Reviews

For more pictures of Robert Picardo see the following Picture Album 1 and Picture Album 2.

Robert Picardo has the following productions to his credit in 2005 and 2006.
He has been in 2004: A Light Knight's Odyssey (voice) of Milton,
Love Hollywood Style as George,
in Stargate SG-1 TV episodes: "The Scourge," "Prototype," "Inauguration," "Heroes: Part 2" as recurring character Agent Richard Woolsey,
in The O.C. TV episode: "The Pot Stirrer" as Bill Merriam,
Masters of Horror TV episode: "Homecoming" as Kurt Rand,
E-Ring TV episodes: "The Forgotten" and "Toy Soldiers" as recurring character Larry Kincaid,
The 4400 TV episode: "Weight of the World" as Trent Appelbaum,
Shockwave,
Eve TV episode: "To Sir, with Mom" as Professor Dunson.
Check out his many other appearances by clicking on his Filmography above.

(Photo from Starlog) In the article "Latent Humanity (Robert Picardo continues to stretch his subroutines)" by Ian Spelling. "Five years have just whizzed by. In real time of course, it has been four years and three months since I started the Voyager pilot. It has been time well spent, and the food's pretty good, too," notes Doctor alter-ego Robert Picardo as he bites into a sandwich shanghaied from the craft services table after a break from shooting the mid-fifth season episode "Latent Image."

"We've got a great group of people. It's a wonderful job. I have a great role. Your work is scrutinized very carefully by the faithful, and I feel that if you put in the extra care, people notice. So , that's nice. People appreciate little extra touches, bits of behavior and personality quirks, or whatever it is you throw into the mix, because they watch the show carefully and they tend to watch the shows more than once."

"It's a blessing and a curse to be part of a franchise that's 32 years old. The blessing is obvious," he notes. "We have loyal fans who have stuck with Star Trek, who have grown up with it, and who have introduced children of their own to it, so that they can all sit down as a family and watch it together.

"The curse is that you have people who are sort of dimly aware of Star Trek or who used to watch it, but got tired of the original series' reruns and never tuned in to the newer shows, or the people who went as far as The Next Generation, but could not accept anyone after Data, Picard and Riker. The people who do feel they know Star Trek and feel they're not interested in it any more are the hardest people to get to re-try the shows, to sample Voyager or DS9. It's harder in a way to get them to come back than to get people who've never watched Star Trek. So, that's the curse side--a matter of being on something that's thought of as old even though it's new."

"It's the curse of all series television. The audience wants to be familiar with the characters," Picardo offers. "You want to capture the audience's attention and interest, but what you always have to do is give them some of the same and something different. They want their expectations fulfilled, but they want to be tickled and surprised enough that they'll come back next week. I don't really fear what they're doing with the Doctor. I think I've managed to maintain the Doctor's edge, his quirkiness and the affected nature of the character that helps him stand apart from the other characters on the ship. The Doctor is the fussiest, most arch character on the show, and he keeps his distance through that, regardless of how far they take my lessons in humanity. The Doctor may have more friends now, but he can still deliver a snarky line."

Heading into season four, though, Picardo admits he worried that the departure of Kes (Jennifer Lien) would hurt his character. After all, the young Ocampa was his sounding board, his confidante and Picardo's means of displaying the Doctor's softer side. "I thought the Doctor might get reduced to comic relief," Picardo puts it succinctly. "I was concerned that we might not do any more of my human entitlement stories--the ones where I say, 'As a member of this ship, I deserve to'--especially because they were doing so many of those kinds of stories with Seven of Nine. You can't tell the same stories about two characters in the same season. What happened is that they gave me different kinds of stories last year. I had some very good episodes."

During his summer break between seasons..., Picardo wasn't nearly as active as usual. He squeezed in only a few conventions, taped the audio novel version of Taylor's novel Pathways and guest-starred with Lisa Zane in the "Sarcophagus" episode of Showtime's Outer Limits (written by Naren Shankar, who penned the Doctor-driven Voyager, "Heroes and Demons"). He would have been busier if the timing had worked out. Picardo had to turn down a role in the season finale of Frasier due to his commitment to The Outer Limits, then passed on appearing in a play because its run would have overlapped with Voyager's return to production.

"I'm supposed to get back behind the camera later this season. Rick Berman is a very busy man, and has been even busier than usual because of Star Trek: Insurrection," Picardo says. "I don't like to bug him, so I haven't been a flea in his ear. But with the season half over already, I'm curious if he remembers that I'm supposed to be directing my second show [after "Alter Ego"]. Roxann Dawson is having her first opportunity this year, so I'll hopefully do my second one after her show. I enjoyed the experience and definitely want to do it again. Maybe I'll just have to be that flea in Rick's ear."

In the article "Robert Picardo The Doctor" by Kathy Krantz and Keith Olexa,"'To be absolutely frank,...my tastes in science fiction run more toward Gothic and horror stories rather than toward a futuristic premise like STAR TREK.'"

"I didn't realize I had lucked into, traditionally, one of the most interesting and hopeful kinds of characters in a STAR TREK series."

"Ethan Phillips and I are old friends,...I did a test opposite him for the role of Neelix without knowing he was my competition. I was delighted when I found out I didn't get the role [and Phillips did]."

"I do enjoy playing comedy very much. My ideal role is one in a dramatic series where the character gets to have humerous moments." (Issue November 1997.)

In the article "Visiting Voyager" by Melissa J. Perenson, "Picardo injects a bit of humor into the situation while taking a break in the corridor. 'We feel we're making a show people will see 20, 30, 40 times,' he deadpans. 'So we feel the responsibility to shoot it 20, 30, 40 times.'"(Issue June 1998.)