A furry piece of history
It has been literally MONTHS since this thing has happened to me, and I am appalled that I've neglected to share it with all of you... AS IT IS MIND-BLOWINGLY MIND-BLOWING.
...At least to me it is.
(But no, believe me, this is relevant to your interests, bbs!)
Back around January/February of this year, I was involved in a local production of My Fair Lady. During this time I became wonderful friends with the man who played Colonel Pickering. (His name is Jim. :3) He is seventy-eight years old and loves Star Trek. ...As you can guess, we pretty much hit it off right away. <3
Once we talked backstage during the first few shows and he realized just how into the fandom I was, as well as learning that I had a growing tribble collection, Jim told me that he had a tribble of his own and offered to bring it in one night to show me. Naturally, I'm pretty much thinking, "Oh, cool! It figures he'd be a buyer and collector. Hey, maybe I'll bring mine in too!"
...Eh, no. Not even close.
(Brace yourself, because I flailed the frick out once this went down in RL.)
(...Also, sorry if I'm dragging this out too much. I'm still really, REALLY excited about the fact this even happened. XD)
Okay. ANYWAY.
When the next weekend rolls around, Jim does not bring in your average, run-of-the-mill "collector's edition" tribble. Instead, he takes out of his bag and presents to me a genuine, honest-to-god, REAL tribble. As in, a featured in the Star Trek original series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" tribble.
Cue my epic fangirling freakout.
As it turns out, back in the sixties Jim was friends with a woman who worked on the set of the Star Trek original series. I don't recall what her actual job was, and Jim didn't give me her name, but she was apparently around the set quite a bit. In a nutshell, once "The Trouble With Tribbles" was finished being filmed, there were all these balls of fluff that needed getting rid of. This woman, knowing Jim was a fan of the show, snatched up one of the tribbles being discarded and gave it to him as a present. Jim's kept it ever since. :D
Apparently Jim had been keeping the tribble with the rest of the Star Trek memorabilia he'd collected over the years, arranged neatly in a small area in his home. He'd said at the time that it didn't feel right to not bring in and show me the tribble once he learned how much I loved Trek. It was so sweet!
This is the only picture I've been able to come across of me and the tribble from that night:
(There were quite a few other Trek fans in the vicinity of the dressing room and were taking pleasure in documenting my reaction, lol. XD)
The tribble used to be white and very fluffy, according to Jim. Now, of course, it's faded in appearance and it's hair is a little more stiff and slightly ratty. But still! I held a furry piece of history that day! *flail*
...Also, in my imagination I like to think that maybe this tribble happened to be the one that Spock held and pet in the episode. *3*
...Or maybe fell on Kirk's head. XD
But, of course, what are the chances of that being true? LOL.
Aaaaand that's it! I just wanted to finally share that with you all. Better late than never, right? <3
TL;DR: I TOUCHED A GENUINE TRIBBLE. 8D
...At least to me it is.
(But no, believe me, this is relevant to your interests, bbs!)
Back around January/February of this year, I was involved in a local production of My Fair Lady. During this time I became wonderful friends with the man who played Colonel Pickering. (His name is Jim. :3) He is seventy-eight years old and loves Star Trek. ...As you can guess, we pretty much hit it off right away. <3
Once we talked backstage during the first few shows and he realized just how into the fandom I was, as well as learning that I had a growing tribble collection, Jim told me that he had a tribble of his own and offered to bring it in one night to show me. Naturally, I'm pretty much thinking, "Oh, cool! It figures he'd be a buyer and collector. Hey, maybe I'll bring mine in too!"
...Eh, no. Not even close.
(Brace yourself, because I flailed the frick out once this went down in RL.)
(...Also, sorry if I'm dragging this out too much. I'm still really, REALLY excited about the fact this even happened. XD)
Okay. ANYWAY.
When the next weekend rolls around, Jim does not bring in your average, run-of-the-mill "collector's edition" tribble. Instead, he takes out of his bag and presents to me a genuine, honest-to-god, REAL tribble. As in, a featured in the Star Trek original series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles" tribble.
Cue my epic fangirling freakout.
As it turns out, back in the sixties Jim was friends with a woman who worked on the set of the Star Trek original series. I don't recall what her actual job was, and Jim didn't give me her name, but she was apparently around the set quite a bit. In a nutshell, once "The Trouble With Tribbles" was finished being filmed, there were all these balls of fluff that needed getting rid of. This woman, knowing Jim was a fan of the show, snatched up one of the tribbles being discarded and gave it to him as a present. Jim's kept it ever since. :D
Apparently Jim had been keeping the tribble with the rest of the Star Trek memorabilia he'd collected over the years, arranged neatly in a small area in his home. He'd said at the time that it didn't feel right to not bring in and show me the tribble once he learned how much I loved Trek. It was so sweet!
This is the only picture I've been able to come across of me and the tribble from that night:
(There were quite a few other Trek fans in the vicinity of the dressing room and were taking pleasure in documenting my reaction, lol. XD)
The tribble used to be white and very fluffy, according to Jim. Now, of course, it's faded in appearance and it's hair is a little more stiff and slightly ratty. But still! I held a furry piece of history that day! *flail*
...Also, in my imagination I like to think that maybe this tribble happened to be the one that Spock held and pet in the episode. *3*
...Or maybe fell on Kirk's head. XD
But, of course, what are the chances of that being true? LOL.
Aaaaand that's it! I just wanted to finally share that with you all. Better late than never, right? <3
TL;DR: I TOUCHED A GENUINE TRIBBLE. 8D