Robb Pearlman - The Star Trek Book of Friendship: You Have Been, and Always Shall Be, My Friend

Contents

To:

From:

Stardate:

TM & 2021 CBS Studios Inc. 2022 PPC. Star Trek and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Smart Pop is an imprint of BenBella Books, Inc.

10440 N. Central Expressway, Suite 800

Dallas, TX 75231

smartpopbooks.com

benbellabooks.com

Send feedback to

BenBella and Smart Pop are federally registered trademarks.

First E-Book Edition: May 2022

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021040578

ISBN 9781637740514 (hardcover)

ISBN 9781637740521 (electronic)

Editing by Vy Tran

Copyediting by Athena Lakri

Text design and composition by Aaron Edmiston

Cover design by Brigid Pearson

Special discounts for bulk sales are available. Please contact .

Contents

Robert: Please state the nature of your emergency.

Ethan: We need to talk about Star Trek, friendship, and our friendship.

R: Thats not an emergency.

E: They said we were on a deadline.

R: Well, its always a thrill when I get to speak to you, my good friend.

E: I love seeing you, too. Although I am going a little bit blind from the glare. You usually wear a hat.

R: As if you have any right to make bald jokes. Ive often said that if you put me in a dryer for forty-five minutes, you get Ethan Phillips.

E: Ive said that, too. Friends can do that. You know, a lot of people may not realize we actually were friends before I was ever Neelix and you were The Doctor.

R: Yes, I distinctly remember meeting you that first time, in the late 1970s. We were both at a party and someone said, Oh, you two should definitely meet. I forget who said it, but we were in a kitchen, I remember that much. And they were right!

E: Id loved watching you perform through the years. I saw you play a vampire in The Howling. You said, Im going to give you a piece of my mind, and pulled a thing out of your head. I remember sitting in the audience and thinking, This guy is incredible!

R: I was a werewolf, actually, but thank you. There were many, many times when we were up for the same jobs. I think, in the end, we each got around the same number of roles, but I stopped keeping track.

E: Oh, Ive got all the data on an old computer. But we did get to work together, too. Prior to Star Trek we were both in a movie called Wagons East. And there was a part I had my eye on. I asked if I could read for that and they said, Oh, weve already got someone. I asked who and, of course, they said, Bob Picardo. Real nice! But years before that, when I wrote the play Penguin Blues, you helped me out by doing the first reading. It took a great casting director to point out the obvious, that you knew my rhythms and sensibilities. The play went on to be a real success, and Ill never forget that.

R: Do you remember what happened when they wanted to bring in two new characters on the second season of Benson? You landed the part of the enthusiastic and maybe a little bumbly press secretary, and our dearly missed Star Trek friend, the late Ren Auberjonois, was perfectly cast as the arch, cranky chief of staff. But who did they test for both roles? Me! I canceled myself out as being somewhere between exuberant and fussy. We both read for the Coen Brothers for your role in Inside Llewyn Davis, too. That one went down to the wire.

E: And when I got the part you called me and were so genuinely thrilled for me. So few actors would ever do that, really. I mean, when the Coens later cast you in Hail, Caesar! I was so steamed I wasnt up for that part! Im joking, Im joking.

R: You know, when I first read for The Doctor, he had a total of nine lines and was described as colorless, humorless, a computer program of a doctor. This did not sound like a bucket of fun, so I said I wanted to read for Neelix, which was much more amusing to me. I tested for the part but didnt get, never knowing who else was up for it.

E: I read for Neelix first, then they asked me to try The Doctor. So we were being juggled again.

R: Ill never forget how, right after I booked the role of The Doctor, I was in discussion to play two gangster brothers in the film The Phantom. I knew I wouldnt have time to do both parts because of Voyagers shooting schedule. I wanted to go to the producers with a solution, so I said, Why not have Ethan Phillips for the larger role? That was when I learned you couldnt do it because you had just signed on to a new Star Trek show. Wait a minute! Ethans on that? Im on that!

E: Thats just one example of how generous a friend youve always been. So even though neither of us were cast in that movie, we got to hang out for seven years!

R: There were a lot of fun people in that Voyager cast, but you were always the best joke teller. Every day, somehow, you had a new one.

E: But then you did that thing where you would try to fix my jokes. Youd switch a word and intentionally ruin it. It drove me nuts!

R: Maybe I did it to balance out how Neelix always got on The Doctors nerves. But the truth is, off set and off stage, were not like that too much. I think were more warm, more supportive of each other than our characters ever were. Whenever Ive gone through a hard time, youve been there for me.

E: Yes, but dont tell too many people that. Its more fun if they think were lobbing light insults at each other all day. So much fun. I have to say, though, that time and time again, Star Trek proves itself to be unlike anything else. It can be such a catalyst for bonding between people. Ive known people who have met through a shared love of Star Trek, then you see them again years later and they have three kids. Its extraordinary.

R: Star Trek, as the hopeful entertainment that it is, tends to attract an optimistic and positive audience. It becomes a shorthand for people when they meet for the first time. When fans meet other fans and have Star Trek in common, they can leap beyond typical icebreakers to form a friendship. At its best it jumps across all age groups and ethnicities. Its really about shared ideas.