Star Trek Lives! The First Convention
—Chrissie

Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/user/ufpearth/hwts092

            Over the weekend of 21 – 23 January 1972, about three thousand people descended upon the Statler Hilton in New York City. They were drawn there by flyers with a bold headline: “Star Trek Lives!” with a picture of the USS Enterprise and a very Trek message, “Everybody Welcome.”

Comic and science fiction conventions have existed since at least the 1930s in both the United States and Europe. Star Trek was, in fact, first shown at one such event, the Tricon World Science Fiction Convention, a week prior to the first air date in September 1966. And so, this was not the first time Trek fans had come together at such a gathering, but it was the first planned as an exclusively Trek event. A group who referred to themselves as “The Committee” (not to be confused with the Trimble’s letter-writing campaign of the same name) pooled their money to rent a ballroom at the Statler Hilton and made arrangements with vendors and guests to be on hand. These guests included such Trek luminaries as DC Fontana, Majel Barrett, and even the Great Bird of the Galaxy himself, Gene Roddenberry. The noted science fiction author Issac Asimov, a figure seemingly always on the periphery of Trek, was also in attendance. NASA provided a display that included a space suit and actual moon rocks, which was reportedly a great deal less popular than they’d hoped. Admission was $2.50, and the Committee hoped to see around 500 people; six times as many showed up. Various episodes were screened, including the (at this point) rarely-seen “The Cage,” and a blooper reel. A costume showing, decades before the term cosplay was coined, allowed attendees to show off their homemade Starfleet uniforms as well as versions of any other Trek-related costumes of which one can think.

The weekend was a resounding success, and members of The Committee went on to organize more conventions over the next few years, and quickly found they were no longer the only ones. Gatherings of Trek fans are found all over the world; two of the biggest, Destination Trek and Fedcon, are hosted by different cities across Europe on an annual basis.

“Official” conventions began to be licensed by Paramount, bringing in Creation Entertainment as the organizer. The thirtieth anniversary of the series was celebrated with a massive convention at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center on 7 and 8 September 1996 at which the entire cast of the original series was on stage together for the last time. In the last two decades, the annual official and biggest convention in North America has been the one hosted in Las Vegas, commonly known as STLV. In 2021, the license was moved to the Reed Pop convention company, and their first foray, Star Trek: Mission Chicago, is being held on 8-10 April 2022, beginning just a day after this podcast drops. We Szilagyis hope to see you there!