FedCon Day 3: Costumed Trekkies Record Broken + David Mack & Nicole de Boer Panels

It’s day three of FedConXX here in Düsseldorf, Germany, but the con is just as crazy as ever. In addition to setting the new world record for most costumed Trekkies in one place at one time, there were two Star Trek panels today: David Mack, author of Star Trek novels and screenplays for DS9 plus Nicole de Boer (Ezri Dax, DS9). Read on for highlights.

 

FEDCON XX – DAY 3 (Saturday)

TrekMovie’s coverage of FedCon XX from the Hotel Maritim Düsseldorf in Germany continues with a couple of Trek panels and a record breaking attempt at costumed Trekkies.

David Mack talks writing Star Trek novels and DS9 episodes
David Mack took the stage Saturday morning to talk about his experiences writing several series of Star Trek novels as well as a few episodes of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. "Authors get their ideas from the world around them," said Mack who grew up as a fan of the original Star Trek series. "It was a future where smart people were important. It was cool to be a brain," he said. "That unified vision of the future [is what drew me to writing Star Trek]."


David Mack talks about writing for Star Trek novels and TV series

David Mack retold some anecdotes from Deep Space Nine episodes that he had written and sold to the studios, but never were made for one reason or another. He described a scene where Worf attempts to order food from Quark and the scene plays out like the cheese shop sketch from Monty Python.

As for how the books fit into Star Trek canon, Mack had this to say: "The books are not canon… and they never will be." Mack explained that Star Trek is by its very nature a film and television product, and that the authors understand that the things they write need to be based on what has been established in films and television, not the other way around.

Nicole de Boer on being welcomed into Star Trek as Ezri Dax
Nicole de Boer spoke to a full room this afternoon and told stories about what it was like to come into such a well established show like Deep Space Nine at the end of its run (and how she tried to steal props on the last day of filming!). "I can’t believe that I’m a part of this universe!" said de Boer, who went on to say, "I can’t believe I still haven’t met Patrick Stewart! I’m in love with that man! But, I hear I’m too old for him…"


De Boer said that she was welcomed into the Star Trek universe by the cast and crew as well as the fans of DS9. Before shooting a single scene, she got letters from Star Trek fans all over the world welcoming her to the show and the franchise. "The transition was easy," said de Boer, "because [Ezri] is not Jadzia, and she is a new person."


Nicole de Boer answers questions

Star Trek Costume World Record! 691 Trekkies!
Well, FedCon did it again this year and annihilated the record set last August in Las Vegas of 543 costumed trekkies in one place at one time with a total of 691 trekkies in Düsseldorf (including yours truly). People from all over the world gathered with some very elaborate and creative costumes to support the record setting attempt. Can Vegas top Germany next year? It’s going to be tough!


Trekkies gather in the foyer to await being counted


691 trekkies at Hotel Martim Düsseldorf


Flashing vulcan salutes


Klingons celebrate our victory


A Klingon shares a drag with a Borg, while the Federation looks on…


Captain Nero!

Costume of the day

Cutest costume of the day (perhaps all time?) goes to this little guy dressed as Boba Fett from Star Wars!

More FedCon XX at TrekMovie

TrekMovie is at FedCon all weekend. Stay tuned for more reports.

Also check out:

 


34 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

I don’t think anyone Smokes in the 23rd or 24th except for the ones who are in Prision. But. Some kool stuff going on there. Nicole is more beautiful now then she was back on Ds9.

WHAAAT?! I thought we were going to break the record in Vegas! All you closet Trekkies, pull that old Captain Kirk costume of yours out of deep within your sock drawer and come on out to the Rio this August–we need your help!

I’m sorry, I’m currently on a sugar high. Hoping to see you all at the Vegas con this year–dressed as one of Engineering staff.

That last pic is cuteness in weaponized form. ;)

“I don’t think anyone Smokes in the 23rd or 24th except for the ones who are in Prison.”

There appears to be no smoking among active Starfleet crew on outer space missions and since they may be away from their home planets for an extended time, it is likely that the vast majority would not be smokers at all.

According to Star Trek:Voyager, Tom Paris was doing time in a penal institution in New Zealand! when Captain Janeway made him an offer… Given that our government would like to see NZ smoke-free by about 2050 and is actively working on making all the NZ prisons smoke-free within the next decade, if this works, it is most unlikely that any prisoner of the future would be allowed to smoke.
(Of course, nobody is talking about black market and drug trafficking of nicotine at this stage – a possible and likely outcome of such prohibition, but that’s another topic.)
By the way, Australia was the original penal colony. NZ has never been a penal colony.

Kirk did take a puff on Trek 6. He got it from Marta. But anyway. Vegas needs to rock with all of us.

Oh, lol at the goth skinhead trying to…. Invoke an element? Throw a fireball? What?
Alternative Romulans keep having more and more identity issues as the days go by.

#4

So, you guys are going to have to step out and head all the way over to Australia if you want to have a cig? Geez, and I thought it was bad here in the States having to go to a back alley.

Those are “Klingons” smoking, not some wimpy Federation types! :)

The plan, the hope is that by about 2050, 95% of people simply won’t want to smoke. As far as prison, not being allowed to smoke while in prison, might deter people from criminality?! I just had that thought now… I have no idea whether it will work, then again less than 50% of the population here actually smoke as it is now.

I don’t smoke, never have, but I don’t agree with legal prohibition. We all know how it worked for alcohol – it didn’t. I think the same will apply when it comes to cigarette smoking and already applies to cannabis smoking. People need to have the freedom to make up their own minds about some things.

Nicole is still hawt

Age hasn’t made Nicole de Boer look any less beautiful.

#9

Agreed!

@9- I agree with you sister, People should have the freedom to choose. I see no problem with taxing the bejezzus out of them though, Especially with smoking.
Its election time in Canada right now and I watched a candidate answer a question about reducing sin taxes (alcohol and tobacco)
This candidate simply said that they supported higher sin taxes as smokers were a higher drain on our universal helath care system and that they were just “pre-paying their way” before they would need our overburdened health care system.

@10+11: Logical assumption!

I’ve been a fan of Nicole since she was in an obscure Canadian series years ago where she played the editor of a college newspaper. She had a stunning screen presence even then. I’ll watch anything that she’s in.

Love David Mack. Vanguard is the only ongoing Trek property I have any interest in.

I would have loved to be there…. maybe next time…

@16 I do not like the Titan-Ones, but indeed Vanguard is perfect!

You failed to mention that Dragon*Con broke Vegas’ record quite handily in September 2010!

Nicole de Boer, still cute as a button!

Anybody know if there are plot synopsis available of the episodes David Mack wrote?

I’ll watch anything with Nicole de Boer in it, I even watched Christmas Town, Suck, Metal Shifters, NYC Tornado Terror. She’s the best thing in all of that, easily, because the gal is still very good at emoting for the camera. But I wouldn’t say those are great flicks per se., but the least bad one is probably Christmas Town, mostly because she’s in practically every scene and it’s so hard to hate on a movie that’s simply trying to be sappy, inspirational pap that it’s like kicking a puppy. She’s great in Suck too, because she plays a crazy beotch.

One of these days I might actually watch the Dead Zone TV series, but that seems like quite the haul.

It’s good to see that the fans are still
alive and kicking – The conventions still
rock, and many thanks should go to the
celebrities that attend and put up with
US…. Nicole is as beautiful as ever!

I know everyone HATES Star Trek V, (I can see past its flaws and enjoy it myself), but the Federation Ambassador was seen smoking a cigarette in that film. So at least some people still smoke in Star Trek.

Klingon smoking is also established in Star Trek 3 (well, sort of). Watch when Kruge and his boys are on the bridge of the Bird of Prey. That room is smokey as Saturday night poker at Moe’s Tavern. Then at the end, when Kirk and his merry band take over, magically the bridge is as fresh as Julie Andrews twirling on a mountainside.

[sniff] Awww… Starfleet—the freshest smelling peacekeeping armada in the galaxy!

Such a great turn out. Looks like it was a fun event.

Great to see that Star Trek is still alive ‘n’ kicking over there in Europe.

Here in the U.K., it’s all Doctor Who this and Doctor Who that… and while that’s fun, I’ve just not seen any love expressed for Trek, in what seems like forever.

David Mack has put out some great novels. The Vanguard novels are great (just got done reading Precipice–slowly catching up on my novel backlog). His Destiny series was also a great read, I couldn’t wait to read each of the 3 novels. And of the 4 Typhon Pact novels, his was the best. He loves to tear it up in his novels, a lot of action.

Really, I’ve enjoyed the relaunch novels from all the series. In all probability, we will probably never see any of those series on screen again and the authors have taken advantage of that by telling some groundbreaking stories in the prime universe.

23–While Star Trek V was the weakest of the films, it still has plenty of good Star Trek moments. It had some of the best Kirk/Spock/McCoy moments and it still had a great music score. I have not problems putting the DVD in the player and watching it along with any of the other films.

Logically, the technology in Star Trek would produce safe smoking just as it had safe drinking. Or at least, the medical technology would be able to fully counteract the damage. That it can be rationalized doesn’t mean it would be a good idea for Star Trek to make smoking look like the future to impressionable audiences.

Re Peter David:

Just getting into the novels: A bunch of time for reading opened up for me, and there’s only so much Tolstoy, Chesterton, Dostoevsky(sp?), Hugo, etc., one can take before turning to lighter fare

From what I’ve read in advance, P. David is about the best ST writer (two earlier experiences with pre re-launch turned me off), and I’m just now giving his New Frontier series a try.

Why no mention of that? Is it not as good as Vanguard or the Destiny trilogy (plus A Singular Destiny)? And I thought Titan was supposed to be good, too, so I got Taking Wing. Should I forget those and try to get PD-written Vanguard etc. and Destiny?

Never been to a Con but sure wish I could! Looks incredible. :-)

28–Peter David is a good writer too. He usually writes about one New Frontier book a year (I’m only up to book 6 in that series so far). He has written some other books but it seems NF is his specialty. Only David Mack, Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore write for Vanguard to date. I guess the novels are a matter of taste. By and large I have liked most of the novels that have been coming out. There are some out there who preferred the old days when each novel was single, self contained story (the original series books usually follow that format still). I like those single stories, but have also come to like the relaunches that tie into one another. In a sense, it gives a continuing story.

“The books are not canon… and they never will be.”

Thank God because some of them suck and they’ve made some characters being unrecognizable from how they knew them and loved them on TV. They’re like bad written fan fiction.

That been said some books are brilliant and worth reading, like David Mack’s books.
But since books are not canon I’d appreciate more stand alone books, books that take place between the series and cover moments we haven’t seen on screen and more alternative timelines book. If they are not canon why not a series of “what if…” books. For instance what would happened if the crew of the defiant remained in Gaia in the episode “Children of Time” .
I think these kind of books would be easier to follow and would bring back readers that have given up on the post nemesis books because they’re too complex to follow and they require to read them in order and to read the books from all the series etc. I’m not saying that continuity is a bad thing or that there should not exist, I’m just saying that along with these books why not something different.
After all star trek was always about diversity and the fans are very diverse themselves.
Anyway just my thoughts hoping that the writters reading!

I agree with Matt. I’d like to have more options about the novels since they are not canon. More stories that takes place during the series and alternatives scenarios. The relaunch series were good but I’m tired with all that continuity. We’re talking about Star Trek, the possibilities are endless. I’d like for istance to read a book about Jadzia Dax returning without that interfearing with the current continuity. Just a different scenario.

“Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations”

Nicole looks positively angelic in these pics.

Why, oh WHY haven’t we seen her in anything big, since “Dead Zone”? Hollywood is so shameful, not using someone who has such great talent and screen presence that she makes frankly mediocre films actually WATCHABLE. (And the camera always loves her, of course….)

Is it because she’s 40, or something? So what? She looks nearly half that!

Someone call Quentin Tarantino. The man is a legend for reviving careers. If he could bring back John Travolta and Pam Grier…

I hated Ezri in the series and still hate her in the books! Most boring and useless character ever! When a novel with some really interesting characters aka Data will come out?

#33 I second that!