Garrett Wang called Voyager writers passive aggressive

Garrett Wang had some issues with Voyager writers

Every series has its issues behind the scenes. Star Trek: The Next Generation got off to a very rough start as we all know, and some actors on other Star Trek shows had clashes with other actors. But it is a little surprising to learn that some of those issues on Star Trek: Voyager came from the writers themselves as they are the ones that put the words in the actors’ mouths. In The Fifty-Year Mission The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross [p. 622], Garrett Wang, who played Ensign Harry Kim on the series for all seven seasons, was quoted regarding a rather difficult problem he had with the writers .

Wang said that the writers were “very passive aggressive,” and if they were upset with an actor, they would make their displeasure known by writing it into the script. This was the case when Robert Duncan McNeill and Wang had gained some weight from eating a lot of junk food on the set. They were given girdles to flatten their stomachs, but the writers took it one step further.

Garrett Wang got some unwanted feedback from Brannon Braga

McNeill and Wang were filming a scene that had them in spacesuits trying to make it over rocky terrain. According to Wang, both he and McNeill were gasping for air, and when McNeill’s character had to help Wang’s, the script called for Paris to say “Promise me one thing, Harry. If we make it back alive…you’ll work out.”

Wang wasn’t happy about the line so he took it up with Brannon Braga, asking him if it was a dig. Braga responded with a very snide comment.

"“Well, Garrett, if you and your fellow actors go down the same path of eating the way you have the past two years, we’re going to have to change the name of the show to Star Trek: Voyager—Pigs in Space.”"

This seems a little more than passive aggressive to me. It’s surprising there wasn’t more of an upheaval on the show with things like this going on behind-the-scenes!