THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 15, 1995 TAG: 9505130024
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines
WHEN SHE WAS schmoozing with television reporters in Los Angeles not long ago, Kate Mulgrew said she sometimes works 16 to 18 hours a day on the set of ``Star Trek: Voyager,'' which is navigating through the May sweeps with four new episodes.
There's one on WGNT tonight at 8.
With her punishing schedule, how does the 39-year-old actress who plays Starfleet captain Kathryn Janeway unwind?
``By taking a very long hot bath followed by a massage.''
The folks at WGNT in Portsmouth would be happy to pick up the tab for a massage or two, I'm sure. Mulgrew and her fellow travelers on the United Paramount Network have increased Channel 27's ratings by 150 percent over a year ago.
``Star Trek: Voyager'' has been such a hit that Paramount has already renewed it for next season, which begins on Oct. 2. After tonight's episode, there will be another new show on May 22.
From that point through October, we'll be left to wonder how the Voyager crew is making out as it strives to return home to Federation space from a distant corner of the galaxy. They're so far out, they don't get cable.
That's the hook of this latest ``Star Trek'' spinoff - round up a crew of likable, diverse types, load them aboard a starship, propel them way out in the cosmos and try to rescue them.
It's ``Lost in Space'' for the 1990s.
The simple plot line has viewers beaming aboard Voyager by the millions. The series reaches 61,000 homes in Hampton Roads on Monday nights. With Mulgrew a smash as a Starfleet captain - don't you love it when she shouts, ``Red alert!''? - this spinoff could become the most popular ``Star Trek'' franchise of them all.
``We anticipate being on the air for 70 years, which is how long I estimate it will take the crew to get back to Federation space,'' said one of the show's three executive producers, Rick Berman.
Nationally, the ratings for ``Star Trek: Voyager'' have been solid, even spectacular for a show on the No. 5 network - a 6.5 rating with an 11 share. The numbers are about four points higher in Hampton Roads.
``If we could, we'd strip `Star Trek: Voyager' across our prime-time schedule five nights a week. But we can't get the producers to make enough of them,'' said Lucie Salhany, the president of UPN, when she met TV reporters in Los Angeles not long ago.
TV has a hot new franchise in ``Voyager.''
And nobody knows that better than Mulgrew and her cast. You don't hear her griping because her alarm clock goes off at 3:30 a.m. Heck. By that time, Ethan Phillips, who plays Neelix, the Voyager's alien guide, scavenger, gourmet chef and love interest for the dreamy Kes (Jennifer Lein), is already having his makeup applied.
It takes 2 1/2 hours to make him look respectably scraggly, and another 90 minutes to remove the makeup.
The Kes character, the brainy 1-year-old Ocampan - that's 20 in human years - also needs a lot of work by the makeup artists but not as much as Phillips playing Neelix. She has the coolest ears in the cosmos since Spock.
``My ears went through a number of changes before we found what we wanted,'' she said. ``There have been numerous wig changes, too. We started with the brunette look.''
Lien has the greatest speaking voice - honey spilled on velvet.
Speaking of makeup, ever wonder about those markings on the face of Robert Beltran's character, First Officer Chakotay? Wonder about the the tattoo?
``It's a curious design not specified in the script. I've concluded that three of the lines are for former wives and the other lines are for former girlfriends.''
While ``Star Trek Voyager'' has captured a following both with hard-core Trekkies and viewers new to the franchise, the series has yet to produce a breakout star such as Leonard Nimoy in his Spock alter ego on ``Star Trek.'' After seeing the two-hour pilot, I predicted that Neelix would be the one to capture the hearts of the Trek crowd.
Now I say it will be Robert Picardo, who plays the Voyager's doctor. He's a holograph with no heart and soul, ala Data on ``Star Trek: The Next Generation,'' but lately the writers are striving to make him as human as possible.
There has been much talk about giving him a name other than ``Doc,'' which is a curious twist.
He was introduced to the TV press last summer as ``Doc Zimmerman.'' He had a name then. Now he's going by Doc Schweitzer, temporarily.
How does Picardo approach the role of a character who is merely an illusion? ``I take the work seriously, but I don't take myself seriously.''
In the past, he's played roles with and without hairpieces on ``China Beach'' and ``The Wonder Years,'' where he was Coach Cutlip. He does comedy. He does drama.
Picardo, Roxann Biggs-Dawson, who plays Torres, Beltran, and others in the cast were in costume and working before McGrew ever stepped onto the bridge of the Voyager. She was hired in a hurry as a replacement for Genevieve Bujold, who didn't care for the 18-hour work days and costumers who padded her bras.
After she passed her second audition while battling the flu, Mulgrew was rushed to costuming and makeup, and by the next Monday was at work on the set. ``I'm not an ardent fan of `Star Trek' because I don't watch a lot of television. But that was fine, actually an advantage. I just came shooting out of the cannon and into this role.''
After watching her tough-as-nails performance as Janeway, how could anyone have doubted that a woman had what it takes to command a starship? ``I intend to take this character to greater dimensions, emotionally speaking, than perhaps a male actor playing a captain would feel free to do.''
I wonder. . . will they have press-on nails in the 24th century? ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Kate Mulgrew
by CNB