The 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' cast reunites, makes fun of Patrick Stewart [Exclusive Video]

Dave Nemetz

Two decades of reciting Shakespeare doesn't do you much good when you're being attacked by the Borg. At least that's what Patrick Stewart discovered when he took on the lead role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" 25 years ago.

To mark their 25th anniversary, the "TNG" cast recently reunited for a frank and funny sit-down interview, which is included on the new "TNG" Season 2 Blu-ray (in stores December 4). And we've got an exclusive first look at the raucous affair for you right here.


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In this clip, Stewart recalls that when the show debuted back in 1987, the press said that only two of the cast members were famous: LeVar Burton (from "Roots" and "Reading Rainbow") and Wil Wheaton (from his role in 1986's "Stand By Me"). Stewart (not for the first time) brings up the 27 years he spent performing with the U.K.'s prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, which sets off a round of good-natured ribbing about Stewart's pompous on-set attitude.

Michael Dorn (who played the ship's Klingon security officer Lt. Worf) remembers that Stewart started out saying he spent 15 years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and then "every two years, he'd add another ten years at the RSC." Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker) then does a spot-on impression of Stewart hanging on for dear life during a Romulan attack: "Jonathan... 25 years at the Royal Shakespeare Company, for this!" Well, even if it's not considered quite as highbrow, "TNG" fans are sure glad Stewart decided to trade his Elizabethan garb for a Starfleet uniform.

The Season 2 Blu-ray set of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" will be available in stores Tuesday, 12/4.