I spent this last weekend at the long-anticipated Trek Expo 2009 in Tulsa. The best part about it for me was getting to take a group (that’s me at the top in the Q judge’s outfit next to my wife and about half of our group) from my club, Trek Forever. We met and listened to a really fantastic set of guest stars over the weekend, including Leonard Nimoy, Avery Brooks, John DeLance, Tony Todd, Phil Morris, Garrett Wang, Marina Sirtis, Chase Masterson, and lots of others.

The conn was extremely well-attended, and on Saturday, it was almost more than the folks running the convention could handle. That was the day Leonard Nimoy was there, and the place was packed. It was hard to do anything but stand in one place or stay in your seat in the area where the stage was– my wife and I had to do all of our shopping on Sunday because it was nearly impossible to look at anything as packed as it was on Saturday.

But when I finally did get the chance to check out the vendors, they were fantastic. I saw lots of collectibles and artwork I didn’t know existed, and we bought a lot of great stuff. The coolest booth there had lots of awesome prop replicas, including a knife from “Mirror, Mirror,” a life-sized, $1000 replica of Nomad from “The Changeling,” and the staff weapon from Stargate. Suffice it to say, I didn’t buy anything from them this time, but I’m saving up. You can check out their stuff at ArgonEmpire.ecrater.com.

I got to talk to Tony Todd, Phil Morris, Anthony Montgommery, Garrett Wang, and Denise Crosby at length. I liked how intimate a venue it was– sometimes it was a bit crowded, but it was set up so that several actors signed autographs all day, and you could simply walk up and talk to them if you wanted to, even if you weren’t getting an autograph– although I did buy several. Most of the actors at this show were very personable and happy to talk when there wasn’t a long autograph line. I got my picture taken with Tony Todd, who has always been one of my favorite character actors. He’s been in almost every show I’ve followed in the last decade at one time or another, and he and I talked about 24 and Chuck for a good 20 minutes. He’s also the sixth Klingon actor (he played Worf’s brother Kurn) to sign my large bat’leth– in the past, I’ve also had it signed by J.G. Hertzler (Martok), Robert O’Reily (Gowron), Spice Williams (Vixis), Todd Bryant (Klaa) and Mary Kay Adams (Grilka). I wish I could make it to the Las Vegas Creation convention in August so I could get Michael Dorn and Christopher Lloyd. 

I didn’t get to talk to Leonard Nimoy face to face, but I did get a signiture from Avery Brooks. I told him how his rendition of “The Best is Yet to Come” got me into jazz, and how my wife and I used that song title as the theme for our wedding reception– it was even the first song we danced to. Avery Brooks loved that story so much that he sang a few bars of it for us right there before we left.

What I didn’t particularly appreciate was that most of the presentations with the actors were Q&A sessions and a lot of fans had really bad questions, especially for Nimoy. Again, letting people ask questions made it feel like more of an intimate occasion and allowed more fans to meet the actors, and I loved that, but too much time was taken up by people on the microphone who wanted to listen to themselves talk.

There was this weird preoccupation with some people about wanting to bring Data back from the dead– fine, fine, we all love Data– but the actors usually have nothing to do with the story process, and the ones that did have anything to do with Nemesis’ story (i. e. Brent Spiner) weren’t there. Plus, there won’t BE any more TNG movies. So why on Earth would anyone ask Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby, and ESPECIALLY Leonard Nimoy if Data is coming back from the dead? Of course he’s not– there won’t be any more story from that timeline, much less TNG. The actors were mostly very respectful to fans with these kinds of questions and very politely– no matter how many times it came up– told them they had nothing to do with those kinds of decisions. I’m not sure I could have been as polite. Marina Sirtis had the best response– she asked the guy why he was so worried about Data and not upset that Troi wasn’t coming back.

One of the most memorable moments over the weekend was the Cabiret, in which several of the stars performed (including a rap concert by Anthony Montgommery and some jazz numbers from Chase Masterson). John DeLance was first up, and he performed an excellent poem by Shel Silverstein called “The Devil and Billy Markham.” When he was through, he walked through the curtains at the back of the stage, and a few seconds later, the entire scafolding came tumbling down. The stage crew hurried franctically to fix it, and Garrett Wang, who was master of ceremonies, had to stall. So he started talking about the great Power of DeLance and how it could bring scafolding crumbling to the ground, and all the other amazing things it could apparently do. So the rest of the weekend, everyone was talking about the Power of DeLance. Apparently there was even somone whose car wouldn’t start, but then they “invoked the Power of DeLance” and it started right up. I know it’s kind of a you-had-to-be-there moment, but I couldn’t help but mention it.

There weren’t a lot of homemade costumes, at least compared to the number of attendees, but the ones that were there were fantastic. The best costumes, in my opinion, were the Borg (who tried to assimilate me when I was Q). And some of my Trek Forever members, I’m happy to say, had some of the best costumes. Look especially for the female Klingon, Lwaxana Troi, and the Orion slave girl (the really good one standing next to Lwaxana Troi). There were also some great costumes from things other than Trek, including some fantastic Ghostbusters, complete with the car, Mal from Firefly, and a Jedi with Leia in the slave outfit. And I also have to say thanks to a couple of my club members who took photos– these don’t all belong to me. They know who they are.

 Enjoy!

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan

*Minor Spoiler Alert* 

Firefly wasn’t neccessarily the greatest science fiction series ever made. Sometimes it seems like fans over-glorify it because it was cancelled after 13 episodes, and it was excellent enough to break the mold and get a feature film, which was unheard of. But it definately pushed envelopes and took risks, just like Buffy and Angel did. So despite what I thought was a somewhat dull premise for a Whedon series, I expected a lot from Dollhouse. I figured Joss Whedon would find a way to make it equally revolutionary. After seeing the pilot, I see potential, but I don’t see envelope-pushing.

Don’t get me wrong– I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt right now because the story telling was top nouch. The story about the personality Echo is imprinted with– the woman who was violated as a child and then later meets her oppressor– is character-driven, moving, and excellent. The problem for me is that while this woman is wonderfully developed, we’ll never see her again. Next episode, Echo will get some other personality. I realize what the show is doing, that Echo, for whatever reason, is beginning to remember her life while having personalities imprinted on her, and at some point in the series I would imagine she’ll remember everything all the time. But what makes the pilot somewhat weak for me is that I feel like I know barely anything about Echo herself. The teaser hints that there’s something she’s trying to atone for, which is ultimately why she agrees to be a “doll,” but it’s left a mystery as to what that is. So far, that seems like a mistake to me… I suppose I can’t be sure until that mystery is revealed.

The rest of the ensemble cast is given too little screen time for me to get a beat on any of them, with the exception of Topher, who is responsible for programming personalities and monitoring Echo. He seems to be the comic relief of the show, espeically since he’s, so far, the only character with even a spark of personality. He reminds me a lot of Mr. Universe from Serenity, and I think he’s got a lot of potential. I hope he doesn’t get killed off in eight episodes like Doyle did in Angel.

I’m excited to see Amy Acker again (Fred from Angel) but her character’s pretty dry and generic scientist chick so far. I think Boyd will go places, though here in the pilot he’s very generic ex-cop and not too much else. I’m more surprised by him so far than anyone, because I hated Harry Lennix’s character in the Matrix films and that’s the only other thing I’ve ever seen him in.

I loved Eliza Dushku as Faith in Buffy and Angel, but I really wish she was playing a more-different character here. I wish Echo herself was played up as being a little older, more mature, and not so party-girl (was that dance scene in the teaser there just as a through-back for Faith fans?). Her performance was definately confident, and as I said before, she made the personality that was imprinted on her three-dimensional and interesting. She doesn’t have the commanding presence of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but then again, neither did she until Buffy had been on for a while. Whether she can carry the series will depend on her versatility in playing multiple personalities while simultaneously turning Echo into a full character.

 As Megan mentioned, the little bits of Joss-speak that are in this stand out and don’t really fit. I’m not sure why there isn’t more. I always thought Whedon’s original dialog had a lot to do with what made his characters come alive, and these folks aren’t real to me yet. Then again, I felt the same way about Firefly’s pilot, which was working so hard to create its universe I couldn’t get a handle on all its characters.

The Dollhouse set is massive, impressive, and was terribly under used in the pilot. I didn’t feel like I was really taken into this universe until the very end, watching the dolls showering and being put to bed. The final scene is the most interesting, and seems to set up what I’m really hoping for– background to make Echo, not just her imprinted personalities, a whole person.

What it’s really got going for it is, as is always the case with Whedon concepts, questions about the human condition. With this one, he’s asking what makes a person a person. How do a person’s experiences, intellect, physical flaws shade them? Is Echo still Echo when she has someone else’s personality imprinted on her? Does that person come alive again through her, or are they just a fascimile? Particularly interesting is the scene where Topher explains that the personality needs all her flaws– including poor eyesight and asthma– in order to function in the capacity she’s assigned for, because the woman she’s based on had them.

The first episode is a little rocky, but even if weren’t a Whedon show, I think it did enough to make me give it a shot.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan