In Seattle? See this summer's Outdoor Trek, 'Amok Time'

If it's Trekland in the summer in Seattle, then it must be time for "Outdoor Trek"—a live Trek-in-the-park by the homegrown Hello Earth troupe that plays for donations as a non-profit, and offers an innovative, fun, Shakespeare-esque approach to minimalist staging, the Redshirts backing band, and "blind-sex" casting.

Here's my impromptu vidchat (below) with director Joy DeLyria and Kris "Kirk" Hambrick at Emerald City Comic-Con in 2014 (just before my panel!) and their goals and history—but the keys are all the same as they are for this summer's offering, "Amok Time". Listen for their intriguing thoughts about Star Trek's boldness, then and now, and translating that via today's cultural and gender points of view.

The group, with assistant to the producers Phillip Duff along (and standing just off-camera here), took their cue from Portland's "Trek in the Park," which since has run its planned five summers and ended. The Seattle crew has received good press and support locally, as well as around the fandomosphere, and has no plans for stopping with a similar five-years-only mission: The tell me that show number six is due to follow for 2016, and audience-goers once again vote by coin and cash for their choice among finalist titles for the next year's TOS script.

Check the links to the website and their Facebook for more details, both under Hello Earth (Twitter too) ...but "Amok Time" performances are 7 pm Saturday and 2 pm Sundays in Blanche Lavizzo Park, with pre-show musical guests an hour prior (Marc Okrand helped kick off opening weekend!), and food trucks on hand an hour before that. See the video for images as well from past and current park-TOS moments (Photos by This Apeture, Phil Duff, and others).



OH—and I love the live stage transporter beams.

Awww, I miss my Seattle buds: no ECCC for me this year

One of the great joys the past few years here in TREKLAND, as the global genre landscape has evolved, has been getting out to a far wider swath of conventions than in years past—even to the big comic-cons… like Seattle's Emerald City Comic-Con.

And that's why, as some have already asked me, I'm bummed about not being there today as ECCC returns in all its booming, downtown-Seattle glory. I initially had a convention conflict this year, but as it turns out I'm using the break to go check in with my mom who's about on the same latitude as Seattle, over in northwest Montana.

Yeah, ECCC has been a destination for me in various guises ever since 2010—a first dip into a universe where I never saw myself. (I'm not a comics guy, right?)

But ECCC was my first-ever exposure with "tweet-ups" that year—thank you, Shannon and Matt of Seattle Geekly!—as well as the birth in 2012 of what's come to be called our "Dr. Trek Show"—the crowdfunder meetup for "The Con of Wrath." In the process I've watched ECCC explode, catch up with old friends, and grown a whole colony of new Trekland fans and supporters, and my thanks to all—and, yeah, I'm bummed to miss you guys this year at the Six Arms for our last-stand Sunday afterglow tradition. All Trek Seattle has been been a ton of fun AND very supportive as the documentary made micro-budget progress—and more on that coming, too.

Same goes for all my friends and followers in Seattle, and those in and out of ECCC who came by the table when I had one, much less our annual "Trekland: Between the Cracks" and other panels.
So 2015 is a break in my Seattle string. But this year is going to be different overall—fewer cons, and more new work— a lot of hard brainwork development and a continuation of what I started last year... but all for good reason. 

All the more reason why I'm gonna miss being in Seattle this weekend! But, here's to the good times—and a moment from each of our main 2012, 2013 and 2014 meetup groups ... and here's to hoping the big 5-0 anniversary year of 2016 in Trekland gets things back on track.

A Seattle rush! Emerald City in my rear-view mirror

Before I get back on the road:

I just had an awesome time in Seattle over Emerald City Comicon—special thanks to Jim Demonakos and Mike Byers! And after five straight years, I think my little colony of Treklanders there is really growing—a hoot for me, since Seattle in 2012 is the very first place I tried out my "Con of Wrath" crowdfunder meetup idea. The prior two years I had cut my chops doing 8 a.m. fan meetups with Shannon and Matt and their once-and-current Seattle Geekly podcast! ECCC itself is just booming and selling out, as are most comic-cons.

I wasn't tabling this year, so panel-less Saturday felt odd with no bags and no show to weigh over me: I got to just attend! Friday had already been great, even with my "Between the Cracks" audience a bit drained from going up against the lovely mainstager, Eliza Dushku. I did get to meet Cat Roberts (left), one of our Star Trek Continues Kirkstarter donors generous enough to land a walk-on role in the Mirror Universe Episode 3....whom I'd missed on opposite ends of the shoot. As a doctor, she was especially sad not to catch McCoy #1 ( or #2, depending how you number vignettes. ;-) ) But at least we swapped snaps.

Friday night was dinner hosted by Huston Huddleston of New Starship, staying in town after meeting with A Major Museum —and then Saturday I was the dinner guest of Oren Ashkenazi (left) , Grace Moore and Bob Collins of All Things Trek podcast of Seattle (right), who'd just had me on their show. Selfie time!

And somewhere in there I even squeezed in another visit to catch up with Wende Doohan, to be featured in The Con of Wrath speaking for Jimmy, and their Sarah (left). (Guess who was the Adventure Time fan?)






Now, little did I guess that panel-and-meetup Sunday would be an even more hoppin' day than I'd planned: A pretty full crowd greeted us for our fan forum "State of the Trek," and a lot of passionate, feminist, activist, pro-and anti-corporate  views of Trek were voiced...and I think I added a little insight as well. Our Q&A speakers were lively, with everything from feminism and untapped diversity to "Hollywood factory" disgust versus JJ's franchise-saving put forth—and I think I threw out a few insights folks might not have considered, too.

But the adrenalin was already pumpin' thanks to TWO shocks right before that, in bang-bang order...






With about 45 minutes to go, who comes up to say hello but three honchos from Seattle's own Outdoor Trek theatre group (inspired but he now-ended similar group in Portland),  Joy DeLyria (left) and Kris Hambrick—plus Phillip Duff (who took this snap, right). I'd only read of their productions of TOS Trek—treating the classic scripts like Shakespeare with free-form and free-casting choices meant to showcase the stories, like those of the Bard's as timeless. In fact, with 20 minutes to go til my panel, I grabbed the Canon and we SHOT a 10-minute interview for TREKLAND STV that you'll see here before their season starts in July.

I might not have cut it so close (look at that line!) ... but what else happened on my panel countdown, RIGHT THEN? To my typical reminder tweet about who's reading my hashtags actually AT the con, lo and behold Uncle's Games from over in the gaming vendor's area across the street tweets me back to offer a prize for my panel to give away. While I'm in the terlet! Holy Terok Nor, Batman!

 So that's why, why before I chatted with Kris and Joy, curting it close.... I accepted this $180 value DS9 tabletop gameplay station model from Stephanie Fields and Sarah Tolsma of Uncle's Games of Seattle/Spokane, who ran it over to me just so I could give it away. Easy come ...

... And easy go. After teasing it sitting out all panel long and thanking and plugging the
store profusely, still amazed myself, we did a trivia question fior it. Dave Kosin, whose energy we practically had to restrain, actually won it fair and square. My thanks to front-rower SarafinaCosplay.com for hopping up to give me a second set of eyes once I launched the trivia question. Good job, Sarafina—we did not need a run-off!

But I needed a breather. Our post-panel throng was wonderful... but thanks to Seattle fan and follower Umberto Lenzi I eventually got out of there and up the hill three blocks via rollerbags for our third annual "Dr. Trek" crowdfunder-meetup for The Con of Wrath...back in the Six Arms pub where it all began. 

And that I'll save that story for later this week...

Oh, and one last word—which I tweeted at the time:

To the young lady in the brown, "Inevitable betrayal" Wash Firefly TShirt who so elegantly defended J.J. Abrams and his movies, and by extension the new and younger fans who came to Trek fandom because of them:

I want you to know that I love you, and nothing I threw in as commentary from other sources was meant to squelch your intelligence, your opinions, and most of all, your passion. Thank god we have you and so many more like you. I'd have loved to have talked to you more, but until I can—just keep the fire, girl. Don't let the Tellurian turkeys (including, perhaps, me) get you down!






Maybe should be it's own post?
I didn't do much cosplay snapping, but I couldn't resist this shot just outside the convention center:

Look out, Seattle: We're back for Emerald City Comic-Con!

Can it be another year already?

I'm looking forward to meeting all our familiar Seattle peeps this weekend at Emerald City Comic Con, and hopefully a few new ones!

The con has been a sell-out for months, but I've just been quiet about my part in it all—until now.  No table for me this year, but there's two panels—and we'll do a "Con of Wrath" crowdfunding meetup, of course, where I'll have a few goodies like "Stellar Cartography."

Unique to this urban con, our meetup will actually be a kind of "dead dog party"* for Trekfans, just after the show closes on Sunday...an excuse for the locals to linger longer nearby in your ECCC ecstasy. I realize we lose any travelers that way, but people seem to prefer "Sunday-afters" to a hectic Saturday night meetup—and our friendly fellow patrons at the Six Arms are sure easier to talk over!

If you can come, please "Join" the Facebook Event page; if you can't make it, please share and tweet the word, would you?

So here's where I'll be, for sure:

—FRIDAY:

2 pm, Room 3AB: Larry Nemecek's Trekland—our annual but updated "slideshow" of news and in-jokes.

—SUNDAY:
3 pm, Room 3AB: Star Trek: The State of the Franchise—Our patented forum and cross-talk where you, me and the other guy get it all of our chest—or ask the interesting questions. Hopefully we can open your mind to some new ways of seeing the current ... fallow times.

5:30-7:30 pm: And yes our THIRD annual Seattle post-con CON OF WRATH crowdfunder meet-up—again at Six Arms upstairs loft, just 3 blocks up the street from the convention center at 300 E. Pike Street. As usual, you pitch in $20 to help The Con of Wrath move along with a screen credit and enjoy our rare clips, new peeks, some prize trivia—and each other! Now with Star Trek Continues awesome as well. You can "Join" the Facebook Event page here and really help me out with planning, since I do these on the fly.

Of course, if you catch me roaming around ECCC any other time...please let me go, eventually.


*And please don't tell me this is now an un-PC term. It's too old-school con fandom to let go now!

Meet us up at Emerald City, Seattle!

Yo, Seattle Treklanders, I hope to see you at Emerald City Comicon this weekend, again hitting town with all the latest in the Trekland show.  You might also be happy to note that Sir Patrick, Young Wil, and recent  Hollywood Walk of Fame star awardee Walter are also guests amid a big media line-up.

No panel this year for us, sadly—it's my own fault for my distractions in January!—but we will be seeing everyone OUT FRONT in the South Lobby with our Trekland table: CD copies of TREKLAND: On Speaker Vol. 1, our last six fundraiser Klingon PADDs for The Con of Wrath documentary,  info on this August's Trek Tour redux and the just-filmed Star Trek: Continues... plus all the usual stuff from my attic trunk. Including my brain cells.

The Six Arms upstairs—our very first meetup-fundraisers a year ago, after Emerald City Comicon/Seattle!

MOST OF ALL—please spread the word that we'll have one, and perhaps two, evening meet-ups to benefit THE CON OF WRATH just a couple blocks up the street from the convention center—back again at the Six Arms upper loft, 300 E. Pike Street. Hey, Seattle was where it all began for this great experimental show last year with the worthy cause, and I thank you and hope to see a lot of you guys-n-gals again. 

And THIS year we'll have video!

Yes, rare Trek vids —and sneak peeks from celebs and grunts alike of The Con of Wrath  ... with prize trivia to boot, and prying secrets and stories out of me with the right ... beverage. Our sophomore editions will begin at 9 p.m. Saturday and 5:30 p.m. Sunday—a "just afters" for all you locals who hate to go home right off.

The ECCC show hours run 2-8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, with a lot of fun after-hours events in the 7-9 p.m. Saturday slot—which is why we don't want to overrun that with our meet-up til 9. We Treklanders are a well-rounded lot.

If you are going to be at #ECCC this weekend—or heck, just anybody anywhere in Trekland—now's a good time to follow us on Twitter for just such occasions: @larrynemecek. The Facebook page Larry Nemecek's Trekland will also post updates as well if need be.

See you at Emerald City—I actually MADE it!

I’m sorry to have missed the opening Friday fun, y’all. But we’ll make up for it today: please stay tuned for a surprise event tonight —follow us on @larrynemecek or come by the table for more….

And Sunday: see you at noon in our “Trekland” poll and forum “Star Trek: The State of The Franchise” featuring YOU... in Room 4C1-2.

So here's where I usually write the standard "hey, can't wait to see everybody and do all the fun panel/table event stuff" story for Seattle's Emerald City Comic-Con that started Friday. Hard to believe it will be my third time in the house, this being their 10th anniversary...

Buf I almost didn’t  MAKE it.

See, a donor to The Con of Wrath has provided  us with stand-by miles, to help with the shoot and promotion, and here I was using them for the first time—with him holding my hand during my rookie plunge. I even started out at 6 a.m. Thursday just to anticipate  for “bumps’ and delays, and still leave a time cushion. But how was he or I to know this was apparently Spring Break Secret Ski Weekend? As one airline wag at Burbank put it, “I never saw so many ski poles go through here in one day!”

Seriously, all flights everywhere across the western U.S. on this major airline suddenly became overnight oversolds, with unsuccessful  stand-by riders piling up by the hour.  Since 6 a.m Thursday.

So, 6 a.m. Friday started out camped with DP Neil and his Jana in their San Diego home,  me hoping like mad that a few shining seats to Seattle from Houston  (of all places)  could be reached from San Diego, with no one in line before me —at least,  that was the picture at  5 p.m. Thursday.  Same-day tickets at this late stage, of course, would be astronomical. 

I was actually just an hour away from having to give up the trip, missing the chance to see all our friends in Seattle and hold up the honor of Trekland among the assembled genres and franchises.

Really… I was on the verge …

I think I’m in the clear now. As I write this I am finally inbound to Seattle after 30 hours of chasing an empty seat as far away as Chicago and Dulles/DC.  By another glimmer-of-hope story, we stumbled into a smaller airline ‘s decent prices, gave up and just bought  one—and what  a down-to-earth deal out of Long Beach, of all places. Thus my new slogan: “If it’s beyond your reach… try Long Beach.”

In all my con-going days, I’ve never had one like this trip—and the ever-tighter ratcheting of   frustration was not intended. I thank our donor now and always, as I do everyone whatever   they offer to help with.

All this to say that, once again:

I’m sorry to have missed the opening  Friday fun, y’all. But we’ll make  up for it today:  please stay tuned for a surprise event tonight—follow us on @larrynemecek or come by the table.for more….

And Sunday: see you at noon in our “Trekland” poll and forum “Star Trek: The State of The Franchise” featuring YOU .... in Room 4C1-2.

And our thanks to Jim D. and the whole ECCC staff for having us back again.

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.