Star Trek Convention

So I've been forced recently here and on the boards to admit that I was a Trekkie for a long time. Now, I don't mind being called a Trekkie, though I know that some prefer the term "Trekker", because "Trekkie" makes them sound silly. *eyeroll* So let me tell you about the convention I attended many years ago.

The year was 1990. I was 17. I had met some guy with a Suzuki Samurai a month or two before. I was pretty sure he liked me, but we weren't seeing each other. My cousin, who is 12 years older than I am, had married friends (let's call them John and Marsha) who were big ST fans and went to any convention within driving range, driving range being anywhere in Southern Ontario, upstate New York, and parts of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. She arranged for me to ride with them to a convention in Toronto. I hadn't wanted to drive myself. I don't really like driving in Toronto. It's just a zoo, IMO.

You got a discount on your registration fee if you were a member of a recognised sci-fi or fantasy type club, so I briefly joined Marsha's Beauty and the Beast (Linda Hamilton - remember?) fan club, "The Rogue Beasties". To this day, there are Trekkers *eyeroll* in Toronto who believe I watched that show. I didn't. So don't ask me about any plot points because I DON'T KNOW.

Also at the time, there was significant discussion in the ST community about whether ST:TNG was as good as the old series. It was a long time before I thought so. Have you looked at the first season of TNG lately? Patrick Stewart may have grown into the role, but in the beginning, he sucked ass. Note how he made sure to project his voice, so that the people at the back of the theatre could hear him. Hey Pat! It's a sound stage. There are microphones. Yikes.

Right, so ST convention. Really, it was a lot of booths and stalls promoting various clubs and vendors selling merchandise and memorabilia from anything even vaguely sci-fi or fantasy related. More diverse than you would imagine. Lots of costumes, but not too many and not too elaborate. I noticed someone wearing a Vulcan symbol necklace and asked where that booth was. I went and bought a necklace. There at the booth were a couple Trekker *eyeroll* guys my own age. The one struck up a conversation with me. We actually corresponded for a long time afterwards. I wonder how he is... Anyway, they were both asking me about my Rogue Beasties pin. I could not explain about the cliffhanger ending from the previous season. Or whatever. The one mentioned that they were about to start the show in the main hall, so we all went.

In the main hall, we were shown a blooper reel of old Trek episodes and a couple taped interviews. Trekker guy told me all about the difference between the people running this convention and the other people who sometimes run conventions in this part of the world. He was involved with that organisation, the largest ST club in Toronto. Apparently, I was attending a convention put on by capitalists and not proper fans of the series. If only I could see a proper convention put on by proper fans of the series, I would be able to meet all kinds of ST fans. It was exclusive to sci-fi and heavily focussed on ST, so there wouldn't be any of this extraneous stuff, no offense to me, a fan of Beauty and the Beast. Uh-huh.

So the guest of honour was Nichelle Nichols aka Uhura. She gave a nice talk, specifically mentioning once or twice some difficulties she and other cast members have had with overzealous fans and fans who can't separate TV from reality. I thought it was a well-done and subtle reminder to us that she was a real person, not a commodity. Then the floor was opened to questions. I wracked my brain for a non-stupid question to ask. Then someone asked "What's this thing I hear about you and Scotty?" She tried to explain about how Scotty was a character in a TV show and that James Doohan was a nice guy, but they were just friends. I'm not sure the guy got it. Trekker guy told me that that guy was often at conventions and he didn't seem to understand that ST is not real. Holy heck.

Afterwards, we all lined up to get our photos signed. Trekker guy took a picture of me with Ms. Nichols with my camera and I returned the favour for him. Conversation went as follows:

Nichelle Nichols: Hi! Who should I make this out to?

Me: Um. Myname. *giggle*

Nichelle Nichols: I have a good friend by that name. Here you go.

Me: Thank-you. *giggle*

You see how I refrained from acting like a complete idiot by instead acting like a star-struck teenager. Go me.

I exchanged addresses with Trekker guy, so he could send me stuff from the fan club he was a member of. I could only afford the one day, so I missed a different speaker the next day.

And that's pretty much that.