Robert Picardo

“Science fiction's been good to me. The fans are the most loyal fans in the world.”

“I'll never forget my first moment of looking out on a convention audience with my mouth open like they were kidding me.”

“It was hard to make a living as an actor in New York if you did not do soap operas or commercials.”

“'Trek' is probably more cerebral and philosophical. 'Stargate' does seat-of-the-pants adventure and humor better.”

“When we shot the pilot for 'Voyager,' Armin Shimmerman, who played Quark on 'Deep Space Nine,' was very gracious and outgoing about preparing us for these personal appearances. Still, nothing really can prepare you for the first time when you walk out on stage and 2,000 people in a room stand up and applaud simply because you're there.”

“Nobody wants to play - I've talked to Brent Spiner about this. You don't want to play a character indefinitely who's not supposed to age.”

“We were second-generation immigrants, and it was luxury enough to go to college. The luxury of the arts was still a generation away.”

“'Star Trek' is still my signature role because once you do a 'Star Trek' series, it's never really out of the marketplace.”

“Even though my face has gotten more familiar with doing 'China Beach' and 'The Wonder Years,' I'm the kind of actor that people thought, 'Gee, that guy looks familiar. He must have put my storm windows in. He works at my bank or something.'”

“I could not play a straight-ahead courageous hero. It's not what I do.”

“Doing 'Star Trek,' I got to learn about it from the inside out. I got to learn what appealed to them, why sci-fi meant so much to people, why 'Star Trek' meant so much to people.”

“The fact that we were encouraged to follow our conscience and not to follow the crowds - that's something I really miss. On the other hand, there were things that drove me nuts in the '60s. There was an aspect of the hippie movement that everyone is an artist, which is lethal.”

“I'm not a futurist, and my taste in science fiction was sort of in the gothic horror vein, not space movies and futuristic stuff.”

“My favorite thing that I can do with my iPhone is dictate a letter.”

“No one likes to think of themselves as a one-trick pony as an actor, but on the other hand, it's nice to be part of something that has an international popularity, that is seen literally everywhere in the world and stays in the marketplace forever.”

“Being on 'Star Trek,' you have a funny relationship with fame.”

“I don't get 'Star Wars.' I just don't.”

“Let's face it: Amanda Tapping's shoes are difficult to fill. She's a great actress and a popular character on 'Stargate'; she's just a lovely person.”

“I really used my own imagination a lot and made a number of suggestions during my tenure on 'Star Trek.'”

“'Twin Peaks' is like a movie; 'China Beach' is like a movie. These are two of the most cinematic shows on television, and they belong together.”