Out of the Ashes: FCD 2016 - the Ongoing Mission

With just two months to go, plans for First Contact Day 2016 were unexpectedly postponed.

 

In February I spoke to Wil Ross and David Limburg about their plans for the upcoming April event and everything seemed to be heading in the right direction. I had some really good info and had, as always, a great chat with the two gents who were as passionate as ever about this event for UK fans. Sadly only a few days later things took a turn and their Facebook page bore the news that due to apparent conflicts with CBS the show would be delayed for 12 months until April 2017.

It seems CBS were unhappy with the use of anything Star Trek related to which they held the copyright that had been used to promote the event. Compromises had been made during 2015, material had been removed or altered to appease the network and everything seemed rosy for a time however it wasn't to be and CBS came back with more issues at the beginning of 2016. Not only that but ticket sales had slowed even after significant financial input to a hefty marketing campaign which had also meant switching to a smaller venue before the brakes were firmly applied.

While many would have seen this point as the final nail and the time to pull out, Wil and David have pushed on and this weekend will see the Park Inn, Telford host a one day special event - FCD Out of the Ashes.

Free to all First Contact Day ticket holders and just a tenner for anyone who wants to go, it still promises to be a fantastic day packed from 10am all the way through to 5pm and after that there's the option of an evening meal and a party to finish off.

So what can you expect from this one day Star Trek event? Well the itinerary is out and available to see. There will be four guests in the form of Deep Space Nine's Aron Eisenberg and J G Hertzler plus Babylon 5's Claudia Christian and Renegades actor John Carrigan. Trekyards will also be in attendance plus there's a chance to come and ask questions to myself and other media platforms including The Engage Podcast and Geek Apocalypse in a special media summit during the afternoon (really excited to do this!)

This makes the second Star Trek linked project I know of to be hit by the CBS/Paramount juggernaut in regards to Intellectual Property. It seems very likely that the reasoning is linked to the 50th anniversary and only multiplied by the upcoming Beyond and the 11 month-distant series in 2017. It seems that FCD is not the only event to be affected by these Cease and Desist notices as a few posts I've seen on various forums has indicated. Will this mean that they'll be going after other series, sites and the like?

As a non-profit event it's even more of a mystery why they're coming down on FCD with a heavy hand but fingers crossed that Wil and David will be able to stage the event in 2017 at the same venue and with the full stellar line up which will also include Garrett Wang, Gwyneth Walsh and many more.

Out of the Ashes does mean that we'll get to see some of the announced guests on UK shores if only for a one day event and, as said, Some Kind of Star Trek will be in attendance to support the FCD team alongside the other media partners. While this may be a much-scaled down event, the efforts of the organisers has to be recognised and I have no question it will still be an amazing day. 

Look forward to seeing you there and hey, come and have a chat!

Do you know which Star Trek related events are being affected by CBS/Paramount? Are you still going to the event?

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FCD: Five Minutes with Garrett

Here it is - our 300th post!

A couple of weeks ago we trekked off to First Contact Day run by the fantastic Wil Ross, David Limburg and a team of dedicated miracle workers.

I also managed to grab a five minute chat with the one and only Garrett Wang just before he headed off for the evening.

The consummate professional, Garrett had captivated an audience of some 200+ Star Trek fans with a brilliant 45 minute talk and Q&A which was undoubtedly one of the top highlights of the Saturday.

But what could we ask Garrett? Well, we gathered from his talk that he was enjoying himself (although there could have been some sunshine) over the weekend but I wanted to find out a bit more and seeing as how I'm currently running through the early seasons of Voyager, what better place to start than there. How did he feel about being effectively sidelined for most of those first two seasons?

"I felt underused and that I was the victim of a nine-person ensemble cast....there wasn't a lot of character development. It led me to be in a bit of a state of depression for the first few years. Now when you're depressed one thing happens, you sleep longer than you normally need to sleep because you want to keep sleeping - you don't want to wake up to reality."

"I was late to work maybe two or three times; I came very close to being fired from Voyager because I was late...it was because I was depressed. I was so on top of the world when I got the role because my momentum was moving - I turned down three projects to do Voyager. I was supposed to be in the Mortal Kombat movie playing Lu Kang's younger brother in the opening scene."

I went from being the toast of the town to being someone who was getting 1.2 episodes per season. When you sit there and say "Shields down to 30%" you're not really exercising your acting muscles. So that's where it all came from."

It seems that people in the rumour mill tend to suggest Garrett was doing drugs or partying but the truth was, as revealed, very different.

Garrett noted that Caretaker was all Ensign Kim and his assumption was that the character would be a major part of every single episode.

"But then they started focusing on all the other characters and it all kind of built up on me. By season three I was super bombed-out. I wasn't focused and I felt I had a lot more to give and I wasn't able to stretch my wings. I felt the character needed more humour, the character should have been more human, there should have been more emotion in the characters - but that was negated by Rick Berman. He asked the actors to downplay the human roles in order for the aliens to look real."

Garrett explained that it was desired for the actors playing the human roles to be more wooden, more militaristic and if they did try and do something else they were informed they would be sent a memo requesting them to reshoot the relevant scene.

"Because you put in too much emotion." recalled Garrett, "I had two notices like that in season one and I reshot two scenes and I learned my lesson. I shut up and I was a good company man."

Garrett said how Kate Mulgrew had to reshoot 30 to 40 scenes in season one such as where the character had been crying; "You don't see Janeway cry in season one because they wouldn't allow it! So the show would have been even more amazing if you let the actors just act."

Personally I've found Voyager much better on this rewatch (OK - aside from Threshold) and the Kim character does evolve as the series moves along. Garrett's best moments certainly come when he's given that wing-spread opportunity in episodes such as Emanations, The Thaw and The Chute to name one from each of the first three years. I still have Scorpion to hit which almost looked like Harry was going to go the way of the dodo for season four after being infected by CGI baddies Species 8472. As we all know, it would be Jennifer Lien's Kes that took the hit to make way for Seven of Nine.

Of all the cast I find Kim one of the most fascinating to watch as while he may not get a lot of time, when he does, the ensign gets to shine. 

"That's because as time moves on I got more episodes that could revolve around me," said Garrett, "and I got the 100th episode - that was the best - which was the signature episode of Voyager."

Hey, he's not quite eternally the ensign anyway, making that brief rise to captain in the alternative future of Endgame and perhaps that was another payoff for Wang in that he finally got at least one extra pip in some way.

Brannon Braga, as Garrett continued, wrote him the number one episode - period - hands down. It was Voyager's City on the Edge of Forever according to the series producer. 

And there's no question Timeless is one of the show's best - and I'm very much looking forward to seeing it again after a fair few years (couple of seasons to go yet...) but from memory even when he wasn't in the limelight, Harry was better fed with material in the later years, being much more an integral part of the cast than just telling us what percentage of the shields were left.

"After that it went along the lines of the Doctor, Seven, Janeway show," said Garrett, "and I didn't care because I'd already gotten the best episode so I was like that's fine if you want to focus on those guys! 

Thanks to Brannon Braga and Rick Berman for that! [Timeless]."

Was Kim served better in later years? There's some space below to add your thoughts! Thanks to Garrett Wang for his time and to Wil, David and the First Contact Day team for hosting the event.

If you'd like to know more about First Contact Day 2016 there is some info available HERE

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First Contact Day: LIVE

Morning everyone!

Yes, the day is here and as a first for Some Kind of Star Trek we're going to live blog from First Contact Day at the National Space Centre in Leicester. Keep dropping by during the day to see who we meet, what's happening and what we get to see.

9:31 and we're parked up. Very quiet here at the moment so relaxing for a sec with a brew. English Breakfast not Earl Grey I'm afraid. Spotted a few redshirts not to be confused with the staff. 

10:11 all open and had a breather in the Captain's chair! 

10:36 Getting busier as the fans arrive for the 11am kickoff. Lots of uniforms and hopefully a ton of redshirts for the record attempt.

10:50 settled in ready for authors James Swallow and Una McCormack after the 11am kickoff. Great to see Continues' first episode Pilgrim of Eternity to get us all ready for the days events.

Room's filling up nicely ahead of the start...lots of red which is a good sign. Grabbed a seat behind the Visionary Trek team one of whom will be calling the shots with James and Una.

And just to prove they did turn up, here's the Risa gents at their stand. Definitely worth grabbing a chat with them if you're here or going tomorrow.

11:05 A slight delay to proceedings. Nothing to worry about but it does mean more Continues... crowd really looking forward to the talks and intro now.

Chad and Wil kick us off with Garrett: "Happy to be here. I had a lot of messages on Twitter when Leonard passed....The way you can pay tribute by watching your favourite episode or movie...Without Spock would not be what it is today."

And with that a superb Nimoy tribute including those great Audi commercials.

11:50 Welcome to James Swallow and Una McCormack with Michael Clark from Visionary Trek. We like Una because she's a big Deep Space Nine fan. James got into reading Star Trek through those James Blish novels. He's the only Brit to provide the concepts for two Star Trek episodes. 

"I devoured Deep Space Nine" reveals Una who got into the show through The Way of the Warrior and Garak. Most of her works do tend to follow Cardassians and seizes the chance to write about Garak - hence The Crimson Shadow."

James has just dropped The Sight Unseen - a Titan novel and he's just finished writing The Latter Fire based during The Original Series five year mission.

This year apparently is going to be a lot more standalone rather than The Fall-esque arcs according to the two authors. To be honest they like writing cool stories but there are challenges especially if they get things wrong!

"Big challenge is coming up with a new story" says James. "I want to do something interesting and compelling."

If you want to start reading Una McCormack, James Swallow recommends Hollow Men as your initiation.

Apparently though it turns out that James didn't know where David Mack was going to go with Bashir in his Section 31 novel and chose to break him out of prison - so there's a missing Section 31 novel out there! David also created a huge spreadsheet that detailed where everything lay within the framework of The Fall series - who wouldn't love to see that?! 

13:30 I'm lunched out. Big queue for the cafe (30 mins for a bottle of water???) which I'm not heading into at this late stage. Back into the main room for a bit of Phase II while we're waiting to kick off again and attempt the Redshirt Record Attempt! Will they beat the current 57? We'll find out soon enough! 

13:37 The sea of red is growing!

13:52 Still clocking those red shirts through! Looks like that 57 target is getting annihilated! 

14:02 and there's the record - smashing it with 107!!!

14:45 and Garrett Wang is on stage. Did you know he went to a British private school? 

He's pretty funny and is commanding the stage already - his impression of Sulu/George Takei is one of the best.

Only four actors from Trek are sci-fi fans, reveals Garrett - Wil Wheaton, Tim Russ, Garrett and Karl Urban! 

Garrett had six auditions for Voyager and he nearly ran over Harrison Ford in a parking lot when he was on the way to get his uniform fitted. Also turns out that Ensign Kim didn't know until this moment that Harrison crashed his plane. Priceless OMG face.

President of CBS isn't a fan of Star Trek explains Garrett - which might explain why it's not back on air yet. There will be some kind of Star Trek in the future he continues. Garrett loved the 2009 movie but not with Star Trek into Darkness. Loved the pacing, young Kirk and Spock... Never looked away from the screen. 

"What was unfortunate that apart from Nimoy he had no-one else from Star Trek on board... and didn't invite from the Star Trek world to the premiere."

Amazing to think Garrett saw the '09 movie 14 times in the cinema. He loves the newness of the reboot but felt JJ rushed the sequel...running to Star Wars perhaps? Garrett thinks Naveen Andrews from Lost would have been a better Khan. Not that Benedict is a bad actor. 

15:15 Garrett has a raft of great stories and you just gotta hear about the Power of DeLauncie. It's like He-Man but a lot better with more theatrics.

Favorite episode of Voyager? For Garrett it's the pilot that had the most fun and the chance to meet everyone for the first time. Took 30 days to film - fact! 

16:00 BRILLIANT chat with James Swallow and Una McCormack away from the stage. Great authors and you need to read their books. Even managed a quick snap and got The Crimson Shadow and The Poisoned Chalice signed. More detailed breakdown of our chat will be coming in the next few days! 

16:36 and the auction's over now we can have a last session chat with Larry Nemecek about Enterprise in Space! Lots of signed goodies, action figures and even a Star Trek Online uniform topping out the bidding. Lots of support for the First Contact Day charities.

End of the day also brings in the winners of the costume competition. A Borg comes in third, second goes to a Seven of Nine cosplayer and topping the bill is a Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior.

16:40 Missed a bit of the Larry talk but did manage five minutes aside with the more than accommodating Garrett Wang - this guy will literally do anything for fans and knows know to treat people! He even took part in the record attempt earlier.I'll be putting up the chat as a separate piece but here's one of Garrett as a redshirt to bide you over.

17:15 all done and homeward bound. Wonderful day at the venue and brilliant to touch base with Visionary Trek and the team from Risa. Same again next year?

Did you enjoy First Contact Day weekend? Were you there? How do you think it went? (second day on Sunday 5th but we couldn't attend)

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Making First Contact

We are just under three months away from one of the UK's most well-known Star Trek events and Some Kind of Star Trek will be there!

April 4th and 5th 2015 will be the annual First Contact Day convention at the National Space Centre in Leicester with Babylon 5's Claudia Christian, Voyager's Harry Kim, aka Garrett Wang in attendance as well as representatives from our friends at Risa and Starbase 31 who we can't wait to meet face to face.

A little more local than Destination Star Trek, this will be my first time at First Contact Day and the Leicester Centre even though, oddly, I worked there for a year just under a decade ago.

While First Contact for us Star Trek fans immediately conjours up images of Zephram Cochrane, Borg and the Vulcans it's important to note, as organisers Wil Ross and David Limburg indeed did, that a lot of shows have some form of first contact protocol such as Babylon 5 and Stargate SG-1 - something that both organisers were keen to point out although there had been some discussion over it's apparent "Star Trek-ness" (makes perfect sense in the bigger picture!)

With the event just under a month away, I managed to grab an hour with Wil and David to understand just how preparations were going and also a bit more about the background to First Contact Day. 

"It originally started off two years ago as an event called Dawn of the Federation;" explained Wil, "It was the brainchild of former CBS Action host Raules Davies who was running an events group in Manchester and a few members of his team came up with an idea to celebrate First Contact Day. Unfortunately due to his commitments with other events and CBS he didn't have the time to run it so he asked me if I would organise and get it up and running."

Wil said yes to what was supposed to be a one-time deal and over the following six months he realised that it was capturing the imagination of more and more people and the closer the date came he could feel the rise in excitement, "I said to Raules at the time this could be something pretty big...this could be a bigger event."

The event, of course, was a massive success "...and immediately after people were asking me are you going to do it again?" said Wil. Initially he wasn't sure what to do but after discovering that Raules wasn't looking to continue the venture, Wil decided to go it alone which led to the second event being double the size of the first. "Everyone loved it and we got 99.8% positive feedback...it was truly amazing. At the end everyone was clambering  to say we needed to do it again and that we needed to make it bigger and better and do it with guests. That's exactly what we've done this time."

For 2015 there's a bigger convention-style format to the previous two years. The venue is the same (Leicester Space Centre) but the First Contact Day organisers are looking to make this different to any other event out there - not just a signing, not just a meal, not just an evening party - "We want to mix it all together and have some fun." continued Wil. The team are very grateful to the Space Centre especially as Easter weekend is it's busiest time, potentially seeing 4,000 people passing through its doors on both days.

"A personal feel." added David, "It gives you a better connection to the people there and we're all in it together."

David had been looking for someone to join up with in the convention circuit for some time having been involved with them on both sides of the stalls so to speak since the late '80's and early '90's. He was growing disheartened with how events were being run as the years went on, concerned that fans were being taken for their money and herded through events without that key personal touch.

The team don't want you just to have 15 seconds and a signing by the guests. At First Contact Day you'll be able to mingle with them too. "They're there and you can talk to them. It's about interaction. It's all about quality and value for money." said David.

Fans will certainly get that with this being the first time First Contact Day has welcomed guests.  In fact originally they had only planned for Claudia Christian (minimal sales pitch to my dad to get him there when I mentioned this guest) to attend but matters escalated rapidly and soon Garrett was added to the list then another and another until the event reached its current number of headliners.

However, First Contact Day isn't just about the guests. From my chat with Wil and David it became evident that it's about an all-encompassing experience. Notably the event has gone from being a one day event attended by 200 people up to five times that amount anticipated for this year across the two days. 

Checking out the event's website you get a very good picture of exactly what's going on. Yes there will be the range and of dealers selling assorted memorabilia however there's a packed itinerary to keep fans enthralled for two days. 

Talks with authors Una McCormack and James Swallow - who both had entries in the recent The Fall novel series - as well as stage appearances from Garrett Wang and Claudia Christian are already locked in plus a session with Larry Nemecek via Skype on both days who is sure to talk about the mesmerising Enterprise in Space project. There is one thing that David is especially looking forward to; "The Red Shirt record attempt!"  which will be taking place on the Saturday afternoon plus there's the sure-to-be hotly contested costume competition a couple of hours later. 

David is also keenly awaiting the auctions which will be happening over the weekend; "Some people are bringing some really interesting bits which we hope will raise some money for our charities."

For note, the two charities this year are Help for Heroes and the C3 Foundation which helps 3.3 million people a year with alcohol-related injuries or diseases and is backed by First Contact Day guest Claudia Christian.

While the record attempt is purely on the Saturday the costume competition as well as the charity auction will be happening on the Sunday as well although we suspect there will be a few bleary eyes after the Saturday Night Disco with live music from the Smithemen. Heck, with this much going on you're guaranteed to need both days to ensure every box is ticked.

The two organisers met at an event and have a like-mindedness that is making this year's event a total success. David was invited along to the 2014 event by Wil to see what it was all about; "I was blown away," recalled David, who had been searching for an event to be involved with for over five years; "Everyone worked with him...it was a well oiled ship! At that moment my search was over."


The Leicester Space Centre has been the venue since the event was known as Dawn of the Federation but due to ever increasing numbers, doubling the number of days and also a lack of engagement from the local area, it may be that this is the last time First Contact Day lands in the city. Both Wil and David are quick to praise the hospitality of the centre but only five people came from Leicestershire last year and the current demographic suggests the average attendee is between 25 and 45 from somewhere slightly to the north of Birmingham. Sadly Leicester's largest potential convention centre only holds a maximum of 1100 people which would also rule that out as a future venue.

Wil Ross

Cautious over being able to crawl before they can walk (so to speak), Wil and David are already thinking ahead to spectacular ideas for 2016 - but for now the big focus is just a matter of weeks away.

"Our plans for 2016 we're going to need a venue that will hold many more than that because it is Star Trek's 50th anniversary and we do plan on holding something quite special for that year." said Wil. 

Having such great guests - due to some very strong friendships with the organisers has certainly helped promote First Contact Day. "I don't think Garrett needed to hear the end of either my or Wil's pitch," recalled David, "He was there, he said he'd do it for us and I was taken aback."

David Limburg

They specifically wanted guests who craved the interaction, would look up and chat during an autograph signing session and wouldn't have the conveyor-belt arm for fan photo sessions. They're confident that with all the people coming to First Contact Day this won't happen and that they will be approachable even if they're having a coffee from the cafe!

Sharing a couple of "interesting" celebrity stories, it was clear to me that Wil and David really have a keen sight on what they want and what they want fans to get from the weekend - they want attendees to come away with good memories and great stories.


One of the tragic points about First Contact Day is that a Skype session had been in the early planning stages with Leonard Nimoy however following his loss the team are looking to create a special memorial to the Star Trek actor over the weekend. "We were well on the way to organising it." recalled Wil, "but then events took a turn for the worse. I'm now looking forward to doing a celebration of Leonard Nimoy the person and of Spock the character and it seems that, given their Star Trek roots "we're determined to do it well," explained Wil, "Spock was where it all began; before Kirk. In the first pilot Spock was there...this is something that should definitely be done."

And I absolutely agree - and the feeling from both parties is that it's a well-presented celebration as part of the event and that it is important to remember the great things he did.

First Contact Day is an immersive event where fans, dealers, cosplayers, guests and all points in between can meet and revel in the brilliant universes created for our entertainment and enjoyment. I'm thoroughly excited to be going and getting to chat with people face to face. This will also be the first event that Some Kind of Star Trek will be blogging LIVE from and there might be a line or two from a guest or three - at least we hope that this might happen. We're also intending to talk to some guests and our friends from Risa during the weekend and get to the heart of the experience. Let's hope that this breaks all their records, raises more money than ever for charity and is easily the best First Contact Day the universe has ever seen.

So if you're wandering around and you happen to spot a guy with a camera and his dad (who's secretly going because he wants to meet Claudia Christian) then come over and say hello. I won't bite but I'm not sure I can vouch for my dad on that one....

You can buy your tickets RIGHT NOW at the FCD website and we'll see you at First Contact Day on April 4th and 5th.

Mr Kim, At Ease Before You Sprain Something

Welcome to two of our latest additions to the SKoST Contingent with their first post - also our first JOINT post - Hayley and Mark...

WARNING: This article may contain spoiler for those of you who have never seen Star Trek Voyager. If you are one of these people A) How do you live with yourself? B) How did you end up here?

Garrett Wang is known for portraying what started out as a naive Harry Kim, but after seven years stranded in the Delta Quadrant, he ended up evolving into an experienced officer with the respect of the entire crew.

Thursday (December 12th) marked #HarryKimDay; granted we're not exactly sure this is an officically recognised calendar holiday, but since the 15th marks Garrett Wang's birthday - we felt it necessary to celebrate both the actor and the character he portrayed so well.

We're sure if we took census on fans' memories across the seasons, everyone would have very different accounts of the ensign; his defining moments were many, his friendly demeanour infectious.

Speaking of infections... If memory serves right, our loveable ensign was quite the hypochondriac. However to his credit, his fear was well justified! The only other characters to suffer so much infliction were the infamous red shirts of The Original Series. At least Harry made it back alive!

From macrobiotic plagues to Species 8472 attempting to devour him from the inside out, Harry could best be described as a 'walking Petri dish' in this respect. For those of you who again, are strangely unfamiliar with the series (shame on you!), Voyager's Operations Officer was subject to many trials and (tribble)ations. As a broad list, here are his 'finest' moments...

• Converted into energy (Heroes & Demons)
• Infected by the Caretaker (Caretaker)
• Infected by Species 8472 (Scorpion)
• Infected by the Varro mating process (The Disease)
• Incarcerated in two alien prisons (The Chute, Body and Soul)
• Duplicated by silicon-based lifeforms (Demon)
• Died twice! (Emanations, Deadlock)

As a side note to this resume and space-time paradoxes not withstanding, he also managed to kill the entire crew except for himself and Chakotay (Timeless). We won't hold this against him though, but Deanna Troi never brought the Enterprise-D back...

For us over the span of the series, the dynamic that existed between Harry Kim and Tom Paris was fundamental to the success of the show. What at first seemed an unlikely friendship developed into an emotional equilibrium for both characters. Tom Paris, the rebel without a cause, gave Harry much needed confidence and in return Harry was Tom's moral compass. This friendship has much to do with the character development of Harry Kim. The pilot showed the eager young ensign being outmaneuvered by Quark during one of his typical scams, luckily for Harry, Tom was on hand to show him the ropes.

By the penultimate episode, there was Starfleet's brightest, attempting to convince the now responsible Tom, to 'fly into a Borg-infested nebula'. Never was there such a fundamental change in a character since Data started laughing.

We could go on reminiscing about Harry's best and worst moments, suffice to say he was an integral member of the crew and in many ways was considered by most to be the baby of the show even until the bitter end. Although never promoted(!) he served Voyager well demonstrating his command experience numerous times and when needed, going above and beyond the call of duty. His judgement may however have been lacking in the female department, as we must remember he turned Seven of Nine down!

Twelve years on, we salute you Ensign Harry Kim and Happy Birthday Garrett Wang.

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