Grand Slam 2006 – Day Two

Oh man, what a great day!

Firefly panel: HAWESOME.
G4 booth babes: HAWESOME
Talking with Brent: HAWESOME.
Reading and Q&A: HAWESOME.

I’m just too damn tired to get into the details now, but I have lots of great notes, and I recorded my entire talk for a future RFB.

I’m going to fall into bed, now.

Update: Actually, there is one thing really worth adding right now, while the memory of it is still more visceral than intellectual.

The last question I took during my Q&A (the first I’ve done in several years) was about Michael Piller. A woman asked me if I could comment on Michael, and what it was like to work with him. All my comments are recorded, but they can be distilled down to this: Michael was brilliant, and he made The Next Generation great. When I was done, and sadly after I’d switched off my recorded, Harry Kloor, a friend of mine who is an accomplished writer and producer, walked up to the stage, and he said, "I wrote for Michael. He was like a father to all of us."

I turned the microphone back on, and told the crowd, "There’s something I think you should hear, that’s important."

I gave the mic to Harry, and he said, "I just told Wil that Michael was like a father to all of his writers. He could be stern, he could be tough, he could be nurturing, and he could be supportive. And he made all of us want to be — no, he made us better writers."

I thought it was a wonderful tribute to Michael’s memory and his legacy: he didn’t just leave us with amazing television like Star Trek and The Dead Zone; Michael also helped a lot of writers discover and achieve their potential. He cast a stone into a pond, and the ripples (like Battlestar Galactica, for one) are just beginning to show.
 

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20 thoughts on “Grand Slam 2006 – Day Two”

  4. Excellent. Glad you had a good day. I’m looking forward to the next RFB to hear all about it. Should be interesting. He he.
    Shauna

  5. Sounds like a fantastic day!
    Like the others, I will be anctiously awaiting the RFB that will have the talk for us to hear. It was so cool having RFB…for days…in a row even! At the risk of sounding cliche, it was….HAWESOME 🙂

  6. Anything exciting in the Firefly panel? Talks of a Serenity sequel? Any mention of “Firefly 2”, or whatever the proposed TV ressurection was being called?

  7. Mr. Piller is sorely missed. His talents are truly leaving a mark on sci-fi as we know it, and I am honored to have followed his work for as long as he was loaned ot us.
    Wha? No booth babe photos?!

  8. At first I was very opposed to watching the “new” Star Trek, but after I gave it a whirl I was so impressed with the writing. Next Generation was one of the more intelligent and thinking persons shows on tv at the time.
    Can’t wait to hear more.

  10. wolfger – They all indicated that they loved their characters, each other, and working for Joss, so it was pretty clear that if they had the chance to do another show, they’d jump at it.
    However, they didn’t say if they had been given the green light for more movies.

  11. I checked out the link for Harry Kloor’s IMDB entry, and to my emazement, he wrote not one, not two, but *three* of my favorite Voyager episodes: “Drone”, “Scientific Method”, and “Real Life”, which still manages to touch me, even after all those reruns. If you talk to him again, tell him a “Kudos” from me, will ya? 🙂

  12. I can’t believe I’ve gotten so far away from Star Trek fandom that I only learned of Michael Piller’s death reading your blog. I’m very sorry to hear it, he helped make TNG what it was.

  13. Happy to hear of what a great time you had – I expected nothing less. =) Thanks for listing those episodes, hdort. I’m inspired to seek them out now.

  15. I love the Dead Zone tv show with A.M.H. , sorry that Michael won’t be involved with that anymore.
    Also.. boycott G4?
    I AM SICK of hearing about people complaining about G4. GET OVER IT!. I love the shows on it, Attack of the show, arena, cheat, x-play… and others.. I watch g4 regularly and It’s fine. Geez..

  16. I remember when Next Generation came out.
    I was like..Yeah Right.
    Then I watched one episode.
    From then on, when the show would come on, even Ed McMahon could have rang the doorbell and would have been left out in the cold. Nobody was taking me off of the couch! I have enjoyed everything Star Trek related, but no series quite like Next Generation.
    Kevin Dill
    http://ushightech.com

  17. “Talking with Brent: HAWESOME.”
    Did you talk to him about the end of Threshold?
    I wasn’t a fan of that show but it’d interesting to see what his thoughts were on that one.
    Maybe someone needs to point me to an interview online? 🙂

  18. I think that is a great tribute to Micheal. I have been a fan for along time. I too wish that Threshold had lasted longer. i would love to see where it wouold go..Yes Micheal will be missed, but remembered as well, so he lives on……..

  20. It was great to meet you that day! I was the woman with the long dark hair who said it was my first ever Star Trek convention! You were very kind to give me advice on how to handle all the overwhelming aspects of the day! Thank you, and thank you for the photo op!

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