Q will take questions about ‘Star Trek’

I missed "Star Trek" when it began, way back in September 1966. My family had just movied to San Bernardino, Calif., and I was too busy flunking out of my second college (the first? Old Dominion College, not yet a university). I caught a few shows, but I quickly grew tired of fighting with my parents over whether we would watch "Star Trek," "My Three Sons" or "The Tammy Grimes Show."

Pretty soon I would be in the army, where things were just a tad more serious than a sci-fi TV series.

Since then, of course, that series and all those that followed have become an important part of pop culture. Everything from the taglines ("Live long and prosper") to the visual icons (imagine Spock's spread fingers) and the very use of language ("Beam me up, Scotty") have become familiar. And you can catch most of them somewhere on cable, usually, especially on BBC, which habitually broadcasts "Star Trek: The Next Generation" with its intrepid leader, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, played by the Brit actor Patrick Stewart.

It was "The Next Generation" that first featured the character Q, played by John de Lancie, who will appear in a fund-raising special "Q&A With Q" on Nov. 16 at Interplayers Theatre. On Nov. 17, de Lancie will appear in the event "Flying Without a Net: An Evening With John de Lancie."

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