clay@sbctri.sbc.com (05/17/91)
This past weekend (May 11,12) in St. Louis, I had the pleasure of attending a Dreamwerks-produced Star Trek Con. The scheduled guests were George Takei (Sulu) and Colm Meany (O'Brien). However, Colm MEany couldn't show and there was a last-minute substitution. Appearing for her first Trek con was none other than-----Elizabeth Dennehy (sp?)--our favorite Lt. Cmdr. Shelby!! Frankly, I didn't miss Colm at all and enjoyed hearing from Elizabeth! Now for the interesting tidbits---- % The first part of the Convention started with some representatives of "StarLog" Magazine showing some very interesting material on upcoming comics and movies due to be released within the next 2 months. They showed some studio-approved trailers and slides of "The Rocketeer"--a movie set in the 30's about a man who finds a rocket pack and sets out on a super-hero mission. The effects and film quality on the trailers were quite good. Starlog showed some history of the comic Rocketeer, and indicated he was a contemporary of Doc Savage/Howard Hughes. Next up was some scenes from "Robin Hood:Prince of Thieves" starring Kevin Costner. This one looks GREAT! It co-stars Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (hope I got that right...) as Maid Marion, and the guy (whose name escapes at the moment) who played "Hans" in Die Hard as the Sheriff of Nottingham. Due out 3rd week in June. Finally, they showed some great clips of "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" due out in July. It stars our boy Arnie as another Cyberdyne Terminator, Linda Hamilton as Miss Connor, and a cameo by Micahel Biehn. The budget is HUGE (reportedly approaching $100M) and the Starlog rep said the script was excellent. Looks like a good summer for movies! Also, a little hint about the Addaam's Family--Raoul Julia will be the dad and Christopher Lloyd will be Uncle Fester! % Elizabeth Dennehy appeared next and talked for about an hour about her experience with STNG. She admitted that she never watched the show before her appearance and still doesn't today. She is good friends with Colm Meany and his wife, as well the actress that plays his STNG wife and her husband. She said she had a lot of fun and enjoys the freindship of the cast a great deal. She wants to go back and do another appearance (not a permanent one) but said its up to us fans to lobby to get her back. Personality-wise, she seemed a little nervous at first, but she was positively bouncing with energy through most of it. She's about 5'6 or so, with shoulder-length blonde hair, and I must confess to being somewhat sexist here, she was wearing a mid-thigh length dress that showed some great legs!! (I think I'm in love--unfortunately, although she's single, she seems to be very much involved in a romance right now.....) She had some interesting behind-the-scenes comments on the shooting of BOBW. The uniforms were incredibly difficult to move in, The extras playing the Borg were stuck in the suits for 14 hours a day and couldn't eat or drink anything since there was no provision for going to the bathroom(!), the Borg-ship was every bit as incredible to work on as it looked on screen. Patrick Stewart's nickname on set is "Old Baldy". Jonathan Frakes' hairstyle isn't his fault, and maybe changing next season--it's actually painted on lopsided! % The final guest was George Takei (Sulu). I actually met him earlier in the day about an hour before the official opening as he was going out to jog. In fact, he invites fans along to jog with him in the mornings before the con starts, but I hear very few can keep up with him. VERY friendly person! He says that of all the Star Trek films to date, he's having the most fun on ST6. Sulu has an order of magnitude more work and scenes than ever before (and it's about time IMHO!!). He would NOT confirm in the hall that he will be on another ship or be a Captain, but dropped enough hints about some of the F/X and his costuming (another Fed ship will be very advanced technologically compared to Enterprise and he wears a Star Fleet uniform throughout the movie) that tends to support those rumors. He also would not confirm that Michael Dorn will be in the film. He did let slip that Christopher Plummer will be playing a Klingon, and that the actor who played the Klingon commander of the Bird of Prey in ST5 will be back. David Warner is also back, but will be playing another character. He also was promoting a new movie to be released in June (but only in LA and NY at first) and seemed to be somewhat bitter about his long-awaited "Return from River Kwai", referring to Shakespeare's line about shooting all the lawyers. All-in-all, an enjoyable day! Coming soon....cons in Chicago (June), and in November here in St. Louis Michael Dorn and Susie Plakson will appear. Hailing frequencies closed........ -------- Patrick Clay ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Administrivia - sorry for the lack of articles this past week. I've been dealing with a work crunch and BUYING A NEW CAR, and someone's news software has run amok and has sent me over three hundred copies of his article (to date - they're still coming in). This may cause me to be slow to respond for a while. Thanks for your patience - ed. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jim Griffith /--OO--\ | Two great powers are on our side: the power of griffith@dweeb.fx.com | Love and the power of Arithmetic. These two are BEWARE BATS WITHOUT NOSES! | stronger than anything else in the world.