It has been 6 years since I’ve been to a Star Trek convention. I’d kind of given up on Star Trek over the last few years, but Enterprise had recently dragged me back into the fandom world. Mostly because of a hot British actor named Dominic Keating who I haven’t been able to take my eyes off all season. Still, I’m not a hardcore Trekkie, so I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make the 1 ½ hour public transit ride out to the suburbs of Toronto by myself to see him speak. After having been though, I can tell you that it was totally worth it. If you ever have a chance to see Dominic speak in person – go. He is funny, engaging and entertaining. And he’s hot.He opened by saying that he’d been to Germany for a con recently and they’d never seen the show before, so he told them he was the Captain. He exclaimed, "By season three, I will be! Kick the old man out!" He told the audience that this was the first time he’d ever been to the Eastern part of Canada and that his girlfriend, Jilly, who’s from Toronto, was in the audience with her father. They went to the CN Tower for dinner the night before (swanky!) and he nearly had a little mishap on the revolving floor.He asked if anyone in the audience had ever been to see him speak before. Only a few hands went up, so he launched into what, at this point, I would call his "material". I won’t recap it because we’ve all heard it. In a nutshell, he told the stories about how he had once auditioned for Voyager, how he got the part on Enterprise (the many audition stories), how he didn’t like the name Malcolm, the signing of his Enterprise contract (on signing off on how his doll should look, he said "Get the hair and crotch right, I don’t care!") and summed it all up by saying he’d had an amazing year and he was very thankful to his fans because they were the reason he had a job and he was eternally grateful for that.He then opened the room up for questions and people were a little hesitant to step up to the mic, so he made a joke about Canadians being too polite (Q: How do you get a bunch of rowdy Canadians to leave your pool party? A: Oh COME on, guys… get out of the pool!)

Question #1 – Had he bothered to learn any of the technology from Star Trek and what the equipment is supposed to do?DK – What do you think? He noted that somebody asked him the exact same question at another con about the instruments on the ship and his answer was – they’re grey.

Question #2 – A lady told him that she’d loved him in some other role he’d done outside of Enterprise.DK - I hate to tell you, but I wasn’t in that. Then he launched into a story about how he is often mistaken for Martin Short. He was in a coffee shop in LA one day and an attractive woman came up to him and asked him if anyone had ever told him who he looks like. He rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, I know. Martin Short." And she said, "No, David Duchovny." He said he was so flattered, he bought her coffee for her. So he was feeling good and another woman came up to him a few minutes later and asked him the same question – if he knew who he looked like. And, feeling cocky, he said, "David Duchovny?" She said, "No, Martin Short!" Dominic made a face and said, "Fine then, get your own coffee!"

Question #3 – Have you ever had an embarrassing moment on set?DK – Not like Connor Trinneer in the decon scene! Dominic took this opportunity to walk around on stage thrusting his groin out to illustrate how big Connor’s, um, package looked in that particular scene. He said that Jolene looked like she was smuggling raisins and Connor looked like he had a small Vietnamese boat family in his trousers. He admitted that he hasn’t really had any embarrassing moments yet. He said that the scene at the end of Two Days and Two Nights where he had to walk around in his ‘shreddies’ was a bit humbling. Because he was a principal and he had to walk around like this in front of all the fully clothed extras.

Question #4 – A lady asked him about his BA in History and did he have a particular historical topic that he was interested in?DK – He said that he did have a specialization, but my tape is too fuzzy to tell what he said. Something about British history, 15th century European history and American history during the Black slavery period, which he said was one of his favourite topics. He said he didn’t really read a lot of history in his spare time – that at the time, he was too busy with the university theatre and going to pubs.

Question #5 – What is boogie boarding?DK – Jolene had told him not to be such a wussy. That it was not ‘boogie boarding’, but rather ‘body boarding’. He explained what it was and says that he loves it. He recently (on his birthday last Monday) was body boarding and smacked his nose with the board (he did have a noticeable scratch on his nose). He said that he’d recently turned 27 and that was the story he was sticking to.

Question #6 – How did you get your role on Desmonds?DK – He met Trix Worrell, the producer, at an after party for a play he’d been in. Trix told him he’d be perfect for the part of "Tony the trendy hairdresser" and that he should audition. So he did and he got the part. He said he did it for 6 years.

Question #7 – Some lady complimented him on his work in Shuttlepod One. DK asked the audience for applause for that, quite shamelessly, and then said that his girlfriend would think he was such a dork for doing that. Then the lady asked him what was the deal with T’Pol’s bum.DK – He didn’t really know what to say to this, so he just said - It’s got it’s own agent, I’ll tell you that! She’s got a nice bum, what can I tell you? I’d look good in a catsuit though – one day!

Question #8 – About what’s happening next season.DK – He said he didn’t know. They keep them in the dark until they receive the scripts. He did say that the cliffhanger is really good. But he wouldn’t say what it was about even though the audience member tried to prod him for more information. He said he’s not stupid enough to fall for that. "If you want to tell the world – tell Trek!"

Question #9 – A little kid asked if Porthos annoys him.DK – No, not at all. He said there are two dogs that play Porthos and they’re both female and they’re both very cute. At one point he was thinking of getting a dog and he thought he’d get one of those – a 13 inch beagle.

Question #10 – Is the relationship between Reed and Trip going to continue?DK – Yes, they’ve seen we have good chemistry between us and they’re going to continue to develop that relationship. We have great chemistry as actors. I’m really looking forward to the next 6 or 7 years and the next couple of movies.

Question #11 – What was the part you auditioned for on Voyager?DK – I can’t remember. I think it was an intergalactic nomadic prince of some kind.

Question #12 – A lady told him that Reed is the favourite character all over the fandom world.DK – What? Me? Really? Are you one of my Peeps? (she didn’t know what the heck he was talking about) Rage, um, Reed Rage? What are they called? (she still didn’t know what he was talking about, but I yelled out Reed Rager at that point and so did a few other women in the audience – so some of us were there, I guess!)

Question #12b – Same lady went on to say that Reed is her favourite, but why are the writers turning him and Trip into chauvinist pigs like on Two Days and Two Nights?DK – He made a reference to it being like two guys going out with high intentions only to end up in a Mexican prison and then joked around implying that it had actually happened to him. He joked that she should get out more because men in clubs are really like that. (He’s so right!)

Question #13 – Why do they always let Malcolm get his ass kicked?DK – He admitted that he has gotten his ass kicked a lot this season and that he’d like the opportunity to do some of the ass kicking next season.

Question #14 – How does it feel to be the first security officer in Starfleet?DK – Am I the first? I guess we are the first in every respect. Um, feels good!

Question #15 – A lady asked about what it was like to be stripped down to their underwear in Two Days and Two Nights. Then said something about them being two gorgeous men in their underwear.DK – (turns to his girlfriend in the audience) I’m gorgeous, Jilly – see?!?

Question #16 – About Trek and the long working hours.DK – Yes, they’re long working days. 14, 15 hour days. But I’ve been lucky lately. Connor and Jolene get the longest hours. Jolene has had it bad lately because she’s getting her own episode this season, so she’s been working alone lately.

Question #17 – Were you in "Almost Famous" because it says so in your bio and I can’t see you in it?DK – Yes, I was in "Almost Famous". My scene got cut out. They cut out all the scenes with heavy drug use. I’m in a scene near the end with Kate Hudson doing heroin, which explains why she’s so messed up at the end. When I went to the premiere, I noticed my scene wasn’t there anymore, but you can still see my hand picking up a bottle of Quaaludes.

Question #18 – Who was your favourite captain and did you watch the show before you got this role?DK – Captain Kirk is my favourite because I watched the original Star Trek when I was a kid. I bothered my father for a colour television and when we got one, I was blown away that Spock’s shirt was blue. I did not see that coming. Then when I moved to California, I ended up living on a commune in Malibu with a guy who watched two things on television – XXX porn from Canada or Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Question #19 – A man asks a totally unintelligible question about the Federation and the difference between the concept of the Federation in the UK and North America. I am not really sure what he was talking about.DK – (obviously has no idea what this guy is on about either) I didn’t know there was a difference. I haven’t done any cons in England and I wasn’t aware that there was a distinction between the concept of the Federation. Then he made a joke about how England still thinks they have an empire and that we’re part of it.

Question #20 – Is there a role that you would kill to play?DK – Ummmmmmm… T’Pol? Maybe some Shakespeare parts – maybe Iago. I play the bad guy well – LOADS of practice. Somewhere along the line, I wouldn’t mind doing some movie roles in America. I’m so happy with what I’m doing now that I feel I shouldn’t wish for something else when I’m happy with what I’ve got.

Then Dominic got the five minute warning and proceeded to auction off a fully signed picture of the Enterprise crew for the Ronald McDonald house. He said he thought it might be the first fully signed picture ever auctioned off for charity. Somebody asked if the auction was in American or Canadian dollars. Dominic said he’d be nice and it could be in Canadian dollars – he said when he arrived at the airport in Toronto, there was a sign that said "Welcome to Canada – half price!". The photo went for $500.