Women of Trek!

So a funny thing happened on the way to the convention…

This is one of my favorite convention stories… imagine Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverley Crusher on TNG) and Brent Spiner (Data on TNG) on stage talking about an airline flight on the way to a convention and a fan recognized Brent and asked for his autograph…

Fan: (to Brent Spiner) Oh my gosh! I love your show! Please, can I have your autograph?

Brent: Sure. Here you go. But don’t you want her’s too? *motions to Gates*

Fan: Oh my yes, I’m so sorry. I would love your autograph, Mrs. Spiner!

Gates: *signs the napkin as “Mrs. Spiner”*

So somewhere out there is an airplane napkin signed by Brent Spiner and Mrs. Spiner! I would frame that puppy and take it to a convention and ask Gates to resign for real… because seriously? Best. Story. Ever.

I wonder if the fan ever figured out the truth?

This is a quick clip from that convention… not mine… it was posted by YouTuber generousrabbit… wish I had more! I’ll keep scouring youtube because these guys are hilarious together. If you get the chance to see any of the TNG crew appear together do not miss it! They are so charismatic and truly engage the audience. At one point Gates literally walked through the audience and climbed OVER the chairs… then, of course, Jonathan doing his Riker Maneuver… pretty sure I saw a video of that. I’ll have to find it for you and post it. Stay tuned!

“Johnny come back here and do that chair thing!”

Gates McFadden… the woman who changed her name because she was embarrassed to be doing Star Trek.

She changed her birthday too! How can you not love her? Of course, that particular tidbit is courtesy of Jonathan Frakes… fact or fiction… you make the call!

 Truly though, she is always so gracious and kind to fans, like that picture of her with Jacob (yes, we purchased the “official” photo as well… and she signed that for us… although she did spell my name wrong… Cris… who spells it Cris?!) I’ll have to find that one and post it for you. I should probably print out this pic of her with Jacob and ask her if she would autograph it… that would be something special for him to keep!

Funny story about Jacob… we watched Voyager and he hadn’t really paid much attention to The Next Generation (sorry TNG folks) but after meeting everyone he decided he had to watch. I wonder how often that happens? Reverse fandom? Fan of the person then fan of the show… probably often… is that you? Comment below and let us know!

I must admit when we first started going to conventions Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troy on The Next Generation) was not top of our list to meet. I know. That’s awful. (I’m so sorry Marina please don’t hate us). But once we listened to her on stage and even better met her in person we were hooked.

Beauty is one thing but this gal has a razor sharp wit to go with it and she is genuinely nice on top of all that! So basically you could easily hate her… but instead you LOVE her because she is just so… real person. (Does that make sense?)

So imagine… we are standing in line for days… mom and 10-year-old son… and there are so many people and she must be so tired of making small talk and signing photos and on and on. You’d think it would be a quick name-sign-thank-you-bye… but it wasn’t! She was graceful and thoughtful and she engaged with Jacob (said 10-year-old boy) and talked to him for a bit.

Marina: Well hi there nice to meet you! And who is your favorite character on the show?
Jacob: …
Marina: Oh I know it must be Worf, right?
Jacob: No.
Marina: Okay don’t tell me… it must be… Geordi?
Jacob: No.
Marina: DATA!
Jacob: No.
Marina: Okay I give up. Who is it?
Jacob: I like everyone the same.
Marina: Kid. You should go into politics!

I’m sure she doesn’t remember that in the thousands of fan meet and greets she does but I certainly will never forget and neither will Jacob. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a photo with her that year but that (and an Imzadi photo) is top of our list for the next convention where the stars align, and she is there, and we are there…

 

So, after all that, does it surprise you that when we got upstairs we didn’t even make it to the room before he collapsed? We were staying on the concierge level (and boy is THAT fun!) you know the one where you get free snacks all day…

…and they have these huge bean bag chairs in the hallway which is basically like putting up a sign “all 10-year-old boys sit here!” I mean seriously they must have boy magnets inside those things. Right?