Pre-STLV 2024: Trek Updates, Discovery Finale, and Convention Tips [JULY 2024]

In this July episode of the Trek Convention Podcast, we gear up for the highly anticipated STLV 2024 in Las Vegas! Join us as we dive into the latest Star Trek news, including the mixed reactions to the Star Trek: Discovery season finale and exciting updates like Terry Metawas's rumored remake of the 1985 classic, *Enemy Mine*. Plus, hear our thoughts on what makes series finales so challenging to get right. 

Get ready for some pre-convention excitement as Bill discusses his packing strategy (or lack thereof) and shares handy tips for navigating conventions. Jenna chimes in with her top picks for photo ops, focusing on beloved Trek stars and their roles in other favorite series. We also revisit some nostalgic moments and preview the famous Photo Ops Challenge, where we each pick our dream photo ops within a $300 budget.

Whether you're a die-hard Trekkie or a casual fan, this episode is packed with insights and fun! Don't miss our lively discussions and detailed preparations for one of the biggest Star Trek conventions of the year.

🖖 Highlights

- Discovery Season Finale Reactions: Breaking down the highs and lows.
- Trek News Flash: Latest updates and headlines from the Star Trek universe.
- Convention Packing Tips: Essential items to bring for a smooth experience.
- Photo Ops Challenge: Who's worth your photo budget? Our picks and reasons!
- Listener Interaction: How to give feedback and share your convention experiences.

Tune in, engage, and get ready to boldly go where many fans will soon gather! 🚀

Chapters

• 0:00 Show Open
• 1:07 In Defense of the Discovery Finale
• 3:31 The 2024 Photo Ops Challenge
• 28:33 Episode Wrap Up

Transcript

0:06

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Welcome to the Trek Convention Podcast. Thank you for joining us. As always, we'll be discussing all the latest convention updates, our favorite Trek headlines, and discussing everything we know and love from the Star Trek universe. All, of course, from a fan's point of view. Welcome to the July episode of the Trek Convention Podcast. We hope you enjoyed the June episode, and we're referring to this July episode as the pre-STLV 24 Vegas convention episode, because that convention is scheduled to start August 1st. So, this is just before that. But a lot has happened since our June episode. Uh, Star Trek Discovery season finale has finallied. Prodigy has begun its second season, after much time. Uh, Terry Metallus has apparently signed to do an updated version of the 1985 sci-fi film Enemy Mine, which some of us may remember, even vaguely. Before we get into the convention stuff and the big August event, I just wanted to touch base on the Discovery season finale. There's been a lot of articles about it, and they're a bit mixed at best, and most seem to lean into the not-as-good-as-TNG camp, which isn't surprising. That was a, that was a very good, very good way to end a series. Uh, it's hard to end a series. It's not easy. Uh, and comparing TNG and Discovery isn't entirely fair. TNG was on for seven years. Discovery only had five. There was 176 TNG episodes. Again, 65 for Discovery, given the nature of streaming. And Next Generation was released pretty reliably on a particular cadence. So, we got very much used to, like, the next one, the next one, the next one. Where Discovery, again, going to the production challenges of streaming, it was a little less, like, guaranteed. So, it meant that fans didn't have as much time to, um, to get to know the cast and characters. Uh, TNG actually knew they were ending on the seventh season, where Discovery, from what we've all read, it seems like it was sort of a, uh, gotcha. So, the writers had a chance with TNG to write toward an ending, which doesn't seem to be the case with, uh, with Discovery. And series enders are hard because you have to be able to wrap up all the threads from a years-long series. And in the case of a Star Trek franchise, you have to do it without painting any of the characters or the franchise itself into a corner for the next series or a movie. And you have to give each actor, uh, a moment to address their character. This is their last shot to express themselves as the character. And you have to do it in such a way where it doesn't look like you're walking down the receiving line of a wedding reception where it's like, this one's up and this one's up and this one's up. So, and you still have to make the audience feel, uh, sad because the journey's over. But you also have to make them feel happy that we took the journey at all. So, it's always going to be a very mixed bag. And, uh, so I just want to, in defense of Discovery, honestly, uh, I, I also thought TNGs were better, but there's a lot of reasons why it was better other than just the cast. And there's a lot of factors involved. Uh, and who knows? Several years from now in the, the cast of time, we, uh, we may or may not think differently about Discovery, especially when it's part of a, part of a bigger story, which seems like it's going to be. But yeah, I just want to talk about the series finale. And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's Jenna. Hey, Jenna, how are you? I'm good, Bill. How are you? I'm good. I am digging my luggage out of the closet to pack because I did actually buy a ticket. I've been a little cash strapped this year. Wait, wait, wait. It's July 1st. So, 30 days before the show, and you're just now starting to pack. I know that's not like me. It's not like you at all. I did identify a bag that I could carry to put my camera in that's less cumbersome than the other ones. Let's just get comfortable. Let's get comfortable while Bill talks about his bags. I have so many. I have so much baggage as I've been told by so many people for so many years. But yeah, it's, it's time. Um, I can always not get on the plane if I feel like I'm gonna spend too much. And our, and our second segment, we'll, we'll talk about the photo ops challenge and how much money we can or not. We, but I can spend or not spend when I get there because then there's food to buy. I want to go back to the, I want to go back to the bags. I'm sorry. I have to go back to the package. You're, you're jumping ahead to the, to the money, but let's, let's talk about the packing for a second. So you've got your, you've got your camera bag. Have you picked out your clothes that you're going to wear and put in your bags? No. Like I say, I, the, the camera bag goes under my seat because you don't want to put that. I mean, if you don't want to put it in the overhead, you don't want to, yeah, of course not. So that's, you know, and that's the one I'm gonna carry into the convention every single morning and leave with. And it's gotta be the, the one I have is better. You better leave with it. Yeah. It's going to have like six air tanks on it. One in the bag, one in the camera, one of the water bottle, you know, everything's got an air tank, but yeah, that's gotta be able to fit under the seat in front of me and be comfortable to carry for, for what is, is it 40 days? Is that the length of the convention? I feel like it's 40 days. I don't know. At least 40 days. Yeah. It feels like 40 days. Yeah. So do you carry a, I don't know why this is so fascinating topic for me, which is probably not fascinating for anybody else, but let's talk about it anyway. Do you actually check bags? No. Oh God. No, no, no. And honestly, uh, I, on the, one of the social feeds, uh, I posted an article about like things to take to a convention, like, uh, which recommended, you know, an extra power adapter and a little battery and all that kind of stuff. It was one of the more, one of the more popular articles that was on the feed. Uh, and it wasn't just like Star Trek conventions or conventions. It was like anybody from going to a business thing to like, uh, any kind of a business convention or any kind of a fun convention, there's stuff you got to have with you. But so yeah, the, the luggage is a, is a thing, is a thing. Okay. Well, I'll let you, uh, I'll, I'll let you off the hook with your luggage, but I love talking about luggage. I have so many. I'm just shocked that it's 30 minutes, 30 minutes. It's 30 minutes before the convention. It's 30 days before the convention and you haven't packed yet. That is not unsurprising. That is surprising. Yes. It's surprisingly uncharacteristic. It is surprisingly uncharacteristic. Yes. Yeah. Speaking of the, uh, the social feeds, I don't know if people have noticed or even care, but, uh, NASA photos show up there now. Usually every morning starts off with the, the NASA photo of the day. I like NASA photos. Some people do. Yeah. They're, they're a lot of the, the, the Trek fans are very, uh, space oriented, which is not surprising at all. And then there's, uh, from Reddit, there's the possibly inappropriately named starship porn channel where people, uh, build their own little 3d graphics of, uh, starships, which that posts usually about noon every day. There's a little break in your day. Look at, you know, star shapes, star shapes, no starships, star shapes, our shapes. Well, you could be looking at star shapes on the NASA photos. Yeah. The starships may not be star shaped, but that could be, there's no, no, no prejudgment. And for those of you looking for, to provide feedback to our, um, our, uh, our, our podcast, to us, just say to us, just, just to the podcast, we have too many problems to go through. And, but, uh, there is a, there is a text back, uh, button on the, uh, on the Buzzsprout, uh, hosting channel for this, uh, for this podcast. So you can be kind, but you can give us feedback. Anywho, why is Jenna throwing her face in her hands? What's with the face plant? I've just, you know, it was a good story, Bill. Thanks. And speaking of good stories, it's time for the 2024 Trek Convention podcast famous photo ops challenge. And for those of you who have never been through the photo op challenge, it's a, it's a game we play where you have a theoretical $300 budget and you have to pick who you would have a photo op with that gets you through that 300, not to exceed. You have to be prepared to defend your choices. And if you had a little bit more money, who would you add? Cause we always do that. I always go over and you always go under and they're like, well, if Mark Alimo were there, the whole world would change. The whole world would be different, but he's not there. No, I don't think we're ever going to see Mark Alimo at a convention again. I, I think we might have seen the last of him at a convention. Let's not, let's get people into thinking the man is gone. But yeah, I mean, we, I think we talked about it before. He's not, he's not super young. He does have a little trouble hearing. So sitting on stage and trying to hear what people hear in the audience or say in the audience as far as asking questions is probably not a fun time for anybody. But yeah, but you got Bobby Clark. But if, if people, okay, wait, cause if people are new to the podcast, they are not going to understand why we're talking about Mark Alimo or who Mark Alimo is. So Mark Alimo played Gol Dukat in Deep Space Nine. And I saw him at a convention one time and decided that I had a crush on him and the end. Okay. And now we're all caught up. And now we're all caught up. And Mark Alimo for his part knows nothing of this. He knows about DS9 and his role in it. Everything after that is, uh, yeah. You don't know. You don't know. He could be a big fan of the podcast. Who knows? I want to think that's true. You're like the end. The end. It could be. I'm, I'm not optimistic, but it could be. So that's the, uh, the photo ops challenge. Uh, would you like to go first? Me? No, the other, the other podcast participant, which would be my lunch, but no. Your lunch. Yeah. We don't want you eating your lunch on a microphone like you were earlier. Yeah. Well, I wasn't recording that. This is, this is live to tell you. You just, yeah. You just made me listen to it. Well, it wasn't even like ASMR. It was just, it was just gross. Oh good. Anyway, what are we doing? Uh, photo op challenge, 300 bucks. Who would you buy? Okay. Okay. So here's the thing. Here's the thing. Okay. I like Star Trek. I do. I'm, I'm, you know, not, you're not anti Star Trek. I like Star Trek. I do. But for the, if I had a budget for the photo ops, I would want to spend them on people who had, who I actually recognize from other things too. Right. So definitely if I have a favorite who is in Star Trek, then obviously I would go for them. Right. But for everyone else, I'm, I'm more interested in, um, what else have you done? Right. So starting with Amanda, I think your name is last name is Shul or Shul. Um, she was in 12 monkeys. She was the lead, the female lead in 12 monkeys with Todd Stashwick. Right. And her, um, character actually hooked up with Todd Stashwick's character, just for the record. Like you do. Uh, and she was $60. Yes. All right. So then she's a horse doll. Oh, sorry. You said that. And I thought you were saying something completely different, but yes. What did you think I was going to say? Something. Yeah. I don't, I thought you just blurted out a word. Uh, Cheryl's doll. I'm like, bless you. That is, that is rude because then she thinks her name is makes sounds like Gesundheit. Kayla horse doll. I think I'm saying that right. I would say Shela. I'm really bad at that. So and while you're looking at that, I would point out that she was the federation president. She was discovered in discovery. Shayla horse doll. Shayla. Okay. I think I was closer. Shayla horse doll. Um, she was the, the federation president in discovery, which you just said. Um, she was also in men in the high castle and in man of the high castle, she was the head Nazis wife. And she was like the perfect housewife with the perfect house and the perfect children and all of that. And her acting in that series was phenomenal. Her character arc, um, the way she played emotions and she was amazing in that. So I would love to get a chance to meet her. Yeah. Uh, and she was also only $60. Yes. And then, and then there's Eugene Cordero who's he's Rutherford in, um, uh, lower decks and my favorite, he's probably my favorite character in lower decks. He's hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's, um, yeah. But my favorite role of his is in Loki when he plays Casey. And you remember when we, like the first episode of Loki came out and I was like, Oh my God, Casey, if you were like, who? And all I could talk about was Casey and his fish. Okay. What's a fish. So he's also $60. So I'm up to 180. I think so. Hold on. Uh, we don't do math here. No, not quickly anyway. Times three is yeah. 180. Yeah. Uh, so then I would add Todd Stashwick. Oh, okay. Yeah. Uh, Captain Titan as we call him. Yes. Captain Titan. He was for me, the only part of, he wasn't the only part of Picard that I loved, but he was certainly the best Potter Picard in my mind. Picard season three. I loved his character. I loved his portrayal. I loved everything about it. Yeah. Um, and I think I mentioned when, I think I mentioned when I had his photo, when I have a photo taken with him at the Hollywood show, which is a much smaller event and smaller rooms and fewer people. When he walked into the room where they have photos taken, he just screamed captain on the Ridge and people that didn't know who he was, which by the way, where most of the people in the organization, come on, went to buy a ticket. They're like, who now? Like, I don't think you're allowed to sell me a ticket to someone. You don't know who they are. But yeah, for the rest of us, it was laughter and amusement and yay. I'm sorry. You did interrupt. Shame on you, Bill. Yeah. Shameful Bill. Anyway. So Todd Stashwick brings me up to 250. And so it's kind of hard, like, yeah, he's 70. So it's kind of hard to find somebody for 40 to $50. I think I would probably spend that extra money in the autograph rooms and buy an autograph, buy an autograph or two and get Bobby Clark's autograph, which you're going to get me as a present this year. Right. Yes. And, um, I like how I'm telling you what present you're going to get me. So it'll be a surprise. Yeah. For me, actually. Um, you asked if what would happen if you had a little stretch money? Yeah. Your budget is $300. You know, if you had another 50, 60, 70 bucks, what would you spend it on? So I would get the group photo of Jess Bush and Babs Yeah. Um, who are of course the medical team for discovery, not discovery, uh, strange new worlds. Yeah. He's Dr. Mbenga. Mbenga. Mbenga. Are we just going to keep saying the same thing back and forth? It's like when I say and someone says, no, it's like, you mean further? Yeah. Anyway. So what are you talking about? Like the soup. Whenever I bring up somebody says, oh, it's not the, it's the, I'm like, I can't hear the difference between the words we're saying. Okay. Go on. So yeah. Cause they do have one combo photo now. And they're both, the combo photo is one 20 and they're both $60. So, um, that puts me up to three 70 and I can make $70 work. I have a job. Yeah. I can spend an extra $70 here or there. I'm looking for one, but I would like to have a job. I remember what having a job was like fondly. Yeah. I actually, once I said that, I kind of felt guilty because you don't have a job and I do contracts and, uh, so is that, uh, is that the, uh, the full list? That is my list. So Amanda show Shayla horse doll, Eugene Cordero, Tad Stashwick. And if I wanted to stretch a little, I would get just Bush and Babs. Now I know you mentioned when I mentioned to you early on that Carol Kane was going to be there. I forgot Carol Kane. Yeah. But she's a hundred bucks. So she blows everybody's butt. Well, here's the thing. So there's a, that's a question. Would it be better to get just Bush and Babs Olsen Maka or I keep saying that because I'm very proud of the fact that I think I can say his last name correctly. I think I'm saying his last name correctly. You may be saying, I may be saying exactly. Oh, Carol Kane. Yeah. She, she goes into my, uh, goes with my theme of getting photos with people who have other roles that you know of. Right. I don't know. Maybe, maybe I would replace Jeb Bush with Jeb Bush. You think Carol Kane is the, uh, the governor of Florida? Is that, that was funny. Jess Bush. Jess Bush. Yeah. Jeb Bush. It would be an entirely different convention if, uh, we mixed in people from different, different, uh, industries. If, if Jeb Bush showed up. Yeah. Yeah. Let me take a picture with Jeb Bush. What would be even better if he showed up like in cosplay as like an Andorian something and only some people noticed it was him. So you would, you would swap out somebody for, um, for, uh, for Carol Kane. I would probably, cause I still want the four that I got. Um, Amanda, Shayla, Eugene, and Todd. Um, so I would swap her out from Jess, with Jess Bush and Babs, Alyssa Malkin. So not get the group photo. I would get a photo for her. Okay. So yeah, I'm, I'm over 300. I'm at 370, I think. Okay. Let's get the calculator back out. Yes. Plus, plus 100, 350. Yeah. She's actually more economical than the other two, the medical two. Yeah. That's my, that's always my conundrum every year where it's like, one of the reasons why I only recently got the Andrew Robinson photo and still haven't gotten photos with some of the, some of the other cast members is I feel like when a Carol Kane shows up, I may not see her again. So this might be the chance to get a photo with Carol Kane. And having said that Christopher Lloyd is also one of those folks that's on this list that isn't, is known for other things as well as the, the, the role in Star Trek three. And having said that you mentioned, uh, who I'm going to say, Shayla Orstall. Shayla Orstall. Shayla Orstall. Uh, she was in one of the Alien movies. There was an article in the social feed about the number of people that, uh, are on, um, in the Star Trek world that have been in Alien. There's sort of a mini 12 monkeys reunion going on, uh, in this convention. There's going to, there's going to be a panel, I think, just for the 12 monkeys actors that were there. Kirk. Hmm. I don't know how to pronounce his last name. Acevedo. Uh, he was also in fringe, which is why I liked him. But, uh, and I don't know, you probably know all the people that were in the 12 monkeys world because Todd Stashwick is one of them. And Shal is one of them. I think there's four or five, there's a whole section on the, on the creation entertainment site that goes through, uh, through it. And if you follow Todd Stashwick at all on, um, Instagram, he has a call out to his 12 monkey cohorts. The end. The end. That was a good, wait, you haven't given us your choices yet. I'm saying the end for you. The end for me. Okay. I'm, I'm done. I can, I can sit back and. Coast. Granola bar. Is there anything to add? In the microphone. Yeah. If you could. The, the choices that you're about to make, are they the ones you're going to, to make at the convention? Are these the ones you're planning to go to the convention and get? At this moment? Yeah. I tend to change that as I get closer and closer and like, you know, like you just did with Carol Kane. It's like, you know, I forgot about that. There's always that moment. And honestly, if after, what is it? Four days. Um, and you think, well, I got the, let's get one more. What's an extra $40 or $50 or whatever it is. So there's over, there's tends to be like that impulse buy. It's like, well, I didn't find anything in the vendor's room this year. There's nothing I need. Let's get one more photo up while I'm here. Cause that's the kind of thing that only happens at the convention. You can get stuff other places. I can skip lunch. Uh, I should skip lunch, but yeah, this is, this is pretty close. I think, I mean, uh, like I say, I go back and forth with, with things right up until the very moment where I'm standing in front of the guy with all the tickets in front of him. But, um, starting somewhat alphabetically, um, I picked Alan Van Sprong, Sprog, Sprung, uh, Sprang. It's one of the easier words to say. He was Leland from discovery. He ended up, uh, being control toward the end there. He was in, he was in section 31 with, um, with, uh, Michelle Yeoh. He was supposed to be, I believe he was the captain of the, uh, of the section 31 ship. But again, so that would be my first. And he is 50 bucks, uh, alphabetically first and, uh, economically, uh, a good idea. Uh, again, Babs is also on my list because, uh, you know, between this and Dune and a few other things he's been in, he's, um, he's, uh, and he's a really good character. So those are my two. And then I changed out. I had Blue DiBario and while we were chatting, I, I swapped, uh, I swapped them out for Santiago Cabrera, the first, most notably the first season of, uh, of, uh, Star Trek Picard. I'm surprised he, cause I feel like he's been in a lot of things and I'm trying to remember the, the sci-fi show that, uh, he played a rich guy that saved the world kind of a thing, but I can't remember the character's name. But, uh, and then, so, and he is, how much is he? He's, he's 80. Yeah. He was Rios. Chella Horstahl is also on my list and she's 60. And then Kirk, I think I mentioned this before, Acevedo, um, is on my list and mostly because I, I don't think I remember what he was. Uh, oh no, he, I do remember what he was in. He was in, uh, he was in Picard. He was in the third season of Picard. Yeah. I remember him from Fringe, big fan of Fringe. Uh, so those are, those are my picks. I did have, and this keeps going back and forth as well. Eugene Cordero, he's on my list as is, uh, excuse me? Eugene. Eugene. And then there's another alternate in here because every year, and I think the price has gone down over time, but, uh, Rebecca Romijn. And I think it's worth saying that you make choices based on who you already have. So a lot of the, you know, the common actors and the, the ones who have been around for a while, you already have photos of them. Yeah. I mean, if I was going to go through this list, um, you know, there's one row where like Andy Robinson, Anson Mount, Anthony Montgomery. I have all three of those. Uh, I have Anthony Rapp. I have Armin Shimmerman. Um, I have Bobby Clark and I know you're jealous. Uh, I have Brent Spider and Bruce Horak. Uh, I still don't have Casey Biggs. He always comes up on my list as like, yeah, I should, you know, he's, he's always on that list. There's a number of people like that. Celia Rose Gooding. I have already Christopher Lloyd. We don't, we don't actually have to go through. Really? You don't want me to brag about every photo of I have? Every photo from an alphabetical perspective. Yeah. We don't actually have to do that. Really? But I'd really love to know. But yeah, there's a lot of them in here that, uh, that I have. And of course there's always the one that you didn't get and probably never will like the year Kelsey Grammer was there. And I don't think he'll ever come back. He came in, I think it was 2021, just like that first cusp of COVID conventions. So I think it was, uh, probably unpleasant for him to be there just cause it was so COVID-y and the crowd. It's not what he's known for. But, um, but yeah, I wish I had a photo. He was great to, to see on stage and he had a panel of his own, so that was great. But there are people you just don't see again. Well, that's what we were talking about before we started the podcast is we were talking about Carol Kane and how, you know, she may not come back. So if you want her photo, that's another thing that would tip me toward, um, going for her photo rather than the, um, the medical crew from strange new worlds. Yeah. It's because they're more likely to come back next year than she is. Yeah. Yeah. And I was surprised to see Santiago Cabrera. Um, cause I would think, obviously he was, he was featured much more in the first season of, of, uh, of Picard. Uh, of course the timing may, may not have been right given again, the COVID period, a lot of people didn't go to stuff. Uh, but again, he, I feel like he's one of those you may not see again. I think he's got another show that he's on now. Oh, I forgot to mention. I also, uh, they had a sale on the captains, uh, long time listeners will know that I don't like to buy the tickets like ahead of time. Cause there's like a fee and it's like, I would prefer to just walk up and, and buy a ticket than pay a handling fee one. It just, it's more money to spend on, uh, on the, on the tickets than, than I want to. So I actually have a ticket already purchased for, I didn't, uh, for Don Lewis, Captain Carol Freeman from Lower Decks. So they had 50% off her 60. So I got it for 30 plus whatever the handling was already done, except actually having the photo taken. The end. The end. It's a good story. Yeah. So that's our wrap up of this year's photo ops challenge. Uh, send us a note if you agree, disagree, or have your own list of people you'd like to, uh, you'd like to have photos with or people that don't tend to go to the conventions that you would like to see there. Not that we have any connection to anybody that can help you with that, but it could be fun. So that's it for the July edition of the Trek Convention podcast. Uh, hope you're all packing, packed, ready to go. And for those of you that are going and for them. No one else is packed. It's August 1st. Nobody else is going to pack until July 30th and 31st. Well, my flight is the 31st cause I'm actually going on Wednesday this year. Cause normally I arrive on Thursday and it's always. Yeah. Normal people don't park, don't pack until the morning they're leaving or the night before. I would like to hear from listeners to see if that's true or not. Cause I like to think people plan ahead. Maybe not as much as I do, but, uh, but, but a little bit before the day they have to get on the plane or in the car and drive. So go pack or not. All right. Uh, think about what you photo ops you're going to get, what vendor rooms you're going to go to. I haven't been to the creation site in a while, but I'm sure they have updates. Uh, we'll probably won't see a schedule until much closer to the start of the show. Uh, last year they didn't have a full printed schedule, but they did have a pamphlet with information about the vendors and how to get next year's ticket. So, uh, what you see online is what you'll get. So we'll see you in August for the August edition of the truck convention podcast. I may do a couple episodes from the convention. If there's something spectacularly worthwhile.