TF01 3,Convention Reports - Part 1 4, More news and views from the world of Trek conventions! CONTAGION '93 --------------- Holiday Inn, Glasgow, Scotland -------------------------------- Reported by Edward Woo ------------------------ FRIDAY: As soon as some bits of furniture arrived at home, I was able to slip away up the motorway. First stop would be Heathers in Motherwell to drop off some Star Trek books & videos. As she could only come to the Con for a few hours each day with her son. I arrived in Glasgow despite the thunder & lightening overhead, finding my way to the hotel as directed in my progress report. I found a good parking space near the lifts and spotted some Trek fans, so I knew I was in the right place. Me and my luggage found reception and booked into the hotel. Philip and Gary had already arrived and were sitting in the lounge. Gary said I was in the for a Klingon surprise. As I was in a triple with Simon and John, I got a key and a double bed and so did Simon but Baggy was keyless and had a single bed. Got to the room and crashed out but there was no Sky TV for Relics. I unpacked, showered and ate my sandwiches till Simon duly arrived. By this time I had the battery charger going for the camera. Simon dumped his luggage and dived into his bed. He had bought his Next Gen one piece uniform, my videos, loads of audio novels whilst on the coach and some squashed sandwiches. Not long after we decided to survey the hotel and found Stephen in the lobby/bar. He introduced us to Francis and Carol (IDIC chain gang), Denise, Gail and Zander. Jean a fellow Liverpudlian joined us for drinks. The conversation subjects included Trek, bar prices, luggage, kilts and overseas Cons. I found out that Helen couldn't come, that's disappointing! Part of our group went off to dinner, even going to see Jurassic Park as it was premiere day. We met Howard; a classic Trek fan only. Jean, Simon and I stayed on a while which meant we got our Con packages. I got the perfect video duties - midnight. Simon tried to register for the '94 Con but they said, tomorrow instead as he wanted to be number 1. A limited video showing was available and we saw Descent, Second Chances and Timescape. Jean left early because of hunger. We stayed till the end and it was down to the bar. Maria and Janet were sipping drinks and we joined them. Zander and Dee came over suggesting some sort of quiz could provide an alternative to videos on Saturday. So Simon and I were left to think up the questions with less than 18 hours notice. Back in our room it was into the books and possible subjects. It's harder than you think to make questions up as you don't know how difficult to make it. We were still making questions up at 2 am and between 2 and 3 am most of the good questions were thought up. Little knowing our near neighbours in 217 were trying to sleep. We found out later it was Margaret and her sister of Future Shock. They tried to get us back the following night/morning. SATURDAY: The 7.15am buzzer went, then my clock, there was movement but it was slow. We made it to breakfast with Philip joining us. I had cereal, juice x 2 and a fried fattener, though I was not really hungry (shades of Warp 1). Karin from London also joined us and we had an interesting conversation about musicals and plays and her OU course. Baggy had arrived and I caught him in the lift with artist Graham. Baggy had no key the entire weekend. Graham stayed for the rest of the day as he had some paintings to display. We all hadn't seen each other since Warp 1 and exchanged comments and photo's. As the dealers room was only just opened to business I was able to get an early look. Dropping off items for IDIC and the White Horta, I found plenty to buy but was not tempted yet. Hello to Theo, Howard, Fran, Keith, Gloria, Mike, Carol, Graham, Peter, Lesley, Pearl and to any others who I have missed out this weekend. Faces are easier than names. Jacqui looks different from last years video. As we were waiting for the opening ceremony, I got volunteered to watch the main door, nice. I nearly had to record Nichelle's talk as Helen usually does it but Jason eventually did it. It was a long 5 minutes before we could get in. Okay I forgot we had the stewards meeting earlier but there was nothing new except I and Stephen were senior stewards so we had to keep on our toes. The doors opened and there was a surge to find seats. The hall was large and on the stage was a back drop of the Enterprise bridge and a pair of sliding doors. Once everything was settled, one brave member of the committee, Carol introduced us to our guests, Richard Arnold and Jonathan Del Arco. Each came down the inside flanked by two security guards as they reached the stage. Finally our guest of honour Nichelle Nichols was introduced. There was a slight pause as the sliding doors didn't open but when they did she was greeted by great applause and welcome despite being jet-lagged. Next on the timetable was the in-flight safety video performed by our pet Klingon - it was entertaining. He told me later it had taken a great number of takes and what would have been better was the out- takes. With a brief rest bite for air, the hall was full again as Nichelle was due on next. Nichelle came from the back of the hall towards the stage, waving to us, with flashes going off everywhere. She is in her 60's and still looks wonderful. She is currently doing a one woman show and would like to bring it to London. She started describing her jet lag and had tried to sleep in the hotel but this maid kept on wanting to do her room up. Sometimes at Cons in the U.S. she would arrive just as Star Trek was on and would hear this line "hailing frequencies open" on TV as the maid was showing her the room. One time she thought it was a Con joke by the conventioners instead it was just a coincidence. Her involvement in the 1st inter-racial kiss with Bill was something of a coup. However they had filmed it with and without the kiss as the studio executives were still worrying. She thinks the movies 2, 4 and 6 are the best and skip 7 to 8. The Star Trek 6 film and the Klingon book translation scene was Nick Meyers idea even though Uhura is a trained communicator. She got the role of Uhura by reading Spock's lines and there could have been a female Spock, but the had already cast Leonard in the role. She helped to develop Uhura's background and her first name. Her involvement in NASA was purely accidental as she was nominating others for the job. NASA wanted Uhura and got it. To date she said that more minorities and women than ever before and they were highly qualified. This actually led to an expansion of the astronaut programme. She finally finished her talk with a song, Beyond Antares I think. I got some good right hand side photos of her. The first alteration of the programme meant the CIC video presentation would be on after the next video. The main hall was partitioned again, this would occur over the weekend - a bit time consuming. We came back to see the presentation and a new guy only at his 2nd Con. He was very informative and said CIC had no control over Sky's schedule of TNG especially season 6 or DS9. As for HMV selling DS9 for £34, just wait till Aug '93 when they will be £10.99. It's just HMV trying to boost their profits. Star Trek will still come out in plastic boxes not cardboard as rumoured. Hopefully a regular TNG, DS9 video release schedule will available so to keep the fans aware of the dates and their spending. Again with time to spare I had some lunch, made of chicken sandwiches whilst Simon held the front. We reversed so he could go wandering. I here BBC radio will be with us today or tomorrow. Someone was videoing in the lobby with Trek uniforms probably the Con video. Our Star Trek consultant, Richard, arrived with two slideshow projectors of which the right hand side was better. His TNG slideshow failed due to a faulty tray. So he switched to DS9 slides - mostly behind the scenes set-ups. He then had a half hour tv programme of the behind the scenes of the making of DS9 introduced by Terry Farrell, however all the cast were interviewed except Avery Brooks - where was he? Odo's make-up is glued on and even comfortable for Rene, but it does get hot. Our other guest, Jonathan Del Arco appeared, Hugh of I Borg and Descent part 2. He is 27 and is still young to acting and Star Trek fame has not projected itself into alot of parts yet - its all that Borg make-up. He said he'd been to India which made a lasting impression on him. He did try for the part of Wesley 6-7 years ago but didn't get it. He's off to London on Monday and found Scotland beautiful. Spock is his favourite character and loved working with Patrick and Whoopi. There's a lot of kidding on the set between Michael and Patrick. Mike tends to attack Patrick and Patrick dies slowly from one side of the bridge to the other. The Borg outfit is difficult to wear and has a very large yet. With all the Borg jokes out of the way, Jonathan finished first 1hr at a UK Con. He's done 5 or 6 Cons in the U.S. from small ones to big ones. Baggy went off to get some autographs whilst we tried to think up some more questions for the quiz. Baggy returned and now we knew who our neighbours were. After a few knocks on the door we were caught, the five of us went for pizza. Guess who got the aisle seat? Our Pizza conversation included cement, George's foot, the service, food books, videos etc. Desert was chocolate all round plus how do we keep the neighbours awake, our cassette playing Trek novels or Margaret's sister singing. Baggy then realised that we were supposed to be at the fancy dress as KAG was up to something. We got back to the Wrath of Stephen. This Klingon Commander had a wanted poster for me, and now Baggy was in the deep mud for forgetting! Simon went off to perform the quiz whilst we changed for the 2hr Ceilidh. I was in a kilt for a bet but it later needed a slight correction pointed out to me by the others. Baggy got the blame so he's in a kilt next year. I think 2hrs is a little short as most people were just getting into the swing of things then, said Jean. Jonathan was there but didn't join in. The kilt is an impressive evening formal wear and expensive to buy, Stephen told me. I found the shoes slippy on that wooden surface but most were impressed that I wore it all i.e. Lesley, Jean, Margaret, Mike and friend, Fran, Keith, Craig etc. How about a ladies kilt for our lady friends next year? The Ceilidh finished just before midnight and it was off to my first stewarding. I got stuck with "And the Children Shall Lead" and "Spock's Brain", only a dozen watcher's. Mike of Leeds was still about despite being 2am and I even saw "Remember Me". Got to bed about 3am as Simon had a stewarding duty then. Baggy was still not in - than usual not the case. I set the wake up call for 7.30am. Come 6am it went off. Simon caught it. An hour later we got up I think. Even some banging from next door - the Anne Page's lot. SUNDAY: Simon and I got up but Baggy was slow, so we turned all the lights on, TV, Radio and threw pillows at him, but it didn't work, he stayed in bed. Little that we knew he'd been drinking Southern Comfort last night with Craig and Margaret and had a pounding head. The 6am call was meant to be for him. Breakfast was for two and there were these wanted posters of a certain KAG Klingon about. I got my jam pot this time. With some spare time I took some photo's of the dealers art collection mainly, Picard, Riker, Data and Troi plus two 3d Chess sets and a Vulcan harp that came late on. I bought another book, two mags and that's all this time. Simon got a hand Phaser to go with his TNG uniform and had every opportunity to blast us day or night. After that it was the TNG slideshow with Richard, most I had seen at Warp 1. All the cast have signed for a 7th season with a possible 8th, but Richard thought it unlikely. Gates, Jonathan, LeVar and Brent held out till the deadline passed before signing again. In Descent everyone is separated at the end so a major cast member could be written out if they didn't return. What about Data? he had to return. Richard said most of the questions came from the right hand side as they were more extrovert. He believes some of the merchandise is poor and tells fans not to buy it as Gene always wanted quality whilst Paramount wanted money. The continuity between DS9 and TNG should be pointed out by fans, such as O'Brien's rank, so write to the directors as there is no Star Trek office to do it now. The recent behind the scenes trading cards caused a stir and who should be on it. DS9 is now accepting fan scripts for its 2nd season. Time for a visit to the dealers room and some lunch of mince pies and fruit. Got chatting with KAG as I saw quite a few wanted posters of various characters. Stephen got some blueprints cheaply and the Trek memorabilia catalogue. Those DS9 and TNG pins are nice but expensive. Got to know quite a few dealers and asked about Glasgow's comic marts. I woke Baggy up as he was feeling better now, even having two breakfasts that day. Craig had spiked his drinks. Nichelle was a little late as she was being interviewed by the BBC and she duly arrived to a packed hall. The dealers room was closed for her talks I believe. She was wearing white and said she wanted to quit after season one but Martin Luther King persuaded her to stay as she was prominent in TV now. Her best roles occurred when she was off the bridge in Tribbles, Plato's Stepchildren and Mirror, Mirror. She remembers the inauguration of the Shuttle Enterprise. That cost NASA time, effort and money to change its name, previously Constitution. They were the only Hollywood people there and the theme from Star Trek was also played. She described how one lady who was bought up on Uhura's ideals for space is now an astronaut in NASA and even guested on TNG due to her influence. Nichelle kept getting questions but I can't remember them all. Soon it was over (Oh, one hotel staff member spread a rumour Bill Shatner was here - he was suitably dealt with). Between Nichelle and Jonathan we pondered for an hour either in the video or dealers room or was it somewhere else! Jonathan returned to a thinner gathering and wanted to cover different topics from Hugh/ Borg, but you know how fans are. I got my best photos on Sunday of all the guests. Patrick sort of remembered Jonathan as he drove up in his Jaguar, better you than me referring to the Borg outfit. Being a guest you would get single treatment of food and waited upon hand and foot. As there were so many in Descent he went to lunch and the eaters stopped in their tracks at the sight if an unglueing Borg eating lunch. He didn't have to cut his hair for the role as he wore a cap. He loved theatre work, doing it in New York and Los Angeles, but there are alot of young actors trying for jobs. When Patrick was in his Borg outfit the technicians would switch his red laser light on and off - a bit of fooling. He would like to do Hamlet and work with Anthony Hopkins. After Jonathan was Absolute Field Marketing making its presentation about the Official Star Trek Fan Club of the UK. Let's say the audience was hostile and I left after about two minutes. Let's say Star Trek fans do not have open cheque books which Paramount thinks they have! (Please note that at the time of this Con the Official Fan Club was in its infancy and has now improved drastically and the staff in charge of the club have now changed with the very capable Tim Gaskill now at the helm - Ed.) The dealers room was still open and in a tri-part fight, Simon managed to get hold of a copy of Starlog issue one cheaply. Later Baggy bought 33 issues of Starlog at £1.00 each and many Star Trek and TNG DC comics and half a dozen novels. Our favourite part of the con had arrived, the charity auction, and how much Baggy would spend and if anyone could compete. By the way you had a very nice Troi outfit that you were wearing Carol, of the chain gang. John bought the more obscure cast photos and then kept fairly quiet. Karin got a Patrick Stewart poster from his theatre days, Simon wanted the DeForest Kelley autographed photo, despite Baggy's bid, they both lost it. Leonard's, Patrick's and Siddig's photos were in the £80's whilst the rest stayed in the £50's. Even autographed trading cards are worth a fortune, £40. I had considered the SeaTrek package but it went for £250. A Paramount Star Trek kit for £185 and a DS9 kit for £75. Let's say there was a German fan who had to pay a lot to get it. The IAAPS charity did well, even Richard wanting a copy of the Radio Times with Picard. No press kits this time. The most horrid thing was two surgical gloves worn by John DeLancie in the film The Hand That Rocked The Cradle. I and Simon left the auction early for the autograph queue but confusion rained despite getting two spare tickets which Baggy got a chance to use later. He in fact fell to his knees for it in front of Margaret who couldn't believe what he just did. Queuing on the ground and then on the 8th floor is a matter of course. Finally I got Nichelle's signature and asked about her book; it was due out next year (1994). Jonathan gave a gold signature and Richard signed a decent photograph of himself as well. We rested in our rooms till the stewards party began. There was wine, nuts, crisps, paper planes and dishes as a paper fight broke out. We would have loved to have stayed longer but we went for food. Margaret and Jean came along to Pizzaland. It was all quiet in there but this time we got a round table, but service was slow. This evenings conversation included Odo, sick Trek jokes, and over eating by Simon. He was full to bursting and Baggy had saved his dinner. Ice and chocolate and cream followed - it was cold. We trailed back and no dodging the traffic like last time. Simon made it to the stairs and changed into his TNG costume. I don't know where everyone went to but I had another stewarding job while Descent was on. I stayed for Clues and Identity Crisis. Simon said he was attacked by Klingons at their party upstairs. Meanwhile Baggy was already asleep. Chatted to Mike, Pete and the Sheffield Space centre lot about the Beverly Hillbillies. We were in the wee small hours and there was even a break in the video programme so the machines could rest. I fell asleep in between Clues and Identity Crisis before wandering up to my pit, leaving the packing till tomorrow, sorry today. Simon was still missing? MONDAY: The anniversary of the first Moon landing, Apollo 11. I forgot to sign for the stewarding again! Come 7am we all awoke, Simon seemed to have been in a heap from my view. Movement was slow I was able to get into the shower first and even began to pack and did it all before breakfast. Off to food we went, this time in another part of the hotel - it's full the other side. I had a greasy but filling mouth full and plenty of juice. After which Simon packed whilst I loaded up the trunk. Baggy's belonging's were still spread over the floor including two die-cast Enterprise's, his clothes, books, dolls, magazines and endless Star Trek trivia. Karin gave me a couple of theatre brochures of Kiss of the Spider Woman with Bebe Neuwirth (First Contact - Lanel) - thanks. The dealers room was open already for business. Sitting on the Left hand side of the main hall was not as good as I had the guests microphones in the view of my photo's. The guest panel was Richard and Jonathan, as Nichelle had to leave early that day. It was a Q & A session. Richard talked about Gene's ideas and DS9 and if Gene approved of it. Paramount's attempt to make money and his sacking at the studios. Jonathan enjoyed his visit to Scotland and tried to do a Scottish accent. The time quickly and there was an hour to the closing ceremony. In this time I and Simon checked out, letting Baggy have a key for the first time this weekend - he needed it for his bags. The closing ceremony began with the introduction of the committee once again. Our guests were accompanied by a bag piper playing the Gene Roddenberry theme, nominated by George Takei last year. Everyone at the con was thanked with gifts for our guests. Jonathan handed out the prizes and certificates, Graham won but spelt his name wrong again. The charities were each presented with their cheques. Finally Jonathan closed the Con officially. Baggy was still undecided on to whether to buy that autographed Star Trek VI cast plaque for £475. He said he might go to Florida and get one cheaper later in the year. We lost Simon somewhere, so four of us went to lunch at a burger place in the heart of Glasgow's shopping precinct. We sat in the kiddies area and chomped away. Then we went bag hunting in Argos or was it Index as Baggy had bought so many books and bits he had to carry it home somehow. So we sort of helped him to pack and he still had Graham's unsold paintings. The maid was trying to tidy up our room and Baggy left a gift for her troubles. Then crammed his bags next door to Margaret's for safety. Margaret couldn't lift any of his bags - they were so heavy. I and Karin went off shop hunting for videos, books etc in those SF shops for an hour. I saw Baggy off, till next time. Margaret was staying till tomorrow. Zander was trying to drum up a dead horse bar party. Karin still had a stewards duty outside the dealers room at Lynn's insistence - we think. These Americans will do anything for money. I even got a freebie from Moira - the Freedom Space Station poster. Come 5pm it was the video room, catching a "Sleepy" Rightful Heir, Dramatis Personae, Duet, and Hands of the Prophets ending at 9pm, or was it 10pm. Exchanged names and address with new friends and departed slowly with the help of the porter on how to get to the M8. Currently over 100 people have already registered for Contagion '94, that was Monday afternoon, even Baggy notorious for being a late register. George and the committee can now sleep for a week to recover and then plan next year's one. I said our good-byes, as I found my car I waved to someone who was leaving but I don't know who it was but they recognised me! - Fame at last. It was back to Motherwell and an overnight stop at Heather's. The following morning I had already post Con depression - no more planned Cons till January '94. There's always LightSpeed '93? I believe Contagion Conventions are the most friendly in spirit, it must be these Scottish people who run it - see you next year. I might try and get to an Away Team meeting one weekend. I hear they get over 600 attendees - that's big. I phoned Simon up later in the week and he told me he had an eventful journey home on the coach and a big food feast at 3am. He said he had some real good photo's of Baggy for the wanted poster. I had phoned Margaret and she said Baggy might be going to Holodeck and would phone us to see if we were going - no phone calls yet - that's John for us - no phone calls or letters or any sort of replies till we see each other next time at a Con. MIDCON '93 ------------ Holiday Inn, Leicester, England --------------------------------- Reported by Neil Safi ----------------------- The 20th Anniversary British Star Trek Convention (Midcon) was held at the Holiday Inn, 1st - 3rd October 1993. Guests included George Takei (Sulu), Max Grodenchik (an actor who played the Ferengi Sovak in "Captain's Holiday" and who now plays Rom in DS9) and Richard Arnold (freelance Star Trek consultant to Paramount). We were only aware of two of the guests beforehand, namely George and Richard, although Max was a very welcome late addition. Okay, let's start as always with the convention pack. The convention booklet was an A5 black and white printed booklet which contained the usual introductory stuff together with a couple of articles, biographies of the guests and also a few pictures/congratulatory letters from people such as Jimmy Doohan, DeForest Kelly, Nichelle Nichols to name just a few. This gave the booklet a really high quality look, definitely one of the better booklets I've seen. Also included were the programme sheets, which were neat and clear, and of course the all important badge. Now I know this is a little point, but I like my convention badges to be "proper" round badges, and not the laminated identity card type (which admittedly keep costs down); it is nice however to keep the round badges as mementos. Our hotel room was large (for a change), comfortable and reasonably well equipped. The hotel as a whole was excellent, especially the large fire they have in the foyer. Quite a lot of my weekend was simply spent chatting in front of that fire, which really can have quite a hypnotic effect on people. A snack bar provided burgers and pasties etc. which kept us going throughout the weekend. I'm glad that some conventions provide cheaper snacks - I tend to stay within the hotel for the whole duration of the weekend and having cheap food on-site makes this possible! Also to my surprise the lifts worked - well, almost, they did break down on a couple of occasions. I have come to realise that working lifts at conventions are a luxury nowadays. The video programme was a little disappointing. I had seen all the TNG episodes on show except the 7th season episodes "Descent Part 2" and "Liaisons". The lack of new episodes was, I think, due to the time of the year in which the convention was held - new episodes were only just starting to trickle into the country at this time. However there was a surprisingly short amount of Classic Trek material, which considering this was supposed to be a 20th Anniversary celebration (of all formats) of Star Trek, seemed to be a little strange. The video programme was in some way redeemed by a fantastic video tribute to Gene Roddenberry that Richard Arnold brought over. The video was requested several times over the weekend, hopefully we will be able to obtain this video at a future con. Also, I at last managed to see the TNG bloopers, which were absolutely hilarious - it would be great if they could be released on sell-through video. All the videos were shown on reasonable quality large screen projector TVs, and the sound was okay. George Takei was simply a fantastic guest. He was at that moment in time working on a new movie on location in Romania, which he described as a very bleak and dismal place, to which he expressed many times his joy of attending the convention. George is a very lively and entertaining person, with a wonderfully rich speaking voice and a laugh that has to be heard to be believed! He said that he wanted to continue in Star Trek, as Captain Sulu for at least 10 more films and would also be willing to make an appearance on TNG and DS9. Max Grodenchik was the surprise of the weekend in many ways. It was his first convention ever, he had been filming a couple of days beforehand and literally still had glue in his hair from the Ferengi prosthetic that he wears on DS9! This guy was a hit with everyone, he didn't really know what to expect from a convention appearance, but you could tell that he really was enjoying himself. Max gave a good insight into the filming of DS9 and told us of his other acting work, including working on the film "The Rocketeer". Max could often be seen wandering around the hotel chatting to attendees in between guest talks. I really look forward to seeing Max again at a future con, especially with the role of Rom increasing on DS9. I unfortunately missed Richard Arnold's main guest talk, but he no doubt brought all the latest news from Paramount Studios. Two autograph sessions ensured that I had loads of signed photos of the guests. The autograph that George signed at this con is one of my favourites as he signed it, "To Neil, Live Long And Prosper, George Takei", and then drew a picture of the Vulcan handsign next to it - brill. I also managed to get a great photo of Quark and Rom, again which Max signed and personalised. The autograph session was very lengthy, as George took time to talk to everybody, but it was well worth the wait. The fancy dress was great (and I may be slightly biased here!) as I actually entered the competition for the first time. I won second prize, as Data in his Sherlock Holmes costume, from the TNG episode "Elementary, Dear Data". I must say that I was quite surprised towards the reactions I was getting from people whilst in the Data make-up; a few people were actually treating me as if I WAS Data - it was weird - but fun! The main thing that I noticed was that everyone kept asking me if I was "fully functional" (nudge-nudge, wink-wink). Okay, it's funny the first couple of times, but hey, I had people saying it to me all night - and they all thought that they were the first to say it! The winning fancy dress entrant was a fantastic Borg. Other entries included a scientist and his dinosaur egg from the film "Jurassic Park" and the tar creature from the TNG episode "Skin Of Evil". There was also a very realistic (and slimy) Alien running around the hotel on Saturday night, which made quite a few people jump! The BBC came along to the convention to film a short article for "Good Morning with Anne and Nick", which was broadcast on 15th October. Some of the fancy dress entrants, including myself, were filmed in front of a blue screen, on which was later superimposed shots of the Enterprise. The article also included short interviews with George, Sadie the costume designed who is famous for her Klingons (!) and several other attendees. Saturday evening I was hoping that there would be a karaoke session, as stated in the registration form, but sadly (or gladly depending on your viewpoint) this didn't happen. The following disco however was up to usual convention standards, with the obligatory repeated playing of Star Trekkin' and The Timewarp. Sadly I missed most of the party songs as I was at that moment scraping the Data make-up off my face. It was a pity that there was only one party over the weekend, but it was a good one nevertheless. All car owners however were I'm sure alarmed on Saturday night, as we were informed on numerous occasions of car break-ins at the nearby car park. Several attendees had windows smashed and possessions taken from their cars, and all were advised to move their cars to a patrolled level of the car park. Not a very comforting thought. Sunday brought more of the same, but as usual everything was slightly more relaxed. More guest talks followed from George, Max and Richard. The award ceremony, auction and the closing ceremony also took place on Sunday. The convention programme came to a full stop at about 10:00 pm, with the closing of the last video room. Now I would like to see convention programmes finish at at least midnight, if Sunday is the last day - even if it means just keeping one video room open. This would allow attendees to take part in more of the main events and then catch up on missed episodes on Sunday evening. Good idea or what? So to sum up... the video programme could have been better but George, Max and Richard were all very entertaining; there was a reasonable amount of different events going on such discussion panels/workshops etc, the hotel was great and the beer was chilled. Can't really grumble at that can you?! STARBASE '94 -------------- Leeds Hilton Hotel, Leeds, England ------------------------------------ 28th - 30th January 1994 -------------------------- Report by Norman Wright ------------------------- The people of Leeds must either be gluttons for punishment, or else hardened Trekkers because, just a mere 4 months after Lightspeed '93, the Hilton Hotel in Leeds was once more invaded by the Star Trek community. This time it was for one of the most regular of features on the convention calendar, Starbase '94. There were 2 main guests, both of which were a genuine delight to meet and talk to. The first of these was George Takei, aka Captain Sulu of the USS Excelsior, aka the swashbuckling Samurai! He flew into England on Friday afternoon and unfortunately suffered from jet lag for most of the weekend. However, this did not detract at all from his wholehearted co-operation throughout the whole weekend. The strain did come through a few times, namely when he tried changing the sex of the people he was giving autographs to, but more of that later. The second main guest was Norman Lovett, the original Holly from the BBC series "Red Dwarf". He added the valued element of humour to the weekend, although he had to moderate some of his jokes and talks to cater for the younger audience. This was especially so during his stand-up cabaret routine, which he performed on Saturday evening. The convention as a whole was very well organised with two rooms set aside for videos and special programmes as well as a main hall for the guest talks, special video showings and the obligatory Saturday night disco. Added to these were two dealers rooms, an arts and crafts room and a 'zine library. The video programme was inventive, with the organisers formulating a generous mixture of Star Trek combining Classic, Cartoon, TNG (mostly 7th season) and DS9 (quite a bit of the 2nd season included). The alternative programme was also very imaginative and carefully thought out. The committee had managed to obtain some excellent films on laserdisc including Return Of The Jedi, Groundhog Day, Terminator 2 and, best surprise of all, Star Trek VI. The committee had gathered a team of experts in the filed of Trek merchandising and publishing to take part in a panel. This included representatives from Pocket Books and Titan. Needless to say all members of the panel were given quite a grilling. About the best news to come off the panel is that there appears to be a few new brooms in the upper echelons of the Official British Star Trek Club. This could mean that the early subscribers to this venture might actually start seeing some real return for their money. The biggest question of all was, of course, what was happening about Star Trek VII, and whether or not the original cast was going to appear in it. Well, the hot news, direct from the horse's mouth is (drum roll here, please) NOBODY KNOWS NOWT. So far, none of the original crew have been contacted about appearing in the next film, so they are all being kept pretty much in the dark. There are only a few known facts at the moment, but most of those are negative. Leonard Nimoy has most definitely refused to have anything to do with Star Trek VII. William Shatner handed in a script to Paramount but it was thrown back at him. Allegedly!! The screenplay they do have is going through yet another re-write with a team of staff writers. All in all, none of this bodes all that well for the film if/when filming does eventually start. Throughout the whole of the weekend, George Takei managed to keep going, despite his fatigue and jet lag, delighting and enlivening all those who came into contact with him. The biggest demonstration of this came during the Saturday afternoon autograph signing session. When George arrived, about 20 minutes late and looking completely knackered, the whole of the convention was subjected to a display of good manners, courteousy and thoughtfulness that went on throughout the afternoon. Of course a few Klingons tried to jump the queue, but the valiant and capable security personnel (guess what I was doing over the weekend!) soon gave them short shrift. Fortified by the best hotel tea and his own inherent good humour, George kept up his marathon session for almost 3 hours. It was only near the end of this that the tiredness started to display itself through some gender- bending foul-ups. The first occurance was when a certain handsome young chap named Norman was transformed into Norma by a flick of a weary hand. (Thank goodness my wife understands about these things!) An even bigger surprise was in line for a young man by the name of Gary. He was instantaneously transformed into a Georgina! Some mothers do 'ave 'em, hey Gary? Overall the convention was a resounding success for all concerned, although maybe next time I'll try to get by on more than just 5 hours sleep. It seems to be a lesson very few convention-goers ever learn. Still, there's always next time... Report by Edward Woo ---------------------- Friday: After finishing my evening shift, I stayed up till 1:30 am watching Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Come 7:00 am I awoke, having a breakfast of mince pies and cornflakes. Having packed the night before, I hit the motorway in earnest, making a slight detour arriving at 11:00 am in Leeds. The car park was full already and I thought I was early. Made my way to reception to find Sadie and Simon to greet me with my con package. Simon arrived last night, and I was sharing with him. At reception, I found Carol smoking, who suggested I could have a broom cupboard instead of a room - thanks! Hey the lifts work better now. Being on the 5th floor it was easier to use the stairs than the lifts. Dumped my luggage, unpacked, showered and ate my sandwiches in the next hour. Bumped into Asty the Alsatian and owner who was only down the hall and said Hi. The videos had already started but there was no Sky One for Trek, pity! Found my way to Ops with Paul and John running the show, with my auction items. Paul was trying to find out if food and drink was allowed in the video rooms. You'll never know how much paperwork this involves. Mike just said no. Back at registration talked to Simon about T'Kon 94 and Sadie suggested that I should book for Awayteam 95 to the US, I'll think about it but 3 cons a year is expensive but who cares. John of KAG gave me some IDIC flyers via Stephen R for the con which I was able to hand out. There were plenty of attendees even that early on a Friday. I think I saw 2 original Trek uniforms that whole weekend, plenty of NG and DS9. Hope you like your tea Sadie, have you tried lemon or strawberry flavour. Simon left the desk to show me photos of Contagion, especially the ones of Jonathan. I had an unusual one of Nichelle he wanted. He had TNG boots and tricorder to go with his uniform now. Jean had arrived, who had worked late the night before to get here early. We began video watching then with 2nd Sight, Rivals, Inheritance, and Parallels. I missed Sanctuary as my first stewarding duty began in Ops. Parallels and Inheritance are terrific. In Ops I was manning the communications system. First time on 2 way comm. There I managed to talk to John who worked for National Power about cons, shift work and Motorola comm systems. We use Phillips or Pye in my work. I finished at 1600 to find Karinn and Philip milling about and spotted Pearl later, she hopes to go to the German con this year. For the next hour or two we talked shop. Karinn had got me a Christmas Carol lobby card and the audio cassette. She said she had spoke to George this morning who had escaped from Pat and Avril to go wonder round Leeds and see its architecture. Some more sandwiches were consumed and the opening ceremony was upon us. Having got the camera gear we found Frances and Keith sitting down, who mentioned they hadn't seen anyone they recognised except for us. They were one of the fortunate getting a place for those who had cancelled. This year it was rows of seats as the door opened and we were able to seat ourselves on the right. I hear there was about 400 attendees already with another 100-200 tomorrow. The Opening Ceremony began with our resident MC Anne Page with a video introduction from Jimmy Doohan and then a huge welcome to George Takei, having only arrived this morning as business delayed him. Plenty of flash photography with his usual Vulcan salute. I expected only a brief speech but he began straight away into his LA experience. How he escaped the LA shaking ground to land on more solid English soil. He hopes the shaking will have stopped when he returns. He said LA has five seasons; wind, fire, earthquake, riots and pestilence. The latter one has yet to come. His autobiography was due in on the end of January but because of this con, he got an extension to March due to be published in November 94. He had three possible title suggestions for it he put to the attendees and we all voted and the one that won would be suggested to the publisher, one of them got no votes but I like it. Once George had finished, we dispersed for his autograph queue. He did do a dozen or two signatures before jet-lag and tiredness overcame so he retired early. Pat and Avril did a terrific job of keeping him going all weekend. Food was the next order of priorities. Me, Simon, Karinn and Philip headed for Pizzas. Then Dee and Gaile only just arrived and decided to join us. They are from Space Central and it was their idea of a quiz at Contagion. We then had to wait for KAG but we lost one to hotel food. So 9 of us went to pizzas despite Dee saying she was cold and wanted a taxi. We entered the eating place with vouchers in hand. Dee soon warmed up and placed our monumental orders. Gaile was a little overdressed and worse for drink after 1 glass whilst Dee had hysterical laughter over the course of the meal about a customer with her label hanging out and should we tell her. It worked out to about £6 a person - a bargain. We worked out at Contagion, Jean will ask the questions whilst me and Simon will make the questions and answers unless Dee, Gaile or Zander want to do it. We wondered back to the hotel with KAG members trailing. We went off to our rooms for a rest then saw Cardassians, Gambit I and II and Melora, not forgetting food and drink in-between showings. Finally finishing at 3:00 am. The best seats are at the back as you can use them as chairs to sleep on for the dozen die hard video watchers there. In our 5th floor rooms we set up the wake up call and then started talking for the next hour before sleep arrived. Couldn't really sleep that first night and awoke at 6:00 am and it was not due to the building work or the brown water from the taps - just con nerves I hope. During the weekend Simon kept on pointing his tricorder at me and saying there was nothing there or life - funny hey! Sat 29th: The dreaded 7.15 am alarm call and I had a stiff neck. I'll use one pillow tonight. On went the TV and lights. Simon said how many lights do you see? We got down to breakfast and started with cereal, then fruit, orange and grapefruit juice with a fat builder bacon plate with tea and coffee. Philip joined us and would be the butt of our jokes that weekend as Baggy was not there to pick upon. George was in reception and I was able to get a quick word and he remembered Baggy's cement hand print and I apologised to him that he couldn't come to get the other hand or footprint. With time to spare I had intended to see Rules of Acquisition but the draw of the dealers room opening was too much. I pondered over the STII cassette, Nitpickers Guide to TNG and DS9 book. Eventually I decided not and in fact didn't get anything there. Our regular dealers of Craig, Jim, Margaret and Sheffield were there trying to extract our coppers. Saw snippets of Pegasus but caught the whole story last thing on Sunday night. Bumped into Howard who had intended to come 1 day for another cancellation got him in today. The art room was quiet but worth a visit. Two excellent models of the Excelsior and a Reliant class starship. Artist Wendy Ward had excellent pictures of Kevin Costner and a tri-capt picture of Kirk, Pike and Picard. Pictures of LeVar and other NG cast including a Gremlins model or puppet. Personally I would love to draw and paint but I can only do technical diagrams. This con the attendees could vote for their favourite and I liked the 3 captains. Took plenty of snapshots including the raffle prizes. Back in the main hall for Phantasms and a seat for the guest panel. I was able to get a word with Anne about Blackpool and the BBC. The guest panel comprised of 2 CIC people, 2 Trek publishers and Tim from the Official Fan Club. Questions asked: quality of TNG tapes i.e. its sound, 2nd season DS9 and 7th season TNG due out in March 94, Trek publishers want fan feedback as Trek sells big, if there is no Trek bookstand please ask. CIC video will be releasing a Star Trek starchart for £1.50 soon. Tim has taken over the fan club and as a real fan of Trek hopes to improve the quality of the club in the coming months with some special merchandise. Jean was here to take the relevant notes of the guest panel. The queue had already began for George's autograph. I began at the back with Stig. It was a long wait and met a Bajoran Robin from Sunderland who got me a drink and a male nurse from Manchester, a IDIC member. It was Robin's second con and loved it. Try and get to T'Kon if you can. I was recognised by Dr M'Benga who knew me of my writings - thanks. Bought some raffle tickets from Sadie as she seems always to be running registration desk. I might try next time. Those pig Trek personnel were cute i.e. a piggy Borg, Ferengi, Federation, Vulcan and Klingon. Made it to our guest and got his autograph for me and a Scottish friend. We were able to talk about China, Chinese New Year and Liverpool. George not only signs he chats and photos for everyone. That's why his signing over-ran a tad. I don't think he did any singing that weekend. His signature was allowed to dry. This gave me an opportunity to photograph him whilst signing. George was due on at 3:00 pm but it was 5:00 pm before he went on stage. This delay meant I was stewarding during his guest talk. I hope Jean got it all down in note form. I know Simon taped it. I thought this would give me a chance to visit the dealers room but it was closed. So I stewarded Liaisons with about a dozen others, Karinn joined me. Paul came along to show me how the video was worked. The sound quality is superb and I found that tomorrow with Terminator 2 and 5 speakers. Caught the last ten minutes of our guest. One question was did Bill and Leonard joke on set? They did I think, cookies was one answer. Simon went off for the photo session. Food was next and decided to stay for the hotel burgers and chips. Burgers could be better as Keith waited for his vegetarian pizza. No such thing at Warp One. The fancy dress started an hour late but time enough for me to get into my DS9 uniform. Simon wore his 1st season NG uniform, complete with tricorder and phaser. Philip had his NG 3rd season uniform but jeans. Robin was wearing a NG top as well. Whilst we queued at the door Dax and Data walked by with plenty of Klingons taking photo opportunities. As the doors opened we went for the best table and at our table we had NG, DS9, Klingons, Romulans and Terrans. Bajoran Robin said it didn't take long to put on her nose. Our judges were introduced by Anne, Pat was supposed to be first but George came on to great laughter. One of our publishers and Tim followed then finally Pat arrived. The fancy dress began with the following costumes; Martian Chronicles priestess, a Klingon sister, a Klingon from ST: The Jurassic Generation, Worf Scarlet, Sheriff Worf, 2 Borgs one with a microphone voice, X-Wing female pilot, Dax and Data, a Penguin I think, a wheelchair dinosaur, a Scottish Vulcan which got great applause. Finally was D'Artagnan who was Sulu in disguise - an instant winner for George. The full fancy dress parade began and it gave us a chance to use our film - oh there was John the 6th Dr Who, who got confused as we all wanted to photograph him in 6 directions. The winners were announced 3rd, the Jurassic Generation, 2nd klingon sister and first was the distorted voice of the Borg. A special prize for D'Artagnan. I had intended to go to the stewards party after it but Simon persuaded me to stay for Norman Lovett and it was well worth it. His excellent one man stand-up routine, looking at things of life through his observations. He had a growing audience beneath his feet, one, two three, etc, till he had a line of them, Stig being the most noisy. Forks will never be the same again for attendees. George was sitting at the back of the hall and there was a funny exchange between him and Norman about who was being paid here! Let's hope we can get Norman next year. His stand up routine ended and we headed for the bar and food whilst the disco began in the hall. In the Blue Notes Bar there was a buffet of pies and sandwiches so we tucked in. I joined Jean and others discussing which episode had a woman engineer fall through the deck. We all knew the scene but not the episode title, eventually a fellow Trek fan helped us, it was "In Theory". George couldn't make it to our party but Norman came along to join in the fun. Chat ranged from cons, Trek, transplants and other manners of life before a few went off to bed at midnight. Jean was writing up the talks in bed whilst she still remembered them. Simon and me found Frances and Keith in the disco and we heard Dee and Gaile had a real fun time as well - I don't know what they did but I'll ask them next time. I pointed out to Karinn that the hotel does have radio on the TV. We went off to see Terminator 2 in real THX sound quality and the Neville suite was full till 2:00 am including committee members. Captive Pursuit we gave a miss and so back to our rooms and it was pillow an hour later as I needed time to prepare for tomorrow's, sorry, today's activities. Sunday Stardate 9401.30. Sunday wake up call was at 7:15 am but it was only later that I realised breakfast and the dealers room started an hour later. Next time I'll read my con package. Unfortunately I awoke Jean and Margaret but Karinn was already up - drat! - via the hotel phone. This mornings breakfast was the big one not forgetting the butter and jam. Caught the video "Force of Nature" to get a good seat for Norman. MC Anne Page mentioned that it was the best Sunday 10:00 am turnout for a guest, it must have been Norman's pulling power. Norman came on stage with drink and tea on hand. He answered questions about the early days of Red Dwarf as they were all not actors and Kryten really showed that. He felt Red Dwarf had veered off from those early episodes. He had sympathy for Hattie who took over Holly for him. Also he felt that the all male cast was a bad thing. Norman's work this year included a radio show, TV work and last years Edinburgh Festival. He currently lives there but has an office in London. Stig stood out with his questions, Norman noted as he finished his guest hour. Norman noted there were only two episodes of Red Dwarf the whole weekend - a little joke! We all broke up as we queued for George's and Norman's autograph. I got Norman's and was able to ask him about his work and how critical it was. His wife is critical as she is a former ballerina. George's session was curtailed due to its over-run. Simon missed his signature by a few people but he already had it. Ran into members of LUST Jerry and Barbara who were just there for one day. Hope you'll make it to T'Kon. At 13:00 the main auction began at first, the charity auction was supposed to be first but George's queue was still long. It was to give those with money left to spend more. As usual signed photos went between £20 - £50 for Whoopi, Leonard and Walter. Blueprints went for £20 - £30 whilst the first Starlog £25. Simon got his for £4! Frances bought the CIC ST flight jacket and ST dartflights. A Menagerie plate was auctioned for £35 whilst a resin phaser remained unsold - a want at other cons. The charity auction was far better attended with framed autographed photos of Whoopi, Marina, Terry, Rene, Armin, LeVar, Gates, Patrick, Jimmy and Michael went into the £50s each. A Christmas Carol signed lobby card fetched £60. Karinn got a signed Whoopi poster whereas Simon lost out on the Terry photo, just above his limit. A set of 11 signed photos from Seatrek 93 went for £200. Jean had bought £50 worth of zines to read. The rest of the main auction followed rapidly by our auctioneer Paul of Tech Ops. George began his 2nd talk at 4:00 pm an hour late. He came onto the stage smiling and to great applause. I heard later that he was tired throughout the whole weekend but the committee coached him to work that weekend. He mentioned that UK cons are different from the US ones as you are hidden away, bought on stage for an hour then whisked out of the hotel through a side exit. Here you can mingle with the fans, use the hotel entrance and have a great informal time. He was asked to talk about his famous Alton Towers trip and about half the con attendees hadn't heard it. If you have not heard it it's a real treat. He did his abridged version which was 10 minutes shorter than last time Simon said. In fact he could do a video or audio cassette of his trip. Here's a brief summary of the Alton Towers event. George is a runner, he lost passport, went to get a temporary one but got a full one, because of a ST fan. Hoped to make the Concorde flight but missed it despite another fall back position. Got confused between Delta, BA domestic and international departures. He had problems with his pre- paid ticket, forgot his American Express card. Richard Arnold helped him out. Had hassle between his luggage and the airport officials. He made a dash for the gate via a golf trolley only to find hammering on the plane door was not needed as the plane was delayed. Finally George arrived in London but rain halted his helicopter but made it to Alton Towers where William was waiting. Other questions pointed included his work on the Green Berets. John Wayne is like that in real life and because of delayed filming, Walter was called in and got some of his scenes. William Shatner is an energetic director and bought that to STV. Leonard is more thoughtful especially the filming of the helicopter scene in STIV. As George had just done the LA marathon and this scene was the very next day. A stuntman was to give George a push but the pain barrier was too much on that day. Another time in the original series George said he ran on stage and heard a crack. He carried on till the director said cut. He then found out that it was an extra's hand he stood on and he had held the yell of agony till the director had finished. George officially announced Leonard was not going to be in STVII because of other projects. This left the script in a shambles. George finished his talk to a standing ovation as he departed stage left. With only a brief pause to set up for the closing ceremony began only 1 hour late. George came back on stage and began drawing raffle tickets for the con and GHT raffle. Prizes on offer included a Franklin Mint Enterprise, A ST plate, a widescreen box set. Karinn got the pilot episodes with her winning ticket. George had a little difficulty with blue/green tickets until he used his glasses. Unfortunately I didn't win but a Klingon did and George mentioned that all Klingons looked alike anyway - silly don't mention that to KAG. Next the fancy dress winners 2 of which were from KAG, the Excelsior model won best model whilst the Kevin Costner picture won for the artwork. Jean got 2nd prize for her literary work. Plus a special prize for D'Artagnan who had gone home but her mother was there to collect it. Next our thanks went to George, our guests, the stewards, tech, committee and finally the attendees. Mike and Carol tried to hide from our thanks and Anne P got flowers and chocolates, the diabetic variety. There were not just prizes for attendees but George got quite a surprise when he was given three gifts, a nice antique plaque and a small clock and a box of chocolates. I got some superb pictures as he accepted his gifts. The closing of the con came with a video presentation of Jimmy and the 1st season NG bloopers. The con attendees scattered but the videos continued but this gave me an opportunity to visit Ops and collect my auction items and money. This meant I was slightly late for stewarding the main hall but I was covered. The remaining hall programme slipped in schedule and so 2 episodes were dropped I had seen. Instead I caught The Alternate and Homeward. Tiredness does set in during the afternoon and late evening and I could feel it coming on. Three of us went for food as Jean wanted to see Rivals and Parallels. We had to get back for Pegasus. Off to Pizza Hut, supposedly quicker than Pizzaland. These deep pan pizzas are filling and so we used a few doggy bags. We returned with a piece of pizza for Jean. It was my first time in the Danby suite all weekend for the final NG story. Ops was pretty quiet then and I should hope so. We finally finished at 11:30 pm and it was down to the bar and the Superbowl with KAG and an American who wanted Dallas, I wanted Buffalo. We sat down for drinks before finally making our way up to our beds. I suggested Jean could do with an early wake-up call. I would be in serious trouble she said if I did as she was working on Monday lunchtime. Back in our room at 1:00 am we had the TV on and I started packing to much annoyance of my room-mate, Simon, as we had all Monday am to do it. Sleep arrived an hour later as my team was losing, no chance of a comeback. Stardate 9401.31: It was the morning again and the 8:15 am alarm call rang. There was movement but it was slow. Stayed in bed a little longer. I showered and got Simon up. Off we went down to breakfast. After last nights pizza I was still so full so it was lighter on the cereal and sausage filler. After only 13 hours of sleep the whole weekend I was not too bad. Over the next few hours there was breakfast, some packing and even a visit to see Leeds city centre to look for a ST book. Meanwhile everyone was checking out and the con was slowly disappearing from sight. Simon did a tape interview for Leeds Student Union friend about Trek but he couldn't do the answering with me watching. Found Karinn and Pearl waiting for their respective trains in reception. Pearl wants to go to Germany. One lucky Trek fan there was going to Trekcruise. I was able to talk to Paul about tech ops next year and the video system. Finally me and Simon went to 1102 to say goodbye to the committee guess what, they were all counting the money and Pat needed a calculator to add up. They still tried to sell us photo frames and what to do with those extra Norman Lovett photos - save 'em for next year. We said goodbye and see you at T'Kon. I would like Majel as guest next year if possible Carol. In the foyer Jim, Margaret of Future Shop were loading up for the trip to Scotland, only 5 - 6 hours drive, nothing really to seasoned travellers like them. Simon and Pearl got their respective trains and I finally got into my car at 1:00 pm and left Leeds leaving a few people still in there - the die hards. As I was working that night shift I eventually stayed up for a full 26 hours before finally getting a solid 12 hours of sleep to recover and then began writing this con report. It's taken me so far quite a few night shifts. Hell, the things I do for Trek. To be continued...