We got there
around 5pm. That's Giz and Tina taking turns to sn… ooze on the back seat while
yours truly drove to London, round London, to Norwich, round Norwich, round
Norwich and round Norwich again. Yes, there are TWO d*** Woolpack Inns in
Norwich. Both remarkably well-hidden. Guess which one we finally found first?
Apply international law. Nice city, though. We were very impressed by the
cathedral: we had every opportunity to see it several times from every angle
and…
What? Robert? Oh yes.
Well, none of us had attended any of his appearances before so we only knew what
we had read. Like: he's always late. You read Giz's post on the Board? He got
there before us. Which shows you should never believe what you read. OK, he left
a little early too… had to go back to London by train, I understand, which I
guess is why the signing session took place before the talk, as we were queuing
into the room itself. Organisers and people we met there were all equally
friendly and the whole thing very civilised. No big announcement when Robert
came in, I was chatting and I didn't even notice he was in until about 10
seconds before facing him. He was very friendly and warm to everybody he knew or
met for the first time. When the room was full he was introduced and cheered and
he started by pushing aside the table standing between him and us.
He then picked up a pile of flyers that were on the table, about the next ST guy
due to appear in Norwich, Andrew Robinson, and proceeded to advertise the coming
event appropriately (crumpled the things up and bombarded the audience with
them), sat down on a chair facing us, asked us how we all were and told us a bit
about his stay in Europe, which he said he enjoys visiting very much, especially
London and Paris. He went to see the current Shakespeare play with Ralph Fiennes
in London, Coriolanus? Yes, he likes Ralph Fiennes' acting. He also tried to see
something at the Comédie Française in Paris but it was booked up for the next 14
years or something and he didn't fancy waiting that long for it. Didn't want to
miss Season 7, I guess.
He was asked about the show (Voyager) and where he
thought it was going and what he thought of the fact the character of Chakotay
is harldy to be seen at all now. He answered the questions but I'm not going to
repeat the answers 'cause I'm quite fond of Chakotay myself and I don't want him
to die in the next shuttle crash. Talk about suicidal tendencies by proxy!
>Suffice it to say< that despite the fact he (Robert) expressed a certain lack
of interest for the Bore, I mean the Borg, the notion of 'collective' certainly
wassn't completely lost on him. Not that he got personal or anything like that.
Just sounded as fed up as some fans are with the situation and the direction the
show is taking or not taking. I won't go into that too much because we're three
seasons behind here in Europe, I don't watch the videos ahead and it makes it
harder to interpret what was said. I was a little surprised though, having
somehow got the impression from reading other reports that he had more or less
resigned himself to wait for the end of the 'Voyager' duty shift while getting
paid to say the odd line, but he did sound fed up and eager to go do something
else. Like just doing something - anything- would be nice, and as an actor, he
didn't really want to have to write or direct an episode himself to get to play
in it.
Is that when the Bob Picardo impersonations started? Yes, I know, some of you
will have seen them at the Galaxy Ball and some, like me, on the GB video. Never
mind. The real thing is priceless. Nooo, you can't get too much of a good thing.
Not this one. I'd drive to and round Norwich three times again quite happily
just to see these once more. If the Page's photos come out well, Sabine, it's my
turn to kiss your feet. Hope they 're less sweaty than mine. Some things (like
hilarious impersonations) you can't convey via a keyboard, unfortunately… We had
Kate Mulgrew, of course, and a few more from Voyager. Also Captain Kirk
'jolting' on the bridge under attack from ferocious aliens >jolts, re-adjusts
tunic, brushes his sleeves, smoothes his hair back< … All these characters in
one - good value for money.
Half way through, one of the organizers walked in and made some comments about
Janeway's hair remaining solidly in place through every scrape and crash, I
think, dialled her phone number on his mobile (US 'cell phone'?) and gave it to
Robert with instructions to ask her how she managed that. Maybe it was a
completely different question, I can't remember, never mind, we were allowed to
listen to the whole conversation. One of Kate Mulgrew's kids answered I think,
and the conversation went something like
"Hi honey, it's Robert here, can I speak to your mum…. Robert Beltran…. Yes, I'm
on the show too… yes, I AM … I'm one of the guys on the Bridge. What? She's
drunk?… Oh….. ah…..Hi Kate… yes, no,… please put that drink down… >apart to the
audience< .. she's shouting at Seven now… etc"
OK, yes, I believed the first 2
seconds of it…
Uh, enough about the show… what else? Oh, yes, he was asked if he enjoyed guest
roles in series and said something to the effect that it was OK but a little
awkward landing on a regular cast etc.. that he knew the feeling from both
sides. He was asked what he liked to watch on TV? Mostly news and sports and the
odd cartoon and maybe the odd older film I think…
Also was asked if he saw a lot of his family, brothers and sisters and answered
that yes, they met at his mother's as a rule. There were lots of other questions
of course, but I forget them, or most people here would know the answers anyway.
Oh, yes: during the Chakotay conversation, somebody was asking about
similarities between Chakotay and Robert and the conversation somehow turned
towards women, and he said that he understood a 'no' to be a 'no', unlike
Chakotay, at which point somebody piped up about how his (Robert's ) success
rate with women compared to Chakotay's. I expect everybody present during the
appearances noticed the re-hydrating properties of nosy questions: he had a
drink, thought about it and decided to admit he had a better success rate than
the tatooed one. Please don't draw wild conclusions or send enquiries to the ORB
about how to get on (or off) the rota (that's me talking now), I'd feel guilty.
It was a funny moment. The way he deals with these questions can only gain him
more. Not that this particular answer was much of an admission if you think of
it. I can't say it better than a guy I heard muttering behind me, "yeah, right,
even I have a better success rate than Chakotay…" That's about it I think. Oh,
yes, he also talked about what would be happening at the Galaxy Ball.
Report a bit short on Robert? Yes, we thought the evening was, too, when we were
explained he had to go… he thanked us for coming, did some more signings for and
talked to people who hadn't had the chance to speak to him before the talk and
we left a bit before he did. OK, it was a bit short, but very relaxed, friendly
and warm and we enjoyed the evening a lot. It was good to meet him, it was very
good to meet other people too. His early departure gave us the time to enjoy the
rest of the evening together round pizzas and ice creams and look forward to
Page's
Thanks to Lucy and Tony for these great pictures!
I can't
remember how it all started now, I should have written all this earlier. We
didn't get there early enough to get a table but Sabine and friends did and
after a while, the organisers kindly brought us extra stools so we could all sit
together. Very different atmosphere from Norwich, well, it's a sci-fi bar. The
music was OK, in fact, just a little LOUD! When you've already got a nasty cold,
a sore throat and you've spent hours shouting to your friends trying to make
yourself heard over the MUSIC, there isn't a lot of your voice left after a
while. We got to see an episode of Voyager that won't be aired on BBC2 for
another 40 years or so, it was nice to know what the crew's up to nowadays.
OK, I'll just type about bits and pieces as they come back… the evening at
Page's is even harder to convey than Norwich I'm afraid. The whole thing was a
great, really funny, wilder performance, and if Robert didn't enjoy it as much
as we did, he certainly pretended very well. I think he did (enjoy it). It got
just about enough out of hand to be memorable without ever getting unfriendly.
When slightly >hic!< tipsy people went on a bit, it was just the opportunity for
him to give them some mock serious, reproachful looks. He can keep the pose for
a while. Some questions were the same as in Norwich, I'll pass on these. He
started by telling us that he thought the theatre season was pretty poor in
London at the moment, and nearly got boooed off the stage, which was a nice
foretaste of the rest of the evening.
He told us about the hotel he was staying in and about the staff there being
under some sort of evaluation at the moment and so being very, very keen to
help… >more impersonations< (I can't remember the exact words, never mind) "arre
you finished with your meal Mr Beltrum? Was it naiice? Can we bring you anything
else Mr Beltrum? "Uuh, I'm just starting on the salad thank you… no, please
don't take my plate away now... OK, I'll give you a good report!"
To someone who asked if he had seen the Dome (Tony Blair's pride and joy, US
people) , he said he hadn't, that he doesn't visit touristy sights much, and has
never been up the Eiffel tower in Paris either (like the vast majority of French
people and Parisians I know by the way) (the Eiffel what?).
Have I already told you about the Bob Picardo impersonations? Yes, I know. I
wonder if he'd come and do them again if we all gave him a dollar? Never mind.
We got them again at every opportunity. Goody. While I'm in the chapter of
impersonations, we also had Kate Mulgrew about to blow a fuse after he (Robert)
forgets his line for the 15th time on the set (eyes go darker, face puffs up,
goes red, mouth twitches, breathing becomes difficult, veins swell on forehead,
whole body starts to shake, take-off appears imminent…).
Talking
lines, he was asked how he learns them, and here's the technique… he reads them
just once and goes to work. When it's his turn to deliver it, he has the text
close at hand, and when the director goes 'aaaaction', he starts saying it,
stops abruptly and asks somebody or other in his field of vision (or not), to
move aside please, during which proceedings he gets a chance to have a quick
read again >round panicked eyes zooming up and down the page<. 'Aaaaction.' -
3/4 of the line come out well this time, then Robert goes all pensive and stops.
There is something wrong with the line. Chakotay would never say that. He
reckons somebody should phone the writers there and then to have it changed. The
issue is discussed, Robert gets another quick read. It's decided that no, the
line is fine as it is. He doesn't insist. It's OK, he's waiting for them to be
ready now. Are they ever going to get that scene right or what?..
Somebody who must have been unaware that Paul Bartel had died recently or had a
wicked sense of humour asked him if he would like to work with him (PB) again.
Things were clarified to the wider audience and Robert answered that, um, he was
hoping he wouldn't be working with Paul Bartel again tooooo soon….
Somebody has already mentioned that he was asked to sing. A lady had heard that
he has a good singing voice and wanted to hear it. Anybody planning to attend an
appearance soon really must ask him to sing. Not just because he hates it, but
because his efforts at trying to avoid singing are good fun. Never mind if he
does or not. And as he'll enthusiastically launch into anything to try and
change the subject, it's probably the right time to sneak in a nosy question if
you have one in store, but nobody took advantage of the situation this time. We
learnt how he and some of he brothers and friends idealised English bands when
they were young (-er). They impersonated the Beatles and others. The lady who
asked him to sing in the first place had heard about his singing at a St Patrick
Party organised by Kate Mulgrew, so he told us about the Irish Battalion that
fought for the Americans against the Mexicans, moved to the Mexican side (the
food was better) and of course as their luck would have it, the Mexicans quickly
lost the war… there's a song about them and he sang *a* version of it at the
party, I think.
But neither the childhood memories nor the history lesson nor Kate Mulgrew's
ancestry worked and after all this, everybody was still shouting for a song, so
he got really annoyed with us >g< and told us how hard it was to sing without
accompaniment bla bla bla… which turned out to be a big mistake because the
audience then decided to show him how easy it really was to sing without
accompaniment and close to 150 voices (each one of them accompanied by another
149) launched into >music< "Oooh, how'd'you dooo, what you do to meee…? etc"
There was a quick horrified dive on the stage and an arm reappearing reaching up
for the bottle of water. When the noise subsided, he eventually did sing a line
and yes, the voice was really, really good and there was audience silence for a
few seconds, and I was really p***** when he stopped but he couldn't remember
the rest, he said... >more jeers< and so he asked us to throw titles at him -
'Yesterday' was one, and we got a little of a somewhat disrespectful version of
yesterdaAaAAaaAaAy… …
At some point, somebody, picked up a Chakotay thread and asked him if he
(Robert) was a gentle person too.. We couldn't hear very well, though, so Robert
passed on the microphone and the guy repeated his question. While the microphone
was very slowly making its way back to him, he went: "Am I a gentle person,
mmm….mmm… WILL YOU GIVE ME BACK THE F***** MICROPHONE!!!' and somehow shifted
the answer back to Chakotay.
Somebody asked if he intended to retire one day and he said that no, he did not
really want to and that he was hoping to die on stage playing King Lear or
something ( we got a preview of the scene so we know how it will all happen.
Sgniif!)
Somebody asked if he minded being recognized in the streets, etc.. he said that
no, it wasn't really a problem, except very rarely when people won't let go. Or
won't let HIM go. He didn't pull his sleeves up so we couldn't check but we'll
take his word for it about the nail marks that lady left in his forearm.
He was asked twice what his plans were for after the show but I'm afraid I can't
remember the answers. I know he's planning to do 'Othello' at some stage, he
said next year but I can't remember any other specific plans. Was there a
mention of a film?
Oh, yes, the birthday girl: at some point, one of the Page's bar guy joined him
on the stage and lighted up the candles on a chocolate birthday cake that was on
a table there (I hadn't noticed it so far - can you believe that?! Some
performance it takes!). We were told it was this girl's birthday and Robert was
asked to sing 'happy birthday' for her, which he did,
yesterdaAaAAaaAAayyy-style. I can't remember if the audience joined in this one.
Probably. (There was another birthday song later, I think, which a young girl
asked him to sing for his mum and in which he got everybody to join.) Anyway, I
don't know who was or wasn't in the know but the birthday girl herself looked
genuinely surprised and after recovering, seemed more than happy with her
husband's choice of a birthday surprise (Robert) and clearly decided to make the
most of it and not let go of its neck till she had to. The birthday surprise
held on to her waist and made polite enquiries about the couple's daily lives,
commented on how wonderfully liberal a relationship they had, had several gos at
pronouncing the girl's italian name (something ending in 'zzzi'), gave us a
lecture on latin rrrrrrrs, complimented her on her very British married name
(Clarke-with-an-e) and generally kept the ball rolling until separation was
effected. I don't think surgery was necessary in the end, I really can't
remember how it all ended up.
Ancestry…
asked, he answered about his grandparents being Mexican and what that meant in
terms of blood mix and what did it matter and how many people could trace their
ancestry back for centuries anyway? When some >g< did raise their hands at that,
it got us a British aristocracy impersonation much enjoyed by the French
traditional enemy. "Yaaaaaas, whhhee are Britttish… whhee can trace our
anceaastry back to… etc."
There must have been more, I forget now… as I've said before, it was a really
fun evening and I think he enjoyed it. You can tell by the length of the
answers. For someone who's said a few times he doesn't like delivering long
monologues (at appearances) and generally doesn't come across as a chatter box,
he did treat us to long uninterrupted answers and pieces and the response was
great. Then came the signing session which lasted a little long in the
organisers' view, Robert being generous with hugs and kisses and taking the time
to talk to everybody.
Oh, yes, a girl asked him to sign her half-bared breast (you want details? It
was her left breast I think) which caused amusement. I know it sounds daft but
it didn't seem an out-of-place thing to do at Page's on Saturday night somehow…
although I'll admit my heart sank for half a second when I saw the girl was
followed by a bloke and I found myself wondering what HE was going to ask him to
sign…
When that was over he mingled and chatted to the people who were still there and
there was a chance to say good-bye before crawling back to the hotel on our
hands and knees. No, not drunk - just content and tiiiiired. Can't believe the
guy looked as fresh as if he'd just walked out of his morning shower after all
this, I wonder what he's on, but he did. We didn't. Zzzzz.
Robert Beltran at Page’s Bar in London, 7 June 2000
The plan was
that the afternoon would start with a professional photo session: people could
have their photo taken with Robert, go away feeling a little lighter and come
back later in the afternoon when the photos would be printed and ready for
collection and signing. People who had tickets for the afternoon stayed through
of course. He was to disappear for lunch after the photo session, and come back
for a Q&A before the signing around 4pm. This was the plan and this is exactly
what happened. (I thought that was worth mentioning, hi Page's!.) Robert arrived
and was cheered and started a long posing session (most people present queued up
to get their photo taken) against the bar. I didn't watch the whole proceedings,
I had my back to the whole thing - but whenever I peeped, he was playing the
game good humouredly, posing with one or two persons at a time, smiling, arm(s)
waists and shoulders and making people feel comfortable. The photos turned out
very good ones too.
Then he left for lunch and we stayed for the same. He came back soon after, was
introduced again by the Bar people, greeted us and the newcomers who weren't
there the night before, thanked them for coming and told them about the previous
evening and how he had nearly been booed off the stage etc… said there were kids
this time so he'd have to be good. It was full but maybe a little less packed
than the night before and as I said, more kids this time, which made for a less
wild and I wouldn't say warmer, because it was warm all right on the Saturday
night, but somehow more… family and Sunday-afternoon-like sort of atmosphere. It
also made it easier to reach the bar. He told us that during the photo session,
a lady had whispered in his ear: "how does it feel to prostitute yourself like
this?" So he'd answered "Er - how does it feel to visit a prostitute?" … and
apologized to the children present with instructions to look that one up later….
maybe in a few years' time.
There were more Star-Trek questions, I can't remember the details, but
there was a question on the original series and we got more impersonations of
Shatner, 'Scotty' (?), and the unavoidable George Takei - no he didn't watch the
original series and the whole thing did not really appeal to him, it was too
unconvincing somehow. So he was asked how he came to accept a part in a
Star-Trek series, apart from the obvious money reasons, and he explained that,
apart from the obvious money reasons, he liked the script of 'Caretaker' and had
a small crush (about 2 inches long as demonstrated between thumb and forefinger)
on Geneviève Bujold who was to play the captain originally. So, he was asked
when had things started to go wrong and the answer to that was they had started
to go wrong pretty immediately, when Geneviève B left and the whole maquis thing
fizzled out within the space of a few episodes - although he mentioned that Jeri
Taylor enjoyed writing for and had a good grasp of the Chakotay character, which
attracted approving noises from the audience. He went on to show us how the
Commander would have looked up in adoration at his captain and lapped up her
every word, had she been played by Geneviève Bujold [insert impersonation of
Nancy looking at Ronald…]
I'm
not sure how the weight question was introduced (I think somebody asked about
'the Fight' episode and why he'd refused to take off his shirt for the boxing
scenes). He explained he hadn't had enough notice to lose the weight and so had
to pull it around a little to keep his shirt on against the writers' wishes.
Teased on the shape issue, he said it was hard to keep slim during the shooting
season (must be when Robert Duncan McNeill was mentioned) but that he had lost
15 pounds (so did most of the audience that day >g<) since his last fa... er…
stou… chubb… uh…. cuddly spell [just me stalling] and that he promised us a
shapely Chakotay for the rest of the show. Don't worry you motherly lot, he did
not look underfed, just fit - and admitted that his ribs had mysteriously
disappeared a few years ago and hadn't been seen again. RIP.
Set jokes? The only one I hadn't heard yet was about the dolls… I knew there are
dolls of the characters but I haven't seen them. Apparently they are collectors'
items (the low numbers being more precious to collectors, if that makes sense)
and he got into trouble with Garrett Wang the day he decided to draw a moustache
on or somehow disfigure one of the little Harry Kims he'd received by mistake
and place it in a discreet spot in his trailer for the fun of watching the
horrified expression on the face of the flesh and blood model when he spotted
the disrespectfully ' improved' and now market-worthless thing half-way through
a conversation. Good excuse for another impersonation of course… He was also
asked how he had reacted to the introduction of Jeri Ryan to the show, and
developed a worrying fit of convergent strabismus ( .)(. ) while answering.
He was asked by a young girl to sing a happy birthday song to her and, having
had the practice the night before, he was happy to do it but got us to join in
so he just started and finiIIiIiished it with us.
Somebody asked what episode he would like to see written, I think, and whether
he would like to play in a musical episode. Maybe it was my imagination but I
think there was a nervous start from somewhere on the stage when the word
'SONGGGG' must have detached itself from the rest of the sentence and much
relief (and laughter from the audience) when it became clear that no, he wasn't
being asked to sing again… I forget what the specific answer was but I remember
he said he was thinking of submitting that Bible version episode to the
producers.. the one called something like 'Voyager goes to Bethlehem', with
Janeway as the cruel King Herod, Chakotay as the gentllle, llloveable Joseph,
Seven of Nine as [voice goes hoarse] Marrrrrry - Ensign Kim as the baby Jesus,
Tuvok, the Doc and Tom as the wise men and Kes as the archangel Gabriel… [insert
appropriate faces]
Susan, whom we had the pleasure to meet there and who was chatting so much she
never realised the guy had arrived until half-way through the photo session >g<
asked him what it was like and whether it was difficult to grow up with many
siblings (he has 9 brothers and sisters I think) and he answered that it wasn't
always terribly easy, but OK, that his mum had brought them up mostly on her own
but that they had been aware of that and tried not to make it too difficult for
her, also that his oldest brothers were 10 to 15 years older than he and his
younger siblings and that they had taken their roles of older figures seriously
enough. I think he mentioned at some point that Bakersfield at the time
certainly was a good place for kids to grow up.
And there was more but I forget… Did he mention Patrick Stuart might be
interested in appearing at the Galaxy Ball? Maybe I got that wrong. But there
certainly was an impersonation at some point…
A very young girl was sitting a few inches away from the stage, staring up at
him, he remembered her from the photo session so he bent forward and said a
friendly 'hi' and gave her the microphone and asked if she would she like to ask
a question. The little girl liked the guy behind the microphone but clearly
didn't like the microphone itself quite so much and went shy, so he didn't
insist - 'No? OK!' and she opted for another photo with him later during the
autograph session instead, I noticed. Very brave girl, really. Did she think he
looked good or what?
Oh, yes, every start of season they have some kind of dinner with the writers
when they are asked what they would like to see their character go … not much to
tell here, but it was fun to watch the scene (Oh! I want to see him on stage):
Mr B wolfing down the food while the rest are taking notes with their most
serious faces on… "So… what would you like to see happen to your character?…"
>munch munch< "dunno…" >munch< "er…" >munch< "mm… gimmesex?" >munch munch< "
Notepads appear, concentrated frowns and serious scribbling of notes ensues…
Oh,
I think somebody else had already asked him about the romantic relationships (as
in 'lack of') and he reassured us that Chakotay had a very, very special friend
he spends a lot of time with… >stares at his wide open right hand< Sure kids, he
meant the electronic notepad…
Somebody asked if he liked working with horses in films and he said he enjoyed
working with them and felt very comfortable riding bareback (the horse that is)
-especially in The Mystic Bruises - I mean Warrior - as this is how he'd learnt
to ride but does not feel so comfortable on a saddle, which is why he thought he
looked a little stiff on the horse in Shadow-Hunter maybe… I've watched it
recently … - The horse is certainly very graceful. Y'know, the one with one of
these life-size cardboard cut-outs perched on its saddled back… Nah, looks OK.
He was asked if he would be happy to play another role as a Mexican bandit and
he said yes, he would, he liked Mexican bandits.
He then said good-bye , thanked us again for coming, and said that he looked
forward to speaking to us during the signing session which went on for a while
afterwards. When that was over, he remained at the bar chatting with people and
kindly giving good-bye hugs to the ones who couldn't leave without one.
Somebody asked (might have been on the Saturday, never mind) whether he would
come back to Page's and he said, looking at the bottle placed next to him :
"Sure… I'll come back to Page's… >doleful voice< they always give me plenty of
water."