August 2003

Las Vegas, Nevada

Convention Report by Brianna 

I wrote a general summary of my Vegas convention experience, because I have to send this to a few places. But the Dominic stuff is on Saturday. :)
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Friday

I didn't have a ticket to get in this day, but I went down there anyway just to see how it was run. We (my mother, brother and I) ended up watching a lot of the people on the stage from the doorway to the auditorium. We saw Nichelle Nichols (Uhura/Original ST), Cirroc Lofton (Jake/DS9), and some of Leonard Nimoy. I also got to see Corin Nemec (Dr. Jonas Quinn/SG-1), who I really wanted to see some of. The volunteer at the door even let me inside to take his picture. Corin was fun on stage, I remember one part when someone asked him about an episode with a banana, and he said that it was his banana, then began an "ode to the banana." After we saw Corin we had to go back up to the room, and we ran into him in the hallway right next to the auditorium. We walked next to him to the entire other side of the hotel and then I was smooshed up against him in the elevator ride. It was really cool, but he was talking to some lady the entire time, so we never got to say anything to him. He did look at me and smile a couple times while waiting for the elevator though, hehe. Anyway, my Mom decided that the con looked interesting, so she bought herself and my brother a ticket to go with me on Saturday.

Saturday

But of course they didn't want to wake up early and go down for the beginning, plus they had to pack the car. So I went down alone at 9:30am. And on my walk through the casino I ran into John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox/Enterprise) First onstage was Armin Shimerman (Quark/DS9) and he was hysterical. Someone asked what his least favorite episode was and he said the one where Quark wears drag. They put a picture of Quark from that episode up on the screen while he was talking about it, and during part of his story he was whacking the fake breasts with his mic. He was fun :). After that, I went and watched Connor Trinneer (Trip/Enterprise) do his photo ops. He was *soo* pretty in person. And I love his new hair! After his photo op I watched him leave, and then went to look for him. I found him sitting in a nearby bar smoking, which upset me because I didn't know he smoked.

So I sat across from the bar and watched him talk with some man for a little while. But that didn't last long Because Alexander Siddig (Dr. Bashir/DS9) came walking up, and went right by me. After I came out of my coma, I quickly followed him and walked behind him all the way to the photo op place I had just left. God he was gorgeous. I couldn't stay to watch him though, because I wanted to get as good of a seat as I could get to watch him on the stage 20 minutes later. When I got back to the auditorium I saw the end of Roxann Dawson (Torres/Voyager) and she was discussing the episodes of Enterprise that she had directed. Then it was Sid's turn on stage! He also was very funny. A fan thought that he was still married to Nana and he said that they had divorced and that she actually had another husband, and that on father's day he would walk into their bedroom and by like "..is this inappropriate?" During Sid's part my brother and mom arrived, so when Sid was done we watched a minute of Robert Beltran (Chakotay/Voyager) and then I showed them things in the Exhibit Hall.

One of the most important things we saw in there was at the far back. It was Robert Picardo (Doc/Voyager), Connor Trinneer, and Anthony Montgomery (Travis/Enterprise). They were all sitting at an autograph table. There was a long line for Connor, so I never got to talk to him, but I got pictures. I shook Anthony's hand and asked him if we'll be seeing anymore Travis in the upcoming season to which he replied that there will be a little more, but he's not sure how much, and that he wishes there would be a lot more. I also got a couple of good pictures of him, and I got to witness a Connor/Anthony hug (aww). I also got a picture or two of the Doc and waved at him, but he was watching me.. so it felt too awkward to walk over to him and shake his hand. Plus I couldn't think of anything to say heh.

So after that I went and stood in the line for Dominic Keating's (Reed/Enterprise) photo op. He also, of course, was breath-catchingly gorgeous. I was third in line, so thankfully I didn't have to wait long. When I got up to him he shook my hand and I said "Hi, I'm Brianna I gave you a duck last year in Tampa." To which he replied, "Oh! I remember you guys!" Much awesomeness to be remembered. But the photo op was over in mere seconds and that was all the contact I had with Dominic. I had to run to my Alexander Siddig autograph after that, but the line ended up taking about 20 minutes because of people going up before the numbers were called, and more confusion like that. Dominic came on stage while I was standing in line, so it was kind of awkward to hear him well.

He came out singing again, but this time he forgot some of the words and just went "na na na" until a line he knew. He talked about his trip to Australia, and how there was a sheep in his hotel room, the owner said it was "the single man special." He also talked about a lady with Dominic, Connor and Data (Next Generation) tattooed on her back along with the Enterprise. He said she needs to keep it moisturized so Malcolm doesn't get wrinkly. About halfway through his time on the stage I was getting my Siddig autograph. After he signed the picture, and I got over the shock of seeing him in person, I shook his hand and he said, "Ooh! Nice cool hands!" and I said "Oh, they're always like that, it gets annoying." And he laughed. So that was fun. After that we went to get lunch and Roxann Dawson was where we went, my brother enjoyed that. And finally we went back to the theatre and saw Nana Visitor (twice; Kira/DS9), and Rene Auberjonois (Odo/DS9) walk by in the hallway. The final guest on stage was Kate Mulgrew (Janeway/Voyager) who was just amazing. If you have the chance to see her, I highly recommend going. She was so elegant and inspirational, it was great. After that we had to leave to start the long drive back to Florida. As we were walking back through the casino on the way to the parking garage, I saw Connor playing craps. And that folks was the end of my Vegas convention. Hopefully I will get that picture of Dominic and myself in fair condition, and soon. =D

-Brianna