Alexander Enberg as Ensign Vorek in Star Trek: Voyager. Photo copyright of Paramount Pictures.
In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Alexander Enberg talks about his guest-starring roles in two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation as well as his recurring role as the Vulcan Ensign Vorek in Star Trek: Voyager.
In the 1967 Star Trek episode Amok Time Captain Kirk risks everything to get his first officer Spock back home when the Vulcan begins to experience Pon farr, the Vulcan mating cycle. Thirty years later Captain Janeway is faced with the identical crisis when young Vulcan Ensign Vorek is stricken with the same pangs of passion in the third-season Star Trek:Voyager tale Blood Fever. The lovesick Vorek is the third character Alexander Enberg has played in the history of Star Trek. The first was that of a young newspaper reporter in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Time’s Arrow, Part II.
“I was attending school in upstate New York at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs,” recalls Enberg. “I went home to Los Angeles for the summer break and shortly after I got there I was taken on by an acting agency. My agent heard about this part in The Next Generation and arranged an audition for me. This was the first television part I had ever read for. Because the story was set on Earth in the late nineteenth century most people were coming in and playing the reporter as very dry and much like an ordinary person from that period. I took a chance and portrayed him as an energetic young man who was eager to find out more about these people who were involved in time travel.”
The show’s producers and casting directors were impressed by Enberg’s enthusiasm and hired him for the part. In the episode his character chases after Samuel Clemens, alias Mark Twain, to get the scoop on the writer’s investigation of a supposed alien threat to the Earth. “I remember thinking, ‘Wait a minute. If I’m working on this hot sci-fi show The Next Generation, then why am I wearing this turn-of-the-century Western costume?’ I kept looking around for the phaser guns and blinking lights,” he laughs. “It really didn’t feel as though I was on Star Trek, especially as I didn’t have a scene with anyone in the regular cast. For all I knew I could have been doing The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie. I did, however, enjoy the scenes I had with Jerry Hardin [Samuel Clemens]. He’s a great character actor and it was a thrill to work with someone who has so much experience in the business.”
Two years later Enberg finally had the chance to see phasers, blinking lights and much more when he was cast as Lieutenant (j.g.) Taurik in The Next Generation episode Lower Decks. This time around he was portraying a Vulcan and, while he was excited about getting more on-screen time, he quickly realized how ill-prepared he was to take on such a role. “I’ll be honest with you. Up until that point I don’t think I’d seen an entire episode of the original Star Trek,” says Enberg. “I’d seen bits and pieces of it but I’d always just assumed that it was a campy, dated and plain silly programme.
“I knew the only way I could truly learn how to be a Vulcan was to try to follow the precedent set by Leonard Nimoy and his performance as Mister Spock on Star Trek. So I began watching videotapes of the old series. I borrowed four tapes from the casting office and when I finished with those I asked them for four more. By the time I did my audition I’d probably watched fifty shows and when it came time to start filming I’d watched all seventy-eight episodes. I became this incredible fan and I realized how cool the show is,” admits the actor.
“I really got into studying Leonard Nimoy’s work and I also spent a significant amount of time practicing my eyebrow arching,” he jokes. “One thing I made sure to do during the audition was the Vulcan hand salute. I knew it would be ridiculous if they hired somebody who couldn’t do that. Other than that I just went in and read my lines as straightforward and as logically as I could. I have a deep voice and dark eyes, which are reminiscent of Leonard Nimoy’s looks, so I think that helped my cause as well. Whatever I did must have rung true to how a Vulcan behaves because they hired me. I was psyched and it ended up being a lot of fun. In-between takes I’d pretend to be Leonard Nimoy and Dan [Gauthier, who played Lieutenant (j.g.) Sam Lavelle] would do an amazing William Shatner impression. We had a lot of laughs."
When Voyager producers first thought about exploring the subject of Pon farron the series they considered using the character of Lieutenant Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ) for this storyline. This idea proved to be unworkable, so they created Ensign Vorek. The producers felt, however, that because the character would play such an important part in the Pon farr story it would make no sense to suddenly thrust him upon audiences. They decided to gradually introduce him into the series over a three-story arc beginning with the episode Fair Trade.
“I remember being really nervous on that first day,” recalls Enberg. “I had to do a scene in engineering with Roxann Dawson [Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres]. One of my lines had to do with the warp drive’s plasma injectors. For whatever reason I was completely tongue-tied. I just could not get those words out of my mouth. Everyone turned to me and said, ‘It’s OK. It’s not easy at first. Take a deep breath and you’ll get it on the second take,’ and sure enough I did. They were all very encouraging.
“You have to be very careful when you’re spouting off all the technobabble. There are people out there who know these terms inside and out, so you have to say them nonchalantly, like bacon and eggs. If it doesn’t sound like something you say every day then you’re liable to fall into the trap of being a rigid Starfleet stereotype and that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about engineers who are dealing with warp cores just as a mechanic deals with the engine of a car.
“Something else I became aware of while watching the dailies from this first episode was my making subtle facial gestures,” he continues. “I’m a very strong character actor. I’ve played everything from pyromaniacs to British rock stars to strange German photographers - all very emotionally charged people. Although this sort of energy came in handy when doing the Pon farr episode Blood Fever, I had to remain my logical Vulcan self for Fair Trade and the show that followed, Alter Ego. It’s sometimes difficult, however, to keep a smile or a wink from creeping out, especially when you’re trying to be natural in your delivery. When you’re playing a Vulcan, however, you have to be aware of what you’re doing at all times. You have to put yourself in a certain mindset and not deviate from the established parameters of your character. There were a couple of times I caught myself slipping in Alter Ego and I knew that with Blood Fever coming up I had to work extra hard to get my Vulcan persona under control.”
According to Enberg, one thing that was completely uncontrollable when he first started to play Vorek was the character’s hairstyle. “If the viewers want to scrutinize something they should watch the evolution of Vorek’s hair because there is one,” he laughs. “It all came about because they didn’t want audiences to become confused and mistake Ensign Vorek for Lieutenant Taurik from Lower Decks. The problem with this is that I’m one person playing both characters. Once you put on those pointy ears on me and arch my eyebrows there isn’t much else you can do to alter my appearance. The only thing you could really do would be to dress the character differently but Vorek and Taurik both wear Starfleet uniforms, so that’s not really an option either.
“They came up with this Oriental bowl cut which curved up on the sides like a ram’s head. Then they tried making it fuller, but then I started looking like a cross between Marlo Thomas from the sixties sitcom That Girl and a Vulcan,” chuckles the actor. “By the time we got to Blood Fever they pretty much started over again and I ended up looking like a traditional Vulcan, which made me very happy. Again, I tried to base my portrayal of a Vulcan on Leonard Nimoy’s work, so I became uncomfortable when we began diverting from that just for the sake of my looking different. As I said, my Vulcan repertoire is somewhat limited but I don’t think we confused the audience. As far as I’m concerned Vorek is just vain about his coiffure. He obviously spends a lot of time in front of the mirror before going on duty,” laughs the actor.
In Blood Fever the young ensign has worries other than his appearance when the primitive urges associated with the Pon farr begin to consume every fibre of his being. Vorek chooses Lieutenant Torres as his mate, but much to his surprise the Klingon rejects his advances. In pursuing her, however, the Vulcan accidentally awakens similar primeval desires in her as well and the lieutenant’s erratic behaviour jeopardizes her life and the lives of those with her on an away team mission.
“This episode was a joy to work on,” says the actor. “It was one of those wonderful dramatic scenarios that every actor hopes to have the opportunity to play at least once during his career. I knew the fans, in particular, would really enjoy it because its roots stem from the old Star Trek episode Amok Time. It was an important experience for me and I really tried to remain true to what had already been established as far as how Vulcans behaved and how the Pon farr would affect them.”
Unlike a stage production which starts off at the beginning of the story and carries on straight through to the end, most television programs shoot the scenes within an episode out of sequence. This proved to be a stumbling block for Enberg when filming began on Blood Fever as it prevented him from establishing a frame of reference for what his character was feeling. Luckily, director Andrew J. Robinson (Garak on Star Trek:Deep Space Nine) was there to help point the actor in the right direction. “That first day we started with the scene in sickbay in which Vorek is telling the Doctor [Robert Picardo] rather vehemently that he’s not getting any better. The Pon farr had already begun but I hadn’t as yet done any of the scenes leading up to this particular conversation between Vorek and the Doctor.
“I said to Andrew Robinson, ‘There’s no progression; I don’t know where I’m supposed to be coming from or how I should be feeling at this point.’ So we came up with this sense of Vorek feeling as if he wants to explode. He said something to me like, ‘As an actor you’re familiar with the agony you put yourself and your family though because of the disappointments associated with the job. You have this bubbling desire to scream and shout and cry but you have to keep it all bottled up inside you.’ So I had to keep a tight lid on all these emotions that were churning within me and wait until the climax of the story to let loose. It’s not easy to work against your emotions,” notes Enberg, “and because of this Vorek is certainly one of the most challenging characters I’ve ever played.”
Both of Enberg’s parents work in the entertainment industry, so he was exposed to the business at a young age. When he was eleven years old he had bit parts in two television series, Quincy, M.E. and Simon & Simon. By the time he reached his teens, however, his interests shifted from acting to music. “I was in a jazz ensemble at school and had a garage rock-’n-roll band. My school used to put on two big stage productions a year, a dramatic one in the autumn and then a musical in the spring,” he recalls.
“Because of my love for music I would always try out for the spring show and I began getting leading roles in such plays as Bye, Bye, Birdie, Hair, the censored version, of course, and Grease. Little by little I came to see that I was performing in a medium in which I could not only make people think and feel but also question things. One day I suddenly put down my guitar and I began taking acting classes.”
Enberg spent his first summer break from college working as an apprentice with the Williamstown Theatre in Massachusetts where he appeared as a young John Wilkes Booth in a production of Austin Pendelton’s play Booth. The show moved to the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut where the actor received his Equity card. “That was it,” he says. “After that I started looking for an agent.”
Blossom, Step by Step, Get Smart, Lois and Clark:The New Adventures of Superman and Murder One are just some of the television shows Enberg has guest-starred on since returning to Los Angeles to pursue a full time acting career. His film work includes roles in Pump Up The Volume, Junior and The Last Gasp. He recently portrayed German photographer Chris Von Wagenheim in the HBO cable film Gia, the true story of the drug-addicted supermodel who died of AIDS at the age of twenty-six. “I wore yet another wig for this movie,” he laughs. “It was a very intense film and a totally different type of challenge from my work on Star Trek.”
Voyager fans have not seen the last of the lovelorn Vulcan ensign. Enberg reprised his role of Vorek in the fourth-season episode Day of Honor. “It was only a couple of scenes with me and Roxann Dawson in engineering,” says the actor. “Nothing is addressed with regards to what happened in Blood Fever, which is only logical, no pun intended, considering it’s all in the past. It was nice coming back. Hopefully they’ll continue to find ways to use Vorek because I just love having anything to do with the series.”
Steve Eramo
As noted above, photo copyright of Paramount Pictures, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!
Comments