Star Trek Las Vegas 57 Con: Fan Review

This year’s Star Trek extravaganza in Las Vegas (#STLV57) is now in the books. I had a chance to take part in the festivities from start to finish this time.  Here are, in my mind, some of the highlights of this great event put on by Creation Entertainment.

First though, let us go over the big elephant in the room: The SAG-AFTRA strike!  The strike began a couple weeks before the con opened, and there was a lot of angst among fans and STLV con-goers about how the strike may affect our fun.  

Armin Shimerman (AKA Quark), was a leader online in getting valid information to the fans. He did his research, and reported back to fans via social media that actors COULD attend, but would not be able to discuss Trek (or any “struck” work or productions) in the on-stage panels.  Photo Ops and Autograph sessions were authorized.  Ok, I, as a fan, could live with that. My big deal at these cons is to get a picture taken with my favorite stars, so that was still a go.  And, frankly, a lot of the time, the actors on stage discuss a lot of non-Trek things anyway. William Shatner (Kirk) and George Takei (Sulu) are among my favorites in telling all sorts of non-Trekkie stories.  So, STLV was still on!

A few actors, most notably Kate Mulgrew (Janeway), publicly declared she would not attend in solidarity with the strike, but no other major star followed suit (thankfully).  I had my photo op and autograph with her last year, anyway!

Now, on the STLV 57…Here are my big takeaways on this year’s con:

Trek Stars Galore:  Many popular Trek stars came to STLV (as well as a lot of the Orville cast) and interacted with fans. In my experience, the actors seemed genuinely happy to see the fans (when standing for photo ops, for instance).  One cool thing is the ability to interact and talk with the actors in the Vendor’s Room. Many of the stars had tables there and that is where many of them signed autographs and had selfie photos taken with fans. Here are my photos with Garret Wang (forever Ensign Kim), and Christina Chong (La’an).

 

The Star Trek Panels: This one was trickier, as most panelists tried to avoid directly referring to Trek shows or even the names of their own characters. Most failed in this, either by accident or by intention.  As a worker and union member, I understand why they are striking, and I hope their union achieves their goals. As a fan, I paid a lot of money to attend this event, and I really fail to see how not discussing Trek in front of Trek fans at a Trek convention actually will impact the fat-cat CEOs (i.e. the bad guys in this) who are screwing the actors and writers.  Ok, their not talking Trek was not the end of the world and certainly did not really hurt my experience at the con, but it still was irritating.  Then there were some actors who did not give a shit about what the union thought, and discussed Trek to the fans like normal. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, anyone? Shouldn’t that apply to opinions as well as ethnic, racial, gender, etc. diversity?

One very cool thing about the panels is that when Zachery Quinto (Spock) was about two-thirds of the way through his panel, they brought out Ethan Peck (Spock) to join him. A meeting of the two Spocks!  The crowd went wild!  Very cool. 

 

I missed the opening of William Shatner’s (Jim Kirk) panel (I was in line for a photo with the Two Spocks), but later found out that they also briefly brought out Paul Wesley (Jim Kirk and Sam Kirk), and Dan Jeannotte (Sam Kirk). Three Kirks on stage together. And I missed it!

 

Star Trek Cosplay: I don’t cosplay, but a lot of folks do, and the costumes on display were great. My favorites include the Mugato, though there were so many great cosplays!

 

The Next Generation Reunion Panel:  This was a highlight for myself and a lot of fans. Unlike other panels, this one fans had to pay to attend.  But, it was cool!  On stage (talking Trek, but, you know, not really talking Trek), were Jonathan Frakes (Riker) (“Who’s in Charge Here?”-ok, you had to be there to get that line-very funny!), Brent Spiner,  (Data/Lore, et al) Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Michael Dorn (Worf), John de Lancie (Q), Denise Crosby (Tasha/Sela), LaVar Burton (LaForge). The panel was moderated by Picard showrunner Terry Matalas. 

The TNG stars discussed (by name, multiple times), their characters, and aspects of both TNG and Picard Season 3.  The whole “we are on strike and cannot mention Trek by name” thing seemed to be ignored or circumvented a lot on this panel. Crosby talked about how she wished Sela’s character could complete her story arc, and Frakes mentioned Trek by name several times.  As a fan paying for this panel, this was more than I expected.  Oh, and Spiner is genuinely a funny guy. My only complaint is that some big names were missing from this panel: Sir Patrick Stewart (Picard), and Wil Wheaton (Wesley). It would have been great to see them both join their TNG family on stage.

Another great aspect of STLV57, was the ability of fans to interact and discuss Trek. For me, that often came as I stood in long lines for photo ops and autographs.  I met fans from around the country and around the world while in line, and had some great talks about Trek and sci-fi in general.

Other: I should also mention the accommodations at the Rio. The convention site itself is great for this event. I also had the opportunity to attend the World Series of Poker (WSOP) some years ago at the Rio. This hotel/casino has a great space for these huge events. Compared to last year at Bally’s (nice hotel, but the convention space was way to small), having the event back at the Rio was great.

On social media, I see that some fans complained about their rooms at the Rio. My experience was positive, as I had a room in the Masquerade Tower, where the rooms are a bit nicer and larger than in the Rio’s other tower, the Ipanema Tower.  However, while the Rio restaurants were all open this time (for STLV55, during the height of the pandemic, many were closed, the price of the food was grossly overpriced for the quality. Don’t get me wrong, the food was good, but certainly not what I would have paid for a similar meal at a hometown restaurant. 

Overall, the STLV57 con was a great success, and I, for one, enjoyed it immensely. If you enjoyed this fan review, you might want to check me out on Twitter, where I riff on all things Geeky…

Oh, and before we go…I saw this on Twitter. Terry Matalas posted a picture (did he take it?) of Brent Spiner taking a picture of the Mugato in the men’s bathroom at the Rio.  As George Takei might say, ‘Oh, MY!”

 

#STLV Why is @robertbeltran74 getting all this hate? Other stars on stage mentioned Trek and characters by name, inlucuding Armin Shimerman (named Quark), Jonathan Frakes (mentioned Trek multiple times), Denise Crosby (mentioned Tasha and Sela by name, among others. #StarTrek

— Roger Lee👉👉👉#STLV (@Darth_Trojan) August 9, 2023