"And finally, the man you've all been waiting for," "Captain James Tiberius Kirk himself, William Shatner!" "Now, Bill's here to field a few questions, so just fire away." "Okay, on your horse farm, all right?" "How many saddle-bred horses do you have?" "Uh, 34." "Wait." "Is that including the colt that was born earlier this week?" " That mare had a foal?" " Tuesday." "Well, I guess it's 35, then, isn't it?" "All right!" "All right!" "[ Chattering ]" "You know, before I answer any more questions, there's something I wanted to say." "Having received all your letters over the years-- and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled hundreds of miles to be here" "I'd just like to say, get a life, will you, people?" "[ Studio Audience Laughing, Cheering ]" "[ Shatner Narrating ] So who are all these people, and why are they still coming to Star Trek conventions?" "** [ Man Singing In Foreign Language ]" "Perhaps the answers lie in the cosmos." "Are they geeks or Greeks?" "Or did they beam down from an orbiting starshi?" "[ Woman ] You name it, it's here at this convention." "And we are having a blast." "Qapla'!" "[ Man #1 ] We set aside this time every year just to come to this." "We love it." "[ Man #2 ] We just took a 27-hour flight... from Shanghai to Las Vegas to be here at this convention." "[ Man #3 ] It's one big party." "We have a blast." "Resistance is futile!" "You will be assimilated!" "[ Shatner Narrating ] What a concept." "It's deep." "It's funny." "Wow." "It's so... human!" "[ Shatner ] An empty ballroom." "But not for long." "I was in Star Trek nearly 50 years ago." "You'd think I'd know everything there was to know about it." "Well, I don't." "Epiphany!" "There are ideas and concepts..." "I never heard about, things I never thought about." "Can you imagine how I feel after being in hundreds of Star Trek conventions... and asking myself, "Who are these people?"" "I-I wrote a book about the subject, and I thought I knew." "But there was much more." "10:15." "We got riggers coming in 15 minutes, so we gotta get these things opened real fast." "[ Malin ] The Vegas show is a year-long process, from the development of the event to the execution of it." "It's a bit crazy, because we have over 20,000 fans... over the course of a four-day period." "Supposed to get it done before these mistakes happen, not during." "So, the biggest challenge this year is the fact that we're moving to a new place... and we have about 30% higher attendance, so I'm worried about the logistical challenges of meeting the demands of the crowd." "Put 62 and 63 here." "We have issues about the tilt of the screen from the rear of the room." "Let's go up on the stage." "I want you to walk me through how we're bringing the talent on and off." "Okay?" "They're actually gonna be coming up those stairs." "Directly across from there is the green room." "[ Woman ] This is registration." "The people will be funneled through that Disneyland ride line." "They'll pick up their wristbands and colored lanyard that goes on their ticket... and their gold coin souvenir." "Hopefully we've streamlined it over the last dozen years we've been doing this, but there's always issues." "They're coming in any second now, man." "We're good now?" "Okay." "Yeah." "[ Cheering ]" "[ Shatner Narrating ] The Star Trek 45th anniversary convention... seemed like the perfect place to hear some stories and have some fun." "Las Vegas-- four days, 20,000 fans, 100 celebrities, all congregating under one roof?" "This is the grand nexus of Star Trek conventions." "Creation Entertainment had fans write to me from all over, sharing their personal stories on how Star trek has impacted their lives." "My quest was to find out if there was a deeper meaning behind it all." "I mean, come on." "It's been 45 years." "[ All ] We're the Jue family!" "I'm having an awesome time!" "[ All Agreeing, Chattering ]" "[ Babbling ] [ Laughing ]" "All of us, obviously, are avid Star Trek fans." "We knew that we were coming to the 45th anniversary." "We mentioned it to the family and everybody jumped onboard." "So the Jue family's in Vegas all of the sudden-- all of us." "My name's Justin Luna, and I'm here to visit the Star Trek convention in Las Vegas." "Why?" "'Cause I love Star Trek." "We're here for the convention." "To see William Shatner and Patrick Stewart." "And just to enjoy Star Trek." "Okay, my name is Maxi Penning, and I'm here for the convention from Germany." "Hi." "My name is Barbara Scott." "I've been a Trek fan since September 8, 1966, when it first came on." "When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon," "I wanted to be there." "So I stayed up in my room and watched, on this little black and white television, men exploring where no one had gone before, and, you know, the next day I would watch Star Trek." "At a convention we're all accepted... because we all have the same interests." "And it can be at various levels, to where you want to dress up... or you want the autographs, or you want the photos." "Everybody's in at a different spot." "The" " The relationships that have been developed," "I mean, over 45 years, are very important." "I think it all comes back down to Gene Roddenberry's original vision... of a future where we're all one world of all one people, and I think people really want to be that." "They want to have that, and this is the closest that they can come... at this given point in time... that we're all unified as a people." "[ Man ] I'm Eric Allan Hall, and I'm from Salt lake City, Utah." "I met my wife here, and what got us together was our mutual interest in Star Trek." "We met at a speed-dating activity." "We spent about five minutes with each other." "I happened to have a picture of me dressed as Mr. Data on my phone, and" "And then I was hooked." "[ Laughs ]" "And now we have three kids-- the next generation, so to speak." "Yeah, Eric and I are both nerds." "Our children haven't figured it out yet." "They still think dressing up in costumes and going to the conventions... is just a blast." "Where's Mommy?" "[ Kids Chattering ]" "Who's that?" "Me!" "That's you." "Was I that small?" "You were that small." "Yeah." "Have you grown up there?" "Are you holding Spock there?" "Yeah." "I've been to probably 75 or 80 conventions." "Uh, some people at work think I'm... maybe a little obsessive about that." "On the other hand, I know people who get season tickets... for basketball or football games, or people who go hunting very year." "It's the thing that I do that I look forward to every year." "[ Man ] I'm from Manalapan, New Jersey." "I've been a Star Trek fan since the beginning in '66." "That's why I have a house full of memorabilia." "It's a wonder we have a place to sleep anymore." "As each of my kids move out of the house, I take over their room... and add Star Trek memorabilia to it." "Music boxes, clocks, pewter mugs, many small pewter ships, stuffed animals, glasses." "We have a lot of TV Guides." "I have about 60 Star Trek watches, about 50 Star Trek ties, the Star Trek Bally pinball machine from 1978." "Still working." "[ Beeping ]" "I don't know if there's anything that I don't have." "I think I've seen everything, and, uh" "Well, there might be some more autographs." "[ Chattering ]" "This is from our photo op room." "[ Audience Gasping ]" "You only have to live in a silo to display the banner." "One hundred over there." "101. 150." "That's what we have." " Put it on a credit card." "You don't have to really pay." " [ Laughing ]" "Three hundred." "Sold for $300." "Congratulations." "Very nice." "[ Audience Applauding ]" " Sold, $1,700." "Awesome." " [ Applause ]" "This is signed by the entire cast of the new movie." "[ Man In Audience ] Throw in free shipping!" ""Throw in free shipping." Thank you, sir." "Security, remove that man." "[ Audience Laughing ]" "Six hundred." "Very rare." "Six hundred once." "Seven hundred in red." "Great deal." "1,650." "[ Auctioneer ] 1,650." "1,650 once." "1,650 twice." "1,675." "1,675." "[ Audience Laughing ] 1,675 once." "1,675 twice." "Seventeen." "1,700." "[ Auctioneer ] Once. 1,700 twice." "They look like they're out." "They are." "Sold, $1,700." "My man Dan." "Awesome." "Very nice." "I see we have some honorary sisters over there." "[ Applauding, Cheering ]" "Let go." "Have fun." "No more!" "[ Man ] My name is Brad Siegel." "Some years back I traveled to Chicago, and at that convention I happened to meet a young lady... who I became quite fond of." "We started to date... and realized we had Star Trek in common." "A year and a half later, as we were coming up to the New Jersey convention in Seacaucus, with Gary and Adam's help at the convention in New Jersey, um, we choreographed a little contest." "She gets up on stage to win the prize." "Then Gary said, "Well, honey, why don't you pick another seat number?"" "Happens to be my seat number." "Read the number on here." "Oh, my God." "It's 835!" "[ Audience Members Groaning, Booing ] 835." "The fix is in." "She has no idea what's going on." "I had a prepared little speech." "I realize now that I've never known what it meant to be loved... until I was loved by you as I am." "[ Audience Sighing ]" "Will you marry me?" "[ Audience Gasping, Cheering ]" "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "[ Siegel ] Suddenly all the groans that you just heard from the audience, they all became cheers and you heard all these "oohs" and "ahhs."" "It was nerve-racking, but yet probably the most amazing, amazing experience." "And for those of us who are all part of Star Trek, to have been able to share that with 400 or 500 of my closest friends, who are all about Star Trek, was just, uh-- just remarkable." "Qapla'!" "[ Audience Shouting, Hooting ] Welcome!" "[ Shatner Narrating ] You can do just about anything at this convention-- even have lunch with a Klingon." "So, are you humans ready to party?" "Yeah!" "Are you ready to eat?" "It's dead!" "You eat this?" "This man here is about to be sacrificed to marriage in about four weeks." "Human marriage!" "[ Laughing ] Ohh!" "Come on." "Let's get that Vulcan food going." "Leave the meat for me." "[ Woman On P.A. ] Let's give a round of applause for the real Klingons." "We're all real in this room!" "We did four episodes on T.N.G. and then we did the movie." "Being part of Star Trek is sort of a unique experience." "It's a huge sociological bubble... and I don't think you have any idea what it's going to be... when you first get cast on the show, but you open a door into this whole new world." " [ Cheering, Laughing ]" " Cheers!" "My name is Ryan Blazic." "I was a quartermaster, deck watch officer... and counting officer on the Coast guard cutter Willow." "My name is Bill Bushman." "I just retired a couple months ago-- 21 years in the Coast Guard." "I was the engineering officer aboard the same ship that Ryan was on." "[ Shatner ] And when did you start discussing Star Trek?" "Almost from the beginning." "We both liked it." "We both grew up with it." "You used to shoot me over the intercom with your phaser." "Yes, I did used to do that." "Star Trek ship and a ship in the military is basically the same thing, the same organizational levels," "[ Blazic ] I don't think you can get any closer... to being on an actual starship than being on a coast guard cutter." "Even the missions themselves are much more humanitarian than the other armed forces." "We do search and rescue, we do fishery enforcement with our small boats." "I've just always liked the show." "[ Man ] Hello." "My name is Anthony Kwan." "Star Trek was something that I started watching in high school." "From there..." "I just kept following the career of Captain Kirk, so to speak." "I used to fly B-52's, which meant I used to babysit weapons." "You have a lot of power at your fingertips, but with that power also comes responsibility." "That's what the military teaches you-- that you're given the job by the civilians, and that's the job you carry out." "You carry it out to the best of your ability." "[ Woman On P.A., Indistinct ]" "We have all your geek news, so check us out." " [ Shatner ] How's it going?" " Well." "How about yourself?" "Business good?" "Oh, yeah." "Been busy." "Why?" "A lot of people are interested in the styles that we have." "What's the stuff you're selling?" "Check this one out." "It's been very popular." "It's the 45th anniversary edition." "Do you like doing what you're doing?" "Yes." "Why?" "Um, just a lot of action." "It's a lot of fun meeting all these people." "It's a really exciting job." "[ Cheering ]" "I've been doing the conventions since 1972." "It was just one episode that I did, but it became one of the classic, iconic episodes." "You know, I've been doing the shows... probably now since '99, and the fans have become my friends." "I don't even use the word "fans" anymore." "I just feel they're my Star Trek family." "[ Shatner Narrating ] The family theme is always common at a Star Trek convention, and one of the most passionate members of the family is David Sparks" "Captain Dave." "I first met Captain Dave while filming my documentary The Captains... and was immediately struck by his indomitable spirit... and passion for Star Trek." "David suffered from birth with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a deteriorating condition that keeps muscles from growing in the body." "His journey is an amazing one." "When Dave was 15 and a half years old... he had respiratory failure." "We were in the intensive care, and on Saturday and Sunday nights... there were two back-to-back episodes of the original series." "He just fell in love with Star Trek." "And he was released from the hospital to my care... on the ventilator, and James Doohan came to town." "He'd only been out of the hospital a week." "He was so fragile." "But he wanted to go." "And it was wintertime." "It was so cold." "But I took him, and he got to meet James Doohan." "You can see he signed this." "This was the very first thing that he did, and he went out in the freezing cold to do it." "[ Shatner Narrating ] People choosing careers and getting married... all because of their love of Star Trek?" "Life-changing decisions." "And look what it's done for Captain Dave." "About 90 minutes before the theater opens, so we can do a technical rehearsal." "It'd be really good if both of you guys were there." "I'm Adam Malin." "I'm co-C.E.O. of Creation Entertainment." "I've been producing live events for fans for over 40 years." "I guess the catalyst trigger... was a kind of comic book flea market of sorts... that I attended in 1969." "That was truly a revelatory moment... because in that moment I realized... by God, there's family." "So I got with my buddy Gary." "There was no turning back." "The apple of my eye, Grace Lee Whitney." "Mr. Ethan Phillips." "[ Malin ] Let's have a big hand, everybody!" "[ Malin ] Four decades later it's the ultimate fan dream, for sure." "[ Shatner Narrating ] About halfway through the convention," "I met a college professor who would really get me thinking." "My name is Richard Imon, and I am a professor of liberal arts at Regis University." "I teach myths, cultures and traditions, and I use Star Trek a medium to teach." "[ Imon ] As a child growing up in the '60s," "I was able to view Star Trek from a child's eye." "So as I grew older I thought, Boy, some of these circumstances and all these episodes... deal with a lot of philosophical life issues." "So I've incorporated this in a lot of teaching that I do at Regis." "The Joseph Campbell model... for the psyche" "He applies Jung in this, a little bit of Freud, and of course he put his own spin to it... and we've come up with this very nice model to express the human psyche." "Listening to all this philosophical and cultural complexity... and I'm sitting here saying, what was I doing all of these years?" "Why didn't I see this?" "But the truth of the matter is, yeah, that starship did represent mankind." "It did represent a unity of the people." "And I never saw that." "Today I see it, but today it's too late." "I'm on my way out." "Oh!" "[ Class Laughing ]" "[ Shatner Narrating ] Well, this is new." "See, I read Joseph Campbell's Hero With a Thousand Faces... and it looked at... the psychological, sociological, cosmological and spiritual needs of man." "So I called on Bob Walter, who is head of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, to see what he had to say about it." "Fans." "People around the world, not just in America, have watched shows like Star Trek." "Talk to me about the people who watch that and see it." "The human being is a meaning-making machine." "We are hardwired for narrative." "We struggle to make sense of our experience... by casting it in story." "But the stories have to have meaning." "That's right." "The primal man sat by the fire and listened to the story, to return to that, then went out and was a warrior, or was a priest, or was a whatever." "The inspiration came from there." "Then that all kinda fell apart." "And now what do we do?" "We turn on the tube and-- and... if were lucky we get impassioned, like a Trekkie." "[ Woman ] One of the great attractions of Star Trek... is all the adventures they get to go on." "[ Man ] Go, go, go!" "I just have always had such a great fascination... and true love of Star Trek since I was young." "And it's really been a very-- kind of a secret but important part of my career." "I'm Katherine Ridenhour." "I have been a firefighter for almost 25 years." "And my last seven years were spent as a battalion chief." "So your truck doesn't carry any extra" "When I look at the roles of the captain throughout all the different series," "I find it to be incredibly inspirational." "Because what we see is someone in a leadership role... and how they dealt with the humanity of their crew... and those around them, but also their incredible ability to make decisions... in the heat of the battle." "[ Chiming ]" "I was a paramedic early in my career, so I've seen the suicides," "I've seen the gunshots," "I've seen the stabbings." "Maybe, in some of those situations where they didn't die, we did make a difference, we did save their life." "And I always took it to really grasp how precious our life is... and to hopefully live our moments... and realize how precious they are... and how important it is to be your best... and always strive for that." "Autograph ticket holders one to 25, be looking at the screens for all the information." "You may get on line now." "A convention, by nature, should be interactive." "We want to get autographs with these people and meet them and shake their hands." "We want to take photos with them." "I have 350 signatures on here." "It took me 11 years." "I carry it around with me wherever I go... to get all the signatures on it." "It travels first class." "I travel economy." "[ Laughs ]" "[ Man ] Well, for me, it's just getting to meet these people that you've seen... on the big screen and/or small screen... that you've grown up with your whole life... and getting to meet them in the flesh and see them in person." "It's an amazing feeling." "[ Nana Visitor ] Thank you so much." "I loved Odo." "[ Grossman ] I try and make a point of meeting all the actors and actresses." "I've done photo ops with every major star from all five series." "Looking at it from a fan's point of view," "I think it's much more personal." "Opposed to autographs." "There isn't a table separating you from the celebrity." "It's a short period of time, but in those five to 10 seconds... you're not worried about your personal life, any problems you're having." "It's just being next to someone you appreciate." "And to capture that for fans is special." "[ Man ] I didn't know what to think, but I just finished my first event... and I was so pleased." "Everyone was so warm." "I mean, they were saying things like, "Welcome to the family."" "I mean, it's-- it's pretty awesome." "Is television... not the hearth?" "The television set, certainly when it was introduced, became the hearth in the living room." "It also became the conveyor of a common reality." "The shows that really endure and that have this kind of rabid fandom, they speak to the human experience, and hopefully with enough variation that wherever you are you can find a way in." "They speak about a society that doesn't exclude you." "They're set in some kind of cosmological field... that you don't turn it on and go, "Oh, that's ridiculous."" "Star Trek happened right in the middle of our space program, right in the middle of NASA." "And then we went to the moon." "There was this shift happening in the consciousness of the planet." "I see." "I work for NASA as the Hubble space telescope flight software manager." "My team is responsible for making changes to the software that's in the computers... inside the telescope." "It goes back to my childhood, of wanting to be a part of something that I saw on television." "There was an extraordinary leader leading a team of people... who cared about each other, very much like the team I work with now, solving problems, trying to do something that's never been done before." "So, about two minutes." "[ Man ] Hi." "My name is Richard Arnold." "I've been a Star Trek fan my entire adult life." "I was 12 when the show went on the air in 1966." "I've been to more than a thousand conventions now in the last 45 years." "I worked with Gene, and I continued" "It's how I make my living-- I ended up working with Gene Roddenberry... from 1986, officially, until 1991... as Paramount's resident Star Trek expert." "It was definitely geeksville when you were a fan of science fiction and Star Trek, and I had to deal with that all through high school." "At very early conventions," "I discovered I'm with people... who not only get what it is that I like, but aren't judging me." "I don't have to explain myself anymore." "It really is an acceptable thing... to just totally immerse yourself in this thing that you love." "It's something that we all get, we all understand." "[ Kwan ] It's going to all the events and just having fun, being together." "We watch each other's back, we have fun together, we laugh, we play." "We'll be at karaoke." "We'll be at karaoke on Saturday!" "** [ Rock ] [ Laughing, Cheering ]" "[ Man Speaking, Indistinct ]" "More than anything else, I think it's the camaraderie, spending time together, all of us being together-- you just get together with other Trekkies and have fun." "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "And friends that I met at that very first convention I went to 16 years ago..." "I'm still friends with them to this day." "And a lot of times I will see the same people year after year... and it's almost like a family reunion." "[ Audience Cheering ]" "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "I was really kind of a quiet, shy kid." "Uh, I never went to my prom." "Um, it just-- I don't know if it was lack of self confidence... or just being shy." "Being in costume, I guess, help me break out of that shell." "The first time I dressed as Mr. Data, it was really cool to be able to walk into the convention center... and have people kind of stop and look and come up... and ask for pictures." "Uh, it" " I don't know." "A little bit of self validation?" "For me, it's a way to be creative." "Oh!" "We have a microphone here and everything." "Yeah." "There you go." "[ Applause ]" "Wow." "Okay, fine." "[ Audience Laughs ]" "I know this!" "In Nemesis, what's the name of Data's twin android... that's found in the Scimitar?" "B-4." "Before what?" "No, I'm kidding." "[ Laughing, Applause ]" "Okay, in Nemesis, which song does Data's twin android" "[ Woman ] I'm Heather Marsh, and I've been a Star Trek fan since I was nine years old." "I guess I always kinda had... an interest in space." "So seeing Star Trek, it kinda shows you what could be up there." "As a kid, that's something that can really open your mind and your imagination." "Back in February, I found out that Terry Farrell was gonna be at the Las Vegas convention." "I probably would have been about 13 when Deep Space Nine started." "You're trying to figure out who you wanna be, and here was someone that I could look to, to idolize in a way." "When her name appeared on that convention list, that was it." "We're going." "Her autograph ticket, her photo op ticket were the first ones I bought." "I wasn't even worried about the rest." "It was the weekend before my 30th birthday, but I figured they wouldn't move the convention to suit my birthday, so" "[ Laughs ] I thought I would move my birthday to suit the convention." "We walked into the big theater, we're looking at the stage, and I'm just looking around, and then I turn around and I see a big banner of Jadzia Dax." "And I started to cry." "I felt like I was home." "In the telling of the story, that legend began." "Mm-hmm." "There was a singular person... who was heroic, stronger, more passionate, more skilled, perhaps, and people then would say," ""Odysseus."" "And the name would ring, and the stories they'd tell about Odysseus's travels." "All of these stories and all these heroic figures, they didn't exist in a negative landscape." "Odysseus was the personification of the Greek ideal of heroism." "John Wayne was the personification of the American hero... conquering the West." "The West." "Mm-hmm." "The fan sees a hero, and the fan holds that ideal up... and models themselves after that." "[ Shatner Narrating ] There's much more going on here... than simple admiration for a TV show." "[ Man ] I always believed that one of the things... that keeps the franchise alive is just the fact... that unlike most science fiction that looks towards... the dystopias that are awaiting us," "Star Trek says we are going to transcend our problems." "It says that humanity is going to survive... and still be recognizable in the 24th century." "It's about as optimistic a view of the future... as you could possibly get." "[ Deborah ] "Captain Dave"?" "He created that for his e-mail address." "Mmm, it stuck." "And Captain Dave is who he identifies with." "He's" " He's Captain Dave." "To take David on a jaunt-- [ Chuckles ] to a convention-- is like moving an intensive care unit, and every piece of equipment is critical to his life." "It's like being on a roller coaster... or going down rapids." "You're just focused on the next thing-- the next autograph, the next photo op." "He had his time booked solid." "The last convention was just amazing... because he had been in William Shatner's The Captains." "He changed from being a fan to a celebrity, actually." "[ Laughs ]" "He was so thrilled to be part of the gang backstage." "And who knew that somebody who couldn't move a muscle... could have such a rich, deep life?" "[ Chattering, Laughing ]" "What are we, chopped liver?" "Terry, how long has it been since I've seen you?" "I haven't seen you since the last day you worked on the show." "Yeah, but you really look the same." "No, you" "He does." "So do you." "I must have looked awful." "No, you don't." "You know, that's it." "When someone says, "You look the same," you go, "What?"" "[ Chattering ]" "I find it very strange." "It's 7:00 in the morning, but it's like speed dating." " We go from table to table-- - [ Terry ] Speed dating?" "I want to know how you know that about speed dating." "Well, I've seen stuff online." "It is like speeding, because they come and they tap you on your shoulder" "[ Whispering ] and say, "It's time to go to the next table."" " You go, "I have to go now." - [ Nana ] Yeah, even if you're in a story." "Did you all know that we would be meeting here... at 7:00 in the morning?" "I didn't know that." "Personally, I think they pay so much money to come to these things," "I think that they deserve your attention." "They want-- I talk about myself." "[ Nana Laughs ] I talk about you too." "They want you to talk about yourself." "[ Nana ] I don't agree with that." "I think they want us to see them, to hear who they are" "[ Casey ] I agree." "and then finally feel... like there's a back-and-forth." "I have a group that's been following me around, and they're very devoted and they're very understanding and they're always there." "When I did Broadway, they were in the front row, night after night." "With my brother?" "Remember?" "We came to see-- Absolutely, I remember that." "It is kind of like Same Time Next Year." "[ All Laughing ]" "[ Nana Narrating ] Really, I don't matter anymore." "I'm not sure I ever did." "They have a friendship." "And it's like, "Oh, Nana's going to Italy." "Great." "Let's all go to Italy." "And then they go and have an incredible time together." "...and then you catch up on our lives-- everybody's lives." "Yeah." "What everybody's doing since the last time we saw each other, how the family is, what our careers are doing." "Yeah." "All that stuff." "How do you make new a series like Star Trek... to stay alive 50 years?" "The TV's packaged, okay?" "You know, you see it." "You don't affect the story by your watching of it." "Um, in contradistinction, perhaps, to folks who are into Star Trek... who relive the story." "They embody it." "They go into it." "They dress up." "They have conventions." "So it inspires them to act." "Okay?" "And to act in community, and so it doesn't die." "It doesn't die." "So if we watch television with an intention, we can reinterpret what it is we're seeing... and become artistic-- do something artistic-- as a result." "If it really grabs you, you will feel impelled to do something creative." "For me, I wouldn't even consider going to a convention without wearing an outfit." "My brother-in-law and I, Peter, we actually won the 2010..." "Star Trek costume contest as Romulans." "This'll be the new uniform we're debuting... at the 45th annual Star Trek convention in Las Vegas." "When we make our uniforms, we try to do it... at least three to four to six months in advance, because it does take a lot of time and effort." "I have been working on my Borg costume... since 1993." "This is part of a squirt gun." "It has a working claw." "This is a chest piece." "I found it at a thrift store, and I think it was bicycle motocross gear... that I just added little bits and pieces to." "And then on the inside I've wired up a voice changer, so when I talk" "[ Distorted ] I sound like a Borg, and I can put it down like this and say, "Resistance is futile." "You will be assimilated."" "And it goes up" "[ Higher Pitch ] although it doesn't sound quite as scary... if I do the same thing, like this." "This is called a "monster maroon."" "I love this uniform from The Wrath of Khan." "It's the most military of the uniforms, I think, Dad." "[ Chuckling ] It's the most military of the uniforms." "Right." "And we actually look good together." "[ Laughs ]" "I'm like the before, and he's the current or the after." "Today I'm wearing my Klingon costume." "Every day I wear a different uniform, but I thought I'd like to debut my new Klingon costume without my forehead." "I'm looking forward to the Klingon makeup class, because after I leave here I'm gonna do mine." "[ Audience Cheers, Claps ]" "[ Man On P.A., Indistinct ]" "[ Man ] I enjoy it." "I enjoy the world of Trek." "I'm a fan, just like everybody else." "But for me, the overall look-- Make it believable." "Make it look like you walked off the TV set." "[ Audience Cheering, Clapping ]" "There's nothing that will stop a crowd, cause more commotion, than a Klingon." "[ Chuckles ]" "We got a tech that's right over there." "Is it Doug?" "Who's on it?" "Uh, it's union guys." "IATSE guys." "But they don't know anything about our disk." "They don't know anything about it." "No, but Ben is here." "Ben is here?" "Dr. Ben is here." "Do we have your disk, by the way?" "He's got it on his machine." "Yeah, okay." "That's fine." "Yeah, no." "Then we'll give you the same coverage as always." "[ Malin On P.A. ] Now we will absolutely terrify you." "I'm overjoyed to be presenting to you... the Klingon side." "[ Cheering, Clapping ]" "Are there any warriors out there among you?" " [ Shouts ] - [ Cheering Continues ]" "I think if you sort of think Amazon and bump it up exponentially." "They're just very fierce creatures." "Lay down on your side, get up and start all over again!" "With a strong sense of loyalty-- not to things that humans would consider worth being loyal to." "[ Shouting ] It's the best bad guy... that I think any writer has ever created." "We're part of the obstacle... for the human characters, but within the dramatic construct, it's still all the same thing." "** [ Singing In Klingon ]" " ** [ Ends ] - [ Audience Cheering, Clapping ]" "Thank you!" "We recognize all too well the limitations of the individual human being, but when you try to identify with these heroes... who took it on all by themselves-- these Odysseuses and these John Wayne-like figures-- you start to say, "Wait a minute."" "I have trouble identifying with that right now, because I don't see people like that in my experience." "What do I see in my experience?" "I see groups of people working together." "Someone leads them, but if they lead them effectively, then they lead them by rallying them around." "We need a collective vision of the hero, where it's all of us." "[ Imon ] The symbol of the ship symbolizes Earth." "The different people aboard the ship... symbolizes all the different cultures." "And it's sailing through the universe, which we call "life."" "What they're doing is much like... what a practicing Christian in the Renaissance might have done... when they adopted a patron saint for their confirmation... and took on that saint's name, and then used that saint as a touchstone for their behavior down the line." "So what they're really doing is they're buying into a narrative-- a series of narratives-- a mythology, if you will." "If it's a mythology, it also tells you how to relate to your other human beings, gives you some-- To your tribe." "To your tribe!" "Exactly." "Mythology is a way that people use metaphor to describe the unknown." "A myth is a metaphor for" "[ Bob ] Life or-- Of your existence." "Your existence or unseen powers." "But all that is applicable to the individual." "Right." "So mythology is an attempt to understand" "So that you'd know what was going on." "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "[ Imon ] Some of the things that were occurring in the '60s-- very controversial issues." "We have problems with race." "We have problems with other countries." "We have the Vietnam War at it's height." "We have the anti-military establishment groups, women's rights" "All of this stuff is important, and the writers of Star Trek were brilliant, because by placing these social issues... in a more futuristic realm, they were able to get away with putting this on the air... and discussing it openly." "Tell you, I was in England at a Star Trek convention, and I looked up in the line, and there was a young man who was obviously a skinhead." "And he was very nervous, and they were watching him." "I signed for someone else, and then it was his turn." "And he started quivering." "And he said, "I don't know if you believe me, but I've done some terrible things in my life."" "And he said, "And then Star Trek came on this year, and I turned and then I saw you," "and I realized... that I could not remain a skinhead." "[ Man ] Of course." "I realized what God had meant for us to have on this earth-- all peoples of all races-- and I just wanted to let you know... what you meant to me and what Star Trek has meant to me," "and what being a real human being has meant to me, and I just wanted to thank you."" "Throughout time, human beings have focused... on what are the most important things... that they've come to understand... from the experience of being human." "So for today, people need to recreate or create for themselves... some kind of mythic reality that gets 'em out of bed in the morning." "Okay?" "That gives 'em a reason to be." "And so we pick and we choose, and then we have to live into it." "So the fan is the one who really lives into their mythology." "It's not simply that they read about it or they talk about it." "They go out and embody it." "We're at the 45th anniversary Star Trek convention." "We're seeing all the costumes." "There's a Lego Star Trek dude." "I see an awesome Borg costume." "[ Man ] You got all kinds of costumes here." "It's pretty awesome, and everyone's having a lot of fun." "[ Growls ] Yeah." "[ Ridenhour ] Myself, my sister, my brother-in-law" "We want to represent the Klingon Empire well." "So the moment has arrived." "It's time for the 2011 edition... of the official Star Trek convention costume competition finals." " [ Audience Cheering, Clapping ] - [ Malin ] Yeah!" "Dude, what are you?" "[ Laughter ]" "I am a spatial anomaly, and I am attacking a shuttle pod." "A spatial anomaly attacking a shuttle pod." "It's also girl repellant." "I thought it was a chick magnet myself." "All right, good job." "Let's give him a nice hand." "Go on over there, buddy." "Look who we've got next." "Oh, my God." "Whoa!" "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "Hello, ladies." "Aside from your obvious assets" "[ Clears Throat ] Yes?" "what kind of work did you do on the costumes here, girls?" "Did you make 'em yourselves?" "Yes, I did." "Yes." "I'm referring to the costumes now, not your God-given talents." "Judges, just give me a chance." "I'll get 'em to you, okay?" "We'll let the judges take a look." "My goodness." "We have a noble Klingon group." "Qapla'!" "And you did all the costume work yourselves?" "Qapla'!" "Well done." "There's a Borg in the house." "[ Audience Cheering, Clapping ]" "Let the judges take a look, please." "Did you go to the Borg store for those?" "[ Distorted Voice ] Mostly thrift stores." "The right hand was part of a Nintendo Power Glove." "The left arm was part of a Sears leaf blower." "[ Judge ] Ahh." "And essentially you're the Borg version of a Swiss Army knife." "Is that correct or-- That is correct." "[ Audience Cheering, Clapping ] Masterful." "[ Hall Narrating ] I'm really excited for the costume contest." "Even if I don't win, it is just an honor... to be among such other fantastic costumers, to see what their imaginations have brought to life." "[ Malin ] I present to you your finalists in the costume competition." "Give 'em a big round of applause!" "And during this period, our judges will be tending their verdicts... and deciding who our grand prize winners will be." "I gotta tell you, this was the most difficult parade of costumes... we've ever had to decide on." "[ Audience Cheering, Clapping ]" "Which brings us to our first place win." "This is good for $1,000." "Really, this was the toughest competition I ever had to judge." "These scores are all so close, but we discussed it, and the top prize goes to the Borg." "[ Cheering, Applause ]" "Thanks." "[ Hall ] I feel overwhelmed." "It's a fantastic feeling." "There are people cheering." "There are people rushing up to the stage to get my picture." "It's kind of like I'm a mini celebrity." "For that moment, I am the face of Star Trek fandom." "[ Distorted Voice ] I won." "[ Shatner ] A thousand bucks." "What are you gonna do with it?" "I was looking at some of the things in the dealers' room." "I'm thinking maybe one of the leather jackets." "Maybe a couple of the leather jackets." "Resistance is futile." "You will be assimilated." "[ Woman ] Jen and I were just waiting to go get an autograph, and this guy approached me... and says, "You're Heather Marsh."" "And I say, "Yes, I am."" "And he says, "You have a fan group for Terry Farrell on Facebook."" "Next thing I knew, they were putting a mike on me, and asking me to walk down the really long hallway." "[ Laughs ]" "I got close to the camera guy, and he tells me that I'm gonna want to walk through the door." "Oh, my God." "[ Laughs ] And I open the door, and Terry Farrell is sitting there waiting for me." "You're kidding me." "Nice to meet you." "It was funny because she introduced herself to me-- "Hi." "I'm Terry Farrell."" "And I'm standing there going, "Yeah, I know that."" "But for some reason, she made me feel very comfortable." "My son actually plays with one of your action figures." "Mine too." "[ Both Laugh ]" " How old is Regan?" " He just turned six in July." "Oh, wow." "So our kids are really close in age too." "Yeah." "Cool." ""Trials and Tribulations" was one of the first ones I showed Max, because then you have the original series-- Yeah." "which was my-- I'm a little older than you" "[ Laughs ] my favorite show, that I watched with my family when we had dinner at 6:00." "And when I would play at school, I was always the alien, and then my friend Grant was always Bill Shatner." "But I didn't want him to kiss me." "[ Laughs ]" "But I wanted" " Well." "[ Both Laugh ]" "Anyway, uh-- [ Laughs ]" "Yeah, so, we're passing it along." "And how did you move from Next Gen to Deep Space Nine?" "I'm not even sure what to say right now." "Um, definitely, uh, seeing the Jadzia Dax character, seeing a strong woman character like that, that I could" "It helps me focus, and when I have some time to myself, instead of dwelling on things that have happened, um" "My fiancÃ© and his mother were killed in a car accident." "Oh." "And, uh" "[ Exhales ]" "That was about five years ago." "Brody and I discovered that we had a lot of the same interests, and that we were both kind of..." "closet fans of things." "It was nice to find somebody who had that same kind of," ""Well, I like that too," and not feel awkward." "He was..." "a perfect match for me, and we were starting to plan our lives together." "It was" " It was hard." "It still is hard." "Um, there are times that I look at Regan and I see Brody, and sometimes I just get thrown off." "And" " But I know that-- It's almost like he's still here with us." "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "We had" " We had planned on going through... the entire Deep Space Nine series together, watching it from start to finish, and we never got a chance to do that." "Any time that..." "I was feeling down, or... felt like I couldn't do it anymore," "I would just pop in some Deep Space Nine or" "Then, you know, it made it easier to get up the next day, and to not quit and to keep going." "It's not like I'm the only person... that this has happened to, but at the same time, here she is in front of me, and I can thank her... for helping me get through that." "As she held my hands, I knew that this was definitely okay... to be sharing with everyone." "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "[ Chattering ]" "We had the world's record for most Star Trek costumes ever." "And then, practically as fast as we get the record," "FedCon goes and breaks our record." "So I want it back." "The official Star Trek convention... really should have the record for the most Star Trek costumes." "These are uniform fans, so we get to-- we get to come too." "[ Cheering ]" "On some level, we take in what's happening, and we reinterpret it." "But if you go there with the intention of participating, it's a creative act." "Twenty-one." "So everybody who goes to a convention, is, in their own way, an artist?" "Yeah, because they're living into this thing dynamically." "That's the whole point." "You didn't go to the cathedral... like you went to a museum to admire the art." "You went there to live your truth, to embody your belief," "and everything around you was reinforcing that." "You do something." "There's a doing." "[ Man On P.A. ] - ...to Las Vegas." " [ Cheering ]" "We just beat the record." "791 and climbing." "We just passed 800!" "Whoo!" "[ Hall ] It's incredible to see how may people are here." "Even though this is my 75th convention, the excitement, it's almost like the first time." "[ Chanting ] Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Star Trek!" "Ritual should be a spontaneous enactment." "If you're gonna enter into a ritual, you have to be prepared... to entertain the illusion of the first time every time you do it." "It has to be a first time." "I almost want to cry, that's so meaningful." "The people come there to partake in the same ritual... because it has the same freshness it had... when they first came." "And to make it new again." "And it becomes new because what happened last year... adds a layer to the newness of this year." "That's right." "And so the ritual deepens." " [ Speaking Klingon ] - [ Audience Cheering ]" "I thought for years, "Oh, they're coming to see me." "[ Laughing ] I'll tell 'em a good story."" "You mean they didn't?" "Then I wrote a book, and I discovered they weren't." "They were coming to see each other." "Then I did a documentary and I discovered... not only were they seeing each other-- are deeply embedded in a ritual... that is new each time for them." "This was the largest Star Trek convention in history." "It was a great event for us." "I hope you've enjoyed our transition to the Rio Hotel." "So give it up, everybody." "Thank you for an amazing event." "We look forward to seeing you all again, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at the next show." "Take care." "[ Nancy ] His sister called me." "His sister said, "He's gone."" "And I thought, "Well, where did he go?"" "She said, "He's gone."" "And we-- we didn't expect it." "They said that his heart was just so worn out." "He went as far as he could go." "[ Deborah ] I saw him so close to death so many times, and he just refused." "And why?" "Because Next Generation was putting out another season, and he had to be here to see it." "[ Nancy ] It's a rare thing to live that long... with this disease," "and he lived every minute of it... as deeply as anyone I've ever met." "People who don't get Star Trek" "I can't really answer for them." "It's a puzzlement to me." "All the fans at the conventions, they certainly get it." "David got it, and when he was with them, he was with like-minded people, and he felt accepted." "[ Nancy ] It's really true that Star Trek kept him alive." "We were on top of the world." "I laid him to rest in his Captain Dave uniform." "He would have wanted that." "[ Shatner ] The man dies" "[ Walker ] And the hero is born." "So the individual human being, through the act of heroism, becomes the hero." "What's the act of heroism?" "It's going into the battle even though you know you're not gonna maybe win." "Joseph Campbell's remark is that the myths of tomorrow... are in the psyches of the artists of today." "Our stories are still gonna have that unknown in them." "They're still gonna go where no man has ever gone before." "They're gonna still be grappling with the unknown... to give you an idea of what is around you that you can't see." "And that's what these shows do." "They lift us out so that we can see... that we're part of one human tribe... on one little blue marble floating in space." "[ Shatner Narrating ] We're on a spaceship called Earth, sailing through the cosmos like a starship... with many different people on board." "We need the mythology to give us some meaning about where we're going, what we're doing." "See, I thought I got it about Star Trek, but..." "I didn't get it." "I never fully comprehended the levels... to which this science fiction show reached... into the souls of people." "[ Kwan ] I mean, that's all part of it." "You know, continuing the legacy of Star Trek." "Star Trek gives us hope for a better future... where humanity works together." "One of the things about the Star Trek universe... and the world that Roddenberry created... was that people are equal, so gender, racial, religious, sexual orientation-- whatever-- is not an issue." "I'm part of a family that spans the globe, and you meet people and get to know them." "I love my life." "I love what I do." "I wouldn't have the life that I have if it weren't for Star Trek." "I really want to thank them so much for what they have given me." "I love Star Trek." "I always did." "He didn't know how to lie." "He didn't know how to be mean." "He didn't know how to quit." "And I think all those qualities, those really good, human qualities, come out in the heroes of Star Trek." "The story that this franchise tells... is a beautiful, optimistic story about mankind." "I just feel like it's the best version of humanity." "Star Trek says we're going to transcend our problems... and reach a better future, and I don't think we can underestimate the power of that statement." "[ No Audible Dialogue ]" "[ Shatner ] I get it now." "It's about community, hope... and love." "It's fueled by the passions... we fans feel... for the ideals... of Star Trek."