by Scott Shriner

    I was late for the beginning of the "Women of Star Trek Voyager" convention at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel May 26, so I missed the first ten minutes of Roxann Dawson's hour-long chat with the fans. Just from missing those first ten minutes, I felt out of the "Trek" loop already! Before I'd arrived (and she wasn't scheduled to speak as early as she did, Make It So Productions!) she had already announced she was going to direct the seventh episode of the new series, "Enterprise." You've gotta love that "up to the minute" news you get at conventions.

    "The Women of Star Trek Voyager" May 26 and 27 in Cleveland featured Kate Mulgrew (Janeway), Roxann Dawson (B'elanna Torres), Jennifer Lien (Kes), Nancy Hower (Samantha Wildman). Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman) was supposed to be there, but was filming a movie in Australia and had to cancel. It cracks me up that the "kid actor" was the one who had the busiest schedule.  Fintan McKeown, who played Captain Janeway's holographic flame, Michael
Sullivan in the "Fair Haven" episodes, took Pomers' place at the last minute.

    It was a terrific convention, and the fact that it was the first one any of the actors had done since the show ended four days before made it seem extra special.
 

Roxann Dawson was energetic, charming and very funny, and the fans responded to her personality instantly. She told a lot of humorous "from-the-set" stories, mostly involving the show's male cast members, whom both she and Mulgrew referred to affectionately as "the boys." From an incident in which Mulgrew entered a turbolift to find Tim Russ (Tuvok) completely naked, to an X-rated Internet photo of himself that Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) proudly showed off to the rest of the cast, she had the audience laughing quite a bit.

    In response to a little girl's question, "how old were you when you knew you wanted to be an actress?" Roxann replied "Negative eight months." She said she was looking forward to getting back to the theater, and that she wanted to direct more, after her experiences behind the camera on "Voyager" were such good ones. She also wants to write more, she said. Several folks asked
her about her trilogy of science fiction novels, only one of which has come out so far, and she seemed very enthusiastic about them, going as far as to say that she would like to direct a TV or film version of them. And she talked a lot about B'elanna. She seems to genuinely love the character, which was great for the fans to hear, because it was obvious most of them loved the character, too. She even got a little personal and admitted her own temper, like B'elanna's, can sometimes be overpowering, and she said it was great to play a character who wasn't perfect.  "What I loved about B'elanna was that she was flawed at the beginning of the show and she was flawed at the end of it," she said. She cited "Lineage" and "Remember" as two of her favorite episodes.

    If you've never seen Roxann without her Klingon forehead ridges, she's really a very lovely woman. She was very gracious even to some of the dumber questions (you know, the questions like the ones the fake fans asked in Shatner's SNL skit, the ones that make the rest of the Star Trek fans look bad). Many fans preluded their questions by thanking her for coming and for being so great on the show, but the audience's ultimate expression of gratitude was in Roxann's impromptu auction at the end of her chat each day.  She had two rare autographed Trek photos that she auctioned off for two different charities, both of which she talked about very passionately. One photo went for $500 and the other went for $950. Roxann said she loved doing conventions, especially since she loves being on stage and the only times she's gotten to do that in seven years has been talking to Trek fans!

    Although Roxann said she was "sworn to secrecy" about "Enterprise," she said she thought it was going to be "fantastic" and she teased us a bit by mentioning she had the script for the show's pilot in her hotel room!
 

Jennifer Lien acted very much the way I've heard her described in other convention reports: quite mellow, and to the point with her answers. Whereas Dawson and Mulgrew sometimes took up to a couple minutes to answer a question, Jennifer's answers were quicker and quieter. For example, she answered "Would you ever do Star Trek again?" with a simple "I'm really not sure."

    But although she may not have been as comfortable with the microphone as other Trek stars, she was very sweet and seemed to be doing her best. Fans have certainly not forgotten her, and one person drew applause from the crowd and thanks from Jennifer by saying Kes had been "such a wonderful delicate flower and we all loved her."

    When someone insisted on asking her (I was dreading the question, but I knew it was coming) "How did it feel when they axed you off the show?," I was a little nervous that she might close up and not want to talk anymore, but actually she handled it very well (I suppose she gets that question a lot. Can't people show a little compassion and courtesy?).
"You mean, how did you like being canned, is that what you're asking?" she said, about as good-naturedly as she possibly could have. "It happens in this business."
She added she had never worked on any project as long as she'd worked on Star Trek. Lots of people asked her about her voice-over work, which included the cartoon show of "Men in Black." She said she got that work through an agent and didn't sound interested in doing it again.
She said she hadn't acted in a few years and was pursuing an education, although she was a little vague on the details. "I'm studying everything" she responded to a fan's "what's you major" type question.

    When asked her favorite Voyager episode, she replied "The last one I did," and I think she was referring to sixth season's "Fury," rather than "The Gift," which was her last episode as a regular character. When asked who her favorite actor on the show was to work with, she said "Now, that's not a fair question, because they're all excellent."

    The biggest laugh Jennifer got was when she echoed Tom Paris' reaction in the "Voyager" finale to the Doctor's name. "He decided on JOE?" she asked incredulously when a fan told her what Robert
Picardo's character was dubbed in the "Future" timeline.

    Nancy Hower seemed very nice and got a very warm reception. A lot of mothers told her they loved  seeing a "mother" on Star Trek. When one young girl asked her how she liked working with Scarlett Pomers, she replied in jest "Oh, she was awful!" which got a laugh. She then seriously said she had been very impressed with her on-screen daughter's professionalism at such a young
age. She also talked about her band, which is touring with Meat Loaf. This inspired a lot of folks to ask her questions about Meat Loaf in general, which was kind of interesting. I doubt many fans even knew she was musically inclined, but she seemed very excited about her band. She also mentioned she was going to direct a movie called "The Wizard of Id" (not based on the comic strip) which may feature Wallace Shawn.

    Fintan McKeown had a tough room to work, because he was the "smallest" name there and he was replacing Scarlett Pomers, and many people remarked they had really been looking forward to seeing her. But he did a fine job answering some pretty obscure questions, about whether he agreed with Janeway's decision to alter his character's holographic parameters, although he seemed much more comfortable when he was just hanging out in the dealer's room later in the convention, just chatting one-on-one with people.
 

I've saved Kate Mulgrew for last, of course. I must say, I have been to several Trek conventions, even ones with bigger crowds than this one, but I've never seen anything like the reception Kate got. It was a total lovefest. She was on stage slightly more than an hour and probably spent 40 minutes of that time listening to and talking to fans who were literally pouring out their hearts to her. She got women telling her she was a role model, she had  fathers telling her how great it was that there was a show they could watch with their daughters. Every other person who asked a question had some sort of gift for her, all of which she accepted graciously and handed off to her mother-in-law, whom she brought up onto the stage with her. Cleveland is, of course, special to Kate because it's where her husband Tim Hagan lives, and it's now apparently where she's going to live. "I can finally say I am home at last," she said when she came on stage. Her husband is a local politician and he came up on stage himself and answered a few questions. "Honestly," he joked to the Cleveland crowd, "how many of you knew who the hell I was before I was married to Captain Janeway?" He and his wife had a very sweet repartee on stage, and she even referred to him once as "Mr. Mulgrew," which cracked everyone up.

    Before Kate even answered any questions, she gave some very heartfelt opening remarks, in which she talked about how much Janeway and Voyager have meant to her. Just a few nights before, she said she had watched the Voyager finale and had surprised herself by breaking into tears. She was overflowing with thanks to the fans, without whose support she said Janeway never would have been accepted.

    If you've seen Kate in an interview, you know how she calls everyone "sweetie" and "dearie." Everyone who asked a question (I did not, by the way; I considered asking her how she liked working with Ted Danson on Cheers, but it seemed so insignificant compared to all the "you've changed my life" stuff she was getting) must have felt like they had personally met her.
When asked about Genevieve Bujold, who "had the part of Janeway for all of two hours" she said, Kate was very frank. "I'm SOOOO glad she didn't stay," she said, drawing one of many big laughs.
"Which was your favorite Janeway hairdo?" someone asked, drawing a sigh of frustration from her. "Picard had it easy, didn't he?" she asked. "I wish I could have just shaved my head from Day One."
Kate's response to an aspiring actress who asked her for advice: "Be strong, be passionate, be disciplined, be driven, and stay away from the boys!" The most heart-wrenching moment may have been when a young woman told Kate she had been planning to kill herself on January 19, 1996, and that evening she saw the episode "Death Wish,' in which Janeway tries to convince a Q not to commit suicide, and she changed her mind. This was just one of many fans Kate brought up on the stage for a hug. Anyone who has not seen Kate Mulgrew at a convention, make it a point to see
her soon. It's a truly great time.