February 2002

Seattle Convention

Peeps Take Over the Seattle Convention. Well, not quite………

By Lenore Leckvold

This is my first attempt at reporting on anything, let alone a Star Trek Convention. I have been taking notes the last couple of days and chatting online with those I attended with to refresh my memory. It was such an exhilarating experience and went so quickly that is hard to recall everything. It is my intention in this report to give you my impressions of the event.

I should begin by explaining why we call ourselves "peeps" on the DK Message Board. In an article a while back, DK said he was looking at the line of people waiting to get into a convention where he would be appearing. He said something about them being his "peeps". A fan on the DK Message Board ran with that and now we call ourselves, DK’s Peeps. The marshmallow treats called "peeps" have become quite popular on the DK Board and has brought us some very amusing computer picture manipulations.

The first excitement of the day was meeting each other. Seven of us (ScottyDS9, dnash, Arden, Kipster, Laughing Muse, DKFaye, and Catherine from the chat room) met at the convention hotel for breakfast. It was fun to meet other DK fans who I had only "talked to" in message boards or in chat rooms. We spent the time getting to know one another and looking around the dealer rooms before the BIG event of the day for us would take place.

Dominic Keating on stage is an amazing thing! Those of us with cameras quickly discovered that the man does not stand still! He was always on the move and very animated. He told the story of how he got the part of Malcolm Reed which I won’t retell as it is in previous con reports. He talked about a couple of upcoming episodes. In one he will be disguised as a Suliban (in full Suliban make-up) for a rescue mission. I have been trying ever since to picture him as a Suliban. He talked about filming an episode where Connor Trinneer is strung up, hanging from the ceiling looking quite uncomfortable for about 5 hours. DK said he sat there on the set watching, eating his bagel. He then proceeded to pantomime for us eating his bagel and then offering a bite to poor Connor. This got quite a laugh from the audience.

Another big laugh from the audience came when DK looked at a big cushy chair on stage and stated that it looked something like the Captain’s chair on the bridge. He thought he might try it out and get used to sitting in it as it would be his by the third season. He proceeded to sit back in the chair and put his feet up.

During question and answer time an audience member asked him about pineapple. His character, Malcolm Reed, loves pineapple. They wanted to know if he did too. The answer was no, he doesn’t like pineapple. He said they served some kind of a fruit plate on the plane and he left the pineapple. A lady in the front of the room called out to him on stage that she just checked EBay and his leftover pineapple from the plane had a bid of 

$300.Another good laugh from the audience.

I have no idea what came over me, but I raised my hand to ask a question. When he pointed at me and called me "dear" I could hardly stand up. It didn’t matter that he called all the women that. I enjoyed it anyway. He had earlier mentioned that he reads his message board and likes to see what his fans think about what he is doing on the show. We have told him we love him for that and for posting on it himself occasionally. I asked him if he was aware that there was a group of regular posters to his message board in attendance at the convention. He was aware that we were there. I introduced myself with my screen name (DKFaye) and he repeated it back to me, obviously recognizing it from the Message Board where I post often. When I heard him repeat my name, I began melting in the aisle. Somehow I managed to ask him what kind of music he listens to. I was so flustered I barely remember the answer except for Pink Floyd, jazz, and classical. There were other types of music, but I don’t remember what they were. Someone asked him if he thought they could get rid of the theme song. At that point he began singing the first three lines. He told the person asking the question that he liked the theme song.

Our group of six "peeps" stayed together at the end of the autograph line as we had a gift for DK. I had gathered email messages sent to me for DK from some regular posters and printed them out along with a beautiful drawing of DK by Toonces and a page of computer art by Thinkey. I put them in a notebook with a cover saying, "To Dominic Keating: From His Peeps in the DK Hot Tub and the DK Message Board." 

The DK Hot Tub is what we call the Dominic Keating Chat room. We also had a box of yellow peeps, of course. There was another small gift from someone in our group but I will let her tell about that.

I was in the front of our group as I was to present the book and peeps. How do I get myself into these things? As we got closer we were all busy taking pictures and craning our necks for a better look. With my heart pounding, I stepped up to the table in front of Dominic Keating. He looked up at me and I gave him the book and peeps. In that amazing voice of his he said, "Is this for me?" I told him it was from posters to his board. He had a big smile on his face as he looked at it that I call his "pineapple cake smile". It reminded me so much of the smile he had on "Silent Enemy" when he realized his birthday cake was pineapple. I got my autograph and moved on while the rest of the "peeps" came through the line getting autographs and pictures.

This might be a good time to mention that later while we were by ourselves, we all agreed that although DK looks great on TV and in photographs, he is even more incredibly handsome in person.

DK was kind enough to take a group picture with us after finishing with the last few people in the autograph line. How excited we all were! We all gathered around him and several pictures were taken. DK then turned around and began giving each of us a handshake. When it was my turn, I smiled at him and said, "Thank you , Dominic." He smiled back. I remember thinking at that moment, "what an incredibly nice man he is".

We are all grateful that he took those last few moments with us. It made us feel special and gave us a memory none of us will soon forget.

When we all began parting to go our separate ways (2 of us are local to Seattle, 3 from Canada, 1 from Arizona), we felt that we had made new friends and it was fun to put a face with those we were chatting with online.

We have hopes of meeting again at other cons ( possibly at the Vegas Con) and certainly continuing to keep in contact online.

Thank you, Dominic Keating, for a delightful convention appearance and for making your fans feel special.