StarTrek.com posted an extensive interview with TNG actress Denise Crosby and here are excerpts.

You asked to be let out of your TNG contract, and you were. How surprised were you, then, when you were invited back for “Yesterday’s Enterprise”?

Crosby: I was surprised on so many levels. First of all, my character was dead. But, I did leave on really good terms. Gene Roddenberry and I met one on one in his office. There was no animosity. I don’t know that anybody really wanted me to go. I think it stirred up a lot of things in all the other cast members. I’m not exactly sure what, but you’ve got to question your own commitment or your own place, what you’re doing there. I think it stirs up stuff. However, Gene and I were very clear about what was going on. He said to me, “I don’t want you to go, but I get it. I get why you’re leaving. I was a young writer at one time and I was hungry and I was frustrated, and I get that.” We hugged and that was it. He got where I was coming from.

So I was very happy to come back for “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and in a certain way I had more to do in that episode than I’d ever had to do before. It was such a rich story for the character. I loved working with Christopher McDonald. We’ve worked together a couple of other times. He played my husband in a film. He’s a wonderful actor and we had a great rapport on TNG. And my doing “Yesterday’s Enterprise” actually gave me the idea of pitching the concept of Tasha’s daughter, of Sela. I created that story.


You played Sela in the “Redemption” two-parter and also in “Unification Part II.” Then you did the Trekkies documentaries. And, all the while, you were attending conventions. For someone who left TNG after one season, you really made your mark on the franchise…

Crosby: How many people can say they’ve played their own daughter on a TV show? And I got to do Trekkies and Trekkies 2. So I have a great foot in the whole franchise. It’s a different one. It’s unique. But it’s kind of special in its own way. I have this multi-pronged relationship with Star Trek.

You just mentioned Trekkies. As closely as you were associated with the franchise as an actress, what did you discover about Star Trek and fandom by making Trekkies that you hadn’t already known?

Crosby: I was fascinated by the stories that I was hearing, going to different conventions. Also, some people didn’t really get what this was all about. They were kind of mystified by it all. I’d come back from a convention and friends of mine, who’d never seen an episode of Star Trek, would say, “What? They have conventions? People ask you questions? They dress up? What?” I thought it was a phenomenon that had lasted all of this time, that was unique to this franchise. I thought, “Something is going on here. Why is that? Why this show? Why aren’t people having Cheers conventions? What is going on here?” I’d seen too many times, the 11 o’clock news, when the newscaster would go, “There’s going to be a Star Trek convention in Pasadena. Get your Spock ears on, everybody!” People were just writing it off as a geek-fest.

I knew that there were a lot of layers to the conventions and I wanted to see what would come of it if I turned the cameras on and turned them around. The fans were willing to talk to me because I was a part of it. They were flattered that I was interested in talking to them, because it’s usually so one-sided. We’re hustled off by security and kept at a distance from the fans, and here I was, just breaking through that barrier. And I ran the gamut of feelings doing Trekkies. Sometimes I was very emotionally touched by stories. Sometimes I was creeped out. Sometimes I was laughing hysterically with the fans. And that was important; I wanted to be sure we weren’t making fun of the fans. The whole idea was to give fans the chance to kind of come out of the closet and be who they are. So, we had so much fun making Trekkies, and I think people genuinely enjoyed seeing it.

You’ll also be attending the Calgary Expo, during which you’ll reunite with the entire TNG cast for the first time in ages…

Crosby: I don’t think we’ve ever all been on stage at the same time. I don’t recall it. There was a big convention in England for one of the features (Generations), but Wil (Wheaton) and I weren’t at that (because they weren’t in the film). I find it exciting and daunting, and it’ll be exciting to see a lot of my cast mates. That’s always fun to do. Patrick (Stewart); I haven’t seen him in so long, and he called while Gates and I were working on House of Gold. He tried to get in to see it. Brent (Spiner) saw it. He came to see it. I love those guys and will be so happy to see them. It can be a little bit of a circus on the stage, because there’s a lot of riffing and joking and one-upmanship, but hopefully we’ll all have fun. Plus, I love the fans and I’m respectful of the show, and I haven’t ever been to Calgary.