Highlights and Tidbits from the Star Trek Cherry Hill Convention

It’s a little bizarre to return from a convention that’s less than 15 miles away from me and call it a trip, but that’s what it was- I chose to stay at the con hotel to spend as much time as I could and take in everything! As a preview of the con reports and write-ups to come, here are some highlights, funny moments, and interesting tidbits from the con.

Overheard at the convention: “my husband’s downstairs partying with the Klingons.”

I was told this by a fellow Trekkie who was taking an elevator up with me while enjoying a Stun Punch, one of the specialty cocktails the hotel created for the event. It’s a step below the Vulcan Death Grip in terms of knock-out power. Speaking of Klingons, I’m guessing these were the ones the aforementioned husband was partying with:

Fuzzy Tribbles invaded the convention

The Fuzzy Tribble (which is not alcoholic enough to make everything fuzzy unless you’ve had, well, as many of them as were on that space station) was another popular drink; yours truly consumed several in the company of William Shatner while preparing for my panel on the Impact of Star Trek at next week’s convention, Star Trek Mission NYC:

The Omnipotent, Omniscient Q Continuum Assures us there’s nothing to see in Hillary’s e-mails.

One of the first questions John deLancie was asked was whether, as Q, he would bring back all of Hillary Clinton’s deleted e-mails. Without a beat, he answered “I’ve read them all. There’s nothing there.” Speaking of politics, deLancie prefaced his panel by saying we’re welcome to ask him questions, but he is not constrained by truth. “I should run for high office,” he suggested.

The Song “Red Rain” was dedicated to all the redshirts

Every Creation Entertainment convention includes a karaoke party, and this con was no exception. Karaoke was hosted by Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keating, who joined fans onstage to sing along. One fan dedicated the song “Red Rain” to all the redshirts in the audience.

If you can’t find the Garden of Eden outside Moscow, you should probably see an optometrist

This was possibly one of my favorite moments of the convention. One of my favorite lines in the original series is “The Garden of Eden was just outside of Moscow. It must have made Adam and Eve very sad to leave” (said in a thick Russian accent). Seeing that I was actually in Moscow this summer, I came up to the microphone during the Q and A to say “I have a bone to pick with you. I was in Moscow this summer, and I couldn’t find the Garden of Eden.” “Where did you look?” he asked me. “Everywhere,” I insisted. (I visited three Moscow airports this summer, which I think pretty much covers the entire periphery of Moscow). “Then I suggest you see an optometrist,” Mr. Koenig said flippantly.

Michael Dorn is most certainly not a merry man

He hated that line.

LeVar hated wearing Geordi’s visor but loved the line “COOLANT LEAK!”

That’s the line he wants to be remembered by. He also refused to fix my isolinear chips and asked for a hug instead:

Thanks to MAC Cosmetics for doing my makeup for this photo op.

At least he signed the isolinear chips, which should totally make them function better:

LeVar Burton is a huge sci-fi nerd

His favorite author is Octavia Butler, and he thinks imagination and storytelling is what sets us apart from all other beings.

Gates McFadden has done some naughty things with Brent Spiner

I have no idea what this was actually about. No context was given.

Chekov eventually found the nuclear wessels.

They’re in Alameda.

Sybok attacked Captain Kirk

But the ever-unflappable Starfleet Captain was more than ready to defend himself:

NOMAD invaded the convention, and needed to be out-logic-ed by yours truly:

Kira Nerys has the most feminist agency of all the Trek women.

The first day of the con included a wonderful panel on women in Trek by Amy Imhoff, Tanya Lemani, Nana Visitor, and Sue of Women at Warp. They discussed feminist issues in Star Trek, and as it turns out, Kira Nerys has even more feminist agency than Captain Janeway! You can read more about these thoughts at an interview Amy did with Nana at Star Trek: Las Vegas.

Rom knows how to rap

As evidenced here:

Captain Kirk is a Womanizer

Disclaimer: he really isn’t. I’ve literally written essays on this topic. But for whatever reason (probably having to do with the fact that the very handsome William Shatner was cast as Kirk in the role of a leading man, and was asked by other actors to teach them how to play the role of a leading man), it’s stuck. From the fans to the Rat Pack performance on Friday night, everyone kept complaining that Kirk took all the ladies.

Kirk and Spock are just friends

I collect sci-fi art, and acquired some beautiful pieces in the vendors’ room at this convention. One of them, available from Lightspeed Fine Art, is a gorgeous piece commemorating Kirk and Spock:

It’s entitled “Always Friends.” They seem to have omitted the “brother” and “lover” part. Personally, I would go for a title such as “Always T’hy’la” for a work in such beautiful tones of purple.

The astronauts at NASA once complained about the difficulty of putting together a spaceship model.

“It’s not rocket science!” William Shatner told them. They didn’t like that.

Geordi would prefer paper books rather than ebooks

LeVar insisted that Geordi’s visor would make him see through Kindles to the electronics inside. He and Kirk would agree on the value of paper books:

Bashir was the hottie of DS9

According to Max Grodenchik, they have Rom the storyline with Leeta because they wanted Bashir unattached, since him having a girlfriend made the female fans upset. I guess Dr. Bashir inherited the womanizing mantle from Captain Kirk….

Thanks to MAC Cosmetics, you, too, can now wear Spock’s eyeshadow!

Of course, there’s no guide for how to apply it, but at least now there’s a line of Star Trek products for the ladies and the Vulcans:

Gates McFadden wants you to vote

She wasn’t the only guest at the convention to provide political commentary (William Shatner even suggested a political reading of “Trouble with Tribbles,” and John deLancie made a Q-esque quip about current politics), and she also wasn’t the only one to provide a call to action. Gates told us that no matter what, we have to go out and vote this November, while John urged us to remember that Roddenberry’s future was one of tolerance and bright light – and urged us to embrace that and move forward with hope and expectation.