Last call: LA2Vegas Tour—and a NEW 1-day 'Kirk Trek'

It's been 20 years since Generations gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Captain, you have the bridge."

It seemed like a great anniversary reason to spur something we hadn't done in 2012 with our debut "LA2Vegas" Trek Film Site Tours with moi: make a stop at Nevada's breathtaking Valley of Fire State Park, site of "Veridian III" and J.T. Kirk's controversial death scene after he and Picard battled with that living Nexus magnet, Dr. Tolian Soran.

After Teras Cassidy of Geek Nation Tours and I decided to make our tour bi-annual—and still keep it a lead-in to the annual Vegas Khhaaan bash in August—we tweaked this year's itinerary to include this awesome new stop in the desert canyon, by popular request! 

And now, it's "all aboard" with a last call deadline of this Sunday, June 15—and you can still jump in with a deposit, for now.

We kept most else from what fans loved on the 2012 debut: the stops famous and not-so, with guests like Bobby "The Gorn" Clark on hand to talk about filming the iconic scenes at Vasquez Rocks from "Arena."  All stops are Trek-related, plus make pretty good snaps to impress even your mundane friends, too (Santa Monica Pier and Griffith Observatory, anyone?). And who can resist a stop inside the Q Continuum? Or Starfleet Academy in both its Prime (above) and SubPrime versions?

We've talked about the tour many times on podcasts near and far, my original post about it in 2012, and of course the tour description here. So I won't go on and on about it, if you promise you'll take a glance and just know that we've traded in the mountain leg to Lone Pine for the day out on "Veridian III"—which includes not just the film site (right) but a visit to the KIRK DEATH BRIDGE itself, which was donated by the film crew to the park after they wrapped! As well as a stop in the (air-conditioned) visitor center for the park's real-life petroglyphs, Native American spiritual vibes, and more natural history.

What's NEWS this year is the simple OMG thunderbolt we had this year: Offer the new Valley of Fire segment, a trip the day before the Vegas Convention opens, as a ONE-DAY TRIP for those coming into Vegas a day or two early, anyway. It's a smaller hit to the wallet, you get a taste of what the full tour of Trek in-your-face awesomeness is like—and you see some jaw-dropping scenery far from the Strip. His work schedule permitting, I'll be joined on host duties by our buddy and now FaceOff star Mike Westmore, who as makeup designer was among the small skeleton crew who shot the beautifully bleak scenes for Generations in the gorge 20 years ago.

PLUS: A big new wrinkle this year are all the sponsors we have on board with goodies for tour-takers: Robe Factory, Bye-Bye Robot,  Stronghold Games, con-producer Creation Entertainment themselves—and now Anovos costumes.

Again: Deadline for the main tour sign-up ends June 15 —and you only need a deposit to hold your seat for now. Plus, 5 of the 12 add-on day trips seats are already gone. So hey, read up, check the site and then give Teras an email so he can call you back and get personal on this. It's what his boutique GNT offers—amid gaming, convention, military, historical and other geek-out topic tours around the globe, all listed on his main site.

And may I say: you expect the awesome tour stops, Trek tie-ins, all kinds of Trek shooting data from me and our guests. What you don't expect is gaining all the new friends on the bus—many of whom are from other countries. Don't forget: they're all bound for the very same Vegas Khhaaan you are. (So look out: If you come alone, after this trek you're guaranteed to waltz in the front doors of the Rio a stranger no more.)

Aside from the Tour pages and my post, you Facebookers can also check out our fans' many photos from the debut 2012 tour over on the GNT Facebook photo gallery for "LA2Vegas."

See you on the bus!

Last call: No deposit, but LA2Vegas Trek film site tour for 2013 closes THIS Friday, May 31

Yes, last call!

Our "LA2Vegas" Trek film site tour from Geek Nation Tours is back for its second year, running Aug. 3-11—before and then through  Creation's Vegas Khhaaann! Trek convention and carrying some tweaks for 2013 .... but hurry!

We've talked about it on many, many podcasts since we first announced it, but allow me to say how proud I am that Teras Cassidy came to me in 2011 to develop this tour together with him and lead it for everyone headed to Vegas. (In fact, if you don't want to attend the core con, you could still go with us Trek-touring, hover on the outskirts of the Rio events, and just enjoy Sin City that weekend!)

You can get aboard now for no deposit, but the registration ends THIS Friday, May 31. Click on the email at GNT's site, but as always you'll soon be talking to Teras directly for a personal chat as to what exactly you need for your trip—and it doesn't have to be cookie-cutter off the basic template, either more OR less.

Geek Nation Tours, home of many "geek" niche excursions, is travel agent Teras's own boutique company, and the personal care shows:

Have your airfare already set for a Las Vegas arrival? No problem. Already have your hotel at con host Rio, or elsewhere? Never fear—Teras will adjust your plan. As our tourists learned last year, getting to the idea late with plans in place is no reason to not come along now!

Sorry if the used-car salesman is coming out here, but I really do enjoy this—and everyone on the shakedown cruise last year was happy to say so at Vegas 2012 and the Facebook site.

A chunk of the tour is the same as we mapped out in that debut —with photos here on Facebook as well from a lot of our "tourists."

But check out these tweaks for H2V 2013:

First, we've got some great promotional sponsors this year with discounts and goodies—Creation Entertainment, Robe Factory, Bye Bye Robot and Stronghold Games.

Then, we've moved the Saturday welcome dinner to Cirroc "Jake Sisko" Lofton's own hands-on restaurant—and he has a lot more than Cajun on the menu!

Plus, our  all-new final stop pre-con is none other than the site of Captain Kirk's death in Generations: Nevada's incredible Valley of Fire State Park—and with none other guest host than Trek makeup guru Michael Westmore, one of the few eye witnesses from the shoot's  final days. And Bobby "The Gorn" Clark will be back to tour us around iconic Vasquez Rocks himself and recreate vividly for you exactly how "Arena" was made. Larry, meanwhile, will point out the Vasquez angles from TOS's "Friday Child,"  TNG's "Who Watchers the Watchers" and JJ's Star Trek '09, among others shot there. As always, bring your uniforms and props for the "Oh yeah!" photo opps at every stop—or we may have some to loan

Whatever your favorite series or cast, we'll hit one or more of their iconic off-the-lot filming locations—and all of them double as famous or beautiful L.A. postcard-perfect vacation spots to show off even to your non-fan friends. Which you means you see a LOT of "SoCal" as well as the Federation!

Just remember: what even your own personal tour can't bring you, apart from my expertise and that of our guests, is the chance to do it with fellow Trekfans—much less those from around the world, from Asia to Europe and then some, reflecting Teras's clientele and the adventursome souls who have already, and plan to now, join us. That means, in turn, that no one on the tour enters Vegas Khaann a stranger.

Give the page a look, email Teras and get in for a call—but whatever you do, hurry!  You have three days to at least claim a seat and pay later.

I hope you can make it!

Star Trek Google Doodle reshines light on Bobby, too

Google's Star Trek day has been such a splash for the franchise, this year's "off-year" 46th anniversary celebration—and good will for Star Trek in general, with lots of great mainstream media coverage on the Google Doodle design team choices. And a huge spike at startrek.com.

It's even given me the chance to tell folks that Chekov is not in the animation because he's in Hollywood getting ready to get his Walk of Fame Star! 

But Bobby "The Gorn" Clark's wife Judy just reminded me that's it cool in another way—the local media is all over the fact that, of all Trekdom to throw at Google-Kirk and his hapless landing party for today's episode, it's obviously Vasquez Rocks Planet and the Google-Pez Dispenser Gorn that Google chose! (Though that wind sounds pretty Guardian of Forever Planet to me.)

Here's Bobby (at right, sans scales) choreographing the original "Arena" shoot from 1966 for our gang last month on the Hollywood2Vegas Film Sites Tour for Geek Nation Tours before Vegas Khaaan...









Oh—and if you have no idea why I'm talking about any of this—go to google.com. NOW.

STV: 45 years ago today, Bobby Clark gave us the Gorn!

Here's the danger of only linking your Star Trek anniversary parties to the debuts of series... you miss moments like this:

45 years ago today, the living breathing icon we call the Gorn was born. No, not the aired date of "Arena"—that would be Jan. 19, 1967—and no, not the Oct. 10, 1966 first draft date of the story—with all due respect to Fredric Brown's story, included in Gene Coon's first Star Trek script.

No, I'm pinning this to the date when that script and Wah Chang's budget-classic costume came together at the equally iconic Vasquez Rocks County Park under the direction of Joe Pevney, in his first assignment for Star Trek—on a Wednesday, the second of six long days for the shoot.

And lucky we have Bobby Clark, the stuntman/actor who donned the suit for two days that would forever endear him to pop culture (much more than the other three episodes he appeared in, out of his long, long TV and movie career). I talked to him last year at Vegas, finally, and saved our chat for this day—look him up when you can at the larger cons and shows such as Creation and the 2012 WonderCon, for starters: