At Creation Entertainment's 5th Annual Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas this year, some of the liveliest and funniest sessions on the main stage were the pairings of two stars from various series. In this report, we take a look at William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner, Garrett Wang & Tim Russ, and Connor Trinneer & Dominic Keating.

William Shatner & Leonard Nimoy

"The two big boys" — as Creation's Adam Malin called them — each took the stage Saturday separately before appearing together. Nimoy came out first, and upon the thunderous ovation uttered, "So emotional."

"I've been asked time and time again, how does it feel after 40 years to come to one of these events? And I'd say, 'It's like taking a victory lap!'' Nimoy remarked. "Years ago, people used to say to me, 'My kids love your show.' And these days, kids say to me, 'My parents love your show.'"

"Some of us didn't really know what to expect when we went on the air in September '66. I kinda had a sense that we would last a long time. I believed in what we were doing."

Among his reminisces of the early days of Star Trek, Nimoy explained why Spock appears to be limping in scenes with Captain Pike in "The Cage" and "The Menagerie." "It was a mistake. But it wasn't my mistake. When making the first episode ... it was Gene Roddenberry who came on the stage and said to me, 'I want to build in the sense that this is an ongoing story and that there have been previous episodes, and maybe Spock had been injured in a previous adventure. So please add a limp as you're running. I said, 'Okay, boss! You tell me what to do, I do it!' He was signing my checks! So I said okay. And I limped. And I've been explaining it ever since."

After communing with the audience for about 20 minutes, Nimoy said, "I'm sorry, I have to bring this guy out here, I'm sorry. He insists on coming on stage to talk to you," and proceeded to introduce Shatner, who commented on the vast numbers of people in attendance (close to 5,000 in the room).

"This is quite wonderful. I guess it means that we're all interested and anticipating what's coming up with Star Trek," Shatner opened. "Amazing, absolutely amazing, this marvelous thing that Star Trek has become. The life that it shows, nobody can believe it."

"I mean, there's J.J. Abrams right now — you know he's in a room somewhere scribbling, he's fashioning a screenplay that will lift us on the wings of fantasy!" Shatner rhapsodized. "I'm anticipating it every bit as much as you are." Regarding rumors of a future Captain Kirk actor, he added, "We keep hearing about people being signed, but as far as I know, nobody has been signed to play anything."

He told of his recent trip to Israel to set up an international therapeutic riding program, and described a recent motorcycle accident in California in which he took a nasty spill, skinning himself badly and ending up in an emergency room. "Then — I agreed to be roasted! Why, you may ask, did I agree to do that? I have no explanation. It may one of the stupidest things I've ever done. It seemed cool at the time."

The Comedy Central Roast he was referring to was taped the previous Sunday and set to air the following night. "It was horrible. It's funny, but it's horrible. And two people who took such glee in roasting me—" he pointed backstage where George Takei and Nichelle Nichols were currently signing autographs — "they were very evil towards me. But one of the things that they didn't realize, George and Nichelle, was if you come up on stage to roast, you're also gonna be roasted. George got roasted worse than I did!"

"So, enough about me, what about you? I'm only joking," he proceeded in his self-mocking manner.

Answering questions from the audience, Shatner talked about some of this Boston Legal castmates, including James Spader and Candice Bergen. "I'll tell you who I'm in love with, is Rene Auberjonois. Rene is the most darling of people. I sort of vaguely knew him [before] ... I had no idea what an artist and what a charmer and how funny and how loving Rene is," he gushed. "I've never been in a show that exudes so much goodwill towards everybody. There isn't a harsh moment on the set."

Getting back to the roast, Shatner said that during the show he saw his "Mr. Tambourine Man" video for the first time in 20 years, and realized, "It's AWFUL! What was I thinking when I did that? I don't blame the people who joke about it."

He then brought Nimoy back on stage and the two proceeded to trade barbs and laugh between themselves, particularly over a "letter" that Nimoy claimed he found buried under a tree in his backyard, one dated September 8, 1966: "We're going on the air tonight with the first episode of Star Trek. I predict the show will develop an intelligent, loyal following but will be cancelled at the end of the third season. I predict there will be tremendous success for the show in reruns." "Why are you pretending to read this, you know it all by heart!" Shatner interceded. Nimoy continued, "I predict William Shatner will do a lot of TV commercials! It says here: For anybody! I predict that in the fall of 2006 will we meet with thousands of fans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the show, probably in Las Vegas! Signed, Leonard Nimoy."

They proceeded to reminisce about the early episodes of Star Trek, starting with "Where No Man Has Gone Before." "Let's talk about the pilot," Shatner began. "The second pilot, the one that I did. Not the one that you did, the one that I did. Because the one you did didn't sell. The one you did didn't sell. The one you did didn't sell..." Nimoy came back, "I'm not sure they heard you, say it once more!" "The one you did didn't sell!"

After exchanging memories about Gary Lockwood and Sally Kellerman, they started talking about "the salmon story," as Shatner liked to call it ("Amok Time"). Nimoy pointed out, "There's a good reason to call it 'the salmon story,' because it was written by Theodore Sturgeon." "Ohhh! Pretty darn good after all these years!" Shatner responded to his groaner. Nimoy further pointed out that it was Sturgeon who wrote the words "Live long and prosper."

On a more serious note, Shatner used the occasion of the 40th anniversary to relay a message. "One of the reasons for the popularity of Star Trek is the fact that it exists two or three hundred years from now and offers a note of hope," he said. "We can hope, but hope doesn't do it. We need practical steps. And I'm really afraid that your grandchildren and mine will be in dire trouble with the planet if we don't exercise our rights, right now, today, tomorrow, and start cleaning things up — legislating for more miles per gallon in a car, recycling, and trying to repair the planet in the same way we're trying to repair the ozone hole."

Nimoy added, "The President has told us that we're addicted to oil but we're not doing anything about it! We should stop this addiction to oil, okay?"

Shatner concluded, "In this wonderful medium of people who are unified by Star Trek, there also can be a power that we take with us from this gathering. We must work hard and passionately and immediately for the good of the planet, otherwise we're going to terminate ourselves very rapidly."

Page 2: Jonathan Frakes & Brent Spiner
Page 3: Garrett Wang & Tim Russ
Page 4: Connor Trinneer & Dominic Keating