The
anticipation and the excitement waiting for Kate Mulgrew to make her appearance
was nuts. There must have been over 2000 fans in the audience. I was way
lucky to be right on the front row, with digital camera in hand, well in
my daughter's hand, she took all the pictures, I was too excited to even
hold still. Anyway, we weren't disappointed, when Kate finally walked onto
the stage you could just feel the love that the fans have for her, and
she well deserves it. It really brought tears to my eyes to be there at
that moment, to be a part of the whole thing. She was absolutely, incredibly
awesome. I'm sure I could never put into words just how much it meant to
me to see her, to talk to her, and to get three hugs and two pictures with
her. It was perfect.
Kate
was joined by her husband Tim Hagan and her mother in-law Ada who she had
come sit up on the stage with her. It was great to see how much she loves
her family, she was so sweet to them, you can really see how much she is
in love with her husband. That just made her more endearing. Just a funny
little note, someone asked her husband Tim, and this isn't an exact quote
because I can't remember every word, but the question was, who wears the
pants in the family, you or Captain Janeway? His answer was priceless.
He was already on the stage, so when the question was asked, he knelt down
in front of her, bowing. It was so damn funny, I wish I'd have thought
to take a picture, but we were all laughing so hard. Her answer to him
was just as funny, and this is the exact quote. "You are so full of . .
. " It was great.
The
first question that was asked was from me. I still can't believe I did
that. Kate was looking over in my direction when she asked if anyone had
any questions. Now if you knew me at all, you'd know that I'm really quite
shy. In my wildest dreams, I'd never have thought I would do what I did.
I jumped up out of my seat and said, "I have a question," when I really
had know idea what in the hell I would say. Now that I think back on it,
I must have been crazy. Anyway she asked me if I had a microphone, which
I didn't, so I said I could just talk loud. Her response was "Sweetie,
come up to the microphone" So I did, but just as I got over there, she
wanted to bring her mother in-law up to sit on the stage. Kate didn't like
the fact that she was sitting so far back, it was really sweet. Anyway,
I had to stand at the microphone while they got her mother in-law up on
the stage, which made me even more nervous. I still had no idea what I
was going to say, what I really wanted to do was get the hell out of there.
She finally turned to face me directly and said, "ok, what was your question?"
The question just came out of my mouth. I asked her what her most perfect
moment was as Captain Janeway, not her favorite episode, but her favorite
moment. For pulling it out of thin air, it wasn't too bad. My daughter
recorded part of her answer with the camera. Video cams were not allowed,
so it was a bit of a cheat, but it will always mean something special to
me because Kate Mulgrew was talking directly to me. Here's the gist of
her answer. She described her first day, the first time on the bridge of
Voyager. She said something about Jean-Luc Picard, and how she didn't want
to take his line, or confuse people, but she did. It's hard to remember
every word, I was too nervous, but it must have been funny because everyone
was laughing hard, but the part I have recorded is exact. "That must be
so confusing, I thought to those Americano's out there, wouldn't you? Now
I said, engage, and that was a great moment." Then she said thank you,
I said thank you and took my seat, somehow not tripping over my feet. It
was wild, I'll never forget it.
After
that, there was already a line clear to the back of the room with people
that wanted to ask her a question. I was pretty lucky. There weren't very
many questions asked about Star Trek and Captain Janeway. One was how she
liked all the hair style changes. She said she hated the hair situation
and all the primping they did everyday. She said she hates people fussing
over her constantly, drives her crazy. She was also asked about the final
episode. She talked about how hard it was to play both parts, that one
scene could take days. They used line doubles first, then just a stand
in, then nothing. She would have to get every move, every expression exact.
She said the scene where Janeway hands Janeway a cup of coffee took over
ten hours just to get the timing right. (Crazy) Another sweet thing she
did was sing happy birthday to a cute girl. She has a really nice singing
voice, and she wasn't a bit shy to let us hear it. The little girl had
said she canceled her birthday party so she could come to the convention
to meet her. Kate brought her up on stage and we all sang to her, it was
really cute. At one point Kate turned around on the stage and saw her mother
in-law getting up to leave. She called out, "Ada, where are you going?"
Then she started laughing and said, "My mother in-law is leaving me." They
brought her mother in-law down and sat her right by my daughter and me.
That was cool too, having Kate's mother in-law and husband sitting right
by us. Anyway, there would never have been enough time for even half the
questions that people wanted to ask. I'm sure there were hundreds who were
disappointed that didn't get a chance to ask a question, or just to say
hi. There were some people who I thought were a bit out of line with their
questions, which weren't even questions, but a very heart breaking story
of their lives. Granted people have troubled lives, and they look up to
someone who they think has changed their lives in some unknown way, saying
that Captain Janeway saved their lives and they would have died if not
for her isn't really what we all wanted to hear. I feel bad for people
who have hard times, and we all have them, but I feel like the 2000 and
so people there didn't want to sit and listen to such sad stories, it was
a Star Trek convention, we wanted more fun questions not sad stories. She
was very kind to all of them, giving them hugs and accepting all the gifts
they had made for her, but you could tell it made her uncomfortable, along
with the rest of us. What can you really say to them, but I'm sorry. 
Anyway,
I liked the humorous parts much better. Like when someone asked her what
it was like working with all the guys, and this is another exact quote.
"You wouldn't believe what happens to the boys after midnight. Pants start
dropping, spit balls start flying." You get the point, just a bunch of
fun loving friends having a good time. Kate was on stage for just over
an hour when they made her quit. I'm sure she would have stayed lots longer,
but they had a schedule to keep. She said she would sign an autograph for
everyone, but I'm sure she had no idea just how many people were there.
She did sign over 1000 of them before they put a stop to that also. I was
lucky enough to get 3 of that 1000. Along with my book and a picture my
daughter had her sign, she signed a seventh season Voyager hat that I had.
I already had Robert Beltran's signature on it, so I thought it would be
cool to have a J/C hat. When she took the hat, she paused to look at it,
then asked where I wanted her to sign. I told her just right under RB's
signature. She looked up and said, "Yea, right under him ha?" My answer
was, "Well he dumped you for Seven anyway." She looked down and signed
the hat as she gave me her response. "The bum." Then she tried to steal
my pen, well not really, she just kept using my pen to sign other autographs.
When my daughter asked for it back, Kate said, "Didn't know I was a thief
did ya?" She is so adorable, I was very touched by how kind and funny she
is.
The
cocktail party, now that was even cooler. It was limited to 250 people.
It was held in the balcony of the ball room of the hotel, very elaborate.
They even had an ice sculpture of Voyager. When the stars arrived people
went nuts just to get close to Kate and Roxann. It was crazy. They were
both trying to be accommodating to everyone, but I know there were over
a hundred and fifty people who were not too happy by the end of the night.
There was just no way Kate or Roxann could have talked to everyone there.
The stars were only contracted for one hour, and that's all they stayed.
I'm sure Kate Mulgrew would have stayed longer, but those were the rules.
Again I was one of the lucky ones. I did get the chance to hug her and
talk for a minute. I also got two pictures with her arm around me and a
glass of champagne in the other hand. The pictures are special to me, I
just don't think I want the whole world to see what I look like, so I won't
be posting them on my web site. If you really want to see them, e-mail
me and I'll think about it. It was kind of cool how I even got the opportunity
to see her. There was a huge crowd of people around her, like there had
been all night. She was just talking, feeding her face, which I do have
a funny picture of her with a mouth full of food. She said no one could
talk to her if they didn't have a drink in their hand, after all it is
a cocktail party. She seemed to really be having a good time. She's just
like everyone else, loves to eat, drink and be merry. Just a normal person.
She never made any of us feel like she was any different than we were.
I think that was one of my favorite things about her, she's just a normal
everyday person, she just happens to have millions of fans who love her.
Anyway, I didn't think I would get the chance to even get close enough
to say hi, when she spotted me in the crowed and held out her hand to me.
She took my hand, pulling me forword and said, "I remember you." Then she
gave me the first hug, couldn't believe it was even real. I told her how
nice it was to meet her and how much I admired her. Can't remember word
for word, I was nervous as hell. She gave me another hug, then we did the
picture thing. Then I told her I was a big Janeway Chakotay fanfiction
writer and fan. She just looked at me, tilted her head, and said thank
you. I got one more hug, then she was on to the next person. If I live
to be a hundred, I'll never forget those few moments with Kate Mulgrew.
