Interviews – Renegade Tim Russ

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You are listening to This Week in Geeks, Future

Imperfect. Brought to you by the good folks over

at SFI .org. Starfleet, the world's largest Star

Trek online fan club. And well guys, we've been

on shore leave over the last couple of weeks.

We've been enjoying our vacation, as it were.

But we got something extra. I had a really good

friend of mine hook me up with one of the principal

actors and directors over on the fan project

Star Trek Renegades. Now this is a guy you may

recognize from many television projects. He's

also done a fair chunk of video game voice acting,

but you're mainly going to know him from Star

Trek Voyager. I'm talking about Tim Russ, the

guy who played Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on

Star Trek Voyager. Without any further ado, let's

welcome Tim to the show. Glad to be here. Thank

you for having me on. The project is based on

sort of an offshoot of Section 31, which has

only been mentioned a few times in the past.

So it's like a, I want to say like a covert black

ops kind of operation, but with a cast and crew

of characters who are somewhat rambunctious and

not necessarily get along with each other all

the time, and some of whom have their own motives

for coming on board. So they are sort of roguish

in their style and their appearance and all that

good stuff, and their behavior. It does incorporate

some of the characters that we are already familiar

with, although they may be slightly different

than you remember them. It takes place 11 years

beyond Voyager. But their mission in this case

is definitely noble, and it's sort of put together

by Tuvok and Chekhov for it to take place. absolutely

necessary. It has to happen. So it's just a sacrifice

as to how much we go by the book and how much

we don't go by the book in order to achieve the

goal. So, Tim, one of the things that I wanted

to ask you, particularly about this, is I know

you directed Of Gods and Men. How are you approached

for Renegades as it's carrying on to what I consider

the true canonical universe that is separated

from the J .J. Abrams reboot verse? Well, the

main thing, like I said, is We're not doing it.

It is not, in fact, a reboot because it takes

place ahead of Voyager. And our whole goal is

to try to make it look and feel different than

anything we've seen before, certainly different

than the series that have been on since TNG through

Enterprise. We just want to change the way it

looks, the way it feels, the style in which it's

shot, all these things. And we're introducing

a new alien race. in here of bad guys. So we're

not tinkering with interdimensional timelines

as J .J. has done with the features, and it is

not a prequel. So there's two things right off

the bat that we're sort of dealing with right

now. We're dealing with a timeline that we left

off at about 11 years ahead of that timeline.

The only liberties we're taking essentially are

in terms of style. And characters, they're a

lot more edgy, a lot tougher, a lot more rough,

a lot more grizzled, a lot more ragged around

the edges. And we're also talking about the style

and the way in which we accomplish the goal.

It may be a little bit off the books. Like I

said, that's the basic idea. Now, the fact that,

like you said, this is more kind of rough around

the edges, not exactly, say, your dad's Star

Trek, so to speak. Yeah. Was this something that

particularly attracted you to the project in

order to direct it? Well, I, you know, discussed

with the writers at the very beginning. It would

have been Jack Trevino, it would have been Ethan

Hawke and Sky Conway all sort of collaborated

on the story. And as they ran it by me also,

I gave them my input on certain things. But basically

we all came to the agreement that if we're going

to make this project, which was essentially written

from scratch, let's do something different with

it. The whole idea was to do something different.

The whole idea was to break it up. The whole

idea was to think outside the box and push the

envelope on what we could get away with in terms

of style. That's really the idea here. Some of

the technology we'll be using has not been used

in the Star Trek series before this. And also,

like I said, the look and feel of the characters.

Initially, this is a pilot presentation. It's

not really designed as a feature film. It's a

pilot presentation for series. So ultimately,

we would be setting up an ongoing story. And

that's what this is all about. Now, one of the

things that I think might be a challenge, specifically

because you're dealing with a property like Star

Trek, how do you think directing Star Trek differs

from, say, other sci -fi properties? Well, it's

not that much different, really. At the end of

the day, it all depends on your script and your

budget. That's what determines. what and how

you shoot anything. It's just how much money

do you have to work with and what's your script.

If your script is a quiet, cerebral sort of sci

-fi piece, that's going to dictate how it's shot

and how it's cast and the tone of the whole thing.

If it's something that's all action -oriented,

i .e. Star Wars, something like that, now you're

talking about, again, a different style. a piece.

So it all depends on the script, you know, how

much money you have to work with on the script,

et cetera, et cetera, will definitely dictate,

you know, what decisions I make, you know, in

terms of shooting, you know, in terms of equipment,

what I can get away with, what I have to cheat,

you know, that kind of thing. So the budget is

important. And the script definitely makes a

difference as to what kind of story it's going

to be. Now, you were mentioning budget there.

What's it like to go from having the huge Paramount

-style budget to the small one? Like I said,

you may have to cheat a little bit here and there.

Do you think that forces you to be more creative

or to maybe tweak the script here and there?

Do you think it makes a better storyline by being

forced to do something on a smaller budget? Well,

at the end of the day, it certainly costs a lot

less money and time and energy to take a paragraph

out of a script or to change that paragraph than

it does to actually try to shoot the paragraph

by leaving it in there. It's much easier to modify

the story. And it's also, as I've told the producers

several times, we've had four or five versions

of the script already. We may have another version

or two before it's all over. And the whole point

is that the audience has never seen version 1,

2, 3, and 4. They're only going to see the version

that you release. So they're not going to know

what you put in or took out to compromise for

the budget. They're not going to have any idea

because they've never seen the story before.

They don't know the story. So if it was something

in which the audience saw one version of the

movie and then saw another version of the movie

without certain scenes, well, then they would

notice that. But nobody's going to know because

we haven't shot it yet. And at the end of the

day, if you don't have enough money to shoot

one thing or another, you simply change it. We

have changed the script several times based on

the initial script, which was very ambitious

and which cost money. You can't shoot a science

fiction project without money. I mean, it's just

that simple. You have to have either money or

some free resources because nothing in the script

is going to look like it takes place now. Everything

in there has to look like it comes from another

time period. unless you're doing a contemporary

piece like the Twilight Zone type piece that

takes place in the here and now and something

just bizarre happens in the here and now. Then

it's fine. You can drive your regular car. You

can wear your regular clothes out of the closet.

You can use your regular cell phone props and

all those other things without having to worry

about recreating everything that you look at

or feel or touch, walk into, whatever. It's very

expensive shooting science fiction. Now, one

of the people that I've come to know from actually

Star Trek Renegades behind the scenes is a guy

named Scott Nakata. He does a lot of really cool

props and everything. He built me one of those

Mark II filming prop phasers as well as a Voyager

-style one. I've had the good fortune to work

with some very good key people in production

on the gods and men and will be working with

on Renegades. You know, everybody from, we've

got special effects, we've got Michael Strzok,

we've got Chris Dawson, we've got costumes, Debbie

Hartwell, we've got Scott McCott on props. We

have a solid first AD, I've got cameraman Tristan

Bernard, who I shot with Gods and Men. He was

a DP, worked with him on Gods and Men as well.

We've got some, and of course the writers I mentioned

before. Everybody's on board and it really makes

a difference when you are producing a project

like this. This is not, I want to say, a fan

film in the sense that it's fans making the project.

This isn't something somebody's thrown together

in their garage. This is produced by professionals,

all professionals across the board, and people

who make a living at their work. And I would

say that the fans... have financed this project

through an online website, which did not exist

when we did Gods and Men. And in fact, fans will

be enjoying the film once it's finished. But

as far as it being produced by fans, it's being

produced by people who work in this business

professionally, and they simply have signed on

board to do this. Now, speaking of professionals,

the cast for this... It's honestly quite impressive.

I mean, you've got Walter Cullen returning as

Chekov. You've got a lot of people who I've seen

in different horror movies, different other sci

-fi properties. But most notably, you have two

Voyager alumni with you in Garrett Wong and Robert

Picardo. What's it like to work with them again

to continue the storyline that you guys finished

X amount of years ago? Well, it's... It's always

good to be able to work with people who are pros.

If you're working with pros, you show up on the

morning to shoot and they've already had the

script for some time and they bring to the table

a lot of really very cool surprises and elements

to the characters that sometimes we discuss beforehand

and sometimes we don't. Sometimes they just show

up and it's a big surprise as to what they're

going to do and a lot of times that's kind of

a kick and a thrill for me. you know, to roll

camera, and all of a sudden we get some really

cool stuff coming. I think that we, I don't know

if we're going to have a full table read beforehand

or if we're just going to come in and start rocking

and rolling on the day, but I expect that working

with these guys is going to be an absolute pleasure,

as it was on Gods and Men, with more and more

surprises in terms of how they perform, what

they pull out of their hat in terms of nuances

for the characters. Our characters from Voyager,

will be somewhat different than they were on

the series. And that's just a little hint of

how this particular project is going to be. It's

not going to be the same as what I've seen before,

but they're going to be a little bit different.

My character, Tuvok, will also be in it, and

my character will basically be the same. But,

you know, Bob Picardo's character and Gary Wong's

character will be somewhat different. As we start

to kind of wind down this interview, Tim, I think

as per the Indiegogo, I think things end on,

what, October 2nd it is? No, sorry, September

13th. By that time, what are some of the stretch

goals that you guys would like to maybe see do?

I mean, as of this recording, literally right

now, you guys have raised over $27 ,000. How

much money would you guys like to see raised

to deliver your director's vision of this, so

to speak? Well, it is more so resources in terms

of, in this case, it may be more so in terms

of post -production. We have some CGI that's

got to be done and things like that. Some of

this money is going towards that, also towards

costumes and a couple of other areas, also makeup.

Makeup, we have to have. a lot of people on board

to do the special effects makeup for the alien

characters, and we have a lot of alien characters

running around in this piece. So we need extra

bodies, extra people there to do the work. And

again, that's because they're all professionals.

They have to be paid for their time, et cetera,

and the materials that they use. So the primary

thing in terms of shooting is resources. So the

more money we have, and I'd say, Anywhere between

$40 ,000 and $60 ,000 would be great to raise

in this section of fundraising that we're doing

now. It would really help us out a lot. I mean,

those guys would be happy with a half a million,

but whatever we can get, realistically, if we

get up to $60 ,000, it would be great. Because,

again, the primary thing that people have to

understand is that it's very expensive to shoot

this stuff. Special effects make up in about...

If we've got six aliens working that day, we've

got to have seven people doing makeup because

each person, alien character, if it's heavy,

takes a couple of hours. So in order to shoot

a 10-, 11-, 12 -hour day, those guys come in

two hours earlier, including the actors, than

when you shoot. So you've got to have enough

people to cover. If you only have two people,

that's going to be two hours per character. If

I need all five of them on the set at the same

time, I need five people making them up. That's

what we're looking at here as far as, you know,

just some of the challenges, not to mention building

sets. We have to build sets. We have to modify

sets that already exist. We have to change over

a couple of sets from one type of look to another

so that they're being utilized for two different

things. It is, you know, it's a big freight train

barreling down the track once you get going.

is finite. Whatever we have is what we have to

work with. And cost overruns can average 15 %

on any film. So you can't just go back to the

well and say, oh, I need a few more bucks, like

you can with an independent financier. This is

money that's already in the bank, and it has

a finite point to it. So once it's over, it's

over. So you've got to come in under that limit.

Well, I'm really hoping you guys are able to

reach that 200 ,000 goal. I'm just looking at...

the new bridge you guys would have for the Renegade

ship, and man, that would be really cool to see.

Yeah, you know, the way we have it right now,

we're going to be sort of redesigning a couple

of things with an existing ship set that we're

using. We're going to add some materials to it.

We're going to add some pieces to it. We're going

to add the layout of the chairs and seats and

how it's going to work. It's a cool concept.

I like the way we've discussed doing it. And

we have the other bridge set for the Federation

ship that we're using. We have a planet location,

a series of caves. We have, you know, I mean,

there's also Starfleet. We have a number of sets

that we have to build. And we have a refinery

we have to put together with a green screen.

They've got pieces for that refinery that we

have to build and then put in front of a green

screen. special effects for monitors and consoles

and displays. I mean, the thing goes on and on.

This is the stuff that people expect to see,

and in terms of science, this type of science

fiction is period piece type science fiction,

so as much money as we can raise, we will be

using every single dime for it. Well, I gotta

say, Tim, I really hope this actually does turn

into a full online series and isn't just a pilot,

because honestly, this Trek universe is my Trek

universe. I'm really happy to see Section 31

getting a little bit more love. Yet another female

captain is awesome, because Janeway is literally

my favorite captain. So I'm really excited for

you guys to do this. So people have until September

13th, and no matter what, you guys are going

forward? Oh, yes. We are definitely scheduled

to go on October 2nd. It will definitely happen.

We've already got everybody on board. We've got

the spaces reserved. We've got construction crews

that are in place right now to do the set building.

Oh, it will happen. There's no question about

it. And, again, we have some – I've got such

good people that I'm working with that we can

get away with – making something look good for

very little. We did it for Gods and Men, and

we certainly can do it on this project here.

There were a lot of things we did not have in

Gods and Men for at least eight of the 11 days

that we shot, and we made it work. We had good

sets that we used. That's the core. Once we have

that and we've got an outstanding costumer, the

characters will look really good on camera. And

we've got, you know, the props and things like

that. Once we put those elements together, you

know, I don't need, you know, all the fanciness

of cranes and this and that and all the other

things. You know, I can work with just a camera

and a handheld, man. I can take this thing to

the next level very easily. And I intend to do

a lot of that kind of stuff anyway. It's going

to be really awesome when everything all comes

together. And the fact that you don't have to

have all the fancy, fancy studio -type stuff

to make something truly fantastic, that is definitely

television -worthy. That's awesome, Tim. Tim,

I wish you the best of success with this role.

Guys, if you want to check out this, there's

a link in the episode post. Star Trek Renegades,

you can fund this on Indiegogo. So far, they've

raised over $27 ,000. Let's get them up towards

$60 ,000. In fact... Come on, random billionaire.

Let's get them up to 200 ,000. I want this bridge.

It looks cool. So, Tim, thank you so much for

spending time with us today. My pleasure, man.

Thank you for having me on. All right. All right,

guys, that was my interview with Tim Russ, director

and star of Star Trek Renegades. Like I said,

guys, go check this out. And if you want props

from the movie, you can contribute and even get

those via some of the perks they have set up

over there. Also, check out Scott Nakata's website.

I'm going to put a link below to see some of

the prop work he does on this. I own some of

his props. They are frigging awesome. He actually

built me or was building me a Mass Effect pistol

at one point, and the prototype looked awesome.

So guys, go check that out. So guys, I'll have

more interviews from Star Trek Renegades leading

up to the finale on September 13th, but go fund

them, please. I'll be dropping some money in

the bucket myself. So guys, until next time for

Future Imperfect, I've been Mike the Birdman

Dodd saying, live long and prosper.