Nov 29 2008
The Story of a Neonatal Trekkie (or “How I Got the Convention Bug in the First Place”) - Part 2
continued from previous entry…
Of course, the nineties brought Deep Space Nine into my life. I always considered myself a fan of Star Trek, but DS9 turned me into a costume-wearing-convention-
attending-fanatic. For me, DS9 had a little special something. It drew me in and held me there until the very last episode, seven years later. I actually shed tears watching the series finale. I was that moved. Deep Space Nine, in my humble opinion, is the real masterpiece of the Star Trek franchise, even though many would call it the “dark horse” or “unwanted step child.” True, The Next Generation was a beautifully written television series, often delivering a profound moral message. However, DS9 was simply more human. The characters were much easier to identify with, namely because they each had flaws. For some reason, it spoke to me, and drove me to revisit of The Original Series and The Next Generation.
My general distaste for Voyager and my outright disappointment and bitterness about Enterprise did not stop me from being a fan. My first Trek experience outside of my own living room was at Kennedy Space Center’s Star Trek Day 1998. It was there I met Walter Koenig, Garrett Wang, and Rene Auberjonois. It was there I caught the “convention bug.” Surprisingly, the four hours I stood in line that day for autographs never deterred me (and I would later learn that four hours was nothing compared to future lines I would encounter). From that moment on, I sought out convention circuits in the Orlando area and was more than happy to discover Vulkon (www.vulkon.com). I have since been to more Vulkon conventions than I can count.
to be continued…
