We wanted to bring you a post ahead of tomorrows Destination Star Trek London’s guest announcements. (very excited about the competitions and announcements!)
The cast, the actors who play the characters are the focal point at conventions. The most memorable events we have been to, were organised with as much exposure to the stars as possible.
On a Starship, the bridge crew wouldn’t get anything done if it weren’t for the redshirts, the dilithium miners and ships counsellor. That example doesn’t quite parallel Star Trek in terms of Actors v Production crew as we wouldn’t want to devalue their role. Lets say that the production crew are like the Admirals and Academy teachers. They set the mission and often get accused of being baddies!
The writers, producers and know-it-alls are often bypassed at conventions yet they can bring so much.
Fans want to see the actors, but they also want valuable dialogue that can only be achieved by someone who understands the series. At the last Star Trek Convention held in London in 2005, a fan asked Colm Meaney to explain the Klingon forehead change from Enterprise to TOS to TNG.
Half of the audience face palmed themselves! But the question did identify a gap in the convention market. The knowledge master. The person with the answers.
This is why DSTL is exciting because it promises to go beyond the actors that we all know and love.
There is a guest wish list on the Showmasters Forum. We struggle with these lists, because there is no-one we don’t want to see! However when it comes to non-actor guests, we certainly have some suggestions.
Larry Nemecek. Seriously, this is THE man! Look at your bookshelf. Yes, his name is all over it!
Larry has literally written the book on Star Trek and even an episode! Nemecek now runs Trekland – a blog where he shares his experience of working with Star Trek as a writer, a commentator, an interviewer (to name a few of his contributions to Trek). He is doing tours with Geek Nation Tours looking at Star Trek Filming locations around California and Nevada. Plus he does the convention circuits in the USA. This weekend he is moderating a TNG panel with LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn and Wil Wheaton at Pheonix Comic Con. Lucky!
On top of all of this, he is in the process of making a documentary about the first all star Star Trek Convention. We won’t spoil it but if you were around, reminisce in The Con of Wrath, if (like us) you weren’t born then, its a great piece of convention history and we can’t wait to see the completed documentary.
What we like about Larry is that he is a ‘high functioning’ nerd. He has the ability to answer questions in an entertaining way and even when there is a tricky question (e.g. Transwarp theory or the Trill) he answers in good humour and charisma whilst maintaining audience engagement.
So Larry, if you’re not too busy living the good Trek life, please beam over to London in October (and bring Wheaton with you!).
Rod Roddenberry. No explanation needed. He is the child of the two most incredible and influential people. He is the son of Star Trek. He is a philanthropist and lives what Star Trek preaches. It would also be handy not to pay shipping charges he came over and sold some of the goodies from Roddenberry.com (We want the Horga’hn!)
Convention Guide signed by Brannon Braga and Manny Coto |