My panel, my table, my stuff —just a corner of Trekland in the HUGE Star Trek year at Comic-Con San Diego

Wow.  Maybe it's because this is Comic-Con NUMBER 47?

San Diego Comic-Con has never been about Star Trek; it's always been about, well, comic books. And manga. Superheroes. And, for the past 20 or so years, the blockbusters derived therefrom. Sci-fi, fantasy, horror and anime, you get to come too.  

"Oh well, see you in Vegas" has been the cry among Trekfolk at SDCC the past decade or so, since I started going in 2006.  I've always felt badly that Star Trek's golden age and its incredible casts and creators came too soon for the bigtime, Hall H Comic-Con treatment.

UNTIL NOW. And good on CBS Consumer Products, and CBS and Paramount in general, for finally corralling an historically huge, Dyson Sphere-sized year for Trek. Having both the new mpovie AND the new series AND the 50th anniversary to play off is about as natural an opening as you're going to get, and they have not disappointed. Starting with a Comic-Con program cover featuring Leonard Nimoy's Spock (at right)!

Of course if you don't have a way in by now, you ain't gettin' in ... but if you're among the 150,000 plus on business and/or pleasure in San Diego his week...Here's a huge list of all things official Trek and licensees here. Huge! The MAC Trek cosmetics line and the 50 on 50 art exhibit with artist signings and that cover Spock image are among the panels and products.

And I'd just add to that, the first Trek pin collectibles from my old buddy Dan Madsen's FanSets (too new to get its own booth) will be at Comikaze and StylnOnline booths—and an even bigger hit now that folks can see "augmented reality" with the PokemonGO craze.

Now for my little corner of Trekland, here's my deets—and THANKS AGAIN to Cat Roberts, our Lt. Palmer of Star Trek Continues et al, and John for hosting our "Dr. Trek" crowdfunder again on Friday night!

—WEDNESDAYMaybe I'll see you before or after the 8 p.m. IMAX World Premiere of Star Trek Beyond?

—THURSDAY:
8-9 pm, 29AB: "Trekland's Between the Cracks Show: The How We Got To 50 Edition" PANEL — Our annual updated look at all things Trek in-perspective and in-jokey will also this year hopefully have a brand-new sneak-footage reel for The Con of Wrath! Plus we'll have a lightning PORTAL 47 beam-aboard bonus for this night only!

I'm up against some good folks in this slot, sadly, but you can click here in to the SDCC event site/app scheduler here as well. Please do!

—FRIDAY:

2:30-5:30 pm, AA23: Autograph Alley table— Easiest place to catch me! I'll have photos, On Speaker CDs, Portal 47 info, maybe even a book or two--and get into the Portal 47 prize drawing.  Oh and opinions and news on all things hot. Click here to save on your SDCC site/app scheduler.

Just be advised I must leave sooner than the normal 7:00 ending time because of ...

First SDCC doc crowdfunder, in 2012!

6:30-8:30 pm, Dr. Trek Show crowdfunder for The Con of Wrath, adjoining Petco Field*—The annual event supporting my doc wherever I am a live con guest—now wrapping up its final year of filming: as usual $20 not only gets you a screen credit but here live it's access to prize trivia, rare Trek footage and newest sneak-peek footage for the doc—including the latest, of Nichelle Nichols and Laura Banks.
*Check out the Facebook event page for the exact address and arrival directions. Share it if you can! 

—SATURDAY:

4:30-7 pm, AA23: Autograph Alley table—Ditto as above! But note I will be delayed past the 2:30 start time due to covering the big Hall H panel 2-3 and media afterward. Still, it's the last, easiest place to catch me—photos, On Speaker CDs, Portal 47 info, maybe even a book or two--and last chance for the Portal 47 prize drawing. Late news punditry, too. Click here to save on your SDCC site/app scheduler.
This schedule means, sadly, I will be timed out of Ben Robinson's Star Trek Ships panel immediately afterward with Rick Sternbach and Dan Curry...but again, it's all Treklanders all long overdue for a little Comic-Con love.



Here's hoping we all survive the Comic-Con crazy.... Especially me, because Tuesday starts our incredible #LA2Vegas / #SFx2  50th anniversary expanded edition of the Trek Film Sites Tour. And then right into sold-out, five-day #STLV.

Trek well!

STV: Mike McMahan, author of TNG's Season 8 'WARPED'

So many great book ideas for Trek fans this holiday, and with the 50th just around the corner next year.

Here's a great fun read I hope you heard about—WARPED,

the Lost Eighth Season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the latest creation born wholly of a Twitter account!—and my chat with the tweeter/author (and TV comedy writer!) who accidentally stumbled across me at San Diego Comic-Con, Mike McMahan!  What I wasn't expecting was the, uh, iconic praise for the TNG Companion…



FYI: Portal 47 members got to view this video up to 72 hours early before it went public—one feature of their deep-dive Trekland access. 

STV: Kevin Dilmore with Hallmark's 2015 Trek ornaments —and 2016's!

Quick! 


If you haven't run out yet to get one of the 2015 Trek variety of Keepsake Ornaments from Hallmark, there's still time! Here's the inimitable writer Kevin Dilmore from Hallmark, in our annual visit from Comic-Con to tell you all you need to know.

Or if you are all stocked up and just want a sneak peek ahead to 2016—we gotcha covered.  As always, right?

Stay tuned to the end for a Pocket Books Trek novel update on Kevin's titles, and those of his oft-partner Dayton Ward, too.

And this year we even got it all in one take…





FYI: Portal 47 members got to view this video up to 72 hours early before it went public—as one feature of their deep-dive Trekland backstage access. 

Fun AND big news from me at Comic-Con San Diego!

Hey, it’s time for the modern model and granddaddy of them all these days, San DiegoComic-Con—and as usual I’ll be there amid the ruckus helping hold up the Trekland corner of pop culture.

And—to finally unveil one of my new projects I’ve been teasing about for the past couple years!

With nearly 200,000 bodies, the entire downtown and most hotels in San Diego involved, this is no relaxacon—and any veteran will tell you you need a plan and some strategies for optimum enjoyment, much less survival; the fact that you actually have at least one day’s pass shows you are either very astute, very lucky, or have an inside track!

That said, the entire schedule for SDCC (or Comic-Con International/CCI, as they like to be called these days) is available online and as an ongoing mobile app for Apple or Android.

In there you’ll find three of my four events, and I’d appreciate it if you’d go ahead and click on the sched.org MySchedule ticker there if you think you’ll make it. The fourth, of course, is our own “Dr. Trek Show” crowdfunder for The Con of Wrath—this year on Friday night, and with an all-new relaxing venue thanks to our friends via Star Trek Continues, John and Cat “Lt. Palmer” Roberts.

So here’s where I’ll be, with those click-in MySched links:

THURSDAY
8-9pm, Room 28DE: The SDCC version of “Trekland: Between the Cracks: 2015 Losses, Rumors, and Birthdays Edition”—and boy, have we had a lot of them. (Well—69 clicks and counting already!) We’ll have some smile amid the pathos, as always—room for fans in the room to share….. and, plus, I’ll finally be announcing that NEW BIG THING. In fact, check out my follow-up Trekland post on that. 

FRIDAY
10 am- 2:30 pm,  Autograph Alley AA15, Sails Pavilion: Signing your program or any of the Trekland: On SpeakerCDs and my photos—plus you can see the Enterprise in Space orbiter model and non-profit program info.

7-9p.m., next to Petco Field*:  “Dr. Trek Show” crowdfunder benefitting The Con of Wrath, now wrapping up its final year of filming: as usual $20 not only gets you a screen credit but also access to prize trivia, rare Trek footage and newest sneak-peek footage for the doc—including now Nichelle Nichols and Laura Banks.

*Check out the Facebook event page for the exact address and arrival directions—and very special thanks again to Dr. Cat for hosting us!

SATURDAY
10am- 2:30 pm:  Autograph Alley AA17, Sails Pavilion: Back again, one table over from Friday’s spot.

That's it's for me…. but: I also plan to squeeze in a visit for the second edition, after its rousing debut last year, of Her Universe’s Geek Couture Fashion Show at 6 pm Thursday at the Hyatt —where I hear there are two Trek entries among the genres represented this year. That’s the one where old buddy Dan Madsen once again gets it together for Ashley Eckstein’s  growing HU feminine geek-chic fashion empire. 

You’ll also likely catch me at 7:30 pm Saturday for the latest edition of Drs. Ali Mattu and Andrea Letamendi’s “Psychology of Star Trek vs. Star Wars” I helped to lauch at WonderCon.  And there's all the big family of official CBS Consumer Products stuff going on, as well as the Roddenberry.com hour as well.

Off the con grid, for you Wrathers, I’m excited to say we’ll be getting Ali on camera for the doc as well this weekend. He was a tad young for being a “Survivor” from our June 1982 Houston subject meltdown, but I think his insights on both fandom and psychology, then and now, will be great context when we look at the actors, organizers, fans, and dealers  through that filter. 

Hope to see many of you at any or all of these touch points, amid the 200K!

And then… Vegas Khhaaann is just around the corner, baby!

Kevin Dilmore shows Hallmark's new Trek ornaments —plus sneak peeks at the 2015s, AND his new book

Hey, it's that time of year again: Time to chat again with Trek novelist and Hallmark hangabout Kevin Dilmore...

Because it's THAT time of year again: Here's Hallmark's new Star Trek ornaments for 2014! And even 2015...

As usual, Kevin—my onetime Communicator magazine hire;ing—and I have way too much fun looking at all the new baubles and their subject matter, which find a way to get cooler and cooler each year. And what better backdrop than the raucous roar of Comic-Con #SDCC behind us?

What's more, hang on to the very end for a word about Kevin's latest Trek novel now out from Pocket Books with co-author Dayton Ward, whom I've caught at SDCC before as well. The new title is second in the Seekers series, Point of Divergence ... in stores now.

I'll give a prize if you can watch this and list off all 47 Star Trek riffs we took off on....!



BTW: Would you believe the gummy "RECORD" button on my HD cam? We actually did this entire bit once through before I realized it had not been captured—and thus our extra giddiness at diving back in for an even more brilliant chat.

Trekland at Comic-Con San Diego: fast and furious edition

Considering this IS Thursday already of my two-day #SDCC visit cut short by the LA2Vegas Trek Tour start on Saturday back in LA.... here it is: Short and sweet!

My stuff--in the strictest sense:

THURSDAY:
2:30-6 pm—Autograph Alley signing, Sails Pavilion

FRIDAY:
2:30-7 pm—Autograph Alley signing, Sails Pavilion

8-9 pm—Room 28DE: State of the Trek fan forum, where we all can learn from each other.  (Click on that link to give me a head count, if you are plannign to come.)

But, in this very tight two weeks—that's it.

Note that we are NOT having a Dr. Trek fundraiser this year for "The Con of Wrath:" I'm simply too pressed for time to put my shoulder into it this year, as it needs to be done, so I'll catch you hard-cores Saturday night in Vegas!

Still, there's a slew of Trek related programming and vets going on here too—the most in ages. I'm looking forward to seeing my old boss Dan Madsen, who's running the Her Universe fashion show tonight for Ashley Eckstein. Some of my good Trekland buds doing panels and such on the list here I'm going to have to miss by leaving "early," or even via overlaps (I'm looking at you, my new Nobility castmates), but that the way the tourbus tumbles.

What a jam-packed weekend of good news in Trekland!

Well. THIS has been some weekend. Look what ALL just happened:

—"Fairest of Them All," the third episode of Star Trek Continues, just debuted online Sunday (and before a cast-fronted live con crowd in Sydney, Australia) to thunderous fan approval, from all I've read initially, as of tonight. I'm proud to not only remain in the think-tank for STC but to promote and cover its talented family and the "making of" each show as well. That includes both new and catch-up STC videos out now on "Trekland STV", and those still to come—you ain't seen nothing yet! Not to mention future episodes of STC itself.

So stay tuned and subscribe to Trekland as well as my YouTube Channel to know when they go up even ahead of their posting on the STC Facebook (and have you Liked there yet?)

—The second Kickstarter for the Hollywood Sci-Fi Museum, whose non-profit board I sit on that grew from the "Save the Bridge" New Starship project, raised over 50% of its goal just these last two weeks and finally BUSTED right through to success Sunday with 12 hours to go—and ended up with over $11,000 extra in the pot by the time its midnight deadline arrived. Yes, I was nervous a couple weeks ago, and even knew that a lapse here was not fatal—with so many industry and corporate donors and supporters lining up. 

But this was a solid sign of the basic support for such a new Hollywood tourist landmark and museum, much less its planned educational mission. This drive helps fund some of the major bridging pieces of the puzzle to make this thing really work—the budget is on the KS site. It was also a nice affirmation of the hours of professional yet volunteer planning that's going in, and faith that this is not a gaudy pipe dream. Don't forget our Facebook, too! And get the latest at Comic-Con San Diego too—the Bridge is back for free photo ops, of course, at Booth 3631!

—And THEN, on a bit less lofty but every bit as fun level, we were madly making fans aware that this was the last weekend to register for the 2014 edition of the "LA2Vegas" Trek Film Site Tour that I lead for Geek Nation Tours and Terrace Cassidy. Quick! Jump aboard now if you'd like! 

—Plus, I was honored to talk about De Kelley Saturday for the 15th anniversary of his passing June 11 in another new online media "thing," a recorded Google+ Hangout sponsored by In Memory and Honor of Deforest Kelley Facebook group. 

—And THEN…there's the other nonprofit I'm honored to sit on the board for, Enterprise in Space—and its amazing, public-oriented mission that we will SOON be telling the world about, even as there's details and deadlines to chase down now. IT just became "official" and is jumping into gear—much more later!

—Oh, and also... hope you all had a wonderful Father's Day—both those of the fatherly persuasion, and those who enjoy their love!

(Oh, yeah—and thanks for that whole "stand by me while the overblown misquoting monster made-up story" thing blew over. Whether on Facebook, Twitter or comment threads, the Trekland Army was awesome the way you all knocked down the bizarre report every time other unaware—or lazy—news websites picked up the story to run it, without editing it first.

Whew. I'll just pack for BayouCon, now…!

Trekland in Comic-Con: Lots to see & do amid the mob!

Whoa! Time to go attack another San Diego Comic-Con!

Trekland will be making its usual rounds and appearances across all four days of San Diego Comic-Con—with two sales sittings in Autograph Alley and a Saturday night panel—and of course a meetup for "The Con of Wrath" after our San Diego hootenanny was a hit last year (below). We'll also be moderating the panel for the New Starship Foundation Ent-D restoration and museum with Huston H., and around their huge floor photo-op.

So, check it out—my known whereabouts for San Diego:

FRIDAY:

2:30-7 pm: Autograph Alley Booth 25, 2:30-7 p.m. Trekland CDs, photos and Star Trek Continues goodies: and flea market old 80s movie buttons!

SATURDAY:

2:30-5:30 p.m.: Autograph Alley Booth 25 (ditto of Friday).

5:30-6:20 p.m.: I moderate Huston Huddleston's New Starship Foundation panel on the Enterprise-D bridge restoration museum. Boy has THIS been building from the original exciting yet simple idea we showed you before anyone else did... you have to come hear the latest, and throw some feedback as well.

7:30-8:20 p.m.: OUR Panel: The Con of Wrath update and more—some raw footage, and who knows what else from Trekland (new projects, anyone?). Welcome DP Neal Hallford and our other associates Lex Wochner and Dawn Gagliano, too!

(If you are going, click HERE to "Log in" early at the SDCC site. There's already 51 signed on ... and you can do the same for other panels.)

9:30-11:30 p.m.: The "Con of Wrath" benefit meetup: Once again, as we've been doing live at cons across the country: you chip in $20 for a screen credit BUT get two hours live of the Dr. Trek Show!: prize trivia, rare Trek clips and raw doc footage.... and a screen credit, of course. Site in Gaslamp area backroom bar TBD.

I'll also likely try to support the projects of friends like the new version of Trek-vs.Wars psychology debate, the Roddenberry panels and Mission Log podcast, and Marc Zicree's Space Command...to name but a few.

I won't be camped there 24/7, but it's a good bet I'll be around Huston's gye-normous Enterprise-D photo-op spread on the Main Floor at times as well.

It's amazing how much SDCC has changed just since I started going in 2005—or that I feel like a battle-hardened veteran about it all now. I already know I'll be seeing a lot of old friends and maybe even transact some commerce.

So please—any Treklanders in the neighborhood, come by at least once to say hello. AND survive the week. I have slots open ... !

Comic-Con 2012 and another fun "Wrath" meet-up

All the recent news and events delayed my simple Comic-Con wrap up after San Diego, but I do want to make some points and share some pics ... as we look forward to ramping up for Vegas Khhaaann.

I especially want to thank everyone who came out for my big gamble: the latest edition of my 2012 meetup/fundraisers for THE CON OF WRATH—Comic-Con size (right)! To have two dozen come and go to make it was very gratifying and encouraging—especially doing this on the wing. To have everybody have a great time was just a kick.

Yes, these brave Treklanders get big props from me for the support in making our documentary... and purely from my Tweets/Facebook feed, and the announcements made at our 7 p.m. panel just before.  We shoot for no-overhead sites during cons so as to get the most bang from our donated bucks as possible, and Seattle and Phoenix, so far, are pretty big shows. But Comic-Con San Diego was a whole new huge scope unto itself, and biting off this same set-up on the scale of SDCC was a big risk to take if the logistics and venue were a disaster, and that's too much to ask of any Trekfans kind enough to come out. Aside from our louder-band-than-normal, everyone had a great time, enjoyed the trivia, clips, prizes and talk ... and I met all kinds of new fans who will now follow our progress feeling a small stake in it. (A big thank-you also to manager Mike at Hennessey's and waitress Jenna, who got this together on a day's notice and played patient with our audio-visual tech weirdness.)

Remember, as a relatively new and small-scale player at SDCC (ie, not a studio marketing guy, and just since 2006), I was lucky enough and thankful for the second year to have had my panel accepted (right)—the second flirtation with my "Between the Cracks" slideshow format, which is pretty flexible. I advertised it as a TNG anniversary celebration from my archives, but of course was thrilled to also offer the world-premiere of our new teaser for THE CON OF WRATH, put together for the occasion by my DP, Neal Hallford. (You can see that, and more, after I sneak-peek it at Vegas Khaan, as well)

So a big THANK YOU as well to the 500-some who turned out at 7 p.m. Saturday for "Trekland: Between the Cracks!" And to all of you who signed up your new names to our news list there. As usual, we ran out of time, but —if Eddie and his bunch have us back next year—we'll have some real Q&A quality time in 2013, I promise.

Otherwise, realizing how few pics and parties I got in this year at Comic-Con made me realize I'm working way too much there and playing way too little!


My normal gang o'guys was disrupted this year due to birthday plans for buddy Lee Wochner—my web guru/marketer at his Counterintuity Inc. and my entree into SDCC in the first place—so I had to shift "residence" mid-con and commute in with my Con of Wrath DP Neal (helping me set up, left).

Still, it was great to be a red-carpet  guest at Rod's Trek Nation/White Room premiere showing on the big screen... meet up a lot of old friends out of the blue, like Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, or some totally out of the blue like the great John Eaves himself (right) ... and table once again a few hours in Autograph Alley, and see who else could find me. You never know, you know?

Just took one costume pic all weekend—and "she" had nothing to do with Star Trek, of course (do YOU know who she is, below? I can't believe I have to tell you. ). But I love the unique costumes—rare, skewed or with a sense of humor, like Dragon Con—and not just the obvious and trendy recreations that I feel Comic-Con has fallen into. Vegas Trek is tilting toward the more and more rare/unique in cosplay all the time, a good thing—and time will tell what 2012 brings there in a few weeks. Stay tuned ...

Meanwhile, how cool is it to take a big bite out of Comic-Con and not get bit back?


Thanks to Dwayne Day, Jana Hallford, Stephanie Sullivan, and Justin "BayouCon" Toney for help with the pics. Best coverage ever!