Episode 698 - Brian Volk-Weiss: The Man Behind the Magic

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1:11 What's that? What's that? What's that? Well, good evening, Trekkies and Trekkers around the globe. It's Thursday, September 17th, 2026. Welcome to episode 698 of Trek Talkin' and Beyond. Before we go too far, we have a very special guest with us, but I want to introduce my awesome co-host first. First, we have David. David's out in Portland. How are you doing tonight, David? Oh, pretty good. Pretty good. It's warming up in here pretty quick, but other than that, I'm fine. Excellent. And also on Portland, we have us, Eric. How are you doing tonight, Eric?

1:52 I'm doing fantastic, man. As you can see, I'm just here on the bridge of the Discovery one more time, having a good time. The air conditioning feels good in here. Excellent. And out in Las Vegas, we have with us Charles. How are you doing tonight, Charles? I'm doing good in the outside studio with a breeze, so it's feeling nice out here. And we're going to swing back to Portland and talk to Paul, our very own toy guy. How are you doing tonight, Paul? Uncle Jim, I'm a Twitter because in 24 hours I am cutting loose on vacation, right? And I am like free as a tumbleweed and I cannot wait. And in addition to that, we get to talk to our guest tonight, which I'm just like, I can't even process it.

2:33 I mean, I'm about to have a cerebral explosion. I'm just very excited by this. Well, Paul, how would you like to introduce our guest to all of our listeners? Well, can I start with a. Let me start from the alphabet, from the letter L. Let's use the word legend, okay? I think that is basically how Brian Volkweis should be described in the firmament that we have here. I mean, it is a pleasure, Brian, to have you on here. Folks, hopefully, I mean, most of us treksperts on the show and a lot of our friends have been diving deep into the center seat, too, ever since that debuted across... More platforms than I can shake a stick at last week.

3:15 But what a phenomenal achievement, man. I mean, it's incredible. Are you getting the response that it deserves? I mean, first of all, I just want to say thank you for having me. Second of all, I love that song. Third of all, thank you for including Logan's run. But if I'm being honest, the reaction to season two, and I think this is a career first, has been definitely better than season one. And season one was pretty good. But I think I can even use the word exponentially better. And a lot of that has to do with, you know, as I'm sure you may know, there were some issues with the way season one was aired by History Channel.

4:07 You know, out of order, half linear, half whatever. So just by putting it on very easy places all at once, It's, I think, made a big difference. But the reaction has been absolutely, I've teared up a couple times from things I've seen and read. I mean, it's just amazing. I mean, it's just, you know, for those who don't completely know Brian's backstory, he's, you're a showman, man, in your blood, in your DNA. How many stand-up comics have you, like, assisted or managed in the course of your career? I can't even imagine. I mean, so many. You've produced TV shows, the toys that made us. I mean, a lot of people hopefully know that series of shows as well, but the center seat too, it's just, it's so well promoted, man. I mean, you have such great instincts for how to promote and get stuff out there.

5:00 All of a sudden it was just like, okay, we're all celebrating Star Trek 60th. And within like a few hours of that milestone, everybody became aware of center seat too, like that. It was just amazing. And it was so good and refreshingly candid. Like when something was like, you were talking about a movie and an episode that wasn't necessarily well beloved, you know, like an insurrection say, right. I mean, everybody's just kind of tell it like it is. Which was amazing. You don't get candor like that, brother. So, You know, we're an independent company, so we can ask questions that if you're doing an EPK or a Blu-ray bonus, nobody, even if the people being interviewed were honest, there's a good chance, you know, the network or the studio wouldn't put it on an EPK or a Blu-ray.

5:57 And I don't just mean Paramount. I don't just mean Star Trek. So because we're independent, we can ask whatever we want. And usually people are excited to tell the truth and not have to say the same BS over and over and over. And I also, because Paul, you've been incredibly, you've paid me a lot of compliments. I do feel obligated to say, I represent a team of, incredible people. So it's not all me. And I just always feel a little guilty or awkward when I hear all that. So I just thank you for saying it.

6:39 But I do work with a phenomenal team, both. On the show and the company. You clearly hire well, because the way that the center seat was edited was just like, somebody would make a comment about something like, uh, and that could have been better. And then there will be this beautifully positioned clip from the show that has like the exact dialogue that like, you know, sells the theme of what you're talking about. It's just, it's just a wonderful thing, but I know your time is limited, Brian. And, uh, I want to get to some Tory questions here and as much time as we have, but, uh, in addition to all of his media work, which is just exhaustive. I mean, we could go on for hours with Brian about this stuff. He has done what I almost considered to be the impossible.

7:22 He is miraculously resurrected star Trek action figures in a brand new incarnation that I just never thought I'd see. And the only phrase to describe it was gangbusters, right? I mean, they just, I was just like, all of a sudden they just appeared. And, uh, It's amazing. And I wanted to ask you, just approaching that, Brian, after some of the more recent figure launches from, say, companies like Master Replicas and that kind of strange reattempt that Playmates had to resurrect their line that just didn't... It was. Like, I can do it! I'm done. And it was just kind of. I mean, were you worried to get back in the figure milieu for Trek again, Matt? No. Not at all. I.

8:06 You know, you're asking a great question. It's a little tough to answer because, you know, I love Playmates. And, you know, I know a lot of the people that work there. And just in general, I don't punch down or I try not to. But this is what I'll say. You know, I got a 15 to 1600 piece Star Trek collection. I bought one of Playmates' new figures, and the only reason I bought it, it was Spock, is because he came with the radiation gloves. So I wasn't surprised that it didn't last that long. And it was, believe it or not, I mean, this whole thing is so surreal. I was in a meeting at Playmates about nothing to do with Star Trek. And in that meeting, they told me they weren't making more. And that was the catalyst to have me call Paramount. And yeah, that's how the whole thing happened. So I wasn't worried in the slightest because... I know I'm not the only person who loves Captain Jellicoe. I'm not the only person who wanted to see Sulu with the teacup. But I was also pretty sure the community did not want another Kirk

9:38 or Khan or Spock or Data. So I trusted my instincts. And luckily, because this doesn't always happen. But luckily, I was right. And it's, you know, it's being talked about by third parties, so I can talk about it too. But it's we do have the best selling Star Trek line in since the 90s. 90s and it's because I'm not the only person who likes Captain. Garrett well shameless product placement. Yeah not shameless at all I'm telling. You these things are just phenomenal and I just have them in their boxes for you know the sake of the show but they're coming out here And I just can't tell you how amazed I was when, and I remember at one point they were supposed to come out and then you like made this big public thing saying, you know what, brothers and sisters, I'm just not happy with what came out and there's a problem. And I'm just, I will not do this to you. I would rather make you wait and give you something awesome than something I'm not happy with. And I just thought that was like, I'm like, that's the ballsiest move, man. I was just like, that was so, uh, It was just reeked of integrity.

10:47 And I just, it's such a scarce commodity anymore. And I just wanted to thank you for that because, man, the results, whoa. You know, it's funny, since I was much, much, much, much younger, even as a kid, I thought it was very strange that Bill Clinton, at a time when marijuana was highly illegal and frowned upon, I found it very odd that he admitted to smoking weed, but then really stupid that he said he didn't inhale. And then I remembered when George W. was running, he was asked like a week into his campaign, hey, there's a lot of rumors that you've done coke. Have you ever done coke?

11:35 And he was like, yeah, yeah, I've done coke. A lot of it, I have to admit. And then it never came up again. And I've you know, I've known that for a long time. And so when I found out that the the figures didn't look good, I was like, you know what, I'm just going to tell the truth. And it is what it is. And hopefully I'm right that Clinton was a moron for saying he didn't inhale. And I can't believe I'm saying this about George W., but he actually handled it right. And that was really what guided me. I mean, I made that video less than an hour after finding out I was at a museum in Japan with my family and like literally recorded it like outside the museum. And again, thank God it worked. Yeah, it was very well received and appreciated. but I just felt like I had no choice. I had to be honest and hope for the best.

12:35 Well, your, your communication instincts are stellar, man. And it just, you know, I mean, come on. I mean, look at this, right? I mean, to, to package Edward Jellicoe with a six pack, who else would think about doing that? Oh, wait, wait a minute. That's the wrong, that's the wrong accessory. I don't know how that happens. Sorry. Forget, forget, forget. But, but they come with so many accessories, Brian, it's easy to get confused. I mean, you know, it's like an avalanche of accessories, which nobody does. You'll have like, you know, I don't even have lost count of how many different figures I'm going to need to get to completely, you know, get my Wrath of Khan environment put together. I mean, it's crazy. We're working on it. Oh man, it's beautiful. Carol Marcus is coming.

13:16 Yeah. And you saw what's coming with her, right? Oh yeah. It's, it's just nuts. I mean, half of Romulan, you know, flagship comes with the Romulan commander. I mean, it's just crazy. But I was curious, you know, do, People that fund things for you, if there's investors, do they get nervous about things like obscure character choices? Because you've chosen such niche, interesting characters, right? Really intentionally. It's a really good question. And none of this would be happening if I did not own the company outright. So I have no partners, no debt, no nothing. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. There's someone... I never say the name because I like this person a lot, but there's someone in our community who's a, you know, I consider myself to be a, you know, seven out of 10 Trekkie.

14:09 Gates told me I'm an eight, which not sure if that was a compliment or not. I know a guy who's a nine and he also has a toy experience and, And when we announced wave one, uh, he texted me, um, Val Chris with a question mark. You should, you, you should have talked to me first. And, um, that, that, you know, that made me a little nervous, not going to lie. Cause this guy knows what he's talking about, but it, I, I just, I just had a feeling people wanted new, you know, and, uh, I tell this story all the time, so sorry to repeat it here, but maybe you haven't heard it or your listeners haven't, but I didn't need another Picard with the flute. It was just like so, and again, Inner Light's a great episode, you know, I love it. But it's like, for the love of God, like Picard did a lot of other things than play that flute. And if you're going to do a Picard, fine. but do a different Picard.

15:25 Yeah. But even that's been made, you know? So it's like, as you know, our solution was for our Picard is, you know, he's in a uniform. You haven't a version of a uniform you haven't seen. And he comes with the wall of ships that he smashes. So that's, that's, that's our, for lack of a better word, ethos. Yeah. Well, I love it. I think it's amazing. And, it gives me hope that I'll see eventually like classic old school, original series characters that have never, that I've been like for years, I've been like, give me a salt vampire, right?

16:05 Give me a rock. Give me that Ted Cassidy rock. Give me, you know, Pike in his wheelchair with a beeping, you know, I mean, I've just always, you know, the stuff that we always used to think about. Playmates someday, will you? And they never did. Right. And it's just, so it's amazing that, kinds of choices that you've been given us there. And speaking of all those characters, man, how do you, how do you secure all these likenesses? How do you go about it? I mean, it's just, I mean, probably secretive, I'm sure, but it's amazing. I can't get into that too much, but basically, you know, Paramount runs a pretty tight ship and they really, they, they, yeah, it's, it's not, it's not as hard as it should be.

16:48 And I, I give Paramount the credit for that. Okay. Well, whatever you're doing, it's incredible. Cause I mean, just to Rachel Garrett, I'm like, what? I mean, it was just so shocking. And the likeness is like amazing. I mean, it is amazing. So just really, really good. Real quick. I, Still almost, I don't think I know that I've ever seen the cell figures in stores. Is that part of your distribution model? You don't, you'd prefer to be online through you? So we are in a lot of stores, but they're independent stores. So we're not, you're right. We're not in Target. We're not in Walmart. And there's a reason for that because we have other toys in Target, in Walmart. But I cannot get into that reason. So I apologize. But yeah, you can go to many, many, many, I mean, hundreds of independent mom and pop toy stores and they're there.

17:44 Okay. Okay. Good to know. I'm just a curious individual. So I'm going on vacation tomorrow, right? I'm super excited because I'm going to have two weeks in the UK. I cannot believe it. So I got to shamelessly whisper when I say this. Even more excited than that trip is how excited I am to get my eight pack of Expanse figures. Okay. I'm like, wow. I mean, I cannot wait for those suckers to arrive. I am just the preposterous amount of accessories they come with and the accuracy and the likenesses. I'm just like a brilliant choice for a figure line. Cause it's like one of the greatest new science fiction franchises ever. Are there other dream franchises on your list? Like I know for a lot of folks, Blade, I can't talk. Blade Runner is like a Holy Grail license, right? But a likeness headache. I mean, are there other things on your wishlist or anything that's coming you want to whisper about or anything?

18:38 So the good news, I can answer your question and say, yes, there is a wishlist. The bad news, and I learned this the hard way, I can't tell you what it is because when I tell people what it is, then the price goes up. But yes, we're doing a Judge Dredd thing now. that we're pretty psyched about, to put it mildly. Wow. But we have, hopefully, knock on wood, we got some pretty good announcements coming up over the next six to eight months. I can't wait. Judge Dredd. Hiya just did a bunch, but, you know, petite, right? So, you know, I mean, this is going to be like the six, seven-inch scale, I'm assuming, right?

19:23 Yeah, that'll be one-tenth scale. Okay. It's not Judge Dredd himself. We're doing... We have a brand that we own called Biker Mice from Mars. And we're doing a collab with Rebellion for a comic book. And we are. I need to shut up now. I'm not supposed to say anything. NBA burning into players. Oh, what happened? All right, man. We got stuff cooking. We got stuff cooking. Just know I'm excited, and I would spend $ 100, $ 200 a figure for Blade of War. Okay. Whatever you want to cost. Dealer's choice. You get to say what the price is. It's amazing.

20:04 And then so I'm looking through things, right? And I come across this thing for Nacelle on, I want to say it was like memory alpha. And it was like previewing like when for TBA. Right. And I thought maybe I was dreaming because I do dream a lot. Right. And I thought it said that there was a sub Rosa version of Beverly Crusher on that list. Is that it? There is. And there's there's a great story to that, too. I was going to do that. I knew I wanted to do a Beverly Crusher and wave for. I wanted to do her in the chain of command commando outfit. So one day she was in the office recording voiceover, not for Center Seat, but for another show we do. And I just went to the editing bay or the ADR bay to say hello. And I was like, hey, keep it between us, but I just want to let you know there's going to be a Dr. Crusher in Wave 4.

21:14 She was like, oh, that's great. You made my day. Awesome. Which Beverly is it going to be? And I go, the Beverly from Chain of Command and the armor, the battle armor. And she looks at me and goes, Brian, do you want to make money? And I'm like, yeah. And she's like, you got to do Sub Rosa. And I go, well, I can't do Sub Rosa because then everybody's going to think I'm like the horny little 15 year old boy who's now, you know, not 15 anymore. And, you know, you can like see your nipples in like half of that episode. And she was like, doesn't matter.

22:02 That's the one you got to do. Yeah. And I go, I was like, Beverly, I was like Gates. The only way I would do it is if you make a video where you tell the community, it was your idea. Cause I don't want to be called a misogynist. I don't want to be called like, Oh, little horny Brian, blah, blah, blah. And she made, you can see it on YouTube. It, she made, she made a video about, We have a rule at the company. Once the calendar flips to another year, we really don't show anything at panels that we had shown before. So she made a video for SDCC 25, and we took it out of all of our 2026 presentations and everything. And I suddenly realized I was telling this story at every panel. So we put it back in, but you got to watch it. It's like 90 seconds.

23:05 She sent it to us, I kid you not, less than two hours before the panel. And let's just say I will never forget where I was when I watched it. It is hysterical. Oh, my God. I can't wait. I'm assuming the figure doesn't, like, vibrate or anything, right? I mean, that would be... It doesn't vibrate. I think that's the best question we've ever been asked, by the way. So kudos. Kudos to that. I want to make sure you're having a good time. I'm having a great. Time. That's great. Any plans for Strange New Worlds down the road?

23:50 No, our license only goes to the end of Enterprise. Okay. Okay, excellent. I see Hoshi Sato's coming. I thought I saw that on there. Yep. And, okay, man, you got to do it. Big question. Favorite episode of Star Trek? Yesterday's Enterprise. Wow. Excellent, excellent. And Captain Carrot, by the way, I mean, she has my favorite line in pretty much, wait, are you guys frozen? Hello? I can see you. You're moving a little bit. Yeah, you froze for a second. You okay? Yeah. She has my Captain Garrett. I mean, she has like my favorite line from all of Star Trek, not said by Captain Kirk. And it's a very simple line. It's Lieutenant Castillo informed the crew we're going back. And like it's hard. I mean, I just got goosebumps even saying it.

24:48 But yeah. And by the way, that's my favorite episode in all of anything Star Trek ever TV wise. Not not just next gen. Wow. That's powerful. That's powerful, brother. Yeah. Do you remember what the first episode you ever saw as a kid was? Like a gateway moment for you? I don't remember the first episode I saw, but I vividly remember my mom describing Star Trek to me before I saw it. And I remember her being like, there's a spaceship in the future, and there's Captain Kirk. So I don't remember the first episode I saw. But I remember her, and she was a big Trekkie, and that's why I'm a Trekkie.

25:33 Excellent. Genetic. Yeah. What part of Queens did you grow up in? Flushing. Okay. Where it all goes down. All right. Uncle Jim. Big Flushing. I married into Flushing. My wife's from Flushing. Nice. Right down the street from the old Shea Stadium. That's phenomenal. No wonder I like you. So I want to make sure I check into you on your time, man, because I know you're like a busy guy. You've got a lot of things going. Are you okay? I technically have one minute, but I'd be happy to answer one more question. Yeah. I hope they told you I only had half an hour.

26:14 So I, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm all caffeinated to talk quickly, but, but yeah, I mean, I just think this has been a treat for, for all of us to have you on here. I mean, it's just been amazing. Thank you. You're, And just whatever your instincts are for toys and media, just keep following those, man. Thank you. Because you've got such good showbiz running through your veins, and I just love the way you approach being so authentic about things and making choices that other people would go, oh, no, not safe, right? And you just do what you think is right, what you would like. And I'm just dying to get my hands on this next batch of figures, man. I mean, the bridge.

26:54 I mean, I don't know if everybody knows, but one of the big things we are going to see is this enormous, you know, what, three, four foot wide bridge. Don't go crazy. It's not four. Well, you know, it's pretty big. It's about three and a half feet wide. But you can buy sections. You don't have to buy all 12. So you can have a nice little. One foot section. Yeah, yeah. Like if you want to just have Spock looking into his thing, you can have Spock looking into his thing, right? Yeah. Totally. Totally. But it can barely fit the whole thing in your trunk, probably. I mean, it's huge. It's just crazy. I mean, unless you have like a Toyota Tundra, you will absolutely not be fitting it in your trunk. But that's, you know, lights and sounds and everything.

27:36 I was just like, man, I mean, it's just an amazing, I just, you know, I mean, the mind boggles. So just, I mean, it's risky stuff, right? But, you know... To quote Captain Kirk, risk is our business, right? I mean, so that seems to be the attitude that you've got. It certainly is, much to my CFO's chagrin. But, yeah, risk is our business. Well, you've got a bunch of happy customers out here, brother. Thank you. I don't know if you're on West Coast time tonight or East Coast time. West Coast, L.A. West Coast. Is it dinner time for you? Yeah, it's time to get out there. Yeah. and go have fun. You probably work till like nine, is my guess.

28:17 Yeah, it's definitely not dinner time. Oh, it just occurred to me real quick, and you bought nacelles, right, from the experience in Vegas? I did, yeah. And are they hanging out in the lobby now? Not yet. They weigh over 300 pounds each. They're over 15 feet long each. And I'm also going to have a replica of the saucer and the star drive made. They're going to be not painted like the Enterprise. They'll be gray, probably, or the Federation blue, just so it's not two nacelles sticking out. So my guess is it'll go up probably in January or February.

28:59 Wow. Congratulations. What a purchase. What a purchase, man. And by the way, I'll close on this. You know, I had bid on him 10, 12 years ago and lost. So it really was a chance to take another swing at the same ball. Well, Brian Volkweis, you are living proof that persistence pays off, my friend. And if your travels ever bring you to Portland, Oregon, you've got a bunch of... Trek experts here would love to buy you a drink, take you out to dinner, whatever we could do to entertain and annoy you. I would do a shameless plug. If you haven't been to Billy Galaxy's Toys and Comics, go there. in my top three favorite stores in the world portland you know uh do.

29:46 You know dr tongue in portland have you ever been to dr tongues oh. I feel bad now tied with dr tongue is billy galaxy's okay toys and i love love love. I just mentioned it because I'm about three blocks up the street from Dr. Tug. I hit him up last year. Both places are great. Billy's an old friend. Billy worked on season one of Toys. That shop is legendary. I apologize. Thank you for your time. This was a lot of fun. Thank you very much for having me. We had a ball, Brian. Thanks for being so great with your time. Of course. Thank you. All the good of y'all.

30:29 Okay. Thank you.

31:10 Very much. Thank you.

32:18 Well, unfortunately, David, Brian didn't get to see the video, but I think he did a great job. Before we move on, though, David, were you able to find the Gates McFadden sub-roast of video that Brian was talking about? I did. I'll go ahead and play that now. Let's roll that for our viewers. Hi, everybody. It's Gates McFadden. And Nacelle has a new Star Trek action figure line. And we know that action figures usually are like, right? Action in space. And I just want you to know that they're coming along with a new Beverly, Beverly Crusher action figure. And it's a different kind of action.

33:03 It's a sub-close action. And that's really, it's one that you're really going to enjoy. First of all, she's out of her space suit and she's in a pink nightgown. How often did that happen? And then also, You've got all sorts of, like, accessories. The candle. You know, Ronan. What can I tell you? I hope you enjoy it. She's 1 12th the size, 7 inches. Anyway, check it. Out. That's hard to beat. That's pretty good. Where do I sign? I think that's an appropriate response. So I just want to say thank you to Brian for taking time out of his busy, busy schedule to hang out and talk with us, with Paul for a little while. We had to cut that short, but I wanted to get it in.

33:56 So thank you to Brian. It's the best legendary conversation. Amazing. Thank you to Paul for preparing that interview. Thank you so much, Paul. I'm so thrilled we got the chance. He's such a great dude, man. And, you know, such integrity and such guts. I mean, what a combo. So thank you. Thank you, Jim, for nabbing him for us. A tremendous treat. I can't wait for us to share this with people. Amazing. Thank you. Thank you to David for an awesome video, even though he didn't get to see it. Thank you, David. Yeah, it took me a little bit. I was like trying to find out what button to push. I was like, ah! Well, maybe he'll see it in the replay. And thank you, Eric, for hanging out with us tonight. Thank you, Eric.

34:40 Yeah, you bet. And thank you so much to Charles. Thank you, Jim, and thank you, Paul. And with that, I want to say to everybody, please, hailing frequencies are closed. Be good to each other and stay safe. Good night, everybody. Hold long and prosper.