Episodes

Jessica Gaona began acting at a very young age. She enjoyed two appearances in "Star Trek: Voyager: and other shows before taking a break from being behind the camera to find a new path in life. Her first appearance was as an alien extra in the season six episode "Memorial," but Trekkies may remember her best as young B'Elanna Torres from the seventh season episode "Lineage." Jessica reminisces about being on the set of a Star Trek show, what the Klingon makeup process was like for an 11-year-o...

Ian Lake appeared in two episodes of the third season of "Star Trek: Discovery" as Tolor, an Orion who runs a salvage yard for his aunt Osyraa of the Emerald Chain. He appeared first in "Scavengers" and again in "The Sanctuary." Ian talks about the highly secretive audition process for DISCO, the makeup transformation process of physically becoming an Orion and the moment the character came together for him, sharing the screen with Soneqhua Martin-Green & Michelle Yeoh and having a fight scene ...

Stunt performers are some of the most fascinating people in Hollywood to listen to, and our guest on this episode is no exception to the rule. Tom Morga first appeared in 1979 as a double for Leonard Nimoy in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and worked in nearly all of the TOS movies. From there, he joined the crew of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as a stunt performer and double, as well as assistant stunt coordinator alongside Dennis Madalone. Tom worked on TNG, DS9, VOY, Enterprise, and the...

The Benzites are one of my favorite aliens in Star Trek, and on this episode of “Trek Untold,” we speak with the man behind the makeup of the very first one ever seen onscreen, John Putch. Putch was in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” twice, first as Mordock in the first season episode “Coming of Age” and returned as Mendon in “A Matter of Honor” in season two. We learn about the makeup process and origins of this alien and what it was like working with Wil Wheaton, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dor...

Dey Young, Actress from Star Trek TNG, DS9 & Enterprise Trek fans will remember Dey Young best from her roles as Hannah Bates in the TNG episode "Masterpiece Society," Arissa from the DS9 episode "A Simple Investigation," and Keyla from ENT in "Two Days and Two Nights." Dey tells us stories about working with Levar Burton, Rene Auberjonois, and Scott Bakula, what it's like to not only kiss a changeling but be the first character to sleep with Odo, and why Arissa is one of the highlights of her...

Without today's guest, the universe of Star Trek would sound very different. Marc Okrand is the man behind Klingon, Vulcan, Kelpien, and languages for other shows & films. Before his time on Trek, Marc earned a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in indigenous languages of the west coast of America, and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Anthropology Department of the Smithsonian Institute. We learn about how Marc became connected to the Star Trek univ...

Susan Diol's acting career spans dozens of TV shows and theatrical works, but Trekkies know her best as the Vidiian hematologist, Dr. Danara Pel, from two episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" titled "Lifesigns" and "Resolutions." Before her time on Voyager, she appeared as a scientist named Carmen Davila on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in "Silicon Avatar." However, her character didn't make it past the opening act for reasons you'll understand when you watch the episode. Susan was also one of t...

Trekkies may remember Tim as Lt. Daniel Kwan from the season 7 episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" titled "Eye of the Beholder," but he was also Vin Asunder in the "Star Trek Away Team" video game and has one more surprising Star Trek role that you have to hear about. We discuss the makeup process to become a Napien, behind the scenes stories of Jonathan Frakes and Gates McFadden, and other fond memories from filming the episode, and the reaction after. Tim also tells us what it was lik...

Trekkies will remember Billy Van Zandt from one memorable appearance in the Star Trek franchise, but you may know him better for his acclaimed work as a writer and producer for TV & theater, alongside his writing partner Jane Milmore. Born in New Jersey, Billy headed to Hollywood to pursue an acting career inspired by Lucille Ball. Logically, his first stop was Lucille's home, and he has a story about that, as well as working with her and Gale Gordon on "Life with Lucy" and later producing an E...

Today, we're speaking with Steve Neill, who is known for his special effects work on "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," specifically making Leonard Nimoy's Vulcan ears and the makeup for the Rhaandarites. He also worked on some of the other Trek films, along with the pilot for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" titled "Encounter at Farpoint" for a scene that was ultimately unused. Beyond Trek, Steve's worked on "Laser Blast," "Ghostbusters," "Fright Night," "The Stuff," "Return of Swamp Thing," "Pu...

Jeff Russo has gone from rock bands in NYC to composing scores for Hollywood, and Trek fans will know him best for creating the music for "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard." Before he started scoring soundtracks, Jeff was part of the Grammy-nominated band TONIC, whose music you can hear in "Scream 2" and "American Pie," and their music videos have millions of views on Youtube. His journey in music led him to score TV shows like "Fargo," "Lucifer," and "The Umbrella Academy," where h...

Stunts make the show, and on this episode, we dive deep into the world of action for Star Trek. We are joined by Dennis Madalone, the stunt coordinator for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager." Dennis first appeared in Star Trek 6 as a Klingon and eventually got a chance to work on TNG, leading him to become a stunt coordinator on the show, and eventually, most of the series during the '90s. We talk about how stunts and action scenes get put together, doubling for a...

In the decorated annals of Star Trek memes, few are as strong and enduring as the sex-candle ghost from the seventh season TNG episode "Sub Rosa." In this episode, we are honored to have that spirit take physical form, as we speak with the actor who brought Ronin to life, Duncan Regehr. While many fans know him best from TNG, he was also Shakaar in three episodes of Star Trek DS9. We discuss both of those roles, including his thoughts on "Sub Rosa" and all of the memes, working with Gates McFad...

It's been a great year for "Trek Untold" when it came to guests from DS9, and in this episode, we revisit a few of my favorite conversations from performers who I interviewed earlier in 2020. Listen to great stories from Kaitlin Hopkins, Phil Morris, Juliana Donald, Erick Avari, Hilary Shepard, Chase Masterson, Max Grodenchik, and Armin Shimerman, and get caught up on some of the wonderful memories these folks had from their time on Deep Space Nine. Pick up Armin Shimerman's new book "Illyria: ...

In this episode of "Trek Untold," we take a trip back in time, but not too far back, so we don't get in trouble with any temporal agents. We're revisiting some stories from past guests this year who appeared in "Star Trek: The Next Generation," including our episodes with Ursaline Bryant, Spencer Garrett, Erick Avari, Juliana Donald, Alex Datcher, Lycia Naff, and Armin Shimerman. It's a great way to catch up on the show if you're a new listener or a nice way to remember some excellent tales we h...

Get a taste of some real frontier medicine with the one and only Alexander Siddig, AKA Dr. Julian Bashir from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"! Alexander is here to promote his newest movie, SKYLINES, the finale of the "Skyline" series where he played General Radford, and he had a lot of fun making this movie. Of course, we spend plenty of time discussing his time on DS9, including stories about the infamous episode "Move Along Home," memories of Avery Brooks and working on "Past Tense," directing ...

If you collect anything from Star Trek, chances are you have at least one of those Hero Collector die-cast starships somewhere in it. Today, we're speaking with the man responsible for that line, Ben Robinson. Ben is the head of Hero Collector, a division of Eaglemoss, and has been the man behind their Star Trek, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, WWE, Aliens, Ghostbusters, Marvel and DC figure collections, among other licenses. He's also an author of over a dozen books on Star Trek, including a...

If you're ever on DS9 and need a place to wet your whistle, run – don't walk – to Quark's Bar! Today, we speak with Armin Shimerman, most famously known to Trek fans as Quark from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." He's here to answer fan-submitted questions and discuss his new book, "Illyria: Betrayal of Angels," the first in a historical-fiction trilogy starring a young William Shakespeare. Armin, who is also an adjunct professor of Shakespeare, talks to us about the long process of writing this b...

Lycia Naff is known best to Star Trek fans for her two appearances in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as Ensign Sonya Gomez from the second season episodes "Q Who" and "Samaritan Snare". Meant to be a love interest for Geordi LaForge, things didn't work out for Ensign Gomez after spilling her hot chocolate on Captain Picard. Lycia tells us the behind-the-scenes story about what happened to her character, and what happened to the third episode she was meant to appear in that would have changed G...

Comics and Star Trek have a long history together, one that continues to this day. Nearly every major comic company has held the license, from Marvel, DC, Malibu Comics, and today it resides under IDW Publishing. In this episode of "Trek Untold," we speak with the writer for the most recent Trek mini-series coming out that just came out this week, Dave Baker. Dave is the writer of "Star Trek Voyager: Seven's Reckoning," drawn by Angel Hernandez and colored by Ronda Pattison. We discuss his hist...

It's time for me to turn into a fanboy on the show, and I hope the same happens to you when you listen to this interview with Max Grodénchik. You may remember Max best as Rom from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the brother of Quark who rose up from being a bumbling buffoon into being married to the lovely Leeta, was the father of the first Ferengi in Starfleet, and ultimately became the Grand Nagus of Ferenginar! Max is one of my favorite character actors of all time, and Rom is one of my favori...

Sheila McCarthy is one of the best actresses you've likely never heard of - because most of her career has been in Canada! She's had plenty of prominent roles in the US too, and in 2019 she appeared in the second season episode of "Star Trek Discovery" titled "New Eden" as Amesha the All-Mother. In this episode, we discuss the secretive audition process for DISCO, working with Sonequa Martin-Green and Anson Mount, being directed by Jonathan Frakes, and other fond memories of acting in the episod...

Phil Morris is another of those actors whose face you've seen many times (200 to be exact) but whose name you may not have known until today. His father is the famous Greg Morris from the original "Mission: Impossible" show, and we spoke with his sister Iona Morris a few months back on this show, so acting is in his family's blood! Phil has been in the Star Trek franchise FIVE times, starting when he was a child in the original series in the season 1 episode "Miri". He explains how he got cast ...

Today’s guest is a man whose face you’ve seen hundreds of times in movies and TV shows, but you probably never knew his name until now. Erick Avari boasts a resume of big appearances in tons of well-known things, and three of those are Star Trek! Erick first appeared in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episode from season 5 titled “Unification Part 1” as the Klingon warrior B’ijik, and then returned to the franchise in season 3 of Deep Space Nine as Vedek Yarka in “Destiny.” He followed that up...