I can now die a happier man. On Saturday, January 28th, at approximately 12:50 p.m., I met Mr. William Shatner. To fully understand the importance of this event to your faithful writer, we need to go back in time to when I was eleven years old. I discovered Star Trek during its afternoon syndication after school. My friend Mitch Markow and I were fans from the very first minute we saw Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise. So much were we bitten by the Trekkie bug that we made wall intercoms, and communicators out of construction paper and picked out our most futuristic water pistols to serve as phasers. After the show, we tried to recreate the episode we just saw. My first choice as a character back then, (silly me) was Mr. Spock. Mitch, however, was a little faster on the “call-it” rule and he called Mr. Spock before I did. That left me, by default to be Captain Kirk. Thus began my love affair with William Shatner.
Very quickly I realized that James T. Kirk was the man. I loved how he dealt with the people and aliens he met, both friend and foe. My eleven-year-old self even realized his way with the ladies, although I could not fully appreciate the babe magnet Captain Kirk was. I copied Captain Kirk’s mannerisms, his speech, and I even tried to tell my barber how to cut my hair like Captain Kirk. Looking back how, I realize what a mistake it was that I did not fully embrace my new character. Had I lived the part in the years after, my way with the Junior High and High School girls would have made me the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, it did not turn out that way. My excuse was that any pretty girl was probably not a Trekkie and would not appreciate my smoothness as James T. Kirk. Well, that, and the fact that talking to a girl socially was about as easy for me as rebuilding a carburetor blindfolded.
However, my ineptness with girls did not diminish my fanboy admiration for William Shatner. Once, while visiting relatives in Texas, I told an aunt of mine of my love for William Shatner. She had me almost in tears when she said “Oh, he’s old and fat now and I saw him on television doing margarine commercials.” Hah, lady, the joke’s on you as only a year or two later, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released and Captain Kirk re-emerged as a heroic captain of space exploration to a whole new fanbase.
In the years after, as Trek movies came and went, and realizing that Captain Kirk was now well past the age to draw Social Security, I wondered if I was ever going to meet him at a convention. Like a bag of money falling into my lap from the sky, New Orleans Comic Con 2012 came through.
Which brings us now to the present. A lifelong dream of mine was fulfilled when I met William Shatner. Well, “met”, while technically true, is not entirely honest. More truthfully, I was in his presence for around fifteen seconds. The line to get a William Shatner picture was long, but moved quickly. As I approached the front, I felt my knees noticeably shaking. Wow. I just hope I didn’t collapse and fall or something like that. Just as quickly, I was near the front and could see Captain Kirk himself in the photo area, smiling as he took picture after picture. A random thought went through my head. How many pictures has he taken with his fans? I’d probably say the number is in the tens of thousands. Still, watching, him he gave each person a genuine smile, as if the picture were for that person and that person alone. And, just as quickly, it was my turn. I walked up to my idol, the man I’d wanted to meet ever since I was eleven years old. As I paused by him preparing for the picture, I managed to speak a coherent sentence, which was something like “Mr. Shatner, it’s a great honor to meet you.” More importantly, however, he spoke to me. I was in my Klingon uniform, and he looked at me as I walked up to him and said, “Nice job.” A thirteen year old girl who just had Justin Bieber show up at her birthday party could not have swooned more than I did. I did swoon. However, I kept it all inside, as a true Klingon warrior would. I paused, in his presence, standing inches from him as the photographer took our picture. Just as quickly, it was over. Thank you, Mr. Shatner, for bringing a world of happiness to this eleven year old boy.
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