Late Saturday afternoon at the Grand Slam Star Trek convention saw an interesting contrast between the classics and the newbies, as William Shatner and Joan Collins were immediately followed on the main stage by the youngest actors in the Star Trek universe.

William Shatner

The man himself was greeted with a standing ovation as fans filled the main hall to capacity to see the one and only Captain Kirk.

The cultural icon stepped onto stage carrying a digital video camera pointed at the audience, fulfilling a promise made in regard to his revamped Web site WilliamShatner.com that he would document experiences like this as seen through his eyes. (He did a similar thing during his recent appearance on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien.)

Working the crowd with his usual aplomb, Shatner had much more to say and had many more funny comments than can possibly be recounted here. He talked about doing stunt work in the movie "Showtime," the progress on his upcoming film "Groom Lake," and more Star Trek books he is working on. Something new on his plate that he revealed Saturday was a meeting with CBS last week to discuss the possibility of a "Making of Star Trek" special. "We're in development, which means they have to OK the script. What we came up with was how to tell the story," he said. The formula that resulted from that meeting was, "It would be a convention in which you ask me questions and I begin to answer and then we go into my head and see what it is I'm talking about."

Shatner also had fun with the crowd when audience members attempted to slip out for a moment to get Linda Park's autograph in the auditorium's annex. "Where are you all going?" he moaned with mock petulance. "This is so demoralizing!" He even went so far as to stop one fan from leaving the auditorium. "You're wearing the Enterprise T-shirt and the classic captain is talking, and you're going somewhere with a camera in your hand. Where are you going?" he asked. The fan answered that he was off to get Park's signature. "But I'm talking!" Shatner protested. "You can't!"

Determined to get the scoop on the actress whose mere presence was luring fans away, Shatner later asked what Park looks like. A fan held up a photo. "Well...that's rather nice!" he observed.

Later on, Shatner auctioned off a trip for two to the Enterprise set, which snatched a high bid of $4000. All the proceeds will go to charities associated with his Hollywood Charity Horse Show taking place April 27, which benefits disabled children.

Joan Collins

Shatner re-appeared moments later to reunite with one of his former onscreen flames, Joan Collins ("Edith Keeler" in "The City on the Edge of Forever"). As this was Collins' first Star Trek convention, Shatner stuck around for a few minutes to show her the ropes. "I don't know what I'm going to say, I don't know what I'm going to do, you've got to stay here close to me!" the Dynasty star joked. "Do they know who I am?" Responded Shatner, "They're here because they know who you are!"

Once she got settled, the energetic Collins delighted in questions from fans, and recalled her daughter's reaction when Collins was cast on Star Trek. "My daughter said, 'Oh, Mummy, you must do it, it's Star Trek, it's wonderful!'" she remembered. "We all watched the episode together and the kids got a bit upset when I got killed. My daughter started to cry, so I had to assure her I was still there!"

Collins enjoyed her experience working on the show, and recalled that she found Spock's Depression-era costuming to be rather funny. "One of the things that was most amusing was the fact that Leonard Nimoy wore these ears — they had to put the ears on him, but then they had to hide them!"

Collins also spoke about two recent writing projects. Her novel, "Star Quality," was recently released in England and will debut in the United States in November. She's also working on an inspirational beauty/exercise/health book called "Joan's Way."

The Cast of Enterprise

Perhaps the liveliest session of the weekend was served up late Saturday by the newcomers to the convention scene — Enterprise cast members John Billingsley ("Phlox"), Dominic Keating ("Malcolm Reed"), Anthony Montgomery ("Travis Mayweather"), Linda Park ("Hoshi Sato") and Connor Trinneer ("Trip Tucker"). This was Montgomery's and Park's first-ever Star Trek convention (Billingsley and Trinneer have each done one, and Keating has done several), and Montgomery was especially exuberant. He and Keating came out with digital cameras to take pictures of the crowd taking pictures of them (look for Anthony's photos to be posted on his Web site, listed below).

Appropriately dubbed "Force of Nature Montgomery" or "The Human Car Alarm" by Billingsley because of his boundless energy, Montgomery hinted at future developments for his character. "I like to call (Travis) the Happy Helmsman, because they've got me just smiling all the time!" he laughed. "But there's some stuff coming up where he's not so happy. Stay tuned, it's going to be intense!"

When asked what the most surprising element of each of their characters is, the quick-witted Keating cracked, "That I'm English!" He then amended, "I didn't expect to be the action/rescue type of guy." Countered Montgomery, "You're still not!" Billingsley chimed in with, "I certainly didn't expect to be the sex symbol of the show!" drawing laughs from the crowd and sending Montgomery rolling on the floor in hysterics (see picture at top of page).

Billingsley also introduced his wife Bonnie, who was sitting in the front row. "My scheme is to have her play all three of my wives on the show, completely interchangeable. In fact, all Denobulans look like me and her," he joked. "So it makes for much confusion amongst the rest of crew, but we all have very distinctive personalities. They also have a show coming up in which I'm shown naked — at least, that's what I'm asking for."

In contrast to the loquacious character he plays, Trinneer was quieter than his cast mates, though he did reveal the nerve-wracking anecdote behind how he landed the part. "I had five auditions," he said. "They said I didn't have enough 'awe.' So I said, 'I'll go 'awe' all over the wall, if that's what you want." (The audience responded with a loud sympathetic "Awww!") After two more requests for tapes and a lot of waiting around, Trinneer got the part.

Linda Park was also more soft-spoken than the others, but she responded quickly when asked what it was like to be one of only two women on the show. "I've never had older brothers," she said. "I used to want older brothers. Now I know that I don't want older brothers!" Park added that occasionally, she and Jolene Blalock ("T'Pol") are left shaking their heads over the boyish on-set antics. "There's so much testosterone flying everywhere!" she laughed.

"Oh, really?" Billingsley countered, mock offended: "Who is the biggest belcher in the cast?" Montgomery didn't miss a beat: "Jolene Blalock!"

(Blalock was not available for comment.)

Coming up: Robbie, Roxy & Kate; Colm & Andy; and KHAAAAN! Keep checking back!

Story by Sarah Kuhn
Photos by Sandy Stone

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