This time around we got a chance to speak with JG (John) Hetzler, very well known for his role as General and then Chancellor Martok on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Ironically John's first appearance on Deep Space Nine was not at Martok, but in the pilot episode of that show as the Vulcan captain of the doomed USS Saratoga at the battle of Wolf 359.
Besides playing other characters within the Star Trek franchise, John has appeared in the tv movie Pirates of Silicon Valley and made appearances on Six Feet Under, Charmed, Roswell, Quantum Leap, Highlander and Zorro.
His voice over work includes Bioshock & Injustice: Gods Among Us.
On stage John has appeared in Inherit the Wind as well as directing A Midsummer Night's Dream and in 2007 became a Resident Profession Teaching Associate (RPTA) at the Cornell University Department of Theatre.
In November 2013 he was elected to the town council of Ulysses New York.
Shawn: What was your first convention experience?....first con?
John: I can't recall for certain, could have been Shoreleave in Baltimore or Galileo 7 in Bremen Germany.
Shawn: How did it go as far you recall?
John: Fabulously for both...love Shoreleave since my sister could come to see it & Bremen started a long love affair with Germany that continues to this day.
Shawn: Best Con you've been to?
John: Paris....SticCon in Bellaria Italy...Bremen...and FedCon in Bonn, Germany.
Actually the CreationCon's in Las Vegas are right up there! Especially at the Rio and the VooDoo Lounge...
Shawn: Worst Con?
John: One in Texas...it was cancelled right in the middle of it! Bob (Robert O'Reilly) and I & John Blllingsley went on with everything anyway, didn't want to let the fans down. Star Trek fans are the best!
Shawn: Who would you say was the strangest or most unusual fan you've encountered at a Con?
John: In Australia...a kid told me that Martok was his inspiration not to harm others!
Shawn: So any actual bad experiences?
John: The one mentioned in Texas...and New Zealand and only because it is paradise and I couldn't stay there forever!
Shawn: If you were running a convention, what would you do differently?
John: More shows by the guest actors, more cosplay...fewer wolf tails attached to peoples waists...more steam punk events and more art shows.
Shawn: Ever want an autograph yourself?
John: I have many...Mikhail Gorbachev, Noel Coward, Mickey Mantle, Ward Bond, the exquisite Alice Krige, The Three Tenors (Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras & Luciano Pavarotti) & Neil Armstrong...
Shawn: What projects are you currently working on?
John: Four film scripts...one going into pre-productions called Dancing with Sancho Panza which is about the 1936 Spanish civil war, Heartland which is about a kid blowing up a Walmart, Republic about the immediate future of America & The Fracking War about the coming unrest over energy.
Directing stage production of Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here about fascism in American in the 1930s and Jesus Christ Superstar for next Easter.
Shawn: Future Projects?
John: Some I named already...but others might be Monty Python's The Holy Grail for stage, A filmed version of TheTaming of the Shrew (a very, very dark interpretation)...ParJacques Brel is alive and well and living in Paris and a film script for John Brown, Abolitionist.
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