Captain Jean-Luc Picard’s oft-used line “engage” took on a whole new meaning when Patrick Stewart and other members of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast unexpectedly bore witness to a marriage proposal.
Uploaded to Reddit by user Luckboy28 on Nov. 6, a photograph capturing the moment reached the front page within hours, receiving nearly 1,500 comments.
The proposal occurred during a photo op session at the Wizard World Austin comic convention, held in Texas’ capital city during the weekend of Oct. 26-28. The convention marked the first time in 25 years that the show’s full cast had reunited for an event.
Like many attendees before them, the couple entered the photo area, where Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Wil Wheaton were waiting. Instead of a traditional pose, however, the man stated “I really love Star Trek, but I love [this girl] even more” and dropped to one knee.
The photographer captured the element of surprise on the woman’s face—as well as an actual facepalm from Stewart.
In a comment, Wheaton—a regular redditor—described how the exchange unfolded:
“Marina started to cry, I felt like I was going to cry, and we all applauded and celebrated when she said “yes.” Apparently, they’d met Marina earlier in the day, and Marina had given him shit for not marrying her, so Marina was embarrassed about that,” he wrote.
Wheaton also claimed that Stewart’s facepalm was not intentional.
“I’m not sure why this picture is being circulated online, like Patrick is giving the literal Picard Facepalm, because that’s just not what happened. We were all delighted for this young couple, and I know that I was honoured to be part of this moment in their lives. I think it’s likely that Patrick was just wiping sweat off his brow or something like that.”
Other Redditors poked fun at the cast’s apparent reaction.
“I love everyone’s reactions, but absolute favorite thing about this picture is the ‘Brent Spiner is unimpressed’ look,” oo_nrb commented.
“LEVAR BURTON IS NOT PLEASED,” ChronicPains commented.
Photo via Luckboy28/imgur
