Feb 06 2009
Guest Stories: Meeting Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, and Gates McFadden
I decided to end the official “Brent Spiner” week of Convention Fans with the story of how I met the man behind our favorite android. Since it’s a rather quick story, I’m also throwing in my experiences meeting Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker) and Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), since I met them all right in a row at Dragon*con a few years back.
As I’ve mentioned previously, Brent is an odd guy, but a funny guy. 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). 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. He then smiled in that devilish way he often does, and I realized he had just been giving me a hard time. Brent is such a kidder.
I’m afraid I don’t have much 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. She seemed incredibly disinterested and and withdrawn.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’m sure plenty of you will chime in with stories of your own.
Jonathan Frakes was just as charming as you’d probably expect. He 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 a comedy routine. Everyone was laughing as they carried on like old college buddies.
I was able to find some videos on YouTube, that were filmed during the trio’s Q & A session at the convention. It is very funny stuff, and you can tell that these three are genuinely fond of each other. Here are the videos: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.
Feel free to comment with your own experiences meeting these actors!
