July 2002

Tampa, Florida

As remembered by Brianna

Sunday July 21, Dominic Keating had a wonderful convention. He was sweet, charming, and hysterically funny. But I first have to give you some background information that will help later on. When we got there Elice, the person I went with, thought she had been overcharged for her ticket, and we went to the ticket table to figure it out. A man helped us, and decided she had been charged $10 more than she was supposed to. Then, we had bought this little duck to give Dominic because we thought it looked like a peep, and we were writing a note to attach to it. While we were writing, the man from the ticket table walked by and started chatting to us. He asked what we were there for and we said Dominic. Then he left, and we went to see the presentation.

He answered a lot of questions and told his regular stories including the one about Next Generation and XXX Canadian porn. He sang and shaked, laughed and joked. Elice asked him what advice he would give to an aspiring actor and he said, "Don't!" I know I may seem like I am rushing through the questions part, only because I want to get to the end, so if you want to know what other questions and answers there were I can write those also. After the questions part, they brought out a pineapple cake. Dominic had previously answered a question about pineapple and said that he didn't really like it. But he cut the cake, "With this knife I cut this cake," and then held up the slice and said, "Pineapple?! How did you know?!" Then he ate it!

Next, a desk was brought out for autographs. And they said you had to be behind the second row to take pictures, he couldn't personalize autographs, and you couldn't stand there and have a chitchat with him. When we got up there, our "friend" from the ticket table was standing on the stage. And he said to us "Hey you guys, I told Dominic that you were here just to see him and not for all the Star Trek stuff." And then he walked with us up to Dominic and told him that we were the two girls he had told him about before. And Dominic got a big smile and signed our things and said to "Oh! So you're my big peeps eh?" and then told us he was sorry for saying "Don't!" to her question and that he felt really bad and if you really wanted to do it, that to go for it. Then I gave him the duck and he said "Hey! This looks like a peep!" Then we went to take pictures, and I was holding up my video camera to take a still shot, and Dominic looks up and thought I was recording so he started waving at me. After that I turned it on record, and he looked up and I waved at him and he waved back.

Throughout the rest of the autographs he would keep looking over at us and smiling, laughing or waving. A couple of times he would say something like "You guys are still here?! You're too cute!" Then when the last of the people were in line he points to the last guy and says "I love him the most!" and I yelled back "But what about us?!" and he said back "OH! I love you the most!!" and I said, "That's what I thought!" and he laughed. Then after almost all the people were gone and it was time for him to go to the airport, he puts the duck and his other present in his bag, and walks over to us and says, "Thank you guys for coming here and staying!" Then he shook our hands and kissed us on the cheek! Then we all started walking down the hallway and he's right next to us, and Elice said that she had met David Duchovny and that he (Dominic) looked a lot better than him. And then he asked where she had met Duchovny, and she said she was invited to the X-Files set. And he said that he had met him at a coffee shop once before. Then I'm not sure what happened but Elice said that she was just going to college out in Malibu, and said "Oh, Pepperdine?" and she said yes. Then he said that he goes out there to surf and that every Saturday and Sunday he goes to some coffee shop, that I forget the name of, between 4pm and 5pm. Then by that time we were at the door and he asked us for our names, "I'm Elice," "Oh, Elice!" "And I'm Brianna," "Oh, Brianna, that's a nice name! Elice and Brianna, Elice and Brianna, Elice and Brianna" then he shook our hands and got into his car. Then we were walking through the parking lot and his car drives by and he waves at us and the driver, Joe Motes, rolls down his window and asks if we want to jump on the roof and come with them. But then they drove away.

And that was my amazing Tampa Vulkon experience, I can still feel the kiss, and I hope he comes back next summer!

July 2002

Tampa, Florida 

Convention Report by Norm Liddell of USS Haven

(Reprinted with permission)

Dominic Keating bounded onto the stage Sunday shouting that he was the best "shaker" in the cast (referring to physical shaking performed during action scenes on the bridge). He broke into a few bars of "Faith of the Heart" as the fans cheered. Dressed in a jeans jacket and t-shirt, he laughed and joked excitedly sharing personal stories about his involvement with ENTERPRISE.

He revealed that after he auditioned for ENTERPRISE, he was in the middle of getting his car towed when his agent called on his cell phone: "They love you for Malcolm Reed". Realizing he had landed the role, he jumped up and down, then spun around several times. The tow-truck driver, who had no idea what Keating was so excited about, was asking where to tow his car. "Tow it anywhere! Tow it anywhere you want!" Keating howled, laughing loudly with excitement.

The following Monday, he was at the studio with the casting director when Rick Berman and Brannon Braga entered the room and asked him "Are you ready for the next seven years?"  He responded with a "Yes," then they walked out of the room. He then realized that his deal would not become final until the paperwork was done and he received the final call to sign off on the finished contract.

Describing the tension and excitement, he paced back and forth across the stage revealing to the crowd that no one called him for an entire week. When the offer was about to expire the following Monday, he went out for a walk, figuring something had gone wrong.  He returned with frustration and noticed the message light blinking on his phone. He had 17 messages waiting for him. "Dominic, Where are you?"..."Dominic, we need you at the studio." … he rattled off describing the messages excitedly to the crowd.