Thoughts on "Go Beyond" night—and all it conjured up

Doyle Zhang, modern Trek fan: From
Shanghai, China, fan since ST 09 but now
loves all Prime Trek, won trivia, knew Dr. Trek!

It's been a week since Paramount's Star Trek Beyond Fan Night at the lot. A lot of friends and their news sites covered it pretty thoroughly in word and pictures (see vid links below), and the second, "that's more like it" trailer has been pretty well dissected. (That Other Story from the night has blown up, hot and cold, too.) But here's a few of my personal thoughts...and some pics...

The bottom line is this: If Paramount needed to catapult a catch-up offense in this game of promotion and expectations and "buzz" with a hail-mary pass on a hurry-up offense ... this was a huge score. Both in terms of the event, and of course the movie—not just a trailer, but two full scenes of exclusive footage for the 500 or so fans on hand—and a pass for two to the outdoor-IMAX world premiere at Comic-Con San Diego on July 20, plus a studio street naming for Leonard Nimoy in which his family, the Beyond notables, and all fans on hand took part in a toast and mass photo. How do you top that for feel-good?

Zach Quinto leads castmates, JJ, Justin, Adam Savage,
Nimoy family, and 500 fans in a toast to Leonard—
and the unveiling of a namesake street (right) in front of 
old Desilu Stages 9-10—today's Paramount 31-32

500 fans on Stage 31, to start—and a few of them were actually not streaming or live-tweeting for social media.

It was even crowd-managed well—mostly. I mean, we'd wondered what was gonna fill up four hours; some were even wondering aloud if we'd get a draft look at the whole film.

The last 100+ of this line (left) never got in

Holding the event on Stages 31 and 32—or, in old Desilu terms, Stages 9 and 10, storied home to TOS itself—was a master stroke. But there was a major downside, unbeknownst to those inside: Some 100+ ticketed fans who were in line on time were not allowed in over fire marshal capacity concerns—an overreach probably based on the fact that the normal amount of no-shows an event planner counts on does not apply to rabid Trekfans hungry for a local event in Hollywoodland. But plenty of them were pissed—and were promised at least their own world premiere pass for Comic-Con. We'll follow up and see.

Chris, Zach and Karl in Q&A with fans

This was also, I realized as Friday had drawn near, the first big feel-good Trek hoopla on the Paramount lot in a decade—that's a generation, in employee years. I heard there was a lot of excitement and buzz on the lot, where almost no one goes back to the 90s/Aughts era of constant licensing summits and affiliate station confabs in the cause of Star Trek promo and biz.

I have to admit I was a bit distracted: So many friends from the LA fan, media and fan media worlds were here—from  my "+1", longtime fan propmaker and The Con of Wrath associate producer/donor Rusty Harrell to the @Trekkie Girls from the UK (at left, with longtime Paramount secueity guard Steve D.). And then of course with my own ticket giveaway winners, there was a lot of hosting to do.

But I also was on the lookout for strangers—if any Trek fan can be called that. Over the past year, even with this third alt-verse movie's ups and downs getting off the launchpad, I've  had a gut feeling that film in new hands might actually find its Trek roots and vibe in a way that will have a broader old-fan appeal. I've also become very focused on getting out of my own bubble, my own Internet bubble, and meeting up with those fans who are solely more recent JJ-era fans, or those who embrace the alt-verse with no grumbling.
 
That's why I loved doing a piece for Star Trek Magazine on fan reactions: I was determined to talk with fans I didn't already know! And boy, did I: from China and Malaysia and all over the US, as it turns out, were three that night. In fact, one young lady won the stunt version of Jaylah's staff from STB as the only one in the room with her hand up (besides me, apparently) for my buddy Scott Mantz' (at left, apparently in the Andorian Sector) and his trivia on Edith Keeler's social work house—and it turns out Doyle Zhang (at very top)  had flown in from Shanghai for the event (and was a big Dr. Trek fan, to boot!?).... so again, an amazing night. Look for comments from her and five other fans I spoke with (that's me working, at far right!)  in the Titan Star Trek Beyond movie special issue coming in mere weeks!

So, I yeah—I did miss out on any real hobnobbing with Stars and Names. My head was into hosting and working, as I pointed out the next day in that actual snapshot.

The otherwise nondescript teleprompter on the back wall

But if the hard-cores had a highlight, though, it had to be the Interweb meltdown following impromptu but carefully worded "announcement" by producer JJ Abrams and especially director Justin Lin, coming from that bootstrap celebration of fan passion, that the CBS/Paramount Axanar lawsuit would soon "go away". Their careful wording left lots of wiggle room for interpretation as to final details, but it's obvious they are two guys who'd like the air to be as cleared as possible when their bright shiny movie opens. I made it a point to look over at that moment to see the back-wall teleprompter — and it sure looked  frozen to me, though others have sworn the lawsuit question was indeed scripted in the scroll.

In any case, a lot in the past week has already been thrown back into flux again on this one. We'll see—but that story nearly hijacked the sole focus that Paramount surely wanted this night to have on the Interwebs and TV channels still standing. I'd far rather focus on the new series... and now, even, this new movie.

Chris Pine mingles & poses with fans a bit

Finally... 
Because it all amounted to a pretty happy crowd by night's end, no matter the fandom roots or outlook, as far as I could tell. As my gut had hoped and a recent longform piece on Justin Lin reveals, the new flick's director is an old Trek fanboy from way back—and coupled with his fixer mentality and ability to work fast and furious under fire, the STB scenes we saw hit all the right notes and, in the end, just felt right.

How many news outlets reported on CBS star Stephen
Colbert's special message to the crowd, spoken as a Trek fan?

No, not a secret clue—just still handy in the studio sign shop

1000 of these special numbered TMP homage posters
were printed for the gift swag bag.

How many newbies didn't catch John & Bjo Trimble?

When I first saw ST09 and especially STID, my brain's inner thoughts first turned to "what will I say publicly?" so as to put an honest, upbeat public face on this new paradigm format I was still a bit queasy about—and knowing many fans would look to me for a reaction.

But no such worry here. Maybe it's just serendipity that with Bryan Fuller's bunch of new CBS Trek episodes in the works and apparently Prime-set (no confirmed word yet, though), I could just mentally relax about this feature film—no pressure at being the sole rep of Gene's canon filmic universe any longer, no matter its fate.


Maybe so. But it's moot now: The trailer, the behind-the-scenes reels...and especially the 12-minute-plus piece we were privy to I'm sure you've read about elsewhere by now, keyed by a wonderfully right-on Urban/Pine-McCoy/Kirk moment of reflection... Well, I no longer had to wonder what I'd say about it publicly.

My gut instantly said, "Now this movie I want to see."

And I didn't seem to be alone.

Here's that trailer again ... 




...and a recap of the night from Paramount (sans any Axanar moments) ...
.



...and a full one-camer view of the Q&A, plus Scott's trivia:





New fan, bored fan, or just curious how much Trek you don't even know you don't know? Check out PORTAL 47—the monthly 8-point backstage pass based on my 20+ years of memories, archives and crew contacts from the front row of Trekland....live and online, right to your center seat no matter where it is!  Like a mini-con all year long—taking you where no savvy fan has gone before.

We ARE going to Sci-Fi Scarborough, mates—and you?

Our UK drought is really over, now—thanks to SciFi Scarborough, a growing convention on the northeast English seacoast, who has us heading across the pond for a big Trek 5-0 splash with all things #Trekland April 9-10. A Victorian-era spa locale... and good tickets left, too!

All those years of working long-distance with Londoners at the old Fact Files... and the nearly 20 years (wow) I've logged my Fistful of Data column in the UK-based Star Trek magazine ... and yet DSTL in late 2014 was the first time in over a dozen years I'd got to mix it up with all the great UK fans. Way overdue, and just gobsmacked to gin up with those exuberant Brits!

(Thanks to Southside Broadcasting and SirenFM host Alex Lewczuk and gang for just having me on to talk all things Trek, Trekland, and the looming clambake in Scarborough—archived now here, 20 minutes starting at 24:20).

Aside from opening a European front (and time-zone) for Portal 47... and spreading the global future-leaning student excitement for Enterprise in Space... I'm also thrilled to be adapting my "Dr. Trek Show" benefit for "The Con of Wrath" to a large club-stage venue and a lot more eyeballs. They're even doing some special photo shoots at SFS, too.

Plus, it's the first overseas convention that Janet will be along with me in, what —six years? So, Scarbsers, get your glory-days Hart Building Trek BTS questions lined up! 

See? Just look at that cross-genre guest line-up... my fellows from Garrett Wang onward.

UK peeps–catch EIS and me via Skype at FCD next week

Hey, if Leonard Nimoy can do it, why can't I?  

I'm talking about my first-ever convention appearance by Skype video!— at next weekend's First Contact Day con in the U.K. at Space Center Leicester, chiefly to talk about Enterprise in Space. I will always be grateful to have seen Nimoy make history with his first Skye appearance at Away Mission Tampa only just a year ago, a nod to his declining health (see photo below)—but promoter Wil Ross at FCD used the same tactic to overcome startup budgets and "have" me this year after all.

Leoanrd at his first Skype appearance

Not only that, but this is amazing: Wil, co-promoter David Limburg and everyone at FCD fell in love with the idea of Enterprise in Space, and really wanted me there to talk about it for UK fans—but late in the game, budgets were just not there for  live trip...and thus the Skype idea. Brilliant!

The convention, of course, is pinned to the day in 2161 when Zephram Cochrane will make his first experimental warp flight, and break the light barrier. And attract passing Vulcans who initiate humanity's First Contact. Of course.

But the FCD guys are so committed to our non-profit crowdfunded mission—an homage to positive future science fiction and fact that puts 100+ student projects into orbit in 2019—that they have committed volunteers to crew a booth all weekend for EIS and take crew sign-ups and offer info.

What's more, print-on-demand vendor Fantasia Memorabilia is also boosting EIS (and sponsoring National Space Society) by donating as well all the proceeds from site-printed EIS T-shirts, mugs, caps, etc,  that weekend. Wow!

This has to be unprecedented—a convention providing staffing and a vendor donating some sales profits in a commitment to help a non-profit project that otherwise is not even on-site—at least, live.

So come on, Britfolk—get your butts there this weekend (only 20-some tickets still available, try online special) and talk to Amy & company at the EIS booth, all weekend.  And then show your status after you sign up for virtual crew membership  by getting some EIS gear—on sale there, before it is here!—that thanks to Wendy at Fantasia Memorabilia will also benefit EIS, a 501c3 non-profit for any Yanks there. It won't be deductible to the UK fans, of course, but hey— it's always good to mention.

See you from the big screen in Leicester, gang! And thank all the folk there who are making this a truly unique moment for conventions' charitable instincts and logistics. 

If this Skype thing catches on, then hey…. well, still not as personable as rubbing elbows and groaning puns in person, but it has its moments…especially of restart-ups and wayfarawayers.

Brit-bound—Hello Destination: Star Trek London!

It's been 12 years in the making… but we're finally back in Londontown, U.K. 

And the third Destination: Star Trek show this weekend at the Excel Center is a big splash to have as a comeback event: 20 to 30 thousand hungry Brits—and all manner continentals. 

Including all those over-the-pond colleagues at the old Fact Files, and at Titan Magazines since 1996, that I've left so many IOUs for lifting a pint with over the years.  Can't wait to finally see them...

Not to mention the overdue meeting with so many great fans directly who have written to my Fistful of Data column and other writings in the official UK-turned-all Trek mag over that span.  Or those who have have found us via our Trekland CDs, podcast appearances, Star Trek Continues—and of course, the good ol' TNG Companion. 

What's more, we've arranged with Titan and Forbidden Planet stores to have 30 fresh in-country copies of Stellar Cartography on hand for sale and signing.

I can't wait to sample UK Fan opinions in our Trek forum format …and well, party in general. Sadly, the show is so massive, with so many guests, there's even more overlap conflict than Vegas/STLV … and yet, I know we'll get a lot of interaction. Sad to say, but I even hope sometime over the weekend I get a chance to actually catch up with some on-camera Treklanders that I missed in Vegas! 

We'll also have a "Dr. Trek" Crowdfunder party for "The Con of Wrath" Saturday night @ 11 pm-1 am…stay tuned.

Here's my own schedule—this is an update over even the titles and detail posted at the DST site.  I'm be at my table much of the rest of the time. Also, note I'm going to a judge at two of the quick costume contests as well:

—FRIDAY:

1430-1515:  Stage C: "Backstage at the NX-01": Q &A with Enterprise extra Jim Morehouse.

1900-2030: Stage A: Opening Ceremonies

—SATURDAY:

1345-14:30: Stage C: Costume Contest judging

1545-1630:  Stage C: "Trekland: Between the Cracks":  Yes, a it's a special Brit edition of our regular ribald traipsing through Trek headlines and my archives .

2300-0100: Crazy me! Doing a "Dr. Trek" crowdfunder meetup benefit for The Con of Wrath—site TBA but don't be surprised where it winds up...

—SUNDAY:

1400-1430: Stage C: Costume Contest judging

1645-1730:  Stage C: "The State of the Trek":  My fan forum, where I offer some food for thought and you offer fellow fans your opines and feedback.

I'm hanging on for an extra day to continue my overdue meet-ups.

And...we're off! The 2014 LA2Vegas Trek Tour has sailed

Yep, the Trek Tour 2014 is underway!

Social media will chart our progress, under #trektour and #LA2Vegas on Twitter, for one thing, but —in this crazy week twixt Comic-Con and Trek Vegas.... here's at least a look at our launch: the Saturday afternoon welcome dinner at Lucy's across from Paramount, where Gene and Co. would water (especially after Nickodell's closed and was swallowed up by the expanded front of the Paramount lot, circa 1993.)

A good group, don't you think? And we're even missing one late arrival. More Aussies and Brits than Americans... some Vegas vets, some newbies... and you can meet them all in just a few days at Vegas.

After 12 years—TWELVE YEARS—I'm finally jumping the pond, back into the land of Lt.
John Kyle and Lt. Malcolm Reed.

For now it can be told:

DESTINATION STAR TREK "3" will be back in London—an all-Trek mega-show and licensed by CBS, on Oct. 3-5 ...

... and I will be there! The show announced the initial guest list today, and thanks to Media 10 and Showmasters I'm very thrilled to be among that batch of great Trek guest actors—with even more to come.

Now, please understand: I've enjoyed my time with the crazy German fans for many conventions—and I'm about to head for famous fabulous FedCon in Dusseldorf later this month.

But I've also partied with even Italian, Greek, and Czech fans since I got to raise a pint or 47 with my peeps in Blimey, which is also global prime-time Trekland. That trip was in 2002...and that followed our only other stage appearance six years earlier, the amazing 1996 Generation II show at the Royal Albert Hall.

Mind you, this is coming from the guy who has written a column for UK-based Titan's Star Trek (Monthly) since its fifth issue in 1995 .... yes, 1995... and was a writer and art coordinator for the storied, original UK-based Fact Files for all six years of its incredible go-round.

That leaves a lot of both fans AND colleagues in the UK whom I've not crossed paths with in ages...and it's safe to say I just can't wait to be heading back, finally. I'm really looking forward to sharing time with our old fan friends and all those who's come along since then, reading and following our projects very kindly but never getting a chance give a yell in person.

Since the "old" Star Trek world I knew blew up on the corporate, production, and licensee levels in 2005-06, you readers know it's been quite a ride to figure out how to share my Trekland perspectives of past, present and future as it has evolved over those "fallow" post-TV Trek years.

A chance to party with the UK's finest is a long time coming... and meet all those Facebook and Twitter folks in person. Several have let me know they wrote to request that I be invited, and them are the mates who'll get me to pick up the pub bill!*

*Uh....proof of dated petition required on that one.

Happy birthday, Jimmy—we do miss you

You would have been 94 today.

So many accolades are already out there, but here's my simple one today:

I was a friend, late... but a fan always.

Nobody takes the newbies under the arm like you did:

—outside Bochum, Germany, October 1995

Check out this new podcast from Canada—and me

One of the cool things about being invited on to Trek and sci-fi podcasts is that it constantly reminds me how diverse the DIY Trek communication biz is these days—like zines of  old on steroids, and without the overhead of a Starlog or a Communicator mag, killing trees.

Obviously.

So a big overdue hello and Trekland thanks to Chris Lockhart of the Random Nerdness podcast/blog out of Barrhead, Alberta, Canada for having me on right amid the holiday crazy—which is why I have been negligent to thank him and share the links! I'm all for pod diversity, and Chris' is not a Trek-only show, obviously—though he was on hand for the big Calgary Comic-Con  with that TNG reunion now on the Blu-ray HD for TNG S1. And he says the TNG Companion was one of his Best Christmas Gifts Ever. Plus, anyone from BARRhead has got to be cool, right?

So give him and the related Atomic Geek pods, a listen. In fact, since it was our first meeting and he was fresh with questions, why not start with ours: Captain's Table #2? I don't even plug that juch—we talk about the Blu-rays, that state of cons and fandom, The Next Trek Series and other inconsequential topics like that there.

Don't scream: I'm in the new VIDEO podcast, Trekspeak

Darren Molloney hosts "Trekspeak" globally from Ireland.

Well, this is new.

In a year of firsts, there's a great video podcast—yes, video— that just had me on to guest. Since starting up just last February, Trekspeak takes on all manner of Trek guests, many of them game and fan-film related so far ... and you SEE THEM in the podcast, or their video work at least.
And yet it's not that simple; this is not just a split-screen Skypefest. Host Darren Molloney out of Limerick, Ireland, runs the show with a couple of monitors and a suitably cool background in his virtual set. I mean, look at that! 


And sure, he asks about my current stuff like the Hollywood-Vegas Trek Sites Tour with Geek Nation Tours, to The Con of Wrath of course ... but also the state of the Trek world and all kinds of old stuff too. Now, I say that—I think he also needles some private stuff out of me as well, and Trek context I'd almost forgotten ... the kind of thing that seems old and moldy to me, but newer fans seems to enjoy.  And I'm such a sucker...


Anyway, conversing and being interviewed by anyone with an accent—nay, dialect even—is always cool. Makes you feel more cultured and elevated, if you are just another dumb American.  Darren of Limerick does a great job—so dial this one up and take a listen ... or a peek at a new experiment ... on iTunes as well as www.trekspeak.comhttp://www.youtube.com/trekspeak (the Trekspeak YouTube channel).

Trekland Podtime: Thanks to "The G&T Show" & UK's "Trek Mate"

Hey! While we catch a breath here, here's a chance to send you over to two more online examples of good ol'Trektalk podcasts that were nice enough to have me on this week: one up now, and the other up Sunday!  Both are great and deserve your support.

In fact, Terry Schull and Nick Minecci are so good that I was happy to get up at 7 a.m. Sunday morning to be LIVE for the chat room for their weekly G & T Show. It was an honor to be a chunk of Episode 29, and we told tales, kept each other awake, and somehow, talked about Chakotay and Voyager and TNG and Ron Moore's one month on Voyager and ... well, maybe we weren't THAT sleepy.

Still, next time I'll take them up on the offer to do the pre-record, and we'll take over the whole show! But I do love the instant feedback and comment. It is up NOW—you can get the whole-she-bang, led off by news and Dayton Ward's regular "Ask Dayton" bit, to play or download at their site, gandtshow.com. Complete with Twitter handles you can follow at home!

And then Wednesday I was happy to cross the virtual pond and talk to the UK's #1 home-grown Trek-only podcast, Wayne and Paul at Trek Mate. Their show is also in the forefront of trying to help bring back a real, traditional convention format event to the UK in an all-Trek vibe—and they are a hoot to hang with as well. I think I spilled a few too many beans from my own closet—but hey, it's been way too long since I got to talk to any UK fans. Hungry little bastards, they am! Sounds like we are going to have to go back finish their "list"—oh well, it's Wayne's world and we just live in it ...with his questions!

The link will be live on Sunday, they tell me—and while they've only been at it since November 2011, Trek Mate already holds 10 of the top 12 downloaded episodes on UK iTunes. It also airs at 10 am EST next Wednesday on TrekRadio.net, as well as anytime of course at their own play/download link, trekmate.org.uk.

STV: Greece and I make Marina cry—!?

Who'da thunk that Marina Sirtis, London-bred but with deep obvious roots in Greece, had never been to a Trek convention in her ancient homeland?

She and I both recently had a great chance to be among the guests at a small convention on the south coast, Terraformers II, — though it was not as long a chat as the last time we did this, and we raced the growing shadows as the sun dipped low into the waterscape.  Of course, Marina helped catch up with Trekland on what's what and what's coming up. No dog rescue this year, but with so much of her brother's local family there, Auntie Mina was having a ball.

Except when she gets choked up... :-)

What hath Marc wrought? (Okrund, that is)

I hope you didn't miss this one going by.

These Klingon-related language stories pop up almost monthly, it seems—remember the false report of an Oregon county requiring Klingonese among the alien languages on its social service forms?—but I just couldn't let this one from the UK get away.

Thoughts?

Linguist reveals: I spoke only in Klingon to my son for three years

A linguist has revealed he talked only in Klingon to his son for the first three years of his life to find out if he could learn to speak the "language."

Dr d'Armond Speers spent days translating phrases to communicate to his son Alec speaking like the creatures featured in space-based fantasy programme Star Trek. ...

HEY, reporter! Space opera, maybe, but not space fantasy....

STV: Marina Part 2: Eurofans, theatre, dog patrol...

As promised—here's Part 2 of our original chat with Marina from Italy while we found ourselves both guesting at DeepCon there. Here she turns a bit more introspective, talking about what's great about Eurofans ... her one big unfulfilled wish (hint: it involves treading boards")... and our own local rescue patrol moment, when she showed her true colors about dogs.

For fans who recall all her years of Skilaggi stories, it's a poignant Yorkie coincidence.

STV: Launch Week special—a vidchat with Marina, Part I

Always a treat to speak with the lovely and busy Marina Sirtis! So when we had the chance to catch up while guesting at DeepCon in Fiuggi, Italy, this year, she was gracious enough to v-chat for all our Treklanders. I wanted to share it all, so be looking for Part 2 coming up very soon ...

Best fan pun ever

OK, well maybe one of the best. And in Europe, no less.

It took me a second, though. Stefano the Italian costume contest MC described Renzo Cornolò's entry as a "Dancing' Brain" ... and I finally realized he meant a dancing BREEN, a la the cold-blooded folks from TNG and DS9—Star Wars-like snout helmet and all).

I'm not sure anyone else on the judging dais ever got it, but it slowly dawned on me when I saw the "overlapped" style of uniform ... and got blasted by the approprite ABBA, as he pulled off his mask and let go with the afro wig and disco moves...














...to "Dancin' QUEEN," of course.