Remember When: Tom Morello was in ‘Star Trek’ (both on TV and film)?

by | May 24, 2016 | Columns, Remember When | 0 comments

Tom Morello Star TrekIt’s not that often when metal creeps its way into mainstream pop culture. So when metal/hard rock acts do actually pop up in beloved sitcoms, dramatic films, cartoons or even reality series, it’s kind of awesome. So in the weekly column Remember When, Metal Insider recalls the most random instances of metal’s elite appearing in front of the camera.

Tom Morello has contributed his musical talents to many films’ scores. In fact, not only did he add some guitar work to both Iron Man and Iron Man 2’s scores, but even made a cameo in Tony Stark’s first foray onto the big screen. But at the height of Rage Against The Machine’s popularity, the guitarist got to do something most Star Trek fans could only dream of accomplishing…

Morello was such a die-hard “Trekkie” that he reached out to producer Rick Berman about making a cameo in the 1998 film Star Trek: Insurrection. It turned out that Berman’s son was a huge fan of Rage Against The Machine, so he gave Morello an uncredited role as a Son’a officer. However, since Morello could barely be seen in the film (both because he was stuck behind other actors and had such heavy makeup on), Berman asked the guitarist to make a cameo on the UPN TV series Star Trek: Voyager. He only had a few lines as “Starfleet crewman Mitchell” on the episode titled “Good Shepard”, but it was enough for Berman to declare that Morello “did a great job. It was a little pick-me-up for everyone.”

Sadly it seems like Morello missed his chance to appear in this summer’s Star Trek Beyond  film (unless he filmed a cameo without telling anyone?). However, maybe there’s still a chance he could pop up in CBS’ TV series reboot? Surely he can find time to film an appearance in between… whatever it is he’s been up to.

For now, watch Morello’s appearance on Star Trek: Voyager , as well as a “behind the scenes” look at his appearance in Star Trek: Insurrection, below.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-hQSQGu59Y[/youtube]

 

 

And as an added bonus, see if you can spot Star Trek: Voyager Garrett Wang around the 2:08 mark of Rage Against The Machine’s video for “Sleep Now In The Fire”.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w211KOQ5BMI [/youtube]