YOU KNOW "STAR TREK," through and through, as well as Scotty knows a warp engine and Neelix knows a galley. You know initial air dates of stand-out episodes (or, honest, every episode ever) and you know the actors and you can name all of the ships and you're familiar with the conflicts, alliances, old hurts, recent friendships, and the other rich and layered components of the multi-decade, multi-series Trekverse. This expansive knowledge can play out in a person's life in many ways, from the enjoyment of a book, a graphic novel, a show or a movie, to participating in a convention where other fans might have similar, and similarly impressive, understandings of the world first imagined by Gene Roddenberry. What we see on screen and the page, then, is enhanced and furthered by a convention, and there's no "Star Trek" convention quite like The Official Star Trek Convention, a gathering of galactic proportions. It's ready to alight in Las Vegas over the first weekend of August 2017, and when we say "first weekend" we actually mean...
FIVE DAYS, which, okay, yes, is basically nearly a week. But a good amount of time is required for how big this thing is — it is Enterprise-big, if you want to think of it that way — and how many "Star Trek" luminaries are set to show. There are over 100 at last count, with William Shatner, George Takei, Kate Mulgrew, Sir Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Karl Urban, and dozens upon dozens of other actors signed on for the huge event. Adding to the starriness of the affair? A Costume Competition, Karaoke Nights, Quark's Bar, and happenings recalling the memory of the great Leonard Nimoy. And to round out the long weekend (cough: most of the week)? There's Garak's Tailor and Repair, to help cosplayers with those quick and needed costume fixes that inevitably happen. And best find your seat for the Sunday Star Trek Rat Pack show that'll tie together the themes behind the science fiction phenom and The Strip, melding both "Star Trek" and the convention's location.
THE ALL-IMPORTANT DATES? Land your ship in Sin City from Aug. 2 through 6, 2017.
