Newsmakers/Getty Images Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, her daughter Emma, and Robert Picardo arrive at the Hollywood Christmas Parade
Robert Duncan McNeill played Lieutenant Tom Paris in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, though he wasn’t a Lieutenant for all seven seasons. That’s another story. On Saturday, McNeill was on a virtual panel hosted by GalaxyCon, an event company that’s been organizing virtual convention-style panels in lieu of conventions during the pandemic.
During that panel, McNeill and his former costar, Garrett Wang (Ensign Harry Kim), talked about the podcast that they host together, The Delta Flyers. The podcast features McNeill and Wang rewatching episodes of Voyager and sharing their thoughts, reflections, and details about what was going on behind the scenes.
As they chatted about their experience making the podcast, McNeill made an interesting admission about watching episodes of the show he’d starred in.
McNeill Has Never Watched the Whole Series
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McNeill said that one of the best things about doing the podcast is that it got him to watch some of the episodes for the very first time! He admitted that when he was actually on the show, he didn’t watch episodes as they aired. Apparently, he was too busy filming the new episodes to watch the ones they’d already completed.
So, when McNeill watches the episodes with Wang, he’s often seeing them with brand new eyes. He said that each episode triggered memories he hadn’t thought about in years. McNeill shared that talking about these behind-the-scenes details and breaking down his memories of filming certain scenes are his favorite things about recording the podcast.
Later in the panel, McNeill talked about how he gained new insights into each of the characters as he watched the episodes in sequence. He shared that he was especially surprised at how much he’d missed about Jennifer Lien’s character, Kes.
Kate Mulgrew Didn’t Watch the Show Too Closely Either
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Wang and McNeill were joined by three of their other co-stars, Tim Russ (Tuvok), Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway) after they chatted about the podcast for a bit. Later on in the panel, a fan asked a question about their favorite guest stars on the show. The cast reflected on all the amazing actors they’d worked with.
At one point, Mulgrew broke in and asked, “Is it true or is it not true that Seven of Nine wrestled the Rock in an episode?”
Her costars jumped in and confirmed that there was, in fact, an episode where Seven of Nine, played by Jeri Ryan, had a wrestling match with famed WWE wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Picardo then jumped in, remarking that he was fairly sure Seven had won their match and “beat him up.”
Wang then shared a behind-the-scenes anecdote about the day Johnson was on set. He revealed that he’d overheard Johnson on the phone backstage, and apparently he was getting the shopping list from his wife so he could make a grocery run after filming.
More About the ‘The Delta Flyers’
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Wang and McNeill were the first actors brought onto the panel, so they had a few minutes to talk about The Delta Flyers in depth. Wang shared that he had the idea for the podcast toward the beginning of the pandemic. He thought it would be a fun way to pass the time.
So, he reached out to McNeill, who he’s still in contact with regularly. Wang revealed that McNeill was skeptical about the idea. He didn’t think that anyone would be interested in listening to them talk about their rewatch.
As it turned out, McNeill was very wrong about the interest level. Their first episode was downloaded over 100,000 times. They’ve since reached over a million downloads.
The podcast is free on all the popular podcast platforms, but there’s also a Patreon version. Fans who sign up for The Delta Flyers Patreon membership get access to bonus episodes, extra behind-the-scenes info, signed merchandise, and at the highest level a monthly Zoom call with McNeill and Wang.
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