Page 6A
Bird's EyeView
Monday, November 11, 1996
FIRST CONTACT
STORY BY ADAM WARD
PHOTOS BY BRIAN HOTT
After avoiding the people who helped make Star Trek into the booming business it is today, William Shatner has returned to the conventions, making an appearance Saturday in Kansas City, Mo.
Irk is Mickey Mouse. At least for the people who run Star Trek conventions.
for the people who Trek conventions. Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner, is as much a cultural icon as the cartoon character, said Dave Scott, owner of Trek Productions, the company that ran the Kansas City Star Trek convention.
Saturday's Star Trek convention at the Kansas City Market Center in Missouri, was testament to Shatner's drawing power. An eclectic group of about 1,600 fans bought tickets for the convention from the Connecticut-based company, Scott said.
While most people preferred to keep a low profile, several versions of the Star Fleet uniform were spotted at the conference. A father and his son even dressed in full Klingon warrior garb. For just as the
identity of Shatner and the parody of him have merged, as if by some horrible transporter accident, the fans, too, have been stereotyped.
One of Shatner's Saturday Night Live skits sums it up succinctly. At a Star Trek convention in New York, Shatner tells earnest Trek nerds: "You have turned an enjoyable little lark I did 20 years ago into a colossal waste of time."
But after being scolded by a furious Phil Hartman, playing the convention manager, Shatner comes back to the podium and says that was, of course, a dramatic speech reenacting the evil Captain Kirk from episode 37.
William Shatner addresses the nearly 2,000 fans at the Star Trek convention in Kansas City, Mo. Shatner spoke about Star Trek memories, personal experiences and fielded audience questions during his appearance on Saturday.
Shatner's relationship to Star Trek conventions has followed the model of the skit, said Scott. For many years, Shatner wasn't speaking at conventions. He was trying to leave behind the cartoon that Captain Kirk has become. But now he is 63 and, perhaps, he appreciates the arder of his fans a little more.
He certainly must appreciate their money.
Science fiction fans paid from $16 to $20 to indulge their guilty pleasure and an extra $40 for the opportunity to have Shatner autograph Star Trek memorabilia. And when asked about Shatner's speaking fee, Scott suggested imagining the cost of a one-bedroom house in Kansas City.
But commerce was secondary for disciples of the show.
Catherine Skelton, Lansing senior, was nonplused by a convention promising only Shatner and Chase Masterson, an actress with a minor recurring role on Deep Space Nine, a Star Trek spin off. Skelton flew to Los Angeles last year to attend convention with the entire original cast of Star Trek, she said. But she is still enough of a die-hard Trekkie to pay the extra $40 to meet Shatner at the Kansas City convention.
"I guess I like the whole idea of sci-fi," she said.
But she is sensitive to the associations that go along with attending a Star Trek convention.
"I try not to be critical, but some people take it a little too far," she said.
Skelton illustrated her comment with the example of a woman that came on stage with Shatner at the Kansas City convention and started crying because her life-long dream had been fulfilled.
"She wasn't operating on all her
in full Kinging regalia,
Rick Lumpkin and his son Nate listen to William
Shatner address fans at the Star Trek convention, which drew nearly 2,000 Trekkies and science fiction fans.
"I've never seen a speaker interact with an audience like he did."
Eric Steum
Wichita senior on William Shatner's convention appearance
Eric Stehm
Dwarfed by mountains of Star Trek merchandise and memorabilia, Debbie Aiman, Kansas City dealer, sells everything from promotion photographs to science fiction videos. Many dealers in Star Trek merchandise traveled hundreds of miles to sell T-shirts, cards, models and other science fiction items.
thrusters," Skelton said.
Even at a Star Trek convention, fans can't take total refuge in each other. Skelton was still in a minority.
"There is a certain sleaze factor here." she said.
After 80 years of Star Trek conventions, the people running the show know the audience. Video tapes for sale promising two-hour footage of naked film stars, including actress Marina Sirtis, Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a tape concisely titled Nudes in Science Fiction told the story. As did the booth selling implements of death, including a four-pointed
Klingon sword. And then there was Masterson, whose outfit inspired debates that went roughly like this: "What do you think ... silicone?" "She's from L.A., of course it's silicone."
But what it came down to for most of the conventioneers was Shatner.
"I've never seen a speaker interact with an audience like he did," said Eric Stehm, Wichita senior.
Stehm's first Star Trek convention was marked by some disappointment, he said. He thought it would be bigger. But Shatner's anecdotes from his glory days were what most were shelling out their money for, such as the story Shatner began in what outsiders might call a typical Star Trek-convention way.
"Do you remember the episode when I fought the aliens from Gorn in the desert?" he asked.
Shatner was speeding through a California desert when a police officer pulled him over at 4 a.m, he said. Shatner was still in costume. Shatner saluted the cop and explained he had a ship to run. The cop let him go, shaking his head and saying now he'd seen everything.
Tami Weaver, Wichita resident, has her lifelong dream of meeting William Shatner fulfilled as she danced with him on stage. Not all Star Trek fans at the convention fit the associations that go along with the event, said Catherine Skelton, Lansing senior. "She wasn't running on all her thrusters," Skelton said of Weaver.
Borg alien Kerry Menzie nk his girlfriend Lisa Embrey, in Starfleet attire, browse the merchandise tapes packed with *Star Trek* memorabilia. Menzie and Embrey are KU alumni.