Who: Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, Walter Koenig & George Takei

Other Guests: Julie Caitlin-Brown (ST: TNG, DS9 & Babylon 5), Scott MacDonald (ST: TNG, DS9 & Voyager), Anthony Daniels (Star Wars), Herb Jefferson Jr. & Anne Lockhart (Battlestar Gallactica)

Where: San Francisco, CA

When: June 12/13, 1999

By: Slanted Fedora, http://www.sfedora.com

 Info: Together the fans, the stars and guest stars were able to grieve together. It was the weekend Deforest Kelley passed away. Although the moods of, "The Fab Four" (Nichols, Doohan, Koenig & Takei), were more somber than usual, they were quite entertaining. They made us laugh with great inside stories and teasing each other. Mostly at the expense of George Takei and his flourescent tennis shoes.

There were the usual questions; favorite episode, future movies, what they're doing now. Then a fan asked about their memories of Deforest Kelley. All the stories were similar. He was the kindest, most generous man they knew.

 James Doohan told a story about how grateful Deforest Kelley was for the smallest kindnesses. Doohan overheard Kelley saying he liked to have a candy bar each night before bedtime. So Mr. Doohan went to Costco and bought the biggest box of candy bars he could find. He then went to Deforest Kelley's home, put the box of candy on the doormat, rang the doorbell and ran! When Kelley found out who did it, he couldn't believe anyone would do something so nice. Doohan said Mr. Kelley was always so appreciative and was always there for him or anyone who needed someone to talk to.

Nichelle Nichols had seen Deforest Kelley just a week before. She brought a plant in a large ceramic pot to his hospital room and visited with him and his wife. A few days later she received a message from him on her answering machine. He said, "Thank you so much for the plant and the ceramic pot is just so beautiful. It really made the room bright and cheerful. And you still have the best looking behind I've ever seen!"

Walter Koenig, who remained quiet and solemn through most of the show, was glad someone had asked. He talked about how Deforest Kelley was always there to listen. He never had a bad thing to say about anyone and that he was "fatherly" toward him. And the most honest and trustworthy person he had ever known. Mr. Koenig and George Takei spoke similarly of him and with deep emotion.

All of the "Fab Four" agreed that Mr. Deforest Kelley will be missed and the world has lost a very special soul.

While waiting in line for autographs, I was lucky enough to be close by when Nichelle Nichols and Julie Caitlin-Brown began singing. They sang Sweet Georgia Brown. Nichelle Nichols has the most beautiful, rich voice. They sounded wonderful together.

All of the "Fab Four" were very friendly and allowed fans to take photos. James Doohan even had someone helping out that would take the photo for you. If you're at a future convention with Walter Koenig or George Takei, they will sign their books without having to purchase an extra autograph ticket. Something I wish I had known before the convention!

Review: There were a couple of negative things about the convention. I had paid more for reserved seating up close to the stage, way in advance. When we came back from lunch, our seats were taken and the people sitting there said the person running the convention told everyone to move up. So I ended up with worse seats than I paid for. When it was time to wait in line for autographs, we were to show our seat number, found on a sticker they gave us. The same stickers were used to identify the seats. So all the people who paid much less for their tickets pulled off the stickers from the chairs and were able to get in the beginning of the line. To make matters worse, the promoter completely skipped our row and let the row behind us go first! And he didn't see any reason to apologize. I went ahead and got in line, taking my fellow row members with me.I sent an e-mail to Slanted Fedora, but I've never received a reply back. I was as much disappointed in the fans as I was the Slanted Fedora promoter. I'll let you know if I ever hear from them.

Overall, all the annoyances were worth getting to see the "Fab Four" and to spend such a sad weekend with other people who understood.

Who: Jeri Ryan

Other Guests: Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh the Borg), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Jennifer Hetrick, & Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Campbell)

Where: Fairfield, CA

When: March 7, 1999

By: Stellar Con, http://www.FUNSHOWS.com

Info: Jennifer Hetrick, Patti Yasutake and Jonathan Del Arco were on stage together answering questions. Patti Yasutake played emcee and took the microphone out in the audience so it was easier to hear the questions. They ended up signing autographs for hours. Jeri Ryan was scheduled to appear at 4:00 but called and said her son was sick and she couldn't make the plane in LA. She did take a later flight and arrived at 7:00. Hetrick, Yasutake, Del Arco stayed and kept signing autographs until she arrived.

Scarlet Pomers was the surprise guest. It was her first convention & she did a wonderful job. She was well spoken and funny. She told us that she and Jeri Ryan ran around the set playing hide-and-seek & tag. She also signed autographs for a very long time.

Jeri Ryan actually showed up and seemed in a really great mood considering what she'd been through. I thought it was wonderful to show up at all. She really showed the fans how important they are to her. There was a lot of "male whooping" going on whenever she mentioned anything even slightly risqué. Her reaction to this was to roll her eyes and say, "come on you guys!" She was a lot of fun and obviously an intelligent person. When asked how joining the cast late felt, she said they all made her feel very comfortable. She also told us that she has a very hard time keeping a straight face during filming. They all like to tease and make faces at each other & just looking at them makes her laugh. Her way of handling this situation is to look past them on a wall behind the other actors. So she's not actually looking into their eyes, she's looking at a spot on the wall! Robert Picardo (the EMH doctor) is the biggest culprit of all.

Jeri Ryan wasn't able to stay long enough to give all of us an autograph. I wrote to her later and she signed both the photo and the trading card that I sent.

Review: I've been to several of Funshows conventions and they have all been organized and ran very smoothly. The set up is great and they take us row by row to get autographs. And they do check your ticket when you arrive at the autograph tables. All I can say are positive things. They even had Jeri Ryan pre-sign autographs on the way to the convention and sold them for only $15.00 to people who weren't able to get autographs from her. It was a great thing to do. The only thing they could add is more food stations! The line was horrible; a lot of wasted shopping time waiting!

Who: Grand Slam 2001 - The Voyager Crew, Ricardo Montalban & more!

Info: MORE TO COME SOON!

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