents, the Broadway
production of The World of Suzie Wong,
and the drama The Brothers Karamazov,
alongside Yul Brynner.
Shatner’s 1960s career took in numerous
TV series, including the classic sci-fi shows
The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone,
where he starred in the unforgettable
“Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”. But his most
iconic role as the suave Starfleet captain
Kirk and Uhura came in 1966, and Star Trek continued
through to 1968.
Considering his recent work playing Denny Following the show’s cancellation,
Crane, working in sitcoms, and even mugging “THE OLD ADAGE OF ‘YOU Shatner struggled to find decent roles: his
1970s work took in the likes of the silly but
outlandishly in his cult favorite Priceline
commercials, you might think that Shatner has CAN’T DO ANYTHING fun Kingdom of the Spiders and Roger
Corman’s Big Bad Mama, as well as voice
made a conscious decision to gravitate more
towards comedic roles of late. Yet Shatner says ABOUT THE PAST, AND duties on Star Trek: The Animated Series.
Trek’s syndication success led to 1979’s
this isn’t the case. “I realize that there’s very
little difference between comedy and drama.
YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT Motion Picture – and a career renaissance.
The Trek movies kept on coming, while in
There is a comic sensibility, without question,
and some people have it and some people
THE FUTURE IS’ – I TRY 1982 he took on another classic role: T.J.
Hooker. Shatner also presided over the
haven’t, but it’s almost indefinable. The best
possible of all worlds is to go from one to the
TO ABIDE BY THAT AS insanely popular Rescue 911 throughout
the 90s, and co-starred in TekWar, based
other very quickly.”
Looking back at his most identifiable roles
MUCH AS POSSIBLE.” on his novels. More recently, he’s won new
fans thanks to his role as Denny Crane in
– Kirk, T.J. Hooker, and Crane – Shatner says Crane. All of those are admirable human Boston Legal.
Shatner hasn’t been afraid to poke
they have all remained so popular because traits, so those are the through lines that I
fun at himself along the way: aside
they embody that principle. “I admire them tried as an acting exercise with them.”
from cameos in Airplane II and Police
all,” he reflects. “As an actor, I took an aspect With the imminent release of Star Trek Into Squad, he gamely played along in 2006’s
of what I am and enlarged it in them. The Darkness, many have speculated about whether Celebrity Roast. And he’s also found
aspects are the awe and wonder of Captain Shatner will have a part in the sequel, or if he’s time to carve out a parallel music career
Kirk, the anger of T.J. Hooker, and the desire even interested in playing Kirk once more. [see box-out on page 19].
to understand and communicate of Denny “Well, it’s hard to figure out how to put me, at
Kirk and crew sign off in

The Undiscovered Country
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my age and physicality, into a new movie,”
Shatner sighs. “They are fun movies, and it
would be great fun to be in them, as long as they
could figure out how to do it. And if they should
want to do it, I’d be there, no question about it.”
Considering how many years it’s been since
he last wore the uniform, he says watching Chris
Pine’s Kirk hasn’t been difficult. “It’s been so
long, whenever I catch a glimpse of me in the
series, it’s like another person. You know, your
cells regenerate every seven
years, so that’s seven times me
removed. It’s another person upp
there on the screen, who I
vaguely identify with. And I’m
in a really great place in my
life, so I don’t wish I were
younger… but I don’t want to
get any older!” he laughs. “I
wonder if I could strike a deal
of some kind? I’ll bottle it and
put it into a commercial.”
THE WAY TO EDEN

In his one-man show, Shatner is hhonestt andd
forthcoming about his own mistakes, but he’s
also a staunch proponent of always trying, even
if you fail. Asked what failures he learned most
from, Shatner self-deprecatingly blurts,
“Marriages.” Having gone down the aisle four
times, he says he is very fortunate to be with his
current wife, Elizabeth Anderson Martin.
Looking at the big-picture of the other
speed bumps in his life, Shatner says he’s come
to know “there are failures that don’t have to be
abysmal. The ship doesn’t have to sink before
you realize that the design is wrong. Maybe
the ship is rolling too much, or the passengers
are uncomfortable, or it doesn’t steer well,
but it doesn’t sink. There are failures that
are unnoticeable to other people, other than
yourself. It may go from as small a thing as
the reading of a line that doesn’t work, to a
relationship that isn’t quite as successful as
you wish it to be, and you learn to accept failure,
because the idea of either stopping the show or
destroying the relationship is worse than the
acceptance of the failure.”
Now William Shatner says he’s grateful that
he’s learned how to let go of regret. “I don’t
really think in those terms,” he says frankly.
“It’s gone. I live in the present. The old adage of,
‘you can’t do anything about the past, and you
don’t know what the future is’ – I try to abide by
that as much as possible, because it’s the only
way to live.” With a smile in his voice, he adds,
“That’s very Buddhist, isn’t it?”
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ROBERT H. JUSTMAN: INTERVIEW
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GIVING THE WAGON

ITS WHEELS In this previously unseen interview, the co-producer of the original
Star Trek looks back at his part in creating a legend. By Joe Nazzaro.
I
t could be argued that without Robert H. During production of the original series and his contribution was spelled out. During the
Justman, the original Star Trek could have for quite some time afterward, Justman largely conversation that follows, which was conducted
been a very different series. As the show’s kept a low profile, allowing more outspoken during promotion for that book, Justman looked
co-producer, Justman (who died on May 28, voices, such as series creator Gene Roddenberry, back at his long and sometimes turbulent
2008 at age 81), was involved in just about to lead the behind-the-scenes narrative. It association with the franchise.
every aspect of production, from casting to story wasn’t until he teamed up with former For Bob Justman, a career in show-business
ideas; a function he performed again two production executive Herb Solow for their 1996 began as a lowly production assistant in the
decades later on Star Trek: The Next Generation. memoir “Inside Star Trek“ that the full scope of early 1950s, quickly moving up the ladder to
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Justman was responsible

for suggesting that a Klingon
be part of the Enterprise-D crew
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assistant director in features. “I actually started
in motion pictures,” he recalls, “and the very
first film I did was A Letter to Three Husbands.
I was a production assistant, a gofer. That was
followed by The Scarf, directed by the famous
hoofer director E.A. Dupont, and the most
interesting thing I possibly ever worked on – not
the best, but most interesting – was a remake of
M [Fritz Lang’s 1931 thriller about the search for
a child killer in Berlin], which starred David
Wayne, and was directed by Joseph Losey.”
Other early credits included Red Planet Mars
[“My first science fiction credit”], Lady in the
Iron Mask, The Moon is Blue, Abbott and
Costello Meet Captain Kidd, and The
Moonlighter, which was shot in 3D and starred
Barbara Stanwyck, who nicknamed the young
Justman wanted
Justman ‘Killer.’ “I didn’t want to do something the new Enterprise to
the associate producer wanted me to do and he have families on board
got a bit pissy about it, so I tore off my glasses
and said, ‘Okay, you throw the first punch!’ seasons of The Outer Limits. That’s where I first
Barbara Stanwyck heard about that and from “WE WERE NEVER ABLE TO met James Goldstone, who directed the second
then on, I was ‘Killer.’”
After logging dozens of films as PA and second FIND A HOME, AND WERE Star Trek pilot.
Although The Outer Limits couldn’t have
assistant director, Justman moved into television
as a first assistant director, thanks to veteran MOVED TO A TIME WHEN been more different from Star Trek, it was
Justman’s first real foray in 1960s SF television.
director Robert Aldrich with whom he’d worked as
a production assistant on several early films. “In
HALF OUR AUDIENCE “There wasn’t a lot of money on Star Trek,” he
elaborates, “so in a way, [The Outer Limits]
those days, I always had the philosophy of ‘Take
the first thing that comes along!’ and I was never
WASN’T AVAILABLE” prepared me with resources that I could tap. The
assistant director’s tenet is, ‘How can we make
out of work. So when Bob called me and asked, different weekly series, and some pilots. I also did this as good as possible, as cheap as possible?’
‘Did you want to do this?’ and I said ‘sure’, that four episodes of One Step Beyond, six episodes of I didn’t exactly learn to save money on The Outer
was the first thing I did. Don Siegel was the other The Mickey Mouse Club, and a thing called Man on Limits, but I learned things about optical special
director, and they were both doing television the Moon for Disney, where we took a spaceship to FX and certain resources. On Star Trek, I was able
because they weren’t into features yet. the moon, orbited, and then came back to Earth. It to hire Wah Chang, who I knew from my days on
“From that, I went on to the Superman series, was a very interesting experience. Then I did a series The Outer Limits, and I knew Fred Phillips the
and did a full season of that, episodes of several with Leslie Stevens called Stoney Burke, and both make-up man from my days on Stoney Burke
and the other shows.”
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE?
Justman originally turned down an invitation to
work on the original Star Trek pilot but, as luck
would have it, NBC had reservations about “The
Cage”, ordering a second pilot that they hoped
would address their concerns. When the
opportunity to work on the new show came up
again, he was keen to accept the challenge. “As an
assistant director in television, you know how
long it takes to get a set-up shot and the seat of
your pants tells you how long it will take. The
amount of work you have left to do will just fill up
the amount of time you have left to do it in, so we
worked as hard as we could on the second pilot.
“On the last day of production when we were
a day over, we did two day’s work in a day.
The Enterprise-D boldly goes That’s the day that Lucy [legendary comedienne
“Where No One Has Gone Before”
and owner of Desilu Studios, Lucille Ball] came
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on the stage, because we were supposed to
have an end-of-picture party and we were
still shooting. So in between set-ups, she
helped Herb and me sweep out the stage and
get the sand out of the way of the camera dolly.
I think she just did that for effect, because she
wanted to get the party started, but we worked
hard, and we wouldn’t have done the second
pilot in that short a time if Jimmy Goldstone
and I hadn’t worked so well together before
on The Outer Limits. We had a method in our
madness. I always knew what set-ups Jimmy
had planned to cover the work we had to do that
day, and I’d arranged them so that no time
would be lost, so if we’d point the camera in one
direction and lit in that direction for the most
part, we would shoot everything that needed to
be shot that day in that direction before we
turned around and shot the opposing angle.”
Star Trek may have subsequently been picked
up as a series, but as Rodney Dangerfield
probably would have pointed out, it never really
got any respect. Ratings were never very high
and the budget was relatively low for the kind of
material that was being produced. Meanwhile,
Mission: Impossible, the show’s neighbor on the
Desilu lot, was winning awards and being
recognized as a compelling drama series. “It
wasn’t their fault that they got the Emmys, and
we didn’t,” Justman reflects, “so there wasn’t
Robert H. Justman (center, second from left)
really a rivalry between us. There was kind of a stands with Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman,
wistfulness at times, a ‘Gee whiz, you’d think and the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast
we’d get something!’ but we didn’t get anything,
ever on the original series – make-up, special to work with Gene again because overall I was
FX, we had the most complicated sound FX, “I WANTED TO SHOW still his friend, but it was still stuck in the back
which had to be created and built – and we never
got any recognition for them. THAT WE COULD MAKE of my mind, and I did bring the subject up. Ed
Milkis was our associate producer in charge of
“To this day, no one from any of the Star Trek
series has won an Emmy for acting. Patrick
STAR TREK SUCCESSFUL post-production, and was working with Gene as
they began to prepare Star Trek: The Next
Stewart never got one, and I don’t think he even
got nominated. To me, Patrick was the best actor
RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX” Generation, and I told Ed of my disappointment
with Gene, about the time that he had called me
on nightly television at that time, but Star Trek: but we were on Thursday night at 8:30 for the when he was just about to do that first feature. I
The Next Generation wasn’t shown on a major first season, Friday night at 8:30 for the second told Eddie, ‘Gene broke my heart,’ and he told
network. It was syndicated, and wasn’t season and 10:00 for the third season. We were that to Gene, who as Herb has said, always found
considered a major prime-time show, so he never able to find a home, and were moved to a it difficult to take responsibility or to tell people
didn’t get any of the respect to which he was so time when half our audience wasn’t available to things they didn’t want to hear. I don’t think that
richly entitled. watch the show.” he didn’t want me to work on the movie.
“The regret about the original Star Trek versus The challenge that gripped me so hard was
Mission: Impossible is that I knew what both A PASSING PHASE that I wanted to show that we could make Star
shows cost, having been heavily involved in each When the proposed Star Trek: Phase II was Trek successful right out of the box, and that we
of them. Each of the three seasons that Star Trek abandoned in favor of a feature-length motion could make it better. I was inspired to prove so
was on, it made its series budget; it never went picture, Justman found himself excluded from many things. That’s where some of the creative
over its average budget. Mission: Impossible the project, and admits he had mixed emotions ideas for the new show came about.”
was constantly over-budget, and it cost a lot about starting it up all over again for Star Trek: Just as he had a couple of decades earlier,
more than Star Trek did, but CBS was a different The Next Generation. One of his strongest Justman produced countless memos covering
beast than NBC; they made some extra money, motivations for returning was to prove that a just about every aspect of the series. “There
and they were more tolerant of their hit show, successful Trek series could be made. “I wanted were certain things I suggested, such as having
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families on board, for instance. I wrote an
impassioned memo to Gene about that. I also
created the back-story for Captain Picard and
Dr. Crusher and what had happened in the past
between them.
“I talked Gene into going with a Klingon, and
he was utterly opposed to it. I remember him
saying, ‘No, we’ve done all that, and I don’t
want to repeat myself,’ and I said, ‘But Gene,
think of the possibilities, think of what it
means!’ He thought about it, and the next thing
you know, we had a Klingon on board.
“There were a number of things I created on
The Next Generation, and in fact during that
first season, Gene’s business manager Leonard
[Maizlish] came to me and said, ‘We want you
to know that we appreciate everything that
you’ve done on this show, and we’re going to
see to it that you get a piece of the show.’ Well,
I’m still looking for that piece.”
MAKE IT SO
There is one contribution of which Justman was
justifiably glad to have made, and that was the
‘discovery’ of Patrick Stewart for the lead role.
“I’ve told this story before and Patrick would
confirm it if you ever corral him, but my wife and
I were attending a UCLA extension class on
humor, where there was a class every couple of
weeks and there would be guests who discussed
their kind of humor, whatever that was. One
night, there was going to be a cold reading by
two actors who were going to read from Noel
Coward and the Shakespeare comedies. There
was a woman and a man who came out, and that
man was Patrick Stewart. He looked familiar, but
I hadn’t placed him from I, Claudius or Tinker,
Tailor and shows like that.
“Patrick sat down, pushed up his jacket sleeves
to display his massive forearms and commenced
to read, and after just a few sentences, I was
thunderstruck. I turned to my wife Jackie, and I
said, ‘I think I found our new captain!’
“That was November or December of 1986,
and I’d been back at Paramount preparing the
show for a month or two at the most, but I was
so impressed with what I saw and heard that
night, I called SAG [the Screen Actor’s Guild]
the next day and found out who Patrick’s agent
was here in town, and made arrangements for
Patrick to visit with Gene and me at Gene’s
house the following Monday. Patrick came in
his rental car, and we sat around for 30-40
minutes, and then he made his goodbyes and
left to fly back to England.
“After he drove away, Gene closed the door Kirk faces off with old friend-turned-godlike being
Gary Mitchell in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
and turned to me – and I will quote him exactly
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Patrick Stewart:
definitely not a hairy frenchman
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– he said, ‘I won’t have him!’ No matter what
I said, he was adamant, and the reason was
because the character he had created in his
mind was a hairy Frenchman. So, we embarked
upon a campaign that lasted for some months,
and when Rick Berman came on the show and
became supervising producer with me, Rick
jumped all over it too and said, ‘He’s perfect!’
Our casting director was for it, everyone was for
it except Gene. We went through everybody in
town, and in foreign countries, trying to find the
right person to play the captain and couldn’t.
“Finally, our last candidate came in, read for
us and after he left, we were sitting there – the
casting director, Rick, Gene and myself – and
Gene finally turned around and said, ‘All right,
I’ll go with Patrick,’ and that was it. I’ve never
been surer of anything in my life, at least in the Starting Star Trek anew
business, than casting Patrick in that role. He with “Encounter at Farpoint”
was everything that a captain ought to be.”
coming back, but I think I also kept some hold of
NEW FRONTIERS “I’VE NEVER BEEN SURER what little sanity remains to me, and physically,
Justman stayed until the end of The Next
Generation’s first season before deciding it was OF ANYTHING IN MY LIFE, it was my salvation. I just decided to be happier
and have less.”
time to move on. “I was suffering from
hypertension, overwork; I wasn’t as young as I AT LEAST IN THE That final season marked the end of Bob
Justman’s participation in the franchise, and
had been, I was still working 16-hour days, and
it was taking its toll on me. My blood pressure
BUSINESS, THAN while he had mixed feelings about the various
Trek spin-offs that followed over the years, he’s
rose, because I was having problems with Gene’s
business manager, who was interfering in what
CASTING PATRICK” proud of the foundation he helped create. “I
thought Deep Space Nine was a very good show,
Rick Berman and I considered to be our producer stopped the casting session, jumped in my car but I think there were casting problems, or there
functions, and it just drove me crazy. It was the and rode over to Gene’s house and screamed at weren’t necessarily cast problems, but a role
only time I ever had harsh words with Gene. him. It wasn’t long after that I decided, ‘Wait a problem; Sisko was a role that really didn’t make
“One day, I drove over to his house after second, I can’t let this happen!’ I knew the show anything happen. It’s a tough role, and [Avery
Leonard Maizlish fell asleep in the middle of a was going to be successful, it was a terrific Brooks] was an actor who displayed such flash
casting session, right in full view of the actor show, but I was lucky that I didn’t have to remain and fire in [Spencer: for Hire] when he played a
who was reading for us. I was furious, and at work there. I gave away a lot of money by not guy named Hawk. He’s a marvelous actor, and
has a lot of power and energy and anger, but he
was playing against himself, and the character
wasn’t as proactive as, say, Bill Shatner had
been. I felt there was a problem there, but some
of the other casting choices were very good, and
I thought the show was excellent. With Voyager,
I never really watched. I kind of felt that they
were over-milking it, and they never should
have overlapped the series. They should have
done one and then gone on to the next one.
Certainly I considered The Next Generation one
hell of a show, and every time I saw any part of
an episode in any of the succeeding seasons, I
was mightily impressed.
“I think the reason why Star Trek became
popular after they started ‘stripping’ it, running
it five nights a week, is because of its inherent
message: it’s a really neat thing to live a proper
The Ferengi make their debut moral life, and to do unto others as they would
in TNG's “The Last Outpost”
do unto you, to do the right thing.”
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BY THE FANS
BY THE FANS, FOR THE FANS
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FOR THE
FANS
A love letter to Tr
of social-network
Trek fans
past, present and future,
from one of a new breed
social-networking
Trekkers.
By Samantha Darragh
Darrag
THE BIG
A
ugust 2013, and I’m in Memphis,
Mem Tennessee. It’s Elvis Week, and
as I walk through town I see ‘Elvi’ everywhere, in all shapes, sizes,
BANG
colors and creeds. Each of tthem united by a passion – their love for
The King of Rock ’n’ roll, Elv
Elvis Aaron Presley.
For a moment I catch mysmyself thinking it’s all a bit over-the-
top, that they’re all slightly bo bonkers… and then I remembered that Star Trek and its Trekkies
their fan worship is akin to my own. You see, I am a member of the have become so embedded
world’s most notoriously enth enthusiastic fan group – The Trekkies. in popular culture that you
Before you cry “Trekkers”
“Trekkers”(though some still call us geeks or don’t even need to have
nerds), the fact remains that w whatever label we go by, like the seen an episode to know
droves who have flocked to Me Memphis in support of their hero, we the Vulcan hand salute.
are a very special bunch of peo people. Our reputation as fans
Klingons believe understa
understanding our ancestors, and where has changed in recent
we’ve come from, helps us und understand who we are. Trek stars years. No longer must we
Denise Crosby (The Next Gene Generation’s Tasha Yar) and more recently suffer the stereotype of
William Shatner (Captain… oh oh, you know!) both ventured on the single guy living in
jjourneys
ourneys of discovery into Trek fandom, seeking out fans from his parents’ basement.
across the world and finding oout what makes us so passionate We’re now so fashionable
and dedicated to the series, in all its forms. Not only did they that CBS even has a top-
discover diversity in infinite ccombinations, but also a deep-rooted rated sitcom, The Big
similarity amongst the cohort, a sense of optimism, hope and Bang Theory, featuring a
humanity. group of lovable Trekkies.
It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I sought out other Nowadays, being a Star
fans and became involved in th the phenomenon that is Trek fandom. Trek fan is cool, thanks to
Until then it had been just me and my best friend Carole. At school celebrity Trekkies like Mila
we were referred to dismissive
dismissively as “those Trekkie girls.” We were Kunis, Seth MacFarlane and
such outcasts we made Reg Ba Barclay look like the life and soul even U.S. President Barack
of the party, so it was a huge rrelief when we ventured out into Obama.
the wider fan community and ddiscovered that other like-minded
people were out there. People just like us. And they had been out
there for a long time!
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THE TROUBLE WITH certain there would be no more Trek as we know
TRIMBLES it today. Trekkies were not going to let go of
Our very existence could not have been achieved the show so easily, and in lieu of new episodes
without the passion of early fans like Bjo and John they began to organize their own Star Trek
Trimble. It was they who organized the famous conventions. What started as get-togethers for
letter writing campaign that kept Star Trek on fans to discuss their favorite episodes evolved
our screens when it first faced cancellation. They into professionally mounted events, hosting
inundated NBC with letters and petitions, and the packed-out venues, guest actors, autograph
studio was overwhelmed by the response, barely queues and merchandise sales. The format
able to cope with bulging sacks of mail delivering has since been replicated across a multitude
day after day after day. It resulted in the first big of popular TV shows and movies, but we were
win for Trekkies when Star Trek was renewed, and the first. Twihards and Whovians, you’re most
this victory has motivated us ever since. With the welcome.
philosophy from the show to guide us and a record It was the persistence of the fans, their
of taking action, our Trekkie forefathers went passion for the franchise that grabbed the
on to name a Space Shuttle, become scientists, attention of studio execs. Eventually the
philanthropists and engineers, eager to turn this prospect of lining pockets with Latinum was
fantasy future into reality. too good to ignore, resulting in the return of
When Star Trek was eventually cancelled, Star Trek in the form of feature films and four Fans gather to break the
fans still wouldn’t give it up. If they had, I’m massively successful spin-off series. costume record at Vegas 2013
“WE WERE SUCH OUTCASTS WE MADE REG BARCLAY

LOOK LIKE THE LIFE AND SOUL OF THE PARTY.”
A SHOW FOR ALL SEASONS

I was very young when The Next Generation first aired, but I recall my
parents having serious reservations before they watched it. They informed
me that there was only “one true Enterprise” (no bloody a, b, c or d!)
and only “one real captain.” Their sentiments towards the original series
are ones I would later share – only my ship was the Enterprise-D, and my
captain one Jean-Luc Picard. This seems to be an immutable fact for all
Trek fans. Scotty had it nailed when he compared your first starship to your
first love – there will be others, but none quite like the first.
With each new series or movie, our collective has grown and evolved,
but fans have approached every new pilot with the same worry my parents
experienced when they first watched The Next Generation – that this will
be the series that “ruins” Star Trek. This has never been truer than with J.J.
Abrams’ alternate take on Star Trek, or the ‘JJ-Verse’ as it has become known.
The extreme views of love and loathing towards this latest iteration
of Star Trek is reminiscent of some reactions towards Rick Berman and
Brannon Braga’s helmsman-ship of the franchise. I recall comments
on forums in the late 90s that are almost identical to the feedback that
Roberto Orci recently railed against via Twitter.
Trekkies enjoy discussing what makes the perfect Star Trek, and which
series is truer to Gene Roddenberry’s vision than all others. I have met
fans who like every series except… [insert any series here]. There are
also those who feel [Series X] is the only real Star Trek. In a sense,
such debates are at odds with the accepting ethos of our collective. The
truth is that your individual interpretation of Star Trek is as valid as
Fan-produced Trek spin-offs feature Roddenberry’s original vision, and we should all accept and embrace
franchise alumni like Alan Ruck. that diversity, whichever timeline you’re a fan of.
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BY THE FANS, FOR THE FANS
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“WE DON’T SIMPLY LOVE A TV

SHOW, WE LIVE IT.”
ADAPT AND PROSPER alive. And while fans are keen to obsess over
Trekkies are also forward looking, and keen to “canon,” that hasn’t stopped them writing their
embrace new media, so it was inevitable that own new adventures, in the form of fan-fiction.
we would take to the internet like Risan Sea Some have become as popular as the TV series
Turtles to water. The ability to communicate that spawned them.
cheaply and easily has rendered the boundaries Alongside the TrekkieGirls blog, I’ve
of distance – and even time – irrelevant. attended many conventions and met with many
Regional clubs set up websites, only to find fellow fans, and through this engagement
their membership expanded exponentially as with fandom I’ve come to discover how much
geographical boundaries no longer held any friendship and human relationships matter to
meaning. From these online interactions many me. I’ve met so many others doing something
deep and lifelong friendships have formed. It’s a fun and worthwhile with their hobby, such as
Trekkie Girl Sam Darragh United Federation of… well, the Star Trek fans of the crew of Starbase 24, who every year raise
this planet at least. money for charity by dressing up, partying and
When Enterprise was cancelled in 2005, hunting tribbles, and the crew of the U.S.S.
DATACORE
and with no new movies on the horizon, life for Fortitude, who hold their own conventions to
Trekkies could have looked bleak. But like Klingon celebrate First Contact together. Then there’s
warriors we drew on the survival instincts we Zombie Riker who... well, he dresses up as a
inherited from the likes of Bjo. Star Trek lived on zombified Riker!
in each of us. It is our Unimatrix Zero. This is what I love most about Trekkies.
Two years ago Sam Darragh Once again fans adapted to new We don’t simply love a TV show, we live
and Carole Maslan started circumstances, becoming authors, bloggers, it. Data once said that the meaning of life is
Trekkie Girls (thanks school podcasters and filmmakers. In a more complex to “contribute in a positive way to the world
bullies for the name!) a blog
media environment where fans cannot exert the in which we live”, and Picard told Lily Sloane
where they discuss Star Trek
same influence over a network as we did in the in First Contact that citizens of the Federation
and share their adventures in
fandom. You can follow them at 1960’s, we came up with new ways to keep the work to “better themselves and the rest of
trekkiegirls.com and on Twitter series alive. There’s the Star Trek: Enterprise humanity.” That ethos has driven Trekkies
@TrekkieGirls. Season 5 Netflix campaign, for example, and consistently since the 1960s.
assorted online fan-produced series like Star Trekkies, I salute you – Live Long and
Trek: New Voyages serving to keep the flame Prosper!
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HEART
DARKNESS
OF
A
You have to be a true believer in the necessity A PhD student, actor, and television
heavyweight in of might and firepower to director, Weller already had plenty
stature and neutralize the impending threat on his plate when he was approached,
of a Klingon war, Admiral Marcus’ but the actor says he couldn’t resist
delivery to trump
path to peace may be the antithesis working with the director again. Star
the Klingons as the
of Starfleet’s exploration mandate, Trek Into Darkness also represented
biggest badass in a but he does make a remarkably clear the actor’s second foray into the
Star Trek film, but case that gives one pause as he barks universe, as he had done a two-episode
actor Peter Weller out his personal ideology. It takes a stint on Star Trek: Enterprise as John
did just that in strong actor to make that kind of big Frederick Paxton, another zealot with
Star Trek Into antagonist real and far from caricature, similar thematic ties to Marcus.
Darkness with his which is why J.J. Abrams convinced As Weller helped promote the
intense portrayal Peter Weller to bring his incredibly DVD/Blu-ray release of Star Trek Into
of Starfleet zealot persuasive persona into his rebooted Darkness, we had an exclusive chat with
Admiral Alexander Trek fold. the actor about the fun of working in
Marcus. The duo met in 2010 when Abrams the Trek realm, his defense of Marcus’
enlisted Weller to guest star on Fringe, convictions, and his other creative
By Tara Bennett
where he played a scientist tampering endeavors.
with time in the seminal episode,
“White Tulip.” Two years later, Abrams STM: In 2005, you appeared in two
came knocking again asking Weller to episodes of Enterprise, “Terra Prime”
take on the heavy lifting of Admiral and “Demons.” Did you ever intend to
Marcus, the man whom Kirk would have return to the franchise, or was Star Trek
to face down in the final act of the film. Into Darkness a surprise?
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PETER WELLER INTERVIEW
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No. I gotta tell you, I did [Enterprise] as an homage to Leonard
Nimoy. Leonard is one of the oldest acquaintances I have in the
business. The third job I ever did was a play with Leonard, so
we’re old friends. Manny Coto, who was writing for Star Trek:
Enterprise, convinced me to do it. Manny is very seductive
and an old friend too. He said, “You have to do this homage to
Leonard.” I was not really ever a Trekkie. I watched the original
series as a kid; I watched some of it, but I didn’t know all the
ins and outs. For all of the science fiction that I have been part
of, I admire science fiction for its invention and its alternate
realities but I’m not a science fiction guy. I’m an Art History/
Roman History guy. So I was conned into that and I had a
great time. Whether or not Star Trek was going to come back
[into my life], I have to tell you, I didn’t care. But when it
was resurrected brilliantly by J.J., I marveled that this thing is
never going to go away. This thing is in perpetuity.
STM: Was there a moment that really clarified the scope of Trek
to you personally?
Nothing showed it more to me than when I was directing
Longmire, a wonderful series for A&E, and I got the day off
“MARCUS’ POINT
to present about 45 minutes of my dissertation in front of
about 150 art professors and it was also the same day as the
OF VIEW IS THAT
Star Trek Into Darkness premiere. So there I am doing the art
academic thing and this limo comes to pick me up to go to the
THE KLINGONS
premiere. We are coming down the street and I see thousands
and thousands of people. Now listen, I’ve been nominated for
ARE NOT GOING
an Oscar, an Independent Spirit Award and SAG award, so I’ve
done the red carpet, but I’d never seen anything like this. The
TO COME TO THE
Paramount representative said, “It’s a cult. It’s never going
away.” There were people older than me and younger than me TABLE.”
and it really hit me. Star Trek is forever, so there you go. You
heard it here first. [Laughs]
STM: And that’s certainly a good thing in our book.

It is good. It has a moral theme in it, which all great science
fiction has. It has a social, political and moral theme of how to NOT A SCI-FI GUY?
treat people. In a long and varied career, Peter Screamers (1995)
Weller has notched up a fair number of Cult adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s
STM: Switching topics to characters with more of a hawk-like science fiction and fantasy credits: dystopian short story “Second Variety,”
point of view, your character Admiral Marcus is a man who which sees Weller as Colonel Joseph A.
really represents the antithesis of what Starfleet is supposed The Adventures of
Hendricksson fighting his way through
Buckaroo Banzai
to be about. Across the 8th alien enemy lines.
[Laughs] I do want to defend Marcus. He is saying I want to Dimension (1984)
sacrifice these guys, but everything Marcus says is true. The A madcap sci-fi comedy adventure Odyssey 5 (2002-2004)
war with the Klingons is coming. We do need special weapons. starring Weller as unorthodox Manny Coto’s TV series about a group of
Marcus did wake up Khan in order to use him, and he did admit genius (and rock musician) Doctor astronauts who survive the destruction
his mistake. So everything Marcus said is right, it’s just too Buckaroo Banzai. of Earth, then go back in time to try
bad he was going to sacrifice the well being of the Enterprise. to prevent it. Weller portrayed space
But yeah, there is a morality to Marcus too. RoboCop & shuttle commander Chuck Taggart.
RoboCop 2
(1987 & 1990) Batman: The Dark
STM: Do you have to believe everything a character like Marcus Knight Returns (2012)
Paul Verhoeven’s bloody and insanely
spouts to play him, because you are completely authentic with Frank Miller’s seminal comic book
satirical thriller starred Weller as
his message on screen. cybernetically enhanced cop Alex saga brought to life in animated
You have to agree with everything he says. You read it and you Murphy. The actor handed in his badge form, with Weller donning the
get it. The only character that truly doesn’t have a point of view after the first sequel. caped crusader’s cowl.
is Iago in Othello. He says in the end when asked why did you
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do this, he says “My lips are forever sealed,” because
se he had something to lose – family.
so you don’t know why he does it. Jealousy? It heightens
ghtens the stakes for Marcus and makes
But everybody else has a point of view, and it personal
sonal when she is on the Enterprise. It’s
Marcus has a very strong point of view, so it’s great stuff that he’s ready to blow off a whole
very easy to tap into that, even if it’s not my set of circumstances and people on a ship, but
point of view. Look, Marcus’ point of view is then his daughter is on the ship and confronts
that the Klingons are not going to come to the him. It’s
t’s great stuff! To give an antagonist that
table. They’re not going to handle things with many facets of life is wonderful.
grace; they’re not graceful people. Osama bin
Laden was not a graceful guy and you were STM: At age 66, you are busier than ever in
never going to get that guy to sit down and so manyny different arenas. Are you enjoying
negotiate, so that’s substitution there. What playing
ng in several different sandboxes, or
they say in the Method is substitution is a do youu find yourself leaning in one direction
personal invention or personal replacement more than others?
of what the script says that you can’t really Everything
thing changes, but I love the balance I have
do. I’ve never been a General, but I have been now. I have a two-year-old son and a wonderful
a leader. I’ve never been in a spaceship, but wife. I have to finish this PhD. She said to me,
I have been in an airplane. I’ve never been to “Finishh that damn PhD, because I’m sick of it,”
war, but I’ve been in a bar fight when I was a so I am.
m. I am probably teaching a course on
kid, so there you go! directing
ing actors for film at UCLA. I might teach
anotherer class about Hollywood and the Roman
STM: Marcus is in a position of being a father Empire.e. They accepted the one course and are
figure for Pike. But I wonder if you thought now reviewing
eviewing the other course. It’s a way of
Marcus also saw himself as a better father being of service. I like that, giving back, which
figure to Kirk, especially after Pike’s demise? is satisfying.
sfying. I also love directing. I’m going to
I felt like a father figure for Pike. I guess go off and direct Guillermo del Toro’s new show,
Marcus felt fatherly towards Kirk up to The Strain.
rain. I have a very rich life. I don’t ever
a point. When Kirk lets loose and stops intendd to retire. I intend to be in the movies
believing him, then no. It’s a really hard call until I’m
’m 102 doing something... or looking at
and really good writing for Marcus. the Mediterranean
editerranean going peacefully on to the
other land. So yeah, it’s a combination of the
STM: One of the most interesting twists for PhD, acting,
cting, teaching and directing remarkable
Marcus was his relationship with his daughter, shows like Sons of Anarchy, Longmire and now
Carol Marcus. Do you feel it humanized him returning
ing to Roberto Orci’s Hawaii 5-00 again.
and gave you something to work with in terms I love directing for television. There’s a time
of the audience’s sympathies? limit, a drive to it, an immediacy and a patience,
Yeah, I think the most magnificent thing if you will, to it that is really rewarding. I can’t
they did for Marcus was put the daughter in, complain.
ain. I have a great life!
Alice Eve
as Carol
Peter Weller hits the red carpet. Marcus
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® & © 2013 CBS Studios Inc. Star Trek and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.
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CBS and related marks are trademarks of CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. TM, ® & © by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
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A FASCINATING MAN
THE LEONARD NIMOY INTERVIEW
PART I
From “The Cage” to JJ Abrams’ blockbuster 2009 movie, Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal
of Spock has been a unifying force in the Star Trek universe. Despite announcing his
retirement last year, the actor, director, and photographer finds himself as much in
demand as ever. Tara Bennett talks to the Trek legend about his life and career.
N
ever say the universe doesn’t have discusses with us the disparate influences on
a sense of humor. Across the tapestry his life, career, and artistic expression, and
of human life and experience on our fair how a little television show called Star Trek
planet, there are infinite examples of spun his life around on its axis for the better.
the playful irony the cosmos serves up
THE TREK EFFECT

which are infinitely fascinating and
diabolically amusing.
Take for instance, the case of Leonard “When I was 17,” Nimoy intones in his
Nimoy. He’s an exemplar of the contemporary extraordinarily warm voice, “I made the
Renaissance man, having spent his entire life decision that I wanted to be an actor, not only
relentlessly exploring his artistic voice to entertain people but to offer some kind of
through acting, photography, and poetry. enlightenment to help people understand their
Yet 81 years into his extraordinary life, the lives and the world we live in. Being involved
character to which Nimoy will forever be most with Star Trek has accomplished that with an
inextricably linked – Star Trek’s beloved half- exchange of ideas and enlightenment that
human/half-Vulcan scientist Mr. Spock – is I’m very proud of.”
one that exemplifies a life devoid of Now, 46 years into his close involvement
emotional, impulsive, and illogical pursuits. with Gene Roddenberry’s seminal science
Fascinating, indeed. fiction franchise, Nimoy has never had the
Luckily for the universe, Nimoy is a man
who can see the humor in such a dichotomy, “I ADMIRE HIM AND love/hate relationship with the series that
some of his fellow castmates have struggled
especially as it applies to his own life. But
then he knows that the great contradictions
I RESPECT HIM. with over the decades, regardless of what
some may have heard or come to understand.
that have shaped his career and artistic legacy
have afforded him an incredible array of
I WOULD RATHER BE Nimoy explains, “I made a big mistake in
the early ‘70s when I wrote my first book about
fortuitous opportunities, once-in-a-lifetime
experiences and real kinship with an entire
IDENTIFIED WITH my Star Trek experiences. I wrote a chapter in
that book about how I was identified in an
planet of fans that truly credit him, and Mr.
Spock, as a life-changing influence on their
SPOCK THAN ANY airport by a lady who introduced me to her
child as Mr. Spock. This child looked at me and
own lives.
Sitting down for an exclusive voyage down
OTHER CHARACTER did not see Mr. Spock,” he chuckles. “So I
wrote a chapter about the difference between
memory lane with Star Trek Magazine, Nimoy ON TELEVISION.” myself and the character in an effort to give
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LEONARD NIMOY: INTERVIEW
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“STAR TREK, THE
FRANCHISE, OFFERS A
VERY BROAD CANVAS
AND THE QUESTION IS:
WHAT DO WE WANT
TO PAINT ON IT?”
the readers some insight into how an actor
goes about building a character. It’s partially
from him or herself and it’s partially from
using elements of other people we may know. I
called that chapter, ‘I Am Not Spock,’ meaning
simply that I’m an actor who portrays Spock
and this is how I go about doing it.
“In the same book,” Nimoy continues, “I
said if I was given a chance to identify with
any character on television, I would choose
Spock. I admire him, I like him, and I respect
him. I would rather be identified with Spock
than any other character on television. But the
mistake I made was in using that title, ‘I Am
Not Spock,’ as the title of the book. People
assumed I was rejecting Spock and Star Trek
but they didn’t read the book. If you read the
book, you’ll find quite the opposite.”
The proof of that is in how closely
attached Nimoy has remained to all the
various iterations of Trek over the decades,
even most recently lending his voice as Spock
Prime to the Star Trek Online MMO. Nimoy
attributes that steadfast connection to the fact
that the franchise has remained true to
Roddenberry’s original intent, providing hope
to humanity even in our darkest times. “I think
it’s terribly exciting to sit down and watch the
Enterprise slip its berth and leave its dock into
the sky. If there’s a problem out there, we’re
venturing out there to find out what we can do
about it. I think it’s so exciting for people to
view that experience.”
THE BURDEN OF COMMAND

Star Trek hasn’t just provided Nimoy with an
acting outlet for close to half a century. It also
served as a creative springboard allowing –
and pushing – him to explore his skills as a
screenwriter and a director even when those
weren’t avenues he ever intended to explore.
Nimoy admits accepting the call to helm both
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star
Trek IV: The Voyage Home represented a period
of great creative and professional evolution in
his life.
“Interestingly enough, I never, never set
out to be a director,” he explains. “I only set
out to be an actor. But when they offered me
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communication with aliens because of the
inherent chasm of evolution between us. That
in turn sparked Nimoy’s creative focus to our
own communication disparities between
species on Earth, like the enigma of
interpreting humpback whale songs,
which would then become the cornerstone
of Star Trek IV.
“I spent an awful lot of time researching
humpback whales and talking to people about
how whales live and function and connect to
each other,” he says. “Environmental issues
were on my mind in terms of my concerns
about endangered species and what was
happening to our planet in terms of the
physical concerns, so all of that found its
way into the script.
“I was also dedicated to the idea of finding
some humor [in that film],” he adds. “In the
two previous films, we dealt with a lot of
conflict, anger, hostility, and with people
dying. I thought it was time to have a lighter
touch and the only way I could do it was taking
on the responsibility of command. When you
talk about the burden of command, I thought
at the time I am now totally responsible for
developing a Star Trek movie that wasn’t
the chance to direct, I thought I would be

short-changing myself if I didn’t at least put
my hand in there and try it. I did two or three
episodes of various TV shows first, and then
Star Trek III and IV.”
Reminiscing on those experiences, Nimoy
says, “The first time I directed for Star Trek III:
The Search for Spock, we knew exactly what
had to happen at the end of that movie, which
was to resurrect the Spock character. I think it
was done creatively and I think it was done
respectfully. Others might have found some
more interesting or exciting way to do it, but
we did the job that had to be done. Having
done that and with the film having opened
successfully, when Paramount asked me to do
another Star Trek movie I took it very, very
seriously to find some ways to expand the idea
and expand the audience’s experience. I spent
the next two years almost exclusively working
on that movie. I took very little other work
during that period. The first two months were
spent developing the ideas and we took trips
to Massachusetts to talk to various scientists
at Harvard and MIT, including [Professor of
Physics Emeritus] Philip Morrison.”
Of that meeting with Morrison, Nimoy says
they talked about the realities of humanity
interacting with superior life-forms from
space and Morrison explained to him a little
exasperatingly that there would be no
idealistic exchange of technology and science.
Morrison said it would be unlikely humans
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“GENE RODDENBERRY
HAD A VERY STRONG
BELIEF IN THE
POTENTIAL OF
MANKIND, AND WHAT
WE CAN ACCOMPLISH IF
WE PUT OUR MINDS TO
IT, AND I THINK STAR
TREK IS STILL
ON THAT TRACK.”
classic Star Trek so that’s the way I approached Klingons have always been our stand-ins for
Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Star Trek, the Communist Russia and the Russians have now
franchise, offers a very broad canvas and the had a serious problem and, in their own way,
question is: what do we want to paint on it? have had to reach out for help. I said, wouldn’t
At that time, I had very strong feelings about it be interesting if the Klingons had a similar
what I wanted that movie to be. I was problem and for the very first time were willing
extremely pleased with the result,” to open themselves up and have others come into
Nimoy reflects. their culture. That was the genesis for the story,
The massive box office and critical success and I told it to Frank and Nicholas Meyer, who
of those two Trek films provided Nimoy with then wrote a very good script.”
more directing opportunities, including The In the almost 20 years since that film,
Good Mother, Funny About Love, and Three Nimoy has gone back to just being a performer
Men and a Baby. Of Baby, Nimoy says, “I in the Trek-verse, as well as an interested
loved making that movie. I had a wonderful observer of its continuing evolution via new
time. The cast and crew were wonderful. We creative talents. But he says he hasn’t felt
had a talented bunch of people that really the need to help chart how the franchise
enjoyed that movie.” evolves anymore.
Some assumed Nimoy would leave acting “I don’t know that I feel responsible for
behind, but he admits that was never the case. other people’s interpretations of Gene’s
“Suddenly, I had a successful directing career vision,” he muses. “If people ask me a specific
but at the same time my personal life changed. question about what Gene had in mind, I’m
I was in a new relationship with my [now] wife happy to discuss it. But I don’t go about
Susan and enjoying my children and contacting people and saying you are or not
grandchildren more than I ever had, so I following Gene’s vision. I think a lot of
decided I did not want to do more of that work talented people have picked up the mantle and
much longer because it was totally consuming. have gone on to make some wonderful projects
I admire people that can do it year after year under the Star Trek franchise.”
after year, but I found it so totally consuming In particular, he says he has “great
to do it, the way I wanted to do it, that I admiration for J.J. Abrams. I think he’s
wanted to withdraw gradually from all of extremely creative and respectful –
that work to spend more time in my respectful of what Star Trek is. My very
personal life.” first meeting I had with him, years ago
He did take on some producing, when he first contacted me about the
which he did for Star Trek VI: The possibility of me acting in his first Star
Undiscovered Country, since it was Trek movie, I was very touched by his sense
based on a story that he helped of awe and wonder for Star Trek and the Spock
develop. “I was able to capture character. I think he understood what Gene was
something from the news that trying to accomplish and what I was trying to
was useful. It was shortly after accomplish with the character. I immediately
Chernobyl, and I went to said I would do the film if he directed it. Gene
Frank Mancuso, who was had a very strong belief in the potential of
the head of Paramount at mankind, and what we can accomplish if we put
the time, and I said to our minds to it, and I think Star Trek is still on
him, “Look, the that track.”
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THE SCIENCE OF SPOCK

and merit to generations of current research has attained in those circles. “I can’t honestly
explorers. Mr. Spock is revered by the likes of say I anticipated the kind of identity you are
Having played a character over the span of five Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak to the describing,” he muses. “I did feel, when we
decades gives one a special perspective, both character of theoretical physicist Sheldon were doing the series, that because it was so
creatively and culturally. Arguably, there is no Cooper (played by Jim Parsons) on the hit geek connected to future ideas and future science
other character in modern popular culture that sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. Yet even now, that it could have a very long life. I wasn’t
has impacted the field of science more than Nimoy is surprised at the iconic stature Spock clear about the scientific attachment, but I did
Mr. Spock has. Asked why he thinks Spock has believe it would take a long time before the
become such a unifying figure, not only in the series might become dated because the ideas
franchise, but also amongst scientific were so futuristic.”
professionals, Nimoy opines, “He’s so reliable, In early 2012, Nimoy was invited by Steve
isn’t he? You can always count on him to look Wozniak to speak at DEMO about his own
at a situation critically, intelligently, and experiences with science and he laughs when
rationally and not fly off the handle. He’s a relating that, “I mentioned in my talk that I
very useful guy. flunked chemistry in high school. I am not by
“The most gratifying impact that Spock any means a chemist.”
has had on me,” he continues, “has to do Even with his photography, Nimoy says
with people talking about how Star Trek and alchemy and chemistry remain a vast mystery
Spock have been positive influences in their to him. “Photography is based on concept
lives, particularly young people who found rather than my execution of the chemistry. I
him useful in balancing their own emotions have the tool that I need to be able to take a
and logic, discipline, and intellect. A lot of picture and go into a darkroom and make a
people have been encouraged to go into the print. But if you were to ask me the chemical
sciences because of Mr. Spock. It’s terribly process that is taking place on the paper
important to our country and our culture for through the chemicals, I would not be able to
young people to go into the sciences. We need tell you. There are some photographers who
that very, very badly, and to hear about that are very invested in the chemistry of the work,
impact has made me very proud.” but it’s never been my interest. My interest
In all truth, Spock has essentially evolved was to know what I needed to know to do a job
into the poster boy for scientific achievement I was trying to accomplish. People come up to
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IMPORTANT TO OUR
COUNTRY AND OUR
CULTURE FOR YOUNG
PEOPLE TO GO INTO THE
SCIENCES. WE NEED
THAT VERY, VERY
BADLY.”
me and ask what kind of camera do I use,
as if there was some secret with the camera
to get the right picture. The camera doesn’t
make a difference. You use the tool to get the
job done.”
Despite his lack of proclivity in the
sciences, that doesn’t mean he’s not intrigued
by what it’s wrought or by those that
conjecture about its impact on our lives.
Nimoy says he’s had some wonderful scientist
friends, including Morrison, that have
enriched his own creative life deeply. “I had
some wonderful conversations with Isaac Star Trek IV could really be about. I was very through the process of getting on an airplane
Asimov and Harlan Ellison. Harlan wrote one of grateful for that experience.” and going someplace – so I’d like to step on a
our most famous episodes called ‘City on the Today he admits he relies greatly on the transporter pad and move from Los Angeles to
Edge of Forever,’ which was a beautiful script technology that’s come to pass, some of which New York without all the security hassle at the
with a beautiful idea. Harlan became a friend was inspired by Trek. “I’m very, very attached airlines,” he chuckles.
and I had some conversations with Asimov, to my computer,” he laughs. “I use it mostly
who had a very large vision obviously in for email and research.” But there’s still some Part two of our special interview with Leonard
science fiction that was very helpful. The Trek tech he’s hoping science will make real Nimoy – in which he discusses his photography,
meeting with Philip Morrison was a mind- hopefully sooner than later. “Traveling has retirement, and plans for the future – begins
opener. It really expanded my thinking of what become so difficult and so draining – to go on Page 68.
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A NEW BEGINNING
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The next generation of explorers
A NEW BEGINNING
If you hadn’t realized already, 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the return
of brand new Star Trek to television screens across the planet. John Ainsworth
and Lee Mansfield examine how The Next Generation redefined Star Trek and
changed the science fiction TV landscape forever...
I
n 2012, it’s hard to imagine a Star Trek concerned, Kirk, Spock, McCoy and their
universe that consisted of just one TV series, TWENTY YEARS AFTER ITS extended ‘family’ of semi-regular characters
with one captain, one crew, and one starship.
But from 1966 until 1987, that’s exactly what FIRST BROADCAST, THE were Star Trek. But in 1987, that definition was
challenged with the arrival of Star Trek: The
it was. For those who watched, loved, and lived
it, the unique appeal of Star Trek wasn’t so
ORIGINAL SERIES WAS Next Generation – and nothing would ever be
the same again...
much the often-quoted ‘Wagon Train to the
stars’ adventures of the starship Enterprise in
STILL THE SINGLE MOST With the cancellation of the original Star Trek
in 1969, fans had to wait 18 years before a new
the far future, but the characters aboard that
ship and their relationship with each other. In
WATCHED DRAMA SERIES live-action Star Trek series was back on their TV
screens. It seems strange then to recall that The
short, as far as most Trek viewers were IN SYNDICATION. Next Generation didn’t receive a universally warm
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welcome from long-time Trek fans. Many were at took ownership of the series, promoting and
least suspicious of the new series and some were celebrating the adventures of their heroes in a RODDENBERRY HAD HAD
even hostile towards it. The reason was of course
that these would not be the new adventures of
variety of creative endeavors, including
fanzines, fiction-writing, costume-making and TIME TO PONDER AND
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy but an entirely new crew
on a new starship – even a new Enterprise!
even composing songs. Through regular
conventions, the Star Trek fan community REFINE HIS VISION OF THE
These days, ‘Iconic’ has a tendency to be a
rather devalued compliment, attributed far too
prospered, despite (or perhaps even because of)
the absence of new TV episodes. Making
STAR TREK UNIVERSE.
readily, yet there can be few people who would appearances at these fan-organized conventions as an ongoing movie series seemed assured. But,
disagree that James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr were the Star Trek actors who had played the as good as the movies were, three years seemed a
‘Bones’ McCoy are pop culture icons of the 20th show’s memorable characters, and they became long time to wait for each new adventure. What
Century. So it’s perhaps not too difficult to see known and loved by their fans. fans really wanted was a weekly TV show.
that the concept of Star Trek without them was, Professionally published novels, comic books, By 1986, Paramount, who owned the Star Trek
at least, a little controversial. Many Star Trek and a short-lived animated TV series (featuring property, decided that they also wanted a new
fans felt that they had ‘kept the faith’ in the the voices of the original cast), plus of course Star Trek TV series. Twenty years after its first
years since the original TV series had ended, and regular re-runs of the 79 live-action episodes, broadcast, the original TV series was still the
had firm ideas about what was and wasn’t Trek. helped keep Star Trek alive in the 1970s. The single most watched drama series in syndication
Far from being ‘wilderness years’, as they might news of a new Star Trek series – Star Trek Phase and the movies were box office sensations. Star
be viewed from today’s perspective, 1969 to II – was announced in 1977, but there was Trek was big business, and Paramount reasoned
1979 was a period in which the fans themselves disappointment when it became clear that that they could capitalize on its popularity by
Leonard Nimoy would not be returning to the producing a new TV show. The only stumbling
Gene Roddenberry takes the role of Spock. Instead, a new Vulcan science block, however, was the regular Star Trek cast.
Enterprise into the 24th Century
officer would be taking his place along with With Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home about to hit
other new regular characters. However, this all movie theaters, the actors were by now used to
became academic when plans for the new TV receiving movie star salaries. A TV series
series were dropped, to be replaced by a couldn’t hope to match those salaries and remain
theatrically-released big screen adventure. profitable. There was also a fear that a TV show
with the same cast might harm demand for
THE LONG WAIT future films. The simple but brave decision that
Released in 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture Paramount made to address these concerns was
may not have received universal praise, but it did to have an entirely new cast. Recasting the roles
at least feature the entire original cast of the TV of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest was
series – including Spock, with Leonard Nimoy inconceivable – at least in 1986 – so the new
having reconsidered his position when the project cast would play a completely new starship crew.
moved from TV series to movie. Star Trek was back After initially declining to be involved,
at last, and with the highly successful release of original series creator Gene Roddenberry joined
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 1982, its future the production team of the new show as
Data is reunited with Spot

in Star Trek: Generations
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A NEW BEGINNING
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that, in the future, interaction between humans
and other intelligent civilized peoples would be
far more harmonious, and individuals would not
be motivated by baser desires.
Perhaps one of the most significant
developments in Star Trek: The Next Generation
over the original series was the sense that this was
much more of an ongoing story. Although each
episode was a self-contained adventure, there was
also an additional level of appreciation to be found
by watching the series episode by episode. Empires
Transported to rise and fall, relationships begin and end, familiar
a different tomorrow characters make recurring appearances. ‘Soap
opera’ series such as Dallas and Dynasty had
executive producer. Much loved by Star Trek movies, Roddenberry gave himself room to make broken the mould of prime time U.S. TV drama in
fans, Roddenberry’s appointment went some a variety of changes to the Trek universe without the 1980s by daring to tell an ongoing story that
way to reassure fans that the new show would contradicting what had gone before. required the viewer to watch each week. Although
still be genuine Star Trek. Prior to 1986, the Star Trek universe felt very Star Trek: The Next Generation couldn’t be
With the passage of time since the demise of open – limitless and pioneering. It was essentially described as a soap opera, it certainly took a step in
the original show, Roddenberry had had time to the story of three archetypes – the Warrior (Kirk), that direction. The success of the series proved that
ponder and refine his vision of the Star Trek the Priest (Spock), and the Healer ((McCoy) y) the format could work in a science fiction drama
universe and the future of humanity as he saw it. exploring “strange new w worlds” on a dangerous series and the idea would be employed by other
Although not a ‘re-boot’, as we have seen with ountering “new life and new
frontier together, encountering genre shows in the future. Today, 25 years later, it
the recent Battlestar Galactica series, Star Trek: p
ng to improvise
civilizations” and having a kind of is the norm for genre
g shows to have quite
q
The Next Generation would definitely be an ‘gunboat diplomacy’ again
againstnst the hostile or complex, ongoing story ‘arcs’ and
evolution of the concept whilst retaining the thouugh this was still an
dangerously alien. Although The Next Generation is, at least
essence of optimism and self-betterment. By element of The Next Gene eration, many
Generation, in part, responsible for this.
cleverly setting the new show in a time period episodes would focus on tthe internal That Star Trek: The Next
some 80 years after the original series and problems of the Unitedd Fe ederation of
Federation Generation was a huge
Planets and Starfleet withh stories success – both for
SQUARE PEGS
revolving around new tech hnologies,
technologies, Paramount and, ultimately,
cy, aand set on
politics, and diplomacy, in the eyes of the fans – is
worlds already within the Federation’s now a matter of record.
So much of Star Trek, in all of its various boundaries. This was a mu uch more
much Although there were a few
incarnations, has been about exploring developed and stable Fed eration, one that had
Federation,
the human condition. How better to do expanded its borders and was now buffeting
that than by allowing the audience to against the territories of tthe other ‘known’
examine humanity – and thereby powers. Captain Kirk woul
would ld often
themselves – through the eyes of have to make his own
characters that are not human but are
decisions, with Starfleet
forced to co-exist with humans. The aloof
Command several dayss
and logical Vulcan Spock was the only
alien aboard the original Enterprise and away by subspace radio. io.
was the first to fill this role. Although we On the U.S.S. Enterprise
rise
learn that he himself was half-human, he of Star Trek: The Nextt
had clearly adopted the Vulcan approach Generation though,
to life and was frequently puzzled by Captain Picard would
illogical, emotional human behavior. frequently be obliged to
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the iorss
consult with his superiors
android Data, who was devoid of emotions, uch
who were only the touch
became determined to understand what it of a button away.
was to be human. Running throughout the
entire seven seasons of the series and on
into the following movies, this thread
PASS THE SOAP
The depiction of
eventually reached something of a
conclusion when, thanks to a tiny computer personal relationships
ps
chip, Data was actually able to experience had also evolved,
emotions first-hand. based on Gene
fs
Roddenberry’s beliefs
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fans who did part company with Trek, unable to
take to the new crew and the new look of the
series, for the most part even those that had
doubts came to embrace the new show and the
three spin-off series that were born from its
success. Star Trek: The Next Generation proved to
be a whole new beginning for the Star Trek
franchise, attracting many new fans too young to
have seen and enjoyed the original series on its
first broadcast. What is perhaps less well
recognized though, is that The Next Generation
proved to be a turning point in the history of U.S.
TV broadcasting as well as in Star Trek history.
Having decided to produce their new Star Trek
series, Paramount attempted to sell it to the ‘Big
Three’ television networks – NBC, ABC, and CBS.
However, despite Star Trek’s continued success as
a syndicated TV show, none of the networks were
willing to commission an entire series – NBC and
ABC wanted to see a pilot first, and CBS requested
a mini-series. Fox was just about to launch its own
network and were keen to have the series on their
new channel, but were only able to commission 13
episodes. With a firm belief in the strength of
Star Trek, Paramount was unwilling to
compromise and wanted to retain total control What once was old is
over its new show. So it took the unusual decision new again... Star Trek (2009)
to broadcast Star Trek: The Next Generation in

first-run syndication on independent stations and
affiliate stations of the Big Three networks that WITH A FIRM BELIEF show. In 1986, this was a virtually unheard of way
of selling a new drama series, but it was a
could choose to opt out of network programming.
The show was given to these local stations for
IN THE STRENGTH OF strategy that worked with the revenue from
advertising actually proving greater than the
free, but in exchange, Paramount would receive a
share of the advertising revenue generated from
STAR TREK, PARAMOUNT typical fee that the networks would have paid for
the series. Star Trek: The Next Generation
its screening. As an added incentive, re-runs of
the still popular original series would only be
WAS UNWILLING TO attracted an average audience of 20 million
viewers, regularly beating the ratings of other top
made available to channels that took the new COMPROMISE. syndicated and networked shows.
Make it so A NEW WORLD

Such was the success of Paramount’s pioneering
approach to the sale and broadcast of Star Trek:
The Next Generation that other shows soon
followed, adopting the same model with similar
success, and by 1994 there were more than 20
hour-long shows in first-run syndication. Many
of these were genre shows including Friday the
13th: The Series, Freddy’s Nightmares, and War
of the Worlds – all of which were based (however
loosely) on existing movie properties.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had
spectacularly demonstrated that not only was
there life in Star Trek but in the science fiction
genre as well. A wealth of new sci-fi shows, both
in first-run syndication and on the networks
would premier over the next few years. Some
would not last but others became huge hits,
including The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
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A NEW BEGINNING
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Kirk and Spock Prime
meet a young Scotty
Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and its spin-

off show, Xena: Warrior Princess, Babylon 5, and
Forever Knight. Star Trek: The Next Generation
had set a ball rolling and it’s still rolling today,
PASSING ON THE TORCH
To help underline the connection of Star Trek: The Next Generation to the original series, the very first
with a crop of new sci-fi and fantasy shows
episode – “Encounter at Farpoint” included a one-scene cameo appearance by Doctor ‘Bones’ McCoy.
debuting every new season.
With the help of make-up and prosthetics, actor DeForest Kelley played the now very elderly Leonard
Of course, The Next Generation would give McCoy and was seen to give his blessing to the new Enterprise and her crew. Further crowd-pleasing
rise to its own spin-off series that would further appearances by the show’s original stars were to follow with engineer Montgomery Scott – or ‘Scotty’
explore the ever more diverse Star Trek universe – appearing in the episode “Relics”, while Spock featured in the two part “Unification” story.
with new characters in new situations. However, History was to repeat itself with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation making occasional
although Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and appearances in the spin-off Trek shows that followed it. The Enterprise’s head of security, Worf,
Enterprise enjoyed varying degrees of success, became a regular character in the latter seasons of Deep Space Nine; Deanna Troi and fellow
none ever quite reached the heights attained by Enterprise crewman Reginald Barclay made semi-regular appearances in Voyager; and both Troi
their ground-breaking progenitor. and William Riker were seen in new
With no new Star Trek show having aired since flashback sequences in the final
2005, we have once again entered another episode of Enterprise. As well as
being popular with the fans, each of
comparatively quiet period. However, much as
these crossovers served to emphasise
The Next Generation did in 1986, J.J. Abrams’
that Star Trek was now one big,
2009 Star Trek movie has both reinvented and interconnected universe.
reinvigorated the franchise whilst maintaining a The most recent such handover was
direct connection with its illustrious past. And in the 2009 Star Trek movie, where the
this time it has come full circle, returning to the Spock of ‘our’ universe is seen to
iconic characters of the original series, Kirk, travel into his own past at a point
Spock, and McCoy – now played by a new young where the timeline diverges in an
cast. The long and complex fictional history alternate direction. The presence of
established in the preceding series and movies both Spock and the actor who plays
has been deftly set aside, while being neither him, Leonard Nimoy, united the The real McCoy,
origins of Star Trek with its exciting “Encounter at Farpoint”
contradicted or ignored. Everything is new
new future, making them one.
again, and the adventure continues...
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NUMBER ONE
THE JONATHAN FRAKES INTERVIEW
As first officer of the Enterprise-D, Commander Will Riker was always at the center of
the action, and behind the scenes so was the man who portrayed him. Jonathan Frakes
took time out of his busy schedule for an exclusive interview with Star Trek Magazine’s
Tara Bennett, to talk about the impact Trek has had on his creative life, what he admires
most about the Riker character, and how he feels about where Star Trek is headed now.
I
n the pantheon of Star Trek characters, William Jonathan Frakes
Frakes says this with the benefit of hindsight,
Thomas Riker has always managed to stand out as Commander remembering when the idea of a new Star Trek
from the Starfleet pack as a reliable officer, a William T. Riker series appearing on television wasn’t welcomed
brash strategizer, and a loyal friend. Even with open arms by critics or fans. “We were
assessing him on shallower terms, Riker’s got a going into a world where everyone was so
smile that rivals Captain Kirk’s on the charm-o- skeptical about us because of the success of the
meter and, frankly, no one’s rocked any ‘Kirk, Spock, Bones’ Star Trek. I’m not sure they
Enterprise Bridge with a beard as badass as his. wanted us to succeed, or let anyone else into the
Of course, the smile and beard are just two of family,” Frakes muses.
many, many assets that actor Jonathan Frakes Already a successful TV actor for a decade
brought to his portrayal of Riker over the span of when he auditioned for Star Trek: The Next
18 years, four different Trek series, and four Generation in 1987, Frakes says no one in the
Star Trek: The Next Generation films. But playing cast was prepared for how Trek would affect their
Riker also shifted Frakes towards a new career as careers and lives when they first signed up. “The
a director, where he made a huge impact on only people who really knew Star Trek were
helping to successfully transition, and then Michael Dorn [Worf] and Wil Wheaton [Wesley
keep, epic Star Trek stories featuring the Next Crusher],” the actor admits. “And the only
Generation cast viable on the big screen.
Now a frequent director on the TNT dramedy “WE WERE GOING INTO A people who were famous were LeVar Burton
[Geordi La Forge] and Wil Wheaton. I don’t think
series, Leverage, Frakes took a break from
prepping his upcoming episode to reminisce WORLD WHERE EVERYONE we were aware until we got into it and then we
were lucky to become this phenomenon of pop
with us. Recently back from a Star Trek
convention appearance in Australia, Frakes
WAS SO SKEPTICAL culture that’s the world of Star Trek.”
Playing Commander William Riker, the first
opened with genuine warmth and surprise in
regards to the reception he and his fellow Trek
ABOUT US.” officer to Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick
Stewart) on the U.S.S. Enterprise-D, Frakes’
colleagues received Down Under. “I was just in character started the show as a fresh-faced,
Adelaide, Australia where there were 19,000 confident, ladies’ man. While Picard was the
people at a comic book convention for the first steady, erudite Captain, Riker initially got to
time there ever,” he says with awe. “My show is fill the quasi-Kirk roll, going on away missions
25 years old! The original show is 45 years old! and being more aggressive with off-book
It’s just insanity. It’s fabulous!” strategy. Asked if the producers nudged him to
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JONATHAN FRAKES: INTERVIEW
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Photo courtesy of Paradigm Agency
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Introducing Will Riker in
the same energy because I knew that when I got
“Encounter at Farpoint” there, not only were we going to do some great
storytelling, but we were going to have a ball. It
was the most wonderful, funny, irreverent,
clever group of friends.”
URBAN LEGEND
It’s been seven years since Frakes last played
Riker on-screen, but he admits that certain
topics still come up often when he speaks to
fans. “The beard!” he laughs. As fans know,
Riker came back in season two with a new
beard and it immediately became a signature
look for Picard’s “Number One.” Explaining its
birth, Frakes says, “It happened that [Gene]
Roddenberry liked it very much. He thought it
would be great for the character to have what
he referred to as a ‘nautical and decorative
beard,’ so that’s why the beard became so
distinctly shaped. I still have it, even though
put more Kirk in his character, Frakes affably it’s white now,” the actor chuckles.
demurs. “No, they didn’t put that pressure on “IT’S NO SECRET THAT He continues, “You know, I got the greatest
me. Part of Kirk’s charm was that he had an
alien in every port and they tried that for a BEING A STAR TREK news from one of our writers on Leverage.
There’s an Urban Dictionary reference that says
while with Riker, which was great fun, but I was
never Kirk. Also with Marina [Sirtis] and me, it
ACTOR IS A DOUBLE- Riker’s beard is equivalent to the opposite of
‘Jumping the Shark’ when you’re making a TV
was established in the Pilot that Riker and
Deanna Troi had a relationship, even though
EDGED SWORD.” show. It means when you make a cool choice,
it’s a ‘Riker’s Beard’. Come on! What kind of
the writers chose to neglect it until we you’ve read and probably know, we’re all still privilege is that?” he enthuses.
convinced them otherwise – or maybe they saw friends. We’re so fortunate. Other shows are not A regret the actor has never had is being a
the light,” he laughs. “We got married during like that,” Frakes explains about the tensions part of the Trek world in the first place. While
Star Trek: Nemesis, and that relationship that eventually arise on most long-running the support of the Trek fandom can be incredible
informed the way the two of us behaved with shows. “I’ve done a lot of shows since Star Trek, for actors, close association with the Trek
each other and other people. Neither of us was and I see what the cast feels like in the fourth franchise itself can be tough on actors trying to
as free as Kirk to just go out and have these season or the sixth season or the fifth season. move on to other projects in their career. For
affairs, although both characters sort of did.” But my memory of the 182 episodes and the that reason, plenty of actors have walked away
Frakes says the bond between him and Sirtis seven seasons that we did – and I don’t know if from Trek and declined to return. However
is indicative of all the relationships he formed it’s shaded by distance – but my memory is that I Frakes has never distanced himself from Trek,
on TNG, a very rare thing in Hollywood. “As looked forward to going to work every day with and in fact he’s appeared as Riker on four
Great beards of the

galaxy reunited, in
Star Trek: First Contact
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to have learned another craft, because now I’m
flat out [booked] until the end of the year.”
That other craft he speaks of is directing; a
calling that didn’t manifest itself until Frakes
was working on TNG. He reveals to us the reasons
why he started to look outside of acting for
creative fulfillment: “I hated waiting around in
my dressing room at Paramount, and that feeling
started to motivate me. So I looked around the
set for the most interesting and engaging job,
and that was obviously the director. It felt like
something I knew about because, as an actor, I
knew how to communicate with other actors and
break down the beats of a scene. You learn a lot
about that in drama school, and that applies to
a lot of directing. By voicing an interest, I’m
sure my friend [Star Trek producer] Rick Berman
New voyages beckon for just cringed and he said, ‘No, you have to learn
Captain Riker in Star Trek: Nemesis more than that.’”
Instead of walking away, Frakes says he
different series: TNG, DS9, Star Trek: Voyager, have dodged a bullet, and Shatner has jumped right into on-the-job training. “I went
and Enterprise. “I always said yes, because by reinvented himself to a certain degree, to what we refer to as Paramount University,
that point the die had already been cast, for especially in the last few years. As actors, when where I was able to shadow all the directors on
better or for worse,” Frakes explains about his we’re dead they’ll say, ‘You knew him best as the show. I spent about 300 hours in the editing
choices. “It’s no secret that being a Star Trek Riker’ or ‘You knew him best as Data’ and that’s room with all the editors, who were very
actor is a double-edged sword. Patrick seems to great. But still it’s another reason I feel so lucky generous with their time, and where I learned
DATACORE
Will Riker continues his tour of duty
aboard the Enterprise-D in the
fourth season of Star Trek:
The Next Generation
Not content with his duties as Starfleet’s
number one Number One, Jonathan Frakes
took command of 16 Star Trek adventures
as Director:
STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

“The Offspring”
“Reunion”
“The Drumhead”
“Cause and Effect”
“The Quality of Life”
“The Chase”
“Attached”
“Sub Rosa”
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

“The Search, Part II”
“Meridian”
“Past Tense, Part II”
STAR TREK: VOYAGER

“Projections”
“Parturition”
“Prototype”
STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT

STAR TREK: INSURRECTION
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what you need to give an editor to put a scene
together. I did a lot of post-production in terms
of the mix, the sound, and the scoring. And then
I got involved in pre-production where I learned
about casting and budgeting. Oddly, by virtue of
Rick being reticent and my lovely wife, Genie
Francis, encouraging me to persevere, by the
time they finally relinquished a TNG episode, I
was so over-prepared it was insane,” he laughs.
THE A-LIST
In 1996, Frakes earned the opportunity to direct
Star Trek: First Contact, the first to feature just
the TNG cast. It was his first major motion
picture directorial effort, and Frakes chuckles
when he admits, “I was naïve enough to be
confident. Also, it became clear that the A-list
sci-fi directors were not going to do Star Trek 8.
The Ridley Scotts of the world were not
interested. Sherry Lansing, who was running
[Paramount] at the time, said to Rick [Berman]
that she didn’t understand Star Trek as well as
everybody else. She told him to make the
decisions and make the movie the way they had
been, which was very generous. So we put our
hats in the ring [to direct] and I was the lucky
guy who won the lottery with that one.”
“I LOOKED AROUND THE

SET FOR THE MOST
INTERESTING AND
ENGAGING JOB, AND
THAT WAS OBVIOUSLY
THE DIRECTOR.”
Jonathan Frakes directed the hit A final visit to the Enterprise,

TNG movie, Star Trek: First Contact in “These Are the Voyages”
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Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) congratulates
ultimate goal is to become a director/executive
Will Riker and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) on producer on a series where he guides the visual
their marriage in Star Trek: Nemesis aesthetic for the entire series and mentors
guest directors that come to the show. “I’m still
looking for that job!” he exhales wistfully. “It
gets harder and harder because there are so few
of them, because there are so few scripted
shows. Plus, there are so many movie guys
making television now. It used to be that people
who made movies didn’t think about making
television, but now everyone is making the
move, and especially with pilots. So I’m actively
looking for my own show, but in the meantime
I’m very happy to have the places where I can
hang my hat for a few weeks at a time.”
Star Trek: First Contact ended up being a very the Leverage, the NCIS: LA, and Castle, your Frakes admits the closest situation he’s had
positive experience for Frakes all around. The film responsibility is to make their show. You don’t to that dream director job was at the helm of
was a critical and a commercial hit, earning $146 go in and reinvent the wheel. You don’t go in and TNT’s popular The Librarian adventure TV
million worldwide, the best international box office shoot it in a style the audience is uncomfortable movies starring Noah Wyle (ER, Falling Skies).
performance by a Trek film ever until 2009’s Star with. I do try to inject small things, keeping an “I feel great ownership of those with Dean
Trek. In 1998, Frakes was back to direct Star Trek: ing and keeping the pace and
eye on the acting [Devlin] and Noah [Wyle]. I think we are
Insurrection, another solid hit for the franchise. ry clearly, so I’m thrilled when
telling the story joined at the hip with The Librarian movies and
Frakes says he learned about directing a TV people respond nd to my directing.”
episode as opposed to a theatrical film. “The real Asked whatt it is about directing that appeals
difference is in the size of the toys and the to his creative self, Frakes considers his answer
amount of time. You can do all those things on TV for a moment. “That’s a really good question. I
if you have the time and the money to do them. really activelyy like shooting much more than
Also, I was lucky enough to get this big brother prep. I like to go to work in the morning, shoot
figure in Matthew Leonetti, who was the director all day and at the end of the day you know you
of photography on First Contact. He’d worked shed, let’s say, eight pages of the
have accomplished,
with a lot of first-time directors before, and he story you wantt to tell. I like being in the factory
was so generous and fabulous with his team. Matt working with other people making something
helped me discover what it took to make a movie. together. When en I was an actor, you really just
Also there was Terry Frazee, who was the special wait. There’s a famous old quote that says,
effects guy who blew everything up for me, and “They pay me to wait. I act for free.” That’s really
he made the scope of the movie huge. What I what happens,, especially if you’re not the lead.”
really learned was that you’re really as good as
the people you hire to work with you. Those guys DREAM JOB
were part of the team that included the brilliant Since watchingg TV is now research for a possible
Herman Zimmerman, the production designer, and next gig, or at least a potential add to his
the brilliant Michael Westmore, who was the king directorial wish-list,
sh-list, Frakes now has a whole
of make-up. Another part of the Star Trek movies host of currentt shows which he admires. “I think
was that we had John Knoll, the Academy Award Homeland is thehe best show I’ve seen in five
winner from ILM, who did special effects for First years. Genie and I would wait with baited breath
Contact, and then we had Jim Rygiel, who for it to come on, and I haven’t felt that
ultimately won the Academy Award for The Lord way about television
evision in a long time. I
of the Rings, who did Insurrection. We had the just watched some Sons of
cream of the crop.” He pauses, then adds with Anarchy, whichh I think is
glee, “I’m so blessed. I’m so friggin’ blessed!” spectacular. We watch
Now a respected and in-demand television Modern Family, y, which I
drama director who moonlights occasionally as think is genius.
s. A friend
an actor, Frakes admits he’s really comfortable of ours turnedd us on to
now assuming command of any show that hires Downton Abbey.ey. And
him. “It’s something I enjoy, and as you do it, the sense of humor
umor on
you get a little more confident with it. When you Leverage is fabulous.
bulous.”
do the shows that I do, which are established In the near future,
television shows –when you do the Burn Notice, Frakes says hiss
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STAR
StarTREK
Trek MAGAZINE 57
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Riker hunts down the

enemy in Star Trek: Nemesis
“LEVAR BURTON WILL GO

INTO A TOWN AND
ANNOUNCE HE IS
LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO
HAVE A BEER, AND 70 Commander Riker in
FANS WILL SHOW UP.” Star Trek: Generations
we’re hoping to do another one. I think [the thousands of emails and put the filter on so I Enterprise was canceled, and there’ve been
delay] is a function of timing, because even didn’t get email notices,” he laughs. no serious moves towards developing a
TNT would like to get the team back together Still uncomfortable with how much to engage or new television series. Asked if he thinks it’s
again. I love them, and I love Noah.” not, Frakes chuckles that social media “goes from time for a new show, Frakes answers with a
Bringing the conversation back to fandom and the mundane to weird. It’s a good tool to promote smile, “It’s still on TV every night, somewhere,
Trek, we talk about how the world has changed what you’re doing but, interestingly, I get the and the fans watch it with the same loyalty.
incredibly since Frakes started on Trek, impression that that’s not what Twitter followers Really, the fact there is no new Star Trek,
especially in regards to the Internet and social want. They don’t want to hear that you’re doing from what I’m told, is a very conscious effort
media engagement directly with fans. Frakes has another episode of Leverage. They want to hear on behalf of J.J. Abrams, CBS, and Paramount.
a Twitter account (@jonathansfrakes) but he where you’re having a drink or what your favorite What happened with Star Trek: Nemesis
admits, “I’m a reluctant Twitterer. I had my arm foods are. I just don’t roll that way. Wil Wheaton is was that greed drove them to the well too
twisted by Jeri Ryan, who is a massive Tweeter, a great Tweeter. LeVar [Burton] will go into a town much. It really did.” With lessons learned,
and Beth Riesgraf, who plays Parker on and announce he is looking for a place to have a Frakes thinks Star Trek on the big screen is
Leverage, pressured me when we were doing a beer, and 70 fans will show up and join him in a enough for now.
show together. Then friggin’ Beth signed me up pub. He’s got like a million seven followers! Yet “I’m a huge J.J. fan, and he’s been great for
on my iPhone without putting any screening on, Brent [Spiner], who also has a million five the franchise. J.J.’s reboot was so sensational.
so when I got back to my hotel room there were followers, is as shy as LeVar is out there.” As a matter of fact, I was just on the set [of
thousands of f*****g emails! I had to delete As for Trek, it’s been seven years since Star Trek 2] where Benedict Cumberbatch
(Sherlock) is the bad guy in the movie,
and he’s spectacular!”
Rounding out our conversation, Frakes says
William Riker will always remain a character
near and dear to his heart. “One of the things
that Patrick and I always said about both Picard
and Riker was that we wished we could be as
clever, diplomatic, appropriate, and intelligent
as those two characters were. I think the
character that the writers gave me to play is the
The Enterprise-E crew depart the man I wish I was able to be.”
planet Ba'ku in Star Trek: Insurrection
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authorization.
rved.Used under
Ltd. All Rights Rese
© 2013 Lucasfilm
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JOHN DE LANCIE: INTERVIEW
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JOIN
THE Whether you think of him
as Picard’s arch-nemesis
or humanity’s enigmatic
shepherd, John de Lancie’s
colorful Q is one of the
most loved bad guys in Star
Trek history. Bryan Cairns
spoke to the actor about
Trek, computer games...
and My Little Pony?!
W
hen John de Lancie descended on “At the time, I was playing Roald Amundsen,
Hollywood, clearly he had a message in who is the Arctic explorer,” says de Lancie. “I had
mind: Resistance is futile! With a body of a sense of that in my body. I had also played
work that has now spanned 35-plus years, Lord Byron, who was from Mad, Bad and
the busy actor conquered the film world with Dangerous to Know. It was sort of a combination
credits that include The Hand that Rocks the of these two characters.”
Cradle, The Fisher King, Crank 2, and Reign Over Back in 1987, all eyes were on Star Trek:
Me. De Lancie didn’t slow down in TV-land either, The Next Generation’s premiere, “Encounter at
Q visits Quark’s Bar in racking up appearances in shows ranging from Farpoint.” Viewers were introduced to Captain
the DS9 episode “Q-Less” Breaking Bad and The West Wing, to The Six Jean-Luc Picard commanding the U.S.S. Enterprise
Million Dollar Man, Legend, Stargate SG-1, and and a crew of fresh dedicated faces eager to
recent stints on Torchwood: Miracle Day and The complete their first mission. That almost didn’t
“IT OCCURRED TO ME Secret Circle. He’s voiced video games such as happen since en route to speak with the Bandi,
THAT Q WAS OMNIPOTENT, Assassin’s Creed III and Interstate ’76, as well as
animated projects including My Little Pony:
the ship came across an enigmatic super being
named Q, who decided to put humanity on trial.
BUT TOO STUPID TO Friendship is Magic, Duck Dodgers, and The Real
Adventures of Jonny Quest. Then there’s his stage
“Patrick [Stewart] and I had rehearsed a little
before I left to go to Japan,” recalls de Lancie
KNOW IT.” work, the operas he’s directed and, well, the list
goes on and on and on.
about shooting the pilot. “I was gone a month
before coming back to be on Next Generation. I
Regardless of his impressive resumé, it’s the arrived Sunday night from Japan and was on the
almighty Q that remains his most recognizable, set at 6am for Star Trek. I was mostly jetlagged.
and beloved role. Looking back to those early I remember there was a lot of attention to detail.
Trek days, de Lancie obviously brought a certain It was an unusual situation because most people
energy and intensity to the Q audition that do not have the opportunity to get a second
impressed the casting directors. chance, as it were. Gene [Roddenberry], some
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of the producers and the original costumer were
there. Everybody was really excited to be back,
so there was all of that going on. It was an
exciting time is what I remember.”
GOOD Q/BAD Q
The closest thing to an intergalactic prankster,
Q originated from the Q Continuum and often
demonstrated a crazy amount of power.
Mysterious and mischievous, Q’s motives for
interacting with the Enterprise have never
clearly been defined.
“I don’t know if I spent a great deal of time
asking that,” offers de Lancie. “I do know that
there’s a technical issue when you play certain
characters – not least the kings, wizards, and
the all-powerful – and that is that after you’ve
sort of strutted around the room a couple of Q puts humanity on trial
times, being very kingly, there isn’t much else in “Encounter at Farpoint”
to do. That goes with being omnipotent. In this
case, it occurred to me that Q was omnipotent, An instant fan favorite, Q was to have times per year,’” reports de Lancie. “Then he
but too stupid to know it. Or that he was all- sporadically plagued Picard and friends came up to me on the lot and said, ‘We can’t do
powerful, but with clay feet, and he was needy. throughout the first season. That was the game that because the audience is going to wait for
He was really needy, which is something I think plan, but was not how things worked out. The Trickster.’ There’s nothing else for me to say.
makes someone more interesting, rather than “After the first week, Gene came up to me and It’s like somebody else’s dinner party. You’re
just being kingly.” said, ‘We’re going to bring you back six or seven either invited or you’re not.”
Q plays
“Qpid”
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De Lancie subsequently appeared in season
two’s “Hide and Q”, where Q grants Commander
William T. Riker immense powers to tempt him to
join the Q Continuum. Next up was “Q Who,”
where an irate Q transports the Enterprise light
years across the galaxy, before vanishing
himself. It was in this unchartered territory that
the ship runs into the lethal Borg and barely
manages to escape unscathed. For many
Trekkies, Q’s actions branded him a villain, a
notion de Lancie does not share.
“Well, what I get is, ‘When I first saw you, I
really hated you. Then I really loved you. Then I
saw you were really on their side,’” he laughs.
“There’s a whole arc there. You have to
understand it was an arc that only lasted eight
episodes in Next Generation. Of course, the
material is important. I tried in each one of
those episodes to bring out some sort of new Q and Picard face off
facet. The best episodes invariably are the ones
of a more philosophical nature.” Recurring over seven seasons also put de
“Deja Q” found Q stripped of his powers and Lancie in the unique position of being able to “WE WERE JUST TWO
stuck on the Enterprise during a crisis of
gravitational proportions. Learning a lesson for
observe the show grow and evolve.
“Jonathan Frakes [Riker] used to sit me down MEN WHO WERE VYING
a change, surely playing a humanized Q was a
welcome shift in pace.
and say, ‘Tell me everything you see,’” explains
de Lancie. “I don’t remember what I said FOR WHO WAS ON TOP.
“It was sort of a comedic turn,” says de
Lancie. “The episodes that incorporated
anymore. I’m sure in my own way I was blunt and
hopefully accurate.”
IT WAS ALL VERY
everything were ‘All Good Things’ and ‘Tapestry.’
You actually see him try and work with these Q & A-TYPE A-TYPE PERSONALITY.”
people. In ‘Tapestry,’ in his own asshole-y way, Even after The Next Generation wrapped in than with Picard, so did de Lancie favor
he’s trying to be a nice guy. In ‘All Good Things,’ 1994, de Lancie was recruited for one episode one captain over the other?
you see in a way, he has really shepherded and of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and three more “They were written for different dynamics”
protected these people and wishes them well.” of Star Trek: Voyager. “The Q and the Grey” he counters, “The relationship between Picard
Speaking of “All Good Things,” de Lancie was an awkward episode where Q approached and I was uncluttered by the potential for
seemed thrilled to bookend the series and watch Janeway [Kate Mulgrew] to be the father of romance. We were just two men vying over who
it come full circle. his child. She declined, but ultimately became was on top. It was all very A-type personality.
“Yeah, very much so,” he confirms. “It was the godmother of his son instead. Evidently, The Janeway situation had the potential for
something I appreciated and took seriously.” Q had a different relationship with Janeway some romance. But they were so concerned
she not play it that she was in any way
Double trouble in the Voyager tempted, infatuated, or in no way affected in
episode “Death Wish”
a relationship/sexual level, I think they missed a
big opportunity. That was the 800-pound gorilla
in the room. We should have gone down that road
and then have the rug pulled out, mostly from
under me. It gave us so many possibilities, but we
had to turn a blind eye to it. That dialogue, that
experience, was just not as fulfilling.”
In “Q2,” Q arrives on the U.S.S. Voyager to
introduce Janeway to her godson, Q Junior.
Unfortunately, power corrupts, and the
youngster was a bit of a hellion and wreaked
havoc by instigating wars and pitting the
Voyager against Borg vessels. If Q Junior bears
an uncanny resemblance to his dear old TV Dad,
there’s a pretty good reason. Junior was played
by de Lancie’s real life son, Keegan.
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Captain Q on the bridge
One of the projects de Lancie is most proud of
is Alien Voices, which he formed along with
Leonard Nimoy back in 1996. The endeavor
involved various Star Trek actors performing
great science fiction literature for audio.
Recently released as digital downloads, people
can finally hear that series again.
“I was delighted,” de Lancie says of the
development. “I worked hard to get them back
up there on a website at a reasonable price. They
can hear them all.”
Q IS FOR QUADWRANGLE
De Lancie is also returning to the realm of video
games with the Quantum Conundrum, where he
tackles the wacky character, Professor Quadwrangle.
“I have not played the game yet,” states de
Lancie. “When I asked other people about it, the
guy who did it, and my sons knew this as well, is a
very famous game designer. He created a thing
“My agents called me and said, ‘By the way, I For some reason, there was never any called Portal. I had asked my kids about it, who are
don’t know if you know this, but they are casting discussion about beaming Q over to the now 24 and 27, and they were like ‘Oh yeah, yeah!
for the character of your son. Do you want me to Enterprise series and the TNG feature films. He did Portal, Dad! That’s a big deal!’ Same thing
submit Keegan?’” explains de Lancie. “‘I don’t That’s okay, though. De Lancie’s career still hit with Assassin’s Creed, which I just did. That one I
know. Let me ask him.’ I said ‘Keegan, would you warp speed and upon inspection, is chock-full of had seen. Quantum is a puzzle game and it’s very
like to be in Star Trek? Obviously, you have to fascinating genre roles. clever. In the game, my rambunctious nephew
audition for it.’ So he went in, auditioned and got “It was the thing that started me out as a kid,” comes to this extraordinary crazy mansion that I
past station number one. He had to audition two says de Lancie. “The best movie was a sci-fi own. I am the scientist and have created all of these
or three times and I believe they hired him movie. The second best was a war movie and the strange things and we, the audience, are making
because he did a really great job. I had nothing third was a western. After that, I just didn’t go. our way through the house. It’s fun.
to do with it.” All of a sudden, I was doing sci-fi. The first book “Once I did a game about 15 years ago,” he
For de Lancie, the episode wasn’t exactly a I ever read was a sci-fi book. I just liked it. I continues. “I go into the studio and was knocking off
fitting final goodbye for Q, but it still must have have to say, this was at a time when sci-fi films the lines. After about 20 minutes or so, I go, ‘What’s
been a pinch-me moment to have your son co- were few and far between. If you liked that stuff, this game? I feel like it is drive-by shootings.’ And
starring next to you in a Trek episode. it was considered edgy or avant-garde. Now, it’s the guy goes, ‘Yeah, it is.’ I went ‘What?’ Of course, I
“Yeah, it was both great and… a lot of actors become the canvas, whereas westerns used to be knew I was stuck. I couldn’t say I wasn’t going to do
will understand this, but while part of acting the canvas. I am delighted.” it. From then on, I’ve always asked about that type
involves being very attentive to the other people
and what’s going on, you have to keep some of Q demonstrates humanity's
drug-induced military past
your power for yourself, to do your job and
maintain your presence,” explains de Lancie. “In
the case of my son, the majority of my attention
was, ‘How’s Keegan doing?’ If I go on a regular
job, where someone might have a cold or an
actor doesn’t feel well or there’s just an upset in
their family, I am very sympathetic. But when
we were acting, it’s real tennis.”
Father and son cause

trouble for Janeway, in “Q2”
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of stuff. ‘We’re not shooting people or killing
people?’ “Oh, no, no, no. This is a fun puzzle game.”
To this day, the Star Trek fandom demonstrates
unparalleled dedication to that mythology and the
intergalactic exploits of the Trek characters. There
are many Star Trek conventions, comic books,
novels, this very magazine, and the next movie
installment is scheduled for 2013. However, given
his extensive and diverse resume, that doesn’t
mean de Lancie hasn’t experienced other
properties with devoted aficionados.
“Do you know anything about Bronies?” he
asks. “I dare say they have as much presence at
these conventions of late. I don’t do that many
conventions, but I did some Torchwood episodes,
and they asked me to go to a convention in Los
Angeles. I was up there with the whole cast and
the first question out of somebody’s mouth was
about My Little Pony. It’s like somebody asked
an inappropriate question at dinner. I was on the
stage with people going ‘What’s My Little Pony?
I thought this was for Torchwood!’”
On April 28, 2012, the nine principal TNG cast
members, including Stewart, Frakes, Brent Spiner,
and Marina Sirtis, assembled at Calgary’s TNG
Exposed event, a full-blown reunion that had
attendees in a frenzy. As an added surprise, an
unscheduled de Lancie rushed on to the stage to
help his friends and former co-stars celebrate the
show’s astounding 25th anniversary. Naturally,
such a rare reunion made it easier to reflect and
reminisce about some treasured memories.
“There are so many,” says de Lancie. “I
remember the opening sequence once I got back
from Japan and started filming. I remember the
specialness of the last show. I remember a scene I
did with Jonathan, Kate [Mulgrew], somebody else
and I, and we laughed and laughed and laughed.”
“I’ve also had some very intense experiences
with fans, where a father brought me his son, who
was going to have a very serious operation the next
day. You have to go, ‘Wow! This is a lot of
responsibility.’ I enjoy meeting them. I made a
whole group of them laugh the other night. I felt
people would ask me about these shows and it was
like asking about a dinner party I had hosted and
cooked the dinner for and everyone still wanted to
know about what the menu was. Now we’re so far
beyond that. It’s been so many years that you know
all the guests, you know the wine we drank and the
food we ate. Now you are asking me to go back to
when I went to the grocery store and started
picking out the potatoes. And you know it so well
that when I say, ‘Well, okay, I got the potatoes,’
“DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING
people go, ‘No, no, no! It’s not that you got the
potatoes. Remember! You picked that first potato
ABOUT BRONIES?”
up, you looked at it and it was perfect.’”
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®
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T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E
STAR TREK INTO

DARKNESS
Special effects expert William
Aldridge raises the temperature on
the set of Into Darkness!
INTERVIEWS
We speak to Mary Linda
Rapelye, and Rene Auberjonois!
DARKER THAN DEATH OR NIGHT

Uncovering the bloody history
of the Cardassian Occupation
of Bajor
PLUS:
All the regulars, the latest
Star Trek news, reviews, and
competitions!
ON SALE NOW!
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FOUR COLOR FLASHBACK

A Universal History of Star Trek Comics
T
Since 1967, the crews of he four-color world of comic books Gold Key licensed the Star Trek show to present
the various Enterprises, has long been a home to the sky-flying as a comic, and debuted the first issue in July 1967.
Deep Space Nine, and fisticuffs of super-heroes, the dystopian It featured a photo cover and several photo pin-ups,
Voyager have been adventures of science fiction lawmen, a trend that would continue until issue #10, when
or the less-animated adventures of beloved the traditional Gold Key cover style — a painting
featured in hundreds
cartoon characters. Licensed characters from with small inset photos— would be the norm. The
of comics and film and television have made the leap to series was published two to three times a year
newspaper comic strips comics since before World War II. But what is beginning with issue #2 in 1968, increasing
telling the ongoing likely the longest-running and most popular frequency in the mid-1970s, and appearing almost
adventures of Starfleet’s Hollywood franchise ever to appear in licensed monthly from 1977 to its 61st and final issue in
finest, their missions comics — as will surprise few readers of this March 1979. Several of the comics reprinted earlier
magazine — is Star Trek. issues, and were themselves reprinted in early trade
ranging from the paperback collections called “Enterprise Logs”. Gold
exceedingly faithful to THE GOLD KEY ERA Key also published some issues after #9 with a
the frighteningly fanciful. Having previously packaged content for Dell Whitman logo on them, a Western sub-imprint
Andy Mangels explores a Comics, Western Publishing began its own comic for retail shops instead of newsstands.
strange alternate book line in 1962, crowning it Gold Key. Western The Gold Key Star Trek series is best
universe of panels, word had previous immense success with popular remembered by fans for its sometimes wacky
children’s books known as Little Golden Books. stories and inaccurate details of the Trek universe
balloons, and pulpy As in the book line and with Dell, the Gold Key (such as incorrectly-colored uniforms, or
newsprint, as he line published quite a number of licensed titles, sometimes making Scotty a tall blond), but fans
examines the history of primarily series based on properties from Walt today remember them fondly. The tales found Kirk
Star Trek in comic form. Disney Studios or Warner Bros. and crew facing pirates, wizards, voodoo, mummies,
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miniature people, psychocrystals, and even George which eventually proved popular enough to The talent of the creators did not mean that the
Washington! A few stories sequelized TV episodes, gain a third page of story… on the cover itself! works were without fault, however; in four of the
including “I Mudd,” “Metamorphosis,” and “The City On October 2, 1971, the magazine again morphed comics, Sulu is shown as an African-American in a
on the Edge of Forever.” titles to become Valiant and TV 21, with Star Trek blue science uniform, Uhura was shown as a blond
continuing until the December 29, 1973 issue. Caucasian, and the animated series’ M’Ress is a
THE BRITISH STAR Additional strips and content appeared in various blue-skinned, green-haired woman instead of an
TREK ERA annuals and specials, including late material orange cat-woman! In another story, the Enterprise
Concurrently with Gold Key, a series of British Star in 1978 and 1979. The British stories actually crew meets Konrac the Barbarian… an axe-wielding
Trek adventures were published in a succession of totaled 638 pages, making them a significant savage drawn by Conan artist John Buscema to look
weekly magazine-sized comics. The strip debuted in part of Trek history. The British run, however, exactly like Conan (another licensed character
Joe 90: Top Secret, beginning January 18, 1969, six has not been reprinted… to date. Power released). The final two Trek tales released
months prior to the debut of the series on British in “Book-and-Record” form were in 1979, and
television. Perhaps that would explain why the first THE POWER although they returned Sulu to his proper heritage,
two double-page full-color strips refer to the RECORDS ERA they removed Uhura entirely, and awkwardly
Enterprise’s leader as “Captain Kurt.” The mistake Having delighted children with its records since the attempted to utilize the new movie uniforms.
was rectified for the third installment. late 1940s, Peter Pan Records began a new program
Joe 90 ceased publication on September in the 1970s, licensing content for an older THE FIRST
6, 1969, becoming TV21 & Joe 90 three audience. Under a new imprint, Power Records, MARVEL ERA
weeks later, and retaining Star Trek, adventure stories with full voice casts and original One of the comic industry’s “Big Two” publishers is
music were released for super-heroes from Marvel Comics, which began in 1939 as Timely
Marvel and DC Comics, as well as for TV shows Publications, and which specialized in super-
such as Kojak, The Six Million Dollar Man, heroes. Marvel had enjoyed success with licensed
Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek. titles such as Conan the Barbarian, 2001, and Star
The adventures were released in a Wars, and in December 1979, they released “Marvel
multitude of formats, including 7-inch Super Special #22”, a magazine-sized comic that
vinyl singles, standard 12-inch vinyl adapted to comic form Star Trek: The Motion
albums, and book-and-record sets Picture. That extra-length story was reprinted as a
that featured comic book stories paperback by Pocket Books in March 1980, and split
that followed the recorded plots into the first three issues of a new monthly Star Trek
relatively faithfully. From 1975- comic series debuting in April 1980.
1979, 11 total Star Trek tales were The series that followed was both helped and
created, released and re-released in a hampered by its ties to the movie. Trek fandom was
multitude of styles. Six of them reinvigorated, meaning stronger sales, but the
were released as “Book-and- Paramount agreement meant that the comic creators
Record” sets, with several could only use characters and situations from the
featuring art by comic superstar film; they could not reference the original series or
Neal Adams, and scripts by Star animated series! Thus, they had to mark time with
Trek Logs author Alan Dean Foster. stories about a haunted Enterprise, sphinxes, and
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STAR TREK COMICS
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space gnomes. Many fans considered the Saturday strips were black-and-white, while which had appeared in both his own novels and
cancellation of the series — with issue #18 in the third-of-a-page Sunday strips were in color, the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode, “The
February 1982 — a mercy killing. and recapped the plot details from the preceding Slaver Weapon.”
A curiosity that appeared during this same week. Thus, readers got to see two versions of The series ran from December 2, 1979 until
time period was a comic that only partially adapted the same storyline. December 3, 1983, for a total of 1400 individual
the first Trek film. In December 1979, it appeared The Star Trek strip was set immediately strips. Ironically, the final storyline found the crew
on six packages for fast food franchise McDonalds’ following Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and was alternate-world-hopping to a 20th Century Earth,
Happy Meal boxes, and on Video Communicator initially written and drawn by Thomas Warkentin; where they found that they were characters in a TV
toys inside! later stories saw comic scribes Gerry Conway and show called “Star Trek,” and must team up with two
Martin Pasko and a variety of artists producing the excited young boys who were big fans.
THE NEWSPAPER work. The plots contained a familiar mixture of
COMICS ERA traditional ships-in-peril and civilizations-with- THE DC COMICS
Even as Marvel published the adventures of the secret devices, and included appearances by ERA
Enterprise crew in the comic books, the Los Angeles Klingons and Harry Mudd, while a memorable four- Founded in 1934 as National Allied Publications,
Times Syndicate began offering a daily newspaper month arc in 1982 was co-produced with writer DC Comics is the longest surviving comic book
comic strip in syndication. The Monday through Larry Niven, and co-starred the Kzinti invaders, publisher, and the other industry titan. With a long
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expanded their line considerably with a line of

franchise: both ended with their 80th issue in super-heroes known as the Ultraverse, and more
history of licensing Hollywood concepts for four- February 1996. Also appearing were six annuals licensed titles, including one based on TV’s new
color adventures — ranging from Bob Hope to Tarzan each, three movie adaptations, multiple specials Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series.
to Dale Evans — it surprised few when DC picked up and mini-series, and two graphic novels, as well as Following industry fanfare — which made a
the Star Trek license in February 1984, shortly after a cross-over with Malibu’s Deep Space Nine series. great clamor that the Trek franchise had been split
the film success of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Of special note is that Michael Jan Friedman between two publishers — the new Deep Space Nine
The DC run still had some restrictions, but in wrote all but two issues of the monthly TNG series, series debuted in August 1993, complete with
addition to following up on movie-related material, while Howard Weinstein wrote the lion’s share of promotions with national convenience store Circle
new characters began to appear alongside the the Original Series tableaus. Actors William Shatner, K. As was the custom at the time, when comic
original crew, and canonical material and characters George Takei, Walter Koenig, and John “Q” de Lancie speculators were hoping to strike it rich by buying
from the series were referenced. A variety of writers also guest-wrote stories for the various series! The comics for re-sale, the first issue had variant
worked on the series, but one of the most popular DC era is largely viewed by fans as one of the best editions, including foil logos, gold foil covers, and
was Peter David, who produced #48-55 in 1988. The comic strip versions of Star Trek to date, with the polybagged issues with free posters inserted.
series was canceled with issue #56 in November original 1992 graphic novel, “Debt of Honor” — by Malibu published 32 monthly issues of Deep
1988, although three annuals were also produced, writer Chris Claremont and artist Adam Hughes — Space Nine, as well as a crossover with DC Comics,
along with movie adaptations for the third and cited as perhaps the run’s shiniest gem. and a variety of one-shot specials and annuals, and
fourth Trek films, and a two-issue encyclopedic mini-series. Of particular note was their “Celebrity
“Who’s Who in the Star Trek Universe” series. There THE MALIBU Series” line of specials, written by Trek actors Aron
was also a five-issue mini-series for the new kid on COMICS ERA “Nog” Eisenberg and Mark “Sarek” Lenard. Actor
the block, Star Trek: The Next Generation, in 1988. Launched in 1986 as an independent comic Tim Russ, who played Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager,
Star Trek was relaunched in September 1989 publisher, Malibu Comics originally published also co-wrote two issues of the series, in which a
with a new series, and the following month, Star creator-owned titles and a few licensed titles up Mirror Universe version of his character appeared.
Trek: The Next Generation was launched as a until 1992. Infused by a boatload of money gained Having set up characters and situations in the
monthly companion series. The pair of series would from publishing and distributing the initial titles pages of several of their comics, Malibu announced
feature the most amount of issues for either from Image Comics in 1992 and 1993, Malibu plans to publish a Star Trek: Voyager comic, and
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even promoted it to the comic press in 1996. But

Deep Space Nine #32 — and a Worf Special and an
Ultimate Annual — in December 1995 would be the surprised fans with a one-shot crossover, Star
last Trek project to appear under the imprint, which Trek/X-Men, uniting the original Enterprise crew “black ops” series called “Star Trek: Phase Three.”
was finally and officially absorbed by Marvel. with the company’s top-selling mutants! But after full issues were completed of some of
Diving into the new Trek line wholeheartedly, these, Marvel canceled the Trek line completely in
THE SECOND Marvel launched the first Voyager series, a retro the early fall of 1998.
MARVEL ERA pre-Kirk series called “Early Voyages”, a Kirk-era
In late 1994, Marvel Comics had begun the mini-series called “Untold Voyages”, and a popular THE WILDSTORM
purchase of Malibu and slowly brought its titles series with a younger cast called “Starfleet ERA
into their fold. This enabled them to gain a Academy”, one issue of which was published in Launched in 1992 as one of the publishing studios
foothold against DC Comics when the Star Trek both English-language and Klingon-language that made up the collective known as Image
license came up for negotiation. Thus it was in editions. A second mutant special joined The Next Comics, Wildstorm was headed by superstar artist
1996 that Marvel published Star Trek for a second Generation with X-Men, in a story that continued Jim Lee. In 1999, the company and its properties
time, along with Mission: Impossible — under a in a Pocket Books novel. were bought by DC Comics, whereupon it became a
new imprint called Paramount Comics. Marvel used a variety of creators on the various separate imprint for the publisher. Although it had
For the first time, the entire Star Trek franchise series, including the author of this article who previously published mostly super-heroes, the
was opened to one publisher, and with changes co-wrote many Deep Space Nine stories and an DC-led Wildstorm now became home to a number
behind-the-scenes in Paramount’s licensing “Unlimited” issue, as well as others who had of licensed properties, including World of
department, unprecedented allowance was made written for the Malibu or DC lines, or Pocket Books Warcraft, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Star Trek.
to allow creators freedom to explore all aspects of novels. By early 1998 however, Marvel was Unlike all previous publishers, Wildstorm made
Trek… past, present, and future. struggling to justify the costs of the Paramount no attempt to create a cohesive publishing timeline
Marvel’s debut for the line was in November license to their corporate owners, and most of the or monthly series, instead — beginning in January
1996, with a new Deep Space Nine series, an Trek regular series were canceled, to make way for 2000 with a Star Trek: Voyager special — putting
adaptation of Star Trek: First Contact, and a new sets of mini-series, which could be collected for out a seemingly scattershot series of four-part
double-sized series called Star Trek: Unlimited, trade paperback sales. New ideas were developed mini-series for Next Generation, Deep Space Nine,
which told stories from the Original Series and as well, including an alternate reality “What If?” and Voyager, as well as one-shots and cross-overs
Next Generation eras. The following month, Marvel style series called “Star Trek: Realities”, and a for those titles, and solo issues for both the
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original Enterprise crew and the first-ever comic paperbacks through October 2002. The Wildstorm translating those works for American consumption;
appearance of Peter David’s popular Pocket Books run would be the shortest of all of the Trek licenses. while the practice was not new, the popularity of
series, “Star Trek: New Frontier”. manga was immense. Originally created as Mixx, to
Wildstorm ceased publishing Star Trek comic THE TOKYOPOP publish manga anthologies for America, one US
periodicals in May 2001 with the ending of a ERA company eventually changed its name to
Voyager mini-series, though a Next Generation By the mid-1990s, the comic book world had fully Tokyopop. In October 2004, they stunned the comic
hardcover graphic novel by David Brin actually discovered the diverse range of titles being world by announcing plans to publish English-
ended anything original for the line in October published in Japan, where comics are collectively language Star Trek stories created in the
2001, and some stories were collected for trade known as manga. Many American companies were storytelling and artistic style of manga.
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STAR TREK COMICS
DATACORE
WorldMags.net Tokyopop eventually released four anthology
volumes at around 192-208 pages each, beginning
with “Star Trek: The Manga - Shinsei Shinsei” in
September 2006 and ending with “Star Trek: The
Next Generation: The Manga – Boukenshin” in
STAR TREK COMICS: THE NUMBERS!

April 2009. Some of the volumes featured stories
by Wil “Wesley Crusher” Wheaton, Original Series
writer David Gerrold, novelist Diane Duane, and
writer Mike W. Barr (who holds the distinction of
TO DATE, THERE HAVE BEEN 662 (AND COUNTING) STAR having written for almost every Star Trek comic
TREK COMICS PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES. BUT licensor to date), but most of the other names in
WHICH PUBLISHER TAKES THE TITLE OF TOP OF THE TREKS? the credits were unknowns to Trek fans. The sales
of the books were slow, as manga popularity was
on the decline in America, and Tokyopop never
again launched an Enterprise story.
THE IDW ERA

Shortly after Tokyopop had published their first
Trek anthology, IDW Publishing, a San Diego-
based publisher since 1999, announced that they
had negotiated the rights to traditional color comic
books for American audiences. Because so much of
the comic industry’s sales are now based on trade
paperback collections sold in bookstores and
online, IDW has chosen to exclusively publish
either mini-series or thematic one-shots which
can be collected.
Their first title was “Star Trek: The Next
Generation: The Space Between”, debuting in
January 2007. In the time since, they’ve gone
through a diverse publishing program, telling
stories from the Klingon and Romulan points-of-
view, showcasing events of the Mirror Universe,
and featuring stories set in both the Original
Series and the Deep Space Nine continuities. Their
“Star Trek: Assignment: Earth” series showcased
the tales of Gary Seven, while in 2009, they
adapted for comics Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,
the sole original cast film that had not previously
been adapted for the form. More recently, IDW has
begun publishing their first regular Trek series, set
in the continuity of the 2009 feature film relaunch
(that film was also the subject of a six-page comic
story in Wired magazine in May 2009).
INTO THE FUTURE

What does the future hold for Star Trek in
comics? Will we ever see an Enterprise series,
or the fan-favorite novelistic Titan series? And
how will we read the new comics when they
appear? After all, as electronic media has risen,
the delivery venues of comics have changed,
PUBLISHER ISSUES and most companies now offer digital
DC 271 downloads of their series, as IDW does with
IDW 130 their Trek series. And the majority of Star Trek’s
MARVEL 111 comic history has been archived in a DVD-Rom
GOLD KEY 61 set by GIT Corp — “Star Trek: The Complete
MALIBU 50 Comic Book Collection” — and is available for
WILDSTORM 29 purchase internationally. Now fans everywhere
POWER RECORDS 5 can enjoy Trek comics on their smart-phones or
TOKYOPOP 4 iPads… not too far off from reading them on
WIRED MAG. 1 one of the Trek universe’s padds, is it?
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SOURCE: WWW.STARTREKCOMICS.INFO
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HERMAN ZIMMERMAN: INTERVIEW
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FAR BEYOND
THE STARS
From Days of Our Lives to life on the final frontier, Emmy-nominated Art Director
and Production Designer Herman Zimmerman looks back at his work on Star Trek.
Interview by Ian Spelling
H “BRILLIANT IDEAS DON’T

erman Zimmerman’s input into the look pants, you’re led down the path to the tunnel,
and feel of the Star Trek universe cannot be and you don’t look at the details much and you
underestimated, and ranks alongside the
contribution of original series designer ALWAYS MAKE IT TO THE don’t have time to consider the philosophy
much. That probably upset some of the more
Matt Jeffries in defining the iconic look of the
show. Between 1987 and 2005, as Production
SCREEN, AND THAT’S OK.” ardent fans of the traditional Star Trek, but I
think, all in all, it was the right thing at the
Designer and Art Director, Zimmerman lent his resurrected, no matter whose idea it is. right time, and probably will continue to be.
talents to every Star Trek film from The Final Sherlock Holmes has been resurrected a bunch I know they’re making another film now.
Frontier to Nemesis, as well as the television of times. Star Trek got resurrected again with Blessings and good luck. I have nothing but
series The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, The Next Generation and passing the torch on good things to say about it.
and Enterprise. He also worked on the long- to J.J. Abrams is not the worst thing that could
running Las Vegas and touring attraction Star happen. I know there are people that aren’t Let’s go back to the earliest days of your career
Trek: The Experience, and co-wrote The Star thrilled with his approach, but I personally and what brought you to Star Trek.
Trek: Deep Space Nine Technical Manual. Along found it very entertaining. I found it I started out doing recorded and live television
the way, he earned four Emmy nominations for refreshing. I think the casting was terrific. in 1965. I started a new show with my mentor,
his work on DS9. The production designer was good. There was John Shurm, at NBC in Burbank. The show was
Star Trek Magazine recently tracked him nothing really to criticize, from my point of called Days of Our Lives, and it’s still on the
down to his Los Angeles home, to find out more view. There were a few sour grapes in that the air. I learned to transfer what I knew from the
about his work. studio didn’t want anybody that had worked on theater, because I had studied theater design, to
any of the other Star Trek shows or motion television. What I learned from John was to make
Star Trek Magazine: What was it like for you to pictures to have anything to do with the new use of stock units in order to make it possible to
see Star Trek return to the forefront of popular film. That bothered a lot of people. It didn’t handle the hellish schedule that you have when
culture, as a result of the J.J. Abrams film, with bother me, because I was already on my path to you’re doing a daily show, and that sometimes,
a whole new look? something else. The J.J. Abrams approach, it’s a in addition to being daily, was done live on the
Herman Zimmerman: I think he did a good job. very all-wide or all-close-up kind of approach, air. Days of Our Lives was a good way to cut your
Every couple of generations, a good idea gets and it’s non-stop action. By the seat of your teeth if you were an art director, and to find out
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how the vision meets the reality. It’s still the old
adage, “90 percent perspiration and 10 percent
inspiration.” We’d start Days of Our Lives at 5 in
the morning with an empty stage, put all the
lights in place from a floor plan that was taped
onto the floor, then roll in all the sets and set
them up on the tape. The lights were then raised
and then roughly focused.
Then, when the sets were in place, of course,
they got it lit as people would come in for a
table reading at 7am. Then, they’d do a live
walk-through, sometimes with pages and
sometimes without, depending on how good
the actors were, and then do the show right
after lunch. After the show was taped, they
would strike all the sets again, making way for
a musical variety show that would be on that
stage in the evening. Some of the stages were
big enough that you’d have two sitcoms DS9's glorious Ops set
working back to back. They wouldn’t tape at the
same time, but they’d be rehearsing at the You couldn’t fool me and tell me that something
same time and setting up their sets at the same could be done when I knew it couldn’t. So, part
time. So all that was very intense. of what happened with The Next Generation
I went to Paramount in 1980 and did is they hired two illustrators, one of whom
situation comedies for seven years before I was was intensely practical, Rick Sternbach, a very
asked to do Star Trek: The Next Generation. good artist, and Andy Probert, who was an
Once again, I was charged with doing exceptionally creative artist, but couldn’t tell
something very intense in a very short time. you in feet and inches how to make anything
That training was what really became my O'Brien shows that he drew. So I was the guy who had to
Sisko his new office
reputation — “If you really want to get it done, come in and make that all happen. I also had
ask Zimmerman.” That’s entirely why I got the to put reins on the creativity that couldn’t be
job on The Next Generation, because Mike
Schoenbrun, the executive in charge of
“IT ONLY TOOK US ABOUT A afforded, and to afford every possible thing
that I could, that I thought was innovative
television at Paramount, said, “I want you to go
meet Gene Roddenberry. I’m putting you up for
WEEK TO COME UP WITH and in the right vein for the scripts. After all,
everything has to come from the written word.
this job. Don’t blow it.” (Laughs).
Mike wanted me because, as much of an
WHAT EVENTUALLY BECAME What you do is you pay homage to the ideas in
the script and make as believable as possible
artist as I was, I was also a very practical guy. DEEP SPACE NINE.” the environment you’re creating as a designer.
The iconic Enterprise-D bridge
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too difficult to light the Bridge on an episodic
A preliminary design for DS9's promenade,
complete with monorail television series. It was too bad, because it was
really gorgeously executed, and a brilliant idea.
Brilliant ideas don’t always make it to the
screen, and that’s OK. I learned a long time ago
that all the drama is in front of the scenery. But I
took the basic sets that were left over, which
were more or less the corridors, sickbay, and
quarters that were variously used for either Kirk
or Spock on The Motion Picture, and I tried to
work within the floor plan that was there, as
much as anything to save having to move
scaffolding. All of the sets kind of fell into place,
because Hal Michaelson’s design for Star Trek:
The Motion Picture was so elegant; the curved
aluminum walls on the corridors. I expanded the
width of the corridors. I changed the shape
because it was supposed to be a new ship, 150
years in the future from the original series. So,
even though I had a lot of stock, used sets to
Talk us through what you were shooting for with start with, I had to turn them upside-down and
The Next Generation look. Some would say that make something entirely new out of them, while
this show is vitally important because it set the retaining the economy of re-investiture of
template for much of what followed in the films existing elements.
and on TV.
I’d inherited a bunch of sets from Star Trek: You joined The Next Generation six weeks into the
The Motion Picture that were still on Stage 8, earliest pre-production. They’d done sketches of
including the Enterprise Bridge, which was sets and were bouncing ideas off each other before
DS9's promenade brilliantly designed, but not terribly well you arrived. I’m guessing that Deep Space Nine
as seen in season one…
photographed, in my humble opinion. It had a was a unique experience, because you were there
ceiling, and the ceiling in the original Bridge from the first conversation.
was one of the most complicated and just I had three months of nothing to do but take
magnificently designed sets. And because blank sheets of paper and empty stages, and
directors of photography and actors and work them into something that would be
directors are interested in what’s in front of valuable to support the stories being told.
the scenery, I don’t think there was more than And, yes, it was very freeing, Deep Space Nine.
… and with a brighter one decent shot of it in the whole picture. I think it is still the most challenging thing that I
look from season three
Unfortunately, I couldn’t keep it, because it was did, at least in episodic television, because of
The more militaristic Enterprise-E bridge
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Herman Zimmerman
“WORKING WITH THE

Good old pushable buttons
ORIGINAL CAST WAS
on the original Star Trek series
A LOT OF FUN.”
those empty stages and blank pages. The art Square pegs, round holes. Oblongs and elements out of the gyroscope, and we invented
department was given a lot of time. Three triangles. Circles that don’t necessarily fit a philosophy. I’ve said this over the years, but
months is an incredible amount of time to come because they’re not the same size. It was kind we made up our own little Gene Roddenberry-
up with ideas, and daily we’d give Rick Berman of like a Tower of Babel idea that was being esque bible for the art department. The
new ideas. And, daily, he’d give us back criticism presented. We tried to do that on paper and we Cardassians built it with slave labor from the
and more requirements because the show didn’t didn’t really get anything that anybody liked. Bajoran planet. It was used originally as a
just spring, whole, from Michael Piller’s head. I certainly didn’t. Rick finally didn’t. mining/refining station, refining the elements
It did evolve, as everything does when you’re that they were taking out of the earth of Bajor.
doing story after story after story. But the You scrapped it all, right? It was built by these very militaristic, anal
beginning was so well conceived, script-wise. By this time, we’d already wasted maybe six or Cardassians who seemed to have exoskeletons,
On the other hand, there was an initial request/ seven weeks. Rick said, “Why don’t you just which we were developing with Mike Westmore
demand to have the space station be a scrap all that and give me the most elegant, and Bob Blackman, the make-up and wardrobe.
multicultural station, that evolved over many high-tech alien thing that you can?” So we A lot of the structure of their physiognomy was
years, with different cultures not necessarily started working on that premise, and it only visible on the outside. So we used that as a
speaking each other’s language, having created took us about a week to come up with what metaphor for what the station should look like,
it. So, in your mind, you’d say it was a eventually became Deep Space Nine. We started that it should have smooth and elegant lines,
hodgepodge of things that don’t really fit. with a gyroscope and we started taking but within each plane there would be depressed
Knobs and levers make a comeback

for the console designs in Enterprise
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areas where it was just open, where it was like
tank parts and very utilitarian elements, but all
with a very alien flavor.
So it didn’t look like anything you’d ever seen
before. We said that the Cardassians liked things
in sets of threes, that they preferred ovals to
circles, that they liked dark, shiny things rather
than bright, matte-finished things. They were like
intergalactic Nazis, in a way. They were
tremendously good engineers, but immoral at the
core. All of that just translated beautifully into
DS9, and when the Brazil fabricators made the
6-foot model, I was absolutely blown away by the
skill with which they interpreted our drawings and
made this thing a reality. I distinctly remember
Rick saying, “I want this station to look like The engineering set for
something that, when the music comes on, and Star Trek: The Next Generation
you’re in the kitchen, and you’ve walked from the
kitchen to the den or the living room to catch the Bill [Shatner] on The Final Frontier, and so I was
show, the first thing you see is this little element pretty close with him, too. I still occasionally talk to
that gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and you Bill. He asked me to do an interview for one of his
see everything working around it, and it has life documentaries, and I did that a few months ago. I’d
and form and it’s in space, and it’s the most always admired the combination of Kirk and Spock,
elegant alien thing you’ve ever seen. I think we and it was a pleasure for me to get to know the cast
delivered on that. while working on The Final Frontier and The
A sketch of
Undiscovered Country.
You worked on two original series features. What USAF DS/9 from
do you remember about those shoots? 'Far Beyond the Stars' You skipped Voyager because of your day-to-day
Working with the original cast was a lot of fun. I involvement on Deep Space Nine. When that
particularly was close to DeForest Kelley. He Home, and on The Final Frontier he really looked finished, you started on Enterprise. How freeing
somehow thought we were the same age, and he like he was ill. By the time we did The Undiscovered was it to go back into the past?
kept saying, “Why do you look so good, and I’m Country, he was in much better health. All those Oh, I loved it. Being able to go back rather than
getting old?” It meant nothing except we were moments we were together, and there weren’t all forward, being able to have buttons and levers
always jabbing each other a lot. And he was looking that many, we were just very friendly. I really and things for the actors to actually interact with,
better all the time. He had it tough on The Voyage enjoyed his company. Of course, I’d worked with instead of just flat screens and touch-screens,
you were actually creating another layer of the
STELLAR TRIBUTES
Star Trek saga and were going back from Kirk and
Spock, and going back to Zefram Cochrane. The
whole idea of going back to a ship that could only
As Production Designer on Deep Space Nine,
Zimmerman was honored with four Emmy do warp five and creating that back-story, I
nominations for “Outstanding Individual thought it was brilliant. Also, the ship itself, I
Achievement in Art Direction for a Series”, starting think, was brilliant. It looked like a Lockheed
with the premiere episode “The Emissary”, in P-38 from WWII, and that appealed to me greatly.
1993. Nominations in the same category followed
in 1997, for “Trials and Tribble-ations”, in 1998 If you could live on one of the ships you created,
for “Far Beyond the Stars”, and for the 1999 which would it be and why?
episode “Prodigal Daughter”. Oooooh, I don’t know. That’s a tough one. I liked
For “Trials and Tribble-ations”, a Herculean effort was made to recreate the original each of those ships that I was able to imagine in
Enterprise bridge, turbo-lifts, Jefferies tubes, and corridors, exactly as they had appeared in different ways. Can’t I live on all of them?
the original series. Contemporary footage, shot with genuine 1960’s lenses and film stock, was
matched seamlessly into original film elements from “The Trouble with Tribbles”, using
At the end of the day, what would you like to
techniques developed for “Forrest Gump”, to insert the Deep Space Nine cast into the action.
Another historical setting (albeit within a dream that was the result of wayward neural think your contribution to Star Trek has been?
patterns in Benjamin Sisko’s mind) was recreated for “Far Beyond the Stars”. This tale of I think I was able to take a lot of good ideas past
overcoming racial and sexual prejudice was set in the 1950’s offices of Incredible Tales, a and present, from colleagues gone and still
science fiction magazine about to publish a futuristic account of life on space station USAF DS/9 around, and make a cohesive visual statement
– a sleek, gleaming re-imagination of the familiar Deep Space 9 design! that supported the drama. That’s what you’re
supposed to do.
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A HEART OF
LATINUM THE ARMIN SHIMERMAN INTERVIEW
‘Quark’s Bar, Grill, Gaming House and Holosuite Arcade’ (to give it its full name) was
the beating heart of space station Deep Space 9 – whichever galactic power happened
to be running the station at the time. As the Ferengi with his name above the door,
Armin Shimerman proved he had the lobes to create an unforgettable Star Trek character.
Interview by Ian Spelling
D
“ eep Space Nine was never a job to me. It to put on, and episode after episode after
was always a delight.” explains Armin “I WILL BE VERY episode to complete. Even then, I was always
Shimerman, who spent seven years
playing the Ferengi barkeeper Quark on HAPPY TO HAVE ON MY thinking about how much fun it was.”
Shimerman’s Trek days may seem long
the Star Trek series. “I was always a Star Trek
fanatic. I wanted to be part of the franchise, GRAVESTONE, ‘HERE LIES behind him, but the show is still an indelible
and current part of his life. The actor remains
and it was always important to me that I was
part of the franchise. At times, if you spoke
ARMIN SHIMERMAN, a favorite on the convention circuit, spinning
great stories on stage and taking the time to
with me when we were making the show, I may
have made it seem a little bit more like a job,
WHO PLAYED QUARK.’” chat with fans and sign autographs. Plus, of
course, 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of
because I had lines to memorize, and makeup Deep Space Nine’s debut, meaning he’s in
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ARMIN SHIMERMAN: INTERVIEW
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demand for even more conventions, appearances Quark and Odo – an interstellar bromance
and interviews than ever. Shimerman doesn’t
turn his back on fans, or such opportunities.
He’ll often attend conventions in the company
of his wife, actress Kitty Swink, who twice
appeared on Deep Space Nine, though never
alongside him. Their table at conventions
usually ends up in a row next to those of his
Deep Space Nine supporting actor friends,
Max Grodenchik, Aron Eisenberg, and Chase
Masterson, who, respectively, played Rom,
Nog, and Leeta. His current projects include
writing a new novel, and taking on various roles
– including actor, board member, associate
artistic director, show director, and goodwill
ambassador – for The Antaeus Company, a not-
for-profit theater company in Los Angeles.
By the time he’d auditioned for Deep Space
Nine, Shimerman was no stranger to Star Trek.
He’d already portrayed a Betazoid Gift Box in the
Next Generation episode “Haven”, and Trek’s very played a Ferengi. Why shouldn’t I play this part?” did the best I could.’ Lo and behold, about two
first Ferengi, Letek, in the episode “The Last I beat my agent over the head to get me an months after that first audition, I got a callback
Outpost”. He also appeared as another Ferengi, audition, which he did relatively quickly. I believe and went in. There was a roomful of suits there,
Bractor, in “Peak Performance”. Despite his I was one of the very first people to be seen for including Rick Berman and Michael Piller. They
previous Trek adventures, Shimerman did not take Quark. I went in and read, and got some laughs at asked me to read again. I did, and I got most of
it for granted that the producers would pick him the audition. Two months went by, and I kept the laughs I’d gotten the first time. I felt pretty
for the role of Quark, regardless of the fact that he hounding my agent to inquire about whether good about it, and then had the great experience
had an inside track on portraying a Ferengi. “I was there was any possibility of my coming back for a of spending an hour after I’d auditioned talking to
definitely on pins and needles,” Shimerman says. second audition. He couldn’t get any word on that, this actor that I’d recognized from other Star Trek
“When I first heard that they were looking for a so I just assumed it was dead. I licked my wounds shows. I got the role, thankfully, and here we are,
Ferengi for this new Star Trek show, I thought, “I and slunk off somewhere and said, ‘Well, I tried. I 20 years later.”
The new Klingons (TNG's

“The Last Outpost”)
ACTING CLASS
Born in New Jersey, Armin Shimerman’s family
moved to Los Angeles, where the 16-year-old
joined a drama group, ostensively to meet
new people and make friends. Bitten by the
acting bug, he graduated from UCLA
(University of California), and served an
apprenticeship at the Old Globe Theatre in San
Diego, before touring in regional theatre and
landing his first role on Broadway, in The
Threepenny Opera.
Returning to LA, he made a name for
himself with numerous guest roles on
television, soon securing a semi-regular
part as Pascal in Beauty and the Beast.
A right Herbert
(DS9 “Far Beyond the Stars”)
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Fans quickly came to embrace Quark. The The Way of the… Warrior?!
character was selfish, but not entirely without (DS9 “Looking for par’Mach
heart. He was all about the money, and not above in All the Wrong Places”)
deceit, but, on occasion, recognized the merits of
compromise, or offered some philosophical food
for thought. He often provided laughs, but also
moments of seriousness, and every once in a
while he got in on the action as well. Of particular
note was the Quark-Odo relationship, with its
tension, humor, and veiled affection, which
became one of the most memorable on the series.
Shimerman acknowledges that the writers
revealed more colors and shades of Quark than
he’d ever imagined possible. “I was surprised,
actually, at how far he became less Ferengi,” the
actor says. “I thought I was always playing the
Ferengi. I always thought that there wasn’t much
difference from the first season and the seventh
season, as far as my character was concerned.
Then, when they gave me the scripts for ‘Dogs of
War,’ I read it and thought, ‘Oh, my God, I really
have changed quite a bit, haven’t I?’ That was a “WHEN THEY GAVE ME called Sublime and Beautiful. A friend of mine
did that in Kansas, and I play a guy who’s
total surprise to me. I didn’t notice it so much as
we went along. Really, I learned that when I read THE SCRIPTS FOR ‘DOGS drunk, hits a car, and he kills a mother and two
children. Her husband spends most of the
that penultimate script.
“He’d gotten to do a lot more than I ever
OF WAR,’ I READ IT AND movie coming after me.”
Shimerman’s greatest passion right now is
did expect him to do,” Shimerman continues.
“Also, for the seven years, I was trying to fulfill
THOUGHT, ‘OH, MY GOD, I The Antaeus Company. He acts there, as well as
teaching and directing. He and Swink – “Miss
something that Brent Spiner told me when I did
my first episode of The Next Generation. Brent
REALLY HAVE CHANGED Kitty” as he lovingly calls her – are associate
artistic directors, and on the board. “I hooked up
had been a friend of mine from years before, QUITE A BIT, HAVEN’T I?’” with Antaeus seven or eight years ago,”
and we were sitting around on the set. It was the
show’s first season. I asked him what he wanted
to do with this character of Data. He said, and I
quote, ‘I want to take the character with the least
amount of potential and make him the character
with the most amount of potential. That always
stayed with me, and that is what I strived to do.”
Consider it mission accomplished. Deep
Space Nine ended in 1999, and Quark remains
as popular as ever. Post-Star Trek, Shimerman
embarked on the next phase of his career,
which has encompassed voiceovers for games
and cartoons, stage work, and the occasional
film or TV appearance, as well as writing novels
and teaching. “Teaching has become an
important part of my life,” Shimerman says.
“As people may or may not know, I’ve devoted
a lot of time in the past few years to a theater
company near us – Kitty and I do it together –
called The Antaeus Company. I just finished
doing a production of Macbeth for Antaeus
and, before that, a production of The Seagull.
What recent TV have I done? I was on the show
Perception when it debuted. I did a cartoon The way to a Ferengi’s
show called The Regular Show, that airs on The heart is through the lobes
Cartoon Network. I recently did a small movie
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Ferengi spa treatment or the Quark has one of his

horror of the make-up chair? regular run-ins with Kira
Armin Shimerman
Shimerman says. “They were developing a new
piece, based on Charles Dickens. I had a lot of
friends in the company, Tony Amendola being
one of them, and he asked me to come and take
part in the project. I’d heard about Antaeus
years ago. It had been started by a man named
Dakin Matthews, who is perhaps the greatest
Shakespeare dramatist in the country. I was
intrigued by the work and, shortly after I did
the Dickens projects, they very nicely asked me
if I wanted to become a member. I said yes.
“About a year and half later, they also asked
Kitty if she wanted to be a member,” Shimerman
continues. “Membership isn’t all that easy in this
company, and we were both very flattered. The
primary criteria for being a member is that you
have a classical background, which both Kitty and
I have. We’re thrilled to be a part of this company
because it’s involved in keeping the spoken word
alive, and because we’re interested in the
thoughts and themes of classic material. It’s
interesting, but many of the actors in our
ensemble have been on Star Trek. That makes
sense because, from the beginning, starting with
Mr. Shatner, so many Star Trek actors have been
classically trained. Tony Amendola and Dakin
Matthews, I just found out, were on Star Trek.
Also, we’ve got Linda Park, Harry Groener, Greg
Itzin, Richard Herd, Lawrence Pressman, Joe
Ruskin, and Kurtwood Smith, who are with us at
Antaeus and who I know were on Star Trek. I’m
sure others were, too.”
“I DON’T HAVE TO WORK

ANYMORE, AND FOR THAT
I THANK DEEP SPACE NINE
AND BUFFY THE
VAMPIRE SLAYER.”
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So, was it Shimerman’s long run on Deep
Space Nine that afforded him the luxury of being
able to concentrate on stage work, and his
efforts on behalf of Antaeus?
“That’s an enormously important question, and
I’m at a stage in my life where I’m readily happy to
answer that,” Shimerman replies. “I can devote more
time to theater because I don’t have to work
anymore, and for that I thank Deep Space Nine and
Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s a nice place to be.
Eight percent of the country or more is unemployed
and they’re desperately trying to pay their bills, but
No actor likes to be put into a box. (Shimerman because of the enormous good luck I had in my 40s
as the Betazoid Gift Box in TNG episode “Haven”) and 50s I don’t need to work anymore. So that allows
me to do practically volunteer theater. I can spend as
much time and effort as I like doing it, and I don’t
A PERFORMER WITH PRINCIPLE have to worry about, ‘Oh, my God, if I spend all my
time here, then I’m not focusing on getting more film
Armin Shimerman is proud of his work on Deep Space Nine and considers the experience of doing and TV work.’ I am in a very good position that way.
the show among the highlights of his life. However, in the arc of his career, it’s but a single credit. So the answer to the question is, Yes. In theater, you
“Principal Snyder on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a very important role, and it’s another one I’m tend not to focus on the things that make you popular
very grateful for having had the opportunity to play,” the actor says. “That was a role that lasted with the majority of the people in the world.”
longer than I ever thought it would, just given the nature of what happened to principals in that
Right now, this very minute, Shimerman is
school. A lot of fans still talk to me about Buffy and ask me to sign photos, so it had some impact
sitting at a desk in his Los Angeles home. He’s
on people. I am of the impression, and I may be wrong, that I get recognized more for Buffy than I
do for Deep Space Nine. I am sure that’s because I had no makeup on when I was on Buffy. Some pulled himself away from his computer to speak
people may know that I played Quark, but they probably actually recognize me first for Buffy. Also, with Star Trek Magazine. Since there’s no next
within the business, it’s more likely that a producer or casting director or director will know me play, movie, or TV on the immediate horizon, he’s
more from Buffy than from Star Trek. So that’s one I’m very proud of.” been at the computer, tapping away on his latest
The actor has also leant his voice to numerous computer games. “Ratchet & Clank is a lot of project: a novel. “People may or may not know that
fun,” he continues, “It may not be the most artistic endeavor in the world, but it’s a great deal of I’ve had four novels printed, and this will be my
fun for me and a lot of other people. I’ve also enjoyed BioShock, which was an artistic endeavor. fifth one,” Shimerman says. “The other ones were
I did two of the games and played the character Andrew Ryan, and those speeches he had were all science fiction, and this one is a period mystery.
incredibly delicious. I’m very proud of that. Of my theater roles, I’m proud of Richard, from The I’ve always been interested in Shakespearean
Seafarer. That was an incredible, incredible experience. The Broadway shows, some of the themes, and this story takes place in 1583-1584, in
shows I’ve done with Antaeus, I’m proud of them, too. It’s a trite expression, but they’re all my
England, and it involves a great deal of historical
children, and I’m proud of all of them. Now, there are some things I’d like to forget, but
characters, and Shakespeare as well. After eight
fortunately we haven’t mentioned them. So that’s good.”
years of gradually writing it, in the last two or three
months I have been hot and heavy at it. It should
Happy Families. Quark, Rom, and Nog
be, for all intent and purposes, done around
in DS9's “Little Green Men” Christmas. Right now, the title is “The Toadeater”,
which really has nothing to do with the story, but I
like the title. I’m very happy to be doing this. I’ve
always liked writing. It is a very lonely process, but
you don’t have to audition for it!”
Shimerman looks back at his work on Star
Trek, and his infamous Ferengi alter-ego, with
gratitude. “I will be very happy to have on my
gravestone, ‘Here lies Armin Shimerman, who
played Quark.’” He smiles. “Without it, I couldn’t
be doing many of the things that I’m doing
today. It has given me some celebrity, which is
nice to have, but not enough celebrity to make
me feel as though I’m boxed in a cage. It’s just
the right amount of celebrity. I enjoyed the
years on the show, I enjoyed the character, and
the writing, and the people I met. I will always
think fondly of Deep Space Nine.”
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“FOR THE FIRST TIME, WE
SEE CENTRAL CHARACTERS…
WHO DO NOT ASSUME THAT
THE GOALS OF STARFLEET
AND THE FEDERATION ARE
BEST FOR EVERYONE.”
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UNDISCOVERED COUNTRIES
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UNDISCOVERED
COUNTRIES
DEEP SPACE NINE ’S DARK LANDSCAPE
It’s been twenty years since the launch of what some
consider to be the black sheep of the Star Trek family…
K Stoddard Hayes delves into the past, and explains why
Deep Space Nine stands proud as one of the
franchise’s greatest series.
Inside the wormhole:

While Dax sees beauty… …Sisko
…Sisko sees
sees Hell
hell
O
ne of the most memorable scenes in In The Next Generation, the bright sunshine
“Emissary,” the Deep Space Nine premiere, of the peaceful Federation is the norm, while
is the arrival of Sisko and Dax inside the each problem is a passing cloud to be dispersed
Bajoran wormhole. Dax steps out of the by the end of the episode, or at least by the end
runabout and sees a paradise: green lawns, of a multi-episode story arc. In Deep Space
blooming gardens, bright, warm sunshine. Nine, the harmony of the Federation is far away,
Sisko sees a Hellscape of tortured stone blasted and Starfleet’s representatives see nothing but
by lighting. If the writers had done it deliberately, trouble everywhere they look.
they could not have come up with a better The station itself reflects this difference.
illustration of the difference between Deep Space The former Terok Nor’s Cardassian design, with
Nine and its predecessor, The Next Generation. its dark walls and claustrophobic spaces, is the
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antithesis of Starfleet’s sleek starships and
gleaming white interiors. Even the station’s
sharpened, angular verticals look as if they are
made of bones and claws. And nothing works
properly. A malfunction on the Enterprise-D is a
warning that some alien entity or malicious
software has invaded the ship. On Deep Space 9,
malfunctions are the norm. O’Brien spends
much of his time, especially at first, just trying
to repair the Cardassian technology and get it
to function alongside Starfleet systems. And
sometimes the technology is a threat even
when it’s working properly, as when the crew
accidentally activates a Cardassian security
protocol that locks down the whole station
(“Civil Defense”).
THE GALACTIC MELTING POT

Replacing a shiny starship with a gothic space
station is far from the biggest difference
between Deep Space Nine and the rest of Star
Trek. Deep Space Nine is not only the first to
include non-Starfleet characters in its cast,
it is the only series in which most of the major
characters are not even human. Though all Star
Trek series pay homage to racial diversity, only
Star Trek: Voyager approaches Deep Space Nine The first season cast of
in representing non-humans equally with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
humans in its cast. But when you add Deep

Space Nine’s throng of important recurring getting pushy with its smaller neighbors and
players, nearly all of them from non-Federation arbitrarily drawing borders that divide colonies “DEEP SPACE NINE HAS
species, it becomes the only series that truly
portrays the diversity of Star Trek’s universe.
from their homeworlds. To the Dominion, the
Federation looks even more extreme: a lawless BECOME THE STRATEGIC
This is a critical change of perspective. For the
first time, we see central characters like Quark,
trespasser invading a sovereign territory, like
Cortez overrunning the Aztec empire. CENTER OF THE GALAXY,
Odo, and Kira, who do not assume that the goals
of Starfleet and the Federation are best for
While these new perspectives may not reflect
Star Trek’s traditional idealism, they provide a
NOT JUST TO OUR CREW,
everyone. To the Bajorans and the Maquis, the
Federation often seems just another superpower
far more interesting dramatic environment.
Stories are much more entertaining when
BUT TO EVERYONE.”
everybody doesn’t get along; and in Deep Space woman and an old man who once mentored
Maintaining law Nine, conflicts can arise just as easily between him, while his exemplary son takes up with a
and order: Odo
main characters as between the crew and the juvenile delinquent Ferengi. The romances are
guest villain of the week. even odder: a Ferengi romancing a Klingon
Deep Space Nine’s diversity also creates a widow, a Trill marrying a Klingon, a Starfleet
paradoxical counter-effect to the conflicts: officer falling for a Maquis agent, and
nowhere else in Star Trek can you find a more strangest of all, a Changeling carrying a
entertaining assortment of odd-couple lifelong torch for a Solid.
friendships and romances. The cocky young
genius doctor becomes close friends with a THE CENTER OF THE UNIVERSE
cynical middle-aged engineer, and with a Deep Space Nine shifts not only our cultural
former Cardassian spy. The law-and-order viewpoint, but also our geographic one. Star
Constable and the corrupt Ferengi Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation look to
businessman are all but inseparable in Earth as home. From that perspective, Deep
reciprocal aggravation. The former Bajoran Space 9 is located at the remotest wild frontier
freedom fighter becomes the protector of her of Federation space – but when Bashir describes
former conqueror’s daughter. The station it this way in “Emissary,” local girl Kira smacks
commander’s closest friend is both a young him down hard, and we sympathize with her, not
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with him. In that instant, our Star Trek roots are
literally torn up and planted elsewhere.
For Deep Space Nine, the center of the
universe is not Earth and the Federation. It’s
the Bajoran wormhole. The crew’s visits to Earth
always seem like a distraction from the decisive
events here at the gateway to the far side of the
galaxy. When Sisko returns to Earth in the
middle of the war (“Image in the Sand”) he is
not taking a shore leave or a rest; he is literally
running away from his duty and the central role
of his life, as the Emissary of Bajor.
The arrival of other major Star Trek races –
the Klingons, the Romulans – emphasizes the
importance of the geographic shift. Deep Space
9 has become the strategic center of the galaxy,
Sisko receives a fiery welcome not just to our crew, but to everyone.
from Major Kira in “Emissary”
THE CALL OF THE PROPHETS

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
In other Star Trek series, religious beliefs
are often treated as a matter of superstition,
especially when they belong to “undeveloped”
Known to the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance as Terok Nor, the Deep Space 9 of the Mirror Universe races, while the gods of these little worlds usually
was a dangerous place to live. Over the course of five stories (“Crossover”, “Through the turn out to be aliens or super-computers. With the
Looking Glass”, “Shattered Mirror”, “Resurrection” and “The Emperor’s New Cloak”), many
exception of Klingon spirituality, other Star Trek
familiar faces, albeit twisted by hate or quaking with fear, would meet a violent end.
series almost always see religion from the
outside. It’s something for other cultures,
ODO – DECEASED
ant Changeling was killed by the
Fascistic officer of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, this unpleasant not for Federation officers.
’s ore processing
prime universe’s Julian Bashir, during a daring escape from Terok Nor’s ocessi center.
QUARK – DECEASED
cuted for his crimes by the
Timid bar owner and occasional Terran sympathizer, he was executed
violent and ruthless Terok Nor Intendent, Kira Nerys.
JADZIA DAX – DECEASED

A soldier of fortune, Jadzia became lover to Benjamin Sisko and, ter, renegade loner Julian
d, lat
later,
ance.
Bashir. She was killed in battle during a confrontation with the Allia
Alliance.
BENJAMIN SISKO – DECEASED

Space pirate and instigator of the Terran Rebellion, Sisko was killedd while trying to turn his
wife, Jennifer, to the cause.
manyy battles, and lived on to

Terran slave turned freedom fighter “Smiley” O’Brien survived man
ashir...
an BBashir...
fight the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance alongside the erratic Julian
The Next Generation crew (excluding Worf and O’Brien) were never ver ttoo venture into the
parallel reality of the Mirror Universe, first discovered by Kirk’s crew in “Mirror, Mirror.”
han our
The Mirror Universe reveals a very different political evolution than o familiar
continuity, and seems far more plausible as an echo of Deep Space ce N inee’s less
Nine’s
able Federation.
certain galaxy than it did as a counterpart of Star Trek’s comfortable F
Indeed, when we see Deep Space Nine’s version of this parallel el w orld, we
world,
can’t help wondering how the urbane and cerebral Picard and his is “innvestigate
“investigate
first, take action later” crew would have coped with players likee “Sm miley”
“Smiley”
O’Brien, the rebel leader Ben Sisko, and especially the Intendant. nt. Surely
S
you’d need the experience of Sisko and his crew, confronted daily ily with
w
fractious Bajorans, duplicitous Cardassians, fanatical Maquis, and ruthless
r
Changelings, to know how to negotiate the treacherous currentss of this
universe. The Mirror world is indeed an apt doppelganger of thee wa r-torn
war-torn
corner of the galaxy guarded by Deep Space 9.
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Deep Space Nine, for the first time, treats followers, religious fundamentalists who feel
Nog deals with losing
faith, religion, and spirituality with the depth a leg in the war with justified in attacking anyone who diverges from
and gravity they deserve as an almost universal the Dominion their own view of the Prophets. Winn provides
aspect of human nature. All kinds of people in an insightful portrait of the fundamentalist of
Deep Space Nine have religions, good and bad. any creed, who genuinely worships the
The subjects of the Dominion regard the Prophets, yet uses their authority to serve her
Founders as gods; the Klingons maintain their own thirst for power. Convinced that she
reverence for Kahless and their belief in their deserves their special favor as a “true” follower,
afterlife. Most important are the gods of Bajor, she even turns against them to punish their
the Prophets, whose relationship with Sisko, “failure” to recognize her devotion.
Kira, and Kai Winn takes us on a journey through Most extraordinary of all is Sisko’s
the many facets of human spirituality.
The Bajorans see the Prophets as their
“MOST EXTRAORDINARY relationship with the Prophets. A typically
rationalist Starfleet officer, Sisko is at first
benevolent protectors, whose spiritual light
guides profoundly wise religious leaders like
OF ALL IS SISKO’S profoundly uncomfortable with his role as
Emissary. He is not Bajoran, he doesn’t share
Kai Opaka and Vedek Bareil, as well as many RELATIONSHIP WITH their faith, and he sees the Prophets as “the
ordinary Bajorans like Kira. To make things
even more realistic, we have Kai Winn and her THE PROPHETS.” wormhole aliens,” with powers and intentions
largely unknown. His spiritual struggle with the
Prophets resembles that of a reluctant Old
Major Kira Testament prophet, Jonah running away to sea to
escape his God’s command. But as events unfold,
the beliefs of the reluctant Emissary evolve,
until Sisko believes, in defiance of Starfleet
orders, that the Prophets are the true protectors
of Bajor, whose guidance he ignores, not at his
peril, but at Bajor’s.
Through Sisko’s spiritual evolution, Deep
Space Nine makes religion fit with both reason
and metaphysics. Science fiction provides
rational explanations for everything, including
gods, and so the Prophets are indeed powerful
alien entities. But when we hear stories about
prophecies and miraculous powers, some part
of us wants to believe. So it is when the
Prophets start telling Sisko what to do for
Bajor. Yes, they are non-temporal beings who
can “predict” the future because they see time
differently. But they are also mysterious,
vision-granting, godlike creatures; and
somehow, even in this rational, science
fictional universe, we want to know that the
Prophets really are Bajor’s gods. We want them
to be good, and right, and worthy of our
characters’ faith in them. And so they prove.
THE AGONY OF WAR

One could make endless thematic comparisons
between Deep Space Nine and all the other Star
Trek series. But now let’s take the show on its
own terms, as if it stood alone. If you sat down
to watch Deep Space Nine without knowing
anything about Star Trek, the first episode would
tell you exactly what this new TV series is about.
“Emissary” opens with a catastrophic battle;
its protagonist is an officer who has never
recovered from the trauma of that battle; and his
new command sits at the frontier between two
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races who have only just ended a long and bitter
Sisko runs from his destiny
in “Image in the Sand” war of occupation. Deep Space Nine is a story
about war and the consequences of war.
From the start, the horrific cost of war for the
conquered is everywhere we look. It’s in Kira’s
memories of her childhood under a brutal
occupation, the torture of her father and the
sacrifices of her mother. It’s in the violence that
became part of all Bajorans’ lives as they fought
for their freedom, and it’s in the enduring hatred
between Bajorans and Cardassians, that
destroys the innocent along with the guilty. And
if that weren’t enough, soon we begin to see the
cost of conquest in the Gamma Quadrant as well:
worlds destroyed by disease, by bioengineering,
by military assault, just for defying their
overlords, the Founders.
As the war in the Alpha Quadrant escalates,
we also begin to see how war affects the
WELCOME ABOARD
warriors, who are our own characters. In
episode after episode, we see them suffer
stress, loss, the extremes of battle, the guilt of
Visitors from one part of the Star Trek universe often turn up in another. Deep Space Nine had its good men and women who do terrible things
share of VIP guests and, as always, some visitors fit in better than others… just so their people can survive. Kira begs the
Kai for the Prophets’ forgiveness (“Battle
Picard, seen mainly from the perspective of Sisko’s hostility, shows us immediately that the
new leading man is far from the usual cool, got-it-all-together Star Trek captain. (“Emissary”) Lines”); Sisko sacrifices his cherished integrity
to bring the Romulans into the war (“In the
pulation doesn’t work on
Q makes only one appearance, and it’s not a success. His brand of manipulation Pale Moonlight”); Bashir enters a
a commanding officer who punches first. (“Q-Less”) precarious relationship
Lwaxana Troi is comfortable everywhere she goes, and Deep Space Ninee iss no exception. The with black ops Agent
real fun here is seeing how quickly her warm heart embraces the show’ss most
m emotionally Sloane; and all the
vulnerable character, Odo. (“The Forsaken,” “Fascination,” “The Muse”) characters endure the
daily stress of war:
Kor, Koloth, and Kang, the original Star Trek Klingons, are a perfect fit forr this warlike
battle briefings, loss
mportant Trill-
universe. Their friendship with Dax lays the foundation for a much moree iimportant
and casualty reports,
Klingon relationship. (“Blood Oath,” “The Sword of Kahless,” “Once More re Unto the Breach”)
changing alliances,
rials and Tribble-
Arne Darvin, the Tribbles and the digitally edited original cast make “Trials the horror and fatigue
theer Star Trekk series.
ations” a fan favorite, though more often among fans who prefer the other
Deep Space 9’s crew, true to the rough and tumble of their universe, seem m to be much bigger
em
fans of TV’s first Enterprise than were the crew of the Enterprise-D.
Tom Riker, who lost his futuree tto his

he
transporter twin Will, steals th
the
ause.
Defiant to help the Maquis cause.
In Deep Space Nine, even a
straight arrow like Riker can
ve.
believably shoot off on a curve.
(“Defiant”)
Voyager’s EMH doesn’t visit, but his human template and inventor, Dr.
Zimmerman, shows up to study Bashir as a possible model for another
EMH. (“Doctor Bashir, I Presume”)
It’s notable that most of these guest appearances are earlier in the
show’s run. As Deep Space Nine matured, its writers had little need for
stunt casting, with so much story material in the show’s own rich mine of
characters and relationships. It is also the only Star Trek series after thee
original which never had a Borg episode. The crew had more than enough gh
adversaries already.
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Kira and Odo part in

“What You Leave Behind”
One last farewell…

The closing scene of Deep Space Nine
“THESE ARE NOT STORIES

ABOUT THE GLORY OF
BATTLE, THEY ARE ANTI- The seventh season
WAR STORIES.”
STORIES. cast of Deep Space Nine
of combat (“The Seige of AR -558”), and even reasons in full and tragic detail, episode by
crippling injuries (“It’s Only a Paper Moon”). episode, character by character. Yes, there
Most subtly, and most exceptionally, Deep are moments when we rejoice in our ability
Space Nine even shows us the cost of war for to vanquish our enemies, such as the recapture
the conquerors themselves. Who would want of the station. That’s because we, as the
to be a Founder or a Cardassian like Dukat, a audience, are deeply involved in this war
Vorta or a Jem’Hadar, to give up compassion, through the characters; it’s only natural
humility, mercy, love, and peace itself, in the that we feel the partisanship of the soldier
belief that this is the only way they can reclaiming lost territory from the enemy.
preserve their people? But even the victory celebrations are short-
Many fans of Star Trek have objected to Deep lived in the face of the heartbreaking costs.
Space Nine’s focus on war, as the antithesis of Finally, Deep Space Nine resolves its wars
Gene Roddenberry’s belief in a universe where by reaching to another of its central themes:
people have outgrown war. But step back to the building friendships across differences.
first season of Star Trek. Roddenberry and his Those odd friendships mentioned earlier
writers understood the horror of war perfectly have laid the foundations for something
well, or they could not have written those much more important and universal: the
exceptional war stories “Balance of Terror,” possibility of peace with former enemies
“A Taste of Armageddon,” “Arena,” or who are so different that conflict has always
“Errand of Mercy.” These are not seemed inescapable. Bajoran and Cardassian,
stories about the glory of battle, Federation and Romulan and Klingon, even
they are anti-war stories. Solid and Changeling, political alliances
And like these classic begin to seem possible to people who have
episodes, Deep Space already learned how to build these friendships
Nine’s Dominion War arc with each other. So Deep Space Nine comes
takes the view that war is to rest, after a long journey through darkness,
something to be avoided at with the original Star Trek ideal of unity
all costs. Then it spells out the forged from diversity.
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FULLER SPEED
AHEAD
Bryan Fuller owes a lot to Star Trek. After all, the iconic sci-fi franchise gave the
fledgling writer his big break into the world of Hollywood. He started on Star Trek:
Deep Space Nine before moving on to Voyager, and since then he has become one of the
industry’s busiest, most unpredictable talents. Fuller has re-imagined Stephen King’s
Carrie for the small screen, and created such quirky gems as Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls,
and Pushing Daisies, recently putting a fresh spin on the beloved Munsters with one-off
special Mockingbird Lane. The writer and producer spoke to Bryan Cairns about his
work on Star Trek, and what he thinks the future might hold for the franchise.
Star Trek Magazine: What is your earliest grounded in our reality, but with Star Trek and
Star Trek memory? The Twilight Zone, I got to see something that
Bryan Fuller: I was probably four or five, and my ignored the boundaries of reality, and went
oldest brother, Brad, had a Klingon battle cruiser beyond. It was so liberating and inspiring to see
model that he had built and fixed up with a light. unfettered storytelling. I loved to be transported
He shut off all the lights in the house, and flew to something that wasn’t in our own reality.
this Klingon battle cruiser around in the dark.
I could see the photon torpedo port cruising When you look back to your baptism-by-fire on
Bryan Fuller
through the hallway, and I was like, “What is Deep Space Nine, what is your strongest memory?
that? Where is it from? How do I get one?” The The kindness of Ira Behr, René Echevarria,
Klingon battle cruiser was really my gateway
drug to Star Trek.
“THE KLINGON BATTLE Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and Hans Beimler. You
would be going in and pitching stories to them,
Growing up, what captivated you about the franchise?

CRUISER WAS REALLY and then selling one, and then getting invited
to the writers’ room to participate in the story-
It’s the same thing that fascinated me about
The Twilight Zone. I was so used to seeing
MY GATEWAY DRUG TO breaking. Sitting in there, as a young man of 26,
with these people I had tremendous respect for,
entertainment and storytelling that was STAR TREK.” and having them listen to my ideas – and having
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BRYAN FULLER: INTERVIEW
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Janeway gets assimilated
in “Unimatrix Zero” “SHE WAS ALWAYS
DESCRIBED TO ME AS ‘MEL
GIBSON FROM LETHAL
WEAPON, IF HE WERE A
STARSHIP CAPTAIN.’”
FULLER ON JANEWAY
me listen to their ideas – was amazing. Having
them teach me how to work a writers’ room, and
how to listen, and to call me out when I wasn’t
listening... One time, Ira was like, “Yeah, I said
that 10 minutes ago!”
I remember them being very kind, very
inclusive, and I felt amongst my own people.
They were like-minded fellows who had great
Fuller's first job on Voyager
affection for the genre, and great affection for
was to write out Kes the franchise. It was a really special experience.
Once you came on-board Voyager, which

characters did you gravitate towards most?
I joined at the same time as Seven of Nine was
introduced. As they were wrapping up the third
season, I was able to write a script and was pulled
in. I would drive up to the Paramount gates and
tell them I was a courier, and then I would slip
story ideas under Brannon Braga’s door for Star
Trek: Voyager. Every other day, I would churn out
story ideas. Finally, he was like, “OK, come up
with a bunch of ideas to kill off Kes.” I came up
with several of them, and worked on that a little
bit. That became “The Gift”, that Joe Menosky
ultimately did, but it was kind of cool to be
included in the writing-off of the character.
I initially really bonded to Kes, because I
spent so much time thinking about how does
this character go away and leave the show, and
make room for another character? Then I felt a
real attraction to Seven of Nine and Tuvok. But
really the character I loved writing for, and
really responded to, was Captain Janeway. I love
that she was a bit of a rogue. She was always
described to me as, “Mel Gibson from Lethal
Fuller wrote DS9's

“The Darkness and
the Light”
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Bryan Fuller Go ahead, punk –
and friend Make it so!
Weapon if he were a starship Captain, because evolution. Whenever I’m doing a show, and I
she has no rules to back her up.” She’s on her see how much things evolve from concept to
own. She has a morality. She is cut off from a execution, it’s so dramatic. They become such
chain of command, so she really had to be her different beasts. To look at that episode and
own judge, jury, and executioner. Captain Kirk see how it started, where it was going and
was a bit of a rogue, but he had a cowboy ended up, is to see three different journeys.
diplomacy. Captain Picard was very rigid and
by the book. Commander/Captain Sisko has his Your earlier episodes, “The Raven” and “Drone”,
own kind of Wild West approach to leadership. explored facets of the Borg. What was so
I remember at the time, there was a lot of compelling about this villainous alien race?
criticism about Janeway’s inconsistency. For me, I’ve always been fascinated by the
I always found that authentic, because contagion quality of family. I’m the
we, as human beings, are so youngest of five, and I never felt
incredibly inconsistent. quite connected with the way
the rest of the group thought.
What sticks out about your I identified with Seven of
inaugural Voyager episode, Nine, being connected
“The Raven”? but disconnected.
It was my first episode, and
it’s so surreal to look back at
it. As a staff writer, there
are chunks of me in there.
Whenever you see a writing
credit, it’s so deceptive,
because so many people
participate in the writing of
any one television episode,
that you can’t accurately
reflect the credit. Looking
back, it was an amazing
lesson in imagination,
funneled through the rigors
of television production.
What was originally going to
be this big, broad, episode
became smaller and more
intimate. It was such a dramatic
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Kes ascends to a new like a much more personal, specific story for
level of existence Voyager than the finale we had. Now, I loved the
finale that we had. It turned out really satisfying.
But I thought the other story would have been a
little more original to us.
Upon reflection, what worked best about

Voyager for you?
The dynamic between Janeway, Seven of Nine,
and the Doctor. One of the things the show did
best was the idea of this woman leading a crew,
and finding this wild child in Seven of Nine, and
the Pinocchio character in the Doctor. There
seemed to be a great sense of humor and wit
between those three actors, and characters. I
love the relationship between Janeway and Tuvok.
I always thought there could be something rich
and interesting between those two.
There’s been some buzz lately about you and

That appealed to me. The Borg was a fascinating Bryan Singer possibly bringing Star Trek back to
villain, because it really was a bad family – not the small screen. Is that premature fan euphoria,
that my family was bad, but I was definitely or could that become a reality?
the “other” in the family. It has always been That is going to be firmly in the hands of J.J.
interesting for me to look at these aliens and ask, Abrams or Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman. That’s
“What is the metaphor of the Borg?” And the probably going to fall in their domain, because
metaphor is, “You belong to this group”. It wasn’t they’ve all been working so hard on the movies.
just the perversion of the family unit, which is As much as I would love to participate in it, I
very scary because you trust your family to really think it’s under their guidance. But if they
support and love you. Then you take a step back, are throwing a party and they want to invite me,
and it’s a horrible, oppressive entity that you can’t I will show up!
get away from. There are all sorts of complexities
with the Borg that fascinated me. Do you envision this overhaul as a dark and gritty
world? Is it an action-packed Abrams universe,
Saying goodbye and wrapping up a series is always or is it something campy?
difficult. Was “Endgame” the kind of fond farewell I don’t think it’s campy. I think the time for camp
you were hoping to give Voyager, and Janeway? is gone. I love the tone of the reinvention. I love
The original ending we had was a little bit cooler. the cast. It was spot-on. The spirit of it was just
For me, it felt a little too reminiscent of “All Good right. When you go to a summer movie, that’s
Things...” That was an amazing, powerful, epic the movie you want to show up to. It should be
conclusion to The Next Generation. It felt like our in the spirit, vein, and tone of that world, but it
finale was trying to do “All Good Things...” again. has to be its own thing. You’re going to the
There was an idea we had, that got cannibalized movies to see that, and want something else in
for another episode, which had Janeway, in a bold your living room. I think it should be within that
move, allowing Voyager and its crew to be universe and that world, otherwise it gets a little
assimilated. That would become a poison pill for confusing. It’s Star Trek, but it’s not the Star Trek
the Borg. As we were assimilating the Borg ship that’s a movie.
from the inside, and re-assimilating ourselves,
we would use a Borg trans-warp conduit to get
back home. The idea was this great final image “TELEVISION IS CHANGING
of the Borg armada approaching Earth, and then
out of the belly of the lead ship came Voyager,
SO MUCH, AND PART OF
destroying all of the other Borg in its trail. It felt
like an epic conclusion to Janeway’s journey with
THE HOOK IS WANTING TO
the Borg, and freeing Seven of Nine. That got
abandoned somewhere along the road, and it felt
Voyager arrives
home in a blaze of
KNOW WHAT HAPPENS,
glory in “Endgame”
WEEK TO WEEK.”
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Could Star Trek stand a serialized, heavy- Voyager's
mythology series, or would that be a mistake? “Drone”
No, it could totally handle it. Television is

changing so much, and part of the hook is wanting
to know what happens, week to week. I do think
it could benefit from it, but I do also love the idea
of those stand-alone episodes. It probably has to
be some sort of hybridization of an episode with
some stand-alone element of “You’re going on
an adventure every week, and you’re meeting
new aliens and new cultures and new species.”
But I want to see a serialized component to the
characters,, as theyy evolve and learn and ggrow
through what
gh whhat tthey encountering.
heyy are en
he ncounteering.
encounte
What’ss be been
een
en rewarding
rew about putting updated
spins on CCarrie, The Th Munsters (with the recent
Mockingbird
ingbbird Lane spe special),
peciall), and the upcoming
Hannibal
iball TV series?
There is a big fan ele element
lement nt to it. I’II’m
m very much
very m uchh a fa
uc fann
of all tthese
h sse things I get the
he he op opportunity
pportunity to rei reinvent.
einv
nvent. women
direct response to woomen gegetting involved
etting invol ve in
With Carr
Carrie,
rie, there wa something
was som metthing ssoo interestingg the war effort in World War II. It soundss sso
about tell
telling ry ppost-Columbine.
ing that story osttt-
os t-Columb mbine. It m meant
me antt cheesy, but I’d love to do something ababout
ou
somethinghing different than it di did in 1976. W Withith honoring the power of women.
Mockingbird Lane,
inngbbird Lane e, I wass lillike,
ke,, “There should
be a family
am ly of mon
amil monsters television.
nsters onn telev evision.” There are After all this time, what is so enduring aab about
so many metaphors
ny ggreat metaph hor
ors for wh what
haat family is, and the Star Trek legacy?
what these
hesse monsters are are. Frankenstein’s
e. There’s’s Franke enstei e n’s I think it’s a legacy that is all-inclusive. IIt’s a
Monster,
ter, who is essentially a walki walking corpse,
king co
orpse, and world that promises an evolution of the hhu human
in a constant state
nsttaant stat
te of decay, and in llove with th a condition; that had moved on beyond hat hate te and
womann w who doesn’t
ho doesn n’t age. It felt lik like
ke iit wass rrich
ich for fear, and embraced true Christian values oof
storytelling.
ellinng. And
An now w with Hann Hannibal,
niba what
ibal, w hatt is the tolerance, aacceptance, tance, and lloving
ccepta oving ththy neighbor,
hy ne ig
new angle?
nglee? W What the
hat is th
he story th that h ’t bbeen
hat hasn’t een told?? and being iinspirednspiredd by thy ne neighbor.
eig There
ighborr. The erre is a
In Hannibal, we’re
nnibbal, we’ ’re telling the cha chapter
haptter that wasn’t sstrange
st range Christian quality, in its pu
ra purest
pure st fform,
rest o
in any of tth books,
the book ks, that was hhinted at but covered ttoo tthe
he Roddenberry universe. Thesee aare
very loosely
ooseely recollections.
l in re
ecollections. evolved
eevo ved people, whoo do nott have hhate,
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JJ Abrams
amss and Joss Whedon started their careers politics
po still
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nger is credited as setting the bar high the things the writers
th thinngs the writers N on Next
Nex
for superhero
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tion bo is
What are your thoughts on tackling feature films that
th “Everybody is so evolved
evvol
or superheroes
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hat we ca can’t
n t have an
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I wouldd lo
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oddedenberry w was very
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quaama ecaususee there’s the insistent
innsisten entt on was thaat these
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ado rab e Dr. Doo
doorabl Doolittle quality
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olitttle qual are
arre evolved human n bbeings,
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le o commuunicate with sea so they
so the heyy di havve conflict
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creatures.
uress. There’s
’s also something
so g so with each other, th
with they
untapped, as
pedd, of of yet, in that
thhat have
have confl ict outside.
ouuts
realm of super
superheroes.
rheroess. I w would
wo uld TThey
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team.m. There
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reatted. annd Star TTrek
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FANTASTIC
VOYAGER
THE KATE MULGREW INTERVIEW
Back in 1995, Star Trek: Voyager was generating plenty of buzz, curiosity, and even
some skepticism, by introducing the franchise’s first female captain, Kathryn Janeway.
Over the next seven seasons, Janeway proved every bit as formidable, resourceful,
and intelligent as her male predecessors, while introducing a new vulnerability and
compassion to the Captain role. Bryan Cairns spoke to Kate Mulgrew about those
Voyager days, crafting such a respected character, and life after Star Trek.
STAR TREK MAGAZINE: Looking back to the What kind of stories did Janeway being female
beginning, what were your initial thoughts when allow them to tell?
you heard Star Trek would be introducing a There’s a certain license when a staff is writing
female captain? for the first time in a franchise of this success
Kate Mulgrew: I think I wasn’t a Star Trek and size, about an iconic female character. I
aficionado at that point. I may not have taken it think there’s a certain license to examine her
as seriously as I learned to take it. What I emotionally. In fact, probably an imperative.
probably did well during the audition process is I They tried, and succeeded in many ways, to
approached Janeway as I would have approached deconstruct her and look at Janeway not only
any other role. That was with the same as a scientist or the captain of a starship, but
seriousness and attention to win the role. And what makes up the woman. There was an
beyond that, to endow her with the attributes engagement to a man and we all know she
and nuances and subtleties that I would any loved her dog. There was a humanity going in
character I consider complex and interesting. Kate Mulgrew bids farewell as that I think they were probably less free with
Admiral Janeway in “Endgame”
Perhaps that’s what won the final day for me. regarding the male captains.
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KATE MULGREW: INTERVIEW
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Did they play around with your signature
hairstyle or was it perfect right off the bat?
No, they fooled around with it until the cows
came home. It was endless. It was
understandable, because they were nervous
about my being a woman, so they were working
a lot on the cosmetic stuff. A lot of the
superficial things they went over were for my
hair, my bosom, my costume, my shoes, my
hands… all of it. When you’re dealing with
millions of dollars, Paramount Studios and a
demographic of young males between 25 and
35, you’re concerned about how these men are
going to respond to a female of still child-
bearing years. I’m not quite old enough to be
their mother and not quite young enough to be
their girlfriend. It was a difficult thing for them.
Janeway makes her I just said to them, “Why don’t you just leave it
entrance in “Caretaker” alone and let the audience decide for themselves
if I’m worthy of this hair? I will develop my own
sense of command. That’s why you hired me
anyway. And let’s do this thing together.” At the
end of the first season, that’s where we were.
Back then, did you keep up with all the fan

feedback about Janeway?
I didn’t. I could barely keep up with the two hours
of sleep I was getting every night. I was raising
two small boys and working almost to capacity the
first season. I was on my feet 85 hours a week. If
it wasn’t shooting, it was press and if it wasn’t
press, it was something else. I thought if I started
to read the comments, I would only be riveted by
it and I didn’t have the time.
How much input did you have on Janeway’s

journey and development?
A good actor – an invested actor – has a lot of
influence, because it’s the essence of the actor
coming through the character into the television. I
think they looked at me after a season and said,
“Let’s just let her go. She has a very strong sense
of command, of fairness, of depth, of humanity
and of discipline. Let’s try and marry the actress
to the role and see what happens.” That’s what
happened in the second season going forward.
Were you ever forced to fight for Janeway?

I had to fight on certain things. For her sexuality,
not to be confused with her sensuality, I said, “I
don’t think Janeway should be having an affair.
Seriously, I think I will lose a lot of the audience if
I start that nonsense. What’s good for the goose
isn’t necessarily good for the gander and we have
to play by new rules.” They listened and heard
The season one cast that. Even now, looking back, I think that was
of Star Trek: Voyager
probably the smartest decision I could have made.
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it had been further enhanced. There were nine
regular characters and it’s hard to find the time
to do all of this. To answer your question more
poignantly, I would have liked a lot more
relationships. I had it with the person of my
dreams, which was Bob Picardo, as the Doctor. I
had a relationship with Seven of Nine, so I’m not
really complaining, but I loved them all.
And if you want to know the scariest part of
this whole ride, it was the technobabble. That
was daunting. Not only did I have to memorize
it, I had to understand it in order for it to make
sense. And it took me a while to understand it
and I didn’t have that time. I had to go home,
learn lots of dialogue, and I only had a few
hours to learn it. I had to get up at 4 a.m. Every
day was like walking a tightrope that first
Janeway takes to the skies with season, until I understood what all the
Leonardo da Vinci in “Concerning Flight” technobabble meant.
Did you prefer episodes that examined Janeway’s Speaking of challenges, was Janeway’s
military, action, or human side more?
Funny thing is, as it evolved and I became
“I LOVED JANEWAY’S costume comfortable?
Divine. Loved it. Just loved it. I’m one of those
increasingly immersed in her, I loved her MILITARY SENSE OF HONOR odd actresses. Give me a costume like that,
military being. I loved her military sense of
honor and courage and mettle. I loved that she AND COURAGE AND METTLE. which is one piece. I just chucked myself in it
and that was it. Put on my boots and walked
was increasingly very brave. I loved the physical
Janeway who was unafraid to annihilate if she
I LOVED THAT SHE onto the sound-stage. It was absolutely great.
My boots were high because all of my male
had to. That was very freeing for me for some
reason. Her captaincy was lonely. There was a
WAS INCREASINGLY co-stars were very tall. I’m 5’5”, so they had to
build me these man-made Italian boots, which
wonderful episode called “Loneliness” where
they examined what it must be like to be a
VERY BRAVE.” added about four inches.
woman alone, in an unknown quadrant of space great friends, as colleagues and cohorts, in their After seven seasons, was “Endgame” a worthy
and in charge of 165 people on a starship. I think agreements and disagreements. The relationship series finale?
she had a particularly lonely command. I could with Tuvok (Tim Russ), which I think was always You could look at this 100 ways. I had a hand in
not rest in the camaraderie of my male very special and very deep, was there, but I wish “Endgame.” First of all, there was no way we
colleagues because that could have been
misinterpreted. Although we were great friends, The Voyager crew have
a “Year of Hell”
I had to really live with a certain kind of
loneliness and I did. Not withstanding that, I
loved the physical. Just like Janeway, Mulgrew
would say, “Time travel gives me a headache.” I
even loved all the special effects, the green
screens and learning how to do it. I loved the
stuff with the Borg and the Borg Queen.
Was there anything you didn’t get to explore with

Janeway that you feel might have been a lost
opportunity?
Many things. Seven years may seem like a long
time, but it’s not enough time to fully explore a
character of her dimensions. I would have loved
to have chosen a relationship on that ship. I
know I had one with Seven of Nine (played by
Jeri Ryan). They developed that very nicely, but
I would have liked to further explore my
relationship with Chakotay (Robert Beltran) as
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were going to please everybody. Seven years is
too long. You fall in love, you have certain
rivalries and the audience is fully engaged in all
that. They want it this way or that way. I said,
“I think Janeway has to go down with the ship,
but not at the full cost of her being.” We had to
figure out how to do that. I thought it was
splendid. The admiral went down with the ship
and Janeway went on.
“I SAID, ‘I THINK
JANEWAY HAS TO GO
DOWN WITH THE SHIP,
Janeway and Chakotay see to some
BUT NOT AT THE FULL
unfinished business in “Resolutions”
COST OF HER BEING.”’
The Borg Queen makes her presence Do you have any fond memories of those last few
felt in the Delta Quadrant
days of filming?
Mostly how hard it was to say goodbye. Actors
love to complain, as much as they love not to
complain. They love to let everybody know how
hard they worked and what terrible hours they
had to suffer through. Patrick Stewart said
something to me in the first week of the first
season that I will never forget and that I actually
thought about on the very last day of shooting. He
said, “If you do this well and approach it with
vigor and discipline, this will be the work that will
make you the proudest of any work you will do.”
And that’s exactly how I felt the last days, with
tears running down my cheeks. It was almost
impossible to do that last scene with Picardo. It
was very difficult to do that Alzheimer’s scene.
But they kept me alone for about a week to do a
lot of pick-ups on my Captain’s chair and on the
Bridge. It was “Cut. Print. Thank you very much,
Captain.” I remember thinking how foolish human
beings are. We think it’s long, but it’s nothing. It’s
a moment. I was very proud.
The Five Captains event in London has everyone

buzzing. What’s it like getting together with the
four other guys?
Janeway tests out one of

her hair-dos in “Caretaker”
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We’ve done it at Wizard World. It was an
understated affair, to be frank. This should have
been heralded as something very unique. The first
time all the captains were together, but that’s the
nature of a Comic-Con. It’s not a Star Trek
convention; it’s a multi-genre convention. I think in
the UK, it’s going to be great and we’re so looking
forward to it. We want to present ourselves as a
very unique, exceptional unit of people who have
done what no one else has done. From my point of
view, being the only woman is going to be great.
Wasn’t it about time something of this

magnitude happened?
Yeah, I don’t know why they didn’t do this
before. Probably the viability or possibility of it
was nil. Five people with five very different
schedules and trying to get them together…
Timing is of the essence.
Is it strange being so closely connected through

Star Trek, but never having really worked with
any of these four actors?
No, it’s not strange. I’ve known them for years,
except for Scott [Bakula]. I know [William]
Shatner very well and Patrick [Stewart] quite
well. Even Avery [Brooks]. So no, it’s not an
unfamiliar feeling. It’s a good feeling.
Do the five of you talk shop or reminisce about

the Star Trek glory days? It was only a matter of time before
We do swap stories. There’s always fun and the Voyager crew bumped into the Borg
games about who was the most popular captain.
That’s very real. Whose captain was the most we’ve come to realize, Patrick is a really fine So on each of their own respective ships, which
popular? And you know Shatner is so shy and actor in his own right. I think Patrick worked captain would win in a battle royale?
withholding (laughter). He’s a funny guy and as hard to make Picard a wonderful captain. I would, of course! Why are you asking? That’s a
rhetorical question. I told them that. I said, “I
Janeway severs Seven of Nine from may be a woman and considerably smaller than
the Collective in “Scorpion, Part 2”
you, but watch out!”
You must have had some interesting fan

interaction. Is there any particular conversation
or encounter that stands out?
The young girl from M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute
of Technology) coming to see me at the White
House at the end of the first season. Mrs. Clinton is
a big Star Trek fan, and when Janeway took over,
she invited me to come speak to Women in Science,
a group of women culled from scientific
communities all over the world. In that group was a
small pocket from M.I.T.. I remember these girls
surrounding me at the end of the evening and
saying, “Our fathers encouraged us to go into
research, for the office work, because that’s the
best we could do. And then your series came on and
now we look at our fathers and say, ‘Sorry, Dad,
we’re going into the field. In other words, we’re
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going up.’” I remember tears coming to my eyes and
thinking, “Don’t cry.” If I can have any measure of
influence in this regard, then I’ve done something
wonderful. And so has Paramount and UPN.
Viewers have been enjoying you as Pete’s secretive

mom, Jane Lattimer, on Warehouse 13. How has
the sci-fi genre moved on since Voyager?
I don’t really know. Warehouse 13 in itself is so
unique. The whole idea of artifacts and using
history as a means of tying the future to the past,
and the past to the future, is very clever. I think
sci-fi has advanced. There’s no question about it,
as science and technology have advanced. It’s sort
of breathtaking what they can accomplish now.
How much fun was it flexing your comedic

After an intrepid journey, muscles for the parody television series NTSF:
Voyager makes it back to Earth
SD: SUV (National Terrorism Strike Force: San
Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle)?
I just did a second season of that. It’s
unspeakably fun. These guys are absolutely
wild. Nothing is out of bounds. They do whatever
they want. Most of them are from the Upright
Citizens Brigade, but some of them are from
Saturday Night Live. They are all sought-after
comedians. To let my hair down, if you’ll pardon
the expression, and play the straight man among
these lunatics is very liberating for me. My
character is so weird with her eye patch.
“I’M VERY PROUD OF THE

FRIENDSHIPS THAT WERE
BORN ON THE VOYAGER
SOUND-STAGE.”
What other projects do you have on tap?
I’m going to do a wonderful play in the Spring
that I’ve been working on with the playwright,
Jenny Schwartz, called Somewhere Fun. I’ll do
that in New York. I think I’ll do some more
Warehouse 13, although I’m not entirely sure. I
just did a movie called Drawing Home, an
independent movie with Rutger Hauer and Peter
Strauss. The work comes. It was a very good year
and I’m looking forward to many more.
How have you enjoyed focusing on the stage

more, and has Star Trek allowed you the freedom
to realize that passion?
I’ve always been a theatre actress. And, like
Patrick Stewart, I had been acting for many years
Seven years on… before I got the role of Janeway. What it did,
The cast of Voyager
which is what I think you are asking and is a fair
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Kate Mulgrew makes a cameo

appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis
question, is it was a very generous and profitable If they continued to spotlight the characters in
part. I have been very lucky to have assumed from their younger stages
ages of life and wanted to
that profit a kind of life, and lifestyle, that has incorporate Janeway,
way, which actress should step
allowed me to be the actress that I want to be. into her shoes?
God, has it come to that? What about the old
Alzheimer’s disease is a subject very close to fogeys? Do you know who would make a great
your heart. What advancements have been made Janeway? Carey Mulligan. And Ellen Page is
since you became actively involved in that cause? another choice. We need somebody smart and a
Did you read the New York Times yesterday? little funny. You and I are going to do a little
There’s been a breakthrough in the casting session.
understanding of the genetic mutation. They had
to go so far into genetic material and the I’m sending notes
es to Paramount as soon as we
understanding of the brain before they can even conclude this interview.
erview.
think of finding a cure. We’re far away, I’m sorry (Laughter) First,, they have to do a movie with
to say, for a number of reasons. Foremost among Picard and me about
bout how we died, right?
them, we don’t fully understand about the
protein, the plaque, that is causing this damage Lastly, what are you most proud of
to the brain. We don’t understand who gets it or regarding Voyager, r and what did the
er,
why. We understand it’s partially genetic but, series add to the Star Trekk legacy?
beyond that, we don’t know what other I’m so proud of the
he personal
components are serving this monster. discipline that was
as exercised on
that set. I’m not really ashamed
Star Trek saw a reboot with the J.J. Abrams film in to say that. I’m very
ery proud of the
2009. Do you feel it’s snared the interest of a friendships that were born on
new generation and re-energized the franchise? that sound-stagee and that have
I do. I think there is a certain mind that loves persisted. I love Bob Picardo.
Star Trek. There is a certain kind of imagination He’s a dear friendd of mine.
that is captured by this idea Gene Roddenberry Love Robbie McNeill.
Neill. Love Tim.
understood all those years ago. These are people Love them all. I’m
m proudest of
who have scientific brains, these fans, but who how we came together
gether and did
love to explore the dimensions of science with our best to presentnt to this
their imaginations. And Star Trek allows for all already very strongng legacy,
of that. Little ships lost in space are a metaphor the idea of a woman
man captain
for life. It will never change. Space is infinite and what her crew w would be like.
and we’ll never explore it in its entirety. So did I would say Voyagergerr stands out
it re-infuse a new energy into it? Probably, but I for its imperative,
e, and that’s
think the mind is always questioning. its humanity.
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RUNNING
THE SHOW Joining the writing team of Star Trek: Enterprise during its third season
was a dream come true for lifelong fan Manny Coto, but that was just the start
of his adventure. Bryan Cairns talks to the Executive Producer of the show’s
final season, and asks what might have happened next...
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MANNY COTO: INTERVIEW
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V
eteran television writer and producer Coto’s passion for the show only grew over co-executive producer on Star Trek: Enterprise’s
Manny Coto has no trouble whatsoever time, and you know what they say about good third season. Then, it got even better, when he
pinpointing when his love and affection things coming to those who wait. Coto started was subsequently promoted to showrunner in
for everything Star Trek first began. racking up genre credits on Dr. Giggles, Strange the series’ fourth year, a position his name is
“Growing up, my original favorite sci-fi World, The Outer Limits, and Odyssey 5, before still strongly associated with.
show was Lost in Space,” recalls Coto. “As landing the plum assignment as writer and “That’s very flattering, because I’m very
a kid, I really responded to the robot and proud of the stuff we did on Enterprise,” says
Dr. Smith. When I got a little older, in my Coto. “I am surprised people still talk about it.
teens, I started watching Star Trek. Here was “HERE WAS A SCIENCE It was a really fun dream project for me, to be
a science fiction show that actually tried
to make you believe the science fiction FICTION SHOW THAT able to do season four, and especially to do the
touchstones to the original series, which was
elements were a real and unified universe.
Obviously, there were shows that tried to ACTUALLY TRIED TO my favorite series of Star Trek.”
do that, but Star Trek was the first coherent

sci-fi universe on television I had encountered. MAKE YOU BELIEVE THE A STARSHIP ADRIFT
It had the military jargon and the idea these
were actual functioning vessels and people SCIENCE FICTION Despite his inner fanboy doing flips and
cartwheels, things were not looking rosy for the
behaved logically. It was inspirational and
it drew you in and made you believe this
ELEMENTS WERE A REAL show. Enterprise had been struggling in ratings
before Coto even beamed on board. As a result,
was possible. On top of that, there were
characters like Captain Kirk, who was just
AND UNIFIED UPN almost blasted the show right off their
schedule, until moving it to the dreaded Friday
a great hero figure.” UNIVERSE.” night slot – more or less the waiting room for
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cancellation. With Coto now in charge, there was
an optimistic hope amongst long-term fans that “MY FEELING WAS, of previous Treks. We created a story where
viewership would somehow increase, perhaps
allowing UPN to keep this beloved legacy alive ‘THIS IS GOING TO BE Vulcan has to return to its original roots that
were set up in the early days. I actually looked
and running. With those kinds of expectations,
Coto began to feel the weight of the Star Trek THE LAST SEASON at the series as an opportunity to bond what was
there closer to the original Star Trek series.”
world on his shoulders.
“It was a lot of pressure, although we ANYWAY, SO DO THE “There was no mandate,” he continues. “I
pitched to them what I thought would be fun for
all kind of knew season four was going to be
the last one,” admits Coto. “Also, I kind of felt BEST YOU CAN DO, season four, doing prequel stories to the
original series and doing three episode arcs. The
that no matter what we did on the show, or how
good it got, once the ratings declined in the
HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS only thing that really tied me down was at the
end of the Xindi arc, they had Captain Archer
way Enterprise did, they weren’t going to go
back [up again]. That doesn’t happen on
YOU CAN AND DON’T wake up in a Nazi camp. I had to get through that
plot first. That was it. After that, I’m not saying
television. It’s very, very rare. My feeling
was, ‘This is going to be the last season anyway,
WORRY TOO MUCH they gave me free reign, but they approved what
my ideas were and we went forward from there.”
so do the best you can do, have as much fun ABOUT THE RATINGS.’”
A QUESTION OF MONEY
as you can, and don’t worry too much about
the ratings.’” “I had my own feeling about what I thought
Thankfully, story-wise, Enterprise the series should be,” explains Coto. “I wasn’t With a diverse ship crew that included
gained some strong momentum due to the going in trying to correct something. I was using Captain Jonathan Archer (played by Scott
epic, critically acclaimed Xindi arc, which what was there and getting in what I thought Bakula), science officer T’Pol (Jolene
saw the alien race almost destroy the Earth. was an interesting direction. For example, they Blalock), chief engineer Charles “Trip” Tucker
Going into season four, there was no denying had set up the behavior of Vulcans, which was a III (Connor Trinneer), tactical officer Malcolm
Coto’s enthusiasm and excitement translated little different than the behavior of the Vulcans Reed (Dominic Keating), communications
into a renewed energy for Enterprise’s we were used to. The Vulcans in this universe officer Hoshi Sato (Linda Park), and helmsman
untapped frontier. were a little more emotional – they lied and Travis Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery),
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servicing such a large ensemble cast was

no easy task. “I’VE ALWAYS SAID “It was a very cool idea. We had lunch
with William Shatner, pitched it to him, he
“Oh my gosh, Anthony’s character was
challenging because I felt it was a little bit
THAT TERRA PRIME AND thought it was terrific and was really on board.
It ultimately came down to a question of money.
thinly drawn in places,” reports Coto. “There
was not a lot to figure out for the guy to do.
DEMONS WERE THE Paramount had a certain amount they were
going to pay. Paramount was looking at this
Most of the other characters I found a lot of
fun to work with.”
ACTUAL FINALE OF being the last season and didn’t want to spend
a lot of money. They went off and did an
In an effort to whip up some much-needed
buzz, Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Brent
ENTERPRISE AND THAT analysis about how much they can increase the
ratings by bringing Shatner in. Ultimately, they
Spiner guest-starred in multiple episodes as Dr.
Arik Soong. The true coup-de-grace would have
THE FINAL EPISODE decided they weren’t going to pay him the
amount of money he wanted, which was a lot,
been nabbing TOS legend William Shatner
himself, whom the producers were actively
WAS MORE OF A FINALE but it wasn’t crazy. Paramount just decided it
wasn’t worth it to them, stupidly, by the way. It
pursuing. Needless to say, things didn’t pan FOR THE ENTIRE would have been a great event.”
out, but not from a lack of trying.
FRANCHISE.”
THE FINAL FRONTIER
“That episode with Shatner was going to be
where the Enterprise finds a pocket universe and
in it is Tiberius Kirk from the Mirror Universe,” actually transported to this pocket universe. In In the end, declining ratings resulted in
reveals Coto. “In the original series, there was a this universe were all the people zapped by this Enterprise being axed, although that decision
device in the ‘Mirror, Mirror’ episode that would device and Tiberius Kirk ultimately met the same never informed the back half of the season.
make people disappear. It was never really fate. Here he is, and Archer and his crew stumble “I can’t remember where we were in the
explained where they would go or what happens on this pocket universe. Kirk wants to steal this series the day we found out we had been
to them. What we were positing is that they are ship to get out of this place.” canceled, but the season had pretty well been
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figured out,” explains Coto. “We just proceeded

along. At that point, it wasn’t a big surprise. “I PROBABLY WOULD “We didn’t have a lot of discussions about it,”
states Coto. “It was something Rick and Brannon
I had the final two episodes in mind and that we
were building towards the end of the series. We
HAVE RESURRECTED wanted to do. I remember thinking it was probably
not a good thing, because it was kind of a cheap
were able to do a season closer, then that became
the series closer, and then was followed by an
[TRIP], ALTHOUGH THEY shot to kill off a character people love in the last
episode. We did a lot of it [when I worked on] 24,
episode by Rick [Berman] and Brannon [Braga].”
Unfortunately, that final-finale episode
MIGHT NOT HAVE LET where characters died, but it was in the middle of
the season and the series can continue and that
was not well received. Meant to be a love
letter to the Star Trek franchise, “These Are the
ME. I STILL WOULD character can be mourned. In the last episode, to
knock someone off, seemed unnecessary and you
Voyages…” brought in Commander William T.
Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna
HAVE FIGURED OUT A don’t win. You don’t get anything out of it.”
Troi (Marina Sirtis) instead of focusing on the

existing Enterprise team, a move that angered
WAY TO DO IT.” THE RETURN OF TRIP TUCKER
fans and critics. Many viewers simply regarded internal prejudices, which are still lingering Nonetheless, viewers weren’t quite ready to say
the previous two episodes, “Demons” and “Terra around. Or that the final enemy that the goodbye and organized a “Save Enterprise”
Prime”, as the official swan-song to the series. Enterprise was going to face was going to be campaign. Letters were written, funds were
“Well, that’s how I envisioned it,” says Coto. someone from our own world who did not want raised, and an ad was even taken out in the Los
“I’ve always said that ‘Demons’ and ‘Terra Prime’ this future. Enterprise started with exploration Angeles Times, all to no avail.
were the actual finale of Enterprise and that the and the cosmos, so I thought it was fitting to end “It was very flattering and fun to be part
final episode was more of a finale for the entire with having to defeat someone who felt this was of,” acknowledges Coto. “It meant people
franchise. After 18 years, we knew the franchise not something humankind should do.” really liked what we had done and were out
was going off the air, so this was a finale for the Pouring salt on the open wound was Trip there to bring it back. I didn’t feel it was
entire franchise, which is why we went back to being killed in an explosion in “Terra Prime”. going to work because Paramount had decided
The Next Generation group. To me, ‘Demons’ and Again, many fans felt the death was forced, ‘this is it’. They had decided it was time to
‘Terra Prime’ felt like bringing it back to Earth. rushed, and pointless, with little time left to redo the whole franchise. I don’t know if
The greatest challenge in conquering space and explore any emotional fallout among his friends they were thinking J.J. Abrams at the time
meeting alien species was overcoming our own aboard the Enterprise. or probably just someone new. I felt it
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was kind of futile. At the same time, it was fun might not have let me. I still would have and is currently the executive producer
and one can always dream.” figured out a way to do it.” on the dark series, Dexter. It may seem like
If that’s the case, what if Enterprise had been Reflecting back, Coto cites a few of the creative a stretch going from the fantastical to the
picked up for a fifth season? Were there certain highs and lows during his Enterprise tenure. more grounded spy or serial killer world, but
elements Coto wanted to further explore? “For me, the high was the Mirror episodes,” Coto doesn’t see it that way.
“I remember two things,” he says. “I says Coto. “Those were just a joy to do with the “Well, 24 was almost science fiction,”
wanted to get into the Romulan War, if not get original Enterprise design. That was a blast. I he counters. “It was interesting because the
into the actual war, then really start ramping felt our characters really came to life in those tech-speak delivered at CTU was very much the
up for it. Maybe something that could be episodes and the actors had fun playing their same as in Star Trek, where we just made stuff
picked up in the movies, because that was a big Mirror counterparts. In that year, I particularly up. In reality, the stories, especially in 24,
pivotal event that was a natural dramatic point love the Vulcan trilogy. It’s a fascinating culture are about heroes and villains. 24 was a little
for the Enterprise universe to go with. And I in Star Trek and I thought it would be fun to bit heightened and a little bit exaggerated,
remembered I wanted to do an arc set on explore more of it. Vulcans are such a big part so I always looked at it as quasi-science
Stratos, the cloud city, and see the of Star Trek and we actually see so little of them fiction. And Dexter is also very heightened,
construction of that and their society. I also throughout all the series, so I was proud to do although I wouldn’t go so far as to call it
planned on doing more episodes centered in an arc based almost entirely on Vulcan. The one science fiction. None of them are hyper-real,
the Mirror Universe. If we had a 24-episode episode that got away from me was ‘Daedalus’, they’re all a little exaggerated, and I think my
order, and we could do four or five episodes in when the guy who created the transporter came mind works best that way.”
the Mirror Universe, and almost have it a on board. It was an interesting idea to meet the As for whether Coto is hoping that
miniature series within a series, that would inventor, but I just don’t think we pulled off a somehow, someday, he will have the
play along the regular series. I really enjoyed compelling story for it.” opportunity to chronicle more Star Trek
exploring the aliens from the original Star Trek adventures, his answer is immediate.
LIFE WITHOUT TREK

like Andorians, the Vulcans, and I probably “Oh, absolutely!” he enthuses. “I
would have done something with the Tellarites. would love to revisit the franchise in some
I’m obviously talking broad strokes here. These days, Coto has been keeping busy way. I love Star Trek. Working on Enterprise
“And, if we had continued, Trip would not entertaining the TV community with compelling for a couple of years was the highlight of my
have died,” he adds. “But if he had, I probably heroic and villainous characters. He helped Hollywood career. I certainly hope I can go
would have resurrected him, although they torment Jack Bauer for 24’s last four seasons back to that universe.”
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SUCH
SWEET
SORROW As a coda to our journey through the history of Star Trek, we
examine the final tales of each generation and ask whether they
were a fitting summary of all that had gone before...?
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FINALES
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STAR TREK:
“TURNABOUT
BROADCAST: JUNE 3, 1969
INTRUDER”
U
nlike its later, live-action successors, remained on his Island and the Jupiter 2 stayed mission for Kirk and the Enterprise crew. It’s not
the original Star Trek never benefited Lost in Space, so too would the U.S.S. Enterprise even a particularly interesting tale, as the captain
from having a “series finale” to close out sail off to its next, unknown assignment, lacking is confronted by an old flame who employs alien
its broadcast run. Relegated to an anything which might be definitively viewed as technology to swap bodies with him. She wants
unglamorous time-slot on NBC’s broadcast “Star Trek’s last episode.” revenge for Kirk having placed his career before
schedule and plagued by falling ratings, Star Trek Today, it’s common for popular or well- their prior relationship. Fifty or so minutes later,
completed filming on “Turnabout Intruder,” the regarded television series to receive a “proper” or everything returns to normal, and everybody gets
final episode of its third season, in early January even intended conclusion. Through no real fault of back to work.
1969. Though cancellation rumors abounded
during this period, official word on the show’s fate
wouldn’t come for another month after production
had concluded, with sets dismantled and cast and
“THROUGH NO REAL FAULT OF ITS OWN,
crew looking for new jobs. Just as Gilligan
‘TURNABOUT INTRUDER’ FALLS WELL
SHORT OF BEING A SUITABLE FINALE.”
its own, “Turnabout Intruder” falls well short of As with many television programs of its era,
being a suitable finale. That said, it doesn’t even Star Trek had no long-running story or character
really serve as an adequate representative for the arcs which were left unresolved in the wake of
series. No strange new worlds are explored; no the show’s cancellation. Still, one cannot help
new life or new civilizations are sought. The but feel as though the series was cheated by
episode presents no epic story bringing full circle a having “Turnabout Intruder” end up as the
key plot element driving the show from the original series’ swan song.
beginning. There’s no harking back to some basic Thankfully, it turned out that the swan
tenet which defined the series and characters. started singing a tad too early.
Instead, “Turnabout Intruder” is just another Dayton Ward
STAR TREK MOVIES:

STAR TREK VI: THE
UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
RELEASED: DECEMBER 6, 1991
R
eleased in 1991, the franchise’s 25th the previous movies with a moving tribute in That sense of closure for the original crew was
anniversary, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered voiceover by Christopher Plummer: “Their ship… sadly underscored by the death of Star Trek’s
Country was marketed as the final voyage of has become legend, her crew the finest ever creator, Gene Roddenberry, just three days after
the Enterprise 1701-A. An early teaser for the assembled… they have been our guides, our he attended a pre-release studio screening of the
film showcased clips from the original series and protectors, and our friends.” movie. The dedication to Roddenberry at the
Continued overleaf
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THE ANIMATED SERIES:

“THE COUNTER-CLOCK
BROADCAST: OCTOBER 12, 1974
INCIDENT”
W
hen Star Trek ended production for the series nor celebrate its achievements, the The Star Trek universe had a rich history worth
second time in its history, no double- episode in its own way underscored a few exploring. Appearances by Commodore Robert
length episode was produced, no reasons why Star Trek merited a continued April, the first captain of the Enterprise, as well as
tribute magazine published, no life on television as well as the big screen. his wife, Sarah, hinted at the promise of
organized response from fans. Actually, the unchronicled adventures predating not only Kirk
show’s producers were hoping that the show’s
intended audience might not notice at all. “NETWORK but his immediate predecessor, Christopher Pike.
Budgets might not limit creativity so
When NBC-TV affiliates aired “The
Counter-Clock Incident,” it brought to a close
PROGRAMMERS HOPED severely. The animated episode’s plot device of
a negative universe in which time ran backward
the six-episode second season that concluded
THAT THE SHOW and reduced the starship’s crew to children
MIGHT CONTINUE TO
the run of the animated version of Star Trek. would have been much too expensive to depict
Filmation, the animation house responsible for in live action. But advancing special effects and
AIR INDEFINITELY”
producing the series, did nothing to make-up techniques could make alien-looking
differentiate this final episode from any of the sets and actors more achievable and affordable
previous 21 – and with good reason. Network as time passed.
programmers hoped that the show might Star Trek continued to appeal to creators,
continue to air indefinitely on the inertia of audiences and critics. Not only did the
episodes rerun in front of young viewers, who animated series attract performers and
did not mind watching the same adventures of writers from the original series, but
Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. audiences, too, and of all ages. And in 1975,
Enterprise repeatedly. And run it did the animated series did something that no
throughout the following year. Star Trek series had done before or has since:
While “The Counter-Clock Incident” did win a best-series Emmy award.
nothing to summarize the animated Star Trek Kevin Dilmore
beginning of the completed film sets a Still, it is not a sad film, but a hopeful one.
melancholy tone, and the story itself has many Far from being beyond their usefulness, the
somber elements: disasters and betrayals, crew saves the universe once again, and the
endings and assassinations. The characters speak torch is passed on a number of levels. Sulu is
the captain of his own ship. The treaty with the
“AN EMOTIONALLY SATISFYING Klingons leads to a future when a Klingon
FAREWELL TO THE ORIGINAL

named Worf, played by Michael Dorn, will serve of “Second star to the right, and straight on
on the bridge of a new Enterprise, emphasized ’til morning,” and the Enterprise rides off into
CREW AND A TRANSITION TO by a cameo from Dorn, apparently playing the sunset. It’s an exciting adventure on its
WHAT COMES NEXT”

Worf’s grandfather. Kirk even changes his own, as well as an emotionally satisfying
classic “where no man has gone before” to the farewell to the original crew and a transition
“no one” of Star Trek: The Next Generation, to what comes next. It’s as if the film itself is
of retirement and final voyages. Spock asks Kirk if already at the peak of its run on television. telling the audience, “Don’t worry, Star Trek is
they have grown so old and inflexible that they Ordered to Spacedock for still here. The king is dead. Long live the king.”
have outlived their usefulness. decommissioning, Kirk instead gives a heading Scott Pearson
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FINALES
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THE NEXT GENERATION:
– the potential he recognizes when he first
becomes their captain; the tight-knit family
they became after seven years together; and
“ALL GOOD THINGS...”

their shared willingness to set aside any
bitterness and tragedy of later years, and
sacrifice everything they have left out of
BROADCAST: MAY 23, 1994

love and loyalty for the man who once led
them across the stars.
A
t once deeply reflective and forward- time periods together toward their climactic
looking, “All Good Things…” – one of convergence is Q, the representative of a
only two TNG episodes to win the Continuum whose persistent testing of
prestigious Hugo Award recognizing humanity has challenged Picard since he first
excellence in science fiction – is a joyous took command of the Enterprise.
celebration of Star Trek: The Next Generation, It’s Q who reveals near the episode’s end
bringing the voyages of the Enterprise-D not that Picard’s acceptance of the paradox he
merely full circle, but also propelling the ship faced is what enabled him to successfully
and its crew optimistically into the future. resolve the crisis – that his willingness to open
The episode aims high with an interstellar his mind to possibilities outside his narrow
mystery of apocalyptic proportions that defies experience won the day for his ship, his crew, Nowhere is that core message more
the crew’s understanding: a time-distorting and all life in his region of the galaxy. effectively driven home than in the episode’s
anomaly that extends from the future into the But as uplifting and intellectually final scene, when Picard joins his senior
past to retroactively destroy life on Earth. To appealing as this message is, we must staff’s regular poker game for the first time,
resolve the crisis, Captain Jean-Luc Picard acknowledge that TNG’s success with its fans acknowledging the deep connections he has
must confront it at three different periods in came from the way its stories balanced head made with this group, and embracing the
his life: his earliest days aboard the with heart. It’s therefore no accident that in possibilities of shared adventures yet to
Enterprise; his present reality, seven years “All Good Things…” the application of come: “Five card stud, nothing wild… and
later; and a possible future long after the crew Picard’s breakthrough moment is made the sky’s the limit.”
have gone their separate ways. Braiding these possible only through his bond with his crew Marco Palmieri
STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE:

“WHAT YOU LEAVE
BROADCAST: JUNE 2, 1999
BEHIND”
M
any qualities set Deep Space Nine apart the Cardassians rebel against the Dominion and
from the other incarnations of Star Trek, see their homeworld laid waste as a
but one of the most important aspects of consequence; the Federation and its allies win
this groundbreaking series was its the war against the Dominion; Worf becomes the
producers’ willingness to upset their show’s Federation’s ambassador to Qo’noS; O’Brien
status quo. Whether it was revealing Odo was a takes his family home to Earth and becomes a
member of the race that controlled the professor of engineering at Starfleet Academy;
Dominion, exposing Bashir as a genetically Sisko “fulfills his purpose” as the Emissary by
enhanced human “passing” for normal, defeating Gul Dukat and the Pah-wraiths, only
transforming Nog from a juvenile petty criminal to be taken from his son and pregnant wife to go
into a Starfleet officer, or plunging the live with the Prophets for an indefinite period of
Federation into a years-long war, DS9’s writers time; and Odo leaves Kira, the woman he loves, hallmark of DS9. After Cardassia is razed and
never feared to “kick over the table” in order to so that he can return to the Great Link, heal his nearly a billion of its people lie slain, Chancellor
tell compelling stories. people, and lay the groundwork for peace Martok of the Klingon Empire remarks to the
The series’ finale is no exception. In its 90 between the Founders and the “Solids.” brooding Sisko and Admiral Ross that the
minutes of screen time, Ezri Dax and Julian Also vividly on display in this episode is the Bajorans would call the Cardassians’ bitter fate
Bashir inaugurate a new romantic relationship; morally ambiguous worldview that was a “poetic justice.”
I make no secret of the fact that I think DS9
“VIVIDLY ON DISPLAY IN THIS EPISODE IS is the best Star Trek series to date. Because its
finale perfectly epitomizes everything the series
THE MORALLY AMBIGUOUS WORLDVIEW stood for, I’ll double down: I think it’s far and
away the best Star Trek finale of them all.
THAT WAS A HALLMARK OF DS9 ” David Mack
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VOYAGER:
“ENDGAME”
“E “SOME TRULY
ndgame” gives us everything that
was best and worst about Voyager. In
the “best” category, we have the
glimpses of our crew many years STUNNING
later, stunning and brilliant effects
sequences (see: extremely cool ablative CHARACTER
armor), the return of Alice Krige as the Borg
Queen, and some truly stunning character
WORK BY THE
work by the entire cast, but most notably
Mulgrew portraying both the captain we all
ENTIRE CAST”
know and the 27 year older Admiral Janeway
who is, in some ways, unrecognizable. while maintaining their Starfleet principles,
As for the “bad”, the absolute out-of- only to have them tossed out the window
the-blue romance between Seven and when this particular chance to get home came But perhaps the worst of the bad here is
Chakotay is near impossible to swallow. Much up. Admiral Janeway’s case is that the losses that, once again, we beat the Borg. By now,
worse is the notion that we watched these she and others suffered during the original 23 this had become so commonplace that it’s
people struggle to get home for seven years year mission were too great to accept, so she amazing that the Queen didn’t just destroy
dedicated herself to getting her ship home Voyager the minute they entered that nebula
earlier to avoid them. It’s too sad to think of when she had the chance. It’s hard to take a
Kathryn Janeway as a leader who not only villain seriously who didn’t know better by
dedicated herself to getting her people home, then.
but once she had done it, spent the next 10 In the end, we got the moment we had
years figuring out how to do it better. The been wanting for seven years and on a purely
episode attempts to justify it, particularly in emotional level, it delivered. But in the final
the heartbreaking case of Tuvok, but even that analysis, “Endgame” didn’t really earn that
doesn’t mitigate the extremes to which moment. It’s almost worth it for that final shot
Admiral Janeway went here, or the lines she of Voyager approaching Earth. Almost.
finally crossed. Kirsten Beyer
W
hatever the flaws of Star Trek Nemesis as a
film, it did serve as a fine coda to Star Trek:
The Next Generation, in part because it
was deliberately written as such.
Nemesis sets about sending the crew off in
various directions. Riker and Troi get married, a
move many in the fan base considered long
overdue, and one that was set up in the previous
film. Riker finally accepts his own command,
heading over to the Titan, with Troi
STAR TREK NEMESIS accompanying him. The script had called for
Beverly Crusher to leave the Enterprise to head
RELEASED: DECEMBER 13, 2002

up Starfleet Medical once more (a post she held
during the second season of the TV show),
though this was cut from the final film, and
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FINALES
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ENTERPRISE:
“THESE ARE THE
VOYAGES...”
I
t’s fair to say that Star Trek: Enterprise’s final Other decisions in the scripting of
episode, “These Are The Voyages…,” met with “These Are The Voyages…” also met with
a mixed reception from fans and cast less than enthusiastic reactions. The death
members alike. Intending to connect of Commander Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker was felt
Enterprise with the wider Star Trek universe and by many to be an unnecessary ploy to bring
treat fans to a cross-series event, producers emotional depth to an episode that very
Rick Berman and Brannon Braga constructed the literally reduced the characters to
final episode as a holodeck re-creation being holographic simulacrum. Many of the
watched by Commanders Riker and Troi on the conversations that Riker had with the
“BERMAN AND BRAGA ROBBED THE more than historic records of themselves
Berman and Braga robbed them, and the
CHARACTERS, AND THE AUDIENCE, OF THE audience, of the chance for real closure.
However, “These Are The Voyages…”
CHANCE FOR REAL CLOSURE” did neatly tie the show back to its roots
and underlying theme – to chronicle the
beginnings of Starfleet and the United
Enterprise-D. Unfortunately, far from pleasing Enterprise crew in his role as Chef lacked Federation of Planets. By ending the series
fans of the show, many viewers felt that the conviction because they begged the with the signing of the coalition treaty and
inclusion of a Star Trek: The Next Generation question of how there could have been any the conclusion of the Enterprise NX-01’s
storyline stole the limelight in what should have record of such private exchanges. By time as an active ship of the line, the
been Enterprise’s grand finale. rendering all the characters as nothing episode brought to a close the journey
the characters had started in the pilot,
“Broken Bow.”
Any television show that is canceled as
suddenly and prematurely as Enterprise
was is going to struggle to find a satisfying
conclusion. This is particularly true of
Enterprise because it was in its final
season that the show really began to find
its feet and thus its cancellation was
particularly disappointing. Unfortunately,
despite the best of intentions, “These Are The
Voyages…” didn’t give Enterprise the send-
off it deserved.
Bernice Watson
there are welcome cameos by her son Wesley forward from their time as slaves, just as Riker
and the Enterprise’s former barkeep, Guinan. and Troi are moving their own lives forward. Plus
one of the main characters moves on to the
“THE MOVIE CELEBRATES “undiscovered country,” as Data makes the
THE PAST GIVING WAY

ultimate sacrifice.
The film also makes an effort to touch on all
TO THE FUTURE” five iterations of onscreen Star Trek – fittingly
as it is the last time this timeline will be seen on
The movie celebrates the past giving way to the big screen for the foreseeable future. Riker
the future. The very first scene sees the calls for an evasive maneuver named after James
Romulan Senate wiped out, signaling a major T. Kirk, the briefing on the Remans includes a Best of all, though, is the movie’s ending,
change in one of Star Trek’s oldest empires. B-4 mention of their role in the Dominion War, one with the Enterprise about to head off into space
was a prototype that led to Data, and Picard of the Starfleet vessels en route to aid the once again. Just because the story ended
was, in many ways, the prototype for Shinzon. Enterprise is the U.S.S. Archer, and there’s an doesn’t mean the journey’s over.
Shinzon is trying to move his adopted people appearance by now-Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Keith R.A. DeCandido
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UNSEEN TREK
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U N S E E N T R E K :
“W
Developing any new Star hat the hell was that?!” Picture. The new Marvel Trek comic line would be
I apologized for my outburst to produced under the watchful eyes of editor Bobbie
Trek can be fraught with
those in the darkened theater who, Chase and her assistant Polly Watson. Marvel’s
complications and dead like me, were intently watching publishing plan grew, eventually becoming more
ends. When Marvel Star Trek: First Contact. It took a few moments to than one office could properly manage, and to
Comics and Paramount collect my thoughts after what I had just seen. The spread the workload I was given stewardship of the
Pictures teamed up in newest incarnation of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E – “likeness” books, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star
1996, Marvel was given sleek, beautiful, and seemingly victorious against Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Unlimited.
the Borg – was truly a sight to behold… but As editor, I had a direct line to Paramount
the unprecedented
my eyes had been captured by something else, at my fingertips, so perhaps now I could
opportunity to explore something small, fast, and unmistakably Starfleet get an answer – but the time was not right.
and expand the Star that had given Picard’s flagship such sterling There was a lot of work to be done, and my
Trek universe. Timothy support. What was that ship?! obsession would have to wait. After more than
J. Tuohy tells the inside It would take another six months before I a few bumps in the road, and some writer and
story of how a bold new would find out. artist changes along the way, the teams and
In 1996, the Star Trek comic book license books started to come together. New ideas
Trek comic book series
moved across country, from Malibu Comics in and concepts would be tossed around, and I
almost made it out of California back to Marvel Comics in New York, began to realize there was a way I might finally
space dock. who had previously published 18 issues in 1979, discover the name of the ship that had vexed
following the release of Star Trek: The Motion me these many months.
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ROCK SOLID
CREWMATES
Horta On The Bridge
Phase 3 would not have been the first
time a Horta was depicted as a member
of Starfleet in a comic book. That honor
goes all the way back to DC Comics’
legendary first Star Trek series. In
1986, author Diane Duane’s two-issue
tale “Double Blind” (Issues 24 & 25),
introduced Dahai Iohor Naraht to comic
fans. Naraht debuted two years earlier
in the Pocket Books paperback, “My
Enemy, My Ally” which was also written
by Ms. Duane. Hortas continue to be a
favorite of authors and have appeared in
multiple novels, such as the Titan series
and most notably in Star Trek: The Next
Generation’s “Dyson Sphere.” That book
featured an entire starship crewed by
these popular silicon-based life forms.
The fruits of Marvel and Paramount's collaboration.
THE ALPHA SHIFT

The likeness books were exciting to work on, but I wanted a little more. Bobbie had created her own
niche with the excellent Early Voyages and Starfleet Academy comics, and Pocket Books had begun
publishing Peter David’s popular series “New Frontier.” I saw an opportunity and wanted to try
creating an all-new Star Trek crew. What better way to start off, I decided, than with a new ship?
At this point, as far as I knew, the ship I’d seen in First Contact had no name, no class
designation, and you could barely make out her registry number. However, thanks to an early Trek
website that had posted a video grab from E! Entertainment Television, I at least had a grainy image
of the ship that had impressed even more than the flagship of the fleet.
On April 15th 1997, I began to hammer out the basic series premise, but most importantly I
worked on the crew that would populate that ship. There were two character concepts I thought would
be exciting, not only for comic fans but also for Trek die-hards: a water breather and a Horta.
Between discussing the intricacies of Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Unlimited, Chip Carter,
Marvel’s Paramount liaison, and I would occasionally discuss the new series, now dubbed “Phase 3.”
The title was an intentional homage to the proposed Star Trek Phase II television series. After about
a month of writing and revising – and sometimes completely starting over – I finally had something
that my assistant, Julio Soto, and I both liked.
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UNSEEN TREK
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The Alpha Shift team was set. Captain Kevin
Madsen and his First Officer Marta Segusa were
both Terrans. The Conn Officer, Steve Hoffmann,
was a human who had been born on a Bajoran
colony and had suffered a traumatic injury
resulting in the loss of his legs. Chief Randall
Thomas was another human not born on Earth,
but instead on the Martian Colony Guantanamo II.
Unlike other Trek engineers, he was not an easy
person to get along with. Ensign Virea Coptasinian
was from Babel and had recently graduated from
Starfleet Academy. As communications officer, her
100-language fluency would prove invaluable.
The ability to push the boundaries of
character design, as was achieved on The
Animated Series, would be highlighted with the
next three characters. Tactical officer Lt. Mhos
Andex was, to all intents and purposes, a dinosaur.
Ops officer Lt. Kern Honrer was from Pacifica,
an ocean planet. Although he’d trained himself
to breathe air for six hours, Honrer would rather
wear his water containment uniform while on
duty. Finally, Medical Officer Horta-217 was a
juvenile Horta who’d joined Starfleet in honor of
Dr. McCoy, who had saved the guardian Horta’s
life after she had become mortally wounded in the
original Star Trek episode, “Devil in The Dark.”
“THE TITLE WAS AN

INTENTIONAL HOMAGE TO THE
PROPOSED STAR TREK PHASE II
TELEVISION SERIES.”
"The Devil in the Dark"
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INTO THE THIRD PHASE
“THE WORD HAD
I had my proposal, but now I had to decide what
became Mission: Impossible, Trek style. Having
christened the starship Roanoke (finally, a
COME DOWN THAT

to do with it. Julio and I knew that I would be
unable to write the book and still be the editor,
name!), the ship would engage in special
covert operations, visiting worlds on which
NO MORE NEW
so we had to find a writer. Phone calls were
made, feelers were sent out, but it was difficult
the Prime Directive had not been followed
resulting in unintended consequences. Their
CONCEPTS WOULD
to find someone who wanted to take the mission
on – writing for a franchise as famous as Star
ongoing mission: to lessen the impact of such
damage while at the same time keeping their
BE DEVELOPED
Trek can be intimidating, even for an established involvement secret.
writer. I had mentioned Phase 3 in passing to This was high-concept material. Their
a writing team working on our Star Trek: Deep overview even said so! But how did they settle
OUTSIDE OF THE TV
Space Nine comic, Andy Mangels and Mike
Martin, and once they’d seen my proposal they
on revisiting Prime Directive infractions?
“I remember thinking about Marvel Comics’
agreed to take a shot at it. SHOWS OR FILMS.”
While they toiled away in Oregon, I worked
series Damage Control,” says Martin, “a team
of specialists dedicated to cleaning up the
to fast-track the series before I even had a wreckage generated by the Marvel Universe’s
single scripted page. I had a logo designed by constant superhero/super-villain battles. I’ve makers,” says Mangels. “If some of those bad
letterer extraordinaire Chris Eliopoulos, and on always liked the idea of a Starfleet crew fixing decisions had to be ‘fixed,’ certain people at
August 12th, 1997, Andy and Mike faxed their the damage inevitably caused by the countless the top of Starfleet Intelligence might create a
12-issue overview to me. I was overwhelmed Prime Directive violations we’ve seen committed secret ‘black-ops’ operation to do so.”
with their skill at taking my rough concept and throughout Star Trek’s long history.” Martin adds, “The idea of using a black-ops
making it something special. “I liked many of Star Trek’s later crew that’s officially considered dead came out
Phase 3 began to take on a life all its own. installments, in Deep Space Nine and early of a careful study of the Starfleet ships that
What was originally conceived as an extension Voyager, when it became a bit grittier and there went up against the Borg at the beginning of
of the original series mission statement instead were implications of fallibility among decision- Star Trek: First Contact. We decided that the
ship survived the engagement but was officially
listed as destroyed by order of Starfleet
Intelligence, who consequently had a crew of
‘ghost operatives’ at their disposal.”
“The Roanoke name was inspired by the
16th Century Roanoke Colony in North Carolina,”
says Mangels. “The mystery behind the
disappearance of an entire colony has fascinated
me for years, which I thought would be cool
to combine with a ghost ship like the Flying
Dutchman or Mary Celeste.”
“Besides the political and sociological
stories we could tell in the Trek milieu,”
continues Mangels, “an entire crew who were
thought dead and who couldn’t contact their
families or exist in ‘reality’ anymore makes for a
fascinating concept.”
Things were looking good, so good that I
sent Andy and Mike’s overview to Paramount and
received positive feedback. Encouraged by their
tacit approval, I took Phase 3 to the next level.
Marvel had been producing “ashcan” comics as
a means to promote new projects, and in 1996
announced its Star Trek line with one of these,
publishing another a year later with updated
material showcasing further new projects. At
the 1997 San Diego Comic-Con, hundreds of
those little editions handed out free to fans
teased Phase 3 on the final page. At the Con, I
participated in a panel discussion about Marvel’s
future plans for Trek and enthusiastically pushed
Marvel's 1997 promotional 'ashcan' issue. the Phase 3 project.
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UNSEEN TREK
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WAR OF THE WORLDS

IF ONLY AND NEVER WAS
Meanwhile, another spin-off was being
developed simultaneously with Phase 3, which
also derived its inspiration from Marvel Comics
history – the much loved “What If?” series. Star
From Roanoke to Thunderchild
Trek: Realities would retell key events in Star
The question arose during this article’s research of exactly when the Roanoke became the Trek history with significant plot points altered.
Thunderchild. In Andy and Mike’s overview, the ship was still called the Roanoke. However, The first of these was titled Deep Space Nine:
by the time Deep Space Nine: Dark Emissary’s artwork was commissioned, the name had been Dark Emissary, with a story that would take
changed to Thunderchild. This occurred before the publication of an updated edition of the Star place months before the Battle of Wolf 359. In
Trek: Encyclopedia, which included information on Star Trek: First Contact, so the name was a cunning piece of cross-promotion, the book’s
obviously given to Marvel directly by Paramount. But how did the Thunderchild get her name? writers (Phase 3’s very own Andy Mangels and
“Rick Berman, Ron Moore, and Brannon Braga called the art department looking for names.” Mike Martin) placed the Roanoke in the midst of
Doug Drexler – First Contact’s Designer/Scenic Artist – provides the origin story, “Thunderchild the action, as this quote from their plot outline
was the warship that defended a ferryboat full of people against a Martian tripod in H.G. Wells’ testifies:
‘War of the Worlds.’ It seemed like a perfect match.”
“On the battle bridge of the Saratoga,
Sisko and Dax watch the Romulan fleet as
it enters the wormhole, but they can make
no tactical sense out of this maneuver (also
watching are Commander Shelby on the bridge
of the Odyssey, and Captain Evelyn Hoffman
and Commander Kevin Madsen on the bridge of
Star Trek: Phase 3’s U.S.S. Roanoke ; a couple of
lines of dialogue between Hoffman and Madsen
will reveal that the Roanoke has just tried and
failed to make subspace contact with Earth, the
significance of which will be revealed in the last
panel of this issue. For now, everyone is simply
too busy to worry about this.)”
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Seeing this as a golden opportunity, some
editorial changes were made and I asked the
book’s artist, Rod Whigham, to specifically draw
that page first. The page then went to Phil Moy
to ink, giving us a great piece of art to show how
seamlessly our new ship could fit right in.
All of the pieces were falling into place,
then – as quickly as it begun – I received a call
from Chip that I’d never expected: “Stop working
on Phase 3.” The word had come down that no
more new concepts would be developed outside
of the TV shows or films. Everybody involved
was devastated, but it would be a moot point
anyway. A few months later, Marvel wouldn’t be
producing any Star Trek comics at all. The license
would not be renewed and Phase 3 would fade
away as if it had never existed.
Or would it?
There was life in the ghost ship yet. In 2001,
Pocket Books released Star Trek: The Next Generation
“Rogue,” part of their Section 31 crossover storyline.
Section 31 first appeared in the Deep Space Nine
episode “Inquisition,” and would be retroactively
featured in Enterprise before cropping up again in
the alternate timeline film Star Trek Into Darkness.
“Rogue,” written by Mangels and Martin (you
guessed it!) featured some familiar faces.
“The appearance of the U.S.S.Thunderchild,”
says Mangels, “was drawn from the unpublished
Star Trek: Phase 3 we proposed for Marvel Comics.”
Mike Martin adds, “I guess losing Phase 3 on
the very eve of its launch was still an open wound
while we were writing ‘Rogue.’ We figured that the
crew of the Thunderchild deserved a walk-on role
in one of our books, since we’d invested so much
time and energy in that project.”
The allure of the Thunderchild was not easily
diminished. She appeared in two more novels and
in role-playing game supplements. She was even
scheduled to be brought to life as a model kit from
manufacturer Polar Lights. Sadly, just like the
comic, the kit was advertised but never released.
Whether Phase 3 and its Thunderchild ever
see the light of day, or remain an unseen gem on
the peripheries of Star Trek history, only time
will tell, but it’s certain the concept’s architects
would be up for the challenge of making it so.
The original pitch document for Phase 3
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LIVE LONG
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AND PROSPER
THE LEONARD NIMOY INTERVIEW – PART II
Star Trek Magazine’s exclusive interview with Leonard Nimoy continues! Here, the
actor speaks about his photography, retirement, and his plans for the future…
Exclusive interview by Tara Bennett
VIRTUALLY RETIRED
A
s Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy has virtually
traversed the far-reaches of the galaxies,
sacrificed his life for the greater good,
was resurrected, and even spent a brief
amount of time with a younger, alternate
version of himself. That’s enough to exhaust
anyone, so it’s no wonder that in April of 2010,
Nimoy announced he was ready to retire from
the acting and convention appearance portions
of his life. However, that’s easier said than
done, especially when your talent, face, and
voice are still in such demand.
“It’s all very flattering,” Nimoy chuckles
about his ever-ringing phone. “I am being
contacted almost daily by people about how
I might be useful to their project. I did
announce that I would not be doing any
more convention appearances. However,
I may pop up on an occasional TV show or
film. I may pop up there, but I cannot say
when or how. Again, it’s very flattering,
but I consider myself retired.”
Aside from doing vocal work for the Star
Trek Online MMO, Nimoy often gets a lot of
current sci-fi TV fans asking if his Fringe
character, William Bell, could return in the
flesh one last time instead of just vocally as he
did in the show’s third season. Sounding open
to the possibility, Nimoy says warmly, “I
admire the Fringe company very much. The
actors, the writers, the producers and all the
craft people involved. It’s a great company.
Photo courtesy of Seth Kaye Photography WorldMags.net

WorldMags.net Below: Photo from the ‘Shekhina’ series by Leonard Nimoy; Main photo: ‘Hands’ by Leonard Nimoy.
“MY MOST SATISFYING EXPERIENCES HAVE BEEN THOSE

WHERE I’VE THOUGHT OF AN IDEA AND SEEN IT
ALL THE WAY THROUGH.”
I’m a photographer, so I shoot pictures

about these ideas so it’s all abstract-
based. I don’t use Photoshop a lot. I use
film and do straightforward printing
just exactly the way I shot the picture.”
He admits to keeping a collection
as his work now hangs in many art museums of ideas that have sprung into his
around the world. He was mentored in the mind over the decades when
1970s by Robert Heineken and has gone on to looking for a muse. “Sometimes I
explore many intriguing subjects, from go back and revisit the ideas and
landscapes to the human form in all its natural if it’s still alive, I might go up
glory. Today, his photographic work is one and do some camera work for
They have wonderful imaginations and aspect of his creative life that many of his it. Or sometimes the idea
they’ve surprised me with how they have mainstream fans still know little about, so might be great, but I can’t
used me. I feel very comfortable with them. Nimoy’s been remedying that by showcasing see myself spending the
It’s entirely possible that we’ll find some his work in some outstanding exhibitions at next year working on it
way to have Bell come back.” the R.Michelson Galleries in Northampton, organically. Once I make a
In the meantime, Nimoy says he’s Massachusetts. commitment, like when I was
enjoying his more open calendar to work on Talking about his creative process, Nimoy making a Star Trek film, I
his philanthropy endeavors with his wife says that he prefers to work around a specific have to spend a lot of time
Susan, spending time with his family and theme that ignites his imagination and spurs researching and doing the
immersing himself in his beloved photography his thinking. “I don’t carry a camera when I go work to be sure that my
projects. Nimoy’s reputation as a respected out and about,” he shares. “I wait until an idea interest is enough to sustain
contemporary American photographer has presents itself that I want to explore. If I was a itself. My most satisfying
grown exponentially in the last four decades writer, I’d be writing about these ideas. But experiences have been those
WorldMags.net
WorldMags.net In the meantime, Nimoy and his wife own forum to inspire and challenge. Nimoy
Susan spend a lot of their time supporting explains, “We collect contemporary art and have
causes in the arts that are near and dear to a very serious collection. We live very happily
them. “We have a very broad range of with it and we are constantly looking at new and
philanthropic interests.” He notes, “Susan exciting art. In any city we go to, we work with
and I are extremely grateful for what we have the local museums there. There is also an
been given in the way of opportunity and organization called America: Now and Here
lifestyle. We try constantly to be aware of that [http://americanowandhere.org] that we
and to try and be helpful to others. We have support which puts out traveling art
made commitments to organizations that try shows. They take truckloads of
to help the arts because we believe that art art and set up displays. I
in culture helps people live satisfying lives. think art is such an
We are interested in conservation and space important part of life,”
exploration. The Griffith Observatory [in Los he enthuses.
Angeles] is one of our pet projects.”
Pausing for a moment, he adds with quiet
sincerity, “It’s interesting the issue of public
philanthropy. We tried to work privately for a
very long time, but then we were educated to
where I’ve thought of an idea and seen it all the idea that if people know that we are giving
the way through.” support to certain ideas and organizations, it
As to his latest photographic endeavors, encourages other people to do the same.
Nimoy says he just finished collecting a While I don’t on one hand like to talk
journey into his archives for R.Michelson about what we do publicly, it is helpful
Galleries. “The most recent project has been for people that we are doing it, so
rediscovering some earlier work in my other people will do it as well.”
files. I have thousands of images in my He smiles, “You want to be
files that have never been seen. Rich private but you also want
Michelson is putting together a box to encourage.”
collection of about 25 images that And that also
have never been seen and the title is extends to
‘Eye Contact’. In my earliest work helping new
with female figures, I told most of artists
my models not to look at the lens. realize
Look away, look down, look their
sideways; it’s called the averted
gaze. Eventually, I started to change,
so more work was about the model
herself as an individual and I
would ask them to look at the
camera. This particular
collection of work is a
comment on that process
I went through.”
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By pushing his own comfort zone

through the arts, Nimoy says he’s discovered “IT WAS A JOY received, so I was encouraged to write more
poetry. I think I probably published five or
many things inside himself that he may
never have had the courage or perspective AND PLEASURE TO six poetry books and I was very touched by the
response that I got. People wrote me wonderful
to really pursue. He reflects, “When I was a
young actor I took work very, very seriously and DISCOVER WITH THE letters about what my poetry meant to them.
I had some people asking permission to use
never thought I would be in comedy. I was
always interested in straight drama. But when
SPOCK CHARACTER my poems in their wedding ceremonies.
I was delighted to know I could touch people
I started to explore comedy, I discovered that
I enjoyed making an audience laugh, and to
I COULD MAKE PEOPLE in that way as well, and it also encouraged
my photography.
hear them laugh. It became a very important
part of my work. Three Men and a Baby was the
LAUGH JUST “But at the root of all this is my
acting career,” he reflects, as we wind down
highlight of that and it was a wonderfully
buoyant time and we were laughing all the time
BY LIFTING our conversation. “Star Trek and the Spock
character really opened up so many other
making that movie. Some comedy also found
its way into Star Trek IV, where we had some
MY EYEBROW.” venues for me creatively that I am an eternally
grateful guy,” he says with all sincerity and
wonderful humor and I enjoyed that a lot. I gave go all the way back to 1971. I was under a smile in his voice.
up being so, so, so serious and tried to enjoy it contract at Universal Studios doing occasional As to what he would like to share with
all a little more. It was even a joy and pleasure TV shows. I was studying photography at the his creative brethren out in the world, as they
to discover with the Spock character I could time at UCLA and I wanted to see my work too muster the courage to share their creative
make people laugh just by lifting my eyebrow,” published for the first time, so I was encouraged visions with the world, Mr. Nimoy returns to
he laughs proudly. to write some words to go along with my the tech that Mr. Spock is so synonymous with
Asked what creative outlet has given photographs. I published a book called ‘You as the conduit for his simple message, “On my
him the most satisfaction and pleasure, and I’, which was a book of poetry and Twitter account [@therealnimoy], I recently
Nimoy thinks for a moment and offers, photographs. It was published by a wonderful, shared the comment, ‘Love the art in yourself,
“Obviously, I’ve been happy and gratified small company in San Francisco. The book not yourself in the art.’” And with that he
with my acting and directing career, but I’ll became enormously successful and well adds, LLAP.
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This spread: Photos from

the ‘Shekhina’ series,by
Leonard Nimoy.
Photographs reprinted by
kind permission of
Leonard Nimoy & R.
Michelson Galleries.
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Photographs courtesy of Don Lanning and Joel Harlow
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UNSEEN TREK
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U N S E E N T R E K :
ALIENATED
Forgotten Aliens Of The Alternate Timeline
Aliens have always been woven into the DNA of Star Trek,
from the salt-sucking M-113 creature of early episode
“The Man Trap”, right through to the re-ridged Klingons
of Star Trek Into Darkness. Director J.J. Abrams’ 2009
reboot earned an Oscar for outstanding make-up, yet
many outlandish and exotic creature designs never
made the final cut, remaining unseen – until now...
By Joe Nazzaro
M
any of the creatures for 2009’s Star Trek half sculpting the most intense surgeries in
were designed and built during a period realistic detail,” he remembers, “but my first
of pre-production at LA-based Proteus love is sci-fi, so when Tom called me in and
FX, where prosthetic make-up designer said, ‘My kid just got a show and it’s going to
Barney Burman had enlisted a number of be a big deal; I want you to go over and help
the industry’s top designers, sculptors and make- him. It’s a re-boot of Star Trek!’ I grabbed my
up effects technicians to create a wide array of equipment and went over there right away.
aliens that could be presented to Abrams for his “At that point, Barney [Burman] said
approval or rejection. he didn’t know what the build list was going
That group of people included veteran to be,” continues Lanning, “but he was open
sculptor Don Lanning and Joel Harlow, who to the re-design of some of the classic
went on to take over a big chunk of the characters, so we started making plans. I
film’s make-up effects work, including the immediately wanted to revisit the Gorn from
Romulans, Vulcans and briefly-glimpsed ‘Arena,’ because I had just spent a lot of time
Klingons (consigned to a DVD deleted scene, sculpting realistic stuff, so I was ready for
before being re-realized for Into Darkness). some hard-core fantasy!”
As Lanning recalls, “I got hired as the key “Don is wildly creative and a fantastic
sculptor, so Joel and I did the lion’s share artist,” says Joel Harlow of his colleague. “We
of work, as far as doing drawings, designs, sat right next to each other, and I don’t know
sculptures, maquettes [small-scale three- if we directly borrowed anything from each
dimensional models] and that kind of stuff. other, but certainly that creative vibe was
We sat there for two and a half months, there and that fuelled everything that was
drawing and sculpting as fast as we could and going on.
filling the walls with maquettes.” “I think we were just trying to come
Lanning was working for Burman’s father, up with interesting looks. At one point, I
Tom, doing sculpting work for TV series Nip/ remember thinking, ‘I’m not even going to use
Tuck, when the senior Burman called him into the word alien; I’m just going to come up with
the office. “I had spent the past year and a whatever mutant or demon I can think of,’ and
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that opened me up to do some more

interesting stuff for myself. By removing those
labels, it really opened things up, and who
says there can’t be an alien demon?”
Having vowed to let anything go, the team
were soon producing some arresting designs,
as Harlow explains. “There was one character I
came up with that was basically two faces fused
together. It utilized the actor’s own eyes, with a
face on the side of his face. After I left, Barney
took that design and did a make-up version of
it that I think wound up in the outtakes in the
Klingon prison sequence.
“This was the first time I had worked with
Don. We had a blast together, and I’ve brought
him on to other projects since. I remember at
one point he did something I really loved, which
was a guy who had half a head that was a book or
something like that, and I thought it was really
cool but I was also thinking, ‘What the hell?’”
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UNSEEN TREK
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A PINCH OF SALT
With a virtual clean slate to work with during the
early design process, Lanning found the perfect
opportunity to start re-vamping some of the
classic characters for possible inclusion in the
new film. “When Joel and I came in, we literally
started by just doing drawings all day, and since
I was put in the role of key sculptor I said we
were going to do the Salt Vampire and the Gorn,
so whenever I got some down time I worked on
those sculptures.
“The Salt Vampire was a real challenge, to take something that was maybe a bit hokey
and turn it into something really organic, but we certainly gave it a real try. In the end, it
never made it into the movie, but to tell you the truth, I’m kind of glad.
“On the other hand, the Gorn was our best effort to revisit the original material and
I think it was very successful, but again, I think there was a certain tone from J.J. and the
production as to how many original aliens should be spotted in the film, and maybe they
should be exploring something new.”
Another candidate for possible revival was an alien that would have looked
suspiciously like one of the Talosians from the original Star Trek pilot. “There was one
amazing idea,” confirms Lanning, “for some large-headed aliens with little necks. They
would have been played by women, because we wanted to revisit the aliens from ‘The Cage.’
I did a drawing that was pretty much a straightforward make-up, where the actor’s real neck
would be painted green for digital removal, leaving this little spindly neck sculpted onto
the front of the actor, and the body would be worn like a Bun Raku puppet. It was a fully
realized make-up that was actually rendered out by Joel, and it was a fascinating idea.”
“What I did was sculpt the head extra-large with a thin neck on top of his real neck,” adds Harlow,
who ironically built a character not too dissimilar for Green Lantern a few years later. “We just assumed
that when they shot it, his own neck would have been green-screened out, leaving a giant head on this
tiny little neck. I think it would have looked really cool, but it ended up just being a mask, and all
the body stuff, which would have been a rod puppet, was sort of neglected at that point.”
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SEEN BUT NOT HEARD “So we got to the end of the day, and
One of Lanning’s most memorable creations I’m feeling proud of myself, because I’ve
was Keenser, the diminutive alien played done three heads and I’m getting ready to do
by Deep Roy, who appears in the first Star another one. Joel and I had started talking
Trek film and reprises the role in Star Trek about seashells, so I tore off the
Into Darkness. The character came about ‘wooden’ part of the third head
by way of a series of free-form sculptures and started sculpting again.
on a day when Lanning and Harlow were What I did was literally put in the
left alone in the shop to come up with some shape of the Shell gas station
new characters. Starting with an unfinished sign, and turned the eyes into
half-scale sculpture he’d started the previous deep recesses. I took a metal
day, Lanning first thought of a character cap with a rhinestone and put it
living on a deserted outpost and had an on a stem and stuck it down into
image of a forlorn Maytag repairman sitting these eyes. I still wasn’t quite
alone in a room, waiting for the phone to happy with the shell head, so I
ring. “I did a study of an old man, but that was looking through a book on
didn’t satisfy me because it wasn’t alien rainforests, and found a picture
enough, so I dressed it with pieces of glass of a weird fungus or mushroom,
and metal. I then took the old man concept, that grew up the side of a tree
cleaned up the eyes and changed the mouth like steps, and that became the
to something that wasn’t so dramatic. I also neck of my final sculpture.”
added Andorian tendrils to the top of the “When J.J. saw photographs of
head, so we were back in the neighbourhood the four sculptures, he said, ‘No…
of the old show. no…no…YES!’ The thing I was
“After lunch, I was thinking about really proud of was it was a rough
Superman and the Fortress of Solitude,” sculpture done in a couple of hours,
Lanning continues, “so I came up with but in the movie they retained the
something that looked like wood bark or idea of these little appendages on
crystal growing out of the head, with a giant the end of the moving stems. They
device over the eye, for no reason other than really stepped up the character’s
it looked good. At this point, the design was appeal as an alien, so I was really
interesting, but a bit convoluted. happy about that.”
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UNSEEN TREK
WorldMags.net The evolution of Keenser.
CHOP AND CHANGE

As the start of production drew nearer and it became obvious that a
relatively large number of background aliens were going to be needed,
Burman began bringing in technicians who could turn the clay sculptures
into prosthetic make-ups and pull-over masks. Other masks would be
chopped up and reassembled to create new characters. “I remember
watching Jenn Rose coming to work every day and building alien after
alien,” recalls Lanning, “by cutting pieces of one creature and sewing it to
another. I would look over and see new characters every other day.”
“There wasn’t enough money to make all of our background masks
from scratch,” admits make-up effects lab technician Ray Schaeffer, “so
we put a call out to shops around the valley to rent existing moulds. These While most of the Proteus team moved on once Star Trek moved into
castings would be painted and haired in new ways to fill in the background production, Harlow continued to work on some of the key alien races,
scenes at the Academy and the Klingon prison sequence. eventually winning an Oscar for his work on the film. “I never think about
“So we had loads of these moulds in the shop and ran up lots of castings. things like that,” he insists. “Once it left my hands as a sculpture, whatever
Vincent Van Dyke, who was only 17 at the time, brought in some molds he made happened to it from that point on was out of my hands. But any time you
for Halloween as a kid. Production selected a dozen castings from these moulds can sit around with your buddies and sculpt whatever you want, it’s fun.
from all over Hollywood, and six were Vincent’s. The kid was a prodigy.” I think people deliver their best work when they don’t have too many
“I was working for Barney’s dad at the time,” remembers Van Dyke, confines to what they’re doing, and that was certainly the case.”
“and I think it was hiatus time for Nip/Tuck, so I went over and started “It was an amazing experience, that I will always cherish,” adds
working on Star Trek. At that point, almost everything had been designed Lanning. “Whether or not a sculpture got into the film didn’t matter. I think
and sculpted, so it was time to pump out multiple runs of silicone when a lot of us technicians and creative people went to see the film, we
prosthetics. I started working with an old friend, Hugo Villasenor, to were very excited, because it was not mishandled or misunderstood by its
start casting some very complex and big pieces. Some of those characters creator. We all walked out very proud of J.J. and ourselves, because it was
worked many times, even though you only see them once or not at all.” so beautifully done. It’s a marvellous franchise.”
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REALITY BITES
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The original Star Trek series' Voyager's Star Trek: The Next
“The City on the Edge of Forever” “Future's End” Generation's “Parallels”
REALITY BITES
TO HELL WITH THE TEMPORAL PRIME DIRECTIVE:
MESSING WITH TIME IN THE STAR TREK MULTIVERSE
By K. Stoddard Hayes
“Time travel. Ever since my first day on the job as a

Starfleet Captain, I swore I’d never let myself get caught
in one of these god-forsaken paradoxes. The future is the
past, the past is the future. It all gives me a headache.”
Janeway, “Future’s End, Part 1”
S
ince the day the Narada emerged from In any classic Star Trek time travel story (from
the singularity in Star Trek (2009) there any series), the crew discovers that something or
have been two main timelines in Star Trek someone has altered their past, and they spend
continuity: the one we know from all the TV the rest of the adventure trying to change time
series and previous movies, and this new one in back to its original course. McCoy saves Edith
which Kirk was not born in Iowa, Spock and Uhura Keeler, and 300 years of history – including
are lovers, and Vulcan has been destroyed. the Enterprise and her crew – are wiped out
If it seems radical to rewrite time in the Star of existence, until Kirk and Spock succeed in
Trek universe – to start the whole story over from changing Edith’s fate (“The City on the Edge
the beginning and give the beloved characters of of Forever”). When the Enterprise-C’s escape
the original crew entirely different lives – well, through a temporal rift triggers a catastrophic
it’s not really. Star Trek is littered with dozens of Federation-Klingon war, Guinan convinces the
diverging timelines, created by scores of temporal officers of both Enterprises that things could and
incursions by Starfleet personnel, by aliens of all should be different (“Yesterday’s Enterprise”).
kinds, and sometimes just by accidental encounters Young Jake Sisko is orphaned when his father is
with temporal rifts and wormholes. trapped in subspace by a temporal inversion,
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The arrival of the

Narada marks the start of a
new timeline in Star Trek (2009)
driving the adult Jake to sacrifice his entire In “Timeless”, future versions of Harry Kim
existence to save his father (“The Visitor”). “IT TAKES ONLY A SHIFT and Chakotay plan to rewrite their own past so
The Krenim Annorax uses his time-ship to
target Voyager and countless worlds and species, IN PERSPECTIVE TO TURN they can save Voyager from a catastrophic crash
caused by Harry many years earlier. Captain
rewriting time over and over again, all to restore
the Krenim Empire and save his wife (“The Year EVEN A FEDERATION TIME- Geordi LaForge, sent to stop them, admits that
he is sympathetic with their desire to change
of Hell”). 31st Century temporal agent Daniels
enlists Archer’s help to preserve the integrity
MEDDLER FROM A HERO the fate of their lost comrades. Yet he can’t
let them succeed, for fear that the present
of the timeline in a Temporal Cold War whose
different factions cross and recross the centuries,
INTO A VILLAIN.” will be changed or wiped out of existence.
It’s a question that all of the characters in this
rearranging the past to their own advantage. ship to crash 200 years in the past, to preserve a episode grapple with. Chakotay wonders if
In times like these, we naturally root for our thriving colony of their descendants, and are saving Voyager is worth giving up his relationship
heroes to put things right and restore time to the aghast when the ship escapes the crash after all. with his lover Tessa, whom, if they succeed, he
familiar status quo. Yet it takes only a shift in Kira’s perception of Odo – and ours – is forever will never meet. And the EMH asks Harry how
perspective to turn even a Federation time-meddler changed when he reveals it was his older self who he can be certain that changing the past will
from a hero into a villain. In “Children of Time”, the reprogrammed Defiant’s course, erasing 8,000 not create a more unhappy present than the
crew of the Defiant accept that they must allow the people from existence to save his beloved Kira. one they are now in.
Guinan senses time trouble

in “Yesterday's Enterprise”
Tasha Yar returns from the Captain Jean-Luc Picard

dead in “Yesterday's Enterprise” of the Warship Enterprise
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REALITY BITES
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These questions are based on the assumption
that time works like a complex domino race of
causes and effects: rows of dominoes falling
one into the next, creating a specific pattern.
If you could go back and alter the direction of
one domino’s fall, the rest of that row of falling
dominoes will also fall differently, including the
row you are in, and the pattern will be different.
And this is where theoretical al physics makes
things interesting. What if, att the moment you
redirect that first domino, a new ew set of dominoes
appears and tumbles away in the new direction,
while the dominoes in your row, w, which have
already fallen, stay in their original ttern?
riginal pattern?
Enter the multiverse theory off quantum mechanics
m
(see sidebar), first introduced too the Star Trek
Tr
universe in The Next Generation episode “P Parallels”.
“Parallels”.
In that episode, Worf finds his world changing
orld changi ing Odo saves his beloved
around him incrementally, until the reality he is in Kira in “Children of Time”
barely matches his own memories es off his hiip
ship
hi shi i andd
comrades. Finally, Data (but not our Data) discovers
d
that Worf has come loose from his is original quantum
q
universe and is traveling throughh closely pa arallel
parallel
universes, each one created by a different choice
c
made by himself or those aroundd him.
The multiverse theory could put all of Star
S Trek’s k
time meddlers out of work. Going ng back in timet to
change the past does not correctct or undo things
t that
have gone wrong, bring back livesves that wewerere lost,
or erase the meddlers’ existing timeline. Changing
C
the past simply creates a new time-stream,
me-stream m, a new
quantum reality, which divergess from the familiar
reality at the moment of interference.
erence.
ontinuity hasn’t
How do we know the new continuity h
replaced the old one, but onlyy diverged from it?
Because of the now old-fashioned oned notio
notionon of the
“grandfather paradox” (see next ext page),, which,
Spock finds himself in

ever”
“The City on the Edge of Forever”
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in multiverse theory, turns out to be no paradox
at all. Those who try to change their past don’t
blink out of existence the moment they succeed,
because the timeline they came from has not
been erased after all.
In “Year of Hell”, Annorax appears to have
created and erased more timelines than any single
individual in Star Trek, yet his banquet of vanished
races, as well Voyager’s encounter with one of
them, is proof that those timelines all did, and do,
exist somewhere in the quantum multiverse. So the
Voyager that leaves Krenim space at the end of Part
Voyager lands with
2 is not the Voyager that flew into it in Part 1, a bump in “Timeless”
because that Voyager, limping and abandoned by
her crew, was destroyed along with her Captain in steal transport to find their comrades, then try to
the collision with the Krenim timeship. And if we
apply the multiverse theory, we are left to wonder
“THE MULTIVERSE THEORY decide whether the whole crew should keep trying
to get home somehow, or simply accept that they
what happened to the rest of Voyager’s crew in that
original timeline? Most of the crew had abandoned
COULD PUT ALL OF STAR must live out their lives as a human colony in the
Delta Quadrant.
ship months before Voyager’s immolation. One can TREK ’S TIME MEDDLERS In “Twilight”, the parasitically infected Archer
imagine a series of Star Trek: Voyager novels in
which the surviving Bridge crew beg, borrow, and OUT OF WORK.” sacrifices himself to destroy his parasites and
thereby save Enterprise and Earth from destruction
by the Xindi. But it’s not his own Enterprise or
The Intendant causes trouble Earth he has saved, it’s a different Enterprise in a
in DS9's “Crossover”
new continuity he has created by changing his own
past. The Archer infected with parasites had to exist
in order to destroy the infection in the Archer who
survives in the new timeline.
When Sisko is released from his subspace
prison in “The Visitor”, we don’t know that
the adult Jake’s reality ceases to exist at that
moment, because the story is following Sisko,
not the elder Jake. We only know that Sisko
escapes the energy bolt at the moment before
he would have left normal space-time in the
adult Jake’s continuity. In that other timeline
where the orphaned adult Jake lived and died,
The Voyager crew come

under time attack in “Year of Hell”
Annorax meddles with time

in Voyager's “Year of Hell”
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REALITY BITES
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the entire Federation might be mourning the
TIME AND RELATIVE DIMENSIONS IN SPACE sudden death of one of their great writers.
In Star Trek: Generations, Picard uses the
Nexus to travel from his original timeline, in
which Soran destroys the Enterprise-D along with
the Veridian system, to a timeline in which Picard
and Kirk succeed in saving the planet and the
ship. If you apply the multiverse theory here, the
crew Picard rejoins at the end is, once again, not
his original crew, and he has left behind him a
universe in which James Kirk is still in the Nexus,
while the Enterprise-D and all her crew have been
killed. Even more interesting, Picard arrived in the
new timeline several minutes before the Nexus
reached Veridian III. So you can’t help wondering,
what has happened to the Picard who belonged to
the new timeline before “our” Picard arrived from
the Nexus to replace him?
Since we in the 21st Century know about
multiverse theory, it’s safe to assume that all of
Multiple Enterprises Star Trek’s characters (or at least those versed in
in TNG's “Parallels” temporal physics) are also familiar with it. Yet
the urge to undo a tragic past, to fix a damaged
Time moves on, and so do theories about the nature of time and the possibility of time travel. timeline, seems irresistible even to Starfleet
At the start of the 20th Century, Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity introduced the idea that personnel. Every time the crew discovers an
time is not a constant, and since then, physicists and science fiction writers have propounded altered timeline or finds the temporal technology
endless theories about the possibility of time travel.
to undo a past tragedy, they go to great lengths,
Theoretical travel into the future has always appeared relatively simple: accelerate to nearly the
even sacrificing themselves, to restore the
speed of light, and relative time slows to a crawl, so that a year passes for you while centuries may
pass in the rest of the universe. Travel to the past is more challenging. It might be accomplished by “proper” course of history – the status quo of a
going faster than light (if that is possible; many physicists believe it is not), or by using either a stable Federation and a ship (or space station)
cosmic string or a wormhole, two theoretical means of bending space-time which have gained and crew continuing on their original mission.
respectability among physicists in recent decades. This is why it’s such a surprise that Spock
The big obstacle in traveling to the past – and especially in changing the past, as fictional Prime makes the unprecedented choice to
time travelers so often do – has always been the problem of causality. This is best expressed in leave things as they are. Once he and the new
the “grandfather paradox”: if you travel to the past and kill your own grandfather before he has Enterprise crew realize that time has been
children, you will never be born to travel back in time to kill him. The whole loop of events altered, no one suggests that they try to steer it
negates itself. back on course. For some, perhaps, it’s enough
Star Trek writers have usually treated the “inconsistent causal loop” of the grandfather-type
paradox as just that: a paradox that still allows their characters to rewrite time, correct it, change
it. But we don’t have to wrestle with causality paradoxes anymore, because of the multiverse
theory of quantum mechanics.
The multiverse theory, first proposed by Hugh Everett III in the mid 20th Century, was
initially discounted by most physicists. By the end of the century, though, advances in the
study of quantum mechanics supported the possibility that multiverses could in fact exist.
Here’s an extremely simplified explanation of how it works:
Quantum mechanics theory proposes that the state of a quantum particle isn’t known until it
is observed, and that the act of observation itself determines the particle’s state at any given An alternate Enterprise
moment. Everett’s multiverse theory goes a step further. It suggests that every possible state of Bridge in TNG's “Parallels”…
a given particle actually exists in a parallel universe which comes into being at the moment the
particle is observed to have a specific state. If you apply this on a larger scale, every event in
the Newtonian universe (the one that we perceive and experience in everyday life) also has
many possible choices and outcomes. Each time a choice is made, a different parallel universe
comes into existence in which the other outcome has in fact occurred.
It’s important to note that all of this – time travel, wormholes, cosmic strings, and multiple
universes – is still in the realm of purely theoretical physics, because at the moment, we simply
don’t have the technology or the scientific knowhow to prove or disprove any of it. But only last
year, the Higgs boson particle was purely theoretical. Who knows when the next great discovery … and one
in quantum mechanics might give us a glimpse into the multiverse? Riker talks
to another
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Wiping the time slate

clean in Star Trek (2009)
that things could be different. Cadet Kirk asks different version of himself and his father had a would do no more than send him back to his own
Spock Prime what happened to his father in the long and happy relationship as father and son. timeline, while this new continuity continued on
reality that the elder Spock came from. Spock Even if the young cadets and officers of this its own course. Even if he went “home”, nothing
replies that George Kirk lived to see his son Enterprise don’t know that altering time is a would change for these younger versions of
become Captain of the Enterprise. And young possibility, Spock Prime certainly does. So why himself and his friends.
Kirk nods and lets it go. He’s content, for the doesn’t he push for a correction? Perhaps he And perhaps, typically of Spock at any age, in
moment, to know that in another reality, a now understands that trying to change the past any universe, he’s curious about the unknown. In
his original reality, he is near the end of his life
in a rich, safe and secure universe. Here, he has
suddenly become one of an endangered species,
and among the very last of the Vulcan elders.
He’s needed more than ever. And by staying in
the new continuity, he gets another chance to
see the friendship of a lifetime unfold.
“SPOCK PRIME MAKES

THE UNPRECEDENTED
The Borg pay a visit to CHOICE TO LEAVE THINGS
Enterprise in“Twilight”
AS THEY ARE.”
The big change in Star Trek’s use of multiple
timelines, then, is not that the 2009 movie creates
a new continuity, a new timeline. The difference is
that in previous divergences, the characters have
always returned to the “normal” timeline, the one
that preserves the status quo of the universe we
were traveling in before the divergence.
With the 2009 movie, a crew aware of a
change to the timeline does not hit the temporal
reset button to return us to Star Trek status quo.
For once, we are following the timeline that
has changed the most. From here on out, for the
Archer survives in an writers and the characters and for us, the sky’s
alternate timeline in “Twilight”
the limit.
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S S S S
9 U UK 0 U UK 1U K 2 U UK
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# # # #
S S S S
3 U UK 4U K 5 U UK 6 U UK
#4 170 #4 171 U #4 172 #4 173
# # # #
Prices may vary depending on issue

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SPECIAL 2014 CLASSIC INTERVIEWS: SHATNER, FRAKES, NIMOY, MULGREW

FROM THE SMASHHIT

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SUBSCRIPTIONS,

06 A BRIEF HISTORY OF 74 UNSEEN TREK: GHOST

30 BY THE FANS, FOR

80 UNDISCOVERED “WE ALL WALKED OUT VERY PROUD OF

114 SUCH SWEET 140 REALITY BITES

80 ARMIN SHIMERMAN 108 MANNY

100 KATE MULGREW

A classic interview with Voyager’s formidable Captain Janeway.

time viewing. In 1969, real time was the only

1982 important, of course, it resurrected Spock. No one could have guessed in

It may be two decades since William Shatner

Kirk, Spock, and McCoy reunite

“I FEEL CLOSER TO THE

Kirk faces the press in

Kirk bids farewell to Spock in

THE OMEGA GLORY

Kirk and crew sign off in

THE WAY TO EDEN

GIVING THE WAGON

Justman was responsible

“WE WERE SUCH OUTCASTS WE MADE REG BARCLAY

A SHOW FOR ALL SEASONS

“WE DON’T SIMPLY LOVE A TV

STM: And that’s certainly a good thing in our book.

THE TREK EFFECT

THE BURDEN OF COMMAND

the chance to direct, I thought I would be

THE SCIENCE OF SPOCK

The next generation of explorers

Data is reunited with Spot

to broadcast Star Trek: The Next Generation in

Make it so A NEW WORLD

Hercules: the Legendary Journeys and its spin-

Photo courtesy of Paradigm Agency

Great beards of the

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE

STAR TREK: VOYAGER

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT

“I LOOKED AROUND THE

Jonathan Frakes directed the hit A final visit to the Enterprise,

Riker hunts down the

“LEVAR BURTON WILL GO

FANS WILL SHOW UP.” Star Trek: Generations

Father and son cause

STAR TREK INTO

DARKER THAN DEATH OR NIGHT

SUBSCRIBE TODAY! AVAILABLE IN

FOUR COLOR FLASHBACK

expanded their line considerably with a line of

even promoted it to the comic press in 1996. But

STAR TREK COMICS: THE NUMBERS!

THE IDW ERA

INTO THE FUTURE

H “BRILLIANT IDEAS DON’T

The iconic Enterprise-D bridge

The more militaristic Enterprise-E bridge

“WORKING WITH THE

Knobs and levers make a comeback

The new Klingons (TNG's

Ferengi spa treatment or the Quark has one of his