Official Creation Star Trek Con Philadelphia 2012 Day 3 Coverage

If you are joining me late, read my Initial Impressions, Day 1 and Day 2 coverage first.

Fortunately, Sunday had a much later start, because I was fucking exhausted after two days of con. I managed to get there early, pick up my Photo Ops I didn’t pick up the prior night, then wait till everyone showed up to sign. I was the first person in line, and went right up to Jonathan Frakes. I felt bad for him, because for a good 5 minutes after he signed my Photo, both Brent and Levar had a line of a good 25 people, but no one was getting his, and his table was between the two of them. The events of the day started off with more from Richard Arnold, this time geared specifically on remembrances of Gene and Majel Roddenberry. He said that the original Enterprise test model was on Gene’s desk for years, until it was stolen. They were never able to recover it. He then told the story about attending the 1990 BBA awards in London with Gene. He was not told until he arrived that it was a black tie affair and he would be needing a tux. So he went to Moss Brothers in London to rent one. Years later, on the first day of shooting on Deep Space Nine, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen Alexander Siddig somewhere before. It turns out he had been the salesman at Moss Brothers who fitted him with the tuxedo. He then spoke of the Roddenberry’s penchant for throwing elaborate parties, particularly for Christmas. Majel would have upwards of 12 Christmas trees all over the house fully decorated. At one such party, Richard was out under a big tent in the back yard on a chilly January day. There were portable space heaters setup, but they were not working. Buzz Aldrin was there, and he stood up on a chair trying to get it to work, to which Richard said “Come on Buzz, it’s not Rocket Science!” to which Buzz replied “Gee, never heard that before!”

He then spoke about being asked to speak at Majel’s funeral by her son Rod, as the only real Star Trek person to speak. He spoke about how he was going to say “Thank God Star Trek is BACK in good hands” after working with JJ Abrams on the new film. However, just as he was about to say it, he looked down, and there was Rick Berman in the second row. Fortunately, he was able to compose himself and switch to “Thank God Star Trek is STILL in good hands” without anyone noticing. When asked if he was ever going to write a book with all these stories, as he is privy to all kinds of fascinating things, he said he was not allowed to. After Gene’s death, his entire staff was fired in a very contentious way. He was escorted off the lot, with his keys and personal possessions still in his office. In fact, he ended up taking them to court. However, they ended up reaching an “amicable settlement” which lead to his return. Part of that settlement was that he could never write a book while certain people are still alive. There are only two left. When the cast saw that he was back, they were very surprised. Brent Spiner asked him how much money he got. Richard stated it was an amicable settlement, and he couldn’t discuss it further, to which Brent replied “Oh yeah, how many amicables did you get?”

Then it was time for Levar Burton. He started off by telling us about his new project, the return of Reading Rainbow. This time, it’s coming back as an app for iOS devices and tablets (Android to follow soon after) with a monthly subscription, which would allow parents access to hundreds of books a month to read to their children, along with other games and videos for them to watch and play together. If I was a breeder, I’d be excited about it. Then it was time for the second “That Guy” of the weekend, who asked about why the crew of the Enterprise would play poker in a future that had a moneyless economy, when the whole point of poker was to win money. Everyone kind of groaned, and Levar threw up his hands and gave him a “whaaaa” face, and then told him “you obviously don’t know how to play poker”. He said that poker isn’t all about money, it’s a game of strategy, of risk vs. reward, about how brave you are. That was the point the writers were trying to get across, and this guy totally missed it. When asked about his favorite way he saved the ship, he said “eject the warp core”, and then said they seemed to do that far too much. It’s a pretty major thing, and it’s not like warp cores grow on trees. He then equating it to running out of gas, and then shunting the engine of your car. It doesn’t really make sense.

He said Science Fiction literature has always appealed to him because it addresses the issue of “What if?” He then said he should totally be getting royalties of off Google Glass. Roots was his first audition as a professional actor. When asked about how he would like Geordi to remembered, he said he wanted to be remembered for “getting it done”, because that’s what engineers do. Also that Geordi had an “open heart” and was everybody’s friend. Someone then mentioned about Geordi and his girl troubles, that he never had any real relationships, except with a hologram. He says that looking back on it, he never really realized that his behavior with Leah Brahams was “classic stalker behavior”, and that he was “a little ashamed of himself.” He was then asked about his character’s growth, starting at the Conn and working up to Chief Engineer. He said that after the first season he went to the producers and talked to them about it, how all the other characters had a niche. Picard was the leader, Riker the brash one, Troi the empath, Data the unfeeling computer, Beverly the healer. He was just the blind guy who drove the ship. He understood the joke, but felt he needed something more. He was very happy when he was transferred out of command and into Engineering. His favorite episode of Trek that he directed was the Voyager episode “Timeless”, mostly because he got to appear in it, and as a captain. At his point, a very nerdy gentleman took to the mic, and asked in a very nasally voice what was Levar’s favorite episode he directed again. This of course turned out to be Brent Spiner in disguise. He then asked if Levar was the same person who had played Kunta in “Ruutz“, which made Levar laugh. He said that he was, and Spiner said that he could identify with Kunta’s struggle, being as he was “an African American [himself]”, which caused Levar to break uncontrollably. Then another fan came up to ask a question, if Patrick Stewart’s accent is real, and it was Jonathan Frakes this time. Levar said it was, of course, all fake.

After that it was time for the “Stump the Experts” trivia challenge. However, yet again this was scheduled against a Photo Op, this time with Levar Burton, so I missed half of it. However, I am a god damn nerd, or else the questions the audience posed weren’t that good. I only caught the last 6 questions, but I only legitimately did not know one because it was bat shit crazy insane. The experts however, could not get a single one, they sucked. I did not know that Spock appeared in character in a commercial for the Buick Riviera, but I did know that Ricardo Montalban invented ‘Corinthian leather’. I also didn’t know the specific name of the scaffolding that Data landed on in when he jumped down in the Missile Silo in ‘First Contact’. Neither did anyone else. Apparently the questioner worked in a Nuclear Missile Silo and was privy to the technically correct name. I immediately stood up and declared Shenanigans. One person in the back stood up and answered ‘his feet’, which got a round of applause and a prize. I was only able to partially get the names of all 7 of the Dax hosts in order (and there are 9, not 7, and technically it’s 11 if you include one time hosts and alternate timelines), but they then dropped it down to just 5, not in order, and the experts still couldn’t get that. I missed Lela and Joran, but otherwise had it. The experts then said that it was Sulu, not Chekov, who tried to assassinate Kirk in ‘Mirror Mirror’, which elicited an audible groan from all in attendance. They then asked for the name of the clandestine arm of Starfleet that appeared in 3 episodes of Deep Space Nine, the name of the head of the Organization, and for bonus points the actor. I easily knew that is was Section 31, named after Article 14, Section 31 of the Starfleet charter, which allows for extreme measures in times of extreme threat. The head of Section 31 was Luther Sloane, as played by William Sadler, which I didn’t get. I knew it was William, but couldn’t place the last name. I did however know he also played the retarded janitor in ‘Disturbing Behavior’.

After that came a brief set with Chase Masterson, which was very similar to the panel she gave at last year’s Wizard World. She said her desire to be on Star Trek came from being in an acting class with Jonathan Del Arco (Hugh) and Garrett Wang (Harry Kim), and Jonathan would always talk about how much fun he had doing Star Trek conventions. She then told the story of her first day of shooting on Deep Space Nine, and meeting Avery Brooks in the makeup trailer, and he kept calling her Kathy. She explained who she was, and her name wasn’t Kathy, but he kept calling her that anyway, and she tried to correct him again, and then he said two words to her, “NordicTrack”. Chase was once in a infomercial for NordicTrack. Her response to him was “Avery, I was paid to be in it. What was your excuse for watching it?” She said that her favorite Leela episode was “Doctor Bashir, I Presume” becasue she enjoyed working with Robert Picardo. At this point, she stopped with the questions to sing a song, the old standard “Fever”. She’s a very talented singer, and has that breathy seductress act down pat. After her first song she spoke about some of the things she’s been doing now, including mentoring inner city kids through Homeboy International. She was asked if she managed to save any mementos from the show, and told of being on the set the final day for the final shot, which was the Vic’s Lounge scene, and every other Deep Space Nine set had been torn down except for one, a tiny little wall of sickbay, and she was able to take Bashir’s medicine cabinet. She then sang “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and spoke of how she had to fight with her producer to get it on her album, but she wanted it there so she could sing it at Star Trek conventions, because the fans “get it.”

Then it was time for the big draw for the day, the Jonathan Frakes/Brent Spiner panel. It’s very hard to convey just how crazy this panel truly was. It was basically a hour long comedy set between the two of them, ping ponging back and forth off one another and the crowd. The “Poker Question” guy was up to ask his question, and everyone groaned and booed him as soon as he got up to speak. Jonathan pretty much disrupted his question, by saying there was really no reason he should have been playing poker with the crew to begin with. Who did he expect to beat? Geordi could see through anything, Data was a walking computer, Troi could sense his thoughts, Worf would kick his ass. What, did he expect to beat Beverly? He also called Generations “Two captains in search of one good hair piece”. Then someone asked him the stupid question “Do you still hang out with the crew?”, to which Jonathan answered “If I had any other friends, I wouldn’t”. Brent asked for clarification, if they meant like the tech crew or the cast members. He then said that he hangs out with “the grips and the gaffers”. It was then my turn to ask Jonathan a question. I asked him about his involvement in Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, which got a decent laugh from the crowd. He didn’t really give me an answer, instead going into the opening monologue in his narrator voice. “The images you about to see are real and very disturbing. So please! Go get the kids and bring them into the room!” He then said that that was not to be confused with Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. At this point Brent hijacked the question. He talked about how one time he was in Canada, and being Canadian, William Shatner has like 13 shows on there. One of them is a Fact or Fiction style show, and the episode Brent caught was supposedly about a man who had died and been buried but came back to life. This lead to William Shatner saying with a straight face “Do. . . Zombies. . . Really. . . Exist?” Brent tried to do a William Shatner impression, but wasn’t very good at it. This lead to a recurring joke throughout the panel of him trying to improve his impression, and he kept repeating “Do. . . Zombies. . . Really. . . Exist?” Another recurring element was Brent namedropping his new webseries Fresh Hell. I hear it’s pretty good, I just haven’t had the time to watch it. At some point they were joined onstage by Levar Burton, who lead the crowd in singing the Reading Rainbow theme. Jonathan was then asked about Growing The Beard. He said it came about as a result of the Writers Strike during the second season. Gene saw him with the beard, and told him he simply had to keep it, saying “it will be nautical” and “decorative”. With a great round of applause, that was the last of the days activities.

So what are my final thoughts? It was certainly different than I expected, but it was still a fun time, and I look forward to doing again next year. I already bought my seats, and managed to move up to the third row. Next year is the 20th anniversary of Deep Space Nine, and invites have been sent out to the whole cast. My love of Deep Space Nine runs deep, so I’m very excited. I once sent the program manager at a local TV station a very strongly worded letter when after watching reruns in order on syndication for nearly two months, they finally got to the series finale, and then played “The Ship” instead, I was livid. So yeah, I kinda love Deep Space Nine. Regardless, I hope they get some of the writers, like Ron Moore or Ira Stephen Behr, I’d love to meet those guys. Now that I know that unless you want presigned artwork not to expect much from the dealers hall, and that you’ll be sitting in a room for 8 hours a day for three days learning stuff, I’m sure I’ll have a good time next year. I’ll certainly be making a centerpiece, that’s for sure.

So what exactly did I spend at the show and what did I get? Well, I prepaid a bunch on my credit card, I then put even more on my credit card while I was there, and spent exactly all the cash I put in my wallet.

• Prepaid with Card
• Gold Membership – $379
• Sir Patrick photo – $100
• Tim Russ photo – $40
• Tim Russ autograph – $20
• Gary Graham photo – $40
• Jonathan Frakes photo – $40
• Levar Burton photo – $40
• “Shipping” – $55
• Prepaid Total – $714

• Cash at Show
• 8×10 photos for autographs w/ protectors (4) – $28
• Brent Spiner autograph – $30
• Levar Burton autograph – $30
• Jonathan Frakes autograph – $30
• Chase Masterson autograph – $25
• Chase Masterson photo – $40
• Smut. I can’t go to a show without picking up at least some smut. I bought some very racy prints from Robert Quill. I’ve seen him at several different shows now and he does awesome custom character art. Highly recommended. – $24
• Playable Ressikan Flute – $100
• Enterprise B PVC mini statue – $20
• Sir Patrick Stewart autograph (2) – $150
• Photo frames/food – $23
• Cash total – $500

• Card at Show
• At the Auction. From the personal collection of Richard Arnold. Painting signed by Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan, Walter Keonig, and George Takei – $250
• Card at Show Total – $250

 
Grand Total – $1464

It’s nice to be a grown up adult with disposable income to waste on stuff like this. Only problem is I’ve filled my apartment to capacity. Time to buy a house! If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading my in depth coverage, and I’ll be doing it again next year. My next con coverage is in three weeks with Wizard World Philly. Stay tuned! Now, pics of my haul. Enjoy!

JohnScott is the proud owner of a life size replica Captain Kirk Chair. He is a hoarder of Comic Books, Transformers, and Star Trek action figures. He attended Space Camp as an adult. He has taken vacations to the closing of the Star Trek Experience and the final night Shuttle launch. He has been known to yell at his television when the kids can't put together the damn statue in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. When not writing for InsufficientScotty, he is a Software Engineer for a major healthcare communications company. You can Email or follow on Twitter @NotEnoughScotty or Facebook