A couple weeks ago the city of Vancouver hosted a Star Trek Convention.

Headlining the event was probably the two largest stars the franchise has. Leonard Nimoy & William Shatner.

Nimoy, who is more recently known for his work as Dr. William Bell on the hit sci-fi show Fringe, is no stranger to Vancouver. He has made several trips up here to work on the show that he was recently killed off on.

Shatner has also spent some time in the city over the years.

When they showed up to the airport to leave town after their event, they were polar opposites. Nimoy took the time to sign for the multiple people waiting for him there, was talkative & personable. Shatner on the other hand, was every bit the rude & snobby prick you have all heard he is.

Its disappointing that the Canadian was the ruder of the two, considering they were in Canada. But, I knew beforehand to expect rudeness from Bill. Its well known that he is not receptive to doing things like signing or taking photos with people for free.

Seeing him & Mr. Nimoy at the same time, seeing how they both dealt with the requests from fans & dealers alike in two completely opposite ways made me appreciate Mr. Nimoy a bit more.

If it werent for the fact I have absolutely no respect Bills work, or him, I would actually have lost some respect for him that day.  Luckily. I didnt lose anything meeting him, because I already thought so little of him. The others there who got the cold shoulder from him...might have however been soured on him & the Star Trek franchise as a whole. Good PR work Bill.

Thank you for coming to town Leonard Nimoy.
Thank you for leaving town Billy.

A few weeks ago I told you about my second encounter with Mr. Leonard Nimoy (Dr. William Bell- Fringe). But I never posted the photos because a couple things happened. Firstly I promised to show them to a huge fan I know first, after that...well, they got buried under more recent events. But, alas....here they are.

Mr. Nimoy is no stranger to autograph requests. Afterall he is an icon of one of the most memorabilia crazy sub-cultures of all time, Star Trek fans. I am not a Star Trek fan, but friends of mine are. So I felt some level of excitement meeting him simply because I realize how many others would have probably sold their entire collection of other memorabilia that they have compiled over 20 years just to meet him. I kind of compare it to when I met Paul McCartney some. I had no admiration for his most known work with the Beatles, but still understood how amazing it was meeting him still.

To me, Leonard is Dr. William Bell, because I am a fan of Fringe. So this was exciting to me to meet a cast member. But it was obvious others were more thrilled to meet "Spock". Leonard is no stranger to autographing stuff. He commands a pretty penny at Star Trek conventions for his signature, so getting one for free is always a bonus. On this day, like my first meeting, I was getting him to sign an item for someone I know that was a big fan...for free.  The first time I met him I got a Fringe photo signed by him for my friend. I told her at the time if I ever got a chance to get a Star Trek pic signed by him, we would swap the first one I got for that....so that was what we did after that.

When Leonard showed up he was for a few seconds actually happy to see a couple fans. He had a partial smile & a friendly sounding hello. Then he realized we werent infact the only ones there. All toll there was about a dozen fans, hounds & photographers there vying for his attention & his pleasant appearance quickly thinned out to a less happy look. "How did you know I was going to be here?" he quickly asked after realizing there was several people waiting.  I told him "I just bring everyone I know could be in town with me just in case". Which was true, but not entirely true in this case. I infact had knowledge he was coming in from one of my autographing/photographer friends & was anticipating him, unlike many times when I am there just on statistically probable ventures. He signed for me, whiel I asked him to personalize it to my friend, he moved on to signing for others. I left the item out, and a few seconds later he returned & added my friends name to it. I was pleased. It never donned on me to try & get more than 1. Its a rare moment of forgetfulness from me. But I was actually happy with....1? Its happened before, it happened with Sir Paul, it happened with Robert Pattinson one time when he finished off an item I was really impressed with & it happened the first time I met Wayne Gretzky.

From there he moved on & started to make his way to his awating vehicle. I asked him how he liked Fringe, he said it was good. Interestingly enough only a week or two later he was quoted as saying he didnt think he would return to the show because he wasnt happy with how his character was being used/developed.

It was a good day for me. I got Dr. William Bell, Leonard Nimoy from the TV show Fringe. ...or as a few people might know him as "Spock".

I was lucky that he didnt put me in a Vulcan death grip when I met former Star Trek icon known to most people as Spock & current Fringe recurring cast member Leonard Nimoy today shortly after he arrived in town to start filming his scnes for season 2 of Fringe, where he plays mega-businessman/scientist Dr. William Bell.

I had heard terrible things about him all around. He was unfriendly, he was a bad signer, blah blah blah.  So I was prepared for the worst. I expected him to shoot me down. While he didnt put his arms out to hug me & embrace my presence at his hotel, Mr. Nimoy was willing to accomodate my quick autograph request before he was rushed away into an awaiting production vehicle.

I was plaeased to see that all the things I had been told seem to be either fabricated or outright wrong.  Of course, we'll see if hes still as accomodating when he sees me for a 2nd or 3rd time.