McNeil On Upcoming 'Romantic Filler Scene'

Robert Duncan McNeill is haunted by Voyager: even while talking about his latest short film '9mm of Love' on the Sci-Fi Channel Exposure series, the actor still spent much of his time talking about Tom Paris. But once the show is over, he would like to be recognised for some of his non-Trek skills.

"I'm really looking forward to moving on - to kind of graduating from Star Trek," McNeill said on the show, according to a transcript kindly sent to us by Ann at I Love P/T. "I want people hopefully to hire me, to bring me into projects as a director because they think I'll do that well and not because I'm on Star Trek or some other show - but just because I do that well."

This isn't to say that McNeil didn't enjoy playing Tom Paris, a role he wanted to have since he first heard about it. "I was doing a little play in New York Off-Broadway for peanuts a week," he recalled "I was in a panic about my life and my bank account ... and all of a sudden Star Trek calls up and says 'Remember that guest star role you did years ago? They really liked that performance and they've got a new series now. They're thinking about bringing you on, for a regular.' And I'm like 'Thank God!'"

"It's strange," he continued. "[In] some ways, seven years, this whole series has flown by. It feels like we just started and in a lot of other ways I feel like I've been doing this my whole life. It's going to be strange not to put on a space suit."

However, even for Voyager's final episodes McNeill already had a chance to dress in something else. The actor described an upcoming scene in which Paris lures B'Elanna Torres into a shuttle for some time together. "We're doing one of those classic filler scenes where I've invited my wife to come for a romantic getaway and she's too busy - Gives me a chance to wear a Hawaiian shirt."

50 screencaptures of the full interview with McNeill, including several more shots of the "romantic filler scene" with Paris and Torres, can be found here on I Love P/T. Thanks go out to Ann for this!

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