Star Trek Convention, Day Three: Shatner and his Shit-Eating Grin

I had a couple of people to see before I met Kathy and Gayle for lunch at the Hilton cafe, so I got into the convention hall earlier. And I knew Debbie was due to arrive from San Fran right after lunch.

Malcolm McDowell was nothing like I expected him to be. Did I expect him to be a serial killer? Well, no, but I did expect a dour person, rather a pessimist. And I got exactly the opposite.

Malcolm was the villain who killed "our" Captain Kirk in Generations. Shatner took him off to the side during filming in the desert, and in the middle of the horrendous heat, Shatner asked if he could interview him for a book he was writing. After all, Bill said, "I gotta make every cent out of this thing."

His first question of McDowell was: "What's it like killing off an American icon?" As Malcolm told the story to us, he related, "There's nothing like great humility..." His answer to Bill? "Half will hate me, half will cheer." Shatner, Malcolm reports, did get the humor, and did laugh. "He has a good sense of humor." And Malcolm added, "If it hadn't been for Shatner, there would be no Patrick Stewart."

Malcolm received several questions concerning A Clockwork Orange; his villain is one of the most villainous in filmdom. After telling them all that they were at the "wrong convention," he answered that he approached the role "a lot like playing Shakespeare. I had a vision of Richard III."

"I've only played good guys a couple of times," Malcolm told us. "Time After Time, Lucky Man. But it's hard. In Lucky Man, I had to react constantly."

After Malcolm, I met Kathy and Gayle for lunch at the cafe, and we sat for over an hour talking about professional advancement, politics, and Josh Groban. Gayle said about Malcolm, "I hope Sid gets a chance to see him." Malcolm McDowell and Alexander Siddig (Julian Bashir on DS9) are uncle and nephew, respectively, but rarely get to see each other because each is so busy. After lunch, I met Debbie, and we went down to the convention together. We walked around the dealer's room, and talked to several people. Debbie always engaging people at conventions.

Jolene Blalock, who played T'Pol, the Vulcan Commander on Enterprise, came on next. Jolene is currently hyping her new movie, Starship Troopers 3, which went straight to DVD and is being released within the month.

I don't have much to report about Jolene except that (1) she is nothing like T'Pol, although she implied that a Vulcan is much like she was as a teenager, socially inept, (2) she followed Star Trek as a kid, and Spock was "my guy," and (3) she didn't like any of the "guest" Vulcans on Enterprise except for Gary Graham. "Their sphincters were so tight," she explained.

Oh, but one more thing: She went to a p.r. thing with Enterprise actors. All of a sudden all the flashbulbs went off from reporters' cameras: William Shatner has just arrived. Shatner stood next to her with his arm around her. And as he smiled, his hand went lower and lower, she said. "He had this shit-eating grin all over his face," she laughed.

The last thing this day that we saw everyone else showed up for, too: Nichelle Nichols and George Takei, original members of classic Trek, and they showed up on stage together. George announced that when he and his long-time partner get married in L.A. next month, Nichelle will be their Best Lady, and Walter Koenig (Chekhov) will be their Best Man. They are both very busy with projects even though we both know they're getting a little older, each in their seventies. They had a little "tiff" on stage while we watched, while George tried to shut up Nichelle because she cut off his story about meeting Bruce Lee. But at the end, they were arm-in-arm, walking off the stage.

After we watched Nichelle and George, we went to the Star Trek: Experience shops -- Quark's Bar was already closed in anticipation of the Gold ticket patrons' private party later -- and looked around. Then we found a seat at the new Star Trek game. I didn't do so well, but I now have 15 medals. And I'm still at the Yeoman level. Debbie is a Starfleet Recruit, and has 1 medal, I believe.

We got into a cab which took us to the Four Queens. The taxi driver was from Macedonia and has been here 10 years. I thought Debbie was being a really good sport when she agreed to have dinner at one of my favorite downtown spots, the Binion's restaurant. After all, about two years ago, we actually saw someone die in front of us at the next table. It's not something that encourages your appetite.