by Kevin Dilmore

Max Grodenchik has spent the past seven years under the latex ears and bulbous brow of Rom, the meek but loveable brother of the scheming Quark -- as well as father to Nog, the first Ferengi to join Starfleet. What began for Grodenchik as a brief part as an unnamed Ferengi in "Emissary," the premiere episode of ST:DS9, has led to a series of appearances as his character evolved over the years from comic buffoon to engineer with lofty goals to married man and proud father. Grodenchik recently sat down to offer his insights on Rom -- and himself -- to visitors of STAR TREK:CONTINUUM.

STC: Thanks, Max, for joining us at Star Trek's official web site. Do you have a home computer or spend much time surfing the Net?

Grodenchik: I do own a home computer. I also own a laptop, which is kind of amazing since I never thought I'd spend much time on the computer, and now I own two! I easily get "hooked" into the net and can stay up pretty late getting lost on the wonderful web. It's an amazing place -- I mean, it's often more interesting to NOT find what you were originally looking for and discovering a gem of something new and unexplored . . . gee, it kind of sounds like Star Trek, "exploring strange new worlds, to boldly go . . . ."

STC: Does your computer savvy help you feel more "connected" to your 24th Century self, or less convinced that you could handle being a citizen of the future?

Grodenchik: I hadn't quite thought of it the way you put it, but I suppose I do feel a little more "connected" to the 24th century by learning more and more about the Internet, which is, after all, the future. And speaking of the future, these last-minute airline "e-fares" are great, but I'd give anything to be able to beam myself when and where I need to go!

STC: When you first signed on to play Rom, did anyone have any idea to the extent he would become involved in the ST:DS9 universe?

Grodenchik: It's an interesting phrase, "signing on," but I never thought of it that way. Only the series regulars sign the original six-season contract; this seventh season was added on much later. You have to know that I came in to read for the role of Quark. That's how Armin (Shimerman) and I met. We talked about the possibilities of playing Quark's brother. We were each interested in doing that. But once Armin was cast, the first call I got from ST:DS9 was to play the "Pit Boss" -- the guy running the Dabo game in Quark's Bar in the pilot. They did this big master shot, I believe it's the very first time we ever see Quark's bar, and needed to make it look like it was the hub of all activity on the station, and populated the place with lots of characters, and I played the Pit Boss. I think it was the very next episode where I was given the name "Rom," but I was contracted for one episode at a time -- and I still am to this day.

STC: What niche do you believe Rom's character fits into the tapestry of storytelling on the station?

Grodenchik: I was a big fan of ST:TNG. And I learned to look at that series, and all Star Trek, as two parallel journeys: the exploration of new, unknown worlds, and the exploration of unknown parts of ourselves. ST:DS9, considering that it's a series based on a space station, does a nice amount of exploring other worlds: the Gamma Quadrant, the mirror universe, the wormhole and its aliens; but its main thing is the exploring of our own, internal limits and challenging those limits. Rom is the embodiment of this kind of development. He was never comfortable trying to live by the confines of Ferengi society. He just wasn't good at it and, more importantly, he didn't understand it; he didn't "get it." When he retrieves a customer's purse and has it returned to her, it seems to him to be the right thing to do; totally ignoring the First Rule of Acquisition: "Once you have their money, you never give it back." Which is why in Ferengi culture he's a failure; he's grown up in the wrong culture at the wrong time. When he gets to DS9 and sees hew-mons, Bajorans, and the entire mix of alien cultures that populate the station, he gets to see new possibilities.

STC: What do you enjoy professionally and personally about playing Rom?

Grodenchik: Professionally, it's certainly a challenge to work with all that makeup on your face. Another challenge is representing an alien race, and making decisions about how I want Rom, and Ferengi in general, to be perceived. Everything any of the Ferengi do adds to the pool of knowledge about our species. In other words, the way I play Rom helps to define what a Ferengi is -- or, in Rom's case, what a Ferengi isn't, since Rom is atypical. But there's still a lot of Ferengi in him, and I have a say in how to portray that. Not by talking with the writers, I don't mean that. But by the way I interpret what they've written. It's actually quite an honor to, sort of, be "inventing" a life form. And all of us who play aliens on the show get to do that as we've moved along in the series.

On a personal level, getting to know and work with Armin Shimerman has been one of the highlights of my life. And aside from the fun we've had, and learning much more about the world of acting from him, he's taught me to be a better human being. Or should I say "hew mon"?

STC: What character traits of Rom's have you added over the years, and which ones reflect the real Max?

Grodenchik: I remember once being in a sandwich shop and needing some milk to go with my sandwich. The guy at the counter said he didn't have any milk. I saw a quart of milk behind him and said, "You've got milk right there!" But he explained that it was only to be used for coffee or tea. I said, "What difference does it make? Can't you pour me a cup, anyway?" He explained that he didn't have a key on his cash register to ring up a sale for milk; there were keys that said SODA or COFFEE but none that said MILK. I got pretty exasperated and blurted out, "Where's the profit?" and I went on to tell him how withholding a cup of milk from me was a bad business move; that he should make the sale considering he had the opportunity. That was pure Ferengi philosophy coming out of me and the counter guy was "all ears." He finally gave me my milk!

It may sound corny, but I think I have more patience with people because I think Rom has more patience with people. He has quite a sense of decency about him. His basic view of how to handle a situation is, "What is the right thing to do?" And I think that viewpoint has slowly crept into my way of looking at things, too.

STC: Did you have any idea what you might be getting into regarding fandom when you signed on as Rom?

Grodenchik: If I had known what I was getting into when I first read for ST:TNG's "Captain's Holiday" (an episode written by Ira Steven Behr, executive producer of ST:DS9) in January 1990, I probably would have been too nervous to get the part. I had absolutely no idea of what was to follow.

STC: How would you describe your interactions with Star Trek fans during the course of the series?

Grodenchik: The fans have been terrific. I've had the opportunity to travel all over the Western world. Fans have taken me into their homes, have opened up to me in ways that have made my association with Star Trek a real privilege. The biggest thing I've learned is that there are as many different types of Star Trek fans as there are people. You really can't say, "This is what a Trekker is like" -- you can't stereotype them. The media may try to do that, but I've seen fans up close; I've taken time to be with them, especially at the beginning of the series, because I learned more about Star Trek from the fans than from anywhere else, and I was constantly asking questions of them. Maybe we could someday do another interview entitled, "My adventures with Star Trek fans", because I've got a lot of wonderful stories to tell because they're a wonderful group of people. I only wish I were better at responding to fan mail!

STC: Care to predict a future for Rom? What do you think would be a fitting direction for the rest of his life?

Grodenchik: I'll leave that one for the writers. They've brought Rom so far from where he began as an unhappy servant under his brother’s thumb. I think Rom will keep surprising us!

Kevin Dilmore is a contributing writer for STAR TREK: CONTINUUM. Kevin also writes for the official Star Trek fan club magazine, the Star Trek Communicator..