This is my transcription of the three collated ST DVD interviews with Kate Mulgrew. I have done minor editing to help the flow, as an oral interview is more "forgiving" than written transcription. Words are not always in the order spoken.   Well, I always knew I wanted to be an actress: 12, 11 years old, big Irish Catholic family, lot of drama, needed to get out of those cornfields of Iowa, and went to New York when I was 17, became professional at 19, and I've been at it for- Well, you can do the math or shall we skip that part?   It was a very fortunate thing for me that when I was auditioning for Janeway, I was unaware of the magnitude of this, I would call it a culture, of Star Trek. I was only and myopically, and thanks be to God Almighty in His glory and goodness, concentrating on that kind of Elizabeth Janeway, they've now retitled her Kathryn Janeway, and that's a good thing because there were no other intrusions into that process for me. Who's not aware of Star Trek? You'd have to be in an absolute paper bag not to be, not to know about it. However, it was peripheral knowledge. In no way did I find myself connected to it, I was not a Trekker by any stretch of the imagination, and neither was I a science fiction buff. If anything I would say I was to the reverse. So when it, the audition process, came about and they expressed some interest in me I thought it was fascinating, and actually quite clever of Rick Berman.   He said, "Here are the sides. ['Sides' is the term for just the pages with the relevant scene, or even part of a scene, required for the audition, as opposed to the whole script.] Take a look at them. We're looking for a female captain." I said: "Captain of what?" He said: "Of the starship. We've never had a female captain before." I said: "Why not?!" So I went home, and I came back and it was a very interesting and pleasant audition, but as you well know I didn't get the part; Geneviève Bujold did, and she lasted a day and a half I believe, and then they brought back in about five of us, I think, that they had liked. I remember standing up, in the company of four other really remarkable actresses, so I knew that I was in great company, and all I remember thinking was all those suits in there and their mother, looking intensely serious was I'm just going to create this character as I see fit, and I thank my lucky stars that I have never watched Star Trek, I am in no way familiar with it, and therefore I am not stamped by it. So I think that, if anything, was the winning ticket for them. They saw an absolutely fresh approach to it. It was a scene with Tuvok, a very comfortable familiar scene which I liked very much, when I get everybody lost in the Delta Quadrant, her wonderful monologue, "We're lost, in an uncharted part of the galaxy...." They gave me a few notes, staring at me, Berman smiling a little bit, Braga very serious, and I really had no clue. I was delighted, as you can imagine.   I mean, it was a stunning thing. I did one once, weeks before the final one, went to Europe, came back, this awful thing had happened and she'd [Bujold] defected and now they were scrambling and so, as I said, they brought in the five of us and, you know, going to Network's an appalling system but it still stands and you do a knock-out one by one. We were all there at the end of the day. Go figure. Nobody could conclude who had won this, so we went home. It was Yom Kippur. The town shuts down, as you know, for this high Jewish holiday and I gave it up. I just thought, "Well, probably not. Forward and onward." And it meant very little to me. However, when I got home at the end of the second day of the holiday, I was greeted by my sons who screamed at me to answer, to play my answering machine, and he was on it. He said: "Rick Berman. Just wanted to welcome you aboard, Captain."   It was quick for me, a couple of auditions, and then the test, and then the job offer, and then to work, instantly. But I had a weekend between the Friday and the Monday I was to begin shooting, during which I looked at, I think, about eleven or twelve tapes. They chose them, I don't think at random, to show me specifically how Patrick (Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard) commanded his ship. So I inundated myself. I had to educate myself.   I was elated. I needed that job. I had of course been told at that point what it was that I was embarking upon, that I was about to make television history, that it was unprecedented - a female captain - that I had broken down the door of the boys' club. And it was with no little trepidation, I can assure you, that I walked onto the set of that bridge, the first day, because they were all watching. They weren't a bit sure, having suffered what they did with Miss Bujold, that a woman could constitutionally handle the part. So I made up my mind, I determined then and there to do it, and it began probably the most extraordinary chapter of my life.   It meant, as you can well imagine, just about everything of great significance at a time in my life when it was very important. I was 38 or 39 when I took that role, and to be able to play the first female captain and to be able to endow her with the kind of humanity and levity and sensitivity that was crucial to the success, for me, of this role was a great joy to me - great.   I have to say the first day, that's etched indelibly in my soul, in my brain - the first time I walked on the bridge, which was a nice panning shot, and I'm introduced to each character, I take the captain's seat and say, "Engage." All the suits were down here. Everybody was here, and my heart was in my throat, and I'll never forget the director Rick Kolbe said to me, off stage, "The bridge is your living room, so treat it accordingly. You're the boss." And I thought, "What the hell. Here we go."   I made up my mind at the outset that I was going to commit totally to Janeway, creatively, otherwise it's too difficult, too hard. The first couple of seasons, I mean, I worked like a dog. It's incredibly demanding physically, incredibly demanding intellectually. The missing link, and the winning hand, for the actress, is how to endow it creatively and with life. So I gave her a secret life which she shared with me and that was our fun for seven years.   Everything's a rush, everything's a trial, everything's difficult, and so we'd see the script a day or two before we'd start to shoot it. So my inner life was something that I nuanced about myself. You couldn't possibly know if you were going to be on the ship or some alien planet. It was absolutely impossible to determine these factors, so all I could be responsible for was the creation and the life force of Janeway herself.   It had been a boys' club for a long time, and let me say here and now a very successful one. So I think that the game, the rules of the game were clear - you got the job, it's timely, you know, we've broken all records here and all of the philosophical conjecture by putting a female into the seat, so you do what we tell you to do and it will be fine. Of course, they're brighter than that, they're better than that, and they realised in fairly short order that the marriage, only the marriage between the actress and the character is going to make the character a soaring success. However, they were reluctant to let go of the reins in that regard, and I'd say it took about two seasons for Rick to say, "Look, she's obviously got her own handle on this character. Let's let her fly, see what happens."   I remember from that moment forward (the episode [#34 Death Wish]) talking to them creatively about the writing and being respected. I remember, I think it was probably an episode called [#34 Death Wish], on wanting very much to be part of that integral process and I remember Berman saying very clearly: "You just go for it. We'll back off from now on." Janeway as Queen Arachnia in [#106 Bride Of Chaotica!] the scenes were shot in black and white as, for plot/story reasons, 'The Adventures Of Captain Proton' holoprogram is monochrome   About 'Tea At Five', a play about the life of actress Katharine Hepburn. Matthew Lombardo, the playwright, wrote this with me specifically in mind. He was lying in bed with my best friend (this is not as naughty as it sounds) and they were watching [Star Trek: Voyager] and he said, "She should play Hepburn." "Can you do a play tour?" and I said, "Yes, I will." Ran down to Miami, did it in three days. He sent it to me at Paramount (I was still shooting [Star Trek Voyager]) and I recognised it immediately as the excellent piece of work that it was. Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn   On what would happen if Janeway and Hepburn ever met. But isn't it wonderful to be able to draw this parallel on one's life. I've been able to play the captain of a starship, this extraordinary movie actress (Katharine Hepburn). I mean: two iconic characters. They would talk about their leadership qualities. There would be a lot of talk about love and sex, since that's what would be sacrificed I am sure, probably a discussion of loneliness. director Rick Kolbe directs Kate Mulgrew (?in [#1 and #2 Caretaker])   When it (i.e. [Star Trek Voyager]) was over I was devastated and couldn't understand why I was devastated. It was just over, and it was OVER. I mean, they shot the last thing and the chair came out from under me, and the lights went off so fast. Picardo showed up in the doorway. I saw a silhouette of a man and it was Bob Picardo holding his arms out to me. So, tough to say goodbye to it. It meant seven of the most complicated, marvellous, revolutionary, wonderful, privileged years of my life. Rick Kolbe and Kate Mulgrew during the filming of [#1 and #2 Caretaker]   People often say to me, "Oh well, now you're typecast. It's done. You're Captain Janeway." And I say, "Really? If that was the reality, that wouldn't be so shameful, would it?" She was a great character. I was very very honoured, very blessed, to play her, and I'd do it again. I loved that chapter, I loved it. Kate Mulgrew, with Robert Beltran (Chakotay) and Tim Russ (Tuvok), filming [#1 and #2 Caretaker] - the away team is captured by the Kazon-Ogla