Destination Star Trek Germany ā My recap (long post warning)
I attended the DST Germany last weekend (23rd ā 25th of September 2022). It was my second convention ever (my first one was the Expo Con in Hannover in 2000). So I am really not an expert in attending conventions.
What was my motivation to go to this specific convention? 2022 has been and continues to be a horrific year for my family and myself; the horror started in October last year. In all honesty, I wanted to go to a place that surrounds me with things I enjoy in the hopes it would shake me out of my numbness. I wanted to see people, even if not to interact with them, but just to watch people and to see life. I hoped for some of that life to rub off on me again. I considered going to Fedcon, but that was too soon for me to accomplish after the horror climaxed in January 2022. I booked the tickets for DST Germany in May, thinking that September would be far enough in the future to handle it. Little did I know that just a week after I booked my tickets in May, the second wave of horror would wash over my family. I was very close to cancel DST, but eventually I went through with it anyways.
I am glad I did, although I am not sure it really helped me. Time will tell I guess. But as I went to the con, I can give my personal recap now. Sorry that I didnāt make many photos.
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Facts first
The convention took place in the Westfalenhallen, hall 8 in Dortmund, Germany. The Westfalenhallen is a complex of multiple exhibition halls. They are right next to the Signal Iduna Park, which is the home stadium of the famous 1. Bundesliga football club BVB (Borussia Dortmund).
The Westfalenhallen are located perfectly for visitors. There were hundreds of parking lots all around the area. For those who come by train, there is a subway station right next to the Westfalenhallen with direct connection to Dortmund central station.
The exhibition area of hall 8 is 5,000 sqm small (which equals 70% of a football pitch or roughly 90% of an American football pitch).
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The floor plan looked like this (plan):
Sorry, I only have this in German. But:
Vorstellungszone = Screening room (where episodes were shown on a small flat-screen TV)
Voyager BĆ¼hne = Voyager Stage (free for all stage)
Autogramme = Autographs (I guess you figured that out by yourself š )
Info Karten = Info Tickets
Enterprise BĆ¼hne = Enterprise stage (main stage that required for the most part paid tickets)
The big purple area in the middle had a couple of vendors (which Iāll comment on later).
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Floor plan (how it really was):
The southern fan zone and autograph zone in truth were switched.
Next to the voyager bridge photo zone was CafĆ© Acht, which was a seating area on floor level 2 (open only for Admiral ticket holders). CafĆ© Acht is part of the exhibition hall equipment. However, some benches were placed on ground level for everyone else by the con organizers. There was just one crĆØpes (sp?) booth in the corner, which resulted in very long queues because the booth was serviced by one staff member only. I am not sure who the booth belonged to, the con organizers or the exhibition hall owners.
Between the screening room and the autograph section in the north there was an exit to get to an outside area. There was one food truck (again, no clue who that belonged to) and a couple benches. Prices were astronomic:
āFrittenā are French fries. 0.5l soft drink bottles went for ā¬5 on both booths. Again, I donāt know whether these prices were set by the con organizers or the exhibition hall owners (I heard itās the latter but donāt nail me on this).
The time table kept changing during the event. With Ethan Philips canceled his attendance, his free for all talk on Sunday was replaced by Marine Sirtisā one (which I missed). Connor Trinneer joined Anthony Montgomeryās free for all talk on Sunday (which I also missed).
All talks took place on the main stage, the secondary stage was for fan made talks like podcasts, auction, cosplay contest, audiobook presentation, quizzes etc.
There was one Voyager bridge setup which you could have your picture taken on (only you) or at specific times with the Voyager cast (which sadly only consisted of Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo and Finton McKeown).
And there was a photo op booth with a green screen setup.
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Accommodation
Several hotels are located near the Westfalenhallen. I picked the Dorint Hotel (4 HRS stars) which is the closest and in view of hall 8. The hotel was very good, which is to be expected for the prices you had to pay there.
The hotel is a conference hotel. I arrived on Friday, which is when a conference took place in the hotel. It was funny to watch business people mix with Star Trek fans. I absolutely admire every fan who ran around in cosplay in the hotel and also on the exhibition compound. I lack the courage to cosplay. Whoever says that Star Trek fans are nerds and losers have no idea how courageous they are to show their love all in public, knowing that they might be ridiculed by idiots. Luckily I did not see any idiot in the hotel. But I did see some on the exhibition compound. A huge car components exhibition took place on the same weekend and some of those visitors obviously had to prove their masculinity by laughing at fans and calling them big childs or losers. IMO a loser is who has to ridicule another person in the hopes to appear strong themselves.
Anywho, to get from Dorint to the convention there was a huge obstacle to overcome:
This is the so called BVB-Bridge, which on Bundesliga game days is used by fans to get to the Signal Iduna Park. As you can see the slope is insane (I learnt while talking to locals that the bridge is going to be replaced because it is not considered barrier-free). Even for me the bridge was a challenge even though I am not disabled. Walking up the bridge wasnāt so much a problem, but if you suffer from arthrosis in your ancles and knees, walking down this bridge is like torture. I have no idea how people in wheelchairs (and there were a couple at the convention) managed to get over this bridge.
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The con organization
Look, I know there has been a lot of discussions about the organization of this event and a lot of disappointment and anger. But I do not want to join into the bashing.
I had the misfortune of paying ā¬1k for another convention 3 or 4 years ago (not Star Trek related) that got cancelled and for which I was never refunded. THAT is what I call a scam.
Even though a lot of guest stars cancelled their attendance for DST Germany and the whole convention setup appeared very low budget, I am still grateful that the convention took place after all and I was able to meet amazing guests.
I didnāt run into any staff member who wasnāt super friendly.
I heard on Twitter that the organizers even apologized on stage at the closing ceremony (I left the con around 1pm after Kateās panel on Sunday) for how the event was not how they wanted it to be. To my understanding it was the last Destination Star Trek under official umbrella. There might be conventions in other form in the future, but not with official ties to Paramount/CBS anymore.
Tickets came either in packages or day or weekend tickets. I had the commander ticket which had 5 talks and 5 autographs included, plus a green screen and bridge photo (without guest star). Additional tickets could be purchased on the venue, but often the queue was way too long to service everyone in time.
On Friday I had the impression this is going to be a small and cozy convention with not too many visitors. When I came into hall 8 on Saturday morning though, it was jam-packed with people. I figured out later that the Lieutenant package only included entrance for Saturday and Sunday, so when they all showed up the numbers exploded.
My Corona warning app already blew up like a Christmas tree, so far my tests have been negative. Fingers crossed. But home office is in order this week. Better safe than sorry for my colleagues at work. š„“
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The guest stars
THEY.WERE.FRICKIN.AMAZING!!!
Every single one of them.
The guests stars saved the whole convention IMO. Even though each panel was only 30 minutes long (which I didnāt understand, because if so many guests cancelled, they could easily have doubled the length of each panel, especially as the guest stars themselves seemed disappointed when they ended so soon), the stars managed to get the audience excited in no time. The atmosphere was energetic and a lot of questions were asked.
Iāll try to stress my memory a bit with just some excerpts that stuck in my head.
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* Kate Mulgrew
She is fantastic on stage. Funny, witty, self-confident and not shy to state her opinions.
She repeatedly (because she was repeatedly asked) stated that she doesnāt think itās impossible anymore to see Janeway again in a live action project and that talks about this have increased. But she does not want to play second fiddle. It has to be THE Janeway show. She also reflected this when she answered a question about whether she would join The Orville season 4 as a guest star (if asked); she said let the 4th season of something be for other people, she would only do the Janeway show.
Kate also got very private and talked about her mom who had Alzheimerās disease. She comforted the audience members who also have relatives with this horrible disease. Her advice is to stay with them, love them, never give up on them. But she also didnāt mince words when she said that this disease will not go easy, it will get worse and worse and end horribly.
In Kateās opinion, Star Trek fans are the best fans of all franchises. They are the smartest, the most loyal ones and one more thing which I forgot (sorry, my memory is also ageing).
Kate hates her photo being taken. To assure us that this is a very human feeling, she asked the entire audience who likes to have their photo taken. By far the most hands stayed down, proving her point.
She also talked about why she opposed having a love relationship with anyone, especially Chakotay. She wanted Janeway to be a person of integrity. She can have friendships, even close friendships, but no relationships and especially no sex. She joked that it would give the ready room a whole new meaning āChakotay, to the ready room!ā.
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*Robert Picardo
He is also fantastic and super funny on stage. He has the witty humor which I like so much.
I also had the impression that he remembers every take and every episode of Voyager. He often started with āDo you remember that scene whenā¦ ā or āDo you remember that episode whereā¦ā.
Bob often talked in German to us (which left all the non-German speaking folks in the audience a bit helpless, but moderator Benjamin Stƶwe translated some of that, at least at the opening ceremony. Benjamin was an awesome moderator btw!). He joked how every time he speaks in German, people automatically assume that he also understands German (because his pronunciation is really good). To which he usually replies with āIch kann Deutsch sprechen, aber ich kann es nicht verstehen.ā (I can speak German, but I donāt understand it).
He joked that he was on Star Trek and on Stargate. If he gets a role in Star Wars, then he has the trifecta completed.
He told the story how he suggested that the doctor should be a passionate opera fan and that he should listen to operas in sickbay. Months later he got a script in which he was supposed to sing an opera. He freaked out and protested, but he was told to just try it. If it works, it works, if not, theyād voice over the part with a professional singer. It turned out that he wasnāt too shabby at all. Of course he demonstrated some of his singing on stage, and the man still got it.
Bob shared with us that the episode āLife Lineā, in which he met his ācreatorā Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, was his pitch, and he was very proud to share that it was the first time ever an actorās pitch went all the way to a full episode and that he was credited for the story.
It was also his idea to teach 7 of 9 human social behavior after Kes was his mentor before. He said he thought it was a funny idea that of all people on board the Voyager, it was the only non-human entity to teach 7 of 9 human behavior. At a time when more and more people had their first personal computer in RL, it was a computer program that would teach human behavior on a TV show.
It is no secret that many Star Trek actors arenāt Trump fans and many are vocal about it. Bob is no exception but he had a very funny and charismatic way to formulate it. He said that the last time he was in Germany for a convention was 2018. At that time Trump was president. The next time Bob will be in Germany again, Trump will be in jailā¦. or heāll be president again; thatās how crazy things are today.
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*Marina Sirtis
She did one hell of a job to make this convention successful. She had by far the most panels. She had by far the most photo ops. And when she wasnāt at photo ops or on stage, she was constantly available to give autographs. She even prolonged her stay to Sunday, which wasnāt the original plan.
Marina is also not a Trump fan (to put it mildly) and she explained a bit why that is so (not gonna repeat it all, this is not meant to be a political post).
I honestly donāt remember much from all the Q&As because they came in like rapid fire. Some questions I remember are who is the better kisser, Worf or Riker (Marina complained about Worfās teeth š). Marina also talked about how Troiās relationship with Worf came out of nowhere and made no sense to her, and how she was glad to get back to her Riker. Worf later hooked up with Jadzia so he should be happy (ābut oh yeah, we killed her offā).
I remember her funny statement that she is Greek, and no way she can be vegan. A Greek being vegan is an oxymoron.
Sorry I donāt remember more, I donāt know why. Marinaās was the first panel I attended on Friday, maybe thatās why I donāt remember most of it anymore.
*Chrissy Chong
I donāt think there was ever a moment when she didnāt look cheerful and smiley. She did an amazing job representing SNW all on her own and it was such a pleasure to see her being in the focus. It was also her second convention ever which IMO youād never guess.
She was also very thoughtful and clever not to spoil critical parts of episodes as she was aware that the show hasnāt debuted in Germany yet. What she talked about was very interesting nonetheless. She talked about working with the AR wall and how it was a pain to wear the EV suits. They cost USD 100k each, which is why they were borrowed from the Discovery set (and thus didnāt fit perfectly). They were very heavy and hurt so much that they got painkillers (!).
She talked about having Runa on set and how that specific episode was so much fun to do because everyone had such a blast to goof off. She said especially for Babs it was difficult because he was the only one who was ānormalā in the episode. He often had to laugh at the silliness of everyone else, which then resulted in laugh fits for all.
She told us that she lived in Germany, Essen for 2 years in the past when she was part of a theatre ensemble. She forgot most of her German skills though, but still had some bits for us.
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*Armin Shimerman
What a funny and classy guy. He began his panel with a serious topic though when he remembered Louise Fletcher (who sadly just had passed away on the day the convention started). He and Louise were long time friends. He told us that when she auditioned for the role of Kai Winn, she asked him how much make up would she have to endure. She only wanted to accept the role if she didnāt have to sit too long in the make up chair. Armin told her not to worry as sheād only get a very small nose silicone piece. So she accepted the role. On set she then stormed to Armin and was complaining how he was right about the nose, but the damn wig and hood took 2 hours.
Armin also remembered Rene, who he considered his closest friend on set, and Aron Eisenberg and he thanked the audience for sharing this moment with him.
After this he turned into entertainer mode and took questions.
He told us how he involuntarily influenced the Ferengi to become more of a comedic species. He played the first Ferengi on the TNG episode āThe Last Outpostā in a comedic way. He high pitched his voice and played his Ferengi like an idiot. The other actors followed his lead, which kinda cemented the species as a comedic one. The Ferengi were supposed to be as scary as the Klingons though. When Armin accepted the role of Quark, he wanted to correct this error.
During auditioning for Quark, he and Max GrodĆ©nchik were the only ones left to be considered for the role. While Max played Quark in a comedic way in his audition, Armin played him in a dramatic way and explained why he did that. The producers decided to go with Arminās way and gave him less comedic situations than Rom. IMO it worked out perfectly for both roles.
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*Connor Trinneer and Anthony Montgomery
Sadly I missed their panels. Connorās panel on Saturday was not included in my package. I tried to get a ticket for it, but the queue for the ticket counter was INSANE (many folks tried to get tickets for Kateās panel at the same time). I ran out of time.
I missed Connorās and Anthonyās Sunday panel because I left the con around 1pm (I was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to stay one minute longer).
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Photo sessions
I cannot tell you much about the photo sessions as I didnāt book any of those with the stars. Just like Kate, I also hate having my photo taken. It doesnāt help if I stand next to an awesome looking guest star. And I also honestly didnāt get the time table for the photo ops. One slot was sometimes just 10 or 15 minutes short. When I compared that time slot with the queue that built up for that slot, my mathematic brain couldnāt bring both together. I sincerely hope that folks who paid for an op and ended up in a long ass queue werenāt shooed away once the time slot ended before they got their chance.
The only two photos of me are me on the bridge alone and me in front of a green screen scene alone. I managed to sneak into both photo sessions Sunday morning, when the hall wasnāt busy and only very few peeps could have witnessed me with my mask off.
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Autographs
The queues for Kate and Marina were at times very long. But with the right timing, you could catch them with a reasonable small queue. I tried to go to all guest stars when their queues were relatively small, so I could chat a little bit with each of them.
Again, I produce this all from my swiss cheese memory, so apologies in advance. I thanked everyone for attending and wished them all a great weekend, so Iāll not repeat that in all recaps.
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*Kate Mulgrew
Before it was my turn I watched Kate talking to the two fans before me, who I think were a mom with her teen daughter. I didnāt overhear the conversation, but I noticed that after Kate signed their photo, the mom asked Kate to sign a red Starfleet uniform as well. The staff member next to Kate immediately kicked in and demanded them to pay extra for the additional autograph, but Kate signed the uniform for free and when the fans left the table, she told the staff member something along the line of I know you are just doing your job, but I donāt have the heart to say no.
When it was my turn I told her that I am very looking forward to Prodigy as it hasnāt been shown in Germany yet. Kate was surprised by that (despite the entire hall having billboards of the Nov 4th premiere date for Prodigy, but they were all in German so she maybe didnāt make the connection that the billboards were for the premiere).
She said she hopes that Iāll enjoy the show, to which I replied I am sure I will.
The queue was still very long, so I didnāt want to take too much time from all the other peeps waiting.
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*Robert Picardo
Told him with me attending this convention, itās coming full circle for me. The first con I attended was the Expo Con in Hannover in 2000, and thatās where I had seen Robert Picard for the first time. And now I see him again, 22 years later.
He said woooow! You look all the same, but I look older.
I replied that he looks the same, but I got older.
I forgot what he said next, sorry. ā¹ļø He seemed very jet laggy.
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*Armin Shimerman
I said I am surprised that I didnāt have to pay (for the autograph) in latinum.
Armin laughed (I bet he heard this 'joke' a billion times already) and said well, the banks donāt accept latinum.
I replied well not here anyways!
Armin signed my picture with āAlles Guteā, so he noticed by my dialect that I am German. Very thoughtful guy!
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*Connor Trinneer and Anthony Montgomery
They both sat at the same table with a staff member in between. So I could get both autographs at the same time.
I first talked with Connor and told him I love Enterprise (thatās the truth!) except for one thing. In my headcanon Trip never died.
To my surprise Connor didnāt know the word. Or he made fun of me cuz with my German accent I probably pronounced it as āheadcannonā. I am not sure. But he looked over to Anthony and asked him whether he knows the word headcanon. Anthony said no. I didnāt even get to explain it cuz Connor got it, he said itās like canon but like whatās canon in your head. Anthonyās face lit up and he said oh thatās awesome!
I then went over to Anthony and asked him whether heāll one day be in SNW as guest star in some time travel episode or some such (Anthony looked amazing btw, he could jump into his role right away and would look all the same).
He said I donāt know, but I wouldnāt mind. If we fans want it, we should let the studio know.
I said it would be cool to see you in a helmsmen match with Ortegas.
He said I havenāt seen the show yet, is it good?
I said it is absolutely fantastic, I love the show. I love it as much as I love Enterprise. I told him how sad I was that the series ended after just 4 seasons and that I didnāt understand why after waiting so long for a new Star Trek show, it ended so soon.
I noticed that Connor looked over at that. Both looked sad. Anthony said the cast also didnāt understand it and they were sad about it. But heās happy that the show lives on in our hearts.
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*Marina Sirtis
The queue was a bit smaller than a day before, but still considerably long so I only got a few words in.
I told her I am very curious about Picard season 3 compared to TNG. Marina said itās going to be totally different.
That honestly surprised me, and I said OH! Now I am even more curious.
She said she hopes Iāll enjoy it and called me sweetheart. š
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*Chrissy Chong
I was very much looking forward to meet Chrissy. Surprisingly a lot of fans queued up for an autograph with Chrissy (surprisingly because most German fans havenāt watched SNW yet). I noticed that a lot of guys got extremely excited when they talked to Chrissy. *grins*
I must say Chrissy is a fountain of joy. Her positive spirit is infectious. She also allowed fans to take photos with her at the autograph stand (Iāve seen Connor and Anthony do the same).
I had the longest conversation with Chrissy.
The moment I asked her āHow is Runa?ā, her already smiley face exploded into a supernova. You can tell she truly loves her pupper. She said she misses her so much as she was travelling a lot and bringing her to Germany was too much stress for her. But she hopes and plans to bring Runa to the Wales convention (hint, hint people!).
I told her that unfortunately I cannot go to Wales. I said I was hoping for her to sign my picture and have Runa add a paw print on the photo. Chrissy said she has special ink for that for Runa. So maybe you peeps who can go to Wales conā¦ look out for Runa!
I asked Chrissy whether we gonna see Runa again (sorry, I fell in love with the pup). Chrissy said not in season 2 because the only (crazy) episode where Runa would have fit in had the same director (Amanda Row) as in Elysium Kingdom. The director was fine with having Runa on set for Elysium Kingdom but didnāt want to have the same stress again for the season 2 episode. Having a pet on set is more work apparently.
But Chrissy hopes (and pitches for) to have Runa in an episode in season 3.
I grinned at her and asked āSooooooo, we do get a season 3?ā.
Chrissy answered that nothing has been confirmed yet officially but come on, it would be a surprise if we wouldnāt get renewed, would it?
I said absolutely, and Paramount could expect a lot of fan protest.
Chrissy said if they get renewed theyāll start filming in April and it will take approximately 5 months to shoot the season.
So I said weāll probably know by February 2023 whether thereās going to be a season 3 and Chrissy said yeah, around that time.
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The vendors
There werenāt many vendors. Which is sad because they were one of the reasons why I was looking forward to the con. At such events Iād expect to find the most and rarest stuff.
The largest vendor was from Filmweltshop who had by far the most items, including many rare ones. I got to talk with the shop owner Martin Netter (who has been in the business for decades and organized the first DST event before management changed). I am not going to repeat what we talked about because that is his story to tell (he has a facebook page if you are interested). Just let me say that it seems to become more and more difficult for fans to collaborate with Paramount. Filmwelt also presented some exhibits from their Star Trek Exhibition, including the original Ensign Mayweather uniform (which Anthony spotted ).
There was also a shop in a trailer that seemed to be officially associated with Paramount (as they handed out Paramount bags) but I wasnāt sure what you could buy there as the presented goods were very limited. There was a book stand where you could buy all the novels and encyclopedias and whatnot. There were two vendors where you could get ship models (Revell and Blue Brixx) and Playmobil had a display with the Enterprise. Thatās all there was for vendors.
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Other things Iāve learnt
For DST being an official Star Trek convention, there was remarkably few branding and support from Paramount in the exhibition hall. The only advertisements I could see were for the Prodigy premiere on Nov 4th on Toggo (not even a Paramount company) and Timelines billboards.
There was no advertisement at all for the upcoming Paramount+ launch. There was no advertisement at all for the upcoming SNW premiere. Nada. Considering that Paramount+ is around the corner with a launch in December (though, I only believe it when I see it), this was a fatally missed chance to promote it with hundreds of Star Trek fans on the venue.
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I was shocked how most peeps didnāt wear masks. I wore a mask the entire time. I had to at least try to stay healthy because I want to visit my very sick dad in 2 weeks and I donāt want to bring Corona to him. Maybe 5% tops of all peeps wore masks. Even the guest stars didnāt wear masks except for Robert Picardo, Armin Shimerman and his wife Kitty Swink.
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Germans arenāt criminals. š To my surprise, during Chrissyās panel the audience was asked how many had (illegally) watched SNW already. Only very few hands rose (yes, mine too. I admit it). So most peeps in Germany havenāt seen SNW yet and will get the chance (hopefully) from December 2022 on. Wow. That astonishes me. I thought we were more savage fan folks.
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I wasnāt by far the only one who is super introvert and visited the convention alone. And I am by far not the only one who has trouble connecting. I saw a hell of a lot of folks who were walking around all on their own and never joined a group of people to chat. This ā in a very odd way ā made me feel like I belonged.
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I noticed a few visitors with bags from car parts manufacturers on the DST con. I guess some guests from the car parts exhibition sneaked into our con to have some real fun. š
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The cosplay was amazing. I didnāt make any photos because I would never make photos of peeps without consent (except for the panels, because taking photos was allowed beforehand, filming btw wasnāt). But if you check out Twitter with the #DSTGermany hashtag, youāll find lots of pics showing amazing cosplayers.
