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9/04/2005 01:08:00 AM
KAHN!
So its time I wrote about the star trek convention last month.
OMFG! Crazy town is the word. But it was all very exciting still. Guests began arriving as early as the week before. We start to see a trickle of familiar faces make their way down to Quarks bar. I was able to finish my commercials and trivia video bits for the que line just before the con really took off on Thursday. Friday I spent the whole day doing the Backstage Tour at the experience. We are finally telling the trekkies that it's all fake! It's actually kind of cool to do these as a change of pace and get the chance to interact with people when I am not covered in Klingon garb. I really know way too much about Trek now. I guess I have just osmosed it all over these nearly 8 years of service to the Klingon empire. Friday I hit the con.
So at the convention itself we walk around the dealers room, which is a kind of heaven on earth for a geek like myself. I always see some rare piece of Simpsons swag or a Darth Vader figure that flips my lid. Lots of cool people to talk to also. Many are dressed up just like we are so the "ha ha, fuck you you stupid Klingon" stuff is kept to a minimum. We respect our own. It really is like no other time of the year. It's geek Christmas and our lord and savior William Shattner was there too. You really have to go to a couple of these things before the subtle nuances begin to sink in. Some dealers are there just to sell and not there to chit chat. Others hate whatever wares they have to sell and all the geek crap associated with it. Some of them are there mostly for social interaction or trying to pawn off some crazy new gadget or a salad shooter that looks like Spock or some such hoo ha. Some of the "Celebrity Guests" are the coolest people you would ever want to meet. Some of them barely remember what episode of TOS they were playing Romulan Commander no. 2 in back in 66 and could give two large rat turds about trek. The room is full of all kinds of trinkets, old TV guides, movie posters, autographed lithographs, t-shirts from every tiny niche geek corner of the world. I'm still in need of a "smeg off" t from Red Dwarf. The best of the best are the fan fiction books. So many little paperback stories of Kirk and Spock and their forbidden love. "I didn't know you were an author, Voq'ha!", said my Ferengi friend Quan as he held up a particularly tawdry copy of "As I Do Thee", Kirk and Spock locked in an embrace on the cover. It was all I could do not to giggle myself silly. No we save the giggles for the breaks we take off the floor. We came up with new trek shirt ideas like one with Nelix's face on it that just says "Now we're cookin'". Oh lord I think that is so funny, and so do about sixteen other people in the known world.
Saturday was busy as well. I got to go meet and greet a few folks out of makeup finally cause the bar stays open late at con time. A big shout out to my pal Robert, a newly minted Marine. I met him as Voq'ha a year ago and we talked for nearly an hour at the bar about military stragety, the code of bushiddo and how it all relates to the Klingon empire and their need to remain independent of the United Federation Of Planets. It was awesome. Truly this man is a Klingon, even more so than I. Finally meeting him out of makeup was great fun. It reminds me of why I love my job so much to make just one persons day brighter because they got to meet a "Real Klingon".
Sunday was bittersweet as it was Todd's last day as Bleeg. Voq'ha was helping to mc the trivia contest and in the middle of the bonus round I began to sing "Faith of the Heart" the theme from "Enterprise", dedicated to Bleeg. The whole bar was singing. I got misty. If you have never heard 200 drunk Star Trek fans sing "Faint of the Heart', your life has been missing something.
There was much more to the con that I did not get to see because I was working, but what I always see at this time of year is love. Love for a failed television show that only lasted three seasons and went own to spawn an entertainment empire. Love for dreamers and visionaries crazy enough to design the future thirty years before it happened. Love for all kinds of humans, be they white, black, gay, straight, blind, extroverted, crippled, introverted, Vulcan, Klingon, what have you. Star Trek is still a great symbol of understanding and embracing diversity. The Enterprise may be limping a bit right now, but the fans of Trek are boldly going at warp factor 9 straight ahead. Good Luck Star Trek, Happy 39th Birthday.
TFP
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