Convention Fans:
Getting to Meet Star Trek's Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, and Gates McFadden

At a Dragon*con convention a few years back, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Brent Spiner (Data), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Up until that point, I had only really met Marina Sirtis (Troi) and LeVar Burton (Geordi) from that series, so I was really excited to finally see more from the TNG crew. I had grown up on the show, and had never imagined that I'd ever have the chance to meet my childhood icons.

As I’ve mentioned previously, Brent is an odd guy, but a funny guy (just watch him on Twitter, trust me). When I first met him, I was admittedly a bit weirded out by his sense of humor and demeanor. I had patiently waited in the autograph line, and when it was finally my turn to approach his table, I selected the photo I wanted signed, and said hello. I asked him to please sign it to Kelly (my name), as I really enjoy having a personalized autograph. He looked at me for a moment, and with a deadly serious tone said: "Kelly? You know Kelly is traditionally a man’s name? And a last name? You could have been born Kelly Kelly."

I looked at him bewildered for a moment, completely unsure of whether he was joking or not. Brent isn't always the easiest man to "read." He then smiled in that devilish way he often does, and I realized he had just been giving me a hard time. I told you he was a bit odd, but funny.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole to say about Gates McFadden. I’m not sure if she was having an "off day" or if these conventions just aren’t her cup of tea, but she seemed rather disinterested and and withdrawn. Since I had never met her before, and haven’t since, I’ll give her a free pass and assume she was just not having a good day. I really do try to give these celebrity guests the benefit of the doubt before casting them off as jerks.

Now onto my favorite of the three: Jonathan Frakes. He was just as charming as you’d probably expect. He basically is William T. Riker, or rather, Riker was him. The twinkle in his eye. The smile. The laugh. The good natured warmth. He is positively delightful to talk to. In fact, while I was waiting in line, I watched Frakes and Spiner go back and forth making silly comments and jokes with each other. It was like two guys at a 10 year high school reunion. Everyone was laughing as they carried on like old long-lost buddies.