one last fistful of Ted Kord interviews

Part deux of my interview with Trekmovie.com is online, so you don’t have to avoid spoilers any more:

TrekMovie.com: The first season can be be brutal.

Wil Wheaton: Yeah. That is why the first season is kind of fun. Some of the episodes are really really bad and a few of the episodes are extremely good, even if you are not grading on a curve. For the most part — we are awkward — we are trying to figure out what our show is about. And you can see how we had so many different writers and creative power struggles while we figured out what we were going to be. We were really lucky we got a chance to do more than one season. If it wasn’t for the incredible cast and writers like Sandy Fries and Tracy Torme, we probably would not have gone past the second season.

TrekMovie.com: I am in the camp that thinks that Michael Piller, and writers like Ron Moore, really saved the show in the third season.

Wil Wheaton: They absolutely did.

TrekMovie.com: I know some don’t like to hear that Gene [Roddenberry] didn’t save the show. I love Gene Roddenberry, but for TNG I think the Michael was the best thing for the show.

Wil Wheaton: Gene had the presence of mind to know he was getting old and he knew that someone who loved Star Trek as much as he did could step in to take the reins. He hand picked Michael. He begged Michael at the end of season three to come back. Michael didn’t want to at first, but Gene said to him “I need you to make this show great, I can’t do it without you” and Michael agreed. And Michael had the open submissions policy, which is how Ron [Moore] came on, with “The Bonding.” I don’t think it is inaccurate or unfair to give Michael a great deal of credit for making Next Generation great, but at the same time I think it is also fair and accurate to acknowledge that it was Gene Roddenberry who had the vision and presence of mind and the foresight to keep Michael Piller on and put him in a position to do what he did.

I also talked to buzz focus about playing Ted Kord, and that’s online, too:

So…. Brave and Bold Batman vs Frank Miller Batman – who would win?

W. Wheaton: (laugh) I don’t know that’s like asking which fruit will taste better an apple or an orange.

Are you also a fan of 70s/80s cartoons?

W. Wheaton: I remember getting up really early on Saturday mornings to watch the old Super Friends cartoons. It was really Challenge of the Super Friends and those old battles of the Legion of Doom that I loved. And I’m exactly the right age for GI Joe, Transformers, Thundercats and He-Man.

Thundarr the Barbarian is my favorite cartoon in history. That was before they were allowed to do marketing and merchandising in cartoons. So these guys were like, “let’s tell some cool stories.” And, they did.

You’re involved in so many things, what’s your passion these days?

W. Wheaton: Honestly, it’s spending as much time as I can with my family. My boys are getting older. My oldest son is in college, his brother is a senior in high school and is going to college next year. I am keenly aware how 24 hours in a day and 7 days in a week isn’t that much time. More important than anything else is providing for them financially and emotionally.

Finally, I talked to Media Blvd., and got to deliver what ended up being my favorite one-liner of the whole series of interviews (unplanned). See if you can spot it:

Shaun> That’s cool, I grew up on Challenge of the Superfriends. Don’t start me going down that memory lane.

Wil> Are you a Wendy and Marvin kind of guy, or are you a Zan and Jana kind of guy. Wendy and Marvin were lame.

Shaun> I was glad though when Zan and Jana took off, and that damn monkey Gleek, that was always screwing things up.

Wil> I was the right age for Zan and Jana, so I thought that was really funny. They always turned into something. They could have defeated their adversaries, like they were way overpowered for what they actually did with their superpowers. I was exactly the right age, I was born in ’72, so I was like 8 when I was watching that. I thought it was awesome, then I grew up a little bit and there was Wendy and Marvin and Wonderdog. I thought, “They’re dumbing this down!” I was like 11, “They’re dumbing this down for the audience, and they’re insulting my 11 year old intelligence. This is awful, worst episode ever!”

Shaun> I hated the way the Superfriends treated Batman. The only thing they’d show of Batman is the car stopping and picking up Wendy and Marvin, but the dog doesn’t make it into the Batmobile.

Wil> I know, like you’re going to make Batman the chauffeur? Are you serious? I can promise you that that does not happen in Batman: The Brave & The Bold. In Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Batman is awesome, and he is not a ridiculous chauffeur. Batman is nobody’s bitch in Batman: The Brave & The Bold.

Maybe I could have said “Batman: The Brave & The Bold” a few more times in that last answer. I think I really dropped the ball there.

So … I thought there were more, but I’ve either closed the tabs, or I was hopped up on old Foreigner albums and had double vision. I know that three isn’t really a fistful, but I have small fists. So there.

And with that, my friends, I am off to Phoenix for the Phoenix Comicon. I don’t know what kind of internets I’ll have while I’m there, my friends, but if history is any indicator, I’ll be Twittering the hell out of everything, my friends.

Geek in Review: Sci-Fi Guilty Pleasures: Schwarzenegger Edition

Oh man, I had more fun than should be legally allowed while working on this month’s Geek in Review, Sci-Fi Guilty Pleasures: Schwarzenegger Edition:

Long before he was the most dangerously incompetent governor California has ever had, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the biggest action superstar on the planet, and everything he touched turned to box office gold.

Most of my generation first saw him in the title role of 1984’s The Terminator, a movie that was perfectly suited to his, um, acting ability, and (unfortunately for science fiction fans) cemented him in the minds of studio executives as the guy for science fiction movies…and he can be found chewing up cigars and scenery in some of the biggest blockbusters of the 80s and 90s.

In true action star fashion, Schwarzenegger totally overwhelms the roles he plays to the point of self-parody in each one. In the 80s, as a science fiction fan, I hated this, but with the benefit of time and the ability to not take these movies so seriously, I can enjoy them for the guilty pleasures that they are.

For this month’s Geek in Review, I reached into the vault and pulled out a few of the future Governator’s more memorable sci-fi vehicles. To get perspective from the damn kids today, I convinced my 17 year-old son, Nolan, to watch them with me and give me a comment on each one.

Here’s a little excerpt from the Total Recall portion of the column:

Douglas Quaid is a construction worker with the hottest wife on the planet, who wants to fuck him every time he breathes. Because he is some kind of asshole, this dream life isn’t perfect enough for him, and he constantly fantasizes about living on Mars. His entire household budget goes toward keeping his wife’s hair huge, though, so they can’t afford to take an actual trip. Luckily for him, a company called Rekall can implant vacation memories that anyone can afford, so he visits Mars that way. But just visiting Mars isn’t awesome enough, so he tells Rekall to make him a secret agent, throw in some alien artifacts, and a nefarious plot to destroy the planet. He also wants to nail a girl while he’s there who isn’t nearly as sexy as his wife, and is actually kind of skanky. Seriously. Asshole!

Something goes wrong (or does it?) at Rekall, and Quaid finds out that … he’s a secret agent on a mission to Mars, where there are lots of alien artifacts and he’s nailing a girl who isn’t nearly as sexy as his wife. Before we’re done, people try to kill him, he uncovers a nefarious plot, saves the world, and gets the girl –– who isn’t as sexy as his wife. We’re not sure if he’s dreamed the whole thing, but one thing is crystal clear: this guy is an asshole.

Here’s Nolan’s comment on The Running Man: “This movie needs 33% more skin-tight jumpsuits.”

So, yeah, it’s not the most serious column in the world.

As always, the article is SFW, but the rest of the website is delightfully NOT SAFE FOR WORK. You have been warned, so don’t complain to me if you get in trouble.

in which wil talks to trekmovie dot com

I talked to Trekmovie.com about my trip to Phoenix Comicon this weekend. It’s a pretty comprehensive interview, and they split it into two parts. Part one is up today:

TrekMovie.com: Well you and Brent [Spiner] and Marina [Sirtis] have a joint appearance the Phoenix Comic Con, any thoughts about what you will do for that?

Wil Wheaton: For the first time since the show ended, I am really looking forward to sharing the stage with all of my friends because I don’t feel like the black sheep anymore. I feel like I have accomplished things and I have lived a life I can be proud of since then. It is not like ‘hey look at you guys who did all this Star Trek stuff, and, oh right, and you.’ It is ‘hey cool, you did this cool thing and I did this cool thing and we are all adults and have kids.’ I feel differently about myself. I have better self esteem about the entire thing, than I ever did before. I wont have that ‘one of these things is not like the other’ that I had before so I am actually really looking forward — even more than sharing the stage with Brent and Marina — looking forward to what they have to say and finding out what they are up to. And hopefully making them laugh.

TrekMovie.com: Speaking of Trek reunions, I understand last year that you along with the entire TNG cast did voice work for an upcoming episode of Family Guy. What was that like and did you do your work solo or with any of your TNG co-stars?

Wil Wheaton: I didn’t work with anyone except [Family Guy exec producer] Seth MacFarlane, which was still awesome. I got to see the entire script and it is really funny. I am sort of poking fun at myself, the way the role is written. But working on the Star Trek episode of Family Guy, started a relationship with Seth and since then he has asked me to Cavalcade and another episode of Family Guy.

TrekMovie.com: I have noticed you are doing a lot of voice work now, like with the new Batman, so are you planning on become the next Mark Hamill, a famous genre guy who becomes the big voice guy…

Wil Wheaton: …who goes to make the one of the most memorable voices in the history of animation, playing one of everyone’s favorite characters [The Joker on Batman The Animated Series]. Gosh I would love to be able to do that.

I’m always nervous when I talk to Trekmovie, because even though the people who write for it and conduct the interviews are really nice, whenever I make the mistake of reading the comments there, I always feel like I’m playing for the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. Maybe they need to read this post?

Anyway, I’d feel like I’d let down the whole team if I didn’t link to it, and there’s some stuff in there that’s interesting to me and I think evena a little entertaining, so now you know.

another batman interview, and a new preview clip

I did an audio interview with ComicVine all about my episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold which airs – say it with me! – this Friday, January 23rd at 8pm on Cartoon Network.

The interview is here, if you’re interested in hearing me talk.

Also, here’s another cool preview clip, that’s different from the one I put up earlier this week:


Fun fact: there’s a bit where Ted is sort of riding a little chair thing, which bucks him off, and spins him around another robotic thing. I had to do the vocal efforts for that in ADR, and I had to match the “woah, woah … wooooahhh!” stuff to the action on the screen. I don’t know why, but it was insanely difficult to get the sound just right, and match the action correctly. The stuff that you think is going to be hard always ends up being easy, and then it’s stuff like this that you end up feeling like a moron recording, because it takes 14 tries to get it right.
Bonus fun fact: my final line in this clip is my favorite line of the entire episode.

don’t panic!

My friend Chris wrote a very funny and very useful article about dealing with panic attacks. I assume, like he does, that many people reading this are creative nerdy types who are prone to anxiety and worrying (this is where I point to myself, but act like we’re all supposed to pretend I’m not really doing that) so I present it here as a public service, and as a way to introduce you to one of my favorite people in the world:

If you frequent this site I’m going to guess that at one time or another you may have enjoyed the crippling embrace of a panic attack. How could I predict such a thing??? Because people who suffer from anxiety tend to be smarty-pants-creative types, aka NERDISTS. Folks not blessed with the gift of self-awareness don’t really understand the rush of liquid fear that floods the body. They just think we’re being “kooky.” I have a joke in my act about trying to describe the feeling of a full-blown panic attack: “Imagine being F*CKED in the HEART.”

[…]

[After a severe panic attack while in college] a friend of mine pointed out, “Oh yeah, that’s a thing. Lots of people have those.” The sheer knowledge that I wasn’t a freak helped ebb the panic tide for a while but every now and again I’d still get the hilariously familiar, “No…wait…THIS time it’s something fatal.” I’m here to tell you that not only are panic attacks NOT fatal, but I don’t get them anymore. THAT CAN ABSOLUTELY HAPPEN FOR YOU. In this article I’d like to share a few tips that I’ve learned over the years while navigating the anxiety steeplechase.

Chris is hilarious, and if the two of us got together to do a Podcast, it would be awesome. In fact, I’m going to call him now and bug him about doing that. You can follow Chris on Twitter, if you enjoy amusing tweets. He’s @nerdist.