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 Robert Picardo seemed very aware he started Saturday in a tough position. Plans changed and he was no longer going to speak at 2:30 as scheduled, instead Nichelle Nichols had the 2:30 time slot and he had been moved to 4.

I had initially assumed (always a dangerous thing) that he had been switched to 4 because he could not make it to the 2:30 time slot, so I was more than a bit surprised to find him at his table on the Walk of Fame at 3:00.

I tried to casually inquire why the change had been made and he said it seemed that Nichelle Nichols and the larger room they had decided to move her into would work better at 2:30 p.m. With a bit of a smile he said he probably could have gone at 2:30 if he had raised a stink or been the kind of person he wouldn't respect tomorrow - but he had decided to remain the kind of lower key guy he could respect... but that did not appear to totally satisfy him. He casually asked me if the way I had found out about the schedule change was clear enough, and well posted enough, that his fans weren't going to be upset or disappointed... or miss him entirely because of it.

He seemed painfully aware that his fans deserved to be treated with respect and he didn't want to disappoint them - and yet he did not seem to want to disappoint himself and act like the kind of actor we so often hear bad things about.

For that I respect him immensely!

He could have been mean or rude - he could have assumed Nichelle was acting like the kind of actor he didn't respect, but instead he thought through every side of the situation and seemed to understand that if it hadn't been for the original series there would be no TNG, Deep Space 9, or Voyager... and that it made sense they would try and move her into a bigger room, and you do that when the bigger room is available.

His panel was remarkable. He sang, he told jokes - he entertained the crowd tremendously!

I saw him afterwards and told him just how well it seemed to have gone - and that I was thrilled he'd had a standing room only crowd even with the time change, which could have meant people missed it - but it did not seem to have. He seemed relieved as well. He had come all this way to try and entertain his fans - and he went all the way in an effort to entertain his fans - and it paid off.

During his panel his cell phone rang - while he was singing. So he kept singing, pulled his phone out of his pocket, remarked it was his wife he'd call her back later, and tried to hit the button to ignore the phone call, or so he thought. As the song ended when he went to put his phone back in his pocket he realized, and remarked, that he had picked up the phone call and left the line open for the entire second verse of the song. A few seconds later the phone rang again and with a laugh he declared "it's my wife, calling back" turns out she was calling to say she hoped he'd gotten a good round of applause because the song had sounded good over the phone! He got a second round of applause and a laugh for that one!

All in all, it was a fun panel, full of laughter and appreciation for a very talented man. It came as no surprise to me when I got down to his table on the walk of fame later and he said he'd just sold out of the CD he talked about in the panel, and sang from - and inspired me to want to buy. I guess this is another case of being grateful he has an official website I can go to in the coming weeks and buy my copy from.

(C) Kay Kellam, 2001 for PopArtsPlace.com
Prior to having her first novel, A Life to Di For, published author Kay Kellam enjoyed a variety of jobs that helped to shape her outlook on the world, and her profession.   more...


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