Creation Entertainment will beam into San Francisco this weekend for its last Official Star Trek Convention of 2013. The stellar guest list includes William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Tim Russ, John de Lancie, Robert Beltran, Max Grodenchik, Aron Eisenberg, James Darren, Suzie Plakson, Lee Meriwether, Morgan Gendel, Michael Aron and John Paladin. Fans can also expect Creation’s popular array of activities, spanning from star talks, photo opportunities, autograph sessions and a dealers’ room, to costume contests, a makeup workshop with John Paladin and Suzie Plakson, no-minimum auctions and an evening concert by Tim Russ and his band. StarTrek.com caught up with Creation Entertainment co-COO Gary Berman, who further previewed the San Francisco event for us.
The 2012 San Fran event sold out. How are sales so far for the 2013 show?
BERMAN: 2013 is almost sold out and heading towards being so. From the start of our Star Trek events, back in the 80's, San Francisco has always been fantastic and the fans here are particularly loyal to the franchise. We always put together a fantastic lineup of guests.
Kate Mulgrew, Ethan Phillips, Garrett Wang and Bob Picardo were all originally on the guest list, but had to cancel due to work obligations. How fast did you have to scramble and how amazed were you to be able to lock in such tremendous replacement guests as Jeri Ryan, Marina Sirtis and James Darren?
BERMAN: We did have a few cancellations along the way, but it is good to see that some of our Trek actors are getting other work. I don't think anyone holds that against them and all convention contracts always include that possibility. That said, I don't think we could really have a better lineup. Jeri Ryan does VERY few convention appearances and she is always fantastic on stage. We asked Marina to come because Jonathan and Michael Dorn where coming and the trio makes the show super-special. And, it is truly an honor to welcome show biz superstar veteran James Darren as an honored speaker. I think we ended up with one of our greatest lists ever, including William Shatner, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden and Robert Beltran.
Aside from the guests, what other elements of the San Fan con do you think will excite fans?
BERMAN: I'm particularly excited about seeing "Rom” and “Nog" in costume, also about seeing Jeri Ryan, who hasn't been around that much, on stage.
You've already got your eye on 2014, of course. Tell us a little about the Trek conventions that are lined up so far for 2014, especially the Vegas event.
BERMAN: I think the 2013 version really was the finest fan convention of its scope to date, and I know from fans' comments they agree. We are trying to come up with something special (a party of sorts) for our non-US/North American fans. We hope to have a few new major stars we haven't had yet and lot of old favorites. Right now, folks can sign up for our bulletin. And, most importantly, we will not be wavering from our one ticket/one reserved seat in the theater policy. We continue to note that virtually every fan event oversells and makes attendance into a nightmare of fighting crowds hoping to see what guests they want where they want. This simply is not the case at Creation shows, and it makes it all the much fun.
Click HERE for additional details about Creation Entertainment’s Official Star Trek Convention in San Francisco.
