Over the next few weeks the Star Trek convention scene will erupt in a dazzling array of 40th anniversary celebrations all around the country. If you can make your way to Vegas, Anaheim, Seattle, Chicago or Sacramento, you absolutely must come and join the party. Celebs from every incarnation of Star Trek are anxious to see you!

It all starts in less than two weeks when Creation Entertainment commences one of the biggest Star Trek gatherings ever. The 5th Annual Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas runs Thursday through Sunday, August 17-20, at the Vegas Hilton, home of Elvis Presley and Star Trek: The Experience. Creation reports that ticket pre-sales are way above last year — and that was even before the recent announcement that Scott Bakula has signed on for his first convention appearance since becoming Enterprise captain.

With Bakula, the convention can now boast four out of five captains — one a day. (Patrick Stewart, who was in attendance last year, is tied up in the U.K. with Shakespearean activities.) Avery Brooks will appear on Thursday, Kate Mulgrew on Friday, William Shatner on Saturday, and Bakula on Sunday (tentatively). Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Frakes, Jolene Blalock, Brent Spiner and a legion of other beloved stars fill out the breathtaking roster.

In addition, this convention will mark many rare and first-time appearances from notable guest stars. Kim Darby, who played "Miri" in "Miri" (also famous for "True Grit"), has just signed on. Mariette Hartley, who so gorgeously portrayed "Zarabeth" in "All Our Yesterdays," will be there, as will Andrea Martin, the Second City comedienne who first played "Ishka" in DS9. Robert Foxworth is another — he was "Leyton" in DS9 and "V'Las" in Enterprise, but also brilliantly portrayed the android "Questor," the precursor to Data, in Gene Roddenberry's 1974 "The Questor Tapes." Also, Diana Muldaur — twice a guest star on the Original Series and "Dr. Pulaski" in TNG — will drop by for the first time in over a decade.

Beyond the thespians, there will be visits by producer Brannon Braga and makeup artist Michael Westmore, plus other special guests including Trek authors Jill Sherwin and Robert Jeschonek, several scientists, and "The Trek Life" cartoonist David Reddick. There will be an artificial intelligence demonstration by convention sponsor Arovotech, and Charles Chafer of Space Services Inc., aka Celestis — the company sending James Doohan's ashes into space (related story) — will give a presentation about memorial spaceflights. And watch for a panel with Pocket Books, CBS Consumer Products and STARTREK.COM!

We will compile a more complete preview of this event once a final schedule is posted. Creation is no longer taking pre-orders, but General Admission and Preferred Single-Day Seating remain on sale through Ticketmaster, and will be available at the door. Visit www.creationent.com for more details (from the home page, click on "Upcoming Events" in the nav bar).

After Vegas, there are only two free days before another huge gathering begins, this time in Anaheim, Calif. The 64th World Science Fiction Convention — abbreviated as both "Worldcon" and "L.A.con IV" — will take place from Wednesday to Sunday, Aug. 23-27, at three venues near Disneyland: the Hilton Anaheim, Anaheim Marriott and Anaheim Convention Center.

This con — which mostly celebrates literary science fiction, in no small part through its Hugo Awards (which will be presented Saturday evening) — is devoting a large portion of its agenda this year to Star Trek and its 40th anniversary. To that end alone, the guest list is staggering. Dorothy "D.C." Fontana — Original Series story editor and writer of classic episodes such as "Charlie X" and "Journey to Babel" — will be one of the highlights, as will the always-irreverent Harlan Ellison, writer of "The City on the Edge of Forever." Other episodic writers in attendance include David Gerrold, Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Nick Sagan, Jane Espenson, Larry Niven and others.

Some of the Trek actors on the roster include Walter Koenig, Marina Sirtis, Robert Picardo, J.G. Hertzler, Robert O'Reilly, Chase Masterson, etc. Behind-the-scenes notables include Michael & Denise Okuda, visual effects artist Ronald B. Moore, writer/producer Ronald D. Moore, and others. There will also be a number of distinguished fans spotlighted, such as John & Bjo Trimble, famous collector Bob Burns, James Cawley from "Star Trek: New Voyages" and Rob Caves from "Star Trek: Hidden Frontier."

The authors are really the stars of Worldcon, though, and names familiar to Trek readers include Alan Dean Foster, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Karen Haber, David Brin, and others.

And that's only scratching the surface. For more details on Worldcon and its Star Trek tribute, visit www.laconiv.org.

We'll have one weekend to recuperate (Labor Day) before launching into the actual anniversary weekend, September 8-10 (September 8 being the day "The Man Trap" premiered). Creation alone will stage two conventions that weekend simultaneously, in Chicago and Sacramento — and Shatner and Nimoy will be at both! So will John de Lancie, tag-teaming with them.

Shatner & Nimoy will appear together in Illinois first, on Saturday the 9th, at the Wyndham Hotel next to the O'Hare airport. Other guests there that weekend include Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Connor Trinneer and Richard Arnold (former assistant to Gene Roddenberry).

Then on Sunday, S&N will be back in California at the Doubletree Hotel Sacramento. That roster also includes Robert Duncan McNeill, Armin Shimerman and Dominic Keating.

For more details on both, visit the Creation website as noted above.

Farther north that same three-day weekend, PlanetXpo is staging a unique event at a prestigious venue. Its 40th Anniversary Gala Celebration and Conference will take place at Paul Allen's Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame in Seattle, Wash. On Friday night, though, a gala toasting the first airing of Star Trek on that date in 1966 will be held atop the city's famous Space Needle.

One of the spotlighted guests of this event will be "superfan" Jason Alexander of Seinfeld fame. Alexander was "Kurros" in "Think Tank," and also parodied Captain Kirk in the 1999 special "Ultimate Trek: Star Trek's Greatest Moments." He will perform Kirk again — but an "evil" version — in a live radio play authored by Walter Koenig and TNG writer Tracy Tormé which will serve as the Sunday encore.

A film festival is part of the convention schedule, and that will include the world premiere of Koenig's episode of the Internet production "New Voyages," called "To Serve All My Days" written by D.C. Fontana, in which he reprises the Chekov character (he talked about that at Comic-Con). In addition, Nichelle Nichols will present a trailer for her upcoming feature film, "Lady Magdalene."

Other actors in attendance include George Takei, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, John Billingsley, Alan Ruck, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry and others. Other special guests include Martin Cooper, inventor of the cellphone; author Greg Bear; physicist Dr. Lawrence Krauss; SETI astronomer Seth Shostak (a terrific speaker!); space entrepreneur Pat Hoar; and several other authors and scientists.

The Seattle event is promoted as "very intimate" and "exclusive," so tickets are limited to only a few hundred. Visit www.planetxpo.com for full info, and don't delay.

As further celebration of the 40th anniversary, a centerpiece at three of these conventions — Vegas, Anaheim and Seattle — will be a display of seven wax figures from classic Trek recovered intact from the historic Movieland Wax Museum in Orange County, Calif., after 32 years. Fans will have an opportunity to pose with the figures for a photo op — see our special feature article here.

And though we don't anticipate any new announcements during the conventions surrounding the "Star Trek XI" movie project, you can count on there being lots of discussion among the fans, actors and experts. You don't want to miss out!

Page 2: Speaker schedule at Creation-Las Vegas, Aug. 17-20

Page 3: Schedule of Trek-related events at Worldcon-Anaheim, Aug. 23-27