We`d done some great stuff in Year Two.
We got into Year Three and we had almost a whole new writing staff.
Which proved fruitful. There were a number of great episodes.
We had Offspring, Tin Man and Yesterday`s Enterprise.
lt was the most exciting, and the worst, year of my life.
We had no scripts or stories in development.
We were writing the next day`s work every night before.
Very difficult on the actors to learn pages overnight.
They were very cooperative under very difficult circumstances.
This is a most... stupendous undertaking.
Do you know what will happen when Starfleet learns of this?
From that kind of pressure
and absolute, continuing, unrelenting need for creativity...
You got some great shows out of it.
Let`s make sure history never forgets the name... Enterprise.
l`m often asked, which was my favourite episode.
l remember for a while l used to say Measure of a Man,
the episode about whether Data was alive, which was wonderful.
Then l became fond of the episode Yesterday`s Enterprise.
l think because that was the first episode that we sat,
in my office, for days and days with the writers,
making it believable.
lt was a confusing bit of time travel and contradictions.
lt became a challenge.
Yesterday`s Enterprise was one of those shows...
l don`t know how it got done.
As l recall, it was just before Christmas.
We had no material to shoot.
Eric Stillwell came up with this interesting idea.
l called up Rick and said,
``The Enterprise goes through a wormhole.``
``Suddenly, Tasha Yar appears on the bridge.``
Lieutenant.
What are their sensor readings? ls that an enemy vessel?
l`m getting too much interference.
What happened when l did Yesterday`s Enterprise
and Tasha was alive because there was a rip in time and space.
A ship from the past came into the present.
lt changed what had happened.
So now l`m alive.
We know that is not supposed to happen, through Whoopi Goldberg.
You`re not supposed to be here.
- Where am l supposed to be? - Dead.
The first thing was, can we get Denise Crosby?
Can we get Whoopi? Whoopi was going to play an important role.
That was difficult. They had schedule problems.
We were really restricted to getting it done in ten days.
Every member of the staff took an act.
We all worked on putting these pieces together.
lt was a terribly complicated premise.
This isn`t a joke.
We`re going back into the rift. lnto battle. We`re not coming back.
l know the mission. These are my orders.
Coming back in the third season
was pretty special for a number of reasons.
lt was the first time l`d seen everybody,
so it was very exciting, very thrilling.
We keep saying goodbye, don`t we?
- l wish we had more time. - More time?
l think we have all the time we can handle.
Chris McDonald was great to work with,
playing my love interest.
He and l had this wonderful chemistry and humour.
l`ve never laughed so hard.
l actually broke up one of Patrick`s takes
that l wasn`t even on camera for.
The war is going very badly for us, far worse than is generally known.
You don`t do that. He`s got this long speech
with the captain of the other ship.
This very serious, quiet, word-filled speech.
Chris and l are in the background, trying to fix something.
We got the giggles and l just... l lost it.
The major change, which the fans will enjoy,
because there has been campaigning for it,
is the return of Beverly Crusher.
Gates McFadden will be back as the doctor.
For Capt Picard, that means a certain extra frisson on the ship,
whenever she and l are together.
l know how difficult it was being away.
l`m really glad to be back.
l`ve missed my friends in the cast. That`s wonderful.
ln the first year when Gates left,
there was talk of, ``The character didn`t work out.``
``The relationships weren`t what we wanted.``
l heard the same things in the second season.
The producers wanted to go another direction with the character.
That`s what l was told. They liked the character.
l`m glad that they brought her back. l missed Gates.
l liked Diana. Diana was cool.
But, you know, she wasn`t Gates.
We have to talk.
You really look like you could use some rest.
l know. lt`s OK, really.
No, it`s not OK. Really.
Having not done it for a year, you forget where your character was.
lt will take me a few episodes to get right back on the track.
lt`s changed a lot.
Wesley can`t run around with nothing on. He might run into Mom.
l`m beginning to think you`ve taken on too many responsibilities.
l have done everything everyone has asked of me and more.
How can you know? You haven`t been here!
l was lucky. My first directing effort was Offspring,
which was one of our best sci-fi episodes ever.
The Offspring, in which Data built a child for himself.
- This is home, Lal. - Home. Place of residence.
Social unit formed by a family living together.
Yes. We are a family, Lal.
lt was directed by Jonathan Frakes,
which inspired everybody, because it was his first time as director.
Directing episodic television,
you are the victim of good luck or bad luck.
The Offspring was as good as we got.
Jonathan came totally prepared and had a style and flair
and just made a great episode.
- l`ll never know love. - A limitation we must accept, Lal.
Then why do you still emulate humans? What purpose does it serve
ex cept to remind you that you are incomplete?
l have asked myself that many times
as l have struggled to be more human.
Until l realised it is the struggle itself that is important.
Jonathan was the first actor who campaigned to direct.
lt was more difficult for him.
He was such a wonderful director.
He set the stage for the others.
Jonathan called it Paramount University.
He spent two years proving to the studio and to Rick
that he was a serious, committed director.
l remember after the clapper hit the first take,
everybody applauded.
They gave me a megaphone like an old-fashioned director.
lt was kind of a treat. lt was an exciting time.
When that episode came along
and they gave it to Jonathan, he was prepared.
Jonathan walked onto the set that first morning a director.
He did such a great job that we accepted the others would do fine.
All the elements fell into place.
One of the great things about Brent
is that you can count on something that you don`t expect.
lt is an episode in which Brent Spiner should have won awards.
But then Brent should have been awarded
for almost all his work on that series.
The thing about being directed by a fellow cast member
is that they know your character as well as you.
They`re not going to ask you to do anything that doesn`t fit.
lt`s almost better to be directed by one of the cast.
l love you, Father.
l wish l could feel it with you.
We never looked on Whoopi as a guest.
For a number of years, she was a semi-permanent member.
My bar, ten-forward, was where you came for conversation.
We don`t know much about her except that she`s incredibly old
and can travel into different dimensions...
..and shares some very strong bond with Picard...
..which l will not reveal.
We all know what it is.
- l`m attracted to bald men. - Why?
Because a bald man was kind to me once when l was hurting.
Took care of me.
Possibly unprecedented that a movie star with such a career
should have requested a role to be created for her.
LeVar came to my house and said he was doing this show.
l said, ``What show?`` ``Star Trek. ``
Gene`s vision of the future was one that...
..l was in love with, primarily because it embraced me.
l said, ``l always wanted to do Star Trek. Tell them.``
When l first called Rick Berman and said,
``My friend Whoopi wants to be on the show,``
he thought l was kidding.
He did. They didn`t believe him for a year.
l saw him again. ``Did you tell them?`` ``Yeah.``
He didn`t understand...
..our particular fondness for Star Trek.
Star Trek had such a significance for her. The original.
Uhura was the only representation
of Black people in the future.
There was Nichelle Nichols, a Black actress,
having a position of command, of authority, on this starship
in this science fiction series.
A Black woman in space.
Whoopi said all she thought was, ``One of us made it.``
l called Gene Roddenberry and told him these episodes l liked.
He said, ``l`m building a bar.``
l said, ``l`m a good bartender.``
She`s an actor that you can stay on her face
and if she`s working, if she`s thinking, it`s not boring.
l saw an episode where the director stayed on her, came around,
and she was staring, but all kinds of stuff was going on.
So he wrote Guinan,
named her after Texas Guinan,
a wonderful saloon keeper in the early part of the 20th century.
l was named after her.
l believe l am the last full character he created.
l think l`m Gene`s last baby.
When the Borg destroyed my world,
my people were scattered through the universe. We survived.
As will humanity survive.
As long as a handful of you keep the spirit alive,
you will prevail.
Trekkers are everywhere.
lnvariably, when l fly,
the captain is a Trekker and you get invited into the cockpit.
There was a time when
a group of monks from the Dalai Lama`s monastery,
in Dharamsala, came to visit.
lt was an important moment for us,
that the Dalai Lama was interested and wanted to see the sets.
Especially he wanted to see how the transporter worked.
Apparently, he was disappointed we couldn`t beam him anywhere.
To see these men that represent such an ancient world
and discipline...
..in the same frame with this ultramodern...
..piece of equipment and technology
on a set that`s all about space and the future,
it`s one of my favourite photographs.
But a lot of people came. Stephen Hawking.
Colin Powell.
l remember he had with him an entourage.
One guy had the suitcase with the phone.
All l could think was,
``lf a nuclear war broke out now,
the bridge of the Enterprise would be one of the command centres.``
l just thought it was surreal, in a way,
that these powerful people were coming to the Star Trek sets.
l told Rick, ``Look.``
``l really want to be sitting on the beach writing screenplays.``
``l`ll give you one year of my life.``
``This will be a challenge.``
``But after that, l`m gone. One-year contract.``
That was OK with him. By the end of the season,
l was struggling with whether to stay or leave.
This came out in Best of Both Worlds, Part 1
as Riker spoke about those issues.
l said l wanted my own command yet something is holding me back.
- ls it wrong for me to want to stay? - What do you think?
Maybe l`m afraid of the big chair.
l found Gene to be an inspiring presence.
So, when he came in at the end of the season and said,
``This show needs one more year to really catch fire.``
``lt would mean a lot to me if you came back for one more year,
to see it through.``
As l recall, it didn`t take much more urging.
To have the man ask me that, how could l say no?
Mr Worf, despatch a subspace message to Admiral Hanson.
We have engaged the Borg.
But it put me in a jam.
The jam was how to end Best of Both Worlds.
l had no intention of coming back when l wrote Part 1.
And how to beat the Borg? l figured it would be somebody else`s problem.
l had created an unsolvable problem.
l am Locutus of Borg.
Resistance is futile.
From this time forward, you will service us.
Mr Worf.
Fire.