Convention Circuit - Least Favorite Person Associated With Trek?

[WillsBabe]

mos6507 wrote:

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What made me feel that things were on a downward slide even in the early to mid 80s were two things:

Well, I can't say that my recollections are the same as yours, at least not in the 80s. The later 90s, maybe. Were you con-going in the US or the UK?

Delta Vega wrote:

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I have never been to a convention, nor probably would I ever, even at that I cannot remember one in or near Glasgow, Scotland.

There were some cons in Glasgow, in the 90s, called Silvercon. I think there were at least 2 and there have probably been more. I can't recall the guests, but I can remember enjoying them.

[Greg Cox]

It wasn't a Trek con, but the World Science Fiction Convention has been held in Glasgow at least once. I attended one there many years ago. No Trek actors, but I did get to hang out with David Gerrold and Harry Harrison.

[WillsBabe]

Greg Cox wrote:

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It wasn't a Trek con, but the World Science Fiction Convention has been held in Glasgow at least once. I attended one there many years ago. No Trek actors, but I did get to hang out with David Gerrold and Harry Harrison.

I can't believe I forgot Interaction!

[Opus]

I only started going to conventions recently. I saw that William Shatner was going to be at a local Trek Con in the Boston area two summers ago and thought, "He's 81. This might be my only chance." I'm glad I did. Got to meet him and got a picture. He was soft-spoken, but friendly.

I've been to a bunch of cons since, and met some friendly folks, and a couple not so great. People are people, and some have bad days.

By far the best has been Patrick Stewart - friendly and warm. He got my son giggling while we were taking a picture with him. All he did was introduce himself using that voice of his, "Hello, Jacob. I'm Patrick." and they started laughing. They were having the best time and all I could think to myself was, "Holy shit! Patrick Stewart's playing with my kid!" The camaera man finally had to break them up so we could get the shot! I shook his hand and thanked him. He was very gracious and wished us well.

I met John DeLancie - He was really nice. Asked what I did for a living and talked about music. Max Grodenchik was friendly - I helped him find the train station. Chase Masterson was a bit stand-offish. Robert Picardo was friendly. Met JG and Robert O'Reilly as the Klingons - hilarious!

Non-Trek people: Met a few of the original BSG cast. Richard Hatch is kind. Dirk Benedict is crazy. Herb Jefferson Jr. is a great guy - we spent a lot of time talking. Stan Lee is 90 and having the time of his life. He gets the scene (and gets paid big bucks!).

The only poor experience so far has been Bruce Boxleitner - All I will say is he wasn't nice to fans or the people working the con.

After reading some stories here, I am really hoping to meet Avery Brooks at some point. He seems like a great guy.

[little_chris]

http://www.collectormaniaglasgow.co.uk/

[Flibble]

Got to agree about Bruce Boxleitner...he was rude and seemed he just did not want to be there.

One of my friends was very disappointed when she met Tim Russ.

[Brian]

Since people are also sharing non-Trek convention guests, I'll add my least favorite of those: Dirk Benedict.

ETA: Link to TNZ removed. Scroll down a few messages to see the story.

[Greg Cox]

Not a lot of celeb encounters, but Malcom McDowall, John DeLancie, Levar Burton, Nichelle Nichols, Judson Scott and Catherine Hicks were all friendly and gracious when I briefly swung by their tables for autographs. McDowall seemed pleased that I remembered TIME AFTER TIME. And Eddie McCormack of Warehouse 13 happily signed a copy of my WH13 novel for me.

Had a brief conversation with Ben Browder of FARSCAPE at a convention many years ago. He was obviously well-versed in science fiction literature, so I sent him a care package of selected Tor books and got a nice thank-you note back in response.

[JiNX-01]

Delta Vega wrote:

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I would like to meet the cast of Enterprise, but note that Blalok is described as an "airhead", thats a bit disappointing.
Picardo, Auberjonois, Spiner, Nimoy would interest me greatly, but reading reports on here its probably best that I will never meet them, only to be underwhelmed.

Also, the fact that so many con goers are dressed as Cardassians, Orions, Andorrians and God Forbid, Klingons, must be very, very offputting for some of the actors in question, I mean surely you can be a fan of Trek without dressing like a dick ?

OK, first of all, Jolene is not a regular on the convention circuit.

Second of all: Very few fans wear costumes at conventions (unless they are participating in contests).

Feel better?

[Thete]

From various interviews it's actually evident that most stars admire the fans who dress up.

[Frontier]

Slightly off-topic but... anyone going to the Creation Philly convention end of next month? Or Chiller up in NJ (near NYC). Which is the same weekend. *Smacks someone in scheduling* lol

[Trek Survivor]

Brian wrote:

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Since people are also sharing non-Trek convention guests, I'll add my least favorite of those: Dirk Benedict.

As an A-Team fan, was interested to read this, but got a notice when I followed the link that I don't have sufficient permission to access the page...

could you just re-post?

[Brian]

Oops, it was a post in TNZ. I shouldn't have linked to it. I'll remove that link and quote the pertinent part here.

It was the first note in a thread called "Politics at Cons", where I was asking if anyone else had encountered a guest who went too far in expressing their political or religious beliefs (that's not why we're there, after all), so it's written in that context:

Brian wrote:

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Have you ever had a convention experience where a celeb uses the stage to spread their politics, rather than talk about the show they were on (the actual reason for them being at the con)? I've had a couple, but usually it's nothing more than an endorsement of one candidate or another, and it passes quickly and they move on to what they're really there for.

But last weekend at Away Mission Orlando (nominally a Star Trek convention, but with guests from other shows), I had an experience that went beyond that, which led me to leave the auditorium.

Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz took the stage as a pair, given their A-Team ties. At the beginning of the talk, one of them drew an analogy between their work on The A-Team and a marriage. One asked the other if he's married and they started being jokey about it, which was fine.

Then Dwight said, "What do you mean? What is marriage anyway? You're not allowed to use that word anymore. Haven't you heard? They redefined it. Are you 'bonded'? That's what you have to say now." So right from the get-go, I felt that they were using the stage to belittle my committed relationship of 15 years, and my desire to be treated equally in a country where the 14th amendment supposedly guarantees equal protection. And as the audience tittered, I felt disappointment that a crowd who claim to understand and embrace IDIC would so easily go along with that. I felt very uncomfortable and could feel myself turning red.

I should have left then, but the talk turned to the TV show, and I tried to forget the opening remarks.

Later in the talk, Dwight Schultz was talking about how actors view "getting the part" as a zero-sum game. "If they got the part, I dont' have the part," as if there are no other parts out there for you. "If they're successful, I can't be succesful."

Then Dirk Benedict jumped in and said that the reason for that is the elimination of religion. He rambled about how churches in Europe are now tourist attractions instead of places of worship, that people don't realize any longer that there's happiness for everyone, given by God, if they'll just seek it; that the founding fathers said "endowed by their creator", not "endowed by a group of smart guys"; that the education system is messed up, teaching kids that they need to think about a career path...

He went off on a tangent about how providing meals for school children and assuring healthcare to every citizen is the path to fascism. Then he totally godwinned the convention, saying that feeding children and providing health care are policies that Hitler would approve of, because if you can control their food supply and their healthcare, you control everything about them. Just to hit every random political note, he finished with how it's hubris to think humans can affect the climate on this immense planet that God created.

My partner and I wound up leaving the room when someone suggested that Dirk would make a good Fox News contributor, to a smattering of applause.

So yeah, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Shultz are on my D-Bag List. At one point, they mentioned that they both are the only friend the other has in Hollywood. Now I can see why.

ETA: Everyone, since this is *not* a TNZ thread, let's refrain from debating the politics involved here. I'm just sharing why *I* found Dirk Benedict to be a bad convention guest. Suffice it to say that he and I are diametrically opposed in our views.

[sbk1234]

Just to follow up on a couple of the folks mentioned here. I've had the pleasure of chatting with Herb Jefferson Jr. many times. He is absolute class, as far as I'm concerned. Friendly and approachable. Always says hello when he sees me, and asks about how my son is doing. A true gentleman.

I'm a little surprised about Bruce Boxlietner. I met him years ago. He was chatty and friendly. He talked about his involvement on the board of governors for the space station. He had talked about the desire to try and get another teacher in space. He laughed at my joke about how I'm a teacher, and I could name a lot of children who would love to see me in space. It's a shame that's not his normal attitude at conventions. But as others have said, you never know what's going on in someone's life.

I've never met TIm RUss, but until reading the post today, I've never heard negative about him. Goes to show, I guess.

[teacake]

As far as politics from convention guests goes I would say every single guest I've heard (which must be at least 20 now) has brought up politics and made political comments. People tend to only get irritated and feel something is inappropriate if they disagree with the guests politics.