SFX (Spring 2001)
"I don't know what it takes to get promotion on this darned ship for Kim." Garrett Wang isn't very happy, and as Star Trek: Voyager comes toward the end of its seven year voyage, he's joined the list of actors who's willing to go on the record to express his disappointment wat certain aspects of the series.
That's not to say he feels negative about the whole experience - "It's been a long ride and it's been fun," he admits freely - but ask him whether he feels stretched by the role and he's off and running. "I feel I have a lot to offer as an actor," he says. "I haven't really had the opportunity to use all the nuances I have in my arsenal of acting ability. That's been unfortunate. Somebody who had seen a play I had done right before Voyager said, 'They have under-utilized you, haven't they?' There were so many twists and turns in this play, it was such a challenge, that every night I was totally exhausted. Whenever an actor is exhausted after a performance, that actor has realy stretched himself. On Trek, that's not so much the case. The people who get to do some stretching are the alien characters or the Doctor - or the characters that the writers seem to like to write episodes for, because it's easier. I guess for me to get absolute complete fulfillment from Trek, I would need to be reincarnated as an alien, or be a guest star in the next series."
Wang's willingness to remain involved with the Trek franchise shows his current commitment to the show, as does his agreement to do an interview on his birthday. But he has problems with the whole set up. "I think in Trek in general, if you're a human character, you do not get the chance to show that many sides. Starfleet in essence is the military of the future, and military personnel are very much one-note. That's been a problem for me since day one.
"Harry's a great character in that, in the beginning, there was room to go with that character. It's always nice for the fans to see a character grow up on the show, and Harry has definitely grown up. That was very satisfying for me and for the fans. During the first season, I would play many scenes with the type of emotion that I would like to put in, and I was often told, 'No, that's too much, bring it back down.' The very first day after we all got the job, Rick Berman said, 'All of you who are playing human characters, you have to underplay because the only way for the aliens and the non-human characters to look realistic is for you to underplay your roles. You have to be much more subtle.' Those are the constraints I've had to had to work with as a human character, and unfortunately that's going to be an under-utilisation of the actor, whether that's myself, Robert Beltran, or whoever.
"I try to put some measure of realism into my characters, and it's difficult to do what I want to under the Trek regime. Not that I'm saying it's been horrible, but in terms of being challenged creatively, the only time that happened was playing the older, bitter Kim in 'Timeless'. It really gets my goat when people say stuff like 'Oh he's just a horrible actor'. Truly, if the extent of your lines in an episode is 'shields down to 60%', how can you really prove to anyone you've got the acting chops?"
Wang aims high - if he hadn't been commited to Voyager, he would have like to try for "Noah Wylie's role in ER, NYPD Blue or something on the lines of Friends, probably." However, discussion of those programmes brings him onto another topic that really fires him - the lack of roles for Asian-American actors in US television. "You look at these shows and you've got a police drama, a hospital drama, a group of friends living together in New York, and nowhere do you see an Asian face," he complains. "And if you do, it's an Asian-American female. You just don't see Asian-American men in ER, in NYPD Blue or even in any of the lawyer shows that are out there. I think that's a complete misrepresentation of American society."
But surely a high profile role on Star Trek should do something for the balance? "I do think it has upped the profile for Asian-American males," Wang concedes. "In the beginning I was very concerned about how Harry was to be portrayed. I mentioned to the producers, I really don't want Harry Kim to walk into the mess hall, walk up to the replicator and order a bowl of chow mein. I want to keep Kim, first and foremost, Starfleet., They were very aware of my concerns, and I was very happy about that. Having Ensign Kim as a regular castmember for the last seven years has definitely helped in terms of the visibility of Asian-American males. Kim doesn't speak with some kind of heavy, thick Hong Kong or Korean accent. He definitely is an equal member fo the crew, except for his promotion not happening."
And that is his second hobby horse - his lack of promotion. "Someone who served time in the Navy told me, 'After seven years you'd be well on your way to Lieutenant Commander by now!'" Harry Kim is nowhere near that level; his star turn in this season's 'Nightingale', in which he takes command of an alien ship, doesn't even bring him to the dizzy heights of lieutenant. "I'm going to have to picket or protest during an episode," he smiles.
Wang has no idea what's coming up in the final episode. "One of the rumours is that one of the regular cast members is to be killed off in some way," he recalls. He laughs and adds, "It's funny, there was one day on the set and Kate was talking about that with Robert Beltran." He delivers the next lines in very accurate impressions of Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran's voices: 'Robert, who do you think it's going to be?' 'I don't know, I don't know Kate.' 'You think it'll be Neelix - or our young friend over there?' gesturing to me. So what does that mean? You're not going to promote me, so I'm going to get killed off? Thanks a lot, Kate! I should have said 'I've already died twice and come back to life so they can't really kill Kim.'
"We've always been the last to know. I don't know if that's a good thing. If I was to run the show I might show the actors the story arc. If you know that something is going to happen to your character five episodes down the line, then maybe you'd add a different spin on how you'd play him in the current episode."
Although Wang admits that that might take away the realism that he's been after for Harry Kim, he is happy with the way some of his suggestions have been taken over the years. "I consider myself fairly close friends with Brannon Braga. In the third season , I said, 'I'd like to see Kim have a little action, a little romance during this season'," he recalls. "I wanted him to spread these ideas out through the whole year, but he put them all into one episode, 'Non Sequitur'. It was very much what I wanted - I got to do some running, some fighting, some kissing, everything rolled into one."
Would he have liked to join the roster of Voyager directors? "Oh yes. definitely," he says flatly, then sighs deeply. "When I first had an interest, I decided to back off because there were too many people who were interested at the time. I didn't want to be part of the pack. I remember Les Landau directing 'The Chute', Next to him was Andrew Robinson, next to him was Roxann Dawson; next to her... It was just ridiculous. I thought, 'It's not my time, I'll wait.' One by one they all got their slot, and I had always said to myself, 'Save the best for last. I'm going to come in there, show all these guys up, show them little old Garrett, the youngest one on the show coming up with this amazing episode.' I've always beilieved that to be a good director you have to be detail minded. That's how I've been all my life. You can't come up with superb directing without having the details evolved. I waited but when I did ask, I was turned down by Rick Berman." The hurt is clear in his voice. "I'm the first Star Trek actor to be turned down for a directing gig," he says. "Is this a racial thing? I truly wonder. I don't know. I'm sitting here thinking well, why else? Other than during season two and three, where I had some problems not being punctual, which got me into hot water at one point in time... but I've grown past that. I first asked in year five, then again during year six and they said no again. The beginning of this year I asked a third time and again I was told no. I don't know why. I know Rick Berman said something to the effect that he's not running a directing school here - well you could have fooled me! Everyone from Next Generation gets a shot, everyone from Deep Space Nine who has an inclination gets a shot, and everyone but Garrett from Voyager gets a shot. You put two and two together and try to figure it out. It's unfortunate, it really is, but all I can really do is wait until the next series begins, and go and ask again.
"I've given my life to Voyager. I've given my energy, my passion, and truly there's nobody of my castmembers who can say 'Garrett wasn't into the show. He wasn't somebody who put his time to it. He didn't care about the show.' I cared. I so much cared. I was always the one who was trying to make other people care. Other people were down on the show and I was the one saying, 'Look, let's do the best we can do. You've got to make this episode great. Come on!' I was like a cheerleader. And I feel that these things are unseen by The Powers That Be.
"It's a little unfair, I think. But then again, Rick Berman holds the reins. He has the power. It's completely his choice to say no. It's not in my contract. It's a favour. It's definitely a favour to allow an actor to direct. But when he says no, I can't help but take it personally. I think he thinks that I don't have the chops to do it, that I couldn't turn out a good product."
Wang injects a positive note as he looks back at the seven years of the series. "I've always wanted to try to change the world in terms of race relations," he explains. "That's always been my secret agenda and I think this character has done that. He has appeared as an unstereotypical, likeable character throughout these years, that people can relate to and people respect. Just the existance of an Ensign Kim this long has done wonders becasue there has been no Asian-American role models out there in the last seven years on TV.
"Trek has been great because it has provided me with a wonderful calling card to open some doors for me for my next platform, whatever I end up doing. It may end up that rather than waiting for someone to cast me in a role, I have to create that role, to push it forward. I'm not happy about Rick Berman turning me down, but I think everything happens for a reason. I think it's the universe's way of lighting my fire. It was the same thing when I started acting: people told me 'There's nobody out there who's an Asian-American male making it -why are you even entering into this business which is so prejudiced? You're not going to make a success of this.' That fires me up because I know I can prove them wrong. There's nothing more satisfying than that, just the knowledge thsat the other person, they weren't right. There's a reason behind being turned down; there has to be a reason, and that has been to spark my fire to get to the next level and push myself to strive."
