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!

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!

Hey, Phoenix Comicon—I'm there, on AND off the grid

Okay—a wacky year, so pay attention!

Barely off the flight from a wonderful weekend at small, friendly and very busy CONduit in Salt Lake City…

I've been thrilled to add Phoenix Comicon to my roster the past three years—my, only a year since that insane amateur blogger's misquote rumor fiasco?—and this weekend I will be back, even if I'm barely in the guide—after we had a miscue this winter. Look for rings to be different in 2016, I'm gonna wager.

Meanwhile, I really will be around campus—especially Friday and Saturday—and a bit more foot-loose and fancy-free. Let's see if it is more fun!

Of course, a big part of the weekend for me is the world premiere of "The White Iris," the fourth episode of Star Trek Continues, and I'll be there with cast and fellow crew and who knows what else. Look for some vidchats with special guests I shot on-set—Colin Baker and Chris Gore, and more!—coming soon here on the blog. 

I'll also be there late-night Friday to support my Con of Wrath director of photography, Neal Halford, as his horror short The Case of Evil (right) makes yet another festival appearance, this time in connection with PHXCC.

Check me out on Saturday: two panels and a guest table spot with the United Federation of Phoenix, thanks to my friend David Williams and his wonderful club, Phoenix's oldest.

All of that capped Saturday night, of course for a live-n-local Dr. Trek show crowdfunder to benefit The Con of Wrath  AND get your screen credit for your $20 or more donation—our standard procedure….but not too late to hit the parties afterward. (And for the second year in a row, I'll be doing Dr. Trek for a private audience as well—a PHXCC twofer!)  Mucho thanks to Continues producer/director Chris White for donating the venue.

And on top of ALL that: Freed from a tight con-bound schedule, I have a side trip planned for a very special video interview with a first-generation Treklander—I'm excited for that, and to share with you that history later.

So here's the day-by-day for me:

THURSDAY—

6 pm: Dr. Trek Show crowdfunder for The Con of Wrath, in a private but not closed venue in Maricopa, 20 minutes south of downtown. If you are in the Phoenix region, would like to attend a Dr. Trek event and help out Wrath but downtown is just not convenient to go for you Saturday night, email me and I'll slip you in on the details.

FRIDAY—

6 pm, Ballroom 301: Star Trek Continues premiere of "The White Iris," Episode 4—and look for an hour Q&A and hour of signing afterward.

10:30 pm, West 103: Neal's The Case of Evil horror short screening during the PHXCC Film Festival. 

SATURDAY—

10:30 am, Room North 228: 50 Years of Humanism: A Trek panel I took on as a late add, and fascinating topic—check out the reserve page here. And after that…

Noon-4 pm, Tabling: I'm a guest of the United Federation of Phoenix at their table—with some photos, Trekland on Speaker CDs (2 and 3), and of course info on Enterprise in Space and The Con of Wrath meetup that night!

6 pm, North 227: Live Long and Prosper: Saying Goodbye to Leonard Nimoy: The other panel I'm joining late, and hopefully adding a slew of Nimoy career visuals

9-11 pm, Sheraton Room TBA: Dr. Trek Show crowdfunder II, con-centric edition!  If you;ve never seen my show (or if you have, there's fresh blood this year)… here's you chance—and we get out in time to see plenty of Saturday con nightlife, so you can support our piece of history with your $20 for a screen credit, chance to trivia prizes, and rare video and doc sneak peeks. 
If you plan to come, please do "Like" my Facebook event page's own "Attend" button... always helpful! If you do, you'll get word for the Room Number in the Sheraton as soon as it's ready, on Thursday. Or just make sure you're following me on Twitter or Facebook as well—'twill be posted there too.


SUNDAY—
Who knows? I:m a free man and might actually go enjoy a con day for once.

CyPhaCon: Dr. Trek, EIS, STC, Green Girl and my buds!

WOW. Can't believe that CyPhaCon is here already! But yes indeed— I'll see all you Cajuns THIS weekend, again, with a "Dr. Trek" show and a lot of friends in the guest line-up.

Both of the Lake Charles cons have had me almost every year since 2010, and it's a great corner off the Gulf, kinda midway  between Houston and New Orleans along I-10.  Treklander bud Jeff "Shran/Brunt/Weyoun" Combs is just one of the guests to be at Lake Charles with me: Mon capitan Vic Mignogna and fellow McCoy denizen Chuck Huber, my Star Trek Continues consultees, are also in the lineup as STC and anime guests—and I am pledged to help show them the town (or at least the eateries)!

Here's my own schedule— and yes, I'll be talking about the exciting, non-profit Enterprise in Space as well as leading a Trekland forum/panel.  We're starting off bright and "early" both days at 10 a.m., so I want to see you there! Tabling too—with info on all this plus sneak-peeks the next #LA2Vegas Trek Tour for 2016 with ME and Geek Nation Tours.





I'm also pleased to screen my buddy George Pappy's award-winning Susan Oliver bio-doc The Green Girl bigscreen (2:45 pm Saturday, Rosa Hart Theatre) and will have some Green Girl T's and DVDs at the table.

Most of all, it's a chance to bring back my late-night crowdfunder "Dr. Trek Show" fun in support of The Con of Wrath documentary, which we are starting to wrap up after a 2011 start.

That will be right after Saturday night's Fan Party at the Marriott con HQ hotel. If you want to "sign in" and help give me a head count for "Dr. Trek", please be sure to "check in" and sound off at the  Facebook event page—thanks!

Maybe, just two hours from Houston, we'll even find still more Survivors the 1982 Ultimate Fantasy aka "Con of Wrath"!  I'm always on the lookout.

Oh—and if you're a visual person, here's my weekend:

Yes, we ARE at Wondercon/Anaheim…and the Crowdfunder Meetup, too

 
Blame it on…well, me: A miscue about calendar dates led me to think I was doomed to miss WonderCon 2014, and so ignored submitting panel ideas this year. Too late, I realized my April indeed had room for all … but too late: So, I'll be missing out having a Trekland audience there for the first time since 2011. 

Still, never fear: you can still come have a set-to with me as I have a mini-table spot at the big New Starship/Enterprise-D Bridge Restoration area at Booth 1253, the non-profit whose board I sit on—and is about to expand in scope. Come get your photo op again this year at the large booth island, with a very different surprise background set-up this year—free again!—and Huston Huddleston there by Saturday afternoon, after a split weekend at Salt Lake City Comic-Con ..... AND while there check out what Trekland goodies I have on hand: maps, books, photos. Fellow boardmember Rick Sternbach will be tabling next to me there, too.

Meanwhile, here's a couple of WC Trekland sidebars: my buddy E.J. de la Pena has an exhibit for his DEFIANCE movie at Booth 1227 … while doctors Drea Letamendi and Ali Mattu, who led the Trek v. SWars Psychology panel I sat on last year (left), have the third incarnation with Chase Masterson on the Trek side this time—at 7:30-8:30 p.m. Saturday in Room 213.

 
In fact, I'll be there to support them in the crowd, and afterward will be happy to Pied Piper the Trek folk over to the adjacent Sheraton Anaheim for our next Con of Wrath crowdfunder meetup "Dr. Trek" Show ...roughed-out in the back of the huge main lobby near the shoeshine stand (where we gatehred last year, as at right). Here's the Facebook Event page—"Join" it if you can, or just tell me table-side... or come by.

And please share: We need to get the word out for Saturday night!

(Next stop: A new landing, in Detroit)