Poll Destination Star Trek Europe Convention 2016

Went to the 2014 one at Excel London but as enjoyable as it was the event was very expensive.

There is the Starfleet dinner in Peterborough September nearer to the actual anniversary (and my birthday!)

 

Why? Are you in London then?

 

It's not in Birmingham. It's in the middle of of nowhere midway between Birmingham and Coventry.

And I have to admit (somewhat reluctantly as I'm Black Country born and bred), Birmingham's not the dump it used to be.

 

I'm sure that like many large cities, it has its nice bits and its. . .not so nice bits.

 

Either Shitemasters have moved it north because of the poor attendence at the last event, or Jason Joiner's having trouble booking Excel without having a third party company to make the booking through. Rumour is Media 10 are having little to do with the event, and it's been long rumoured that Bryan Cooney over at MCM had Joiner contractually banned as a prequisite for signing a long term deal to use the venue.

 

Or it could be there is more to England and the UK than London.

 

I miiiiiight go. I went to the very first one in 2012, stayed the weekend, got the Gold Package - sweet jesus it was a shitshow. Didn't go to the Germany one, went for a day to the 2014 con and whilst I could see it had been improved from the first year, it still wasn't great. But I'd missed the whole thing in 2014 and kinda wished I hadn't, so I said to myself I'll go whole hog again next time - but next time isn't at ExCeL anymore (which is half hour on a train from me) now it's halfway across the country. That's making me think long and hard about going at all.

 

This !

I recently got tickets for the reformed Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. They're doing a world tour of four shows. The U.K. date is in Birmingham, which was a complete shock as almost everyone does just London in similar circumstances.

Oh the whining that followed - why isn't it in London, London's the capital, it's not fair...

Maybe it's a bit better for Northerners, the Scots, the Welsh and most of the rest of the country though, eh ?

 

This is a straw man. The event has to be held somewhere, and somewhere will always be too far to travel for some people. It was twice held in London and people north of Watford Gap complained. Didn't stop the Germans from flying in. Now it's being held in Birmingham and everyone in London and abroad is complaining. I've no sympathy for them. I used to live in Essex and drove to Memorabilia at the NEC a few times, the first time in the depths of late November in rain and fog you wouldn't believe. Takes little more than 2 hours each way. There's also not much difference in either distance or driving time between London to Birmingham and Manchester to Birmingham.

Anyway, I've just had £100 cashback on a p2p investment, so that's my petrol, parking and entry ticket already paid for. Now just to see what the autograph and ticket prices are like. . . .

 

For anyone north of Sheffield, Birmingham is no easier to get to than London but at least in London, you get some touristy stuff. A bed and breakfast in Birmingham is how horror movies start.

 

Yup.

 

The following announced in the last hour:

Robert Duncan McNeil

Armin Shimmerman

Martha Hackett

Eddie Paskey

Eric Pierpoint

Very weak announcements IMHO.

 

Were you expecting Nimoy to be announced?

So far so good as far as I'm concerned. I'm sure they'll add more. I'm pretty confident I'll be at this. Maybe the lieutenant package.

 

Even if he were still alive, I doubt he'd have done a video talk after he slagged Shitemasters off after the last London event for charging so much that most fans who went couldn't afford to see him.

Who's not met Shimmerman multiple times?

RDM and Hackett have, along with Frakes, both cancelled previous London events if memory serves.

Paskey, along with Christopher Lloyd, is a founder member of Jason Joiner's little black book, especially after the Warp 10 fiasco. Inviting him to every DSTL and slipping him a brown envelope undoubtedly serves to keep his mouth shut in public about what went on.

And as for Eric Pierpoint, he's not going to sell tickets. Period. However, I'm sure he's a great guy.

Get me Ronny Cox (he can do the music at the Sat night party), Peter Weller, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Ferrer. Trek and Robocop heaven. Although having heard about Weller's behaviour last time he was over here, I don't think he'd ever want to do it, nor would Joiner want him there. Shame really.

Considering 50 years, I'd have expected some effort to get the remaining TOS guest stars over. Robert Walker, Sally Kellerman, Gary Lockwood, Barbara Luna, and I believe Morgan Woodward is still doing appearances at 90, although coming to the UK is probably beyond him.

 

In the last two months, the barren desert that is this event has only been watered by the announcements of George Takei and, at £45, the wallet numbing Wil Wheaton. Still seems to be very little fan interest.

Also, still nothing from Walter Koenig on his official site appearance calendar that he's actually attending, nor has Wheaton mentioned it on his twitter feed, although he posts so much drivel, it's almost impossible to find anything of worth that might emerge from his cluttered, hyperactive, and rather juvenile mind.

 

Well that greatly depends on which side of the country you are on. If you are on the M6/M74 side of the country it isn't that bad.

 

Brent Spiner tweeted that he's unavailable and won't be attending.

This event looks to be in serious trouble.

 

Linda Park and Bobby Clark (the Gorn).

Yawn. As for any public interest in this event, I think it's Gorn fishin'.

 

That was never a Star Trek con anyway. It was a general sci-fi convention with guests from across the spectrum. I know Nana was supposed to be there, but she pulled out. Aron Eisenberg and Garrett Wang were there I think. Lost all interest once Nana dropped out.

Rene has also tweeted in the last few days that he's not been asked to do this wretched October event. Given how unlikely that is as large numbers of main cast are either unavailable or won't do Joiner's events, I suspect it's code for "I don't want to do it". There have been past rumours that Joiner's attack dogs have stopped Rene from doing his charity drawings for attendees, something he's been doing at events for years without issue.