Final tallies are not yet in, but it appears that William Campbell's FantastiCon, the science fiction convention that took place July 14-16 in Los Angeles, has raised at least $15,000 for the event's primary beneficiary, the Country House and Hospital run by the Motion Picture and Television Fund.
Proceeds were raised not only by convention registrations, but also by the $125-a-plate Awards Banquet, a gift bag raffle, special additional events and a variety of auctions. The bulk of the funds came from the auctioning of visits to the set of Star Trek: Voyager at Paramount Studios. A total of $9700 was raised in two auctions for this coveted prize.
The four people who won these auctions were treated to a tour of Paramount and the Voyager sets on the Monday following the convention. They were hosted by Robert Picardo, who was one of the auctioneers selling the tour (and who generously gave up his day off from shooting for this purpose). The guests got to see the standing sets on Stages 8 and 9--the Voyager bridge, the mess hall, sickbay, etc.--as well as Stage 16 which houses the "swing sets" that change every week, along with Michael Westmore's makeup lab. The visitors even got to watch scenes being shot with Ethan Phillips as Neelix and Roxann Dawson as Torres for an episode to air this fall.
The convention was attended by approximately 500 fans from around the world, and featured appearances by actors from all the various Star Trek series as well as other science fiction films and TV shows. Behind-the-scenes personnel had their day in the sun as well. Matt Jefferies, art director on the Original Series who designed the original Starship Enterprise (and whom the Jefferies Tube was named after), held his audience rapt as he answered questions about working on the Original Series, how he came up with his ideas, and how he managed to create an alien planet every week on a shoestring budget.
Jefferies joined other technicians and producers in the Friday night Awards Banquet, where the convention's Shooting Star Awards and the Gene Roddenberry Award were handed out. (For complete coverage of this event, click here.)
Of course, many fans showed up in costume, most of whom competed in the Masquerade Contest on Saturday. Although there were some very elaborate Klingon costumes (including a couple from the Original Series era), the trophy went to a fan dressed as an Original Series "expendable crew member" of the Vulcan persuasion.
The convention was not all about fiction, though -- real science had its place as Inge Heyer, data analyst at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland, gave a presentation of images from the Hubble Telescope. An avid sci-fi fan herself, Heyer pointed out celestial objects of significance in the Star Trek universe, such as Wolf 359. She mentioned that the Astrometrics Lab on the U.S.S. Voyager displays many images from Hubble, even though the objects pictured are generally nowhere near the Delta Quadrant. "Oh, well, what else are you going to do?"
Saturday night provided an extra special treat as fans got to learn what happened to the Ferengi Rom and his family after he was picked to be the next Grand Nagus. "The Ferengi Family Hour" featured Max Grodenchik (Rom), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), Chase Masterson (Leeta) and Cecily Adams (Ishka, or "Moogie") reprising their roles from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (sans makeup or costumes). Also performing was Lolita Fatjo, pre-production coordinator for Star Trek: Voyager, who co-wrote the comedy sketch with Grodenchik.
They opened with a take-off on the "Addams Family" theme with lyrics such as "We really are determined, to be exciting not a sermon. If we fail, don't tell Rick Berman. Ferengi Family." After a couple of more musical parodies, Grodenchik came on stage with the voice of a TV announcer proclaiming, "Rom -- You've just been named Grand Nagus, head of the entire Ferengi Empire! What are you and your family going to do next?" Grodenchik then got into his Rom character, and after grinning and stammering a bit, bellowed, "We're going to Disneylaaaaaaaand!"
In the play, Rom, Nog, Ishka and Leeta travel back in time to tour "the happiest place in the Alpha Quadrant," but in the park they get mistaken for actors in costume, and are forced to put on a show. After flopping with a song called "We're Ferengi After All," the troupe finds themselves playing out a story where Leeta gets caught up in a temporal anomaly, ending up in a strange place and realizing "I have a feeling I'm not on Bajor anymore." She is met by squeaky-voiced strangers who tell her to find Grand Nagus Rom, the wisest man in all of Nagusland, and to "Follow the Latinum Road." Along the way, Leeta encounters Nog, who laments, "If I Only Had the Height," and Ishka, singing "If I Only Had Some Clothes" (referring to the Ferengi custom of keeping females naked). The jokes, puns and parodies ran rampant throughout the show, including jabs at William Shatner and Kate Mulgrew, and a bizarre tribute to Armin Shimerman.
Afterwards, the stage was taken over by Neil Norman and his Cosmic Orchestra, playing instrumental pieces based on melodies from the various Star Trek shows and movies. Chase Masterson changed outfits and joined the band, singing "Latinum is a Girl's Best Friend" and "Hey Big Spender" in honor of Quark. Then, actor-musician Tim Russ (Tuvok) took the stage with the band and performed songs from his two CDs.
This was the fifth annual FantastiCon, which is spearheaded by William Campbell, fondly remembered from the Original Series as Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos" and Koloth in "The Trouble with Tribbles," a role he reprised for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in "Blood Oath".
Actors who came to mingle with the fans and sign autographs included Grace Lee Whitney (Janice Rand in the Original Series); William Windom (Commodore Decker in "The Doomsday Machine"); Bobby Clark (the Gorn in "Arena"); J.G. Hertzler (Martok in ST:DS9); Mark Allen Shepherd (Morn in ST:DS9, pictured); Josh Clark (Lt. Carey in Star Trek: Voyager); Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman in Voyager); Tucker Smallwood (Admiral Bullock in "In the Flesh"); Kurt Wetherill, Cody Wetherill and Marley McClean (the Borg children from Voyager); and many others.
Story & photos by Sandy Stone
