Yes, thanks to Netscape's memory leaks, we are now entering Part 3. Enjoy the ride. :)

Kate Mulgrew. Well, as I was saying, this woman has a commanding stage presence. When I first entered, and she was doing the monologue, I almost thought she might have been reading a pre-written speech. I certainly didn't see any teleprompter or cue cards, but all the words sounded so carefully chosen, and the vocabulary so particular. Like written language. Maybe she had written it up and memorized it? Quite a lot to memorize, but not inconceivable for someone in the acting profession.

That theory was shattered when the fan questions began, and she proceeded to answer them with the same tone, style, and cadence as before. Wow. I sure as hell wouldn't be able to come up with stuff to say like that on the fly. When I type these ramblings, I'll often ponder any given sentence for 30 seconds, trying to think of the perfect words to fit. Sometimes I give up, and just stick in the closest thing that comes to mind. And then I go back and revise if something doesn't look quite right. (Like I just did with that last sentence.) I am truly envious of people who can just stream out perfect phrases, with rich vocabulary, complex sentence structures, and have it all just fit together the first time. Amazing.

So Kate Mulgrew was impressive. Very funny too. And on the content... wow. Yep. Lemme see...

When I came in, and was trying to situate myself in a place with a decent view (if there is such a thing when standing in the back), she was talking about... Voyager. Seasons, crew members, her experiences with them. :)

Ok, trying to do this chronologically isn't going to work, cause that ain't the way my brain associated things this time. I'll do this in a vaguely topic-by-topic manner, cause some things were talked about, strayed from, and returned to. And trying to remember all of what happened in what order seems destined to fail (especially when listening to someone who can easily just jump from one aspect of life to something totally different in a flash; and then five minutes later, it's back at Point A again. Excellent to follow along with and engage the brain at every moment while it happens. Not so easy to remember later.)

She had to qualms about talking her political views. A liberal democrat, and proclaimed it loudly. "I am against the death penalty." Long pause.

I think they got it. :)

She is married to a politician. I don't think I caught exactly what his position is, but it's something in a local government somewhere. Hmmmm...

While I'm obviously not of the same political alignment, I have to admire somebody who just stands up and says, "This is what I believe." That was cool.

She talked about playing the captian, how the producers took a great risk in making a woman captian. Star Trek's target audience: males between 13 and 25. "Now do you really want to see someone who could be your mom in command of the starship?" That got a lot of laughter.

It was decided early on that Captian Janeway would NOT have an ongoing love interest until at least season six. When that time came, it would be re-evaluated. See what the audience thinks. How would the rest of the crew react, etc. When ended up finally happening was that in season six, she got... not a man; not a mouse. A hologram. lol.

Also, interestingly enough, some rather scathing comments about where she believed the writers/producers/creative team have gone wrong. The Maquis aspect of the crew, especially Commander Chakotay, was watered down too much. How it would have been better if he could have retaind and shown more of the Native American heritage. Thinks they made him too bland. Turned him into a run-of-the-mill first officer, when it could have been a lot more interesting if he had kept his distinction. Hmmm...

Also criticized the over-use of a certain former Borg crew member. She agreed with one fan who wanted a return to "an ensemble" crew, where lives of all the main officers on the ship is portrayed. Overfocus and constant hyping of Seven hurt the show, in her opinion. Hmmmm...

The producers do whatever they think will boost ratings, often at the expense of quality. Hmmmm...

Season Seven, the return home. Going to be an interesting season, with everyone having to return to their lives. And how will Seven, a Borg, fit in with the rest of the Federation? What about Neelix? Will Tom Paris go back to prison? A lot of tough stuff for the crew to deal with in the coming months, as they finally reach their destination.

The first question came from a high school girl who wanted to get into acting, and had "studied it a little". Kate asked if her mother was present in the audience. Indicated that the parental figure might not be most pleased to hear the advise that was about to be given to her daughter.

If you really want to act, you've gotta go for it all the way. Put everything you've got into it. Not just a little on the side. And as soon as you finish high school, get right into it. I ("I" being Kate) wouldn't even say to finish high school, but do it because that's what society says it requires. Act as much as you can, and read, read, read.

She then went into about how she believes our society puts kids through too much schooling. How she actually didn't finish high school herself, and how she believed kids would be better off if we let them actually start living in the world, instead of insulating them from it in the educational system for years. THAT got a divided reaction. Some (myself included) were wildly applauding. I looked around, and I saw others with stony glares, like "How dare she say that?"

Oh, another thing that really hit home here. On multiple occassions throughout the talk, she advocated, strongly advised, urged people to READ. (Many of the questioners were children, but I believe she was talking to the audience in general as well.) "Never let your computer surpass literature." That one is going into my quotes database for sure. Yeah. Hit home here.

When asked what she reads ("Janeway reads novels and poetry; do you have the same preference?"), Mulgrew replied that she does like to read poetry, but doesn't get into novels as much. She finds biographies and autobiographies -- tales about people's actual lives -- much more interesting. (Skipping back to another talk, John de Lancie loves to read history.)

Um... lemme see. When asked if she would do a Star Trek movie, she said she would if the studio wanted to do one, but doesn't consider it likely. A) the Star Trek market is saturated, as evidenced by poor box office performance with Insurrection. B) If she were to become "The" captian for the movies, it would mean Jean Luc would have to die (which did get a couple shouts from the crowd in support of such an action). In short, she just doesn't see a Voyager movie happening in the near term.

Oh, talked about the possibility of a love affair between Janeway and Chakotay. Not a good idea. Lots of good cracks on that theme. ("In my ready room, NOW." "The ship would be shaking, but not from the alian photon torpedos.") Anyway, she doesn't think that would help the show AT ALL.

She said that as much as Star Trek likes to talk about the future, she considers RIGHT NOW, in this present day, to be a superb time to be living, with all that's happening. Many people don't realize how many extraordinary things are happening all around them every day.

Live life with passion. Do not be wishy washy. (She actually had one of the kids who was questioning repeat after her: "I will not be wishy washy." That was great.)

Asked about what she likes most about her job. Talked about how she considers herself one of the luckiest people in the world. Getting to do what she loves doing, and being paid in the top 1/10th of a percent on the scale of world income. How she wouldn't complain about the long hours, cause she gets up everyday and loves doing it; loves the people she works with. (Was that a vague reference to Lisa Howard's earlier talk? If so, I don't think it was meant as a slight at all.)

Ended the talk with "I am one lucky cookie."

There was other stuff too, but I gloss over in favor of getting done and getting rest.

My impressions: The optimism she demonstrated really reminded me of why I became a fan of trek in the first place. Love for life, literature, passion, what the future can bring. How we can shape it. Very inspiring. Exceeded my expetations.

After that, I left. Had a sort of "Adventure" on the way home though. But my swap is full, and my brain is nearly dead. Maybe another time. Happy trekking. :)