PLUME: I know a lot of people tend to talk about the problems that, say, Leonard Nimoy had with the first series, but those actors only had to play those roles for three years…
SPINER: Yeah, that’s true. They didn’t really… I mean, they did certain things that we did, like there was a good Spock, bad Spock – whatever… that kind of stuff… emotional Spock, unemotional Spock. I really had the opportunity to play, because of the Holodeck and things like that, Sherlock Holmes, and Western characters, and my evil twin brother and the guy who created us – and on and on and on.
PLUME: It was interesting, compared with the original cast, how well you and that cast worked together both on and off screen.
SPINER: Yeah, true.
PLUME: When you talk about the environment being comfortable….
SPINER: Oh, it was. We were – and are still – all very good friends, which is the only way to do seven years… and in this case, 15 years.
PLUME: I think some of the other series found that out.
SPINER: Yeah, totally.
PLUME: Do all of you consider yourselves very lucky that the dynamic worked that way?
SPINER: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It’s tiring work, you know… tiring relative to show business. It’s not ditch digging or real labor – or even serious work, for that matter, but …
PLUME: But it still borders on, what, 16 hour days sometimes?
SPINER: Yeah, exactly – inside on sets, with no windows. So, to have to do 16 hour days – I remember Patrick saying at one point that he never dreamed he would ever have a job that he could be sure he was going to laugh several times, every day. That was really the atmosphere – we had a good time.
PLUME: I’m trying to skirt around this, because I know you’ve been interviewed to death about the series – is there anything that no one has ever asked you about Star Trek, or anything you can remember never having talked about?
SPINER: You know what? Truly, no. I’ve been asked and I’ve answered differently a number of times, just to keep it interesting. But no, I’ve probably been asked every question you can possibly be asked.
PLUME: Was there any moment where you bordered on Nimoy’s famous, “I am not Spock,” period during the ’70s?
SPINER: You know what, I thought about writing a book at one point and calling it, “I Am Not Spock, Either.” But, no. I haven’t really felt typed by the role, particularly. I mean, it’s the role, certainly, people know me for, because I did 178 episodes and I’ve done 4 motion pictures now. But I’ve done more work since I started the series than before it – more different kinds of things.
PLUME: Do you think that it was a nice gateway show – allowing more opportunities to come along?
SPINER: Totally! And I wasn’t sure it was going to be, but it proved to be. For example, when I finally went back to Broadway – which was in ’97, I think, or ’98 – to do 1776, I was playing the lead, which I hadn’t on Broadway prior to that.
PLUME: Was it everything that you thought it was going to be?
SPINER: Yeah, it really was. It happened to be, in that case, because it was a really good show, and a really good production of a really good show that was really well received. It couldn’t have been any better.
PLUME: Something you’d love to do again?
SPINER: Oh, absolutely.
PLUME: Was there any nebulous time after the series ended – and after the first film came out – that you figured, “This part of my life is now over – now it’s back to the grind of looking for roles.”
SPINER: Oh, yeah – and it is, except when we do another Star Trek movie, or somebody out of the blue calls and says, “Will you come do this?” It still is like starting again.
PLUME: Is it easier, to know – and you mentioned this earlier – that you have that nest egg set aside, and the potential that there’s convention money, and there’s money from the potential of another film?
SPINER: Yeah. Really, it’s much easier. It’s not near the same as not knowing, really, how you’re going to pay your rent – which is a huge problem when you’re a young actor starting out. Particularly now. I don’t know how kids today pay their rent. When I was paying it, it was $144 a month.
PLUME: I can’t even imagine that. That wouldn’t even buy you a closet.
SPINER: Oh, I know.
PLUME: In fact, that probably wouldn’t even get you a hotel room for a night.
SPINER: I’m telling you, I don’t know how kids do it today. I remember when I moved into my first apartment in New York by myself, it was $250 a month, and I thought, “I don’t know how I’m going to pay this.” That apartment probably is a grand today, if not more.
PLUME: In speaking about the films – there’s four now – and looking at the difference between doing those and the weekly grind of the series, what is it like going back and doing the films now?
SPINER: Well, it’s like summer camp. It’s like just getting together with your friends and having fun.
PLUME: Is it harder or easier now to get back into character?
SPINER: It’s the same. It really is. It’s not that different. I know the character really well, I know how to do it.
PLUME: Why do you think the reception to Insurrection was as cool as it was?
SPINER: Well, probably because it wasn’t a very good movie.
PLUME: I wasn’t going to be that blunt. I’ve heard a lot of the behind-the-scenes wrangling that went on with it, as far as internal power struggles and whose vision was winning out over whom – I guess I’m not too surprised that Jonathan (Frakes) didn’t direct Nemesis.
SPINER: Right. Jonathan did a perfectly fine job directing that movie… I don’t think it was the directing –
PLUME: My understanding is it was a little higher level interference.
SPINER: Yeah, probably. You know what, I mean, I hate to get very political about it – because it’ll bite me in the end – but let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite movie, and it wasn’t the fans, either.
PLUME: But you did get to sing in it.
SPINER: That’s true.
PLUME: So when is the follow-up to Ol’ Yellow Eyes?
SPINER: Oh, gee, I don’t know. We have talked about maybe doing one, but as I always say, “I’ll be ready to do it as soon as I’m ready to lose a whole lot more money.”
PLUME: Yes, but the price for duplication now is so much less than it was then.
SPINER: That’s true, and we do know how to do it now.
PLUME: Even just selling it through an official website…
SPINER: That’s true. Well, that was our idea, initially, and then this record company came along and said, “We love it, can we make it part of our catalogue?” And we said, “Yeah, that sounds good,” but then they – I don’t want to get too negative about these guys, but I learned a lot about the music business.
PLUME: Is it something that you might consider doing as a personal project, in the future?
SPINER: Mmmhmm. I mean, I would do it, with the people who I produced the last one with, which is Wendy Neuss – I should say Wendy Neuss-Stewart, because she subsequently married Patrick – and Dennis McCarthy and I put that together, completely on our own. Then it was licensed by this company.
PLUME: Now are the rights still with this company?
SPINER: No, I think they’ve been bootlegged to someone in Europe. Actually, they were at some point, but we managed to get them back.
PLUME: So it’s something that you could technically re-release on your own label.
SPINER: Oh, sure, sure.
PLUME: I know a lot of people still ask about it, and it’s nearly impossible to find.
SPINER: It should be findable somewhere, like eBay.
PLUME: Of course, but all that money that’s going to eBay could go towards you, or producing the next effort.
SPINER: That’s true. I do have the masters in my midst, so we could release it again, if we had a mind to. But I’d rather just do another one.
PLUME: Of course, with the CD technology – and if you’re doing it on your own – you could even make it twice the length, with both albums on one CD.
SPINER: Well, that’s true. I could just release it – I think I’m going to re-release it, and call it, The Best of Ol’ Yellow Eyes.
PLUME: Or The Ol’ Yellow Eyes Anthology.
SPINER: Yeah, exactly.
Continued below…
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