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Acknowledgements
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STEWART, PATRICK (1940– ). British actor.
Provided
voice for animated films: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (English
version) (Hayao MIYAZAKI 1984); The Pagemaster (Maurice Hunt and Joe
JOHNSTON 1994); "Homer the Great" (1995), episode of The
Simpsons; The Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, and
Simon Wells 1998); Animal Farm (tv movie) (John Stephenson 1999); Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius (John A. Davis 2001); Boo, Zino & the Snurks
(English version) (Kenard Fritz Krawinkel and Holger Tappe 2004); Steamboy
(English version) (Katsuhiro Ohtomo 2004); Chicken Little (Mark Dindal
2005); "Peter's Got Woods" (2005), "No Meals on Wheels," "Lois Kills Stevie,"
"Stevie Kills Lois" (2007), "FOX-y Lady," "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" (2009),
"And Then There Were Fewer," "Halloween on Spooner Street" (2010), "The Hand
That Rocks the Wheelchair," "Thanksgiving" (2011), "Internal Affairs" (2012),
episodes of Family Guy; American Dad! (tv series) (2005-2012); Bambi
II (Brian Pimental 2006); The Audition (short) (Daniel Cohen
2006); TMNT (Kevin Munroe 2007); Family Guy: It's a Trap
(video) (Peter Shin 2010); Gnomeo and Juliet (Kelly Asbury 2011); Ice
Age: Continental Drift (Steve Martino and Mike Thurmeier 2012).
Provided
voice for video games: Land of Lore: The Throne of Chaos (Rick Gush
1994); Star Trek: The Next Generation—A Final Unity (1995); Star
Trek: Hidden Evil (Jonathan Knight 1999); Star Trek: Armada II
(2001); Star Trek: Bridge Commander (2002); X-Men: Next Dimension
(2002); Star Trek: Starfleet Command III (2002); X2—Wolverine's
Revenge (Bridgitte Burdine 2003); Star Trek: Elite Force II
(2003); Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (2004); X-Men Legends
(2004); X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse (2005); The Elder
Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006); X-Men: The Official Game (2006); Borg
War (Geoffrey James 2006); Star Trek: Legacy (2006); Castlevania:
Lord of Shadow (2009); Lego Universe (Jordan Itkowitz 2010).
Provided
voice or narration for live-action films: Liftoff! An Astronaut's Journey
(documentary) (Dan Wetherbee 1990); Space Age (documentary tv series)
(1992); From Here to Infinity: The Ultimate Voyage (documentary) (Don
Barrett 1994); Stargazers (documentary) (Ned Judge 1994); Star Trek
The Experience: The Klingon Encounter (short) (Mario Kamberg and David de
Vos 1998); If We Had No Moon (documentary) (Martin Yves 1999); Water
for Tea (short) (Michael Starobin 2003); Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real
(tv movie) (Justin Hardy 2004): High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman (tv
series) (2005); The Snow Queen (Julian Gibbs 2005); Ted (Seth
McFarlane 2012); Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage (Shahin Sean Solimon 2012).
Directed:
"In Theory" (1991), "Hero Worship," "A Fistful of
Datas" (1992), "Phantasms" (1993), "Preemptive
Strike" (1994), episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Appeared
in documentaries: Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (Donald R. Beck
1991); Journey's End: The Saga of Star Trek—The Next Generation
(Beck 1994); Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond (Louis J. Horvitz 1996);
"The Making of The Prince of Egypt" (1998), "X2: X-Men United"
(2003), episodes of HBO First Look; The Making of Jimmy Neutron
(Kevin Gorman 2001); The Uncanny Suspects (short) (2003); X-Men
Production Scrapbook (2003); Requiem for Mutants: The Score of X2
(2003); The Second Uncanny Issue of X-Men!: Making X2 (short) (2003); Quest
for King Arthur (Don Campbell 2004); Behind the Microphone: Nausicaä
of the Valley of the Wind (short) (2005); X-Men: The Excitement
Continues (short) (2006); X-Men: Evolution of a Trilogy (short)
(2006); Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier (John Logsdon 2007); TMNT:
Voice Talent First Look (short) (2007); The Next Generation's Legacy
(Stephen R. Wolcott 2007); The Captain's Summit (Tim King 2009); Trek
Nation (Scott Colthorp 2010); With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story
(Terry Dougas, Nikki Frakes, and William Lawrence Hess 2010); The Captains
(William SHATNER 2011); Stardate
Revisited: The Origin of Star Trek—The Next Generation (Roger Lay, Jr.
2012).
As evidence to support the theory that
America actually lost the Revolutionary War, consider the fact that Gene
RODDENBERRY, absolutely determined to cast a Frenchman to play
the captain of his second Star Trek series, nevertheless succumbed to
Stewart's icy charm. But how could he resist? Here was an actor with a British
accent, for heaven's sake, even an actor who had performed Shakespeare
on English stages and on television. Willing to overlook that the actor had
indulged in some sci-fi slumming (Dune, Lifeforce, The Doctor
and the Devils), the insecure producer seized upon the posturing Stewart as
an ideal way to elevate and validate a science fiction series that the film
industry had long sneered at.
Once installed as Jean-Luc Picard in command
of the new Enterprise, Stewart developed the innovative persona of a
starship captain who regarded the whole business of gadding about in outer
space, seeking out new life and all that, only as an annoying affront to his
sense of dignity. Thus, instead of sitting in the captain's chair, staring at
that television screen with those disconcerting stars whizzing by, Stewart's
Picard preferred to retreat to the newly-created "Ready Room," where
he could sit behind a desk, with no stars in sight, and carry on as the
Federation's Assistant Vice President for Interstellar Affairs, conferring with
higher-ups via teleconferencing, barking orders at subordinates, and refining
new policy initiatives. Granted, it grew tiresome to observe William
SHATNER's
Captain Kirk relate to alien life in the universe by punching out
the bad ones and seducing the pretty ones; however, when Captain Picard
contrives to thwart an alien race by intently studying and restudying the
million-word treaty they signed until he locates precisely the right subclause
that will justify his demands, matters have been taken to an opposite, and even
more distasteful, extreme. It was only fitting that Stewart's most striking
performance as Picard came in the two-part episode "The Best of Both
Worlds," when he is placed under the control of the hive-mind Borg and
ordered to destroy the Enterprise, an assignment which he undertakes
without altering his style of acting in the slightest; for, dampening and
destroying the spirit of adventure and excitement that should animate all
stories of space travel was in fact Stewart's mission throughout the series'
seven-year run. Star Trek: The Next Generation thrived only to the
extent that it contrived to marginalize Picard and put the spotlight on its
other, more engaged regulars.
Stewart did share one trait with Shatner—an
inability to direct as well as his on-screen assistant, in this case Jonathan
FRAKES—but he at least had enough sense to stay in front of the camera when his
series ended. Yet the Star Trek film franchise steadily declined in
popularity when the Next Generation crew took over, and that was surely
because the format of the feature films, unlike individual episodes of the
series, demanded that the dull, irritable Picard constantly be the center of
attention, or inattention, to be more precise. Only Frakes's Star Trek:
First Contact overcame the intractable problem of Picard by isolating him
and the series' other ill-conceived regular (Brent SPINER's irksomely
self-involved Data) in a stultifying soap opera with the Borg Queen while
Frakes's Riker led the rest of the cast in the rousing adventure of helping an
charming rogue build Earth's first interstellar spacecraft. And, if you're
looking for fresh evidence that everybody in Hollywood is an idiot, consider
the pitch session that led to the greenlighting of Star Trek: Nemesis:
"To revive this franchise, let's give them not one Captain Picard,
but two of them! That'll pack 'em in!" Thanks to that film's
inevitable and spectacular failure, and the lame performance of producer Rick
BERMAN's other flawed child, the series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005),
Roddenberry's once-golden property had seemingly been destroyed, until J. J.
ABRAMS identified the true origin of the franchise's trouble—the launching of
Stewart's Star Trek: The Next Generation—and revived the series by
ignoring all of that and recasting Roddenberry's original series.
Equipped with his ever-popular British accent
and snob appeal, Stewart was able to keep his career alive despite his
egregious limitations ( such as his complete inability to handle comedy,
painfully demonstrated by his cameo in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, his
single appearance as a host of Saturday Night Live, and the robotic
bonhomie displayed in The Canterville Ghost). Still, he surprised one
jaded viewer in X‑Men, whose director Bryan SINGER was unable to
resist the obvious stunt‑casting of a bald science fiction veteran to
play the bald Dr. Xavier. Naturally, I was fully prepared to be appalled once
again by his lifeless machinations; however, as if recognizing that there was
no prestige to be garnered from appearing in an adaptation of a comic book, and
realizing that this razzle-dazzle film desperately needed someone to provide
some genuine warmth, Stewart unexpectedly abandoned all his affectations and
instead strived very hard to be simple, straightforward, and emotionally
unguarded in portraying a father figure to his band of mutants and a regretful
former friend to Magneto. Amidst a gaudy procession of computer-enhanced
superheroes, Stewart somehow managed for the first time to appear human. But
any hopes for some lasting change were dashed by the sequel X2: X‑Men
United, where he was given less to do and did it far less well, reverting
to icy dullness and seeming far less sympathetic than the purportedly
villainous Magneto, portrayed by the vastly more capable Ian MCKELLEN. And
there were no signs of any improvement in that film's dreadful successor, X-Men:
The Last Stand, or his routine Captain Nemo in a television version of Mysterious
Island.
As evidenced by the expanded and updated
credits, Stewart has largely spent the last decade making a living with his
mouth, contributing his sonorous voice to scores of animated films and video
games, often in the employ of Seth MCFARLANE, yet another American who cannot
resist a British accent. Now that both the Star Trek and X-Men
franchises have rebooted with younger casts, he seems unlikely to garner more
major roles, though another miracle along the lines of X-Men remains
possible. It is more likely, however, that long ago set in his ways, Patrick
Stewart will simply carry on performing, in smaller and smaller roles, having
never really learned to act.
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