Episode 707- Remembering Patrick Stewart: A Tribute to a Legend

0:09 Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready. Old bobs and worm stories that'll twist and turn. Baltar, Scimitar, Death of Tasha Yar. Flash, Gordon, Buck, Roger, Stormtroopers and Clone Wars. James, Walton, Tweaky, John, Koenig and Ziggy. We talk about the series. You can join us.

0:50 Live by picking up your phone now. We talk about the series. We're coming to. You on your streaming services now. We talk about the series. Comics, books, and games, we go beyond the show now. We talk about the series. Come and join us as we sit and chat and. We go. On and on and on and on. Well, it is, Paul, it is episode six. Jim is welcome to everybody on the show. Should we say hi, Paul? Paul, what an odd beginning to the show, but how are you doing this week?

1:32 I'm doing well. Just a friendly reminder to all of our listeners that you can support Trek Talking Beyond Podcast by becoming a subscriber through or our Facebook page. It's only 99 cents a month. Facebook is much more expensive, of course, and you can support us by liking or sharing our posts on Facebook or wherever you choose to. I'm doing well. It's true. And I've heard that this whole situation allows you to see our video ahead of time when other people can see it. That's right. There's a man named David who Uncle Jim keeps chained in a box in his basement. And a few times a week, he will let David out. And he will make these amazing videos. Of frogs and leprechauns and enchanted Republicans.

2:13 It's amazing. I've never seen such entertainment value for a mere 99 cents a month. Lordy, lordy. All right, Jim. Well, we're already past the plug for Patreon, so go ahead. I got booted before I even got on. Wow, that's incredible. I'm back. Did everybody say hello and introduce themselves? No, not everybody has said hello yet. All right, let's start off with I'm your host, Uncle Jim, and I'm back. I went to the beyond, and now I'm going to go on and introduce my awesome experts. We're going to go out to Portland and say hello to Paul. How are you doing tonight, Paul? Well, I like to say hello as many times as I can, so I'm doing all right. It is a hopeful week for mankind this week here in the United States, and I'm very excited about that because we need some hope in the worst possible way. It's good to have that happening, so it's great to be here with you all.

3:11 and to be talking about positive things like Star Trek and remembering things that, uh, that we don't want to ever forget, like our topic of tonight's show. Absolutely. I also want to hang out in Portland and say hello to Riker. Eric, how you doing tonight, Eric? I am doing well. You know, I kind of feel like it's a bittersweet show because of course I'm always up for gathering and talking about one of my favorite actors of all time, but it's just, you know, it's kind of for a tough reason. And I, But, you know, I do draw some comfort from the fact that, you know, you guys are all a family and much like a family does at weddings and funerals and things like that, you know, we get together and we have a shared experience together. And even if some of it is not so good, that's okay. But we're going to share some memories.

3:58 We're going to have some good times. So I'm excited about today's show, despite the fact that we're talking about surpassing. Absolutely. And I think we should stay out in Portland while we're out there anyways and say hello to our miracle worker, David. How are you doing tonight, David? You should stay out because I got some doggy bones that we were just talking about earlier. But, yeah, I'm doing pretty good. I got lots of doggy bones. And I threw Leia out, so she's not even here to bother us. And we're going to swing out to Las Vegas and we're going to see how Charles is doing tonight. I'm doing good. The weather's nice. Got a couple of fun stories I'm going to share about JLP. Didn't get to meet him personally, but got to see him on stage more than once. And it was an interesting occasion.

4:42 Absolutely. I've got a story to share about him as well. But what would this Trek talking be without an Uncle Jim story anyways? It has nothing to do with urinals and guy nods, so don't worry about that. And we want to swing out to Virginia. We want to see how V is doing tonight. Just feeling like it's midnight at, you know, 730. Kind of sucks. But other than that, you know, glad to be here. It's been an incredible week wearing my Trekmas, my Trek the Hall shirt, because I feel like Christmas came early. So I'm... battling a bit of a cold, but otherwise, you know, life is good. So happy to be here.

5:25 You're not so blue today either. No, no, I'm not. So V I am curious, uh, approximately how long did it take you to decostume after last show? I don't know. Cause I just, I just pulled off the wig and the little antennae there somewhere over there. But yeah, taking off the makeup, I have just the makeup wipes and took quite a few. Took quite a few wipes. Okay. I mean, there was a lot of blue. Yes, there was a lot of blue on my hands. And the next day at work, people were saying, how come you've got some blue behind your ears?

6:07 So days. But you weren't spray painted, though. No, I didn't spray paint myself, which is like, who would do that? Who would do that? What man would do that? You can blame me for that. So, because this was actual, like, cosplay makeup and everything. You mean it wasn't Krylon? No. Or Cylon. Cylon spray paint. And I'm going to swing back to my home state of Vermont. We're going to welcome Whitney to the podcast tonight. How are you doing, Whitney? I'm good. Battling a former migraine. And you've got Reggie there to keep you company.

6:49 I do. I have my cats. That's a good thing. On tonight's show, we're going to dedicate an entire show to the greatest actor ever known, the man amid the legend himself, Mr. Sir Jean-Luc. Picard, Patrick Stewart himself. We're going to talk about him tonight in great length and great detail. But before I do that, I've got to say, yay, I feel vindicated. I'm happy. I think the world is great that the rest of the United States woke up. and saw the error of their ways and voted in mass quantities for a change, and we got it. So I just want to say thank you to all my fellow Americans out there, and. Let's get back to some normalcy. We need it. Without any further ado, what do you say we talk about the man amid the legend himself, Sir Patrick Storr?

7:35 Before we go too far, I just wanted to start out with Eric, because Eric always does our remembrances, and this time is no different. So, Eric, would you like to get us started with tonight's show? There we go. There we go. So, yeah, Jim, thanks. Patrick Stewart, Star Trek's Captain Picard and X-Men's Charles Xavier, unfortunately was lost this week at 86 years old. Patrick Stewart, the English actor with impressive stage and film credits who will be remembered most for his roles as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek The Next Generation. and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men films, died Wednesday in his Los Angeles home. He was 86.

8:19 His sonorous voice and singular talent will forever be synonymous with indelible performances in every genre. He explored the human condition in all its poetic complexity and brought hope not only to the far reaches of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but into science fiction's most iconic final frontier aboard the Starship Enterprise, the statement read. His professional accomplishments were humbly matched by his philanthropy and activism on behalf of human rights, survivors of domestic violence, global refugees, veterans' mental health services, and animal welfare, particularly his cherished foster pitties. He was a knight chancellor, motorsport enthusiast, and lifelong Huddersfield football fan.

9:11 He will be remembered for the dignity, compassion, and humanity he brought to every role in his art and life. Stewart and his Star Trek The Next Generation co-stars took their characters to the big screen for several films before the Star Trek film franchise was rebooted by JJ Abrams with characters from the original series. He returned to the franchise for Star Trek Picard, which ran from 2020 to 2023. In the high-profile X-Men film franchise, Stewart played Professor Xavier opposite his good friend Ian McKellen as the villainous Magneto. He reprises the role in this December's Avengers Doomsday alongside McKellen.

9:56 In a 2008 profile describing Stewart's return to his roots in classical theater by starring in a production of Macbeth, the New York Times in its mashup headline plethely referenced the two very different paths the actor has followed in his career to boldly go where Shakespeare calls. In addition to being nominated for four Emmy Awards, Stewart won three Olivier Awards for his theater work and was nominated for a Tony Award. It's hard to emphasize enough how dramatically Stewart's life changed when he began his role on Star Trek The Next Generation in 1987. For the two decades prior, he had been a mainstay of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

10:41 He had made time for some film and television work, but he was kept busy appearing in more than two dozen RSC stage productions, including as Astrov in Uncle Vanya in 1974, Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1977, Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in 78, and in the title role in Titus Andronicus in 1981. Stewart played Picard throughout the 1987-94 run of Star Trek The Next Generation, and then in the features of Star Trek Generations, in which he appeared with William Shatner, Star Trek First Contact, Star Trek Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis. He played Professor Xavier in the X-Men from 2000, X-Men 2, X-Men The Last Stand, X-Men Origins Wolverine, The Wolverine, and X-Men Days of Future Past. Assessing Stewart's contributions to Star Trek, the next generation, the New York times said with his aura of stern yet fair authority and seriousness of purpose, Mr.

11:48 Stewart made captain Jean-Luc Picard, the moral center of Star Trek, the next generation across seven seasons, helping to keep it from sliding into camp or self parody. Hollywood took to him and he took to Hollywood in general and Stewart seemed to keep a good sense of humor about his ties to popular culture, never publicly displaying the angst that Shatner and Leonard Nimoy each revealed at times. He did voice work on The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad, and showed a willingness to make forays into comedy, playing a comically snooty waiter in Steve Martin's 1991 gem L.A. Story, and King Richard in Mel Brooks' 1993 Robin Hood Men in Tights.

12:32 Women in tights. And hosting Saturday Night Live in 1994. He recently voiced Sir Richfield in the animated Sheep Detectives. Fantastic movie, by the way. In a very different vein, he was the best thing in 1995 gay comedy Jeffrey. The New York Times said Stewart had some of the best lines and delivers them with a dignified brio that is only enhanced when he happens to be wearing a fuchsia beret. the uniform of an anti-gay bashing group called the Pink Panthers. Later, the actor would serve as the narrator for Seth MacFarlane's scabulous comedy Ted and its sequel. Stewart appeared in the 2015 film Match, based on the play by Stephen Belber, in which the actor played a vain, flamboyant dance instructor and, in a very different vein... in the Jeremy Solonet horror thriller Green Room, in which he played the leader of a band of neo-Nazis. He also starred in the Starz series Blunt Talk, about a substance-abusing English newscaster who moves to LA to host a talk show. Stewart continued his stage work even during the run of Star Trek The Next Generation, playing George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Young Vic in 1987, He would return to the role at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater in 2001, and repeatedly

14:06 appeared in seasonal stagings in Los Angeles and on Broadway of a one-man version of A Christmas Carol that he adapted himself from the original Dickens. I believe that they made a video version of that too, because I feel like I saw that and I definitely did not go down to LA. After The Next Generation ended, Stewart ramped up his theater work, He appeared on Broadway as Prospero in The Tempest in 1996, essayed the title role in a photonegative staging of Othello at the Shakespearean Theater in Washington, D.C. in 1997, and returned to Broadway to star in The Ride Down Mount Morgan in 2000. In Britain, his work on the boards starring in Antony and Cleopatra in The Tempest and soon triumphing in... Macbeth won back the critics who had written him off when he had ventured into American television's version of Outer Space years earlier. Also in 2008, Stewart played Claudius in a production of Hamlet that starred David Tennant, winning Stewart the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor.

15:17 Stewart had had a productive association with Ian McKellen. In addition to starring as adversaries in the X-Men films during the filming of which they developed a close friendship, The pair appeared on The West End, Waiting for Godot in 2009 production, and in Repertory on Broadway in 2014 in that Beckett play, and another existential classic, Harrod Pintler's No Man's Land. The actor made his first cinematic forays into fantasy and science fiction, with John Borman's take on the Arthur legend, 1981's Excalibur, in which Stewart played... Leonda Grants?

15:59 We're going to talk about that. I don't know that name. Leonda Grants. And director David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune, in which he played Gurney Halleck, a top officer in the Atreides household who became the trusted lieutenant to Paul. Played, of course, by Kyle McLaughlin in that version. Earlier on British television, he starred in the 1975 BBC miniseries North and South, an adaptation of the Elizabeth Gaskell novel. and then played Sejanus on I, Claudius in the BBC's Mayberry from 1981 to 1983. He starred as a psychiatrist at a hospital there. Patrick Hugh Stewart was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, acting as a youth with various amateur drama societies in the region and leaving school at 15. He held a job as a newspaper reporter, but ultimately chose acting over journalism.

16:54 He lost his hair at age 18. Stewart began his acting career at Manchester's Library Theatre, after which he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. The actor lent his voice to a number of video games associated with Star Trek as well, and X-Men films, video games as well. He was thrice married, the first time to choreographer Sheila Falconer, the second to Wendy Noose, a producer of Star Trek The Next Generation, Survivors, include third wife Sunny Ozel, whom he married in a 2013 ceremony presided over by Ian McKellen, as well as a daughter, Sophie Stewart, and a son, actor Daniel Stewart, both from his marriage to Faulkner. Donations may be made to Johns Hopkins Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Fund and Alzheimer's Foundation of America Caregiver Resources. So there you go. That is our obituary for Patrick Stewart this week.

17:59 Yeah, absolutely. I thought we should start off with that. And we have some fan reactions from fans on our Facebook page. V, would you like to let everybody know what our fans have to say about Sir Patrick Stewart? Yes, I would like to. Ellen Silber says, I can't let a Christmas season go by without watching A Christmas Carol. Also, we saw him live in two Broadway plays. Ooh, lucky. Waiting for Godot and The Ride Down Mount Morgan. He was splendid in both. He was just the consummate actor. The inner light and the best of both worlds come to mind. He gave all to his profession. He was generous to fellow actors, generous to fans. I enjoyed watching him. Yeah, we did as well. Next, Ed Mark, who is a top fan, said, I met him at a con in Cleveland.

18:59 He signed thousands of autographs that weekend. No charge other than the con admission. Wow, that's nice. We touched hands when he was passing the autograph photo to me. We both said sorry for the accidental touch. I love this. I had Patrick Stewart DNA on. on me that day. That's awesome. Rest in peace, Sir Patrick Stewart. A little sad emoji. Next, Ben Newberry-Mays says, he played a horrifically villainous role as Sejanus in I, Claudius, but he was such a good actor that you couldn't help empathizing with him by the end. Alex Jackson, who is another top fan, that he was such an inspiration with his roles. I read his autobiography and it was just like sitting listening. He took Picard and made it his mission to improve the character. And he did with aplomb. We love you, Sir Patrick, and we will miss you. A heart emoji. Indeed, we will.

20:02 Josh Bryant says, I think we all have celebrities that have influenced us. If you were born in the 1970s or 80s, you probably had a TV dad. Sir Patrick Stewart is the celebrity that impacted me most. He was my rather unconventional TV dad and role model. As Captain Picard, he demonstrated the finest in morality and justice, leadership, confidence, humility, compassion, inclusivity, diplomacy, duty, and courage. He was larger than life, bringing Gene Roddenberry's vision for a better humanity to the next generation and forcing us to wrestle with ideas 30 years ago that we are facing today. As a student of Shakespeare, his recitation and commentary on Shakespeare's sonnets are inspiring. He was simply an underrated, brilliant actor and human. In true Star Trek fashion, he lived long and prospered. Rest in peace, Sir Patrick. And thank you. Next, Randy Regal, another top fan.

21:14 Rest in peace, Sir Patrick Stewart. Go explore the universe. You will never be forgotten after your lifetime of such wonderful craft and talent. Jean-Luc Picard will also never be forgotten. They have two broken heart emojis and then can't quite tell what that other emoji is. I was going to... Anyway, all right. Yeah, I was going to say a ninja turtle, but I don't know. Yeah, I'm not sure. But anyway, those are all beautiful. Okay, all right. So ninja turtles, flowers. Yes, that makes sense. Those were beautiful.

21:54 So thank you to all of you who wrote such heartfelt tributes to Patrick. I was bored. But fans aren't the only ones. that missed Sir Patrick Stewart. We have some celebrity tributes as well, and Paul is going to tell us about those. Thank you, Uncle Tim. First of all, we'll hear from one of his co-stars, Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine in more than 10 Marvel films, at least at this count, penned a tribute to Patrick Stewart on Instagram. We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today, Jackman wrote. And in my book, A Tremendous Friend and Man, I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days. Jonathan Frakes wrote in a statement to The Times... There's no one on this planet that I have acted with or directed more often than my late great friend Patrick Stewart. He will be with me forever.

22:42 May he rest in peace. William Shatner, who lost another former co-star in the Star Trek franchise, Walter Koenig, Koenig, excuse me, this week, posted a photo of an embrace with Stewart alongside a tribute. What a heartbreaking week it has been, Shatner wrote. Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, colleague, and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work. My heart goes out to Sonny and his family. He will be deeply missed. Minnie Driver, who acted alongside Patrick Stewart in the 2017 romantic comedy film The Wild Wedding, posted on Instagram, Is this year some kind of portal to a much, much better place that all the greatest people now about and so have gently made their exits? Dearest Patrick, who always had the best advice, the funniest story, the patience to listen, I'm just bereft. All love to your family and you in my heart forever. Stewart also starred in the AIDS-era 1995 romantic comedy film Jeffrey, alongside actor Brian Batt. Heartbroken of the news of Sir Patrick's passing, Batt wrote on Facebook, he was one of the most talented, kindest, and generous actors I've ever had the honor of working with. I was lucky to play his lover in the film of Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey. Even though I was created the role

24:12 on stage, it was my first film, and needless to say, I was a bit anxious. Patrick took me under his wing and guided me along, teaching me so much. A wonderful, giving actor and true gentleman of the theater. Blights of angels sing thee to thy rest. Rock star and author Patti Smith also commented on the announcement of Stewart's death on Instagram, writing tears of love. Marvel's Kevin Feige told the Times in a statement, I'll never forget the first time I saw Sir Patrick Stewart on the set of the first X-Men. After years of knowing him as the inimitable Captain Picard, I was in awe, and he turned out to be everything I had seen on screen and more. Brilliant, charming, warm, generous with a quiet strength and gravitas. Away from the cameras, he was even more remarkable, with a wonderfully sharp sense of humor. It was a true privilege to know him and to work with him. His legacy lives on, not only in decades of extraordinary work, but in the many, many people he mentored. He will be deeply missed. Marvel also wrote a tribute to Stewart, who was held dear by audiences who saw themselves in the mutants cared for and protected by Stewart's Charles Xavier. All of us at Marvel Studios are deeply saddened by the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart, Marvel wrote on social media. Sir Patrick brought Professor Charles Xavier to life with extraordinary grace, intelligence, and humanity, defining the character for generations of fans, from X-Men to Logan to to Avengers Doomsday. He was a singular talent,

25:43 a generous collaborator, and a true gentleman. Our hearts go out to his wife, Sunny, his children, his friends, and the countless fans across the world whose lives he touched with his art. Wow. Incredible. And we have a few video tributes to show you guys. David, if you please. I know I should have posted last night. but I couldn't speak. He's gone. My friend, my captain, my fellow football fan. It's too much.

26:29 It's just too much. Walter was bad enough, but now Patrick's gone. I really can't imagine a world without him in it. Sunny, Sophie, Daniel, I'm so sorry for your loss. I don't know how I'm going to get over this. Patrick, I loved you with all my heart. I know you're up there now, reunited with all those that you've loved. But to say that you'll be missed down here is probably the understatement of the century. It was an honour to work with Patrick. Actually, it was more than an honour.

27:19 It was the privilege of my life to. Work with him. Okay, that's it. I can't say it. I can't do any more. I know that all your thoughts... and your prayers are with him, and that millions of you are just as devastated as I am. We will hold him forever in our hearts. And we can always turn on the television and see this consummate actor and professional doing what he did best. God bless everyone.

28:01 Wow. Wow. And there he is with Marina herself. Excellent. And we also have another tribute from one of his X-Men stars. I'm willing to pay for all of Patrick's funeral expenses. I just want to be able to give my dear friend, who has been part of my life for so many years, a proper final farewell. I still remember filming the first X-Men movie in 2000. I had just arrived in Hollywood from Australia and and was still an unknown newcomer while you were already a world-renowned actor. Back then, you not only looked after me on set, but also patiently offered me advice, helping me feel less lost in an unfamiliar environment.

28:45 To me, you were more than just a great actor. You were someone I deeply admired and looked up to. From X-Men to Logan, we worked together for 17 years. On screen, your Professor X was like a mentor to my Wolverine. Offscreen, you were always there to support me, just like a true mentor and friend. I still remember sitting beside you at the premiere of Logan, watching the films ending together with tears in our eyes. Wow. Powerful stuff. And we have one more to share with you guys, and then we're going to dive right in. I just heard the very sad news about the passing of my dear friend Patrick Stewart. I feel so grateful to have known him for the last 25 years and to have been in his orbit for the last 25 years, both as a fellow mutant and as a fellow member of Starfleet. He was positively delicious, hilarious, naughty, incredible sense of humor and that booming voice of his that always spoke to the very back of the room as every classically trained Shakespearean great.

30:03 Needs to master, has always been an inspiration. I want to send my condolences to his family, and I'll miss my friend dearly. Rest in peace, Patrick. Okay, so we've heard from our Facebook fans, and we've heard from some fellow actors, and now I think it's time for the Trexperts to dive in here and talk about Sir Patrick Stort, and I want to start off with a story. Back in the early days of TNG, Patrick was doing his first convention, or it was really early, maybe it was his second convention, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which is about five hours drive from where I lived at the time. So Karen and I, we jumped in the car, we made that trek to Harrisburg to see Sir Patrick Stort.

30:56 When we got there, He refused to use a mic because he doesn't need one. So he didn't use one. And fans actually booed him, if you guys believe that, because they felt that he was trying to replace Captain Kirk. And I still don't understand it to this day, but they were booing Sir Patrick Stewart. And I was so mortified by it that when we got up to the autograph line, I apologized to him for the action of these fans and wanted to make sure that he knew I wasn't one of them and I didn't agree with it. And to a fan earlier, back in the day when you went to a Star Trek convention, you paid 20 bucks at the door and that included an autograph. You didn't have to pay 50 bucks at the door and then another 120 for every actor that you wanted. You just bought a picture and you got an autograph. My buddy John was on the line with Karen and I And he had a group photo of the cast. And Patrick went to sign it with a gold paint pen.

32:00 And the paint pen exploded all over the picture. Patrick took his finger and signed it like finger painting in gold. It says, sorry, Pat. And we shook our hands and we left. And that was my run-in. with Patrick Stewart. Karen and I would later get the great opportunity to see him on Broadway doing the Christmas Carol, which was absolutely phenomenal. And as one of our fans said earlier, we watched the video of it every single year. It's that good. Patrick just nailed that. And I just can't say enough about the man. He was generous. He was sincere.

32:41 He was everything that a Starfleet captain should be. He was everything that a human being should strive to be. He was sincere. He was honest. He was the complete deal, the full package. And I don't think... I can't think off the top of my head of another actor I think that represents as much as Patrick Stewart did. Really. I can't think of another one. And I think the world. Is just a little bit darker now that he's not in it. So. Yeah, that was my Patrick Stewart story, and I'm going to pass the microphone over to Charles. All right. Got a little surprise for people. I've seen Patrick on stage a few times, but I think one of the most effective stories I've ever heard from him was Star Trek Las Vegas in 2018, a show he was not supposed to be at. We were told Patrick Stewart would not be at that convention. David, roll the tape.

33:41 To talk about the next one. Holy shit!

34:29 Well, well, well, well, well. And returned. Thank you. In late March 1987, I found myself driving off the Paramount lot having just done what I was assured was my last audition for Star Trek The Next Generation. There had been two of us in contention for this role.

35:14 I never learned who the other actor was. I have a suspicion, but I never knew exactly. Who it was. And I drove to a nearby coffee shop on Melrose, bought a pile of London Sunday newspapers, and had a breakfast, a pile of pancakes, which lasted for nearly three hours. During those three hours, my agent, who had been called. By the studio, was desperately trying to find. Me, as this was so long ago, there. Were no cell phone numbers. And he wanted to tell me, Patrick, they've offered you the job, Captain of the Enterprise. I was startled, stunned, and utterly disbelieving because.

36:09 Never for one moment had I imagined. This succession of auditions at Paramount would ever lead to anything at all. And here now I was. What I didn't know either was that I was on the very, very brink, the edge, something that would touch every corner of my life. Every single corner. Of course, career, emotional, domestic, home, everything was going to be affected by it. I had led a fairly successful but quiet, modest.

36:55 Career until then. In fact, I'm. Maybe I've told some of you this before, but when the Los Angeles Times announced that there was to be a new Star Trek series and they got to the cast, I was described as unknown. British Shakespearean. Actor. Brent Spiner, you'll have heard of Brent Spiner. dear and beautiful. Man, he had a poster made which he put on the door of my trailer.

37:37 And it said, beware, unknown British Shakespearean. Well, that was just a clue of the fun that we were going to have. Seven years later, in All Good Things, we wrapped our television series after 178 episodes. I was always so proud of what we did. We worked very hard.

38:18 We worked long hours, as people in television series do, but we were working to do the best possible show that we could. Every single member of the cast, of the production team, of the front of house, of the studio, were supporting us in this labor of love. But, we did four more movies, four feature films, and quite quickly, I began to see that there was not. Always joy and bliss. Attached to being in a very successful TV show. There can be a little downside, and I experienced that certainly.

39:07 I remember meeting with a film director whose movie I very much wanted to be in to play. A quite small supporting role, and he said to. Me, you're a good actor, I really like your work, but why would I want Jean-Luc Picard in my movie? Yeah, yeah. One has mixed feelings about anecdotes like that. And so I was determined that that was the past. It was over. And it would be a voyage that I would never undertake again. And I made a particular point of stressing that When until earlier this year, an email arrived and there was an offer, interesting and charming, but one of which I knew I would have to turn down.

40:17 Well, that's how it felt. And I had a meeting with five of us in the room, I think. And I spent 20 minutes explaining why. With sadness, I would have to say no. But something has happened. And it is not only the impact of the people that I have been talking to and working with over the. Past almost six months now But it's also because I have spent. A lot of time recently watching Star Trek The Next Generation.

41:03 Including episodes I've never seen before. Which was fun and exciting. And gradually it became. Clearer and clearer to me that the power of that show, the success of that show, the. Benefits that it gave I have never. Ever grown tired of hearing from people who stop me in the street or in a restaurant Well, no, I don't like being interrupted But um who say to me Your show changed my life without Star Trek the next generation.

41:45 I might not be here. Um I always respond to those letters, to those notes, and to those words when I hear them in the street. My personal favorite, which makes me very emotional, came from a detective sergeant with the Las Vegas Police Department. He wrote to me about his life and his work. And towards the end, he said, you know, there are days, I love my job, but there are days when I go home that what I have seen, what I have experienced, the cruelty, the barbarity, the viciousness, the nastiness of what I've experienced makes me despair for the future of our society and the world. But when I feel like that, I go to my video shelf and I take down Star Trek The Next Generation and I know we're gonna have a future. And that lies at the very center of what I have to tell you now.

43:07 Jean-Luc Picard is back. Thank you.

43:53 Thank you so much. Yeah, well, you know, whatever happens in the next few years, what you just did makes it all worthwhile anyway. However, however I have to tell you, he may not, and I stress may not, be a captain anymore. He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well. It may be a very different. Individual, someone who has been changed by his experiences. 20 years will have passed, which is more or less exactly the time between the very last movie, Nemesis, and today.

44:49 We have no scripts. As yet, we're just talking, talking, talking storylines. It will be, I promise you, I guarantee it, something very, very different. But it will come to you with the same passion and determination. And love of the material and love of our followers and our fans exactly as we had it before. Thank you so much.

45:30 I will see you all again very soon. Thank you. Okay. I was in that theater. That's not my video, but I was in that theater when that was announced. Now, to give you an idea of that convention center, you have that theater. There's a big back area behind that stage.

46:22 Pass that to dealer's room. I heard stories that cheering was so loud, the dealer's room heard the cheers. They could hear it. It was just the noise and the cheers for Patrick was so big. We didn't expect him to show up, and boom, there he is, announcing a new series. And then we got to 2020. No, 2019. And Jim right there kind of looks at a couple of hosts, since he didn't have many hosts. Somebody offered me some tickets to go to LA and see Picard. Who wants to go? Well, one of our popular, one of our favorite fans showed up.

47:07 Mr. Eric there with his brother showed up and then I showed up with Nate. David, show us some pictures. There's us in the theater. There's two people right there getting ready to sit there and introduce what we're getting ready to see. And the second picture, as you see in the big screen back there, Star Trek Picard from CBS All Access. And then, of course, the final picture earlier in the day, myself, Eric, and Shannon. A t-shirt looks familiar. Yeah, that's... I think I picked that up at the convention just before going to this. I got the convention in August when that was going to be coming out.

47:56 But for Jim to sit there and say, hey, would you like to go to see the first episodes of Picard? Eric and I said, we'll work it out. We'll show up. And we got to see those episodes. Shannon was one of our co-hosts for a while, I think. No, she wasn't a co-host. She was one of our... She'd pop up and say hi. She'd pop up and talk. She'd pop up at QV, join the conversation. And the funny thing was this. The funny thing about seeing this kind of pre-release is we saw it on a Monday night. That Wednesday night, I had my USS Las Vegas Star Trek Club meeting.

48:47 And then Thursday at that time, I think it might have been midnight, might have been 8 p.m., They'd release the episode. I know about Eric, but I was biting at the lip. It's like, oh, this story is so good. I can't tell anybody about it. I don't want to spoil it for anybody. Well, Charles forgot to mention that we actually, in order to go to the premiere, you had to sign an NDA. So we were actually under contract to not share what we saw with anybody. But not even with uncle jim yeah but then uncle jim sat there and saw it he was in awe because he got through the first episode You might have seen one episode or two episodes, but we got the first to see the first block. And that's just a couple of Patrick Stewart stories for me. Sorry about the long video, but I thought you guys would really enjoy seeing the real Patrick Stewart showing up at a convention.

49:44 He wasn't supposed to be there, but yet Kurtzman, you didn't see the opener right there, but Kurtzman's like, well, we got a new show coming up, but I don't want to tell you about it. I want to bring somebody else out to tell you about it. And that's when you saw him announcing Patrick Stewart, who wasn't supposed to be at the con, show up on stage. But that's just what the kind of person he was. And really, just, he will be missed. But that's just a couple of my real, that's just a couple of my direct stories because I was just directly involved with what was going on with him. And to come up with that series, even if it wasn't the most popular.

50:24 What does Patrick Stewart mean to you? I know we've talked at length about it, but that was all a test run for tonight. Gosh, I was a young kid when Next Generation came out. I had heard of Star Trek, but I hadn't really seen much of it. Of course, I was most enamored with Data being kind of a geeky computer person with no feelings. And Patrick Stewart kind of became, a lot of people have probably said online, my father figure. even protecting data at one point in Measure of a Man. And over time, I came to find out he was in other things, such as the Men in Tights movie that people have talked about. And for one of my birthdays in 2022, I was.

51:16 Let me back up a little bit. My mother had this habit of thinking I was all for the wrong thing. And one day she got it right, handed me a gift for Christmas and I unwrapped it and it was the 11th hour. I didn't see this on our list, but it was basically a miniseries in Britain about some detective named Ian Hood. And I said, what is this? I had no idea he was in this. So I get to watch that. It was a little, not quite as engaging as The Next Generation. And then Picard came out and, you know, much, much later, of course. And my husband and I had just adopted a new cat and she was very emotionless. And all I could think was Data, but it wasn't her name. And we kept struggling.

51:57 We're like, well, she has big ears. Should we call her Radar? What should we call her? And finally, one day as we just finished watching Picard the night before and we're talking to her and she cocked her head. And we both looked at each other and said, oh my God, it's Soji Asha. So that's how she got her name. And then about a year or two, I'm losing my timeframe here. I was treated to a birthday gift at one of the theaters locally. And it was a, I think it was prerecorded. It might've been live, but it was basically a London rendition of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in No Man's Land. So I didn't get to meet him personally ever, much to my chagrin. But obviously, I know him from the X-Men too, but he's always been a looming figure in my life. And it's difficult to see that he's not going to be that for anything new, I should say. He's still out there, obviously. Thankfully, we have technology called videos.

52:58 So, yeah. That's excellent. I love Soji. That's great. How about you, V? She's adorable. How about you? How's Patrick Stewart? How has he touched you? What do you remember most about him? Well, I remember, I don't remember all the details, but I remember being resistant to this new next generation because I thought, oh man, Star Trek, the original series, and you're trying to have this new crap. No way. And I don't remember when exactly I started watching it, but there is this, I don't know, I have a thing for posh British accents. There's this man who's just, I don't know, he made bald sexy. Let's just say that.

53:42 put it that way. Who needs a sexy cyborg when you have sexy Picard? And no, he was just, I just got sucked into it. And when he had, when he did his Christmas Carol on stage, I had the cassette version of it. And I remember, I don't remember where I saw the story, but he actually, when he started out he had the script on stage. And as he's reading it, you know, he'd throw the pages on the, by the end of the night, all the pages were on the floor. And he got to the point where he didn't need the script anymore. He had done it so much. And as somebody who has been an actor, that was impressive. But I have to say.

54:30 You. Know, to give you all a laugh, if you Haven't seen him voicing his lookalike character in American Dad as what was his name? Stan's boss in American Dad. He is freaking hilarious. And then there was the episode of Family Guy where Stewie goes to a convention and he winds up, long story short, kidnapping the entire family. cast of next gen and it's just hilarious and they all just made fun of themselves and you really need to watch it if you can go find it out there and uh get a good laugh and just remember you know just just remember the best of patrick so yep it's just i'm still sort of grappling with the loss even though i never met him you know but it's just one of those things where um You know, the world's a slightly dimmer place without his brilliance.

55:29 I absolutely agree, V, absolutely, 100%. How about you, David? I know you're the youngest one of the bunch, so I'm really curious to hear. First, I want to say to Patrick's family, I'm sorry for your loss and that I wish I would have actually met him. Hearing a lot of things from all of you guys about Patrick sounds like he could have been a really fun person to meet and all the fans' reactions and everything. My very first memory of him was watching Star Trek The Next Generation. That was my very first introduction to Star Trek. since I was really young.

56:10 I've gone to Comic-Cons here and there. I've always seemed to have missed the ones that Patrick always went to for some reason, and he just always... slipped my radar for some reason, but I really, really wish I would have met him. I liked a lot of his movies that he did in like Robin Hood, Men in Tights, one of my favorite Mel Brooks movies. The D.S. Dalliber, it took me a long time to remember that he was in there when I was putting all these videos together and stuff. I was like, oh wow, I can't believe I forgot he was in that. And so, yeah, the different roles that he did throughout his life really made me wonder like what else that I didn't see of him in other movies. I'm pretty sure there's quite a few of them. But I do plan to watch quite a bit of movies of him in it now, like the Sleep Detective. I didn't know he was in there.

56:59 I knew Hugh Jackman was, but not Patrick. He really did inspire me quite a bit. He was actually my favorite captain for quite a while until I started realizing, as a Star Trek fan, I knew I had to pick a favorite series. I could like them all, and I do, for the most part. But my favorite series, after a while, it just started to become Deep Space Nine. And when I saw Picard in that first episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine, I was like, oh, yeah, so we're going to do a crossover and everything. It would be fun. And I actually really enjoyed watching Picard in almost every single episode of The Next Generation. And it was really fun. He was a father figure. in many ways to a lot of people, including myself. And to me, I do miss him quite a bit. I hope to see you on the other side, whenever that may be. That's going to have to be my tribute.

58:01 That was well said, David. Well said. And we're going to move on over to Eric now. Mr. Riker himself. By the way, Eric, the first time I met Eric was at Trek Conoroga a few years ago. And I was a sexy Klingon with waving my batlet all around and got to handle my batlet. And he was Riker. He even did the Riker maneuver. I did. I did it on stage to wild applause. That was actually kind of fun. Yeah, that was awesome. Well, yeah, I mean, we're here today to talk about, of course, Sir Patrick Stewart. And for me, one of the interesting things that I'm noticing as we give our tributes and is totally true for me is that he's almost inseparable from the character. When I think of Patrick Stewart, I personally think of Picard. And sometimes I have to make sure that I'm saying the correct words. name when i'm you know talking about the fictional character versus the real character agree with some of the sentiments that we've heard right now in terms of him being a a father figure, I guess.

59:11 The, when I. Learned that he died, it was through our group chat here for Track Talking. And I think what I wrote right out, I, one of the ways I get my sort of feelings out is I, I write, I write a lot. And I, I wrote immediately after that, that I felt like my grandpa had died. that I felt like it was kind of a weird situation where I haven't actually felt an emotional connection like that to the death of a celebrity before, despite the fact that I have infinite respect for people like Dolly Parton. I didn't cry over Dolly Parton. I have infinite respect over so many people we've lost over the years. But for whatever reason, I shed a tear over Patrick Stewart. And I think it was because he influenced me the most when I was in a really, it was like how things affect you more in life when they happen at certain moments when you're in a flux or when you're in change or when you're in distress or that kind of stuff.

1:00:06 And that sort of like era of the late 80s into the early 90s for me personally was a time when I was losing connection with my family. I was venturing out on my own. I wasn't really sure what was going on. I was experiencing a lot of things for the first time. And One of the things that seemed to be really grounding for me was this next generation thing. For whatever reason, it was a time when my family would actually get together and watch science fiction. Are you kidding me? I got my family to somehow sit down and watch science fiction. I was in charge of the television for one hour a week. And I asked my family, will you please join me? to experience this thing. And so for me, this was like high school into college years. So I did this with my family.

1:00:55 I moved on to college. I eventually did it with friends at college in big groups and it became a whole thing. Super influenced my life at the time. It influenced my sense of morality. It influenced my sense of justice. It influenced my sense of just like what a male is capable of. in terms of emotional expression and that kind of stuff. So I don't know, man, for me, Patrick Stewart meant just so much. And I think like if we're to honor Patrick Stewart, like for me, honoring Patrick Stewart through the kind of Jean-Luc Picard lens, which is the way that I just said that I, you know, feel like I most identify with him. I think we have to kind of go to those sort of key episodes, those key moments when the writers of The Next Generation were totally synergistic with the actor that they had available to deliver the lines that would become things that could change a generation. And I'm talking about episodes like The Drumhead.

1:02:05 And you think about that, you can't really say the quote from The Drumhead because it's a long speech. But that. That speech that he gives in the drum head, you know, a huge component of it is like somebody had to write that stuff. Right. But I feel like an even larger component is somebody has to deliver that stuff. And with somebody like Patrick Stewart, who has the talent and the gravitas and the ability to just understand the weight of the words that he's saying, it just takes things like that from level 9.5 up to level 11. Right. Which by the way, he was a, He was a huge fan of those guys. He was a huge, huge Monty Python fan. He loved satire. He goofy humor of all different ilks, which I just think is fun because you know, I do too. So, uh, so yeah, so, uh, I don't want to like belabor my, my feelings about him, but I did want to, I want to take seven points that were kind of cool trivia things that I learned about him over the last few years that I just wanted to share with you guys. I'm not sure if you, if you know these or not, but, uh, So let's talk about his relationship with Brent Spiner and the character Data, right? So prior to The Next Generation, if you were to ask any person who worked at IBM or whatever other companies were around at the time, computer-style companies that were around at that time, how to pronounce the word D-A-T-A, they would have said Data. That

1:03:35 was the common American pronunciation of that word. Patrick Stewart, in delivering Data's name, used the British pronunciation Data. And as a result, I think actually changed the way that Americans say that. We now default to saying Data, whereas 30... 40 years ago, we would have defaulted to say Patrick Stewart's pronunciation of the writer's writing literally changed the language that we use in the United States. Point number one. Point number two, I already talked about him being a huge Monty Python fan, which I think is great. He was actually really close friends with Graham Chapman in addition, and he always wanted to be part of Monty Python.

1:04:19 And they always said that they actually publicly announced at one point that if there was ever a reunion tour, that Patrick Stewart was going to be the guy who filled in for Chapman. So I would have loved to have seen that. That would have been so, so fun. He also lamented the fact that he never got to be part of the Harry Potter franchise. He always wanted to be. He was also the original voiceover guy for The Nightmare Before Christmas. Many people don't know that that film originally had more narration. In it. Tim Burton took a lot of that out of the final cut. And if you listen to Danny Elfman's soundtrack, you actually get to hear a little bit of Patrick Stewart on the soundtrack that you didn't get to hear in the movie. So that's pretty cool. I also think that it's cool that Gene Roddenberry named his character after Jacques Cousteau's close friend, Picard. And the word Picard actually has a meaning in French. It means pike handler. So the guy who has the pike up front and takes the first hit, that's a Picard.

1:05:18 Fascinating. Something that touches me personally is I'm a huge comic book fan. I read a ton of comic books in a year. I can't even tell you how many pages. And Picard, or Picard. See, there I go. Patrick Stewart was a huge fan of the book series Transmetrop, which I don't know if you've ever read that or not. It's by Warren Ellis. It follows the adventure of journalist Spider Jerusalem in a future of paranoia and corruption. Turns out Patrick Stewart was a huge fan of that series and always thought that it had a lot of complexity, a lot of depth to it. He enjoys the main character's brutality and hostility towards this world as a desire that we all sometimes feel. Patrick Stewart seemed like the kind of guy who did wear his heart on his sleeve, and I really appreciated that about him. Last but not least, Charles, this one is for you. I didn't realize this until yesterday when I did a little extra research that Patrick Stewart was actually considered for the role of the master in the television movie Doctor Who the Movie from 1996, which was a role that, of course, eventually went to actor Eric Roberts. So we almost had Patrick Stewart in Doctor Who back in the 90s as well. There's so much more I feel like I could say about Patrick Stewart, the ways in which he touched me. I just like, you know, we could talk about him forever. There's so much cool stuff out there. I'm so excited to have a body of work of his that I haven't yet discovered that I need to go out and find. It feels like kind of a cool adventure to go out and now find all the Patrick Stewart that I haven't

1:06:50 yet seen. So, so long, Patrick. I'm sorry I never got to meet you, buddy, but you are one hell of a person and Picard will always be one of my favorite characters of all time. Well said, Eric. Well said. And that swings us right around to Paul, who got to hear everyone else, and he gets to express himself now. The microphone is yours, Paul. Thanks, brother. Thanks. Well, we went all over the place tonight, so I don't want to belabor things too much, but I'm a huge admirer of him. In school, I spent a lot of time studying Renaissance Lit and Shakespeare. And that was kind of my thing that I just loved and a big influence for me. And I admire people who come from the theater, I think, more than any other type of actor, right? Especially folks who've been classically trained, like Patrick Stewart was at the Old Vic on his time in the Royal Shakespeare Company. And so he was able to bring so much more to his development of the character because I think he, one of the geniuses of what made his performances, Jean-Luc Picard, so powerful you know, lasting, is he treated that world of an imaginary future like it was a real place, like it was as grounded as, he treated it like another type of history play, a history that hasn't yet happened yet, but he treated it very realistically. And his character was just such a man grounded in reason, which I think that we so often find ourselves just so woefully starved for. And he was

1:08:21 a man of great dignity. Especially, I think, V touched on this at first, I think, when this next-gen first came out, we didn't know what the hell this was. It was so different, and it was such a clunky first season, right, that we were old-school Captain Kirk fans. They found him a bit of a cold vision i was gonna. I was gonna say paul that for me i was expect i was so excited when next generation first came because i was like oh man we're finally gonna get a new take and it's gonna be totally different and then that first season had the same backdrops and the same lighting and the same kind of feeling i was like shit it's the same goddamn show what's going on. But but you know fortunately i think he all the cast rallied around patrick stewart as a leader right as somebody who led theatrical companies his entire career since you know back in the 50s right long time and And it had been in some of the greatest ensemble work ever, like I, Claudius, for example. If you've never seen that, it's available. You can rent it. It's incredible. Watch it on any platform. But he evolved the character, and he made the character as real as a Shakespearean character, as real as any king who's got dilemmas, who's got conflicts, who's got battles, who's able to be a mentor for a character. I don't think you get... He gets enough talk about what a mentor he is for Worf in his growth, especially during Worf's whole discommendation period, right? When he stands up alongside him at Kronos, right? And was

1:09:54 willing to be his Chadich. And it's an expression of dignity and belief in somebody. When he stands up alongside Data in Measure of a Man, he says that people have fundamental human rights, regardless of their species or race. who they are, there's the dignity of life, there are civil rights, there's a humanity to every being that has to be acknowledged. And that was always woven throughout the character, right? You would see that when he would encounter somebody like, you know, the great episode Darmok, right? I mean, it's amazing. It's like the whole idea of you've got somebody who doesn't even remotely, an alien who doesn't even remotely speak the same language and you have no way of communicating and the way they were able to find common ground and understanding together. just through, you know, shared experience and patience and empathy. And that was woven throughout all of his performances, I think. Really, really just phenomenal. And then I like the fact that, you know, in addition to all of that grounded historical Shakespearean approach, he was able to be really vulnerable on camera in, you know, a couple of roles in particular. Chain of Command, I think more than anything else, where he was able to express what it was like to be a Somebody who had been tortured. And he was contacted many times by people who had been tortured in their real lives. In political situations or war situations. And they talked to him about how moved and how helpful that performance was for them to recover. Because you match that up against what happened

1:11:26 to him in Best of Both Worlds. Where he gets to play Locutus. And then brilliantly after that two-parter, the follow-up episode, Family. because which I would argue is almost even more important than best of both worlds is because he's showing how somebody who's endured tremendous invasive personal trauma is able to try to find a way back and to recover from that trauma. And so I think it's, again, it's just being willing to be vulnerable to show that you can, you know, there can be healing from the worst things that happened to you. And to me, that's the, That's going to a place as an actor that I think a lot of people would not be willing to do. And he just brought such humanity and dignity and reason to that performance throughout as John Luke Picard. And in particular, I think that one of the reasons we will always think that his role was cast such a long shadow, it was when something was wrong, despite the risks to himself or his reputation or what have you, or his rank or his position in Starfleet, he would always call it out. He was always somebody who would be willing to speak truth to power and to say, I'm sorry, but what you're saying is wrong. It cannot be. It's wrong to do that to somebody. It's wrong to oppress somebody.

1:12:40 It's wrong to ignore something that's hurting. You must act or speak out against it. I think if I can take away any lesson from the work of Patrick Stewart, it's that we must speak out and that silence is oppressive behavior. for all of us. We cannot endure that. It's fun to think back. Eric's talking about performances he may not have seen before. I'm hoping you've seen him in both Dune and Excalibur when he was first getting his feet wet in Hollywood. It's really fun to see him in David Lynch's Dune, but I'm betting a lot of people haven't seen him in a picture from, oh God, when was it? 2000-something. 2015, 14, I want to say. But in a movie called Green Room, that got mentioned earlier, where he plays the villain. He plays the bad guy.

1:13:28 And he's in it with Anton Yelchin, who played, of course, Chekhov in the Star Trek movies. Those two cats together in the same movie, it's kind of a treat. It's kind of a wild thing to see. But to see Patrick Stewart as an antagonist, as a ruthless, amoral man, it's fascinating to see. So dive into his work. And if you really want to make the spirit of Patrick Stewart smile and feel rekindled, treat yourself to some Shakespeare. if you haven't had a chance to go see a Shakespeare play in a while, it's like nothing else. And it's, it's a way to really experience, re-experience your humanity. So I will be remembering him fondly for a long, long time. And I think he definitely represents the best of us.

1:14:08 And I just, I just want to wrap up by saying after he died, my wife and I actually went back. And we watched Star Trek, the car all the way through. And if you guys haven't. Watched, I know a lot of people complained about it, but now that he's gone, Go back and watch it. The season two, which takes a lot of. Grief, when Q shows up and says to Picard that he didn't want Picard to die alone, I'm going to. Q saying this to Picard. And that's why he created that whole world so that Picard would learn and he wouldn't die alone. And then at the end, when Q uses his power for the last time and he is dying alone, Picard gives him a hug and says, you were never alone.

1:14:56 And it's a beautiful moment because it's so Picard. It's a beautiful moment. If you guys poo-pooed all over. Season two and you didn't watch, you didn't like it, I implore you to give it a chance and watch it again. It had me bawling like a baby. I admit it. It did. And it was a beautiful moment between John Delancey and Patrick Stewart that I'm glad we have it on film. So one other thing, which Charles had reminded me of, the Patrick Stewart Make It So biography. I have the autographed copy, but I didn't want to read the book. I got the audio book.

1:15:36 There it is. Paul's got it. The audio book. And I highly recommend the audio book because Sir Patrick Stewart reads it himself. And what more can you ask for? You can just sit back, close your eyes, and listen to Sir Patrick Stewart read tell his own story. It's awesome. So yeah, Jim, one of the, I don't know, not to belabor it too much, but one of the interesting things about this biography was that after I read it, I both somehow respected Sir Patrick more and thought he was more of a jerk as well. Like somehow the, like this biography reveals some of his like underlying jerky nature and but the fact that he's also fundamentally a really good human being. So it's totally worth a read, even if you're not a biography person, if you're a Star Trek fan. And it's relatively short. It's 220, 30, 40 pages, something like that.

1:16:34 It's not big. You could probably knock that out at the weekend if you had your hammock. Definitely worthwhile, for sure. So I have one more thing. that I want to play for you guys. And this was Patrick Stewart's farewell. It would turn out to be his farewell video. He recorded this sonnet approximately a week or so before he passed away. And so I just wanted to share this with you guys. David, if you will. Well, this is where it all started. Sonnet 116. And because I know it and I love it, I'm going to do it again. Let me not, to the marriage of true minds, admit impediments. Love is not love which alters when its alteration finds or bends with the remover to remove.

1:17:47 Oh, no. It is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken it is the star to every wandering bark whose worth's unknown although his height be taken loves not time's fool though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickles compass come. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

1:18:34 If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ nor no man ever loved. Thank you. And that would be Patrick Stewart's final recorded message. So I really thought it was important to play that to you guys tonight to wrap up our Patrick Stewart tribute. So anybody have anything else they want to add before we Lighten things up a little bit here. Yes. One of the things to get an idea how Patrick Stewart was, 2020 when we had.

1:19:23 The shutdown for COVID, people couldn't get out and do anything. So what did Patrick Stewart start doing? He started reading sonnets, a sonnet a day. And it was always fun to just, okay, Go sometime during the day, go to Facebook. Let me hear Patrick's latest sonnet that he read from Shakespeare. And that's how he sat there and supported his audience. Absolutely. So if I could just say real quick, it's not really connected to Jean-Luc Picard, but you can look it up. There's a breed of dog from France named the Berger Picard. And if I ever get one, I would have to get a boy and I would have to name it Jean-Luc Picard. But you can look them up. Just saying.

1:20:08 So every week I do Uncle Jim's Movie Pick of the Week. And I decided this week it would be the Patrick Stewart special. And so I've gone back and I've tried to pick movies that I think would be right. He's been in so many. I'm sure I'm missing your favorite. But I tried to pick movies that I think our fans and our listeners and our followers might be interested in. Maybe they haven't seen, never heard of. So we're going to have a little bit of fun right now with Patrick Stewart's career. So we're going to start off with number one on my list, which was Life Force. It was a 1985 British science fiction horror film directed by Tobey Hooper, starring Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finley, and Matilda May, based on the Colin Wilson 1976 novel The Space Vampires. The film portrays the events that unfold when a trio of humanoids in a state of suspended animation are brought to Earth after being discovered in the hold of an alien spaceship by the crew of the European Space Shuttle. Patrick Stewart does not star in this movie, but this movie does have his first on-screen kiss. Paul, do you know the name of the character that Patrick Stewart played in Life Force?

1:21:25 Yeah. I actually don't, Uncle Jim. Not at this moment. I really enjoyed hearing the sonnet. I thought that was great. Hard to get past that. Anybody have a clue? This is an obscure one. Whitney knows it, though. I can see it written on her face. No. Unfortunately not. I don't know. If I was to guess, they usually. Choose the name of like an astronaut so probably some astronaut like. Ride or um so patrick stewart played a pathologist in this in this movie who was studying the dead vampire by the name of dr armstrong so you can check patrick stewart out in life.

1:22:15 There is first on screen so wow there you have. It that was out of nowhere Sorry. He's the man. So let's go to 1999. Okay. To A Christmas Carol. Christmas Carol is a fantasy television film based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella A Christmas Carol that was first televised on December 5th, 1999 on TNT. It was directed by David Jones and stars Patrick Stewart and Richard E. Grant. Whitney, who does Patrick Stewart play in this classic television movie.

1:22:57 Oh, everyone could get Scrooge on that one, but I happen to know that. I knew you did. The fix was in on that one. This is a great version, by the way, if you guys haven't seen it. It's phenomenal. Number three on our list, The Dragon Rider. It tells the story of a fire drake played by Thomas Brody. who wants to share an older generation. He's a real dragon when he discovers that humans are about to destroy the forest where the dragons reside. He sets off on a daring crusade with his best friend, Soro, played by Felicity Jones, in search of a mythical safe haven in the Himalayas where dragons can live in peace.

1:23:40 On their quest, they encounter Ben, voiced by Freddie Highmore, an orphan who they mistake for a dragon rider, and the unlikely trio must work together. Patrick Stewart does star in this movie. He voices a star in this movie. Charles, do you know the character in this movie that Patrick Stewart voices? I'm not familiar with this one. How about V? No? Okay. Okay. Well, speaking of what Paul said, Sir Patrick Storr actually is a bad guy in this movie. He voices the villain, Nedder Brand, who's trying to stop them from freeing the dragons.

1:24:23 So you guys can check out the Dragon Wire animated movie. Sir Patrick Storr actually plays a bad guy. All right, sticking with our animated dragons, motif. Our next one is Dragonheart Battle for the Heartfire. It came out in 2017. It's a fantasy adventure film directed by Patrick Severson. It is the second directed video prequel to the 1996 film Dragonheart and it takes place 50 years after that movie. It follows the dragon Drago as he seeks to resolve a fierce rivalry between royal twin siblings, each gifted with unique dragon-like abilities, vying for their late grandfather's throne, while a stolen source of dragon power threatens the realm. Does anybody know the character, the dragon, that Patrick Stewart voices in this one?

1:25:16 Yeah, you just said it. He plays the main dragon, Drago. He plays Drago. Good one, Jim. This next one is a little bit off the cuff, but it was interesting nonetheless. Charlie's Angels. You guys all remember that. 2019 American action comedy film written and directed by Elizabeth Banks from a story by David Auburn. Stars Kirsten Stort, Naomi Scott, and Alva Balinski as a new generation of angels who work for a private detective agency. Does anybody know who Patrick Stort plays in this movie? David does.

1:25:56 No? I mean, he's got to be. I have not seen this movie. But, like, there's only a couple of male characters in Charlie's Angels. So maybe, like, Tom Bosley or Gaia. Is that him? Yep. That's it. He plays Bosley. He runs the detective agency that hires the Angels. I haven't seen this one either, but maybe it's time to watch it. Okay, this next one we've already talked about, and I know you guys know it. Next on our list is the 1984 movie Dune. It's an American epic space opera film written and directed by David Lynch and based on a 1965 novel of the same name by Frank Ebert.

1:26:36 Come on, guys. Who does Patrick Stewart play? We know this. We talked about it already. Go ahead, Paul. Who knows it? Eric? Paul? I'll let Paul have it. Gurney Halleck. Yeah. Yeah. Gurney Halleck, that's right. If you guys haven't read his biography, there's a great story in this movie about him meeting Sting, who, of course, was the lead singer of The Police, and the mistake that Patrick Stewart made when he met him. If you haven't read them out, check it out. It's a funny, funny story. Okay. Dune. The next one is a 2012 American fantasy stoner comedy by the name of Ted. Directed and co-produced by Seth MacFarlane and written by MacFarlane himself. Who does Picard, Patrick Stewart, play in this movie? We already talked about it. He doesn't actually.

1:27:32 Well, the narrator is a character. True. The narrator is a character yes and he's not there on the screen right now but Ted and the sequel alright number 8 is an American television sitcom called Blunt Talk the show follows a British newscaster who moved to Los Angeles does anybody know who he played in this TV series no he played the lead character of Walter Blunt Of course, Blunt taught. And by the way, the character of Walter Blunt was named after William Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I, which was Storr's first role with the Royal Shakespeare Company. That's where they got the name of that character.

1:28:21 All right. Here's a great one. This is the first movie that I saw with Patrick Storr in it. It was rated R at the time. We had to sneak into the theater to see this movie. So we had to buy tickets for Bambi, hide out in the bathroom. After the ticket lady left the door, we'd sneak in to see Excalibur so it came out in 1981 it's a medieval fantasy film directed and co-written by producer John Borman that retells the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and uh This movie has some great actors in it that you would recognize. Of course, Liam Neeson is in this movie.

1:29:04 Qui-Gon Jinn. And who else is in this movie? Who plays.... Yes, Helen Mirren is in this movie as well. You'll recognize a lot of great actors in this movie. Paul, who does Sir Patrick Stewart play in Excalibur? Why, he plays King Leo de Grance, who is the father of Queen Guinevere. Yes. In fact, I haven't seen it in a while, so correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he the only knight that follows King Arthur when he pulls the stone? All the other knights turn on him, but Sir Patrick Leon de Grance follows King Arthur.

1:29:46 Isn't that how it went, I think? Leo de Grance, yeah. He's certainly the most enthusiastic follower. Yes, for sure. For sure. Okay, here's the next one, which I haven't seen this particular version yet. Moby Dick came out in 1998. It was a television miniseries directed by Frank Rodman, based on Herman Melville's 1851 novel of the same name. The episode consists of two episodes, each running two hours each. So, Whitney. Whitney, who do you think Patrick Stewart plays in this classic?

1:30:27 David's waving his hand. I think David knows. David, I'll give you a hint. It's not the Queens. I think I've seen his movie and he played Ahab, right? That's right. Captain Ahab. Captain Ahab. This next one, we've talked about so many times. We've heard so many people mention it tonight. The X-Men series and Everybody knows by now who he played in the X-Men movies. Of course, he played Wolverine. Okay, so who did he play, Charles? Charles Xavier. Charles Professor X.

1:31:09 Professor X. And the last one on my list, number 12, is the Sheep Detective. We talked about this one earlier. It came out in 2026. This was Stewart's last film role that was released during his lifetime. This was the last movie that he actually filmed and was released before he passed away. And who does he voice in this movie, Eric? He plays the Ram, Sir Richfield, and does a fantastic job of it. This movie, you guys, if you haven't seen this movie, it is absolutely delightful and you deserve to treat yourself well. To see this movie.

1:31:49 No kidding. It is so much fun. I plan to see it. I almost watched that today. And I did not for whatever reason. But the one that did not make this list is also the Emoji movie. Where Patrick Stewart plays a shithead? Yes, literally. Yeah. What's funny, I started watching this movie on streaming. started to hear that voice. Like, wait a minute, pause. Wait a minute. Is that Patrick Stewart? Look up. It's like, that's Patrick Stewart. It's like, wow. I didn't realize he was in this movie. Great character. You know, it's hard when you look him up, he's been in so many movies. It's hard to pick a couple, but you know, I wanted to have some fun and lighten things up a little bit and take a look back at his career and the different things that he has done. And so that's the 12 movies that I picked from the list. If I missed your favorite, I apologize.

1:32:44 But I just wanted to have some fun with it. Anybody have any movies of Patrick's that didn't make the list that you'd like to recommend? Robin Hood, Men in Tights. Yeah. We're men. We're men in tights. Is that the movie where he's like, now let's all get drunk and play ping pong? I gotta Google that. There's some movie where he says, now let's all get drunk and play ping pong. Let's all get drunk. Yeah, here we go. Eric's typing like he's drunk. Oh, it was in an episode of The Simpsons. Okay, from season six.

1:33:25 Sorry. It's just this Patrick Stewart thing that I remember when he showed up and they're talking, obviously, about what they should do for fun. There he is. Sorry, I thought that was Robin Hood Men in Tights. Although it does sound like a Robin Hood Men in Tights. Yes, it totally does. But there would have been more singing, I guess, involved. And for those of you who were wondering, I did read a press release from Marvel that they are not going to CG Patrick Stewart in Marvel's Doomsday. He's in it as Xavier, and the scenes that they have filmed are the scenes they're not going to... CG, and what they have is what they have, Doomsday, which comes out in December. So, just wanted to throw that out there, because people have been worried about that, but Marvel said no.

1:34:17 Did you just say a CG Picard in Doomsday? Yeah, they were going to CG that idea. They were going to CG, like they did with Princess Leia in World 1. Make it so. Dr. Noo. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Terminator movie. So, That pretty much wraps up our Patrick Stewart show, unless anyone else. I mean, we've said a lot. Unless anyone, something came up that you forgot to mention that you wanted to mention. Anybody? Okay. So next week, we're going to talk about, we're going to bring Comet Corner back, and we're going to do the last starship. One, two, and three, Charles? Yes.

1:34:58 Yes, one, two, and three. Of the last starship. Yep. Oh, good. So we're starting that whole Last Starship thing from the beginning. I love that because, you guys, you want to tune in next week's thing because this is a great comic book series. It's like one of the best things that they've put out in the last five or six years. Yeah. So we're going to do one story. In this series, you have to read them in parts of three. Because the story arc is in three. Books, so to speak. Right. That wraps up our show for this week. And I hope you guys had a good time. And I hope you have some happy, fond memories of Patrick Stewart. I hope we helped you cope with the great loss.

1:35:46 And I just want to take a moment to. Say thank you so much to David for hanging out with us tonight and making this show possible and working on all these great videos. Thank you, David. Yeah, it was very fun. And of course, thank you. So much to Paul for hanging out and Shrek talking with us about Patrick Stewart. Thank you so much, Paul. Nice to be able to honor his memory. And of course, thank you so much to Eric for hanging out and Shrek talking with us as well. Thank you, Eric. Yeah, I mean, great to know that this is a special moment when a Star Trek actor has touched us all so much. And we're all sharing this grief together. And I think that's a really important thing to acknowledge.

1:36:27 I absolutely agree 100%. And of course, thank you so much to Charles for hanging out and sharing some memories of Patrick Stewart with us. Thank you, Charles. Thank you for doing this show, Jim. And thank you, David, for the patience of having me do that video yesterday. And it fit great in the show. And thank you so much to V for hanging out with us. Even though you're not blue tonight, thank you so much, V. It was fun. It definitely was fun. And, of course, thank you so much for Whitney for hanging out and talking with us tonight. Thank you so much, Whitney. Thanks for having me. We'll talk more tomorrow, I'm sure. I'm sure we will. And I'm your. Most excellent host, Uncle Jim Sane. Everybody, please stay safe and be good to each other. Good night, everybody.

1:37:11 Good night, all. Live long and prosper. Good night.

1:38:24 Thank you. Thank you.

1:39:14 Thank you. © transcript Emily Beynon Thank you.