In addition to Shatner and Nimoy, there were more big Star Trek stars at DragonCon 2009 in Atlanta. One of the more notable was a rare appearance by TNG’s Patrick Stewart. Also on hand was Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew. We have summaries of reports of their appearances plus video of both below .
Stewart has left Picard behind
Patrick Stewart, especially recently, has not been doing a lot of conventions. In fact, according to a report at DailyDragon Stewart told the DragonCon Crowd he was “nervous and insecure” but eventually he warmed up. Here are a couple of excerpts from the report, including Stewarts comments on the new movie.
On TNG
…his most acclaimed Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes: “Family” and the two-hour “Chains of Command.” Each of these two memorable episodes showcase not only the complex and contradictory nature of Jean-Luc’s character, but also Stewart’s quintessential talent.
Speaking about his former cast mates, Stewart mentioned his respect for Jonathan Frakes. One of Stewart’s fondest memories is of Frakes’s first chance to direct an episode of TNG. He said that Frakes was “confident right from the start.” Stewart felt proud to have witnessed the beginning of a wonderful directorial career.
On JJ Abrams Star Trek:
He spoke fondly of the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, calling it, “absolutely terrific.” But when he considered the notion of having a cameo appearance, he said, “I feel I have left behind a legacy as Jean-Luc Picard that doesn’t need adding to.”
On working with Nimoy and Shatner
On the subject of Nimoy, Stewart said he was, “somewhat in awe of his presence on stage.” Stewart was impressed with Nimoy’s humor, dignity, and enthusiasm. Stewart then said, “Mr. Shatner, on the other hand.” A long paused followed, after which he added, “He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”
Mulgrew "I did my best"
Another Star Trek captain at DragonCon over the weekend was Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew. Here are some snippets from the DailyDragon report from her appearance, regarding her time in the Delta Quadrant.
She said that her tenure as Janeway was the hardest decade of her life. As the third captain in the Star Trek franchise (she didn’t count the space station featured in Deep Space Nine, as “star ships fly”) and the “first girl,” she described a “sense of privilege, terror,” and a “new frontier,” paraphrasing what she called the “Star Trek mantra.”
…She stressed that there was no need for feminine wiles and romantic interests to establish Janeway as a leader. After some initial battles over her hair style and uniform, the producers left her “to her own devices” and “within two seasons the entire demographic shifted and broadened. You are the greatest audience in the world.”
She remembered giving “the best I could give” to Voyager: “certainly I tried [with] two little devils, I mean sons, at home.”
VIDEO
Here is some video of Stewart.
And here is some video of the Q&A with both Stewart and Mulgrew (courtesy of xXLax38Xx) [sorry but it is hard to hear, turn up your audio].
Full video of Mulgrew’s panel is online (courtesy of HanakoGal07). Part 1 is below, you can see the rest on YouTube: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).
Great to see that Patrick Stewart has embraced the new Star Trek movie! Interesting comment about Shatner, tongue in cheek though no doubt as they seem to be quite good friends which is great to see! :) I wonder if they have ever argued who the bette rcaptian was Kirk of Picard?!
I realy love Picard. In my opinion he’s the best captain of them all. I also understand that he is “done” with Picard.
So life long and prosper Patrick
Very interesting… as much as I’d love to see a TNG reunion it seems less and less likely… too bad since ‘Nemesis’ is a poor send off.
I love Kate Mulgrew, always have… ever since her days on ‘Ryan’s Hope’ and ‘Mrs. Columbo.’
Picard was the BEST Trek Captain of them all !!
It’s a VERY tough choice for me to chhose what I’d want more, antoher TNG movie or a sequel to JJ Abrams’ huge blockbuster. I eventually chose to have an Abrams sequel, because if there were to be another TNG movie for me, it wouldn’t be the same for these reasons…
– William Riker is no longer the First Officer (plus, I don’t care to see how Commander Martin Madden tries it out) and Deanna Troi is not the Counselor.
– No Data. B-4 may have Data’s memories, but as Data says in ST: NEM, “The B-4 is physically identical to me, although his neural pathways are not as advanced. but even if they were, he would not be me. I aspire, sir, to be better than I am. B-4 does not.”
– Dr. Crusher is Head of Starfleet Medical……again.
So, with the new movie, we have EVERYONE set for their first mission as the crew they were destined to be.
As much as I would geek out for ANY more Patrick Stewart in Star Trek I agree with him about Picard. While I love that character I’m not sure there is a whole lot more for him to do.
If i’m not mistaken Janeway was the third Captian. I can’t remember if Sisko was promoted to Captian when Voyager went on air.
@5: Since Crusher is back at StarFleet Medical, let’s get the real doctor back: Pulaski!
Heck of a slam against Shatner, if the two of them are such good friends. A little uncalled for, Mr. Stewart, and certainly unprofessional.
#5.
QUOTE – “No Data. B-4 may have Data’s memories, but as Data says in ST: NEM, “The B-4 is physically identical to me, although his neural pathways are not as advanced. but even if they were, he would not be me. I aspire, sir, to be better than I am. B-4 does not.”
I just watched NEMESIS on the weekend. Here is my take on this: Data said that he and B4 were two separate individuals to Picard, when explaining to Picard that he and Shinzon would not have necessarily made the same choices if their roles had been reversed (a great scene in that movie… showed DATA’s maturity and heart.”
—- But at the end of the film, you see B4 humming the tune that DATA sang at the beginning of the film. This shows that DATA’s programming is now apart of B4. Data said that it would take a while for B4 to assimilate all his knowledge. My guess is that he begins to form new neural pathways and evolves into “Data”. B4 may not have a desire to aspire, but DATA did, and I think since he (in effect) downloaded his consciousness into B4, DATA’s dominant personality would eventually take over. Without meaning too, DATA resurrected himself into B4’s body.
As for Stewart being done with Picard, I think its easy to see why. He doesn’t want to have a “Janeway” cameo in a Trek film. He was the star of 4 Trek movies. If anything, he would want to be the star of a TNG film. I doubt he would say no too that. I hope they do decide to do TNG films again. Even if it was just direct-to-DVD… I would be fine with that. I think they still have two or three movies left in them.
Lets just get Stewart and Shatner into the ring and settle this “who is the better captain” question once and for all.
Kate Mulgrew sounds as much of a c**t as Janeway was.
#8:
Interesting… your comment about Pulaski puts in words something I always felt about her character – she was a believeable doctor. Not that Gates McFadden’s Crusher is a slouch, but she has a different (almost aristocratic) demeanor that made it seem as if I was seeing more ‘actor’ than ‘character’.
Actually got into see Patrick and Kate on Saturday — no thanks to the organizers at Dragon Con, who couldn’t run a one car funeral.
As for future movies, I really don’t want to see any movies in which the actors show up for the paycheck. I hate it more when it’s a franchise (icky studio word) that I love. If Patrick doesn’t feel there’s more to say with Picard, then I agree. Mulgrew seemed to genuinely feel there’s something left for Janeway, then OK. I’d also LOVE to see one offs, DVD’s or online projects of a decent quality but perhaps a modest scope. Think in terms of spending time with individual characters or small groups for a stage play… with just a few laptop ‘splosions thrown in. That would be a nice coda to the series we’ve enjoyed.
First of all,Tgank you to all of the fan soppoet that made this dragob-con a real humdinger. The best in recent memory..alpha LOL and a big Thanj you to all the celebs! All I can say when we had our 1?at trek 35 years ago I never would have seen this coming Trek & Atlanta are really on the map! Who was it again that was going to slay the dragon? It beats guns @ teabags for freak shows. Dragon means Love& tlorance. For all. You all rule!
I’m sure Nimoy thinks the same about Shatner, he just doesn’t say it for the friendship’s sake. I’m sure that Stewart’s “friendship” only centered around their mutual involvement in Generations, and not much beyond.
#16 … “I’m sure Nimoy thinks the same about Shatner, he just doesn’t say it for the friendship’s sake.”
Thinks what? In Nimoy’s own words, Shatner is his “best friend.” What’s your point?
As for Stewart, I think you’re wrong there too. Brad Paisley, who worked on Shat’s great album Has Been, told the story of how he was invited to Bill’s house to watch Monday Night Football. When he showed up, he was surprised to see that Patrick Stewart was also there! The two men have busy careers and lives, but I’m sure they get along just fine.
I have just one word as to why Nemesis was a sucky movie….LORE!!!
I’m not one of these canon, continuity strict constructionists, but don’t insult the viewers who watched seven seasons of a tv show and then act like Data had never seen another android like himself. They completely ignored those episodes. It just totally ruined the movie for me.
As for Kate Mulgrew, and Voyager….I loved the series, I loved the characters. I don’t get, nor will I ever understand the Voyager trashing. Just like every other ST series, there were great episodes, good episodes and clunkers. They all had their fair share of everything.
I loved voyager, Kate Mulgrew gives a brilliant performance….
Say what you will about some of the series, those were some grade-A actors they had for the captains, every single one of them. Shatner, Stewart, Brooks, Mulgrew and Bakula. Amazing quality compared to most of the drivel main characters in most of the shows today.
First off, I was in each room when these two people spoke. Those of you who weren’t shouldn’t be so quick to pass judgment based on a report of a report. The above quotes are taken out of context from an online report.
In Shatner’s session, he acknowledged that he and Stewart are friends and even mentioned occasions when they have dined together with their wives/girlfriends. However, despite being such good friends, Shatner admitted that he has never once seen Stewart perform as Picard. Nimoy followed up on that and Shatner repeated it. I find that a little hard to believe given that they acted together as Kirk and Picard in “Generations.” I guess that means Shatner never watched that movie – although that may be believable since Kirk dies in that movie.
However, it was blantantly obvious to all in attendance that Stewart was joking around when he called his friend “a piece of work.”
The backlash against Mulgrew is completely uncalled for. She was a lovely woman and a pleasure to listen to. You can’t believe the number of women who stood up and thanked her for being an inspiration in their lives. She was moved to tears several times throughout the session. You may not have liked her character, but hello…it was a tv show. She was fairly constrained by the writers and producers. She had some input to her character, but not as much as you’d think. I find it ridiculous to dislike a human being based on one quote in an online article that doesn’t even make grammatical sense.
Hot Patrick Stewart is hot.
I saw that comment by Patrick, and he was *teasing*. Bill Shatner IS a piece of work, as anyone with eyes can see, but P was saying that in a fond way, with a smile. He and Bill got to know each other better while filming Generations, and while they are not ‘best buds’ or anything, I can say from first-hand knowledge that they have a warm and friendly relationship.
Agree wholeheartedly with #12.
Voyager was the shitiest Star Trek ever, it killed the franchise.
Mulgrew is such a mediocre actor, so limited and boring.
Patrick Stewart / Jean Luc Picard are the best ever. also love his comment bout Shatner…Shat..who??
21- You are perhaps correct, and I didn’t see the video. The comment in cold print, however, just seemed … well … cold.
My take on the Shatner/Kirk vs. Stewart/Picard thing.
James Kirk is by far the more interesting and more fun character.
On the other hand…. Jean-Luc Picard is a boring character and made completely unbelievable by being so very perfect in every way. (The lone exception was in the movie “First Contact” which made that movie work) However, Patrick Stewart made that boring character watchable because he is by far the best actor in any cast of any Trek show.
I thought VOY had it’s faults, but it was good for the most part and far superior to 99% of the dross on TV. Worthy of the name Star Trek.
Having said that, I do think Mulgrew’s comments RE: DS9 are a little dismissive and disrespectful to the third series, even if not meant as such.
While she is technically correct that Janeway was the third lead character in a Star Trek TV show to have the rank of captain, as Sisko was not promoted until after Voyager had aired, she is not factually correct.
Sisko was given command of Defiant before Janeway took command of Voyager (just about) and we know that irrespective of rank, an officer who commands a ship is it’s Captain (just ask Captain George Kirk and Captain Jadzia Dax, however fleetingly their tenures).
21- Agree completely. Backlash against Mulgrew is very unwarranted. She had some great moments as Janeway. You could really feel the weight she was carrying on her shoulders, (this is not a joke about the hair extensions :-) ) trying to be all things to her crew.
And I totally disagree that Voyager….or even Enterprise killed the franchise.
Even Enterprise (watching the whole run again in order) had some excellent episodes.
The only thing that hurt the franchise was that there was just too much of it at once, for too long and after so many hundreds of episodes, there was a sense of “been there, done that”….but that in no way meant that the actual characters or all the stories were shitty.
My wife and I attended Dragoncon. We didnt get to any startrek panels and we got to get autographs from alot of the stars. Everyone was very nice except for Shatner. he didnt even look at us when he signed not when we spoke to him. He didnt say one word. Now I know that the actors were told to go through as fast as possible,but come on. All in all we had a great time.
#29, I had the exact same experience with Nimoy in Tulsa, no eye contact, nothing. Its just the nature of the beast I suppose. Just too many people to herd through in such short period of time.
As far as Patrick Stewart goes, its not so much that he has shut the door on Star Trek as it is Star Trek has shut the door on him.
Enterprise would have been the best series if it had been given its full 7 year run. As it stands it ties for first place with Voyager. Voyager is first place because it has more good episodes than any other show. The first 3 seasons of tng were horrible with a few exceptions. And even after season 4 there were still a lot of bad episodes. DS9 was mediocre until the dominion war went full swing. Thats half the series. Voyager was always pretty good from the beginning and got even better in the 4th season (not because of Ryan i don’t really like her). With that said it doesn’t have as many “must have” episodes like next gen does.
As for captains, personally if i had to pick one and spend the next 75 years with them, its Janeway hands down. Pickard is to much of a jerk. I’m not a big fan of kirk, and Sisko and Archer would be ok, but ultimately Janeway has this warmth that would make it easier to live with 75 if you were really stranded on the other side of the galaxy. If it was just an assignment without being stranded i would take sisko over archer just because archer was too inexperienced.
#12 –
Very rude, offensive, and totally uncalled for. Perhaps someone (you) has issues with intelligent, powerful women being in charge.
ohms
that was totally inappropriate and i am jumping right past warning to just say goodbye
Anthony:
Re: the latest poll
TNG or 09 Sequel; 09 Sequel or TNG?
Why couldn’t we have both?
1 a year, alternating years?
Is Paramount listening? Probably not.
Sad,
#9
I’d wager Shat himself would be the first to tell you that he is a piece of work. He seems to have become so self aware of who and what he is lately… and he uses it to make a darned good living.
Lets hope we get a new trek TV series soon. It is time to begin the next adventure. Captains well Janeway is my fav, With Archer second. And Captain Gath coming on strong now onboard the USS Sovereign.
Yes, Shatner and Stewart are good friends. As for TNG, they’d never do a feature film, that would be absurd. The cast aren’t going to do a TV Movie either. I loved the show and its movies, but its story really has been told and then some. Would I buy a DVD movie? Of course, immediately, but I don’t expect it to happen.
As for Nemesis, someone mentioned. It’s funny, I finally got around to watching the Collector’s Edition DVD recently, and the scenes they Deleted (at least the brief 17 of 50 minutes removed that is actually on the DVD) really would have made a BIG difference in my perception of the film. Stuart Baird removed almost all of the in-jokes and classic character interactions that have always marked Star Trek films. His quest for action was obvious. Particularly the scene where Geordi finds Data’s emotion chip, and Worf finds Spot. That almost guarantees that B-4 could have become nearly identical to Data. The scene where the new first officer shows up was also a great one.
John Logan wrote a really good script, and the choice of Baird really ruined the movie. Would it have made more money with, say Frakes or someone else? Probably not, because Paramount promoted the movie on TV for about 3 days. J.J.’s movie has quite an unfair advantage to previous Trek movies. The budget was astronomical, and the promotion was that which we’ve never seen before from Paramount.
#35) How about even years, spring New TOS, fall DSN
Odd years Spring TNG fall VOY
and DVD films ENT season 5-7
How happy would that make Trek Fans
Plus on-line Star Trek Galaxy gaming.
As for Steward, you have to remember he is British and has many more other acting deals. And then the media is not as directly connected to the FAN base as in the US. To me it seemes that TV over there is Video Radio, not as important factor in life as Primetime creates in America. But as there marketing fools over there learn how to use it to make money it will slowly grow bigger.
The odd thing is Max Headroom seemed much more like it was from the Media devoured British World. Even thoe they hint at starting enveloping the World from East Coast USA. But maybe it created that feel because of the British scents.
Thats British Accents, thank my cat playing with the mouse in the spell correcting pop up window via Google.
#10. – Did you read “Star Trek: Countdown,” the prequel to ST:09 set in 2387 explaining what happened to cause Nero and Spock Prime to go back in time? With regard to your theory on Data and B-4, you nearly hit the nail on the head!
(I won’t give away any more than that… there may be people on this thread who haven’t read Countdown and don’t want spoilers and I don’t want to start any arguments about spoilers out of respect for everyone.)
Love you Patrick and Kate!
I was at Dragon*Con this weekend. As always, it was a lot of fun, although some of the lines were horrible.
You people who are calling Kate Mulgrew a c–t … man, y’all are some sad, sad a-holes. So you didn’t like “Voyager,” eh? So be it. But calling a person a name like that with no real basis for it is just plain sad, and it makes we wonder how somebody as stupid as you could ever get any actual value out of watching ANY of the Trek series.
In person, Mulgrew is as captivating a speaker as I have ever heard. Absolutely wonderful. It is obvious that while she didn’t necessarily love all of the developments “Voyager” went through — she seemed extremely dismissive of the Fair Haven love story episodes — she took the character seriously, and continues to do so. She expressed these feelings with great candor, sincerity, and gratefulness.
If that makes her a c–t in your book, then you are a f—ing cretin.
Picard will likely ALWAYS be my favorite Trek captain, and he, too, was a captivating speaker; he didn’t seem quite as comfortable with the stage (or with the Trek fandom) as Mulgrew seemed, but I can’t fault him for either one of those things. I came away feeling lucky to have seen him speak.
As for Shatner and Nimoy, I’ve heard numerous people express serious disappointment with how impersonal an approach they took to autograph signings and photographs with fans. No personal touch AT ALL, plus exorbitant fees. I don’t want to damn either man for that, and won’t.
However, Dragon*Con was also attended this weekend by Terry Gilliam, who is at least as notable a name as either Shatner or Nimoy. Not only did he not charge for autographs or photos, he also stayed several hours past the time the con allotted him for the autograph room, so that as many of the fans waiting in line for hours to see him would be served as possible. I’m not into autographs, but one of my friends spent close to six hours waiting in line (three unsuccessful hours one day, three successful hours the next) to get a book about Python signed.
He was literally the last person Gilliam saw in a three-hour-plus signing session, and my friend told me that Gilliam was as pleasant as could be, downright friendly, despite having been stuck in a hot room, signing his name and smiling for photos for hours on end … all for free. Eric told me that Gilliam, as far as he could tell, was similarly kind and friendly to all of the people in line in front of him.
So if a legendary director like Gilliam can behave that way, well, it doesn’t make Shatner and Nimoy seem much like princes for simply posing and signing without issuing so much as a hello to the people paying them valuable dollars just for the opportunity of saying hello to them and passing the briefest of words to them.
29. Qcjoe –
That seems to be par for the course with Shatner. A few years ago I went to a creation convention and sprang for the Kirk/Spock picture. Shatner and Nimoy were on chairs and us lowly fans stood behind/between them. While Mr. Nimoy made an honest effort to not only look at the camera but to smile for the photo, Shatner, who had just arrived minutes before the shoot, was carrying on a conversation with Nimoy, talking about his trip, etc. He did not stop talking for the pictures, and you got what you got. I was fortunate that in my picture he was mostly looking at the camera and whatever word he was speaking at the time made it look like he was smiling a little.
There was a woman behind me who said she had gotten pictures with Shatner at 2 previous conventions and he wasn’t looking at the camera in either one, and that if he didn’t look at the camera for this one she was going to give up!
” 14. CmdrR – September 8, 2009
Actually got into see Patrick and Kate on Saturday — no thanks to the organizers at Dragon Con, who couldn’t run a one car funeral.”
I’ve never heard it put better. DragonCon succeeds because of the fans, not because of the organizers. If you avoid the staff, you are guaranteed a good time. This year was the worst for staff YELLING at fans who asked questions like about where the end of the admission line is- not a singular event (little miss who was directing line for Adam Savage panel was an example of this)
I watched all the major panels on CCTV, which had some technical glitches for otherwise good productions.
Kate was wonderful. I have renewed respect for her. (not missing from before, just forgotten how much I like her)
Shatner was… well… playing the irascible Bill we all know today. He and Nimoy, when schticking it up, are as strong as any comedy duo in history.
As to the autograph prices, blame the black-marketeers on eBay, etc. They and the fake autograph sellers have made it the way it is, not the stars.
Regarding the photo sessions, it’s definitely the whim of the star to be social or not. Jonathan Frakes and Katee Sackhoff were all kinds of great fun to be with.
I’m sure I’m not alone in finding some people depressing. Some of the crackpot opinions thrown around on here do Trek fans no credit.
44. We got our pictures taken with them as well and the exact same thing happened. Neither of them seemed to happy to be there. I wish I could take my money back and spend it on people who where glad to be there and to meet us.
45. I agree 100% The people for the most part were real nice and I had no problem making friends in line. Now the people who where handeling the lines thats another story. It was a cluster $#%* if you know what I mean. They had us going everywhere.
Actually Stewart and Shatner are friends. Shatner’s book “Up Til Now” discusses the two visiting each others homes for dinner. Stewart was poking fun at his friend, like any of us would do. Shatner loves it. Keeps us commoners talking.
Guess TNG really is done for, its too bad, but I guess its just been too long. I just regret that because of studio BS they got sent out on such a lame movie. I just hope people remember that if it werent for TNG being as good and as successful as it was, there would have been no later series’s and no movie this year, or probably ever again. There would probably just be a few small Star Trek sites out there for the old fans. He did an awesome job with Picard, better than any of the others did with their captains, IMHO.