Episodes

Brad Zerbst appears in a trio of Star Trek TNG, playing a Starfleet medical officer in three episodes from season one - "Justice," "Heart of Glory," and "Skin of Evil." But Starfleet wasn't all it was cracked up to be for Brad, and he shifted his focus to something else - literally, by becoming an award-winning and highly sought-after camera operator. Brad explains how his first gig in Hollywood brought him back to his hometown, his appearances on "Murder, She Wrote," what the TNG uniforms from...

Robb Pearlman is a professional writer and author of dozens of books, including Star Trek titles like "Fun with Kirk and Spock," Redshirt's Little Book of Doom," Star Trek: Prodigy: Supernova," "Starfleet Is..." and many more. He's also got other nerdy titles for children and adults under his belt, with more on the way! Robb tells us how he became a writer for a living, working with Paramount to make Trek books, some behind-the-scenes stories from the making of his sci-fi lit, the books that in...

David Frankham played Larry Marvick in the "Star Trek" season three episode, "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" but his extensive resume traces all the way back to the 1940s. Mr. Frankham, who is the oldest guest to appear on this podcast at 97 years young, has seen it all and has tons of amazing tales from a bygone era of Hollywood. David explains how he found his way into acting serving in the British Army during WW II, working for the BBC, his first television gig in front of 25 million people t...

Leslie Hoffman was a stunt woman on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager," where she also doubled for Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres. She's also the only female stunt coordinator in Star Trek history, so you can imagine she's got loads of stories to tell! Leslie explains how she got started in the stunt business, her friendship with fellow stunt performers Dennis Madalone and Tom Morga, and talks about some of her most well-known stunts, including being hung by her neck in "Ro...

Jeff Akin hosts the Starfleet Leadership Academy Podcast, a show where he takes his 20+ years of experience in the business sector and examines the principles that make great managers through the lens of Star Trek. Jeff chats with us about how he discovered podcasting and how he connected the business world to Star Trek, what makes a good leader, the unique traits that made each captain distinct and effective, and why some of the captains who fans hate are actually excellent managers. Plus, sur...

Concetta Tomei played Minister Odala in the third season "Star Trek: Voyager" episode, "Distant Origins," but her stories in acting are a little closer to home. In this uplifting, informative, and inspiring episode, Concetta explains why she left teaching to follow her dream as an actress, memories of her first professional gig in "The Elephant Man" on Broadway with David Bowie, performing in "Max Headroom" with Trek alumni Matthew Frewer, her four years on "China Beach" with Robert Picardo and...

Clint Howard is the only actor to appear in every era of Star Trek on TV and is one of the most recognizable character actors in all of Hollywood! He's accomplished plenty and been through some tough times, but today, his perspective on his life and career has never been more positive. Besides Clint's 250+ roles in TV shows and films, Clint's appeared five times in the Star Trek franchise. He debuted as a six-year-old in the first season episode of the original Star Trek, "The Corbomite Maneuve...

John & Maria Jose Tenuto are authors of the new book, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: The Making of the Classic Film". You've seen these two before in "The Toys that Made Us" and other pop-culture shows discussing sci-fi and other awesome geeky things, and now they've taken that passion to a new level with this meticulously researched book that left no stone, or Ceti Eel, unturned. We learn a ton of new surprises as the Tenutos dug deeper than anyone has gone before to uncover the truth about...

With the WGA and SAG-AFTRA members on strike for the first time together since 1960, an entire industry has shut down, with massive implications for jobs beyond TV & film. Join Armin Shimerman, Kitty Swink, Phil Morris, Lisa Klink, Bertila Damas, and Tim Lounibos as we unpack and explain what's happening in Hollywood right now. This roundtable discussion breaks down critical issues like base pay, residuals, and healthcare, addresses the misinformation the average person may have about the strik...

On this "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" Debriefing, we discuss Episode 206, "Lost in Translation." Uhura has a life-changing journey with Kirk that leads her back to a familiar face in the surprise return of Hemmer. Meanwhile, Una and Pelia contend with some tech problems that open old wounds between the pair. After my review of the episode, I chat with Paul Wesley - the new James T. Kirk - to discuss this episode, as well as episode 203, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," who this version o...

Trek Untold brings you another "Strange New Worlds" Debriefing with a review of Season 2, Episode 5, "Charades." After my review, we chatted with the stars as Ethan Peck (Spock) and Gia Sandhu (T'Pring) visited the show for two separate interviews. Gia and Ethan discuss the evolution of their characters, what it's like performing comedy as Vulcans, showing emotions while acting as a person who doesn't emote, what they learned from each other while working together on "Spock Amok," the hidden ra...

Michael Krawic appeared three times in the franchise. His first appearance was in the DS9 episode "The Maquis, Part 1" as William Patrick Samuels, a member of this terrorist group who ultimately lost his life in a Cardassian prison cell. He followed that up as a Catian alien in the VOY episode "Day of Honor" under heavy makeup. Lastly, his most memorable role was in the second season "Enterprise" episode "Carbon Creek" as one of the stranded Vulcans, Stron. Now living primarily in Thailand, Kra...

Melissa Navia joins Trek Untold for another Strange New Worlds Debriefing on Trek Untold! This time, it's all about SNW S2E4, "Among the Lotus Eaters." After I reviewed this episode, I chatted with Melissa to hear her thoughts on the fans rallying behind Ortegas so much, behind-the-scenes tales from filming "Among the Lotus Eaters" and how she performed some of her emotional scenes, including Ortegas' panic attack. Plus, the origins of the name Erica Ortegas, working with Carol Kane and Ethan Pe...

Patrick Kilpatrick has lived one heck of a life, and of course, it intersected with the Star Trek universe! Patrick explains his path from being a journalist to becoming a bodyguard for rock musicians like Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd, and then a stuntman and performer in action movies. Patrick appeared three times in the Star Trek universe, first in "Star Trek: Voyager" as Razik in the second season episode "Initiations" alongside Aron Eisenberg, making a special non-DS9 guest appearance. After...

On this "Strange New World Debriefing," Christina Chong visits Trek Untold to discuss the latest episode from season 2, "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow," along with my thoughts on the first three episodes of the season. Christina explains what was different about this La'an Noonien Singh-centric episode, what made it so much more demanding than the typical SNW episode, shooting in Canada, working alongside the new Kirk AKA Paul Wesley, and the criticism he has received for his portrayal of ...

The Robbenberries are a sci-fi cabaret party band that combines genres of music with their love of geekdom to pump out some rocking jams! Beth Kellner, AKA Sister Spock, and Bill Tayoun, AKA Spocknik stop by Trek Untold to explain how the band got together, alternate names they almost went with, what exactly is sci-fi cabaret, performing with Star Trek luminaries like Ben Vereen, Chase Masterson, Robert Picardo, Rainn Wilson, and "their Klingon punk rock uncle" JG Hertzler to name a few. Plus, t...

Bill Blair is the Guinness World Record Holder for most special effect makeup characters portrayed in a career. With over 200 roles under heavy prosthetics, including dozens in Star Trek DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, Bill's face is hardly recognizable for the amount of work he's put in on-camera. Bill talks about growing up in a small town and finding his way into Hollywood, cutting his teeth in commercials along the way. We discuss his time in the first "Robocop," working on "Diagnosis Murder"...

Michael Berryman has an unmistakable look that has served him well for decades in Hollywood. His one-of-a-kind face helped him land two gigs in the Star Trek universe, but his career is certainly one where you've seen the man plenty of times, and now you get to know his story. Berryman was a Starfleet communications officer in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," and then Captain Rixx in the first season "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode, "Conspiracy," where he played the first on-screen Bol...

Chris and Matt Cushman are the masters of the cutaway, a type of technical illustration that strips away the hull of an industrial-designed object to show its inner workings. Lucky for sci-fi fans, the brothers are hardcore Trekkies and have used their talents for decades to pull back the exteriors of starships to display every nook and cranny of their interiors. Chris and Matt explain how they went from reading Franz Joseph's technical blueprints in bookstores to creating them on their own. Fr...

She's been a murderous psychic child, a holographic Victorian heiress, a recovering alcoholic country singer, and a whole lot more! While her time in Trek was limited as a child, Lindsey Haun's career has been filled with ties to the franchise that remain to this day, in a career where her talents always shined brightly. Lindsey appeared on three episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" in two different roles. First, she was Beatrice Burleigh in the episodes "Learning Curve" and "Persistence of Vision,...

Alan Altshuld has not done many interviews before, and even fewer about his time on Star Trek, where he performed four times in two different series. This veteran has spent considerable time in the theater and in TV commercials, along with his work on shows and movies, which I'm excited to share with you now. Alan told us about how he got discovered by Jeri Taylor to make his first Star Trek appearance in TNG, the deceptively complicated makeup job for that "Starship Mine" role, getting physica...

Laura Banks is familiar to Trekkies from her role in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" as Khan's navigator aboard the USS Reliant. One of her earliest acting roles, Laura went from a model to a performer, starring in Roger Corman B-movies and eventually pivoting into writing. Laura takes us on a trip through her origins in Hollywood to her time in Star Trek, working with Ricardo Montalban and Nicholas Meyer, becoming an Augment who spent time on Ceti Alpha V in The Botany Bay, and later a Feder...

Bruce Horak played Hemmer for the first season of "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" on Paramount Plus. This Aenar (a member of the Andorians) was chief engineer aboard the Enterprise, serving under Captain Pike, and was a mentor to Uhura through his distinguished service on that vessel. On this episode of Trek Untold, we meet the renaissance man underneath all that makeup, Bruce Horak. Bruce made history as the first visually impaired actor to appear in a Star Trek series and brought a unique per...

Check out this behind-the-scenes look at the new off-Broadway show for Trekkies filled with ear worms - in more ways than one. "Khan!!! The Musical" is a Star Trek parody musical that retells The Wrath of Khan in a unique and hilarious way. On this episode of Trek Untold, we pull back the curtain on this show with a special "spockumentary" featuring exclusive footage and interviews with some of the people behind this show while we observe one of their final rehearsals before hitting the stage. ...