LaForge, Worf and Troi

Geordie, the Chief Engineer, didn't start out as the Chief Engineer, he started out as � well, he drove the ship. I thought was fascinating for a blind guy to be driving a ship but, there you go, it's the 24th century, we can do anything. He fit much better into the role of the Chief Engineer.

LeVar is a very special spiritual person, and he incorporated that spirituality into a very technical job, which I thought was a fascinating way to play that part. The fact that he and Data were best friends was actually quite poignant sometimes.

Then there's Worf, big old, dumb old Worf � you can cut that � that's what we used to call him. Well, he used to call himself that, too, so I'm not telling tales out of school. I like the fact that he was the security chief and he was so volatile that he just wanted to blow people up all the time, and we had to rein him in. I thought that was an interesting contrast. I liked the relationship that we had, (and I'm not talking about the love relationship that we had towards the end of the series), but there was this friction between the two characters, because they were so opposite in their core being . Troi was very nurturing and spiritual, and Worf just wanted to blow everyone out of the sky. I thought we had some very interesting scenes together because of that.

Then there was me. LeVar sent me a Christmas card one year, and I've kept it because it made me cry when I opened it. Inside it said, 'To the glue that holds us all together.' and I still get misty thinking about it. I've heard Troi described as 'the soul of The Enterprise,' and if that's the case, then I take that as the hugest compliment.

And then the Doctor, who was a real contradiction in terms, because she didn't know what was wrong with people a lot of the time but was very competent. She was the conscience of The Enterprise, on a certain level, and I thought that was extraordinary on a sci-fi show when, a lot of the time, you're blowing things up. It's an action adventure, and then you have this character who has a conscience that permeates everything. Altogether, it was pretty well thought out for each individual character.