Description
He played television's most famous Star Trek hologram but only after nearly becoming a real doctor! Robert Picardo talks AI anxiety, directing Voyager, and why he's defending Starfleet Academy.
Robert Picardo (The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager; Richard Woolsey across the Stargate franchise) joins David Hewlett on Actually Brilliant. Two old friends cover: Voyager tackling today's AI fears back in the nineties, directing the Voyager episode "One Small Step," reading Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles to raise money for the Planetary Society, the Starfleet Academy backlash (and its 87% Rotten Tomatoes score), and how a Yale biology major who built a lie detector in high school ended up turning down Broadway at 20.
Robert Picardo’s 'It's Actually Brilliant' hack is finding endless ways to reinvent chicken while avoiding red meat. Apparently, you can even make it taste like veal!
Deep dives on some of the conversation points in other videos:
- The new wave of AI with Laurence Moroney, Director of AI at ARM: https://youtube.com/live/UBv-CNXw9SM
- Complexities of biology with Dr. James Gurney and Dr. Jon Ochoa: https://youtu.be/CLyqBMkeoIg?si=SC6oOG_qrje24-Mg
Mars Exploration with Dr. Jacob Parrott: https://www.youtube.com/live/omgqiBryc8c?si=HvxgpxLmci8wt7zu
Chapters
00:00 Old friends: Stargate days and shooting Morlocks in Bulgaria
03:32 Yale for biology — the pre-med path
08:10 School plays, singing, and Bernstein's Mass
13:57 Turning down Broadway at 20 to finish Yale
15:58 Williamstown Theatre Festival: learning how directors work
19:26 AI anxiety — Voyager did it first
27:31 Directing "One Small Step"
28:34 The Planetary Society: Ray Bradbury, Carl Sagan, and a fundraiser at the Pasadena Playhouse
41:33 Hosting The Planetary Post
49:09 Directing on Voyager — two episodes, and why he stopped
56:07 "I'm the face of artificial intelligence in medicine"
58:53 On his reading pile: the John Lennon book
1:06:27 The perfect fake cheesesteak (no beef)
1:11:23 Starfleet Academy: the backlash, the reviews, season two
1:15:56 The Gene Roddenberry letter — and why you should join the Planetary Society
1:19:51 His most emotional episode ever: Starfleet Academy, season 1 episode 8
1:20:27 Wrap-up
About the guest
Robert Picardo is an American actor and singer, born in Philadelphia, who entered Yale as a pre-med biology student and left as a drama graduate. He has been a working actor since 1975, is an accomplished singer (he sang in the 1973 European premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass), and serves on the Board of Directors of the Planetary Society, the space advocacy organization founded by Carl Sagan.
Robert Picardo's biggest credits:
Television
• Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001) — The Doctor / Emergency Medical Hologram
• Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis & Stargate Universe — Richard Woolsey
• China Beach (1988–1991) — Dr. Dick Richard
• The Wonder Years — Coach Cutlip (Emmy nomination)
• Star Trek: Prodigy (2024) — The Doctor (voice)
• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (2026) — The Doctor
• The Orville — Ildis Kitan
• Dickinson — Ithamar Conkey
• Home Improvement — Joe "The Meat Man" Morton
Film
• The Howling (1981) — Eddie Quist
• Explorers (1985) — Wak (voice)
• Legend (1985) — Meg Mucklebones
• Innerspace (1987) — The Cowboy
• Total Recall (1990) — Johnny Cab (voice and likeness)
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) — Forster (Saturn Award nomination)
• Matinee (1993) — Howard
• Wagons East (1994) — Ben Wheeler
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996) — Holographic Doctor
• Small Soldiers (1998) — Ralph
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) — Acme VP
• Hail, Caesar! (2016) — Rabbi
Stage & games
• Broadway debut in Gemini (1977) and Tribute (1978)
• Fallout 4 — Alan Binet (voice)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops series — Robert McNamara / Shadow Man (voice)
🔗 The Planetary Society: https://www.planetary.org
https://www.robertpicardo.com/
About the show
Actually Brilliant: conversations with actors, directors, and creatives about curiosity, craft, story, and how they got here — hosted by David Hewlett.
🌐 More from David: https://canerdian.com
📬 The Email of Awesome Awesomeness (newsletter): https://substack.com/@dhewlett
❤️ Support the shows on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/techbandits
🎧 Listen on Spotify: [Spotify link]
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