I wasn`t campaigning for a role in a Hollywood television series, it was a fluke. So you`ve got to have a measure of good luck, you really have, being in the right place at the right time.

Before long there was another series, Deep Space Nine, then Voyager, now there is Enterprise. Bill was still filling Captain Kirk`s shoes, and I was building shoes of my own.

Bill has one style. We have completely contrasting personalities. We`re very good friends. I adore him, but we`re very different people, so they were smart enough to write characters that reflected that.

When asked if he were offered the role on Star Trek today, would he accept it?: "Every now and again I sit in a hotel room, watching the show on television and I go, "Hello. I don`t remember this episode." I`ll be sitting there watching and forgetting that I ordered room service and there`s a knock on the door. I let the guy in and he comes and sees that I`m watching the show. He`s going to go back to the kitchen and say, "I`ve just seen the saddest thing ever. This guy is sitting there watching his old show." (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

Writing is the strength of any project. If the script isn`t good, then you`ll be doing a cellophane job from day one, patching it up, trying to cover all the holes.

It is what you do from now on that will either move our civilization forward a few tiny steps, or else... begin to march us steadily backward.

There are several books that I have-the Physics of Star Trek, Star Trek and Business, there are manuals on command style and countless scholarly papers that have been written about the significance of Next Generation.

(On preparing for the role of Professor X in the film X-Men (2000)) I read a lot of comic books.

I have this theory that these roles, the really great roles - there are elements of them in all of us. And that is part of the greatness of this dramatist, that he taps into something which is entirely human. You feel him reaching out his hand and saying to you as an actor, `Come on, it`s easier than you think.`

When asked if he had any memorable production memories from Star Trek: "[I had a letter] from a Las Vegas police sergeant. He wasn`t asking for anything, he just wrote and said how much the show meant to him, and that he loved his work but there were many times when it made him very low and very despairing about society. When that happens, I go home and watch The Next Generation and it restores my belief that the world will get better." (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

I would like to see us get this place right first before we have the arrogance to put significantly flawed civilizations out onto other planets, even though they may be utterly uninhabited.

I`ve met actors where you think, if only you could just clean up your act and get it together, people would want to work with you. Some people are so difficult, it`s just not worth working with them.

We had some very distinguished fans: I know one chancellor of a major university who used to schedule his meetings around Star Trek. We were thrilled to discover that Frank Sinatra was a big fan.

Reinforcing human rights is the way to reinforce security.

A lot of these changes we do on stage. So the Apollo audience, whether it`s to their taste or not, will have to tolerate the sight of Josh and myself taking our clothes on and off.

Tom Hanks knows the name of all the episodes.

I had a certain fear of exposing myself too much in my work for a long time. A lot of what performing to me had been was elaborate, and at times quite clever, concealment. Someone once said of acting that it is `telling beautiful lies,` and well, it became just no longer satisfactory to work that way.

The three things that I am most proud of doing in my life is firstly, "Extras" (2005); secondly, my appearance on "The Simpsons" (1989) and thirdly, appearing on "Sesame Street" (1969).

I wouldn`t know a space-time continuum or warp core breach if they got into bed with me.

During my time we had two chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at different times of course, on the bridge, both of whom asked my permission to sit on the captain`s chair.

You get all of your neuroses worked out on stage. I haven`t actually played very many nice characters, certainly not on stage. It`s not a quality that attracts me.

The studio have always claimed that the ship is the star of the show, especially when they`re renegotiating contracts.

Having played many roles of scientific intellect I do have an empathy for that world. It`s been hard on me because flying the Enterprise for seven years in Star Trek and sitting in Cerebro in X-men has led people to believe that I know what I`m talking about. But I`m still trying to work out how to operate the air conditioning unit on my car. (Sept/Oct 2006, Star Trek Magazine issue #1)

I am told that there have been over the years a number of experiments taking place in places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology that have been entirely based on concepts raised by Star Trek.

All I know is that I have to act. It`s a compulsion. I`m driven to it. I wouldn`t say that I would die if it were taken away from me, but a large part of me would shrivel up.

I am not the archetypal leading man. This is mainly for one reason: as you may have noticed, I have no hair.

As the captain, I was going to be having the dominant role in most of the episodes, and that was appealing. I wasn`t interested in coming to Hollywood to sit around.

(Discussing whether or not he is typecast by audiences as Jean-Luc Picard): I think perhaps when I first walk in front of the camera they`ll say, "Aha, there, ah, yeah, Jean-Luc, we recognize him despite that charming little mustache." I believe that audiences are really smart enough to let go of that pretty quickly, but that`s also my job as an actor to persuade them that, you know, Jean-Luc Picard is left behind and this is someone entirely different... I mean, I`m an actor dedicated to transforming myself and to creating original pieces of work, and I will not accept that my life is going to be forever connected to Jean-Luc Picard in the roles that I play. On the other hand, I`m absolutely delighted that he`s still in my life. Actually, I think my appearance in The Simpsons and an appearance that I did on Sesame Street - in praise of the letter B - were perhaps the two most distinguished bits of work that I`ve done in the United States. (Discussing his love for Beavis & Butthead): Oh, yes, my passion for them remains the same... I think it`s one of the most original and brilliant pieces of television that we`ve seen in recent years. The dialogue is delightful. I simply sit and giggle and laugh all the time.

We`ve heard from many teachers that they used episodes of Star Trek and concepts of Star Trek in their science classrooms in order to engage the students.

I`m going to Stratford next year [2009] to play Claudius in `Hamlet,` knowing that I shall never be asked to give my Hamlet. I`ve done bits of it in recital, but I never played Hamlet, I never played Romeo, I never played Orlando, I never played Benedick. The sad thing is that when you`re really ready to play these roles - when you really know how to play them - nobody`s going to cast you.

There`s always this sense in Los Angeles that if you`re doing theater, it`s because you can`t get film or even television work.

When it first started, I didn`t think that I would survive beyond the pilot. I did not unpack; I didn`t see the point. I thought the producers would come to their senses and realize they`d made a grave error in casting me. I was certain that I`d be on my way back to London...Eventually, it became clear to me that not only wasn`t I going to go away, the series wasn`t going to go away. I stayed, and have relished every moment. (On his initial belief that he would be fired from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987)).

I was brought up in a very poor and very violent household. I spent much of my childhood being afraid.

One of the things that I`ve come to understand is that as I talk a lot about Picard, what I find is that I`m talking about myself.

It would irritate my father so much - because he was a military man, and both my brothers did military service, and I didn`t - that I walk around New York and I hear, `Hey, Captain, how are you?`

It still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else.