Drive, She Said

I would drive an hour to see Marina Sirtis. Except that it turned into two-and-a-half hours because I couldn't find the damn hotel in Sacramento. I finally took surface streets, and, armed with a woefully inadequate little map from mapquest, finally found the back way into west Sacramento, past the American Indian river, and into the parking lot of the Doubletree.

These are the little conventions. I love the little conventions. Not necessarily for the photo ops, because I was still 'way off to the side and the lighting on the stage is too poor for my Lumix to make decent shots. But the other events -- the autograph lines, the dessert party, the charity breakfast (if there is one) -- are a lot easier to negotiate.

I saw Marina and Jonathan Frakes on stage today -- Counselor Troi and Commander Riker -- and they were just wonderful. Terribly hilarious, of course. Marina is the consummate Convention Queen, and at the end of each appearance, she thanks us for her house, her car, etc., everything we the fans have given her by supporting her show, The Next Generation.

I would never tell her this, even when I had the opportunity tonight, but she was my favorite character in all the Treks. Not the first two years, when the writers didn't know what to do with her, but the last three or four years, when Marina's personality outlined Deanna Troi's. And especially when she got to wear the uniform and go for rank. Marina could play drama, but she was especially deft at comedy. And she is certainly comedic onstage, and often brutally honest.

At the dessert party tonight, there were only 50 of us, scattered throughout several tables in a room a little too large for us. The desserts were placed carefully on the buffet tables by the staff, and before they were done, several Trekkies swarmed over them. Host Richard Arnold called us off until he could explain the rules -- you know, only one pastry per person, but you can have all the ice cream you want. Then he let us go. After a few minutes, the actors came in and stood on the small stage: Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca from Star Wars), Jeremy Bullock (the original Boba Fett from Star Wars), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris from Star Trek: Voyager), and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from Battlestar). We took photos and then retreated back to our tables.

I sat at a table with Jennifer and Amy, two young women I recognized from the Burbank Grand Slam event. The three of us are from Oakland, and we found ourselves sitting together at the same table during the Battlestar Galactica charity breakfast back in May. I had emailed Jennifer some photos from the event at her request, and was delighted to see her by chance at the Lakeshore Cafe during lunch one day. She recognized me instantly. We were all looking forward to our visit from the stars. The other two people there were young men who seemed very eager to share the experience. One of them could cite Star Wars and Star Trek trivia like an expert, a true geek.

Marina finally came into the room a bit late. Unfortunately we weren't given an opportunity to take a photo of her. She immediately went over to the dessert table and grabbed a piece of cheesecake, obvious oblivious to the pastry rules. I'm guessing that she never had a chance to get some dinner between the autographing and the dessert party appearance.

A woman appeared around the actors in a rather protective stance, and stood taller than all of them, except for Peter Mayhew. I told the members at our table who she was, and the guy at the next table wanted to know more. That's Julie Caitlin Brown, I answered. She used to appear on several Star Trek series as aliens. And she was a key character on Babylon 5. She now handles talent, among them Katee and Tahmoh.

The actors started circulating. Marina was first at our table. She was exhausted, she said. We offered her a chair, but said she needed to keep moving. I really don't remember what else she said, because it was rapid-fire.

Katee came over, and I immediately asked her what it was like to work two jobs at once (Battlestar and the new Bionic Woman). She replied that she was exhausted, working 15-hour days. She keeps herself awake by stuffing her face with food every minute. She talked a bit about her boyfriend, who is 14 years older; he had seen the classic Bionic Woman series and bought the DVD so she could watch it. He kept making the irritating slow-motion running sound, and Katee didn't know what it was until she finally watched the DVD. Since Katee is playing the villain rather than Jamie Sommers, she doesn't feel she has to model behavior for little kids. (My autographed photo of Katee's character on Bionic Woman, "Sarah Corvis," is shown to the right.) Therefore, her character can smoke. She wouldn't let Starbuck smoke on Battlestar. And she has asked the Bionic Woman producers to put in some public service announcements about smoking.

Jeremy came over and asked us how far we would travel to go to a convention. Peter came over after that, and told us about the Wookiee Christmas special and how bad he thought it was, because we at the table had been wondering about it. I noticed how massive his hands were as he reached across the table to illustrate a Wookiee point.

Robbie McNeill came by wearing a "Chuck" hat, and when I asked him about it, he replied that he is directing (3 of the first 6 episodes) and producing the show. So he's very involved with it, including the casting of a lot of the lesser roles. He loves that he can find extraordinary people for these roles, not just the "beautiful people" you normally see on T.V. While we were talking, he received a call on his cell from his daughter. He promised to call her back. We'll see him early tomorrow on stage, so we said goodnight.

Tahmoh Penikett is a nice young actor who is wondering where his next job is coming from. He's so friendly you feel as if you're a great conversationalist because he never stops talking.

As I watched Peter Mayhew cut out early from the affair, I thought about how tired I was and how bed was going to look really good to me. I watched him duck under the threshold as he walked out the door, limping with very tall cane in hand, and wondered how debilitating it must be for a very tall man to be reaching old age.