Actors influenced by the scripts of Star Trek?

[Gary7]

In retrospect, I would have been great if I'd made the effort to go to conventions when Star Trek cast members were reasonably available. Alas, I didn't... But if I could have gone, I'd like to have asked a few questions.

One of them would have been this:
"Star Trek scripts periodically have some rather profound statements said about life, philosophy, and personal relations. Have you ever found yourself influenced by it, enough where some lines of the scripts have incited you to give further thought about it and perhaps shape your own life?"

I wonder if anyone has asked something similar of the cast over the years. If so... any testimonies about what the cast members had said?


When Patrick Stewart is interviewed, he occasionally says some profound and insightful things about life, and it sometimes reminds me of some things he said on Star Trek in his role as Captain Picard. I wonder if Star Trek scripts had any influence on him. Or if perhaps, the reverse happened--he shared his views with the producers, directors, or writers about certain script lines and had them changed, matching more closely to his own particular way of seeing things.

 

[Anji]

I do know that Frakes was pretty affected by TNG scripts. He believed heavily in the optimistic future and the compassionate side of the series. So did LeVar Burton. And don't even get me started on Whoopi Goldberg. If you ever meet George Takei at a con he will talk to you extensively about the optimism Star Trek.

Not to mention, how many actors begged to get even a guest shot on TNG because they wanted to be part of the philosophy? Plenty!

 

[Gary7]

^ I definitely agree that the optimistic side of Star Trek made it very appealing, and it doesn't surprise me that some actors were influenced by it. But I wonder if there were other kinds of influences that came from individual scripts. Things like looking beyond the sphere of your own life (how the way you touch others in this life can ripple forward to future lives), expanding appreciation for other cultures even beyond ones you can relate to, making a shift in life priorities like the importance of a relationship over a career choice, going out of your way to be kind to a stranger in need despite the risk of the unknown, etc.

 

[bbailey861]

I would certainly like to think there were script influences that got at least some of the actors thinking and perhaps changing or at least modifying behaviours/thoughts. I suspect, though, that for some it was just a job.