Con Report: TNG, DS9 & VOY Trek Stars At FedCon XIX

fedconxixIn the beginning of May more than 5,000 fans met their genre stars at FedCon XIX, Europe’s biggest Star Trek and Sci Fi convention, in Bonn, Germany. Star Trek was represented well by Michael Dorn, Terry Farrell, Suzie Plakson, Chase Masterson, Martha Hackett and Manu Intiraymi. See below for a report from the event, including photos.

 

Terry Farrell spoofs no-show – wanted different exit for Jadzia

Due to various reasons Trek stars Nicole de Boer, James Darren and Harry Groener all called off their appearances for in the days before the event. Some fans’ hearts may have skipped a beat when FedCon’s new Master of Ceremonies Ed Wasser announced during the Opening Ceremony that Terry Farrell unfortunately could not make it as well. A taped video message went onscreen in which the actress explained that she had been prevented from boarding her flight out of Pennsylvania and now was stuck in the US. The hoax played on the fact that Farrell had cancelled multiple appearances at FedCon in the past and when the actress appeared on stage an instant later, fans welcomed her with thunderous applause.


Terry Farrell’s noshow gag at Fedcon XIX

Terry Farrell conquered everybody’s hearts by storm when she entered the stage. She came across as absolutely authentic, unassuming and genuinely interested in her fans. Between panels, photo and autograph sessions she took her time to mingle and browse the merchandise and fan stands in the convention halls. The actress updated those who did not know that she had moved to Pennsylvania and enjoys her life as a mother and housewife now, noting that “being a mom is so much easier than acting because you don’t have to hold your stomach in and don’t get your picture taken all the time.”

Answering a question about Jadzia’s death scene on Deep Space Nine, Terry Farrell reiterated that the writers had not sought her input on how she would be written off the show. The actress would have preferred a different exit for her character, as being killed off precluded her from a possible return as a guest star. She was not only disappointed with the death as such, she said, but also with the way this was incorporated into the DS9 storyline. Being killed by Dukat who came out of nowhere felt pointless, Farrell told the fans. A better alternative? In her opinion it would have been much more dramatic if Worf had made a different decision in the sixth-season episode "Change of Heart" and left her to die on the alien world to successfully retrieve the valuable intelligence source.


Terry Farrell at Fedcon XIX

Michael Dorn: Worf is "man’s man" – DS9 more serious set than TNG

The actor with the most Star Trek episodes lightheartedly recounted many anecdotes from his years as Trek’s most prominent Klingon. One thing he shares with his character: both hate tribbles “because they are too cute”. Michael Dorn told his audience that he had always regarded Worf as man’s man, not so much interested in fine intellectual endeavors but rather in sports, drinks and women. The following small exchange between Dorn an a fan perfectly captures the actor’s humor that shaped the atmosphere during his panels:

Fan: I am here with my 10 year old daughter and translating her question. She would like to know what was the best thing about playing Worf?

Dorn: The best thing about playing Worf… the women.

Fan: My daughter wants to know what you mean by that.

Dorn: What I mean by that? Wait, how old is your daughter again, 10? They all were very nice colleagues. You can tell her what I really meant when she is older…


Terry Farrell and Michael Dorn at Fedcon XIX

Asked about his transition from TNG to DS9, the actor joked that it became a really easy decision once he heard about his salary. Continuing in earnest, Dorn named the atmosphere on set as the most striking difference. Whereas the TNG cast would never miss an opportunity for joke and laughter, Dorn initially felt on the DS9 set like “walking in a cathedral”. He got his colleagues to loosen up a little over next years, the actor added.


Michael Dorn at Fedcon XIX

Suzie Plakson: loved chance to play TNG death scene

A character’s death scene also played prominently in Suzie Plakson’s panel. The artist, who now explores her singing talent and has released an album called "I Didn’t Wanna Do It," recalled that she was very excited when she heard that K’Ehleyr was to be killed off because she had never played a death scene before. Then she received the script and was so disappointed to read the words “K’Ehleyr is found dead.” which meant she would just lie on the floor motionless instead of acting out the last moments of her character’s life. With a thoughtful comment on gender roles on TV Plakson observed that the authors probably would have written a dramatic and action-packed fight scene if a male character had met the same fate.


Suzie Plakson at Fedcon XIX

Martha Hackett: Voyager one-off became recurring – cut from TNG finale

Martha Hackett delighted the fans with stories both about her most prominent role in Star Trek and one that we never came to see. The actress revealed that the Seska character on Voyager started as a one-off guest stint. Seska’s arc was not planned beforehand but emerged iteratively which each new script. Pregnancy led to a special coincidence: just as Hackett was preparing to inform the producers that she was pregnant, she received a script in which Seska’s pregnancy was revealed. Asked about whether Seska really loved Chakotay, the actress replied: “Yes, in her own way.” Her most enduring make-up was neither the Bajoran nor the Cardassian version of Seska nor the Romulan make-up as T’Rul in the DS9 two-parter The Search but her Terellian make-up for the TNG series finale. The alien make-up, which covered her whole head, took multiple hours to apply and again to remove. It was one of those make-up jobs where actors have to breathe through straws during the application process. And if you don’t remember Hackett’s alien from "All Good Things…" that’s because her scenes were cut in the end.


Martha Hackett at Fedcon XIX

Chase Masterson: Sings – talks Leeta origin

Demonstrating her entertainment skills, Chase Masterson (literally) wrapped herself in the German flag for the Opening Ceremony and treated the crowd to a variety of jazzy songs during her panels. Echoing Marylin Monroe with “Latinum is a girl’s best friend”, Masterson asked for a brave Trekkie to join her on stage. What she meant by “brave” became clear when she zestfully removed the belt of his Starfleet uniform and nestled at his shirt – brave Ingo, whose wife was attending the panel too, however managed to keep his uniform on until the end of the song.


Chase Masterson with lucky fan at Fedcon XIX
(Photo: FedCon)

Next to singing, Chase Masterson described how she became acquainted with Trek prior to her role as Leeta: her boyfriend at the time was such a Trek fan that she was only allowed to call him during commercial breaks when Star Trek was airing. She was impressed by the show herself and let her agent know that she’d like to be on it. Masterson auditioned for the role of Jake Sisko’s love interest Mardah but did not get the part. As the producers were impressed by her auditioning nevertheless, they later created the role as Leeta specifically for her. The actress also recounted a funny anecdote of her work with Robert Picardo as Lewis Zimmerman in the DS9 episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume." When Leeta reunites with Rom at the end and leaves Zimmerman on his own, Picardo originally was not given an exit line. The actor did not want to exit quietly however and before he settled on asking a beautiful Bajoran lady about her familiarity with the Earth text of Kama Sutra, Picardo as Zimmerman tried a couple of different lines, first among them: “Are you familiar with my work on
Star Trek: Voyager?”


Martha Hackett at Fedcon XIX
(Photo: FedCon)

Manu Intiraymi: Working with Jeri Ryan a challenge as teenage boy

The actor, who played Icheb in 11 episodes of Voyager, showed a couple of trailers for his latest movie Zah-A Pizza Movie and his upcoming WW2 drama Fortress. Reminiscing on his time on the Voyager set, Intiraymi mentioned that acting opposite beautiful Jeri Ryan became hard from time to time for the boy in puberty that he then was. Although he is grateful for all the opportunities that his stint on Voyager opened up for him, he said there’s one thing he does not miss for a second: his nickname “Borg boy.” The actor remarked, tongue in cheek, that after he got his agent to negotiate a pay raise for him, the authors started to put Icheb into life-threatening conditions in every new script he got. He claimed to have gotten the message.


Manu Intiraymi at Fedcon XIX

Phase II’s Cawley premieres "Enemy: Starfleet" and previews "The Child"

In contrast to last year, when FedCon took place only days before the release of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek movie, star panels and conversations in the convention halls were dominated less by the new production and focused more on all the different series and movies that make up the franchise. FedCon attendees were treated to a premiere nevertheless when fan series Star Trek Phase II executive producer James Cawley introduced the upcoming episodes "Enemy:Starfleet" and "The Child". Work on "Enemy:Starfleet" was almost complete, and Phase II followers can look forward to an entertaining and action-packed episode when it will be released on the internet later this month. The cut of "The Child" screened in Bonn was far from finished, and it showed. Effects looked raw and the pacing seemed off. When completed, that episode will be released later this year.


James Cawley at Fedcon XIX

Looking forward

Fewer of Star Trek’s big stars were present at this year’s FedCon than fans had become used to in the previous years. Nevertheless, some of this year’s guests had their German convention premiere and the Trek crowd was complemented, as in the past, with actors from other genre shows like Battlestar Galactica, Stargate and Torchwood. With this recipe FedCon organizers managed to attract about the same number of attendees as last year and sold around 5,500 tickets. Next year FedCon will be expanded by one day and turn into a four-day convention. FedCon XX will take place from April 28 to May 1, 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany.


Stars gather on stage at Fedcon XIX

Above photos by René Kissien, unless otherwise noted.

Many More photos from FedCon available at fedcon.startrek.de .

Henning Koonert, TrekMovie’s German correspondent, is one of the managers for The TrekZone Network, a leading German Star Trek website (and TrekMovie.com partner). Henning will be reporting from FedCon XIX, so look for more updates.

 

38 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Terry Farrell is so pretty, even years later! I am so jealous of her hair. I want her hair. Not to mention she played, in my opinion, one of ‘Trek’s greatest ladies.

Wish I’d been there!

What was the reason Terry decided to leave DS9?

wrong name on the picture of James Cawley

Some great stuff. Terry Farrell is one beautifull woman and She has a great sence of humer in pulling off that gag. I just wish they would make a new series and have it set during the Romulan Wars.

#4 :: THAT. Romulan War. Yes.
I suppose we can dream, but I don’t see it happening. However, it’d probably be better than half of the outright bad sci-fis they show these days… a few decent shows being the exception.

Man, some cast members are getting old. I didn’t even recognize some of them.

4 and 5 that’s the direction Enterprise was heading in with its last 3 seasons and film series (No doubt there would have been one) You can thank UPN for cancelling it. I was looking forward to it.

@2. Cap’n Chris.

I could’ve sworn some where i read it was because she wanted to do a movie career.

@2 and 8

Terry Ferrel left DS9 because Paramount execs cast her in the Ted Danson series “Becker”.

#9

Terry Ferrell left “Becker” after the third season. She was apparently fired by the producers. She left “Deep Space Nine” because she felt there was no where else to go with her character.

Can we get some video please?

Thanks for sharing this report!

#8

I think you are thinking of Michelle Forbes, who played Ensign Ro on TNG. The producers and writers for DS9 had planned on making her a regular on that show but she turned them down because she wanted to do movies. Kira Nerys was created as a replacement.

She is most famously known for her role as Jadzia Dax in the TV show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993), but she did have some acting experience before that. In 1992, she had the star role in the movie Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992). She appeared in several TV and straight-to-video movies, and also dated actors Michael Dorn and Mickey Rourke while on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993).

Afterward, Paramount decided to move her to the show “Becker” (1998), where she played the character Reggie Kostas, but, after four seasons, she was replaced by Nancy Travis. Since then, she hasn’t been in many mainstream events. In September of 2002, she married Brian Baker, better known as the cell-phone company Sprint’s spokesperson.

Source: imdb.com

Becker was an excellent show until they fired Terry Farrell. Big mistake.
It would be good to see her in something again.

But if she is enjoying her life as a mother and a housewife then more power to her! I agree that the way she was killed off (that she was killed off!) was wrong.

No conventions ever come to Montreal. I wish someone would change that.

I just got off the phone with my mom who lives in Alberta, and I think will take a trip out there this summer to go visit Vulcan, AB (where Nimoy went recently).

Terry played the flight attendant on the short lived “Dave Thomas show” with martin short and chevy chase. That was in 1989.

Terry still looks good, even though the pictures that were snapped there aren’t that great –beautiful woman though. It’s a shame she’s not acting anymore.

I’m assuming that’s the same Ed Wasser who played Morden in “Babylon 5” –he was great in that role.

Now that’s what I like to see, a MILF in hooker boots. Fantastic

Thanks for the report : -)
I agree that Terry looks good..
But so does Suzie Plakson. I had forgoten that she has so nice..er..chest.
Or am I the only one who thinks she is sexy? LOL

Ed Wasser is a great Actor.

Terry looks great after all these Years. She doesn’t want to act anymore because she is a Mother now. That’s what she said on FedCon.

Wrong Name on the 2. Martha Hackett Photo, that’s Chase Masterson.
By the Way, Chase is great. She remembers me after 10 Years…

Michael Dorn seems not to be Interested in the Fandom. There have been about 20 to 30 Klingons with a Stand on the Convention, Dorn hasn’t visit them or even looked at them at all.

James Cawley is a cool Guy, i like him. I saw the Episodes of him, and he was Present for some Questions of mine.

We’ve been there! My first Con ever.
Michael Dorn is very nice. My friend confused him a little when started talking Russian to him at the autogramm session, but then I translated it, and he was relieved. xD
Also loved Joe Flanigan’s panel, though I’ve never watched SGA. He is very funny and a good speaker.
The Diva at the costume contest was amazing!

It was great! But Ed Wasser was a very poor replacement of the best MC – Marc B. Lee. Marc, we need you back next year!

Chase was really dressing for the fanboys eh? :D what is she like 40?…. nope 47! jeez!

I saw Terry at the Vegas con. You’re right, she’s just lovely.

Great report. Thank you.

@ 6 Hate to break it to you but….you’re getting older too. :)

“Tong in cheek”? That sounds painful…

# 11: Filming’s not allowed during panels, unfortunately. I’ve seen some great video reports compiled with material from outside the convention halls but they’re all in German. If you’re interested nevetheless, let me know in the comments, then I’ll post the links.

# 12, 21, 26: Most welcome!

# 19: I agree on photo quality. Pictures have to be taken without flash, so they’re a bit darker, true. It’s a sensible measure though. Facing an avalanche of flashlights on stage is very uncomfortable for the actors. If anybody ever wondered why so many sport sun glasses, that’s why.

# 28: Hilarious! Time to add some artificial intelligence to Word spelling check, I’d say.

I don’t think Terry has been to a Vegas CON since 2007 or 2008 and I missed her that time around sadly. She is really a great person, ever since I first saw her in the Rodney Dangerfield film BACK TO SCHOOL were she played a college student who was the love interest of Rodneys son. Also in that same film is Sally Kellerman who was the love interest of Rodney. But that was a great joke for her to play.

@25. Tribble Skinner
“Chase was really dressing for the fanboys eh? :D what is she like 40?…. nope 47! jeez!”

LOL, had no idea she was THAT old! I’d totally do her though.

I haven’t been to a convention since Generations in London way back in ’98(I think). It was great seeing all the cast of TNG, they were fab and all were really pleasant. Brent Spiner even pulled a practical joke on Patrick Stewart.Very funny I even managed to see Shatner the night before at the premiere for the film. This report really makes me want to attend another convention :)

Nice report.

@ 29 – yes please. Link!

Chase just gets better with age, I guess. Fine vintage wine ;)

@ 33 – Here you go.

http://vimeo.com/11649526 (German)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpvagbHCm4s (German)

http://serieasten.tv/SERIEASTEN/SPECIAL/Archiv.html (Interviews with BSG and SG stars in English, plus FedCon report in German)

http://serieasten.tv/SERIEASTEN/SERIENCOUCH/Eintrage/2010/5/3_SERIENCOUCH81.html (sofa discussion with Manu Intiraymi and fans in English)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVCVe_rNhQ (short webisodes with impressions)

I loved Terry Farrel in DS9 and Becker. Becker was a great show. Well, I just can’t resist grumpy good hearted doctors. It’s DeForest Kelley’s fault! :-)

If you like these actors, but couldn’t make it to FedCon in person, may I suggest buying the DVD when it comes out? The DVD always includes the entire panels and is EXTREMELY well made. For around $30 you get a LOT of content and interviews, last year it was 2 DVDs that were full to the brim with around 8 Hours of content.

Keep an eye on FedCon.tv for news on when it is released (probably next Fall, since they put a lot of work into the DVDs) where you can also get DVDs from past cons.

And no, I am not affiliated with either the DVD producers, or the con. I am just a fan of the well made DVDs.

Terry Farrell looks absolutelly beautiful and Michael Dorn is great! Jadzia was my favorite character in DS9. I was so disappointed that the writters decided to kill her, there were so many other ways she could leave the show. Never cared for season 7. Jadzia and Worf are my OTP from Star Trek.

I was there and I met Terry Farrell and Michael Dorn. They were both very friendly and authentic. Michael Dorn is really nice and Terry Farrell is stunning even more in person. I can still not accept the fact that they killed Jadzia. She was one of the best characters in DS9 and they also broke poor Worf’s heart. One of the best couples on star trek