Stewart: Roddenberry Would Have Problems With Berman

Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) said in an interview at TrekZone.de that he believes Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would take issue with some of the changes made to the franchise by executive producer Rick Berman.

"[Roddenberry] created a very idealistic future", observed Stewart in the interview, translated from the original German. "For a producer it is like walking on a thin line, if they want to put some emphasis on the philosophical part, because first of all the show is supposed to entertain. But: Over the aspect of entertainment it is of course possible to convey the social ideas."

"Under the leadership of Rick Berman these social-politically issues grew more important, the adventure part was cut down...I think, Roddenberry would have had problems with this way of doing things", he said, as translated by TrekZone.de.

Stewart reiterated that Nemesis would be the last movie featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. "I think we finished the party with this movie," he said, adding that they did a "good job" but "we have to admit to ourselves that we are not becoming younger".

Asked whether he missed working on the series, Stewart admitted, "To play a role for seven years is enough", stating that the film scripts he received during the series typecast him. He said that he might accept a role in a sitcom, following up on his early career playing Shakespearean clowns.

Stewart's X2, the second X-Men film, opens in May. In the meantime, according to an article in The Huddersfield Daily Examiner, the actor is in England, where he will start rehearsals next week for Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder.

On Saturday, Stewart went to a home game of the Huddersfield Town Football Club against rival Chesterfield, then gave a benefit performance for Mirfield's Gilder Hall Youth Club. He told the audience that he had just completed filming on The Lion In Winter, in which he plays King Henry II of England opposite Glenn Close as Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The complete German interview with Stewart may be found here, while more information about Stewart's charity and football events is here.

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