The Official Star Trek Convention held last weekend by Creation Entertainment saw upwards of 15,000 fans from all over the world — from such places as the Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, the U.K., and Australia — pass through the halls of the Las Vegas Hilton. One reason for the record attendance at this fourth annual event was the presence of "the four captains" — the stars of the first four Star Trek series, including rare appearances by Avery Brooks and Patrick Stewart. (Only Scott Bakula — who hasn't done any sort of convention since his Quantum Leap days — sat out.) And in each case, the huge main auditorium was packed wall to wall. Here are some of the highlights from each "captain's" talk.

Kate Mulgrew

On Friday, the second day of the four-day event, Kate Mulgrew ("Captain Janeway") made a repeat Vegas appearance, dressed sharply as she always is at such a prominent gathering, this time wearing a lapel microphone so she could have her hands free on stage. Mulgrew was in a very philosophical and even existential frame of mind, having just turned 50 this past April.

"At 50 something mystical transpires," she mused. "You let go of a lot of the baggage, a.k.a. garbage, that has conducted your life for so long. And you concentrate, whether you want to or not, on who it is that you love and what it is that you love. I have been very busy all my life, and I have been unusually lucky, both professionally and personally. But it strikes me now at 50 that most of my life has been lived, and I really want to see how deeply I can love by the time I check out."

"I lost my father last year," she continued, "and my mother is dying of Alzheimer's, and I feel an acute sense of wanting to have some real understanding of this journey before I'm gone myself." She also mentioned that her husband Tim Hagan suffered a heart attack after his gubernatorial campaign in 2002. So Mulgrew will "slow down a little bit" in her career and devote more time not only to her family, but to charitable causes such as Alzheimer's and victims of domestic violence. "I want to steal from the jaws of time more of it with my loved ones. So, to be perfectly frank with you, acting is wonderful, God knows it's been sublime, but I henceforth would like to be driven by love."

Slow down, maybe, but not stopping in any sense. She will be performing her one-woman show about the life of Katharine Hepburn, called "Tea at Five," in Pasadena, California, for six weeks starting later this month. Then she will consider taking it to London. She also will be playing Cleopatra in "Antony and Cleopatra" in New York, either this season or next.

Mulgrew confessed that she was never a fan of Hepburn's before she began doing "Tea." "I thought she was strident, harsh, opinionated, caustic, made-up, calculated... Shall I go on? But I read the play, and I thought, 'What a life'... And I went into rehearsal, and by God I fell in love with her. Because I found the truth of what I believe was the essence of Hepburn, and that is her deep vulnerability. That's why she's so imminently watchable. That's why you cannot turn away. Just behind that grit, that cut, are those tears. And it's that very dichotomy that is so compelling."

She also took the opportunity to speak about playing that other famous "Kathryn" character. "As for Janeway, what continues to resonate, surprisingly, was the discipline that I had to employ. I was always chomping at the bit: 'Let me be more myself, let me endow her with more animation, let's have a little more passion here.' And I realized that the circumspection that I had to bring to Janeway is absolutely the thing I am proudest of, because every day I had to walk a very delicate line. You don't follow a captain whom you cannot trust emotionally. There must be a certain, very simple detachment that allows you to have absolute and utter faith in the control of that captain. So that for me was the hardest, I think, execution of this character."

Mulgrew was asked who her greatest inspirations were. Her answer was her acting mentor Stella Adler, and her mother. "You know, it's not the profoundest things that move you, it's not the profoundest things that change your life. It's the simple thing your mother says as she's doing the dishes and you're 12-years old, that motivates you for the rest of your life.

"Here's what she said: 'Oh, I don't want to hear your nonsense, and don't ask me if you're pretty. Just plant those two feet on the stage, and be yourself. Now you dry.'"

Unlike last year in Vegas (which was an election year), Mulgrew did not come this time with anything particularly political to say. But when pressed by a fan, she did make a very Trek-appropriate commentary. The question: If Admiral Janeway were to come back in time, what would she say or do about our president and the Iraq war? Mulgrew's response: "You know that little expression — 'I'm going to beam somebody out now.'"

Avery Brooks

A rare treat for the fans, Avery Brooks ("Captain Sisko") took the stage on Saturday, only a week after appearing at a Seattle convention (related story). "I don't see you very often, it is true. I do very few of these. Not because I don't want to see you. Because I'm shy," he grinned. Like in Seattle, Brooks seemed determined to quell any impressions that he has dropped out of the picture. "Contrary to popular opinion or what you hear, what you read, I'm still very much alive," he said. "I'm really all right."

Brooks had many inspiring words throughout his talk for the receptive crowd, to the point of feeling like an evangelical tent revival, with "Amen!" occasionally shouted out from the audience. "The reason that this [Star Trek phenomenon] is all over the world is because of you. You complete the thought. I've always said it, and I still believe it now. Because without you, there is no power. There is no universe of Star Trek. Yeah, it's in your hands. And for that I am grateful," he intoned.

He said he took the role of Sisko in Deep Space Nine in order to "keep in front of children the ever-changing horizon. To let the children know that there is possibility, to let the children know that someone is not going to take away or destroy this world before they have a chance." He added, "That's not altruistic. Somebody has to keep the horizon happening. Let us not acquiesce or fall down or lie down for somebody else's desire to destroy the world."

The fans were full of accolades for the DS9 star, leading Brooks to declare several times, "I must do these things more often!"

A charming moment occurred when Brooks invited a young girl — probably 4 years old — dressed in a Starfleet uniform to join him on stage. He sat her in his chair and handed her his mike. "I have a question to say: What's the best thing you know being an actor is?" Brooks replied, "The best thing about being an actor, is a moment like this when I meet you. That's a good answer, isn't it? Did you like that answer?" "Of course." He then chased her off the stage like a playful father.

Also joining him on stage for a moment was Brooks' on-screen wife, Penny Johnson Jerald ("Kasidy Yates"), who had spoken earlier that day and was signing autographs. "He's on fire, I love him!" she exclaimed after they shared a big hug. "I must do these things more often!" Brooks repeated.

Another African-American Trek celebrity surprised Brooks during his time on stage. Tucker Smallwood, who played a recurring Xindi Council Member in Season 3 of Enterprise, came to the mike and mentioned that he recently participated in a panel discussion at UCLA with Brooks' on-screen son, Cirroc Lofton, on "People of Color in Science Fiction." Smallwood asked Brooks to offer his thoughts on that topic. Brooks observed, "Perhaps one of the most prolific if not most popular authors of contemporary science fiction is a black woman from this country named Octavia Butler. So having said that, I think it is a much larger issue. That is to say, we have to understand that we are myriad in who we are. And once we understand that we are connected in all the people who contributed to who we are, the better off we'll be — in the world, let alone in the sci-fi world."

Patrick Stewart

It was never a guarantee that Patrick Stewart ("Captain Picard") would make this convention, because of a shifting start date on "X-Men 3," in which Stewart reprises the role of "Professor Xavier." In fact, the movie started production just the previous week in Vancouver, but he was still able to get away for a weekend in Vegas. "We have shot five days on 'X-Men 3,'" he announced to hearty applause.

"It's wonderful," he continued about the new movie during his Sunday appearance. "Already some amazing things have been put in the can, some surprises — [including] one surprise which will never even appear in a script form. We've just shot it. It's so secret, that there was never, ever allowed anything to be on paper about it."

As X-fans should know, the third film in the franchise has a different director than the previous two, and Stewart commented on that. "I think Brett Ratner is going to do a fantastic job on this movie. He's an extraordinary, gifted man, and I think the perfect choice to direct X3. We miss Bryan Singer, of course, because this is the man that launched this franchise so outstandingly." The film will continue production through December, during which Stewart will be working on it intermittently.

It's tradition for the actors to update the audience on what they've been doing, and Stewart had a lot to report. He got recruited by his good friend Kyle MacLachlan (from "Dune") to play Captain Nemo in a Hallmark Channel remake of "Mysterious Island." They shot that in Thailand. In England he is starring in a new series called Eleventh Hour in which he plays an investigative scientist. Et cetera, et cetera.

But what he considers to be the most life-changing opportunity for him begins in January, when he starts rehearsing with the Royal Shakespeare Company for a whole 13-month season. He will begin, coincidentally, with "Antony and Cleopatra" playing "Antony." (But not in the same production as Kate Mulgrew! Wouldn't that be something!)

"I'm in the very blessed position of looking at continuous employment from now until about April 2007," he observed. "I'm a very lucky man."

"You'll notice, of course, that what I've been talking about — perhaps for the first time ever — included no reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation," he commented. "For the simple matter that there ain't Star Trek: The Next Generation any more. Which is a little sad. I think all of us feel that if there were an opportunity to revisit the show again, we might take that opportunity. But who knows. My sense is that it's passed in every possible way. All of us, all of you, we're now moving on to other things."

Taking questions from the audience, he was asked that since Brent Spiner does impressions of him, does he do any of Brent? "Let me get this right — you think Brent Spiner's impersonations of me are funny?" he ribbed. "Well, the truth of the matter is, that all of those guys on Star Trek: The Next Generation actually want to be me. These 'so-called' impersonations that they do are just some way of trying to feel what it must be like to be me. And I understand that! Because it feels really good to be Patrick Stewart! On the other hand, you're asking me, would I want to be Brent Spiner?" His expression was clearly: "Nah."

"I don't do impersonations," he continued. "I can do a wounded elephant! I can do a really good cow! And because of the amount of time I spent in North Yorkshire, I do a variety of sheep. All of which I will be happy to roll out for you!" And he proceeded to do so! And they were impressive sounds!

Stewart commented on his experiences surrounding the July 7th terrorist bombings in London. He was in Manchester filming Eleventh Hour. "Our cellphones began to ring ... and we shut down production for a couple of hours, partly because people needed to find out where their nearest and dearest were." He said when he got back to London, he was impressed with the spirit there, and the town was still flocked with tourists. He admitted, though, that when he took the subway, "I felt uneasy and there was one moment when I was downright scared. But it felt important to me to not allow what had happened to shake my faith in the city."

William Shatner

Shortly after Stewart, William Shatner ("Captain Kirk") took over the stage. The big news in his life is that he just recently became twice a grandfather. His daughter Melanie — who is married to Joel Gretsch of The 4400 — gave birth to their second baby, Willow, two weeks ago. He related his experience in the hospital, when he was the only person present not allowed in the birthing room. "The grandmother (his wife Elizabeth) can be there. The grandfather's ignored! And that's why I came here," he joked.

But his second story involved "a science-fiction miracle." His middle daughter Lisabeth found out when she was a teenager that she couldn't have a baby. At that time, "she was sobbing in my arms, and I said something that I had no reason to say. Except intuition. I said, as I held my teenage daughter, 'Liz, there will come a day when you will be able to have a baby.'" Twenty-five years later, Lisabeth and her husband had an in vitro conception brought to term in a surrogate mother. "And last night, a miracle baby! So, Natasha and Willow are cousins, born just about the same time. And here I am!"

Shatner's first order of business before taking questions was to conduct a charity auction on stage to benefit physically, emotionally and socially challenged children. The big item on this auction block was not an actual item, but the chance to be "enshrined" in Shatner's next Trek book, co-written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.

The book is tentatively titled "The Academy" (it will actually be a two-book series). "It's all about the teenage — uh, uh, what's his name? — Captain Kirk! And Spock, and all the others," he explained. The plot revolves around the adolescent Kirk meeting Spock, and the two get into such hot water that they either have to go to jail or to military school, i.e. Starfleet Academy.

"Gar and Judy and I have agreed that, to two people who win this auction, we will name characters after them," namely Academy cadets, he said. "We will describe you and what you look like. You'll be one of the characters. And Michael Okuda will create an official Starfleet Academy diploma for the winners showing when they graduated — the same year as Kirk."

Two people ended up bidding $5000 each for that honor. With the other items he auctioned, Shatner raised $14,000 in just a few minutes for his charitable causes.

Soon afterwards, Patrick Stewart came on stage to greet his "Generations" co-star, and they engaged in a long tight hug. They proceeded to tell stories about each other. Shatner related how once Stewart took a taxi just to cross the street, and Stewart conveyed a touching note he received from Shatner when he had his heart surgery last year.

Taking questions from the audience, Shatner was asked to comment on what he would say to the producers of Star Trek about the future of the franchise. He responded frankly, "I'd say, you gotta get outa there, guys. Bring a new team in and see ya later. I would say, take a broom, let's clean everything out and start absolutely [from scratch] with some wonderful writers who love Star Trek. Wonderful producers who love Star Trek who wish to put it back on. And have a singular person — that person we gotta find — to drive with honesty, and sincerity, and with veracity, and clarity, the whole Star Trek concept." Upon shouts of "You do it!" he joked, "If I'm elected...!"

He qualified, "I mean, they've done a wonderful job and they've done all these Star Trek things. But you know, people get tired of the job. I mean, you get burned out. Not that they are, not that they could be — but just start again."

At the conclusion of his time on stage, Shatner followed up on the thought: "Those of us who love Star Trek know that there is a future. It's just taking a pause right now. We don't have anything to worry about. Paramount Studios has made ... in excess of $2 billion? From the franchise of Star Trek? They aren't gonna let that die! There's too much money there! So, there will be another Star Trek, I assure you.

"Something so excellent cannot fall away and be nothing. Star Trek will come back. We'll keep it in our thoughts. Keep it in your energies, keep it in the mail, and maybe this time next year we'll be talking about a new series."

NEXT UP: LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman, Rene Auberjonois, Garrett Wang, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Beltran, and last-minute special guest Connor Trinneer!