STARFEST '93

 

On February 20/21 saw the arrival of the U.S. convention group 'Starfest' who,  as most of you know,  had Walter Koenig and Dave McDonnell as Guests of Honour.  It was very interesting to see how American fans run cons,  they certainly do things differently to us.  For those of you who did not go,  the event looked a little like this: 

 

There was a dealers room who contained all the professional dealers:  Minotaur Books,  Alternate Worlds and Starland.  One huge main events room which housed speeches and video programmes, a small panel room which was only used for half a day at a time and one large video room.  There was no artshow, 2nd or 3rd strand programme,  fan lounge or alternate video programme,  also very little in displays and atmosphere.  There were four local club tables:  Austrek,  Threads,  MSFC and Star Walking which were located at the entrance to the convention.

 

Now seasoned con goers may say that it doesn't appear very interesting. "What,  no artshow?" With only one real strand of programming, well it could almost be considered to be "boring",  maybe so BUT when you have over one thousand four hundred people turn up and over 90% of them were joe public closet trekkers and were virgins to the con scene,  well a good time just had to be had.

 

Starfest '93 was a hoot, I had such a great time on Saturday that I didn't want to leave.  However the 3rd Annual St Valentine's Day Ball was on and I was doing the music so.... I myself was dressed in my Visitor uniform from 'V' a TV show of the early to mid 80's (not wanting to fit in with the group you see) and it was one of the few costumes at the con. 

 

What do you say when people keep asking "What is that from?"

 

A polite reply of "A Deep Space 9 character from the third episode." Usually aroused an interesting response, I mean how could've people forgotten 'V' I ask you? It wasn't long before it became a joke of the convention. "Yeah,  third episode in the pie fight..." thanks Craig, "Wow,  Bajoran pyjamas... real cool" says another,  and all this time people were thinking it was for real,  how gullible. Fortunately they didn't show the third episode of DS9 at the con otherwise "gulp".  In any case it was great just to be amongst so many millions of new faces,  and the merchandise,  Mega-Chunky man.  Even at a Star Trek con I was able to pick up a Batman collectable that I'd been after now that put me on a high for hours.

 

However to settle the pace down a bit,  some of the highlights were seeing the MSFC and Star Walking tables throwing paper missiles at each other on Sunday afternoon, Saturday's auction where even tapes of 'Is Elvis Alive?' were actually being bought, telling Arcane Annie and Stew just what a crap movie 'Buckaroo Banzai' is (joke),  Dave McDonnell's speech,  an upto date what's happening in the movie business these days report,  really informative.  The committee of Starfestsinging '25 Years of Star Trek' to the theme of 'We Didn't Start the Fire' together with a video collage back up (I mean it was nothing short of brilliant and really put a lump in your throat.  Even Arcane Annie had to admit that even though she didn't like Star Trek she was impressed by the clip),  telling Darren Reid that his fly was undone (you had to be there),  getting the Mega-rare DS9 t-shirt,  getting an even rarer committee con polo shirt (one of only two I believe in the country),  teaching the Americans how to pronounce Australian words,  creating an instant panel in the spare room and getting an audience of six,  being asked if I was wearing a DS9 uniform by a girl and when I said "yes",  her friend gets exited and says "I thought so." (can't seem to figure that one out.),  coming home at around 8.00 Sunday morning,  having a shower,  getting changed and going back to the con again (as you can guess,  I was pretty R.S.) Yeah!

 

Starfest, for me, was a lot of fun especially on Saturday (I crawled my way through Sunday).  The committee themselves were wonderful, such a polite bunch of people,  in fact they showed a complete air of professionalism in that they never seemed to panic, nor were they seen to be rushing all over the place, pretty amazing really. Although I personally didn't do much at the con,  I had a ball,  G'day to Alison, Jason and all the other dudes who I met for the first time.

 

When Walter Koenig saw a sea of faces at this speech he said "It's good to see Star Trek is alive and well in Australia." to a round of applause,  for those of you who couldn't (or wouldn't) go,  you missed a very interesting experience,  it was not necessarily better than an Australian convention,  but with an attendance nearly the size of Aussiecon II 8 years ago,  well, there were no end of friends to be made both Australian and American.  The touching part must have been the farewell message they left on the white board at registration.

 

"Goodbye Melbourne,  thanks for having us." It's hard to say if  'Starfest' will ever return but if they do - quick, whip out the Visitor uniform "Deep Space 9 third episode folks,  honest."

 

Darren Maxwel1

 

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