You say you haven’t been to a Star Trek convention in months? And of course, it’s looking like there might not be any in-person conventions any time in the foreseeable future. So yeah, this pandemic totally sucks. But there is one silver lining in in the cloud: convention celebrity guests are stuck at home, too.
How is that a silver lining? Well, it means that we fans can rub virtual elbows with them (and with other fans) via YouTube livestreams, and there’s no need to rent convention space or pay to fly the celebrity guests to other cities and put them up in hotels. In other words, virtual conventions can be FREE!
Sure, there are no dealers rooms or autograph tables or photo ops. On the other hand, no lines…and you don’t need no stinkin’ badges either! So virtual cons are the next best thing to being there—and at least for now, they’re the only game in town.
Thus far, there have been a few scattered livestreams here and there with Trek celebrities. But starting today and finishing on Monday (July 15-20), SUMMER VIRTUAL TREK CON 2020 will kick off with 35 confirmed guests…ranging from authors and VFX and make-up people all the way up to the major Star Trek stars you all love to see, like…
- Nichelle Nichols – Lt. Uhura: TOS with a Special Message for her Fans!
- Doug Jones – Saru: DSC
- Nana Visitor – Kira Nerys: DS9
- Michelle Hurd – Raffi: ST Picard
- Tim Russ – Tuvok: VOY
- Armin Shimerman – Quark: DS9
- Alexander Siddig – Dr. Bashir: DS9
- Andy Robinson – Garak: DS9
- Robert Beltran – Chakotay: VOY
- Gary Graham – Ambassador Soval: ENT
- Cirroc Lofton – Jake Sisko: DS9
- Ira Steven Behr – Writer, Exec Producer: DS9, TNG
- Robert Hewitt Wolfe – Writer: TNG and DS9
- Max Grodenchik – Rom: DS9
- Mary Chieffo – Chancellor L’Rell: DSC
- Raven Dauda – Dr. Pollard: DSC
- Hana Hatae – Molly O’Brien: TNG, DS9
- Doug Drexler – Make-up, Art Department, VFX: TNG, DS9, VGR, and EN
- The Sons of Kirk – Star Trek-themed rock band, fronted by Gary Graham
And the list goes on and on. You can see everyone who is scheduled here.
And speaking of schedules, here’s a link to the all of the panels and events for the next six days (including direct links to each YouTube livestream):
https://www.virtualtrekcon.com/Calendar
Attending is as simple as clicking any of the YouTube links listed on the Calendar page. And if you go to the YouTube channel below and hit the SUBSCRIBE button, you can sign up for reminders of when each live panel begins:
https://www.youtube.com/THE7THRULE
To my knowledge, this is the most ambitious virtual Trek convention assembled since the pandemic started. It’s the brainchild of CIRROC LOFTON (Jake Sisko) and RYAN T. HUSK (fan filmmaker and cameo guy on a number of studio Trek productions) along with MALÍSSA LONGO (widow of the recently passed and sorely missed ARON “Nog” EISENBERG). It’s a fan labor of love, where fans can participate and ask questions via virtual chats.
Come be a part of history in the making!