[Captain_Hair]

In an interview with Newsweek about the success of the US debut of MacBeth, Patrick Stewart was, as expected, asked about Star Trek. The interviewer seems to have taken a naive cynical view of Star Trek and its fans and phrased her questions about the series in a most negative of manners. Of course, given the general stigma that seems to be associated with Star Trek, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Newsweek: Did you ever get sick of the jumpsuit on "Star Trek"? Patrick Stewart: Sick of it? I came to loathe it. We actually got rid of it after the second season thanks to my chiropractor, who said if they don't take you out of that costume we are going to slap a lawsuit on Paramount for the lasting damage done to your spine. Newsweek: How does a jumpsuit damage your spine? Patrick Stewart: They were made from Lycra and one size too small. The producers wanted to have a smooth, unwrinkled look. It put a terrible amount of strain on the shoulders, neck and back. Newsweek: When you're onstage, aren't you worried about weird Trekkie fans in the audience? Patrick Stewart: Oh, come on, that's just a silly thing to say. Newsweek: But they are weird. Patrick Stewart: How many do you know personally? You couldn't be more wrong. Here's the thing: if you say the fans are weird, that means there is something essentially weird about the show, and there is nothing weird about it. I'm very passionate when people like you snigger.

Way to tell her, Cap'n!

[via: Newsweek]

[Terilynn]

Nicki Gostin.

Class with a capital K.

[aklaus]

Ooooo...the Make It So Burn...

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

It's about time that journalists learned to stop ribbing Stewart about the 25 years he spent as Picard. The fact is he's proud of his work ~ even Nemesis ~ even though he's back doing what he loves on stage with the RSC. It stands to reason that is he's proud of his time in Star Trek that he respects the people that love it too.

This is sadly, just another case of a hack trying to make capital out of the notorious, embarrassing and non-representitive "trekkies" to make a cheap shot, stupidly expecting him to agree. Patrick's put-down shows his class and integrity as an actor, no wonder I'm looking forward to seeing him on stage for the third time this coming August.

[mlaz]

shows how difficult it is to be a good intervieuwer.
And that asking good questions that makes you want to know more and give you insight in how people or things are is not a easy thing to do.

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

^^^Good interviewers try to find their own angles and try to get the interviewee to say something they've not said to the media before. Lazy interviewing is just plumping for the cheap and the obvious like this lazy hack did. Stewart knows that most Trek fans aren't "wierd" just as I'm not wierd watching him perform Shakespeare. The interviewer got called out on it. Good. Maybe journalism isn't that person's first and best calling.

[Terilynn]

JulesLuvsShinzon, on Apr 5 2008, 10:44 AM, said:

Maybe journalism isn't that person's first and best calling.

Ya think?

[StarTrekChuck]

Wait, I'm lost. We are considered "weird?" ?????????????????


When did that happen??


(looking confused)

[Terilynn]

I have blogged. I feel better. *Smirk.*

[WeatherManNX01]

You know, for as much distance as Stewart wants to put between himself and Star Trek (and to be fair, it is over and time to move on), it's nice to see that he stands up for all of those "weird" people, without whom we wouldn't have had five series and eleven movies - the people who kept him employed for seven years, which gave him the leverage for larger and larger paychecks over the subsequent four movies, and which also gave him opportunities that he may not have had otherwise.

[aklaus]

True. He's smart enough to not bite the hand that feeds him, or the fan that heeds him.
*hides*

[Terilynn]

If I were him I would have been insulted twice over. Here he is just trying to make a decent living doing what he loves, and God knows he's good at...acting. He's been nominated for a Tony and the poor guy still has to deal with the Trek questions.

Gostin could have saved her own face by just taking the high road and asking him questions about his play...but no, she had to bring up the Trek stuff. Fine. If you have bring up the Trek stuff do so - but why in this fashion? The more appropriate and frankly more interesting question would have been something more akin to ... "Do you find that many of your fans from Trek attend your plays simply because you portrayed Picard?", etc. Something relevant to his play in the here and now.

But like I have uttered elsewhere, her simple dropping of the phrase "But they are weird" wasn't a question. It was a statement of her opinion that she sought his confirmation of. Then she cheesily headlined the article with "Stewart likes his Trekkies." Like somehow that's a bad thing. She insulted him for supporting us!

What a schlock. Not a very good way to sell magazines if you ask me. &^%$@) Newsweek. They lost me. They can't hire decent writers, why should I even bother to read them? Fools.

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

Terilynn, on Apr 6 2008, 06:10 AM, said:

If I were him I would have been insulted twice over. Here he is just trying to make a decent living doing what he loves, and God knows he's good at...acting. He's been nominated for a Tony and the poor guy still has to deal with the Trek questions.

But I think he's professional enough to accept that it will forever go with the territory and, yes, he acknowledges that it gave him greater fame than he could ever have acheived otherwise. And he's proud of his work there, and still can't understand why Nemesis flopped. He's great friends with the other TNG actors and lived a lifestyle he may never have lived otherwise. Also, he's no snob and will happily do popular stuff like the X-Men along with the highbrow stuff. He's like Ian McKellern in that respect ~ both excellent thespians that have reason to be snobbish but somehow are too cultured to be culture-snobs.

Stewart is a man of discretion. After he got divorced from Wendy Neuss, he dated a very much younger woman (they were both in The Master Builder which I saw), and instead of boasting and flouting the fact, he kept shtumm and behaved with far greater dignity than certain politicians I know of.

Quote

Gostin could have saved her own face by just taking the high road and asking him questions about his play...but no, she had to bring up the Trek stuff. Fine. If you have bring up the Trek stuff do so - but why in this fashion? The more appropriate and frankly more interesting question would have been something more akin to ... "Do you find that many of your fans from Trek attend your plays simply because you portrayed Picard?", etc. Something relevant to his play in the here and now.

He's been asked that before and his response has been that if people go to see Shakespeare because of him then he's happy to be the cause of more people watching Shakespeare. He said that he thought that Shakespeare would approve ~ and I think he would!

Quote

But like I have uttered elsewhere, her simple dropping of the phrase "But they are weird" wasn't a question. It was a statement of her opinion that she sought his confirmation of. Then she cheesily headlined the article with "Stewart likes his Trekkies." Like somehow that's a bad thing. She insulted him for supporting us!

What a schlock. Not a very good way to sell magazines if you ask me. &^%$@) Newsweek. They lost me. They can't hire decent writers, why should I even bother to read them? Fools.

Yeah, interviewers aren't supposed to litter an interview with their own opinions. The reader is more interested in finding out what the interviewee thinks, and she certainly found out this time!

This post has been edited by JulesLuvsShinzon: 06 April 2008 - 04:20 AM

[Vulcanfanatic]

Stewart said to call the fans weird would mean that there is something essentially weird about the show, and thats not true. I dont know what Stewart is like in person, but i am sure he wouldnt openly bite the hand that feeds him, as someone else posted, but i am not sure that his comments were really a defense for Trek fans, just a defense of his own work.

[Terilynn]

JulesLuvsShinzon, on Apr 6 2008, 03:18 AM, said:

He's been asked that before and his response has been that if people go to see Shakespeare because of him then he's happy to be the cause of more people watching Shakespeare. He said that he thought that Shakespeare would approve ~ and I think he would!



Yeah, interviewers aren't supposed to litter an interview with their own opinions. The reader is more interested in finding out what the interviewee thinks, and she certainly found out this time!

1) That's what I respect about him as an actor. People talk about him not biting the hand that feeds him. I don't think he sees Trek that way at all. He's got plenty of hands that feed him and it's his talent that generates that. He's been a working actor for decades and yes Trek gave him fame he didn't anticipate, but he' s one of the few that have been able to dodge the stereotype and work outside of Trek.

I agree with you wholeheartedly Jules....Shakespeare's best plays (IMHO) were the ones he wrote for the masses, not for the court. He would have loved to see Stewart bringing his work to everyone!

2) Again, that's been my point. If I wanted to know what Gostin thought, I would have read an interview of her. She's the one who came off as thinking she was "too good" to interview Stewart, who she apparently thinks is just Picard in a Macbeth suit.

Ignorance is not bliss...it's the root of all evil.

[JulesLuvsShinzon]

Vulcanfanatic, on Apr 6 2008, 01:19 PM, said:

Stewart said to call the fans weird would mean that there is something essentially weird about the show, and thats not true. I dont know what Stewart is like in person, but i am sure he wouldnt openly bite the hand that feeds him, as someone else posted, but i am not sure that his comments were really a defense for Trek fans, just a defense of his own work.

No, I think he was defending both and rebutting a somewhat sweeping statement.

Terilynn, on Apr 6 2008, 03:01 PM, said:

I agree with you wholeheartedly Jules....Shakespeare's best plays (IMHO) were the ones he wrote for the masses, not for the court. He would have loved to see Stewart bringing his work to everyone!

Absolutely! And I think Shakespeare might have appreciated Star Trek for the way in which it tackled current issues by using a different setting ~ much like his own work in fact!

[ensign edwards]

Go Patrick! Go Patrick!

That is all.

[Terilynn]

JulesLuvsShinzon, on Apr 6 2008, 08:31 AM, said:

Absolutely! And I think Shakespeare might have appreciated Star Trek for the way in which it tackled current issues by using a different setting ~ much like his own work in fact!

I know! That's the beauty of well-written sci-fi/fantasy! It's the genre that allows BIG ideas to be tackled without losing the audience. Why else would RSC members like Stewart and McKellan allow themselves to appear in so many examples of it (ST, X-Men, LOTR....) It's because it is the Shakespeare of our time!

(Something that I think Gostin misses....clueless twit.) (I'm such a phloxing *&#(* aren't I? )

This post has been edited by Terilynn: 06 April 2008 - 10:00 AM

[Radardog]

JulesLuvsShinzon, on Apr 6 2008, 08:31 AM, said:

Absolutely! And I think Shakespeare might have appreciated Star Trek for the way in which it tackled current issues by using a different setting ~ much like his own work in fact!

Nah, there wasn't enough sex.

Patrick Stewart gets Star Trek. And for that, I am truly grateful.

[djbarney]

Terilynn, on Apr 6 2008, 03:01 PM, said:

I agree with you wholeheartedly Jules....Shakespeare's best plays (IMHO) were the ones he wrote for the masses, not for the court. He would have loved to see Stewart bringing his work to everyone!

Exactly !

I remember discussing with a friend years ago how ST is seen as trivial when really it's up there with the greats. A few Voyager episodes are absolute masters of making pithy insights about the times we live in. Maybe it's Star Treks strength that it gets played over and over on sat channels as "tivial sci fi entertainment" while delivering important messages "under the radar" {goes into subversive mode }.

DJ Barney