Destination Star Trek Birmingham

I haven't made any unfounded accusations.

 

Back around 2005, Manny Patel tried to organise a Star Trek convention called E-1. The whole thing was obviously a sham. He only took cheques from people who were stupid enough to buy tickets for the event, tickets which were in the region of £250 if I remember. He cancelled the event, claimed none of the advertised guests would turn up, and that all the ticket money had been used in renting the venue. No one got their money back. Dearest Manny ended up on the BBC's Watchdog show being grilled by Anne Robinson (for our US friends, yes, her of The Weakest Link fame).

I was told some years ago, and this purely anecdotal, that the shame Patel bought on himself also rubbed off on Bob Benton and Pages Bar, and was one of the main reasons the brewery chain that owned Page Bar sold it off to developers.

 

That’s clearly a shit situation. However I cannot wait to see all the different costumes and people around in the next few days. I can’t wait to see the smiles on all the faces. Game on

 

You make unfounded accusations with pretty much every post you write.

 

My partner and I briefly considered going, but in the end we decided the travel to Birmingham was a bit too much for us on top of tickets (travel home was much cheaper). The main thing I really wanted to see was the TNG bridge replica. She was mostly only bothered about Shazad Latif.

 

A Clamfandango fan?
I’m in Birmingham now. Looking forward to queuing up tomorrow.

 

Although I'm sure Destination will be grand, Birmingham on the whole is not a place to have a great time, it's a bit shit.

 

Its at the airport so I’m not actually in Birmingham. It’s like going to Disneyland and not actually going into Orlando. I’ve been twice and I’ve still haven’t been to the city.

 

Birmingham is surprisingly nice in the centre nowadays.

 

That is subjective.

 

I hope everyone going has a great time! I was planning on getting a ticket and finally going this year but alas am teaching abroad so I'll have to give it a miss again. I may just save up and try and head to Vegas in a couple of years because it can be hard taking time off in term time.

 

Nice to know what happened to Pages Bar. Went there a few times in the 90s.

I remember going there at some point in the 2000s only to discover that Saturday nights was no longer a Sci-Fi theme night and looked like any other pub in London.

 

I caught the final few years of Pages before I moved to a galaxy far far away. I think it shut down in 2006.

Back to DST. Reports I'm hearing is that it was dead. Yes, it was Friday, never the busiest of days, but this came from someone who's been posting on the Showmasters forum for years, and who is a DST Friday regular. It also fits with the photoshoot sales being terrible across the board, particularly for Friday. Also, organisation was supposedly shot to hell, with the timetable all but abandoned. People complaining about the queuing, that they missed an unscheduled stage talk by Anthony Rapp (my guess is he was found something to do since he's sold no photoshoots), actors not turning up to photshoots etc etc.

 

Please provide sources.

I’ve seen at least one picture of him in a photo shoot on twitter from this con. So clearly he has.

 

I like to get all my photos done on the Friday if possible, so I can concentrate on talks afterwards. Maybe I was asking for trouble bunching them so close, but I literally only made one shoot by seconds due to the timetables listed being a work of fiction.

Positives: Lots more stalls than 2016, no probs with registration and entry and good sized gaming area including the new VR Bridge Crew game. Better catering options too.

Marina Sirtis still out of control though. Every other guest usually has the decency to say at least a few words at the opening ceremony. She just meandered across the stage waving her arms before quickly disappearing into the darkness. Probably off to a free guest bar at the Metropole I imagine. Panto in Bridlington is about the right level for her in my opinion.

 

Saw the DS9 panel earlier thought it was awesome of Siddig to come on stage and show his admiration for the writers, people he didn't even meet apparently during the run.

Also while waiting to take a picture with Siddig and Farrel he joined the queue and starting telling one couple they were in the Wrong queue and they kept ignoring him thinking he was some nutter. The look on the women's face was priceless when she did a double take and realised it was Dr Bashir.

 

Of course you realize that THIS is the ultimate goal, correct?