The Final Frontier 9

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TF01 3,Convention Reports - Part 1 4, Another helping of news and views from the world of Trek conventions! Kicking off this issue we have a selection of views from the first official Star Trek con seen in the UK - Generations - along with an update on all the news surrounding the con scene and exclusive news on Infinite Frontiers first Star Trek convention - DELTA QUADRANT! As well as this, there are another couple of con reports from Edward Woo... you have been warned!! GENERATIONS ------------- Royal Albert Hall, London, England ------------------------------------ 4th - 5th February 1995 ------------------------- Ian Shuttleworth ---------------- Day One Friday, 3rd February, 11:00 am and we are finally all packed and ready to go. First stop is to pick up Andy and Shelly. On our way at last and it's 11:30 am. With quite a long journey ahead of us we decided to break our journey at Sheffield. This would give us a chance to buy some last minute bits from the Sheffield Space Centre. Got into Sheffield at 1:00 pm but not a Picard picture to be found anywhere. It looked like we were not the first Trekkies to hit this town so we bought something with the name "Generations" written on it (with the hope of getting it signed). Well, after a long, hard and very slow drive to Gravesend, we arrived at Dawn's house at 6:30 pm. Well, we all unpacked and had a brew. The tension in the air about the convention was electrifying and it must have gone midnight before we all finally stopped talking and went to bed. Day Two Then suddenly, the whine of the alarm clock was to be heard. It was 5:30 am and I seized the opportunity to be the first to get a shower, but yes, you guessed it, Shelly was already in there, and as for Dawn she was already dressed! Well, finally I got a somewhat warmish shower, then just enough time for a quick bite to eat before putting on my uniform. Well, it was now 7:30 am and it was time to hit the road, so we all jumped into the car and we went. Got into London at 8:15 and as we drove past the Albert Hall we we're astonished at the size of the queues so we quickly found an expensive car park to park in and we waved a cab to take us back to the Hall. Well, we got in the correct queue and waited for the doors to open. We saw a few familiar faces from past conventions and were handed what seemed to be hundreds of flyers. And then, suddenly, the queue started to move. This was it. We were going in! We were seated in the upper balcony which proved to be a hell of a climb, up what seemed to be a never ending staircase, but what a magnificent sight when we walked into the Hall. It's absolutely breathtaking, the sight of the famous, if not historical monument. Well the time had finally come, the lights dimmed, and the famous Next Generation theme tune began to play. Then a powerful spotlight came shone towards the stage, and emerging from a haze of fog walked Worf, or should I say Michael Dorn. What a spectacular and entertaining performance he gave, with some brilliant answers to the audience's questions. Well, after Worf had left the stage it was time for a half hour break, so we walked over to the dealer rooms. This was a major mistake as almost five thousand other convention people had the same idea. Well after queuing for ages we decided to go back to our seats. Next on stage was Gates McFadden, who seems to look younger every time you see her. She was very entertaining and when Worf walked on they both did a dance routine which was quite funny. It was now twelve o'clock and we decided to go eat our food outside. As we walked around the rear of the hall we saw a massive mob of Trekkers and in the middle was poor Gates trying her best to get to her limousine. I managed to get a couple of photo's as she drove past but unfortunately they did not turn out so good. Then, as I was about to tuck into my third sandwich I spotted a rather large sort of bloke on the other side of the road. Me and Andy walked across and noticed it was Big Boy Barry, or Alex, as he is really called. Well, we had a quick chat with Alex, whoops sorry, Big Boy Barry and took a few photo's with him. Oh yes, he was fascinated with my flashing tricorder and wanted to keep it. Next we saw Rick Berman at the stage door and as there were only a few people there Rick had decided to do a few autographs so again the camera was clicking away. After lunch, me and Andy said we would stay near this stage door as Patrick was soon to arrive next. Well, the girls decided to go back inside to listen to Rick Berman's speech, and I think word must have spread about Patrick's arrival because as the time grew closer to the great one's arrival, a rather large crowd had formed outside the stage door. Well, not to lose my position in the crowd, I hung onto the railings and it paid off because, when Patrick arrived, his limo stopped right in front of me so I took as many pictures as I could. His departure from the car was swift and before you knew it, he was gone. Soon after we got back to our seats to see the main character he came on stage and the audience went wild for what seemed like ages and ages. Finally they calmed down. As soon as Patrick spoke, the audience went wild again. Patrick's hour seemed to fly by and I think he spoke for almost an hour and half. He even spoke without the aid of a microphone and you could still here his voice from where we were sat. I remember someone asking him to repeat those immortal words "Mr. Crusher. Warp One. Engage." which he did. Well that was it. He said everything, even "Tea, Earl Grey, hot.", "Make it so." et cetera. I must admit this man is a very talented and clever actor whenever he acts, be it on Star Trek or on the stage. But the end came and he bowed out graciously. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the first lady of Star Trek made an appearance. I am referring to Nichelle Nichols (Uhura). She had come to the Hall to promote her new autobiography as she was signing it if you bought a copy. Well, as the first day had come to an end, we decided to go to Pages Bar in Westminster. This is the only Star Trek theme bar in the country and yes, you guessed it, it was full when we arrived and they would not let us in. So, we drove back to Dawn's house stopping on the way for some pie and chips. Afterwards we watched some videos that Dawn had taped from T.V. after all, there had been loads of Star Trek interviews and reports that day. We must have talked yet again into the early hours of the morning before getting to bed. Day Three I thought I would treat myself to a bit of a lie in today and let everyone else have a shower first so as I lay there I did not here any sounds so I assumed that the others were thinking the same thing si I finally made an attempt to get up. This must have encourage the others and we hurriedly got into our uniforms and had some breakfast. Well it was time to get on our way again. Got into London at 8:30 and decided to find somewhere better to park so we started to look. I spotted a small car park in the middle of Hyde Park and to my amazement it was free all day and what made things better it was only five minutes away by foot from the hall. Today's line was first, Levar Burton. He came on stage and he seemed very serious about life in general. He spoke like some kind of philosopher, still he was good. Next was Brent Spiner. This man was the most comical and entertaining man I have ever seen. He could quite literally become a comedian, he is that funny. And all the time he was on the stage, it was hard to believe that this man was really Brent and not Mr. Data. As Brent's spot came to an end, Levar came on with this enormous pole with a hook on the end and he pulled Brent off the stage. This was hilarious. Well, once again we decided to have our lunch outside and whilst talking to some people who said that Marina was soon to arrive, closely followed by Jonathan Frakes. We decided to stay outside. The girls, except Shelly, went back inside for the charity auction. Well, the rest of us decided to get a good position near the stage door. A little time passed before Marina arrived and then she was here. The limo stopped and she got out. She was absolutely gorgeous. She wore a very short black skirt and a matching jacket and as she walked towards us she stopped and did a few autographs. She looked at me and I handed a picture for her to sign and her hand touched mine (WOW!). She duly signed it and walked through the door. I even manged to get some fantastic pictures of her. Very soon after, Jonathan arrived and the security were not taking any chances as about a dozen hot blooded females were ready to pounce on him the minute he arrived, so the security moved everyone away and he got out the car and did about two autographs and was gone. Back inside for the show and Marina was on first and if you have never heard her speak before then you are in for a surprise. Her accent is cockney and I mean cockney. But still, this was Marina talking and it did not matter. I do recall that she kept trying to apologize for crashing the Enterprise. Her reason was that she did not see the planet until it was too late (typical). She eventually rounded off her spot with a few more questions before leaving. Next, after a short break was Jonathan and I think Dawn couldn't wait as she had been talking about him all weekend. He came on and and started his performance. I recall him saying how much he did not want to get into the pool of tar in the episode Skin of Evil and how the production crew said don't worry about it so he did it anyway, then as he crawled out he saw Levar walking towards him and he said "Frakes, I would never have done that." I'm sure you get the picture. Well it was soon over and I'm sure in my mind who I enjoyed the best. In order, I must say in third place it was Michael Dorn followed by Patrick Stewart and in first place without a question of a doubt it had to be Brent Spiner. Well it was time to go home, so back to Gravesend we went to take Dawn home and as we said our goodbyes we thanked her for letting us stop at her house and waved a final farewell. Not looking forward to the long drive ahead, the girls, Julie and Shelly fell asleep in the back and me and Andy talked about what a good weekend we had as we tootled up the M1 talking about things like time travel and warp theories and what ever et cetera. Well, thats about all. I can't wait until the next film. I hope there will be another convention like this one and my advice would be to get yourself to one. SOL III '95 ------------- The Norbreck Castle Hotel, Blackpool, England ----------------------------------------------- 26th - 29th May 1995 ---------------------- George Griffin -------------- Main Guests: Dwight Schultz (Lt. Reginald Barclay) Eric Menyuk (The Traveler) Harry Harrison (author of the Steel Rats Books) Richard Arnold After many years away from Star Trek and not overly impressed with the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, we have recently been watching re-runs of season 6 on Sky TV and also the run of season 7 and Deep Space Nine, we found ourselves enjoying the new world of Star Trek. With this new found interest in Star Trek we decided to go to a Star Trek convention. The next convention to be held was to be Sol III at Blackpool in May and as it was the middle of April there was a mad rush to organize everything, we could not get booked into the main hotel so we had to find a small hotel in Blackpool. After a 5:00 am start to get connecting trains to arrive in Blackpool for 12:00 pm, my wife and I made our way to the hotel and after registering and receiving our convention pack, we sat in the foyer to study the programme for the weekend. The convention programme was a 36 page book with black and white photos of the main guests and a couple of stills from Generations. First off we noticed that the first two episodes of Voyager were to be shown at 2:00 pm and then to be followed by Generations. After watching Caretaker and Parallax, we eagerly awaited Generations, but after about 40 minutes the picture was lost and it didn't seem to be coming back, so we left to get something to eat and be back in time for the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony started at 8:00 pm and the main guests were introduced, Dwight Schultz, Eric Menyuk, Richard Arnold and Chas Evans, who brought a photograph of himself and Dwight on the giant big dipper at Blackpool pleasure beach. After the ceremony there was to be a party for all 1st timers, but the bar where it was to be held was taken over by an Irish folk band so we were taken to one of the video rooms and shown a 15 minute video of past conventions, after the video we were told that there was a surprise for us, and we were directed to another room this time with a bar and the committee had arranged for Dwight, Eric and Richard to spend some time with the people new to conventions, so about 20 people had the main guests all to themselves for most of Friday night. By 10:30 pm the party seemed to be in full swing, but because of our early start we decided to leave for some much needed sleep. We unfortunately missed Richard Arnold's talk on the Saturday, mainly because it was scheduled for 9:00 am (!), and this was the only one he did. With so much going on it was hard to decide what to do next, after Dwight Schultz's talk we went to the dealers room where I got the final Spectra Card for the Master Series trade cards, but it was quite expensive. Then it was off to the video room to see Yesterday's Enterprise, but missed Data's Day. Later in the evening was the fancy dress/disco, the fancy dress contestants consisted of a group doing a scene from Star Wars, Lwaxana Troi, A couple of Klingons, a crossover between Red Dwarf's Mr. Flibble and Data, but the best entry and overall winner was an amazing Ambassador Kosh from Babylon 5. Sunday started with another visit to the Dealers room where I purchased some more trade cards, 2 jigsaws one Classic Trek, the other Next Generation, a Next Generation operations shirt and a signed Chief O'Brien trade card. The Party on Sunday night was a Sci-Fi quiz followed by a Karaoke. Dwight Schultz turn up guarded by a team of F.B.I agents which included agents Mulder and Scully, he also had a sword fight with a Cyrano de Bergerac look-alike. The quiz was a bit difficult to follow because of the noise in the bar, but the Karaoke was a big hit with everyone and Quark and his Dabo girls went down quite well, and even Eric Menyuk did a turn. On Monday there was a guests panel which consisted of Dwight Schultz, Eric Menyuk and Harry Harrison, the main questioning was about U.F.O.s and what they would do in a first contact situation. The closing ceremony was running about 40 minutes late and by the time raffles and fancy dress prizes had been presented it was nearly 1:30 pm and we had a train to catch at 2:00 pm, so we missed the finale which was a tribute to Gene Roddenberry. As this was our first convention we cannot compare it to others, but overall it was a very enjoyable convention with plenty to see and do, and very well organised. Edward Woo ---------- Thursday. I was really looking forward to this con as it will be my first one in over a year and we are returning to the Norbreck since Frontiers in 1990. Unfortunately, neither Baggy or Simon were going, so I was sharing a room with a new Star Trek fan. Got packed, made sandwiches and tanked up the car with fuel for the journey in the am. Friday. Got up at about 8:00 am ready for the drive ahead. Had a breakfast of orange juice and cornflakes. Eating my sandwiches of salmon and lettuce as I warped up the M6 to Blackpool making a ninety degree turn onto the M55. Following the signs I made a slight detour but got onto the sea front road and found a perfect parking place where I could see the car from most windows. As it was only 11:00 am and still early I did begin to recognise a few faces. Some were already in the queue for registration which had not quite opened yet. Saw Philip of Leicester and said hello. I put my case down and waited at reception. My room was 181 but it would not be ready for another two hours so I put what bits of luggage I didn't need in the car and did a wander of the hotel and its facilities. The eating facility was better and the hall still had an echo. The video rooms were okay and there was a big dealers room. Saw Franke and his sister in the queue and we chatted for a good while in between snacks whilst waiting to get my con package. Richard Arnold, Dwight and Eric were on their way out to enjoy the sights and rides of Blackpool. Noticed a lot of first timers at this con. Alex Green his first Klingon language class and had a few more over the weekend. People that were missing at this con were Paul, Sade, John that I know of. Jacquie of South Wales fame found the hotel satisfactory and with dogs in tow. Chatted to Keith of Peterborough when Leeds Starfleet Starbase committee arrived - Mike, Carol, Graham. They were staying at a B&B down the road as more cost effective. Got a hug from Carol that nearly crushed me. Graham, a science teacher now qualified was working in a games shop instead. I'm sure I will try and come to Starbase '96 as part of the tech crew. My con registration package number was 292. As it was noon plus thirty minutes I went to see if my room was ready - it was so made 3 trips from my car with bits, books, food and clothes. I eventually found my room up one flight of stairs and past the dealers room. The room was pleasant enough but lacked mains sockets as there were only two. One for the TV, the other for the charger. Plugged the TV set on and got Sky One. Sort of rested awhile having tea and biscuits. Got unpacked and actually used the cupboards this time as I usually live out of the suitcase over the weekend. Opened the con package. They even gave you a free plastic yellow bag with Sol III on it. Discarded everything I didn't need except a timetable of events and video programme. There was a trivia competition. Some of the questions I knew the answers - Klaatu and Robbie the Robot came to mind. Serial number of Commander Riker - difficult if not impossible unless we rewatched the episode. As to my stewards duties, it was with the tech crew with Tim, Richard, Andre, Lee and company. Lee was from Stafford Space Central. Looking at the programme it would be the main hall events for me and some of the latest episodes of DS9 and Voyager. The general SF film selection had a varied choice and worth watching. Took a shower, but first had to find out how it worked but got there in the end and wet in the process. It was about 1:00 pm have rested and watched Sky TV and getting into a more comfortable ST sweatshirt and trousers. I ambled down the corrider and steps towards the main hall to find Tim. Passed the Norbreck room where the dealers were setting up and found Jean helping at the IDIC table. Janet was not coming because one of the dogs was ill but Valerie and Sheila were here. The dealers room was big but plenty of walking space. Entered the main hall to find Tim and introduced myself as knowing some technical bits and pieces. I was introduced to Lee who was in charge of the main hall. She knew of my jottings in the [IDIC] newsletters. She seconded two others to help - they were the spotlight spotters. We all trailed with Lee back to the registration so that we got suitable badges (blue for technical). My first errand was to get a flip chart for the main hall so that people knew what was taking place. Keith, myself and Jean and David stood around and chatted til the flip chart arrived - it took an hour. The video programme had started with "Caretaker" and "Parallax" beginning only 11 minutes late. Plenty of people were asking for our help - it's those red badges. There was a dealers table set up just by the door way with cartoon ST characters and t-shirts with "La cute ass of Borg" (for Counsellor Troi) and "I've got a big symbiant" (for Dax). I dumped some of my auction items in Registration in a yellow bag as well. It was now 1600 hrs and the dealers room was opened today, amazing for a Friday. I was able to get in okay as the queues were small. Again, nothing instantly attracted my attention except Voyager #1 by Starlog which I bought and a couple of 10x8's of our guests, Dwight and Eric. Having spent a bit of time there I went to see the main hall film "Star Trek Generations" as Richard hadn't seen it yet. Unfortunately the quality of the video machine heads deteriorated and the film became unwatchable. Andre came to our assistance and we got another video machine and continued with the film. We had pinched the spare machine from the Classic Trek video room - no one was watching. The faulty VCR is a Panasonic and well known for rubbish on the video heads that needed cleaning. We took the machine out to registration and had a look. We needed some iso property alcohol to clean the oxide off. I volunteered to set into town to see if any shops we still open i.e. a chemist. I moved swiftly passing colleagues by as the machine was needed for the weekend passing Frances and Carol by. I drove into town to find one chemist open but no alcohol and another camera type shop that didn't stock video head cleaner fluid. Upon returning Andew had found some fluid and a cloth at the very last minute and cleaned it. Had a banana and sandwiches as I rested. Upon returning I got to return our Classic Trek VCR machine back to its own room as I followed Mark Oliver from Committee room (full of drinks) to one place and another until the VCR was back and plugged up ready to go. I had to think about the route to the Holodeck (Castle Rock bar) as it was not quite easy to follow the plan. Meanwhile, John of Fek'lhr was here and Anne Page. I passed Jill and Christine as they had just arrived who I last saw at Baggy's wedding last week. The quiz had not yet begun. I joined Karinn, John (Harminder's friend) and some new attendees on a table for a Trek trivia quiz. I thought it would be good but as we waited with drink in hand. Karinn I hadn't seen since Contagion and John had a list of items and prices to get a Richard's auction for Harminder. Drinks of coke, fruit juice, lemonade came and went. People were wearing 18th Century costumes and masks and wandered around the bar. Then the news came the quiz was cancelled due to the lack of time and there were too many entries. It would be postponed until space was available in the programme. The disco began but we went to another bar near the food restaurant. Keith, Peter, Dave and myself chatted awhile watching the activities. Dax was here and Bajoran males. A lot of DS9 and Next Gen uniforms and one or two Trek movie ones. It was midnight plus 30 when I decided it was bed time. Having already seen the "Phage", "Time Again" and "Life Support". Got some raffle tickets for the Alpha and Beta raffles. Judith was still around carrying her Guide Dog Fund dog which we duly contributed. Finally met the famous Neil J. Barrett. He's different from what I had imagined and he only lives down the road and drove in. I said someone want to meet him with a steam roller. David had his pager phone and rang Dave as to a Trek trivia question that needed answering. Taruka and Judith were waiting for their lift home as I found the Castle Rock bar which had the first timers party and we couldn't gate crash as Frankie and Pam knew it was not a first con for us. As Dwight and Eric were there drinking. So ended the first day just about. As Peter didn't have anywhere to stay I suggested he could come back to my room tonight instead of sleeping in his car. He got a few things together and we headed up to my room. Joseph was not in yet either. Read a bit a Voyager #1 and decided what events I would attend in tomorrows proceedings. Joseph came in then. First he thought he had the wrong room when he saw Peter and his sleeping bag but he was okay about it. He hadn't unpacked yet and still had to get his luggage and so he went off. It was about 1:30 am when we had tea. We set the wake up call for 6:45 am with my trusty clock as back up. Batteries for camera and shaver on charge before lights went out and sleep. Saturday. Hello Helen. I here you were at the con through Jean but I didn't see you - hope life is better. The 0645 alarm phone rang. Joseph stayed asleep in bed. Peter was already up as I moved slowly towards the bathroom. Washed, shaved and dressed for the day. Went down to breakfast at about 7:15 am with people already eating. A full fat buster breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, tea, juice and baked beans. Something to survive on all day. After the food, got my camera and extras and went to the main hall to see "The Cloud", a Voyager story but it was also to get a seat for Richard's talk after it. Unfortunately, Richard was only on for one session the whole weekend which is disappointing to us and for him. The video finished and we had a break. As part of the tech crew we got to set up the slide projector equipment. Glenn would be in charge of the cartridges as we maximized the viewscreen. Glenn was on top of a portable crane. Got him a drink as it was hot today. The attendees gathered as I stayed on the left hand side of the hall for any tech problems. Richard started his slideshow with behind the scenes of DS9, on and off camera. Scenes from Generations. We changed cartridges smoothly, the sign was an explosion. Couldn't remember the slides but there were only two from Voyager - keeping them tight, the Art Department from outside eyes. Richard then had a Q&A with the attendees. Philip Anglim who plays Bariel wanted to leave the show and so the character was killed off. O'Brien's pips could so eaily be solved but Paramount were stalling. Star Trek Generations 2 script is definite but no script or characters yet. Jake Sisko has grown very tall this year, Sisko is promoted to Captain, sporting an end of season beard. Rick Kolbe has publicly been seen with Kate Mulgrew. Cliff Bole does have two shorts - blue and green. Voyager renewed for a second season and DS9 for a fourth. No Star Trek office hence continuity errors still persist. The runabout set is still available for use. The Defiant bridge is the smallest set on the show. Miles O'Brien still there despite Colm's film work. Richard Arnold said it is now more difficult to get on the sets but still has contacts. Paramount only notices anything when the sales figures drop and there is a lot of crap merchandise out there. Then Richard's auction began. Dave Simons was in the room and Richard knew there was something special for him. Again, mainly autographed trading cards and photos. DeForest 10x8 - £50. Generations phone card - £40. Generations Enterprise #51 out of 250,000 - £65 as early numbers went to the cast. Jonathan and Patrick trading card - £46, whilst Kirk and Uhura trading card - £45. Dave Simons got the Voyager press kit for £125 only (that's cheap). 10x8 Kate Mulgrew - £37. Teenage Mutant Ninja Star Trek turtles - £30. Keith bought the signed trading card of Kira - £30. envelope of Star Trek goodies - £101. CIC artwork, 3 Borg episodes - £15. Hamilton plate of Pike and Vina - £50, Finally a Galoob figure of Data - £35. I think Richard was surprised how low the prices were for the stuff - probably a sign of the times as prices have been higher in the past. It was 1100 hrs and our guest Dwight was next. He came on stage, announced by Lee to a huge welcome and flash photography and clapping. He is very distinctive in appearance and voice and could mimic anyomne including Patrick. He did a brief Picard and was asked about the character Barclay, his spide impersonation, his A-Team work, working with the late George Peppard and Mr T. Mr T was working brilliantly with a child who was dying and Dwight said he couldn't do that sort of thing - so difficult. There is a rumour of an A-Team movie with a new and younger cast. Pam bought Dwight up his drink upon stage. As he poured it into his glass everyone watched if he would spill a drop. He described how he got the Murdock role in the A-Team based upon a character he met. His recent portrayal in Babylon 5 seemed to cast him in roles of unusual mean "mad ones" he has cornered as an actor. He would have loved to be in the "Generations" movie. Being on the TNG set, he couldn't believe the amount of jokes being played especially Jonathan and the peg on someones clothes in camera shot - the director would say "Cut!" I can't remember anymore but his repatoire was entertaining us for a full one and a half hours. It was only his second convention and so far he was enjoying it. We were running behind but we had a half hour break before Chas Evans was to talk about the releases of new films and CIC video promotions. it was an oppurtunity to get some food and pop upto the Art Room. The Art Room was quiet and we got permission to take photos. A USS Enterprise made of rubbish bits. Plenty of portraits by Wendy Ward or Ware (I can't remember) all superb ranging from Star Wars, Indiana Jones to Star Trek people. A couple of childlike Galileo shuttlecrafts on the floor. Plenty of Anderson models, a Thunderbird, Shadomobile, Ski and to a massive R2D2 that had a remote control. On one table we had a Bat'leth made of solid metal - it was heavy. Got some nice photos despite the relecting sun and daylight on the picture frames. We returned to part of Chas' talk - he was still going - he had many film trailers. Waterworld was being edited by Costner, various stories no how the most expensive had spent its millions even a boat from Italy. Tank Girl not quite understood in the US and re-edited for the UK. Generations 2 logo already prepared. Erik Menyuk started his guest show only a little late but I thought it was poorly attended - shame that. He came upon the platform wearing his baseball cape from yesterday's opening ceremony. He had a bag of bits next to a table, stool and drinks tray. He had a cassette recorder which he talked to to prove to his wife he was in England. He had a camera and took pictures of the audience. He then came down to the audience and gave one attendee the camera so he could get good photos of him for his wife and posed briefly so the shot was taken. During his answer session with the crowd he started to try and answer a question before derailing with other stories. He even started answering the Trek trivia competition but we gave him some of the answers. He then realised he was being videoed onto a screen above him. He tried to outrun the video camera operator ducking in the process but the man was too quick. He talked abput the Traveller and not getting the part of Data in early auditions. He was asked about his law studies, the O.J. Simpson trial, whether he's guilty and will he get away with it. He said he could be doing O.J.'s work if the trial goes on that long. Eric's favourite topic was his young son, just recently born and how to bring them up. Eric said he and Patrick had one thing in common - both bald. Jean who was taking notes could not write them down fast enough as he was always off on a tangent in a storyline, but Eric's entertaining bit soon ran out of time. He did mention the con booklet - wrong Enterprise for Picard, his work with Andy Griffiths and Mattlock and the three episodes of LA Law and Married with Children. He was currently unemployed as an actor but has his law studies for being a lawyer in a couple of years time. Around about 1600hrs, Alan Whibley, a man of Special Effects came on with bits and bobs. Keith stayed but I drifted out to get some photo's of Dwight and Eric before they were sold out. Fortunately Dwight was in the dealers room signing and photos being taken. I got him to personalise one for me. Richard taking my money first for a change. Dwight had his agent with him and had presigned 1000 photos of Barclay for speed and efficiency. I founf Eric in the bar as usual and he signed his photo with my Chinese name despite the unusual spelling. I didn't confuse him anymore with the pronunciation. After Alan's talk, Keith said he got his business card with possible jobs in special effects but you had to start at the bottom of the ladder like him. Next we had Rog Reytus auction part one, the first 60 odd items. His table was being set up, Carole doing the paperwork. Roger needed a drink before starting bitter. As I enjoyed the auction I got to help carrying and presenting the auction items to hall attendees. I was showing them to the camera so everyone in the hall got a good view propping them on the edge of the table. Not too many people as it was early evening and suppose hunger overcame the attendees. Personally I thought the reserve prices were high but some sold and others did not. Roger was doing the bidding and selling quickly. Quite a few of writers signed photos failed to sell. Fran bought the Star Trek record and book set. Quite a few American TV guides Star Trek sold. Playmates figures of Troi and Jonathan sold both were autographed. A small Leonard Nimoy was sold but came back because it was personalised. Those Star Trek annuals found their way to the auction and I must think everyone's got a set by now but Roger still tried to sell them. The Star Trek playing cards from The Wrath of Khan are rare as I have a set but got expensive for me. The items went swift and quick and we came in with a half hour to spare - very unusual as we overrun in most cons. Helped to carry of the items to the committee room as the bidders came for the money and items. Part two would begin tomorrow. to be continued...