When I Met William Shatner

The Shat

In July of last year I had a chance to meet my geek idol, William Shatner. He was appearing at a show called Fandomfest in Louisville, Kentucky. It was not a disappointment.

Growing up, Star Trek was my all-time favorite show, and is still a huge favorite. Sure, you can say Shatner was wooden or had strange staccato pauses in his delivery ... I didn’t care then and I don’t now. I just love the guy, quirky or no. His Captain Kirk was one of the manliest characters ever on television, and definitely appealed to women, green and otherwise.

The convention line in the morning was actually not bad. The great Stan Lee's line dwarfed Shatner's but they were still moving folks through quickly. People were highly discouraged from talking to the celebs, but I thought I would try it and see if I could engage him for a moment. I handed Shatner the Captain Kirk photo I had for him to autograph. I politely told him I enjoyed his books on CD and his performances of them. He stared a me for a millisecond as if I were pond scum, signed the photo, muttered "Thank you," in a small voice and looked behind me to the next person. That may sound somewhat mean, but I loved it. Shatner has always struck me as an aloof, not friendly (not necessarily unfriendly) person. And I dined out on that story for a month or so, so I'm happy.