See Rare Film Of First Star Trek Cast Reunion from 1975 Trek Con

A rare film from one of the first Star Trek conventions is now online. Shot at the Star Trek Chicago 75, a con which had the first public reunion of the entire original Star Trek series crew since the show was cancelled in 1969. Check it out below.

 

Star Trek Chicago ’75

The film below comes from Star Trek Chicago ’75, held at the Hilton Hotel in Chicago, August 22-24, 1975. 16,000 fans attended the event. The YouTube video (courtesy of broadbarn.com) was recently transferred from the original 8mm film. The short film features the appearances of  William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, Walter Koenig, James Doohan Nichelle Nichols (with quite the 70s fro), and Arlene Martel (T’Pring “Amok Time”), all appearing on a recreation of the USS Enterprise bridge. There is no sound, but Rich Portnoy, who shot the film, provides a narration.

There have only been a very few instances of public reunions of the Star Trek crew, such as the the dedication of the Gene Roddenberry building on the Paramount lot and the 30th Anniversary convention in Hunstville, Alabama.

The Star Trek Chicago ’75 event was big news. You can read an original Time Magazine article about it from their September 8th 1975 issue, online at time.com. Here is an excerpt:

For the first time at a Trekkies’ convention, all the TV actors were in Chicago to represent such Enterprise stalwarts as Dr. Leonard McCoy, who in one episode contracted an incurable disease and fell in love with the green high priestess of a doomed planetoid; Chief Engineer Scott ("Scotty"), for whom "relaxation is a stack of technical journals"; Lieut. Uhura, the black female communications officer who sings soprano for relaxation; and Ensign Chekov, the Russian pilot. The stars were greeted by standing ovations.

 

Thanks to BroadBarn, Time, and My Star Trek Scrapbook

 

 

 

 

 

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Fascinating

Oh, the Leisure Suits!!

wow Shatner had quite the rug back then! Awesome video! Thanks!

Very Cool, George still does that Vulcan salute when he comes out!

OMG (Goosebumps break out on the neck and arms)

Awesome, even without sound…

Does Shatner really wear a wig? If you watch The voyage Home, in the swimming scene, how would that be possible? His hair is clearly attached to his scalp in that scene…

This is a me too post, precisely echoing post #5.

#6 – Superglue. There’s a great skit on Robot Chicken detailing the private life of Shat’s rug. Well worth looking it up on youtube.

@6 I’ve been wondering that too. It was stated numerous times in ‘Star Trek – The Real Story’ by Justman and Solow that Shatner wore a “toupee”. If he did, it’s the best example of one I’ve ever seen – completely natural looking.

@ 6 – a toupee then, hair plugs later, hair transplants now

@6,8,9 — I think he had hair plugs by the time he did ST IV. I don’t know it for a fact (can’t remember where I heard it), but it would make sense given what is depicted onscreen.

THAT”S THE CAPTAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome!!

They all look so different from the show!
Really great, wish they could have something like this again nowadays.

Also happy birthday to Majel Barett-Roddenberry! :)

Liked it lots. :) Very young looking group of people there, and they almost all needed haircuts (Nimoy and Doohan were okay).

I feel like I am watching video of Elizabeth I, Napoleon, or George Washington… spectacular…

While we’re on the topic of hairpieces, according to his autobiography, Mr. Walter Koenig has been follicularly augmented since the late ’70s. Nobody ever talked about his though. Bill got all the “Shatner Turbo2000” jokes.

Was that David Gerrold mackin’ on Nichelle?

Also, polyester was such an unflattering fabric.

Many, many, many thanks, Portnoy! I have no complaint whatsoever. Great job. Thanks for sharing.

Ah, glory days. Wasn’t this during or right after they were doing voice overs for The Animated Series? I wonder if any of them had a clue they’d be doing a motion picture together not long after this.

I was there too. It was fantastic. I sat next to the guy that had built the Bridge set. He was so proud to have the actors standing in it. When Bill sat in the chair the place went crazy. The actors must have been half blind with all of the flashing. They of course answered questions as well. The hotel was so packed it was hard to walk around.

This was the first time I had seen upcut episodes. They projected them on the wall and we got to see stuff we had never seen on TV.

Pictures from this event also appear in the book “Letters to Star Trek” by Susan Sackett.

Lol, if you have the blu ray set of the first 6 movies, lol, its a wiggy wiggy, no doubt..

Is it me, or does Shatner in this video really resemble Chris Pine? The mannerisms included.

Shatner doesn’t have enough hair to transplant the amount of hair needed! Don’t be fooled by him swimming in The Voyage Home. For the longest time now they’ve had hair weaves that one can shower, swim, stand in a cyclone wind and the damn thing won’t come off! Those things are “poly-fused” to one’s scalp. Not to mention, anyone standing over the weave-wearer would swear that they can see right through to the person’s scalp! They’ve come a long way with hair-replacement technology! Nowadays Shatner would, every few weeks, move up to a brand new “head of hair”. Hey, if you have the money, it can look pretty darn real!

The gal who played T’Pring bears a fair resemblance to a young Jolene Blalock!

To all those interested in the tale of Shatner’s hair, there’s a well-researched blog: http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/

Basically, he’s worn a hairpiece since at least the 1960s. Whether he’s wearing one *now* is up to debate.

This, without sound, is ripe for rifftrak.

Oh, the days when our heroes were so young.. I felt like I was watching family home movies. I guess that says something about these actors, they really became like family to so many fans, even if they never met them in person. I only missed out meeting DeForest, darn it!

Shatner has worn a toup since the early 1960s. When his own money is involved, they are often quite ratty, but with studio money, they are state of the art. The one in ST IV is a breathable membrane with individual hairs sewn in. Not unusual. Today, he wears something similar, but in a “balding” style for authenticities sake. See http://shatnerstoupee.blogspot.com/

#22
“Is it me, or does Shatner in this video really resemble Chris Pine? The mannerisms included.”

Ditto.

I tend to think that his current hair is his own, simply because in the days when he was relying on extensive toupees – the 70s and 80s – he never showed very good judgment about the believability of them. He was of the “Bert Reynolds” persuasion, always going with a rug that had more follicles per square inch than the most hirsute teen.

One of the builders of that bridge set, I believe, was Michael McMasters – the fellow who drew the blueprints of the bridge that have been widely used for reference by fans since the mid-1970s. There are more accurate references available today, but for a very long time the McMasters blueprints were the gold standard.

Doug Drexler or Geoff Mandel may also have been involved in constructing the set, but I’ve forgotten.

Wow incredible.

I was there – 13 years old and digging every minute of it. I still have a tribble that I purchased at the event.

Thanks so much for sharing.

I wonder if it has been absolutely substantiated that Shatner has ever worn a toupee. Or if it is just some crazy rumor that has somehow become a part of Treklore.

That was a great video, their style was so scary! I can’t believe Takei was doing the stupid Vulcan salute way back then!

Dose anybody know where can I find old days convention pics like these above? Those are quite rare.

I also thought that was David Gerrold talking with Nichele in that clip. Regarding the toupee, I believe that in the 1960’s, it was just enough to cover up a bald spot on the top of his head. It became more extensive as the 1970’s wore on.

I always thought that Koenig had the worse hair of the bunch. The toupee was very obvious, especially by the time ST6 and 7 rolled around. It never really looked natural.

Interestingly, the episode of Trek Phase II that Koenig appears in must be his own hair as he quickly ages.

#32: “I wonder if it has been absolutely substantiated that Shatner has ever worn a toupee. Or if it is just some crazy rumor that has somehow become a part of Treklore.”

Only by the dozens of eyewitnesses who’ve mentioned and written about incidents involving Shatner’s toupee – including Robert Justman, Fred Phillips, William Campbell and Walter Koenig.

The shatnerstoupee blogspot is a pure delight. Thanks for the link.

That’s really cool.

Thanks for the link in the post! glad to be a helpful source. Here is the Time magazine article about the same convention:
http://mystartrekscrapbook.blogspot.com/2008/09/1975-time-article-trekkie-fad.html

I know you posted a link to their archived version, but the link I gave is my actual clipping of the original article, with the photos, for what it’s worth.

That was cool. Wish they had done a reenactment of an episode.

hey if theyd made the 1st star trek movie in 1975 wed be looking forward to Star Trek 13 next summer having already seen 12 in summer 08

Nice film. Thank you for posting. I think they used that same bridge set at New York Star Trek ’76, which had thousands in attendance also.

as others have already said that video kinda of reminded me of the end scene of ST09…especially when Shatner appeared

also what the heck does ‘posed for the lollypop’ refer too?

I love seeing stuff like this!

Yay!

I remember that time very well…I went to the Bicentenial 10 convention the next year in New York…everyone was there but Nimoy, he couldn’t get away because of a play he was in . I remember wishing Shatner was my dad…especially when I was told to mow the lawn.

Would have been super cool to have Trek continue into the 70’s, but only if the writing had improved.

It’s great to see everybody ‘young’ … and seemingly at ease around each other; I mean around Bill. Ah well…

44. philpot – February 23, 2010

There is a famous photo of Spock holding a half-eaten lollypop that has been around forever. It’s in the blooper reel, I think, but you kind find stills of it everywhere.

Man that clip brought back memories. I didn’t make this convention, but back in 1974/75 Ruth Berman visited the little Hennepin Co. library near us and bring her batch of film clips and tell all the inside stories behind them. Later, she and David Gerrold were guests of honor at another Trek gathering that I only vaguely remember now.

In 1977, we (my kid brothers, mom and dad and myself of course) finally made it to a real convention, in Philadelphia. Koenig was the principle guest but a lot of other Star Trek luminaries were there, too.

These were wonderful experiences, people. They had not yet been commercialized (although they were going in that direction) and they were still fan labours of love.

Anthony, it would be wonderful to see articles here on Trek history, such as these old conventions, as well as Star Trek Welcommittee, Star Trek Enterprises, and the many other outlets we had in the days before GCI and Bluray!

Sincerely,
C.S. Lewis

See… James Cawley’s Elvis-do is actually legit Shat!

That was quite an era for the conventions where the fans created almost everything in the dealers room that was for sale. I attended some of these in the 70’s here on the west coast and I remember the excitement that seeing the actors engendered in the crowd. I was able to meet almost all of the original actors and even took one to the airport. A very different era with consideration to security and the like.

And yes, Shatner did wear a hairpiece, I have an original Episode Budget from May 1966 and under item 28-9 are “3 Hair Pieces for William Shatner” at a cost of $546.00.