Billingsleys On Being Borg

John Billingsley (Dr Phlox) and his wife Bonita Friedericy (Rooney) recently sat down to discuss "Regeneration", the Enterprise episode in which their careers crossed paths.

Friedericy explained that when she auditioned for the role of Rooney, a Starfleet researcher who is assimilated by the Borg, the director of the episode didn't even realise she was married to the actor behind Enterprise's medical officer.

"I wanted to do a good job so I wouldn't shame my husband so they could never talk to me at parties," she told StarTrek.com. "So I went in and I thought 'cool', because I was very nervous and I had just me, David Livingston, the director, who didn't know that I was married to John, and a casting assistant who didn't know I was married to John and they liked me."

Husband and wife both had to wear Borg make-up, which hadn't been used since the Star Trek: Voyager finale, "Endgame". "They were having a hard time getting back into the whole Borg thing because they haven't had Borgs for quite a while and I think they didn't expect necessarily that the Borg would ever come back so everyone was trying to remember," Friedericy said. "I ended up wearing Roxann Dawson's little Borg suit and everyone was looking at it going, 'There's a place for a tube here, does anyone know what you put there? There's velcro here on the shoulder, what did they use the velcro for?'"

Billingsley's response to his wife's new look was that of a proud husband. "She looked hot, I'll tell you that," he said. "She's one hot looking Borg. It's true."

The actor, who was partially assimilated in the episode, liked the look so much that it could be making its way to all his friends and relatives come Christmas. "I was partially borgafied in that episode so we had pictures taken that may become our Christmas card this year," he said. "Merry Christmas from the Borgingsleys!"

The complete video interview can be viewed here at StarTrek.com.

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