John de Lancie didn't quite know what he was getting into when he agreed to do the voice of the character Discord for the cartoon show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

"They sent me the material and I read it and thought that was very well written," the actor, best known for playing the ominpotent Q on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," said. "We recorded it and that was it."

Then, three months later, de Lancie checked his email and found about 300 messages that said "My Little Pony."

"I called to my wife, 'What do you know about My Little Pony?' I had forgotten I did it," he said. "She said, 'It's a cartoon for little girls.' I said, 'These are not little girls that are emailing me.'"

In fact, they were bronies – male, teen-age fans of the show. And while he thought it was odd at the time, a real-life encounter with a group of fans while filming in Vancouver changed his attitude somewhat.

"I said, 'Are you guys bronies? Why are you watching this cartoon? What interests you?' They were very articulate and they had what I thought were good reasons," he said. "It wasn't going to make me watch it, but they were good reasons."

That meeting in turn led to "Bronycon: The Documentary," a full-length film de Lancie and his friend Michael Brockhoff put together about the burgeoning pony fandom.

And while de Lancie wouldn't include himself as a fan of the show, he is quick to defend those who are. "They're 20 years old they are willing to brave the societal ridicule for watching a cartoon intended for little girls about being kind and loyal and tolerant and all these good things," he said. "These kids are not doing anything wrong. Do we really live in a society where ... we're wiling to demonize kids interested in a show about being good because it's intended for little girls?"

De Lancie will no doubt meet quite a number of bronies – and "Star Trek" fans – when he attends the Zenkaikon Anime Convention at the Lancaster County Convention Center this weekend. The three day event is a three-day celebration of gaming, anime, sci-fi and fandom in general.

For de Lancie, shows like Zenkaikon are about, "the need to create a community. That's [what] you're watching in ["Bronycon"]. They feel they're creating a community."

Having been a part of "Star Trek" lore for so long, de Lancie knows something about the inclusiveness of fan communities.

"Years ago I was at a convention just standing there. I watched a mother bring her son and it was immediately clear to me the son was handicapped in a certain way. Somehow there was an introduction and a group of six or seven trekkers had taken the son and just moved him into their group and were talking and laughing and having a good time. The mother stepped back closer to where I was and began to cry. I said to her 'Are you OK?' and she said, 'Yes, look how he is being accepted.' I find myself really touched by that."

A self-described science-fiction fan, de Lancie has made a name for himself not just with his iconic role on "Next Generation" but also on such shows as "Stargate SG-1," "The West Wing," "Breaking Bad" and "Days of Our Lives."

"My notion has alwasy been to be as eclectic as possible and do as many things as possible," he said. "I just always wanted things many irons in the fire."

But de Lancie is clearly proud of "Next Generation" and the contributions he made as an actor to the show.

"People say what was it like playing a god, but you don't play a god. What you play is an omnipotent being who's too stupid to know it. Or a god with clay feet. Because otherwise it would become two-dimensional and boring."

And before you make any jokes about bronies or trekkies, de Lancie want to remind you of something:

"At the local football game the home team loses the game and the crowd pours out into the town and break windows and torches the cars. That's a level of fantaticism you'll never see in 'Star Trek'," he said. "For the most part it's utterly benign."

IF YOU GO: Actor John de Lancie will be one of the featured guests at Zenkaikon Anime Convention, which runs March 22-24 at the Lancaster County Convention Center, 25 S. Queen St., Lancaster. Show hours: 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Cost: $60 for all three days, $50 for Saturday and Sunday or $25 for Sunday only. Information: www.zenkaikon.com