Robert Picardo Apperication Thread

[Lighthammer]

In conversing in other threads, I've mentioned that I think Robert Picardo, throughout Voyager, has demonstrated himself to be potentially one of the most diverse actors potentially in all of trek. He certainly is a contender for the "nomination", but in terms of Voyager, I think the writers certainly gave him the ability to absolutely flourish as an actor and that most certainly is contrasted on screen as we see him evolve over the seasons.

There are several landmark episodes I think really drive home his talent as an actor:

Heroes and Demons (S01E12) - This is the first episode I feel we really start to get a hint of the potential of Robert Picardo as an actor. Over the course of this single episode, we watch his character evolve and flourish on screen.

Projections (S02E03) - In this episode we watch as The Doctor struggles with what reality is to him. Contrasting to other characters who we've seen go threw this fight on screen such as "Remember Me" (TNG S04E05), "Distant Voices" (DS9 S03E18) or "Doctor's Orders" (ENT S03E16), Picardo commanded the role. Ironically each of these instances show cases the doctor from the series but I think Picardo is objectively the clear winner with Billingsley being a close second. I won't deny a lot of the great potential for this sort of story came from masterful scripting, however.

Alter Ego (S03E14) - This episode clearly illustrated Picardos ability to jump into wide ranges of personalities and illustrated a grand command of persona. Everytime I rewatch this episode, I'm reminded how deeply Picardo can pull off the range of these parts.

Message in a Bottle (S04E14) - I personally find this to be one the series best episodes and a lot of comes down the execution of Picardo's character and the illustration of his character's adaptability in a tough situations.

Living Witness (S04E23) - This episode was nominated for an emmay sheerly because of Picardo's acting in it (I don't recall nor can find if it got it, so I am kind of forced to believe it didn't get it). Picardo's character fought so terribly hard for the honor of his ship mates you felt an absolute sympathy for his situation.

Renaissance Man (S07E24) - I'll jump ahead to this one to keep the post a little on the shorter side. Though I'd concede that a lot of this episode comes down to writing for the character over writing for the actor, this episode was such an awesome second to last episode. Looking back at all the other series, only Enterprise has a more memorable second to last episode.

Looking back on the totality of the episodes that Picardo really made shine and the episodes that he headlined and turned into grade AAA episodes, often times I'm all but forced to consider him as the most important actor of the series as a whole, after you take everything else into account. That's not to say other characters / actors didn't shine in the series, but I feel he might be the character that really made the series work.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

OH Mr. Picardo how I love your shiny pate!

OH Mr. Picardo won't you be my photonic date?

OH Mr. Picardo on you no one could hate..

for.. OH Mr. Picardo with VOY fans you highly rate!


There. That's my appreciation of Mr. Picardo for the evening. I might get around to appreciating him some more tomorrow.

 

[KaraBear]

I've seen him in person several times, such a great guy. I saw him in a musical he was in and it was amazing

 

[Lighthammer]

I think there's honestly a good reason he has tended to show case a lot of the trek specials over the years --- he actually does present them well.

From what I've read about him in person, he comes off pretty humble in person too, is that what you felt KaraBear?

 

[KaraBear]

oh yes, he was one of the nicest people. We saw him at a non trek event, a play he was in. We hung around afterwards in hope that he might come out and we could say a few words t him. We found out that he wasn't going to come out and we were about to leave when we overheard a group of women talking about waiting for their good friend bob picardo. well we snuck over and causally started talking to them, when he came out he offered us an autograph, even dug through his own bag for a sharpie

 

[Lighthammer]

Its always neat to hear when series stars like this are actually really cool to their fans.

There's so many horror stories out there of actors being absolutely rude to the fans or other assets of the franchise, which just never seemed to be the case with Picardo.

 

[KaraBear]

I have to say I've met most of the Trek actors and they're all really nice.

 

[publiusr]

I always thought he was best described as a cross between Richard Belzer and Paul Finebaum
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sport...ow-return-espn-radio-wjox-birmingham/2641337/

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Robert Picardo is awesome!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

haha that's a fab picture Captain Kathryn!

 

[Captain Kathryn]

oh yes, he was one of the nicest people. We saw him at a non trek event, a play he was in. We hung around afterwards in hope that he might come out and we could say a few words t him. We found out that he wasn't going to come out and we were about to leave when we overheard a group of women talking about waiting for their good friend bob picardo. well we snuck over and causally started talking to them, when he came out he offered us an autograph, even dug through his own bag for a sharpie

I don't think I have ever heard a bad fan experience with Robert Picardo. He seems really sweet and nice on his Facebook, Twitter, etc...and all of the fans I know that have met him all seem to think so as well.

 

[Lighthammer]

Robert Picardo is awesome!

Whoa, this almost makes me wanna put my photoshop cap on and do some work myself.

Nicely done!

oh yes, he was one of the nicest people. We saw him at a non trek event, a play he was in. We hung around afterwards in hope that he might come out and we could say a few words t him. We found out that he wasn't going to come out and we were about to leave when we overheard a group of women talking about waiting for their good friend bob picardo. well we snuck over and causally started talking to them, when he came out he offered us an autograph, even dug through his own bag for a sharpie

I don't think I have ever heard a bad fan experience with Robert Picardo. He seems really sweet and nice on his Facebook, Twitter, etc...and all of the fans I know that have met him all seem to think so as well.

You know, I was watching the recent Renegades spotlight with many of the stars from Voyager. Picardo and Russ were both there and Picardo was absolutely fun during that Q&A.

I do have to say, one of the things I've always found fun about Picardo is he actually has a pretty strong grasp of a wide range of topics (almost like a true Renaissance man, making the second to last episode very aptly named) and it always struct me as really awesome when he challenged the writers, producers and directors to get techy terms where he was involved correct.

Comparing to other actors who played doctors and engineers, the only other actors in Trek who seemed to care about this stuff were Brent Spinner and Colm Meanly and Colm himself tended to try to play specific techy terms. Brent was the only other one who strived to make sure they were accurate (at least in terms of actors).

We all know this ended up being Diana Muldaur's biggest problem =(.

 

[Captain Kathryn]

^^Brent Spiner is another one who I have rarely, if ever, heard negative fan comments about. From what I have heard, he is also quite fond of his fans and the genre.

 

[KaraBear]

^^Brent Spiner is another one who I have rarely, if ever, heard negative fan comments about. From what I have heard, he is also quite fond of his fans and the genre.

with the exception of one actor, what I love about the Trek actors is how much they love their fans, how grateful they are. They realize that we're the reason they have their fame, their careers. I saw Marina Sirtis on stage once and she actually said something along the lines of "thank you for keeping me working, thank you for my car, my house..."

they get it.

We saw Magel a few weeks before she passed. She had to leave early because she wasn't feeling well. when we learned she had passed away my husband and I both looked at each other and said the same thing. wow she must have been REALLY been not feeling well but she still made the effort to be there for her fans.

 

[Lighthammer]

Sirtis I've seen a lot on conventions. For some reason her and Dorn always seemed to find time to go East Coast conventions so they showed up a lot at them. Both were always fun. I've seen each at no less then 4 conventions a piece.

Brent Spiner is one I feel like I had the privilege of seeing on stage. He did a stand up comedy routine that I remember had everyone roaring, but I was far too young to remember anything else about it. He was EASILY the funnest actor I've gotten to see at a convention.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Well I got some negs about Spiner, suffice to say he put me off so much I didn't bother with an autograph.

LOVED Picardo, he came out on stage, set down some speakers and launched into his "Tuvok I understand.." song. It was gold. And he was funny and kind and nice and lovely when we had photos.

 

[KaraBear]

Sirtis I've seen a lot on conventions. For some reason her and Dorn always seemed to find time to go East Coast conventions so they showed up a lot at them. Both were always fun. I've seen each at no less then 4 conventions a piece.

Brent Spiner is one I feel like I had the privilege of seeing on stage. He did a stand up comedy routine that I remember had everyone roaring, but I was far too young to remember anything else about it. He was EASILY the funnest actor I've gotten to see at a convention.

yes, I've seen him a few times and it always seems like he's mainly going for a laugh. He'll tell a joke rather than answer a question, but it's still very fun

the BEST is when he's at a convention that Patrick Stewart is at. When Sir Stewart is on stage, Brent will sneak onto the question line and when it gets to him he uses this nasal voice and acts like someone asking rediculous questions, so funny!

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Well I got some negs about Spiner, suffice to say he put me off so much I didn't bother with an autograph.

LOVED Picardo, he came out on stage, set down some speakers and launched into his "Tuvok I understand.." song. It was gold. And he was funny and kind and nice and lovely when we had photos.

HAHA HE SANG THE SONG? That's great!

And yeah I have never...ever...heard anyone say that they met him and that he wasn't awesome. Everyone always agrees he is great.

 

[Lighthammer]

Well I got some negs about Spiner, suffice to say he put me off so much I didn't bother with an autograph.

LOVED Picardo, he came out on stage, set down some speakers and launched into his "Tuvok I understand.." song. It was gold. And he was funny and kind and nice and lovely when we had photos.

Huh, what negative things did you hear about Spiner? He's always one I've heard from others as a must see at conventions.

Many of the Trek actors are neat to see, but few actually garner that "Must see" because of sheer awesomeness in their presentation. I certainly think everything I've heard about Picardo makes me think he's a must see on stage (especially the conventions I've seen him at on Youtube).

Most the other actors? They get into some really interesting stories about happenings behind the scenes, but they don't entertain at the level of Picardo or Spiner. With some of the antics Wil Wheaton has been involved in lately (IE Denver Comic Con and the Flash Mob Dr. Who Incident), its almost hard to want to miss a convention he's attending too.

There's probably others who fit into that category, but none spring to mind.

LeVar Burton I will say is always a great convention to take kids to. He goes way out of his way to do something special for the kids.

Frakes is a better conversationalist by a long stretch. Conventions just never do him justice. One summer back around the time I was going into college (around 2000), he conducted a 3 day seminar at PSU (his almatar) discussing the future of science. That was a fun, fun, fun event and not terribly expensive either, especially for what you got. Though Star Trek wasn't the main topic, it came up a lot, but only in the nerdiest ways possible and it was great =). He talked a lot about how Star Trek tried to act as a bridge for modern science and education and where some of the theories came from.

 

[KaraBear]

Well I got some negs about Spiner, suffice to say he put me off so much I didn't bother with an autograph.

LOVED Picardo, he came out on stage, set down some speakers and launched into his "Tuvok I understand.." song. It was gold. And he was funny and kind and nice and lovely when we had photos.

Huh, what negative things did you hear about Spiner? He's always one I've heard from others as a must see at conventions.

Many of the Trek actors are neat to see, but few actually garner that "Must see" because of sheer awesomeness in their presentation. I certainly think everything I've heard about Picardo makes me think he's a must see on stage (especially the conventions I've seen him at on Youtube).

Most the other actors? They get into some really interesting stories about happenings behind the scenes, but they don't entertain at the level of Picardo or Spiner. With some of the antics Wil Wheaton has been involved in lately (IE Denver Comic Con and the Flash Mob Dr. Who Incident), its almost hard to want to miss a convention he's attending too.

There's probably others who fit into that category, but none spring to mind.

LeVar Burton I will say is always a great convention to take kids to. He goes way out of his way to do something special for the kids.

Frakes is a better conversationalist by a long stretch. Conventions just never do him justice. One summer back around the time I was going into college (around 2000), he conducted a 3 day seminar at PSU (his almatar) discussing the future of science. That was a fun, fun, fun event and not terribly expensive either, especially for what you got. Though Star Trek wasn't the main topic, it came up a lot, but only in the nerdiest ways possible and it was great =). He talked a lot about how Star Trek tried to act as a bridge for modern science and education and where some of the theories came from.

There are a few actors that on their own are not that great, Avery Brooks I never cared for on stage, and Cirroc Lofton was pretty bad. Not a huge fan of Chase Masterson on stage either. The one time I saw Beltran on stage I didn't care for him, he was pretty insulting to the show and even to the fans. The abslute worst person on stage that I ever saw was Jennifer Lien. Cons won't even bok her for stage time any more. She sat very quietly an barely gave one or two word answers to quesions.

I was very pleasantly surpised by....drawing a blank on the name, but NOG. He was the last guy on stage at one con and we were thinking about skipping him and getting a start on our 6 hour drive home, but we decided to stay and watch him and he was GREAT! funny, lively and very entertaining