I should also add ... My first convention was here in Omaha. Walter Koenig was the guest, and it was the summer of 1988, I believe. There were a few hundred people there, and the dealers' room seemed massive. I still remember the model someone had built and put on display, an 18-ft long model of the Excelsior. And oh, the bootleg goodies you could buy. Back then, paying for an autograph was unheard of, and Walter would happily sign anything you brought him.
The same went later for Nichelle Nichols and Leonard Nimoy ... It seems it was around the early 90s, maybe 91 or 92, the first guests started charging. It was maybe 5 bucks, to cover the cost of the photo. Then it went up to 10 bucks, and now the "b level" guests - guest stars, background extras and such - charge 20 to 25 bucks each, while the "stars" are 50 bucks or more. And you may find yourself having to pay to stand with the actor for a picture. It can get a little ridiculous (200 bucks for a picture of yourself with Shatner and Nimoy? And that doesn't even include an autograph? that's crazy)
But if you're not going for an autograph, it doesn't have to be expensive. The actors have great stories, and everyone should hear Nichelle talk about Dr King persuading her to stay on the series, in person, at least once.
Marina is still one of my favorite guests, and I have two fun memories of her on stage. In the first, it's a small con and the dealer's room is in the back of the programming room ... everything's all together in one room. She gets up on stage, looks back, and there is a cardboard standup of 7-of-9. She asks "Can somebody please cover the tits on robo-barbie?"
The second, she is discussing the crash sequence on Generations, how they set it up and it can only be filmed once. She is in her normal seat, and has to get up and cross over to the helm to fly the ship. Well, what they hadn't counted on was that a small piece of the set would hand in the seat, and that it would be
on fire[/]! She stood back up, the director yelled cut, and everybody was furious at her, but she kept yelling "My bum's on fire! My bum's on fire!"
It took a little over 12 hours to re-set, and everyone kept staring at her. She was told that even if the chair itself was on fire, she would have to stay there. They did it, and everything went fine the second time. She was crushed, though, when she was at the premiere and saw the edit. What you see there is her first take. They edited around it, stopping when she reaches the chair, cutting to something else ... they didn't need to do a second take after all.
Shatner's story about not knowing how to turn a computer on was funny, and listening to Wil Wheaton talk about not being allowed to come back for Generations was sad (Berman pretty much hated him after he decided to leave, he said).
Oh, another fun memory was George Takei, in the summer before Undiscovered Country came out. He wasn't allowed to talk about the film specifically, only in general. He brought a slide that showed the Enterprise crew standing in the transporter room. When someone asked why Sulu wasn't in the picture, he dropped the bomb, asking why Captain Sulu would be in a picture with the Enterprise crew? Two thousand fans went nuts. Fun times.
I'm sure every person who has been to a convention has memories they could share. Instead of reading other people's memories, why not go out and start some of your own? Even a bad con ... is still a memory.
