WonderCon bound!

So who's in San Francisco this weekend for WonderCon?

I've never been there, much less for doing a show ... so thanks to Daryl Frazetti once again for dragging me along.

Come on by: It's a tough time slot, but help me hold up the honor of Trekland at 6-7 p.m. Saturday in Rooms 220-224 and I promise you—we'll have a blast. It's my ever-evolving digi-slideshow... now, finally, with the somewhat cool name "Star Trek: Between the Cracks." And afterwards you can ask me anything. Well, almost.

This show has a tough 24/7 table policy, great for actors but not keen for indie authors outside of an exhibitor table. So, catch me after the show, at 7-ish. I'll have some cool stuff from my resume, and for sale.

Blog-gone silent!

Blame it on my insane spring o'fandom, or local politics, or more writing projects (yay), or a kitchen upgrade, or broken Quicken files and late start on taxes.... Much less the FIVE DAYS of jury duty that ended with a settlement and our dismissal.

But I am clearly off my pace here... and that's with mucho stuff to say and give you.

Bear with me, Treklanders. Just because it's a slow time "out there" hardly mean it's a slow time "around here."

Oh p'shaw guys: Seattle Comic-Con magic

I think this just may be a video first for me, and I have my buds at Seattle Geekly to thank for it:

IT'S JUST LIKE YOU ARE THERE! (click the frame)



Thanks to Jim Demonakos and his whole Emerald City Comic-Con crew, and Pacific Northwest fandom in general, we had a great time and a great crowd last weekend. Thanks guys—it's been a while since I had 300 or 400 for a show, and our Twivia Tweetups with the Geekly gang got rid of a lot of Trek swag from CBS and our pal John as prizes—even at 9 a.m. Sunday!

Best of all, I had lots more folk come by the table, chat things up and have me sign a few things. Yep, I was amazed—but I guess they somehow let a few Trekkies sneak into that comics throng.

More pics on the Trekland Facebook page albums...!

Too cool for school, or what? The Periodic Sci-Fi Table

Saw this via Randall Hand at Vizworld and could NOT let it go by: you can get yours as a poster at Topatoco.com. No money has changed hands in this mention; it's just a great idea, well done.

I guess the comedy wing of Quark/Mork and Mindy/Spaceballs didn't make the cut.

Is it missing any of your faves?

Stranded ... in the past ... at the Golden Gate?

"Personal log, SD 1003.15. Do my eyes deceive me? I can only assume I have somehow become stranded in the past... Approaching San Francisco, and there's no tram station, no Starfleet Command, no Starfleet Academy—nothing!"

BLTN* Dept: Scott's starry night

*Better Late Than Never, of course...

Our old Beatles-loving, not-so-closet Trekkie buddy Scott Mantz, who now shines among the stars as the "MovieMantz" reviewer for Access Hollywood, had an infamous geekout with Pine & Quinto during his premiere coverage of JJ's ST 2009 ... and so when the pre-Oscar awards geared up later, the boys really rewarded him for it one night at the Critic's Choice Movie Awards.

If you didn't catch it, he blogs all about it with a MovieMantz Rantz--plus check the vidclip recap there of the sit-down that started it all.

A don't-miss—even now!

We love ya, Scott! Say hello to Sir Paul for us...

If you missed it: ST: Continuing Mission big season ender is still hot

I've been a fan of the elaborate audio series Star Trek: The Continuing Mission... and as their sixth and season-ending episode neared, I even got sucked in for a very nice cameo. Thank you, Sebastian Prooth and Andy Tyrer and everybody! It's a pretty epic tale and has great production values. And they have their own wiki. Of course.

And thank you, Treklanders for taking a listen: all the eps are available from iTunes or the site, relaying the saga of the USS Montana crew of the 23rd century and their bizarre odyssey—and readjustment—after being swept 100 years into the 24th.

It's been up for a while, but if you haven't downloaded it yet—take a listen this weekend. Or back up and get the prior five too.

Just don't EVER let my outtakes get out there...uh-oh.

The Space Needle proves it, too...

And if not the SPACE Needle, then where?


The tour guide tells us in the elevator while headed up to the observation deck and the revolving Sky City restaurant at 500 feet:

"The restaurant makes one complete turn on its axis every FORTY-SEVEN MINUTES."

Kid. You. Not.


(Not bad for an iPhone pic, huh?)

Twivia Tweetup, Seattle ! You heard right!

I think we're in the Emerald City for Comic-Con, Toto!

If you find yourself in Seattle this weekend, get to the Convention Center downtown in the shadow of the Space Needle for Emerald City ComicCon. I've only been here once about, gulp, 15 years ago...and that was a quickie. And yes, the Sci-Fi Museum is on my itinerary. Finally.

But enough about me. YOU need to make it to my "Between the Cracks" Star Trek show at 3 p.m. Sunday--worth hanging around for! And drop by the table, too.

And...[PRIZES]... we're paired up with my Seattle Geekly buds Shannon and Matt... [PRIZES]... to have a Twivia Tweetup ... [PRIZES] .... TWICE: 6:30 Saturday, 9 am (!!) Sunday ...[PRIZES]... outside Caffe Dior on level 1 of the Washington State Convention Center. Thanks to CBS Consumer Products for the swaggy, btw.

And oh yeah... Leonard and Wil and stuff is going on, too.

'Impulsive' flights to Mars? 'We' told you so

To Mars in 40 days rather than 180? It's a great leap for rocketkind!

And check out that engine name:

...Ad Astra's Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) ionizes gases such as xenon or hydrogen to create superheated plasma stream for thrust. ...

New Rocket Engine Could Reach Mars in 40 Days
By Jeremy Hsu—SPACE.com Contributor

Future Mars outposts or colonies may seem more distant than ever with NASA's exploration plans in flux, but the rocket technology that could someday propel a human mission to the red planet in as little as 40 days may already exist.

A company founded by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz has been developing a new rocket engine that draws upon electric power and magnetic fields to channel superheated plasma out the back. That stream of plasma generates steady, efficient thrust that uses low amounts of propellant and builds up speed over time.

....VASIMR and the necessary power sources could get a boost in the coming years. NASA's new five-year budget includes more than $3 billion for developing heavy-lift and propulsion technologies, as well as a Game Changing Innovation program that similarly targets next-gen propulsion and power sources. ...

Image: VASIMIR installed on ISS (NASA concept art)

LA ALERT!: Ethan Phillips in world premiere "WIREHEAD", closes March 14

Hey, our own Ethan "Neelix" Phillips is currently in the world premiere of Echo Theatre's "Wirehead," running at Stage 52 (5299 W. Washington Blvd. in LA, 90016) and the reviews are raving. Ethan sat down to talk before the premiere about this rarest of plays, a sci-fi story, and his "shock jock" role as Rip—plus lots more work... so much so that here's just Part I:



We want to thank Ethan and Stage 52's Chris Fields for having us in for "Wirehead" on opening night: it's funny but edgy, with some barebones but clever staging and effects. Stop me if you've heard this before, Treksters, but the play follows two work buddies and their women forced to ponder how we hang on to our humanity in the midst of rampant technology and change? And is too much a danger—especially if it "improves the species"?

But let Ethan tell you all about it, and then hurry for tickets: with perfs on Fridays, Saturday and Sundays, this "comedy thriller" has just six shows left until its scheduled closing on Sunday, March 14. A great way to spend some weekend hours in gutsy live theatre with a rare sci-fi core.

And stay tuned for Part 2 with Ethan, and his thoughts on Trek then and now.

My how you've grown, Spirit of Star Trek!: Saturday's pics & lots more coming

Look at that Saturday front page! It was only a matter of time before the philosophy/ethics-rich "Spirit of Star Trek," the brainchild of my new friend Curtis Webster with my old friend Michael Westmore, finally hit critical mass and took off with some mainstream attention.

As you gentle readers know, I try to always shoot a vidchat blog for each session—where an actor or other Treklander notable screens one of their episodes with an apropos theme, followed by Q&A with Curtis, Mike and then the audience.

Now it is reporter Bob Strauss and the LA Daily News story that likely helped the turnout hit 60 this month—and that's with the first non-actor, non-Roddenberry guests ever: Roger Nygard, the Trekkies director (at left, below), and anthropology professor Daryl Frazetti (center), who teaches using Trek, Star Wars, Indy, Middle Earth, etc, themes, and now takes it on the con circuit.
And what an April for the Spirit of Star Trek gang:
—Curtis and Michael are doing a panel Friday, April 9 at "Monsterpalooza," the second-year Burbank convention for the film/stage monster art and make-up industry and its fans.
—A full-blown "Spirit" screening April 11 of Yesterday Was a Lie, the enigmatic sci-fi/film noir odyssey by September guests Chase Masterson and director James Kerwin, with Q&A afterward.
—A "Spirit" road show with Chase just prior, at Wondercon in San Francisco Saturday, April 3.
—A full-blown "Spirit" SNEAK PEEK early screening May 23 of Roger's new doc, the globe-trotting, non-Trek The Nature of Existence, with Q&A afterward.

And—finally scheduled!—Marina "Deanna Troi" Sirtis is coming April 25, with TNG's "The Child" and a theme about the alien in all of us.

So stay tuned—or better yet, get aboard. It's like no other Trek evening you've ever seen.