Not very Shat-tasic..

I had a fun time at United Fan Con last weekend, but I was very disappointed with the experience of getting to "meet" William Shatner. First off, he was exhausted from a 7 hour flight and 2 hour limo ride (after a full day's shoot the day before) and he looked half asleep.

He was funny and engaging in the hour long Q&A, but the autograph and photo sessions were, to me, a joke. At the autograph line there was a rope 3 feet from the autograph table and you had to hand off your item to someone on one end of the table, watch him sign it (he never once looked up) and pick it up at the other end of the table. It was more of a "drive by" signing than an "in-person" signing.

The photo session was basically getting people swooped in to shoot the picture (again he never looked up) and walking away - at least this time I was closer. After all that I feel I still didn't really "meet" the man, which is supposed to be the point. It'll be interesting to see how this photo is gonna look when I receive it next week (I'll post it here).

I cannot blame the convention organizers for this - they had a limited time to work with and had to get everyone their chance. Shatner had to get to New York that night for an appearance the next day. In hindsight maybe UFC should have gotten him for Sunday as he was probably more awake then.

But T. and I enjoyed the weekend with old and new friends and had fun seeing and talking to Jewel Staite and her husband Matty again, meeting (in a more real sense) Grace Park from Battlestar Galactica and having a great time swapping George Takei stories with Peter David over breakfast.

Update: It turns out in addition to the lack of sleep Shatner was also suffering from MSG poisoning from eating Chinese food Thursday night and was starting to feel better when he got to NYC later that night and heard that he gave a more "personable" appearance to the fans in Jersey.