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Remembering Patrick Stewart

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About This Episode

We’re remembering the life of the man who took us to the final frontier—and made “Make it so” a phrase we’ll never forget. From Captain Picard to Professor X, Patrick Stewart brought authority, humanity, and a surprising sense of humor to our screens. We’re celebrating his life, remembering his career, and reflecting on what made Patrick Stewart such an unforgettable part of growing up Generation X.

(May contain some explicit language.)

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Show Notes

Transcript

Jon Welcome back Gen X Grown Up podcast listener to this backtrack edition of the Gen X Grown Up podcast. I am John. Joining me here as always, of course, my buddy Mo. Hey, Mo.
Mo Hey, how’s it going, John?
Jon All right. All right. And of course, wouldn’t be a show without George. Hey, George.
George Hey, how’s it going everybody?
Jon In this edition of the Gen X Grown-Up… Oh, I don’t want to say it that way. I copied that from the tease. Yeah, i’m sorry. There we go. three I’ll just… delete it Okay.
Jon In this episode, we are remembering the life of a man who took us to the final frontier and made make it so a phrase we will never forget. From Captain Picard to Professor X, Patrick Stewart brought authority. humanity and a surprising sense of humor to our screens.
Jon We’re celebrating his life, remembering his career, and reflecting on what made Patrick Stewart such an unforgettable part. of growing up. Generation X. And I’ll tell you, if you listen to our last episode. We were going to be doing something different. We had planned a different backtrack.
Jon And then. just what is this two days ago now just two days ago now We got the word that. Sir Patrick Stewart. had passed away and What? I was getting peppered with messages of people letting me know. And one of those messages right away was George and our discord server saying, man, we got to call an audible here.
Jon No, that was me tossing to you.
George or what Oh.
Jon to Talk about that.
Mo um That was a toss.
George That… There was no toss in that whatsoever.
Jon Oh.
George It was… That was a… Okay. There. There’s no leading to that. You didn’t call me.
Mo Yeah.
Jon this sorry
George That’s not a toss.
Jon so Sorry, in my head I was hoping you’d say something like… Yeah, was that was the only thing to do because my feelings, blah, blah, blah, whatever you feel.
George Okay, well, I don’t know what’s in your head, so…
Jon yeah
George Okay. Just… Um…
Jon Have we not been married long enough that you know what’s in my head?
George No. Not quite.
Jon Okay. You’re going to pick it up or you’re going to do it again?
George Alright.
Jon Are you going to toss it again?
George Uh… Just give me ah the same thing again and I’ll…
Jon Okay.
George Now I know what you want.
Jon All right. Okay. All right. ah I’m going to do the end here, Generation X. And if you listen to our last episode where we tell you what’s coming up in the next backtrack, it wasn’t this. We had something else planned and we very rarely. call audibles like this but I was getting.
Jon messages and phone calls and stuff from people who had found out or calling me because they knew how important Patrick Stewart was in my life. And one of the many messages I got was George in our Discord server, our private Discord server, saying, man, we got to make a change.
George Yeah, it Just kind of. It felt necessary, so John and I, as most of you know, met each other. i was years ago. um in a Star Trek fan club.
Jon Yeah.
George And it was. During the initial run of Star Trek Next Generation, John was ah the Chiron operator at the local TV station here in town.
Jon Yep.
George and uh whether they knew it or not john was putting little scrolls across the episodes, come meet the local Star Trek fan club at
Jon Yep.
George this place at the university, this date and time and stuff. And I saw one of those and. thought well that sounds like fun i love star trek let’s go see what these people are about and Um,
George It definitely… It brought ah John and I together, which has obviously been an incredibly long friendship that I’ve benefited greatly from. and that likely would not have been possible were it not for Oh.
George people like Patrick Stewart, specifically being a part of that show. I think um as we get into this podcast, you’re going to see that it was an unusual set of circumstances that brought him to the role. he had a distinguished career before he ever got to Star Trek. Star Trek just made him a global icon, which he rightly deserved. in I didn’t need to do a lot of research to help fill out the card.
Jon o
George John mentioned as we were starting, we could talk about Patrick Stewart for hours without a single card fact in front of us.
Jon No.
George We just have it there for notes basically, but. um I did. learn a couple of little things here and there that just reinforce the idea that Patrick Stewart was not just a fine actor, but an even… Better man.
George And. I’m glad that we’re taking time to talk about it because.
Jon Yeah.
George If two devout Star Trek fans and the odd Star Wars fan.
Jon hey
George can’t spend a moment talking about who is arguably one of the greatest. characters and actors to ever play. in that series what the hell are we doing with the podcast
Jon Yeah. And Mo, you were the first to jump in and go, yeah, absolutely. It makes good sense. So, I mean, even though you’re a set kind of a secondary Star Trek fan, as Mo, as George was kind of alluding to.
Mo Yeah, we have.
Jon Still a huge figure in so much of our media, right?
Mo Oh yeah. yeah it goes way back we’ll get into all this but I remember seeing him in Excalibur and a whole bunch of other movies.
Jon Mm hmm.
George Mm-hmm Yep.
Jon right of course
Mo you know Um,
Jon Of course.
Mo And you know then all of a sudden it’s like, hey, that’s the guy from Excalibur on Star Trek.
Jon Yeah.
Mo you know and Even though.
Jon ah
Mo he had a really dignified and long career long before that.
Jon Well before that.
George Yep.
Jon Yeah. Yeah. So we don’t often do this. Look, we’re losing all sorts of our. our heroes. You know, as we get older, the people who we grew up admiring, you know, and we don’t often, I know we did for Dolly Parton a few, a couple of months ago, it was just.
George Yeah.
Jon very impactful and this is another one just hit us so hard we’re like
George And it. He’s not the only Star Trek actor we lost.
Jon Ugh.
George lee and We shouldn’t go through the whole podcast without mentioning Walter Koenig, who…
Jon I know.
Mo Yeah. That’s right.
George I was fortunate enough to meet a couple of occasions, but even we have an interview here on our…
Mo Mm-hmm
George YouTube channel. uh that we did it
Jon Yeah.
George um what was it dragon con like
Mo Yeah.
George one of our first interviews we got with anybody, the, the people who are a part of Star Trek.
Jon That’s right. yeah the first time we went
George They affect us so much because the show. is so embedded in our in our growing up phase, right? like Video games.
George cartoons, all that stuff was when we were young. Right.
Jon Yeah.
George But then Star Trek.
Jon mm-hmm
George It kind of spanned. our entire generation from reruns of the classic series.
Jon As we were figuring out who the hell we were.
Mo Yeah.
George Yeah.
Jon Right? Yeah.
George reruns of the classic series all the way up to modern incarnations today that are still happening We. I would say more than any other generation own Star Trek. Now I know it started maybe a little bit before our generation.
Jon Mm hmm.
George you Some people are going to argue those year debate points and whatnot.
Jon Yeah.
George Um, but I don’t think any generation owns Star Trek as much as. Hmm. Gen X and. it’s It’s worth it to talk about it when we lose such a significant figure.
Mo but for For sure.
Jon Yeah. Indeed. So. That is what we’re devoting this episode to, remembering. Oh. the life and the legacy of Sir Patrick Stewart, who’s such a big part of all of our formative years growing up. Before we get into that, I do have a quick listener email. Longtime listener, Rick.
George Hmm.
Jon dropped us a line. I thought you guys would like to hear it because the topic of the email was. Long Island Panel.
Mo so Okay.
George Oh wow. okay
Mo The one on AI that we did, right?
Jon Yeah, so… Right. We had our panel there at the Long Island RetroCon and we took the audio of it and we shared it as a special edition episode.
George Yeah.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon And Rick dropped us a line. He listened and he said. Loved this one. The diverse opinions were fantastic to hear. we were We heard that a lot coming out of the panel.
George Hmm. Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
Jon yep Yeah. ah The one thing not mentioned, and it’s a stretch for panels parameters. But a concern for writers as content creators is the lack of royalty payments for the use of AI in their content.
Mo Hmm.
Jon There was a big settlement with Anthropic, but it’s still a big concern for writers and the LLMs.
George ah
Jon Rick.
Mo Yeah.
George writers? Like…
Jon Right.
George I wonder what he means.
Jon So if you if if if artificial intelligence creates something for you, you can’t copyright that and get royalties off of it because you didn’t write it.
George I don’t…
George Okay.
Jon Yeah.
George That makes sense. Like.
Jon so Well, that’s that’s the debate. It’s like, did you write it? How much of it did you write? That sort of thing. So I think that’s what Rick is talking about.
George Huh.
Jon so yeah
George Okay. I mean, it never dawned on me to try and claim that I owned something that AI wrote, it would be the same as if Mo wrote it.
Jon Right. Mm hmm.
George And I can’t claim that. You know?
Mo Yeah.
Jon Right. Same thing with art. If you do art, you can’t copyright art. Same thing in any kind of any kind of.
George Yeah.
Jon computer generated stuff. So. Thank you, Rick. We we very much appreciate that you listened to that panel. I’m glad that you enjoyed it. We have another, we have the PRGE panel coming in the next couple of weeks as I can get it processed and up.
Jon So we have another panel. It’s going to come to you as a special edition. The fourth listener, if you would like your email featured here on the show, you know it’s dropped dead easy. Just hit us up at podcast at jetxgrownup .com.
Jon Read every single one, and most of them just like Rick’s. We’ll eventually make the show. Okay. With that good business in the rearview mirror, we’re going to jump into the body of this backtrack, remembering Patrick Stewart. Right.
Jon Blah. We’re going to jump into the body of this backtrack remembering Patrick Stewart right after this very quick break. I’m not Stuart. All right.
Jon So let us begin here. In this episode, we have we have switched for what we had planned to do, and we are talking about the life and legacy of Patrick Stewart, who sadly we just lost just a few days ago as we record this. And George, why don’t you kind of guide us through this journey? I know you did some research on his early life that maybe we don’t know as much about.
George Yeah, I mean… it’s you know fortunate because he was such a prominent figure that a lot of this stuff is out. in the public information area so you don’t have any problem finding them fact checking any of this he was born on july 13 1940 uh in merefield uh west riding of yorkshire
Jon Right.
George His mother was a textile worker, and his father was a regimental sergeant major in the British Army Parachute Regiment during World War II. um I read a couple of little anecdotes about it, that his father was.
George a very strong-willed person patrick stewart even talked about in one interview that he was preparing for a role and grew a mustache for the role and when he looked in the mirror he just was looking at his father and he was like oh my god i didn’t even realize i was doing that because the role was a strong character role um and his father did suffer from what we now call ptsd
Jon oh Oh, really?
Jon Mm hmm.
George From World War II, as you…
Jon Right.
George Sure, you know, it’s hard easy to understand that. The one that I didn’t understand, I didn’t know. Before doing the research, he had two older brothers. um that were significantly older than him, Jeffrey and Trevor.
George um Both born. Um, Maybe. like five or ten years. depending upon which one you’re talking about before him.
Jon No. Okay. Yeah.
George So he was the baby. of the group Um, And. I don’t think I’ve ever. heard or seen him talk about them in and john you and i went to convention after convention we saw patrick stewart many times i never heard him really talk about his family not that he was ashamed or anything bad happened nothing like that just it wasn’t a subject matter that he brought up or that other people asked him about i find that a little sad because
Jon Mm.
Mo no
Jon Me either.
Jon Right.
George I feel like I would have, now that he’s already passed, unfortunately, you always wish. something had been done or said or asked before.
Jon If only, yeah.
Mo Yeah.
George um I kind of wish that he had. um Ben asked more about that. a little bit. It would have been interesting.
Mo Yeah. just from interviews and stuff that i saw of him he seems like he’s always been a very private person when it comes to like Personal life. you know, like, I mean, roles and stuff, he’ll talk all day, you know, every day about roles and actors and all that stuff.
George Mm hmm.
Jon That’s fair.
George Yeah.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo But yeah, i I was looking at a whole bunch of interviews on YouTube, just old stuff and… I couldn’t find anything where he really talked much at all And maybe it’s something he just didn’t like to do.
George Right.
George Yeah.
Jon I think I remember hearing that he was he had a fairly strained relationship.
Mo oh
Jon with his father like it wasn’t the very best he had he had had some struggles with his family and so But he didn’t talk about it a great deal.
Mo m
Jon like I remember hearing a little bit more about it. I read in his memoir. I think it was a Make It So. Might have come out in the last five or six years or so. but
George Yeah, that’s a pretty recent memoir
Jon Yeah, but you’re right, Moe. He’s pretty private. In fact, he recently said, in fact, I think in that memoir, that he was he was a bit saddened that he always seemed to, he in in hindsight, realize he put his career… ahead of his family.
George Hmm.
Jon And he wished he hadn’t done that as much. uh but he was he was always in demand and i think spread himself very thinly.
George Yeah. Well, so to go back a little bit to. how he got to where he got to. um He, he attended a school. I think this is the best name of a school I’ve ever heard.
Mo yes
George Crowley’s Junior and Infant School.
Mo Is that like Hogwarts?
George I love that name.
Mo and
George I don’t care. I don’t care what they teach at that school. That’s the school I want to send all my kids to. If I ever have any more, that’s where I want them to go. I want to send everybody’s kids to a school with that name. um
Jon Junior and infants.
George Right? He later attributed his acting career to his English teacher there, a person named Cecil Dorman. who put a copy of Shakespeare in his hand and told him to get up and perform.
Jon Oh.
George And I think that statement alone says a lot about how his trajectory went.
Jon Yeah. Wow.
George We all know about the Royal Shakespeare Company. and
Mo Hmm.
Jon Mm hmm.
George ah Just tremendous accolades the man garnered over the years. Around that same time, he met and became really close friends with another actor named Brian Blessed. You guys might know him.
Jon Yep.
George ah in the American circles a little bit more. He was Voltan in the Flash Gordon movie.
Jon Yeah.
Mo ah
George Same guy.
Jon That’s right. Yeah, Brian, bless it.
Mo Wow.
George Um,
Jon Yeah, absolutely.
George Yeah. i like I really like him, and that role was perfect.
Jon Yeah.
George um He did as he was trying to become. an actor and get into that career. He had to support himself. um with work as a newspaper reporter and an obituary writer, which seems odd for the personality that I know about him, but…
Jon oh Hmm.
George You know, if somebody is going to write your obituary, who better than Patrick Stewart to write it for you? I mean, that’s that guy. He’s got some chops when it comes to, you know, putting a string of words together. I think.
Jon Thank you.
George I think he’d be great.
Jon Exactly, right? like Definitely. If you want someone who can find the right words and create some… some depth and some gravitas into whatever it is you’re writing about if you’re writing about someone’s life Yeah, I can imagine.
Jon you know That’s a pretty ah heavy and heady thing to be working on as a young man. ah with so much life ahead of you. but Um, I’m sure it only added to his ability to bring. some somber tones to some of his roles eventually.
George You know, the one One other fact that I found in digging in a little bit, he was also trained as a boxer for a little while. And. I immediately thought, what?
George An iconic. seen it would have been Had there been some parallel weird universe kind of story where we could have gotten Captain Picard.
George And Edward James Olmos from Battlestar Galactica.
Jon He was a boxer.
George in a scene together to do a boxing scene.
Jon Yeah, right.
Mo yeah
Jon Yeah.
George That would have been great. Cause two old guys moving around each other slowly and popping each other ones.
Mo instances
George It would have been classic. I think they would have pulled it off. um
Jon You know, that doesn’t really, I didn’t know that. That’s the first time I’ve heard that, but it doesn’t surprise me because… I have never seen or known him to be anything other than very fit and very athletic.
George Mm hmm.
Jon In fact, I figured he was going to live to 100.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon You know, he’s one of those guys. I mean, you see some guys and you’re like, oh. He looks it any day now, right?
George Right.
Jon Patrick Stewart was not that. and The the disease disease that got him came up on him pretty quickly, as I understand it. So it wasn’t it wasn’t a matter of, you know. It was a disease of old age, but it wasn’t being infirm, right? It wasn’t, he was physically fit and always had been. So again, these are things that.
Jon As you mention them, give me a little glimpse into that. that clocks that makes sense that registers of course he was a boxer very athletic
George Yeah. Yeah. Now, a little bit later on, he and Blessed, they got grants to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. where they really kind of formally began the training to become actors.
George And I think… What they learned there is what really prepared them for. the super long rolls now obviously in The global speak, Patrick Stewart, far more famous. But he did meet other people during this time. I mean, in… Ian Malcolm or no. You know.
George Is it Ian Malcolm? Who’s Magneto? What’s that guy’s name?
Mo Oh, E. McCullen?
Jon Ian McKellen.
Mo Be killing.
George Ian McKellen.
Mo Ian McKellen.
George hey
Jon Yeah.
George yeah
Jon just Just pick it up again. I’ll edit it in.
George All right Uh, He later met Ian McKellen, who he became lifelong friends with.
Jon oh
George And, you know, obviously.
Jon Oh. what What a love. I should. i Oh, what a love affair, those two guys. Beautiful. Anytime you see them together. Oh, wonderful guys.
George Oh, and yeah. And just the, the. roles that they got to play opposite each other in the x-men i mean what a dream for the two of them but it all started
Jon Right. Oh.
George with the fact that they you know. Shh. all these guys came out at around the same time. i I guess it’s kind of a standard thing when somebody passes you. You know, a group of, you know, three or four or five people came out of this, you know.
Mo Yeah.
George this movement at the same time frame and it’s because they’re all kind of feeding off of each other
Jon Yeah.
George you know.
Jon mm-hmm
George it It could have been five other people. But it just happened to be this four or five. and I… the tributes that have been rolling in from other actors as they’ve been interviewed on news programs and, you know, YouTube channels and whatnot over the last day or two. It’s. it’s crazy to hear the stories of how they met each other, what they thought of each other.
George how things worked out and You know Everything to. Patrick Stewart at this point. i I don’t think we’re going to be able to say enough good things in the time that we allot ourselves to talk about him here.
Jon Yeah, those those tributes are unsurprising. you know and you know as we were just talking about ian mckellen there brought a little tear to my eye thinking Ian McKellen. He’s lost. perhaps more than any of us have. you know aside from his family and stuff but they were so close they were so tight They were such brothers, you know. um it It’s the kind of friendship, a lifelong friendship, into your here year later years you can only hope to have.
Mo Yeah.
Jon And I just, just thinking about. His inner circle, now I’m sure Ian McKellen was close and knew he was struggling and those sorts of things. He’s not on the outside of the bubble. He saw it coming like we didn’t. but Oh.
Jon It’s painful. It hurts my heart even now, just thinking about it. You hear about celebrities going, but… you know Like when I heard you got your message in Discord, George, I’m like, yeah, there’s no better thing to do, you know. The other topic was fascinating, but…
Jon This one is, it’s in my heart right now. so
George Yeah, a little bit later on that afternoon. um after i told you my son He came home from school.
Jon uh-huh
George And, uh… My wife was in here and I was. talking to her for a second but i was working on the facts for the Trello card a little bit. And my son walked in and he just had this look on his face and he was looking at his phone and he said, dad, did you hear?
Jon oh
George I’m like, yep. Making up the fucking Trello card right now.
Jon Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.
George he was like oh my god i can’t believe it i’m like yeah I didn’t know this was, I mean.
Jon sadly we heard
George granted the last couple of roles i’ve seen him in he did look you know, a little frail, but he’s fucking 80. you know I…
Jon that’s right he’s 86 years old that’s right
Mo Oh yeah.
George I didn’t think anything about it, T. your point earlier john i fully expected him to… be a hundred and still be kicking and wanting to do roles and stuff.
Jon Mm.
George and
Jon Yeah.
George Oh. Just a shame.
Jon Before we jump into the next segment here, I just thought I would ask, do you remember? When you first. but We did this with Dolly too when she passed. Do you remember when Patrick Stewart first hit your radar, when it registered with you, how old you were, and when he became part of your world? How about you, Mo?
Mo I mean, it was when Next Gen started. like i’
Jon Was it?
Mo It’s like one of those things you saw him like, hey, I saw him before.
George Mm hmm.
Mo you know and then i remember i saw him like an excalibur and i saw him in um ah like he was an i claudius something that me my dad watched you know
Jon Mm hmm.
George Mm hmm.
Mo But it’s like. But I didn’t know who he, like, I didn’t. My brain didn’t register like, oh, that’s someone I should like remember his name. I should know who it is, you know, until I saw a Star Trek.
Jon Right. Yeah.
Mo I’m like, wait a minute. I’ve seen this guy before.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo why did they get a Shakespearean actor? You know, I mean, it was like one of those things.
George he
Jon Yeah.
Mo But then from there, of course, you know, I never forgot him.
Jon Right. What about you, George, do you recall?
George Uh… So… I’m trying to think. I remember i remember the iClaudius thing. Um… There was also Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the original. before the movie that came out later.
George um There was a television film. that I think somebody had gotten a VHS of, or. But it was but that was later because I know the thing came out in 1980.
George It was a Hamlet version, which, you know, surprise, surprise.
Jon Oh yeah, yeah.
George you know right um
Jon Mm hmm.
George But… I want to say then that probably the first time. Just like… Everybody else is going to say. Next gen, everybody on this side of the pond is probably going to say next gen is the first time.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Mm hmm.
George And then that’s when. Like Mo said, I remember him from this. I remember from that Excalibur role immediately. I remember I went and got Excalibur from the video store.
Mo Yeah.
George when next gen came out and rewatched it. Cause I was like, I’m pretty sure that’s the guy at the beginning of that film.
Mo Yeah, he was in there.
Jon yeah That guy.
Mo Yeah, that was him.
Jon Yeah.
George And because…
Jon Yeah.
George when i saw The… First episode of Next Gen, I was immediately enamored by it. but it wasn’t what I thought Star Trek was going to be. Because he was the exact opposite of Shatner.
Mo We’ll be big time.
George I mean, it wasn’t it wasn’t in the same ballpark.
Jon Right.
Jon Measured, stoic, dignified.
George to be Right.
Jon Yeah, not a swashbuckler.
George And. I… I kind of. Well, we get into that later. We’re going to have debates.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo Mm.
George They’re always going to ask who was the best captain for me to this day. you know, no matter what. Patrick Stewart’s the best captain of Star Trek of all time.
Jon yeah ah it was It was pretty much the same for me. I was 18 years old. It was, uh… Fall of 1987. And when the press started coming out and I was watching the press junkets and I’m like, who are these people?
Jon And I’m like, like, oh, I know who LeVar Burton is. I’m aware who he is already, you know, because I watched him on Read Rainbow.
George Uh-huh Right.
Jon I know that guy, you know. Now, of course, I didn’t know him from Roots. That was a little mature for me, but I knew who that was. I knew nobody else. But Patrick Stewart hit my radar right then. um And like you said, it was it it was a different direction that made. I think it made all of Star Trek more respectable in a way that like, oh.
Jon look who they have doing this like this serious guy um Yeah. Okay. We have so much to talk about. Let’s take a quick break. We’ll come back. We’ll start delving into his early career.
Jon You were just telling us, George, in the last break that…
Jon when you’re Your son got home. He said… Dad, did you hear what happened, Patrick Stewart? And you’re like, yeah, I was already doing research for this episode about a podcast.
George Yeah.
Jon So know the next bit you dug up was some of the early. part of his career that maybe before we knew him. as the later kind of sci-fi and genre roles.
George Yeah, I thought it was important to spend some time talking about that because… you know on this side of the pond i’m going to use that phrase a lot during this episode
Jon Yeah.
George We didn’t have the same exposure as other people
Jon Right.
George in England did. And I think we’re the worst for it. His first professional stage appearance. May 19th, 1959 at the Theater Royal.
George uh in bristol For the Bristol Old Vic Company. He played…
Jon Hmm?
George Cut Purse, a thief among the audience for the play within a play in Cyrano de Berziac.
Mo is
Jon Yeah. Wonderful.
George I know. I, you know.
Jon At 19.
George yeah I would have loved to seen.
Jon Yeah. Oh no, he was, I’m sorry. Yeah.
George as Cyrano de Bergeac. I think. That would have been awesome.
Jon Right. Right, yeah.
George I think he would have killed it, but…
Mo But that was just, that was just early. That was his early days. you know He’s he’s ge’s getting his chops.
George this was This was his first thing, so yeah.
Jon Yeah.
Mo you know
George Yeah, exactly.
Jon Before we got the starring roles.
George um Right? ah He became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966.
Jon e
Mo Jeez.
George And he stayed with them. until 1982 for that first official run.
Mo poof
George So almost 20 years.
Jon wow Doing the math. He was 26 years old when he joined then. Because he was born in 1940, right?
George Yes. Yep.
Jon Yeah.
George Yeah. Um… 1967 His first television appearance on Coronation Street, very long-running British series.
Jon Hmm.
Mo Yeah, it’s the longest running…
Jon Okay.
George Um,
Mo soap opera ever. They just had like their 10 ,000th episode.
George Is it?
Jon Oh, is it?
George Wow.
Jon Whoa, wow.
George Yeah, because it’s longer running than anything in America by…
Mo ah
Jon wow
Mo Oh yeah, by far.
George Quite a few years, if I remember right.
Jon Yeah. Wow.
Mo Mm hmm.
George Yeah. Um, He, uh… During the early 1970s, he… um He had a UCSB professor recruited him to help teach U .S. university students about Shakespeare. Can you imagine?
Jon Mmm.
George In the early 1970s, You got this British guy coming over. and teaching you how to play Shakespeare. And then a decade later…
Jon Huh. Yeah. Holy crap.
George You find out it was Patrick fucking Stewart.
Mo Yeah.
George That was in front of you.
Jon Picard taught me about Shakespeare when I was younger.
George but
Jon ah Amazing.
George Just nuts. Mo, you talked about the Claudius. That was 1980 BBC adaption of Hamlet. was where he played claudius i don’t know if that’s the thing you were talking about when you said no you said i claudius right
Mo It was A. Claudius, yeah, he had a role in A.
George Yeah.
Mo Claudius, but still.
Jon Okay.
George Yeah. So. I just… I mean… Anything. Stewart’s going to do with. with Shakespeare I want to watch. Um,
Jon Yeah, heavy.
George Then the one we all three talked about. King Leon de Grace. John Borman’s Excalibur, 1981.
Mo Yeah.
George That was when I think maybe American audiences probably got a bigger view, even though it was a tiny role, very small role in that.
Jon Oh yeah.
Jon Mm hmm.
Jon Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
George movie. um He was still… He was iconic. um But the one… The one that I, I can’t believe I hadn’t mentioned yet that stuck with me a lot, just because.
Jon ah
Mo Yeah.
George Oh my God. He was only on screen for maybe. Six minutes. Maybe eight minutes total.
Mo so
George Gurney Halleck in David Lynch’s Dune in 1984.
Mo Yeah.
George Ooooooh!
Mo ah
Jon Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
George I mean, don’t get me wrong. These modern Dune films are breathtaking.
Mo Yeah.
George Uh… Still going to go with Patrick Stewart for Gurney Gullick. I don’t care.
Mo yeah Well, anyway.
George Okay, you don’t yeah I know you don’t like that movie, but it’s Patrick Stewart as Gurney Halleck.
Mo I said. He made… He… no no but actually i liked him to tell you truth i liked his character in that movie
George Yeah. Right.
Jon That’s what I was curious about, right?
Mo You know?
Jon Because I know, yeah. Because we are so heavy into Star Trek. George loves Dune in general, but Dune is kind of your thing.
George Mm-hmm
Jon And I’m really curious about how you felt about, I know you how you feel about the movie, but Patrick Stewart in that, once you realized who he was.
Mo Mm hmm.
Mo he He maximized what he could with that role.
Jon There you go.
Mo Like, yo.
Jon Very diplomatic.
Mo he He did the best he could.
George If you’d have fought one whip below your ability, I’d have given you a good scar to remind you, right?
Mo Exactly.
George I love.
Mo ah
George It is wrong. This is a Harkonnen animal.
Mo Yeah.
George let me my lord please like he was just so like Everybody else in that in that movie…
Jon Yeah.
George Was it? nearly as intense as Patrick Stewart was in that film.
Mo No.
George It just wasn’t close.
Jon And when you go back and watch it, so I had. Dune was a movie that I thought I was going to love. So I copied it when I rented it.
Mo Hmm.
Jon Right. So I had it on VHS to go back.
Mo Yeah.
Jon So then when. Next Gen came along. I’m like, I have Dune. Let me go look and see, right?
George Mm hmm.
Jon So i’ve I’ve probably watched it all the way through twice. but I don’t like go back to it a lot.
Mo No.
George That’s fair.
Mo There’s no reason to.
Jon But.
Mo Yeah.
Jon When I went back to it.
George Hey!
Mo It really isn’t.
Jon What?
George he
Jon He’s really cramping on that old dude. When I go back to it. When I did go back in like 87, 88, when. Like Patrick Stewart sticks out.
Mo Yes.
Jon Like there’s there’s something about it’s like people acting, people acting, people acting.
George Mm hmm.
Jon Oh, shit. A guy being something. you know it’s like
George Right.
Jon Even then, because I would watch him. and We’ll get to talking about his role in his first, the first season. of The Next Generation, that’s season one, he’s much more stoic and a little stuffier. And that’s pretty much how he was in Dune.
Jon Not in a bad way, just in a less. less playful way. And I’m like, this guy is like hardcore.
George Yeah.
Jon You go watch his character in Dune and no one else was like that. Everybody else was. not insulting anyone in the but film, but they were just acting. And he was like being a guy. It was like, oh, an actor is in this film.
George Right.
Mo Yeah. i mean I would say this about his presence in general. Like Excalibur.
Jon Yeah.
Mo There was, it was a cast of.
George Mm hmm.
Mo hundreds. you know There were just i mean just hundreds of people, everyone talking, yelling.
George Hundreds.
Mo to the Somehow when I saw Next Generation, I remembered him. of that like i’m like hey that was a guy like scalper for some reason don’t ask me who else was even in that freaking don’t even ask me who played king arthur i don’t remember you know
Jon Mm-hmm His presence.
George It’s a great point.
Jon Right.
George he
Mo ah but i But for some reason, I remember I saw that. It popped in my head. I’m like, wait a minute. I saw Excalibur. you know so
Jon Yeah.
George Yep.
Mo Whatever he did, he stood out. even in that smaller role, you know?
George Yeah, I think he’s one of those actors who makes the phrase correct. There’s no small role, just small actors. And he’s one of those that he could take any role.
Jon Yeah, right.
George And. Just make it.
Jon No kidding.
George iconic i even so much like
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon Mm hmm.
George I don’t know if you guys remember him in this or not, because not a lot of people watch this. I did just a funny derivative, but I wanted to put it in here. He played Dr. Armstrong in the Tobey Hooper film Life Force.
George You guys remember that’s the space vampires.
Jon I remember the film.
Mo Yeah.
Jon I didn’t remember him in it though.
George Yeah.
Jon Was he in that? Oh.
George Yeah. Ha ha.
Jon Oh.
George I just. Every chance that I can. Think about. something that Patrick Stewart did. I’m just finding over the last few days that I can’t stop myself.
George Oh yeah. He was in this, he was in a LA story, you know? Oh.
Mo Mm hmm.
George Star Trek films, of course, let it be me, Jeffrey.
Jon I heard that.
George I mean, I’m just looking down the list of stuff and I’m like, oh shit, I forgot. Yep. He was in that. He was in this. I mean, Jesus Christ, he did voices in Jimmy Neutron for crying out loud.
Mo Yeah.
Jon yeah
George Just…
Jon Well, he was. Close with Seth MacFarlane. He did lots of voices, including himself.
Mo Yeah.
George Mm-hmm.
Jon Plus it was like the in family. uh american dad he’s like the
George American Dad.
Jon He’s the…
George The CIA director, right?
Jon It works for the FBI. yeah cia whatever yeah
George yeah Or FBI, yeah.
Jon Whatever. He’s like a sub director of the FBI. Yeah. yeah yeah yeah Seth MacFarlane talks about how he was always a huge admirer and then in later life he got the unbelievable opportunity to have him in his like stable of voice actors yeah
George Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Yeah. And…
George Well…
Jon One more thing. that kind of jumps out at me that I think about is there was a film i don’t remember the name of the film but it was post next generation it was in that gap in the in the 2000s you know before all the films kind of kicked up maybe and But I saw him in something.
Jon And I was at the point where. Every time. I saw him. He was just Captain Picard acting like somebody else. in my brain, but then I saw this film with him, and I forget what it was, but he was he was a horrible guy.
Jon And there was not a shred. of captain picard left in him and like oh my goodness he just he shed that completely and put on fresh skin and i hated his character like he was total ass Like you wanted him to die.
George oh
Mo Well, you’re supposed to, right?
Jon And I’m like.
George Right?
Jon He is so good, he is making me hate him. And I clearly love him.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon It’s just it’s it. it Uncanny.
George I mean, not to. go too far afield but it’s kind of the same thing with pro wrestling there are some people who say well this is the greatest baby face of all time in pro wrestling this is the greatest heel of all time in wrestling but the greatest wrestlers the ones who are considered in that genre are the ones who can play either side of the coin
Jon Yeah. Yeah. ah Really.
Jon Mm hmm. Wherever. Hmm.
George And make you believe it and love them or hate them.
Jon Yep.
George And Patrick Stewart, he had that ability. I just don’t think he got.
Jon It’s a craft.
George as many opportunities on the bad side Because he’s such a nice guy.
Jon Because he’s so beloved.
George I mean…
Mo Yeah.
Jon Of course you want him there, you know.
George Like. Imagine him walking into your… audition, if he would audition for you. but Imagine him walking in and he’s auditioning for the evil henchman role.
Jon Mm hmm.
George And then you’re talking with him during that. There’s no, you’re going to like, I can’t cast you as the evil henchman.
Jon Yeah.
George You’re too nice. I’ve got to put you in the hero role here.
Jon I don’t see it.
George you know
Jon Yeah. Don’t see it. Yeah. I feel you.
George 1987 ladies and gentlemen, that’s when he agreed to work on a revival of an old sci-fi TV series called Star Trek.
Jon ah
Mo yeah Oh, little that little thing.
George After you. Yeah, after Robert Justman saw him while attending a literary reading at UCLA.
George I mean… Talk about just weird happenstance, you know.
Jon coincidence.
Mo m
Jon Serendipity. Wow.
George Yep. Mm.
Jon Oh. Wow. oh It’s just… You know, we’re we’re having fun remembering. But then every time we pause here, I get like, oh. But he’s gone.
Jon Go.
George Hmm.
Jon Damn it. You know, it. it It’s just such a storied life that. that he brought so much joy to so many people. that uh Yeah. All right, so.
Jon George, you got us up to Star Trek. We get back from this quick break. We’re going to talk about that and many more roles and other genre roles that he picked up.
Mo So, I mean, you guys are the Star Trek. I mean, I liked, you know, the original series and I and I like the next generation, but I’m not. Like you guys, you guys like super fans.
George Right.
Mo I’m like a casual fan. you know, For sure.
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah, that’s fair. Yep.
Mo But… Yo. Just… ah just the history of like how he got picked and how this. unlikely, I’m sorry, unlikely person.
George yeah ah
Mo got put into this role is just bizarre to me.
George Yeah. ah So… He was picked for the role. uh 1987, like we said, Los Angeles Times called him. Get this quote.
George An unknown British Shakespearean actor.
Mo Oh my god.
George I mean, factually correct, maybe unknown to us, but not.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo Us, yeah.
George Not where he was from.
Jon Yep.
George He’s very well known.
Mo And… I mean, and say unknown. He was like an award winning.
George Right.
Jon Yeah.
Mo I mean, it’s not like he was like some schmo.
George Exactly.
Jon ah Unknown to dumbasses.
George like Like, how close-minded are Americans to call the greatest actor to come on sci-fi television at the time an unknown British Shakespearean actor?
Mo You’re a Shakespearean actor.
George So myopic.
Jon I used to always save newspaper clippings. I had a lot of ah Star Trek and ah stuff that was a TV guide or local paper, you know, syndicated columns and stuff. And I remember.
Jon Before an episode hit the air. Everybody was like. If it ain’t got Kirk Spock and Bones, we don’t want it.
Mo Mm hmm.
George Oh yeah.
Mo Oh, yeah.
George Yeah.
Jon It’s not Star Trek. And look at this guy.
George Mm-hmm
Jon and That’s where the whole, you know, Picard or Kirk thing came from because there was such a.
George Yeah.
Jon And you mentioned you had some of this when you first saw him in the role, right? It was not what you expected.
George It wasn’t.
Jon And we’re like, where are all the people that I want? Where’s my Vulcan? where’s you know Where’s Captain Kirk? Where’s the swashbuckling? Where’s the wagon train to the stars that Roddenberry promised me? And I remember these these newspaper clippings that I had.
Jon And I’m, like I told you, I’m trying to like, who are all these people? Because I don’t want to get to know who these people are.
George Right.
Jon It’s funny how… how ah History repeats itself. You go another. decade or so, some new show comes out. They’re like, this is not Star Trek. We hate this. And then you let it simmer for 10 years.
Jon Everybody said about. Patrick Stewart and the entire cast and then next generation the revival of Star Trek. This is not Star Trek. It’s garbage. We won’t watch it. It won’t live. And now it is one of, not just the most beloved Star Trek series, one of the most beloved American television sci-fi dramas ever.
George Mm-hmm
Jon It just wasn’t what people were expecting. just like Patrick Stewart was not who they were expecting.
George Yeah.
George And oftentimes that’s where the best surprises come from because.
Jon Yeah. No kidding.
George It’s not just that you weren’t expecting it. It’s that. Even when you saw, like you said, you see the thing that it’s coming. you You know, they give you the information. They tell you who’s going to be in it. You knew one person on the cast, John, you knew reading rainbow guy.
Jon Yeah.
George And that was it.
Jon That’s right.
Mo mm-hmm
Jon Mhm.
George you know, and you’re like, Bunch of unknowns? Okay, well, I guess the original cast was unknown. Kinda until, yeah.
Jon Ish. Right.
George um I mean I know Kelly and Nimoy had some previous acting chops but Hey. Patrick Stewart was also among the people who did not believe this was going to make it.
Mo Yeah.
George So much so that it’s he famously says in almost every interview how he lived out of his suitcase because he didn’t believe the show would succeed. He was unprepared for the long schedule of television production that began at 4 .45 every morning on that show.
George Oh. Because, you know, that’s not the way he had worked previously in England. and I think he also, I read. um I read an article and then I saw an interview.
George in the very beginning. During the first read throughs and costume fittings and all of that stuff, when they were first preparing, he had a very difficult time.
Jon Mhm.
George getting along with his other castmates.
Jon Yeah. Yep.
George because they were all American and they were slightly more laid back and they were a little bit more jokey on set and things. And he was not, he was very driven and regimented. and This is how you act and this is how you can come prepared to your role so that you show the respect for everybody who’s there working.
Mo yeah
Jon That’s right.
George He was very laser focused on that and it was a little difficult for him at first, but. Because Patrick Stewart. famously has such a glorious sense of humor.
George He eventually found his spot among the cast. and John. I think you might remember when we were in the Star Trek club and after the first couple of seasons, they started releasing all of those like behind the scenes little.
Jon Oh, the little blooper things, outtakes.
Mo m
George the little blooper reels.
Jon Sure.
George And we used to watch those. Just almost like. Two or three times a year, we would go back and we would be at a Star Trek club meeting.
Jon Just rewatch them.
Mo he
Jon Yeah.
George and We’d just rewatch them.
Mo Mm hmm.
George And he was so funny in those because. Of everybody making pranks and jokes, he’s the one you didn’t think would do it, but he fit right in.
Jon He loosened up.
Jon Mm hmm. Made it funnier.
Mo Yeah. It was funny because I was reading that um sort of interview with Ian McCullen that said that he actually told him not to do the role. Not to do Star Trek.
George Right, uh-huh.
Jon Yeah, mm-hmm
George Yeah.
Mo he’s He’s like, he says, illll you You got to do Shakespeare.
George It’ll ruin your career.
Mo Yeah, you’re West End Shakespeare.
George Yeah.
Mo You shouldn’t be going to doing the science fiction in America. Are you kidding me? You know, it never lasts. and But I also saw another interview with ah Jonathan Franks. Frakes has said that like… He…
Mo He made everyone better though. Like he made everybody on that cast.
Jon Oh, I’m sure.
George Oh yeah.
Jon Of course.
Mo want to work harder.
George Mm-hmm.
Mo You know, that he was kind of like. like he showed them like oh this is how you’re actually supposed to be prepared this is how you’re supposed to be
George Yeah, he was the example.
Mo Right. And they wanted to live they felt like they didn’t want to disappoint him.
George Yeah.
Jon As you can imagine, in that in recent days, since since the news of his passing, there’s I’ve seen more and more just stuff come seep up into the feeds of interesting stuff. And it was something you were alluding to. Good. George about how he was very kind of like stoic and stuffy and uh driven in his role um and in hindsight though uh he has said that ah Almost a quote. I think he said that… my next generation cast and family.
Jon extended my life because before them, I never laughed as much. And they taught me how to laugh. He just didn’t. He didn’t. He looked at that as work. Here is work. We’re not there to have fun.
George Mm-mm.
Jon But… We were just, you know, sloppy American actors, you know, who I think he said Denise Crosby was the one that said, Patrick, lighten up. And he said at the time he was mad at her, he said, but he internalized that. And he said, you know what?
Jon There’s something to that. and so that’s uh it’s and you guys i’m sure as as you’ve seen interviews over the years it’s weird how We look at those characters in that show as this second or third family that we have that we watch.
George Yeah.
Jon And it would be easy for them to have acted and moved on. A lot of the original series guys couldn’t stand each other. These people continue to stay bonded together.
George That’s true.
Jon They were at each other’s houses for. holidays and birthdays and weddings and celebrations and losses and stuff.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon They were all kind of this. They became their own little family, these actors that like we want them to be together. And they were, you know, after the series was over.
George Yeah.
Jon And then when we got to the movies later, it’s like. There was no chemistry to reignite. It had never fizzled out.
George No! Right.
Mo Yeah, it was always there, yeah.
George Because…
Jon It didn’t because they were always kind of together.
George Yeah. And they had, you know. Like we, I talked about earlier, John, you and I went to, I don’t know how many Star Trek conventions over the time. And anytime when there was a special timing event or something like that, where they would get multiple people from the cast together, like the whole bridge crew or something like that.
Jon Yep.
Mo Mm hmm.
George They would. Okay. When they were on stage, it was as though… They had just finished filming yesterday.
Jon right They were staged together.
George Every single time.
Jon They want to do it together, almost always.
George Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Yep.
George And i I find it ironic that you put out, you know, that.
Jon Yep.
George Denise Crosby was the one who told him to lighten up and everything. Of all the actors in the Star Trek area, she’s my least favorite. I really don’t like her style. She never comes off as anybody that I want to.
Jon Right.
George be around like if I always think about characters when I’m watching a TV show or a movie or something I’m like would I want to hang out with that character.
Jon Mm hmm.
George Is that character?
Jon No.
Mo yeah
George So if they’re supposed to be a good guy, I mean. Now, if they’re a bad guy.
Jon Yeah.
George i would I want to kill them or would I want to.
Jon right then George really wants to hang out with them because they’re bad guys.
George Join them. Right.
Mo They really would.
George Exactly.
Mo Yeah.
George But.
Jon ah
George Patrick Stewart. I can’t say I wanted to hang out with him. I wanted to sit under Patrick Stewart. John Luke Picard’s Learning Tree.
Jon Yeah. right He’s somebody I would follow.
George I just wanted to be in his presence.
Jon If he was in charge, I would follow, right?
George Yes.
Jon You trusted him.
George Yeah.
Jon You believed he was no nonsense to the point where you’re like. He’s going to be difficult. But he’s going to be looking out for me.
George Mm hmm.
Jon know You know, you had that feeling and that was.
George There was an inherent trust. with his acting ability and that character right away.
Jon Yep.
George Like you just.
Jon Some of it sum it was written, some of it was the man.
George Yep. I’m following this man. Yeah absolutely.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George I.
Jon Whew.
George So we can talk about Star Trek all day long. And we got the next gen.
Jon for another couple hours.
George He made appearances in the other series as they were necessary.
Jon ah
Mo e
Jon Yep.
George Kicked off DS9.
Mo Yep.
George um you know,
Jon Yep. Ooh. Heavy.
George Right? Oh. That was…
Jon Yeah.
George Ho ho ho! Boy, you talk about that one scene could be all by your right between he and Avery Brooks.
Jon that’ That’s a whole podcast right there we can talk about.
Mo mm-hmm
Jon Yeah.
Mo Oh, with the two? Oh, yeah.
Jon Ugh.
Mo Oh my god.
George Holy hell. Heavyweight.
Jon Dismissed. Ooh.
George Drama. Wow.
Jon Mm.
Mo Ooh.
George But… um We… if we don’t talk about what he’s done with the x-men and mo this is where i know you’ve got a lot of A lot of thoughts. um He almost turned down the role.
George as Professor X in the 2000 film because
Mo That’ll be the tragedy.
George He was just coming off of TNG and wasn’t sure about another. sci-fi mentor role, which is ironic because Ahui ended up playing opposite.
Mo yeah
Jon oh
George that told him not to take the TNG role.
Mo ye Yeah.
Mo Yeah, I mean… Hey. I’m so glad. I mean, obviously from the physical resemblance he had to Professor X in a comic book, you know, um if it wasn’t for him and E.
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo McKellen, it would have been. Such a mediocre movie. Um,
George 100%.
Jon Yeah.
Mo You know, it’s
Jon Yeah.
Mo Those two characters. Like. they They carried everybody else.
George Yeah.
Mo You know, even when they weren’t there, they they were like carrying the the entire thing.
George Mm hmm. along with Hugh Jackman.
Mo And Hugh Jackman too, that’s true, yes because he was…
Jon Right.
George Yeah.
Jon Because, you know, they’re in the universe. They’re not on the scene. But you’re like, oh, you know, Professor X is around the corner somewhere.
Mo Yeah.
Jon And that makes this all heavier because Patrick Stewart was doing it and bringing hit that power.
George Mm hmm.
Mo Right.
Mo Yeah. So it was um and it funny because when you know they cast him as Professor X, in my head, I’m like. Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah.
George Of course, right, yeah.
Mo yeah
George Like, if they had cast anyone else, I’d have been like, what the fuck are y ‘all thinking?
Mo Yeah.
Mo Yeah, like, really? um
Jon Have you met the man?
Mo Yeah.
George It was kind of like when when Pierce Brosnan didn’t get the next James Bond.
Jon Right, like what are you doing? Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
George Right.
Jon Yeah.
Mo You know. But he I said he made it all in all the X-Men movies that he was in. you know um he
George Mm hmm.
Mo did great he had different varying size roles depending on the different movies but to me
Jon Mm-hmm.
Mo When he was in Logan? Oh my god.
George Oh beautiful.
Mo Oh my god, that was just…
Mo I just felt. Just like… Just the whole scene, everything scene he was in. i felt horrible and i guess it was a little prescient because he was ah he was having mental illness. You know?
Mo He was having age related mental illness. His character was, you know.
Jon Yeah. Right. Oh, yeah.
Mo And.
George yeah
Mo But the way he. played it, you just felt for him so… Much.
Jon of course
Mo you know Especially since he says you know here was a strong character in all the extra movies, and now he’s like…
Jon Yeah.
Mo basically need someone to take care of them. You know, but he’s still strong.
George Well…
Mo He still has his. thing, but he he needed people now, whereas he before he never really did.
George Yeah.
Jon That’s emblematic of his mastery of the craft. It’s one thing to read words on a page. It’s something else to bring life to it and pull emotion out of you that might not be on the page, but it’s between the lines that he was able to do.
Mo Mm hmm.
George I think for me also, it was not, you talk about. you know he was a little bit more frail in that role
Mo Hmm?
George His character was never physically strong. That’s not the professor.
Mo That’s true. That’s this whole thing, right?
George x That’s the whole supposition is he’s a physically weak, but it’s the brain that’s doing all the work.
Jon Right.
Mo Yeah, his middle.
George But… The way he projected himself in those scenes from that chair.
Mo Mm hmm.
George He was so strong that way. like I mean, there were other people. who played. The… professor x role we know james mcavoy played the role and i i enjoyed what he did with the role But.
Jon Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Mo Neck void, yeah.
Jon Right. different ages.
Mo Yeah. Yeah.
George It wasn’t the same. place to come from. and And that’s fine because McAvoy was the younger version of X.
Mo Sure.
George But. Patrick Stewart, he just, it didn’t matter that you put the man in a chair or. put him on a desert planet or put him, you know, in a… English forest with ah ah the sword of power.
George He was the most powerful. personality. present at any of those points.
Jon There’s something you mentioned about McAvoy. Whenever I watch. he Him playing the younger. Xavier.
Mo Mm hmm.
George Me?
Jon I’m always projecting Patrick Stewart onto him. making his performance better than it probably was.
George Yeah.
Mo Yeah.
Jon I’m sure it was fine, but every time I watched it, I was just envisioning. Almost like, literally, like there’s a projector putting his face on there because I’m picturing, I’m like, this will be Patrick Stewart eventually. This will be Patrick Stewart eventually, right?
George Yeah.
Jon So he made McAvoy’s performance better just because of how he embodied the role for me.
George I know there’s going to be some differences when it comes to how many of the X film. that X-Men films. We say Patrick Stewart because there’s I’ve seen counts that say eight. I know there’s ten.
Mo Yeah. Oh, okay.
George But the reason why there’s 10. is a little. wishy-washy maybe, but because one of them, it’s really just kind of, they utilize some archive footage to put them in.
Mo Oh, right.
George And that was the Deadpool Wolverine.
Mo Yeah. He wasn’t. Yeah. Yeah.
Jon Was that the multiverse one?
George Right.
Jon Was it that one?
Mo No, no.
George No, the multiverse one is Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.
Jon No. Oh, right.
Mo Which, that was just that was just ridiculous, but anyway, yeah.
Jon Okay.
George Yeah.
Jon Oh. That was just weird.
George It was in that one. His. His Professor X character is on the council.
Mo Yeah.
George That. Dr.
Jon Oh yeah.
George Strange goes in front of.
Jon Yes.
George Deadpool and Wolverine, it was just like a little via archive footage thing. But of course, his final appearance. We’re going to be seeing here in December. this year.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Oh yeah, it’s still coming.
Mo Avengers Doomsday, yeah.
George Um, And I don’t know if it’s his final thing he ever did. Or if there are other things that are going to come out later or whatnot. I don’t know you know what his schedule was or anything.
George I’m just… Heh. John knows and Mo knows. I don’t get. terribly emotional. Usually you don’t see me tear up very often. But… I’ve seen that fucking trailer for doomsday now where he pats Ian McKellen’s hand.
Jon Really? how
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon Oh no.
George in front of the chessboard.
Jon Oh.
George The last couple of days, that fucking thing has been on my reel. Every like I flipped through 10 shorts and there it is again.
Jon Yep.
George Holy shit, every time now with his passing?
Jon Yeah.
George that scene’s going to be tough to sit through in the theater.
Jon So much more poignant.
Mo Yeah.
George That’s going to be tough.
Jon It’s…
George I don’t know if we want to list.
Jon all
George the roles of the movies, but I’m…
Jon It’s all the feels.
George I don’t mind running through him. He’s got four Star Trek films under his belt.
Jon Sure. Yeah
George The 10 X-Men film.
Jon Yep.
George We got Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis.
Jon Yep.
George for for Star Trek.
Jon Right?
George Um, xmen X-Men, X2. X-Men The Last Stand. Um, we’ve got, uh, what was that origins Wolverine after that?
Jon Oh yeah.
George Um, Then the Wolverine.
Jon right
George Then future pass where he’s just in a little split role.
Mo c
Jon The Wolverine.
Mo Yeah, he’s at the end, I think. Yeah, mostly.
George Yeah. Uh, and then of course the one that Mo mentioned, that’s probably the best of that group of the 20th century Fox rolls, Logan.
Jon Logan, yeah.
George Um, That was awesome. And then of course. We transition when everything gets moved over to the MCU. We get the Doctor Strange film, the little archive footage in Deadpool and Wolverine, and now…
George Fuck me, Doomsday.
Mo Yeah.
George Just… I mean, the man and we’re only talking about a small.
Jon Yeah. It’s coming.
George piece of his acting resume in these two
Mo Oh yeah.
Jon Yeah.
George things that American audiences most closely associate with Patrick Stewart.
Jon Right.
George I mean, just the role, like. I went and I. It was hard to. to get to the list of all of his. TV, film and stage. And by the way, we’re not even hitting on his video game roles.
Mo Yeah, he did so many voiceovers.
Jon Hmm? Yeah.
George I mean, just ridiculous amount of breath of work.
Jon When you got pipes like that, you’re in demand. Yeah.
George Yeah, I mean, just…
Mo Mm hmm.
George Like… Aight. literally just have to keep scrolling and keep scrolling and keep scrolling and keep scrolling. And you’re like, holy crap. Yeah. It… He just one of those guys he lived a long life. He started acting at a young age and kept acting all the way through God bless them.
Jon He said he would never not be an actor.
George Yep.
Mo He did it.
Jon And he. True to his word. Yeah.
Mo All right, so… Since you guys are like the Star Trek. Yo. Groupies. they
Jon Hmm.
George ah
Mo So.
Jon It’s fair.
Mo Just… question out there. Picard, what did you think of it, the show?
George Let John go first.
Jon Yeah, it was ah just like The Next Generation, just like Discovery, just like Enterprise. It wasn’t what I was expecting out of a Star Trek show. um And the.
Jon It was a little. It was a little too full of itself, and I think a lot of that was because Stewart had said that he… yeah He intentionally did not. He wanted to be this man in his later years and not be.
Jon That would be the space adventure. and they they They fought trying to put the space adventure in it, but they really wanted to explore kind of like the personal life of the man and his struggles and that kind of thing.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon But season three. where they finally gave in and gave us what we wanted, which was effectively.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon The finale we all wanted for the next generation where all the actors came back and we got to see everybody. That’s probably some of the most tears I’ve shed in anything Star Trek in a long time. I mean…
Jon They brought back person after person after person.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon Then they brought back the damn ship. And I’m like, that was one of the biggest hits. you know It’s like, wow. And it’s it’s because. And so much of it is because of the baggage behind the scenes that we know how much they care about each other.
Jon to all come together like that. so Yeah. What about you, George?
George Uh… I’m kind of in the um smaller camp that I loved every part of Picard.
Jon Did you?
George I really enjoyed the series because I didn’t go into it. thinking I needed something out of it. I just wanted to watch Patrick Stewart be Picard again. I really didn’t give a shit.
Jon Sure.
George You could have, you could have set him up in as a busker of Patrick Stewart, John Luke Picard in a New York subway. And I’d have been happy.
Jon Mm hmm.
George um I really. Enjoyed it. I think back and especially now it’s another one like that fucking Ian McKellen scene. the scene between he and, Brent Spiner.
Jon Oh yeah.
George when he’s saying, i I’m… Just don’t want it to end. When he says that…
Jon Yeah.
Mo m
George I…
Jon Yeah, it’s that first season, yeah.
George i I have that in my head and I’m like, Fuck it is.
Jon Yes.
George It’s ended.
Jon It’s like, what are we talking about here?
George it’s over
Jon Oh, we’re talking about all of it, not just this.
Mo e
Jon yeah
George Yeah. And it’s just it’s brutal. It’s so brutal I watch um another show. with my son well he watches it on his own but we talk about it the pit you guys know i love that show
Mo Oh yeah yeah.
Jon Oh, yeah. Yeah, I enjoyed it a lot.
George Um, And my son. He watches an episode of that show and he has to take a break. He can’t binge it.
Mo Oh, it’s intense. It’s very intense.
Jon Oh, me too.
George It’s so intense and that’s. Now. these scenes. I’m thinking about stuff like from Inner Light. and tapestry.
Jon Stuff’s going to hit different. Man, stuff’s going to hit different the next time you watch it.
George I’m starting to tear up right now. Thinking about them.
Jon Yeah, I know. Oh.
George Because holy shit. I mean… I didn’t see like those were. beautifully crafted episodes and acting jobs in the day. But I didn’t see this coming now back then.
Jon Right.
George And I’m like.
Jon Mm.
George Oh, fuck me. Really? This is what I got to go through now. Every time I watch inner light and I watch inner light, at least every year, it’s on my calendar to watch it every year because I love it so much.
Jon A lot. Yeah.
George Now I’m going to be like, fuck you.
Jon Ha ha.
George God damn.
Jon All right. i Why don’t Mo, you and I, let’s take a break and give George a chance to get his composure back.
Mo Give him a moment.
Jon And then we’ll and then do one more segment. We’ll kind of talk about the lasting legacy of this this wonderful man.
Jon It’s been a little bit of a… yeah a little bit A little bit of a celebratory and a little bit of a maudlin episode because, you know, obviously we’re celebrating. the history of Patrick Stewart’s life and his career, but also we’re…
Jon We’re so sad that it’s over and we don’t have any more. George is just saying, we’re going to go back and watch things he’s done before and they’re going to hit us differently.
George Okay.
Jon um Real quickly, before we get deep in this segment, I just want to do a quick roundtable of what’s your favorite. role he’s ever done. Or maybe you’re a film or a…
Mo h
Jon you know, maybe it’s, maybe it’s him doing a Christmas Carol live on stage or maybe, it’s or maybe a favorite Star Trek episode. Let me start with you, Mo. It’s just a favorite thing, ah a seminal. Patrick Stewart thing you think of when you think of the man.
Mo I mean, I have to probably go with him as Professor X in the X-Men in the original movies. because Because…
Jon Okay.
Mo He. Like I said, if he wasn’t in the movies, they would have bombed. In my opinion, they just totally would have bombed, you know even with Hugh Jackman in it.
George Mm hmm.
Jon Okay. Fair.
Mo It just wouldn’t have worked.
George Yeah.
Jon it’s not enough
Mo you know not enough to do it so i see that’s definitely the one for me
Jon Okay. How about you, George?
George i don’t know i mean i know i kind of wrote the question for us and i don’t want to fucking answer it Um,
Mo So I figured you guys are gonna go like it into episodes or something.
George because i i can’t pick one thing you know it’s i i as i was i was typing.
Mo Well pick one, pick a favorite.
George I don’t know. um Because every one I say, I’m going to think of the other.
Jon Oh there’s another.
George thing. Yeah.
Jon That’s all right.
George um
Jon Pick one that jumps to mind right now. It’ll be different tomorrow.
Mo or five minutes from now.
George I got to probably go with… With tapestry. It’s very close between it and inner light.
Jon That’s a wonderful… Yeah.
George Um. Inner Light is the one that gets a little bit more. Press. I think, but tapestry for me. you know. the Especially the scene…
George You know where the knife comes through the chest and he starts laughing
Jon Yeah.
George Uh…
Jon for For the most of the world, what’s tapestry about?
Mo Yeah, thank you. Because I’m sitting here like, oh, that’s wonderful.
Jon Real quick.
George ah Sorry!
Mo I’m sure it’s great.
Jon ah
Mo I mean, I’m sure it’s great.
George Yeah.
Mo Don’t get me wrong.
George Tapestry is a Star Trek episode where Q gives Picard the ability to have his wish by going back and reliving the worst mistake he thinks he’s ever made in his life and letting him make a different decision and then seeing how his life would play out afterwards.
Mo Okay, it’s a wonderful life-ish kind of deal.
George And the decision.
Jon Yeah. it is It’s a wonderful life in Star Trek.
George Yeah. it is just one of the life star Trek.
Jon That’s what it is. Yeah.
Mo Okay.
George Um, And so the…
Jon Yeah.
George the thing that he picks is of course this traumatic thing where he It’s funny because he chooses the thing where he feels like he lost control of a situation by being a little too.
George arrogant and. ready to fight
Mo Mm-hmm.
George And… Of course, we know Patrick Stewart. john luke’s character when we meet him he’s not that at all
Mo No.
Jon Mm hmm.
George So he goes back and. He changes it. He doesn’t get in the fight with the alien and the Nausicaans. I know. Moda, no, but…
Jon Yeah. Poor Mo.
George He gets in a fight with the alien. He gets stabbed in the chest. That’s when he gets his artificial heart. And the artificial heart later on, he gets into an accident that the artificial heart fails on him.
George and That’s how we get to this place.
Mo Okay, okay
George Anyway. Um, At the end of. the the episode there’s a callback to an earlier scene where he gets stabbed right through the chest and he’s looking down at the knife and he’s laughing and when you first see it you don’t know why he’s laughing
Jon He’s glad.
George But then when you see it at the end and it all makes sense because he gets to go back and recorrect the correction.
Jon Yeah. So he knows it set his life back the way it was.
George so that he gets the life.
Jon He’s happy about that.
George Yeah.
Mo Gotcha.
Jon Yeah. Yeah.
George it’s It’s beautiful.
Jon Mine is a weird, it is. it’s It’s a, it’s a. Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek moment. And it’s not his. It’s not the most dramatic acting, but there’s an episode called Disaster that I really enjoy where everything is going afoul on the Enterprise and Patrick Stewart.
George Mmm.
George Picard day.
Jon is stuck in the turbo lift with three little kids.
George Yep. Yep.
Jon and he notoriously is not good with children.
Mo jesus Yeah.
Jon And it was a chance to see this softer side of him in that role. ah He ended up having to. Initially, he was just like, children, be quiet.
George That’s a good one.
Jon Children, you know just calm down, settle in. And he’s like, no, that’s the wrong way. he’s He’s a character who always knew how to get the best out of people, and then it clicked with him. The way to get the best out of these kids is to play with them.
George Yeah.
Jon I’m going to give them a pip off my collar and say, you’re my new number one. You’re, you’re, you’re responsible for this because he’s hurt. I think he’s, his leg is broken or something. He can’t move.
George Yes. Yep.
Jon um And so he basically assigns them each a role as if they’re really on the enterprise. And that play is what. saves him from getting ah getting out of this turbolift. And as everybody else is fixing the ship, he has a small story with these kids and his injury.
Jon that just explores a different side of him and shows, oh. Here’s this character. finding the way to get the best out of someone that isn’t a peer, but a kid that doesn’t react to his commands and orders. It’s a very small thing, but I like seeing Patrick Stewart in that and how.
Jon He can act like someone who’s uncomfortable doing something. Though he’s doing something he’s very comfortable with, which is.
George yeah
Jon performing. putting Putting the words on the page and turning them into emotion that, again, you see between the lines, not just the the lines, which, yeah. So.
Mo yeah I mean, well, that makes sense.
Jon Okay.
Mo I mean, TV Guide, they even named him like the best dramatic television actor of the 80s. You know, I mean.
Jon That make sense?
George Mm hmm.
Jon Of course.
Mo I mean, not not Of a year in the 80s. Of the 80s.
Jon No, no. The 80s.
George he
Mo You know, which I mean, like I said, I mean, he. I mean, you could tell looking him that he was a stage actor. You know.
George Yeah.
Mo because he just the way he speaks just projects you know just projects projects projects you know
Jon Right. His presence. Yeah. Always.
George I love that they called it dramatic television instead of sci-fi.
Mo Yeah, true.
Jon Right.
Mo Good point.
George Like giving him credit for how good he was.
Jon Yep.
Mo Yeah.
George He turned a genre into something else.
Mo Mm hmm.
George 1995, he was a commencement speaker at Pomona College. and They gave him an honorary doctorate of letters.
Jon Okay.
George which I don’t know. Did they just give him a bunch of letters after his name or something?
Mo Yeah, I don’t know what that means either, but it sounds impressive.
Jon No.
George I don’t know. He can have all of me once far as I concerned, but. Yeah. He just keeps getting accolades and he deserved every one of them.
Jon Yep. So December 16th, 1996. He got his Hollywood Walk of, his star in Hollywood Walk of Fame.
George Mm hmm.
Jon Ha ha.
Mo this
Jon I love seeing those ceremonies and who comes out of the woodwork to celebrate with them as they get their their stars.
Mo Mm hmm.
Jon those are really And who isn’t there, those sorts of things. so uh I’ve only been to the the walk once, but when I went. I went and saw his star.
George Yeah.
Mo I’m just trying to…
Jon Yeah, among the ones I saw.
Mo I’m just trying to imagine him… Pre-all Star Trek. Right. Working in London, doing Shakespeare, to the and somebody coming up to him and says, hey, one day you’re going to get a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Jon Yeah.
Mo I mean, that’s…
George Like, I’m not going to Hollywood.
Jon Surely you jest.
Mo Hollywood?
Jon Right.
George I’m i’m an English actor.
Mo Are you kidding me?
Jon Mm hmm.
Mo I’m a serious actor.
George he
Jon See you in the future.
Mo I would never do such a thing.
George Yeah. yeah
Jon Right.
George You talk about how serious he was.
Jon Never say never.
George He was appointed an officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE, in 2001. services to acting and the cinema. He got some other.
George stuff along the way that i didn’t even bother if i put every single accolade into this we’d have been
Mo There’s so many.
Jon Yeah.
George It’d have been another hour.
Jon Yeah. Well, that’s how he got his sir, right? That’s the Sir Patrick Stewart.
Mo Yes, that’s the start part.
George That’s the first time he got the serve.
Mo Mm-hmm
George Yep.
Jon It’s your nighting, yeah.
George Yep.
Mo Yeah, I mean, again, he has he got Another honorary fellowship from the University of Wales in Cardiff. in 2001. yeah Wow, that’s 25 years ago. Holy cow.
George Mm hmm.
Mo Oh yeah. But again, it’s like he’s… it’s You know. I’m not surprised by any of this. i mean you know.
Jon No.
Mo And these schools, I mean, i’m’re I’m sure they so were smart and said, you know, this is a guy we want to make sure he’s like. Doing stuff for us, so…
Jon Yep. Get him into orbit. Yep. He has a Guinness World Record longest career as a live action Marvel character.
Mo laughter
George Well…
Jon Tied, tied with Hugh Jackman.
Mo Tight.
George No.
Jon because From 2017 to 2021.
George Not now.
Jon Well, not now. Damn it, George.
George Yeah.
Jon I mean, not now.
George No, no. No, I mean, before he passed.
Jon That’s rude Oh, okay.
George Before he passed, it got. he he got usurped by Wesley Snipes when Wesley Snipes was in the Deadpool Wolverine movie.
Jon Oh is that right? Did he pick it up?
George Yeah.
Jon Yeah. Well, maybe as long as continuous.
George Yeah.
Jon No, that still counts, I guess.
Mo and but still no one cares what will these types of you know
George Yeah.
Jon so
George but
Jon Yep.
Jon Mmm.
Mo the
Jon Oh. All right. So to to wrap this up. Shit. Can I read this to you? and and And I say that as asking permission. And also, I’m not sure if I can be capable of reading it to you because it’s a little emotional.
George right
Jon This is an excerpt. I thought it was a nice way to close out this this episode. This is an excerpt from Making It So, a memoir. the book that he put out, the autobiographical book that he put out. And he’s speaking about the character. That’s what the whole novel is about. It’s about his relationship with Star Trek and Jean-Luc Picard. And he says,
Jon Like me. Jean-Luc has lived an unusual life that’s taken him far beyond the bounds of normal human experience. but he’s also someone who has remained true to his earthbound roots.
Jon for they are what give him his identity. In the end… He feels the call of home. As do I.
George Hmm.
Jon Huh. farewell, Patrick Stewart. we We didn’t have you long enough. I made it most of the way through that. Did you notice? Pretty good.
Mo Yeah, that’s pretty good.
George Yeah.
Jon Not too bad.
George yeah
Jon ah Guys, any final words as we wrap up this memory of Patrick Stewart? Yeah, another seven hours. Sure, we have lots of memories.
Mo Yeah.
Jon Anything that we didn’t say you want to cap off? for it.
George Just go to hell, 2026.
Jon you sign off I’ll tell you what.
Mo I said, we can’t do any more of these, by the way. So… All the cool people who are still alive stay alive because we…
Jon I
Jon Just hang in there for us.
George ah Right, because…
Jon Hang in there.
George That’s the problem. We’re at that point where we’re going to have to do two or three of these a year now.
Mo We are.
Jon yeah let’s i’d we’d rather not We’d rather not.
Mo At least, you know.
George Mmm.
Jon Oh. Goodness. Hey. All right. Thank you, guys. I’m glad we called this audible. I’m glad we did this episode. We’ll pick up. We’ll we stroll we’ll get our our ah schedule straightened out and pick it up again next time around.
Jon Before I go, I want to thank a new. ah Patreon supporter. It’s a single username. I think it’s two names. I don’t know. Joseph Jeanette is the username there.
Mo Okay.
Jon Did just what Mo was always talking about. Headed over to patreon .com slash genxgrownup. and signed up for a small, regularly, monthly, recurring financial pledge to help keep us solvent and keep us doing this show and the YouTube content and the podcast. or the website and all the things that we do. We’re very grateful to you, Joseph, Jeanette.
Jon Thank you for doing that. And we hope that many will follow in your lead and do the same. So. we’re very, very grateful. That did. is going to wrap it up for this backtrack edition of the Gen X Grown Up Podcast. Don’t worry, though. If you were worried, we will be back in two weeks with another one. Next week, the standard edition of our show. Until then, I’m John. George, thank you so much for being here.
George Yes, sir
Jon Mo. You know I appreciate you, brother.
Mo Always fun man.
Jon And fourth listener, it’s you. We but all three appreciate most of all. Can’t wait to talk to you again next time. by- Bye-bye.
George See you guys.
Mo Take care, everybody.
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About The Author

Mo As someone who barely manages to squeeze in as a GenXer my memories include more of the 70's than those younger GenXers. Reading and movies are my passions with some video gaming thrown in there for good measure!

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