Who's your favorite Trek actor at conventions?

[RB_Kandy]

I too wanna hear all about your meeting James Doohan. I seen an old interview with him and he seems like a really interesting guy to talk to, and Scotty is one of my all time favorite characters.

[Merlanthe]

I have only been to two conventions that had star trek actors.

The first was the Peterborough convention where they had over half the VOY cast and four from DS9. Rene and Nana were both really nice when i got their autographs. And Rene was really funny onstage as well.
Robert Picardo and Ethan Philips were both hilarious they even did a comedy act together. Both Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran were a lot more funny and likable than i expected given how bland/dead the characters of Kim and Chakotay could be. Jeri Ryan was fantastic.

The second was the Wrexham comicon that took place last sunday and had John Billingsley in attendance along with his wife Bonita Friedericy who were both lovely. I spent a half hour or more chatting away to them and they were giving away free Italian candy

[t_smitts]

Merlanthe wrote:

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I have only been to two conventions that had star trek actors.

The first was the Peterborough convention where they had over half the VOY cast and four from DS9. Rene and Nana were both really nice when i got their autographs. And Rene was really funny onstage as well.
Robert Picardo and Ethan Philips were both hilarious they even did a comedy act together. Both Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran were a lot more funny and likable than i expected given how bland/dead the characters of Kim and Chakotay could be. Jeri Ryan was fantastic.

The second was the Wrexham comicon that took place last sunday and had John Billingsley in attendance along with his wife Bonita Friedericy who were both lovely. I spent a half hour or more chatting away to them and they were giving away free Italian candy

I'd LOVE to have a half hour chat with John and Bonita. Admittedly I'd probably want to talk about John's role on "Cold Case" (BIG fan of that show) and Bonita's role on "Chuck" (I liked that she once compared her role in an interview to Vaughn Armstrong's as Forrest).

Actually, I was surprised John never made an appearance on "Chuck". I could totally see him playing some kidnapped scientist, or badguy-in-disguse-type character like he played on "The X-Files".

I hail from Winnipeg, a mid-sized city in what would probably be considered the Canadian equivalent of "fly-over country", so we didn't really get a lot of quality media guests for a long time, but it's finally been improving in the last few years.

In a little over a month, we're getting some good guests including a Patrick Stewart, Walter Koenig, and Alan Oppenheimer (Capt. Keogh), along with some really promising non-trek folks: Bruce Boxleitner (stoked for that one!), Billy Dee Williams, Tia Carrere, Dean Cain, and a couple of Stargate people.

My autograph budget's probably quite slim, but hopefully I can get more than one. (Hopefully you don't have to PAY for Patrick's Q&A either!)

[Sector 7]

Many, many moons ago, when I worked on conventions, I met several cast members. The only real jerk in the bunch was Shatner.

I ended up being friends with some of them, including:

George Takei - the most helpful friend one could ask to have in the mean world of Hollywood

Jimmy Doohan - we met several times and swapped war stories over drinks.

Dee Kelley - he and his wife were as lovable as his character was gruff. That Southern charm was genuine in real life.

Majel B. Roddenberry - George Takei introduced us at a convention. She was a much smarter woman than people often assumed. She even championed my project, although it never made it to production.

While having met other Trek actors, I never really got to know them.

[foxhot]

About that James Doohan convention:

Some of my memories have blurred as it happened in 1996, but here's what I can recollect. It was an all-purpose sci-fi con, so others showing up that day included Terry Farrell, Ethan Phillips, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse and Mark Goddard. Since every sci-fi con always has a costumed Klingon, this one urged Mr. Prowse to join his team and switch empires.

James Doohan spoke for one hour in a Q&A. A few minutes before I'd had him sign a photo of him with the knife from WOLF IN THE FOLD. The photo was inside Allen Asherman's STAR TREK COMPENDIUM. Another fan had him sign a tall bottle of Scotch...

During his engaging Q%A he sang what I believe was a Gaelic song at one point. He talked about his military experiences in WW2, the loss of his finger, hiding the missing digit in THE ENEMY WITHIN.......and if memory serves, he may have also brought up the anecdote of the suicidal fan who later turned her life around as mentioned in the TREKKIES documentary.

During that hour I also won a trivia contest, which gave me a card signed with Mr. Doohan's name. I walked up through a massive crowd while he said good-naturedly, ''Feel free not to rush.'' That's what I mostly remember.

[1001001]

sbk1234 wrote:

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Gates McFadden I could do without. Very cold and unapproachable. Just wanted to go through the line and get done with it. Not very gracious with the audience.

This shows how everyone has their off days.

Years ago my daughter (who was 8 at the time) and I met her at a convention in Sacramento. I bought my daughter a photo op, and we were first in line. When she went to sit down with Gates, the camera malfunctioned. While waiting to get it going, Gates sat with my daughter and chatted away for about 4-5 minutes. She was very kind and gracious.

Later, when Gates was onstage doing Q&A, my daughter stood up to ask a question. Gates asked everyone to "keep it down" because "my friend _________ has a question." For the rest of the convention, when people saw my daughter, they'd say "there's Gates McFadden's friend!"



I have met tons of the actors over the years, having attended many conventions. Most have been great. Some were okay, and a few...not so much.

The one I found cold and distant was Suzie Plakson. Death stare and one word answers. Maybe she just didn't like me for some reason, but she was not very nice.

Chase Masterson was great. So was LeVar Burton.

One time I remember was with Dominic Keating. He was drinking the whole day. We saw him several times throughout the day, and he was great with the fans. Even a little sloppy, but in a harmless, good-time kind of way.

I had a pretty good conversation with Max Grodenchik one time. Very down to Earth. Decent, nice man.

My daughter and I saw Marc Alaimo, Casey Biggs, and Jeffrey Combs perform scenes from Shakespeare at one convention. They were great.

One of my favorites was Marina Sirtis. She was hilarious. Loud, opinionated, and beautiful. She sat at our table during dinner and went off on Stuart Baird and Nemesis. It was refreshing and funny ("the guy didn't even like Star Trek for Chistssake!"). My wife and I got a picture with her and Frakes together, one of my favorite souvenirs.

Then of course, the Holy Grail (for me)....Kate Mulgrew. She was something else. Larger than life personality. Everything was Big. Big speech, Big answers, Big hugs. A very dynamic person.

[Margaret]

I've only met two of them and it was that long ago I can't remember the year. Mark Lenard was lovely very gracious and signed photos for everyone George Takei was the same. This was going back years when fans ran conventions rather than
organisations. I know that now this is not possible but I do miss those days

[foxhot]

I can't testify how many are fan-run today. But the annual summer Shore Leave at Hunt Valley, Maryland still is. Whether that would prevent Shatner from appearing, I can't say. Maryland's such a small state for big-headed stars. At any rate, Kate Mulgrew spoke there last August and she was magnificently witty. She said in her Q&A that the first memory that was going to stick with her from that weekend was the young teenage speaker who decided she was going to become a astro-scientist in part because of being inspired by Janeway.

[Greg Cox]

foxhot wrote:

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I can't testify how many are fan-run today. But the annual summer Shore Leave at Hunt Valley, Maryland still is. Whether that would prevent Shatner from appearing, I can't say. Maryland's such a small state for big-headed stars. At any rate, Kate Mulgrew spoke there last August and she was magnificently witty. She said in her Q&A that the first memory that was going to stick with her from that weekend was the young teenage speaker who decided she was going to become a astro-scientist in part because of being inspired by Janeway.

You beat me to the punch. Shore Leave is a fan-run convention that routinely attracts stars. I chatted with LeVar Burton there just a few months ago . . . .

[foxhot]

What I especially like is having eight events per hour (mostly excellent forums) to choose from. During Burton's Q%A I asked him about co-sattring with Nichelle Nichols in THE SUPERNATURALS.

[RB_Kandy]

1001001 wrote:

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This shows how everyone has their off days.

Years ago my daughter (who was 8 at the time) and I met her at a convention in Sacramento. I bought my daughter a photo op, and we were first in line. When she went to sit down with Gates, the camera malfunctioned. While waiting to get it going, Gates sat with my daughter and chatted away for about 4-5 minutes. She was very kind and gracious.

Later, when Gates was onstage doing Q&A, my daughter stood up to ask a question. Gates asked everyone to "keep it down" because "my friend _________ has a question." For the rest of the convention, when people saw my daughter, they'd say "there's Gates McFadden's friend!"



I have met tons of the actors over the years, having attended many conventions. Most have been great. Some were okay, and a few...not so much.

The one I found cold and distant was Suzie Plakson. Death stare and one word answers. Maybe she just didn't like me for some reason, but she was not very nice.

Chase Masterson was great. So was LeVar Burton.

One time I remember was with Dominic Keating. He was drinking the whole day. We saw him several times throughout the day, and he was great with the fans. Even a little sloppy, but in a harmless, good-time kind of way.

I had a pretty good conversation with Max Grodenchik one time. Very down to Earth. Decent, nice man.

My daughter and I saw Marc Alaimo, Casey Biggs, and Jeffrey Combs perform scenes from Shakespeare at one convention. They were great.

One of my favorites was Marina Sirtis. She was hilarious. Loud, opinionated, and beautiful. She sat at our table during dinner and went off on Stuart Baird and Nemesis. It was refreshing and funny ("the guy didn't even like Star Trek for Chistssake!"). My wife and I got a picture with her and Frakes together, one of my favorite souvenirs.

Then of course, the Holy Grail (for me)....Kate Mulgrew. She was something else. Larger than life personality. Everything was Big. Big speech, Big answers, Big hugs. A very dynamic person.

That is totally awesome. Gates called your daughter her friend. That was so sweet.
And you got your picture taken with Kate

[sbk1234]

1001001 wrote:

---

This shows how everyone has their off days.

Years ago my daughter (who was 8 at the time) and I met her at a convention in Sacramento. I bought my daughter a photo op, and we were first in line. When she went to sit down with Gates, the camera malfunctioned. While waiting to get it going, Gates sat with my daughter and chatted away for about 4-5 minutes. She was very kind and gracious.

Later, when Gates was onstage doing Q&A, my daughter stood up to ask a question. Gates asked everyone to "keep it down" because "my friend _________ has a question." For the rest of the convention, when people saw my daughter, they'd say "there's Gates McFadden's friend!"



I have met tons of the actors over the years, having attended many conventions. Most have been great. Some were okay, and a few...not so much.

The one I found cold and distant was Suzie Plakson. Death stare and one word answers. Maybe she just didn't like me for some reason, but she was not very nice.

Chase Masterson was great. So was LeVar Burton.

One time I remember was with Dominic Keating. He was drinking the whole day. We saw him several times throughout the day, and he was great with the fans. Even a little sloppy, but in a harmless, good-time kind of way.

I had a pretty good conversation with Max Grodenchik one time. Very down to Earth. Decent, nice man.

My daughter and I saw Marc Alaimo, Casey Biggs, and Jeffrey Combs perform scenes from Shakespeare at one convention. They were great.

One of my favorites was Marina Sirtis. She was hilarious. Loud, opinionated, and beautiful. She sat at our table during dinner and went off on Stuart Baird and Nemesis. It was refreshing and funny ("the guy didn't even like Star Trek for Chistssake!"). My wife and I got a picture with her and Frakes together, one of my favorite souvenirs.

Then of course, the Holy Grail (for me)....Kate Mulgrew. She was something else. Larger than life personality. Everything was Big. Big speech, Big answers, Big hugs. A very dynamic person.

I'm glad your daughter had a better experience with Gates McFadden. You're right, everyone can have an off day. For example, my experience with Suzie Plakson was a positive one. It just goes to show.

I did see Kate Mulgrew many moons ago, while Voyager was still on the air. I agree, she was witty and enjoyable, although I didn't have a chance to speak with her directly. She definately made me like Janeway more.

[Stompy]

Ti-BOO!-rius wrote:

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Chase Masterson is so lovely. I have a DS9 "Niners" jersey, and I'm getting the team to sign it, but when I went to see her I forgot it. But Chase was so nice, going so far out of her way to organise with me to get it signed. Made me an even bigger fan than I already was!

Chase is great. I first met her during the early days of DS9 and she's become a really good friend.

[Stompy]

RB_Kandy wrote:

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I too wanna hear all about your meeting James Doohan. I seen an old interview with him and he seems like a really interesting guy to talk to, and Scotty is one of my all time favorite characters.

Jimmy Doohan was such a great guy. I met him in 1976 for the first time. I joined his fan club and met my first wife through the penpal section. My son is named "Scotty" in his honor.

I saw him at many shows over the intervening years and got to go on a Star Trek cruise with him back in the 90's.

His son Chris is really nice to chat with. He is on Facebook and responds to all posts.

[Captain McBain]

teacock wrote:

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Brent Spiner: While a good speaker he was also very condescending. One person asked a question about Data and he replied.."you do know this is fiction right?". Repeat several times during a 20 minute Q and A. Yes we know it is FICTION and we just payed a minimum of 90.00 to watch you talk about this FICTION you idiot.

HAHAHAHAHAHA