Creation Cancel November L.A. Trek Con – Add New Cons In Chicago, Vancouver & San Francisco

Citing issues with securing appearances by cast members from the new Star Trek movie, Creation Entertainment announced today that they had to cancel the November Star Trek Grand Slam Convention in November. However, creation has also announced three new Star Trek conventions in 2010 for cities that haven’t seen cons in some time. 

 
LA out – Vancouver, San Fran & Chicago in
Creation had hoped that their Los Angeles Grand Slam convention would be anchored by some of the big talent behind JJ Abrams hit 2009 Star Trek movie. This seemed ideally timed as the con was to be held the same week as the highly-anticipated release of the film on home video (which would have been an ideal opportuntiy for fans getting their DVD and Bluray sets signed). However, today Creation made the following announcement:

For many months we’ve been trying to develop a great guest line-up for this convention consisting of cast members from the new Star Trek movie. Unfortunately to date we have been unable to lock any of these guest contracts down and we do not want to present an event that would be less than what our audience expects of us. Therefore we have made the decision to postpone this convention until such time as we can successfully present some of the new Star Trek stars in Los Angeles.

Those who have already purchsed tickets for the event can get a refund, or switch the tickets to another event. Details at Creationent.com.

Creation is the only company licensed to hold official Star Trek conventions and this was to be their third for 2009, but like last year, there will only be two this year. However, 2010 will see a big jump to five conventions. Like every year, the biggest will be in Las Vegas in the Summer, and there will also be a smaller con in New Jersey, also in August. In addition, Creation will hold a con in San Francisco in January (with Patrick Stewart already announced as the headliner), as well as a con in Vancouver in June and Chicago in October. This is the first Chicago Trek con since 2006, and even longer for both Vancouver and San Francisco.


Patrick Stewart (pictured at DragonCon 09) headed to San Francisco for Creation Star Trek convention in January [photo: Jen T]

The convention in Las Vegas, as well as the TrekTrak at Dragon con earlier this month both showed larger influxes of new and renewed Star Trek fans. The new Star Trek feature film has energized convention goers. Obviously the young new stars of the new Star Trek movie are very busy with other projects, but hopefully they will be able to take some time out to visit these official cons, as well as other cons.

For the full schedule of upcoming Creation conventions, visit creationent.com/calendar

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I take it you are talking about Vancouver Canada? I looked but did not see a clarification. There is a Vancouver in Washington but it isn’t quite the metropolis that Vancouver B.C. is. Lovely city, that. Still, close enough for me to drive there either way.

Heh, yep. B.C.

Oh, and I took the top spots from the numerically excitable posters. Good on me.

What a disappointment to cancel the LA Convention. Grand Slam FINALLY goes back to being just Star Trek after years of awful mixed genre con’s, and they cancel it. For shame. You’d think, even if they couldn’t get the new movie talent they would take the opportunity to bring a few rarer attendees to a local LA convention. Apparently, the only fans that count are the ones for the new movie.. those of us who have been attending Creation cons for years are apparently not important.

Go ahead, Creation, put on a few more Twilight conventions. Just remember which fandom got you started, and which fandom will still be here, long after Twilight is merely a nifty, passing phenomenon.

And by the way, Patrick Stewart might be headlining the SF Con, but that’s AFTER his big appearance at Dragon Con two weeks ago. I made the cross country trek to go to DC, but won’t be heading upstate for the SF Con. DC had a Star Trek guest lineup that rivaled any creation con, plus better prices, more relaxed atmosphere and actual quality time with the guests.

UGH. I was waiting for a guest to be announced for LA Con.

About 15 years ago there were dozens on cons every year. I went to my first one in Buffalo in 1988, and it seems there was at least one a year in either Rochester or Buffalo. Now we are down to just a handful in the nation’s largest cities. I wish some of the smaller and medium sized cities would hold cons once again. It was a great way to meet fellow fans, take in the guests and browse in the dealers room. Ah the good old days…

Obviously , it would be wise to have iron-clad commitments BEFORE announcing a con, but it must be quite difficult given busy schedules. C’est La Vie.

I do hope there is a bump of actor-related PR for the disc releases in November, regardless.

And I await Parsippany 2010!

Can I swear here? F###K!!! I’ve booked for that con and I’m flying in from Ireland with flights and hotel booked already!!!!!!

OK, I’m gonna have to calm down to process this.

Ian Fee: Go to Disneyworld! : D

As for the new Trek stars, they seem to be giving Trek cons wide berths. I wonder if JJ has counselled them to steer clear of them.

I think the last SF convention was back in 2002. I was lucky to attend that one. Too bad I moved to Washington State, otherwise I would of definately pre ordered tickets for the convention.

Con being the operative word

Does Creation Inc. have the only US rights for Star Trek Conventions, Starland has been having them in Denver since I believe 1976. They try to run most sci-fi/horror/space conventions each year in Denver. I think the company started selling Comic Books back in the 50’s.

When will there be another Star Trek convention in Chattanooga? The last time I remember there being one here was in 1988. This city has grown substantially since then, and I believe we’re overdue for another visit!

RaymondJ, I’m with you. I used to get to go to Creation cons in New York and Philadelphia several times each year, but now they only come to New Jersey once a year — and it’s always the weekend I’m away at a function whose date I cannot change.

There used to be cons that were advertised as no guests, just dealers and events. And what would be the crime in having a smaller-scale con with only one or two guests?

The TRUTH is that Chris Pine told Cremation (LOL) to stick it!

They were extremely rudy to his father some time earlier and he told them there was NO amount of money that could get him to do one of their shows.

Rude, not Rudy! LOL

I think the Movie Stars don’t want anything to do with Trek fans or conventions. With the exception of Zach Quinto.

I predicted that it might be difficult to get current cast from the new movie to appear at conventions. This is the only cast that has only done a movie together, they don’t have the history of doing a series together and developing the comraderie and understanding fully the significance of being part of Star Trek, add, that this cast is significantly younger and are in the prime of their movie and television careers and scheduling contention, TOS and TNG had a history together prior to the movies so this is very new to them… Zachary Quinto understood the importance of conventions and appeared in Las Vegas. I would hope in time that the new cast would make an effort to appear at conventions.

#10-Tanner Waterbury

You know that you can go to Vancouver, right?

I haven’t been to a Trek convention in forever, but I might have to check out that one in SF.

And are they REALLY surprised the actors from the new movie didn’t want to come? These aren’t a bunch of washed-up, C-level TV actors desperate for a paycheck here.

Most of them already have good movie and TV careers and probably don’t want to get pigeonholed into one role.

I’m sure they’ll do the cons eventually, but it’s WAY too early at this point.

#20 I disagree. Is Patrick Stewart a “c-level TV actor”? What about Shatner, Nimoy, Christopher Lloyd, Colm Meaney, Scott Bakula, and the list goes on. They all did conventions this year. While I don’t expect the new cast to be convention whores, an acknowledgment that Star Trek fans made the movie a success would be nice. And its not like they even have to fly or stay in a hotel. The convention was to be in Los Angeles. I mean come on.

I kinda think that because all of the younger cast still have valid movie careers and all are at the top of their game, they for sure do not want to be stereotyped into JUST star trek roles and fans etc…Going to conventions besides taking away time and they are busy making other movies, would also help to stereotype them–I think Zach Quinto was an exception to that rule because he was the new Spock and along with Nimoy made an excellent bridge for fans from the old series to the new movies….I bet even Zach will limit his Convention appearances as he has a whole movie career as well, and Heroes should keep him busy until its cancelled–It sucks they cant bother to appease us Trek fans by appearing at conventions. As someone else already said, way too early in their careers for that….Many of the original Trek Stars (Most) could not get much of a career going doing anything other than Trek….so of course the Conventions and the fans mean a lot to them…and they had the time to come…

#22. I follow what you say, but I don’t think that’s the whole thing. Why won’t Orci or Kurtzman or J.J. do a convention? They aren’t actors worried about being stereotyped. I mean the Trek fans who went out at saw the movie 5-10 times are a main driver behind the box office numbers. You don’t see Terminator, Wolverine, Transformers returning to IMAX for a second run. I think that because they did Star Trek and the success is because of the franchise and its fans they owe the fans some public acknowledge by doing a convention. I mean by sitting on a stage for 45 minutes at a fan convention in Vegas or L.A. these guys or girls are not going to lose any movie deals or be type-cast. That’s not what’s going on in my opinion.

This is FANTASTIC. A Midwest con can hold me over til the Exhibition actually comes this way.

So what level of an Actor is a red shirted crew member, and their life spans are 5 minutes or less. And in ,ost cases they never get a lenghty death portrail.

About all you can do as a phaser vaporizes you is have a surprised expression and that’s only if you can see the phaser being pointed at you.

#22-Jim Nightshade

The last thing an actor should worry about is being typecast into a role that could carry their career for the next 40 years and worry more if the fickle movie going public decides that they are the flavor of the month. No publicity is bad publicity, after all. Where are the Meg Ryan’s, Kevin Klein’s, Ricky Martin’s (OK, not an actor, but you get the drift), these days? In a second the pop-culture can cast away it’s bright stars in favor of the next big thing.

I think the main point here is timing – not necessarily that the ST09 actors don’t want to do conventions. Think about it – the Fall is prime time for television, and a lot of movies that are going to be coming out next summer or late next year are shooting at this time. I’d imagine it’s difficult to try to work a con into your schedule. And, let’s also not forget that EVERY other primary actor in Star Trek history was in the TV show first, not a movie. They were “locked-in” to Star Trek. It was their JOB, not just a side-gig in their careers. In those cases, since they knew they were going to be part of Star Trek for a while to come, it wasn’t difficult to commit to a convention or two. Not to mention, I have a feeling there may have been some extra money or even contractual obligations involved in the case of the TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT casts.

I think that, as stated, the only exception is Quinto. But, don’t forget that Quinto is already tied into another Sci-Fi TV series (Heroes) that already has tons of Star Trek connections. He has nothing to lose, and he can only gain fans. But also remember, he is the only member of the ST09 crew to have a regular job at this point. He’s not having to live off the piece-meal life of a movie here or there while audition and fighting for the next paycheck. He’s already pretty well set – at least for another season.

I just think there is no reason to bastardize the ST09 crew because they couldn’t make Creation LA. And, whose to say that Creation didn’t have several of them lined up. In truth, Creation may just have been holding out to try and get the whole cast so they could charge twice the price. I would bet that may have also played a role in their decision.

I can’t believe it..FIRST!

CREATION……KHANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

Maybe Creation needs to take a break for a few years. Maybe cut back to one or 2 cool events. You’re always in NY or CA anyway. Maybe if you got rid of those 300 Captain Chair packages that don’t offer much. It’s sad when a guy who pays 20 bucks for a day pass gets a better seat than you do.

#3, I totally agree with you.

I’m really disappointed. I mean, really disappointed. I was really excited to have a con within driving distance and I already made plans.

But at least there’s two months notice. Think of all the cons through the years that ended up getting shut down, even while they were underway!

To all who came to the trek expeirnce many thanks 35 yrs. Ago creation was not their for us to get our trek cons off the ground. We worked long an hard. We got the celebs here o then oyhers came. And dragon con! The key work to gether you will have the cons atlanta is Dr. McCoys hm. That kept. Us alive . Evan DE Kelly helped out from time to time. And look at us now! Miss Klingon empire too. Yes all from quonos are helpers too look hard yoi will find a romulan & cardassians as well love and teamwork.

You know, give the new stars a break! They have been busy and must honor their contracts trust me they will be hitting the con circiut soon enough!

Creation is infamous for this kind of thing. We had several here in Oklahoma and this is what happened:
Walter Koeing-lots of fun and great interaction with actor and signing.
Nichelle Nichols: same as above
Grace Lee Whitney: same as above
Then we had George Takie-bt that was the same weekend that Roddenberry had died so we just had a wha he meant to us with no talks of the show or movies or signing-FULL PRICE!
Brent Spiner talked of show bu WOULD NOT DO AUTOGRAPHS FULL PRICE
Nana Visitor and Rene Auberjonois also at shows and singed for peo
ple eventhough it took hours.
Marina Sirtis was to appear but we had the OKC Bombing shortly before it and she canceled but they still had the con-at full price!

In the later ones there was just dealers room with only Creation approved items. No real costume contests or interaction with show workers. Or much of anything else to do.
Then they stopped coming.
Now we have a local run Convention called SOONERCON with
fan interests made to happen with semi media guests but it is a fun venue and that is what is lacking from CREATION cons and that is FUN!

No. 34 I was sad to hear about your timme at those creayion cons I have heard simmilar stories . Not at all cool or professional. Hey! Come to Dragon con next year. The commmmenteete just above me. You will have a ball! My personal promise!

WOO HOO!! Trek and Eddie Izzard Jan 23rd. Best day evar!!

Eddie Izzard is the coolest!!

I live in Chicago so I’m happy. I considered going to the mini convention that showed TWoK and TSfS because Shatman was going to be there. But, he canceled and STXI was re-released at IMAX theaters so I took my family to that instead. Chicago hasn’t had a scifi convention in some time. I’ve had to drive to Indianapolis over Thanksgiving weekend.

See you guys in S.F.!

Yes!!

A Vancouver Con!!!

Finally!

This makes up for the nightmare of hosting the Olympics in February!!

#37 I’m with you we never get these in Van, either.

I could swear that they used to have the Grand Slam in in April?

I remember when creation ran GOOD conventions and every major (and some minor) cities.

Clearly the new film didn’t spark renewed interest in Trek.
It was just another decent action sci-fi film.

The days of Trek fandome are dying.

The irony of Creation being the only OFFICIALLY Licensed star trek convention, is the fact they are the least fan friendly and most expensive.

Creation is the most over priced least fan friendly waste of money out there. I will be glad when joe motes gets vulkon up and running again, now those were some great conventions.

how long do you think it will take ticket holders to get refunds on there 300 dollar plus tickets?

Boycot creation they are bunch of ___________

I remember back in the 90s when they were run out of florida, though it looks like they are trying to go back with a twilight con next year.
they need to stay the heck out of florida.

#15 is absolutely right, chris pine said as much when he was asked by a fan getting his autograph durring the run of his play Farragut North earlier this summer at the geffenplay house in westwood.

Pine was real friendly with all the fans but when he was asked about if he would be attending the Vegas convention, he asked is that the one put on by “creation” then he said no way no how, I will never have anything to do with that company.”

as for other actors of the 2009 cast i definately think for a long time the only ones you will see at the star trek cons will be Quinto and Urban, and perhaps simon pegg(he actually been known to attend the hollywood collectors show in burbank as a fan once or twice ayear.
perhaps in a few years Zoe will. As for Pine eventually he might at non creation events, and Yelchin dont see it happening his career is moving along pretty good, getting great notices even in movies that have been considered stinkers, and the one you definately wont be seeing anytime ever is going to be John cho, the guy has no love at all for any fans, is very rude when it comes to signing autographs, he actually wrote “NOT FOR SALE ON EBAY” over the one autograph he signed for a fan at a recent premiere and then totally ignored the 5 fans waiting to see him the other night when he made an apperance at a talk show here in hollywood.

#43 – I disagree that Creation is overpriced and least fan friendly. When was your last Convention? I bet you didn’t go to LV 09? Not fan friendly. Freeking Frakes hung out at the bar with everyone (no charge). You ended up bumping into almost everyone from the tv shows in the elevator or walking to the con or in the con. The bottom line is that you just don’t know what you’re taking about. I mean why do I want to go to some cheap convention in Saginaw, Michigan to see Walter Koenig and the guy who was in the Gorn costume from TOS. Yeah it might be $10 to go in and you might be able to talk to Gorn costume guy 1 on 1, but come on that’s no fun. Shell out the $30 general admission and tell me that’s not value. The Creation bashing is just stupid.

oh hell yeah Chicago here i come

46 I never said the stars were not fan friendly, Everyone knows that the stars from the tv star treks are awesome to there fans at any convention.
Iam talking about Creation themself (i.e. the people who run creation entertainment)

so let me get this straight just cause my opinon doesnt match up with yours i have no clue what iam talking about, listen here buddy i was at the very first star trek convention ever held, and have traveled to many conventions around the WORLD! so i think i have a little bit of insight.

confan i have no doubt you are someone who works for creation entertainment and just doesnt like seeing his company called out for what it is.
and for the record the last event i attended that featured trek actors was just this past august in the city of industry and featured several voyager stars.

the conventions that are the best value are the ones run by people who are legitmately fans of the shows.

And iam sorry but i am correct they were run out of florida, cause people refused to pay for their high prices for such lousy treatment by the owners and staff.

And last i checked i am entitled to my right to voice my opinon

Honestly, I’m surprised that Creation is still going. I thought it was dead after TNG went off the air.

49, Its been slowly decreasing in numbers since Voyager ended. Enterprise kept it going for a few years but then the famous Pasadena Grand Slam shows kept getting smaller and smaller until they moved out completely and went to the LAX location. (Didn’t go to those)

I have to agree with CapnJake, as I know first hand that the upper leaders of Creation are kinda dicks. The people that volunteer their time are the true Heroes of the shows,,,
Let’s all put down the phasers,,, ;-)