Destination Star Trek London 2014: Day 2, part 1

Saturday October 4, 2014: Destination Star Trek, Day 2.

Part 1

Len and myself were back at the Greenwich Peninsula by 09:30, where we had breakfast at Costa Coffee, before catching the Emirates Air Line (cab 13) across to the Royal Victoria Docks.

The first thing we noticed, on entering Destination Star Trek 3, was how many more people there were, compared with the previous afternoon. There were couples and families, some in casual clothes but many wore costumes of various Star Trek personnel and aliens. Some were obviously homemade, while others were hard to differentiate from original and shop-bought ones. Even some of the kids were dressed up.

Once we had had a quick look around I headed off to Photo Shoot Area B, for my photo with an actor who portrayed my favourite Star Trek character, Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. A certain Mr Colm Meaney. And he was only here as Jonathan Frakes had cancelled his appearance, so there was no way I was going to miss this photo opportunity. Exactly on time the line began to move forward. Within a few minutes we were shaking hands and, as he clasped his hand on my back, the camera clicked. Feeling great I nearly walked out of Photo Shoot Area B without my photo!

After placing the photo in a protective cover, Len and I went off for a look around. Len bought a large Tribble for his wife, Emma Jayne, and I bought a small enamel pin badge, of the Klingon symbol. Unbelievably we ended up at the Klingon Zone.

After a drink, we stood by the Voyager Stage and listened to Bruce Greenwood (Christopher Pike from the JJ Abrams Star Trek reboot) talking about Star Trek, movies and taking questions from the audience. It was a highly entertaining thirty minutes.

We then went for another wander, before heading off to get our photo taken on the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D Bridge. I had previously had my photo taken on this bridge, at Star Trek: The Adventure, back in 2003. On that occasion I had been sitting in Counsellor Deanna Troi's chair, not the Captain's chair. Plus I hadn't been wearing a uniform, unlike today. Luckily the queue wasn't very long and, after Len had posed for the camera, I took my place in the Captain's chair. Once I was comfortable the camera clicked, and another moment was captured, forever.

After this I had my photo taken with a Borg.

We then headed over to the Excelsior Stage, to watch the Costume Parade and Contest. Some of the costumes were absolutely amazing and there were some worthy winners. We were even treated to a dance from Ilia and Commander Willard Decker, which I managed to catch on video. Here's the link.

We then watched Nicholas Meyer (writer & director) give a talk on the Voyager Stage, where he discussed his time working on Star Trek, before taking some questions from the audience. This was another excellent and informative thirty minutes, where we learnt a lot.

As we passed the Klingon Zone a Klingon warrior was sitting on his throne with his feet up on the table. I tutted at him and motioned for him to remove his feet from the table, but his response was just to growl, which made Len and I laugh. That was not a good move on our part, as you will discover. Continuing on our tour, Len purchased a photo of Bruce Greenwood, for his wife, before I had my photo taken with Vegas Spock. 

Another look at some of the exhibits and stalls followed.

I was then approached by a beautiful pale blue Andorian female requesting to have her photograph taken with me. Of course I obliged her, as keeping up intergalactic relations is a core principle of Starfleet.

Then, as we headed back through the museum, the aforementioned Klingon warrior accosted us. Glaring at the two of us, he bellowed, "You two Pahtak were laughing at me! Who do I hit first?" Before I could even open my mouth to answer, Len pointed at me and said, "Him." The Klingon laughed and said, "Some friend.", before clapping me on the shoulder and wandering off. Feeling a little shaken up, we headed to the Klingon Zone for a drink. At the main table Jadzia Dax, in her wedding dress, was arm wrestling a Klingon female. Jadzia won.

We followed this by watching Suzie Plakson (K'Ehleyr) take to the Voyager Stage, with John Paladin (special makeup effects artist), to show us how she is transformed into the Klingon, K'Ehleyr.

Just before she finished, on stage, I headed over to Photo Shoot Area C, so that I would be close to the front of the queue, when she arrived as K'Ehleyr. As I moved in for my photo, Suzie took my hand and asked how my weekend had been so far, and thanked me for coming. I thanked her for being there and then the camera clicked. Yet another moment caught forever.

With our day at DST 3 almost over, we took one more look around and managed to purchase the last Federation of Beer gift bag, which contained two bottles of Orion Seductress Sindicate Lager, two Federation of Beer glasses and some Star Trek beer mats.

At this point we left, but our adventure had not finished...