Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Tom Paris

6. Protons Be Flammable

"I believe the phrase you're looking for is low brow," said the Doctor sarcastically to Tom Paris in Author, Author. Few could dare dream of the sophistication of 'Photons Be Free' after all! Historicity aside, even Fair Haven was entertaining, until the inevitable malfunctions. The safety protocols should have their own set of safety protocols.

For Robert Duncan McNeill as Captain Proton, 'low brow' meant all the way down to a burned bottom. During filming of the 'jet pack scene' from Thirty Days, McNeill was strapped several feet in the air on a 'teeter-totter-rig,' with real sparklers flying out over his backside. Fireproof clothing was in name only. "It went from warm to 'oh my god, my cheeks are on fire'," McNeill noted on the Star Trek: Voyager DVD extra Time Capsule — Tom Paris.

Insult to injury, everyone on the ground's first reaction was to laugh, thinking it was a joke, or "Robbie being Robbie," according to Garrett Wang on The Delta Flyers podcast. Then the fire extinguishers came out!

You'd think McNeill would loathe his character's monochrome alter-ego after that. Quite the opposite! In Star Trek: Voyager — A Celebration, McNeill noted that the "swashbuckling adventure silliness" of Captain Proton was "fundamental to who Tom wanted to be".