OK, I admit it, I'm the token Original Series fan on the Ulysses, with a meager history of watching TNG, DS9 and Voyager episodes. Even so, the wry and intelligent Emergency Medical Hologram "Doctor" portrayed by Robert Picardo on Voyager was memorable like no other character on that show. "7 of 9" was memorable, but only in the sense that any stacked "actress" in a silver jumpsuit would be, and Chokotay was memorable as yet another Hollywood magical Injun whose wise aboriginal paganism confers the mystic power to commune with animal spirit guides. I'll grant aliens all kinds of superpowers, but unless the Virgin Mary gets equal time, don't throw tribal vision quests at me, OK? Anyway....I've been in Vegas the last few days helping the IFT recruit at the Star Trek convention and I was thrilled to be invited to dinner with Mr. Picardo last night, as a guest of the IFT chapter USS Las Vegas. Dinner at the Stratosphere restaurant "Fellini's" was excellent and Mr. Picardo was very gracious, patient and generous in his dealings with the 25 or so in attendance. He took time to speak to everyone, posed for endless photos, and signed anything handed to him. He spoke to the group at large, recited passages from his book, and even sang a bit! And he indulged all questions from the audience politely and humorously. Need I mention that not all Star trek fans are socially adept? :-)
Looking a little more into his career today, I see that Picardo also crosses over into my comic-collecting life- he voiced both Amazo and Blackhawk in the Justice League animated series, and plays the Principal in the cartoon "Ben 10", about a superpowered kid. Anyway, a great time was had by all. While many actors I have met fall into the category of "dancing bear with ego problem", Picardo distinguished himself as a nice funny friendly guy. Unless of course he's really an SOB - he's a really great actor, so who can tell? :-)
