Have you ever played any of the other Star Trek computer games?

I have. I’ve played some 25th anniversary game where you had to converse with other creatures, and if you didn’t say the right thing they’d shoot you – I enjoyed that one.

Are there any non-Trek games of which you’re particularly fond?

Well, I’ve been playing Warbirds, which is intoxicating because you play it against real people over a network, so every time you play, it’s a different flight. There’s no predictability at all.

Before you landed the role on Voyager, you did guest spots on Star Trek: Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, and appeared in the movie Generations. Were all those small roles just part of a master plan to get a full time job on a show?

No, it was just coincidence. They were just calls from the casting director. In fact, I first went in for the part of Geordi La Forge on Next Generation. It actually came down to me and LeVar Burton, but since Gene Roddenberry [the creator of Star Trek] wanted LeVar, he got the part. But Rick Berman wanted me, and so once Rick became in charge of things, he started bringing me in for other parts.

It was announced at the end of last season that there’d only be one more year of Voyager. Are you glad it’s coming to an end, are you sad, or are you worried that you’re never going to work again?

Well, it’s hard to do any other work while you do a show like this, you don’t have the time, even though you really long to. But then, while you will have the time when the show is over, you don’t have a steady job. Also, when you’re on a show, you can get your phone calls answered. It’s harder to do that when there is no show.

Do you have anything in the works we should know about?

I’m doing a show called Fahrenheit 452: The Art Police, which is like Men In Black meets Cops, on the website galaxyonline.com, and I did a movie East Of Hope Street with Jade Herrera [on which he’s also credited as co-writer and co-director].

Now Vulcans are a very serious people. But I understand you’re quite the practical joker.

Oh yeah, I’ve played a number of practical jokes [on the set of Voyager], probably because I have to be straight all the time. And a lot of them have been filmed, too, but they’re all locked away in a vault. I’ve pretended to get ill behind a console, I’ve pushed people into the halls in front of me during phaser fights, I’ve even tried to get the cast to crack up when they were on camera by altering my costume slightly. Let’s just say that some of my jokes should not be spoken of in mixed company (laughs).

To learn more about Tim Russ, check out www.timrusswebpage.com.  Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force is due for release this September, developed by Raven Software and published by Activision.