Technocove
What do you call tens of thousands geeks in one area in Las Vegas? The answer isn’t in fact UNLV but the Star Trek Convention at The Rio Hotel. This event, put on by the people at Creation Entertainment has come back to Vegas for its 11th year. It’s amazing the kind of effect Star Trek has had on generations of people until you step foot inside the convention center. The community behind the attendees and actors from the television series couldn’t have been more apparent. Thanks to Monica Gillen for allowing myself and Kelly Stith to cover this amazing event.
There were many events going on from panels in the side theater to interviews and chances to meet the actors and get their autographs. The first event we decided to take a look at was one of the panels in the DeForest Kelley Theatre featuring Martha Hackett, Jeffrey Combs and Casey Biggs. You might know them better as Seska, Commander Shran and Damar from Deep Space 9. This panel was lively and had lots of personality and answered questions that fans asked. I could tell they really enjoyed working not only on the show but loved being at the convention.
Next was a trip over to the Roddenberry Theatre to listen to Ben Vereen, who other than playing Edward La Forge in ST:TNG, played in several major plays such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Wicked. He kept the audience on their toes with his humor and captivating personality. It was amazing to see him talk about what the show was like.
After seeing Ben, it was time to check out the Vendors Room, which was packed with attendees and lines running long with people waiting to get autographs. If you wanted something Star Trek related, you could probably find it there. There was stuff that had nothing to do with Star Trek too, like anime. Wandering around the vendors room, I was fortunate to run into Celeste Yarnall. Celeste played Martha Landon in the original Star Trek series. In addition to playing an iconic character, she is also the writer of several books, one being “Natural Dog Care: A Complete Guide to Holistic Health for Dogs”. I will able to get one of her photos from the original series signed as well as a picture with her! It was a pleasure being able to meet her.
Last but not least was a trip back to the DeForest Kelley Theatre for the Star Trek and Sci-Fi Auction. This was a fast paced but lively auction with everything from signed photos from the cast of various Star Trek series to signed photos from famous actors of the 30’s,40’s and 50’s. I mean the fact that the price of something could jump from $25 to $250 in a matter of seconds told me that these people were serious about getting their memorabilia. This was an hour long event and I enjoyed seeing people aggressively go after things from posters to Mr. Potato head Star Trek collectibles.
Creation Entertainment did a wonderful job putting together this event and it’s from Thursday through Sunday. Technocove will be bringing you more coverage of this interstellar event as it happens.
