LAS VEGAS — Day 2 of the Creation Entertainment Official
Star Trek Convention emphasized the heroes of the Original Series, but the Friday crowd was also treated to fan favorites from other Trek shows — including one who is now part of
Heroes. Let's get right into it!
Friday, August 10
10:45 a.m. George Takei
You can always count on George for some very effusive and philosophical optimism. "It is more than four decades since we first came on the air ... It is really an amazing phenomenon. And I've reached that point where I'm used to it now. There was a point where I was just astounded that people would travel across this country to go to a convention." The first time he got a call to attend a fan event in 1970, he told the caller, "You do know that the show's been cancelled?" That was a small gathering in downtown Los Angeles, so he was blown away when he flew to New York in 1971 and faced the thunderous roar of a packed house at the Commodore Hotel. "That's when I first realized that something's happening here."
"Fandom has now become generational. I can recognize you original fans; I see those gray hairs out there — and no-hairs! Thank you for your steadiness and tenacity. And now we have grandchildren who are fans here. Thank you all for this incredible gift you have given us over four decades."
George brought up the new "Star Trek" movie and mentioned that his colleague from the Original Series, Leonard Nimoy, and a colleague of his from Heroes, Zachary Quinto, will both be playing Spock. "An extraordinary physical resemblance, isn't it? I told Zach, 'Zach, well now you know what you're going to look like in 40 years!'"
"But there's an amazing resemblance, you know — that lean physiognomy and the saturnine features that they both have. And they're both very, very talented actors. Zach is fantastically hateful as Sylar. And Leonard is a singularly original and inventive actor. So it's imminently appropriate that a very fine actor step into the shoes of Spock."
George will continue to be a recurring player in Heroes, and he told fans to mark September 24 on their calendars for the season premiere. " If you thought the last episode of the first season was fantastic, just wait for the first episode of the second season. You will be blown away."
His episode of the Internet production "Star Trek: New Voyages" is also coming up. "World Enough and Time" will be available for download starting August 23. Just prior to that, on August 20, his episode of the celebrity improv show Thank God You're Here reruns. And September 20-23, he will be narrating a concert of sci-fi music by the Seattle Symphony. (Visit GeorgeTakei.com for more details.)
We've all heard George tell why he "came out" publicly in 2005, but one fan who came the microphone asked, why didn't he come out sooner? "This is a very personal decision. We (he and partner Brad) wanted to share our lives with the people we are with every day, our community and the various areas of Los Angeles that I'm active in. However, I am a professional actor, and there was still that unknown ... There are enough reasons why casting directors and directors reject actors — too tall, too short, too fat, too slim — and I didn't want to give another reason for that kind of rejection. You want to succeed in your chosen craft. There is that unknown, and we do still have to sell tickets in places like Oklahoma or South Carolina or Kansas ... So you want to protect your employability as much as possible.
"That's why I left that gap in 'To the Stars,' my autobiography ... But I am now working on another autobiography, filling in that gap, and discussing my life from the time that I first, you know, in grammar school when I thought Bobby was awfully cute ... and I'm going to culminate my second autobiography in the present time."
11:25
Walter Koenig
A raucous Vegas crowd greeted Koenig warmly. "The enthusiasm never seems to end," he noted. Walter also asked the crowd to be open-minded towards the new J.J. Abrams film, and added that they were not paying him to say that!
Walter then showed an unfinished trailer for his new movie that he wrote, produced and directed called "Inalienable." The film stars, among others, Walter, Marina Sirtis and Richard Hatch. There are currently no confirmed release details, but Koenig is confident of the movie's quality. He philosophically noted that he is only a small part of the whole Star Trek world and would like to leave a more personal contribution, and "Inalienable" fits that bill for him.
A fan from the audience asked Walter to recite one of his most famous lines, "nuclear wessels" from "Star Trek IV." He said he would, on one condition: "I'll say that if everyone promises me they will check out my website and read about the troubles in Burma."
He then did the line, much to the crowd's delight.
Things eventually got more sober when Walter discussed his recent movements. "I went to Thailand about three weeks ago; my son accompanied me to film it."
The trip, to help raise awareness in the troubled Burma, turns out to be a significant event in the actor's life. Walter recited a litany of facts that highlight the tragedy in Burma, including the story that this is a country whose elected president has been under house arrest for several years and whose villages and peoples are being systematically destroyed.
Other shocking news includes a statistic that may shock some: there have been more villages burned in Burma than there have been in Darfur. Other tragedies include forced labor and systematic rape; only three percent of the country's budget goes to health care; child soldiers are recruited at age 11; 75 percent of the people live below the poverty line. In other words, this place needs help.
"I met with political prisoners, orphans, the woman who runs a medical clinic. They are actively trying to not only return to a state of personal health, but return the government to a state of health. The UN needs to pass a resolution to condemn the atrocities happening there. China is standing in the way of that."
"At this late juncture in my life, it became significant for me," added Walter regarding his motivations for going to Thailand.
12:05 p.m.
Vaughn Armstrong, Chase Masterson, Gary Graham
Around noon, the threesome of Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forrest), Chase Masterson (Leeta) and Gary Graham (Soval) took the stage for a good hour. Longer than most, but then again there were three of them.
Talking about the upcoming "Of Gods and Men" webisode, fan film, whatever you choose to call it, Chase aroused the crowd when she said that she played an Orion slave girl. "Do we love those?" Uh, yeah. "It was not easy been green," she added.
Vaughn and Gary recounted the process of auditioning, especially for Trek. "I auditioned for the first eight roles I did on Star Trek before they just called me up," noted Vaughn. He then joked about why they didn't just watch the tape of his other roles, rather than make him still audition.
"I auditioned for Riker several times, before they told me no," he later added.
Graham had his own story about a role that could have been his, but wasn't. "I was one of three guys considered for 'Midnight Express.' Then when I saw it, I thought: I can't touch that (the Brad Davis performance)."
Graham talked about how he got into acting, which, by the way, was not his first career choice. "I was in pre-med, but began fantasizing about being on a film set. Then I met this girl and followed her into acting class. I later realized that this was a self-fulfilling prophecy, just a natural progression."
When asked if Vaughn had any objections about the demise of his character on Enterprise, he was to the point: "Well, I do have two college-age kids to help support!"
Could he have died in a different way?
"Well, I got to save Gary (as Soval). I would rather have done it going down shooting. They had to kill me in balls of fire. Two balls of fire in fact." His reference was clear to any Enterprise fan: Forrest also "blowed up real good" as the commander in "In a Mirror, Darkly."
How was it viewing his character's demise? Vaughn put it all in perspective: "Watching it is okay; finding out it's going to happen is rotten."
Page 2: Nichelle Nichols, Dorothy "D.C." Fontana, Dominic Keating & Connor Trinneer, Terry Farrell
