By GustavoLeao / 02:41, 9 July 2008 / General Star Trek

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TrekMovie.com posted a new interview with Star Trek Voyager and Stargate Atlantis actor Robert Picardo. Here are few excerpts.

TrekMovie.com: I have seen survey data that showed that fans ranked The Doctor as the second favorite character on Voyager behind Janeway, even a bit a head of Seven of Nine...

Robert Picardo: Well I used to tell Jeri [Ryan] that I had the best butt on the show [laughs] so maybe it is that. I really think that what made the character have the potential to delight the fans was because he didn't have to act stalwart, brave and true in the Starfleet straightjacket of courageous behavior. What was fun about The Doctor because he was designed for one specific purpose, whenever he was out of his element he didn't have to act according to the Starfleet code of behavior. He could be cowardly, he could be reluctant, he could be just pissy and it was fun to play all those negative qualities and make the audience laugh and when the chips are down to rise to your better self. I guess what I am saying is that he had the capacity to be more surprising in his responses than some of the other characters and that is just by the design of the show. I think the other actor's in the show envied, in a gracious way, that they could give me all these silly storylines or dramatic storylines.

TrekMovie.com: It has been 7 years since Voyager has returned from the Delta Quadrant and returned to Earth. Where do you see The Doctor seven years after his return.

Robert Picardo: I think of him lecturing at Starfleet Academy and traveling all over the galaxy for guest speakerships. He is a major proponent of hologram rights. He has written several treatises on Holopology, which of course is the study of hologram culture and art. I think he has been a guest soloist with the San Francisco Symphony singing some of his favorite arias. I would like to think he and Seven have gotten together for the occasional, um, warm reminiscence. Remember The Doctor doesn't age, so I figure after ten or twelve years The Doctor is starting to look good.

TrekMovie.com: Have you been keeping up with all the news with Trek and the new big movie?

Robert Picardo: I joke with my friends, now that I am jumping franchises, that I waited until Star Trek was hot again. I stuck with it during the lean years and now that it is hot again I have, of course, jumped ship to join Stargate. Now that JJ Abrams is going revive the franchise and give it a new lease on life it is a bad time to be moving down the block.... I am the first Star Trek actor, beyond those playing guest spots, to sort of move into the neighborhood full time. I wonder if that will affect how the die-hard Stargate fans, the fans that feel that one franchise is superior to the other. I wonder if they will feel that it is slumming taking a Star Trek actor in and giving him gainful employment. I hope not but you never know.

The full interview, in which Picardo talks more about Star Trek and Stargate, can be found at TrekMovie.