www_prowrestlingdaily_com: Tim, what are your thoughts about the new Enterprise series?
emusic_guest: Well, I'm curious as to what people thought about the new series.
emusic_guest: It's consistent with what they've donein the past
emusic_guest: Withing the Trek franchise/evelope.
emusic_guest: They didn't make it different from the others, so far.
emusic_guest: The concept really alows a great deal of freedom in the storytelling realm.
emusic_guest: And also opportunity for the characters to be even bolder and some cases make even more explorations.
emusic_guest: The exploration is more "pure," as they're right at the beginning.
emusic_guest: It's ideal for a brand new series.

www_prowrestlingdaily_com: Tim, in your opinion, what were the differences & similarities between Voyager, Deep Space 9,The Next Generation, Enterprise & the original series?
emusic_guest: That's a big question!
emusic_guest: I'll try to do something brief.
emusic_guest: TOS: took place in the Federation and introduced us to that world.
emusic_guest: Next Gen: Went beyond the world of the Federation and also charted unexplored phenomenon/space.
emusic_guest: DS9: Darker, edgier, and allowed us to explore a different quadrant of the galaxy--the wormhole.
emusic_guest: Voyager: Completely different in that we, as only one ship, were not tethered to the Federation.
emusic_guest: And it allowed us to explore yet another quaderant of the galaxy.
emusic_guest: But tells the story from before the Federation existed.
emusic_guest: These are four very distinct shows.

www_prowrestlingdaily_com: Tim, were you a Star Trek fan before you became a cast member? If so, what is your favorite series?
emusic_guest: Hmm...favorite shows...?
emusic_guest: I watched the original series from time to time.
emusic_guest: It was in syndication, of course.
emusic_guest: I don't really have a favorite episode I can think of.
emusic_guest: They're all very different, each one with a different message.

shade0357: I've seen some video clips of some funny things you've done on the set in a scene. Could you please tell me what one of your most memorable pranks of yours is?
emusic_guest: (laughs)
emusic_guest: Here's one I can actually say in public!
emusic_guest: One time I got a hold of Ethan Phillips.

emusic_guest: In a scene we're supposed to just react to something that's happening.
emusic_guest: It's the "pan far" episode, with the doctor.
emusic_guest: I jumped into the scene while he was doing his reaction.
emusic_guest: I grabbed him and pretended to have sex with him, right there on the camera!
emusic_guest: Very unVulcanlike.
emusic_guest: Broke everyone up for about 10 minutes.
emusic_guest: (laughs)

intoxicated_psycho_chick: Are those all-in-one uniforms comfortable?
emusic_guest: No.
emusic_guest: They are not.
emusic_guest: If I could get out ofmine, I did.
emusic_guest: Others had no problem with them, I did.
emusic_guest: Could have been worse, but I did not like them at all.

prehensile_plant: Do you have any tips for Jolene Blalock, who plays T'Pol, the latest Star Trek actor to wear the Vulcan ears?
emusic_guest: The only tip I'd have had was to watch the prior shows and other Vulcan characters.
emusic_guest: There are at least by now three or four of us that are main characters. And a female on the feature film.
emusic_guest: It *is* beholden to the writers to some degree, of course.
emusic_guest: And sometimes they will push the envelope with character behavior.

rchs_stu: After the show offically ended did everyone get to take their fav items home ex: pieces of the set, costumes, etc.
emusic_guest: Oh yeah.
emusic_guest: We got little pieces on the way out, sure, absolutely.
emusic_guest: Piles of trash everywhere.
emusic_guest: Everyone grabbed a little something.
emusic_guest: The console.
emusic_guest: Sick bay.
emusic_guest: We all got a little piece of the ship.

thinkaboutgod: are you looking for more work within the Trek venue or are you looking for a different kind of subject matter?
emusic_guest: I'm looking to write or produce my own projects.
emusic_guest: That's my goal right now, for the next year.
emusic_guest: Whatever level it may be.
emusic_guest: Do my own projects.

marianausch: Hi Tim. How are your negotiations with networks going regarding your own projects, the "Metal-Wars" (a.k.a. Robots - Untouchables) and the Sci-Fi/Western project?
emusic_guest: Those are the projects I'm working on!

emusic_guest: Sci-Fi Western
emusic_guest: Robots Untouchables
emusic_guest: Working on those right now with other people.
emusic_guest: They're coming along very well!
emusic_guest: We are just right now presenting them to the networks and syndication stations.

tigga77de: Tim, will you be in Bonn/Germany next year again? We all just *loved* your concert last year :-)
emusic_guest: I loved playing that concert! Fantastic.
emusic_guest: One of the best ones I've done.
emusic_guest: I have not been invited (as of yet) to Bonn.
emusic_guest: I've been there two or three times.
emusic_guest: So there's a good chance I won't be there next year.
emusic_guest: Having done it three times already...
emusic_guest: Hopefully the next couple of years I'll be back in there.

shade0357: In the game StarTrek Voyager:Elite Force what was your involvement with Raven Software when you were doing the voices for them? Also have you gotten a chance to play the game yet, and what do you think about it and the portrail of you?
emusic_guest: I had involvement with the game Elite Force...I think...
emusic_guest: My primary input was the character voice.
emusic_guest: I had nothing to do with the story.
emusic_guest: The game itself is amazing.
emusic_guest: That game sold a staggering amount of units.
emusic_guest: All around the world!
emusic_guest: It's just amazing. I think it looks great.
emusic_guest: Lot of fun to watch your character portrayed in this game in animated form.
emusic_guest: And to play it with your own hands--very bizzaire.
emusic_guest: It's cool, it's very cool.

asailorboyuk: Does everyone look really different without their masks and makeup on?
emusic_guest: Definitely Ethan Philips.
emusic_guest: You'd not recognize him.
emusic_guest: Roxanne's you'd not recognize.
emusic_guest: Amazing enough, Kate Mulgrew isn't as easily identifiable out of costume.
emusic_guest: She tells me she doesn't get recognized as much as you might think.
emusic_guest: I've no idea about the public.
emusic_guest: Roxanne Dawson and Ethan Phillips are the big ones.

gizmoabby10: How was the Trek celebration in Las Vegas?
emusic_guest: The show in Las Vegas was pretty big.
emusic_guest: There were quite a few people.

emusic_guest: There were quite a few guests, I might add.
emusic_guest: Given the fact that it was a big show itself.
emusic_guest: It had a few organizational problems,
emusic_guest: which is to be expected when you have that many guests, each with their own demands.
emusic_guest: Ultimately went off when it was supposed to
emusic_guest: And we played a concert there, it was very good.
emusic_guest: Fabulous, I was quite happy with it.
emusic_guest: 45 guests were there, after all!
emusic_guest: That's a huge,huge show.
emusic_guest: Coordinating that must have been hard.

gizmoabby10: What's your take on the Sept. 11 attack and the US response and how we do you htink it will affect the Universe of Star Trek?
emusic_guest: I'll bet you you'll end up seeing the latest stories within the ST episodes dealing with it.
emusic_guest: The history of Star Trek has always been to hold up a mirror to our society.
emusic_guest: There's definitely going to be some kind of episode about this.
emusic_guest: As far as the actual events...
emusic_guest: It was a major wake-up call, a rather rude introduction to the new century,
emusic_guest: And I think the beginning of a change of lifestyle for all of us.
emusic_guest: We will be looking over our shoulders for some years to come.
emusic_guest: That will be the new conflict for us--for us something very new.
emusic_guest: And I think that it's a very difficult, complicated, long-term problem they are going to have to solve.
emusic_guest: And I have to agree with the fact that we have to go on doing what we have been doing with our lives,
emusic_guest: Just as civilian populations of prior wars have tried to do.
emusic_guest: You have to be strong and you have to move on.
emusic_guest: And with any luck at all,
emusic_guest: Within a certain amount of time, this will pass.

gizmoabby10: What was it like working with Jeri Ryan? Do you still have contact with her?
emusic_guest: We, as a cast, generally have very little contact wiht eachother outside the show.
emusic_guest: Almost none, for the most part.
emusic_guest: Except for special events, etc.
emusic_guest: Working with her was like working with any of the other actors.
emusic_guest: Took her a little longer to get ready because of her costume.

emusic_guest: Outside of that, just like working with anyone else.
emusic_guest: Very pleasant.
emusic_guest: Sense of humor.
emusic_guest: Almost always had her dialog down.
emusic_guest: Very good.

gizmoabby10: Where can you find your new album? I heard it will be available on EMusic.
emusic_guest: As far as I know Kushan Gaza, African for the word "amazing," will be available through EMusic.
emusic_guest: Here's the URL:
www.emusic.com/albums/29730/

laura_the_street: Will you be in the next StarTrek movie-- Nemesis?
emusic_guest: No, not as of today.
emusic_guest: But that film hasn't started shooting yet,
emusic_guest: So that could change.
emusic_guest: Depending upon what the story is, there's a possibility to do a cameo.
emusic_guest: It's entirely up to the producers and their whim.
emusic_guest: They'll probably bring in at least one or two from the show.
emusic_guest: Because they probably can and it's fun!
emusic_guest: It takes place when I'm around (Tuvak, the character), since we returned home, I'm around.
emusic_guest: It's possible I could be myself there.

rchs_stu: Did Tuvoc have a last name?
emusic_guest: (test 4)
emusic_guest: (test 14
emusic_guest: It's a lineage name, to the best of my knowledge.
emusic_guest: Never dealt with it in the series.
emusic_guest: (Folks, this is the typist. We're having some problems with Netscape, but this chat is working fine with IE explorer.)
emusic_guest: (Meantime, please visit www.emusic.com/promo/startrek/yahoo to get great star Treck MP3s and more at EMusic.com.
emusic_guest: (Okay, I think we're back, thanks for your patience!)
emusic_guest: (Q: Time, how do you feel about digital music and the technological application of digital music?)
emusic_guest: (Downloading, etc.)
emusic_guest: With the advent of the internet, it's a communications revolution, all the way around.
emusic_guest: It's such a new age.
emusic_guest: Being able to link us, as human beings, instantly, from one end of the planet to the other.
emusic_guest: And since music is an international language to begin with,
emusic_guest: It's inevitable that this medium is going to give everyone an opportunity to enjoy it,
emusic_guest: Decently, quickly, and efficiently.

emusic_guest: It's letting individuals get their music out there, without dealing with an expensive record label.
emusic_guest: As far as an artist who's material has been produced at theirn own cost, I think it...
emusic_guest: I think it's important to work in a "failsafe" so the artist is worked in.
emusic_guest: EMusic does that, of course.
emusic_host: we're getting read to wrap things up with Tom, final questions!
emusic_guest: It's important that music be an open forum, but compensation is how music is made.
emusic_guest: From a comercial standpoint, there are middle grounds, like EMusic's subscription service, as I understand it.

uranium_glow: Tim do you miss not wearing the ears?
emusic_guest: Nope.
emusic_guest: I did it for seven years, those ears.
emusic_guest: It's time for all of us to move on, from those ears.
emusic_guest: From a business standpoint, it was a very lucrative job, from a creative standpoint it was somewhat sifling.
emusic_guest: We have to deal with the writers, and you have to be consistent with the character, soyou're stuck doing the same thing...
emusic_guest: For a long long peroid of time.
emusic_guest: It's hard to do things outside the show,
emusic_guest: Because you're under obligation.

prehensile_plant: What are your thoughts on Robert Beltran's very frank and open critism of the show and its writers?
emusic_guest: (Note: please get great Star Trek content at EMusic, at www.emusic.com/trek!)
emusic_guest: Robert Beltram is a very well read and versed classical actor.
emusic_guest: That is his love.
emusic_guest: I think he was not very happy with what they did with his character, here and there, throughout the series.
emusic_guest: And again, we actors do not have control over storylines,
emusic_guest: or in some cases the characterization.
emusic_guest: That can be very frustrating at times.
emusic_guest: Very frustrating.
emusic_guest: All of us at one time or another had unhappy moments and episodes of the show, for that reason.
emusic_guest: I went to battle many times for storylines and characterizations. Some won, some lost.
emusic_guest: At the end of the day, we are obligated, we are HIRED, to perform parts.
emusic_guest: We are actors on a project.
emusic_guest: Until you are the writer/producer of the show, you can't get around that.
emusic_guest: Robert is not going to be running for politics any time soon! (laughs)

emusic_guest: He's very frank and direct with how he feels,
emusic_guest: And I think he was ready to move on to other things.

gizmoabby10: Were you pleased with the serie's finale, which many fans opinions lacked emotional punch due to a quick wrap?
emusic_guest: I thought it was a veyr different, unexpected approach,
emusic_guest: to the end of a show.
emusic_guest: And that's typical for the writers.
emusic_guest: They're not going to do what you expect them to do.
emusic_guest: They're not going to give it to you just because everyone expects what will happen.
emusic_guest: I think that the end, the show is entirely set up by and for the Captain,
emusic_guest: And her main goal is getting them home.
emusic_guest: The Captain's final moments on that bridge...
emusic_guest: Again, based on the circumstances of her knowledge of having sacrificed herself to get the ship back sooner...
emusic_guest: Now I can't imagine what that must be like,
emusic_guest: That relationship she must have had with herself as the older captain.
emusic_guest: Created a sort of melancholy, muted emotional feeling.
emusic_guest: Like waking up out of a dream, unsure where you are,
emusic_guest: Unsure if the dream is even over...
emusic_guest: And the anticlimactic point, when she sits down to take it in, is, I think, appropriate.
emusic_guest: It's pricisely what you would NOT expect, however.
emusic_guest: I'm sure Katie was on that page, with that ending.
emusic_guest: She had a lot to do with that, as an actress.
emusic_guest: It was more her than the writers, I think.
emusic_guest: That's what you might feel, at that time.
emusic_guest: This is before the ship got there, of course.
emusic_guest: The celebration is shown at the beginning, so it doesn't happen at the end.
emusic_guest: This is the moment BEFORE we get there.
emusic_guest: (We're on hold, so please visit www.emusic.com/promo/startrek/yahoo to get great MP3s of Star Trek music.
emusic_guest: (You can get Tim's new album "Kushangaza" at www.emusic.com/albums/28730)
emusic_guest: (We'll be back with Tim Russ in just a moment!)
emusic_guest: (And we're back with Tim!)
emusic_guest: Again, a perfect example of the unexpected.
emusic_guest: NOBODY expected Tuvak to end up in that condition, in the A scenario.
emusic_guest: Totally surprising.
emusic_guest: But I was grateful, as an actor, to play something different with him,
emusic_guest: So for me it was great, a wonderful challenge.
emusic_guest: From an inside point, the scene in the hospital room,
emusic_guest: That scene was not written that way.
emusic_guest: It was blocked differently.
emusic_guest: We, the camera man and the director and actor, did the whole thing on our feet in one shot.
emusic_guest: Making it very eccentric.
emusic_guest: We shot it three or four times, without blocking, until we got it.
emusic_guest: Completely 'from the hip,' off the cuff, and it worked out very powerfully.
emusic_guest: So I loved that aspect of what happened to Tuvak. IT was not expected.
emusic_guest: But it was consistent with the story, and only in the event of our returning so much longer after.
emusic_guest: Any opporutnity I had to do something other than the usual was a great liberating thing for me.
emusic_guest: This particular character can't even play average emotions, of course.
emusic_guest: Can't laugh.
emusic_guest: Can't cry.
emusic_guest: Can't express any kind of emotions, because you're not that kind of character.
emusic_guest: So you're even more contained, as an actor, less notes you can play.
emusic_guest: So the madness scenes were truly liberating.
emusic_guest: (Q: How does being part of a series with such an optimistic view of the future affect your own views?)
emusic_guest: I keep in perspective that this particular show takes place several HUNDRED years into the future.
emusic_guest: Look how far we've come, culturally, socially, in the past 100 alone.
emusic_guest: I think Darwin's theory of evolution will take hold, and in every aspect of our world we will evolve.
emusic_guest: Our salvation, more than likely, will lie, more than likely, in space travel, as a human race.
emusic_guest: We have to continue to explore and we will continue to explore, and that will change a lot of the way we live our lives.
emusic_guest: Whether it looks like Star Trek or not, no one can say.
emusic_guest: But it will be very different from what it is now.
emusic_host: Thank you very much Tim. We've truly enjoyed your time with us today.
emusic_guest: (Thank you to Tim Russ, the folks at Yahoo and EMusic for this chat!)
emusic_guest: You're welcome.
emusic_guest: From an EMusic standpoint, I don't know what the next project is going to be, but we'll keep our eyes open!
emusic_guest: Playing is what I like to do!
emusic_guest: So look for me to be playing on stage a lot more!
emusic_guest: (Tim Russ has left, but thanks to all you folks for your questions! Please visit EMusic at www.emusic.com/promo/startrek/yahoo to get great MP3s of Star Trek music!