When an actor gets a role, especially in series television where he really is the part, the audience never thinks of another actor playing that role. If they accept you in the role, then they can't separate the actor from the character.
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.
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 love to play humorous moments in dramatic shows. That's always the most fun: to keep the logic of the character in a show that's basically action-adventure and then play the comedy moments.
We had great comic mileage in the 'SG-1' episode 'The Swarm,' where Woolsey is running away faster than anybody else.
I could not play a straight-ahead courageous hero. It's not what I do.
'Star Trek' tends to take itself a little too seriously. They were either very dramatic shows, or if we did a humorous show, it was always a little like, 'Oh, we're doing humor on 'Star Trek,'' especially on the original series.
'Star Trek' is still my signature role because once you do a 'Star Trek' series, it's never really out of the marketplace.
I think I've been pretty fortunate.
Sometimes I have little movies that I've made that I wish would be seen by a larger audience. I have a horror movie called 'Sensored' which I'm very creepy and disgusting in, and then I have a family drama called 'The Legends of Nethiah' which has a science-fiction B-story.
Most of my major roles have been to play characters that the audience does not initially like or warm up to and then they grow to like in spite of that.
It's nice to have a signature role.
My character on 'Voyager,' because of the way he was presented, I could go either way. I could be a real buffoon, a windbag, be self-involved, and we could get a lot of comic mileage from him. However, the audience accepted me with gravity when I was in a dire situation, so they would follow me in comic or dramatic stories.
No one can replace Amanda Tapping.
My favorite thing that I can do with my iPhone is dictate a letter.
I like some science in my science fiction.
I don't get 'Star Wars.' I just don't.
