Actually got into see Patrick and Kate on Saturday — no thanks to the organizers at Dragon Con, who couldn’t run a one car funeral.”

I’ve never heard it put better. DragonCon succeeds because of the fans, not because of the organizers. If you avoid the staff, you are guaranteed a good time. This year was the worst for staff YELLING at fans who asked questions like about where the end of the admission line is- not a singular event (little miss who was directing line for Adam Savage panel was an example of this)

I watched all the major panels on CCTV, which had some technical glitches for otherwise good productions.

Kate was wonderful. I have renewed respect for her. (not missing from before, just forgotten how much I like her)

Shatner was… well… playing the irascible Bill we all know today. He and Nimoy, when schticking it up, are as strong as any comedy duo in history.

As to the autograph prices, blame the black-marketeers on eBay, etc. They and the fake autograph sellers have made it the way it is, not the stars.

Regarding the photo sessions, it’s definitely the whim of the star to be social or not. Jonathan Frakes and Katee Sackhoff were all kinds of great fun to be with.

That seems to be par for the course with Shatner. A few years ago I went to a creation convention and sprang for the Kirk/Spock picture. Shatner and Nimoy were on chairs and us lowly fans stood behind/between them. While Mr. Nimoy made an honest effort to not only look at the camera but to smile for the photo, Shatner, who had just arrived minutes before the shoot, was carrying on a conversation with Nimoy, talking about his trip, etc. He did not stop talking for the pictures, and you got what you got. I was fortunate that in my picture he was mostly looking at the camera and whatever word he was speaking at the time made it look like he was smiling a little.

There was a woman behind me who said she had gotten pictures with Shatner at 2 previous conventions and he wasn’t looking at the camera in either one, and that if he didn’t look at the camera for this one she was going to give up!

You people who are calling Kate Mulgrew a c–t … man, y’all are some sad, sad a-holes. So you didn’t like “Voyager,” eh? So be it. But calling a person a name like that with no real basis for it is just plain sad, and it makes we wonder how somebody as stupid as you could ever get any actual value out of watching ANY of the Trek series.

In person, Mulgrew is as captivating a speaker as I have ever heard. Absolutely wonderful. It is obvious that while she didn’t necessarily love all of the developments “Voyager” went through — she seemed extremely dismissive of the Fair Haven love story episodes — she took the character seriously, and continues to do so. She expressed these feelings with great candor, sincerity, and gratefulness.

If that makes her a c–t in your book, then you are a f—ing cretin.

Picard will likely ALWAYS be my favorite Trek captain, and he, too, was a captivating speaker; he didn’t seem quite as comfortable with the stage (or with the Trek fandom) as Mulgrew seemed, but I can’t fault him for either one of those things. I came away feeling lucky to have seen him speak.

As for Shatner and Nimoy, I’ve heard numerous people express serious disappointment with how impersonal an approach they took to autograph signings and photographs with fans. No personal touch AT ALL, plus exorbitant fees. I don’t want to damn either man for that, and won’t.

However, Dragon*Con was also attended this weekend by Terry Gilliam, who is at least as notable a name as either Shatner or Nimoy. Not only did he not charge for autographs or photos, he also stayed several hours past the time the con allotted him for the autograph room, so that as many of the fans waiting in line for hours to see him would be served as possible. I’m not into autographs, but one of my friends spent close to six hours waiting in line (three unsuccessful hours one day, three successful hours the next) to get a book about Python signed.

He was literally the last person Gilliam saw in a three-hour-plus signing session, and my friend told me that Gilliam was as pleasant as could be, downright friendly, despite having been stuck in a hot room, signing his name and smiling for photos for hours on end … all for free. Eric told me that Gilliam, as far as he could tell, was similarly kind and friendly to all of the people in line in front of him.

So if a legendary director like Gilliam can behave that way, well, it doesn’t make Shatner and Nimoy seem much like princes for simply posing and signing without issuing so much as a hello to the people paying them valuable dollars just for the opportunity of saying hello to them and passing the briefest of words to them.