Earlier this month Creation Entertainment announced they were moving the annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention from August to December, and from the Rio to the strip. Today they put tickets on sale for the rescheduled event and TrekMovie talked to Creation Entertainment co-founder and president Gary Berman to get the lowdown on the new Star Trek Las Vegas.
Tickets for new STLV on sale now, including Gold packages
Today Creation announced that tickets were once again on sale for the event. You can buy various weekend packages from General Admission ($330), to Copper ($439), to Captain’s Chair ($679), to Gold ($1299). Each level includes more included perks and, of course, a better seat. Gold packages were sold out before the event was postponed, but due to some fans not being able to make the new date, a few Gold seats have opened up. Gary Berman tells TrekMovie he expects those to be snapped up quickly.
Berman spoke excitedly about returning to Vegas, where Creation has been doing conventions for three decades:
It is quite an event and an endeavor that everyone mutually built in Vegas. It is known around the world. It is part of the fabric of what we are as fans and particularly here at Creation. We are really looking forward to being with everybody.
Brand new Ceasars Forum
The new location brings new opportunities
This year Star Trek Las Vegas will be held December 9-13 at the brand-new Caesars Forum Conference Center, which is connected to Harrah’s, the new STLV partner hotel located at the heart of the Las Vegas strip. Even though the show is moving to a new location, Berman says all the STLV elements available at the Rio Convention Center will be replicated at the Ceasars Forum, and more:
We get this incredible new state-of-the-art space in the heart of the strip, which I have always dreamed about. And we actually have more space. We will have everything we had at the Rio, plus some surprises.
The Ceasars Forum is connected via a covered walkway to Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, which is located on the Las Vegas strip. While the location and room quality are an upgrade from the Rio, the room rates are just a bit more expensive than they were in 2019, at $85/night on Sunday and weekdays and $139 on Friday and Saturdays. There is also a daily $37 resort fee. To get the convention rate visit passkey.com, and use the code “SHTRE0.”
Berman was also excited about the opportunity to finally move the event to the strip:
The fans get this incredible place to have a party for the five days. It is pretty unheard of for a genre show to be in a facility that is going to be most-wanted by every organization in the world for a meeting in Vegas… And that whole area is filled with a myriad of shops and restaurants and bars for fans to hang out, all right there.
Harrah’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino
Almost all celebrity guests reconfirmed with new ones being added
As of now, there are 67 Star Trek celebrities confirmed for the new date, including first-time Star Trek convention guest Kelsey Grammar. There are just a handful of guests that were previously confirmed for the August event that Creation is still waiting on, with the most notable of that group being Star Trek: Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew. Gary Berman tells TrekMovie they are talking to Kate and they are still set to have a big 25th-anniversary panel for Star Trek: Voyager.
The new date has also opened up new guest opportunities as well. Berman tells TrekMovie:
We are hoping to have some really exciting news about guests. We want to do something really special for the fans. We are working on some incredible things. But this move has opened up the possibility of us getting people we couldn’t have got for [August].
The guest list includes stars from all of the classic Star Trek shows. In addition, Creation is planning to have stars from Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and other new Star Trek series, but the final schedule depends on production logistics. Berman explains:
We are waiting to see when the filming of the new shows takes place, because as soon as that is confirmed we have about twenty guests from the new series that are ready to be announced, but we have to know they are not filming.
Jeri Ryan and Jonathan Del Arco at Star Trek Las Vegas 2019
UPDATE: Discovery and Picard stars added
On July 2nd Creation announced 10 additional guests for STLV 2020:
Our new guests include: Doug Jones (“Saru” from Discovery); Michelle Hurd (“Raffi Musiker” from Picard); Emily Coutts (“Lt. Keyla Detmer” from Discovery); Ronnie Rowe (“Lt. R.A. Bryce” from Discovery); Patrick Kwok-Choon (“Lt. Gen Rhys” from Discovery); Sara Mitich (“Airiam / Lt. Nilsson” from Discovery); Hannah Spear (“Siranna” from Discovery); Hannah Cheesman (“Lt. Cmdr. Airiam” from Discovery); Raven Dauda (“Dr. Tracy Pollard” from Discovery); David Benjamin Tomlinson (“Linus” from Discovery).
New safety protocols to make a fun and healthy STLV
Even though the event is moving from August to December, Creation is still planning on implementing new protocols to ensure the health and safety of the guests. Berman tells TrekMovie that Ceasars Forum is currently working with the national, state and local agencies to make sure the facility is safe when it opens in August. Creation will also be “adding to those protocols” to accommodate issues specific to Star Trek Las Vegas. These discussions are still ongoing, Berman explains:
We are waiting until we get a little closer to find out what we need to do and what we can do to make it a safe and fun experience. It doesn’t make sense not to present something that the fans are going to welcome and have a great time and feel safe. That’s our goal, obviously.
Berman says it’s still too early to say if masks will be considered mandatory, but the new protocols will include special social distancing rules for autograph sessions. A fan-favorite element of conventions is photo ops, where fans can get their picture taken with celebrity guests. Creation are planning to provide this at the new STLV, and will be testing out some new protocols at some other events they have planned in the fall.
Events continue to change during the pandemic, so in the event that the new STLV has to be postponed or canceled, fans will be able to get a refund. However, if the event goes ahead you will not be able to get a refund if you decide not to attend. Berman says he understands, “If you feel the potential that something is going to happen, I would give it some thought.” He expects that general admission tickets should remain available up until the show date, but packages with the better seats will likely sell out before December.
Personally, Berman can’t wait to get back to Vegas:
We love doing this. We have been doing this since 1971. I have really come to miss it. We have only run a couple of shows this year. This is the first time I was fourteen that has been the case. It’s strange. I am really looking forward to getting back and being surrounded by the whole Star Trek family.
Creation Entertainment Co-Owners Gary Berman and Adam Malin at STLV 2016 (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)
For more information visit the official Star Trek Las Vegas site.
Keep up with all the convention news at TrekMovie.com.
This will canceled. Wishful magical thinking that the pandemic will be over by December. #Science
Agreed. Unless and until we get a vaccine or a reliable drug treatment regime it seems like all large gatherings like these conventions are on hold. At this point it seems like people are treading water by setting back dates, but most or all of that will end in cancellation.
It’s not so much that it’ll be over, just that even simple preventative measures has turned into a completely unnecessary fight. So, no Trek convention is worth dying for.
I think once people in influential positions stop being ignorant, stupid and self-serving and more open to what science, reason and logic is recommending, we will begin seeing some progress. Of course, the population also needs to start using their brains and stop blindly following those who promote division and hate for their own gains…
Has there been any mention of whats happening in 2021? Had to cancel this year, but keen to make the trip next year instead.
Some healthy dose of optimism is needed in these desperate times.
When lives are on the line, and people’s livelihoods are on thin ice, what’s needed is pragmatic realism. Some people are so “optimistic” they don’t wear masks. It seems like a bias for the status quo is a dangerous habit for humanity. Situations change. We need to be able to adapt and change with them. There has never been a workable vaccine created in less than 4 years in history. Unlikely that this will magically be different by the end of the year. As Scotty said in Naked Time, “I canna change the laws of physics!” I think we should take that sentiment to heart and just drop doing these large and dangerous gatherings until there is a vaccine and it has been distributed throughout the population. <3
Optimistic, but people are scared.
Fortunately we have some treatments and strategies. We have HCQ + AZ/Zn for outpatient (see the Dr. Harvey Risch paper, American Journal of Epidemiology, 27 May, 2020), and now we have dexamethasone for more severe cases. Tons of other stuff is being studied. Brilacidin. Pacritinib. Several cancer drugs should work for the virus.
For vaccines my money is on iBio. iBio is the most advanced green vax company in the country, perhaps the planet. The company was set up 10 years ago at Texas A&M with DARPA $$$ for pandemic response. Admiral Brett Giroir of the coronavirus task force was instrumental. Since then it’s gone public. Its ticker is IBIO. iBio uses hydroponic platforms containing relatives of the tobacco plant as the bioreactor to make vaccine, all vertically stacked in a relatively small footprint under wavelength-specific LED lighting tuned for even faster growth. They have two vaccine candidates in development but they are also a CDMO–that means that on contract, they can rapidly manufacture other company’s vaccines or biologics, with a 500 million dose per year capacity. Look for iBio to help in mass production, whether it is for their vax or someone else’s, or both.
I don’t know how vegans feel about being injected with animal cell line vaccines. My apologies if I just told you something you didn’t know, after getting all those animal based vaccines pumped into you, lol. iBio is the future.
Anyway, good things are coming. And some are already here. Don’t be afraid, people. “Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration…”
dmduncan, yes there is a great many treatment candidates (repurposed and new) and prevention candidates (also repurposed and new) in the pipeline.
However, if there ever was a niche market that would temperamentally and philosophically “follow the science” in their own consumer behaviour, Trek fans would be it.
Looking towards December, we’re just past the “spit-balling options and into the medicine/science/engineering teams frantically trying what they can phase” of a Star Trek storyline.
Even if there are preventive public health options beyond the very basic ones that Las Vegas has rejected, the likelihood of universal accessibility and affordability in the United States is exceedingly low.
Bottom line: I don’t see the market is there.
iBios is the future? Really? And why are you so adamantly extolling its virtues, to the point of giving us its ticker symbol? You own shares? Your enthusiasm, obviously financially driven, is way premature, and misguided. People are dying remember? Who gives a flying F**k about its ticker!
One can always hope that there are more interesting Trek fans than you on this site who might find the information useful on an least one level. In answer to your final query, obviously not you, but you should still thank me for giving you an occasion to vent–truly, I hope you feel better, but you are not the only person who reads the comments. Perhaps someone who does not share your opinion is who might give “a flying F**k about its ticker!”? I don’t know, really. I just like to help people by sharing information, and let people who might be like me decide what to make of it. I’ve done that more elsewhere than here, for sure, but good habits carry over. The science is fantastic, there’s good reason to remain positive at least about the science part if not the social disintegration part, and maybe just maybe someone else would appreciate something that I said. Since you are outraged about how I make money, Karl Marx — allow me to console you that I sold off my shares early yesterday, so NO actually, I don’t have any shares at the moment, though I always watch the action and that could change again in the future, depending on a number of factors.
How should one answer your appeal-to-all-the-deaths, argument? “The nerve of that guy to still laugh at jokes and enjoy his morning coffee while people are dying. How dare he make money, and do all the other things that living still requires, at a time like this?! Who does he think he is, anyway? I’ll bet he doesn’t even wear a mask!” A quote, perhaps?
“You knew enough to tell Saavik that how we face death is at least as important as how we face life.”
Valar morghulis!
If you insist on quoting Spock, you proceed from a false assumption if you think referring to me as Karl Marx is relevant in any way. I make my own money and I don’t need your investment advice and I doubt anyone here does. Maybe your post would have been more palatable and seem less insensitive had you not mentioned the ticker… It just made it sound like the financial aspect was of more interest to you than the science. Maybe I’m wrong.
I do not know the full range of people here, nor their interests, and neither do you. Sure, I could be the only one like me here, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that I’m not.
Second, I do not give advice on where someone else should put their money. Tips are considered courtesies by traders who are in a good mood. You do your own due diligence and make your own decisions, do not blindly follow somebody else. Never invest in something you do not understand. No matter what crazy ass Dave Portnoy does with Scrabble.
Third, the ticker is 4 letters long. IBIO. Everything else was about the exciting technology as it relates to this pandemic, and your takeaway was that my interest was more financial than scientific?
Retail traders get to choose what kind of investors they are by putting money in companies that have technologies which reflect what they believe in and want to fund the creation of. Great science can lead to great payoffs, but you do not have to emulate the Wolf of Wall Street. If Space X was public, I’d buy it. If Relativity Space was public, I’d buy it. But I will never invest in Google or Facebook or Twitter no matter how much upside the stocks might have, precisely because there are things that are more important to me than money.
Now that’s all I’m going to say about trading. I wouldn’t have said this much if you hadn’t made an issue of it.
There is indeed a full range of types here and I’m sure many would find your post of interest. I would myself if it wasn’t for the present context. It’s not the time to talk about how we can profit from the pandemic and unfortunately, even if that wasn’t your intent, mentioning the ticker symbol represents precisely that.
I’m probably going too far with this but this is the impression I got. Enough said. I hear your point. Case closed. Thank you for your explanations.
Don’t drop a dime on this unless the tickets are fully refundable. The Rona’s running wild in Vegas. Speaking of dimes, for $1299.00, Patrick Stewart had better be following me around, feeding me grapes. To think, folks b**ch about six bucks a month for CBSAA….
I have never looked at prices for these conventions before (I don’t live in the US anyway) but this is ridiculous. Add flight tickets and room and board to that and I can go on a month-long vacation in some exotic paradise with that kind of money.
A deal is perceived. If you like $1299? Then it’s a good deal. One can spend $1000 or more for a sporting event or concert. I’m a vendor at STLV. I speak to a lot of guests. The ones who buy gold seats rave about them, actually.
Same as Disney I guess (I thinking Florida), its expensive but if your lucky enough to afford it, you’ll have a good time.
Well, if you’re going to go to Vegas, consider that $1300 as five days of guaranteed activity. Otherwise, you have to fill the day and $1300 in Vegas can get spent in an hour without trying all that hard.
Add to that that Gold includes, usually 10 free autographs that will run 3-500 on their own and it’s not quite as insane an amount of money as it first appears.
Why are there 400 ads (the actual number – not an exaggeration) after this story?
I have to say, I purchased Gold for this year and have let the tickets roll over for December, but I have zero expectation that this is going to happen.
I’ve been wanting to go the Las Vegas show again for a while. But the dates involved for this one are a bit of head-scratcher, for a few reasons. One, are there a lot of people who’d want to plan a week-long to trip to Las Vegas less than 2 weeks before Christmas? Two, I’m not sure why this is still a 5-day event, rather than pared down for 2020 to 3 or 4 days (and therefore not as cost-prohibitive to as many fans) — particularly with a lot of fans having been blocked from being able to have an income from their jobs for the past several months, plus fans who’ll be needing to be allocating money for Christmas presents for family and friends that month. Actually, I’m not sure why the STLV show hasn’t moved back to being a 4-day event anyway after going to 5 days with the 50th anniversary show.