CAST AND STAFF SPEAK
- MEMORIES AND MEANINGS

Roxann Dawson: I think that we're just part of the popularity of Star Trek, which came before us and will be after us. I think we're just sort of that wonderful world. I think the biggest change was having the same job for seven years because as actors we grow up being gypsies and going from one job to the next, and we're used to getting into very tight-knit groups and creating these 'families' and then saying goodbye and moving on, used to being one character for a while and then moving on and being another character. We're used to living in different places. We're used to change, constant change. This has been nothing but constant for seven years, and that has really changed my life.

Jeri Ryan: I think that the reason the franchise has been so successful for 30-something years is because, the thing that makes it so unique as well, is because it's an optimistic view of the future. Everything else we see is so pessimistic and dark and so anihilistic, and this shows a positive portrayal of what could be in the future. And I think people need that and want that, and want that to grasp onto. And I think [Star Trek Voyager] carries on the tradition.

Actually, my single funniest memories, one of my fondest memories of the show, guess it might've been my first season on the show when we christened the astrometrics lab for the first time, it was that season (Season 4 which contained the story [Year Of Hell]), it was one of the rare scenes where all the cast members are together. And the boys were doing their impression of the Lord of the Dance, skipping all over the astrometrics lab. I thought I was going to die. It must've taken 20 minutes extra to re-touch my make-up because I was crying, I was laughing so much; I had mascara running down my face.

Ethan Phillips: You know, doing a television series this long is like being in a medieval village, you know - everybody's got a function: the seamstress, the hairstylist, the make-up, the crew guy, the camera. Everybody's got something to do and they all work as a team, and you come here every day and you're surrounded by this gated fortress of Paramount, and everybody makes their daily bread and it's going to be hard to say goodbye to all that.

Robert Picardo: There are so many positive messages to Star Trek that I was only dimly aware of when I started the show that I now really understand, from having performed in the show and from having met a lot of the fans for whom the show means such a great deal.

Robert Duncan McNeill: This is a world that has sort of become alive, and so it is ongoing and, you know, the fans want to see more, they want to explore more of the characters, the history, the future, all the different aspects, and keep that world alive. So, you know, I wouldn't be shocked if the franchise went on and on for longer than any of us are around. It's created that kind of reality in many ways.

Kate Mulgrew: I loved that philosophy. I thought it not only noble but absolutely enduring. Why do you think that Star Trek has been so fantastically successful? Do you think people are blindly desperate to watch 165 crew lost in some quadrant of space? No, it's because they're smart (= intelligent). We are noble and pure of spirit as a species.

Mike Okuda, scenic art supervisor

Michael Okuda: It's this feeling of familiarity that makes Star Trek work. There is an identifiable look and feel about it all. The times may change, the people may change, the aliens and the ships and the planets may change, but every thing still feels familiar. Everything in Star Trek still operates by the same laws. And there is always a family of likeable characters doing extraordinary things. And everything is a direct descendent of the Enterprise and [TOS].

Brannon Braga, writer and co-executive producer: I think Star Trek is to science fiction, to some degree, what people expect from Disney when it comes to animation. When people like Star Trek, they know if it's going to be Star Trek, they know they're going to get a certain production value, and that they're going to get a certain level of story-telling; it's going to have something deeper to say; it's going to have good character stuff; that's it's not just going to be a shloppy type of science fiction, it's not going to be nuclear armageddon, post-apocalyptic, it's going to be neat and it's going to be a special brand of science fiction, which has a certain level of quality.

Rick Berman, co-creator of [Star Trek Voyager], executive producer and in overall charge of Star Trek: I think Star Trek appeals to people for two reasons. Firstly, it has become very familiar. In the face of hundreds of television channels that are available and movies and all the different entertainment venues, Star Trek has been sort of embedded in people's minds. It's been around for 35 years now. There's nobody out there who hasn't heard of a photon torpedo or a Klingon or "Beam me up, Scotty," or warp speed. It's part of our culture, and I think the familiarity of it is something that's very comfortable for people.

Secondly, Star Trek has always represented a very positive hopeful outlook of the future. A lot of science fiction doesn't. And I think that does appeal to a lot of people.