Robert Picardo Has Big Dreams For 'Star Trek: Prodigy' Season 3 (2024)

Star Trek: Prodigy delivered one of the best twenty-episode seasons of Star Trek storytelling with Season 2. Not only did it brilliantly tell the stories of its young cast of characters, like Dal (Brett Gray) and Gwyn (Ella Purnell), but the series also introduced beloved characters from series, like Star Trek: Voyager, to a brand-new generation of Star Trek fans. Throughout Season 1, Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) was a guiding force as a hologram aboard the Protostar, and with Season 2 of Prodigy we got to even more Janeway as the real Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway stepped into focus. With Janeway's search for Chakotay (Robert Beltran) becoming a central focus of the season, it's really no surprise that Prodigy's creators brought back another beloved face from Voyager: the Doctor (Robert Picardo).

Following the release of Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 on Netflix, I had the opportunity to catch up with the effervescent Robert Picardo to discuss his return to the role after nearly thirty years. In our short, but lively conversation, we discussed the generational impact of a franchise like Star Trek, what it was like reprising the role of the Doctor, his reaction to seeing the animated version of himself on the Voyager again, what evolved and changed in the recording booth, and what he would love to see the Doctor do in a potential Star Trek: Prodigy Season 3. You can read the full transcript of the interview below.

Star Trek: Prodigy

TV-Y7

Sci-Fi

Adventure

Drama

Animation

A group of young aliens escape captivity by commandeering a derelict Starfleet ship, the U.S.S. Protostar. As they navigate the galaxy, they must learn to work together and uncover the ship's secrets. The show blends adventure and discovery, appealing to both new viewers and longtime Star Trek fans.

Release Date

October 28, 2021

Creator

Cast

Rylee Alazraqui , Brett Gray , Kate Mulgrew , Ella Purnell , Dee Bradley Baker , Angus Imrie , Jason Mantzoukas , John Noble

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

2

Franchise

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+

Showrunner

Dan Hageman

COLLIDER: I have to say Star Trek: Voyagermeans so much to me. That's the show that I grew up with in the Star Trek Universe, and I love that a whole new generation gets to experience the characters that were so formative in making me who I am today. What is it like to have been part of a franchise that is so generation-spanning the way that Star Trek is?

ROBERT PICARDO: It's always gratifying to meet fans at personal appearances, and people come up to you on the street and all that, who say, “I grew up watching you.” But I love hearing the ones that said “my dad and I,” or “my mother and I.” I'll ask you, for example: did you sit with your whole family or did one of your parents sit and watch with you?

It was my mom and I, and I got to watch Prodigy with my mom, as well, so it felt full circle.

PICARDO: My personal theory is that because Janeway was a female character, the mother and daughter sitting down and watching Star Trek, the curve might be a little higher for Voyager than the other shows. But I don't care what it is. I don't care if it's grandparents and grandchildren. I've literally heard stories of four generations of a single family sitting down together and watching the show, and that really has to make you feel good as a performer.

Because Star Trek really does promote the core principle that exploration and learning about our place in the cosmos is reason enough to extend the human presence in space. We're not out looking for cheaper cellphone battery materials — which is what's happening right now on the moon, which is why we're all worried about China landing on the dark side of the moon, because it's all about space mining and who's gonna get ahead — but the glorious ideals of Star Trek, of just understanding that exploring to understand more and also the other themes of inclusivity and creatures from different alien backgrounds working together in harmony, all of those images are really great for parents and children and grandparents and children, for generations to share, to sit in front of and share.

So, I'm touched by your story of you and your mom. Your mom is obviously a forward-thinker. And that you still enjoy it is also nice, and that you're now a fully-formed adult and that you still enjoy it is great.

I love what Prodigy does. I think it's the perfect concentration of everything that Star Trek is packaged into stories aimed at kids, and adults alike. I think it's great. I'm curious for you, what was it like getting that call and getting to come back to Star Trek and reprise this character?

PICARDO: I've done a fair amount of animation throughout my career, but I have never played a character in animation that I created in live-action. So, it was familiar in some respects doing it, but very different and unique in the fact that I was trying to play a character that I had started playing 30 years ago, this coming August. So, mostly the technical challenge, I thought, was pitching my voice up because as I've gotten older, my voice sits down here, but the Doctor, especially when he was excited about something would really breathlessly ramble. So the pace of his speech, especially when he was on his game and talking about something he’d figured out medically, and having to spew information at that high pace, that was the main challenge, so that I sounded the same age vocally.

When I started to read the scripts that [Kevin] Hageman and their writing team created, it was fun to see that they really use the Doctor well. All of the humorous things about him were carried forward, his self-delight, the fact that he was writing holo-novels, and no one was a bigger fan of his work than he than he was — all of that fun stuff. But also, when the chips are down and there was a crisis, it really was, “How do we solve this young female cadet or would-be cadet that is in dire trouble, and how do we bring her back?” So all of the drama, which of course, is geared to a younger audience, but still, the stakes are high. Even in an animated series, the stakes were serious and important. I love the way they use the Doctor credibly and convincingly in serious scenes, as well.

I didn't know what it would be like. I'm dear friends with Kate Mulgrew, so she told me a little bit about the recording experience, how she was enjoying it, and what it meant. I knew that Kate is a great talent and very serious about protecting the legacy of her character, so if she was happy, I had every expectation that I would be too. So, that was not a surprise.

Robert Picardo Recalls the Recording Process for 'Star Trek: Prodigy'

Something I really like about animation is how things can change. You don't necessarily think that animation is going to be something that evolves like when you're on set or something like that, but a lot can change in the recording booth, and then after they get to the editing bay, they can come back with pickups and change things around. Were there ever any moments with the Doctor that kind of evolved during the process for you?

PICARDO: Yes, we rerecorded some stuff, even some of the pilot, because we were just starting out. We went back and rerecorded some of the pilot, I think to raise the pace of the character. It's very hard when you're recording alone, and you don't hear the other characters. That's the hardest thing. I mean, in an urgent scene, that kind of explains itself. When it's life or death, “We've got to do something right now,” that urgency makes everything happen quickly. But when it's just general introductory conversation, the Doctor first presenting himself to the would-be cadets and all that, I do remember we went back and rerecorded it mostly just for additional pace. During the recording, if I had an idea for a joke and they loved it, there was tremendous freedom, and if they liked it, they recorded it.

The frustrating thing about animation is that you have the inspiration of things happening, you ad-lib something, it all seems like fun, we're laughing in the recording booth after, and then you have to wait two and half years to see it. [Laughs] It's not like in live-action where if you go, “Oh, that was an interesting shooting day, I'm gonna go ask the producer if I can watch the dailies the next day.” No such thing. But the point is that if the excitement is in the room when you record it, it's gonna be on the screen when it's animated.

I definitely feel like that comes through watching it, as well. I know that you don't get to record in the room together, but when you got to see the final product and got to see yourself again next to Janeway on the Voyager, what was that reaction like for you? I know watching those scenes for myself, I cried.

PICARDO: [Laughs] I don't know that I cried. And I must be honest, I haven't watched all 20 yet, but what I've seen, it is emotional. It's emotional to see even the Voyager animated and to hear the underscore. It's such an important part of my life and career. It does two things: first of all, you don't wanna mess with your legacy. You kinda go, “I worked hard. I did a good job. I don't wanna mess that up.” But the other side of that is, “Oh, how cool. That's still part of me.” Even though I'm at a very different stage of life personally and in my career, that is still part of me, and we can create new Star Trek. So, it was really a blast. It was a lot of fun, and I hope the show is successful enough that Netflix will consider a Season 3.

I hope so. I know Season 3 is up in the air, which brings me to my next question. If there is a third season, is there anything that you didn't get to do in Voyager that you would love to be able to maybe get to do as the Doctor in animation?

PICARDO: Wow! Probably have a romance. That's the best thing in the world. At the age I'm at now, it's not gonna play in live-action, but how great would it be? I really loved the little shows in the past, the one in real life where he had a holographic family. There was an episode in the past, I called it our “beauty is only skin-deep” episode — I think it was called “Lifesigns” — where the Doctor fell in love with a hideously deformed Vidiian woman who he was working on and didn't care what she looked like. It's always fun at a certain stage of life to play a character who's acting like he's a 16-year-old on a date, and you can't do that in live-action, but you can certainly do it in voiceover. So, yeah, it would be fun to see a personal episode of the Doctor.

It might be fun to sing a little opera again. I think whatever singing I did was only a couple of phrases. I think I sang a couple of notes, but to have a little opera performance, that would be fun. But other than that, the writers have such great imaginations. They'll think of better things than I can.

Star Trek: Prodigy is streaming now on Netflix.

STREAM ON NETFLIX