Destination: Star Trek London

So, as you know, i went to my very first Star Trek convention this weekend, and it did not disappoint. Boy, did it not disappoint! It did however financially ruin us, so i'm probably gonna have to start charging you for reading this blog. Yeah, the meter is running and you owe me money already, so you might as well keep reading!

I'm gonna try to keep it brief as to not bore any non-Trek readers out of their minds, but seriously, there are a few things i need to mention. Ok, a lot of things!
I'll keep it about the convention, and not Star Trek in general, but it's gonna get geeky anyway... consider yourselves warned!

I don't think i've ever smiled that much in my life... everything was just so awesome and exciting!
From we arrived at the venue and talked to the first fans (a couple of ladies wearing q'apla! t-shirts gave us directions) till we left on Sunday, it was pretty much a sci-fi love fest.
Me and Sarah dressed up Friday and Saturday in the costumes i'd made for us, and we spent quite a long time on 60's hair and makeup too. But it totally paid off, cause a bunch of people (granted, mostly dudes) wanted their picture taken with us, which hey, so flattering and fun! We got to meet some really nice people that way, and it made us feel less awkward about approaching someone in say, an awesome Q costume for pictures, cause we were doing it too.

We went to the opening ceremony were the captains all talked, and Scott Bakula signed John Barrowman's butt, and we went to the Kate Mulgrew and Patrick Stewart talks as well, just to hear them speak to us with their fantastic voices. Seriously, they could have just read to us from the phone book, and we would have been happy!

I hadn't booked any photo shoots with any of the actors, cause i'm more about the autographs for some reason, but we did have our photos taken on the bridge of the original series Enterprise, and they turned out so good! I'm gonna scan them later so you can see them too... so fun!
The autographs were expensive as fuck, so i really had to limit myself, which was tough cause i am a fan of all the series and many of the actors in them, but we've already decided to try to hit up a US or German convention next year, so i'm telling myself it's a collection in progress!

My first one was William Shatner. I was pretty much rushed in as one of the last ones on Friday, and it was... pretty disappointing. He's just not into fans, and he doesn't personalize his autograph either, so it felt like a bit of a ripoff. I tried to make excuses for him, as he is an older gentleman, but seeing him all spry and snappy on stage later pretty much shattered that theory.
After that i worried how it would go with the others on Saturday, and while Kate Mulgrew personalized every autograph, it was very much another in-and-out money grab.
She seemed nice, though, and she was busy and had jet-lag, but i think we were all hoping for a little more, or any, eye contact.
Sarah had a photo shoot booked with her, and had hoped to get a chance to show her the Janeway tattoo she pretty much had made for this event, but she only got to give Kate a glimpse through her tights, and while we understood very well that it had to be quick and efficient, we all kind of agreed that you can make an exception for someone who has endured about 7 hours of intense pain for you. Even Chase Masterson agreed with us on that one!
Luckily we met a staff member on Sunday, right before leaving, who told us that Kate had indeed been very impressed, and that made us, Sarah in particular, feel a lot better!

My main autograph, and main hero of the Star Trek universe, is obviously Captain Picard, and after what happened (or rather didn't happen) with Shatner and Mulgrew, i suddenly feared that Patrick Stewart would be a let down. I'd had so many expectations, and i even had this idea to get him to sign my leg (by my Star Trek tattoo) so i could get it tattooed later (we even brought equipment!) but i quickly realized that it wasn't gonna happen. He was by far the most popular guest, and had no time for posed photos or personalizing autographs, so i started to worry if he wouldn't even notice me. So when we got to the table i just blurted out something super lame and loud like "OHMAGAWD, WE LOVE YOU AND YOU'RE THE BEST EVER!" and probably cause he was so surprised he looked up and went "oh, hehe, thank you" and my heart basically exploded! He then said something else, like see you next time or something like that, and i answered that we'd come by anytime he was there, and it sounded way flirtier than intended, but whatever, it got his attention, right?
Getting autographs and meeting your heroes can be pretty terrifying, but when it goes really well? Man, there's nothing like it, it's just exhilarating!
We were shaking and laughing for a good 15 minutes after, i think.
Isn't the human brain just the weirdest thing? Meeting a total stranger shouldn't logically be able to make a person that happy, but it sure can.

Our autograph session with Brent Spiner on Sunday went even better, and it was the perfect ending to a great weekend. He was sitting next to Michael Dorn, who'd seemed a little aloof when he signed for us on Saturday, but Brent? I don't think i'm exaggerating when i say he talked to us for a good 5-10 minutes, and he just couldn't have been nicer. We asked him to pose with us for a Data sandwich, to which he had to say no cause of their rules and the fact that there was a huge line behind us, but he was so sweet about it, it didn't even matter. Oh, and i got to show him my Star Trek tattoo, one of my most (well, only) meaningful tattoos, and it meant the world to me to get to show it to one of the people who inspired me to get it.

During the weekend, we often talked about how our many visible tattoos kind of gave us an unfair advantage over other fans, cause they're such good conversation starters, but who cares, right? It's an awesome advantage!
Who else did we meet... Daniel Stewart was so nice, and our conversation with him kind of transitioned into a twitter conversation later. What an awesome dude! And he came by when we were talking to Brent Spiner too, and you guys, seeing cast members be friends in real life is one of those things that can pretty much make me weep like a little girl! He's also in one of my favorite TNG episodes, which i completely forgot to tell him.
Micahel Dorn was very handsome, Rene Auberjonois and Chase Masterson were so sweet and took their time to chat and pose for photos with us, and Tricia O'Neil went one step further and got down on the floor to pose with my Enterprise tattoo, cause as she put it, she wa the captain of that ship after all! Technically she wasn't the captain of that particular Enterprise, but who cares, right?
Casey Biggs made a comment about my Lita's not being Starfleet regulation, and Sarah got something like four people to write "breast wishes" on her autograph poster, which we of course found hilarious!
At the Klingon Ball on Friday we ran into Martha Hackett who posed with us, and we almost got a photo with John de Lancie there too, but decided to leave him alone to party.
The same happened on Monday, when we were out sightseeing with our friend Stan, and we saw Kate Mulgrew walk right by us and into a nearby book store! It wasn't easy to turn off the stalker impulses telling us to run after her, but we did it.
What else... oh yeah, fun story, i think it was on Saturday? This photographer was taking pictures of us outside the convention, and he spotted Marc Alaimo having a smoking break and decided to ask him if he'd pose in the photos with us. We didn't go over there, cause they weren't our pictures, but we could hear the guy ask from a distance only to get the answer "come on, man, i'm on a break!". So, yeah, no photos, but we got a good laugh about how we basically just got shot down by Gul Dukat!

I had my Canon with me, but the film in it was all wrong, so i'm not sure my pictures will come out good.
I did take a picture of Sir Patrick Stewart while he was signing that i'm hoping will come out good, but since i wasn't allowed to take any pictures there at all (and i did get busted, believe me, analog cameras aren't discreet), i didn't have time to focus, so i somehow doubt it!
But it was on my list of goals for the weekend, so i'm happy i did it either way.

Shit, this got long.
Why didn't anyone stop me?!?!
I wonder if anyone but Sarah and Allan (and possibly a few of our other buddies who was there too) are still reading this?

Anyway, here's a bunch of iPhone pictures, mostly taken by Allan who was in charge of documenting and sneaking celeb photos when they weren't looking.
Good job, babe!



Friday's outfits

Odo!
 

Buying photos for autographs

So dreamy!

 Seska!
 

 On Saturday we'd found better tights

Archer and Porthos, one of my favorite costumes of the weekend
 

 The picture that was supposed to have Gul Dukat in the middle
 

Worf!
 

 Leeta!

Another costume favorite: Arachnia

There were many Q's

 Janeway!

A couple of Kai's

Fantastic Picard lookalike, and a shorter dress than ours... what a cool family!

The real deal!

His talk was nice too

Our transportation hub of the weekend

Sunday was casual day (but still matchy, of course!)

TNG history

Captain Garrett and my beloved ol' Enterprise tattoo!

What a fantastic lady

 More props... this episode was so sad!

Data!
 

The best autograph of the convention, we were SO stoked to have met him, and i hope it won't be the last time...
 

Blurry, but awesome, people in line for the costume parade

Monday breakfast with Stan in central London
 

 After breakfast, occult book shopping
 

We stayed the night at a hotel near Gatwick, cause we had an early flight, and we treated ourselves to some room service... and oh, TNG was on TV, very appropriate!
 

 A few extra from my instagram
 (1. One more from casual Sunday 2. Close-up 3. Priced possession 4. Tower bridge 5. Last photo 6. Allan signing the contract for our new house in Berlin... fuck yes!) 


Man, sorry if that got a little out of hand... just be glad i don't do this that often!

LLAP

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