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    Richmond GalaxyCon: All about the ’Shatman:’ William Shatner

    So for yesterday’s visit at the Richmond GalaxyCon there was one main mission: William Shatner. As a self confessed Star Trek fanatic, he was number one on my schedule. Come to think of it, I might be labeled as a “Trekkie” but I never really loved the term. Fanatic shows commitment. Besides, it’s where the word “fan” originates. So there’s that… but I digress.

    We wisely chose to go in to the Main Stage auditorium early. Doing so got us (my lovely wife attended with me) relatively good seats. Good thing because the place was packed. We kind of knew that might happen due to all the Star Trek uniforms we saw from passers by. But we centered ourselves fairly cause up. Close enough to get some pics and the videos I tweeted yesterday. Read on to see those.

    Let me say that William Shatner is a funny guy. And at 88 years of age, he looks pretty damn good. His memory, as he admits, is not what it used to be. But then again, whose is?  Bill started out talking about what he is doing now, which is a lot. He just finished a Jazz album. Before that he had been touring with showings of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. He would come out after the film to answer questions. He joked that after seeing the film, it was probably a disappointment to see him now. I really doubt it Bill.

    In addition, he is going on a two week European tour, to which he said he really didn’t want to attend. Mainly because of the logistics of it and the ever present threat of the Corona Virus. In fact, he was concerned about the Corona Virus effecting his Richmond visit. Fortunately, the virus had not found its way to us yet…until someone in the audience coughed, for effect.

    After his introduction of his present endeavors, he opened it up to questions. The line of people ready to ask questions went from “here to Terra Haute.” (You fans of a Christmas Story will understand that reference). The first young man addressed him as “ShatMan.” He immediately questioned that and teased him about the seeming disrespect it showed him. The man went on about wondering what it was like to be a “horror icon.”😳 Bill teased him about whether he was calling him a “whore icon.”

    Truth is, I initially had no idea where the young man was going with that. But after he proclaimed that he thought Bill played Michael Myers in Halloween, at least it made sense. Still not sure if he was just going for comic effect or was just that confused. Oh well, Next!

    The next person said he was asking his question for his missing girlfriend who was home in Northern Virginia. She was a “massive Twilight Zone fan.” He asked Bill what his remembrances was of his classic Twilight Zone appearance:

    Eventually, a fan asked if he would like to revisit Star Trek. He discusses with questioner Connor about the logistics of making that happen due to the time that has passed. And the minor issue of Kirk being dead.

    Unfortunately for the many fans in line, Bill was so engaging to the fans asking questions that he quickly ran out of time. In the end, the fans showed their appreciation of him and he of them. A quick selfie with the entire audience and he was on his way to Photo-Ops and autograph sessions. And in the end, I got to cross one more thing off my Star Trek bucket list.

    More to come today with Levar Burton and Armin Shimmerman. Stay tuned for more Richmond GalaxyCon reports to come.

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