King Abdullah's Trekkie status is well-documented. In a 1999 profile, the BBC called the newly minted Jordanian ruler an "avid fan" of the show, noting that he invited Star Trek stars Ethan Phillips and Robert Picardo to Jordan after his cameo appearance and organized a Star Trek convention during their stay. The Star Trek wiki Memory Alpha quotes an interview Voyager producer Jeri Taylor gave Star Trek Monthly in which she said of King Abdullah's cameo, "Take away the title and the trappings, and at the core you have a Star Trek fan."

In fact, journalists have invoked King Abdullah's fleeting Star Trek appearance several times at the end of interviews to lighten the mood. The normally hard-hitting Tim Russert, for instance, asked the king during a Meet the Press session in 2002 whether he had a future in Hollywood. In an interview with the BBC in 2001, King Abdullah admitted that his cameo was proving hard to live down. He explained that a friend of his had arranged for him to stop by the Voyager set in Los Angeles, only for him to be thrust into a scene unexpectedly:

I was then told well if you want go through makeup and get into uniform and have some pictures taken with some of the crew and I said why not. Then the next thing, when I actually showed up, they said that if you want you can stand in. So it wasn't planned it just turned out that way. I had a great time. It's a job--I am in full admiration of actors because it is very difficult. They are in very early in the morning. For most of the aliens it's is three or four hours of make-up and it's hard work and one that I'm full of admiration that they can do.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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