On the actual day of the 35th anniversary of the first airing of Star Trek, the Slanted Fedora convention in Las Vegas celebrated the classics — Leonard Nimoy, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Walter Koenig and Grace Lee Whitney.

DAY THREE — SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8

Nimoy ("Spock") inspired the audience with a Vulcan salute — saying, "It's a very magical gesture. Every time I do that flashbulbs go off" — and explained its origins. As a child Nimoy saw that gesture used by rabbis during a Jewish ceremony (he was supposed to keep his eyes squeezed shut but he peeked). He later learned that the V-shaped gesture represents the letter Shin of the Hebrew alphabet, which is the first letter of the Almighty's name. Nimoy at first could not form his fingers into that shape, but eventually, "I learned how to do it — thought it would come in handy someday." That day came during the shooting of "Amok Time."

While answering questions, Nimoy revealed that he was indeed limping during the original pilot episode, "The Cage." He said that Gene Roddenberry asked him to limp because he thought he would do a pre-episode where Spock's leg was injured. "But we never did an episode on Spock's leg!" As for upcoming projects, Nimoy revealed that he will make a second appearance on the animated series Futurama along with William Shatner (who was at this convention on Thursday).

Nimoy was later joined by Doohan, Nichols, Takei, Koenig and Whitney, all on stage together. Mostly they talked about what they've been up to, both professionally and personally. Nichols — who will be seen in the movie "Snow Dogs" (previously titled "Winterdance") with Cuba Gooding Jr. and James Coburn in January — turned to Doohan and said, "Jimmy, we know what you've been up to!" At age 81, Doohan is the father of a 17-month-old baby girl. He now has three girls and four boys, "and they're all brilliant," he beamed. Others also could not help but brag about their offspring — Whitney showed large glossy photos of her grandchildren, and Nimoy constantly bragged about his director son Adam Nimoy, even trying to solicit work for him from those who have film projects coming up.

They also proved that they haven't forgotten what it's like to fly on a starship when it's under attack — in unison they moved to the direction of, "Lean to the left, lean to the right, take a hit!" (On the latter, they shook in their seats.) Nichols closed the session with a song that demonstrated her impressive vocal range.

The day was not all about the Original Series, though. A special session with "The Klingon Women" featured the Duras Sisters, Barbara March ("Lursa") and Gwynyth Walsh ("B'Etor"), plus Mary Kay Adams ("Grilka") and Spice Williams ("Vixis" in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier"). What unique experiences do Klingon women have when they get amorous? "Your teeth fall out when kissing Worf," Walsh said. Adams admitted to using Poli-Grip when kissing Quark. "His [teeth] were very sharp and mine were very sharp...and it was like, ow," she said.

From Star Trek: Voyager, the Borg boys appeared together — Manu Intiraymi ("Icheb") and Kurt and Cody Wetherill ("Azan" and "Rebi"). Besides answering questions about working with Jeri Ryan ("she's soft-hearted, a great lady," but it was "tough for a young man with hormones," Manu confessed), they mostly teased each other. Manu said about the identical twins, "I like these guys. They're ugly though. Well, one of them is."

Denise Crosby spoke about "Trekkies," the documentary that she hosted. Deflecting criticism from some quarters that the film makes fun of Star Trek fans, Crosby said, "I did 'Trekkies' out of love for the fans. I've always been embraced by a love from fandom like you've never known." She said her first convention appearance made her so emotional she nearly cried publicly. She also related that when she did a guest spot on The Drew Carey Show, the show's star, a major Star Trek fan, told Crosby that "Trekkies" was his favorite film.

James Darren ("Vic Fontaine") enjoyed being back in Vegas. He said he has worked "in every hotel in this town" with the likes of Buddy Hackett, Lola Falana and Don Rickles — "and I never gambled in all that time," he said. But he said his "first paying gig" was when his grandmother paid him a dime to sing. At the insistence of the audience, he closed his session in the Zeus Room with an a cappella version of "The Way You Look Tonight."

Darren performed that evening with full accompaniment at the 35th Anniversary dinner and dance. That concert was followed by a reading of the audiobook "Spock vs. Q" by Nimoy and John de Lancie ("Q"). Simultaneously in the smaller ballroom, half the cast of Voyager — Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Roxann Dawson and Robert Duncan McNeill — performed readings of three short plays, including "The Mid-Life Crisis of Dionysus" by Garrison Keilor. After that, Andrew J. Robinson and Alexander Siddig reprised their roles as Garak and Dr. Bashir in Robinson's own play "The Dreambox," which is based on the aftermath of the Dominion War as depicted in his novel "A Stitch in Time." In this play, Garak and Bashir find themselves in each other's subconscious minds, where they debate the values of the Federation and re-experience certain life episodes. It includes a moving scene in which Bashir relives his tragic childhood where he could not even recite the alphabet, until after his genetic "procedure" when he emerged with superior intelligence, to his great disorientation.