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My John de Lancie story

patweb

Ensign
Red Shirt
I was at Creation Con in SF. There was a little tiny bathroom behind the elevators.

I am standing there minding my business when John de Lancie steps up to the stall next to mine.

"Fancy meeting Q here" was my statement.

I joked about not needed bathrooms on the Enterprise, he says all of the crew wore adult diapers. I query that this is what I thought the transporters were for.

Anyways, we laughed and parted, not shaking hands.
 
Here is my John de Lancie story.

I was at a small Los Angeles Comic Book Convention whose guest of honor that day was Adam West. I was browsing the comics back issue bins when I noticed John de Lancie across from me.

Me: Hey, John de Lancie! How are you? Are you here to see Adam West?

Mr. de Lancie: No, I'm actually here with my kids to see the comics.

Me: Cool. Are you going to play Q again this year?

Mr. de Lancie: They haven't called me.

Me: I hope they do. Nice meeting you.

Bonus points - Can anyone figure out the date that this even took place? Hint: TNG was still on the air.
 
I have to say he's a funny chap. I was in Vegas as part of a long road trip out West and we popped over to the Star Trek event there in one of the big hotels, we had tickets for the next day but wanted to have a look round. I saw John de Lancie and as I'm a fan of him from Star Trek, The WestWing and Torchwood I thought we'd go over and get an autograph. The wife loves The West Wing so I thought this might be fun for her as well.

So we paid our thirty five dollars or whatever it was and we were the only people there, we said we thought he was great in the West Wing and he said 'oh yeah', signed the photo and that was that. Whilst the wife was really disappointed and thought he was rude, I just was amused in the same way when on holiday you put ten dollars in a slot machine, pull the lever and nothing happens, you've just wasted your cash but there's nothing you can do. Other people tell me he's charming and lovely, this was about 5.30 at the end of no doubt a long day and he'd clearly run out of steam and so was unapproachable, rude and monosyllabic. Such is life. Brent Spiner and Kate Mulgrew the only other Star Trek people I've met (again at the same event) were absolutely lovely though so my wife was very happy because she thinks Capt Janeway is brilliant (so do I).
 
I figure conventions take a lot out of a person. I met Max Grodenchik early in the morning, at the Chicago con some years back, and he was warm and friendly. We kept in contact throughout the day (I actually got to help him do a few things!), and by late evening, he had gone from talkative, warm and friendly, to listless, and tired. He would use short sentences, and smile instead of jumping into stories. Quite frankly, he looked exhausted. That kind of thing just has to wear you down, and these people do it all of the time.

The same with Christopher Lloyd. When I got to meet him, he looked like he had ran a 20K marathon. I said hello, and that I loved his work, and he just smiled and nodded as he signed the photo I gave him. I'd heard others say how nice he was, so I figured that, like you with Mr. De Lancie, I got him when he was exhausted. These folks are only human, so I don't hold it against them, well, unless they're just outright mean, though I haven't seen that yet.

I do hope to meet John De Lancie one of these days. He's a major part of two of my favorite fandoms.
 
....I do hope to meet John De Lancie one of these days. He's a major part of two of my favorite fandoms.

One of the funniest encounters I had was with Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca). He was at a sci-fi con, and sitting at his booth. I came up and shook his hand. His hand literally enveloped my hand. He was quite modest as a fawned about his role in the Star Wars universe, etc.

Just then a lady comes up behind me and snaps his picture. His beaming smile melted and he rose up in front of me. I stand 6'1", this guy was TOWERING over me as he reached out to point at the camera.

In a booming voice he says, "You know, it RUDE to take someone's picture without asking permission." The lady just stood there apologizing. He asked for her camera.

I kind of laughed and said, "Sir, do you mind if I take your picture?", He turns at me and smiles, "certainly, thanks for asking". I take his picture as the lady slinks away, happy I had distracted him.

I'll dig up the picture and post it later.
 
^ Wow! I would have soiled myself. That poor lady. I bet, from that point forward, she never took another picture without permission! :lol:
 
John de Lancie was guest at a small Star Trek Convention in Hamburg (Germany) in the early 90's.

During his panel he looked at his softdrink and asked "Don't you guys have anything decent to drink here?"

It clicked in my head, I went outside to my car, grapped my pocket flask with Whiskey, returned and handed it too him ("Here you go").

Without hesitation he took, opened and drank from it, saying something like "That's better".

So, in a manner of speaking, I spontaneously connected to "Q" on a strange level of mutual understanding, which was somewhat cool. :)

(Unfortunately, some female fans felt it had interrupted their precious Q & A session and were rather angry about it, next I had to listen to their lamentations)

Bob
 
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