Star Trek Convention, Las Vegas 2008 - Day Four
9 August 2008, 7:45 PM

Today was a bit weird, possibly because both Jeff and I weren't feeling very well, but maybe also because Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were such buildups to an Absolutely Fabulous Friday that today seemed a bit of a letdown. That's not to say that it was a letdown - it was a lot of fun - just that we felt a little foggy, tired and less "into" the day.

I think it was the lingering presence of cigarette smoke everywhere in Vegas that did us in. While there were no clouds of smoke hanging in the air anywhere, you could still detect it, and it was obviously messing with us by yesterday morning. By this point in our trip I was taking eye drops several times a day to clear the redness and decongestants to clear my head. (Oh, to be back in the smoke-free Austin-area!) Supposedly Vegas is contemplating a no-smoking rule in the casinos. Even to my non-smoking soul that seems ... almost sacrilege.

The first thing I did, once we got up and went down to the convention area, was to check on my photo op print. While the prints from the previous night were laid out on a table in the room, there was also a line to get into a photo op at the time, so I was told to come back in a few minutes. I didn't realize it at the time, but I'd walked right past Connor Trinneer twice, coming and going from the photo op desk. (I didn't notice until I heard a distinctive laugh and looked back. He was talking to a fan and looked like he was about to leave the convention.)

I joined Jeff in the main room, where Nicole de Boer ("Ezri Dax" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine) was on stage taking questions and talking about her roles on DS9 and Dead Zone. I got up after a while and cruised the vendor room to see if there was anything new to check out and to get a plastic sleeve for my photo. By then the line at the photo op room had cleared and I was able to retrieve my photo and order a digital version. After picking up my photo I went back to the main room and caught the end of Nicole de Boer's time on stage.

Next up was Jeffrey Combs ("Weyoun", "Liquidator Brunt", "Officer Kevin Mulcahey", and "Tiron" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, "Penk" on Star Trek Voyager and "Commander Shran" and "Krem" on Enterprise) and JG Herzler ("General Martok", "a Vulcan Captain", "Roy Ritterhouse" and "Laas" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, "a Hirogen Hunter" on Star Trek Voyager and "Kolos" and "a Klingon Captain" on Enterprise). They were an absolute HOOT. Best event of the day by far.

JG did a Klingon song in the style of Barry Manilow (since Manilow was currently performing at the Hilton, and yes, it was as funny as it sounds), and joked and grumbled as Combs got most of the fan questions. JG also did a chest bump with a fan dressed as a Klingon, and then one with Combs (who then staggered back across the stage.) They each snored as the other praised fellow actors, and horsed around with some of the musical instruments on stage for the evening's symphony performance. All in all, it was apparent that these two were very likely the cut up clowns in high school, and a great team on stage. I thoroughly enjoyed their time up there.

Afterwards, Jeff headed up to our room to get a sweater for himself (that main room could be pretty cold!) and some Tylenol for me. I parked myself at the snack tables just outside the photo op and secondary theater area. Alexander Siddig ("Doctor Bashir" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine) walked by my table, heading out of there after his photo ops were done. He also got the followed-by-two-giggly-girls treatment from those two teenage girls who'd followed Trinneer last night! Oy.

I wanted to see Brannon Braga and Manny Coto, and Jeff and I did go back to the main event room for that, but we managed to miss the beginning of it and I started feeling the effects of the Tylenol. I needed something more than the banana I'd had and maybe even a nap. I wish I could have recognized Braga in a crowd - I would have tried to get his autograph on the Broken Bow novel. We decided to skip the rest (including Walter Koenig! - "Ens. Pavel Chekov" on the original Star Trek) in order to get some lunch at the hotel's (overpriced and mediocre) buffet.

After a brief nap in our room, we headed back to catch Rene Auberjonois ("Odo" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine, and "Ezral" on Enterprise) and Armin Shimerman ("Quark" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Star Trek Voyager and "Letek" on Star Trek The Next Generation) on stage. They were another fun duo, with good chemistry together on stage poking at each other the whole time. Nana Vistor ("Major Kira Nerys" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine) showed up and got a hug from both early on. Later they directly turned the stage over to her, and she not only took questions, but did several songs from her nightclub act, with her husband on the piano. One of them was a DS9 song to the tune of a popular Broadway song, "I'm still here."

After Vistor was Avery Brooks ("Captain Benjamin Sisko" on Star Trek Deep Space Nine), who helped to present the Sally Malin Teacher's Recognition Award. Brooks was much more serious on stage than anybody else so far. I also noticed he didn't directly answer each question, but got very philosophical and academic with them. Before he took questions however, he read the teacher's (Judy Hoffman) entire winning essay entry with her on stage with him, admonishing the convention organizers, "We'll just be late!" He had one kid come on stage with him and take a seat to ask his question. (The kid's name was James and he was wearing a TOS gold shirt. The kid asked great questions of all the guest stars this entire convention.)

Brooks also had on the WEIRDEST pants.... I'm just sayin'.