We had some cool guest stars through the years.
I had no memory until someone recently told me
that Kirsten Dunst was on the show.
I don't know that I ever saw her. But maybe I did.
Famke Janssen before she became a Bond girl.
I'm pretty sure we were her first job.
She was as striking and stunning then as she is now.
I am for you.
Jamie Cromwell was on
before America really knew him. I'd known him in New York.
James Worthy, from the Lakers,
gave us autographed Laker hats, which I wear proudly.
Ashley Judd is probably the biggest star of the guest stars we had.
Ashley did two shows as Wil Wheaton's girlfriend.
I'm Wesley. Wesley Crusher.
I know. Just back from the Academy.
That's right.
Robin Lefler.
The Game was Ashley Judd's first...
I believe it was her first acting gig.
She was very young.
19, maybe, at the time. She was Wesley's romantic interest.
It was about a game that was kind of erotic.
It gave you erotic stimulation if you completed a level.
It was kind of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was fun.
When Ashley Judd was on Next Generation,
everybody made a big deal of it
because she was one of the Judd sisters.
I just thought she was really nice.
And such a phenomenal babe.
Apparently, I was her first on-screen kiss.
Spoiled her for everybody else, it's true.
I used to get a lot of mileage out of a joke I told at conventions.
The first girl that Wesley loved
was a shape-shifter who turned into a monster
after he had exposed his soul to her,
which happened a lot to me in my personal life.
I was glad that Star Trek was able to capture that parallel.
I don't want to be here any more than you want me here.
- Why take this assignment? - It's better than prison.
We have expectations of you.
Captain,... I know the routine.
You don't have to worry about me. We're stuck with each other.
So let's just get this over with and go our own separate ways, OK?
It's difficult to bring in a new character
into a family, if you will.
The crew of the Enterprise is a family.
A newcomer will have a hard time
breaking into it and the audience's heart.
But Rick and I felt we needed another female character on board.
Frankly, it was a combination of things.
The actress was just marvellous.
But what made the character accepted...
.. was that she was embraced by Guinan.
Guinan basically put her arms around this very remote, angry young woman
and brought her to the attention of Picard
and the crew and said, "This person deserves your attention. "
By doing it to the crew, to the family,
she was also doing it for our audience.
It was a good character and I loved writing her.
It started the whole Bajoran arc,
which then had its fruition on Deep Space Nine.
It was interesting to introduce a new character.
It was more for the permanent cast to interact with.
So I think it's good. It added a freshness to the shows.
When Jeri Ryan was brought on to Voyager, it was the same impact.
Somebody new for the cast to play off of.
A new point of view. Bringing an outsider into the mix.
I thought that Michelle Forbes was wonderful.
We have to say goodbye to the people in our lives.
No. You may be ready for the afterlife. I'm not.
I don't see we have much choice.
Fine. You go make peace with yourself.
I'm going to figure a way out of this.
One of the things that Star Trek tends to do pretty well
is mess with the whole space-time thing.
It's always a good storytelling device.
I thought that was an interesting use of the dramatic storytelling device,
to actually put two characters in the same space
but vibrating at a different frequency
so that they were invisible to everybody else.
They had to work out how to get home again,
even though they were still there. But they weren't.
Michelle Forbes, there's no one better to play off of.
She's really talented.
Next Phase was interesting
on the concept of life after death.
What it would be like for these characters
to briefly feel like they had died.
It's that Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn fantasy
of going to your own funeral.
What do people say? Watching people react.
There will be a memorial service at 2300 hours.
Mr Data is making arrangements.
- I'll be there. - Me, too.
- In fact, I'll say a few words. - You knew La Forge.
Actually, I was thinking of Ensign Ro.
- Me? - Coordinate with Mr Data.
Wait. What are you going to say?
They keep walking through things. They think they're alone.
Then one Romulan gets up and follows them.
That's such a great little cinematic moment.
Tasha!
No, Captain. My name is Cmdr Sela.
The woman you knew as Tasha Yar was my mother.
I started playing with this idea.
I sort of thought, "What if Tasha had a child
that now would be about the age of her mother
when Lt Yar was killed?"
She was this sort of love child from this relationship,
but was raised by Romulans, á la Dances With Wolves.
Here's this human baby, who, when the Romulans caught the Enterprise,
had this battle with the Enterprise. Tasha was spared
only because the Romulans knew she was pregnant.
They wanted to raise a human baby.
You want the answer to the only question on your mind.
How could Tasha be my mother?
It's been suggested that she was on the Enterprise-C 24 years ago,
that she was one of the survivors,
and you're a product of a union between her and a Romulan.
Yes, she was on that ship 24 years ago.
She was sent there, by you, from the future.
That was my idea. I called Rick Berman. I pitched.
I had an actual pitch meeting where I pitched this idea.
Here I am, Miss Actress, I don't know what I'm talking about,
asking to pitch a story.
I had this lunch meeting.
Rick was very intrigued. Non-committal.
He said, "I like it. Let me toss it around a little
and tell Michael Piller. "
"We'll get back to you. "
She was among those few who survived.
They were to be executed after interrogation.
But a Romulan general saw her and became enamoured with her.
So a deal was struck.
Their lives would be spared if she became his consort.
I was born a year later.
So I go home. A couple of months go by and I get this call.
"We like the idea. We want to do it. "
"But instead of having Tasha have a baby with Castillo,
she has a baby with a Romulan general
who sort of takes her as his concubine. "
That's how Sela came about.
Sela's half-human and half-Romulan.
- Do I have a name? - Do you want one?
A name...
I'm Beverly, he's Geordi, and you...
- You. - You...
Wait a minute. That's it. Hugh.
- What do you think? - We are Hugh.
I got involved in Star Trek when I was a kid,
watching lots of Trek. I'd stay up at night, unallowed.
It was like Benny Hill, Star Trek and Benny Hill.
I was a fan as a kid.
I was living in New York,
and had an opportunity to audition for the role that Wil played.
I didn't have a TV. I was one of those Bohemian actor kids.
Never watched it. I didn't get the part.
I moved to Los Angeles. I'd been travelling.
I still didn't have a TV. I hadn't watched Star Trek.
I got a call one night that I had an audition the next morning.
I picked up a script and read it that night.
I understood it immediately.
It's one of those magic things
where you hear the character talking in your head.
I went in the next day, auditioned and got a call back right away.
I remember telling a friend that I was going in for the show.
She said, "My father and I watch that. "
"It's like a religious experience. "
"You'll talk about Star Trek for the next 50 years. "
I'm like, "Come on!"
She said, "I'm serious. You have no idea of this whole world. "
I didn't believe her. I thought, "Whatever. "
It was great material.
I went in, I got the job, and she was right.
Ten years later, I'm talking to you about Star Trek.
It's remarkable. I've talked about Star Trek for the last ten years.
It's amazing to do a job that takes about a week,
and it's amazing that people want to hear about it over and over again.
The same questions at all the conventions.
Trying to find ways to retell the story
of those seven days you spent on a Star Trek set.
Since then, I got to go back and do other things on it.
But that first experience was really amazing.
We're giving you a choice.
Choice?
Do you want to go back with the Borg or stay with us?
I would choose to stay with Geordi.
But it is too dangerous.
They will follow.
This is Capt Bateson. Can we render assistance?
I'm Capt Jean-Luc Picard of Federation Starship Enterprise.
We were going to ask you the same.
Synergy! In the spirit of true synergy.
Occasionally, Paramount would ship over a star from Cheers or whatever,
and we'd put them on our show.
Kelsey Grammer...
It's my understanding that he was a fan of the show.
He was working down the way on Cheers.
A cameo was arranged for him.
I had written a little part for a guy named Capt Bateson...
.. of the Starship Bozeman,
which would be mentioned again and again in subsequent episodes.
He thought it would be cool.
Do you know what year this is?
Of course I do. It's 2278.
Ronald Reagan came to the set
during the filming of Redemption. He was out of office.
AC Lyle is a legend in his own right here at the studio.
He is the history of Paramount Pictures.
He said, "I'm bringing the President over to the set. "
He came to the Klingon Great Hall. That's where Reagan came.
The Secret Service clears the set.
It was just the producers and some key people around.
Some of the actors. Gene was there.
There was Reagan walking into the evil empire itself.
He comes in with this Secret Service guy...
Gene was not walking well. At the time, he had a cane.
He got up when the President came in.
As he got up, he dropped his cane.
Reagan bent down and picked it up for him.
It was such a charming, natural moment.
He gave him the cane back then started chatting.
I think Reagan was in his 80s at the time.
Early 80s, but he was in his 80s.
He was huge. I was shocked at how big he was.
We all gathered around. We were talking.
He'd listen. AC would whisper in his ear.
He would start telling Hollywood anecdotes
that he's told God knows how many times.
Radio days, days calling football games for wherever he was,
being an actor.
He was a really tall, broad, huge guy. He looked fantastic.
He had a beautiful brown suit on.
His hair didn't have a fleck of grey in it.
He looked great. It was really quite a moment.