"Maybe in the long run it's a blessing," he says. "We can finally have closure on all of that. I don't have any hang-ups about STAR TREK. I am incredibly evolved about it. There were times when I was frustrated and even at times a little bitter, but all that has passed."

The Royal Shakespeare Company veteran says he's never been happier than in the weeks leading up to the play.

"I don't think I have been as happy in any aspect of my life as I have been these past six weeks," he says. "I am so utterly fulfilled at the moment. I'm going to be on tour in England in the spring! Even the rehearsal room is the best rehearsal room I've ever been in in my life."

Stewart characterizes his one-man performances of A CHRISTMAS CAROL while working on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION as excerises to "fool myself into thinking that I wasn't really doing a television series in Hollywood."

Now returning to the stage for the twlight of his career, he says he's eager to reacquaint himself with the company that gave him his start.

"It was shocking to me that a company which was my life, entirely, should have moved on so dramatically," he says, noting that he is no longer familiar with many of the directors in the RSC today. "So yes I want to talk to the new director at the RSC. Basically what I'm saying is, 'Look, please believe me when I say I'm available.'"

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