Randy James

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[00:00:44] Welcome back, listeners of the BIG Sci-Fi Podcast. It's Adina here, joined by my fantastic co-hosts, Brian, Chris, and Steve.

[00:00:53] Today, we're thrilled to have a very special guest with us.

[00:00:56] But first, a quick reminder.

[00:00:58] If you love our show, please share it with all your sci-fi enthusiast friends and family.

[00:01:04] And why not join our Facebook group, the BIG Sci-Fi Podcast group?

[00:01:08] It's a great place to interact with us, and every Tuesday, I whip up a fun new poll for everyone to enjoy, like our recent one.

[00:01:16] Imagine picking any job in the sci-fi universe.

[00:01:20] What would it be?

[00:01:21] For instance, picture this.

[00:01:24] It's Star Trek, Next Generation, Season 2.

[00:01:27] It's 10 forward.

[00:01:29] Riker is there, enjoying his Klingon gawk.

[00:01:33] Dr. Pulaski is there, and then in comes Picard.

[00:01:36] Picard and Pulaski are questioning Riker's choice of cuisine.

[00:01:39] It's Klingon, by the way.

[00:01:41] And as they're in the middle of it, suddenly, your attention is drawn to some striking figure serving heaping plates of more Klingon cuisine.

[00:01:49] You think to yourself, I want that guy's job.

[00:01:53] I want to be that guy.

[00:01:54] This guy isn't just cool.

[00:01:55] He's everywhere, seamlessly, seamlessly fitting into different roles across various episodes in Star Trek and Deep Space Nine.

[00:02:04] Well, listeners, today we're excited to reveal that very man.

[00:02:07] He's Randy James, and he's here to share his unique stories and give us his personal perspective on the Star Trek universe.

[00:02:15] Hey, Randy.

[00:02:16] Welcome to the big sci-fi.

[00:02:18] Hey, how are you?

[00:02:19] Good to see you again.

[00:02:21] Do you like my opener?

[00:02:22] I love it.

[00:02:23] That's a great intro.

[00:02:25] That's true.

[00:02:26] Do people really want to be the waiter on Star Trek?

[00:02:29] Yeah, I guess, you know.

[00:02:31] It was good for me.

[00:02:34] And correct me if I'm wrong, that was your first on-screen episode.

[00:02:39] It was indeed.

[00:02:42] Yeah, the one where I served the gach was actually the third time I was a waiter on the show.

[00:02:47] But the first time, you never saw my face.

[00:02:51] The second time was just a real brief thing.

[00:02:54] And then that time was what we'd call a featured bit, which was a little bit nerve-wracking because I'm serving Klingon food to the three stars of the show.

[00:03:06] And I have to be very delicate and try not to make any noise when I set the plates and bowls down.

[00:03:16] I have so many questions.

[00:03:18] Everything from how did you wind up getting this gig to what was really in those plates and bowls pretending to be Klingon food?

[00:03:27] I need to know.

[00:03:28] Let me answer the second question first, but don't let me forget to answer the first one.

[00:03:35] On my tray were real food items, and I put food in quotes because neither you nor I would probably eat them.

[00:03:47] But they were not like plastic prop things.

[00:03:51] The gach that Jonathan was eating was actually fried cabbage.

[00:03:57] You know, he was not eating the live gach.

[00:04:00] He was eating the easier fried gach.

[00:04:02] Interesting.

[00:04:03] And he had a bucket next to his seat that he could spit that into.

[00:04:07] But on my tray, and I think they did do a close-up at one point, there was a small octopus.

[00:04:14] There was a sheep's eyeball.

[00:04:19] There was...

[00:04:22] Basically, the prop guys went out, and I don't know where, but they went kind of, let's get the grossest things we can find.

[00:04:29] So that's the first part of it.

[00:04:31] The second part of it is that after those things had been under the lights for two or three hours, they began to stink really, really bad.

[00:04:42] Oh, my.

[00:04:44] So that's the answer to the second part.

[00:04:47] The first part, how did I get...

[00:04:48] Maybe I shouldn't have asked that one.

[00:04:49] What's that?

[00:04:50] Maybe I shouldn't have asked that one.

[00:04:52] I don't know if I'm better off knowing.

[00:04:54] Why?

[00:04:54] It's ruined for you now?

[00:04:56] No, it's not ruined for me.

[00:04:57] But now I'm thinking of all the gross things that there are, like to eat or not eat, or I don't know.

[00:05:03] There's actually, you know, in fact, I put it on my page, but YouTube had that clip, just that scene.

[00:05:09] And I do believe there was a close-up of the yicky stuff on my plate.

[00:05:15] But so how did I get the gig?

[00:05:17] It's actually kind of funny because it was the 1980s, and people did not have cell phones yet.

[00:05:25] Period.

[00:05:26] I mean, unless you were really rich and had a car phone.

[00:05:30] Okay, so we did everything on real phones, and pagers were kind of a thing, but I don't think I even had that yet.

[00:05:38] At any rate, after I got laid off of an auto parts job I'd been at for a while, it was suggested to me that maybe I should do some extra work.

[00:05:50] And I had never really thought about that.

[00:05:52] I did move to L.A. to be an actor, but I'd been there seven years and had never been on a movie set.

[00:05:59] So I thought, well, that's kind of a good idea.

[00:06:01] So I started signing up with different casting agencies.

[00:06:06] Central casting is by far the biggest one, but they're also the hardest one to get into when you're new at it.

[00:06:14] At that time, there was – boy, I'm going tangential now – but we were all non-union.

[00:06:23] There was no extra – or excuse me, there was no union for extras at that time.

[00:06:28] There had been a Screen Extras Guild, which dissolved right about the time I started in 1988.

[00:06:35] And then for a good four years, there was no union coverage for extras.

[00:06:41] At any rate, so how you would get work was you would call the casting agencies.

[00:06:47] A lot of times, they would have a tape line that would tell you that they're looking for certain types and age groups, etc., etc., for whatever show it was.

[00:07:00] And I had been doing this for a while now, so I had worked my way into central casting.

[00:07:06] I knew one of the guys, Andy, who did – he cast both Next Generation and Cheers.

[00:07:14] And we'll get to that because Cheers was such a fun show to work.

[00:07:17] But at any rate, I was doing my calling one day, just trying to find a job.

[00:07:24] And Andy picked up the phone, and he started asking – he said, what are you doing right now?

[00:07:30] And I'm like, I'm talking to you on the phone, Andy.

[00:07:37] Anyway, he started asking me my sizes, my clothing sizes, my neck size, my pant size, this, that, and the other thing.

[00:07:45] Then he said, can you make it over to Paramount today for Star Trek tomorrow?

[00:07:53] And I'm like, yeah.

[00:07:57] So the reason I brought up the cell phone thing was because if we had them – well, the thing is, it turns out I was replacing somebody.

[00:08:05] They had made a waiter uniform for a guy.

[00:08:08] Elliot Durant was his name.

[00:08:10] By the way, he got to continue working on the show, so he didn't lose out.

[00:08:14] But at any rate, they'd made a costume for him, and because of no cell phones, they were not able to get a hold of him.

[00:08:19] And I fit the costume, and so I got the gig.

[00:08:23] And that's basically how –

[00:08:25] Wow.

[00:08:26] And it led to 11 years of Star Trek for me.

[00:08:31] That's fantastic.

[00:08:31] So then at that point, does that become like your full-time job?

[00:08:35] Because you said you had been working at auto parts and doing these things.

[00:08:38] Did this become your full-time – this is what you did from there on out?

[00:08:43] Yes, except one show would never support you the way it was when I was starting Next Gen.

[00:08:51] You know, I might work three days in a row on Next Gen and then not hear from them for several weeks, sometimes longer.

[00:08:58] In the meantime, I would be looking for other shows to do.

[00:09:02] And one of those shows was Cheers, which also was an Andy show, and it was also on the Paramount lot.

[00:09:10] So if you were in Andy's good graces and you had already proven yourself on Star Trek, you could work on Cheers.

[00:09:17] So you'll see a lot of Next Generation background folks sitting at the tables in Cheers.

[00:09:23] Oh, my.

[00:09:23] It was one of the most fun shows you could ever work.

[00:09:29] They were just a one-day show.

[00:09:31] I mean, they worked all week.

[00:09:33] They'd be rehearsing and doing everything, table reads and all that.

[00:09:36] But on Thursday, they would shoot in front of a live audience.

[00:09:42] We'd get there – if I recall, it was somewhere – it was a real reasonable hour.

[00:09:46] It wasn't 7 a.m.

[00:09:47] It was more like 9 or 10 on a Thursday.

[00:09:50] And there would people show up hoping that somebody else didn't show up so that they could work that day because it was so much fun to work.

[00:09:59] Basically, you'd watch the rehearsals.

[00:10:01] They'd tell you where you were going to fit into the scene.

[00:10:06] And then you would do the rehearsals.

[00:10:08] Then you'd break for a long lunch and have a catered dinner truck where pretty much – I mean, steak and lobster was not unheard of on that show.

[00:10:19] Nice.

[00:10:20] It was a great show.

[00:10:22] Oh, my God.

[00:10:23] And it was so fun because – I mean, the hardest thing on that show was not busting up in the middle of a take when they did a line you hadn't heard during rehearsal.

[00:10:32] And that happened a few times.

[00:10:34] Anyway.

[00:10:35] I was about to ask about that.

[00:10:38] Were you working during the Diane era or the Christy Allen era?

[00:10:43] Christy.

[00:10:44] Okay.

[00:10:45] So, and, you know, she did an episode of – she did a Star Trek movie as well.

[00:10:50] That is correct.

[00:10:51] Yes.

[00:10:52] So, it's a tangent from Cheers, but I'm currently in the middle of binge-watching The Good Place with Ted Danson relative to the recent show, which is wonderful.

[00:11:03] I recommend it to everyone to watch it for reasons I won't get into right now.

[00:11:08] But one of the things I will say that ties back to Cheers is there is one scene in The Good Place where the character that Ted Danson is playing, the character's name is Michael.

[00:11:19] Michael has to portray a bartender for a minute.

[00:11:22] And when he does, it's Sam Malone.

[00:11:26] It was eerie.

[00:11:27] Yeah.

[00:11:28] How you're watching this and he's really a different character.

[00:11:30] And then all of a sudden, there is Sam Malone again.

[00:11:33] And I got chills like seeing that.

[00:11:35] So, no, Cheers was awesome.

[00:11:37] That's great that you were able to be there for that too.

[00:11:40] Yeah.

[00:11:40] It was fun.

[00:11:42] How many years did you work Cheers?

[00:11:46] Well, you know, it's funny because all of this stuff we're talking about was well over 30 years ago.

[00:11:52] Okay.

[00:11:52] So, if I was going to guess, I would have said that I did about five or six episodes of Cheers.

[00:11:58] It turns out I did 10.

[00:12:00] Wow.

[00:12:01] Okay.

[00:12:04] And by the time they did their final episode, which would have been fun to be on, I was already full time on Deep Space Nine.

[00:12:12] So, to answer part of your question, by the time I got to Deep Space Nine, I was a stand-in on the crew list.

[00:12:20] We were now Union.

[00:12:22] So, I mean, everything changed when I went to Deep Space Nine.

[00:12:25] And some of it was coincidental, like the Union thing.

[00:12:28] But at any rate, once I got on that, yes, I was making a living and I wasn't really looking for anything.

[00:12:36] What's it like to be a stand-in?

[00:12:39] What is your day like when that's your role?

[00:12:46] Well, if you're a stand-in, it's like a cut above being an extra because you're there working with the actors and the crew and the cinematography and all that.

[00:12:58] Basically, the first thing you do is you watch a scene and focus on the actor you're standing in for.

[00:13:05] So, we would be the first people to see.

[00:13:09] Name a scene from Deep Space Nine.

[00:13:11] The stand-ins were the first ones along with the rest of the crew.

[00:13:15] It was always fun.

[00:13:17] Like, I didn't have much to stand in for usually in a Quark scene unless O'Brien was in it, which did obviously happen.

[00:13:26] I was O'Brien's stand-in, by the way.

[00:13:29] Okay.

[00:13:29] Well, and that was the connection.

[00:13:31] I got really lucky when I was working on Next Generation.

[00:13:37] All of the main actors on a show will already have a stand-in that's on the crew list.

[00:13:42] Everybody knows that that's Gates' stand-in.

[00:13:45] That's Frakes' stand-in.

[00:13:46] Whatever.

[00:13:47] And it helps the DP because he knows who he's looking at when the actors aren't there and all that good stuff.

[00:13:52] But when you're an occasional person like Colm was on Next Gen, you don't have a person.

[00:14:01] So, maybe Data's stand-in would stand in for you.

[00:14:04] But basically, if they were all busy, they would grab an extra, which is kind of what happened to me.

[00:14:09] It was like, oh, hey, we're going to have you stand in for O'Brien today.

[00:14:12] Okay.

[00:14:13] What's a stand-in?

[00:14:19] I mean, literally, it's like one of those things you don't even know what it is until you see it being done or you do it.

[00:14:24] And, I mean, basically, we're just taking the place of the actor for the lighting and the cameras.

[00:14:30] But that actually was key because I read in the newspaper that Star Trek was going to have a spinoff called Deep Space Nine

[00:14:42] and that O'Brien and his wife were going to be the two characters that went over.

[00:14:47] And I was really surprised by that.

[00:14:50] But it also, Little Lightbulb went on.

[00:14:52] And all the stand-ins or all the extras were going to Marvin Rush, the director of photography, and saying,

[00:14:59] hey, I'd love to be on your new show.

[00:15:01] And he said, I don't have a cast yet.

[00:15:03] I don't know what I need.

[00:15:05] And I heard that.

[00:15:06] And I'm like, well, I know O'Brien's going to be on it.

[00:15:08] So, I went to him and I said, hey, congratulations on your new show.

[00:15:12] And, by the way, I've been standing in for O'Brien.

[00:15:16] And he goes, oh, yeah.

[00:15:16] Why don't you go over and talk to Vanita, the new AD?

[00:15:20] I went over and talked to her and she said, you know Marvin?

[00:15:23] And he said, yes, you're hired.

[00:15:25] Wow, that's perfect.

[00:15:27] That's amazing.

[00:15:30] Location, location, location.

[00:15:32] Very good.

[00:15:33] Well, and, you know, there is the whole right place, right time thing.

[00:15:37] That was probably, you know, it wasn't the one I was hoping for, but it was a real good one.

[00:15:41] And it took care of me for seven years.

[00:15:45] So, so.

[00:15:47] Oh, go ahead, Chris.

[00:15:48] You've been you've been trying to get in.

[00:15:49] You go ahead, bro.

[00:15:50] Yeah, I was going to ask.

[00:15:51] So, you were talking about Cheers and the fact that, you know, you'd crack up at like during certain scenes if you hadn't heard the line before.

[00:15:57] Was there any times because DS9 is not a comedy, but it does have some comedic moments.

[00:16:03] Were there any scenes in particular that you remember where you're like really struggled because it was just that funny?

[00:16:11] My first but first I was thinking, no, that didn't happen.

[00:16:14] But then I thought, yes, it did.

[00:16:20] It was the episode.

[00:16:23] It might have been called The Alternate.

[00:16:25] It was the one where Odo was like a monster.

[00:16:30] Did you know?

[00:16:31] Yeah, I think that's the alternate.

[00:16:33] I think that's the alternate.

[00:16:34] I don't know chapter and I'm better at naming episodes on deep space than on next gen.

[00:16:40] But at any rate, because it was further ago and I didn't do it as much.

[00:16:46] So there was a scene on the promenade where we all set this big trap for the monster.

[00:16:54] And Odo was the bait.

[00:16:56] If I or no, no, his dad.

[00:17:00] The doctor more.

[00:17:03] What was it?

[00:17:03] Yeah.

[00:17:04] Dr.

[00:17:04] Mora.

[00:17:05] Mora.

[00:17:05] Mora.

[00:17:06] Yeah.

[00:17:06] Thank you.

[00:17:07] I knew I was getting close.

[00:17:10] He was the bait and Renee was going to be the monster that was going to show up.

[00:17:16] And we had like a force field or something.

[00:17:19] And so there were a bunch of us Starfleet guys lined up.

[00:17:24] And really, I don't think you'd even see us anyway.

[00:17:27] But we were up on the second level of the promenade with our phaser rifles, right?

[00:17:31] We're all ready for this monster thing to happen.

[00:17:36] And I was pretty far away from camera because being way up there and John Bennett, who was

[00:17:42] Cisco's stand in, was there with me.

[00:17:44] We're both in the shot, but again, real far away in the corner of the shot.

[00:17:49] But when Renee turns into the monster, he's going, and he also, he let the biggest fart

[00:18:01] you have ever heard in your entire life.

[00:18:05] I mean, this was epic.

[00:18:11] I'm pretty sure that Renee went on to tell this story himself.

[00:18:15] But at any rate, when it happened, we're rolling the film, right?

[00:18:18] And John Bennett and I looked at each other and we knew we were going to die laughing.

[00:18:23] And so we just kind of fell out of the shot.

[00:18:26] Like I said, we were barely in it anyway.

[00:18:27] And we just kind of made sure we weren't in it.

[00:18:31] But it was funny too, because afterwards we were sitting outside and Renee came out and

[00:18:38] I went over it because we weren't sure what we heard.

[00:18:44] But I started to go to Renee and John's like, no, don't ask him.

[00:18:48] Don't ask.

[00:18:49] But I went over to Renee and I asked him, he goes, yeah, he goes, everything goes, just

[00:18:55] everything in my body just purged itself.

[00:19:02] And then I talked to Dr. Mora, who was kind of on his knees, like on the floor, right by

[00:19:07] Renee.

[00:19:08] When that happened, I said, did you hear that?

[00:19:10] He goes, oh yeah, I was doing it too.

[00:19:16] That's amazing.

[00:19:17] I love it.

[00:19:18] I was not expecting that.

[00:19:20] But what a great answer.

[00:19:23] I think that's the only time I can think about when I was just going to bust up on that show

[00:19:27] and had to do something, but very unintentional.

[00:19:34] Oh my.

[00:19:36] So can I go back a little ways, Randy?

[00:19:39] Randy.

[00:19:41] When do you remember a time when you first said, gee, I think I might like to try to

[00:19:47] act.

[00:19:48] You talked about moving to Los Angeles.

[00:19:52] When is there a time in your childhood or teenage or college, whatever that when did that happen

[00:19:57] for you?

[00:19:59] Yeah.

[00:19:59] Yeah.

[00:19:59] For a good part of my life, I felt like that's what I was born to do.

[00:20:03] Wow.

[00:20:04] Cool.

[00:20:04] As I was growing up, TV was fairly young and everything on TV when I was small was cowboys.

[00:20:15] Everything.

[00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:16] Yeah.

[00:20:17] I mean, if you look at any, you know, any fifties TV, it's always, or any fifties kids,

[00:20:22] they were wearing a cowboy hat and had a pistol on their side and cowboy boots.

[00:20:26] I mean, it was just one of those things.

[00:20:27] So, so I thought I wanted to be a cowboy until I realized that those guys weren't actually

[00:20:38] cowboys and they don't really have those anymore, but those guys are actors.

[00:20:41] And I'm like, well, they get to ride the horses and shoot the guns and all that stuff.

[00:20:46] So maybe I want to be an actor.

[00:20:49] Sure.

[00:20:50] So it wasn't until high school when I had an opportunity to do it.

[00:20:57] And I did, as soon as I found out, because I knew they did plays there.

[00:21:01] As soon as I heard about an audition, I went, they were doing, what was the first one?

[00:21:07] The Patriots, a real boring play about George Washington and John Adams and all of those

[00:21:13] guys are pretty heady for high school kids.

[00:21:14] I had a small part, in fact, two small parts in that, but I really had a good time.

[00:21:20] Basically, I started doing theater in high school.

[00:21:23] I later did dinner theater and community theater in Omaha.

[00:21:29] And that went pretty well.

[00:21:32] And then I got laid off of a job in 78 and I thought, well, why don't I go to LA?

[00:21:37] But LA was pretty daunting when I got there.

[00:21:40] I was 24 and they're really, they weren't doing shows for 20 with, there weren't parts for

[00:21:47] 24 year old people.

[00:21:49] There's plenty now, but there were not then.

[00:21:51] So I got discouraged pretty quickly and, you know, got a job.

[00:21:58] And it wasn't until I got laid off of that job seven years later that I started trying

[00:22:03] to get back into it.

[00:22:05] Wow.

[00:22:06] Okay.

[00:22:07] Okay.

[00:22:09] Must've been a big deal moving from Omaha, Nebraska, all the way out to California.

[00:22:14] Well, you know, I grew up listening to the beach boys.

[00:22:17] Okay.

[00:22:20] Wow.

[00:22:20] There's an ocean there.

[00:22:22] I can't believe it.

[00:22:23] Wow.

[00:22:23] It's just right out the back door.

[00:22:25] It's amazing.

[00:22:26] Yeah.

[00:22:27] I mean, yeah.

[00:22:27] So, and it, it was a big deal, but it was when, when you live in the Midwest and you want

[00:22:33] to be an actor professionally, it's like, well, it's probably not going to happen here.

[00:22:38] So, and you know, there's other places now you could go to Canada, you could go to Georgia,

[00:22:43] you can go to New Mexico, but at the time it was pretty much New York or LA.

[00:22:47] And I looked at those two choices and I went LA.

[00:22:52] You have enough snow in Omaha.

[00:22:54] You'd want to go out to New York.

[00:22:56] Oh, absolutely.

[00:22:58] Plus, New York would, I visited a few times, but it was every bit as intimidating as I expected.

[00:23:05] There's just so many people, you know, they have, they have as many people in LA, but they're

[00:23:11] spread out more.

[00:23:12] Yeah.

[00:23:13] Yeah.

[00:23:14] Yeah.

[00:23:15] Yeah.

[00:23:16] But yeah, I transplanted from New Jersey to California in 1960.

[00:23:20] So, um, yeah.

[00:23:22] Wow.

[00:23:22] From one end to the other.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:24] Yeah.

[00:23:25] Where in California?

[00:23:27] Uh, right here in Los, the beautiful San Fernando Valley.

[00:23:32] That's where I lived for 25 years.

[00:23:35] All right.

[00:23:36] Yep.

[00:23:37] Yep.

[00:23:39] So what, what is you, I remember it when, cause I, I was Randy, one of the original faithful

[00:23:47] viewers of D space nine.

[00:23:50] I watched it all the way through.

[00:23:51] I didn't stop.

[00:23:52] I thought it was fantastic.

[00:23:54] And I remember, uh, and I was always had an eye for behind the scenes, like what's going

[00:24:00] on in the background.

[00:24:01] And so I feel like I grew up watching you as much as the main actors, you know, cause,

[00:24:08] cause I would, it wasn't like I had a checklist.

[00:24:10] I wasn't that nerdy with it, you know, but I remember seeing you all the time in D space

[00:24:16] nine and going.

[00:24:18] And at the time I was 20 something, maybe 1920 ish.

[00:24:24] And going, I wonder what it's like to be a guy like him on a show.

[00:24:32] That's I, that I love and how much fun is going on behind the scenes.

[00:24:39] Um, so, you know, we hear all kinds of stories of next gen goofing off D space nine.

[00:24:45] Sometimes you hear the stories.

[00:24:46] They were a little more serious behind the scenes with stuff.

[00:24:49] And then you hear different stories that contradict that.

[00:24:52] But what was your experience kind of behind the scenes, which you did just share a fantastic

[00:24:56] Renee, a bears and watch story.

[00:24:59] Yeah.

[00:25:00] What, uh, never forget that.

[00:25:01] Yeah.

[00:25:02] What was it like behind the scenes on D space nine when the camera wasn't rolling?

[00:25:07] Um, yeah.

[00:25:12] I'm trying to gather my thoughts to answer that question.

[00:25:15] Um, I mean, you know, it was like a lot of things over the course of seven years, but,

[00:25:20] but I can compare it to other things because I was never part of the, the, you know, the

[00:25:27] actual crew until I got that job on deep space.

[00:25:31] Literally, my name was on the crew list and, and I had, you know, I was assigned to an actor.

[00:25:38] And by the way, uh, O'Brien was my main assignment.

[00:25:42] But if, if I only worked O'Brien days, I'd have worked a lot less when he wasn't there.

[00:25:48] I'm, I'm a fairly average size.

[00:25:50] I'm not quite six foot, which means I'm six foot in Hollywood because every actor who's

[00:25:55] not quite six foot is going to put six foot.

[00:26:00] So, I mean, and the main thing for standing in is height and coloring basically, but coloring

[00:26:05] goes out the window when you're standing in for Cardassians and Klingons and oh my.

[00:26:10] But anyway, um, so for me, the experience was really great from, from day one, because

[00:26:22] there's all these new people along with some familiar faces who came over from next generation

[00:26:27] and we're all starting this new thing that had a five-year contract.

[00:26:32] I mean, we went seven, but they were contracted for five when we started.

[00:26:36] So it was very exciting.

[00:26:37] It's like, okay, we're all, and we all, we were all new.

[00:26:40] We were all getting to know each other and finding our pace and everything.

[00:26:44] And it re people talk about it being a family.

[00:26:46] And I really felt that way.

[00:26:48] And like any family, not everybody gets along, but there were really not any big issues that,

[00:26:55] that I can think of.

[00:26:56] And, and it was just, it was just very exciting being part of this new thing, this new Star

[00:27:03] Trek thing that was going to go on.

[00:27:05] And, and I agree that, you know, I'm biased obviously, but I do think that it's one of the

[00:27:10] better Star Treks, especially from the Berman era, which we're calling it now.

[00:27:15] Yes.

[00:27:16] Yeah.

[00:27:17] Right.

[00:27:18] So I don't know if I answered your question, but I mean, you know, the days were great.

[00:27:23] I think the first day we went almost 20 hours.

[00:27:26] I mean, I've heard the stories when you're on for 20 hours, it means like you're, you're

[00:27:33] on set and can be called in at any time to, okay, we want you to fill in here at this point

[00:27:39] or whatever, or how did that go?

[00:27:41] No, for me, it was, I didn't even have a uniform for at least a few weeks, if not

[00:27:49] longer.

[00:27:51] Um, I had a TNG uniform, but that wasn't the right uniform and they hadn't made me

[00:27:56] one yet.

[00:27:56] So I was just standing in, but if I was standing in for O'Brien or whoever, by the way, when

[00:28:02] he wasn't there, I would stand in for Garrick.

[00:28:04] I would stand in for Ducat.

[00:28:05] I would stand in for Bill Mooney, which was so much fun for me to meet him.

[00:28:09] Um, Brian Keith, um, you know, whoever was around my size and O'Brien wasn't there.

[00:28:14] I was standing in for him and I was pretty much happy to do it.

[00:28:18] Um, and then the background thing is it's basically if you're a stand in, they've already got you

[00:28:23] so they can put you in clothes and put you in the scene and it doesn't cost them anything.

[00:28:27] So it's an economic choice, but it's like, that's, that was good for me too.

[00:28:33] So was, was there days where you were just, you were there on set and you never had to

[00:28:37] stand in, you were just like a stand in for a stand in or something like that or standby

[00:28:43] for a stand in, excuse me.

[00:28:45] No, there were a lot.

[00:28:47] I mean, if it was seven Ferengis in a room, there was nothing for me to do unless there

[00:28:51] were going to be some background people walking by or something.

[00:28:54] So there were times where there was nothing for me to do, but I wouldn't be there.

[00:28:58] They didn't schedule me for those days.

[00:29:00] Okay.

[00:29:01] Okay.

[00:29:02] And you mentioned about you had a uniform for TNG.

[00:29:05] So, but when you went to DS nine and you got a uniform when the seven years were up and

[00:29:12] we'll always ask this question of people on the show, did you get to keep your, your uniform

[00:29:17] or was there any tchotchkes that you got from the show that you have still today to remind

[00:29:23] yourself of being on that show?

[00:29:25] No.

[00:29:26] And yes.

[00:29:29] No to answering my question.

[00:29:31] Yes, I do.

[00:29:31] Is that it or what?

[00:29:34] The answer is as far as I know, nobody got to take home a uniform.

[00:29:38] I don't care who you were.

[00:29:39] Um, I kind of tried, I didn't try to steal one.

[00:29:43] I asked him so that my first uniform was one of the red spandex ones.

[00:29:49] My first fleet uniform after the waiter.

[00:29:52] Um, I actually did wear it very briefly in the pilot for deep space nine, because the people

[00:30:01] on the Saratoga Cisco's ship that got blown up where his wife died.

[00:30:06] Um, they were wearing the TNG uniforms.

[00:30:10] So they did have me dress for that.

[00:30:13] And, and it wasn't, you know, it wasn't supposed to be me.

[00:30:16] I shouldn't be there.

[00:30:17] Jones shouldn't be there.

[00:30:19] So, um, so we made, we put some black stuff in my hair.

[00:30:23] So nobody recognized me.

[00:30:25] Oh, but, um, but you can barely, you can barely see me in that, but it's really pretty barely.

[00:30:35] Um, anyway, years later we went through, I don't even know how many uniforms I went through

[00:30:41] in seven years because.

[00:30:43] Well, they changed styles.

[00:30:44] What fourth season or fifth season, number one.

[00:30:48] And then, um, some days I would come into work and I was supposed to dress and I went to go get

[00:30:55] the uniform that was made for me that had my name on it, but it was all blown up.

[00:30:59] And I'm like, what did you guys do to my uniform?

[00:31:02] Like, Oh, well, we needed it for a stand in yesterday or a stunt guy yesterday.

[00:31:06] Oh no.

[00:31:08] Okay.

[00:31:09] But what do you want me to wear today?

[00:31:14] When it was all done and the very last were at the end, I was, uh, in the wardrobe department

[00:31:21] and Bob Blackman was there.

[00:31:22] He was the costume designer and I have issues with him and about a potty possible, but that's

[00:31:28] a whole nother story.

[00:31:30] Um, um, I saw my raggedy old uniform.

[00:31:36] That probably wouldn't even fit me anymore.

[00:31:38] The spandex one.

[00:31:39] I saw it up on a shelf and I said, Bob, I'll give you 50 bucks.

[00:31:45] Wow.

[00:31:45] Really?

[00:31:46] And he said, no way.

[00:31:48] Oh my goodness.

[00:31:49] I know.

[00:31:50] And I said, Bob, you can't use it.

[00:31:52] It's all been in, you know, whatever.

[00:31:54] Um, he said that cost them 1500 bucks to make.

[00:31:57] And I thought, well, that's just ridiculous.

[00:32:07] I found out later they actually sold them at auction.

[00:32:10] So that's why.

[00:32:11] Okay.

[00:32:12] Okay.

[00:32:13] So now the yes part of the question was I do have some tribbles.

[00:32:17] Oh, good.

[00:32:18] Good.

[00:32:19] Cool.

[00:32:19] I have a couple of calm badges.

[00:32:22] And again, I never stole a thing cause I would never do that.

[00:32:26] But, um, I did get a couple of calm badges and, um, one of the civilian shirts.

[00:32:32] I wish we were doing pictures right now because there's a, this really kind of cool gold civilian

[00:32:37] shirt that I wore at, uh, uh, O'Brien's wedding.

[00:32:43] Okay.

[00:32:44] On TNG.

[00:32:45] But they also, they put it on me in, uh, uh, deep space nine numerous times.

[00:32:50] So this gold shirt appears in many episodes really of both shows.

[00:32:56] And, uh, on the last day, the wardrobe lady said, Oh, Randy, that's your shirt.

[00:33:01] And she let me have that.

[00:33:03] Okay.

[00:33:04] So you could get something at least.

[00:33:06] Yeah.

[00:33:06] What?

[00:33:06] Okay.

[00:33:07] That's good.

[00:33:08] Okay.

[00:33:09] I need to ask Steve a question.

[00:33:11] He's used the word before.

[00:33:12] What's a top ski or whatever you're saying?

[00:33:18] Brian, you probably have a whole shelf of all the stuff on the back shelf that Adina

[00:33:24] has there.

[00:33:25] They could all be labeled tchotchkes.

[00:33:27] If someone doesn't consider them a, a memorable product or something.

[00:33:32] Okay.

[00:33:33] Okay.

[00:33:33] I thought it was a Jersey thing.

[00:33:35] No, no, no.

[00:33:36] It's more of a Yiddish.

[00:33:37] It's a Yiddish thing.

[00:33:39] Yeah.

[00:33:39] It's Yiddish.

[00:33:40] Yeah.

[00:33:41] What are you talking about?

[00:33:42] It's a Yiddish.

[00:33:43] What do you want from me?

[00:33:44] I don't know.

[00:33:45] Go ahead.

[00:33:45] Leave me alone.

[00:33:46] I love it.

[00:33:47] You too.

[00:33:48] It cracks me up.

[00:33:49] I'm trying to find the, I'm trying to find a picture of that, of the, from O'Brien's

[00:33:53] wedding.

[00:33:54] I haven't seen anything yet.

[00:33:55] Yeah.

[00:33:56] The episode was called, I think it was called Data's Day.

[00:33:59] Yeah.

[00:33:59] Data's Day.

[00:34:00] That was it.

[00:34:01] Love, love that.

[00:34:01] Cause that was the one where they weren't going to get married than they were.

[00:34:04] And Data's trying to interfere and, or not, wasn't sure what he should do.

[00:34:07] I have to change.

[00:34:08] I have to, I have to, I misspoke.

[00:34:11] I believe I was wearing a suit at O'Brien's wedding, which was a really nice suit that

[00:34:16] I only wore that one time.

[00:34:18] The gold shirt was worn during out of phase.

[00:34:24] The one where.

[00:34:26] Okay.

[00:34:26] Yeah.

[00:34:27] The funeral.

[00:34:28] The funeral.

[00:34:29] Geordie's funeral.

[00:34:30] Yep.

[00:34:31] Yep.

[00:34:31] That's the one I was wearing the gold shirt.

[00:34:33] The next phase.

[00:34:34] I have a picture of that episode in my office here where she is shooting a phaser at Riker's

[00:34:42] forehead as he's playing the trombone.

[00:34:44] And I can't, I'm going to have to show that episode to my son.

[00:34:48] Cause every time he comes to my, he goes, dad, why is this woman shooting Riker with a phaser?

[00:34:54] And all I can do is be proud that he knows number one, it's Riker and that it's called

[00:34:59] a phaser.

[00:35:00] That's pretty good.

[00:35:01] Explaining the episode I can't do unless we just sit down and watch it.

[00:35:05] So there's actually kind of a funny thing that happened during that episode.

[00:35:09] This was fairly early on in my star Trek career and they were doing a shot.

[00:35:17] It was a closeup of the phaser.

[00:35:19] If you remember, they, they, they decided that if they put the phaser in the middle of

[00:35:24] the room on overload, that it would make them reappear.

[00:35:28] I believe that was the deal.

[00:35:29] Right.

[00:35:29] Yep.

[00:35:29] I think so.

[00:35:30] Yeah.

[00:35:31] Oh, part of the thing as an extra and an actor, you're pretty much never supposed to look at

[00:35:39] the camera.

[00:35:41] You know, unless there's that weird moment where you break down the fourth wall and speak

[00:35:45] directly to the camera.

[00:35:46] But so anyway, I guess I didn't realize they were doing just this tight shot on just the

[00:35:53] phaser.

[00:35:54] And they wanted me to walk by in the shot.

[00:35:58] So basically my feet would walk by.

[00:36:01] And for some reason, I just decided not to look at it.

[00:36:08] At any rate, so they've got this shot set up.

[00:36:11] There's a closeup on the phaser and my foot comes in and kicks the sucker across the room.

[00:36:16] Oh, and I think, I think that was one of my, it was like, I didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified.

[00:36:26] Right.

[00:36:27] Well, thank you for your effort today.

[00:36:30] Randy, this will be your last day on set.

[00:36:34] Luckily, everybody was laughing and I just couldn't believe how stupid it was.

[00:36:40] Did someone yell take two or something afterwards?

[00:36:43] Oh, yeah.

[00:36:44] I can't wait to watch that episode now and imagine that thing being kicked across the floor.

[00:36:51] So did you have a, did you have a favorite uniform outside of the, that amazing suit?

[00:36:57] By far.

[00:36:58] Uh, the, and I hate to call it Voyager style, but the, my orange gold shouldered first four season uniform.

[00:37:08] That was by far my, my favorite uniform.

[00:37:11] It was way more comfortable than the spandex that we had on next gen.

[00:37:15] And I thought that it was way better looking and more comfortable than the gray ones that they went to later.

[00:37:22] That the gray ones were cool, but they weren't as, but they were, were they like just restrictive?

[00:37:27] No, they were both pretty much similar to wear, but remember I mentioned potty.

[00:37:32] And I know if you guys have watched the center seat and surely you have, right.

[00:37:37] And if you haven't, you must.

[00:37:39] But, um, there's a whole 20 minutes about people talking about how they can't go to the bathroom in a Starfleet uniform.

[00:37:46] And it's actually, and the aliens especially have it bad.

[00:37:49] Oh my gosh.

[00:37:52] But yeah, I mean, the, the Starfleet uniforms would zip from the neck down, but only to about the navel.

[00:38:02] So if you're a man and you wanted to just go number one, you had to take the shoulders off, you know, unless you were amazingly in doubt.

[00:38:14] I'm just saying.

[00:38:17] Yeah.

[00:38:18] So, I mean, that was, it was really, and so I was a Borg for one day on a second unit shoot and.

[00:38:26] But that was not particularly fun, but again, it was only one day, so it wasn't a big deal.

[00:38:30] And I don't think you can ever see me on camera, uh, as a Borg, but I had to go to the restroom at one point.

[00:38:37] And I had, and, and, and a wardrobe person had to go with me because there were tubes everywhere.

[00:38:45] And I'm like, really?

[00:38:47] I mean, we have all these tubes.

[00:38:49] We couldn't make one functional, but.

[00:38:54] There was.

[00:38:56] I was there.

[00:38:57] I worked on first contact, as you probably know.

[00:39:01] Um, and there's God, I got, you know, I got stories about everything, but, um,

[00:39:05] I was standing in for Frakes for the first two weeks.

[00:39:08] And I also got to beam down in civilian clothing with Picard and the others down to earth.

[00:39:15] It's really brief, but you can see me when we materialize.

[00:39:18] Um, but so I was there when.

[00:39:23] Zephyrm Cochran said to, to Geordi, he said, I'm going to go take a leak.

[00:39:28] And, and, uh, Geordi said, what?

[00:39:31] And he goes, don't you people pee in the 24th century?

[00:39:35] And after we did that rehearsal, I went over to LeVar and I said, I've been wanting to ask Bob Blackman that for 10 years.

[00:39:44] That's why the zipper doesn't work because they don't.

[00:39:49] And they have no pockets either.

[00:39:51] That's a whole nother issue.

[00:39:53] Was, was enjoyable the shooting in the country setting.

[00:39:58] For that particular film, as opposed to being on a set with a, you know, the starship and all that.

[00:40:04] Oh yeah.

[00:40:05] I mean, um, yeah.

[00:40:08] Working on location was always a treat because you get out of the claustrophobic ships or whatever.

[00:40:14] Um, first contact was another special time for me because, uh, Frakes is such a great guy.

[00:40:21] And after working that many, that long on, uh, the two shows, I'd gotten to know him pretty well.

[00:40:28] He, he was always directing, you know, on our show.

[00:40:31] I call it our show, by the way.

[00:40:34] That's okay.

[00:40:34] You can.

[00:40:35] That's cool.

[00:40:36] Yeah.

[00:40:36] It is your show.

[00:40:38] You were a part of it.

[00:40:39] Seriously.

[00:40:39] I've always caught on next generation.

[00:40:41] They did this, but on our show, we did that.

[00:40:43] Anyway, Jonathan got the gig to do first contact and he was the most fun as a director to ever work with.

[00:40:51] Um, and so, and I really liked him obviously.

[00:40:54] So I went to his trailer when I found out he got the job, he had a new trailer on the lot for the directing and, um, he wasn't there.

[00:41:05] So I left him a note and I said, congratulations on getting the movie.

[00:41:08] I'd love to be a part of it in some way if possible.

[00:41:11] And I'm not really sure what I was thinking, except that I just really wanted to do that.

[00:41:15] And, um, he came to me the next day and he said, my regular stand in is going to be out of town for the first two weeks.

[00:41:22] So would you like to fill in for him?

[00:41:25] And I'm like, sure.

[00:41:27] And he goes, but when he comes back, he's it's his job.

[00:41:29] And I'm like, that's fine.

[00:41:30] I know that guy.

[00:41:31] We play golf together.

[00:41:32] It's all good.

[00:41:34] And so the first thing we did was the whole cast and crew got on a private jet on Easter Sunday morning and flew to, uh, Tucson, Arizona.

[00:41:48] Okay.

[00:41:49] Where they had an abandoned Atlas missile site, which is where they kept the Phoenix.

[00:41:55] Right.

[00:41:56] So, you know, first we go to Arizona.

[00:41:59] We're staying at this resort.

[00:42:01] We, we get a bus to take us back to the, uh, to the silo.

[00:42:06] And then we go, I don't know how many stories underground into an actual, uh, IBM missile site.

[00:42:13] I mean, just how many people have ever been in one, you know what I mean?

[00:42:16] Right.

[00:42:17] Right.

[00:42:17] Even in the abandoned one.

[00:42:19] Yeah.

[00:42:19] I mean, they don't do that.

[00:42:20] It was, it was amazing.

[00:42:22] And so, and then the, after we did that part of the shot, then we'd come back to LA and the, uh, exteriors were up in the mountains.

[00:42:30] And the night that I beamed down was actually a night shoot.

[00:42:34] I didn't have to be there till 10 PM.

[00:42:37] They shoot up that in big bear area or the arrowhead area.

[00:42:41] Do you remember or not?

[00:42:42] Um, no, it was, I do remember, uh, the Angeles crest highway.

[00:42:49] Okay.

[00:42:49] Yeah.

[00:42:49] Yeah.

[00:42:50] Mount Wilson, Mount Wilson area.

[00:42:52] Yeah.

[00:42:52] I mean, I, I can't name a mountain, but I know that we were at about 6,000 feet.

[00:42:57] Yep.

[00:42:57] That's where it is.

[00:42:58] And I was one of the, I was one of the Starfleet, uh, in civilian clothing who were, and most of us were stand-ins actually, who were chasing down Cochran.

[00:43:08] And right, right before, um, Riker zaps him in the Creek, I'm, I just come down the hill.

[00:43:15] I'm in that shot with him right before he goes down.

[00:43:18] Yeah.

[00:43:19] That's great.

[00:43:20] That's great.

[00:43:21] So I want to go back to Deep Space Nine for just a minute.

[00:43:24] Cause you had, you mentioned something, uh, that I caught when you were talking about the emissary, the first episode and being on Cisco's ship.

[00:43:33] And they were concerned about kind of recognition that you're on the ship, but Jones shouldn't have been there.

[00:43:38] Did they already kind of have a little plan for, cause we've, we've heard, uh, your character on DS9 be called, you know, uh, Lieutenant Jones or Jones, the security officer.

[00:43:47] Was there already, I guess, a plan in work for that?

[00:43:51] Not at all.

[00:43:54] Not even a little bit.

[00:43:56] Um, no, I can, you know, I kind of wish they had figured it out.

[00:44:02] I mean, if you wanted to make Jones a bigger character, it would be so easy to do because there's a backstory on film.

[00:44:12] Um, you know, you can see me as the waiter.

[00:44:14] You can see me at O'Brien's wedding.

[00:44:16] I was in 10 forward when, uh, Molly was born and Worf was there.

[00:44:20] Um, I mean, I'm just, you know what I mean?

[00:44:22] It's like if they wanted to do something with it, but it was really the opposite.

[00:44:27] They, they had something happened to the first season of next generation.

[00:44:32] And I don't know what it was to this day, but they'd given somebody a speaking role.

[00:44:38] And then decided they would never, ever do that again.

[00:44:43] And it was a Rick Berman rule that I knew about for about four years or five years before I finally got my first one.

[00:44:52] And that rule was still in existence.

[00:44:56] And so I was really, really lucky to get that first one.

[00:45:00] And then I proved to them that the world wouldn't end if they did it.

[00:45:04] And, but yeah, no, and nobody was, uh, making any effort to build that character up other than me.

[00:45:13] So.

[00:45:15] I was curious.

[00:45:16] I was curious about that.

[00:45:17] I do have to say it's it.

[00:45:19] I remember there is a sense.

[00:45:21] I don't know if comfort is the right word, but to see characters like yours regularly really gave that show a sense that, that everybody was there together.

[00:45:34] And we were saying, you know, it wasn't always whole new.

[00:45:38] And I, I think honestly, yours is probably one of the biggest ones that I think fans can remember as far as roles that you had and other actors similar to you.

[00:45:49] Um, they just did a great job on that show of letting us see people like you in your characters.

[00:45:56] It just was comforting.

[00:45:57] It was like, Hey, this is, I don't, what's the word I'm looking for, Chris?

[00:46:01] Like it made it feel familiar living, living and breathing.

[00:46:04] Like, Oh, this is actually a real place where of course you're going to see the same people.

[00:46:09] It's a space station.

[00:46:10] And, and you know, other shows I don't think always did that.

[00:46:14] Like even TNG, I always like, like we'll bring up, dare I say, bring up the enterprise final.

[00:46:21] But one thing I appreciated is they had some next gen background people show up.

[00:46:26] And I was like, that's actually pretty cool.

[00:46:27] Cause it feels like that time.

[00:46:29] But I think like living and breathing is probably the way to describe it to be like, okay, of course I'm not just going to have endlessly random people.

[00:46:35] You're going to see the, yeah, you're going to see the same people, especially for the Starfleet crew.

[00:46:40] Cause I think the Starfleet crew.

[00:46:42] The thread of continuity.

[00:46:44] Continuity.

[00:46:44] And that's why, you know, some people would say, well, how were you on, um, how were you on first contact when you were on Deep Space Nine?

[00:46:52] And I'm like, that's easily answered, even though they never bothered to do it.

[00:46:55] But I was on the Defiant with Worf.

[00:46:59] Worf got there from Deep Space Nine and we've seen me on the Defiant a few times.

[00:47:03] So, you know what I mean?

[00:47:04] That's just an easy call.

[00:47:06] That wasn't like, oh no, we can't have him there.

[00:47:10] Right, right, right.

[00:47:11] Yeah.

[00:47:11] No, Worf was in both those things.

[00:47:14] So yeah, it makes sense.

[00:47:16] Right.

[00:47:19] How many conventions have you done or been to?

[00:47:23] I just started doing them a little over a year ago.

[00:47:26] Okay.

[00:47:27] Um, and I'm really enjoying, I live in Denver and turns out that there's quite a few comic cons here.

[00:47:36] And some of those are good for me and some are not, but I've done a total now of five, I think.

[00:47:43] And the set, the best one was where I met Adina, um, in Philadelphia in April.

[00:47:52] We did the second annual DNI Con.

[00:47:55] And JG was there and Robert O'Reilly was there and, um, Penny Johnson was there.

[00:48:03] People, some people that I hadn't seen in 25 years.

[00:48:06] So that was, that was really fun for me.

[00:48:11] Have you had a specific moment with a fan that was a particularly like favorite or strange moment at any of the conventions?

[00:48:21] And one of my favorites was a young woman named, I believe Dana Macchiaro, I think is how to say it.

[00:48:29] She texted me and said, I'm coming and I'm going to come to your table.

[00:48:34] And, well, I mean, she'd like the day before or something.

[00:48:36] And I'm like, great.

[00:48:37] But she was a young person who we talked to, you know, for a bit and she bought a couple of photos, but, um, she said, you know, this show was on before I was born.

[00:48:47] And I thought, well, that's, that's just so awesome that we have fans who aren't even as old as the show.

[00:48:55] I love that.

[00:48:56] Yeah, that is great.

[00:48:57] Yeah.

[00:48:57] And then the other cool one was here in Denver and JG was at that one.

[00:49:02] And I met Todd Stashwick and that was a fun one too.

[00:49:06] But it was on Thanksgiving weekend, which was just like the worst idea ever.

[00:49:11] In my opinion, it started literally on Black Friday.

[00:49:14] Anyway.

[00:49:15] There was a guy and I'm sorry, I don't know his name, but he had been working on this for 20 years and he had this gigantic cardboard cutout of the Enterprise D.

[00:49:30] Oh, wow.

[00:49:31] And it had already been signed by just about everybody.

[00:49:37] And I mean, everybody we're talking, Doug Drexler was on there, you know, as well, you know, but every actor he had Shatner, he had Nimoy, he had, cause he'd been working on it so long that he did it when.

[00:49:48] Wow.

[00:49:49] And he said, the only two guys I don't have are these two.

[00:49:52] And he pointed out a picture of me and O'Brien.

[00:49:55] And I said, well, you get one today, but I don't know if you're going to ever going to get the other one.

[00:50:00] Because Colum doesn't do cons.

[00:50:02] He's busy working.

[00:50:03] That guy is an actor.

[00:50:05] Yeah.

[00:50:05] Yeah.

[00:50:06] I see him pop up and I'm like, oh, hey, he's doing well.

[00:50:08] Yeah.

[00:50:09] That's cool.

[00:50:10] Did you see Hell on Wheels?

[00:50:16] Yes.

[00:50:16] With Colum Feeney?

[00:50:17] And Hansel Mount?

[00:50:19] My husband watched that one.

[00:50:21] That was my husband's show.

[00:50:22] Well, you know, it's really funny because when I started watching it, it was Colum.

[00:50:29] It was, and Hansel Mount wasn't, you know, the captain of the Enterprise yet.

[00:50:33] But Marvin Rush, who I mentioned earlier, the director of photography, Marvin was the DP on Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise.

[00:50:47] And then he went to Hell on Wheels.

[00:50:51] And that was shot in Canada.

[00:50:53] And I said to myself, I could have probably worked on this show.

[00:50:57] But I'm just like, I don't really want to be a stand-in anymore.

[00:51:02] And I was in Colorado.

[00:51:04] You know what I mean?

[00:51:04] I left Hollywood a long time ago, actually.

[00:51:06] Yeah.

[00:51:07] Yeah.

[00:51:09] Well, guys, do any of you have any last questions for Randy here today?

[00:51:14] Hmm.

[00:51:17] Otherwise...

[00:51:18] I think we've covered it.

[00:51:19] I think we've covered all the time we were hoping to.

[00:51:21] Damn it.

[00:51:21] And, I mean, seriously, there are some stories I'm never going to forget.

[00:51:24] There are stories we've never heard before.

[00:51:26] Yeah.

[00:51:26] Yes.

[00:51:27] And there are some stories I'm never going to forget.

[00:51:29] And I don't think I'm going to look at Odo the same way.

[00:51:34] We really appreciate your time, Randy.

[00:51:36] Yeah.

[00:51:36] Thank you for being on the show.

[00:51:39] Oh, thanks for having me.

[00:51:41] This is great.

[00:51:42] I mean, you know, it was probably the most interesting thing I ever did.

[00:51:45] So, I enjoy talking to people who actually want to hear the stories.

[00:51:50] That's us and our listeners.

[00:51:52] Yeah.

[00:51:53] Thank you.

[00:51:54] Thank you.

[00:51:54] Thank you.

[00:51:55] And, of course, I have to thank those listeners for doing what they do best in the world, which

[00:51:59] is listening.

[00:52:00] And remember that we would love to hear from anyone over on Facebook, or you can always

[00:52:05] drop us a line at TheBigSciFiPodcast at gmail.com.

[00:52:09] Until next time, go get yourself a big plate of goth and keep your phasers set on fun.

[00:52:16] Be kind, live long and prosper, and join us next time here at The Big Sci-Fi Podcast.

[00:52:25] Bye.

[00:52:26] Bye.

[00:52:31] Bye.