The Sunday portion of Creation Entertainment's Grand Slam XIII started off with a schedule change as Bob Justman was moved to a more accomodating afternoon slot. This change gave STARTREK.COM a perfect opportunity to start the final day of the convention day with an exclusive slide show of behind-the-scenes shots from the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. (The Web site team would return later in the day for the STARTREK.COM Trivia Challenge.)

Star Trek Supporting Stars

One of the great things about conventions is that fans get to meet more than just the biggest names in Star Trek. Numerous guest actors have made memorable appearances in a handful of episodes; some have made an impression with only one episode!

Six guest stars made a joint appearance on Sunday in the Little Theatre: Bobbi Sue Luther (an Orion slave girl on Star Trek: Enterprise), Kevin Brief (the Tellarite Naarg on Enterprise), Suzie Plakson (K'Ehleyr and Dr. Selar on Star Trek: The Next Generation), Gregory Itzin (numerous roles including the guy who arrests Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Mary Linda Rapelye (Irina, Chekov's girlfriend, on Star Trek), and Scott MacDonald (Nevek in the TNG episode "Face of the Enemy").

The actors talked briefly about recent work. Luther has a part in the upcoming "Deuce Bigalow 2", and Rapelye was seen recently in "The Manchurian Candidate." MacDonald told everyone that he was in Budweiser's "Ladies' Night" commercials for several years as "the pretty one."

During the Q & A session, the actors shared several interesting thoughts and peeks into the industry.

Luther: "I was a "green" actor — no pun intended! — so I enjoyed being welcomed into the family so quickly. I've had a great time with Trek — I was on the cover of Star Trek Communicator in character, and I've been on other genre magazine covers.

"There are a lot of learning curves — mostly negative — associated with living in L.A. and being a part of the entertainment industry. However, since the Star Trek people have been doing their jobs for so long, everything moved smoothly and quickly, and the production was more pleasant than other experiences that I've had despite the fact that I had extensive make-up sessions and a revealing science-fiction costume."

Brief: "The make-up is so extensive that no one knows who you are when you're not in make-up. It's a long process of putting the prosthetics on and taking them off, so you have to have a special kind of patience for that sort of thing. Not everyone can do it."

Plakson: "Being in Star Trek has been very rewarding for me. Even though I appeared only in brief bits, the fans have always remembered my characters and been very supportive.

"My characters' sarcasm is the result of the writing, really. The writers give the characters certain personality traits, and then they cast actors based on those traits. It just so happens that they remember me as Selar or K'Ehleyr and cast me in similar parts over and over again."

Itzin: "Star Trek is like Shakespeare in that everything is larger-than-life.

"I used to watch Westerns as a kid, but they don't make Westerns any more. Star Trek, with its ray guns and all that, lets boys play with costumes and guns again."

Rapelye: "They had to tape me into my costumes, which were designed to expose my back and my midriff. The costume fitters told me that that was how all the big stars of the 1930s wore their glamorous dresses. I was so afraid of popping out of my costume that I couldn't act naturally.

"I was just 21-years-old when I appeared on the Original Series, and I was surrounded by so many attractive, sexy men. It was really nice working with the original cast."

MacDonald: "The make-up sessions make Trek very different from other shows. With most shows, make-up takes about an hour. When I played Tosk on Deep Space Nine, I had to sit in make-up for five-and-a-half hours!

"One time, I was playing a Xindi leader and walking on the Paramount lot. There were several extras playing Xindi soldiers, so it was pretty cool, me walking around with my troops. I saw Rick Berman and began chatting with him. After a couple of minutes, Rick finally broke down and asked, "Who are you?" After I told him, he said, "Oh! Scott!"

Wil Wheaton

Wil Wheaton may be the best-kept Star Trek secret at conventions. Often eliciting intense conflicting opinions about his role as Wesley Crusher on The Next Generation, Wheaton is now a successful writer who's made peace with his sometimes difficult past. What's more, he's a funny, engaging speaker who should probably appear at speaking engagements on college and high school campuses.

Wheaton said that, as a child, he hated attending conventions that felt repetitive. Therefore, he tries to offer something new each time that he appears in public. This time around, he read several selections from his Internet blog to be compiled into a new book that will be published by the end of this year (2005). These selections refer to his happy-but-sometimes-challenging family life with a wife and two step-sons. Wheaton's fresh, witty delivery generated several hearty laughs.

Wheaton also read a passage from his book "Just a Geek" about working on "Star Trek: Nemesis" after more than 10 years away from any Star Trek work. He prefaced the reading by admitting that he was often angry as a teenager and even resented Star Trek because he was misguided. However, he regrets not appreciating Star Trek as much as he should've, so Wheaton's new motto is "Never take anything for granted."

Invasion Iowa

Spike TV sent a delegation to provide a peek at this month's Invasion Iowa. The reality show features a Hollywood production running amok in the midwestern town of Riverside, Iowa — birthplace of Captain Kirk. When their hero William Shatner arrives to shoot a movie there, the townspeople get involved and hilarity ensues. Co-creator and executive producer Rhett Reese was accompanied by three actors from the show: Kirk Ward plays "Tiny," Shatner's nephew and body double; Ernie Grunwald plays "Steve," the production's spiritual advisor; Desi Lydic is the "movie's" leading lady, Gryffyn Greene.

Invasion Iowa will run from Tuesday, March 29 to Friday, April 1 on Spike TV. Please check your local listings for times.

Bob Justman

Justman's appearance at the Grand Slam was another reason this convention was special. He's a true original, a type that no longer really exists in Hollywood today. Back in Justman's heyday as the producer of Star Trek, he really did have his hand in every aspect of production, including casting, set design approvals, editing, props and much more. Today, the business suffers from what Justman terms "professional producers." In other words, due to a plethora of producers that now appear in the credits of every TV show, the power of the title has diminished over the years.

A.C. Lyles

A.C. is a walking miracle. Having worked for Paramount nearly 80 years, he still drives to work every day, immaculately dressed we might add, and still loves to regale visitors to the Paramount lot with stories about his decades of service within the motion picture industry and the famous people he has known.

A different type of guest, it was certainly a real treat for the Pasadena crowd to listen to one of the best raconteurs in Hollywood talk about his long association and friendship with DeForest Kelley. Prior to A.C.'s talk at the convention, a video was shown with tributes from four U.S. Presidents, including his life-long pal Ronald Reagan. "I like to show this video before I speak so I can show the audience that I am legit," says A.C.

He concluded his talk with the following: "In our business, when a person has done something wonderful, has given a great performance, we do more than applaud; we give them a standing ovation. I would love for you to join me in giving DeForest Kelley a standing ovation, hoping he is looking down us here and appreciating it as much as we respect and appreciate him."

The audience thunderously obliged.

Writers/Producers Panel:
Manny Coto, Mike Sussman, Andre Bormanis, Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

The panel of writers who created the bulk of the fourth season of Enterprise were given a special introduction by Eugene Roddenberry Jr., who credited them with bringing "integrity and passion" to the show. And the audience agreed with their deafening applause.

Manny Coto began by thanking the fans for all of their support. "We've had a blast. And, y'know, there've been some rumors about, oh, a cancellation thing, but we're treating them as just that, rumors!" The audience erupted in laughter and applause. "It seems that some of the sets have been taken down, but we're just assuming they've been taken out to be washed!"

The convention-goers were treated to a sneak preview of the upcoming mirror-universe two-parter, "In a Mirror, Darkly," which airs April 22 and 29. Before they showed clips, though, the writers explained the long history of the concept. "We had talked about doing a mirror universe episode ever since we got into Season Four," Coto began. "But then we had the possibility of getting William Shatner. Coincidentally, the Reeves-Stevens [who have worked with Shatner on several Trek novels] were a pair of writers whom I desperately wanted to bring on the show. And they, it turned out, had an idea for a mirror universe two-parter which would feature the return of William Shatner."

At past conventions, Shatner has spoken about a story concept which he himself pitched that was well received. But Paramount and Shatner failed to reach agreement so, as we know, Shatner wouldn't be making a guest appearance on Enterprise. However, the Reeves-Stevens couple (affectionately called "the Bynars" by their fellow writers) were now able to reveal what that pitch was.

"The idea was that the Tantalus Field was not a disintegrator, it was a humane way of dealing with prisoners, by sending them back in time to a sealed penal colony," Garfield Reeves-Stevens explained. "Enterprise NX-01 comes upon the colony — and Tiberius [mirror-Kirk] is there. Tiberius thinks, 'Finally, a ship with a transporter — I can get back to my own universe, my own time.' He basically goes on the NX-01, gets to the transporter, sets it to go back to the mirror universe — the mirror universe doesn't exist." "It hasn't been created yet," Judith elaborated. Garfield continued: "So Tiberius and Archer work together to figure out where the division point is between the universes, what point that one split off into the other. And as it turns out, Tiberius and Archer together are responsible for the creation of the mirror universe."

Coto recounted that Shatner pitched the idea to him, Brannon Braga and Rick Berman over lunch. They loved it, but Berman pitched an alternative concept, which was actually devised by Mike Sussman.

So Sussman explained that: "Shatner was going to be 'Chef' — an ancestor of Kirk. We would find out that at some point in the future the real Kirk got into trouble, got taken out of history. And Daniels would show up, he would grab Archer, he would grab Chef — who of course looked like William Shatner — and say, 'You have to go to the future and impersonate Captain Kirk in some important ceremony.' That was the setup."

"We pitched this to Shatner and there was a long silence," Coto continued. Well, since negotiations fell through, there would be no Kirk story, but they still wanted to do a mirror-universe two-parter. "We started bandying about ideas, trying to figure out a way to get our characters into the mirror universe, because as you all know in the Original Series the mirror universe was pretty much a first-contact situation. What do we do about that? We came up with a concept of doing the story solely in the mirror universe. As if you're watching a Star Trek: Enterprise episode coming straight from the mirror universe, including a whole new title sequence. And there's very little interaction with our regular universe.

They settled on a concept that Sussman had been entertaining for awhile. "For me, it was an irresistible idea that the U.S.S. Defiant from 'The Tholian Web' was still floating out there somewhere in interphase, and we never knew what happened to it," Sussman said. "To me that was a tantalizing story idea I wanted to explore."

They showed two clips from the episode to the convention audience. The first was the "teaser" of Part I. As Sussman explained it, the scene depicted "a pivotal moment from our universe and the mirror universe. And things unfolded a little differently in the mirror universe." Without spoiling it here, suffice it say the convention-goers LOVED it — they were rolling on the floor.

The second clip showed Vaughn Armstrong as the mirror Captain Forrest, the sequence when Forrest orders Archer and his team to board the mysterious vessel from the future. The audience soundly applauded when the Constitution-class Defiant bridge was revealed.

Coto spoke about the experience of working with the Defiant set. "Seeing that bridge was just the greatest thing. We had a steady procession coming onto those soundstages for the week or so that bridge was up — people from all over calling up and wanting to get shots and photos in the captain's chair. It was a great example of how popular the Original Series still is. I hope you enjoy the episode. We had a blast writing it."

During Q & A, Coto revealed how he was able to talk Peter Weller into guest-starring in the penultimate two-parter, "Demons" and "Terra Prime." "Peter wants to direct, so I said to him, 'I want you to come on the show, and I can't spend a lot of money.' And he's like, 'Great, can you offer me some directing gigs?' I said, 'All right — Season Five, you can direct two episodes! And he's like, 'Great, all right!' So he signs the deal, and the day after he signs the deal, we get the cancellation. He calls me up, 'Ya hornswoggled me!'"

Jolene Blalock

The convention closed on the first appearance at such an event by the illustrious Jolene Blalock. Blalock was admittedly a bit nervous and uncertain of herself, but she was very heartfelt and genuine with the audience. She declared up front, "This is gonna be emotional, a little bit, I think. Because the last day of shooting was on Tuesday. The sets are being torn down as we speak. I still haven't cleaned out my trailer!"

She mentioned that after the news of the cancellation of Enterprise, there were still three episodes left to shoot, and she described the mood on the set as "gloomy." "The worst part of it was, the shows were so good!" Blalock exclaimed to the group's applause. "Manny Coto came in, and what a turnaound! I mean, the first episode he did [in Season 4], you're talking about Hitler in Times Square! That's pretty serious, you know? And you've got Nazis shooting people in the background, just to set the mood. I love that!"

After several fans expressed an outpouring of affection and appreciation for her, she literally began to cry. She tried very hard not to: "I am sorry. I'm just not used to being so emotional!" That left the audience in uproarious laughter.

"It's the first time in many people's history in this room that Star Trek won't be on the air," she added. "It's bizarre! What are we going to do?"

Blalock said she's enjoying the process of going out on auditions again despite the hassles ("It's been four years since I've even driven in Los Angeles traffic, and where did all you people come from?! It takes you an hour to get across town!"), but right now she has no new projects lined up. "Who knows what's gonna happen?"

After fielding numerous questions from the fans about her character and experiences on the set, Blalock decided to close her time on stage on an unusual note: She led the convention hall audience in a visualization exercise. She had everyone close their eyes as she guided them through an experience of lifting themselves up from the Earth into the heavens and seeing themselves there.

She concluded: "We're all interconnected, we're all essential parts of this story here we call reality. Remember, have an open mind. Throw pessimism out the door. Anything is possible. And be attached to nothing. Things come and they go. And they come again."

"It has been my pleasure being here with you. I hope to see each and every one of you again. I take your hearts with me. I leave my heart with you. Live long and prosper."

Thus concluded Grand Slam XIII - The Sci-Fi Summit. We hope to see you all in Las Vegas in August!