I know what you're going to say, everybody hated the ending," laughs Kate Mulgrew, relaxing in
a London hotel during a whistlestop visit to the UK. "To be perfectly honest, there were multiple
considerations, the money not the least among them and the time constraints. We only had three and
a half weeks to do the two-parter and wrap up the season and the series, but I was pretty involved
regarding that final decision."
It's a decision that seems to have split Star Trek:Voyager fans, with some loving the simplicity
of the U.S.S Voyager bursting out of the transwarp conduit to the waiting flotilla of Federation
ships in the series finale, Endgame, but others desperate to know what happened to the crew when
they reached home.
"If nothing else," says Mulgrew, the face of Voyager's driven captain, "I thought Voyager started
with simplicity and then there was a bang, and therefore I thought it appropriate to have the bang
and then the simple finish. I understand completely that the audience reaction might be disappointed
by the lack of passion or finesse, but what I wanted very much to convey was the deep mystery and
love that Janeway had for this journey, the mystery of the journey."
Whether you're a Janeway fan or not, ask anyone who's met the Voyager captain's alter ego, Kate Mulgrew,
and they will tell you that there's an indefinable something about the actress that draws you to her.
She has a very affecting aura and it is perhaps this that has given her such an innate ability to
connect with the fans.
At the Creation convention in London in January of this year, the charismatic Mulgrew simply wowed
the fans who turned up to see the actress strut her stuff on the stage. Seeing her up there, answering
questions from her many fans, is to observe Mulgrew in her element - she feeds off her audience's
enthusiasm as the crowd awes over seeing their favourite star. It's clear she loves each and every
one of them, as they love her.
Chatting over a quenching cup of real coffee, it was obvious she delighted in discussing with STM
such topics as the fans, ST:Voyager and the future of Captain Janeway (now a starfleet admiral):

What was it about Captain Janeway that proved to be so popular?

"I think being the first female captain speaks for itself pretty much. By sort of necessity it would
attract much more members of my gender than heretofore the franchise has done. Also, she was an
unusual captain in that she was a scientist. In the seven years that I played her, she was very well
developed I think both by virtue of the writing, which really took off from the second season, and
then, of course, the nuance that I could bring to her."

It's not just members of her own sex who love Janeway though, is it? We had many young boys voting for
her as their favourite captain in a recent reader poll issue.

"Which is always so gratifying. The most gratifying I would say. Young men thrill me because that
means I captured their imagination and they're a tough crowd. As for the young women, that's
inspiring because I do think that if I can in any way have helped them meet the challenges of our
time, I would have done something so beyond what most actresses have the opportunity to do, which is
why it's been very ennobling."

Is that the legacy of Star Trek, do you think?

"Yes, but it has a particular resonance with the young as it's about the future and it is about hope."

There have been some fans who have described Gene Roddenberry as a philosopher/visionary, and then
criticised Rick Berman because he's a producer first. What's your opinion on that dynamic?

"It always takes that kind of marriage. Where would Roddenberry be without Berman's business acumen?
And also, and I must be very clear about this because Rick's a friend of mine, he has had a tremendous
creative hand in the whole thing, and thank God for it. He's the one, I think, who has effected all the
greatest changes in the last eight years.
People are always against the boss. It's human nature to be this way, but I do urge you to print that I
said, 'Whithout the boss, a.k.a. Rick Berman, there would be no franchise.' He's been a very good,
fair, strong and steady hand at the helm."

[There's a break while the coffee appears and is duly poured.] You drank so much coffee on the show,
you must be addicted by now.

"Ah, but the first one - very important." [laughs]

Some fans can be a little overenthusiastic - does this ever bother you?

"No, they don't, for the simple reason that why on Earth would I judge anything that's been that good
to me? I consider myself quite lucky. What if it was the reverse? What if I was getting people
coming up and saying 'You're the most appalling actress who ever lived'?
They're passionate about Janeway and I think for all the right reasons too. They're very smart and
science-oriented. Scientists are a bit like artists, they are not typical, and therefore they don't
react in a typical way."

You've mentioned science a few times, did the subject interest you before you played Captain Janeway?

"No, it didn't. In fact, it was completely foreign to me. Of course, when I got involved in it I
began to study it. I am, at best, the most ingenuous kind of novice at it, but physics does interest
me, and I began to read Richard Vineman, which stimulated and interested me to go back and restudy
Einstein, see if I could crack that theory of relativity! [Laughs]
You know, when you're spouting all of this stuff, quantum mechanics, it's wise to know what you are
talking about. If you don't root the technobabble in a reality, the audience will know. That's been
my little pet theory. So, as absurd as any notion may be, it's very smart to do a bit of homework
and figure out what it is that got the Okudas [Michael and Denise, Star Trek's resident technical
consultants, among their other duties] onto the thing in the first place."

Let's talk about your one-woman play, Tea at Five, about the life of Katharine Hepburn - we'd all
love you to bring it to London.

"As would I, but one has to see how these things unfold. I'm sure that if it's successful in New York
the producers will try to arrange a tour, both national and international, if they can."

Even if it doesn't would you like to perform on the West End stage?

"I would. I was saying to my husband last night at the theatre - in England, London in particular,
theatre is such a way of life that it is as embraced here as I would say films are in the United States.
It is as hungered for here as any other single art form in any other country in the world, and one
senses that immediately. Actors are a part of the very fabric of the culture here, and therefore
I'd love to play to a society that is deeply accepting and familiar with the process."

Is theatre where you see your future at the moment?

"Where I see my present and at my age that's what I talk about [laughs].
To answer your question, yes, which isn't for a moment to suggest I would discount any other thing.
I love to act. But I think from my nature there's a certain real happiness on the stage. I'm best realised
on stage, I think."

Are you one of those actors who just love to work all the time?

"No. I have been, but a propos, last year's experience, during which I did, of course, the one-woman
show, but I did an equal amount, if not more, of campaigning [for her husband Tim Hagan, who was running
for governship of Ohio, eventually losing to Republican Bob Taft]... I think I am becoming more
reflective as I age, and with that comes a kind of longing just to live without being haunted by
work. Captain Janeway, God bless her, allows me the luxury of not feeling the extraordinary pressure
of having to work constantly to pay the bills etc."

Patrick Stewart told STM that he was simply exhausted at the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation's run.
Was that the same for you?

"I don't believe him. He works constantly. Patrick never stops. He was tired for the two seconds you saw
him. He never stops. He's a perfect example of an actor who is continually fuelled."

Stewart also said if Star Trek Nemesis was his last Star Trek film he'd be happy to leave the
character of Picard alone. Do you think you'll ever reach that point with Janeway?

"It's apples and oranges here. Four films - that's quite a run on top of the seven year franchise,
so I can understand why he would say that and how he might feel he'd completed his mission, so to
speak. I think it would be wonderful if Voyager did a movie and great fun, so I'd like to have a
crack at that. It is with great reluctance that I would let her go. It's hard work enough to admit
that I no longer get to work with her on a daily basis."

There are still a lot of avenues to explore.

Admirals or avenues." [laughs]

Finally, speaking of admirals - Janeway now is one. Happy?

"Once you're a captain, always a captain, I think. They were so clever about that weren't they, in
the franchise? That the captain should be the anchor, the heart and soul. The rank of captain is
just enough to fill it with all kinds of accessibility. Admiral is a bit high. Captain is great."

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