Have you had any particular experiences with fans that have touched you?

Yes. This particular one happened only three weeks ago, and it was singularly one of the best things that's ever happened to me in my life.

It was a convention in Denver. I was really tired, it was the end of the day and we'd done the whole convention and I'd just come off stage. I was exhausted, and I quietly, unobtrusively made my way to the bar, and was just going to get a beer and go to bed.

I said hello to the person I was sitting next to. She was a key figure in the US Navy, because she teaches people how to fight. She'd been on the front lines, and she knows a lot of people who've been on the front lines. She's been in for something like fifteen or twenty years, so she's a career girl, and her stories were amazing.

She told me stories of going, several years ago, in to rebuild Bosnia, and they would go as much as twenty-one days without a shower. She said they would come back from wherever they were, and before they'd even take a shower or do anything for themselves, there was sometimes a new tape of Star Trek shipped in from the States, a new episode that they hadn't seen, and they sat down and watched that hungrily and joyfully.

She said that was because of the sense of unity that they got from watching our show. The feeling of hope and of all that is important.

It was such an electric experience sitting and listening to her say that. It's just so wonderful to know not only that you entertain people, it's wonderful to be on a show that actually means something to people and to the world.

So, instead of just getting my beer and going to bed, I sat there at the bar and cried, because it just touched my heart so deeply. It was really very very special and I'll never forget it.

Things like that do happen quite a bit for us. People will come up and say what certain episodes meant because of their situations in their life. That's one of the most beautiful things about the show. Obviously even though it's about people in places far away, it's just so personal to the fans.