Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Xperience day 1: Star Trek: TNG and the Voodoo Pearl Mermaids

You may recall that for Christmas my parents gave me something I very desperately wanted: A VIP ticket to the upcoming Salt Lake Comic Con Fan Xperience. I cried when I opened the box and saw the ticket inside, and my brothers slow-clapped, It was all very, very good.

And then I had to wait four months to redeem the gift.

The wait was totally worth it!! Three days of fun with friends, great fan-made costumes, and geeking out over stars I'm crazy about (most of whom I've been fans of since junior high).

I had debated whether to dress up in character for one or all or none of the days. If I'd learned one thing from my first Salt Lake Comic Con, it was that the best costumes were the ones where people went BIG and were detailed. Well, my personality isn't one that accommodates planning ahead so that didn't really happen, but I ended up reasonably pleased with the results anyway.

The costume inspiration for day 1, Thursday, April 17: Deanna Troi's uniform from the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot:

I was looking for pieces for my day 3 costume when I stumbled upon a blue dress that nodded to this one. There was no black on the dress (except the buttons), but I DO have boots and a communicator pin. Boom!

This is now one of my favorite dresses and I plan to wear it
a lot this summer. You have been warned.

I realized sometime during that first evening that I had owned that pin for 20 years and never worn it in public. I'm so glad I finally got the chance!

My goal that first day was simple: get a photo with Michael Dorn, the actor who played Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation. His character was my favorite on the show, and this was all I wanted. Unfortunately, I didn't plan ahead, and they didn't allow you to purchase photo ops online the day of the Con. I also worked the whole day, so when I finally got to the Con at about 4pm, checked in, found the photo op station (which was almost as far from the front doors as you can get, and I'm not exaggerating), and reached the front of the line, there wasn't time left in Mr. Dorn's session that day to fit me in. I was disappointed because, as I mentioned, I was IN my Star Trek gear that day, and it would have made more sense than the costume I had planned for the next day. However, the important thing was that I get a photo with him, so I bought an op for the next day, and then went to find my friends.

My friend Carrie was Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on the day I went to Comic Con last year. She's in the costume industry, so when she dresses up she goes all out! On Thursday, she was Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings. A couple of random guys actually got on their knees and bowed down to her at one point. She was hanging out with some Kiss Me Kate guys -- Adam and Kenn -- and soon after, Kati joined us in her ST: TNG uniform, and Kyle showed up looking completely normal.

Kenn, Kati, Adam, Carrie, me, and Kyle

We spent some time just walking around and seeing what there was to see.

I knew Jon was Captain Planet without any prompting.
It was my favorite Saturday morning cartoon when I was in Junior High!

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!

The Voodoo Pearl Mermaids were so nice, and seriously gorgeous.
No wonder this was my most "Liked" photo on FB from that day.

Couldn't resist a classic Star Trek v. Star Wars photo.
Thank goodness this Stormtrooper has a sense of humor!

My friend Howie in her Loki dress, and Stacy in a dress with panels from Marvel comic books

Kati and Kyle had bought tickets to the special event that evening: a panel reuniting all of the cast members from Star Trek: The Next Generation (except for Patrick Stewart and LeVar Burton who weren't there) hosted by William Shatner. Since it cost extra, I'd decided not to go. Kati and Kyle were floored. Kati couldn't even talk, she just guestured wildly at my costume, and Kyle -- who I've had extensive conversations with about the show(s) -- said something to the effect of "Seriously? YOU are going to miss this?!" When time came for them to get in line, everyone else was ready to go home, so I stayed to hang out with Kyle and Kati... I was waffling on the idea of going. I almost cracked up when they both stared at me with the exact same wide, sweet, hopeful expressions on their faces. I finally caved, and bought the very last general admission ticket. Then I tried getting in the VIP line, but it turned out I was not allowed to save seats or let my non-VIP friends wait in line with me, so I ditched that line in favor of hanging out with my friends. I don't regret it!

I'm glad they pressured me into going to the panel. It was so fun and weird to see all of the actors as their normal selves. You could tell they were all good friends and cared about and supported each other.

from left: Michael Dorn (Worf), Brent Spiner (Data), announcer (might be Dan Farr, the man who produced the Con), Jonathan Frakes (Riker, behind the announcer), William Shatner, Marina Sirtis (Troi), Gates McFadden (Crusher, who hasn't aged a day), and Denise Crosby (Yar, you can only see her arm here)

Michael Dorn takes his rightful place behind the horseshoe on the bridge set...

...before Denise Crosby edged him out

First off, Marina Sirtis was a surprise. Apparently she's nothing like her character -- she's totally out-going and wacky. In the middle of Michael Dorn answering the first question, she got up and started walking around. I didn't have a great view of the stage, so I wasn't sure what she was doing. I assumed she was drunk. Turns out, she was trying to move the consoles at the front of the stage because she didn't want to block anyone's view of the cast "These people have paid a lot of money for their tickets and I want them to see us!" She acknowledged that anyone who has ever seen her at one of those things knows the first thing she does is move the furniture :)

Some of my favorite moments/quotes included (yes, I wrote these down):
"There will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all of the children will learn to read." Jonathan Frakes, quoting Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry

"I did think it was interesting that it was 'Bones' and then 'Crusher'." - Gates McFadden

When asked who the actors would choose to play their role in a reboot:
Worf: Idris Elba
Dr. Crusher: Jessica Chastain
Yar: Charlize Theron
Troi: Mila Kunis
Data: Tilda Swinton
Riker: Wil Wheaton

An audience member asked if William Shatner would be willing to guest star on The Big Bang Theory: "I called them once, and they said, 'William who?'"
Brent Spiner: "Well, you know, when I was on the Big Bang Theory..." Audience laughs. "If you'd like, I can give them a call, Bill."

Brent Spiner doing impressions of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan alternately:
"Patrick?"
"Yes, Ian?"
"What are you doing?"
"Talking like you!"

"I didn't stop wearing heels; I just stopped running in them." - Marina Sirtis, after a story about how she sprained her ankle running across the street in high heels.

"I'd say 'Report', all hell would break loose, and I'd say 'Red alert!'" - Jonathan Frakes, pointing out that he never got any of the technobabble dialogue.

Michael Dorn, joking about the time one of the producers insisted he use false teeth: "We would believe that he was Klingon, but his bottom teeth give him away."

Brent Spiner, in reference to the episode "Genesis" where most of the characters but Data regresse into primitive species: "I was the only one who didn't change. I should have been an old laptop."

Marina Sirtis, every time Jonathan Frakes said the "F" word: "This is Utah!"
After the last time he swore she added, "...And it's Easter!"

Here is a video from the last 10 minutes of the panel:


After their curtain call, Brent Spiner made a surprise announcement: Patrick Stewart was going to come to Comic Con on Saturday!!

There was no possible way anyone could top that, and it was closing time anyway, so that marked the end of the first day.

The crowd exploded into applause!

Stay tuned for posts about my experiences on day 2 and day 3 of Salt Lake Comic Con FanX!