I’ve always found it strange when a person sneers at a Trekkie for his hobby, yet if you questioned this person, you’d find out he has his own area of geekdom (i.e. he’s a sports nut, or a stamp collector, or a car enthusiast). It was this realization, that we all have our inner geek, which allowed me to truly enjoy the celebration of imagination which was the 2010 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo, that ran April 24 and 25 this past month.

The Expo was interesting to see - the displays, the items on sale, the costumes, and particularly the fan’s delighted reactions. The main event, however, were the actors from popular series, who made themselves available for autographs, photos, and discussion panels.   managed to attend panels featuring Battlestar Galactica actors Tahmoh Penikett (“Helo”) and Aaron Douglas (“Chief Tyrol”), Brent Spiner (“Data” from Star Trek: The Next Generation), and the legendary Leonard Nimoy (“Spock” on the original Star Trek).

Brent Spiner’s Panel
At the Brent Spiner panel, the actor survived the Expo despite having arrived in Calgary with a cold. Spiner had a serious streak of sarcasm in him as he noted people didn’t seem to mind shaking his hand anyhow, because, as he put it, his handshake was “the autograph that lasts 2 weeks”.

Besides his body of acting work, he’s also a talented singer, with two albums released. Sadly, because of this cold he was unable to sing for the audience, and barely managed to do a spot-on Patrick Stewart impersonation before having to stop.

Like other actors, the interesting facts were not about the characters he’s portrayed over the years, but the technical details of working on a weekly television show. For example, as Star Trek: the Next Generation progressed, more and more episodes centred around single characters. Usually this worked out fine for cast members as one week they’d be the focus, the next week they’d appear in one scene, reel off four lines and then vanish for the rest of the episode (and get paid the same amount, Spiner gleefully noted).

The one time it didn’t work out for Spiner was on one of his least favourite episodes. “Masks” (season 7) came right after a Data-centric episode. He was called on to portray four different characters after just finishing another episode that utilized him heavily the night prior. The script for “Masks” was pretty much given to him the day prior to the start of filming; while Spiner loved the script, he was called on to do “instant acting” as he put it. He was less than pleased with the result: “it was just the worse acting I’ve seen.” Yet for all that, his fans have given that episode high praise.

Leonard Nimoy’s Panel
Of course, the main event at the Expo was the attendance of Leonard Nimoy - “Spock” from the original Star Trek series and first six movies. Nimoy was honoured with Calgary’s White Hat ceremony - presented by Mayor Dave Bronconnier. It was obvious someone at the Expo had a snide sense of humour: Mayor Dave’s entrance was accompanied with both “The Imperial March” from Star Wars, and two Stormtrooper bodyguards.

Showing a playful side while accepting the honour, Nimoy mentioned the Facebook movement to draft William Shatner for the position of Governor General and openly mused “I think he should take the job – he should have something to do with his life.”

Nimoy wasn’t just here for the Expo. He mentioned how his campaign to give the town of Vulcan, Alberta the premiere of the recent Star Trek movie didn’t quite pan out. Therefore, when he was invited for the Calgary Expo, he was determined to get out to the town which has adopted Spock and Star Trek so avidly.

When he got there, Nimoy was amazed by the amount of Star Trek memorabilia that was on display. “I was really quite moved” by what Vulcan had, and the reception they gave him. He surprised them by expanding their Star Trek collection: “I have loaned them – and they’ll be on display – a pair of my ears...a pair of Spock’s ears...” These ears were very special to Nimoy, as they were “the very last pair that I wore on the last day of the filming of the Star Trek series.”

Fans expecting him to show up in future Trek movies were disappointed as he re-stated his declaration of retirement: “I am retiring from acting and directing in films and television.” Nimoy does have a few appearances left, including his role of William Bell in the series Fringe, but after that he will be mostly retired.

This doesn’t mean he’ll be taking it easy. Nimoy will be concentrating on his photography (www.LeonardNimoyphotography.com) and a new solo exhibition in a major gallery. This exhibit – “Secret Selves” consists of people he photographed in the role of their secret persona, a fantasy “self” they never dare put on display. Twenty-five portraits will be displayed at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art along with a video of him discussing the photography with the subjects.

As the panel discussion continued, there were some more intellectual moments as he discussed Star Trek IV and how the storyline paralleled mythologist Joseph Campbell’s description of the archetypal hero’s story arc in The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

In regards to the impact the role of “Mr. Spock” had on our society, Nimoy said he was impressed at the number of people over the years who have told him they got into the sciences because of it. ”I’m very proud of that because heaven knows we need good scientists on this planet.”

The Twilight Panel
Admittedly, this was my least favourite panel. I know many in our community drool over the actors who play the roles, but as a writer and a gay man, I have problems with Twilight. Even if you ignore that Stephanie Meyer is a member of a church which actively campaigns against LGBT rights, even if you ignore the crappy plotting, even if you ignore the abusive controlling relationship between Edward and Bella, I still have two damning words for you: Sparkling...vampires.

That, and the fact the appearance of three of the stars caused my ears to bleed momentarily from the shrieking of teenage girls. They were screaming at the sight of Peter Facinelli, (“Dr. Carlisle Cullen” of the Cullen vampire clan), Alex Meraz and Tyson Houseman (Paul and Quil Ateara respectively of the wolf-pack).

As for the panel discussion itself, it was...okay. It may have had something to do with the age of the actors, or the age of the crowd (and that the actors self-censored) but there wasn’t the same level of story-telling either of on-set antics or technical behind-scene activities that some of the other panels that weekend had. Most of the media stationed upfront did feel strangely out of place as the average age among us was 30...and two rows back it dropped down to 15.

The main theme for the actors was discussing how they weren’t the first pick for the role or they were originally auditioning for another role in the Twilight universe. Former Edmontonian Tyson Houseman’s story about his audition did come across as the actor’s version of a lottery win. He’d just gotten fired from a retail job and saw the ad for an open audition call for a movie. “When I got there,” he said, “there was a line up of Twilight fans five blocks long”. He clued in that this could be a big deal. He did his audition and kept coming back and re-reading lines as the pool of potential actors shrank. He didn’t hear anything back after the expected deadline, and wasn’t too heartbroken. Two weeks later “I got this call out of the blue – Hey, we’d like to offer you the part – and I said are you joking?”

They weren’t. However, it was funny hearing a younger version of the male bravado/goofiness I heard from the Battlestar boys, whether the Twilight gang described the gym workout competitiveness among the wolf-pack or the insistence of doing their own stunts for the film, or even tossing a football around set...and inadvertently smacking Tyson in the face with a muddy airborne shoe...after he just stepped out of makeup.

Around the Expo...
Otherwise, it was an interesting event, and light-years different from the one similar event I attended in Edmonton years ago. Some other tidbits from the Expo:

• We also managed to snag one-on-one interviews with Battlestar Galactica actors Aaron Douglas and Tahmoh Penikett (see page 10) and veteran actor Malcolm McDowell (page 9)

• Aleks Paunovic, who played a small role on Battlestar Galactica and is now on Caprica as William Adama (grandfather of Admiral Adama) also spoke at the Battlestar panel. It was amusing to see the “bromance” between him and Tamoh, but mostly his appearance caused Rob, Steve and I to drool slightly (www.alekspaunovic.com).

• Wrestler Vance Nevada (www.vancenevada.ca) also turned a few male heads his way.

• Spotted in costumes were a few Orion slave girls, the previously mentioned Star Wars stormtroopers, Star Trek outfits (of course), a creepy zombie Princess Leia, Neytiri from Avatar across the aisle from a stuffed Minotaur, and even a few guys wearing spandex on whom it looked flattering (namely a particular guy in a Spawn outfit).

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Contributor Evan Kayne |

Locale Calgary |

Person Alex Meraz | Brent Spiner | Leondard Nimoy | Peter Facinelli | Tyson Houseman |

Topic Calgary Expo | Comic Expo | Star Trek | Star Trek The Next Generation |