FAMOUS FANS

SCIENTISTS, MOVIE STARS, WORLD LEADERS: EVERYBODY LOVES STAR TREK

BY COURTNEY MIFSUD

ANGELINA JOLIE

The actress and director told Jon Stewart in 1999 that her crush on Spock came from the character’s restraint: “I was focused on Spock . . . he was so repressed, and I just wanted to make him scream.”

STEPHEN HAWKING

Not only is Star Trek Stephen Hawking’s favorite show, but the physicist and author made a 1993 cameo appearance (as a holographic poker partner for Data).

COLIN POWELL

When The Next Generation had an episode in which Wesley Crusher was promoted to full ensign, Gene Roddenberry gave actor Wil Wheaton Roddenberry’s own rank insignia from his World War II service. Future secretary of state Colin Powell, then chairman of the joint chiefs, visited the set for the occasion and sat in Capt. Picard’s chair.

BARACK OBAMA

The 44th president declared, “I loved Spock,” when he paid tribute to Leonard Nimoy in 2015. The pair had met at an event with presidential candidates in 2007. Obama’s calm, analytical demeanor has caused some to liken him to Spock.

ROSARIO DAWSON

Dawson taught Conan O’Brien some Klingon when she appeared on his show in 2010. “Qapla’!” the actress and activist declared, uttering the Klingon word for “success.”

RICHARD BRANSON

The English business mogul and Virgin Group founder renamed Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo as the V.S.S. Enterprise, an homage to Star Trek’s flagship vessel.

TOM HANKS

The Oscar-winning actor challenged Star Trek’s Simon Pegg (Scotty) to a Trek trivia contest on The Graham Norton Show in 2011. Hanks held his own and explained that his entire family shares his love of Trek.

MAYA ANGELOU

“I loved Star Trek,” author Maya ­Angelou told TIME in 2013. Angelou, who died in 2014, said she was drawn to the show by the presence of her friend, actor Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura.

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON

Partial to the original 1960s version, the astrophysicist weighed in on the Trek-versus-Wars debate. Choose between the Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon? “Oh, that’s easy! . . . The Enterprise—there’s no question.”

THE DALAI LAMA

In the early 1990s a delegation of the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan monks visited a Star Trek set. The Dalai Lama had watched Star Trek in the past and was fond of “the man with big ears.”