Star Trek 40th Anniversary Convention - Chicago, IL

[Takara_Soong 4]

So far William Shatner (James Kirk, TOS) and Leonard Nimoy (Spock, TOS) are scheduled to appear in Chicago. Check out the Creation website for updates.

[Takara_Soong 4]

Robert Picardo (The Doctor, VOY) and Ethan Phillips (Neelix, VOY) have been added to the guest list for this convention.

[Takara_Soong 4]

John de Lancie (Q) has also been added as a guest for the convention.

[Takara_Soong 4]

Connor Trineer (Trip Tucker, ENT) and Richard Arnold have been added to the convention guest list.

[captainekim 0]

iI will be attending this convention (live in central illinois). And am wondering who else will be attending?????

[trekz 7]

I am considering going just on Saturday. I would normally attend all weekend since I live in Chicago, but since I'm attending the Vegas convention, I will probably try for just one day. I'll probably be mostly broke anyway, having overspent in Las Vegas! There's a chance I might be out of town on vacation that week, however.

[trekz 7]

Well, I did attend the Chicago Con only on Saturday mainly to see Shatner and Nimoy after their fabulously entertaining appearance together in Las Vegas. There was a panel with Barbara Luna (Marlena from Mirror, Mirror), Bobby Clark (Gorn Captain in Arena - plus 3 other appearances on TOS) and Tanya Lemani (belly dancer killed in Wolf in the Fold) that was fun. There was a costume contest, a bunch of videos, including a nice tribute to James Doohan. Richard Arnold talked a lot. There was a presentation on the improved TOS episodes remastered with improved planet and ship shots with some negative questions afterward. Of course a highlight was the appearance of Nimoy and Shatner. They appeared separately first. Then there was a long delay for a champaign toast ONLY for the Gold Weekend attendees. They then appeared together in a nice, but much more subdued appearance than in Las Vegas. I'll be posting more detailed reports of what they had to say. I may also be posting a poll (and/or rant) about Creation conventions versus other Trek or Science Fiction conventions. Friday guests had been Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips and Sunday Guests were to be John DeLancie and Connor Trineer. Saturday was the one sold-out day at the convention, held out by O'Hare Airport near the AllState Arena.

[trekz 7]

Chicago, IL Star Trek Convention Report - Part I - from notes (and memory) taken on (9-9-06).

 

A highlight was a panel discussion of Star Trek guest actors Barbara Luna (Marlena from Mirror, Mirror), Tanya Lemani (Kara, belly dancer killed in Wolf in the Fold) and Bobby Clark (Gorn Captain form Arena, Chekov henchman in Mirror, Mirror, and appearances in two other episodes). Barbara Luna's first comment was that she needed to answer the First Question to get it out of the way: Yes Bill Shatner IS a great kisser!

Tanya Lemani jumped in to agree, yes, he was. In subsequent comments, Lemani said she was VERY naive and young, and that she had a great time with Shatner, strongly inferring they had a some type of relationship. She said she would be publishing a book later this year, and that fans should read the book to find out details! At one point in this topic Bobby Clark muttered that he didn't think Shatner was "that great a kisser!," but his comment was mostly muffled.

 

A discussion of costumes was next. Tanya mentioned that as a dancer she provided/designed most of her costume. Barbara Luna said Bill Theis designed her costums, adding draped material to one of her outfits. Bobby Clark talked about his many appearances as a cowboy, including on Gunsmoke, that most cowboys came in wearing their outfits with some exta choices, of say bandanas, if a change was requested. His Gorn costume was designed by a "Japanese fella" and was a "hot costume, but he could take part of it off between takes."

 

Clark continued, talking about filming at Vazquez Rocks outside of Los Angeles, since Star Trek did lots of shooting out there. Frank Sinatra was mentioned and Bobby Clark mentioned that he had worked on Von Ryan's Express.

 

Tanya Lemani talked about four days of experimenting with her makeup for Wolf in the Fold. It started out as having many feathers, which triggered her allergies and caused lots of sneezing. Episode Director Joe Pevney would look at each makeup version and say "Take off some feathers." After four days there were no feathers left!

 

Bobby Clark talked about working as a stuntman. He described himself as being pretty agile and noted that his worst injury was a broken toe, adding that of course he had suffered from torn cartiledge and dislocated shoulders. Clark also noted that stuntmen didn't say anything about getting hurt, unless it was really bad, since it was normal and that they wanted to keep working. When talking about working with Doug McClure, he noted that Doug McClure was married at one point to ... Barbara Luna!

 

Luna mentioned that Star Trek didn't really have that great a budget and that they tried to work efficiently. Bobby Clark mentioned that the series stars could mess up and people just laughed, but he could expect to "get chewed out if he messed up his lines" and caused extra takes. In answer to a specific question about takes, Barbara Luna started saying, "Funny, but when they did the kissing scenes ..." and Clark finished the sentence, "they take as long as they can!"

 

Barbara Luna talked about doing 50 pages a day while working on the Soap Opera: One Life to Live with minimal preactice time. Tanya Lemani discussed the many angles of shots taken for her dancing scenes in Wolf in the Fold. She emphasized that as an experienced dancer she was able to keep track of where she was when a shot was stopped so she could resume at exactly the right spot for a different angle shot of the same scene and to learn how to find the exact spot.

 

Bobby Clark made a comment that could be interpreted as sarcastic toward Shatner, saying that Bill is very "busy, flying airliners, doing commercials, he's a bellhop (audience laughed), doing Boston Legal .... Bill tells everyone how he changed the world (Reference to a TV program of that name), but Shatner wouldn't have changed the world without Gene Roddenbery's words" written down on paper. (There was applause to that.)

 

Barbara Luna talked about going to her first Star Trek convention in 1995. Luna thanked the fans for keeping Star Trek alive. Her comment was echoed by the other guests. They left the stage to strong applause.

 

(Personal note: In talking to Bobby Clark earlier, he mentioned that he served in the Navy during the Korean War on the USS Yorktown CVA 10. He also mentioned that his tattoos often required lots of "pancake makeup" to cover up. Clark said he played Native American's often and when he played a "smart Indian, one who wore a cavalryman's jacket" he didn't have to get all that makeup on his arms and wrist! Clark was cordial and a joy to talk to for me!)

 

More to come on events on Saturday, September 9, 2006 at the Chicago Con. Trekz out!

[trekz 7]

Chicago, IL Star Trek Convention Report - Part II - from notes taken on 9-9-06

 

Gary introduced Leonard Nimoy to a standing ovation and thunderous applause. Nimoy paused and finally said: "So emotional!" to applause. Nimoy said "It's kind of exciting - the show (TOS) is going back on the air!" Nimoy mentioned the reminiscing going on and recounted the story of an appearance he and Bill made in an open convertible at the Hollywood Blvd. Christmas Parade held around Thanksgiving just after the show had first aired. As their car approached the reviewing stand, this introduction was made: "It's the Stars of the show Star Trek! Give a big welcome to William Shatner and Leonard Nimsey!"

 

Nimoy then told his favorite story about the studio giving him a hard time about being recompensed for the expense of handling his own fan mail. Nimoy had hired Theresa Victor to help him handle the mail that started coming slowly then soon was arriving in bags. He recounted the obnoxious memo that came, reminding him, among other details, that the studio was not going to supply Nimoy or his secretary with pens or pencils to answer the mail, as that was never intended to be provided! Nimoy proceeded to reply:

"I assure that my secretary and I have managed to steal enough pens and pencils, from around the studio, that you don't have to worry about that!"

 

"I wrote the book 'I Am Not Spock' and I caught a lot of flack for it. It was an honest attempt to help people understand how one prepares to handle playing a character," said Nimoy. "I wanted to explain the diffferences between Spock and Nimoy. My father wasn't an Ambassador, my father wasn't a Vulcan but a Russian, and Spock was a halfbreed and I wasn't. The publisher warned me that negative titles don't sell and I retorted, "What about Gone with the Wind?" So they said fine, and the Book was titled after one chapter: I Am Not Spock. This came in the 1970's. No Star Trek was being produced, and people assumed that I didn't like the character from the title, although in the book I wrote that I did like Spock. Then I went to see Star Wars when it came out and watched it. People loved it! I thought, 'I'm going to get a call from Paramount" ... and I was right! "So years later I wrote a book, I Am Spock!"

 

"I once went to speak at a college in Billings, Montana. I flew in, got to the motel and started to unpack. The phone rang, I answered it, and a voice on the other end asked, 'Is this Mr. Nimoy?' I answered yes. She said "Oh, Wow I got you on the phone!" I asked, 'Who is this?' This is Mary! 'Mary where are you calling from? I'm in Denver, said Mary. How did you ever find me? I heard you were going to be in Billings so I just called every motel until I found you! Well thank you for being so resourceful, I said. I have people waiting for me though so I have to go. We said goodbye and I returned to my packing. A bit later the phone rang again and I answered it. And a female voice said, 'Oh My God! Oh, My God! I'm talking to you!' I said Who is this? 'This is Sally!' Where are you calling from Sally? 'I'm in St. Louis.' How did you find me, Sally, I asked. Oh, my friend Mary called me from Denver!"

 

At this point Shatner was introduced.

 

More Chicago Con reports to come. Trekz out.