Creation Entertainment's Las Vegas "Real Deal" Convention took place over the weekend at the Las Vegas Hilton, with a plethora of Star Trek fans, stars, attractions, parties, costumes and even a simultaneous virtual convention. Saturday, Day Two of the convention was by far the busiest day of the three-day event, so busy and packed with celebrity appearances in fact, that it'll take two Reports to cover it all. Look for Part II of the report tomorrow.

Perhaps the main event of the entire convention took place on Saturday when Leonard Nimoy ("Spock") was presented with Creation's Lifetime Achievement Award by his longtime friend and costar William Shatner ("James T. Kirk"). However, before the presentation there were some other Star Trek heavy hitters.

Former Star Trek: Voyager captain Kate Mulgrew ("Kathryn Janeway") has had one busy year, but as she demonstrated in her lively Saturday appearance, she's still as energetic as ever. "This was supposed to be the year of my extended holiday!" Mulgrew exclaimed shortly after taking to the stage. "[After] seven and a half years in the Delta Quadrant, I thought I'd take a little rest. Fell in love, got married to a man who lives in Cleveland, just to add a little spice to mix. And he said to me, 'I promise you a very simple life. We'll move to the country and raise chickens. But first I think I'll run for governor of Ohio!'"

Mulgrew is of course referring to husband Tim Hagan, who is the Democratic candidate for the position. Mulgrew is campaigning right alongside her husband, and will host several upcoming celebrity fundraisers (see related story). This year also had Mulgrew winning critical accolades for her performance as Katherine Hepburn in the one-woman play "Tea at Five," an endeavor she described as "one of those great surprises, not unlike Janeway." Mulgrew said she plans to take the show to Cleveland, Boston and New York, pending the results of the Ohio election.

Mulgrew also discussed her appearance as Janeway in the upcoming "Star Trek: Nemesis." When asked if she plays a captain or an admiral, Mulgrew slyly responded, "What do you think?" After the applause died down, she went on to elaborate, "I am giving Jean-Luc Picard his instructions! That was really fun. I shot the thing in two hours, maximum. Patrick Stewart was so sweet."

Throughout her appearance, Mulgrew gleefully interacted with the audience — at one point, she even pulled a young fan and his mother up onstage for a photo op. She also expressed her admiration for Trek fans in general. "[They are] the most remarkable fans in the world, and so smart, so sophisticated," she said. "They segued immediately from Janeway to Hepburn and didn't blink."

Forget Enterprise for just a moment. The real question on fans' minds when it comes to Co-Creator and Executive Producer Brannon Braga is this: What did it feel like to kill Kirk? "You know, I just met William Shatner [backstage], and I'm not going to feel comfortable telling you how it felt," joked Braga, who co-wrote the script for "Star Trek Generations."

With that settled, Braga segued into questions regarding Enterprise, addressing the topic of the Temporal Cold War and the mysterious operative known as Daniels. "We're going to keep [the storyline] going, we want to keep revealing things about it as we go," he said. "Daniels, in terms of how he came back to life? Yeah, we'll probably explain that. I think we kind of think of Daniels as he may not really be human, or maybe only partly human, or he's not really what he seems to be."

Braga also discussed the tricky issue of continuity, reassuring fans that he is dedicated to keeping Enterprise true to Trek history. "We made a decision a long time ago to always stay within continuity, unless it really did create a problem," he said. "And I've only personally been involved with one major continuity transgression which was ... on Voyager, we did a show where Janeway and company went to 1996 ("Future's End"), and there were no Eugenics Wars going on in that episode. And yes, people got upset. But if we had done [that], we couldn't have had all the fun of seeing contemporary things that you and I know and appreciate and the characters relating to those things."

Braga concluded his time on stage by fielding yet another time-travel-related query: What advice would Executive Producer Brannon Braga give to Intern Brannon Braga? Braga's answer to that was short and sweet: "Don't kill Kirk!"

Next up was Shatner, who appeared to an enthusiastic standing ovation, and started immediately into a description of his day, which began in Lexington, Kentucky, noting that these days it doesn't matter how famous you are, everyone has to deal with heightened security at airports. "They wanded me!" Shatner joked, referring to the metal-detecting wands airport security officers wave around travelers.

Shatner quickly rattled off a list of what's going on for him at present, including his VH1 show One Hit Wonders (see related story here), his William Shatner's Full Moon Fright Night on the Sci-Fi Channel, and the SPPLAT ATTACK! Paintball Tournament to benefit Shatner's Hollywood Charity Horse Show in Joliet, Illinois. For more information on all of these events, visit Shatner's official site via the link below. Shatner also talked about his newest non-fiction book, "I'm Working on That," which investigates some of the newest in high-technology, items that make bring the future into the present.

When he was visiting with Ray Kurzwell, inventor of voice-recognition software, Shatner had to speak into a computer to "educate the software about my voice." When he tried to delete some text, he kept repeating the word "delete," but the computer responded by printing the word "delete" multiple times. "Technology," Shatner warned, "Don't let it get the best of you!"

Throughout his appearance, Shatner worked the crowd with the skill of a carnival barker, starship captain and stand-up comic all rolled into one, keeping the audience in stitches and the energy level high. When the house lights came up to signal the beginning of Shatner's Q&A with fans, he was able to see how many people were actually in the room and he screamed out, "Holy Mackerel! There's a lot of people here!" drawing warm laughter.

Shatner pulled one questioner up onto the stage, proclaiming the young fan named Michael "Solid, like a bull!" When asked about the best thing that ever happened on the set of the Original Series, Shatner remarked, "Kissing Uhura!" and noted that, "It's the people, the people have been wonderful, people like Leonard [Nimoy]. The people of Star Trek have been the best thing."

Following a standing ovation for Kirk's alter-ego was another standing ovation for the next guest — Leonard Nimoy. One of the first remarks from the legendary actor, writer and photographer was a subtle tweak of Shatner's airport experience, with Nimoy noting, "I had no security problems whatsoever, they just said, 'It's Mr. Nimoy!' and I walked on through."

Nimoy went right into answering fan questions, talking about his popular "Spock vs. Q" presentations he and John de Lancie ("Q") had performed, the "Mind Meld" video he and Shatner did, his poetry, his photography and how the mind meld and line "Remember" from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" was a bit of last-minute improvisation from Nimoy at the behest of Executive Producer Harve Bennett, not knowing it would be the basis for the next film.

Nimoy was confronted with several strangely dressed (even for a Star Trek convention!) women in cat-like costumes, and drew laughter and applause by asking, "How did you get here, did you take a pill?" He was also applauded when a fan thanked him and his wife for their civic-minded charity, such as the $1 million donation to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.

Asked if he'd direct or appear in another Star Trek film, Nimoy drew some groans from the crowd by saying, "My acting and directing life is behind me, right now I'm really enjoying my life. These days my creative energy goes into photography." Nimoy would later in the afternoon preside over a special presentation in one of the Pavilion rooms, highlighting his poetry and his upcoming book of photography, "Shekhina."

Then came the tribute to Nimoy from his Original Series costars, with Nimoy looking on. First onstage was George Takei ("Hikaru Sulu"), who said, "Leonard is a very public, civic-minded individual and Los Angeles is a much richer place thanks to Leonard and his wife Susan's generosity."

Next onstage was Walter Koenig ("Pavel Chekov"), who noted that, "The original cast was extremely well-chosen, each actor did their jobs exceptionally well, but I've always contended that while there could have been other actors cast in some of the other parts, I don't believe anyone else could have played Mr. Spock. He [Nimoy] imbued that character with elements of his own personality and character that are so extraordinary." (The joint appearance of Takei and Koenig will be included in tomorrow's Convention Report)

Nichelle Nichols ("Uhura") took the stage next, telling Nimoy that, "No one is like you, you're one of a kind. You have been such a wonderful friend." Nichols sang to Nimoy, with some improvised lyrics, "Can I call you my dear / In spite of those ears!"

Next came Shatner himself to present Nimoy with Creation Entertainment's Lifetime Achievement Award. Shatner first read a letter from Nimoy's son, Adam, detailing some highlights from Nimoy's 50-year acting career which began, ironically enough, with Nimoy playing an alien in the 1951 film "Zombies of the Stratosphere."

Then Shatner read his own tribute to Nimoy, filled with praise for his costar and friend, jokingly adding, "I taught him everything he knows!" Nimoy accepted the award and hugs from his friends and costars and was brief in his acceptance, stating, "I deeply, deeply appreciate this. Thank you." The audience jumped to its feet in tribute, and before Nimoy left the stage, he called out over the ballroom, "Live long and prosper!"

STARTREK.COM's coverage of Creation Entertainment's "Real Deal" Convention in Las Vegas will continue tomorrow with the second part of our report on Day Two, including Takei, Koenig, Michael Piller, Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson and a special panel of TOS guest-stars, so come back for more quotes, pictures and anecdotes from one of Star Trek fandom's biggest events of the year!

Story and Photos by Sarah Kuhn & Paul Plunkett

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