BRUCE HORAK (Hemmer-SNW) interview

0:05 Dive Dive, continue with your operation. You may have been ready. They notice Kane and again it's gone insane Logan six Corporal, He's that Jim Bettany to fixed Pripple, NBC Diver We cannot see Bumblebee Kane and the Doctor Rankling Online. Wow, Old Bob sam World Stories that will twist and turn bound Simitar death of Tashi Yah, Flashcar Rogers, Don't from Prison, Clone Wars, James Holden Tweaky, John Coney against Yankee. We talk about the series.

0:48 You can join up your phone down about the series. Raise yeah, all right, Well, good afternoon, Treki's and Trekkers around the globe. Welcome to a special presentation of Trek Talking and Beyond. It is currently Monday, June second. It is four pm Eastern Standard time, one pm Pacific time for you guys that are keeping track. I'm your most excellent host, Uncle Jim. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

1:44 I like to go on and by awesome Trek's first to you. First, we have Paul Paul's on Oregon. How are you doing tonight, Paul or this afternoon? Great, my friend, things are doing well and excited to yack it up with our guests here tonight. Yeah, today, A lot of funding is a night. It's weird doing it in daytime. I know, it's it's different. It's different for sure. And also I think my my sleep is all messed up. I know the podcast and we also have with us Charles. Charles is out in Las Vegas. How you doing tonight, Charles? I'm doing good, sitting in Studio A because it's a little warm out. It's a little cool today because we've got a storm front coming through, but it's a little windy, a little warm. I thought I'd just stick with the cooler studio for now. But I'm also staying online and not getting thrown off, so things are looking.

2:37 Good and that's a plus. That a plus. And from Oregon as well, we have our miracle worker David. How you doing today? David doing pretty good. I'm excited to talk with Bruce Harcres. So am I and without any further ado, the man of the hour, the one, the Only mister Bruce Horrick ak a hemmer on the Star Trek Strange New World Season one. Welcome to the podcast, Bruce. Thanks for having me. Great to be here. Thanks you all a lot of fun before we get started. We have an indigo that we want to talk about, to Boldly Go. Can you tell us a little bit about that now?

3:18 Sure can. Working on a documentary called Boldly Going, and we have a crowdfunding campaign right now to get the thing off the ground. It's a production company out of Stratford, Ontario, which is where I'm based, and they approached me, oh gosh, about a year and a half ago to document my portrait series, which I began in twenty eleven working towards creating one thousand portraits, and I have completed seven hundred and fifty of the portraits, and as I'm pushing towards the final thousand or number one thousand in the series, it seemed like a really good time to capture some of this on film. It'll tell a little bit of my own story being a visually impaired visual artist and how I got into that, and then follow me as I sit with folks who have overcome adversity to some degree to to follow and pursue a creative life. I've been really inspired over the last number of years with the folks that I've got to sit with, and it's just really my goal is to share some of their stories and also just to share my perspective on the world and how I go about creating a portrait.

4:25 Now, is it okay if we put that, if we put a link to that on our pago, that our fans can find you easily. Yeah. The Indiego Go, Go Gole campaign, I think is finished on the sixteenth of June, so we're kind I'm on the home stretch here the last two weeks of the fundraiser and yeah, it's it's gonna happen. Balin Ran has made a real commitment to actually seeing the project to fruition and this will just really help us kind of get it over the finish line. All right, we will, we will see that. We get a link to the Endigo Go put up on our Facebook page right after the podcast. And for those of you who don't remember, Hemmer was on Strangment World season one. Unfortunately he died. Oh, I wanted to ask you a question.

5:12 Every time I like a character, they killed them off. It's just inevitable. Now, when did you know that Hemmer was going to die? Or what did it take you by surprise? How did that wole happen? Well? When I got when I got the breakdowns for the character there. I mean they were all under sort of these different names and all of that. All I knew about him was that he was an Enar and that he was blind. So I went and researched the characters and researched the Enarch species from Enterprise and did all that backstory and that that work. And then when I got up through to the final auditions, so probably audition number four, which was over Zoom, I met Henry Loncer Myers, who was the showrunner and one of the creators behind it, and he broke down the character for me and said, here's what we've got planned for him, going to become a bit of a He starts off as a curmudgeon, and then you find he's got a heart of gold and he's going to bond with the Hua and show her that Starfleets is the place for her, and then he's going to sacrifice himself. Actually they said he's going to die. I didn't know it was going to be a sacrifice. I had no idea how he was going to go, but I did know going in that it was going to have one season to begin with, so it didn't come as a shock that I was going to go. But I didn't read that that final episode of Hammers until probably maybe two weeks before we shot it, so there wasn't a whole lot of prep time for how that was going to happen. I'd spent the whole shoot time up until then just fingers crossed, hoping that it was going to be a good death. I know it was coming, but I didn't know it was going

6:43 to be that cool, and I was. I was really pleasantly surprised when I read that script. For all those who wonder that that Hammer, Yeah, he sacrificed himself and he still managed to maintain his own ideals, but he was able to provide an example, you know, how to go boldly. And yeah, I was also very pleasantly surprised that I got to come back in season two for two episodes as both as Hammer in zombie form, which is quite a treat. I do love playing in the makeup and the prosthetics and all that, so getting to be a zombie. And of course Dan lu directed the episode Lost in Translation in season two there and he's got tons of experience with walking dead and zombies and things like that, so he was great and giving me the direction of how to make that character as creepy as possible. And then total other side of the coin, of course, was coming back as General Garkog and the musical episode, getting to sing, getting to dance, getting to just be something wholly other.

7:39 And I mean the beauty of. A Star Trek, especially these recent incarnations, is the prosthetics are so great that you can just disappear behind all that that beautiful Latex and I was actually able to fool my own brother, Steve had no idea that I was playing Garkog, and I feel. Pretty chopped about that. Gotta say, got a bit of a sash on a on the actors sash. When you can fool your own family. Yeah, I would love to see you come back as that Klingon that that was that scene, that dancing, singing Klingon scene. Just absolutely I just loved it. I loved it, and when I found out that it was you that was dancing and sane, it was even better.

8:20 Yet, Yeah, you know, so much fun. That was a great episode for sure. Uh. We do have a clip though, David that we want to show to let fans know who don't know who Hammer actually is. It's just a brief little clip that Paramount put together in season one. You want to roll that tape real quick, David, so we can. There we go, storms only getting closer, Enterprise transporter room. To engineering Hammer. I'm losing them. Try it now, how did you? I am a genius. May not be able to see, but other sense it's a compensation. Superior humans waste so much money worrying about death.

9:01 Dean. I believe the end only comes once you have fulfill your purpose. So what was your purpose? To fix what is broken? Wow? I love it. We we used to have clip what a sexty clip go? We had it. We used to do a segment on the show called It's Hammer Time, Okay, and yes, we would go and we play whatever words of wisdom, whatever Yoda isms. Hammer shared that episode. Love you that and we talk about it because Hemmer was kind of he was the Yoda of Star Trek. He always had work for people, and he looked at things in a different way. And uh, you know, thank you for bringing that character to life and making him so wonderful, you.

9:44 Know, not pleasure, not pleasure. It was it was a real dream come true for me to get to be on Star Trek. I gotta say I was. You know, I grew up as a as a real fan. I watched the original series and reruns and Next Generation and Voyager, and you know, I never dreamed in a million years that I was ever gonna get to be on that series and get to add to that incredible legacy. And gosh, we're coming up on. Like sixty years of this franchise, Like there's Yeah, it's a real testament. It's a testament not only to the storytelling but to the fans who were keeping it alive. And yeah, it's a real honor. Now, I wanted to ask you about that scene with the carrot. Was that a CGI carrot? Or did you actually reach up and catch that carrot? Would spock through it?

10:30 So magic this insider trick. I actually threw it to Ethan and they reversed the film. Oh sneaky, sneaky, do want very carefully you could see it's in reverse. But no, we didn't. We had a whole day on set trying to figure out how to catch that carrot, and the simplest solution was the was the best way to go. I think Ethan probably threw four or five at me, and I just biffed him every time, so throw me throwing it back to him. Just yeah, it seemed to work. Out, and it did work wonderfully. Movie magic at its So obviously have you been keeping up on Strange New Worlds?

11:10 Yeah? Yeah, yeah. So now Captain Patel has been infected with gorn eggs and we ran a poll on our Facebook page, Uh do you think Captain Bettel will survive? And the majority of the people were like, well, if they find a way to save Captain Battel, then why didn't they bring back Hammer and save him? So Beateel's got to go, and our audience will split fifty fifty down the middle that she's got to go and Hammer's got to come back. If they could save her, they could save you. You know. Wow, maybe there's hope for me. Yeah, yeah, maybe. You're maybe you're frozen in the ice there and then go back and get you.

11:51 Well I won't, I won't call my agent yet, but I got my fingers crossed. I want to see you come back as a klingon myself. I thought you would just think here brilliant in that episode. All right, Well, I'm going to turn the microphone over to Paul here, I think I've taken up enough of your time. Take it away, Paul. Why I treat my friend Bruce welcome. It is awesome to get a chance to meet you. And they say that there's numerous universes that any possible iteration of existence could you know, take place. And I like to think that there's another universe out there where they did not kill off your character and that you were continuing to enrich the show season after season, because for My money Man.

12:34 Season one, you were the highlights. Oh wow, absolutely the highlight. It was just like, Okay, we've seen some of these characters before, and we're familiar. Here's this version of there's this version of you know. Spot there we go. But to have such a breath of fresh air, and we've never seen a main character that's an enar or when it has such attitude and such or a disability being so prominently put so forward there and it was just absolutely refreshing. And I just love what you did with it, man, So I kind of felt like somebody took away my entree before I was done, right, you know, do you do you do you kind of wish to some degree? I mean you you you said that you thought it was a really cool ending, right, the cool demise that they that they gave the character. But this part of you was sort of wish that maybe, you know, Henry made a different choice there and oh you die.

13:31 On Absolutely it's uh yeah, And and really that's that's just kind of my own the actor ego slash a little feeling at times a little bit greedy. It's like, I want a I want more work, and I really want to go back to that world of uh yeah, the days on set and there's I mean, that's what what ends up ended up on film I'm really really proud of. But I was also really quite taken with the process of of making a televi vision show. I'd never done it before. I've been in the arts and in this industry for thirty years, but I've made my living as an independent theater producer and creator and writer and director and musician all live stuff.

14:12 Here in Canada. And yeah, I never really considered a film and TV as a as a possibility for me, partly my own notion about what a film set would be and whether or not I'd be able to handle it, and whether my disability was going to even allow me onto these sets is there. You know, you're looking at millions of dollars of worth of equipment, and it's dangerous to fly I'm here, there and everywhere. And to think that they're going to have a blind actor in this scenario if all that's that's never really going to be for me. Also, you know, you look at like the Hollywood model of what is on screen, the faces that we see on screen. I mean, there're this symmetry in the eyes and the you know all of that, And I thought, oh, I don't have a I've got a I've got a face for radio.

14:55 As my mother used to say, it's a my friend. I'm kidding, but but yeah, So to be on that show, I just, uh yeah, I really fell in love with it. I fell in love with the whole process and the others. There's a part of me that just really wants to get back, go back into space for that. But you know, I can think, I certainly can take a step back and look at the larger picture and see like he he Hammer was a supporting character in who in Uhura's story and in you know, he has an effect on the other characters in the cast. But it seemed like it was the Uhura story that he was really there to support. And I think, yeah, she has like a really beautiful journey. In that first season.

15:36 And yeah, and and coming back in season two for the little bow at the end of the tale, I thought, oh, that's that's that's really classy. If they can find. A way, like a really creative way, and it makes sense for Hammer to come back, not just to like, well, we got to have this character back because we killed him off, but actually bring him back for a noble purpose. I'd be like, oh, I would definitely be in for that. And I got to echo what Jim said as well, right, because it was just, you know, it was a really audacious episode, the Subspace Rhapsody. It was complete I think when initially, you know, we're a lot of Star Trek fans man, I love us, I love us, but we can be very curmudgeonly and resistant to change, right, And people were hearing musical episode and there was a lot of a lot of pearl fletchings about that, and then it was a not only uh, you know, phenomenal success.

16:31 I don't think that anybody could have anticipated. But brother, you stole that sucker. Hardcore. I mean, there's just no question about it. I mean that is and I didn't know until I think the next morning. I think I read that that was you, right, but I was just like I could. I mean, it was just you know, you've kind of been going, oh, this is prosaic, it's lovely, it's cute and like a romantic style, and then and then you just went for the gut bunch man. It was just so hilarious. I mean, it was just such hilarious moment. And I'm like, I would see General Garkog come back in any iteration that you guys come up with. I mean, because he's still out there. He just had to be a musical thing. You don't have to be a. Gape pop band again, but let's get that.

17:14 Yeah, it was so fun. It was so fun. Yeah, and they Yeah, honestly, like putting on cling On makeup after having spent the time in the n R that was that was a cake walk. But also yes, to see myself as a kling on, I yeah, it was really trippy. It was really fun. Did you contribute to the design of what the character have heard that they sort of presented that to you, and. They presented that like I had no I knew it was going to be a cling on and and so they gave me the tapes to rehearse the songs with, because we went into the studio and recorded them. We did two versions of the song, so that there's a K Pop version and then there's also the cling On opera version of that song. And uh so the day in the studio, which was a riot, just worked on both of those things. And then on the day or the day before, I went in for the camera test, so they wanted to put me in the makeup and see how it was going to look. I was driving into the studio and I got a phone call from one of the prosthetics guys who had done the work on Hammer, and he's like, just remind me again, he says, Bruce, It's it's Shane. We've got to remind me which is your artificial eye? So my right eye is artificial and he's like, okay, I mean sort of hung up. And when I got to the prosthetics trailer, the piece had been made and it had been shipped to the set and it had been made with the eye patch.

18:32 Over my left eye. So I wasn't going to be able to see, and they were all, you know, all itizzy and kind of a bit of a panic, and they spent the whole night between the camera test and the shoot, they basically took the piece apart. And these are very. It's not that they're fragile, but they're really specific pieces of prosthetics that they were putting together. And Chris Bridges managed to cut the piece apart rebuild it so that the eye patch was over my right eye so on the day of shooting I'd be able to actually we see and uh, I mean, it's just incredible. It's it's seamless the work that they have done. And yeah, as soon as I got into the makeup and saw the wig and the teeth and and the the costume with the armor and everything, is just like, yeah, this gar Co, this is who he is. The only piece of direction I was given after the first take was maybe a little less, So I went, Plumber, are you getting a pling on.

19:28 Work? I think your instincts are golden. You're back and any a new character and we know, man, you've done something for the upcoming season and you're not allowed to talk about. It, so I know, I wish. You know, I mean, you're so you could be fooling us easily. Look for the triple on the left. That's me, okay, man. I got a couple other questions, and I'll turn this over to one of the trust works. But I'm a massive Shakespeare fan and I see that you did. Was it in Calgary where you did the Shakespeare in the Park for a long time? I did. Yeah, I fell in love with Shakespeare pretty early age. My dad was an English teacher and a comic book collector. Actually, oddly enough, the first time I read Shakespeare was as a classics illustrated comic book version. Yeah, yeah, I bet, but yeah, I just loved it. And Calgary, Alberta, where I was born and raised. I went to a theater school there, and the program with that school had a summertime component where some of the actors would go and do Shakespeare in the Park. They would hire a professional director and maybe one professional actor and then the rest was filled out by students. And my first season was Shakespeare in the Park was just an absolute dream. I mean I started.

20:44 As a buster. Actually in high school I would go and play on the street, so outdoor performing was definitely in my Wheelhouse. Beginning to go out and do Shakespeare was just something else, And there was just something about, you know, gathering a crowd and performing outside and doing these epics stories and learning to work that text and project and just all the things that I really dreamed about as an actor. I ended up working with Shakespeare in the Park for about six seasons in Calgary, not only as an actor, but also I wrote a family show for them, a musical, and then I also came back as a company musician. And then adaptations of Shakespeare that some friends and I would get together and we would adapt to a Tempest for four people or twelve Night for six and go to bars and tour them around, and most recently have adapted Macbeth for three people, well actually two actors Macbeth and then a third who's our musician, and we gone goblin masks. So these composite effects out of the US creates these incredible prosthetic goblin masks. So the premise is that three goblins have discovered the works of William Shakespeare and they present his bloodiest tragedy as it was meant to be done in full goblin. And I might even be wearing a Goblin on the Beach. The Goblin Empire expands, and that's been touring for two and a half years now.

22:09 We're going to the Centaur Theater in Montreal in March of twenty six with Goblin Macbeth and recently ran at the Terragon in Toronto and was presented at the Stratford Festival. And our follow up to Goblin Macbeth is Goblin Oedipis, So it's three person, three Goblin take on the Greek tragedy of Oedipus, which is going to the Stratford Festival in October. And we've got many more Goblin shows in the shoot. But again, you know, it goes back to my absolute love of mask work and prosthetic stuff. That I can just put this mask on and disappear and nobody has any idea that it's me. I hope I get to see the show at some point. That sounds phenomenal. The Empire is moz It's coming for you.

22:50 Of the Shakespearean roles, Is Macbeth your favorite or what is your personal when you feel drawn to. Gosh I've done. Yeah, It's funny like the last few years I've sort of referred to as I'm in my tyrant phase because I played Oedipus and matt Beth and Richard the Third recently as well, so I'm really just digging into my villains. I really love the language in those plays. But Macbeth is so much fun because it really is a ride that and maybe it's also. In the edit of it, I mean, the original is not. That is one of his shortest plays, but once it gets going, it just cooks all the way through and there's just so many great lines and famous moments in that.

23:31 And yeah, that one really resonates. Yeah, it's a good story. Well, I was hoping I could ask you one other questions because I am fascinated by this, and I think you did this with the Canadian Fringe Theater, I believe, but you did a show that it was called This is Cancer, where you played the living embodiment of the disease, if I understand it correctly, correct, Yes, tell us how that what that was like for you and how that came into being. Well, I had cancer as a baby. That's how I lost ninety one percent of my vision, and cancer's kind of been a specter in my life ever since then.

24:17 My father passed away of cancer in two thousand and four and the last year of his life. I mean, he was really quite an incredible guy. He was very funny man, and he often found humor in dark places. And the notion of portraying cancer and kind of looking at humanity from the point of view of a terminal illness something that I think he would have greatly appreciated. It's got a bit of a buffoon or bouffant style to it. So Cancer, I'm dressed and I head to toe gold lammat speed skating outfit, and Cancer's got lumps and bumps all over him, and he's got sort of blacked out teeth and it looks like he's been.

24:59 Punched in both. He's really charming, sort of English guy, and he makes Martinez for everyone, and he's really happy that everyone's here. And he does a show for what he thinks is his adoring public because everyone runs for cancer and raises money for cancer, and when he googles cancer, cancer gets more Google hits than Jesus. So he's like, look a look, how big I am And isn't it great? You will love me? And then through the course of the show, of course the audience turns on him. It's got a real liquid fluid fourth wall, so real direct address kind of vibe. I've got a band on stage with me and just kind of doing this rock concert or whatever. And the audience tell him basically whatever they say to him, I mean, and people will say, we'll talk to cancer, And in his defense, he talks about the people that he has loved.

25:44 Because in cancer is a sort of milieu. He falls in love with people, but they get sick and die and that's kind of the curse of being cancer. And he pulls out the book of all the people that he's loved and Carl Horak, my father's name, is in there. So he tells my story and my dad's story, but from his point of view, and the lessons that my dad learned from cancer come through Cancer's mouth about appreciating the time that you have left, about you know, living life to its fullest, and remembering what you would have missed, like you could sit in the mire and go I never should have did this, that and the other thing, but also think of the things in life that are of. Value to you. And the show ends with Cancer going to the audience and asking them like, how do you get through your bad days and getting this incredible advice from people about whatever it might be. I mean oftentimes it's like, oh, take the dog for a walk, or call some call a friend, or whatever it might.

26:37 Be, so you have no idea what they're going to say. Very interactive, and the final act of the show, while he's out in the audience, he ends up falling in love with one of the audience members and then he realizes, oh, no, this means you're going to get sick. You've got to come up on stage. So I bring an audience member up on stage and I give them a huge foam pool noodle and I get them to beat the living tar out of me in front of the audience in order to make sure that I'm not. Coming home with them. And then I sing a big closing number and kind of wrap it up. That is brilliant show. Thank you. Each show is followed by I get out of costume and makeup, and then there's a Q and A and it's sort of a talkback session after every show. It's just a way to decompress a little bit. And honestly, it's those those really personal human interactions that that I crave getting hit by a foam pool moodle not so much anymore.

27:32 They just won't take it. And I've chosen poorly. I will say this, I have chosen audience members poorly in the past. Being visually impaired, I can't really tell how tall or linebacker like a person who's going to be when they're in their chair, or they might be, you know, eight months pregnant. And I wouldn't have an idea until they come up on stage with the foam pool moodle. But they've all they've all given their best and hopefully spread a little bit of that perspective around. Yeah, that was This can so personal and daring, man. I mean I think that that's that's what theater should aspire to be. I mean, is that perspective? So kudos to you, my friend. I don't know, is that is that?

28:13 Is there snippets on YouTube anywhere that we can find, you know, is there any of that out there? That's a really good question. I mean, I am fascinated by this. I need to seek. The answer is no, but it will, it will make an appearance again. Sure well, I just I out this. I want to make sure to make room for the rest of our gang. Here, but Bruce, you're just a sensation and we we got to get more of you, my friend, and just this energy or this is just unstoppable. So thank you for for sharing so much today. What's up next to Trexperts is Charles. Are you standing there at the home plate? Yeah, let's let's put me up there. Okay, I think I want to jump in with Paul Paul and comment, just to put your little perspective. Trek talking Jim up there, was like, they can't do a musical. A musical just doesn't work. I'm going to hate it. It's not gonna be something I want to watch. And because reviewed the episode, he had to watch it and he was hearing the swords like, oh, I'm kind of liking this.

29:22 This is good. When the Klingon went up there, I know exactly, it's like Jim's gonna go crazy. He's gonna love that Klangon. And when we talked about the show, he just he was just he loved it. He was like, I like a musical, musicals could it was not what I thought was gonna be. And me personally, I was looking at it thinking, Okay, I watched this show. It's like, oh, man, I wish I could get that as an as a album and actually get the music separately. And I love the next Today it's like okay, YouTube music just got released the album.

30:03 It's like oh yes. In fact, I even had somebody had to share saying, oh, you've never seen a K pop cling on before, Well that's the cake Pop pling on. Remember. Oh, man, I missed that. I need to see that episode. But as Hammer, I wasn't working with the VR wall. Oh the VR wall was what an amazing piece of technology. I'm huge, just a. Full studio size room with Florida ceiling screens and even on the ceiling as well. It got very hot in. There, and I'm already under you know, three and a half hours of prosthetic work, so you know, keeping cool was certainly a struggle at times, but yeah, it was really quite incredible. A little dizzying the first time that I went out there, because when the moves, the image on the screen would shift as well, and it wasn't just it wasn't a projection like it was an actual screen there, So you get that kind of dizzying sensation of the whole background suddenly shifting as the camera was going back into place. Oftentimes when they would do a big reset, I would just kind of look at the ground because it would Yeah, I would really feel like you're on.

31:20 A roller coaster. But wow, what a yeah, incredible thing, like the day that we I think the first time I was in there, it was set up as engineering, which is quite spectacular. But then there was a day where we were landing on. The planet itself unrecognizable, and you're walking around the scenery and you could see it going for miles, and yeah, it was very easy to get lost in the universe because it was right there, beautiful one. Instead of being stuck behind a green screen, all of a sudden, you're seeing what the camera is seeing, which is entirely different perspective. I haven't got a shame here in Vegas, but one day I want to get to the new sphere, which inside is just one big video screen in there, and I'm thinking, okay, this is almost like the wall.

32:09 Yeah, yeah, that's amazing, amazing technology. Yes, kind of falling up a little bit of Paul too. What others live theater have you done, because I personally I love hitting live theater. That Cancer show, I don almost say we needed Bruce Krak. We need a Bruce Korak YouTube channel and see some of these see some of these productions occg because I'd love to see these. I would love to see the orc. One I would are the Goblins. I would love to see them them performing. In fact, there.

32:50 Don't have enough connections to get you to Vegas. But well, I'm. Currently working at the Shaw Festival in Strett and Niagara the Lake, So I've got a six month contract. Here where Shaw Festival is a a repertory theater company, so they've got eight or ten shows happening in various venues. So I'm currently in rehearsals for a production of Weight Until Dark, which is based on the Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin film from the sixties, sort of a suspense thriller where a young blind woman is being terrorized by some horrible thugs. I play one of the thugs. And the other show I'm working on here is called Murder on the Lake, which is another spontaneous theater production.

33:35 Spontaneous theater. The people behind Goblin, Macbeth and This is Cancer and Blind. Date and various other shows. And in this one there's eight actors and we invite an audience member on stage to go undercover and solve a murder mystery that's set and have been and breakfast. In Niagrond the Lake. Yeah. Yeah, so that's currently running and those will be running until October. Man for that minute off the streets. Yes, I'm gonna think for that kind of theater. We'd love to get you a little closer to the Utah Shakespearean Festival that does Shakespeare and non Shakespeare. Yeah, there's a big festival in Cedar. It's south of Salt Lake, north of I can't think of the big city down the south, but it's a college town and in the summertime they do a repertoire about six I think they do six to nine shows during the season. They do a summer season and the fall season.

34:40 Amazing, amazing. Yes, well maybe they need to see some goblins. Yes, I think lovely if they could. Yeah, the Goblin Empire is coming. Yes. As I said, we got to get you on the YouTube channel. Promote on the YouTube. Love you have a YouTube channel, mister Bruce Horak on YouTube and I've got mostly it's music that I've got up there, so it's me singing and sharing some of the music that I've been working on, but there are some clips from my portrait painting as well. Some of my sittings are on YouTube on mister Bruce orak. Okay, I will look you up then and pass over to David.

35:22 Thank you, David, my pleasure anytime. It's really nice. Pleasure me and you you my character on during the World. I'm going to reveal something that nobody in my even my textboks know about me. But I am also blind in my right eye, are you really? Yeah? I was born that way and my doctor said that it's actually a lazy eye. But I cannot she detailed of any of you guys with my right eye at all. So you're a very unforational character. And I would have to say one of my favorite characters on Stranger Worlds.

36:04 Oh thanks dude, thank you, Yeah, appreciate you. I did have a question about your character. You mentioned that you were in the big stadium of Green everywhere the wall, I guess you know. What they call it, the ar wall. Yeah? Yeah. Did it feel like you were actually like on a holidack. Exactly exactly like that? Yeah? Yeah, it really felt I mean, it was very disorienting. You felt like you could walk forever at times, and they would put you know, the functional pieces of the set that we needed, you know, in engineering we would have the consoles, which is a whole other thing. I mean for a track nerd like myself, to get to play with those little jelly beans was like that was a dream come true. And then getting to hold it like all the props and everything. But then you're standing in this in this room and it goes on forever.

36:59 It's yeah, really disorienting. It's so magical, so magical. I mean the I've got a few photos kind of secreted on my hard drive that I snapped while we were on set, and I just can't believe the the detail that they put into those sets that never actually makes it to camera. You know, so much of the beauty of those shows. I mean, what they what they hold in the screen is are what I think, works of art. But outside of that, when you see the number of crew and the cables and everything, it's just, yeah, it's really spectacular, very easy to get lost in. Wow, that's got to be very yeah, exactly. So, I always wanted to know are you a very big D and D fan? Because you mentioned a lot about the goblins and everything, so I was just curious, have you gone and into any kind of D and D.

37:51 I did yet during the pandemic. Actually, I went on my I started my first campaign and created high born elf wizard who I think I've made him now. I think it's level sticks or level seven now. And the campaign's been running since twenty twenty one, I think is when we started it, and it's folks from all over Canada. Actually that's the hardest part about D and D is just scheduling it because I'm on East coast and their west coast. And all that. But I was a riot. I've really been enjoying it. And when I was in Atlanta for Dragon can last year, I got to guest on the live improvised Dungeons and Dragons with my old Powmark mirror as our dungeon master.

38:33 I was a riot. Yeah, I really really enjoy that role playing and when they're and certainly when you work with people who I mean, we were getting into filters and I was able to put a whole wizard beard on myself and the hat and know if I lifted up my hand the magic would come out, you know, all those beautiful things that you can do. Over zoom and fantastic filters. Yeah, I really enjoy it, and I'm just getting to play in the world of imagination. I mean, it seems I seem seem to really gravitate towards those fantastic realms. When we started to develop Goblin Macbeth, we did look into the dungeons and dragons, goblins and what Tolkien had come up with in that. I'm a big Tolkien fan as well, so kind of leaping into like the mythology of the Goblin world realms, whatever, whatever you might have.

39:22 These are not Tolkien goblins when we do Goblin Macbeth. They're very anti Tolkien goblins. Kind of like. The lablent kind of goblins, I guess, yeah, more. More playful, more playful, and definitely irreverent. And yeah, they're they're quite confused by humanity. Humans don't make a lot of sense to them. Why why you would choose to stand up in front of a group of your peers and pretend to be someone else doesn't make any sense to them. But that's what theater is. They're going to try it nice. Nice. I thought I had another question, but I kind of like out of my head, but I believe Charles.

40:03 But yeah, thanks for coming on. It was a pleasure of talking with you. And I believe Charles has another question that you want to ask you. Right, Yes, I just you just mentioned D and D and just give me a thought. What about the possibilities of coming to Star Trek Las Vegas. They do a big Star Trek convention. I'm together, you have not been there before, and there are fans dying. To see you there. And then I've done Vegas. On Sunday night all right, on Sunday night starting last year, it was I think it was Captain Shaw does a D and D session.

40:49 Right after the end of the show. Before the concert, they had a full D and D session on table. I think they're always looking for people to Oh, it was a great one. It was a little cool. It's a little two part little session in there. But I think it'd be great if you could jump in and join them with that one. I think they're always probably looking for people to jump into the creation's Dean Star Trek D and D show. That'd be great. Yeah. Yeah, if I'm able to get down to Vegas again, I will certainly make the attempt this year. I'm I'm locked into this contract up in Shot, but I'm hoping to come down next year because I think it's the big one.

41:30 Isn't it six to oh? Next year? Yeah? Might be six so coming up. Ye, yeah, yeah, I will do my best. I wanted to ask you if you could do me a favor and give a shout out to my friends at Otter Valley Union High School, Whitney and Devin. They're huge fans of Hammer and Strange New Worlds, and I was hoping you could say hello to them. Personally, I'd say a big hello to Otter Valley High School. Is that what you said? Yeah? Water Valley High School? Absolutely, a big shout out from Himmer and Live Long and prosper All. Thank you so much. Ask you which did we think about our theme song at the beginning of the show Did you like it? And which our theme song that we played at the beginning of the podcast?

42:20 Did you see me dancing while I was playing? Its great? That's why I asked, Yeah. Yeah, it's great. We have some fun with that one. We want to have something different, something unique, and uh Billy Joel was kicking around and I wrote some lyrics and Eric recorded it who unfortunately he couldn't be with us for the podcast, but I noticed I did it. I did well done. Eric David put together the video for us as well. Brilliant, brilliant. How about also a shout out to Victoria, one of our other hosts who couldn't make it tonight, who says she loves it was the sound of your voice.

43:02 Oh Victoria, thanks for that, big shout out to you, and sorry you couldn't be here today. Next time, next time. Absolutely. So did you keep anything from the set? Did you keep one of Hemmer's antennae or anything? Actually I did get a set of Hammer's antennae. Yeah, those are in my collection of memorabilia. But no, I honestly, I was so paranoid about getting busted walking off the set with something that I would double check every day and make sure that I wasn't walking out with anything. There was one of my last days where I had one of the one of the emblems in my hand and I was just like, no, if I do this, then I'll never come back. So I kept very carefully set it down on the table and let let the production people know where I'd left it.

43:48 And honestly, like two days later. I got a phone call to come back and do two episodes in season two, and I'm like, that's karma. I'll just I'll follow that golden principle. And Bruce, how long did it take to become Hammer? How long were you in the chair? I was in the chair? Well, the first makeup test took about five and a half hours, and then they eventually got it down to about three and a half hours in the makeup chair. And that would start, you know, from four o'clock in the morning until until I was done seven thirty and then a little half hour break and then go for first rehearsal and a bit of breakfast. Yeah, they got really, I mean they were able to cut like almost two hours off of that the sitting.

44:31 It was still. Yeah, it was a good chunk of time. But honestly, after having spent so much time in isolation during the pandemic, I was so happy just to have a couple of a couple of geeks like myself to nerd out with. And they're you know, both artists and painters and musicians, and yeah, we had a great time. And then at the end of the night it would take about an hour to get everything off and kind. Of cleaned up and go home. So they were long days, but I wouldn't trade them for the world. Long. How long did it take for you to become a Klingon? Was that? Obviously it was quicker. It was quicker. I think it was still about two two and a half hours into that king. Yeah, And I gotta say, I'm glad they did not go with the Klingon opera. And I'll tell you why, because I thought the K pop dancing Klingons waving their batlets around and singing about We're gonna slay, We're going to kill you. I thought that was just so I'm Klingon. Like, if they had done the opera, it wouldn't it. I think it would have lost a lot In translation, I'm glad they went with the K pop version. I'm with you for sure, absolutely, And I wanted to ask you one more question. They killed off Hemmer obviously sadly enough.

45:47 But Hemmer was like the one representative, the one character that represented you know, diversity and and people with you know, with disabilities on the show, and they killed him. You know, how how did that? How did that? How did that feel? When they did that. I mean, Hemmer represented a lot, Like to David, a lot of people looked up the Hammer. He was, you know, an inspiration for a lot of people, and then they killed him. Yeah, it's just like they could have killed off I don't know, it's some random red shirt. Could have gotten rid of a random red shirt. I know. Yeah, bump off some random red shirt and keep around for God's sakes. Yeah, you know, it's a complicated.

46:28 It's complicated feelings about that, you know, in the world of representation, ah, you know, and certainly in the disability arts community, we talk about you know, killing off, killing off the blind character, killing off the disabled character, and the sort of noble deaths and to some degree aggrandizing disability, as though someone with a disability is always going to be a saint or whatever, and you get into these stereotypes. I feel like Hammer got a couple of episodes in the season that broke down those notions of stereotype, got a little bit deeper into who this character was, that you know, he was a pacifist, that he was really competent, capable engineer who you know, had a bit of an ego on himself, you know, he had his own flaws and all that he was. He was a little bit more of a complicated character, and in that respect, I feel like it went deeper, but that he had to die off it was. It's complicated because I can see from the storytelling point of view, you want to have your obi wan right, like someone's gotta someone's got to take it from Darth Vader so that Luke can get away and do the do the thing at the Death Star.

47:39 But you know who the who that character is. Going to be, and what kind of example they're going to give in their sacrifice also has to be considered. I feel pretty pretty honored that I got to provide that example. And it's not only an example in the canon for Uhura, but it's also becomes an example for Spock. What he does in Star Trek too, is you know, sacrificing himself and he gives the old livelong and prosper and all that. And he obviously ripped that off from Hammer. I mean, if we look at the timeline, it's just cutting dry. So really, Hammer lists it's bad and that's true. So, Bruce, what's my favorite episode of season one to film?

48:20 I'm thinking about the one where you got to be a wizard maybe. Yeah, yeah, that was that was so much fun. They all had their They all had their moments for sure, like. The episode where Una ends up like knocking Hammer out and then carrying him down the hallway. They had like a dummy of me made, and so I've got some photos of me lying next to my Hammer dummy and they're almost identical. That was a lot of fun jumping off the back of the ship, which ended up getting ended up on the cutting room floor, but they got to They put me in a whole safety harness and flew me up into the like two and a half stories into the air and shot that so you'd see Hammer falling back. Got a day on stunts for that.

49:01 That was a riot to shoot that. Yeah, I mean there gosh, there were just so many great days on that set that it's hard to it's hard to pick them apart. I'd say that you know, the lost in translation his or not lost in translation, all those who wandered were Hammer makes a sacrifice. I mean, there were a lot of really really. Cool days on that, like the playing with the Gorn and seeing the puppets and what they were actually building in camera with that was it was incredible little pieces of magic that were happening, and sometimes it was the simplest solution. That would come through. And yeah, I feel like, you know, I kind of got to be in an Aliens film, even though it was Star Trek.

49:46 Yeah, there's a great picture floating around the Internet of a baby Gorn sitting on your shoulder. Yeah, one of the puppets, the. Little rubber guy. Yeah. Yeah, that's kicking around all over the place. I see that. That was great. That was so let's ask the set is who's the funniest, who's the biggest prankster like ants in who comes on the set and makes you laugh? Anson Now for sure, Well it was, you know, it's funny like because we were in the midst of the COVID lockdowns. There was really not a lot of socializing during the shooting of that the first season, especially like you know, people were getting their COVID vaccines and some folks that weren't able to go home, Like there was just all that behind the scenes drama, and you know, we were getting tested the day before and then the day of and kind of isolated in our trailers. I felt really lucky because I got to hang out in the prosthetics trailer for three and a half hours and actually talk to other people, the other actors, you know, when they weren't on set or in holding waiting to go on set, just in their trailers, you know, zooming with family and friends or whatever. So there wasn't there wasn't that that much of the camaraderie that first day that that I got to go onto the bridge and meet everyone, and Anson came over and like hand or fist pumps is I think it was what we were doing at the time, fist pounding and like welcome and and just very generous.

51:08 And he would do this thing. It happened a few times where after the lunch break where everyone kind of comes back a little bit sluggish, you know, getting set up for the next shot, and you would hear him would be kind of near the set, and you'd hear him enter the studio building like half a block away, and he had a bluetooth speaker and he just had like Van Halen or some rock and roll just cranked up, and you'd hear it getting louder as he was getting closer to the to the green room where everyone's sitting around and it's just like suddenly this burst of energy that would rock at you right to the end. Of the day. Because I mean, he has so much experience on those long shoots and the series shoots and where things are going to start to drip dip down, and where people's energies are gonna get a little bit fraught. He just was able to anticipate that stuff. He had so much experience in that way and how to and how to model the kind of energy and dry that it's going to take to make well essentially ten movies. The effects and the build up into getting an episode of Strange New World shot. I mean, it really is like they're they're shooting a movie in twelve days. It's it's incredible, And yeah, he really brought that. It was quite an inspiration.

52:18 Star Trek. Strange New Worlds was my first time really in front of a camera, and I just watched everyone and how they were, how they were doing it, what they were doing, how they were preparing, and tried to model that as best they could. And really it was I couldn't have asked for a better group of teachers to be amongst and off camera, incredibly generous. I was gonna say jealous, incredibly generous and yeah, I mean not a not a piece out of place. I was so, I was really really inspired. I would particularly enjoy watching Bab's work plays doctor em Benga. He he's so versatile, and the difference is that he would do between takes.

53:04 I was wow. Like, in theater, we constantly rehearse so that we can repeat the show night after night. You spend your three and a half weeks or however long you get in rehearsal working on it so that when the curtain goes up, and by the time the curtain goes up and the curtain comes down, you've got the show and it's kind of locked in, Whereas with film and TV, it's like, Okay, you do it that way, try something else, try something else, try something else. Give the editors as much to. Play with, so they've got options, they've got options, they've got options, and watching just every single take that would go okay, I'll give something like this, how about something like this, something like this? And I found that really inspiring because my background and improvisation, I'm like, great, let's play it this way. Okay, we're gonna try it this way. You don't have to just lock into a delivery or lock into your idea. It's like, not roll with it, And it seems more like a collaborative vibe in front of the camera than I was anticipating. Because again it's on film. You think, oh, that's it and that's how it's gonna be. But you know in the can there are four or five other takes that are totally different and would tell the same story but in a slightly different way.

54:06 Yeah, it was quite a learning curve. I just want to swing back to the dancing singing Klingons just just one more time, because Charles was right. I wasn't really keen on Star Trek Musical, and it turned out to be my favorite episode. It was brilliant, con absolutely brilliant, the dancing singing Klingons at the end. So did you improv any of that? I mean, how did that come about? Did they tell you what? Can you go through that whole process? Well, there was no improvisation in the lines. However, my choreography was just made up. So everything that I'm doing is basically me going with whatever I wanted to do.

54:51 The guys behind me, the Klingon dancers, they were really tightly choreographed, incredible dancers actually, but yeah, pretty much. They just gave me free reign, so go for it, do whatever you like. So yeah, that's just me just shaking my plan on Booty as you do. It was absolutely brilliant, my friend, absolutely brilliant. And with that, I think it's time to say goodbye on un Les Paul or David or Charles has anything they'd like to. Add anything else? Okay, So Bruce, what are you working on anything currently that you'd like to let everybody know about. Well, it's the Shaw Festival until October, and I'm yeah, building building up the Indiegogo campaign for the documentary of Boldly Going, and I continue to have a Patreon account, so every month I do a monthly update called the Hobo Sapien Chronicle, where I chronicle my journey is a visually impaired visual artist on the road. And that's just a free newsletter that I send out. But for my Patreon subscribers, they get weekly updates and behind the.

55:57 Scenes looks, and then the top tier I. Actually do handmade individual Patreon cards, so there's little works of art that get mailed directly to your home and you can find me at patreon dot com. Slash Bruce Sorak. And even if you were coming back on one of these new Star Trek shows, you couldn't tell us anyways because of NDA. So we can hope, we can hope that writing or maybe we'll see Hammer show up on Starfleet Academy. It is a hologrammer, so you never know, you never never never know, they do they do indeed. Well, Bruce, I want to say thank you so so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us.

56:43 We really appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much. Nice to meet y'all. Thank you very much, thank you phenomenal, phenomenal getting a chance to talk man, Thank you so. Much, livelong and prosper Yeah you too, you too, thank you? All right, cheers, all right. That was Bruce Horrick Hemmer from Star Trek's Strange New Worlds and Season one. Please, if you haven't seen it, go and check it out. Make sure you watch Subspace rhaps and you see how he dances and sings as a ling on. I hope you love it as much as I did. And there he is booging right now. You got it. Thanks alas, bye, bye. All right, guys, So we're going to see you guys on Thursday night. We're going to be talking about what are we talking about again, David Thursday.

57:26 Oh yeah, we're gonna be doing Black Mirror and yep, Callister into Infinity, So check that out. Thursday night, same bat time, same bat channel, and David run the clip. All sessions ready for departure, Sir, some problem Rica. I'm just hoping this isn't the usual way of missions will builds it? Oh? No, number one, I'm sure it most will be much more interesting. M Then she what's up there? Agage