Destination Star Trek 2016: Birmingham, UK

thelunarboy

Just curious to know if anyone from here is going. I got a response on Twitter to say that there won't be a STO developer presence at the event because they went to two European conventions earlier this year. I think this is really a bit of a dropped ball by the developers... as this is the officially organised European celebration for the Trek 50th.

Bit of a disappointment as I can't recall a UK con developer visit following Branflakes departure... now I do understand there is no special requirement to visit UK cons above others in the European zone every year, but it feels we're a little in the cold here (it's bad enough we're being Brexited).

I just think given the year and the official nature of the event... it was one of the ones that should have been on the calendar for the team.

jidros

I went there today. Great fun, if a little smaller than I imagined.

Not only was STO not there, legitimate reason or not, the entire computer gaming section, clearly marked on the website, was missing, and none of the staff I asked had any idea why. There was even a massive space on the floor which must have been where it would have been placed. Weird, and kind of a let-down, as I was looking for that section in particular.

thelunarboy

jidros wrote: »

I went there today. Great fun, if a little smaller than I imagined.

Not only was STO not there, legitimate reason or not, the entire computer gaming section, clearly marked on the website, was missing, and none of the staff I asked had any idea why. There was even a massive space on the floor which must have been where it would have been placed. Weird, and kind of a let-down, as I was looking for that section in particular.

Yes... the event was underwhelming for a normal con, let alone the official 50th. Fortunately for me it was saved by the guests and other con-goers... but conventions should not depend primarily on fan camaraderie to be a success. They are their to support and enable us to enjoy ourselves not to employ us to enjoy ourselves.

I have to compare it to the Star Wars event I went to in July and say that in terms of stalls and things to see and do, this event was lacking.

There was only one stall selling costume gear and they were seriously overpriced given the quality of products they were offering. I did like the mini starship stall and I bagged myself a Prometheus. I also thought that the Blu Ray store had some fantastic offers. Bagged all 10 movies and the director's cut of Khan for £35.

People seemed to be saying that originally there were 3 companies involved in the organisation of things, but that two either pulled out or were removed... leaving just one.... I wonder if that is where things fell down.

By the way if you went to the Sunday morning gaming talk... I was the guy in shirt, waistcoat and jeans who asked the question/pitched the suggestion for exploration in STO. I chatted to the presenter after the event and he told me that CBS had laid down the law on topics he could discuss (they told him to stick to present, existing gaming and not to speculate on the future/give people ideas.

I ran into a few STO players there. Sat next to a guy in that talk who played the foundry a lot. There were a couple of people from 12th Fleet in STO uniform. A couple of other Odyssey uniforms as well.

Now I have a photo of myself at the con with Shatner, Chase Masterson and Wil Wheaton and have a bridge pic, I'm hoping that @laughingtrendy#5866 and the team will allow me to have the TOS holo boff set. I did tweet them with a picture of me with Alan Ruck (Captain of the Enterprise at a previous event, weeks ago... but I received no feedback.

dirlettia

Unfortunately I missed the gaming talk as I tried to see the talks on Voyager stage. Trouble I found is that given how much there was to do everybody at the con had to go to the talks but they could only accomodate 50% tops off people who went there. I arrived a bit late so the best I could do was see Marina Sirtis's talk from a distance so ended up going to see the unused Enterprises talk instead.

I have yet to download my photos I took at B'ham to find one to send to Trendy but hopefully we wont get neglected in being able to have our Holo boffs like the US cons get. Ps Garret Wangs talk were probably the highlight of the con for me as they really had fun on the stage.

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thelunarboy

I'm 30 miles from Birmingham, bought a weekend ticket and didn't spend a lot... I think if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd travelled a long way, bought an admiralty or captain ticket and been forced to stay over at a hotel... I'd be annoyed as well.

I'm pretty sure the talk display graphics were ripped from a free download version of LCARS as well. I reckon I've got the same program on my laptop.

Fortunately my friend enjoyed himself (first time at a non gaming exclusive con) to the point that he wants to go more often. He ended up getting buckaroo'ed at the Friday night party

Maybe there is scope for some of us to knock up some unofficial STO gatherings in the UK, I think that might be nice. Probably the way to do it is to go through some of the local Star Trek clubs. I know there's a couple of big ones in Manchester and London.

Being in a small South Warwickshire market town, I don't get to run into other fans as much as I'd like.

I know what you mean about SM... most of the frontline staff are volunteers and the organisers themselves tend to book big ticket things without having the resources to back them up. I think part of this is due to them trying to expand in the face of competition.

dirlettia

We are always looking for camping based activity weekends we can run off to with our caravan so a Trek based event would attract us cerainly - we dont do slumming in tents without Electric though ^.^