This weekend I am going full blown Trekkie!
I’m currently at the UK Star Trek Convention in Birmingham, Destination Star Trek. For all my love of everything Trek, I actually only started going to ST conventions last year. I have yet to go to the major one in Las Vegas, but I did go to DST last year and had an incredible time. This year is proving to be no different!
We weren’t planning on going, but then we heard Anson Mount, who plays Captain Pike in Discovery, was going to be there. Be still my little nerdy heart.
Now, one of my greatest disappointments with Trek is that nothing further was ever done with the cast from the original unaired pilot, “The Cage,” starring Jeffrey Hunter as Captain Pike and Majel Barrett as his second in command.
Don’t get me wrong- I absolutely adore The Original Series (TOS) with Captain Kirk at the helm. But if you’ve ever watched the pilot with Hunter and Barrett, it’s a completely different Trek. It’s less camp, it still has Spock, and it has more women in leadership roles.
The scrapped pilot was eventually worked into a later TOS episode called “The Menagerie,” with scenes from “The Cage” chopped up to set up a backstory about Captain Pike and his eventual fate. So at least Pike got a little bit of justice that way in TOS (if you’ve seen this episode then you know why I say “a little bit of justice.”)
Majel herself got her own justice by not only having parts in different Star Trek series, but by also voicing the onboard computers. Oh, and did I mention she ended up marrying the creator of Trek himself, Gene Roddenberry? So even though her role as Number One didn’t go beyond “The Cage,” she certainly became a major part of the Trek universe.
But back to why I’m at the convention.
When it was announced that Anson Mount, the actor from Hell on Wheels, was going to be reprising the role of Captain Pike… well… As much as I loved Hell on Wheels, Pike’s portrayals in the various movies/shows haven’t always been great.
Lordy, I had nothing to worry about. Anson Mount IS AMAZING.
So as soon as I found out that Anson was going to be at DST this year, I nearly broke the sound barrier rushing to buy my tickets for the event.
We’re also going to be meeting the incredible George Takei, Reading Rainbow’s Levar Burton, and Ethan Peck (who plays Spock in Discovery and is the grandson of one of my favorite actors of all time, Gregory Peck). There will be panels, games, and parties going on as well, plus lots of stuff for sale that I can’t afford but will buy anyway.
I apologize in advance for the Trek posting that is coming your way but I am seriously nerding out and can barely contain myself.
Live Long and Prosper, readers!
Have any of you been to a Star Trek convention? Or any other cons? Let me know in the comments!
A Little Nerd Told Me 