Star Trek: Voyager’s Robert Picardo joins the cast of Kickstarter-funded animated film To Meet the Faces You Meet

To Meet the Faces You Meet, a new animated film starring Robert Picardo and Patton Oswalt, coming soon

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 - Star Trek: Voyager’s own Robert Picardo is onto a new project, joining the cast of To Meet the Faces You Meet, a new science fiction film from Parallax Studios. The film is based on 1972 underground comic book “Fever Dreams”, written by Jan Strnad and illustrated by the prolific comic artist Richard Corben. To Meet the Faces You Meet is animated and directed by J. Allen Williams, who co-wrote the screenplay with Strnad.

In the distant future, Admiral Gillette, played by Picardo, thinks he has developed the deadliest war machine in history: a pilot named Friz who is symbiotically linked with an A.I. spaceship named MEAD, an acronym meaning “Mobile Extrasensory Autonomous Deceptor”. MEAD possesses the ability to project illusions so convincing that they cannot be distinguished from reality. But errant programming has instilled MEAD with pacifist tendencies, making him useless for military purposes. Scheduled to be decommissioned, Friz and MEAD flee and are pursued across the solar system by bounty hunters and the Admiral – who has a personal vendetta. Friz will be played by Samuel Hunt and comedian Patton Oswalt will voice the role of MEAD.

Back in May, Parallax Studio launched a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the film. A recent update to the campaign website features a short video of Picardo announcing his role. Coming from a location he “can’t divulge”, somewhere on an unspecified “M-Class planet”, Picardo discussed his involvement with the film. On his character, Picardo said, “I am playing, of course, the obsessive, crazy, Captain Ahab-like [Admiral] Gillette.” He went on to say that he’s looking forward to being a part of the production and working with a “great cast”. After seeing the in-depth guide for the film and samples of the animation, Picardo said “It’s quite extraordinary. I’m happy to be a part of it [...] because, you know, sci-fi, there’s just not enough. There’s not enough.”

Also joining the film’s cast are actors Lillie Young as the likable outlaw Phoebe and Kassandra Wright in her feature film debut as Friz’s love interest Tam. Prolific character and voice actor Patrick Warburton will also join the production, lending his voice to the role of Timmy the Wunderbot.

The animation for To Meet the Faces You Meet has already been completed in-house by Parallax Studio. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, filming of the cast - scheduled for late 2020 - will begin once it is safe to do so. Although funding for the campaign has ended, you can still watch the short film by Strnad introducing the project and learn more about To Meet the Faces You Meet at Kickstarter.com.