Picardo Answers Fan Questions
3 min readRobert Picardo, Star Trek: Voyager‘s EMH, answered questions ranging from his time on Voyager, to his present-day work.
Some of the cast from Voyager gathers together several times a year and one of the topics is the future of Voyager. “The only talk of a Voyager reunion project that I hear about is when the guys from Voyager get together,” said Picardo. “We get together twice a year to have dinner, and we’ve done that since the show ended.”
Picardo is amenable to working on Star Trek projects such as fan films or online games. “Star Trek Online is voice only, right? That’s the online game,” he said. “I know that Zachary Quinto is playing a holographic doctor for Star Trek Online. I have not been approached. I’m not opposed to doing it, but I have not been approached. There was also talk of me doing one of the New Voyages films. They sent me some script ideas, but I haven’t heard further than that. So it’s always possible I’ll appear in the Star Trek world again, but there are no present plans, nothing imminent.”
When it came to playing the EMH, one thing that made the job much better was the development of the portable emitter. Had Picardo not been able to be as mobile and had he been confined to just one set, his job would have been less fun. “I think I would have gotten a little bit nuts, but nowhere near as nuts as I would have had I been cast as Neelix,” said Picardo. “I’d come very close to getting that role, within a hair’s breadth. I think that the 5,448 hours that Ethan Phillips spent in the makeup chair would have driven me insane, not to mention the claustrophobia.”
Recently, Picardo guest-starred on Stargate Universe. “It is an incredibly good show,” he said. “It’s much darker and more dramatic than the other Stargate series. That makes it a little more Trek-like, actually. If you’re a Trek fan and you’ve never been a Stargate fan before, this is the show for you. I’m back as Richard Woolsey and I’m back in a business suit, so I’m apparently no longer a commander.”
Picardo can also be seen in Funnyordie’s Chad and the Alien Toupee. “Someone asked me to do it and I was captivated by the wonderfully ridiculous title,” he said. “How do you turn down an opportunity like that? It was just a goof.” In addition, Picardo has “a few other projects in the wind that I can’t talk about yet, including one that’s down to me and one other guy, so fingers crossed for that one.” In addition, Picardo can be seen in Monster Wolf, which premieres October 9 on Syfy. In Monster Wolf, “I am not the title character, but rather a very arrogant, aggressive oil tycoon who gets his comeuppance, brutally,” Picardo explained.
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