In October 2014 my wife and I journeyed (or should I say voyaged?) to the ExCel Centre in London for three days of pure, indulgent, Trekkie heaven. The ExCel venue (which by the way, is huge!) featured a great many stalls and events, and a great many of Star Trek’s most famous luminaries were present (including, but certainly not limited to, William Shatner, Sir Patrick Stewart, Nichelle Nichols, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Michael Dorn, among many more).
It soon became apparent to us that we were nearing the exact part of the Centre that was playing host to Star Trek when the concentration of people in Star Trek costumes and uniforms multiplied at a rapid rate. All of a sudden I felt distinctly under-dressed in my Star Trek t-shirt, that didn’t nearly measure up to the elaborate costumes some people had made!
The dedication of some fans is remarkable. Some went as Andorians, others as Klingons, whilst some opted to use wear Starfleet uniforms of different eras. There were a few Borg drones represented (those costumes looked hot and exhausting!) and one woman covered herself in tribble toys and spent the day as a mass of the things. It was pretty colourful!
One of the first things my wife and I did was get our Enterprise-D Bridge photos. For one brief moment, I was in command of the Enterprise! Pure geek heaven!
The landmarks for me though, were as follows: Getting my photo with William Shatner himself (it was a quick ‘in, snap, out’, but it was completely worth it!), having my question answered by Vaughn Armstrong, Casey Biggs and Steve Rankin (yes, they directed the microphone in my direction!), shaking hands with the warm and friendly Bruce Greenwood (aka Captain Pike in the reboot films) and getting Robert Picardo’s autograph! My wife got Bruce Greenwood’s autograph, and had her photo taken with the dashing Karl Urban (aka Doctor McCoy in the reboot)!
Another highlight – a big highlight in fact – was listening to Nicholas Meyer (director of The Wrath of Khan) discuss his experiences directing and writing in Star Trek. He is clearly a very intelligent and articulate man, and I could have listened to him for a lot longer.
Watching the (very) shortened version of the make-up process that transformed actress Suzie Plakson from human being to Klingon warrior K’Ehleyr was also very cool.
My wife and I took part in a quiz at one point – I am pleased to say I was actually able to correct the quiz master Jordan Hoffman of One Trek Mind (I’m still waiting for that beer!) about ‘The Siege of AR-558’. Yes, I really am that geeky!
You can see some pictures of the event here!
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