The Quinn Legacy - Martin Quinn returns to Open Pike Night!

[00:00:08] Is this thing on? Hello? Hello? Welcome to Open Pike Night, the Strange New Worlds podcast where your calls are the prime directive. I'm your host, John T. Boulds, and tonight we have a returning guest to the Open Pike Night stage, beaming in wearing his finest 60s attire to help us solve the mystery of what it's like to wear a space kilt.

[00:03:43] But first, I'm joined by my stalwart co-host, the man who never did very well in theoretical podcast physics class, but somehow always seems to solve tech issues on the fly, Cameron Harrison. Buffer Time Cam is not as good a nickname as Buff Time Cam, but I'll take what I can get. That works. And unfortunately, Jesse went down on the wreck of the Cayuga. He had slept through the Gorn attack and, well, bad luck, I guess.

[00:04:09] But tonight, in his stead, we have once again the man who cannot break the laws of physics, but he can break our hearts as Scotty, Martin Quinn joins us on the Open Pike Night stage. Hello. How are we? Fantastic. It's great to have you back, man. Thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. Sorry, I'm so embarrassed about my lighting in comparison to these guys. Actually, as you were talking there, I was like, I should stop the whole thing. I've got a light in my back room. But anyway, just deal. We just need to deal with the pastiness.

[00:04:38] You're such a diva now. I know I've kicked off, man. Well, I'm going to jump us right into some spoiler territory because we're seeing a little bit of facial hair on you. And last time you were here, you kind of talked about you were trying to talk the producers into maybe introducing Scotty's mustache. Is this a sign? Is this a hint? I'm afraid this is for another telly show. So, oh, dang. I think it was a mirror universe episode. Oh, wouldn't that be cool? No, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:05:04] They've yeah. This director that I'm working with at the moment wanted me to look as uncool as possible. So he's given me this till later this month. But I've been looking like this since like March or something. It is so deeply embarrassing. Anyway, no, no, no. I'm afraid it's unrelated facial hair. Sorry. Unrelated. OK. All right. Well, it's time travel then from the possible future to the past, because I was listening back to our conversation last time.

[00:05:32] And I feel like we slid past a little nugget that you had dropped. You mentioned something about Alan Rickman helping pay for drama school and giving you advice. Can we can we circle back to that? Of course. Yeah. Yeah. How do you how do you meet Alan? I did a play when I first left school. I didn't get into drama school straight away. So I took like a year out and just worked at this youth theatre, Scottish youth theatre. And then the we put on various shows for like young people throughout throughout Scotland.

[00:06:01] So we toured like a kid's show and then we did a Christmas show and we did an Easter show. But they also got me additions for professional plays occasionally. And I managed to land one of them. And it was called let the right one in, which is like a Swedish novel. And a and then National Theatre Scotland were putting on as a stage play. And Alan Rickman was at press night and the casting director introduced me to him. I was because I was thinking about going to drama school at that point.

[00:06:25] And he and the casting director both said, yeah, you should go to drama school, which isn't exactly like praise after watching you on stage. And but yeah, yeah, he then felt that, you know, if I didn't go, then when would I go kind of thing? And I auditioned for a bunch of drama schools, got into Guildhall. When I, you know, told my dad about going to Guildhall, he was like, that's all very well, Martin. I don't know how you're going to afford that because in Scotland, you get you get free tuition.

[00:06:53] But in London, you don't know the student loans and stuff. I just began my journey of writing to a bunch of people for money and put on top of the list. And another actor, a Scottish actor called Richard Wilson, who also went to RADA. And he did the two of them both teamed up and gave me money to go to Guildhall during my first term.

[00:07:17] After that, I managed to, through writing to loads of people, I managed to secure enough grants from the Jewel Arts Award and the Cross Trust. And then the Guildhall scholarship, I was at Guildhall, that was a drama school I went to. That really stepped up in my second year. And I don't know, I don't know if that was just because they were waiting to see if first of all, you kind of like dropped out or if you were any good. I don't really know. So I didn't have to ask them after like the first term of first year.

[00:07:45] But yeah, yeah, it was great. And then, you know, he was, occasionally I would email him. He went to RADA with Ruby Wax, the American comedian, who's big in the UK. And her daughter was in the third year when we were in first year. And so he was occasionally at the school seeing some of our third year productions and I bumped into him then. Yeah, I'd send them emails saying what I had got from the training so far. And he was great.

[00:08:14] But he was saying, you know, he'd kind of give his opinion on it. And I was always like, oh, he knows so much more than me. What am I talking about? So, and then sadly, he passed away during my time at drama school. And so I never, you know, got to know him professionally or anything like that. But in the brief time that I had with him, he was just so kind and thoughtful. And he reached out to me to check how I was getting on with funding drama school, because I'd already mentioned money to him.

[00:08:41] So, you know, that way he kind of just, yeah, he checked in to see I didn't still need money or whatever. And just really thoughtful like that. And I don't know how he had the time to do that, you know, the headspace. But yeah, what a great, great person. And I'm just so chuffed to have had a little brief time of knowing him. Well, that's a fantastic story. And we have a question from one of our callers about some connections you've made more recently. Okay. Here's our first caller.

[00:09:10] Here is Michy. Hi guys. It's Michy. And hi, Martin. It was great meeting you at FatCon. I hope you had a wonderful time there. During the group panel, I noticed that you and Paul Wesley were having a lot of fun teasing each other. What we've been doing. Is there a backstory to that? Or was it just how you two are when you are together? Was it difficult for you joining the set after two seasons? And how were you welcomed into the show?

[00:09:36] And aside from Star Trek, of all the jobs you had or the roles you've played, which piece of work are you the most proud of? And what would you recommend that we should absolutely watch? That's all for me. And thanks, Martin, for taking the time to join OpenPike. Have a great day, everybody. Bye. Great questions, though. Thank you so much. Yeah, no, he's hilarious. I love Paul. He can never understand a word I say.

[00:10:02] And then he does understand what I say, but he just keeps saying it now just to wind me up. So yes, I suppose it's me being very petty and looking for any other opportunity because everyone understands what he says, don't they? So I can't get him on the accent front. I've got to get him on somewhere. No, he's brilliant. He's very, very funny and very fun on set as well. I loved having scenes with him. We've never done it in front of an audience, though, before.

[00:10:31] So that was new. I don't know if they ever did it, but it would just be so funny if they come into a scene and I speak and they just move on to someone else. I think that's what I really wanted to happen. But yeah, I'm not sure we ever quite got that scene in there. But in our last conversation, you had talked about how in the first episode when he first appeared, you kind of held your accent back.

[00:10:58] You kind of pulled back on a little bit and that in season three, you kind of let it go a little bit more and you weren't sure how it was going to be perceived. Yeah. And I don't know, to my ear, I don't know if I could tell a difference, but did you get any feedback and has your, has Scotty's accent continue to evolve? Yeah, I mean, I think I got broader. I think I maybe said this because whenever I get nervous, I tend to go a bit broader with my accent and it gets a talk quicker, which is normal for anyone. For all Scotty's such a great talent.

[00:11:25] There is a certain element of nervous new guy energy in there a little bit with him. He's kind of a mixed bag like that, isn't he? Because at some points he seems quite cocky. And then at other points he's like, oh my goodness, I'm out of my depth. And I was worried that people wouldn't understand me in season three because of that. Everyone at the German convention I was at there, FedCon, was like, no, no, we understand you. But some of the comments online, like there's, there's a scene with me and Pellia that was released early as a promo.

[00:11:54] And I think one of the comments said battle of the accents, which I really, I really get it. Everyone keeps commenting saying, yeah, every time these two are on screen, I got to put the subtitles on. I have no idea what they're saying. But I suppose that is like real authenticity. Maybe, and maybe I said this in the FedCon as well. Maybe, maybe this is the, this is how we explain the difference between my accent and James Doohan's accent.

[00:12:24] Perhaps he has been worn down by these Americans not understanding him. That he's had to speak in such a way and only that way will they understand them. Excellent. That does it for me anyway. I hope it does it for everyone else. It's a good headcanon actually. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Another great question, sorry that they had at FedCon was about the age differences, you know, just because, you know, myself, Martin Quinn being younger than Paul Wesley,

[00:12:53] yet James Doohan being older than William Shatner. And I says, no, no, no, no, no. I think what's happened here is that the pressure of the job has meant that Scotty has drank a lot between SNW and TOS and he just looks a lot older than he actually is. Which I quite like that, that, that through line for me. Yeah, yeah. How was it to join the cast after a couple of seasons? Great.

[00:13:17] I mean, terrifying because you, not because of anything they did, but just because I had just watched all of season one. And then I was given some kind of early screeners, I think, for season two, because I was joining at the end of season two. And, you know, then like the first scene was with Anson and Melanie. And I was just like, it was like watching TV and then having to be like, wait, wake up, you know, you're in the scene, you're in the scene.

[00:13:45] I mean, the thing is, a lot of them led by example, rather than like kind of patronizing with advice, particularly. I mean, like, Anson, seeing him just kind of, at one point he fluffed a line, right? And then he just went, hold on, let me do this again. Give me, give me one more time or whatever. And it was just so cool seeing someone like take ownership on set like that. And it just made me go, right, okay, this is okay to make a mistake and you can get what you want out of the scene. And so he really led by example.

[00:14:13] And then Ethan gave me really good advice just about like, you know, I was always worried about over preparation because you can, as an actor, you can kind of, over prepare for film and, and then be locked into something. And it's always different on the day, whether or not they're changing the script on the day, which that show wasn't too bad for her. But like, you know, it's just always different. Like it never looks, you're never sat where you think you'll be sat. You'll never, you know, you can't really predict how they're going to set up the shot.

[00:14:42] And so you've got to be ready to be malleable. And it just, Ethan gave me really good kind of advice on that. And, you know, like prepare, but prepare like 60%, like 40% has got to be on the day and being present. And he's particularly present. So are all the cast. I just think that they're very good at that. You know what I mean? Just turning up and being malleable. I suppose by the time I joined, they knew the parts so well, didn't they? Yeah. What non Scotty performance are you most proud of?

[00:15:11] Before, before Star Trek, I am was mainly in Scottish theatre. So I'm afraid you have missed that. But like, what could you watch? Our Ladies. I've got like a part in a film called Our Ladies. I'd say I'm like, I'm quite proud of what I did in that. It's a Michael Keaton Jones film. And then I popped up in Dairy Girls. And that's hilarious because if you ever hear me saying anything about people doing Scottish accents,

[00:15:38] you can watch that and you can see how bad my Canadian accent is. And then you can just tell me to shut up. But yeah, I'm trying to think film stuff. I did. There's a sketch show in Scotland called Queen of the New Year. I don't even know if you'll be able to access it. But I did a number of sketches for them. It was like a New Year's Eve or as we call it Hogmanay sketch show. It's like a famous slot having the Hogmanay slot in Scotland.

[00:16:07] And yeah, some of the sketches in that. We did a sketch about 0% beer that I was very, very proud of. I don't know why. I just really, I loved it. I love my scene partner and everything. There's a bunch of sketches in that. We did a sketch about, you know, the gender reveal parties for babies and stuff like that. But yeah, I just, there was tons of sketches in that that I was really, really proud of. But these are like little moments that I really enjoyed. And then stuff that I'm not proud of. I was, when I was 14, I am proud of the credit.

[00:16:37] I was in Lemmy's show. Lemmy is like this amazing Scottish comedian that I've always like adored. And when I was 14, I managed to get a part in his TV show. My youth theater had a casting directory and I was able to get a part on this. And I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was moving all the time just out of nerves. And my mate's big brother said to me, why were you moving all the time, Mark? And now I can't watch it and unsee that.

[00:17:05] But that, that, you'll find that somewhere. Lemmy's show. But that is bad. That's what I'm not. I'm not proud of my performance, but I'm proud of that credit. Yep. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I'm trying to think what else, but probably. And then, Oh, Oh, sorry. What non Scotty performance am I most proud of? I've got one. I did. I do a bunch of music videos because my big brother is a musician. A lot of his, his music pals asked me to do music videos for them or I do a music video

[00:17:34] for him, but we did the music video for Maruli they're called. And it was called Shane. And I'm really proud of that music video. I think the director and the DLP and me, and we got another actor, Ryan Hunter to play a dead body in it. Um, and that was, that was so fun. And another music video that I did for the vegan leather called, um, she don't that I'm really proud of. I had to dance for like three minutes down a hill, one take, and that was really hard going.

[00:18:03] So yeah, there's two, um, two things I can point straight to that I'm quite proud of. Yeah. They have to do some internet sleuthing and find some of these. I'm, I'm, I'm sure they're out there. Yeah. Yeah. They're on YouTube. They're a bit easier to find in these. That's like niche Scottish sketch show. Do you know what I mean? Well, speaking of that, should we jump to Jesse's? Yeah. Let's do it. Right quick. Yeah. Uh, our, like we said, our cohost Jesse could not be here today, but he did send us a, uh, a little video call for you.

[00:18:32] So here you go. Hey, Martin, Jesse from open pike night here. Sorry that I couldn't be at the interview today, but I know that my esteemed cohosts and of course our wonderful callers are going to take great care of you and ask a lot of really fun and interesting star Trek questions. So since they've got that covered, I have to ask about the comedy that you post on your Instagram profile. I love this stuff. I love the sketches. I love the bits.

[00:18:58] Is that something you've ever thought about trying to turn into like a larger series or pitching as a show somewhere? Or is that something that you think you'll probably keep where it is because there you can maintain complete creative control? Uh, asking because I would absolutely watch the Martin Quinn sketch comedy hour. I'll, uh, take my answer off the air. Thanks again, Martin. That is very, very kind of them.

[00:19:25] Um, please pass on my thanks to no, I, so during COVID I, uh, started making those little skits on, on my phone. Um, I'd written little scripts after I graduated from drama school in 2017. And I always wanted one of my like filmmaking friends to be free enough to, to film some of these properly with proper cameras. And you know, they never, they never are.

[00:19:55] And you know, it's hard to get to the top of someone's priority list. Um, because everyone's got their own projects that they want to make. And then COVID hit and I just thought, okay, I'll just do it on my phone. Uh, through trial and error, kind of, um, yeah, started posting stuff. Now it never got, it never got a wide reach, but because of the little bit of work that I'd done, you know, I was getting enough validation from people whose opinions are valued. And I thought, all right, okay, maybe, maybe, um, maybe I'm not crazy.

[00:20:23] Maybe, maybe me, my sense of humor is worth something, you know? And that was in 2020. I was doing it on my phone and there an, an opening came up in my local council. That would be just like your local government or something, right? They have like an arts fund that wasn't getting used because of COVID. So they were allowing people to apply for an artist development grant. Um, and I, you could get three K, uh, 3000 pounds for it.

[00:20:53] So I, I applied to make a proper pilot. I was calling it and it was like hiring my director friend to film and direct me and this, uh, like some, and recreating some of these sketches that I'd made on my phone and some other scripts that I had. Um, and we called it Martin's mess. And because it was still kind of COVID times, particularly Scotland was a bit behind London.

[00:21:18] So, you know, we were still in England in general, we were, we were still a bit more locked down at points. I said, you know, in my application, oh, I'm forming a bubble with this director and it will all be safe. So it was just me and him for most of like eight out of the 10 days. And then, and then we had kind of safe ways of shooting other people if we, if we had them. Um, so, uh, yeah, I got the money and filmed it over like 10 days. Um, and you know, paid everyone like film student rates. So basically minimum wage, um, pizza. Yeah.

[00:21:48] Yeah. And, uh, you know, covered their travel or whatever. And I was really, really proud of it. It's like 30 minutes long. I would say, I'd say the first half of it is really good. I'd say the second half kind of falls off a little bit. Uh, and yeah, I've started drip feeding some of it into my Instagram page as well. Anyway, though, before I did that though, I, I, I, what happened? I got a part in a play just coming out of COVID. It was, it was called Orphans the Musical.

[00:22:17] And, um, there was a, a famous Scottish comedian called Rab Florence who had his own sketch show. And he was in the musical. So I showed him Martin's Mess and he really liked it. And he showed it to the BBC Scotland commissioner. And he got me into this Hogmanay sketch show, Queen of the New Year. Um, and, uh, I wrote a sketch for them and I appeared on the show. And I also met my writing partner, Stephen Buchanan there.

[00:22:46] And from that, I then, we were commissioned by BBC Scotland to write a short film for them, um, called Cable Tide, which I think is going to be on BBC iPlayer for like only another, like, two weeks or something like 10 days left. Um, but yeah, so we made a short film for the BBC through all of these sketches. But when we pitched just doing a sketch show at that time, they seem to think that the sketch shows weren't what they were looking for.

[00:23:14] And, and, uh, you know, I could pitch some ideas for like a storyline kind of sitcom. And we've pitched a couple of ideas under the guidance of this other great, um, Scottish comedian, Greg, Greg Hemphill. He's been helping me. Um, we have one idea that I think we are going to, there was a wee bit of interest in, but it's so funny. You have to like throw so many kind of ideas at people. And the idea that we've got, I'm really excited about it.

[00:23:40] I mean, Steve, um, we've just got, we've just, I've been busy filming, so we need to pull ourselves together to properly pitch it to them. But there was a bit of interest in that. But yeah, it seemed like the sketch show they weren't as interested in, which was really kind of really disappointing. There is a benefit to doing it just on your own because you've not got people changing it. Like when we put that short film on the BBC, we were proud of it. But like that ended up being an amalgamation of all the notes of the producer and the commissioner. And you know what I mean? It stopped being directly our thing.

[00:24:10] And, and, and whereas on Instagram, you know, you're always collaborating and I'm collaborating with Steve and Connor Riley, the guy who, who films it. But like, for the most part, we're happy with what we put out, you know? Um, I would, I would love if us three could get a sketch show, but it seems like in Scotland, they're not looking at it. I would be looking for that. I mean, maybe one day if there's a real hunger for it online, they would, they would, they would grant us one. I mean, that would be the trick. That would be amazing.

[00:24:38] It would be so fun to just create. It honestly feels, this is me getting big headed here. But when I'm creating stuff with those guys, it makes you feel like you're in the Beatles. Like you, you're just like, this must be what it's like to collaborate and the satisfying nature of like bouncing off of each other, creating something that you're really, really proud of. Um, yeah, yeah, it's, uh, that, that state that we get into when we're making stuff is something that I kind of want to recreate for the rest of my life.

[00:25:08] If I can do. Yeah. That's very cool. It's a big goal. Yeah. We'll see though. If anyone will give us a job out of it, but we'll see. Yeah. Anyway, you first appeared in one episode of strange new worlds, right at the end of season two, and presumably knowing you were going to be become a cast regular, uh, with being Scotty and all, but that you had a long time to prepare because of the strikes and everything.

[00:25:31] Um, how did the reality end up matching with your expectations once you got into season three and how has it evolved over the last couple of seasons? Well, it's, um, the genre shifting meant that it was hard to prepare for. If you know what I mean? Like every time you think you've come to grips with that, like we do a completely different episode. Sorry. I'm watching what I say. Cause I don't want to like slip out any kind of genres that we, that we touched on.

[00:26:02] Um, and that was hard. That was hard to balance. Like, you know, keeping your character and your own, the characters integrity whilst, whilst, whilst, uh, you know, honoring this, this genre shift. Um, yeah, that all was really, that was something that I hadn't, I wasn't prepared for. I knew that they did a singing, you know, episode and I knew that there would be some curve balls, but you know, you can't prepare for what they're going to throw at you.

[00:26:31] Um, I mean, the writers are so imaginative. They always think of something that you haven't thought of. So, that was really hard. Cause yeah. Yeah. And also showing different sides of Scotty. And I think you'll see different sides of Scotty throughout season four and season five. Yeah. And different sides. And different sides I was learning about, do you know what I mean? I was like, oh, right. Okay. Right. Let's roll with this. Let's keep exploring this. This is great.

[00:26:58] Um, whereas I think I expected to fully know him, especially I was, I was quite proud of how, how season the, the, the finale of season two had gone, you know what I mean? And I was like, oh great. This is going to be, um, this is going to be someone that will be fun to play. But I realized like he wasn't always the same, you know, he dives between the kind of cheeky chappy. He dives between being really grumpy when he's pushed, you know, we've seen him kind of shouting at Kirk.

[00:27:25] And then, you know, the nervous new guy energy is in there as well. You know? So it's, I mean, we're all like that, aren't we? We're all very different when there are different levels of status in there. And what I really enjoyed playing with in season three was this idea that before, before we know who Kirk really is or who he becomes, how are we around them? And I really liked the idea that I was quite disrespectful to him at first because he's such a loose cannon. Such a good dynamic. It was so fun to watch. Good, good.

[00:27:55] Well, what I liked was, was, you know, he's a loose cannon, but without the credentials. So who are you when you're a loose cannon without the credentials? You're probably a liability. You know what I mean? And that is, that's really dangerous. And so, you know, understandably, Scotty and the crew would be really annoyed at that. And then like the next time I saw him was episode eight in season three and kind of, I wanted to keep playing it a little bit like embarrassed that I'd kind of really lost the rag with this guy.

[00:28:22] And I'm having to ask him for help in a time when, you know, two episodes previous, I've been screaming at this guy. So I quite liked playing with that through line of the, whether or not that comes across a little bit, but you know, that through line of the dynamic with the two. Again, like I love ball and I love playing like with Scotty playing with the cock stuff. It's really fun.

[00:28:47] And I mean, I love that insight because that subplot yours and Kirk subplot in four and a half Vulcans is one of my favorite moments of season three. And I don't know if I put the, I don't know if I'd connected the line, but you're right. It does come across. That's part of that really funny kind of buddy comedy relationship that's happening there.

[00:29:06] Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes I think maybe I could have dropped the awkwardness a little bit between us and just, just kind of like, you know, like the way TOS is where you just kind of like, you forgot what happened in the last episode. And here we are in the next episode. Do you know what I mean?

[00:29:21] Yeah. But I suppose part of strange new worlds is kind of threading through the, the kind of character development, isn't it? And so in that sense, it can be a bit more, there are moments of real groundedness, you know what I mean? And, and, and authenticity that I think I kind of wanted to shoehorn in there, whether or not, whether or not it was the right moment to do so or not, you know, it's hard to tell, but we'll see.

[00:29:47] Right now is the right moment for another one of our callers. Here is our good friend, Michelle. Hey, open Pike night. Welcome Martin Quinn. I think you are doing a fantastic job bringing young Scotty to life on strange new worlds. I grew up on the original series and always really enjoyed Scotty and James do hand. So you are definitely doing him justice and the comedic elements, but also the more serious aspects of Scotty.

[00:30:16] So I'm wondering if what you did to prepare for the role, if you were a fan of the original series or knew of James do hands work beforehand, I am glad that we finally have a Scotsman playing Scotty. That's that's pretty awesome. Uh, also I appreciate the episode you did a dairy girls. I'm a fan of that series. And, uh, if you have any thoughts or memories of that, I'd love to hear it.

[00:30:42] And finally, I usually on this podcast make a crusher connection because I'm a big fan of Dr. Beverly Crusher from the next generation. And, you know, she was actually Scottish, the character. Uh, so little connection to Scotty there. And she met Scotty in the episode relics in the next generation. So the, just a couple of just thoughts and just wanted to say thank you for all the hard work you're putting in.

[00:31:09] It really does show and looking forward to hearing your, your thoughts and what's next for Scotty in strange new world seasons four and five live long and prosper. Oh, that's so kind. Oh my God.

[00:31:24] That thank you very, very much because that's what I was so nervous about when joining the show was, you know, every it's such a, such a huge franchise and everybody's got, you know, so much praise and love for James doing as they should have. I mean, he's brilliant. And, and so you don't want to taint that at all. So whenever anyone says that to me that they were happy with how I did it, it's just such a relief. So thank you. Thank you very, very much.

[00:31:52] Um, how did I prepare for this role? You know, when I was getting cast and I might've said this last time, they were very keen on us bringing ourselves to it. And, um, you know, I had, uh, I got, I got diagnosed with ADHD before it was cool.

[00:32:11] I was, uh, in drama school at the time and, um, yeah, it was kind of, um, I remember being at school and some people get diagnosed with ADHD, but people were like those, like it was Michael McCabe, um, who had it. And, uh, he would like run into walls. Like if you said, Michael go run into that wall, he would go and run into that wall. Like he was, he was really hyperactive.

[00:32:36] So I kind of always associated it with this kind of external hyperactive thing that McCabe had. But, um, then when I went to drama school and I was really struggling to like keep up with the reading, I then told the teacher and he sent me for this ADHD test. So I didn't even know at that time I wasn't on social media. So maybe it was big on social media then, but it's just like 2014. Whereas I think more since the pandemic, maybe things have kind of, there are more kind of diagnoses like that. And that sense, it was really good.

[00:33:04] It was also really good when auditioning for Scotty, um, because the casting directors were just saying like, you know, rather than try and emulate, if you've guessed, they never told us what franchise we were auditioning for. And they were just like, if you've guessed what franchise is, don't say, don't say, but, um, you know, don't try and emulate anyone. They were worried that it would turn into a kind of impression, you know, and that we would be really kind of, you know, we would be a bit more wooden trying to do that or whatever.

[00:33:30] So, you know, bringing yourself to it, this is your younger version, you know, they're not who they become eventually. And the kind of, um, ADHD version of, of Scotty is really interesting. And, and that I could take that and I could run with that. That was great. I mean, I mean, because that's, you know, I've got a connection to that. That's really easy and it's in the writing at points and it's, um, so I suppose, yeah, what did I prepare?

[00:33:51] I suppose it's just like that, the, the, the, bringing my ADHD side to the forefront. Not always easy. Were you a fan of his work before? I mean, the thing is he can't be when you're, when you're Scottish, you can't not know about beam me up Scotty. I was at a play the other night, um, or two weeks ago called the high life. It's Alan Cumming.

[00:34:16] Uh, and he, it's his, um, he had a TV show in the nineties in Scotland called the high life. And they did a stage show, a musical for it, for, um, um, Forbes mass and Johnny McKnight wrote it. And it's brilliant. It's great. It was such a fun night. It was such a fun night, but they had, they had references to beam me up Scotty in there. And there is so many like beam me up Scotty, um, references all the time.

[00:34:43] It's to us. I mean, it was funny because we know that he's not Scottish. We can hear it straight away. And that is usually quite a soft spot for us. You know, we usually get, get really annoyed at it, but I think everyone's actually just proud of the representation in Star Trek. Like we're like, Oh, look at us. We're there in the future and everyone's still talking about us. Um, you know, I don't think people are livid at it. You know what I mean? It's not like everyone goes beam me up Scotty and then shakes their fist.

[00:35:10] Um, I feel like, you know, you know, we're, we're just so glad that such a huge franchise were, uh, yeah. And I, uh, and James do, I mean, I love the old trick. I didn't watch much of it beforehand. I saw bits of it. My friends were really big into next generation. So I'd seen bits of next generation, but I hadn't seen a lot of, of, uh, TOS. And then when I got cast, I binge watched it.

[00:35:37] And I love it. I mean, I just love the style of it. I think it's so cool. Um, yeah. I love when they go down to planets. I think that that is the strength in their show and the strength in our show is when you go and see other worlds. I love the sets that they had. I think they're so fun. Yeah. And unfortunately, Scotty isn't always the one that gets to go. down to the planets. Um, and yet those are the things that I loved most about it. You know? Yeah. I love, I love the old show.

[00:36:04] I think it's, I think it's amazing and it's constantly an inspiration for what we can do. You know what I mean? In real life, but also just mean like performance wise, I'm like, look at those guys go, like they're having the time of their lives. I just hope I can kind of honor, but also enjoy it the way that they obviously were enjoying it. You know, any memories of filming Derry Girls? Yeah. I just, yeah, it was great. It was only a couple of days, but there was a guy called David Ireland, um, on set because he plays one of the girls dads in it.

[00:36:32] He is a playwright in Scotland and I'd worked with him, um, before, and I was on his TV show, the lovers. Um, and he is, oh yeah, maybe that's something that people should watch. That's a good show. You know, people were asking earlier, what am I proud of? That's a good show they should watch. Um, I'm not in it loads, but anyway, David Ireland. So he's a Belfast playwright based in Scotland. And because of that, I'd worked with him and I knew him. So this made me look so cool.

[00:36:58] And amongst all of these, uh, like Northern Irish actors, I was like, yeah, I'm up to me. Yeah, it made me, I was really kind of bragging quite a bit. And that I already knew David. That's probably a rubbish story. So there you go. Sorry. I think I just wanted to give a shout out to David Ireland. He's an amazing player. Yeah. Well, what you're talking about, uh, with how you played Scotty, I think kind of leads into Lorca's question. Yeah. Here's a question from our caller Lorca. Uh, is this our first caller? I believe so.

[00:37:26] Welcome to the open Pike night stage Lorca. Thanks for joining us. Hey there, Martin. Um, Lorca from Ukraine here. Um, happy Pride month. Hi there. Happy Pride month. And my question for you, two questions actually, that if you will be ever doing full body shots as Scotty or cardboard cutouts like Pike and Chapel got. And if Scotty wasn't the character from TOS and you had nothing to base him on,

[00:37:54] other than the descriptions you got, um, what would you take or give the character? What would I, Oh, I think that's a pretty interesting question. Like if he was not a legacy character, how might you have played him differently? That's a really good, good question. They're all great questions by the way. Sorry. I feel so rude after every time there is a caller. I should be saying like, thank you so much by the way. And I just want you to know I am, I am very grateful.

[00:38:20] All of you. Um, I don't know if I would have had them as well kept as James doing, you know, like he's very like the hair. He's kind of immaculate. Now that may be Starfleet standards, but I would like the hair to be crazy and like stubble because he's not slept. I would like that. You know, my kind of difference.

[00:38:43] I don't think he would necessarily bite his nails, but he might have bumps and scrapes and stuff from, you know, like, ah, you know, you know, I think there would be a bit more of that than, than what I've, but that's also maybe my own vanity because I prefer having a bit of stubble. So, you know, maybe it's, um, will there be honestly, when she said, well, how did, how did, um, Lorca word that there? Full body shots.

[00:39:09] I honestly thought she was talking about like what nudity. And I was like, oh, that's cool that you're asking. Like, like, like, it sounds like there was a, I kind of hope from fans that there might be a kind of full frontal from Scotty. Um, but, but no, that wasn't the question. That was just in my head. That's not happening with season four. Yeah. I don't think anyone wants that. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants that. Uh, there's some thirsty fans out there. Oh yes, there are.

[00:39:37] These are very kind and they flatter into me, but I think we both know that's not the case. Um, will there be a life-size cardboard standups of my Scotty? Eh, I would love that. I didn't know that they had that of the other ones. And now I feel about like I'm missing out. You know what I mean? If someone gifted you a cardboard standup of yourself, would you ever put it up in your house? Oh yeah. We had my big brother moved to Australia. That's so annoying. They've put it away. My big brother used to be in the corner over here. Oh yeah.

[00:40:03] Um, so that we could bring him to weddings and stuff that he was missing out on because he moved to Australia. Um, but the one time he's not here, I can't, sorry. So I can't show you, but yes, I would put it next to him. I would put it next to him. That's awesome. That's fantastic. Yeah. All right. We got another caller here. Here's a good friend, Abby.

[00:40:24] Hey, hey, open pike and Martin. This is Abby from the first flight podcast. Martin. I absolutely love that you have jumped into the role of Scotty. You are endearing in every possible way. And this is from a pretty much lifelong Trek fan here.

[00:40:37] I was hoping you could talk a little bit about Scotty growing into his role and working with the amazing Carol Kane as Pellia. You two just seem to be having so much fun. So got any fun stories about times you crack each other up so much that you couldn't keep working? Hope this finds you and yours well. And we'll all talk soon.

[00:40:55] I just want to say last episode, like we didn't, hadn't seen season three. We didn't even know if Scotty was going to be in season three when we started talking to you and like, we're all hypothesizing. What could it be? Is it going to be a mentor mentee relationship? And we were so happy with what we got between you and Pellia. Oh, good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I always wish there was more of it. You know, like you don't really realize it, but actually we talk about each other more than you actually see it. Um, you know, uh, just in season three, if you think about it, it's like, we're actually just,

[00:41:26] constantly not bitching about each other, but you know, dropping in wee comments about each other rather than actually, which is quite nice in a way because it makes your mind kind of go, Oh, what's that? What's that about? What happened there? Um, I don't want to give too much away because yeah, we have a little bit more in season four. Obviously me and Pellia. I think that's, I think that's a perfect amount. I think everybody was just, just started sharing, listening to this. So that's fantastic to hear.

[00:41:51] Good, good, good, good. Well, maybe I won't do my usual and ramble on about that. Um, but yeah, yeah, there's some more. She's brilliant to work with. I mean, of course she is. She's just so, um, brave with her performance all the time. And it's so inspiring. Um, you know, it's easy to get lulled and TV to, and to like really small, smoldering performances.

[00:42:14] And she, you know, pulls you out of that, which is so inspiring. But also that's kind of what I feel about the old TOS guys. That's kind of what I mean about their performances being so inspirational. Like they showed a real size with truth. Do you know what I mean? Like there's truth there and it's just, it's so, it's such a brave performance from all of them. And I want to be more like that, you know? Um, yeah, yeah. Oh, talk about Scotty growing into his role.

[00:42:40] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's hard. It's him kind of, okay. I can't say too much. Cause I'm going to end up slipping up. I'm going to slip up. There's no, there's no, there's more growth to come is what you're more growth to come. Perfect. That's there you go. That's a good answer. Well, since Abby didn't ask the costume question, I guess it falls upon my shoulders. We see Scotty in his dress kilt twice in season three. Did you get any input or, or, uh, did they consult you at all on that? Or did Bernadette and her team just have the Scottish ball?

[00:43:09] Well, it's cause it was already in, uh, was it one of the star war? Oh my God. I just said, it's because I was flipping to movies. That's why I made that mistake. Okay. Uh, in the star Trek movies, you see the kilt, don't you? You see, I believe. Yes. I think at least once. Yeah. Yeah. And so there was

[00:43:38] that as a template, um, the Scott tartan and then this kind of futuristic, I mean, it was great. The details that they put on these kind of futuristic bits on, on the belt and everything. It was, it was so cool. Yeah. They did speak to me about it, but we went to a kilt makers. I mean, we don't, I think I've worn a kilt maybe once, maybe twice in my life before this.

[00:44:08] I find it really heavy. And when we were shooting, like you're taking it on and off and it was like freezing in Canada, just going from the trailer to the studio. So, you know, in Scotland, isn't where I'm from, isn't as cold as that, but it's raining all the time. Like it's not warm. So like, I'm never, I'm never buzzing to wear a kilt. Um, I'm glad when it's on. Um, but you know, we were kind of at the mercy of the kilt makers because they're the ones that know. And then Bernadette who's just got

[00:44:36] this amazing futuristic design, um, inspired by what had been before. Um, but yeah. Very cool. Uh, here's another caller, our, our buddy Melanie. Hi Martin. Melanie here from Germany. We met at FedCon a couple of weeks ago. We talked about Glasgow on the dance floor and later you told me you liked my question during a Sunday panel, which absolutely made my day. I wanted to follow up on that question because a space adventure

[00:45:02] is such a fantastic episode and one of my favorites from season three. What I really loved about it was seeing Scotty in a situation where he doesn't actually have all the answers yet. He's still finding his footing. And for much of the episode, he's basically trying to plough his way through until he can't figure things out with a lot of help from Uhura. It felt very human and made Scotty instantly relatable. So I'd love to hear more about what that experience was like from your

[00:45:29] perspective. How did you approach playing a younger Scotty who hasn't quite become the legendary engineer we know yet? What was it like building that relationship with Uhura and showing Scotty learning to trust and rely on someone else? And because I have to ask, what was it like filming with the rest of the cast, especially Anson? I can only imagine trying to keep a straight face while Captain Pike was walking around with the wig, the glasses and that belly. Were there any moments on set that almost broke you or the others? Thanks so much. And I'm really looking forward to seeing more of

[00:45:59] your Scotty in the future and meet you in Vegas, which will be soon. Live long and prosper. Melanie. Oh, thank you, Melanie, for another great question. And yeah, it was great. Fedcom was great. I ended up because we're staying in the hotel there. We could go down at night and like, I don't drink anymore. So I was like, I went down to the dance floor for a little bit just to see people, but also just to chat to people normally outside of the kind of, you know, there's a queue kind

[00:46:25] of situation. So it was so lovely. She was so lovely, as was everybody there. Space Adventure Hour was the first time filming with Frakes. And I mean, that was so fun. He was amazing. But I was kept separate from everybody else. So they were all getting to explore new characters. And they were all getting to like, play dress up and try stuff out. And they all shot in a completely different part of Toronto.

[00:46:52] For me, I was stuck in the studio. And I think we did the majority of my scenes in like, one day. And yeah, and it was just me and Frakes for the majority of it. Which was so fun. And then different cast members coming in for various scenes in the science lab. It was, it was, it was honestly, it was amazing. Like working with Frakes was just so fun. Like,

[00:47:22] he, I don't know, he just keeps the energy up, you know, constantly. And he's such a kind of Trek legend, isn't he? But, but he's just got really exciting ideas of how to do, how to shoot it. But he's so collaborative with the crew. So it really just felt for me, someone who's, you know, coming to the whole show late, it was just a great, like kind of bonding exercise. You know, I was getting FOMO from the other guys, but at least I was getting to explore with Frakes,

[00:47:49] which was really fun. And, and, and it was a really good team building exercise for me and me and the crew, like, because I was with them all day. Cause that's one of the worst things I hate, like kind of just stepping on set and then leaving. Like, I love being there all day. And there was a scene that got thingied that got cut with me and Gamble and he came on and, and was asking me about the power outages. And I was behind, I was behind an area.

[00:48:17] Okay. I could show you if I saw the set in front of me and I was pulling plugs out and throwing them. And yeah, yeah, it was largely a monologue cause I wasn't really listening to him. But anyway, it got cut. I think the episode was probably too long overall, but I was always gutted cause it was so fun to play Scotty getting more and more frazzled as the episode goes on. And I think then I heard that the writers were really enjoying that. Who was it told me that, that they were really enjoying,

[00:48:46] was it one of the directors was really enjoying, like they would hear the writers talking and they would say, right, let's try and get, give Scotty more, like more to be stressed about. Let's give him even more to be stressed about. Like, let's make sure that whatever the problem is, that's also a problem for Scotty so that he's running about even more. And I mean, that episode is a great example of them doing that really well and openly. But you can see it. And again, I kind of talk about seasons four or five, but you will see more stressed Scotty. So yeah.

[00:49:16] I'm going to try because you're right. You did not get to be one of the holiday characters. You didn't get turned into a Vulcan. You missed the musical episode. Yeah. Are we going to get to see like an alternate Scotty at some point? Um, I don't know if I can say. Okay. I tried. I tried. You hear me listeners? I'm out here. I'm trying for you. Yep. But look, I'm like the most gullible. I'd be the one to, you know, if you're going to get anyone to spill the beans, it'll be me. Yeah. We've had a couple of callers who mentioned meeting you at FedCon. What's it

[00:49:46] been like being on the convention circuit? Any surprises or favorite memories from that as you've, as you visited more and more? Mate, it's so heartwarming. Like, it's amazing to see how much the show means to people, but just how supportive they are. Like they are such a, such an enthusiastic fan base and you really want to make sure that you kind of honor that, but it's great to be able to like share that with them, you know,

[00:50:13] in so many TV shows you're on the TV and you don't ever get to meet them. This is so cool to like go and meet a community. Like I'm genuinely so grateful to everyone who comes up and speaks to us at the, at the conventions. And even though a lot of the time, because we've traveled, we might look really tired or you get two seconds because the queue's so, so big. Genuinely, the words mean so much to us. And I just hope that they get something back out of that interaction

[00:50:41] because it makes me just so glad that this was where my career ended up. You know, I didn't know where it would end up, you know, and sometimes you, as an actor, you can slip into the hole of, of being very aware of all of the, the knockbacks that you got and, and the, and the careers that could have been if you'd got another job. And I'm just so glad that I got all of those knockbacks

[00:51:03] that meant and led that, and, you know, led to me being on a star Trek, uh, because it's just such a cool community to be like a part of and, um, to touch base with and, and, and, you know, it feels like a lifelong thing and that's, what's really cool about it. You know, we had a couple of write-ins, uh, one of our, one of our callers wrote, uh, Ashina wrote, what's a small or maybe almost

[00:51:28] invisible detail in your character's behavior that you noticed while playing him or that you added? Like, was there a subtle choice you made for Scotty? Oh, I did make a subtle choice, but I would be spoiling something. So you tell us what episode to look it out for it in? Well, you won't notice there be subtle things. All right. But it's all leading. Oh, no, I don't know.

[00:51:56] I think that's an even better answer than something specific. Like that, that's great. Building excitement for this. We got 16 more episodes and we're going to be watching them even closer now. So yeah, I hope that's fantastic. I, an idea had come into my head early on and some of the other casts heads and that then did get

[00:52:19] put in. And, and I had been thinking that might happen. And I had tried to breadcrumb slight moments. So maybe next time we speak, we'll be able to speak more freely about those breadcrumb moments that you won't even notice. You'll be like, what are you talking about? That wasn't

[00:52:44] anything. Um, but yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of the breadcrumbs have already been there, but you guys won't, uh, necessarily. Oh man. We're going to have to pull shot by shot and have Martin run through this after 2028 when it's all done. It's so vague. Not right now. Follow up on the breadcrumbs. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Great. All right. Well, I, uh, what we did

[00:53:12] notice in season three was the episode, the slot who ate its own tail. It was super fun for all of us. Cause I think there was a moment for every viewer when we were like, oh, I see what they're doing. It's all the TOS people are on the ship together. And as an audience member, that was, I mean, that was like a moment that was like watching something. Did it feel kind of different on set or was it just another day at work? No, it was very cool. It was a cool moment to, to realize that we were though shooting the

[00:53:40] scene where, you know, when Kirk walks off the bridge, when we filmed that scene, it was weirdly so late in the day. Like we weren't running at a time. We were just all delirious, like so exhausted. I don't know what happened. If we just had so much to shoot that day. Yeah, it probably was bridge days are really hard to shoot because they turn around. They've got so much coverage to do because there's so many characters on the bridge and they've got to shoot it in a

[00:54:09] certain way. So, you know, so that when we are facing out and you're seeing, you know, what the bridge can see out in outer space, you've kind of got to save those moments. You know what I mean? You can't just have that in the background of every shot. And yes, we did all realize like, oh my goodness, look at this. It's all these kind of legacy characters all in the one, the one scene. That was a cool realization, but we were all so exhausted. And also the dynamic is so different

[00:54:38] from how it ends up, you know? So it was kind of, it was, it was, it was weird, but it was kind of jarring because we're like, oh, we're not really playing how they played it. You know, we've not, we've not settled into the roles that they become, you know, but it was very cool. It was an awesome moment. Yeah. Heck yeah. Do you have a favorite set to film on? Is there, is there a location on the enterprise when you see it on the call sheet? You're like, yes. Oh, that's a really good question. I like

[00:55:08] the long days. So I don't mind the bridge genuinely. I quite enjoy it. I mean, it is really exhausting. Um, right. What's the Jeffrey's tube, right now? I know that there's going to be a lot on me if the Jeffrey's tube is there, but, and I really enjoy that. However, it's so uncomfortable sitting in, in those, in those, uh, on those bars and the, in the Jeffrey's tube, like there's just not a comfortable way to sit on that. So that the novelty of the Jeffrey's

[00:55:38] tube wore off really quickly. Um, we, we did get to go through most of the sets. Unfortunately, the bridge was the most torn apart when we did our set visit, but the Jeffrey's tube was super fun. We got pictures in there. So yeah, it's very cool. Yeah. It's a cool one. There was a, but no, the AR wall, I think is really exciting to, to film on. They've got all these kind of screens and then the, that's when, Oh my God, just the artists that work on the show building sets are

[00:56:06] just unbelievable. And I get excited in that and always hope that there's a world where Scotty will appear on a planet. But those are my favorite episodes. I've said that about TOS, but also about strange new worlds before I joined the show. Like whenever they go to a planet, I just think it's amazing. All right. We have one more ride in, uh, another new writer. Welcome to open Pike night stage from galaxy heart. Demon said, hi, had this random question in my brain for a while in season three,

[00:56:34] episode two, Sam mentioned singing karaoke. What song, any song do you think Scotty would sing for karaoke? I love strange new worlds and especially Scotty by the way. Oh, thank you very much. That is so kind of, um, that's a really good question. What would his, what would his, uh, karaoke song be? Um,

[00:57:00] in a big country by big country. Yeah. That's a great karaoke choice. I'm going to get you to sing that song. Oh, yes. Martin. No, you can't. It's terrifying. I, I, my go to personally was always Aztec camera somewhere in my heart, which is a Scottish band as well. Actually. I don't know if you would know this song. Um, but yeah, I think big country is probably the best for, for the man

[00:57:25] himself. Yeah. Yeah. A good one. And, uh, for season three, what was your favorite episode to film? And what was your favorite episode to watch? Maybe see, maybe, maybe episode four was my favorite to film because of the freaks thing. Okay. Although in saying that, like, I really enjoyed episode one. Like we worked with Chris Fisher. He's brilliant. Um, but also we shot some stuff that didn't make it

[00:57:53] in, in the end. Go on. It's spoken about where we are on, um, we attach something to a missile. Don't we like we, we fire something at the Gorn that has an attachment onto it. That's spoken about. And they had me actually on a missile putting like a crystal onto it and it was getting, you know, Pelley was wheeling this down the, the corridor. Now that didn't make it in, but I think it was just

[00:58:22] timing again. Um, also there was a lot of like special effects attached to that because, well, you know, cause it was floating down the, down the, um, corridor, but it wouldn't be floating. You know what I mean? Um, so, so we had a kind of, it was on like a kind of not a green screen thing, but a blue tray that would obviously be taken out in post. Um, and then I was on top of the torpedo

[00:58:49] itself attaching something to it and I had, um, but it was just the Chris Fisher, the director is so fun to work with and he just always makes it look cool. And, um, and Carol was in that as well. So yeah, I loved it. I love filming that, but, um, watching, I really enjoyed watching episode six. I thought it looked so cool. Um, I thought the look of it was, was brilliant with Valerie, the director. She was

[00:59:16] brilliant. I thought it was a really exciting episode. Yeah. Good choice. All right. We have one more caller. Here is our friend Charlotte. Charlotte here from Rainy Nottingham. Martin, we love you as Scotty. You are a delight. We're so happy to finally have a Scottish Scotty. My grandpa was a Scotsman and I have friends who were Scottish actors. So this feels like a really big win. Do you think we will start to see more authentic voices in roles like this moving forward? And do you have any advice for Scottish actors who are trying to tell their stories and be seen? Thank you.

[00:59:46] Oh, that's really good question. Thank you so much. I hope so. I mean, I'm worried when I start on this, that I'll start slagging off other, other people doing Scottish accents. There was a big film recently that, um, is brilliant set in Scotland and two of the actors aren't Scottish. And one of the actors

[01:00:12] manages to do it really well and the other one for us really doesn't. And it's kind of across the board, it's distracting, like, and, and I really like that actor, but they just, the, the, the, the poor accent just tears me out of every scene that they're in. And the film is still brilliant. Um, but that was an example where they actually didn't need to make that character Scottish.

[01:00:41] Scottish, like they actually could have just made that character the nationality. I'm trying not to give away what it is, the nationality of that person. And that would have been fine for the story. Um, it wouldn't have mattered. And when they then do, this was a film and I understand why we thought that they all had to be Scottish, um, kind of based on a true story

[01:01:09] and all that, but it's not really necessary. It's a bit like, it's not really necessary to, to mirror the, the real life events exactly to the point where, where someone's doing a terrible Scottish accent. Cause I tell you, they didn't sound like that in real life either. Do you know what I mean? So there's not really much point in doing that. Um, a good, a good, like

[01:01:33] high profile example of it is in baby reindeer where there was a, a, a woman doing a Scottish accent and now she was, her accent was fine. It was good. It was good. It was only a couple of times maybe I noticed, but that's doesn't really matter because Scottish people do make noises that I'd be surprised at sometimes. So, you know, there's that as well, but like they didn't need to make that character Scottish. And actually with baby reindeer, there was

[01:02:02] a whole thing, wasn't there about like, uh, because that was based on true events by making it Scottish actually meant that people were able to like pin down who that person was, you know, um, and baby reindeer and like, actually that didn't need to be Scottish. It was set in London. Um, and I get it. The writer probably wanted to, to kind of emulate their own, their own life. But I think that people, and in that sense, to come back to the question, I

[01:02:28] think that that is an example and the other example that I very vaguely gave where the, the actor's authentic voice could have just come through and it wouldn't have harmed the story. I don't think at all. And I think that they could stop putting on bad Scottish accents and just letting people just do their own accent, uh, leaving the Scottish accents to the people who, who actually can do them. No, I'm not trying to be sorry. That's, that's maybe,

[01:02:58] maybe you're answering the question is that I think that's a fantastic answer to that. Yeah, but I'm seeing all of this. Some people get away with it. You know, like I said earlier, James doing, everyone's so proud that there's a Scotsman in space. No one's complaining. Shrek. No one's complaining. Like some people do. We are, we are happy to have an accent on the big stage. Um, you know, but just sometimes I'm just like, it looks a little bit like an actor giving their

[01:03:27] best go at the Scottish accent and almost showing off. Not James Doohan back away, but, um, and like, you know, I'm very glad that James Doohan picked Scotland because, you know, I wouldn't be sitting here if it wasn't. So, um, think about it. You may remember that or you may regret it, but at the same time, you are Scotty in Scotland. So yeah, James Doohan is celebrated, but don't forget you're there too. So we'll see how the next few decades play out when and when he goes to the bar.

[01:03:55] Oh yeah. You're very kind. You're very kind. I mean, there was, um, yeah, there was some comment I must've made in an interview about, um, you know, the representation of, of Scottish actors on screen, you know, so genuinely casting Scottish people to play the Scottish parts. And I'd made a comment about how the power of representation or all this kind of stuff. And I've got a lot of comments after that saying like, what are you so arrogant? And all this kind of stuff.

[01:04:23] And I was just trying to kind of show an alternate kind of, um, opinion. It is very telling that people can't always understand me. It's like if the, the reason they can't understand me is because not enough Scottish people, authentic Scottish voices are on the screens. You know what I mean? Um, it's very telling that some of these high profile performances aren't very good Scottish accents. It's because they're not hearing enough of us on the telly, you know, and you can all,

[01:04:52] a lot of, a lot of these actors can do a strewing accents really well. The Scottish comedian, Lemmy talks about this. You can understand Home and Away and Neighbours, these kinds of TV shows, but you can't understand Scottish telly. And that's, you know, that's just, you're not showing it. You're not exposed to it enough. And it's important to cast people and let them speak in their own accents a lot of the time. I'll take all of this back if I get cast as an English person, honestly. If I get cast as an American, just scrap everything I've just said.

[01:05:21] I think they also asked about, um, do I have any advice for Scottish actors? That's how really, that's, it's hard, isn't it? I mean, I would say, um, you've got to find your community and you've got to make your own stuff. And, and that's the advice that I would give, not just to Scottish actors, but I would give that to any actor. Find your own community who want to create things and, and make things and get them out there and put shows on, put plays on. It doesn't need to be London based.

[01:05:49] Like there's an obsession with London, um, or some people move to the States. Like that's just because you hear of like that being people's big break, but like, or where people's big breaks happen. But so many cool projects happen in other parts of the world. And it's not always about the glory. It's about getting work. And I think if you find your community and you make the things that you like making and get them out there, other people are going to want to see that. And that may be because you feel more understood as a Scottish actor.

[01:06:18] You might feel like Scottish people get you more. So much of my time spent in Toronto, although the Canadians were great, but, but sometimes I find when I've gone over to America, like I'm having to change my references. Like people don't understand what I'm talking about. And you know, and, and maybe then it means like to find yourself as an artist, maybe you do need to go back to Scotland and try and make stuff in Scotland before you go elsewhere. Um, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. That's a rambly answer, but I think that ultimately it's like make stuff, you know, to be an artist. You make art. Yeah.

[01:06:48] Yeah. But you know, make art. Yeah. But it's finding, you know, a lot of people sat and waiting and, and, and especially actors were particularly lazy. And whereas like, look at comedians, like comedians are so they're, they're like work ethic is amazing. Um, and, and my dad's always been on at me, like, you know, remember you're a Scottish actor. Uh, so like, yeah, you might want to work in London or, you know, like I worked in America, but you always want to come back and do some Scottish work because, um,

[01:07:17] that's where you're from. And to be honest, I think that's where a lot of the real work is. Yeah. It might be more humble in terms of like pay or audience or reach, but it's like, it's still really important. I think in lots of ways, it's more important because it's not about the money. It's about the community. Um, yeah. And I think that going home can often remind you of that, you know, um, it's not to say don't get any big ideas, but just like, yeah, I think just don't forget where you're from.

[01:07:46] Speaking of, uh, going forward, we will do one more little probe into season four here. I think you can mention this. We know you can't reveal anything about the story, but what was it like working with puppets on the puppet episode? Oh, no, I can't wait. I can't say anything because if I see something, you've not seen something that I would be given away. Why? Because, right. Yeah. You nearly tricked me there.

[01:08:16] What happened? But you worked with the puppeteers. You were on set while there were puppets likely. They are amazing. Those, that lot are amazing. I don't know how they do it. And they had so much energy, but like, I don't know how they do it. They're in really uncomfortable positions as well down there. Um, yeah, they are unbelievable, but I can't say too much. Cause I'm going to ruin things. But I do feel bad though. I'm not putting any of these back on you guys.

[01:08:45] Like, like what was your favorite episode of, um, Oh, season three. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, mine was definitely episode six. That's a lot. Who ages the day's tale. Like, yeah, I think that episode is going to hold up for decades to come as just an outstanding episode of track. It was good, but I was shocked to find that wedding bell blues was my all time. Maybe my all time favorite. It is my comfort episode. Every time I watch it, I'm just like, I, the green just goes up. That's brilliant. The long of the episode plays.

[01:09:15] I'm really glad to hear it. Um, but, um, Bill wrote that episode six and he writes exciting episodes. They're already exciting episodes, but, um, yeah, the, the, the episode he wrote and season four, I think you may enjoy. Oh, good. Yeah. We can't wait to talk to him about it. Yeah. Yeah. We'll be talking to him soon. Yep. Yep. He's brilliant, man. Although he might've written two actually, but, but, um, I wouldn't be, it wouldn't surprise me. Yeah.

[01:09:45] I mean, they all, they all chip in, don't they? They're in the writer's room, but I think he may, he was assigned. Yeah. I'd say after Henry and Akiva, he's probably the most. Bill has at least two. Yeah. He did two. Two. Yeah. He's great at, um, six and seven. Just checking up on the lower and back to back episodes. Wow. Six and seven. Wow. Yeah. He checking up on the lower, but we, I think we filmed season four out of order for, for bits of it.

[01:10:09] I think, um, we usually filmed an order, but just to do with various, you know, technical things. Yeah. It was moving, moving parts. That's what I was going to say. Um, but yeah, he's very good at checking up on the lower. I mean, they all are, but he's, he's always on kind of, if you're sat next to him on set, he's on all these kind of, um, forums to just double check what people are saying. And, you know, I mean, he knows a lot of the stuff himself, but he wants to kind of

[01:10:36] double check things and, uh, he's on all these kind of websites. So it's, he's, uh, to me anyway, quite watertight with the cannon, you know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, finally, you know, uh, you still have some ADR to do. We still have two seasons to watch, but you know, for the most part, strange new worlds has, has come to an end for the, the creatives for the actors. Uh, looking back, do you feel, do you accomplish what you hope to accomplish with your performance for this character?

[01:11:05] And how do you think it's all going to fit into Martin Quinn's legacy? Oh, wow. I love that you're calling it Martin Quinn's legacy. That's very flattering. That's very flattering. Um, um, you know, I was so focused on season five and I was very happy with how season five turned out. I, I was very happy with how the work on, on season five went. Um, that I kind of was so focused on that, that then coming back to do ADR on season four,

[01:11:34] I was like, oh my goodness, I haven't even thought about season four in so long. So I'm nervous now to see season four. I'm, I'm like, I was really chuffed with season five, but I'm just like, it was such a stressful time. You know, we had, we had a condensed season, didn't we? And, and, um, it was, it was busy for Scotty in season five.

[01:11:58] And, and, uh, I am now, yeah, just, just, just in the same anxiety that I get every time. I hope that whatever I did in season four that I'm now struggling to remember, um, honors like what everyone thinks of Scotty and the growth, you know, uh, and the journey towards becoming, uh, James Doohan's Scotty. Um, that's all, that's all that I'm really, I'm anxious about. And, uh, and I haven't seen it.

[01:12:26] I've seen bits in ADR. So, um, it's, it's, uh, I can't wait for July 23rd. I really, um, I say, I can't wait. I'm terrified at the same time. So Martin Quinn open pike night is an open mic night podcast. So we do ask our guests to bring a joke. Do you have a joke for us today? I do, but similar to my last one, you won't get it. Perfect. That's even better.

[01:12:53] So there is like a, a man walks into the bakers and he's picking between, between, I don't even know how to set this up. Bread humor. This is great. A man walks into the bakers and he's picking between two cakes and he says, is this a donut or a meringue? And the baker says to him, no, you're right. It's a donut. That's because.

[01:13:25] Because meringue sounds like, am I wrong? Yes. Well done. There you go. Good job, John. Thank you. Well done. Well done. But yes, because we would say that where I'm from, you're right or rang. So anyway, anyway, that's yeah. Just to follow on from my, did you hear about the lonely prisoner? He was in his cell joke. That is yeah. Equally is parochial. Parochial. Yeah. All right.

[01:13:52] Well, and then finally, you know, we've tried to pry some information about season four. You've been very good, Martin. Yes. Oh, good. So we're going to ask just one word, just one single word you can throw at us. That won't mean anything now, but when we watch the episode, we'll be like, there it is. Oh, I need to think of something. I feel like honestly, I should go on my emails and quickly scroll through the script. That has been done before, actually. Has it? It has. Okay.

[01:14:22] That makes me feel better. Hold on. Right. Dendru. Okay. Dendru. Dendru. All right. Yeah. Is this the alien pronunciation or the Scottish accent? Well, how would you say that? D-E-N-D-R-U. Okay. So Dendru. Yeah. Dendru. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. All right. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Right. There you go. That's something that you could. This is what happened last time though.

[01:14:51] I thought of like a better one as soon as we hung up. But anyway. Guys, thank you though so much, man. That was so fun. Thank you. Genuinely. Thank you. And it's every time. Man, it's so nice to hear from the fans as well. Thank you to everyone who wrote in with questions and that. It's flattering that anyone wants to speak to me. And I'm just glad that they seem to be enjoying the show. They had less than 24 hours to get those calls in and they did not disappoint. Yeah. People were eager. Thank you very much, man.

[01:15:21] This has been great talking to you. I really appreciate you making the time again and cannot wait for season four. Bye. Bye.