INTERVIEW: Marina Sirtis celebrates 30 years of ‘TNG’ at NJ convention
Star Trek: The Next Generation is one of the most beloved TV shows of all time, and fans are still dedicated to watching the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew of talented Starfleet officers. The actors who portrayed the principal cast on the show continue to greet fans at conventions and offer insights on their seven seasons of science-fiction gold.
This weekend, many of those TNG actors will visit Parsippany, New Jersey, for Creation Entertainment’s Continuing Voyage Convention. Celebrities will be on hand from Friday, Sept. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 1 at the Hilton Parsippany on Route 10 to celebrate Gene Rodenberry’s creation. Expected to be in attendance are TNG actors Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, Denise Crosby and Michael Dorn.
In addition, fans can spend time with Karl Urban, Nichelle Nichols, Robert Picardo, JG Hertzler, John Billingsley, Tim Russ, Martha Hackett, Daniel Davis, author Robb Pearlman and Trek expert Richard Arnold.
Creation has pulled out all the stops for TNG’s 30th anniversary. The cast members from the TV show will reunite on stage for a special Saturday evening event. Add in a karaoke party, no-minimum-bid auctions, panel discussions and a costume parade, and Trekkies have a weekend to enjoy the franchise that keeps on giving (evidenced by Star Trek: Discovery’s premiere this past Sunday).
Thirty years to the day after Star Trek: The Next Generation’s premiere episode in 1987, Hollywood Soapbox spoke with Sirtis before she headed to New Jersey. The actress memorably played the pivotal role of Counselor Deanna Troi on TNG. Here’s what she had to say:
On the 30th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation …
“Well, to be honest, I didn’t realize what today was, and then I went on Twitter. And I was informed by my fans that today is the 30th anniversary of the airing of Star Trek, so, yeah, it’s a big day. It is a big day. I mean, I can’t even believe it’s 30 years. I mean, I used to say this about the original cast. You know, oh my God, can you believe it was 30 years ago. And then last year, can you believe it was 50 years ago. And suddenly it’s us. It’s weird.”
On the camaraderie she still shares with her TNG castmates …
“We’re all still really good friends. I mean, we really are a family. And people who come to see us, that’s one of the comments we get the most is, ‘Oh my goodness. Seeing you all together on stage, we get it. We totally see the love between you guys.’ We’re the only cast, I think, of all the incarnations — I mean, Discovery is too new to even talk about that yet, as far as relationships go over the years — but we, I think, are pretty much the only cast where literally the whole cast loved each other equally. I mean, we really did just click on day one.
“Jonathan describes it as lightning in a bottle, and it really was because I thought we were all going to get fired on day one because we were laughing so hard. So we’ve always had that camaraderie, and we’ve always had that love between us. We enjoy each other’s company. We really do. One of our favorite things to do is on a Saturday night, when we’re all at a convention together, is to go out to dinner together and hang out.”
On whether she knew about the Star Trek fandom when she joined TNG …
“I mean, I was from England. I had literally been in the country for six months to the day when I got cast on the show, started work on it a month later. I knew of Star Trek because you have to live in a cave for the last 50 years to not know Star Trek, but I never watched it. I’m a big sports person. I’m watching sports. I’m like a dude. I watch sports all day every day if I can, so I wasn’t aware.
“However, I have to point out that when we started, people weren’t really excited to see us. I mean, we were the only cast that had to win people over because when we started I would go to conventions. I mean, I call them conventions; they were like meetings because there were like 50 people there, all with their arms crossed, staring at me and asking me what the heck did we think we were doing trying to take the place of their heroes and how dare we. So I think people forget that the success of TNG is what really paved the way for all the other shows to come because they didn’t have to prove themselves. We had created this audience that basically they inherited. We kind of inherited the original cast audience, but we didn’t because most of them didn’t want another Star Trek. They were quite happy watching their re-runs over and over again, God bless them.
“But really as far as TNG went, it took about I’d say over a year to really kind of start clicking with the fans and start having people come up and and say, ‘You know, we’re really enjoying the show now.’ But it took a while. It really took a while, and I faced a lot of angry faces in my first experiences at conventions.”
On the importance of Counselor Troi talking about mental health issues …
“I realize it more in hindsight actually. When I was hired, I basically did a background history for my character. I did the things you normally do when you get cast. You create a life for the character that you’re playing, and … I took it to Gene’s office. And I said, ‘So what do you think? Is this any good, this character, the way I’m kind of thinking of her.’ He said, ‘Just do what you want. Do whatever you want.’ He said, ‘This is yours to play with.’ So I didn’t really, well, because he said that, I didn’t really feel I had to go a certain way, but when I asked him, ‘Why have you got a psychologist on the bridge?’ He said, ‘Because by the 24th century, mental health will be as important as physical health.’ And he said this in 1987.”
On revisiting TNG’s topical issues in 2017 …
“The sad thing is, of course, is that I’m pretty sure that Gene had hoped we wouldn’t still be talking about these issues in 2017, that they would be resolved some of them. I mean, that’s the tragedy of it really isn’t it, that there was this guy who had these wonderful ideas about our future, about a hopeful future. He brought elements to TV that really hadn’t been there before. I mean, he disguised them as entertainment, but he had issues that he wanted to talk about. And I’m pretty sure if you would have said to him, especially when he was writing The Original Series, late ‘60s, ‘By 2017, Gene, do you think that we’ll still have racial prejudice? Do you think we’ll still have illiterate children? Do you think that we will still have children with meal insecurity, food insecurity?’ If you had asked Gene those questions in the late ‘60s, he would have said, ‘No, they should all be gone by 2017. We will have evolved by then.’ So that’s the tragedy of it actually, for me, because we haven’t.”
On being an avid supporter of Tottenham Hotspurs and whether the soccer team’s difficulties are because they are playing in Wembley Stadium this year …
“You say the word, immediately I get butterflies. … [On Wembley,] why is it an advantage when you’re playing on your home field? The advantage is that you have points of reference, you see. Most of the people who go to football matches now in England, especially the people around the sides in the really close seats, they’re season-ticket holders. They’re there for every game, so the players see them. The players see the awnings, the advertising awnings, and they have like a spatial recognition of where they are when they’re playing at home. Well, at Wembley, they don’t have that yet. I mean, they’ll get it, but they don’t have that yet. And that’s why on a certain level, we’re playing 38 away games this year, and it’s as simple as that. And if we do well, I just think that goes to show how brilliant we are.”
On whether she’s able to see the Hotspurs in person …
“Another tragedy in my life is, I swear God, whenever I’m in England, it’s like Murphy’s Law, Spurs are never playing at home. I was in England for nearly a month last year, and there was not a single home game when I was there between the Champions League and the EPL [English Premier League]. But the great happiness of my life is now that they know who I am at Tottenham, and I pretty much know that I will get the red-carpet treatment the next time I go to a game. And they do send me, they sent me a new shirt, this season’s shirt with the new shield on it, with my name on the back. … I would like to be at the opening of the new stadium next year. That’s the game I would like to go to.”
On when she started watching football …
“My interest in football began in 1966. I won’t tell you how old I was then because … I was an embryo. No, no, I wasn’t, but my football love started in ’66 because England won the World Cup. And I started at my new school, and my new school was in Tottenham. And it was an all-girls’ school. I went to a single-sex school, and to be honest, one of the main reasons my little group of girlfriends at school got into football was because they were pretty much the nearest to boys. It was the love of football plus men, I mean boyfriends. It was kind of a magical [confluence] of things happening.”
On her advice for fans coming to the New Jersey convention …
“Wear comfortable shows. No, really, you spend a lot of time on your feet. Wear comfortable shoes, and bear in mind that we’re as excited to see you as you are to see us. And especially around me, don’t worry if you fangirl or fanboy out around me because I totally get it because that’s exactly how I get around footballers, especially if they play for Tottenham. So, yeah, it’s a lot of fun. There are a lot of fun panels. The fans can have their photos taken with us. They can get our autographs. We’re doing a ton of panels. We’re doing individual panels. We’re doing a big panel with all the cast together on Saturday night. It’s fun. It’s really a lot of fun. You’ll have a good time.”
A final thought …
“Come on you Spurs.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Marina Sirtis will appear at Creation Entertainment’s Continuing Voyage Convention at the Hilton Parsippany on Route 10 in Parsippany, New Jersey. The convention takes place Friday, Sept. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 1. Click here for more information.
