It was a dream come true for many, the opportunity to meet William Shatner in an informal setting and spend some time with him. Such occurrences are rare, but Bill has always taken time out to participate in his authorized fan club's annual gathering. This year was no exception.

This year, our annual Shatner Weekend was held April 18-20, 2003. As in the past, our home base was the Sportsmen's Lodge Hotel in Studio City, California, but we actually spent very little time there. The Weekend coincided with the Del Mar National Horse Show, a reining competition in Del Mar, California about 100 miles south of Los Angeles. Both Bill and his lovely wife, Elizabeth were set to compete in the show again this year, and we would travel there and back o­n both Saturday and Sunday. But, we're getting ahead of ourselves a little.

The Weekend started o­n Friday just before noon. We had planned to visit Paramount Pictures for a tour and lunch o­n Friday, but the studio closed its doors to all outside activities when the country went o­n Orange Alert, and we were forced to make other arrangements. Fortunately, Warner Brothers came through with a VIP tour of their studio. So, after we all filled up o­n a sumptuous lunch at the famous Smoke House Restaurant in Burbank o­n Friday, afternoon, we headed for Warner Brothers.  As you recall that the Warner studio lot was the home of T.J. Hooker back in the early 80?s. At that time, the lot was called The Burbank Studios.

Being that it was Good Friday, the lot was pretty quiet. There was no filming going o­n...but that actually worked in our favor. Our tour guides arranged for us to gain access to the main set of ER. That turned out to be a very special treat. Under normal circumstances, the sets are ALWAYS in use. As such, tours of the ER set are rare. The main set for the show was very impressive, giving the distinct impression that you were really in a hospital.  The props were largely real items! We were told that the interior hospital set has grown over the years. It now takes up two interconnecting stages. Unlike most sets which are comprised largely of separate "rooms," the ER set is designed to flow like an actual working hospital.

After leaving the ER set, we swung by the exterior buildings that represented the Police Academy o­n T.J. Hooker, although it was a little disquieting that we had to point them out to the tour guides. They were both in diapers when the show originally aired! As we traveled the lot, we had the opportunity to visit a stage decorated with Matrix Reloaded props for an upcoming press junket, and see exteriors for the White House o­n West Wing as well as the ER exterior ambulance entrance. Then we disembarked the tram o­n the backlot where we were allowed to roam and take photos. All in all, it was a quite remarkable tour of the Studio!

After the tour, we reboarded the bus and headed for Hollywood & Highland, the new Entertainment center next to Grauman's Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood. Quotes from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home reverberated through the bus as we reminded everyone to "make sure you remember where we parked." Our first stop was the Star Trek cast?s handprints and signatures in cement in front of Grauman?s Chinese Theatre. Then it was a short trek (about 50 feet) over to Bill?s Star o­n the Hollywood Walk of Fame. After some quick shopping and sightseeing, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for Saturday?s activities.

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On Saturday morning at a little after 7:00am (yes that?s AM), we boarded our luxury bus (with DVD, VCR and a restroom) for the journey to Del Mar. Along the way, members enjoyed videos. We watched an episode of T.J. Hooker and a particularly funny interview he did with Roseanne Barr a couple of years ago. We arrived a little after 9:00am just in time to watch Bill compete in a couple of horse reining classes. For those of your that have never been to a reining competition before, it?s a little different than a horse show in which all of the horses and riders compete simultaneously. In a reining event, each horse and rider team enter the arena individually and must complete an intricate pattern of turns, figure eights, spins and slides. Points are taken off for small errors, but if part of the pattern is done incorrectly, the score is zero. So, any score is good! Bill did very well, primarily scoring in the high 60?s. He wasn?t satisfied though. He was looking for a 72!

One particularly memorable moment came after Bill had finished with a class. He performed well, but unfortunately, he missed a small part of the pattern. He didn&#39;t realize it until his trainer mentioned it to him as he was exiting the arena. Bill hung his head and collapsed in laughter.

We learned that Elizabeth is just beginning to learn the art of reining. While she is an accomplished horse rider and trainer, the reining discipline is new to her. This was o&shy;nly her second reining show. We had the opportunity to see her compete in several classes and are happy to report that she did quite well!

Bill&#39;s schedule was really tight o&shy;n Saturday as he had to leave the showgrounds by noon to make a flight north to San Jose for the Coral Reef Alliance benefit that evening. Between classes during the morning, he stopped by and shook hands with a few members of our group. Our o&shy;ne-on-one time with him would be reserved for Sunday.

The museum houses wax replicas of both movie and television personalities and sets. Many look...real! Hollie even had her hand cast in wax, a very intricate process involving a lot of dipping and cooling, dipping and cooling. We finished at the wax museum close to 5:30pm and boarded the bus for our return trip to the hotel. Sunday would be another early departure, so we wanted to make sure everyone got a good night&#39;s sleep.

Weekend attendees were afforded the opportunity to have their picture taken with Bill for a pre-arranged donation to the Hollywood Charity Horse Show. A couple of members signed up for photos with Bill and his horse. Donna even got to feed Bill&#39;s horse some carrots!

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, we had the opportunity to see Bill and Elizabeth ride several times. &nbsp;Below, Bill strategizes with Elizabeth and his horse trainer, Danny, between classes.

Bill also took time out to wish Bo and Ed congratulations o&shy;n their first wedding anniversary, and he reminisced about his recent anniversary with Elizabeth. He was delighted with the&nbsp;$3,800 donation&nbsp;we gave him for the Hollywood Charity Horse Show which represented the money raised through member donations.&nbsp; And both he and Elizabeth were pleasantly surprised by our gift of some large wind chimes and matching handmade horse coffee mugs.&nbsp;&nbsp;Bill said they had just talked about purchasing some wind chimes?and they had the perfect spot already picked out. We also gave Bill a card that everyone signed.&nbsp;&nbsp;He took the time to read it, laughed out loud over Dick&#39;s sentiment...and said he would treasure it.

Our kind thanks to Bill and Elizabeth for the generous way in which they gave of themselves during this year&#39;s Weekend. And our thanks to the members (our new friends) that came this year despite the obstacles imposed by our uncertain times...and the Easter and Passover holidays.

We are excited to be part of WilliamShatner.com and we
will be making regular updates to the website.