Why Robert Duncan McNeill Wasn't A Fan Of Tom Paris In Star Trek: Voyager Season 1
In the pilot episode of "Star Trek: Voyager," called "Caretaker" (January 16, 1995), Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) went to a Federation penal facility to talk to Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), once a pilot for the illegal group of Federation separatists called the Maquis. Captain Janeway, you see, needed an observer and former Maquis member to help her track down other members of the organization — currently hiding in a dangerous part of space called the Badlands — as part of her first mission commanding the U.S.S. Voyager. Tom Paris had little to lose, even though he wasn't particularly fond of Starfleet. This author once attended a "Star Trek" convention where some of the "Voyager" showrunners admitted that McNeill was hired largely to provide sex appeal to the show; he was to be its "bad boy."
Also in "Caretaker," the Voyager is magically whisked across the galaxy by an ultra-powerful alien entity, stranding the ship in the Delta Quadrant, about 75 years away from Earth. Being stranded, Tom Paris was given the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) and made the ship's primary helmsman. Paris didn't take to authority well, and frequently butted heads with Captain Janeway, often relying, somewhat unsuccessfully, on his boyish good looks to get him out of trouble. Weirdly, Tom became good friends with Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), the squarest, most rule-abiding officer on the ship.
In an interview with TrekMovie, however, McNeill revealed that he didn't like the way Tom Paris was depicted in the early days of "Voyager." The actor felt his character was "misguided," but that he went along with the show's writing out of a desperate need not to make waves. It wouldn't be until later seasons that he would feel the wherewithal to offer his own creative input.
I really need the money
McNeill admitted that, when he was auditioning for "Star Trek: Voyager," his career wasn't soaring as high as it might have been. He had just had his second child and was trying to support a family on nothing more than the money paid to him from a job in an off-Broadway play. McNeill had already appeared on "Star Trek" — he played Cadet Nick Locarno on the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The First Duty" — so he knew what a plum gig it was. Not only was the pay good but "Star Trek" had a tendency to provide work for at least a seven-year period. A lot was riding on McNeill keeping the job. "My biggest focus that first season was: Don't get fired," he said. "Whatever they say, do it." He continued:
"I guess kind of selfishly I was just making sure I was a good team player, and so it didn't occur to me to push back creatively the first season. I really wanted to keep that job. So I just did not critique or question anything they wrote because I was there to do whatever they wanted. But I think that if I had not been in maybe ... desperate's a strong word, but 'desperate-close.' if I did not have demands that required me to play ball, I might have said, 'Wait a minute, you know what? I don't want to play this guy this way and I don't like this.'"
McNeill doesn't allude to any specifics, but fans of "Voyager" were able to see the character evolve, grow up a bit, and develop strange, idiosyncratic interests. Tom Paris loved 20th century media studies, for instance, and recreated a cathode ray tube TV to watch in his quarters.
The path to heroism
McNeill clearly liked playing Tom Paris better once the character had become more adult and heroic. Being a defiant, immature criminal was seemingly the least interesting version of Tom Paris. In later seasons, he stood up for his beliefs and even developed a romantic relationship with the resolute B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), the Voyager's chief engineer. The two characters would eventually marry. The developments pleased McNeill. He explained:
"I think eventually that character grew into something I was really proud of and very happy with. But early on, I felt like he was a little misguided. But maybe that's part of the journey, too. He grew into someone who was a true adult and truly heroic in a lot of ways, and a good guy. And he grew into that, someplace that was kind of broken and needed some work. I think the story worked in the end."
McNeill returned to the role of Tom Paris ... kind of ... in an episode of "Star Trek: Lower Decks." One of the characters on that show had a collectible Tom Paris porcelain plate which, in a fantasy sequence, spoke in McNeill's voice. McNeill also appeared on "Lower Decks" as his "Next Generation" character in the show's season 4 finale. McNeill additionally kicked off a prolific TV directing career during "Voyager" and went on to helm episodes of "One Tree Hill," "Las Vegas," "Supernatural," and dozens of others. He was likewise a director and executive producer on the hit series "Chuck."
It seems that learning to add his creative input allowed for a greatly expanded career.