Star Trek Convention, Las Vegas 2008 - Day Five
10 August 2008, 7:46 PM

It sure makes a difference when you get enough sleep and don't have to drug yourself because of allergies or cigarette smoke! Today was a far more exciting and energetic day and I (and Jeff too) feel far more enthusiastic about the stuff going on today.

Michael Dorn ("Lieutenant Worf" on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as several movies) was the first event of the day for us. What a HOOT! This guy was great, and obviously enjoyed (and still stays in touch with) the rest of the cast of the Next Generation. He told some great stories, answered questions about his love for aviation and how he got to fly in some nifty military stuff because of his character. He also mentioned how he was flying during filming of TNG, surreptitiously because he wasn't supposed to, but got caught when news coverage of an unrelated crash caught him going flying.)

The best part was when a "fan" came up to the mike and asked in a voice that wavered voice, "I have a question for Mr. Bakula" - it was his former co-star, Brent Spiner, messing with Dorn. ("It's a 16 part question. Part A ...") Spiner briefly got up on stage with Dorn to talk about a documentary that we could volunteer for - though he wouldn't say what it was documenting.

Next out was Scott Bakula ("Captain Jonathan Archer" on Enterprise). This was only the second time he's done a Creation Star Trek convention. He's apparently a very busy guy with lots of projects in the air and not able to do many of these. He was charming and gracious, but a bit rusty at this. He got a LOT of compliments on his physique, which at 55 is pretty remarkable. (Dorn got the same thing and is about the same age. Both look in great shape and at least twenty years younger than their actual age.) Bakula fielded a lot of questions about his role in the 80's hit series, Quantum Leap questions in addition to questions about Enterprise and there was a brief running joke after one fan mentioned she'd bought a CD or DVD of something of his at a dollar store. After a question about his interest in running marathons he jogged across the stage.

By now I'd also noticed (as had everyone else apparently) that there was a kid at the convention (with his parents) that had gone up to the microphone and asked a thoughtful question of just about every single actor on stage. His name was James, and was wearing an original series gold command shirt (think Captain James Kirk) for most days. (Today he wore science blue, probably because Leonard Nimoy/Spock would be on stage later.)

When the kid got to ask Bakula a question, Bakula asked how old he was. The entire audience answered, "Ten! He'll be 11 on Friday!" since, by now, we all knew the answer to that question. (Several other guests had asked the kid the same thing.) I think it was Dominic Keating who asked the kid to repeat the "I grew up watching your show" or something to that effect, since that's not a usual comment to get for the actors of the newer show. Bakula also made several teasing comments to the parents later about what NOT to let the kid watch.

After Bakula's appearance, Jeff and I got a salad at the little concession stand by the photo ops area. Actually we would have each gotten salads, and a cookie, and a coke and milk, but they were cash only and we'd finally whittled our cash down to our last dollar. We ate, then headed into the Pavilion room to listen to Robert Picardo ("The Doctor" on Star Trek Voyager and "Dr. Lewis Zimmerman" on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).

Picardo had originally been slated to do a two-man show called "Housecall" with his former co-star Ethan Phillips ("Neelix" on Star Trek Voyager and "Ulis" on Enterprise), but Phillips had a personal emergency and couldn't make it after all. Instead, Picardo did a one-man show, singing and showing some clips of some funny skits he's done, as well as auctioning off some Stargate Atlantis memorabilia for charity.

Picardo was absolutely FABULOUS - a real entertainer - and was a lot of fun to watch. The songs were funny and Voyager oriented. He involved the audience by getting some volunteers from the audience for a Star Trek Voyager version of Tom Jones' "What's new Pussycat?" The funniest skit he showed was one were he played himself autographing for fans who asked him to do weird things, "Here, would you take my baby and raise it as your own?" There were some technical difficulties in getting the CD/DVD to start at first - it kept repeating the little intro on the DVD menu for the chapter. But Picardo soldiered through it with a lot of wit that kept the audience in stitches until the difficulties were fixed and we got to see his skits. Afterward he chatted with people and encouraged us all to join him for his show that evening somewhere else in Vegas (I never did find out where.)

After Picardo's show we headed back to the main stage and caught the tail end of "Star Trek Online Revealed". There were quite a few people lined up to ask questions of the guy representing Cryptic, the company launching this newest multiplayer online game. I was not really interested (no time for that kind of thing) but still disappointed to learn that it would not work on either Linux or Mac. Shame on them. I might have at least checked it out. Honestly, I wonder how well something like this will do, given the failure rate of other MPORGs. I wish them well, but the room wasn't even half full, and I think they will have difficulty dragging players away from other popular games like World of Warcraft where people have invested so much time.

Next on stage was Leonard Nimoy. It was a real treat to see one of the legends of Star Trek. (And do I really have to add that he played "Mr. Spock" on the original Star Trek series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and in several movies? I didn't think so.) We got some great pictures to share with my dad. I suppose I should have tried to get a photo op with Nimoy as well. That would have been something neat for Dad as well.

Nimoy read through some questions he'd been given by fans (on paper), then talked a bit about the up coming film, before taking questions from the audience. (I think he couldn't hear well, though - truth to be told - it was sometimes difficult for _any_ of the guest stars to hear the questions asked from the mikes - I think they were seated behind the speakers rather than in front of them.)

Nimoy was very personable, asking questions of the people who came up to the mikes so that each had a little conversation with him. Once he was asked how he felt about seeing the roles passed on to others. I can imagine it must feel a bit bittersweet, since doing so really acknowledges the passage of time. But his answer was once of confidence in the new take on the characters and in the young actors taking on the roles. He was also asked about his poems and photography.

Zachary Quinto ("Mr. Spock" in the new movie to be released in 2009) came on stage briefly with Nimoy before Nimoy left him alone with the audience for a while. I must confess that both Jeff and I were mightily impressed with Quinto's demeanor on stage. He was easily one of the most relaxed with the audience and the most comfortable on stage with the fans taking and answering questions. Apparently he'd just come from appearing at ComicCon. He's just barely entered into this lifelong world of Star Trek fandom and yet it appears he's eased on into it quite comfortably.

Since Quinto currently plays a very dark and evil character (Sylar) on a popular show called Heros, several people praised him for the incredibly scariness he brought to that character. One woman even confessed that she'd only come up to the mike to ask a question just to see if she could do it without shaking because he was so scary as Sylar. Quinto delighted everyone by taking a running leap off the corner of the stage at her, then giving her a hug. Another guy was on his cell phone with his girlfriend, and Quinto took the phone, telling the girlfriend hello, having the audience say hello, then saying he was with "his peeps" (meaning the fan audience) before giving it back to the guy. (Who then told his girlfriend, "I'll call you back". Quinto found that amusing.) The guy beamed, "I'm getting lucky tonight." All-in-all Quinto was a fun presence on stage.

After a while, Nimoy came back out and sat on stage with Zachary. For a brief time they talked with each other. That was actually kind of neat, seeing the elder and the youngster together chatting. They then took some more questions together. The kid - James - was back and asked a question of both actors. Nimoy had him come on stage (to "introduce him to Zachary") and noted that the kid and his family would be at the premiere of the new Star Trek movie. Apparently Nimoy already knew who this kid and his family was. When their time on stage was up, both actors gave the Vulcan salute before heading off stage.

After that we headed to our room for a break, and ran into Tim Russ ("Tuvok" on Star Trek Voyager) coming out of the elevator. Only I and one guy's wife noticed who he was. Neither Jeff nor the other guy noticed!) We chilled for about and hour, then went back to the convention.

In the main stage room we caught the first part of the auction. The organizers of the convention - Creation - auctioned off just about everything they'd brought to the convention. It's just easier and cheaper than lugging it all back to their home offices. (My dad used to bring home stuff left behind at the hotel he worked at the Houston Astrodome area - a popular venue for a wide variety of conventions. That's how we ended up with a zillion embroidery hoops and machine quilting embroidery thread after a quilting convention.)

I wasn't surprised at any of the bids. During the week, four long banners had hung on either side of the stage - and every guest star had signed them, as well as some shorter ones that hung on the photo ops room, before leaving. The long signed banners went for $1200 to $1500, the shorter ones for around $800 to $1200. Some off the large durable posters that had hung high on the wall outside the main convention area went for $300 - $500. I had been tempted to bid on the posters of Trip/Trinneer and Malcom/Keating, (what on earth would I have done with them?) but I figured they'd be well out of my price range anyway after seeing this part of the auction.

The auction was temporarily suspended for the last stage event, most of the cast of Star Trek Voyager. Robbie Duncan McNeil ("Tom Paris" on Star Trek Voyager, and now a Director), Robert Picardo, Tim Russ (I didn't know that he'd attended St. Edward's University in Austin!), and Kate Mulgrew ("Captain Kathryn Janeway" on Star Trek Voyager) all took the stage together, with Garret Wang later joining them (he obviously had stayed around since Thursday!)

They were all incredibly funny, tearing off on conversational tangents and ribbing each other mercilessly as they took questions form the audience. In fact, one guy mentioned he was he was just happy to hear them talk amongst themselves rather than ask anything, they were so much fun. They poked at each other a lot while sharing some great stories about their time on the set. Apparently Mulgrew had not heard the midnight Pon Farr gag and whacked Russ on the arm when she heard it. McNeil also got teased for his love of food and his weight gain after the show. (A Voyager-themed fan-made video had played just before they stepped out on stage. He'd commented, "I was so skinny then!")

There was one really sad moment, however. While setting up to ask a question of Mulgrew, a fan mentioned someone that Mulgrew had worked with and had fond memories of. It was revealed he'd recently passed away. Mulgrew had been unaware of this and was immediately emotionally overcome and had to turn around in her chair to compose herself. The audience could hear in the fan's voice that she felt so bad. ("I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. Oh god, I'm so sorry.") There were tears and Mulgrew's voice shook when she mentioned how great this person had been and how much he meant to her.

It was a rather quiet moment and a bit awkward for the cast to return to taking questions from the audience. Luckily the next few were for Picardo and he was able to strike the right tone. Wang got up and got Mulgrew a Kleenex. It was all subdued for a little while, though she did cheer a up a little after a bit and some of the spirit of fun returned for her. (I suspect it may have been a sad evening for her later though.) The cast got a standing ovation as they headed off stage, clearly a fan favorite.

The auction resumed once the Voyager cast had left the stage. Both Jeff and I stuck around for a while, though he finally bailed after about 20 minutes. By this time the organizers were selling stuff from their vendor's table which included everything from Battlestar Galactica, Firefly and Lord of the Rings to signed Star Trek prints. I was curious to see what everything was going for, so I stuck around a bit longer.

I was surprised when the large hallway posters started going for less than they had earlier. The Siddig/Bashir's hallway poster went for $25, Bakula/Archer went for $175 while the convention room signs went for $25 for all four! At that point I decided I'd bid for my favorite posters, even if I didn't know what I'd do with the things. (Maybe get them signed at another convention someday.) I expected to bid on the Trinneer/Tucker and Keating/Reed posters if they were going to go for that price, but no such luck. When I bid first at $25 and within seconds was outbid to the tune of $300. Trinneer's went for $325, and Keating's went to the same woman after a bidding war with someone else for $700. She obviously wanted both! I left after that, not particularly interested in anything else.

We'd been at the convention for five and a half days at this point and I realized that I was really beginning to miss exercising regularly! (The exercise room was part of the spa area which required a $20 a day fee to use, and the walking track was outside in the dark, so I'd been going without.) I donned my sneakers, grabbed my iPod and went walking briskly to my music. I walked around the 14th floor, then down the stairs to the 13th and around, then down to the 10th and around (the 11th and 12th were under renovation) and back up the 14th for two rounds before going back to my room. I got a better sense of the extent of the renovations the hotel was going through while I walked.

I wasn't the only one with a craving. By the time I got back to the room, I REALLY wanted to download some new music (including a song I'd heard attached to one of the fan-made videos). I found that my husband had finally succumbed and hacked his iPhone to get his laptop Internet connected (without having to give in to the $15/day high speed provided to the room.) Gotta love my geek.

We ended the evening by seeking dinner on the strip. We took the monorail all the way to the MGM Grand and walked back from there, scouting for some place to eat. Not really interested in the cheap fast food at the MGM, or in the fancy restaurants, we kept walking. Unfortunately, Jeff was starting to feel wiped by the noise, crowds and lack of food so we ended up at a crowded (and kinda grimy, ew) fast food court where he got Subway sandwiches and I got a lackluster burrito.

We walked a bit more, but weren't really into shopping or dealing with the crowds. This end of the strip also seemed a bit seedier at night and was definitely smellier - which didn't help. So we headed back, stopping first at a Walgreen's (There was a Walgreen's and CVS right on the strip, dangit!) to get something to drink (wish we'd done this earlier, coulda gotten healthier food/munchies here for cheaper) and a universal cable to download pics off the camera.

I'm glad we brought the nicer camera with the good lenses. Just about anything I'd taken with my smaller pocket camera in the main stage room was hopelessly blurry. But Jeff had gotten a lot of good ones with the big one, and had gotten better about taking pictures with it as the days went on. I wish I'd take a few more with it, but I suspect there will also be a lot of good stuff taken by other people up on Flickr.

One last note: My mehndi was finally starting to come off by this evening, though just barely. (It lasted a full two weeks in fact.) Oddly enough it's coming off first in the darker spots on my finger, and the back on my hand closer to my thumb, probably because of washing my hands. It still looks pretty good up on my arm.