Voyager Convention 2001

It had to be the best kept secret of the weekend. I had no idea when we booked our tickets at the last minute for the Star Trek Voyager celebratory weekend, that Patrick Stewart would be surprising us all by dropping by on the seaside resort.

The actors had been playing tricks on each other all weekend, going up to the microphones and asking one another questions in false voices. It was when Kate Mulgrew was on stage that someone asked which captain was her favourite. Whether she had spotted it was Patrick at that point, I’m not sure but she proceeded to list the good qualities for each captain before finally deciding on Captain Picard. Each guest had been arriving on stage via the mock- Star Trek sliding doors at the rear of the stage to the Star Trek theme. As the music played and the doors opened, Patrick’s voice greeted everyone with “hello” and he walked on stage. At first, I wasn’t sure it was him! I had seen his “double” wandering around the hall all day. It wasn’t until the cheers and screams got louder (and a nudge from my Dad ) told me it was really him!

Patrick was in the area preparing for Priestley’s play “Johnson over Jordan” at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds and had come across for the afternoon. He spent an hour with Kate Mulgrew as they chatted together and took questions from the audience. Patrick then spent a further hour answering questions himself.
I’m afraid I can’t remember much of what he said. He did reveal about Kate having a cameo in Nemesis, which was news to her as well as us! And he did produce a fine yorkshire accent to show he still was a yorkshire lad at heart :)