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This year being the Centennial marking the birth of Robert A. Heinlein, a lot of renewed interest in his works has been sparked. While attending Convergence (this was opposite the Heinlein Centennial Celebration taking place in St. Louis) there was a discussion on his works and Starship Troopers was brought up and some comparison was made to Haldeman's The Forever War. The impression I got from most of the people attending the open discussion is that they were basing their opinion of Starship Troopers more on the movie of the same name rather than on the actual novel.

I have read Starship Troopers numerous times, and am only now reading The Forever War for the first time. Both books have received numerous awards, including the coveted Hugo Award, which is voted on by the fans.

The general theme that runs through both books is the story of a young recruit entering military service in order to fight an interstellar war; they go through basic training (and survive) and then are sent off into battle. Both stories are told in the first person, with a strong, smart guy as the point-of-view character. One was written in response to Cold War era decisions made by the U.S. and the other a response to the Vietnam War.

Heinlein was an Annapolis graduate (1929) and served in the Navy until medically retired in 1934. Haldeman was drafted and fought in Vietnam. Two completely different military experiences resulting in completely different stories despite some similarities on the surface.

Continue reading "Starship Troopers vs. Forever War" »

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Commedia Beauregard was on Fox 9 News here in Minnesota with a preview of what is in store this Saturday for the Klingon Christmas Carol that several members o the IKV Rakehell had a hand in.

They've put in a lot of effort and it looks like it is going to be a real hoot to see.

Info at the Commedia Beauregard website.

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Commedia Beauregard A Christmas Carol Klingon Rakehell

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Convergence 2007 was, once again, a convention that should not be missed. The Klingons of KAG were in full force with elements of the Cold Death Quadrant in attendance included the crews of the IKV Rakehell, IKV Black Thunder, and the IKV Warhammer.

The Rakehell arrived the day before the con, using the time to set up the party room, The Rutting Tribble, which served as the Kronos Hunting Club. It is actually impressive how many con goers show up the day before the con actually starts (a lot!). But then there is a lot of set up to do, and its better to do it in advance rather than spend part of the convention setting up your room party..

Arriving on Friday afternoon with the main masses, we found that several elementary schools had coordinated a field trip to the convention and were able that they were treated to some special panels by the various guests on writing as well as science. I thought this was way cool, as did everyone else who ran across the groups of kids that were having a fun day at an SF convention.

The Writer Guest of Honor this year was Lois McMaster Bujold, and Bridget Landry returned as a science guest this year. For those of you who don't know Bridget, she is an astrophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab as well as a master costumer. She is two guests rolled up into one.

Panels ranged the full gamut, from science (NASA's Cassini Program) and theory (living starships) to costuming and writing programs. It is always tough getting to all of the panels as there is a tendency to book several that are of high interest against each other. as this was also the Centennial of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein, there was a panel discussion on his works as well.

The first panel I attended was on "Living Starships" and how organic starships could come about. The panel tended to drift away from the topic and focus more on computer tech, specifically artificial intelligence, and on cybernetics, which is different from the development of organic/living starships.

My wife, Sue, with daughter in tow, sat in on a panel on hall costuming that Qob was on. It sounded like it was more interesting than the panel on Living Starships.

Saturday morning was the Heinlein panel, which started out good until David Romm decided to dominate the panel and inject his political ranting, showing once again what un utter @ss he is. There were also some other disturbing comments made, including one specifically about Starship Troopers made by someone who thought that the central character in the novel, Juan Rico, was of barely average intelligence because he was a grunt. This showed a distinct lack of knowledge of how the military determines who is qualified for any given job (for instance, when I entered the Air Force, you had to be able to lift 100 pounds over your head to be a jet engine mechanic…that requirement was later eliminated). I think she was ignoring the fact that knowledge (or lack there of) is not the same as intelligence. It also ignores the fact that Rico was a kid who just graduated high school, and that lots of people who are smart are lousy at math. I think the person who made the statement about Rico having an "I.Q. of 100" couldn't do multi-variable calculus (I can barely do multi-variable derivatives myself…does that mean I have a low I.Q.?). Actually, I thought it was interesting that a number of people consider Starship Troopers to be one of their favorite Heinlein novels. Other works that were touched on included Tunnel In The Sky, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, the Past Through Tomorrow, and Expanded Universe. This would have been a much better panel if it were not for Romm moonbating like he usually does. I have concluded the best way to ruin a panel is to put Romm on it; if Romm has to be on it, then they should put a muzzle on him so that the other panelists will have an opportunity to talk.

Eric, who publishes Tales of the Unanticipated runs Krushenko's, which is a combination literary discussion room, writer's network, and party zone. One session was on writing groups and what is going on in 2007. This consisted of people who are in writing groups giving status reports of what they are up to and an opportunity for folks looking for groups to connect with each other.

There was a panel on "Blogging as Literature" which was more of a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) discussion that also touched on blogging. If you are not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it is a time when writers and aspiring writers strive to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. This does not mean having a finished, publishable novel, but having what is hopefully a good first draft. The panelists did discuss the different approaches participants in NaNoWriMo take, including starting with a completely blank page and writing stream of conscious, seeing what comes out, to people who spend time developing character backgrounds and outlines before the kickoff of the month of writing. On the blogging side, it was interesting how many of them don't blog, or only do so as a cursory project. The reason cited is that time blogging takes away from time writing. My counter to that is: blogging regularly helps you develop better writing skills as you have to post regularly, thus writing, and think about your word choices more as blogging tends to be more stream of thought writing. It also helps you improve your ability to produce material as a blogger regularly writes anywhere from several hundred to a couple of thousand words a day, depending on how much they have to say.

I sat on a panel on the Creatures of Star Trek (this year's convention theme was "Creature Feature") which promptly turned into a general conversation on Star Trek. Most of the panelists were TOS Trek fans, with one being a Next Genner, and the audience was a mixed bag of Trek. The discussion hit on all of the various incarnations of Trek, and worked on determining what constituted creatures versus aliens. It came down to the definition of a creature had to do with its level of sentience: the Horta and Salt Vampire were both aliens, although they were presented as creatures, while the Mugato and Crystalline Entity were distinctly creatures. The Doomsday Machine, Nomad, and V'Ger were all constructs that had characteristics of being creatures.

JaPa, the quadrant commander, and other members of the Black Thunder, made their presence felt during the after hour parties (okay, there really isn't such a thing as after hours at a con). JaPa, Qob and I had a chat about how we can get some more activity going on in Iowa, which means staging some away missions to there for those of us in the Twin cities. It is not a daunting task, just a matter of timing and interests. I told JaPa that we may be able to make DemiCon, next year, depending on if/when Sue and I get "lucky." It also seems appropriate to do some stuff with the neighboring States as they are regularly coming up here for conventions.

Living up to Klingon standards, Qob and I made our way around the party floor on Saturday night, harassing Feddies as we went. One stop we made was at the Romulan consulate where we managed to fire off some appropriate insults while drinking all of their Romulan Ale (at least putting a dent in their supply). Qob also did a good job of putting the Rommie Ambassador down for his feeble attempts at telling Klingon jokes. We had a lot of fun at their expense.

Qe'pa made up a bunch of stickers that read "this tribble has been spayed by the Klingon Empire" that were distributed amongst the crew. We promptly went on a mission to spay all of the tribbles (and a few Feddies) at the con.

The Rakehell's party was, as mentioned above, the Kronos Hunt Club, and had a sign up featuring a pair of tribbles and called, interchangeably, the Rutting Tribble and Rotting Tribble, depending on the side of the sign you were looking at. The room was decorated with pelts from a number interesting creatures including tribbles. Shotgun shell lights, weapons and targets completed the display. The lineup of drinks ranged from Romulan Ale (better than the stuff of the same name served in other party rooms) and the con's favorite, Hot Sex with the Klingons. There was also a bottle of Tribble Sweat on hand, which did not survive the first night of the convention.

The House of Toast was online, as was the U.S.S. Nokomis putting on a two-room party where you have the TOS and Mirror universes. Tardis Tea Society, Torchwood, Vampire Hunters (who never heard of William Bonnie, Junior! Egads! Haven't they ever seen Billy the Kid vs. Dracula?), Tiki Bar, and the Mad Cow Party, just to name a few of the dozens (literally) of parties going on throughout the weekend.

G'Amar and Kosh both had entries in this year's masquerade, and looked very good. Unfortunately we (as in my wife and I) missed about half of the masquerade, including their presentations, however I was serving drinks at the Kronos Hunt Club with Kosh, who was just a skeleton of his former self. His costume was Ghost Rider, and was well received.

The IKV Rakehell put on a performance of a new skit, "Kaptain Kang's Killer Thriller Theater." This one mixed in some video shot before the con and mixed in as a Kaptain Kang serial with live bits of movie trailers.

Kosh sat in on a panel, displaying his gargoyle costume, covering fantasy creatures that was well attended despite being opposite closing ceremonies. His gargoyle costume was a big hit last year and he has been having a lot of fun with it ever since.

Convention attendance was bigger than previous years, as the con continues to grow and attract more people. The attendance count was 2595 present and accounted for, with total registrations of 2711. The hotel was filled to overflow, and a second hotel is now being leveraged to help with the load. Next year will be even bigger as it will be a four-day event celebrating their tenth anniversary. This means get your reservations in early (ours are already in!).

Sunday night was spent relaxing with what was left of the Klingons in attendance heading over to TGI Friday's for dinner, then watching the first couple of episodes of Torchwood.

Convergence keeps getting bigger and better every year, and the hotel staff is probably the friendliest I have run across in all of the years I have been going to conventions.

Much fun was had by all.

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Like many longtime SF fans my age, I grew up on the writings of Robert A. Heinlein. Saturday marks the Centennial Anniversary of Heinlein's birth. A lot of people I know will be at one or another SF Convention (I'll be at convergence) taking place this weekend, including a gathering in Missouri celebrating Heinlein.

Heinlein attended the U.S. Naval Academy, but was later discharged from the navy for medical reasons.

Probably the first of his novels that I read, at least that I recall, was Have Space Suit, Will Travel, which was one of his novels for teenagers. I was hooked, and that marked the beginning of my entry into SF Fandom.

There are several themes that run throughout his works, most specifically into the social habits of man. Many of his best (and most memorable) characters are rugged individualists, like Lazarus Long (Methuselah's Children, Time Enough for Love, and others), who strive to maintain their independence.

He also explored human sexuality in many of his books beginning with Stranger in a Strange Land, which he continued to touch on in numerous other stories throughout the rest of his life. This reflected a certain attitude to the concept of "free love" and sex without strings or consequences that some believe Heinlein embraced. He even touched on numerous sexual themes that were taboo at the time he was writing about them, and some remain taboo even today.

Heinlein is probably the one writer most responsible for the development of Military SF as a sub-genre with his novel Starship Troopers. It is more social commentary using the character of Juan Rico as the voice to get across many ideas he had on society and the Cold War. The novel was written in response to Eisenhower's signing a ban on nuclear testing with the Soviet Union, an agreement that Heinlein (correctly) predicted would not be honored by the U.S.S.R.

Starship Troopers has been criticized as being militaristic and worse, which only means that such critics have missed the finer points in Heinlein's story. In it, Heinlein promoted an all-volunteer military (actually Federal Service, which is far more expansive) in a world where only those with Federal Service (which could mean just about anything under the sun) were granted citizenship. Basically, there were three classes of people: citizens, civilians, and people on active duty. Only citizens have the right to vote or hold public office. It is also one of the few science fiction novels that regularly appear on the reading lists of the Armed Services

Another interesting theme Heinlein uses in several of his writings is the technology used by colonists of new worlds. In both Time Enough For Love and . Heinlein describes the colonists as being reliant on roughly 19th century technology: horse-drawn Conestoga wagons, no electricity, etc. This reinforces the rugged individualist character types that Heinlein prefers. They have to be able to survive in hostile environments with what would be considered primitive tools even by today's standards, let alone what could be available several hundred years from now.

Many consider Heinlein to be a Libertarian rather than a Conservative, probably as a result of his later writings that covered many different sexual themes. He was a Goldwater supporter and signed a magazine ad supporting the Vietnam War (Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader's Companion). Heinlein was also a staunch anti-Communist.

There is no doubt that Heinlein is one of the Grand Masters of Science Fiction. He has always been one of my favorite writers.

Happy Birthday, RAH. We miss you.

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Today marks the 30th anniversary of the premier of the movie Star Wars. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already.

Some six months prior to its release, I ran across the novelization by George Lucas (actually, it was written by Alan Dean Foster) in a bookstore, thought it sounded good and gave it a read. I still have this first printing of the novel on my bookshelf.

I was living in Fresno at the time, wrapping up my senior year of high school, and looking forward to moving to San Diego. The movie, when it premiered, was in limited release and not available where I was living. The closest theater it was playing at was in San Francisco. I couldn't figure out what the hub-bub was all about, or why anyone would drive 4 hours to go see a movie. People did. I know, because I knew some who did exactly that (I was not on that list).

It was probably early July before I finally did see Star Wars at the Valley Theater (I think that was the name) in San Diego. It was situated near Fashion Valley shopping center near the mission district. I learned what the big deal was. The film rocked! It was action, adventure, thrills and chills, with a little romance thrown in. It was fun!

It was a ground-breaking science fiction film, with state of the art special effects (which look primitive compared to what the special effects gurus at ILM now do with computers) and visuals that this adventure film seem truly out of this world. The costumes were interesting and simple in their design, which was part of their attraction. The props were modeled after military surplus, predominantly of WW2 German vintage. The cantina scene with aliens galore was a make-up artists dream gig.

People wanted to be Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Princess Leia or Darth Vader. And at the Cons (science fiction conventions), they were.

Stars Wars quickly became THE SF film to beat all SF films. It was the new Star Trek. It was a pop culture phenomenon.

About a year after its premier, it was still going strong in the theaters. I saw it seven times during its original run in the course of a year. I knew a lot of people that saw it far more than that, including a couple of gals who went to see it every week, racking up over 50 viewings during the first year of its release, something that was unprecedented in film, and I believe it to be a record unsurpassed by anything (Raiders of the Lost Ark came close, though).

Over the 30 years since its premier, Star Wars has resulted in five additional films (original reports were that Lucas planned on three trilogies or nine films in total), television specials, books, comic books, games and a plethora of mass-marketed toys. Not to mention numerous fan clubs, including the 501st Legion.

It has also been the inspiration for many fan made films, with Hardware Wars being an early entry, and the famed Troopers, a spoof of the reality cop shows still enjoys a popular following.

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This year is the Centennial of the birth of Robert A. Heinlein. As such, I have been going through a phase of reading and rereading a number of his works, so I thought I would share some of them with you.

Tunnel In The Sky is the story of survival in a wilderness, and learning about humanity at the same time. The central character is Rod Walker, a high school student, who along with a number of other students taking a class in Advanced Survival, are dumped on an uninhabited planet with instructions to survive. Recall would take place somewhere within 20 kilometers and within the next several days. Students could take any equipment and any weapon.

Rod, following the advice of his older sister, who is a captain in the Amazons, a military unit, follows her advice and takes no weapons other than a couple of knives. This pleases his teacher, Deacon Matson, who felt that carrying a gun made a person feel more secure and bold, and consequently less cautious.

The students are dropped individually on the target planet using the advanced gate technology. I think I see where the guys behind the movie and series Stargate got the idea for their technology. Some of the imagery Heinlein paints in the lead up to the story, and establishing his gate technology and immigration is rather interesting. many new colonies are settled by people traveling in and relying on 19th century technology as where they will be going there will not be electricity let alone running water, and they will have to rely on only what they can transport via Conestoga wagons. Heinlein uses this same mechanism for colonization in his novel, Time Enough For Love.

After the students are dropped off, they are permitted to team up into pairs. Rod looks around for his best friend, Jimmy, but does not see him. after a while, he does spot a critter, and keeps low in the grass to keep from being spotted. Latter, he spots a group of scavengers flying over a spot much like vultures, and he heads to higher ground and uses his binoculars to see what they were flying over. He sees the body of another student, Johan Braun, with his dog, both dead. Braun stripped of his gear, including the very powerful energy weapon, Thunderbolt. Braun did not even make it through the first day.

Rod almost fails on the first day when he is ambushed by another student, stripped of everything except his shorts and a knife he had hidden, and left for dead as well. Rod, recovering from being knocked out, manages to learn to survive with nothing more than the one knife until he meets up with another student, and they form up as a team, and also stumble upon Rod's friend Jimmy.

The plot becomes more interesting as the students figure out that recall time has elapsed without happening and realize that they are marooned on this strange new world, possibly for the rest of their lives.

The story is a look into human nature and man's ability to adapt and thrive in any environment as the students gather and develop into a functional colony.

Originally published in 1955, it is a highly readable book that will hold your interest to the very end.

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Heinlein Science Fiction Books

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The IKV Rakehell hosted a “Day of Honor” celebration, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the original broadcast of the Star Trek episode “Errand of Mercy.” This is the first episode to feature the Klingon empire, with John Colicos as the first major Klingon, Kor, and Victor Lundin as Kor’s aide.

Although the original broadcast took place on March 23rd, it was decided that the event would be hosted during MiniCon, as one of the Rakehellers already had a room at the con which could be used for the event.

Ten members of the Rakehell made an appearance at the event, some in uniform, others not. Many friends of the Empire stopped in and paid their respects and toasted the Empire.

Part of the plan was to watch the episode, however, due to technical difficulties, we ended up moving to the next room where that hosting party had a projection system, and the episode was watched by a horde of fans, both Klin and otherwise. We cheered for Kor and the Klingons and hissed the Feddies.

It was a fun evening to sit around drinking Blood Wine and socializing. Hopefully, this will become more of an annual event for the local KAG members.

Day Of Honor Errand Of Mercy Kor KAG Klingon Star Trek

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MarsCon was well attended, despite the winter storms that hit the region on Thursday and Friday, with 675 people in attendance. Although down a bit from last year due to snows and bad driving conditions, the con was an overwhelming success.

The Rakehell was very well represented, with most of the crew on hand for the festivities and mayhem.

On Saturday, Sue, Anna and I had breakfast with Walter Hunt, author of the Dark Wing series and had a great chat with him about cons and non-fandom stuff.

Qob participated in a panel to recreate the look of Elizabeth I, with G'Mar serving as the subject. The end result was including as a presentation piece in the Masquerade on Saturday evening.

Kosh ran a presentation on mask making as a result of his Gargoyle costume from Convergence last summer.

There were many excellent panels over the weekend (seriously!) that made it not only hard to figure out which ones to attend, it was impossible to go to lunch or dinner without missing something good. Panels ran the range from writing and writers, to films, film making, and discussions with the Actor Guests of Honor (Don Davis and Patricia Tallman) to science, weaponry and prop making. From a literary perspective, it was no surprise that the focus was on Robert A. Heinlein, in advance of the centennial celebration of his birth, and there were several lively panels covering his work and the impact he had on writers and society.

The science room was an educational experience, with many models from the U.S. Space Program, computer simulations, informative handouts and even educational materials for kids.

Kosh spent a chunk of the day doing a "Warrior on the street" gig, interviewing con goers to get their reaction to the recent downgrading of Pluto from planetary status. I hope to see the results of the video soon.

New this year was a prop room, where many props, mostly fan made, but also a few genuine movie pieces, were on display. Although strictly hands off, photography was allowed. There were pieces from Star Trek:TOS (of course!) and quite a few light sabers from Star Wars, as well as props from the Indiana Jones movies, Starship Troopers and the Rocketeer.

The masquerade was well attended by most of those present. I was an exception as the Rakehell's currently youngest active member (but no longer the youngest member) decided to be fussy and wanted to run around, so I ended up stepping out and letting Sue'la enjoy some free time to enjoy the masquerade while our little one got some quality daddy time in. Kosh represented the Rakehell with an entry as a redneck Klingon, which garnered many laughs. G'Mar, as mentioned earlier, came on as a presentation of Elizabeth I. Regrettably, I have no clue about the rest of the entries, however, based on the reports I heard, there were 11 entries in all.

Saturday's party scene was as good as Friday, maybe even better, as more people were dressed up for the event (and a few mundanes coming up to hang out with us). The Rakehell party pulled out the stops, with good tunes and a variety of drinks that went beyond the standard "Hot Sex with a Klingon." There were about ten parties in all (not counting the con's hospitality suite) all of which were packed to the gills.

Top honors for room parties went to the Tardis Tea Society and the World Defense Force (the Rakehell and Cosmic Tulip won last year, so they were non-competing). First prize was $100, second prize $50. Both parties looked really great and were just plain fun.

The hotel had free wireless Internet. Unfortunately connectivity was sporadic. So much for plans for regular updates, and that is probably for the best.

A great time was had by all.

Photos coming soon.

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MarsCon 2007 is off to a good start with lots of good panels guests and parties! After missing the first panels on Friday and Opening Ceremonies due to a luggage mishap, it was full party mode on the first evening of the con.

The IKV Rakehell has put on a great party room, with the theme “How much for just the planetoid,” poking fun at Pluto’s recent downgrade from planet status. The room was decorated with various planets, comets, asteroids and a variety of space images. Dinks included the staple “Hot Sex With A Klingon” and several new themed drinks including “Dissolving Planetoid” and “Asteroid Belt” (sometimes also called “Surf’s Up At Alderan”). Admiral Qob supplied most of the music, with some supplemental tunes from Sqotty’s collection. Munchies were also planetary themed and included “Fruit Ringworlds.”

The Klingons of the Rakehell were to be found everywhere, lurking in every corner of the party floor, with the Rakehll being the most poplar party, followed closely by the Tardis Tea Society (they had a very nice selection of ports that they were serving).

Guests at the Con include SF writer Walter Hunt, author of the Dark Wing series, and Patrica Tallman of Babylon 5.

Saturday will be a busy panel day, with some of the Rakehell’s own participating on several costuming and makeup panels, including Patrick on mask making and Qob with the Elizabeth I makeup presentation.

More later.

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It was just a couple of weeks ago that I posted a piece on the passing of my friend Sally. Since that time I have dug up a few photos of her in her Klingon getup, from when I still lived in California.

Sally Field was known as qraS amongst the Klingons. Later, she became involved in the Renaisance Faire as well.

These photos are from 1996 and 1997.

At Macy's with Michael Dorn. Sally is in front on the right, and I am just behind her on the right.

Mass Klingons with Feddies at an event in 1996. Sally is on the right end, holding a cabbage patch Klingon doll.

Mass Klingons at an event in 1996. Sally is on the right end, holding a cabbage patch Klingon doll.

This next series is all from BayCon 1997 during a Klingon Martial Arts demo.

Sally was a fine person, and she is dearly missed by all who knew her.

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My wife told me the news when I got home tonight that an old friend in California, known to many in Bay Area Fandom as Auntie Sally, or in her Klingon persona, qraS, passed away last night. She died of cancer, which she had been battling for nearly the past year.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any scanned photos of her to post with this. I’ll try and dig one up over the next day or so, unless my wife, Sue, beats me to it.

For those of you active in Klingon Fandom, let out a death howl as another Warrior has departed for Sto-Vo-Kor.

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Today marks the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek. It was on September 8th, 1966, that Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise hit the air waves.

For 40 years, Star Trek has not only entertained us, but also inspired us, seeking careers in sciences as well as the arts. It is a series that issued the ultimate challenge: "To Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before." And many friends of mine have done exactly that, including working on numerous NASA projects, from the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Telescope to the Cassini mission to Saturn and it's solar neighborhood.

Others have pursued varying other aspects of the sciences, from mathematics and computer science, the biochemistry and engineering. Others also chose military service, whether as a career or for a term of duty (I am in the latter group…four years in the Air Force).

How many people Trek has influenced in their choice of careers, as a result of being "hooked on Trek," is unknown. Certainly, there are many, as I recall Nichelle Nichols talking at one convention about a young woman who was inspired by the character of Uhura.

I remember the very first time I got to watch an episode of Stsr Trek. It was first season summer reruns, the episode "Arena," in which Kirk must battle with the alien Gorn in single combat. I remember that during the school year leading up to my first viewing of Trek; there were kids in my class who would play Star Trek during recess, proclaiming which role they would take with cries of "I'm Kirk" and "I'm Spock" leaving me mystified as I had yet to see Star Trek. They would then ask if I wanted to be a Klingong, then tell me that I am their prisoner, leaving me asking, "what's a Klingon?" I had no idea what lay in store for me ten years done the line.

Yes, I have been involved in Star Trek fandom for many years. It has been fun in many ways. It's been a part of my life for many years, and, I suspect, will continue to do so for years to come.

Forty years is a long time for a show that lasted three seasons and 79 episodes. It's been a long ride, and worth every minute. I hate to think what this world would be like if we never had Star Trek.

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Convergence 2006 kicked off with a blast and never slowed down. There were five ships from the Cold Death Quadrant, and Klingons came from points further to see Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and J.G. Hertzler (Martok), this year's Guests of Honor. And they were well worth the effort to come out to see, as they dominated the convention's scheduled panels, always entertaining, and very fun.

There are a lot of photos in this report, so I had to make thumbnails of them to improve download speed, so please klick on the photo to see the full-size picture.

During their panel's, O'Reilly and Hertzler gave a good accounting of how they entered the acting field and the road that eventually lead them to their famous roles on Star Trek as Gowron and Martok.

67k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler.	75k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler.
70k JPEG J.G. Hertzler.	69k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and Anna Hansen.
64k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler. Robert is waving at my daughter, Anna.	70k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler with Sue and Anna Hansen.
66k JPEG Robert O'Reilly goofing off with microphone holder.	57k JPEG Robert O'Reilly and J.G. Hertzler.

145k JPEG Boba Fett's on patrol.	108k JPEG Boba Fett's. These are some of the crew of the Black Thunder.
107k JPEG Boba Fett's. These are some of the crew of the Black Thunder.	94k JPEG Bridget Landry, science guest of honor. Bridget is a long time friend and currently works for NASA on the Cassini Mission. She is also a "master" level costumer. And now a member of the Clan MacDude.
119k JPEG Sue and Anna in the 3D stellar neignborhood walkthrough. Th science room guys put this up last year as well. Brilliant idea!	93k JPEGAnna meets Connie.

Convergence has earned a reputation as a hard-partying convention, with parties controlling the cabana area, which is a great space for a party zone, and spreading onto the fourth floor this year. Many parties adopted the con's theme, "To Boldly Go…" with great gusto. The RakeHell's "Viva Las Vegas" was very popular, serving up the specialty drinks that has made it famous; although not Klingon, the U.S.S. Nokomis teamed up with the World Defense Force to form a two-room theme party based on the TOS episode, "Mirror, Mirror", complete with agonizer booth. The Warhammer ran the KPLA pirate radio, and, of course, the North Dakota folks put on "Captain Kirk's Den of Ill-Repute." In all, there were some 40, yes, FORTY, parties this year.

74k JPEG I admit it, I don't recall which party this is.	105k JPEG Bridget and Sqotty imbibing the the Rakehell's specialty drink.
69k JPEG Mirror Mirror Party, this half hosted by the World Defense Force.	75k JPEG Mirror Mirror Party, this half hosted by the World Defense Force. Note the agonizer booth.
70k JPEG Mirror Fluffy.	75k JPEG Fluffy and Anna in the Mirror Empire party room.
49k JPEG Mirror Mirror Party - Feddie Side. Hosted by the U.S.S. Nokomis.	49k JPEG Fluffy and Anna in the Mirror Empire party room.
159k JPEG Viva Las Vegas. Hosted by the IKV Rakehell. Qe'pa is getting a minute of relaxation.	86k JPEG Sqotty in the Rakehell party room.
120k JPEG K'Ditzy at the bar in the RakeHell party room.	91k JPEG Mount Olympus, hosted by the Xenaversity.
133k JPEG Klingon Jed in the RakeHell party room.	104k JPEG Klingons in the RakeHell party room.
133k JPEG Klingons in the RakeHell party room.	90k JPEG Honor Harrington in the RakeHell party room.
93k JPEG Sue-la and Susan at the WDF Mirror party room.	75k JPEG Captain Kirk and his House of Ill-Repute.

The masquerade had 25 entries, with four of the entries coming from the IKV RakeHell, including one entry from the ship's up and coming costumer's, Karin, who appeared as He-Man. Karin is six years old, and is on her way to becoming the youngest master level costumer. Qob, JaPa (IKV Black Thunder), Mordok and Sqotty provided comedy relief as the "Chancellor's Personal Guard," set to the tune of "Men in Tights." I wish I had been able to get a video of it. Patrick put in a non-Klingon entry as a Gargoyle, which looked very good, and Qe-Pa and Mordok entered as "Viva Las Vegas." Karin won Best Young Fan, and deservedly so.

81k JPEG Qob, mentally preparing for the Masquarade.	163k JPEG Lamatron 2112. This was a way cool entry, involving lots of electronics, including ear movement. Nicely detailed. Hard to believe the guy sold his Harley to make this rig.
118k JPEG Jelly Fish, nice costume.	130k JPEG Patrick's Gargoyle. He's one of the many entries from the RakeHell
81k JPEG Hello K'itty, this is just so wrong.	142k JPEG in fact, I had to post two pics to get the point across.

Saturday night festivities include a Klingon Wedding for two new members of the IKV Rakehell: Earl and Holly. This ceremony was conducted by Gowron and Martok and attended by throngs of con-goers, with belly-dancers providing pre-ceremony entertainment and followed by a short dance party. This provided a number of photo ops with both O'Reilly and Hertzler.

127k JPEG O'Reilly, Qe'Pa, and Hertzler.	108k JPEG Crowd scene for the wedding.
100k JPEG Ceremony.	99k JPEG Ceremony.
94k JPEG Herzler and Orion Slave Girls. The one on Hertzler's left knee is the bride.	128k JPEG Wendy and Alois at the wedding.

As the festivities continued, O'Reilly and Hertzler were inducted into the Clan MacDude by Sqotty and Qob, joining the ranks of John Colicos (Kor MacDude), William Campbell (Kolath MacDude) and Michael Ansara (Kang MacDude).

89k JPEG O'Reilly and Hertzler join the Clan MacDude, becoming known as the Brothers MacDude. We can still call them Gowron and Martok.	98k JPEG A bunch of MacDudes...except for one.
102k JPEG A bunch of MacDudes...except for one. Same one, in fact.	102k JPEG Sue-la, Gowron, and Sqotty.

Qob then proceeded with KAG promotions and honors, with Gowron and Martok participating in adding to the honor bestowed on a number of fine warriors.

86k JPEG Gowron and Martok preside over promotions, with Qe'Pa receving honors and Qob in the background.

95k JPEG JaPa on the left, Krom second from right, and two other Klingons (okay, one is Sam, but I don't know his Klingon name).

This large gathering ended with a group photo of the all the Klingons gathered around O'Reilly and Hertzler.

82k JPEG Gowron and Martok in a group shot with the Klingons present.	106k JPEG Hertzler and Alois.
125k JPEG One of the many Klingons present.	90k JPEG Hertzler, Qob and Sqotty.

Sunday, last day of the con, was a slow day as people began to wind up their stay.

55k JPEG a space pod from 2001: A Space Odysssy marks the entrance to the main stage.	101k JPEG Hal 9000. The screen ran clips from the movie 2001: A Space Odysssy.
85k JPEG Anna visits Con Ops.	159k JPEG Anna at one of the panels. Would you believe this is her FOURTH convention? It is.

The high point on Sunday for the members of KAG was its presentation during closing ceremonies of a Death Howl Memorial for cast and crew of the Star Trek series who have passed on.

At this point the crew, and many in the audience, let forth with a thunderous roar, and ended it with a tumultuous applause. The dialogue was written by Qob.

During closing ceremonies, J.G. Hertzler announced that he intends to move to the Twin Cities. This will be a welcome addition to the region.

KAG run panels included a Klingon makeup panel lead by Qob.

Convergence was a real blast this year, and consistently delivers lots o panels of interest, from costuming to hard science.

Here's some picutes I didn't exactly fit in wit the above, but wanted to include...

123k JPEG Steve and Terri doing Pigs in Space.	94k JPEG Grommit being stalked by a sheep. No idea who is in the costumes.
115k JPEG Sue-La.	245k JPEG Sqotty MacKlingon.
111k JPEG Batman and Anna.	79k JPEG Patti, stuck between Mirror Empire and a Klingon.
154k JPEG Ivan gets a parting shot.	123k JPEG What would "Viva Las Vegas" be without K'Elvis.

Posted by Sqotty at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Now that I've spent a good chunk of the last couple of days playing with windows Movie Maker and have figured out how to include it on my website, I thought I should share the fruits of my labor.

During the run of BayCon, I indoctrinated one of the Klingons, Pete, from the IKV Blackdragon into the Clan MacDude. Although I flubbed which hand to raise (it really is the left hand), we did get a video of it.

Drop a comment and let me know what you think.

Pete, dude, welcome to the Clan!

Posted by Sqotty at 8:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Klingon Fandom Karnival is a karnival of articles concerning and of interest to Klingon (and Star Trek) Fandom.

Basic rules:

Any article published in the one month period prior to the monthly deadline is eligible.

Articles should have a primary focus on Klingon Fandom, including, but not limited to, articles on: Science Fiction Conventions, KAG After Event Reports, costuming hints and tips, Klinogn Language.

You don't have to be a member of KAG to participate.

You can submit your article to the karnival email address or thourhg Blog Carnival. For email submission, send to klingonUNDERSCOREkarnival AT yahoo DOT com. Remember to change UNDERSCORE to the "_" character, AT to the "@" and DOT to ".". The best way is to use the Blog Carnival submission form. Follow the link.

Submission deadline is the 27th of every month.

Lt. Cmdr. Sqotty vestai-MacKlingon
IKV Rakehell, KAG

Tags:
KAG
Klingon Assault Group

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Okay, I don't normally write about Rakehell meetings, but this time I will. You see, after we were finished with discussing plans for the upcoming meeting, Patrick pulled out a couple of old video productions of the Rakehell. specifically, Battleship Vengeance.

As it turns out, in the third production, "Cold Vengeance", one James Lileks had a role in it. He played a Klingon, Judge Klink. You've really got to search through his archives to find mentiuon of it. Funny hting is, he Klings up really well. I'll have to see if there is a way to capture a still image of it sometime.

The rakehell is planning on something special at Convergence this year to commeorate 40 years of Star Trek. Not sure when during the con, but will be worth seeing.

KAG
Klingon

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Well, I did it...started a new "just for fun" project. It's a hoax Worldcon bid for 2008.

Take a look...it's all for fun.

RepubliCon 2008

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Some how, I missed this in the blogosphere, but picked up on it in the Clan MacDude list server.

The Half-Price Books in Dallas , Texas, has acquired and will be selling the personal library of L. Sprague de Camp, one of the icons of the Science Fiction and Fantasy community.

From the way the information on the website reads, it sounds as though they are only going to be available thru that location. I have sent an email to the contact there to find out if there are plans to make them more widely available, either by phone or through the Internet. One can hope.

The books go on sale beginning Nov. 1, and this is an opportunity for SF&F fans to get a unique piece of fandom added to their collection.

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I just received the following via the Clan MacDude mailing list:

Kelly Turner, November 6, 1961-September 18, 2005

Kelly Turner passed away today after a brief and completely unexpected illness. He was rushed to Irvine Medical Center on September 5th with an extremely high temperature, extremely low blood pressure, and possible organ damage. He remained in Intensive Care for several days while doctors attempted to stabilize him and figure out what had happened. Despite their best efforts, including dialysis to take the load off his organs, he fell into a persistent vegetative state on September 13th, with no brain activity. He had a Living Will and left explicit instructions that extraordinary measures should not be taken to preserve his life, so life support was withdrawn yesterday afternoon, in the presence of his family, in accordance with his wishes. He passed peacefully in his sleep this morning in the arms of his life partner.

Kelly is survived by his mother, Rosetta Turner, three older siblings, and by his life partner, Tom Grossinger.

Plans for a memorial service are forthcoming, and will be announced here when they are known.

Kelly was an active fan and costumer in the 70's, 80's, and early 90's. He was part of the crew that built the "V'Ger Flyby" sets for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE in 1979. He worked on the committees of Costume-Con 1 and 2, and chaired Costume-Con 6. He was Masquerade Director for the 1986 Westercon in San Diego. He was the managing editor of the first nine editions of The Whole Costumer's Catalogue. He also was the editor of Costumer's Quarterly for the ICG for several years. He competed in the Master division, and his costume credits include THE EGYPTIAN GODS, PYROGENESIS, TURN OF A FRIENDLY CARD, and NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN. In real life, Kelly worked in the video game industry. He started as a programmer at the coin-op division of Atari in 1984 (his games included Super Sprint, Vindicators, and Tetris). Over the last 20 years, he worked in virtually every aspect of development and production at such companies as Atari, P.F. Magic, Virgin Interactive, Rhythm & Hues, The 3DO Company, and Eidos. Most recently, he was Executive Producer of external development at Eidos, Inc, and sat on the Board of Governors of the Producer's Guild of America's New Media Council.

Kelly was a good freind of mine back in our days in S.T.A.R. San Diego, and will be greatly missed.

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My friend Bill was in an auto-accident on Sunday. Although his vehicle was totaled, Bill has assured everyone that he is okay. At least, physically.

Bill reports on his blog that during the confusion at the accident scene and the towing, much of his Klingon gear was stolen, as well as his laptop and a digital camera that was loaned to him.

The laptop and camera will be hard to track, however, it may be worth it to keep an eye out for any Klingon gear showing up on the market, although I doubt the the cretin will try and sell it. Probably just look at it and think "cool...Halloween stuff..."

Anyrate, at least Bill wasn't hurt.

Posted by Sqotty at 9:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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StarTrek.com has the obituary on the passing of James Doohan:

James Doohan, the beloved actor who portrayed engineer "Montgomery Scott" in the original Star Trek and six movies, passed away at his home in Redmond, Washington this morning. He was 85. Doohan died in his sleep at 5:30 a.m. local time with his wife of 28 years, Wende, at his side. According to Doohan's Los Angeles agent and longtime friend Steve Stevens, the cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Doohan's Scotty has always been my favorite Trek character, his wit and wisdom often out-shining that of Kirk and Spock. He will be greatly missed.

Doohan served in World War II, and was wounded in action during the Normandy Invasion on D-Day.

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Orson Scott Card, in his piece, Strange New World: No 'Star Trek' asks many questions, and provides a disturbing view of Trek Fandom (and Fandom in general). The piece starts off with:

So they've gone and killed "Star Trek." And it's about time.

Well, if he is talking about the end of Star Trek: Enterprise, I couldn't agree more.

The piece goes into the generally accepted beliefs behind the success of Star Trek, reminding the reader that the Enterprise first took to the airwaves before VCRs. Once it was canceled after three seasons, the only way to see it was when a local station opted to buy the series in syndication. A tough sell for a relatively short lived series. However, it proved a gold mine to those stations that did pick it up.

A little person history, and disclosure: I have never read anything by Orson Scott Card. I am also a long time fan of the original Star Trek series, and have attended many (well over a hundred) Science Fiction and Star Trek conventions. I have also been a member of numerous clubs, from S.T.A.R. Fresno and S.T.A.R. San Diego, the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, as well as the Klingon Assault Group. I am also the Kahuna of the Klingon Surfer Dudes. I guess one could say I have a vested interest in refuting some of what Card wrote in his opinion piece.

In it, Card writes:

They tried it before, remember. The network flushed William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy down into the great septic tank of broadcast waste...

And I have to go back to Inside Star Trek by Herb Solow and Bob Justman, which has the inside scoop from what NBC was trying to get out of the fledgling Science Fiction series. Solow was an NBC executive at the time, and he has the straight poop there. For one, RCA owned NBC and during the first two seasons (at least) Trek was one of the top rated COLOR television shows. It may have been at the bottom of the ratings heap for television broadcasts over all, however, when you drill down in the data and see that is at the top of the heap for shows being broadcast in color, and the powers that be, meaning RCA in this case, want to sell more color TV sets, what are you going to do? Solow points out that Trek was in little danger of being cancelled during its first two seasons.

Card also hits on the quality of the show, and writes:

As science fiction, the series was trapped in the 1930s - a throwback to spaceship adventure stories with little regard for science or deeper ideas. It was sci-fi as seen by Hollywood: all spectacle, no substance.

Which was a shame, because science fiction writing was incredibly fertile at the time, with writers like Harlan Ellison and Ursula LeGuin, Robert Silverberg and Larry Niven, Brian W. Aldiss and Michael Moorcock, Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, and Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke creating so many different kinds of excellent science fiction that no one reader could keep track of it all.

Little of this seeped into the original "Star Trek." The later spin-offs were much better performed, but the content continued to be stuck in Roddenberry's rut. So why did the Trekkies throw themselves into this poorly imagined, weakly written, badly acted television series with such commitment and dedication? Why did it last so long?

The show was pitched by Roddenberry as a wagon train to the stars (Making of Star Trek), and had writers from the SF genre including the aforementioned Harlan Ellison, as well as Robert Bloch and Theodore Sturgeon.

Okay, even I have to admit that the third season of the original series was comprised of a lot of turkey episodes. But the first two seasons had many high marks, like "Balance of Terror" and "Space Seed". Not to mention the best loved episode, "The Trouble With Tribbles," written by SF great David Gerrold at a time when he was just starting his writing career.

Even Niven got into the act, writing an episode for the very short-lived animated series.

Fans wanted more, and not the animated series. That just didn't cut the mustard.

Yet Card continues, and isn't satisfied with slamming what was at the time a darn good television series, he slams the fans:

They started making costumes and wearing pointy ears. They wrote messages in Klingon, they wrote their own stories about the characters, filling in what was left out - including, in one truly specialized subgenre, the "Kirk-Spock" stories in which their relationship was not as platonic and emotionless as the TV show depicted it.

Mostly, though, they wrote and wrote and wrote letters. To the networks. To the production company. To the stars and minor characters and guest stars and grips of the series, inviting them to attend conventions and speak about the events on the series as if they had really happened, instead of being filmed on a tatty little set with cheesy special effects.

Sure, there are people who dress up in Trek outfits, and put on ears, and ridges, and call it FUN! It's a hobby, nothing more. And, yes, guilty as charged. The vast number of fanzines, including the "Kirk-Spock" stories did (and do) exist. Can't say I have read any of the later...nor do I want to. Yeech!

Letter writing took place, including a campaign to have the first space shuttle named Enterprise, a write-in campaign that was successful.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this piece, I have been to quite a few conventions, mostly on the left coast, from San Diego to Sacramento, lately in the Mid-west, and I have seen many of the actors and actresses, from the mainline stars, to the guest stars and the actors filling supporting roles. Never have I heard or seen any behavior such as card describes, where fans actually believed that the show was real...unless they were under the age of five. Only in the portrayal of some fans in the movie Galaxy Quest have I seen such behavior as Card has described.

Maybe he gets his facts from the movie Trekkies, which from what i have seen, went out of its way to highlight the wackos and not focus on the fans who lead normal lives.

And still more...

Here's what I think: Most people weren't reading all that brilliant science fiction. Most people weren't reading at all. So when they saw "Star Trek," primitive as it was, it was their first glimpse of science fiction. It was grade school for those who had let the whole science fiction revolution pass them by.

The same was true with my friends, reading much of the same kinds of books, and digging back into the older stuff, including the likes of Robert E. Howard and Philip K. Dick.

Trek fans have grown up to become engineers, programmers, scientists of all sorts, as well as business leaders, lawyers, fire/rescue/police, defenders of our country thru military service, and yes, even a few politicians.

The original Star Trek series may not have been great science fiction, and not great television by today's standards, however, we're talking about a series that has been around for nearly 40 years, and put in its time and place, the late sixties, and throughout the seventies in syndication, it was better than a lot of the tripe being put on the airwaves, and to this day is better than much of what is pushed on the airwaves by Hollywood.

The question that Card should have been asking is not why did it survive so long. We're talking about a series that has been, and still is, immensely popular, and hugely