It’s back. Creation Entertainment, from February 15-17 at the Burbank Marriott Airport Hotel, will present its Grand Slam Convention: The Star Trek & Sci-Fi Summit. The event will feature guests from across the genre spectrum, including many Trek stars spanning the franchise. However, the highlight unquestionably will be a special Saturday Night Star Trek: The Next Generation Reunion Performance featuring the entire TNG cast. To preview the Star Trek & Sci-Fi Summit and the separate-admission TNG Reunion event, StarTrek.com spoke to Creation Entertainment’s co-CEO Gary Berman.
How excited are you to present the Grand Slam, especially the Star Trek portions of it?
Berman: It has been over 20 years since we've been able to gather the entire TNG cast together, so it means a lot to all of us to be able to do this again, especially in Los Angeles. The response to the appearances of Sir Patrick and the cast has been exceptional and we're glad to be bringing back Star Trek Conventions to L.A. once again. We have a long history here of fond L.A. Trek convention memories involving Gene and Majel, the reunion of the original cast at The Shrine, The Spock Family with Leonard Nimoy, Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt, and our first time working with William Shatner. We even got to present Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd) at one of our early L.A. events.
Who will moderate the Saturday Night ST:TNG Reunion Performance with the entire TNG cast? And give us a sense of what attendees can expect. How long will it go? Will fans be able to ask questions?
Berman: We're planning on an hour and a half show and it looks like the cast will handle the moderation. We've prepared a special video opening filled with cool memories of the series. Don't know yet about fan questions.
The TNG cast also will be signing autographs and posing for photos in various combinations. The full-cast TNG photo op seems particularly special and rare. How did you guys manage to pull that off?
Berman: The timing came together in having all the stars at the convention at the same time on Saturday, since some are appearing on stage during the daytime, including Sir Patrick). And the rest will be on hand to meet fans and sign autographs. They were all up for doing the cast shot and the response has been fantastic, as I think most know that this may never happen again in the area.
Who else from Trek are you pleased to have on stage and/or in the dealers' room?
Berman: I think what will make Grand Slam so unique is the fact that so many of the stars will actually be on hand the full day(s) of the convention. So there will be a lot of interaction. We've been able to combine what people like about "signing shows" -- which is having the stars present for longer periods -- with our normal theatrical presentation of the celebrities on stage, so it should make for a really fun time for our attendees. All the Trek stars we have booked are known to be particularly fan friendly, so we're looking forward to a very special weekend.
Click HERE to visit the Creation Entertainment site. And keep an eye on StarTrek.com for recaps of the weekend’s events.
