Star Trek Reads discussion

Are you headed to any conventions this year? Post it here!

I was already at Fan Expo Vancouver last weekend (overwhelming con!). Trek was represented there with Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, John de Lancie, and Alan Ruck.

Next weekend I'll be at Creation's Star Trek Philadelphia con with Kathy! We're planning on chatting about books at some point (informally, Kathy's planning it so maybe she'll have more details). If you're there let us know!

The book thing is pretty simple: bring in some old Trek books that you want to swap out with others. Thinking Saturday at the con will be a good time to do it. Just take over the lobby or something.

I'm excited; I'm leaving for the Philly con later tonight!

(jealous)

I have only ever been to one convention, but it was a pretty awesome time. Met a lot of cool people!

Hi from the con everyone! Were having a blast (despite my jet lag). You can follow my live tweets at http://www.twitter.com/federationspace if you're interested :-)

Hey… I'm new to this but I am excited to say that I am going to a Star Trek attraction. Specifically the 2012 "Spock Days" in Vulcan AB, where I get to meet Chekov himself!!! I'm psyched, and I'd like to know if anyone else has met the originals?

I met Walter Koenig 1-on-1 in 1989.

I envy you! Yet I hopefully get to see him up close in a few weeks.
But for the most part… was he what you expected of him?

He was a very nice, and very humble man. This was about 23 years ago so he was also rather young at that time. :)

I've met Shatner, Nemoy, Nichols, and Takei at conventions! They're all very nice :)

Glad to know!!! It just seems to me that Shatner would be the one who would not be down to earth if u know what I mean

He's pretty much the same as he is on TV. Very loud personality, and gets himself into trouble with what he says. But still a nice person.

Creation has released the next Cherry Hill Star Trek Convention. Should be a lot of fun especially if you are a DS9 fan.

Plus we can swap books again. Last time it was fun to swap out books.

Anyone here at Star Trek Las Vegas? If so, jealous! I'm planning on going in a few years.

Have you ever been to STLV?

If you're interested in meeting the Star Trek authors, the best conventions to do that would be Shore Leave (Baltimore), Dragon*Con (Atlanta) or Farpoint (Baltimore).

Shore Leave especially has a Meet the Author's session on Friday nights which is a lot of fun. Dragon*Con has TrekTrak as part of its programming which intermixes Star Trek actors, clubs and authors in that particular track.

Farpoint is a good chance to meet Trek and other SF/F authors as well as the actor guests they invite.

Thanks Richard! Do you know any cons on the west coast that feature authors?

Quick question - what is the average price you pay to get into a convention?
There was one near me, in Ottawa, I'm not sure how much admisson was, but, I recall the extra cost to meet Shatner was $75...which bought you a signed picture and approx 7 to 8 seconds of face time.

It depends on the convention. The Creation Entertainment Trek ones can cost anywhere from $50 per day to $600+ for the weekend at the Vegas con. Then you pay $20-$100 for autographs and photos with the stars. I usually get the silver weekend pass for their cons, because they usually run around $200 for three days, but that includes a reserved seat and a bunch of autographs.

The bigger cons not run by Creation tend to be cheaper to get in ($10 and up per day) and then about the same price for autographs and photos. but they are crazy busy and the lines can be long.

I prefer the smaller cons myself. It's more intimate and you tend to have more time with the stars. I find I also talk more with other fans at the smaller cons.

If anyone has had different con experiences I'd love to hear!

Andrea wrote: "Thanks Richard! Do you know any cons on the west coast that feature authors?"

I do know that a number of the Star Trek authors make it out to San Diego Comic Con every year. Beyond that, I don't know of any one con on the west coast dedicated to ST/SF in general like Farpoint and Shore Leave. However, I'm sure the west coast contingent make it to several of the shows out there.

I've been to the Vegas con twice now and had an absolute blast! I'm debating going again this year...

i met Lavar Burton and Kate Mulgrew at Shoreleave this past augest

Chynna wrote: "i met Lavar Burton "

Whenever I watch TNG my wife always says, "hey, isn't that the guy from Reading Rainbow...I loved that show!"

lol it sure is him reading rainbow

Anyone planning to attend any cons in 2013?

I should be at FanExpo Vancouver and Star Trek Philadelphia! Both are in April (one weekend after the other...), so it'll be an interesting spring!

I will see you at the Philly Con!!! Can't wait!

Just a reminder that I'll be at Fan Expo Vancouver this weekend! If you're planning to be there let me know. Maybe we can meetup and talk Star Trek reads.

Also, a bunch of us will be at Star Trek Philadelphia next weekend :-D

Also for those going to the Philly area convention, I plan to do another book swap day.

Idea is pretty simple, bring some books you read and want to pass on. We will figure out a time to meet in the lobby of the con and do it.

Anyone going to the Calgary expo next weekend? I'll be there

I have a handful to swap at the Philly Con! Can't wait!

I'll be at the Star Trek con in Seattle in August if anyone's there. I'm just going cheap seats to this one, I think.

How was the Seattle convention? The one and only thing I have seen or heard of coming out of it - and this was in the mainstream media - was that the latest Star Trek movie "Into Darkness" was voted as the worst ever Star Trek movie. I saw the movie and was not unduly impressed, but "worst ever"? I'm not so sure. I recently viewed again the first Star Trek movie. Man, there were some long stretches of nothing happening in that one!

You mean, "Star Trek: The Motionless Picture?"

"Darkness" fell apart after a strng first third, but worst? Hey, it was no "Insurrection."

Unfortunately I didn't make it out to Seattle. I've seen most of the folks who were there, and two of the ones I wanted to see had to cancel.

For a movie, Into Darkness was alright. It had action and humour, etc. As scifi and Trek it was pretty bad.

I'm planning on two more conventions this year: WORD Vancouver (a book fest) and VCON (a scifi fantasy writing con).

It must be nice to live so close to an area with conventions! VCON next month has guests of honour Mur Lafferty, Dan Wells, and John Kovalic and special guest artist Thyrza Segal. Gotta admit, I am drawing complete blanks on those names, but still, sounds like fun.

This thread has no new posts since 2013, but I was curious -

Has anyone been to any recent conventions? The prices have become so high, and we moved in 2000, so I haven't been to any since 1999.

I took my daughter to the first Captains Chair convention. We also went to the first Star Trek convention held at the Star Trek Hilton in Vegas, which was a blast (and no longer exists). During the 90s, we went to several in Vegas and a couple in LA. At the time, they combined Star Trek with other series (such as Babylon 5 and Lost in Space). My daughter won 2 costume contests!

For the 50th anniversary, I looked at prices to take my daughter (who was then more than twice the age of her original attendance), but it was so expensive and no longer simply a 1 or 2 day gold or silver ticket price. So, we watch what we can on YouTube.

I've been to a few in the last decade, with my most recent being the 50th anniversary one in Vegas. The Trek-dedicated ones are definitely expensive, but you're also getting a different experience than that of a general geek convention with a few Trek actors.

It's definitely a community of friends. You get to be excited about the thing you like, and the random stranger next to you will share the excitement. The one is Vegas was great because they also had many special things (sets, art displays, etc) that you could do without having to pay extra since it was already included in your ticket... unlike other cons where doing these things is extra.

Hopefully with all the new Trek media that's going to be releasing in the next few years, we'll see more Trek-dedicated conventions happening.