The Final Frontier 8

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TF01 3,Siddig El Fadil - Day 2 4,by Marcus Priddey and Simon Plumbe SIDDIG EL FADIL at Warp One ----------------------------- Part 2 - 2nd May 1993 ----------------------- Transcribed and Edited by Marcus Priddey and Simon Plumbe ----------------------------------------------------------- After his first talk of the weekend (see the last issue), Siddig took to the stage in a more confident, to yet another raptuous round of applause. "Thank you very much. Thank you. Please, please. I can see people going, `That's not Michael Dorn is it?' Lots of make up. I wear lots of make up." "I'm Siddig El Fadil, that's how you say it but if you're a bit unsure about it, it's just Sid." "So, I came here yesterday and I thought I was all relaxed and comfortable as I had done five conventions before in America but I ended up being completely nervous and flustered because I was put up in front of a home audience who I can't just charm by being English. So, I've blown that, but basically I am not sure that I can go down here. Can I go down here?" Siddig asked as he moved down to the front of the stage. "I came down here yesterday and apparently it was just black. The whole thing was in silhouette. But, anyway, forgive me if I'm a little bit nervous because really I don't know how to deal with any of this, really, but I shall busk it and I'm quite happy for anyone to ask any questions they like at all. I'm by no means an expert on Star Trek, in fact most of you are for more expert than I am or ever will be. And if I don't know the answers then I shall lie. So please, feel free to ask questions, any questions and we'll see how we do, all right, because I haven't got a monologue or anything like that unlike the original stars have, they come up and do a whole set piece, a one man show with a song and a little bit of dance all mixed in, Nichelle Nichols doing her number. Or George Takei doing Morris dancing." The interrogation then began with the first fan asking how Siddig got into acting in the first place. "How did I get into acting? As a young boy I was dragged around theatres by my mother, because she was a publicist for theatres so... I just noticed that!" Siddig looked up and noticed that his face was being projcected onto a screen for everyone to see! "I feel like Madonna! That's brilliant! But, anyway so, I was unintimidated by the theatre and I just went into it through that and then did the acting school thing and all of that and ended up acting. Pretty much, by saying that I was going to be a director for a long time left acting school and started directing purely because they couldn't find any Arabs in England who were willing to act I ended up doing a TV series. So, I got the job as a young Palestinian in a television series which I haven't seen, but I hear it's incredibly dull." One of the things we have noticed, especially from The Next Generation, is the number of cast members who are trying their hands at directing. Is this something Siddig would like to do? "If I had the choice of directing an episode would I do it? Absolutely, absolutely. It would take me many many years, I think, to get to the stage where they would give a chance to direct. I don't think I come across as the most responsible person on the cast, yet. YET! But, I'd like to very much. But I think they see me as a little squirt from England!" The next question caught Siddig unawares as a fan asked, "You said I could ask any question?" to which Siddig replied, "You can, yes.". The fans then decided to try his luck and asked, "Where did you get that horrible tie from?!" After a burst of laughter from the audience, Siddig replied, "Well, half of it came leaping out of the room with, but the other half I got it in Hawaii because I have this awful experience of going to do a convention in Hawaii. They send me to the worst places these guys. The worst places. So I did that and blissed out on the beach with my fridge. It was terrific." The convention was being held in Morecambe, hardly the most logical choice of venue for a convention, and a local asked Siddig what he thought of the area and whether he'd return for a holiday! "What do I think of Morecombe and do I have any plans to come here on holiday? Well, it's a nice beach, a lovely beach there so it certainly takes the p*** out of Waikiki. I don't think I plan on coming here immediately. But I did go to Blackpool about a year and a half ago and I had a good time there. I quite like Blackpool, I was brought up in Ramsgate a lot of the time so I'm used to this sought of climate at all, like lots of amusement arcades and fish and chips. And what I liked about Blackpool was that it was completely unpretentious - it said, `We are a load of rubbish!' So we had a great time down down Blackpool and I think everybody did when you sort of pay for the pizzas." At that point, someone told Siddig that a convention, namely Sol III, was being held in Blackpool and they asked if he'd like to attend. "Two years to Blackpool - is that your con in Blackpool in a couple of years? Well if it's during June or May then you're on." Siddig was then told that the convention was being held at the end of May. "Yeah? If I'm not at the Oscar ceremony. Yeah, fat chance!" Had Siddig ever noticed any difficulties in finding roles in America as a British actor? "Yeah, well I mean there is always a little bit of itsy-bitsy stuff only because I've come over from England and taken a job, you know and they're not totally, I mean some people are, a lot of people have completely open minded about it, they don't mind in the least. I'm putting all this up over my shoulder in case I trip over it, all this bizarre paraphenalia - and I'm really happy to be out there doing it because it's quite tough for anybody to get a job out in Hollywood and you've pretty much got to do it by mistake but if I can do it as a Brit then it just helps this whole PR thing. Except for the fact that I'm a bit of a nerd as a Brit, but I think everyone is of the opinion that all Brits are like Rodney, but it does a good job and it keeps up the idea that, they have this myth that all British actors are great classical actors so they think that this great Shakespearian actor has come over because after Patrick, of course, who is known to be the best actor on television in America at least reported to be by the press which is incredible. Especially because he's doing Star Trek and of course because he's the most bodacious man in the world so it's great to keep that pressure up, you know, and so I love it. I love it. And they're sort of a bit gullible to say the least to the English accent. They fall for that and they don't matter or mind about much else at all. So I'll keep my end of it I'll work as long as poss." The next fan asked Siddig whether he had done any professional singing. "Have I done any professional singing? No. I don't know if you've seen any Stay Trek or any Deep Space Nine at all, but there is one trip where I do sing but you'll know why I haven't done any. It's just a little bit and it's like..." Siddig then proceeds to give us an off key demonstration! "It's dreadful and I'm not ever going to do professional singing I don't think. I don't think so." A fan from America then said, "I noticed you call people sir, madam. I hope you don't say madam in America." to which Siddig replied, "I do. I hope I haven't insulted you with that." The fan then continued, saying, "Because it means something totally different.". Siddig answered, "Does it?! Tell me, what? I mean is it something dreadful? Ah, the `madam, call me madam'. Oh, right so I'll get away with it then. Terrific. They call each other Sir and Madam, or Ma'am quite regularly in way that we don't generally. I mean, you call my father, my father gets called Sir, you know by people, but everybody calls you it, people call you sir from whatever they're doing which is like disconcerting they just go `Hey you, what do you want to eat?' you know `Can I get you anthing, Sir?', `I'll be your waiter for today' and they're very excited about these. Excuse me I'm just going to keep going on about the Americans here for a while. Can we get the spotlight. One of the things I found disconcerting when I first got over there I've only been there for nine months so it's all quite new still, was that they're very excited about everything especially in L.A. even the smallest of things like, `Yeah, I'll come to lunch' and they'll go, `We're so excited, so excited!', `Yeah? What about?' and they never expect that. `Oh, right. Okay. They're so nice, they're so, so English.' So, sorry, did I answer your question? Probably didn't at all, did I. Went off on my own little trip there." Siddig was then asked how his very British accent developed. "It's very yuppie. Yeah, no doubt about it. My accent came from, I suppose, my step-father is like very British, very British way of speaking and in that sense of the word, the Queen's English British yuppie, and my mum I suppose, she's not, she's from Bridlington, just down the road, the other side, so are you I take it? The other side of the neck and I suppose schools and all that sort of stuff, you know. I talked about the schools I went to yesterday. My prep school was very posh and I suppose that's where I got my accent and my public school wasn't so posh so I didn't get, didn't pick it up, I'd already got it in me. And I think when I first came to London I went to a state school in London in Battersfield and it was, I had a very wide London accent and all that sort of stuff and everything's great, you know and everyone's going no it's not and it's dumb and foul and she didn't know any better but she shut me up for the rest of the night and I ended up speaking like, I suppose I can't really help it I don't think, at least I couldn't. But I had this posh accent as an eight year old." One of the things Star Trek cast seemed to be asked at virtually every convention they attend is whether or not they have any advice for budding actors, and Warp One was no exception. "Yeah. Sort of advice as an actor, considering an acting career? Well, one thing I would suggest is go to acting school, that sounds a daunting prospect but that's the best way of getting anywhere because otherwise its too wide a field and too much stuff to get into to, you need something, you need to come out of somewhere, so that people can say `Definitely she can act so we just have to worry about is whether or not she will want to do the part' but at least they believe she came from acting school so we don't have to play lots of parts. Well I don't do that, you know like spatial awareness and all that. But that's the best piece of advice, is go to acting school." As you will have seen from the photos when we covered Warp One, Siddig was at the convention wearing a beard. He was asked if he was going to keep it for the show, because the fan felt that it suited him. "Thank you, thank you. I don't think I'll be able to get away with it, I mean I'd love to keep a beard if I can but I think Jonathan's toes might be trodden on! But apart from I don't think they want Bashir to grow up so quickly. I think there was one now you see me, now you see me much older. I mean it would be, I prefer it because it's a little more convincing as a doctor certainly to look a little bit over nineteen, so I would like to keep it really and we'll see if I can flog it in the next season. I might be able to." Has Siddig ever encounter problems on the set with the differing pronunciations of words in America as opposed to the UK? "Pronouncing various words, the difference between American and English. Yeah, I mean if, they don't mind generally how I prefer to pronounce things with an English pronunciation but if some words they just don't understand like, gosh, for example Data was Patrick putting his foot down and saying `No, it's not Da-ta, it's Day-ta, and we're going to call him Day-ta and goddamn it!' And he got away with it, so he did get away with that and I know you haven't quite like clap and there are things like stasis is a word, not quite sure what it means but they use it all the time, it's a medical word it can be used `He's in cryo-stasis' you know. They like sta-sis. I have to say sta-sis. And sometimes it creeps in so I sound a little bit American and my friends here were going `Sid's gone all American. Knew he would, we knew he would.' but I haven't been, sometimes I insist I do say it with an American accent because it's just too bizarre with and English accent but most of the time it's all right." The next question came from a fan wearing a DS9 top who asked Siddig how he got the role of Bashir in the show. "That's a Deep Space Nine uniform. I've not seen one of those before! I HAVE seen one of those before! Sorry, what were you saying? How did I get the part as a doctor. I think what the thing was, I did a film called Dangerous Man about a year ago, two years ago and it came out in England and three ot four people saw it and it went to America and five or six people saw it but one of them was Rick Berman so he asked, he wanted me for something in the show and found out how young I was and sort of shuffled around finding me some part and then gave me the doctor. I was very, very happy like that. Still had to do all the auditions and stuff you know, to convince the producers of the studio that I could play the doctor, but he wanted me, thankfully to do the stuff for the show ages ago. I was one of the first few people which was great, but that's how. Through another part. Keith Fizeman was the character I played. He had a beard down to here. He spoke with an Arabic accent and it was the actual Alec Guiness part in Lawrence of Arabia that gave us all that. I just ripped that up basically." The next fan asked, "Do you find when it comes to the Americans portraying the English on television, that they've got an idealist version of how we live over here?" to which Siddig replied, "Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. And also, I mean one of the things about the way, I mean of there's an American doing an Englishman then it's laughable a lot of the time because the accent's very bizarre and likewise I'm sure, an Englishman doing an American is laughable to them when they're watching the shows but a lot of the time they like taking the p***, excuse my language, but their English is really very fruity indeed and everything is really over the top and jolly good show every other word so there's a bizarreness there, but thankfully Patrick kind of came in and started straightening that out but there's an actor called Richard E Grant over there doing a lot of stuff and he tends to do a lot of that, that is he ends up having to do a lot of that kind of acting sort of Britishman and he's always doing a part he wouldn't like to be doing because they're having a little dig at the British, but they don't generally and normally they're very respectful of both sides, they're just having a little dig because we've been having a dig at them for the last ten years and so they're just about even, getting their own back." The second day of Siddig's talk seemed to have more unusual questions than the first, including the next that Siddig fielded when a fan said, "When Patrick was on the radio on Thursday, he said he was stocking up on BBC cricket videos. What do you think you're going to be stocking up on to take back with you?". The question caught Siddig slightly off-guard, but he managed to reply. "Well, I haven't thought about it, but it's a really good idea and I love cricket so maybe I would. It's just the sort of thing Patrick would do. I mean he's been sitting in his bedsitting room in a deckchair and a hat on watching all the cricket videos. I can just see that of Patrick. But it's not really a classic sort of thing, I mean I'm one of those weird sort of people who can sit and watch a cricket match all day, I don't know how, people do it, I don't know how I do it. Patrick, obviously is another person like that but no I'm not going to do that, I don't think so and snooker too, that really fobs people in America, "hey watch this, we have this on BBC 1 at PEAK time." It's fairly common knowledge that Marina Sirtis almost got the part of Tasha and Tim Russ (Tuvok in Voyager) was the second choice for the role of Geordi. While Siddig was only considered for Bashir, given the chance what other character would he like to play? "Commander Sisko. No, I mean Commander Sisko's fine, it's just a great part, I mean apart from, I mean I think I've got one of the best parts for me, I love it. He's rather a bizarre old bloke, but he's great fun for me to play. I like Quark, Armin Shimmerman who plays Quark, `Butt-head' as we call him, he's one of my favourite characters on the show so I'd probably like to play that." Siddig mentioned earlier that the best way for a budding actor to start is through drama school, but does Siddig think that they are still geared towards preparing actors for theatrical work as opposed to television and film? "They do still try and make everyone fit for stage and theatre. Wow, that's a biggie. I don't know, that's probably a question I'm completely unqualified to answer but I suppose they..." Siddig paused as he looked up at the screen on stage, "... you can see that can't you, picking my nose on the screen! I just realised. But, we do come out of drama school and we don't really know what's going on, and the first six weeks of any television show that we do, having said that, the first six weeks I was doing a television thing, the director said, `Less please, do some less' and I was going `COME ON NOW, MAYBE LATER', `Can we do it a little bit less Sid, please?'. It's very hard to train your voice to a little bit less because you're still Panto as you can all tell. Oh that's weird that is." At that point, something strange happens on stage. "Some Cardassian trick isn't it, this? It's a medical scanner, so I'm very unwell. I can't remember what we were talking about, we were just covering the acting thing weren't we? Was it covered? Yes it is, we were completely unprepared and there's no reason, and that's one of the reasons why a lot of us don't get work as quickly as we should." Again there was another problem on stage, this time with the sound system, "Is it my name tag? I best wear my name tag, I mean there's a lot of people here who probably haven't seen Deep Space Nine, which is possible you know you see a lot of people who come and they've just seen two days, like a shotgun wedding with the show, fifteen episodes one after the other, no time to get acclimatised to the thing at all, people have been talking, seeing a few repeats. That's one thing you don't do here. In America they do repeats, a lot." Siddig was then asked whether American fans buy the episodes on video. "No, they don't buy it, or if they do, it's because it's fifteen years old. But in America, like Deep Space has already been repeated six or seven times. It's repeated every week, once anyway as I understand that. But we did four or five episodes and they repeated the first four or five episodes over the next four or five weeks so people are waiting to see the next episodes couldn't see them but they have this weird thing of repeating everything, if they watch I suppose, that's the trick." Unlike American style conventions, the guests at British cons often get the opportunity to wander around and mingle with the fans. Had Siddig had the chance to at Warp One? "No, I haven't, I mean I wouldn't mind having a quick look around today, around at some of the dealer tables and things and see what's going on, but I don't normally get the chance to. When? Some point after my talk, I'll probably go and have a quick poke!" Siddig then realised what he had said! "My Bernard Manning impression. But I'll have a quick look, see what's going on. LOOK." Most of the cast have, at one point or another, played other characters or even members of alien races. Would Siddig like to play an alien in Star Trek: The Next Generation? "Would I like to play an alien in Star Trek, I'd love to play an alien. I'd love to play an alien anyway, I just don't like the idea, poke! Very nervous all right, very nervous. I don't think I could put up with it, I mean what am I talking about? Aliens. Love to play an alien and, I'm talking to myself here, you can't put up with yourself Sid', you just can't be put up with, yeah I'd like to play an extraterrestrial, keep it simple, Sid'!" Siddig compared his beard look to Riker earlier in the day. Following Riker's example, does Siddig think Bashir will end up seeing other love interests other than Dax? "Do I think Bashir'll get another love interest apart from Dax. Yeah, yeah, I think quite a few. I think he's that kind of character on the show. I think he's going to grow up as that kind of character on the show, I mean he'll be very serious about developing as a Doctor much as he can so he's got to sort of appear credible as a doctor but when we've got that down under our belts then we'll probably go for the love interest. Dabble, just a little bit of dabblage going on there." A fan then added, "Or poking!" to which Siddig continued, "Or poking. All right. But I imagine there will. Depends on how many people come in, it'll be very interesting to see how, because in an equal sense of the word it should be, I mean aliens should not be out of the question, you know what I mean? That's very Star Trek you know, if you like the other sex then a nice Ferengi should do the trick too, that's a moral dilemma for Bashir in the future. But it depends on how many Humans should actually come wandering around that part of the Alpha Quadrant and end up on Deep Space Nine." Acomment then came from the audience asking Siddig if it was true that "Emissary" was to released on video in an extended form. "Wow. Wow. More of that linear stuff. I remember when I first read that script, I said `Wow, wow, I don't understand it. I'll wait until I see it, then I'll get it' and now you talk about extending it? If they are, they might be doing, I know they did a shortened version of it. Ah! It depends which version you've got here. Two versions came out in America. The first version was the long version with an extra six minutes, or something like that and the second version which came out on repeat was a shortened version. And it depends which one you've got. The legal one you've got here. So I wouldn't be surprised if just means the original cut of the show. It's not like, sort of Lawrence Of Arabia where you've got the director's cut and all that stuff. There's nothing like that on the show but I would mind, I don't know, be more of, floating around in a wormhole." Siddig was then asked how many episodes had been made so far of DS9 and which was his favourite. "We've done eighteen episodes so far and we've seen about nine or eight here at this point and my favourite one of the nine or eight that have come out has got to be `Captive Pursuit' which is the one where Colm Meaney was chasing around with this lizard, he was overgrown with the green eyes. Have you seen that one? It's fun. Have a look at it when it comes out, it's terrific. It's like a shoot-em-up, this guy's being chased, I won't give it away, but this guy has these wonderful green eyes, yellow eyes, this lizard has. I remember doing it in the thing. I'm in the show for that that much. About two seconds, literally. I think I just go `Hi' and the lizard comes up and looks at me like this and goes on and everywhere else he had this lizard kit on so he still looked pretty bizarre but he didn't have his lenses in, so he looked at me and we had this brief contact, an actors moment, and he did it in the show and he put his lenses in and scared the daylights out of me because he had yellow eyes. That's one thing you get used to in Star Trek, having a cup of tea with someone who looks likes a thumb with hairs. Strange." It was then mentioned that Bashir asked Odo at the end of "Emissary" if there was anywhere on DS9 where he could get in some phaser practice. Siddig was then asked if he got the opportunity to do so. "Do I get any practice with a phaser? It was actually a joke. I mean doctors, certainly Bashir is not really into phasers very much. I don't think doctors have been traditionally on Star Trek. But it's because Odo hates the idea of anyone having a phaser on the promenade that I said `Anywhere we can practice with a phaser around here?'. A joke that nobody really got I think. It was the director's fault because he cut it too quickly, because my comedic instinct was absolutely there!" Bashir is generally regarded as being a "nice guy", but given the chance, would Siddig love to play a villainous character? "Yeah, yeah, that would be fun. I have been a villain already once, because we did this scene, this episode where I got possessed which was sort of bizarre and he was quite a villain, I don't think, sorry he was called `The Passenger' in fact, and it was, he was more pseudo- villain, not quite a really villain and I don't think I'll ever get the chance. I'm sort of there now, had it and I'm not going to get the chance to play an alien or a villain unless I'm possessed really, unless they fire me. So if I play an alien I'm being fired, basically." Turning the tables slightly on Siddig, he was then asked if he had any favourite characters from the other shows. "My favourite character in the original is Scotty. He is my favourite character in that one. It's great. I don't know if you've ever had the luck because I don't know how often they come out here, but you get him to come and do a convention and he'll make you laugh until your sides hurt." Siddig was then told that Jimmy Doohan had been in the UK a few months earlier. "Oh, brilliant because I've seen bits of his stuff from him from film from a convention. He's just hilarious, I mean, I don't know if it's the same one, but he sits on a stool, he's like Dave Allen with a bottle of whisky... but it's great. But on the next one after that my favourite character is probably Data. He's one of my favourites there and I like Patrick too, he's terrific as well, but Data's sort of fun and I got the chance to work with him on a show on TNG and he just made me rock with laughter, the whole time. It was terrific." If Bashir was ever given the opportunity to transfer across to TNG, does Siddig think he'd accept the opportunity? "If I was offered a transfer to the Enterprise would I take it. Not right now, not right now. It depends. I've got a good thing going with Deep Space Nine and its up to us to keep it going so I quite enjoy it. I'd like to go dilly-dally for awhile, you know. I was going to say... I can't swear so I say dilly-dally. But I'd like to go and sort of..." "Poke around?" came the response from the audience! One of the more arduous tasks with a show like Star Trek is the dialogue. Does Siddig have difficulty in learning his lines? "You learn the lines as they come, there's no way you have time. You get the script the day before you do the show and then you just sort of get it together. So, first night you stay awake 'til one and all the other times you just learn it during rehearsal and they just have to wait until you've got it together, if you can't remember them. I mean, for example, Brent Spiner who's Data is always being word perfect on the show, he's never and he's got this reputation for his like computer brain and he just comes on every day without a script. He just knows all the lines. He has the most complicated lines too, really weird techno-babble, but we learn them as we go and it's a bore but it's something we've got to do." One The Next Generation, many of the sets are located physically in the same way they are represented on screen, such as Picard's Ready Room being to the side of the bridge. Are the DS9 sets the same? "Well on Deep Space Nine, I don't know if you know has a promenade which is kind of the central area. It's a walk way through which everybody goes and off the promenade is Quark's bar which is sort of social area and the holo-suites upstairs where all the sort of..." "Rigmarole." Came the reply from the audience. "That stuff going on and my medlab is just off the promenade and that's just built there as well, the security office is built off the promenade. There's a little kinda McDonald's place that's built off the promenade. That's all there. The other set has, the other stage has Op's in it and it has the loading area, the loading bays, all ships coming in and out and it has all the crew quarters so they'll all be on one set so they're kind of no, they're way away and the other, finally, the other set has all the odd planets and things on for when we land on a planet or the Runabout, or anything that's off the station or anything that looks bizarre, so that's how the stage looks. We've got three stages like TNG, basically." Although most of the questions targetted at Siddig were about the side of the show he is involved with, he was also asked a few behind the scenes questions. One fan in particular wanted to know how large the model for the DS9 station itself is. "I've never seen it, but I've been told that it's in another place in the effects hut but I've think it's about, it's off the ground, well that ground there, and it's up to about here so I it's a good height ten, fifteen, twelve feet high but I think Richard'll know better because he's actually seen it. It's probably only that big. So far as I know it's that big. It's so huge. I know when we went to the wrap party they'd built the TNG and Deep Space Nine one week after the other but we had this huge party to celebrate the end of the season and they built a huge, it must have been six foot high ice statue of the space station and an ice statue for the Next Generation Enterprise and we all sat there wondering which one would melt first. The Enterprise sort melting a bit like this. DS9 was going..." and Siddig gave a demonstration on stage. The sets on the show are very complex and are certainly impressive, but one thing that has created a minor amount of curioisity is the turbolift in Ops, more accurately, where does it lead to? "It goes down...! To a place that must very much like underneath here. What it actually looks like is a few bits of wood. But really it just goes down, it's great, I mean I thought that was incredible but on sound it just sort of goes... best stage set I've ever been on at all. Frankly the sets are the most incredible things, they've just built everything but the kitchen sink is in those sets and everthing that's meant to be there is there that is made of material that isn't going to break. You can sit on every chair, all that sort of stuff. They're incredible, incredible. The lifts work, but they just go down into a rubbish bin but like." Being a British actor, most people assume that he would have had some involvement with Shakespeare. Has Siddig had much to do in that area? "I haven't done much Shakespeare at all. I mean I've done Shakespeare way back but recently I haven't done much Shakespeare. I've done, my favourite play is probably `Much Ado About Nothing'. I like the part of Benedict in that but I've done a panto in Manchester, the Manchester Library Theatre, and a long incredibly boring play called `Brother Ikeman' at the Manchester Library Theatre where I was playing a prison guard and in the panto I played just a baddie, a little baddie who just got hit in the face all the time so I got to fall down, a big stage fall like that, and the kids were distinctly unimpressed. Ten o'clock in the morning `Hello, kids', `Hullo?' so there was just one person who said hello back and he throws sweets at you which is really annoying but that's probably because we were really appalling but no, I had a really small theatrical experience professionally most of my stuff was telly and I did a lot of theatre acting where you just do play after play after play for four weeks, every four weeks so I haven't done much, I'm not a great pro' on that front." Siddig has been involved more in television work. What roles has he done so far? "Which telly parts. Well pretty much what I've said. I did the `Dangerous Man' one and I did this long sprawling television series over Christmas called `The Big Battalions'. I don't think, I never saw it, did anyone see that? Bizarre television series which came out over Christmas time on Channel 4, that well viewed channel!" Another cliched question followed when Siddig was asked if he couldn't have been an actor, what would he have done? "If I couldn't be an actor, what would I do. I don't think I have any talent for anything else at all. I was an insurance salesman for a month. I sold insurance to my mother and myself and then got fired. That was it. I never sold to anybody, otherwise I worked in every bar you've ever met, you know, restaurants all that sort of stuff. I'd probably be a director which is like the non-answer. If I wasn't going to be an actor, I'd probably be somthing else to do with acting. So I'd probably do that, if I could get away with. It just means at least twenty years of poverty before I get a break." From watching Classic Trek and TNG blooper reels, it has been seen that the cast often have trouble with doors on the set, walking into them when they don't open on time. Has Siddig managed to cope with the doors? "Not bad. I seem to get through them pretty easily. Personally, I don't seem to have any problems with the doors on DS9. Bizarre question. I haven't seen the blooper reels on TNG so I suppose it's like surreal that question, for me. But, I haven't bumped into them or anything. I've fall off things a lot. That's what happens in blooper reels for me. I fall off stools and beds and anything. And stages. I fall down stairs. There was episode where I did, it's called `Q-less' with Q of course, he made me yawn, he gave me this thing made me start yawning so he did this club yawn and `Can you make it a bit more real please?' but I had to walk back and I remember falling out of camera at least twice just down these steps. But that's the nearest thing relatively or even vaguely fun that I've done on a blooper reel except for one really brilliant one which I hope will come out at some point which is to do with Dax but it will give it all away if I tell you because it's all about this episode." While on the subject of blooper reels, Siddig was then asked if there were going to be any DS9 reels and if the fans were going to get to see them. "Oh definately them for Deep Space Nine but when you get access to them, I don't know. How long's it been before you got access to the TNG one?" Siddig was then told the story of how, after season one, the blooper reels are destroyed. "Oh, really? Well they might do that I suppose. I mean I haven't any objection. I hope they just spread them around. They're very funny. I mean they don't affect us. They're not going to affect anybodies opinion of us." But what about the other cast members. Did Siddig think any of the others would object? "I suppose there will be a few people who object but, there are somethings which are obviously embarrassing, I mean you get told off by a director or something and you burst out into tears, you don't want anybody to see you do that, one of the actors in the show but, most of the stuff is pretty innocuous and we get through without any trouble." Do any of the DS9 cast have any pet hates that they have developed since working on the show? "We haven't got a problem with that, we've got a problem with, what have we got a problem with? There isn't a general pet hate because we are all so different, all the cast members are so different but I know Quark doesn't like the make up for three hours every day, every single day so he's in for 3.00 am every day which just puts a real stink on his social life. And Odo has the same problem really. No really serious pet hates other than that. I think Colm doesn't like doing anything with techno-babble in it. He just gets really angry when he does techno-babble. `Oh God, oh please don't, oh all right' and he does it. He always says that when he gets techno-babble." Siddig mentioned that both Armin and Rene had early morning starts, but what is his daily schedule like? "What's the latest schedule like. Mine, personally is to be in at six to get made up for six thirty, seven and I'm then there for twelve hours until six or seven and then if they want to run over then they run over 'til no later than midnight usually and that's how it goes. But we're not in every day so it's not that heavy, sometimes we get a day off or even two days off if we're really light on an episode but otherwise we go straight through so that's basically the schedule, with one hour off for lunch and a lot of hanging about waiting for someone, something to happen." Another deep invloving question was then fired at Siddig, as a fan asked, "If you were given for a time machine and couldn't get a return journey, would you travel to the past and perhaps to witness an historic event like the premiere of Hamlet or would you choose to travel to the future to see what's really in store for us?" Siddig was taken aback by this question! "Whoa! I've got to say the future haven't I or I'll get crucified here. The past. I definately want to go back to the past. 1964, I can't remember what happened. I think I'd like to, I mean I'm fascinated, certainly had fantasies when I was a kid of having a time machine, don't know what kid hasn't had that fantasy, but I was one of those kids that had a fantasy of doing that and I would love to do lots of things even do the Hamlet thing, it's like, wow, imagine being in a time machine and you go to the premiere for Hamlet. So, I probably wouldn't mind going forward to see the future. And I would be really, really surprised to see a lot of stuff that happens on Star Trek in one form or another coming true. I know that sounds, it's a joke - there's so much technology that's copied off Star Trek these days, because it's so fashionable. It's a good way of giving it to the public but with these little handheld telephones, a direct communicator rip-off, you know. The guy called Mike Okuda, I don't know if you've been introduced to him at all, but he's our technical whizz-kid behind all Star Trek. He's got his finger on the pulse of just about every major organization, so he can find out what's going to be developed and what's in the pipeline, he's in touch with NASA and stuff, so you can see. They're not telling him major secrets, they tell him little tidbits so a lot of the stuff might come true. I wouldn't mind going to the future, I wouldn't mind. Probably go to the future and find that the place will be there, a bit disconcerting." As this was Siddig's first British convention, he was asked what the differences were between American and British ones. "What is the difference to a British con as opposed to an American con. Well, as I say it's a bit more nerve wracking here because you can't just wash over, or zip through without, just by being English which really works a lot in America for me. I get away with that a lot just so if I get freeze I'll say something incredibly English like `Oh dear' and they'll go `YAY!!!' and the English are going `Oh no!' so I have to be really careful but I think probably they're much more. I mean cons for them are really, I mean they do quite a lot of them. They have four or five every weekend all over America and hundreds a year so they, it's not so much a big deal which is what's so nice about England I think. I mean I don't know because I haven't done enough." Siddig then continued, "Oh, they're very commercialised. These are big businesses. They're very big businesses. A lot of them are fan con's which are terrific but the commercial ones are run for money and they get by that way and Paramount charge them for everything to do with, even to use the name Star Trek at their con's and all that sort of stuff. They differ in that they're a lot more money orientated, it's a big bucks industry in fact." Does Siddig believe that there IS alien life out there? "Do I beleive that they are other beings in the universe at all. Yeah..." Siddig then went on, regarding the possibility of us being alone in the galaxy, "... it seems pretty unlikely though. I mean it's quite arrogant to think we're the only people around so I wouldn't be surprised if there was. I mean Steven Hawkings, who incidentally has just done a show on TNG believes there might be so I'm quite happy to join his wagon as he seems quite bright." I said some of the questions were strange. Siddig was then asked if you could be any superhero, who would it be?! "A superhero? Wow. I don't know. When I was a kid I desperately wanted to be Spiderman because the X-Ray spec's, I loved that as a kid. I know it's really uncool isn't it? But I used to love that as a kid. Now I don't know. Maybe the Incredible Elastic Man, or whatever he's called. Mr Fantastic." Coming back to the earlier question on which other DS9 character he'd like to play, Siddig was asked if there was any character on the show he WOULDN'T like to play. "Is there any part I wouldn't like in the show, and why. I wouldn't like to play the part of Dax because Dax has a lot of stuff going on there and wouldn't like playing the sixth or seventh Dax I don't think I'd really enjoy that and I'm much happier trying to get off with her!" At this point the questionning stopped for a moment as a fan asked a rather surprised Siddig if he'd like a drink from the bar! The questions then resumed and started off with someone asking about the discrepancies over the pronunciation of Quark's name. "People call him Quork or Quark and I don't know why. People are really strict about what we call everybody, but that one just slipped through the net. Some people call him Quork, some people call him Quark. I think it's Quark, because I say Quark." Marina has often been heard at conventions telling "secrets" about the other TNG cast. Was Siddig able to reveal any gossip on his colleagues? "She makes a disclaimer `I don't know where I heard this but...', `Alledgedly...'. At the moment we haven't got on, as I was saying yesterday that we haven't got on well enough to get all the dirt about each other yet, I've really got to infiltrate, become people's best friend for a little bit before I find out stuff and then get out of them so I haven't got any yet. I can tell you nice things about people like Nana, for example, has this wonderful baby, she just had a baby 10 months before the show started and, this is really boring isn't it I suppose it's not like gossip, and she had a baby and it's lovely." Siddig was then interrupted as his drink arrived, and the woman who purchased it was given a kiss in return. "You know beer in America has to be, by law, 4% weaker than it is in England, I know, it's a bizarre rule. It just doesn't taste as good, it's like water with bubbles." The next fan asked Siddig, "Which two film stars would you most like to meet?". He replied, "Which two film stars would I most Like to meet. I like Jodie Foster a lot so I'd very much like to meet her and who else do I like, James Stewart. Brilliant. He's not dead yet! I'd like to meet him." Star Trek isn't the only sci-fi show on TV. Does Siddig watch any of the "rival" shows at all? "No, I don't need to. Nobody's as good. I'm sure of it. I'm really sure of it. I know there was some Star Trekky stuff but it just never made the grade. But if you think about it, Star Trek has invented it so how can anyone get in on that action. I mean people try and there are shows out which are quite good like Time Trax or Quantum Leap. This is the competition you know. I mean they can't use, by law, any of the words which Star Trek invented like, they can't use Warp or Beam, they can't use those words by law. So they're stuck with `Well, let's go very fast then!' So I think the competition is on a high to nothing. They'll probably come up with something great at some point." In the first season TNG blooper reel, Brent Spiner is seen doing a wonderful Jimmy Stewart impression. Had Siddig seen it? "I haven't actually heard Brent Spiner do James Stewart impressions. On the blooper reels? I've got to ask him. I was at dinner with Brent Spiner the day before yesterday. I should've asked him to do that. What was he doing, he was doing some inpressions, he was doing Patrick Stewart impersonations. He loves doing that. He was doing that most of the time. He was asking that waiter to do stuff with Patrick Stewart's voice. The waiter was completely confused because he saw Data there with Patrick Stewart's voice. I can't do it, unfortunately." Seeing that Siddig and Brent were friends from this remark, a fan then asked Siddig to ask Brent to come over to Britain for a con. "Absolutely, absolutely. And I really think he'll come as well. He's totally in love with England and I wouldn't be surprised if he came over. Some people cynically went `No, he won't' and I said I'd like to get him over to one of these conventions I thought I haven't got the power to get him over here but I'd like to ask him if he'd go and he said he was welcome and it's very likely he will come. He doesn't go to very many in America so he might find it a refreshing change." Another standard con question came next as Siddig was asked how much of himself is in Bashir. "How much of me is actually in the character of Doctor Bashir. From my point of view I don't think there's a great deal. There is, obviously a bit of me in it but not a great deal. I think there's more like when I was - I'm twenty seven now - and I think there was when I was twenty one, twenty, nineteen so I think maybe that's what's now in Doctor Bashir. I mean you're probably the best judge of that. You can see what's in Doctor Bashir more readily than I can, so don't tell me please, I'd be shattered." The fateful question! Siddig was asked to compare UK and US Trek fans! "I've had a good time. It's harder for me for reasons I've already explained but I actually prefer it because I'm at home and all that stuff, as I say. I've been waiting nine months to get home and I only got back Thursday night so it's great just to be back here and see small fields and things that are just terrific to the eye so I'd probably say I had a great time and you're certainly not more colder, more cynical or more difficult or wierd than everybody is in America. That is not an unqualified statement, I wouldn't say that you're wierd at all. I was warned that Star Trek fans were weird but found that they weren't at all in fact but the press seem to paint this picture of weirdness but when I went to cons I found everyone very warm and generous. I was very lucky and all that. Getting a bit sloppy, but they like that in America, to get as sloppy as possible, they love it. Aahhh! So I'll report very nicely back to them. I promise. And I'm sure some of them will come over. I know Rene for example was trying to get over anyway, to come to this one and couldn't make it at the last minute and Armin was dabbling with the idea of coming over and sitting at the back because he's coming over to England anyway to do a Beauty and the Beast convention. You going to that? Oh right. You'll see Armin, you'll see him there. He's going to that one. He's going to stand at the back, I don't know, he's like that." A cruel comment from the audience next as Bashir was compared to Doogie Howser! "I have hair under my armpits! I don't think he's, I don't know, he might be, I hope not but if he ever really gets like Doogie Howser please for God's sake tell me because that's really sad and I don't want be like Doogie Howser." Judging by the way he had the audience it fits of laughter for both of his talks, he was asked if he had ever considered a career in comedy. "Have I ever thought of doing stand up comedy. I would die a hundred times a minute if I did stand up comedy. No in-jokes, no comedy as far as I'm concerned." A fan then reassured Siddig that he seemed to be doing pretty well in front of this crowd. "Well thank you very much. There's a little plastic tube going into my back with sweat pouring into it. I haven't learnt microphone usage though. I've always being jealous of those people who can use these microphones and do trains and things." A slightly personal question followed as Siddig was asked how tall he is. "How tall am I? Six foot-ish. I don't know around the six foot mark. Terry Farrell is just over the six foot mark, about six two, she makes me look quite small but I think I'm about six foot. Last time I was weighed or measured was when I was at school so I can't really remember what height I am." Finally, Siddig was asked if he'd like to do more stage work or stick with television. "Would I like to do some more stage work or would I like to stick to television. I'd love to do stage work. I'm terrified of it like everybody else is and I don't think I can do it actually." One of the committee then approached the stage, thanked Siddig for his talk and presented him with a gift on behalf of the convention and all of the fans present.