You know him as Tripp from ‘Enterprise’, and Micheal from ‘Stargate: Atlantis’, but if you’ve ever been to his panel, you know him as a great way to spend an hour.
Here are the highlights of his panel at Starfest 2016.
On technobabble:
Trinneer admitted that he a very hard time saying his lines as an engineer. People would show him diagrams in an effort to make the lines have some sense to him, but it just never did. He also confessed that he is not great at learning lines in the first place.
On the pregnancy:
When asked about his pregnancy episode, Trineer immediately affected Trips’ accent. “I was moody,” he said. “I craved strange foods.” Trineer also told the audience that some of the scenes weren’t originally in the script, and that he had taken some ideas from when his own wife was pregnant. Scenes that were all him? Crying over food for no reason, and worrying about people hitting their heads on things in engineering.
Most uncomfortable day?
Trinneer told the story of when he and Scott Bacula were hung upside down covered in so much KY gel that it must have ground the porn industry to a halt. When they were finally cut down, shivering and uncomfortable, they found out there had been a hair on the camera lens, so up they both went!
For Bacula, Trinneer talked about a scene where they were buried alive. “He’s got a big nose”, Trinneer noted, laughing about how his captain couldn’t rise from the dirt without having it all go into his nose. Trinneer had the foresight to lie face down.
Hero versus Villain?
Trineer assumed this question referred to his preference for Trip or Micheal. He preferred Trip because he got to experience a lot more, and grow as a character. He felt that Michael was a bit one-dimensional, and was annoyed with how many times he had repeat “You did this to me” in ‘Stargate: Atlantis’. He noted that if the show continued, he thought Micheal would have been given a lot more depth, and become a very complicated character.
On decon:
Unfortunately, it’s not as sexy as it seems. Imagine thirty people peering at you while you perform half-naked. Then imagine that the gel they use on you has to be wiped completely off between takes with a dry towel. Essentially, you’re naked, vulnerable, red from the toweling off, and just generally uncomfortable.
On being the only ‘Enterprise’ character that died:
Trinneer was happy about it. For him, knowing the beginning and end of his character is very satisfying whereas you don’t know what happens to the rest of the crew. Plus, the show was cancelled anyway, and half the episode was all about him, so he wasn’t going to complain.
On why Reed’s part felt bigger in the pilot:
According to Trinneer, Trip, Archer, and T’Pal were always supposed to be the trifecta. He did mention that he thought he’d have a whole lot less to do as an engineer, thinking he’d get five days off, come on set and say something like “It doesn’t work”, and then go off for another five days. It definitely didn’t work out that way.
On watching ‘Star Trek’:
Trinneer admitted that his brother was the Trekker and not him. While he was out in the park having fun, his brother was dissecting the previous night’s episode with his friend. He is glad for that, because if he had been more into ‘Star Trek’, he would have felt much more pressured and stressed about taking the job. He then says that he’s actually seen more ‘Doctor Who’ than ‘Star Trek’.
On ‘Quantum Leap’:
To Trinneer, the best shows suffer from lack of viewership, and ‘Quantum Leap’ was on the chopping blog nearly every season. He said it was an amazing show that he loved very much, and was excited to work with Scott Bacula.
On future roles:
Trinneer couldn’t say much because of an NDA, but he said he just did the voice for a narrator/main character in a video game. The project is apparently very top secret, and he doesn’t know a whole lot more than what his lines were. But, he mentioned body suits, and motion capture, so there might be more to it than just voiceocver.
He will also be in a movie called ‘Mena’ with Tom Cruise playing George W Bush, of whom he did a flawless impression.
