Captains Jean-Luc Picard and Morgan Bateson are about to have a reunion of sorts.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's Patrick Stewart this week filmed a guest appearance in an episode of Frasier, the Patrick Stewart Network reported. Frasier stars Emmy Award-winner and Star Trek fan Kelsey Grammer, who popped up in a cameo role as Captain Morgan Bateson in TNG's "Cause and Effect".

Stewart's episode, entitled "The Doctor Is Out", will likely air towards the end of 2003, possibly during the key November sweeps ratings period, when television shows often use big-name guest stars to attract more viewers. The actor will follow in the footsteps of other Trek alumni who have appeared on Frasier, including Brent Spiner (Data), Robert Picardo (the Holodoc) and Rene Auberjonois (Odo).

Frasier, a five-time winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, has a number of Trek connections in addition to Grammer's turn as Morgan Bateson. In 1996, Frasier cast members joined Kate Mulgrew in a Star Trek: Voyager parody as part of Star Trek's 30th anniversary celebrations. Executive producer Dan O'Shannon co-wrote the story for Enterprise's Hugo-nominated "Carbon Creek", while former Frasier regular Dan Butler guest-starred in Voyager's "Vis a Vis".

The comedy series, which is now entering its eleventh and likely final season, also features a recurring character, Noel Shempsky, who is an avid Star Trek fan. In the season ten episode "Star Mitzvah" Noel offered to help Frasier prepare his Bar Mitzvah speech in Hebrew in exchange for Scott Bakula's (Jonathan Archer) autograph. When Frasier failed to come up with the goods, Noel taught him to say the speech in Klingon instead.

The original news can be found here at the Patrick Stewart Network.

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