Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo spent seven years together wandering the Delta quadrant on Star Trek: Voyager. Phillips played the constantly cheerful cook and self described “Morale Officer” Neelix while Picardo played his near freudian opposite, the nameless and often humorless holographic Doctor. But the set of Voyager wasn’t the first meeting for this unlikely pair; careers intertwined long before that.
Jonja.net had the pleasure to sit down with both of them at Starfest 2009 and we learned all about their cris-crossed auditions, who was really to blame for the most out-takes during filming, and more about fellow actor Tim Russ than anyone would want to know!
Katee Sackhoff almost didn’t make it to Starfest this year. After having been bumped from her flight Friday night from sunny Los Angeles, she arrived in Denver to a winter wonderland with more than a foot of snow on the ground. But the Oregon native took it all in stride.
Katee, until recently, portrayed the character of Kara Thrace, the re-imagined Starbuck, in Ron Moore’s update of the TV series Battlestar Galactica. The re-envisioning of the character generated quite a bit of controversy both in the media and amongst the fans — something Ms. Sackhoff didn’t shy from.
Mr. Lougee is a film maker specializing in the amazing art of “stop-motion” animation. We spoke to him about his current project, The Pit and the Pendulum.
Christopher Page and Anne Lockhart
(Not pictured, Interviewer, Joni Jackson)Anne Lockhart, best known as the beautiful & strong Lt. Sheeba of Battlestar Galactica TOS, gave Jonja.net a few minutes to chat.
We talked about her busy life her charity work and the creation of her role on Battlestar Galactica.
We also introduce the lovely and talented Joni Jackson,
Christopher Page, Nana Visitor, and John Jackson (Founder of Jonja.net)One of our first interviews at Starfest was the extremely friendly and beautiful Nana Visitor.
Best know as Major Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Nana has been friendly variety of films and TV and most recently she will be making an appearance in the Sci-Fi Channels Battlestar Galactica.
It was a pleasure to meet her and talk to her. She is very fan friendly and loves meeting and interacting with the fans. You can tell that she is genuinely appreciative of her career and her fan base.
Christopher Page, John Jackson, (Founder of Jonja.net) and Adam BaldwinStar of Firefly, Serenity and NBC’s Chuck, Adam Baldwin joined us at Starfest. Very open and personable guy who made a point of just being “one of the guys” even to the point of joining Friday nights “Browncoat Party” at the hotel bar!
Photo courtesy of Exposay.com, Glen Harris/@Photorazzi
Out of the blue Mr. Quinto decided to sit down with a few people and do an interview. Jonja.net was lucky enough to be one of them!
You can find Mr. Quinto as Sylar in the upcoming 3rd series of Heroes and Spock in J.J. Abrams new Star Trek movie.
A very laid back guy. Very friendly and could be found wandering the convention Saturday afternoon.
(I would like to point out that when asked about picking up the role of Spock, Mr. Quinto said one thing but his body language said another.)
Christopher Page, Nichelle Nichols and John Jackson at Starfest 2008“Every now and then you get to meet someone that strikes you as so extraordinary, so full of class and eloquence that it blows your mind.
Nichelle Nichols is that kind of person.
I was sitting in the Green Room when she walked in. She sat down across from me and just started talking to me like she knew me all her life. We talked about a varity of things, but one story she told me stuck out and that was her flight to Denver.
I asked her how her flight was and she went into this story how she was hoping for a good flight because she is not fond of turbulence, but that her flight went so well that when she was disembarking, she felt the need to thank the pilot for a great flight.
Well, he must have recognized her because after she thanked him he said “My pleasure Commander”
She thought that was very nice of him.
Anyway, the next day we got to sit down with her and do a proper interview. She was very gracious with her time and was genuinely friendly to all involved. I have to say that I walked away from that weekend with new view of Nichelle Nichols, she is clearly the class act of the TOS Star Trek cast.”
OK, this WAS our first interview! Denver Starfest was the proving ground for the team and where we honed our gift of gab.
Here, Jonja.net founder John Jackson and tag along, Christopher Page take on Gil Gerard and Erin Gray from Buck Rogers and Battle of the Network Stars!
Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo spent seven years together wandering the Delta quadrant on Star Trek: Voyager. Phillips played the constantly cheerful cook and self described “Morale Officer” Neelix while Picardo played his near freudian opposite, the nameless and often humorless holographic Doctor. But the set of Voyager wasn’t the first meeting for this unlikely pair; careers intertwined long before that.
