Star Trek Convention, Day One: The Plight of the Middle-Aged Actress

Believe it or not, we Trekkies dress according to who's on the bill. I looked at my schedule to see who was listed, and it's a bunch of (mostly lesser) actors from Star Trek: The Next Generation. So I wore my Next Gen shirt, the one I bought from Lincoln Enterprises (Majel Barrett's discontinued company) so many years ago. It's a polo shirt in Navy blue.

I had time to kill, so I gambled in the Starquest casino. I eventually ended up at the Star Trek game again, as I knew I would, but all 8 seats were full. I gambled elsewhere until after 11 am; the dealer room opens at 11, so I figured there would be empty spots after that. There were.

It was two seats over from last night's prize location. I did even better this time, and this time I understood the bonus round and what was happening. I won over $200 this time on the same $20, and it only took about 15 minutes. Very nice bonus round!

I then cashed out and went to the dealer's room. I immediately bought an old Lincoln Enterprises satin Star Trek jacket celebrating the 25th anniversary for $35. The guy from Intergalactic (I get their emails) explained that they had bought all of Lincoln's remaining inventory. "They never displayed it, never took it anywhere," he said, shaking his head. I felt fortunate.

Do you know that I spent all of the $1 bills Ruth gave me? First to Intergalactic, then to Sean's place for various merchandise (Torchwood, Serenity - she always gives me a "frequent flyer" discount even though I never ask for one), then to some other guy who sponsors tables at Vulkon and had a lot of autographs (some kind of damaged) to get rid of.

The Gene Roddenberry booth featured a captain's chair that you can win for logging on at their computer and being chosen randomly as the "best Star Trek fan" this weekend. I took the yo-yo she offered, but didn't sign up. I can't even guess how much trouble I'd be in at home if I won that massive prize!

I was in the main ballroom early to get a decent seat. I have general admission this year, the cheap seats, so nothing reserved. I discovered last year that paying extra did not guarantee me a good seat at all. First up was Susan Gibney, who played the delightful Dr. Leah Brahms in only two episodes of The Next Generation. It was a great story: Geordi LaForge, engineer on the Enterprise, had to solve some sort of engine problem, so he had the computer produce a hologram of the original engineer, Dr. Brahms. He then had a long conversation with her, and developed a relationship with her (the hologram). In the second episode, which was some time later, he meets Dr. Brahms, only to find her a lot less easy to get along with. And married.

Susan was astonished that the fans remembered her so well and was looking for answers. It certainly was hard to explain. She started off by telling us that she had just completed a play in San Francisco, a play I certainly would've attended had I been aware she was in it. She was also on Crossing Jordan intermittently as the D.A. for several years. She had been up for the role of Seven of Nine, losing, of course, to Jeri Ryan, and was brought in three times to test for Captain Janeway. She lost that one as well, to Kate Mulgrew. And, surprisingly, she filled in for a voice in two episodes for one character on Xena: Warrior Princess.

Barbara March came on next. Barbara feels like an old friend even though she certainly wouldn't recognize me. Debbie and I were two of six people who signed on for a special event at Quark's Bar several years ago, where we would meet the Klingon Duras sisters (Barbara played one, Gwynyth Walsh played the other) on the captain's bridge. They cancelled the event due to lack of response, but still took us on the bridge where we sat in the captain's chair and had pictures taken with March and Walsh. We chatted with them and then got front-row seats at their Q&A in the bar. Debbie and I split a warp core breach, the rest of which we offered to all the fans (just so we could get rid of it).

Barbara has quit acting and is now writing full-time. She told a funny story of meeting Gene Roddenberry for the first time. She was in the middle of filming, totally in the klingon make-up (which took 4 hours to put on), and could not sit down in the klingon suit because it would have strangled her, it was so tight.

Her "Lursa" Klingon was quite famous for having a costume bodice that put her breasts out there. Very nervous she stepped up to meet Mr. Roddenberry, the founder of Star Trek, and all he could do was stare at her breasts, point at them, and ask, "Are they real?"

She never answered the question, at least for us.

I saw one more of the "lesser" stars on Wednesday: Robin Curtis. Robin played Saavik in two of the Star Trek movies. Saavik was a Vulcan, like Spock, but a younger version who fell in love with Kirk's son before he was killed. (I think the love story was dropped in the original theatrical version of Star Trek III.)

She told us how her husband asked her for a divorce in November, and she was just devastated. She went to a small town in upstate New York, where one of her two brothers lived, and looked for a place to lick her wounds. She found a marvelous house, and bought it. She brought a contractor in to fix it up, fell in love with the contractor, and went into business with him. She is now a Prudential real estate agent (apparently no longer acting). Robin is all about keeping things positive and looking for that silver lining, not at all like her klingon character.

After Robin, I skipped the rest of the program and went over to the Tropicana for a late lunch/early dinner.

Oh, and I now have six medals in the Star Trek game. And one of the $1 bills that Ruth gave me showed up in Brooklyn, New York. I spent that maybe Tues night or Weds morning? And the guy who reported it said he got it at a Star Trek convention! My, how fast money travels!