By Chris Snellgrove
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Pop quiz, Star Trek nerds: who’s your favourite character from The Subsequent Era? There are many potential solutions on the market: the suave and complicated Picard, the debonair and dashing Riker, the quirky-but-brilliant Knowledge, and so forth. Few followers would decide minor character Barclay, nevertheless it seems that he nearly turned some of the essential characters in all of Star Trek.
You see, Dwight Schultz reprised his Barclay position in Star Trek: Voyagerstarting with the episode “Projections.” That episode closely featured Robert Picardo’s fan-favorite Physician character, and Picardo spent a major period of time performing alongside Schultz. The 2 had such wonderful chemistry collectively, inflicting episode author Brannon Braga to offer them the very best reward potential. Specifically, he prompt that Picardo and Schultz ought to headline their very own Star Trek spinoff collection.
From Deflectors To Projectors
In case you don’t have a holodeck helpful, right here’s a fast recap of “Projections:” after Voyager will get attacked by the Kazon, the Physician should are inclined to the accidents of the crew. Nevertheless, he quickly discovers that he has accidents of his personal, one thing that ought to be unattainable as a result of he’s a hologram relatively than flesh and blood. He’s made to imagine that he’s the human creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram, Lewis Zimmerman, which is corroborated by Reginald Barclay. The previous TNG supporting character claims the Physician should destroy the ship to flee this program, however he ultimately learns that doing so may very well get him killed.
Whereas followers typically favored Dwight Schultz on The Subsequent Erahe performed a really minor character, and he didn’t have significantly nice chemistry with anybody. Nevertheless, a number of huge names who labored on Voyager’s “Projections” remarked that he had completely wonderful chemistry with Robert Picardo. No person was extra impressed by the 2 of them than episode author Brannon Braga, who remarked (as recorded in Captains’ Logs Supplemental – The Unauthorized Information to the New Trek Voyages) that “These two have been so good collectively they need to have a spin-off collection.”
Moreover, “Projections” was directed by The Subsequent Era star Jonathan Frakes, who did such a superb job that this episode helped him land the gig to direct Star Trek: First Contact. Concerning the onscreen chemistry between Picardo and Schultz, the Riker actor didn’t mince phrases. He claimed (as recorded in Star Trek Communicator) that the 2 “have been good collectively.”
The Final Tachyon Teamup
After all, no one loved the expertise of Dwight Schultz’s Voyager cameo fairly as a lot as Robert Picardo. In an interview with Star Trek Month-to-monththe actor claimed that he and Schultz “knew a variety of the identical individuals in New York Metropolis, spent a variety of time doing foolish voices and cracked one another up on the set.” After they weren’t actively taking pictures, the 2 of them “simply reminisced about our pasts in New York Metropolis and talked in regards to the theater, which is what stage-trained actors are inclined to do after they get collectively.” Picardo would later gush that, because of Schultz’s presence, taking pictures “Projections” felt like one huge get together.
Clearly, a Physician/Barclay spinoff collection by no means materialized, nevertheless it’s not exhausting to see why Brannon Braga wished to make it so. These two have been so nice in “Projections” that they impressed nearly everybody, together with Jonathan Frakesthe best director the franchise has ever recognized. Whereas he didn’t get to co-headline his personal spinoff collection, Schultz received the final word comfort prize: intensive cameos within the last two seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.