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locker_monsterSo, my big Star Trek vacation. I attended this con five years ago, and it had been impressive then, but this year was even more impressive. Over 100 guests (some major, some minor), and seating for 6000 in the main panel room. That may not seem like a lot - hell, the Corral here holds just as many people - but that's still up from the seating for 4000 attendees when I was there last. Total attendance was, supposedly, around 10,000. That's a lot of people to squish into the hotel's convention area, which is large, but contained to one section of the hotel.
Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably 10,000 attendees over five days. The con sold one day admission passes for the first time. Still, that's a ton of people for any con in general.
Everything kicked off on Wednesday and went on straight until Sunday. I'm so glad I had a room in the hotel. After a long day, you could just go back to your room and lie down.
I should note that I didn't get my new camera until Saturday, so there's a mix of pictures taken with my phone and with the camera. I should also warn you that this is a long post with several pictures.
Wednesday
I didn't do too much this day. First panel of the day was an Enterprise one with the guys who played Trip, Malcolm, Phlox, and Ambassador Soval. I'm struggling to remember what they said on the panel. Connor Trinneer had an amusing story about stealing some bottles of booze from a press party for Enterprise. No one was really drinking them, so he figured no one would miss them. The next day, he got a call from Rick Berman and for a second, he thought he was going to be fired for stealing the booze. Turns out, Rick Berman was just phoning him to tell him they were changing Trip's nickname (which was originally Spike) and Connor was all "Call me whatever you want!" There was also some discussion of the finale, which still draws mixed reaction from the actors and fans.
I also sat in on a tribute panel for Leonard Nimoy. His son, Adam, did a documentary about his life and he showed a few clips. I think it's going to be out later in the year and it looks pretty cool.
Throughout the con, they had replica set pieces where you could do free photo-ops. There was a transporter pad, a Borg alcove, the Captain's chair from Star Trek, the Guardian from "City on the Edge of Forever", and a few others that were just backdrops from various planets. I had never seen that before; usually you have to pay to take a photo with something.
They also had a replica of the original Enterprise bridge. For $50 you could get a photo on the set. They also did photo-ops on the bridge with the remaining TOS cast sitting in their characters' usual positions. The price was quite steep, but most of the money went to charity, so that was nice.
Thursday
The highlight of the day was Whoopi Goldberg's panel. This was her first ever Star Trek convention, so the room was packed.
When they opened it up to audience questions, two ladies cosplaying as Guinan were at the mics at the same time, so the moderator invited them up to the stage. Then they found a third Guinan and she came up on stage, too. Those women were probably blown away that they were on stage with Whoopi Goldberg. See, it's worth it to cosplay. ;-) Whoopi took a picture of the three Guinans because there was a bet at The View that no one would be dressed up like Guinan, so take that crew of The View!
Thursday night was also the night of the complimentary dinner that was included in my ticket package. We had done the dinner before at our last con and it was pretty much the same. Not enough tables or room to house all of the ticket holders and not enough desserts. Food was good, though, and the rooftop lounge where the dinner took place has a great view of the Strip. Dinner was followed by some stand-up comedy from Ethan Phillips (Neelix on Voyager) and he had some bad jokes. Not jokes that weren't funny, but jokes with off-colour humour that make your groan and laugh. After he was done, I was ready to call it a night, so I went to catch the elevator. A bunch of fans pile in, but who catches the elevator just before it leaves? Well, it's Ethan Phillips and Nana Visitor. The nice thing is, it doesn't get awkward. Ethan Phillips continues to talk about his set with Nana Visitor and none of the fans try to bug them for an autograph or a selfie. When the elevator gets back to the casino floor, the two of them just walk off.
While I was ready to turn in, my mom and uncle wanted to check out Quark's Bar, so we wandered down there. Some late night karaoke was going on and it was being "hosted" by Connor Trineer and Dominic Keating. And hosted in the sense that Connor and Dominic had done one song and then they just stayed on stage and started announcing the next person in the queue. You could tell the guys had a few drinks in them, but that made it more fun. It's one thing I noticed about this con. The guests just wander around and no one accosts them. If someones does approach them, it's just a normal chat that doesn't get weird.
Oh, and the con also had this big 50th anniversary Star Trek insignia in the main lobby. Prety much everyone stopped to get a picture with it. The con had a volunteer on duty to help snap pictures. If you're thinking to yourself, "Gosh, the lobby looks empty", it's because this picture was taken at like 11:00 at night. And that's how you get a good picture with no people lurking in the background. :-D
Friday
By this point, most cons are wrapping up on day three, but this con was still going strong. I sat in on nine panels that day. Nine! Kirstie Alley, in her first ever con appearance, did a panel. As mentioned in my other post, she was there because Cas Anvar had convinced her to come. There were also two Next Gen panels, a Voyager panel, a DS9 panel, a Chase Masterson panel, and a George Takei panel. Neal McDonough, at his first ever Star Trek con, also had a panel. They all kind of blur together at this point, but the thing you notice the most is how all of the cast members still get along after all of these years.
Oh, Neal McDonough plays the harmonica. I totally didn't know that he could play. Towards the end of his panel, security or his handler handed him something and then Neal went to talk with the band on stage and at this point you're wondering what's going on. Then suddenly he's playing the harmonica, rocking a blues number.
Wait, that's only eight panels accounted for. The ninth panel was billed as "Star Trek: the Missing Footage Revealed". Now, Star Trek isn't like Doctor Who, in that Doctor Who has missing episodes. Everything that makes up the canon of the original series is intact and you can watch every episode. But once you watch everything, there's nothing else to look forward to. No missing episode that you hope will turn up one day. So what can you offer that's new to fans?
Cut footage. That's right. CBS/Paramount is releasing the stuff that was left on the cutting room floor. According to the panel, there are some deleted scenes, but most of it are small snippets, like a cut line or moments before the camera rolled on a scene and before the director said cut. It's presented through new featurettes and new interviews, but basically, they're re-releasing episodes you already have. I didn't know what to think. Cool that they found this stuff and took the time to go through boxes upon boxes of old film, but on the other hand, I kind of wanted to shake my head. Yes, geeks will pay top dollar for the things they love, but don't try to pretend that this stuff is monumental. I may change my mind when the DVD set comes out, but right now, I'm only vaguely interested.
(Or maybe I'm bias since Doctor Who is my fandom of the moment and finding a lost episode is a big huge freakin' deal that is totally worth a new DVD.)
Friday night we had nothing to do so we went to the Bellagio for dinner. I hate the Las Vegas Strip. Hate it, hate it, hate it. It's too hot and there are too many people wandering around drunk and stupid, and there's too much cigarette smoke when you have to wander through a casino. I only tolerate Las Vegas because that's where the con is. I wouldn't visit otherwise.
Saturday
Or the day three Captains came to visit. The day started off with a costume parade. I was too slow with the new camera so I didn't get any good pics, but there were some great costumes and these were just the people dressed up for the day. This didn't include the people competing in the costume contest. One guy had made an awesome Captain Pike chair and he was scooting around in it in full Pike make-up. Later on, the guys was in the costume contest as a Tholian. Then there was a guy dressed up like old Picard from "The Inner Light"; you know, the blue outfit with the floppy hat. We walked behind him on the way to the convention hall and the entire time, I heard the flute music. I thought it was just a recording, but when we came up next to him, he was totally playing the music on the flute. So kudos to that guy for going the extra mile.
One of the best panels of the day was one featuring Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, and Jonathan Frakes. These guys are a hoot together. The three of them did a panel together when they were in town for the comic expo a few years ago and it was exactly the same. Michael Dorn was the chill one, Jonathan Frakes was the unpredictable one, just wandering around and doing whatever, and Marina Sirtis was the one trying to keep things running smoothly. I love that Jonathan Frakes randomly wanders around the room. The tech guys did their best to keep a spotlight on him and I'm sure security has a fit trying to keep up. When Jonathan finally made it back to the stage, he started going through the stuff on the moderator's desk (I should mention they were one of the few panels that didn't have a moderator), and one of the things was a Star Trek Trivial Pursuit game. Michael Dorn knew the answer to his question; Marina did not. :-D
Walter Koenig had a panel but then it was the three Captains. Shatner was up first, followed by Scott Bakula, and then Kate Mulgrew. I was most excited to see Scott Bakula. He doesn't do a lot of cons, so it was great that he showed up.
As I mentioned elsewhere, his autograph was complimentary, which was awesome. He was off to the side of the main panel room doing autographs during Shanter's panel. They typically call you up by your row number, so I had a bit of a wait until they hit my row (Row N). Of course, nothing stays on schedule, so it was nearing the end of Shatner's panel and they were still around row I or J. Well, someone had the grand idea of calling up the remaining rows and suddenly there's a whole wave of people trying to make it over to the side of the room. Thankfully, the room was too big for Shatner to notice all of these fans getting up during his panel.
Since Scott was running behind, Shatner's panel got to overrun, which is great for him since he tends to ramble. Apparently, Shatner used to be a horrible prankster to DeForest Kelley. I don't know how true the story he told was, but it was an amusing antic about stolen bagels.
I had brought something from home for Scott Bakula to sign - a DVD that featured him as Archer on the cover - but when I got closer to the table, I saw that Scott's handler / booking agent was selling some 8x10s. Now, the con was also selling 8x10s of Scott as Archer for $6, but this person was selling them for $5 and she had pics of Scott from Quantum Leap. So, hell yeah, I bought one. Saved myself a dollar. :-)
I didn't get to say much to Scott when he signed, but as you can see, he wrote "Oh boy!" without me even asking. He probably does it automatically at this point. Yet another person stuck with a catchphrase that they will have to write over and over. I also got the DVD signed since we had a spare autograph ticket between myself and my mom.
Scott's panel was great. He got more Quantum Leap questions than Enterprise questions, which just goes to show that no one has forgotten about Quantum Leap. Scott didn't have a moderator, but he kept things running pretty well on his own. Apparently, since he works for CBS, he's got to see some of the concept art for the new Star Trek show. He couldn't say anything, but he sounded very impressed. When it got down to the last four minutes, he wanted to squeeze in as many questions as he could, so he was running from one side of the stage to the other even though he could have just stood in one spot. And damn, he still looks good.
Kate Mulgrew was also not moderated. She was recently in Ireland trying to write her next book, but she ended up throwing out the sixty pages she managed to get down. Sounds like she's writing a novel this time, but there might be a follow-up to her autobiography. I have to say, she's one fierce lady on stage. Her answers were so elegant. I regret not getting her autograph the last time we were at the con; it had been complimentary that time.
The costume contest was later that night. They had pre-judging this time, so only the top 30 participants were entered in the final contest. I don't know what criteria they were following for the pre-judging. I saw some of the costumes that didn't make it and they were pretty good. There was a guy dressed as a Tellarite (more the Enterprise ones than the weird blank eyed ones from TOS)! The top three winners were 1) the furry shrimp aliens from "Catspaw" 2) First Contact EVA suits 3) the Tholian I mentioned above. Honourable mentions included a really good Borg Queen, the jellyfish aliens from "Encounter at Farpoint", and the Crystalline Entity. I was surprised the "Catspaw" aliens won, but I totally didn't realize that the aliens were only on screen for like five seconds, so the fact that two fans were able to make a costume out of a couple of screenshots is pretty impressive.
Startrek.com has some pictures of the winners from the costume contest at the bottom of this page if you're curious.
The night ended with a concert with the Nevada Pops Orchestra. They played musical score selections from the various movies and it was fun to hear how each movie has its own distinct score. Also included was the music from "The Inner Light" and that section was guest conducted by Jay Chattaway, who wrote the music for most of TNG's run.
Sunday
At this point, I was feeling Trekked out. I wasn't sick of Star Trek, but I was just tired from a few late nights, so I was ready to have a good night's rest in my own bed.
The Voyager panel ended up being moderated by Garrett Wang, mostly because he asked if he could moderate it. Garrett is a frequent guest at the local comic expo, so I've seen him moderate a bunch of panels before, so that was nothing new for me. I guess he wanted to hang out with friends? On the panel was Jeri Ryan and three Roberts: Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Beltran, and Robert Picardo. That's a lot of Roberts, so fans had to be specific when addressing questions. About 20 minutes of the panel is on Facebook thanks to Jeri Ryan doing a Facebook Live thing. The cast made it sound like they were a bunch of jokers, but I guess you have to keep it light and funny when you're spending hours and hours on these sets.
There was also a DS9 panel with some of the cast and one of the producers. Seeing the DS9 cast made me wish I could remember more of the show. It came at a point in my life where I wasn't quite into fandom yet and I was too young to appreciate the finer points of the stories.
Last panel of the day, and of the con, was one with Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Naren Shankar. I say out of the three, Ron Moore is the superstar because of Battlestar Galatica and Outlander. Brannon Braga has a show (anyone heard of Salem?), and Naren Shankar writes and produces for The Expanse, but I got the feeling that neither show was well known by the crowd. It's amazing that three of them got a panel to themselves without any actors, which goes to show how well the writers are respected by the fans. Later, their autograph line was super long, though that may be down to the fact that their autographs were free to everyone.
I had brought along an old novelization of "All Good Things..." for Ron and Brannon to sign. Ron was first up in line, which probably accounted for why the line was moving so slowly. I managed to tell him how much I loved BSG and that my sister and brother-in-law named my niece after one of the characters, which he thought was cool. I was also wearing my only BSG t-shirt, the one with Tigh and Adama done up in the style of Statler and Waldorf. I have to say, it's pretty faded by now, but somehow Ron still noticed it and he said he really liked it, so that's something. Maybe he's seen the design before?
I didn't have anything for Naren Shankar to sign, but I stopped at his table to babble about The Expanse. For once, I held up the line and the lady behind me had to go around me. :-) Of course, by the time I got to Brannon, that lady was taking her time and Brannon signed the book on autopilot. When he finally looked up at him, he said, "Nothing to sign?" and I had to point out that he had already signed the book. Whoops. He apologized, though, so that was fine.
And that was it. There was one last concert Sunday night, but like I said, I was beat, plus I needed to pack for the trip home. All in all, it was a very busy weekend, but I'm glad I went. I had to celebrate the 50th anniversary somehow. If you ever wanted to attend a Star Trek only con, this is the one to go to. Lots to do and see and tons of nice people to chat to while you wait for things.
Now I really want to re-watch all of the Star Trek shows, starting with TOS and ending with Enterprise. That's only what? 700+ episodes? Wait, should I include the animated series, too?
Actually, now that I think about it, that's probably 10,000 attendees over five days. The con sold one day admission passes for the first time. Still, that's a ton of people for any con in general.
Everything kicked off on Wednesday and went on straight until Sunday. I'm so glad I had a room in the hotel. After a long day, you could just go back to your room and lie down.
I should note that I didn't get my new camera until Saturday, so there's a mix of pictures taken with my phone and with the camera. I should also warn you that this is a long post with several pictures.
Wednesday
I didn't do too much this day. First panel of the day was an Enterprise one with the guys who played Trip, Malcolm, Phlox, and Ambassador Soval. I'm struggling to remember what they said on the panel. Connor Trinneer had an amusing story about stealing some bottles of booze from a press party for Enterprise. No one was really drinking them, so he figured no one would miss them. The next day, he got a call from Rick Berman and for a second, he thought he was going to be fired for stealing the booze. Turns out, Rick Berman was just phoning him to tell him they were changing Trip's nickname (which was originally Spike) and Connor was all "Call me whatever you want!" There was also some discussion of the finale, which still draws mixed reaction from the actors and fans.
I also sat in on a tribute panel for Leonard Nimoy. His son, Adam, did a documentary about his life and he showed a few clips. I think it's going to be out later in the year and it looks pretty cool.
Throughout the con, they had replica set pieces where you could do free photo-ops. There was a transporter pad, a Borg alcove, the Captain's chair from Star Trek, the Guardian from "City on the Edge of Forever", and a few others that were just backdrops from various planets. I had never seen that before; usually you have to pay to take a photo with something.
They also had a replica of the original Enterprise bridge. For $50 you could get a photo on the set. They also did photo-ops on the bridge with the remaining TOS cast sitting in their characters' usual positions. The price was quite steep, but most of the money went to charity, so that was nice.
Thursday
The highlight of the day was Whoopi Goldberg's panel. This was her first ever Star Trek convention, so the room was packed.
When they opened it up to audience questions, two ladies cosplaying as Guinan were at the mics at the same time, so the moderator invited them up to the stage. Then they found a third Guinan and she came up on stage, too. Those women were probably blown away that they were on stage with Whoopi Goldberg. See, it's worth it to cosplay. ;-) Whoopi took a picture of the three Guinans because there was a bet at The View that no one would be dressed up like Guinan, so take that crew of The View!
Thursday night was also the night of the complimentary dinner that was included in my ticket package. We had done the dinner before at our last con and it was pretty much the same. Not enough tables or room to house all of the ticket holders and not enough desserts. Food was good, though, and the rooftop lounge where the dinner took place has a great view of the Strip. Dinner was followed by some stand-up comedy from Ethan Phillips (Neelix on Voyager) and he had some bad jokes. Not jokes that weren't funny, but jokes with off-colour humour that make your groan and laugh. After he was done, I was ready to call it a night, so I went to catch the elevator. A bunch of fans pile in, but who catches the elevator just before it leaves? Well, it's Ethan Phillips and Nana Visitor. The nice thing is, it doesn't get awkward. Ethan Phillips continues to talk about his set with Nana Visitor and none of the fans try to bug them for an autograph or a selfie. When the elevator gets back to the casino floor, the two of them just walk off.
While I was ready to turn in, my mom and uncle wanted to check out Quark's Bar, so we wandered down there. Some late night karaoke was going on and it was being "hosted" by Connor Trineer and Dominic Keating. And hosted in the sense that Connor and Dominic had done one song and then they just stayed on stage and started announcing the next person in the queue. You could tell the guys had a few drinks in them, but that made it more fun. It's one thing I noticed about this con. The guests just wander around and no one accosts them. If someones does approach them, it's just a normal chat that doesn't get weird.
Oh, and the con also had this big 50th anniversary Star Trek insignia in the main lobby. Prety much everyone stopped to get a picture with it. The con had a volunteer on duty to help snap pictures. If you're thinking to yourself, "Gosh, the lobby looks empty", it's because this picture was taken at like 11:00 at night. And that's how you get a good picture with no people lurking in the background. :-D
Friday
By this point, most cons are wrapping up on day three, but this con was still going strong. I sat in on nine panels that day. Nine! Kirstie Alley, in her first ever con appearance, did a panel. As mentioned in my other post, she was there because Cas Anvar had convinced her to come. There were also two Next Gen panels, a Voyager panel, a DS9 panel, a Chase Masterson panel, and a George Takei panel. Neal McDonough, at his first ever Star Trek con, also had a panel. They all kind of blur together at this point, but the thing you notice the most is how all of the cast members still get along after all of these years.
Oh, Neal McDonough plays the harmonica. I totally didn't know that he could play. Towards the end of his panel, security or his handler handed him something and then Neal went to talk with the band on stage and at this point you're wondering what's going on. Then suddenly he's playing the harmonica, rocking a blues number.
Wait, that's only eight panels accounted for. The ninth panel was billed as "Star Trek: the Missing Footage Revealed". Now, Star Trek isn't like Doctor Who, in that Doctor Who has missing episodes. Everything that makes up the canon of the original series is intact and you can watch every episode. But once you watch everything, there's nothing else to look forward to. No missing episode that you hope will turn up one day. So what can you offer that's new to fans?
Cut footage. That's right. CBS/Paramount is releasing the stuff that was left on the cutting room floor. According to the panel, there are some deleted scenes, but most of it are small snippets, like a cut line or moments before the camera rolled on a scene and before the director said cut. It's presented through new featurettes and new interviews, but basically, they're re-releasing episodes you already have. I didn't know what to think. Cool that they found this stuff and took the time to go through boxes upon boxes of old film, but on the other hand, I kind of wanted to shake my head. Yes, geeks will pay top dollar for the things they love, but don't try to pretend that this stuff is monumental. I may change my mind when the DVD set comes out, but right now, I'm only vaguely interested.
(Or maybe I'm bias since Doctor Who is my fandom of the moment and finding a lost episode is a big huge freakin' deal that is totally worth a new DVD.)
Friday night we had nothing to do so we went to the Bellagio for dinner. I hate the Las Vegas Strip. Hate it, hate it, hate it. It's too hot and there are too many people wandering around drunk and stupid, and there's too much cigarette smoke when you have to wander through a casino. I only tolerate Las Vegas because that's where the con is. I wouldn't visit otherwise.
Saturday
Or the day three Captains came to visit. The day started off with a costume parade. I was too slow with the new camera so I didn't get any good pics, but there were some great costumes and these were just the people dressed up for the day. This didn't include the people competing in the costume contest. One guy had made an awesome Captain Pike chair and he was scooting around in it in full Pike make-up. Later on, the guys was in the costume contest as a Tholian. Then there was a guy dressed up like old Picard from "The Inner Light"; you know, the blue outfit with the floppy hat. We walked behind him on the way to the convention hall and the entire time, I heard the flute music. I thought it was just a recording, but when we came up next to him, he was totally playing the music on the flute. So kudos to that guy for going the extra mile.
One of the best panels of the day was one featuring Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, and Jonathan Frakes. These guys are a hoot together. The three of them did a panel together when they were in town for the comic expo a few years ago and it was exactly the same. Michael Dorn was the chill one, Jonathan Frakes was the unpredictable one, just wandering around and doing whatever, and Marina Sirtis was the one trying to keep things running smoothly. I love that Jonathan Frakes randomly wanders around the room. The tech guys did their best to keep a spotlight on him and I'm sure security has a fit trying to keep up. When Jonathan finally made it back to the stage, he started going through the stuff on the moderator's desk (I should mention they were one of the few panels that didn't have a moderator), and one of the things was a Star Trek Trivial Pursuit game. Michael Dorn knew the answer to his question; Marina did not. :-D
Walter Koenig had a panel but then it was the three Captains. Shatner was up first, followed by Scott Bakula, and then Kate Mulgrew. I was most excited to see Scott Bakula. He doesn't do a lot of cons, so it was great that he showed up.
As I mentioned elsewhere, his autograph was complimentary, which was awesome. He was off to the side of the main panel room doing autographs during Shanter's panel. They typically call you up by your row number, so I had a bit of a wait until they hit my row (Row N). Of course, nothing stays on schedule, so it was nearing the end of Shatner's panel and they were still around row I or J. Well, someone had the grand idea of calling up the remaining rows and suddenly there's a whole wave of people trying to make it over to the side of the room. Thankfully, the room was too big for Shatner to notice all of these fans getting up during his panel.
Since Scott was running behind, Shatner's panel got to overrun, which is great for him since he tends to ramble. Apparently, Shatner used to be a horrible prankster to DeForest Kelley. I don't know how true the story he told was, but it was an amusing antic about stolen bagels.
I had brought something from home for Scott Bakula to sign - a DVD that featured him as Archer on the cover - but when I got closer to the table, I saw that Scott's handler / booking agent was selling some 8x10s. Now, the con was also selling 8x10s of Scott as Archer for $6, but this person was selling them for $5 and she had pics of Scott from Quantum Leap. So, hell yeah, I bought one. Saved myself a dollar. :-)
I didn't get to say much to Scott when he signed, but as you can see, he wrote "Oh boy!" without me even asking. He probably does it automatically at this point. Yet another person stuck with a catchphrase that they will have to write over and over. I also got the DVD signed since we had a spare autograph ticket between myself and my mom.
Scott's panel was great. He got more Quantum Leap questions than Enterprise questions, which just goes to show that no one has forgotten about Quantum Leap. Scott didn't have a moderator, but he kept things running pretty well on his own. Apparently, since he works for CBS, he's got to see some of the concept art for the new Star Trek show. He couldn't say anything, but he sounded very impressed. When it got down to the last four minutes, he wanted to squeeze in as many questions as he could, so he was running from one side of the stage to the other even though he could have just stood in one spot. And damn, he still looks good.
Kate Mulgrew was also not moderated. She was recently in Ireland trying to write her next book, but she ended up throwing out the sixty pages she managed to get down. Sounds like she's writing a novel this time, but there might be a follow-up to her autobiography. I have to say, she's one fierce lady on stage. Her answers were so elegant. I regret not getting her autograph the last time we were at the con; it had been complimentary that time.
The costume contest was later that night. They had pre-judging this time, so only the top 30 participants were entered in the final contest. I don't know what criteria they were following for the pre-judging. I saw some of the costumes that didn't make it and they were pretty good. There was a guy dressed as a Tellarite (more the Enterprise ones than the weird blank eyed ones from TOS)! The top three winners were 1) the furry shrimp aliens from "Catspaw" 2) First Contact EVA suits 3) the Tholian I mentioned above. Honourable mentions included a really good Borg Queen, the jellyfish aliens from "Encounter at Farpoint", and the Crystalline Entity. I was surprised the "Catspaw" aliens won, but I totally didn't realize that the aliens were only on screen for like five seconds, so the fact that two fans were able to make a costume out of a couple of screenshots is pretty impressive.
Startrek.com has some pictures of the winners from the costume contest at the bottom of this page if you're curious.
The night ended with a concert with the Nevada Pops Orchestra. They played musical score selections from the various movies and it was fun to hear how each movie has its own distinct score. Also included was the music from "The Inner Light" and that section was guest conducted by Jay Chattaway, who wrote the music for most of TNG's run.
Sunday
At this point, I was feeling Trekked out. I wasn't sick of Star Trek, but I was just tired from a few late nights, so I was ready to have a good night's rest in my own bed.
The Voyager panel ended up being moderated by Garrett Wang, mostly because he asked if he could moderate it. Garrett is a frequent guest at the local comic expo, so I've seen him moderate a bunch of panels before, so that was nothing new for me. I guess he wanted to hang out with friends? On the panel was Jeri Ryan and three Roberts: Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Beltran, and Robert Picardo. That's a lot of Roberts, so fans had to be specific when addressing questions. About 20 minutes of the panel is on Facebook thanks to Jeri Ryan doing a Facebook Live thing. The cast made it sound like they were a bunch of jokers, but I guess you have to keep it light and funny when you're spending hours and hours on these sets.
There was also a DS9 panel with some of the cast and one of the producers. Seeing the DS9 cast made me wish I could remember more of the show. It came at a point in my life where I wasn't quite into fandom yet and I was too young to appreciate the finer points of the stories.
Last panel of the day, and of the con, was one with Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, and Naren Shankar. I say out of the three, Ron Moore is the superstar because of Battlestar Galatica and Outlander. Brannon Braga has a show (anyone heard of Salem?), and Naren Shankar writes and produces for The Expanse, but I got the feeling that neither show was well known by the crowd. It's amazing that three of them got a panel to themselves without any actors, which goes to show how well the writers are respected by the fans. Later, their autograph line was super long, though that may be down to the fact that their autographs were free to everyone.
I had brought along an old novelization of "All Good Things..." for Ron and Brannon to sign. Ron was first up in line, which probably accounted for why the line was moving so slowly. I managed to tell him how much I loved BSG and that my sister and brother-in-law named my niece after one of the characters, which he thought was cool. I was also wearing my only BSG t-shirt, the one with Tigh and Adama done up in the style of Statler and Waldorf. I have to say, it's pretty faded by now, but somehow Ron still noticed it and he said he really liked it, so that's something. Maybe he's seen the design before?
I didn't have anything for Naren Shankar to sign, but I stopped at his table to babble about The Expanse. For once, I held up the line and the lady behind me had to go around me. :-) Of course, by the time I got to Brannon, that lady was taking her time and Brannon signed the book on autopilot. When he finally looked up at him, he said, "Nothing to sign?" and I had to point out that he had already signed the book. Whoops. He apologized, though, so that was fine.
And that was it. There was one last concert Sunday night, but like I said, I was beat, plus I needed to pack for the trip home. All in all, it was a very busy weekend, but I'm glad I went. I had to celebrate the 50th anniversary somehow. If you ever wanted to attend a Star Trek only con, this is the one to go to. Lots to do and see and tons of nice people to chat to while you wait for things.
Now I really want to re-watch all of the Star Trek shows, starting with TOS and ending with Enterprise. That's only what? 700+ episodes? Wait, should I include the animated series, too?
