Armstrong Misses Being an Admiral

Of all his Star Trek roles - and there have been Klingons, a Romulan, a Borg and others - Vaughn Armstrong said that he remains fondest of Admiral Forrest from Enterprise and called Scott Bakula "the finest gentlemen of any lead actor of any TV series I've ever worked with."

In a chat at TrekUnited, Armstrong talked extensively about Star Trek, his career in general and the Enterprise Blues Band - a group of Trek actors and friends who formed to perform at conventions and have recently recorded a CD. A performer since the age of 16, Armstrong said that a bribe from his mother and a passionate kiss from a girl during a play rehearsal led him into professional acting, though unlike many actors, he does not favor the stage over film.

"A lot of actors say that they like the immediate response of the theatre audience better. I can't say that I do," he explained. "I like TV and film because it takes such total concentration. While the camera is rolling there is no room for diversion of thought."

Armstrong played Korris, "the first Klingon with a forehead on TV", and later Two of Nine on Voyager, but Forrest was his favourite, he said, in part because "he took ten minutes in the make-up chair." He also felt that the Enterprise production team "was as good as any I have ever worked with in the nearly 40 years of my career...anytime they do anything I would be happy to work with them again."

Like many connected with the franchise, Armstrong believes that Enterprise's lagging ratings stemmed from a surfeit of Star Trek rather than flaws in the show. He said he did not expect to see a feature film but hoped that perhaps there could be a direct-to-DVD reunion. He has never watched the finale, "These are the Voyages."

Asked whether he would be willing to appear in a fan film such as Star Trek: New Voyages, like some of the original series alumni, Armstrong said he thought that union rules probably precluded him from doing so: "[I] may not agree to work for a producer that is not a signatory [of] the applicable SAG contract. This provision applies world-wide. I would be interested if my Union would allow me to."

Armstrong said that he had been working steadily over the past two years, including some plays, a commercial and a Hallmark Christmas movie for which he was just hired. In terms of his past roles, he mentioned playing a presidential candidate in Seven Days and "the one oddly enough that probably had the most important social context", a role as a child molestor on Days of Our Lives that "when I first saw it I didn't want to do it."

For more, including details about the Enterprise Blues Band CD and some comments by Star Trek Communicator editor Larry Nemecek about ongoing delays with reviving the magazine, see the original article at TrekUnited.

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