A public farewell for Mr. Scott

[imported_QuiGonJ]

I just found out about this event this afternoon, and I wanted everyone to know about it:
http://www.planetxpo.com/doohan/

This weekend in Hollywood they are having a farewell party/convention for Jimmy Doohan, one of my favorite science fiction actors ever. He is fighting Alzheimer's Disease, and this will be his last public event. Tuesday he will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and then truly retire from public life.

Friday night there is a $150 dinner being attended by the entire living Star Trek cast and with a special appearance by Neil Armstrong with the money going to an Alzheimer's Research Foundation.

I will definitely be going on Sunday.

[jjwr]

Thats too bad, I didn't know he had Alzheimers, he was always one of my favorites and probably the most quoted Star Trek character ever.

[Dan the Man]

Ah kinnae gayt t' th' den'rr 'n time. Ah...dooon't...haf...th' pow'rr!

[imported_QuiGonJ]

aye, but the con part is $15 on Saturday and $25 on Sunday, so if'n ye be in Los Ank-el-ees, ya shult bonnie well ma'e it there.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah its sad I wish I was in LA. I wouldn't mind seeing him. He was one of my favorite characters from Star Trek as well.

[imported_QuiGonJ]

This got a mention on Yahoo news (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=794&ncid=790&e=4&u=/eo/20040827/en_movies_eo/14818). Just thought I'd add it. :)

[imported_QuiGonJ]

Just got back so here's the wrap-up.. unfortunately my friend forgot his camera, but I have a feeling there will be no shortage of pics on the web.

Got there a little after 10, and the first thing we went to the dealer rooms. It was small, specially after Comic-Con, but it did cover all the basics successfully. There were two prop dealers, a movie poster dealer, a figure dealer, a couple general purpose pins/patches type dealers, a self-made DVD salesman who had some neat stuff, and the model Darrk Raven ( http://darrkraven.com/ ) who shows up at Comic Con but other than her being a model I have no idea what she's about. Another room had lots of the Star Trek guest stars doing autographs. I managed to pick up a VOTC Luke for $15, and my friend got a bunch of (probably bootleg) DVDs.

Plenty of folks showed up in costume, saw one girl dressed as Legolas but most were in Star Trek garb. The girl who was Legolas looked a lot like AmazonBabe, but I never really saw her long enough to say Hi and see if it was her. They also had two Star Trek fan groups recruiting for members.

The programming started with trailers, then they showed "Roddenberry on Patrol" which was basically "George Lucas In Love" for Trekkers. The short film was directed by Tim Russ and it had Neelix, Chakotay, Richard Herd, Nichelle Nichols, Chekov and other Trek actors in it. It was cute... then we went to lunch.

Came back and they had an auction in which Jimmy's outfit from Star Trek IV went for $10,000 and they had a host of smaller items. Some of them sold, some didn't, but it was interesting. Then Johnny Bagpipes playin bagpipes and they did a Scotty impersonation contest, which was won handily by an older gent who looked just like James Doohan from the films. I saw that gent after the finale and complimented him on the costume.

The next panel saw Shatner and Nimoy come on and insult each other for an hour, which was actually quite entertaining. At one point Bill started jumping and Nimoy snapped "Careful Bill, you might lose some weight there." They later got in a fight cause Nimoy labelled the Moon a planet while talking about the space program, which Bill picked up on and said he'd never let him live that down.

They were asked if we'd ever see Kirk and Spock together again at which point Bill grabbed Leonard's wrist and said "We're right here... what more do you want?" Nimoy was then asked if he'd ever wear the ears again... he said "Next question..." with a smile. Shatner commented on his possible Enterprise appearance saying he came to them with a story, they said "Great story". He named a price for appearing on Enterprise, and they said "Great story". He thinks his agent is still talking to em, but he's not sure if he'll be on the show or not.

They did talk about the old days, and times with James Doohan. Shatner asked why Jimmy hated him so much.. and then kept asking Nimoy the question as his voice got louder and louder and LOUDER.

One last bit... Leonard did congratulate Mr. Shatner about his Emmy nomination and Bill staggered backwards. "You.. are congratulating me.. on my acting? Are you serious." I think he was just kidding around, but I'm not sure.

After some more banter, they wrapped things up and both of them left, which I found rather tacky of them, but then again, maybe they felt they had said their goodbyes in private. Dunno. They said they saw Jimmy in his hotel room after the dinner they had last night, and Jimmy was crying because he couldn't believe that many people really loved him.

There was a break in the schedule for 45 minutes, and then they had the grand finale. They had a tribute reel, that had pretty much every line Scotty ever said, from the original series through the movies and his appearance on TNG. Then, aside from Nimoy and Shatner, the entire living cast from the original show, Grace Lee Whitney, Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig, and then the man himself came out... Jimmy came in driving his motorized wheelchair with his wife and 4-year-old daughter (yes, that's right 4 years old), and the roof came off the place with cheers, applause, and it was bittersweet to see him. I can't say for sure he knew what was going on, but he smiled at everyone and looked very happy. Didn't say a word. I think the Alzheimer's has really taken hold. Nichelle Nichols then introduced Dr. Neil Armstrong, who flew in from overseas just for this event, who gave Jimmy a hug. Jimmy stood up with some help, waved, and then they escorted him off.

It was sad, but I do feel like I saw history today, and was very happy I went.

[Lady Vader]

Aw, Scotty. He was one of the coolest charaters from the original ST series. :( I'm sorry I missed this.


Plenty of folks showed up in costume, saw one girl dressed as Legolas but most were in Star Trek garb. The girl who was Legolas looked a lot like AmazonBabe, but I never really saw her long enough to say Hi and see if it was her.

I have an elven twin! :eek

No, that wasn't me. :) I was kinda in Kentucky this past weekend, so unless I can bilocate (still working on it), the Legolas chic was just a very good imitation of me. :)

[imported_QuiGonJ]

I kinda thought you'd have said Hi or somethin. :)

[Lady Vader]

If it had been me, I certainly would have. :)