Bad encounters with cast members
- Thread starter indycar
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I felt the same when I discovered many of my 1960s counterculture idols like Jon Voight and Peter Fonda have turned into bitter hard-right conservatives.
I guess it's true what they say - you get more right wing as you get older. Perhaps I have a little too
And the first post after @1001001 said to drop the politics is about...politics.
@Clym , I'm going to assume that you posted before seeing @1001001 's post, and give you a Friendly. Any further discussion of politics in this thread will result in a formal Warning for Trolling and closure of the thread.
I'd actually gotten curious and done an image search when it came up earlier. It looks like that's how he usually does his first name, with something very loopy that looks like a "C" in front. From a vaguely legible result that I found, I think he's typically signing "Bill Shat(ner)"...the "C" is actually a deformed (lower-case?) B, and the obvious t is the end of his abbreviated last name.
Yeah, that's basically the same shape but more rushed and a little shorter (understandably considering the circumstances), I was supposed to be finding this wasn't I? Best get on that...
No biggie if it's consistent with his other signatures. If he's slipping a naughty word in there, it's not just aimed at you.
I just got a mental picture of bored actors slipping swear words in the middle of their autographs just to see if anyone would notice.
Let's see, I almost got run over by William Shatner in 79' in Dupars pkg lot on Ventura bl and De Forrest Kelly in 83' at the SW corner of Ventura and Sepulveda. I unintentionally walked in on Nichelle Nichols during a recording session also 83' if looks could kill. On a good note I met Walter Koenig and Grace Lee Whitney at a convention at the L.A. airport Westin i think in 77' very nice people and Dominic Keating in 04' at the Kapalua driving range great guy, played little league with Clint Howard salt of the earth. As far as other celebrities go how much time ya got.
I've been fortunate enough to go to many conventions over the years and have met many of my favorite stars.
Most of my encounters with them are brief, as I usually prefer to buy photo ops instead of autographs, so I don't really have high expectations about the quality of our encounter as I know it will be brief. With Shatner, he looked at me and said "hi." I said the same back and the pic was made and I left. It was a pleasant experience.
I've had longer encounters with some. Connor Trinneer came down to the bar at a Stargate convention I was out and hung out with fans. He was really cool. My dad was with me and was excited about meeting him.
The Star Trek actors I remember being the nicest were Avery Brooks (he gave me a big hug when we first met), Jeri Ryan, George Takie, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and Scott Bakula.
As far as non Star Trek actors go, I had great encounters with people like Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Kristen Bell, Bruce Campbell, Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion.
And the Farscape cast is great. I was taking journalism classes at the time I went to their convention, so I did one of my papers on the event. A few of the cast were nice enough to let me interview them for the paper. Gigi Edgley in particular was super nice.
Most of my encounters with them are brief, as I usually prefer to buy photo ops instead of autographs, so I don't really have high expectations about the quality of our encounter as I know it will be brief. With Shatner, he looked at me and said "hi." I said the same back and the pic was made and I left. It was a pleasant experience.
I've had longer encounters with some. Connor Trinneer came down to the bar at a Stargate convention I was out and hung out with fans. He was really cool. My dad was with me and was excited about meeting him.
The Star Trek actors I remember being the nicest were Avery Brooks (he gave me a big hug when we first met), Jeri Ryan, George Takie, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and Scott Bakula.
As far as non Star Trek actors go, I had great encounters with people like Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner, Kristen Bell, Bruce Campbell, Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion.
And the Farscape cast is great. I was taking journalism classes at the time I went to their convention, so I did one of my papers on the event. A few of the cast were nice enough to let me interview them for the paper. Gigi Edgley in particular was super nice.
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I'm sorry to hear about these bad interactions. These guys really ought to remember how lucky they are to have this life long income source from something they did decades ago. We all have bad days, sure, but some of these guys sound like they need a break from the fans. I've only had one mildly unpleasant experience. I guess I've been very lucky.
I'd just done a photo op with an elderly lady who appeared in TOS fifty years ago, smiled, and said "thankyou Miss x". She snapped back at me "I prefer to be referred to as Y!". How the hell am I supposed to know that when every piece of signage refers to you as x? I thought to myself as I replied "Ok, I'll remember" and walked off, my wallet forty dollars lighter for that piece of enlightenment. I won't name her, she's in her eighties and I can forgive it.
I've seen a few others who weren't so fortunate, though :
I once had a quite pleasant interaction with a more familiar face in the TOS universe, who autographed something for me after a ninety minute wait in line because they decided to leave the autograph table to crash the TNG panel that was running on the nearby stage. The young kid in line behind me had this beautiful Star Trek banner signed by literally hundreds of actors, but this cast member refused because their image wasn't on it. The kid was shattered, and after such a long wait, the autograph session ran long overtime and had to wrap up so there was no time for him to race off and get something else to sign. I really felt for him, especially after the actor had been so pleasant with me only seconds before.
I witnessed an Enterprise cast member perfunctorily brush off the male fans in a line just to hit on young female fans, he was pretty drunk from the look of him. I know it takes two to tango, but I really have no time for Trek cast members, producers etc who use Trek connections to sleep with fans.
Speaking of Enterprise, there's one cast member who deserves to be named and shamed in a thread like this. Jolene Blalock for her performace onstage at a major con. She was absolutely stoned out of her mind, and wanted to get the room to prey for ten minutes or so before she would take any questions. Excruciating. This was way way back in about 05. Apparently she's given up on conventions. No big loss based on that effort!
I'd just done a photo op with an elderly lady who appeared in TOS fifty years ago, smiled, and said "thankyou Miss x". She snapped back at me "I prefer to be referred to as Y!". How the hell am I supposed to know that when every piece of signage refers to you as x? I thought to myself as I replied "Ok, I'll remember" and walked off, my wallet forty dollars lighter for that piece of enlightenment. I won't name her, she's in her eighties and I can forgive it.
I've seen a few others who weren't so fortunate, though :
I once had a quite pleasant interaction with a more familiar face in the TOS universe, who autographed something for me after a ninety minute wait in line because they decided to leave the autograph table to crash the TNG panel that was running on the nearby stage. The young kid in line behind me had this beautiful Star Trek banner signed by literally hundreds of actors, but this cast member refused because their image wasn't on it. The kid was shattered, and after such a long wait, the autograph session ran long overtime and had to wrap up so there was no time for him to race off and get something else to sign. I really felt for him, especially after the actor had been so pleasant with me only seconds before.
I witnessed an Enterprise cast member perfunctorily brush off the male fans in a line just to hit on young female fans, he was pretty drunk from the look of him. I know it takes two to tango, but I really have no time for Trek cast members, producers etc who use Trek connections to sleep with fans.
Speaking of Enterprise, there's one cast member who deserves to be named and shamed in a thread like this. Jolene Blalock for her performace onstage at a major con. She was absolutely stoned out of her mind, and wanted to get the room to prey for ten minutes or so before she would take any questions. Excruciating. This was way way back in about 05. Apparently she's given up on conventions. No big loss based on that effort!
I started going to local conventions last fall because Shatner was at it, and got him to sign my Khan DVD. He was great with the ten year old boy in front of me and let me say a quick word to him even though he was obviously in a rush to get through the very big line. It was after this that I bought a gorgeous Star Trek franchise poster from the 25th anniversary and decided to go around getting signatures on it. I've got nine now - 6 TOS guest stars, one FC/VOY actress, and Rene Auberjonis and John De Lancie. I haven't had a bad experience yet. They were all professional.
By the end of the year I should have around 15, including Shatner, Nichols, and Takei. I'd upload a pic but I don't know how.
Not really Trek related but the best actor encounter I've had was with Will Friedle (Boy Meets World). My wife had a crush on him as a kid and stared at him for an hour before I got her to go in line and meet him. He seemed genuinely happy to be at the con. Everyone else I've met is doing a job, he was having fun and going out of his way to make people feel comfortable. He spent probably 15 min or more with each guest and complimented my wife on her hat and when he saw I was carrying my poster told a story about how he was struck dumb meeting Koenig. Then, after we left, he had his agent track us down and refund us our money because he decided not to charge my wife for the photo with him.
By the end of the year I should have around 15, including Shatner, Nichols, and Takei. I'd upload a pic but I don't know how.
Not really Trek related but the best actor encounter I've had was with Will Friedle (Boy Meets World). My wife had a crush on him as a kid and stared at him for an hour before I got her to go in line and meet him. He seemed genuinely happy to be at the con. Everyone else I've met is doing a job, he was having fun and going out of his way to make people feel comfortable. He spent probably 15 min or more with each guest and complimented my wife on her hat and when he saw I was carrying my poster told a story about how he was struck dumb meeting Koenig. Then, after we left, he had his agent track us down and refund us our money because he decided not to charge my wife for the photo with him.
What's the 25th Ann poster you have? (lately I been trying to get this Tom Jung one. https://www.cinematerial.com/media/posters/sm/jg/jgld3g7k.jpg?v=1456641845 First saw it in the starlog 25th anniversary magazine backin '91! Must've been the inspiration for the Generations poster)
This one, got it from All posters. I've had a lot of convention goers ask where I got it, including a few cast members. One had her photo took signing it for her Facebook page.
Thanks. I actually have two of it because I accidentally ordered the mini poster first, and had to re - order the proper size. Someday I'll get an image hosting site that'll work (both photo bucket and imgur cropped out on me as I tried to upload it) and upload the one with sigs.
I think the only Trek guy I've met is Andrew Robinson, and he was a damned delight.
I do try to be forgiving of actors, they're just people, they have good and bad days. But yes if you're at an event where the idea is to meet fans and you're getting paid for it, do at least try and be nice. My wife met Patrick Stewart and apparently he was lovely, also.
I do try to be forgiving of actors, they're just people, they have good and bad days. But yes if you're at an event where the idea is to meet fans and you're getting paid for it, do at least try and be nice. My wife met Patrick Stewart and apparently he was lovely, also.
You are so lucky! I would have very much wanted to hear that.
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