Grand Slam Convention, Pasadena, California

James Doohan (Scotty) appeared extremely frail and remained seated during his time on stage. Seeing that George Takei was wearing a Japanese outfit that some fans gave him, he quipped, "Scottish people don't give me kilts!"

I saw Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) at an autograph table when he had an emergency. He yelled out, "Wait, everybody. Don't leave!. I've got to pee!" and then he ran out full tilt. (He ran back at full tilt also.) We were shown film clips and movie trailers of Atlantis, Tomb Raider, A.I., Pluto Nash, The Mummy Returns, and Cats & Dogs.

Michael Dorn (Worf) related that he and Brent Spiner (Data) eat lunch at a deli and dish the other actors, "just like two old guys." Whenever he guests on other shows, he says he is the happiest actor in the makeup chair, now that he no longer has to spend 4 hours there. He said the time Colm Meany (O'Brien) had to be made up as a Klingon that he whined incessantly. Michael just told him to try doing it for 10 years! He mentioned that in the episode The Drumhead there was a blooper. In one scene the camera pans in with Worf in the scene, but when the camera pans out, Worf is gone! And he always knew when writer Ron Moore was working on a Klingon script because he would grow a (Klingon) goatee.

Leonard Nimoy (Spock) appeared in a "Vulcan" tee-shirt and told a few jokes at William Shatner's (Kirk) expense. Someone asked him what was the secret of Star Trek's success and he responded, "Great acting!" He also provides a voice in the upcoming movie Atlantis.

Saturday-
Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and Walter Koenig (Chekov) appeared on stage together. Nichols is in a new Disney movie, playing Cuba Gooding's mother. When Cuba was growing up, he and Koenig's children were good friends. Nichols discussed the behind-the-scenes of the famous on-screen kiss between Uhura and Kirk. Koenig mentioned that the episode was historic for another reason-it was the only time that Shatner didn't try to have the script changed!

The audience was entertained by the "Ferengi Family Hour," a melange of music and comedy with Max Grodenchik (Rom), Chase Masterson (Leeta), Aron Eisenberg (Nog), and Cecily Adams (Moogie), recreating their roles from Deep Space 9. They had several song parodies and a takeoff of the Wizard of Oz. I had seen it before, but they have added to the show.

Robert Picardo (Holodoctor) and Roxann Dawson (B'lanna Torres) appeared on stage briefly. They auctioned off one of Roxann's Klingon headpieces for her charity, which is an organization that cares for abandoned Chinese baby girls, discarded because of that country's rigid "one-child" policy and many people only want boys. Dawson recently adopted a Chinese daughter through this agency, and her forehead raised $2,500.

Speaking of auctions, a walk-on, non-speaking role in the next Star Trek series was auctioned off for $10,000. Some people come to convention prepared to spend money. Well, we do too, but not in those amounts.

William Shatner (Kirk) appeared on stage, wearing the most natural toupee that I've seen him in. In a strange case of life imitating art, his role as the beauty pageant emcee in Miss Congeniality led to his being asked to host the Miss USA pageant. While filming Groom Lake in Bisbee, AZ, a border patrol agent took him and his wife on a night patrol. The officers rounded up 35 people, and at night, on horseback, wearing night-vision goggles-the captives started whispering among themselves, "Captain Kirk!" He also got a little personal, describing how he passed a kidney stone. He made the mistake of saying that it was worse than childbirth. I was among the many women who answered, "Ha!" He said he enjoyed Galaxy Quest but wondered why Tim Allen kept sticking out his stomach!

Then Ricardo Montalban (Khan) came out! He was using a wheeled walker and said he has been in constant pain since an operation on his spinal cord several years ago. He recalled that, upon receiving the script for Star Trek II, he didn't think Khan was a very large part. But then he realized that whenever he was not on screen, everyone else was talking about him. He also had to review the episode Space Seed, so he could get back into the role of Khan-he was in his sixth year on Fantasy Island and he wanted to make sure that Khan didn't sound like Mr. Roarke! He revealed that he and Shatner did not actually work together in the movie. They never met on camera, so both of them were reading their lines to a script girl. He also claimed responsibility for the removal of the Frito Bandito commercials. He called the president of the company and calmly and logically showed how derogatory the character was to Mexicans, and the president told him that the commercials would be pulled within 10 days.

John deLancie (Q), in response to a fan's "I love you!" responded, "Thank you. Here's my room number!" He brought his two sons on stage, Keegan and Owen, who have played Q's son at different ages.

Marina Sirtis (Troi) now has two dogs and five cats in her household. Her musician husband is now a restaurant/club owner, which, as she put it, "guarantees him a gig for life." She is currently working on the movie Peace Virus, about a computer virus, with Michael Nouri and Timothy Busfield. In response to a question about cast antics on the set of Next Generation, she said that one director of 2 episodes in the first season refused to come back, because they were "too rowdy."

Marina announced the next guest, James Darren (Vic Fontaine), because he directed the first acting job that she had. Darren said that the part had been written 3 years before he actually played it; the producers wanted Frank Sinatra, Jr. for the part, but he wanted to play an alien instead!

That evening was the musical cabaret. Several of the stars sang and played, including James Darren, Robert Picardo, Robert Duncan MacNeil (Paris), Scarlett Pomers (Naomi Wildman), Chase Masterson, and Tim Russ (Tuvok).

Sunday-
Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Number One, Nurse Chapel, Computer Voice, Lwaxana Troi) spoke briefly. She said that when Next Generation began, Gene told her that he had a role for her, and she wouldn't even have to act! Later she found out that it was the mother from hell (Troi)!

Scarlett Pomers revealed that her favorite musical artists are Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston-not unusual coming from a 12-year-old. A frequent expression of hers was "junk like that" and she talked about her Twizzler commercial. (I noticed during her stint on stage that the interpreter for the deaf was echoing Scarlett's facial expressions while she signed!)

The latest job for Chase Masterson is host of the Sexiest Geek Alive pageant! She said that her first day at Deep Space 9 Avery Brooks (Sisco) kept calling her, "Cathy." When she found out that it was in reference to a NordicTrak infomercial that she had done several years before, she retorted, "They paid me good money to make that. What's your excuse for watching it?" After the last day of shooting for the series, she was among those who took some of the props that were heading for the dumpster. She happened to raid Sickbay of Biomedical Hazard containers. She left them next to her car in front of her house, and her landlord saw them and called the fire trucks!

Rene Auberjonois (Odo) and Armin Shimerman (Quark) appeared on stage and did two comedic readings from Peter Cook and Dudley Moore material. Auberjonois has guest starred on Frazier and Nash Bridges and Shimerman on The Invisible Man. Shimerman has almost completed his next book and is also a voice on Evil Con Carne, a show on the Cartoon Network.

Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) says that he has never lived down his character's backing off from Seven of Nine's proposition. He hopes in the future to bring the story of the 4/42 on the World War II European front to the screen. This unit was highly decorated and consisted of Japanese Americans, during the time in which many of their families were incarcerated in the United States.

Robert Wise, director of the Andromeda Strain, the Sound of Music, the Day the Earth Stood Still, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, appeared on stage and answered questions.

Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) said she wanted to thank all the "young, male demographics" for sticking with her (a woman) as captain of a starship. She claimed that all fans will be satisfied, surprised, and moved by the show's finale. When a German fan mentioned her appearance in Bonn, Mulgrew responded by commenting that while she was there, she could not get anyone to discuss the Holocaust. The responses to her comment from several fans from Germany both moved and encouraged her. She auctioned off two scripts and an autographed cast photo to benefit Alzheimer's research, as her mother has been diagnosed with it. Within five minutes she raised $19,000.

Tim Russ , Ethan Phillips (Neelix), Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan MacNeil, and Robert Picardo appeared on stage at the same time. It was the usual lunacy expected whenever more than one Voyager (male) cast member appears. (Dawson: Do you see what I have to put up with every day?) Picardo said that since he has played a medical doctor for 11 years (previously on China Beach), he was being awarded an honorary degree from Proctor and Gamble. Dawson may have given a hint to the finale; she said that when she heard her character was going to be pregnant in the final season, "Don't you know that I'm going to end the show in stirrups!" Nine Minutes of Love is a film directed by MacNeil which will be shown on the SciFi Channel's show Exposure toward the end of April; Ethan Phillips stars in it.

Of the new Star Trek series, Brannon Braga said that all he could tell us was that there would be one. He had expected Paramount to have already made an official announcement about it, and he cannot discuss anything until that announcement is made. He expects it within the next few weeks. Some people asked how to send ideas/scripts to Paramount and several requested more Latino/Mexican characters. (My response to the latter, whispered to my seatmate, was "What kind of name do they think Torres is, anyway?" She agreed, since the cast of Voyager included two Hispanic actors, Dawson and Robert Beltran [Chakotay].) Braga did promise more time travel in the remaining Voyager episodes.