I am about 20 miles away from Riverside. What you don’t know yet is before they left town, Shater and company let the town in on the joke, and to soothe feelings left behind a $100K check.

That was some fancy balm. Soothed lots of feelings in a hurry.

What really made it sickening was that Shatner didn’t keep his distance from the locals, but ate at the local restaurants and led people to believe he was genuinely open to being approached and - according to some - wanted to be friends.

That is just betrayal no matter how much money you throw at the situation.

So, yes. The world once again gets to yuk it up at the backwards yokels from Iowa. Whoop de do. As someone from Iowa I can say it was funny the first 10,000 times. The problem is we generally aren’t burned twice, so the next crew to blow through here looking to make ANY production fly is going to find the road a might tougher slog than it would need to be otherwise.

We are slow to anger, but we have very long memories. Like Vermont, the “new kid” is someone that has been around for about 30 years. We may forgive, but we will take a very long time to forget. Nothing personal, it’s just business.

And rightly so.  I’m thinking a cool 100k would not be near enough to cool my jets on something like this.  (Of course, I wouldn’t be one auditioning for a part either - unless they needed a bald computer expert to help foil the invading aliens.)

What jerks! Petty horrid jerks! What kind of people would think this was a good idea!?!

William Shatner really doesn’t like Trekkies. Remember his “joke” appearance on SNL where he pretty much trashed everything his fans hold near and dear? I can see where he would think this was all just a lampoon the way the SNL appearance was, all-the-while never having a clue that some people - right, wrong, or indifferent - take this stuff pretty serious. The thought just probably didn’t occur.

I am not familiar with the entire history of Trek Fest that happens every year, but if my memory serves they had been trying to get Mr. Shatner to attend for many years. If I remember correctly, he attended either the very first, or second fest and has not returned since. Obviously, they would jump at any chance to have him return. As so often happens, emotions blinded those who really did not care to see in the first place.

From what I have been able to read about William Shatner the person, he never looks back. At all. On anything. He is absolutely mystified why people hold the Star Trek in such reverence. On any given Sunday this may actually be called a positive trait, but not when it betrays and hurts people.

So, we had someone with a goofy idea pitching it to Shatner, who - if the local media is correct in reporting - personally picked Riverside as the location. Thus set in motion, the events played out. Again, the townsfolk admited their gullibility blinded them to realities, but the story you linked was essentially accurate - the townfolk were not complete rubes. Questions were raised after the first week, and the crew was in Riverside for close to two weeks.

The initial plan was to have them there for one month to six weeks.

When events started going South more rapidly than planned, an “early wrap” dinner was catered in, and the town “let in” on what they had pretty much figured out for themselves, but even then some did not want to believe the reality unfolding before their eyes.

Jerks? Perhaps. I still cannot discount the participation of the all-too-willing. I believe for them, justice has been served. For those that Mr. Shatner personally misled - well, let’s just say the scales of justice have not been properly balanced.

Still, you have to admit - $100K bought them out of the mother-of-all-fraud lawsuits. Pretty cheap insurance when you stop to think about it.

By the way, here are the synopses for all the shows :

Debut: William Shatner stars in this four-part comedy about a fake Hollywood film crew that dupes small-town folk into thinking a sci-fi movie is being produced in their community. First up: the residents audition for roles and filming begins. Gryffyn: Desi Lydic. Tiny: Kirk Ward. Steve: Ernie Grunwald.

(2) The crew bonds with locals at an eatery; Gryffyn purposely fumbles her lines; one of the residents gets suspicious of the movie’s authenticity; and a demanding film executive arrives.

(3) A one-word scene is filmed and William Shatner insists on using cue cards to get it right. Meanwhile, Max (Garz Chan) continues to make things tense, Shatner’s assistant gets an irate phone call from a faux Sean Connery, and items from the set are auctioned off.

(4) In the two-hour finale, William Shatner starts up a petition to change the name of the town to “Billville,” Gryffyn’s costume gets skimpier, Tiny insults the fake Sean Connery and the hoax is revealed to the townspeople.

And the IMDB site.

Thanks for the insider information, Buster.

It doesn’t sound like very exciting television to me.

Now that I stop and think about it, the ones that should be really embarrassed over the whole “Invasion Iowa” fiasco are the local media. On last night’s episode, footage was featured from one of the area TV stations - KWQC, Channel 6, an NBC affiliate. They were reporting the “invasion” of Riverside by William Shatner and company. They were by no means alone. They were the only station to have their footage featured because of how . . . what is the word I am searching for?

Gushing.

That will do in a pinch. To be generous, they didn’t appear to be on a mission to comfort the afflicted, or afflict the comfortable. So, no poking, no prodding, no phone calls back to LA (or wherever) to check the story out. People say they love our hosptitality and friendliness, but I am still left with the impression we done did it to ourselves. Such are the perils of trust.

I have come face to face with celebrity before, on many occasions. You would be amazed at the sheer number of celebrities that hang out or otherwise pass through Eastern Iowa. I have never treated any celebrity one iota different from anyone else. In other words, I really don’t care who you are, you are going to stand in line like everyone else.

Like the joke circulating around the internet - purporting to be written as a guide for all visiting Iowa - See that boy leaning up against that silo? He got more done before 9 a.m. than you will ever do in your workout. Think about that the next time you eat one of our steaks.

I am a citizen of Riverside Iowa and for your information William Shatners first visit to Riverside was when he decided to do the “Invasion Iowa” thing.  He has never came here for Trek Fest.  We (the town) had been inviting him for the last 20 years (since Trek Fest started) to come but he never did until this past September when the had the auditons and did the filming.  Besides how many people from small towns get to say that they met six Hollywood actor/actresses up close in person even if they were using fake names at the time.  And us Riversider’s have forgave Willam Shatner (for the most part) for what he did even if a lot of us thinks that it should have beem more money but that 100K was not all that he gave us, he also gave like 12K to the fire station and a little over that to the elementary book fund.

Hey Buster, I don’t know where you even got your information but I was just reading through the comments again and I realized you really don’t know what you are talking about, they had only planned to be there for two weeks and “wraped up filming after like 10 days.  Which it was on day 10 that they reveiled the truth

Andi,

How was I less then clear when I said “if memory serves”? That is going back 20 years, and the internet wasn’t around then, so there are no online archives to search. I do not recall specifically when the ST:TOS cast members have been to Trek Fest, but I believe at one time or another nearly all the major players have. Lacking the newspaper articles to back it up, I can’t quote chapter and verse. Secondly, you make the mistake that I care - I have been through Riverside during Trek Fest, but I have never stopped. Star Trek is an entertainment choice, not a lifestyle for me.

As for the timeframe they were to be in town, that was from the original media coverage in this area. Given the fact that major hollowood movies take from 6 months to 2 years to create, don’t you think 14 days is a bit brief? Remember, Max Allan Collins - author of Road to Perdition - has made movies here that have taken longer than 10 days to shoot, and involved a far less complex storyline than “Invasion Iowa”. Reference one here.

Also, that is going by comments made by your Mayor - Bill Polk is it? - on an ongoing basis during radio interviews on Q106.5. Further, during the show Mr. Shatner comments on the timeframe when talking about Bill Blank. Hanging by our fingernails - I believe that is how it was phrased. I would view it as an insult they thought it would take Riverside much longer to catch on than they did.

Still, if you are from Riverside, which at this point I doubt seriously, you can easily name the businesses roughly across from the convenience store just this side of 218 before you enter Riverside. Right? Oh, and you can tell us the name of the franchise restaurant in that convenience store, right? Shoot, let’s make it easy - the color of the building ( and who occupies that building! ) on the north side of the road just after the Riverside city limits marker after you cross under 218 heading West. Should be a snap!

Yep. Real easy. Any time now…

Any second now. Yessiree, bob! Any moment. . .

I believe we can say point proven.

What a tool.