10 Greatest Star Trek Convention Moments

William Shatner (in)famously once told fans at a convention to "get a life," but that was for a sketch on Saturday Night Live, and it might be churlish to suggest that, somehow, he meant it. The skit didn't dispel any myths, but then satire wouldn't work without stereotype. There is always the — distinctly funnier — example of that animatedly irascible 'British' baby who created his own Star Trek gathering with the cast of The Next Generation. What Gates McFadden doesn't know about artesian wells isn't worth knowing!

Star Trek conventions proper are almost as old as Star Trek itself, and science-fiction conventions even older. With fanzines and a letter writing campaign, Trekkers and Trekkies managed to secure a third season of The Original Series, and by 1972, they had kickstarted contemporary fandom with what is generally recognised as the first large-scale Star Trek convention in New York.

By the 1990s, Star Trek conventions had become global mega-events with the founding of Fed(eration)Con in Germany in 1992, the Generations conventions at the UK's Royal Albert Hall in 1995/6, and the One Weekend on Earth Convention in (specially renamed) Star Trek, Alabama in 1996, to name but a few. The 2000s and 2010s were then the domain of Star Trek Las Vegas, Destination Star Trek, and the inexorable rise of the Comic Con.

Choosing 10 greatest convention moments out of the thousands over the years is a daunting task, but here goes…

My thanks to Clive Burrell for his input on this article.

Gene Roddenberry debuted Star Trek with a showing of both The Original Series pilots at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1966. Three years later, and about three months before Turnabout Intruder first aired, around 300 people gathered in a New Jersey Library for 'Star Trek Con'. There were no celeb guests, and the event only lasted an afternoon, but these were the humble beginnings of the Star Trek convention as we know it today.

Things really got going in January 1972 at the first Star Trek Lives! Convention in New York. Organisers had expected 500, but about 3,000 turned up to see Gene Roddenberry, Majel Barrett, Isaac Asimov, and D.C. Fontana, as well as a few moon rocks, the dealers' room, and that notorious blooper reel.

The following year, Star Trek lived again under the title 'The International Star Trek Convention,' with James Doohan, George Takei, a surprise visit from Leonard Nimoy, and over 6,000 attendees. In 1974, Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, and Walter Koenig joined the roster, as did (upper estimates of) 15,000 fans. William Shatner made it in 1975, but by 1976, a split had formed amongst organisers 'The Committee,' meaning that year would be the last for Star Trek Lives! By then, conventions were happening across the US and internationally.

The first 'official' British Star Trek Convention, with guests Doohan and Takei, took place in Leicester in 1974. However, much like in the States, there had been a previous, more low-key convention in a local church hall that same year.