Marlene and I, at The Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas.

Slanted Fedora 35th Star Trek Anniversary
Sept. 6-9, 2001
I had never been to a Star Trek convention, and neither had Marlene, so we had no idea what to expect.  What we really didn't expect was the poor treatment we and the other 3,500 fans who flew from all over the world to Las Vegas for this con did receive.  It seems that Slanted Fedora and it's ring leader, Dave Scott, ran a very unorganized convention.  Mr. Scott was downright rude to us, and at one point, got on stage and said "Now, I know you all want me dead..." and the entire audience applauded!  The main problem was  he was understaffed severely!  He had maybe enough staff for 1,000 fans, not 3,500!  The staff he did have was overworked and rude.  There was even a point, when the fans were becoming unruly, that Dave threatened us all.  He got on stage and said, "That's it!  I've had enough!  I'll send all the actors home and you'll get to see none of them!"  What's next?  Sending us to bed without dinner?
So, I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER go to another Slanted Fedora convention, but I may attend another ST con in the future.
Each ticket we purchased was for $500...PLUS tax, PLUS we had to buy photo's for the actors to sign, and pre signed photo's of the big stars...seems $500 doesn't allow you to meet Shatner....Mulgrew...and Nimoy!  For the other actors, (Beltran, McFadden, Takei...) we had to wait in lines, most of which lasted up to 3 hours!  I felt like I was in Disney World!  Some lines for the supporting actors wrapped around the building!  3,500 of us were crammed into this tiny hotel...so Mr. Dave Scott could make more money for himself.
Overall though, I did enjoy myself, I got to meet many of the actors, got to see many of them speak on stage, and had a lot of fun.
Now for the bad news, my mini tape recorded DID NOT record the actors like I wanted.  So I have NO con reports.  Also, $500 buys you bad seats...mine were in the 19th row, so my photo's didn't turn out, however, the gentleman behind me (Gail L. Crowe) had a zoom lens and gave copies his photo's to me.

Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway)gave a wonderful speech, about the Alzheimer's Foundation, about her role as Captain Janeway, and about her new play in which she'll play Katerine Hepurn.  The play should begin in Jan or Feb of 2002 in NY I believe.  She said she poured her heart and soul into the series finale and was very pleased with the final result.  She loved playing Janeway, but her husband is running for Governor of Ohio and she'd really like to settle down now and be a wife and mother.


Armin Shimmerman (Quark) was on stage with Andy Robinson, (Garak, not pictured) and will be acting in a play in LA that Andy is directing.  He and Andy defended the actors of DS9, when asked if the cast got along.  He said they did get along, in fact two of the stars married each other (Sid and Nana) and that they were all very serious actors, there to make the best show that they could.  All they cared about was doing their best...and then going home to their families.


Robert Picardo, (The Dr.) along with Robert Beltran spoke to me in the autograph line.  Both expressed an interest in my outfit.  Robert Picardo said to me, "I love your dress, it's so nice to see someone all dressed up and looking so nice for a change."  I'm sure he meant no offense to those wearing costumes and T shirts and jeans...but I did find, by wearing make-up, doing my hair, wearing perfume, high heals and nice outfits, I got most of the actors attention and quite a few compliments from them as well!
Robert Picardo was very well spoken and funny.  His family phoned him twice during his time on stage.  His children were outside of the hotel waiting for him.  He seemed to be quite the family man.


Casey Biggs (Damar)was very polite to me.  Told me to prop my butt up on his table and pose for this picture with him! He and I talked about his brief role on ER.  He said they filmed that scene with two endings.  Had they aired the one were Dr. Weaver kept his number, then he would have been back.  However, they aired the one where she threw it away.  He asked if I thought he was "good looking" in real life without the Cardsassian make-up.  I had to humor him and say NO...I prefer you in Cardassian make-up....he just laughed.  He told me I smelled great...I just had to laugh, since Garrett Wang told me the same thing the day before!


Alan Ruck (Cameron from Ferris Buller AND the Captain of the Enterprise B from Star Trek Generations) was also very friendly and outgoing.  I asked him, since he works on Spin City, what Charlie Sheen is like.  He said, "Oh you'd love him!  He's the greatest guy on Earth!  He's so generous and caring, a wonderful person...just a tad misunderstood."  Mr. Ruck and I said at the same time, "He just got too much, too soon!"


Alice Krige (The Borg Queen) flew in from England just to do this con.  She was very gracious and polite.  [See my Borg Bear?]


Cirroc Lofton (Jake Sisko) and Nicolle DeBoer.  I only got to see them in the autograph line.  Cirroc seemed extremely happy to be there and very friendly.  Nicolle and her husband both appeared to be in pretty bad moods.


Imagine my surprise, when we go to the small autograph room, where supporting actors like Alaimo, Krige, and Jimmy Darren are...and Marlene points out Garrett Wang (Ensign Kim).  He looked very different in real life, as most of them did...his hair was longer, he had facial hair and he was tan.  I found him to be very down to earth and very friendly.  And he told me I smelled wonderful!  He asked what I was wearing, I told him Perscriptives Calyx...he really seemed interested in the scent.


I took this picture for my mom.  Turns out she likes James Darren, (Vic Fontain) or as he was once known as, Moon Doggie from the Gidget films.


Max Grodenchik (Grand Negus ROM) and I addressed him as so..he said, "Oh now, keep your clothes on!"  Marlene and I chatted with him and Aron Eisenberg (Nog) the most.  BOTH talked to us for about 10 minutes.  Asked us where we live, what we do...what we drive!  Max was telling us about his cars...asked me why I'm moving to Texas...both were just very polite and seemed to enjoy our conversation.  Of course, Aron took photo's of us for his webstite dedicated to ST fans....www.trekfriends.com


Tim Russ (Tuvok) was very funny when he was on stage.  He sang his songs and was selling and autographing his cd's in the smaller autograph room.

Shatner (Kirk) and Marina Sirtis (Troi) and Michael Dorn (Worf). I already saw Shatner speak when he visited the University of Alabama in 2000.  So, he pretty much said the same stuff at this con.  He did share his favorite DeForrest Kelly story, (and Nimoy did the same).  Shatner used to steal Kellys' english muffins from the toaster in the mornings in an attempt to make Kelly think he was losing his mind.  He'd create a diversion, then steal the muffins...Kelly would go to the toaster and!!!!  NO MUFFINS!  He'd be confused for a second, then get two more and place them in the toaster again.  Shatner would create a diversion...and grab the muffins...but he heard Kelly coming in the room, so Shatner stuffed the muffins in his mouth!  Kelly went to the toaster....NO MUFFINS...but Shatners cheeks were popping out!  HE knew what Shatner was the Muffin Stealing culprit and had some colorful words for him.

As for Sirtis and Dorn, I think they were the funniest on stage.  They played off each other.  Marina would tease Dorn about his flying, the fact he was single and that he had horrible taste in clothes and furniture.  She usually takes him shopping.
Dorn told us the story of the time Brent Spiner (supposedly) placed her yorkie, Skaligi(sp) into the microwave.  Dorn said, "The dog looked so cute just going around and round in the carousel."  On another occasion, Mariana bet Dorn that Skaligi was a faster runner than he was...so she challenged him to a foot race.  He went to her house and raced the dog.  He said he was taking his time, just jogging around, and he said, "See!  I can beat this stupid dog!  NO 4 pound dog can outrun me!"  He looked down, and the dog passed him!  He said, "OH shit!" and started to sprint!....he beat the dog.
Marina told us she became a US citizen 2 weeks before this con.  She cried when she announced that in Nov, they'll start shooting the final TNG film, ST X.  Then she thanked us all for being such wonderful fans...Dorn hugged her.

Some other notable things:  Brent Spiner was asked if he'd like to do Broadway again, he said he'd LOVE to.  But Broadway isn't too keen on hiring non NY actors.  Since he lives in LA, he feels that's stopping them from hiring him.  He said he's trying to spend more time in NY (a possible move?) to do more theater.
Gates McFadden talked about her choreography for the film Labyrinth.  Said she loved behind a dancer/choreographer....but needed something new...and just loves acting.
Leonard Nimoy said he doesn't like to direct anymore, he leaves that up to his son.
Alexander Sidig (Sid) told me he liked the role he played in Vertical Limit.  I told him that his character died well, we both said at the same time, "Died laughing!"  He said, "What better way is there to go, then to die laughing?  Hey, it worked for me!"  He was so cute and nice in real life!
Robert Beltran, aside from complimenting me and giving me the eye in the autograph line, was very sweet to a little girl that was next to me in line.  He spent a lot of time with her, asked her her name, her age, where she lived, if she likes school.  He also seemed to be very sweet and polite.
Jennifer Lien (Kes) wasn't in the greatest mood, but I suspect she was sick.  She's a full time college student, studying for a general degree right now.
Nana Visitor is in the musical Chicago right now....in NY of course.


Marlene and I, in our room at the Excalibur Hotel, showing off our stuff we got at the con, and at the ST Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton.  Her Borg Bear was signed by the Borg Queen herself, while mine was signed by Jeri Ryan (7 of 9).  Jeri Ryan had SEVEN FBI guards with her at all times at this convention.
I had group photo's that I had the cast sign for me...and I had Max and Aron sign my Ferengi bear.  They had never seen one before, and I think they wanted to keep mine!  I wanted Armin to sign, but TWO DAYS in a row, we waited for him and both days, he left right when we got up for our autographs.  NOT his fault, just another symptom of Dave Scott's  lack of organization.
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