"I'm not one of those who will ever say to you 'No regrets.'"
April 25, 2015 11:08 AM   Subscribe

Kate Mulgrew tells the Chicago Tribune's Heidi Stevens about giving her daughter up for adoption and reconnecting 20 years later (Video).

The story is a key moment from her new autobiography Born With Teeth. Also: NPR audio/transcript, AARP article.
posted by Pater Aletheias (13 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
That was lovely, thank you.
posted by Cosine at 1:08 PM on April 25, 2015


There are several (well, four at least?) excerpts from this reading/interview event on the Trib's channel. It's pretty interesting stuff.

I liked her best of all in Shatner's somewhat confrontational The Captains, in which you realize that every one of the actors, from Bill to Avery to Chris, are all actually show people. Brooks is the absolute loopiest -- you feel like Shatner is in the middle of a prank and doesn't get it -- and Mulgrew is theatre-culture weird and insular in her own way, but likable and approachable in a way that none of the guys seems.

She's one of the best things about Orange Is the New Black, of course.
posted by dhartung at 4:01 PM on April 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


The Onion really liked this book too.
posted by Slothrup at 4:12 PM on April 25, 2015


There were a lot of areas in which Voyager fell short, but casting Mulgrew (who entered the show under trying circumstances, actually past the last minute, when Genevieve Bujold bailed after the pilot had already started filming) wasn't one of them.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:03 PM on April 25, 2015 [1 favorite]


There were a lot of areas in which Voyager fell short, but casting Mulgrew (who entered the show under trying circumstances, actually past the last minute, when Genevieve Bujold bailed after the pilot had already started filming) wasn't one of them. There were a lot of things Voyager doesn't get nearly enough credit for, and casting Mulgrew (who entered the show under trying circumstances, actually past the last minute, when Genevieve Bujold bailed after the pilot had already started filming) was a particular masterstroke. (FTFY.)

(Seriously, the Voyager hate must end. Even if it was only the 4th-greatest Trek series, it was still pretty darn great.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:58 PM on April 25, 2015 [3 favorites]


Seriously, the Voyager hate must end.

Not until the remake, in which Year Of Hell is the series bible, not a two-parter with a reset button that is Threshold-levels of bad.

Also, Threshold.

Even if it was only the 4th-greatest Trek series, it was still pretty darn great.)

I must take issue. You seem to be placing a series below Voyager.
I assume Enterprise.
Does that seem right to you?
posted by Mezentian at 1:15 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Does that seem right to you?

Oh, hell, yeah. Enterprise was the death rattle of the franchise, and I say that as somebody who is a maniac for Trek from TOS-all the way up to end of Voyager. Enterprise wasn't awful, but it was just so tired.

People love to bash Threshold like it was the worst thing that ever happened, and admittedly I haven't seen it for a while. But I quite liked it at the time, and I think that kind of craziness is part of what makes Trek great. From TOS to the end of Voyager, the people who made Trek did a great job creating episodes that made awesomely gimmicky promos. You saw those teasers, and you had to know what happened. Sometimes the episodes didn't live up to the premise, but when you found out Data had a brother or the DS9 crew was going to do a James Bond episode or Tom Paris was going to somehow become a 1930s Flash Gordon-esque adventurer, you had to see that shit. Voyager, by comparison, was... fine?

When people talk about how Voyager could have had more grit, I shrug. I could point to a bunch of really dark, gutsy episodes. I think Enterprise is the show that really kind of squandered its premise. It never felt quite like Trek to me, while Voyager most definitely did. Bakula was fine as the captain, but the scripts didn't give him enough to work with. Janeway kicked all kinds of ass, by comparison. Mulgrew owned the hell out of that part.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 4:43 AM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


We must agree, as adults, to disagree.
Back in the day, when I was mainlining Trek, I knew Threshold to be awful.
I also quite ENT after Broken Arrow (and quite rightly, it sucked in the first season) and I knew Year of Hell was the missing slice of VOY they never went after.

I agree: Janeway off the holodeck was fine, and other things, like Tom Paris as a 1930s Flash Gordon-esque adventurer.

But the Delta Flyer?

Hey, it's a big Trek world.

We can get along.
posted by Mezentian at 4:49 AM on April 26, 2015


I must take issue. You seem to be placing a series below Voyager.

Two series! Though I'm probably the only person who cares about TAS at this point.

I think Voyager would have fared better had it not followed (or run concurrently) with DS9 -- it added to the frustration of there being so many situations where the whole no-compromising-Starfleet-values thing actively inhibited their ability to return. And, yes, I get the point, but it fails some when it comes after "Sisko kinda hired Garak to do a ton of shady things for the greater good".

That said, the encounters with Captain Braxton were pretty great (though the episodes themselves weren't necessarily) and came together very well with his investigation and apprehension of himself, the Year of Hell should have been an entire season, Blink of an Eye is a fantastic episode that could have worked well in any Star Trek series, and Voyager ended well. I like to think of the last episode of Voyager as a sort of genesis tale of the kinds of crazy admirals we saw throughout TNG.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 7:42 AM on April 26, 2015


Kate Mulgrew is such a treasure, and, boy, does she relish a dramatic moment! I didn't know that story at all. I was too young to watch Ryan's Hope, but my mom brings it up a lot. She says it was her introduction to American culture, as it started airing right around the time she moved here. How tabloid media has changed since then. You could never get away with giving a baby up for adoption being a soap star today (well, maybe you could, since no one watches soap operas any more, but consider an equivalently rated current show).

I haven't followed Mulgrew's career much since reruns of Mrs. Columbo, though I did recently watch some episodes of NTSF:SD:SUV::, and she's so funny on them. Thanks for this post!
posted by bluefly at 7:57 AM on April 26, 2015


We can get along.

Sure! Sorry if I sounded combative. I've just seen Voyager get kicked around so much, and I really like the show. When people talk about how cruddy it was, it's hard to resist jumping in there with phasers blasting. Let's just agree that Mulgrew is awesome and put this unpleasantness behind us.

Though I'm probably the only person who cares about TAS at this point.

Not so! I love that show, but kind of don't consider it part of franchise, in a way. I wasn't thinking of it when I ranked the shows. I don't even know how I'd compare it to Enterprise. They're so different! Enterprise was uninspired but competent big-budget sci-fi, while TAS was 1970s, Saturday morning, wacky gold.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 2:54 PM on April 26, 2015 [2 favorites]


Voyager, by comparison, was... fine?

Dammit! Obviously, I meant to express ambivalence about Enterprise, not Voyager.

Enterprise would have gone up half a letter grade in my book if they'd just used Magic Carpet Ride for the theme song. (First Contact callback!) Or Rocketman, as they apparently discussed at one point. Either one would have made my Trekkie heart giddy every damn week. Starting every episode with a Diane Warren tune is a burden no show should carry.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 5:48 PM on April 26, 2015


It's not hate, it's disappointment, and I'm more than willing to put the blame on UPN.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:17 PM on April 27, 2015


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