Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood Fan Expo Dallas 2018

I remember first learning about 2001: A Space Odyssey as a kid. It was on TV. Since it was Sci Fi I had to watch it. It came on late in the evening and mom and dad would not let me stay up to watch it.  I’m sure my 12 year old mind would have been thoroughly confused and thoroughly bored. It is a slow plodding movie. After all these years, I still find parts of it boring and confusing. However, it did spark the public's imagination and help build a road for more impressive special effects that have sparked even more imaginations over the decades.

Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood were at Fan Expo and they were still at their tables late on Friday.

I walked up to Keir. I told him I loved watching Starlost when I was a kid. He asked when I saw it and where I lived. It was not nationally shown and it was filmed in Canada.  He told me I was one of the lucky ones.  I also admitted I watched it about 10 years ago on Netflix and thought it was still good.

Then I walked up to Gary. Right away he asked if I went to Alabama.  Since I worked from home that day, I was wearing one of my UofA golf shirts. I smiled and said no.  The ‘A’ on my shirt was for Arizona.  Then he mentioned that the Eagles quarterback went to the UofA.  I admitted he did go there. Then we talked football. If you now me, when it comes to football, my side of the conversation was just nodding and agreeing.

AH

Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea #SDCC 2013

Gary Lockwood has been at SDCC for years. Being a big Star Trek fan I’m not sure why I haven’t stopped and picked up his autograph.  Maybe the fates were telling me to wait. This year Keir Dullea was with him. So I picked up both of them on one photo.

Regardless of your feelings about 2001: A Space Odyssey, it is a movie that has made an impact to society and how we view space. The characters that these two portray are iconic.   It was a no brainer to get a photo with both their signatures.

Both were sitting.  Gary was quietly watching the crowd. Keir was the side show barker. Announcing to the passersbys that the booth had 2, count them 2, members from the movie ‘2001’ signing autographs.  I stopped and smiled and tried to say something pithy like, ‘And there they are!’ as I pointed to them.  Keir nodded in agreed.  He wasn’t denying it.

I told him I had recently watched Starlost on Netflix.  He shook his head in wonder.  He told me I was too young to have known about that series. I had to admit I saw it as a very very young one but the imagery stayed with me.

I picked out a photo with both of them to sign from ‘2001’. Keir signed it and then handed the photo to Gary. Gary thought I said Star Trek instead of Starlost and mentioned in he was in the  Star Trek pilot.  I told him I was a big Trekkie and of course I recognized him from Star Trek.

So I’m glad I procrastinated all these years as I got both at one shot.

AH