Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

Jill Pantozzi | May 28th, 2008

If you understand that, we are kindred spirits. If you don’t, well this post probably won’t interest you, but read it anyway! I attended my first ever Star Trek convention…in March…and I’m finally getting around to telling you about it.

The convention was hosted by Creation Entertainment in Secaucus, NJ. I knew the hotel it was held in very well. It’s right next door to the My 9 studios where I did my college internship and where the New York portion of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon was held every year. I’ve been receiving emails from Creation for years now about all kinds of conventions but never attended one until now. They are the company that does the Xena, Stargate, Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Farscape and Lord of the Rings conventions among others. Saturday’s guests included Rene Auburjonois (Odo from Deep Space Nine), Armin Shimerman (Quark from TNG and Deep Space Nine) and Brent Spiner (Data from TNG).

I had intended for my first Star Trek convention to be last years big celebration in Las Vegas but couldn’t find anyone willing to go with me. So, needless to say, I was a little let down by the size of this one. It definitely wasn’t as grand as I expected it to be. When I got to the hotel I almost thought I came on the wrong day. There were no signs saying the convention was there and there weren’t any crowds of people hanging around outside. The Trek conventions in this area are usually held in Secaucus or Cherry Hill. Why not New York or Philadelphia?

The cheapest way to attend one of these convention is to buy a single ticket at the door. No service fees and no paying around $300 for a Gold Pass that will get you a reserved seat. The room is small enough to give you a fair view with general seating. Food, like at any convention, will cost you an arm and a leg of course. 

Armin Shimerman and Rene Auburjonois

Armin Shimerman was first on stage after I got settled in. I saw him out in the hallway earlier looking cool as a cucumber with his jacket swung over this shoulder. I’m a fan of his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer too of course so that was very exciting. I considered asking a question about that show instead of Star Trek but thought I’d get yelled at by the audience so I didn’t. Another girl there was brave enough to do so later on which made me happy. He seemed very happy to be there, most times answering questions with a story instead of a simple response. He was able to joke his way out of those questions you know some fan is inevitably going to ask like, how does certain technology on the show work. Not how did the prop work, how does something like that actually work in real life. I will never get that.

During his time on stage Shimerman was joined by Rene Auburjonois for some shared experiences and more fan questions. They seem to be really good friends and spoke about their roles on Boston Legal as well. After a few questions had gone by a familiar voice appeared on the microphone. Brent Spiner had snuck his way into the room and began acting like a fan. He even asked one of those technology questions they all love to get. Check out this YouTube clip another fan posted of the hilarity that ensued.

Auburjonois took the stage next and didn’t really need anyone to ask him any questions, he was quite capable of entertaining us with his stories about his past, like his role on Benson and about how his family is doing. Though he got one of my favorite questions of the day. A fan asked if he thought his character Odo could get “Borged.” Auburjonois went on for about five minutes about how he was sure Odo got “bored” occasionally until the fan corrected him. He then turned to the audience and said, “Did you know that’s what he meant?” To which we all replied, “yes.” He at least got a chuckle out of that.

During an intermission I took a stroll to the vendor room which was about the size of a large classroom. Chase Masterson (Leeta from DS9), Max Grodenchik (Rom from DS9) and if I remember correctly, Elizabeth Dennehy (Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Shelby from TNG) were signing there. I think I actually remember a table that was selling everything else but Star Trek merchandise. Also, before he went on stage, Brent Spiner was there signing copies of his new CD, “Dreamland.”

Brent Spiner on stage is something that must be seen if you have the chance. Like, I said, they were all very entertaining, but he is a true showman. Not only did we get a FANTASTIC Patrick Stewart impression but he was also willing to give us just the slightest bit of Data. Just a quick non-emotional face and a twitch of the head to the right. It lasted about a second but it was awesome. He also spent his time plugging his CD which he consistently reminded us we could order on his website TheRealBrentSpiner.com.

The rest of the day consisted of trivia contests, auctions and door prizes. The trivia contest involved fans posing the questions to other fans. Some questions were simple, some were extremely hard and some made me giggle. Like this one.

The highlight of the convention for me had to be the door prize giveaway. No, I didn’t win anything, someone else got something very special. Here is her own video explanation.

All in all I’d say I was a little disappointed by my first Star Trek convention experience but it was fun anyway and the people there were very nice. One thing I expected were a lot of costumes but there actually weren’t that many. A few girls in pretty dresses here and a few officers there but no Klingons or Cardassians or anything cool like that. Strangely enough there was a guy dressed as a Jedi. I was thoroughly confused until he got up to ask a question and announced that he was a Jedi Starfleet officer, then I was a little more confused. There was also a girl wearing one of those Chewbacca backpacks. I would have thought that kind of thing wouldn’t be allowed by either fandoms. It’s like the Montagues and the Capulets! Though, how the guy in the Care Bear suit got in, I’ll never know.