By Steve Krutzler / 19:58, 7 March 2005 / TrekWeb Features

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by Jacqueline Bundy

The first time Tucker Smallwood appeared in an episode of STAR TREK, he was disappointed to learn that the role would not require alien makeup. Tucker, a veteran performer with over 30 years of experience in television, film and theater and numerous science fiction credits including the role of Commodore Ross in the military sci-fi drama SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND welcomed the challenge that playing a role on a STAR TREK series entails. For Tucker that particular role was a challenge in more ways than one.

"The VOYAGER episode came about in a year (1998) that was very difficult for me physically. I contracted Bells palsy (Bells palsy is a condition that causes the facial muscles to weaken or become paralyzed but is not permanent with the proper treatment.). I woke up one morning and it looked like I'd had a stroke in the night. For some months, it was questionable whether I'd ever work again. I went through acupuncture, steroids, and all the rest of that", Tucker explained.

"I had told my agent don't submit me for anything, if they ever see me like this I'll never work again because you cannot be damaged goods in this business, I'll just lay low and stay with the therapy and keep a positive thought. He called me one day and said there's a role here that sounds like it would really be good for you it's on STAR TREK: VOYAGER. I said, I could play an alien, I sound fine I just look bad but I could do that because they hide you in makeup, that would be great."

The role of Admiral Bullock on STAR TREK: VOYAGER in the fifth season episode "In the Flesh" was an alien, Species 8472, unfortunately an alien disguised in human form. "I went for it anyway and I got it and then people would say, you looked so stern and so implacable and I said that's the only expression I had, if I tried to do anything else only one side of my face would work so I had this one expression and it was very rigid and stiff and arbitrary. Slowly after that I continued to regain control of my features and I began to work again."

"Don't wish too hard for what you want because you might get it", continued Tucker with a smile, referring to his recurring role on ENTERPRISE.

"Along came the Xindi, along came the primate. It was not so bad in the first few episodes because we would shoot all of our episodes in one day. It was very complicated and long, 16 and 17-hour days. It's two hours of makeup in the morning and then an hour and a half of getting out of it at night."

As the season progressed, however, Tucker faced a new challenge. "After the fifth or sixth show I began having problems with my eye and it continued to get worse and I could not stop for surgery because it was going to take longer for me to heal than there was time for before the next episode came around. So finally, at the end of the season, I had to have four separate procedures to help my eye recover and my tear duct is still clogged."

"The makeup was responsible for that, it clogged the pores because it's so incredibly extensive and it's right up to the brim of the eye and my eyes are very hypoallergenic. You've got pancake, you've got paste, and you've got spray. I mean they're painting us with a spray gun."

Tucker rose to the challenge and found ways to adapt to the situation.
"My mask was so tight around my eyes I had to retype my script up in 14 point bold because you can't use your eyes to squint, you can't flex your face. I had to have it that big so I could read my lines, I couldn't read the little script. The mask was literally that tight and the glue comes right into the corners of your eyes."

"Getting out of it is just as trying as getting into it. The makeup guys were incredibly thorough. They have to be and they are very professional, they're great guys. Because they can say we're going to shoot you long, and then you get on set and they want three close-ups or something. They've got to do it perfect every time, even if you're only going to be on camera for ten minutes it's perfect, completely perfect."

"Many actors have been through this process and they said that some of them take to it and some of them don't. It wasn't my idea of fun sitting in that chair for two hours in the morning, but it wasn't so much that; it was the physiological toll it took on my body. I loved working with the people, I loved the creative aspect but I didn't like what it did to my body. You only get one set of eyes and I didn't want to jeopardize that."

Despite appearing in nine episodes during ENTERPRISE'S third season, Tucker's character was never named in the scripts. Tucker has been asked so often at conventions about his characters name that he decided to give his Xindi character a name himself, a name based on the celebrity Depak Chopra with a slight change in spelling so it seemed more Xindi. "I call him Depac," Tucker says. "Degra (Randy Ogelsby) had a name and Dolim (Scott MacDonald) had a name. People at conventions ask well what's your name. One day I was joking with Rick Worthy who played the Arboreal Xindi and I said okay I'll be Depac and you be Chopra. So I sign my autographs Depac now."

Despite the makeup difficulties, the ENTERPRISE role did provide Tucker a chance to work once again with Scott Bakula. "I've worked with Scott twice before. I worked with Scott on an episode of MURPHY BROWN and then I played his weapons man in a short-lived series called MR. AND MRS. SMITH. He and Maria Bella were secret agents and I was like 'M'. I wasn't called 'M' (Tucker's character was called 'X') but you know how James Bond had 'M', well I was 'M', I was his weapons master."

An actor playing a guest role on an established television show isn't always sure of what the atmosphere on the set will be like until they arrive and Tucker's years of experience on some of television's most popular series including FRASIER, FRIENDS, SEINFELD and THE PRACTICE has taught him a lot. "It's always a very different experience and you don't know what it will be like until you walk on the set. Generally, the tone is set by the leads. Scott is a very supportive, warm individual so the tone on ENTERPRISE is set by Scott. The tone on FRASIER was set by Kelsey Grammer."

"FRASIER was incredibly communal, it's like going into a green room in theater, it's theatrical, and everyone is a peer. On FRIENDS, I didn't get to meet the people until after I finished shooting. They were very compartmentalized. They weren't rude, they were just preoccupied. Every single show is different. If you've done this enough times you learn to be discreet, not real needy. You find out what the energy of the show is, what the stars are like. Some of them will want to interact, some don't. You let them initiate and you're available if they want to work on something and if they don't that's fine. You need to be a self-starter."