Creation Entertainment held their Official Star Trek convention in New Jersey this weekend and many Trek stars were on hand to entertain the fans (primarily from TNG, DS9 and Enterprise). We have some pictures and some first hand reports including an interesting tidbit from Patrick Stewart on a certain magical part he turned down. Plus a hilarious video of Brent Spiner joking with Patrick Stewart…check it all out below.
UPDATE: Friday report: Keating talks Trinneer, Berman…and pants (by Pete)
Dominic Keating was very entertaining. He took every opportunity to (jokingly) rib fellow Star Trek Enterprise cast mate and friend Connor Trinneer (not in attendance). Keating joked “Connor ruined the whole show,” but later got more serious and “off the record” laid the blame for the demise of Enterprise on producer Rick Berman. In the Q&A Keating was asked “what brand?” (of Jeans) and “boxers or briefs?” to which he replied “Levis” and “actually nothing” respectively.
Dominic Keating during celebrity cabaret
Saturday report: Fun with Armin, Rene and Brent (by Jordan)
Armin Shimerman, DS9’s Quark, came out and went straight to the Q & A. He told a very touching story about his late mother taking him from his childhood home in NJ to Southern California so she could afford a decent college tuition. He also said that the DS9 set was “more serious” than the TNG set, where the actors seemed to have more fun. Rene Auberjonois (DS9: Odo) talked about a life in theater. Armin came back and joined Rene on stage, and they had a very funny rapport. They talked about the scene they had together on Boston Legal, which apparently was written as an homage to their Quark/Odo arguments. During the Q&A Brent Spiner (TNG: Data) appeared out of nowhere to ask one of the questions. There was a lot of ribbing back and forth (who’d’a thunk that actors spend a lot of time wondering if they look like they are aging?!?) and finally Brent gave us a slight “Shatner-on-SNL” moment when he mouthbreathingly asked “what is it like to get beamed?” A little zing at the fans, but lighthearted enough not to sting.
Rene Auberjonois and Armin Shimerman, Saturday 3/8
Later Brent came on stage. He spent some time talking up his new CD. He was very enthusiastic about it and managed to slip a reference to it over and over again. This was done with enough self-aware humor so it was very funny. He also talked about how Carnegie Mellon University wanted to award him the “Robot of the Year” award. When he declined to fly out to Pittsburgh for the event, the award went to someone else. While Brent seemed tickled to be named Robot of the Year, he goofed around about how Patrick Stewart is winning the Gielgud Award, and HE is winning Robot of the Year. Oh, and he did a bit of his fantastic Patrick Stewart impersonation.
Brent Spiner, Saturday 3/8
Sunday report: Stewart for Gandolf? (by Pete)
TNG’s Picard, Patrick Stewart was there Sunday morning. He mentioned a piece of interesting trivia, saying that he met with Peter Jackson for Lord of the Rings. Apparently Jackson wanted him for Gandalf, but Stewart wanted another role (he would not say which role despite our begging). Stewart also said he said he criticized the script a bit so he wasn’t in it and doesn’t expect to be approached for The Hobbit if it ever gets made. Like he did on Saturday, Brent Spiner hilariously posed as a fan to ask Stewart some questions. Unfortunately Stewart had to leave before he finished signing to get to Brooklyn for his matinee of “MacBeth.”
Patrick Stewart, Sunday 3/9
Brent Spiner asks Patrick Stewart a question
UPDATE: MORE PHOTOS
Max Grodenchik (DS9: Rom) and Chase Masterson (DS9: Leeta)
JG Hertzler (DS9: Martok)
Robin Curtis (STIII: Saavik)
Photos and video by Frank
Sr Ian is Gandal fbut I think Patrick Stewart would done a great job in the role. Hell he would have been a wonderful saruman. By the way Im not knocking Christopher Lee at all.
must have been a fun weekend.
Hilarious Spiner as usual!
Genius!
What the hell!!!!!!! What is wrong with peter jakson,you don’t screw up a good thing
this was an awesome weekend…in addition to stewart, spiner, rene, and armin – dominic keating, j.g. hertzler, max grodenchik, chase masterson, casey biggs, and robin curtis were all there. great moment was when casey biggs came on stage and realized they put andrew robinson’s picture up by accident instead of biggs’. it was great. this video was missing spiner’s entrance…equally funny, especially his waddling walk up to the microphone. brent’s question for rene was actually funnier, but only by a small bit. he butchered rene’s name many different ways and watching armin and rene’s reaction to spiner…priceless. one of my personal favorite moments had to be j.g. singing a kahless song as Martok, definately better than last year
Wow, I can’t believe Patrick Stewart turned down Gandalf… Sir Ian did a great job as Gandalf, but I think Stewart would have done just as amazing of a job.
I met Nimoy a few times, it’s always wonderful to meet authentic Star Trek stars!
A great video of Stewart and Spiner, very funny :)
It’s certainly good to know that the newer generation of Trek stars is every bit as appealing as the old. I think that they all know that Trek occupies a place in our culture that nothing else can quite fill.
The trick, I think, is to keep the conversation going, to keep it fun, and to keep fandom coming back for more. Going to conventions is a bit like a family reunion; we feel we know these stars, and they feel — or at least they act very convincingly as if — they know most of us. It’s a good feeling to know that, in placing our hopes among the stars, we, at least, are not alone.
“but later got more serious and “off the record” laid the blame for the demise of Enterprise on producer Rick Berman….”
Details!! We want details! (off the record, of course) Why does Keating blame Berman for the demise of “ST: Enterprise?” Inquiring minds want to know.
:-D
in regard to the dominic keating report, i believe it was spiner who got the “boxers or briefs” question and answered with “nothing.”
Nice to see Stewart enjoying (finally?) his place in Trekdom.
What role could Stewart have taken other than Lord of the Rings? Unless it was a stage role, the only movies he was involved with at the time were the X-men movies.
I always thought that Stewart would have made a great Gandalf. Amazing that he turned it down.
Hahah just saw the video, wish I could’ve been there.
Hi-larious…
It had to be either King Theoden or Lord Denethor, both of which Sir Patrick would have rocked!
I was surprise Keating made that comment. It made the wise decision to put Manny Cotto in charge. Him and Braga came out with the Xinda arc which ended up being one of the best thing Enterprise ever did at the time. Sure the rating didn’t go up but the quality of Enterprise improved.
^When I typed “it made the wise decision” I meant to type Berman.
I’d go to cons but nooo, I live in the middle of nowhere and have no access.
The very end of the video of Brent and Patrick Steward is strongly reminiscent of Sweeney Todd. -snicker-
Keep in mind the Rings movies were a commitment of a full year in production, and an indefinite more in promoting them each year. Stewart had other commitments he couldn’t get away from, which probably was the or one of the main reasons he turned down the role of Gandalf.
My guess is he wanted Denethor, but the ‘script issues’ were not enough screen-time or pathos. Perhaps he wanted to eat with a fork. Either way, I’m personally glad PJ stuck to his guns. It was *his* vision after all, not one of the actors. No slight to Stewart, but I don’t believe actors who aren’t in dire need of work should have any say in how a script is written unless they were part of the production team in the first place from start to finish. To make their characters more believable in how they envision them with the lines that have been written, no problem! But no changing concepts or direction.
I never liked how he and Brent Spiner demanded more flexibility with Trek scripts during the movie years, and missing facts or not, I directly attribute their ‘contributions’ to the TNG decline with Berman’s decay of the ideals of the franchise. Just one man’s opinion, that’s all.
And wow, I don’t even recognize Chase in long blonde. Are we sure that’s her? :)
Brent didn’t get the CMU award because he didn’t want to fly to Pittsburgh?
Why not?
–I’m from Pittsburgh
How well attended was this con? Anybody out there that went than can let us know?
Peter wanted Patrick for the role of Gandalf?
wow i can immagine the scene
“YOU SHALL NOT PASS! THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HERE! THIS FAR, NO FURTHER!”
“THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!!!!”
My, have they gotten old…
It was a fun time. And I concur with the other poster – I don’t remember Dominic talking about the state (or lack thereof) of his underwear, although no doubt, his answer would probably be as quoted…
at the best size (during Patrick’s appearance), there were at least 1,500 people. one of my favorite parts not mentioned was armin shimerman and max grodenchik’s performance…quark/rom moments were great. it was a thrill to see, hear, and breeze by patrick stewart, and spiner just added the icing to the cake when he was on…i was disappointed, although not surprised, that stewart was in and out in a blink of an eye that the entire mood of the con changed for about an hour.
I’m betting Stewart wanted the part of Saruman. I’m glad Christopher Lee ultimately got the part.
Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:-|
I went Saturday, as I knew Sunday was going to be over-crowded.
Saturday was a good time – Brent, Armin, and JG were wondering around the convention, interacting with us all day. Chase and Max had vendor tables to sell their autographs, and were very approachable. It was a nice change from the previous dozen or so cons I’ve been to, where they only appeared on stage, and we never saw them, and only interacted enough to sign autographs (which I have never done)
all in all, a good time
I usually leave with a carload of merch, but all I found interesting enough to buy was the new DST Communicator (reviewed here https://trekmovie.com/2008/03/07/the-collective-review-dst-tos-communicator/) – an excellent piece – best prop I own.
I would love to ask Patrick whether he thinks the Royal Shakespeare Society is being used to breed Hollywood genre villains.
I love to see the elder set getting these plum character roles. It sure beats watching Hollywood try to squeeze out one more romantic comedy from actors in their 60’s and 70’s. (There’s a great MAD TV skit where Sean Connery exposes his manly chest to impress his much younger love interest. They cut to a close-up of a 60-something guy’s actual hairy chest. The audience howls.)
Anyway — Chase Masterson is lookin’ fine!
It’s like a vortex of Trek goodness!!!!!
Robin Curtis still looks as hot as ever.
I love Spiner, he is a hero!
Does anyone know why Auberjonois left Boston Legal?
#33: “Robin Curtis still looks as hot as ever”
She is indeed looking rather yummy!
Vulcanista, you’re back! How was the fun in the sun?!
Irish#34- I think it was more of a situation where he was told “We loved having you for a while – bye now”, at least that’s what I read somewhere.
# 34 – Rene/Boston Legal
Actually Auberjonois said why he left full-time. He said that he had reached the full potential/usefulness of his character for a full-time basis. He said he is filming a new episode with him in it next week and that he will come back from time to time.
#38: “He said that he had reached the full potential/usefulness of his character for a full-time basis”
That’s Hollywood PR for he was written out.
…well at least he’s not gone for good. lookin’ forward to more boston legal…armin told some good stories about it as well
I always thought that Robin Curtis made a better Savik then Kriste Alley.
I WAS THERE to see stewart it was a great day and spiner comming in made it better lol
9too bad i was in the nxt to last row
it was so great patric is answering questions and all of a sudden everyone stands up and in comes spiner……pat looks over and u can tell he is just like “Oh no” lol so great
#41: “I always thought that Robin Curtis made a better Savik then Kriste Alley”
Actually, I thought Alley was a better Saavik but Curtis is way hotter & aged like fine wine (sour me a glass, woohoo) where Kirstie became a bloated bleached-blonde caricature.
JG is one of the coolest people on Earth, seeing him on Trek and meeting in person. He’s great.
how is Patrick Stewart still hot?
It sounds like Patrick is a bit of a purest when it comes to Tolkien. That being said, I bet he wanted the role of Aragorn. Some conceptualize Aragorn as looking much older than even Viggo. Of course, PJ would never have it.
It was a great weekend. All the stars were great to talk too even when they were not on stage – all very accessible and engaging. Also a note on Brent’s new CD – it is fantastic!!! He also mentioned he may be remixing the first Cd Old Yellow Eyes – please do Brent I love that CD as well.
Great con.
46 – I agree about JG. He was mingling with the crowds the entire weekend, and was a lot of fun – and to hear Martok belt out that song was a real treat (that kid was cute too).
I would never have known that was Robin Curtis.