Oh my star trek guy3/8/2023 ![]() In " All Good Things.", his original Seasons 1-3 gold uniform was no longer available, so he was seen in red once again, wearing his uniform from " The Hunted". While it made sense for Vardaman to resemble Spiner since he was the actor's photo double, the production crew "thought it looked too strange" when he was seated next to Spiner. There are even shots in " The Wounded" where both Vardaman's and Spiner's hands are at the same position on their respective consoles – ironic since one of Vardaman's duties as Spiner's photo double is to be the actor's hands during certain close-up shots. However, there were those on the production staff who felt that his scenes at the conn looked a bit awkward due to his physical similarity to Brent Spiner, who was seated at the console next to him. The only times he wore red, however, was when he was assigned to the conn. He was usually seen wearing operations yellow, but he did wear science blue for an episode of the first season and also wore command red on several occasions. He has worn the colors of all three Starfleet divisions. He was often seen in corridors or in main engineering and also in Ten Forward, in Season 5 usually wearing a grey casual suit when having a drink. In his role as a Starfleet officer, Vardaman was seen manning both the ops and conn stations on the bridge. photo doubling for Brent Spiner in "All Good Things." ![]() ( TNG Season 6 DVD) A biographical screen in "Eye of the Beholder" revealed the character's full name to be Darien Wallace, after graphics supervisor Mike Okuda called Vardaman while prepping the graphic and ran the first name suggestion by him. Although introduced in the first season, the character was not named until the sixth season's " Descent", when Jonathan Frakes (as Riker) pointed out Vardaman and another extra and referred to them as "Wallace and Towles", after the two script typists for the TNG and Deep Space Nine writing staffs. This was done as a "thank you" by the people at Decipher for his help in selecting images and names to be used on the cards (see behind-the-scenes below). Darien Wallace was also featured on a card for the Star Trek Customizable Card Game. He went on to appear as the character in 62 more episodes (counting his appearance in a photograph in " Eye of the Beholder"). Though his first day of shooting was for a scene on the bridge in " Too Short A Season", he was first seen as Wallace in "Datalore" as that episode was aired first. His first appearance as Starfleet officer Darien Wallace came in the episode " Datalore". Vardaman's first on-screen appearance was as a passerby on the Dixon Hill holodeck program in "The Big Goodbye". ("Select Historical Data Year Six – Extra Help on the Set", TNG Season 6 DVD special feature) These incidents ultimately led to Vardaman being assigned as Spiner's photo double just a few episodes later. Those who made this error normally did so in distress, since Spiner was supposed to be in make-up, and Vardaman was not. During those first few days, he was often mistaken for Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data. Being a fan of the original series, Vardaman found the assignment to be "quite a kick". Vardaman joined the crew of TNG when he was sent to be an extra for the episode " Too Short A Season" through Central Casting. ( The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 5) ![]() Despite some initial reluctance from the wardrobe department, Vardaman was fitted with an operations yellow Starfleet uniform and reported for work the following day. As it turns out, the man originally approached for the job was unavailable, prompting the need for a replacement. Less than two weeks later, while signing up with casting, he was spotted and approached for a job on Star Trek: The Next Generation. To support himself while he was in school, Vardaman joined the Screen Extras Guild to acquire a part-time job. He never dreamed that he would become a part of the Star Trek universe himself. He grew up watching Star Trek: The Original Series, becoming a huge fan of the series. Hailing from Glendale, California, Vardaman spent a good part of his life in San Jose.
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