Vul-Con

You may be looking for the 1986-2007 convention called Vulkon.

Star Trek Convention
Name:	Vul-Con
Dates:	1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, …, 1986, ???
Frequency:	yearly
Location:	New Orleans (varying venues)
Type:
Focus:	Star Trek, science fiction, media science fiction
Organization:
Founder:	James Mule'
Founding Date:	1973
URL:
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Vul-Con began as a Star Trek: TOS convention in 1973, but branched off into general science fiction after the second con in 1975. By late 1970s, Star Trek was a decided minority of the programming; Vulcon IX in 1983 was listed as "science fiction and fantasy convention".

Aside from Star Trek Con (1969 convention), which was a fan gathering at a public library, the 1973 Vul-Con was the third all-Star Trek programming convention ever.

The pause after the first year may be related to the main organiser Mulé being a guest at Benecia 1974. It is not clear when the convention ended: certainly there are newspaper reports of it from August 1986, frequent guest Stocker wrote "held in New Orleans for 14 consecutive years, with a Star Trek emphasis" and there are even mentions of it running as late as 1990 (with pauses, though this may be confused with another con).

1: 1973

Vul-Con I 1973 was held in June 21-24, 1973 in New Orleans at the Jung Hotel.

The concom was James G. Mulé (also typed as Mule'), Mrs. Lynne Norwood, Peter Bezbak, Dean and Mary Sweatman, Robert Taggert, Mary Beth Schrieb, Dany and Mary Frolich, Nancy Mayberry, Rick Norwood, and Dennis Dolbear.

The Guests of Honor were Gene Roddenberry, Majel Roddenberry, Dorothy Fontana (toastmistress), Ruth Berman, David Gerrold. Early promoted as "possible guests" were Gene Coon and George Takei. From a con report below, it sounds as if Myrna Culbreath was also there.

The raffle plan was to sell 600 tickets at a dollar a piece. Concom members were limited to buying three tickets, but everyone else could buy as many as they wanted. From the second progress report:

Our big announcement is the Gene and Majel Transport Fund: a raffel [sic] we are holding in order to pay the cost of transportation for the Roddenberrys. The prize in this contest is a complete set of first season scripts, worth over $150.

From the second progress report:

It is the custom at S.F. Conventions to not only honor a great professional for some accomplishment, but to also honor an individual fan for his/her accomplishments in the field. We are continuing this custom at our convention, and have chosen Miss Ruth Berman as our Fan GOH.

Miss Berman lives in Minnesota, and is a teacher at a local college there. And it is from here that the excellent fanzine T-Negative is sent out about every other month. But Miss Berman is not content to simply publish other people's attempts at writing; she herself has done some writing and has been published in such S.F. magazines as Worlds of Fantasy, and, most recently, Analog.

T-Negative is now in it's 19th issue, and has had such professionals as Harry C. Stubbs, otherwise known as Hal Clement, and Larry Niven appear in it's pages.

Miss Berman has also visited the sets a number of times, and had the and had the opportunity to interview a number of behind-the-scenes people, as well as the regular and guest cast members.

Her experiences and viewpoints of what happened on the sets should be of interest to every member, and we are happy that she will be able to attend our con.

From the second progress report:

Our toastmistress will be the eminent writer, scripter, and editer — Dorothy C. Fontana. Miss Fontana is no doubt well known to those older fans of Star Trek, but for those younger fans who may not recognise her name we will explain who she is.

In every television series, there is one person who has the job of seeing that from one week to the next, all the characters, places, and names remain the same. In other words, this person is responsible for the continuity of the series. In Star Trek's case, this responsibility was Miss Fontana's.

But this is not all of her job, not only must she keep the program continuity, but it is also her job to read each and every new script which is submitted to the producer in order to determine which ones can be used in the series and which ones can't, and of those which can—which need to be rewritten.

Miss Fontana was well qualified for the job she held. She not only knew Science Fiction, she has written scripts for many TV shows including most recently--Ghost Story, but having worked with Gene Roddenberry for a while she knew what he was looking for in the program.

Miss Fontana also wrote a large number of Star Trek's scripts herself and those she didn't write-herself she helped rewrite to fit them to Star Trek's format.

All in all, Miss Fontana is an extremely interesting and talented person, and we are honored and pleased to have her as our toastmistress.

From the second progress report:

Costume Ball Rules:

Don't feel that you must have a prize winning costume. The ball will be a lot more fun if you come in costume, even if you don't compete. Your costume does not have to be from Star Trek, though Star Trek costumes are preferred. Anything from science fiction or fantasy is welcome. But, please, no old Mardi Gras pirate or cowgirl outfits. Nothing you can buy in a store. And don't wear the obvious standard Enterprise uniform. Be original. Costumes made professionally or obtained from the Star Trek cast or costume department may be worn, but can not enter the competition.

You can put on a skit, either original or from a Star Trek episode, but the skit must not be longer than three minutes. And be sure everyone can speak loudly enough to be heard by a large audience. We can not supply microphones for everybody. Almost everyone underestimates the volume you need to project your voice beyond the stage. There will be a chance for photographers to take pictures of the costumes either before or after the judging, but no flash pictures allowed while the entrees are crossing the stage!

Prizes will be given for the best costume, most authentic Star Trek costume, best group, best skit, most humorous costume, and best Mr. Spock.

• there was an ad for it in A Piece of the Action #1 (February)
• a con report by B. Gibbons appears in Hailing Frequencies
• a con report by Margaret Basta appears in Star-Borne #8
• a con report by Helen Young appears in Space-Time Continuum #3
• some con reports in A Piece of the Action #5
• From Star Trek Lives!: "At Vul-Con I, we heard Gene Roddenberry introduce Myrna Culbreath to the convention and speak of her Spock Premise article as 'brilliant... the best analysis of Spock ever done... required reading for all Star Trek fans'."

• 

  flyer for the 1973 con

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  Cover of the 1973 Program Book, with guests' signatures

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  cover of 1973 Vul Con second progress report, 20 pages, cover and interior art by Dany Frolich. Other art by Doug Herring and Nancy Mayberry

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  centerfold from the second progress report; it was supposed to have been the cover but it was "too large"

• 

  from the second progress report

• 

  from the second progress report

• 

  from the second progress report

• 

  from the second progress report

• 

  from A Piece of the Action #5

• 

  from A Piece of the Action #5

• 

  from Hailing Frequency #3

• 

  from Hailing Frequency #3

• 

  from Hailing Frequency #3

Con Reports: 1973

VUL-CON: Another con report! (Try and control your screams of extatic [sic] joy). This con was attended by a lot of people who have up to now been unable to attend a con, such as yours truly, so it deserves proper mention.

Vul-Con was tiny compared to some of the other cons, such as the NY con and Equicon, but the size has its advantages. Almost anyone could get in a few words with the big people, which included Gene Roddenberry, DC Fontana, and David Gerrold (Incidentally, her full name is Dorothy Catherine Fontana). The final registration was (I think) 1,235 (I should have written it down instead of entrusting it to my feeble memory).

The con committee was headed by James Mule, and a few other members of the local s-f association. They were very pleasant people who never let the strain show -- no snapping, fussing, or shows of temper ever surfaced.

Gene Roddenberry, DC Fontana, and David Gerrold made several talks, all very interesting. They appeared a number of times at autograph sessions.

They strolled through the halls at all hours (no security guards necessary) and were quite accessible. Ruth Berman was the Fan Guest of Honor, and she and Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Margaret and Laura Basta of STAR Central appeared in a fandom panel discussion with David Gerrold as moderator. It was a good idea that future cons might do well to copy. Each talked about different aspects of fandom, and then answered questions.

The costume ball had about 50 entries. A couple of pretty good salt creatures tied for first place, and a fair Andorian (in track shoes) came in second.

The trivia contest was verbal instead of written, and many of the questions were rather unimaginative. Margaret Basta finally won.

About 150 people attended the banquet (at ten bucks a 3ho) where all three celebrities gave brief but humorous and light talks. Ruth Berman, as main speaker, told of her earlier days with Lincoln Enterprises, and ST fandom in general. There was a raffle (51 pen ticket) to pay Gene Roddenberry's travel expenses, the prize being a complete set of 1st season scripts. The con Chairman's mom won, and donated them to the New Orleans Science Fiction Association, and then GR generously donated ten more scripts for another drawing.

The art show was high-lighted by 3 Dollens paintings which received spirited bidding, and sold for more than 5125 each. There was a lot of non-ST, but much of the art was excellent. It was here in the art room that the animation preview sketches were on display, which attracted a lot of attention.

The film program was excellent. The showings were al most continuous, and each film was shown several times. This allowed for a study of the films — you could notice new things every time you saw it. The films shown were: Amok Time, Assignment: Earth, City on the Edge of Forever, as well as Genesis II, Destination Moon, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden planet. Moon Zero Two, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and of course the blooper film.

I know that by now all of you must be sick to death of all these Convention reports but since this was my first Con I am anxious to tell about it. It was quite a weird start to walk into the Jung Hotel disgustingly dirty after a 16 hour drive and be stared at by people walking around in evening dresses and tuxedos. But I managed to make it to the registration desk to be led to our room. The man at the desk thought it would be extremely funny to ask me about the convention so when he pulled the reservations he asked what "does this Vul-Con mean." Well after explaining what Star Trek was for about 5 minutes he stopped laughing and we finally got to our room. The next day I got a call and the person on the other end identified himself as Chris Schulman. He said that there would be a STW meeting in Mrs. Young's room in 15 minutes. I finally got to meet all the 5 people I had up to then only talked to [on the phone]. I don't have a complete list of the STW people that did come but there were about a dozen more.

The Convention itself was not particularly large or stocked with a lot of celebrities. Only about 1100 fans showed up and although no actors showed up we did get to see Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold, Ruth Berman, Jacqueline Lichtenberg and Margaret and Laura Basta. Even though it was not large I believe that everyone there enjoyed themselves immensely. If one was ever bored of the convention (and who could be?) there was always New Orleans to see. I myself did not get to see much of the town because I found so much to do and see at the Con. The most popular attraction was by far the •Blooper' film, which was played 5 or 6 times and each time got more laughs than the time before. It is impossible to describe the film unless one has seen it himself. Miss Fontana gave a talk on the animation that was most informative. I shall assume that Mark, our beloved Editor, will give you the run-down on the whole thing so I will only say that on the new helmsmen, A-rex I believe, there could have been better costuming done to the fellow. In case Mark hasn't told you, A-rex is a tripodian — in other words, he has three legs and three arms and looks a little like a Great Dane. There is also to be another new crew member who will have cat-like quality. She will be alternate Communications Officer. Another change- is that Chekhov has been dropped because they felt f they could not give him enough lines to do the / character justice. But to all the Walter Koenig fans, he will be writing an episode so that he will still be one of the ST family.

They showed a brief bit of the film from the opening of the animation. It is the part at the beginning where the credits are given, I am glad to say that almost nothing was changed and I was convinced that this animation would be of the best quality that could be gotten.

The convention held something for everyone, even if you weren't a ST fan. If you were just a sf fan there were some of the finest science-fiction films ever made.

Anyway, even though the Con was most enjoyable there were at least two things that were disappointments, (Here I am trying to tell you what a fantastic time I had and I have to bring up the bad things;) They were the costume ball and the Hucksters room. The Costume Ball had a bad turn-out and many of the entrees were non-Star Trek, But let me say that there were many fine costumes anyway. The Hucksters room was also not over crowded with people and groups selling their goods. It was more than half empty. One of the most enjoyable things I got to do was to answer questions about Star Trek from the Hotel staff and interested Hotel residents. They seemed to be puzzled by the whole thing. But we straightened them out in a hurry by pointing out that ST fans are not just crazy fanatics but intelligent persons, A local TV station (WDSU, channel 6, I believe) came around to ask questions and to take a few shots, I'm sure that there were a few people gathered around the TV that evening. (When I caught sight of it, I ordered silence in the room. I'll never know whether it was my authoritative voice or the Con being televised on TV,) I was relieved to see that they had asked intelligent people and not the local Star Trek fanatic. You must know the kind.

I am hoping that the Con committee in New Orleans will be able to put together another Con next year. It seemed to me that because they expected more people to come than did, they experienced financial difficulties and so had a lot to wrestle with. I believe they did the best they could and deserve a lot more credit than they received at the Con itself, I would like to thank them along with the rest of STW for having us. It was great fun.

Star Trek conventions seem to be developing a standard pattern; & pattern which has a tendency to make them all seem alike somehow. At VUL-CON I, however, James Mule' and his staff were able to take that pattern and add to it.

The special guests of the convention were Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana, David Gerrold and Captain Kirk - NO, not William Shatner; but Captain Pierre D. Kirk, commander of the Enterprise Task Force in Viet Nam. (the stories he tells about his group in Nam, including his first officer whose nickname was Spock, are fascinating) The fan guest of honor was Ruth Berman; who is a quiet, shy woman, whom I found to be one of the nicest people I've ever met.

VUL—CON I started off, on Thursday, with a small party in the Con suite and with films; besides episodes of Star Trek, there were also such greats as: Forbidden Planet., Come and The Day, The Earth Stood Still.

On Friday, along with more films, there was a Star Trek trivia contest, which was won by Margaret Basta (she has donated her prize, of a family of tribbles, to be auctioned off at STAR-CON). We also learned, at a panel, that Mr. Roddenberry's pilot, Questor (about an android), has been bought by NBC and will probably be on in the fall. Genesis II. his other pilot, was about to be dropped from consideration by CBS as a series, until ABC made them an offer for it; after taking another look at it, CBS told Mr. Roddenberry to buy some scripts for it — with their money — so look for it as a mid-season replacement in January or February.

Unlike the past conventions, VUL-CON I was a very relaxed convention; the convention committee had actually SCHEDULED breaks in the convention activities so that people (like myself) who had never been there, would have several opportunities to enjoy the city of New Orleans. After listening to David Gerrold on Friday talk about Star Trek and David Gerrold, I went with the two prettiest gals at the convention to the French Quarter - an hour later I was drunk, not on alcohol, but on the beauty and grace that surrounded me in the French Quarter. After a fantastic dinner there, we walked (the Jung was only blocks away) back to the hotel to take in the Costume Competition and more films, before adjoining to our rooms.

On Saturday, we got our first really good look at the new animated Star Trek. Dorothy C. Fontana, who is now the Associate Producer of Star Trek, ran the beginning credits from the animation. "Space the final frontier..." At first we thought we were being shown the credits from the original Trek; but no, there was something different — not wrong — just different. The planets — they were clearer; the colors — they were brighter; the Enterprise - was fantastic! Mere words cannot describe the great job Filmation is doing; the few doubts this person had about the animated Star Trek were totally gone by the time those three minutes were over.

After the animation, there was a Star Trek Fan Panel; which consisted of David Gerrold (who insists he's still only a fan), Ruth Berman (the fan guest of honor), Jacqueline Lichtenberg (of Kraith), James Mule', Captain Pierre Kirk, Margaret Basta (of S.T.A.R.) and Laura Basta (also of S.T.A.R.). The discussion offered the history of fandom, what fandom is doing today, and what fandom can do tomorrow - that is, write Paramount requesting a Star Trek movie; and write NBC requesting that the animation be shown on a week night.

On Saturday night, Dorothy C. Fontana was the Toastmistress at the banquet; and some banquet it was! Ms. Fontana, along with Gene Roddenberry and David Gerrold, made this banquet the most enjoyable I have ever attended. Thank you, Dorothy, Gene and David.

After the banquet, Ruth Berman treated us to a Star Trek slide show, with narration, that was most enjoyable; and showed that Ms. Berman has a delightful imagination.

On Sunday, the last day, there were more films; and, for those so Interested, an art auction. I'm told that the bidding was spirited and that several artists were pleasantly suprised at the price their work went for. My knowledge of this is second hand, however, because during the art auction I, and several others, were enjoying a leisurely boat trip on the Mississippi - another side bonus of attending VUL-CON I.

Let me finish my report by congratulating James Mule' and his staff for the job they did putting together VUL-CON X. It was clear that many long hours had been spent by these people. In order to give us the convention we received. I'm looking forward to VUL-CON III!

Vul-Con was not much as cons go, but it still gets a high score as the friendly and relaxed con. Only about 1100 registered which locals say is a fantastically large number for a con thereabouts, but to those of us at N.Y. and L.A, it seemed tiny. So there truly wasn't much con action or excitement, but it allowed everyone to have plenty of time to talk at length with everyone else, attend non-crowded con events and even take in New Orleans' French Quarter and famous restaurants in the midst of the con.

The con committee was small; a few members of the local science fiction association, and they were very pleasant young people who never let the strain show - no snapping, fussing or shows of temper ever surfaced.

Gene Roddenberry, D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold made several talks, appeared at autograph sessions, etc. They strolled the hotel and con at all hours (no security guards whatever) and were quite accessible yet not pestered to death. Ruth Berman was Fan Guest of Honor, Jacqueline Lichtenberg was there, also Laura & Margaret Basta and Dave Lillard of STAR Central. Ruth, Jacqueline and the Bastaa appeared in a fandom panel with David Gerrold as moderator. It was a good idea that all cons might do well to copy. Each of them talked about different aspects of fandom and then answered questions.

D.C.'s s animation talk had some nuggets of info: Amanda, Sarek and Cyrano Jones will have their originator's voices (done for love, not $!) and all the original cast have signed for voices except Chekov - whose character has been cut for animation. His replacement will be an alien creature with extra arms and legs and a gaunt-bony face (named Arex). She had sketches of him, plus several alien creatures (one a tribble predator) and a sehlat to show. She brought color transparencies of all our heroes that had undergone some changes and improvements since those brought to Equicon. They've gotten much closer in resemblance to everyone except Scotty,in my opinion. Kirk still isn't exact and I don't think ever will be. Spock has fortunately lost his bilious green color. She even had a 3 minute film of the introduction. Everything is slightly changed but follows the same general pattern of the original. It's pretty good and most of us liked it. The Enterprise flybys a couple times were too fast and wobbly and D.C. said they realized this and are correcting it. No film was yet ready of characters or interiors. 16 episodes will be done and all scripts are either completed or contracted for.

GR said in one of his talks that Paramount contacted him last week and asked to discuss a live-actor theatrical movie. He has an appointment with them within the next three weeks.

The Costume Ball had about 50 entries: a couple pretty good salt creatures who tied for first and a fair Andorian (in track shoes) who came in second. Trivia contest was verbal. Margaret Basta won. Questions were unimaginative and made up on the spot from the CONCORDANCE; every other question being "Who wrote" a certain episode. Banquet was small - less than 150. All 3 celebrities gave brief but humorous and light talks, very enjoyable for a change from the same old repetitive news, Then Ruth Berman (main speaker) told about her earlier years with Lincoln Enterprises and fandom. Very pleasant evening.

Art show medium size and not many good works or bidding - most entries remained unsold or went for the minimum, with 2 exceptions: Maurice Dollans did 6 paintings which got spirited bidding and 3 sold for $125 each.

The film program was super - day and night running and several repeats of each. Had "Where No Man...", "Assignment: Earth", "Amok Time", "Genesis II, bloopers,and in sf: "Destination Moon","The Day the Earth Stood Still","Forbidden Planet" and '2001" plus others I've forgotten at the moment.

Huckster's Room was the major disappointment of the con. The huge room full of tables had only 5 dealers. There truly was virtually nothing to buy if you had ever been to a con before!

a page from a con report in Hailing Frequency #2 (July 1973) portrays David Gerrold, D.C. Fontana, Gene Roddenberry, and a fan (possibly Robert H. Gibbons)

Vul-Con I — four hectic days of panel discussions, sales tables, banquets, costume balls, art shows, conversations and films — all on STAR TREK! Under the competent command of James Mule' and his officers, the Con became known as the "friendly convention" according to Gene Roddenberry, creator of STAR TREK. Also attending the Con were Dorothy C. Fontana, script supervisor, and David Gerrold, author of the popular "Trouble With Tribbles" episode.

Over 1,200 loyal fans attended the Con in New Orleans to find out first hand about the fate of the series. From comments by the three main guests, it was learned that STAR TREK will be back on NBC in the Fall as an animated series. D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold have both written scripts for the series.

The main titles segment of the new series was shown and received a tremendous round of applause from the audience. The "cells' shown in the Art Show revealed an excellent quality of drawing for both the "actors" and the Enterprise. Some of the stories discussed for the new series include "More Troubles, More Tribbles", by David Gerrold about a new strain of Cyrano Jones' prolific pets — the non-reproductive tribble that just grows and grows and grows! ("Captain, the engine room is full of tribble.") D.C. Fontana takes the viewer to Vulcan back when Spock was 7. His pet Selat is shown as well as Vulcan cities and the planet's surface. The first of the 16 episodes purchased by NBC is "Beyond the Farthest Star" by Samuel Peeples, who wrote the original pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Here the Enterprise encounters a giant spaceship resembling a tentacled plant with each "pod" many times the size of the Enterprise.

Two new characters will be introduced — Arex, a 3-armed and 3-legged alien who is relief helmsman and a felanoid (cat creature) to relieve Lt. Uhura. Majel Barrett will portray the additional voice of the cat creature and Jimmy Doohan will portray the voice of Arex. Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, Jimmy Doohan and George Takei will all return as the voices of their characters in the original STAR TREK series. Cyrano Jones and Mudd will also be back with their original voices.

There is hope that Gene Roddenberry and Paramount can come to an agreement on a two hour STAR TREK movie, followed yearly by additional movies. This would be done the same way the "Planet of the Apes" series was done. Incidentally, David Gerrold wrote the book version of the new "Ape" movie and plays a small chimp in the film.

The Vul-Con fans agreed to write to Paramount asking that they consider the STAR TREK movie and to rebuild the STAR TREK sets for production of the film series and possibly a live-action TV series. Also the fans decided to petition NBC to expand the animated STAR TREK series to a full hour and to move the series from Saturday morning to a prime time evening spot anytime but Friday. Also the possibility was discussed of showing the animated STAR TREK series twice, once on Saturday morning for the young fans and again in some prime time evening spot for the adult fans.

Gene Roddenberry was recently honored by the Copernican Society in Washington, D.C. as the man who has done more to explain scientific theories to the layman than any other man. He has also been commissioned by the Smithsonian Institution to design an imagined "return" plaque to be the answer to the plaque sent out of the solar system on Pioneer 10. Incidentally, the 14-foot model of the Enterprise will be donated to the Smithsonian by Paramount to hang in the new Aviation and Space Building along with the Wright Brothers plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis" and the Apollo capsule. The Smithsonian is collecting STAR TREK memorabilia, including fanzines, for a display on the STAR TREK phenomenon.

One of the Vul-Con's highlights was the showing of STAR TREK episodes on the big movie screen. "Assignment Earth" was one the author saw early in the Con. One has never seen STAR TREK until he can view the show on a big screen from a new 16mm colorprint. The "blooper" reel was viewed a number of times at the Con and was hilarious! Such scenes as Spock with a Tootsie-Pop, a stagehand shoveling coal into the engines and doors closing on the various stars brought down the house each time the film was shown.

Other science fiction movies included "2001-A Space Odyssey", "Forbidden Planet", "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Things to Come". There were others running until 4 a.m. each morning!

The costume ball included a Tellerite, a Gorn, two Salt creatures from "Man Trap", three Spocks and other crew members, a Vampire woman, belly dancers, and other aliens from STAR TREK and other science fiction movies. Gene Roddenberry was one of the judges and posed for pictures with many of the contestants. Army Captain Pierre D. Kirk was there in Dress Blues. He and his task force "Enterprise" warded off a Vietcong ambush in Vietnam by stating over their radios.

We are the Starship Enterprise. Lock all phasers on this position and fire on my command!" The attack immediately broke off! Captain Kirk told Gene Roddenberry that he owed his life to STAR TREK.

The huckster's room was constant bedlam! David Gerrold's tribbles were there as well as S.T.A.R. (STAR TREK ASSOCIATION FOR REVIVAL) and STAR TREK WELCOMMITTEE. Comic books, film clips, STAR TREK photos, tee-shirts and other souvenirs were there for sale. STAR TREK FANS UNITED was represented by the author and many signed up wanting to join the organization.

Vul-Con I was quite an experience. Future Cons are to be held in Toronto, Canada later this year and in New York again next Spring. I would like to express my appreciation of James Mule' and his crew for the completion of a most difficult mission.

Margaret & Laura Basta and Dave Lillard of STAR were there, as well as Jacqui Lichtenberg, and Ruth Berman - fan guest of honor. As for guests: Gene Roddenberry, a thoroughly lovely man; David Gerrold, a man in his element; and D.C. Fontana, whom we all know. Majel Barrett Roddenberry, Gene told us was 6 weeks pregnant, but he had promised to show her the city when she could travel again.

Jim Mule, the poor soul in charge, was way out of his league, though he tried very hard. For a first con it wasn’t bad, but... He had practically no help that I could see from his staff, except his projectionist, Rick, and his artist-in-residence, Dany Frolich. The program booklet was very good. The photographs were exceptional and very abundant. There were scenes from everyone’s favorite episodes as well as candid shots.

Gene brought along the BLOOPER or GOODIE reel, which devastated us with laughter. There were other good films: Forbidden Planet, the prototype for ST and Kirk; Things to Come, a 1936 anti-war film; The Day the Earth Stood Still, sympathetic aliens who believed in peace and reason; and 2001, A Space Odyssey. As for ST episodes: Amok Time and a thoroughly butchered (bad projectionist) City On the Edge cf Forever were all that arrived. Film schedules were bad to non-existent.

There were several panels, a costume contest and a thoroughly dishonest trivia contest wherein Rick Norwood read the questions from the Concordance without even bothering to disguise the fact that he made up the questions as he went along. Margaret Basta won, and deserved to, but we were all very disgusted. The contestants had to pay 50 cents to compete. Really!

Things went from bad to worse. The ha-ha Huckster’s Room consisted of three very disconsolate tables - STAR and STW, Tribbles and David’s books, and T-shirts.

The Gene and Majel transportation fund was financed by a pirated set of scripts and the winning raffle ticket went to Jim Mule’s mother. How embarrassing! I won’t even talk about the art show, except the cells D.C .brought of the animated Enterprise. It looked perfect, and it was a rejected one.

The music for the animated, which looks very good according to the clip we saw, is altered. Gene says the network wanted $10,000 for the original. Some nerve!

I really liked Jim Mule, but he’ll have to get along without your intrepid recruiter for S-TC, Of the people there from Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, T’Boss informs me I did my job very well: We were 120 at last count.

Of the leaders of fandom present at the Con, special mention should be made of four. These individuals are responsible for a great part of STAR TREK fandom and the revival of national interest in the series.

Ruth Berman was the "special fan guest of honor" at Vul-Con. Ruth is editor of the popular T-NEGATIVE fan- zine and author of the "STAR TREK SONG BOOK". She started early working for Roddenberry's Star Trek Enterprises (now Lincoln Enterprises) as editor of "Inside Star Trek", probably the first official fanzine since it was the publication of STAR TREK INTERSTELLAR, the official STAR TREK fan club. Ruth presented special programs at the Con banquet made from film clips and cleverly written poems to parody "Menagerie" and "Journey to Babel". She is now crossing from a fan to a professional science fiction writer with stories in ANALOG and other respected publications.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg was also at Vul-Con. She is working on a book on fandom and many STAR TREK fans like to write for her questionnaires. These documents ask about how a fan became interested in STAR TREK, how much time he spends on his hobby, etc., and will be compiled into a paperback book similar to "World of STAR TREK" and "Trouble with Tribbles" by David Gerrold. Jackie is the editor of the Kraith series of STAR TREK stories and is another fan who is doing a tremendous amount of work.

The Basta sisters, Margaret and Laura represented S.T.A.R. (STAR TREK ASSOCIATION FOR REVIVAL) in Detroit, one of the largest STAR TREK organization s in the world. Publishing STAR- BORNE, they constantly keep up on the latest bit of news on STAR TREK gossip I facts about current work on reviving the series and also sell the AMT kits of the Enterprise, Klingon battle cruiser and Mr. Spock. The Basta sisters have written the BABEL series of fanzines. Special reviews of all scripts (as originally written, as approved and as filmed) give a new insight into the STAR TREK episodes. David Gerrold told an amusing story about D.C. Fontana going to the movies in California shortly before the Con. One of the ads running between features told about a Los Angeles newspaper being printed at night and how as the people slept, deep underground, the presses rolled so the paper would be out to the readers by morning. David turned to Dorothy and said, "The presses of S.T.A.R." The Basta sisters acknowledged that S.T.A.R. did have a tremendous mailing list all over the world now.

Helen Young represented a new and in Houston, Texas. WELCOMMITTEE publishes the "Directory of STAR TREK Organizations" giving the names and addresses for all know fanzines, STAR TREK fan clubs and STAR TREK merchandising dealers. The author gave the information about STAR TREK FANS UNITED to Helen personally at the Con, and this information will appear in the revised edition of the Directory. S. T.A .R. and WELCOMMITTEE officially merged shortly before Vul-Con and this merger should allow a concerted effort in bringing the maximum amount of information to the thousands of STAR TREK fans around the world.

Anecdote: Overheard at Vul-Con; David Gerrold talking to D.C. Fontana after seeing the 1,200 fans attending Vul-Con. David Gerrold told Dorothy that he was thinking of writing a script for a proposed new series about STAR TREK conventions and how the production staff of STAR TREK would plot to overthrow fandom. The title: Genocide II.

2: 1975

Vul-Con II was held in New Orleans on May 29 – June 1, 1975. There was an ad for it in A Piece of the Action #13.

One of the Guests of Honor was Arlene Martel.

A con report by J. Butler appears in Star Trek Today #6.

Bjo Trimble wrote: "Vul-Con II lost money due to lots of recession talk & several hurricane warnings that kept fans away (the weather was delightful, & so was New Orleans which is a weird & wonderful city!"

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  cover of Vul-Con 2, 1975, 6 7/8 x 8 3/8, 68 pages. Photos from past Star Trek conventions. Art by Dany Frolich and others (including a centerspread of Spock looking at a Vulcan centerfold). Transcript of Gene Roddenberry's talk at Baton Rouge March 25, 1975 (16 pages, including photos of Gene and Majel). Transcript of press interview with De Kelley and Leonard Nimoy at Tulane University on April 25, 1975 (13 pages, plus additional pages of photos).

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  flyer for the second one, 1975

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  some of the costumes at the con, one is of the con chair (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)

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  some of the costumes at the con (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)

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  some of the costumes at the con (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)

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  some of the costumes at the con, shows a mural by Kathy Betterton (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)

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  some of the costumes at the con, one shows two of Arlene Martel's children (photos were printed in the 1976 con program book)

Con Reports: 1975

Murphy's Laws states that "If anything can go wrong, it will." This seems to be the rule, rather than the exception for this con. Vul-Con I was my first Con, and did they have problems. I never thought there would be a Vul-Con II, but James Mule' doesn't learn. This year pre-registration was supposed to move fast and smoothly. This is where the first problem began. At 7:30 PM on May 29th, registration began. By 8 o'clock the line that had not pre-registered had already been processed while our line (mistakenly called "the express line") hadn't moved an inch. Needless to say, the people were getting restless. We were told that the computer had made a mistake and our packets were all out of order. Well, I thought this was unfair to put all the blame on the computer. I personally know that a computer is only as smart as the person who programs it. Thanks to the author's big mouth and aggressiveness, I was able to get my packet by 8:55. The films started at 9 PM and they started exactly on time (which was the only thing that did). I saw a lot of old films I liked and saw some that I had missed over the years. The best part of the films was being able to see Star Trek episodes that had not been cut to pieces for all those crazy commercials.

May 30th two panels had been scheduled by the committee. I missed the first as I was in the film room with my eyes glued to the screen, not realizing the time. The first panel discussion was to be about space. When the film I was watching was over I went to the panel. Somehow I managed to come in on Nichelle Nichols finishing her speech. The other panel members were Mr. & Mrs. Trimble, Arlene Martell (T'Pring), and Bill Theiss. All answered several questions from the audience. Later in the day there was an autograph session. After the panel ended, I went to our table in the Huckster Room. Helen Young was there with several other STW workers. It was a pleasure to meet new STW people. (Now I can associate the names with faces.) On May 31st two more panel discussions took place. I missed the first, but went to the second. On the panel were Helen Young, John and Bjo Trimble, David Gerrold, and James Mule, Captain of Vul-Con II. This was the worst panel I have ever attended. It soon became a discussion about running a convention. As to be expected, David Gerrold monopolized the whole conversation. At one point, he talked for thirty minutes. Our chairman, Helen Young, was never given a chance to speak until the very end, when she was told to wrap things up. The whole thing was unfair and quite boring.

There was also three other main events: a costume contest and ball, a banquet, and a breakfast. Although I didn't attend the meals, I heard from others that both were nice. The costume contest was like other contests, with several different categories. A local band, "Buzzy Beano and the Beanotes," played music from, fifties rock and roll to the rock of the seventies. The room in which the ball was held was decorated with Murals of Star Trek, One mural that was used for the background of the contest was from a scene in "Amok Time," The other murals were of Captain Kirk and one of Spock and Zarabeth; all very nice pieces of art.

All in all, I had a good time. The con was small, the films were enjoyable, and meeting the other STW people was fun. This Con can never be as good or as big as the ones in California or New York, but for those of us who have never been to either place, this Con is the next best thing.

After reading Katy Crumpton's con report on Vulcon II, I feel we need a second view...on.all con reports.

I met Katy briefly. She is nice, and impressed me as being quite efficient— however, my views on Vulcon II are quite different from hers.

She says James Mule doesn't learn. But he doesi He learned that people enjoy his kind of con. Vulcon I was relaxed and fun, not frantic. Vulcon II was relaxed and fun, not frantic. Between Janice and I, we have been to 12 cons, including some New York cons, and two Equicons. We much prefer the relaxed unhurried atmosphere of the Vulcons to the frantic pace and crush of the others. Several invited guests have expressed the opinion that Vulcon (I and II) was the most relaxed and enjoyable con for them. From my own experiences, the attendees at Jim's cons are considerate and courteous, whereas the attendees at the others... Things may be late or slow, but none-the-less enjoyable. After all-, as I tell my sons, Christmas always comes.

As to the fan panel in which Our Leader appeared - that's all Helen said she was going to do! Appear! And. she kept her word!! As to the contents of the panel, I found it interesting to know the problems behind running a con, and some of their solutions.

It seems to me that a large part of the success of many cons is due to the talents and concern of David Gerrold. Too many times he is sold short because he gets the unpleasant task of entertaining a restless audience, who don't seem to know that machines do break down, people are late, and the bread always falls buttered side down.

James Mule is also blamed when things go wrong. Yet, who is it who is always the calm quiet person who is busy setting things a-right? It's James Mule. Again from personal experience.

As for "This con can never be as good or as big as the California or New York ones."...Vulcon will never be as big as those, thank goodness for small favors, but I feel it is far superior to those same ones.

The murals in the costume ball room were by Cathy Betterton, who did the ones for Equicon 73. Guests included Nichelle Nichols, Arlene Martel, David Gerrold, Wm. Ware Theiss, George Pal, and fan guests of honor, John and Bjo Trimble.

In my opinion, Vulcon beats all other cons hands down. (Sorry, Bob, I couldn't make it to Benecia.)

Vul-Con II Was held in New Orleans in the early spring of 1975 (actual dates escape me). Being a native Louisianian of the northern La. region, I and a fellow ST and Sci-Fi fan both attended VC-II together. At the time we were both 15 YOA, and had grown up on Star Trek reruns after school. The Vul-Con was held at the New Orleans French Quarter Hilton hotel. The VC was put on by a local woman from N.O. and her boyfriend or husband, with the help of a few other local ST fans. There was a pre-convention attendance fee that was required and deposits had to be made to cover one's hotel room costs. (non-refundable both if you did not show for some reason as I recall). It was either 2-3 days long. I do recall the concention announcement noted that the legal drinking age (at that time in La.) was 18. Perhaps that was an additional draw for some.

There was a 'Trading Post" room where all manner of ST and other science fiction related books, magazines, comics, and various nick nacks could be purchased. There was a costume party night with judging, and ST-TOS episodes were screened one after another all day and late into the night. At one point, the ST Blooper Reel was shown to the great amusement of all. There were many shots of Kirk, Spock etc marching resolutely into doors that failed to open in the hairsplitting quickness that was so evident on the show. A home-made four foot mock-up of the Enterprise was also on display. Special guests at this convention, Nichelle Nichols, and Arlene Martel (T'Pring) were two of the actual ST-TOS actors that appeared that year. They were placed at a table and one could either purchase a pic to be made personally autographed, or if you took a Polaroid (as I did) they were still gracious enough to sign it. They also posed for pics with the occasional fan. (I want to say that perhaps George Takei was also there but I may have that confused with I or II, neither of which I attended)

Some of the guests were either asked to help out or pretty much pressed into service. My friend and I were asked to be security guards at one of the entrances to one of the rooms and then at an escalator. We were given the dreaded red-of-death shade security shirts to wear, complete with sleeve braid and Starfleet insignia on them. Of course they had to be returned once done. We 'stood guard' I think 6 hours one day in two or three different places and loved every minute of it.

For years after I kept and treasured my copy of the Vul-Con II announcement mailer, Polaroid pics I had taken there at the convention, of Nicholls & Martel (autographed) and the three different Starfleet chest patches I had purchased along with pics & other items. Sadly I lost them all in a storage fire in 1986.

Still, it was one of the few being held at the time around the nation. All part of an attempt to influence Paramount to resurrect the series or at least make a feature length motion picture. Happily that did come to pass in 1979. What's surprising about that to those of us at that time of VC II in spring of '75 though, was that while virtually every attendee wished wholeheartedly for just such a thing to happen, none of us ever held out much hope that it ever actually WOULD. In those days once a TV show went out of production it was DEAD. There were virtually no examples of such a re-union later movie. (Oh, well, The Muntsers did though it is all I can recall offhand. It was not completely impossible, just very RARE)

Thank the stars we were wrong.

3: 1976

front cover of the program book

back cover of the program book

Vul-Con III was held in New Orleans August 20-22, 1976 at the International American Hotel. It was billed this year as a "Science Fiction, Star Trek, and Fantasy Convention."

The concom: James Mulé, Jan Luke, Richard Majeste, Beverly Traub, Joseph Grillot.

The Guests of Honor were Frank Kelly Freas and Grace Lee Whitney.

The program book had 22 pages, five of which were photos from 1975's Costume Contest.

There is an ad in the program book for the New Orleans Science Fiction Association and a con they were hosting: No-Con. There was also an ad for the New Orleans chapter of Society for Creative Anachronism.

From the program book: "You may now order slides or photos of the famous Kathy Betterton Star Trek murals. VUL-CON is the ONLY official agent of Ms. Betterton, so if you buy from VUL-CON you will assure the artist of her commission. Come see the slides on display."

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  from the 1976 program book

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  from the 1976 program book

Con Reports: 1976

Vul-Con III was a fairly small convention (though it was never intended to be an extravaganza) drawing between 500 to 600 fans. The fans were very enthusiastic and many wore costumes during the entire con rather than just for the costume contest and ball. The con featured most of the unusual convention events; having something of interest to everyone and a buzz of continuous activities. The guests were Frank Kelly Freas (who held his audience spellbound with his slide show) and Grace Lee Whitney (whose enthusiasm, graciousness, and energy were boundless.) The costume contest ended in a tie for first place between the duo of Godzilla and Rodan and a trio consisting of two sinuous she-cat creatures and their sultry, whip-wielding mistress. There were 40 costumes entered In the contest.... ranging from Hortas, man-eating Tribble, Alphans, Various [ambassadress], to gallant knights and their ladies. And would you believe not even ONE Spock?!?! The ending of the costume contest was somewhat unusual in that one of the knights dashed on to the stage and boldly kidnapped Grace Lee Whitney, whisking her off the stage and down the aisle. All in all, it was a most enjoyable convention...well-planned and successful. Footnote by Helen Young: During the con, Grace Lee Whitney and her husband John Dale wore t-shirts with Yeoman Rand's photo on them...then after the Banquet (red beans and rice, a dish the local natives are fond of) the Dales offered the shirts at auction for the benefit of STW. Morrie Bennett served as the auctioneer and got the crowd going to fantastic heights of enthusiasm--the first shirt sold for $30. and the second for $17.!!! Ms. Whitney graciously posed for photos with the purchasers and autographed the shirts.

5: 1978

Vul-Con V was held August 11-13, 1978 at the Grand Hotel in New Orleans.

The concom: Jan Luke, Beverly Traub, Richard Majeste, Mike Swan, Gee Busar, Burt Carey, Joe Grillot, and Kay Johnson.

The Guests of Honor were Shawn Bishop (actor who portrayed the oldest child in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), Wayne McAllister (employee of Boeing Aircraft who worked on the space shuttle), Dr. Jack Stocker (chemistry professor and expert on the history of science fiction), George Alec Effinger ("went to the same high school as Andre Norton and Roger Zelazny, is a writer").

From the program book:

Welcome, folk, to ...hm..VUL-CON 5?? We made it that far??? Gee Whiz, Giz. I must really say that I am very proud and happy that we are around this year, for as of this year we become the OLDEST fan-run convention of our type (and I believe the OLDEST of any STAR TREK-SF conventions still running pro or am.) Some of the things going on this year will be a participation by you the member in the decisions for next year by the filling out and returning of a questionaire in your program book. (If you didn't find one go to the registration desk and ask for one.) Also this year we are repaying a bit of debt to a local leader, Mayor Moon Landrieu, by honoring him at an awards ceremony on Friday. Mr. Landrieu has been a great help in the past to our city, our con, and our future, through his unceasing crusade for the plight of our cities, the need for the continuence of the Space Program and the facilities at Michould, and by declaring a week in the city in '75 "Star Trek and Science Fiction Week" to help publicize the con and the worthiness of Star Trek and SF in general. As far as this year, we have tried many new things this year in the hopes of determining how we can inprove the convention and make it more enjoyable for you. Let us know how we have succeeded. FILL OUT THAT QUESTIONAIRE!!!

I must admit however, that not everything worked out this year. Due to the disasters which struck in such quick succession at the beginning of the year—we had a very late and slow start on getting things organized. Thus many ideas we tried either died before we could complete them or because we ran out of time or .... Finally, you may find some areas where things do not go as smoothly this year as before, all I ask is that you please bear with us, let us know where the glitches are and give us a chance to correct them before you hit the rafters. We always have,and intend now, to do our best.

Well, that's it for now. We all hope you will enjoy the con,
 and until next year

EXCELSIOR!!!!!!

1978 Program Book

front cover of Vul-Con V (1978) program book

back cover of the 1978 program book

The disclaimer on the program book: "© 1978 by VULCON. All rights reserved, all over the place; this means you, do not pass go, do not collected $200. And remember, when the foo-bird sh-ts, wear it."

The program book is 46 pages. The art is by Jan Luke, Richard Majeste, Mike Swan, Dany Frolich, Beverly Traub, and Ken Hafer. There is also much art by Gerry Downes; it is unknown if it was printed with permission.

• Welcome (3)
• Guest of Honor: Shawn Bishop (13 year old actor who portrayed the oldest child in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind) bio and full-page photo (6)
• Hotel Map (8)
• Nasa Exhibit ("Through the conscientious efforts of Mrs. Lorraine Marthet, the Michoud Test Facility has once again loaned us a NASA model exhibit. Do you remember the thrill and awe you experienced as you gazed up at our moon and realized there were two men walking around up there? Well, we've got a model of the beast that got them there and back again — none other than Michoud's baby, the Saturn V. Besides other models, we've also gotten the shuttlecraft. 'Enterprise' (catchy name!?) Come take a look at our space exploration heritage and future, because some of you may one day be shuttlecraft pilots! (NASA is hiring, you know!) The NASA exhibit is open to the public.") (10)
• Guest of Honor: Wayne McAllister (employee of Boeing Aircraft who worked on the space shuttle) (11)
• Huckster Room (12)
• Guest of Honor: Dr. Jack Stocker (chemistry professor and expert on the history of science fiction) (13)
• Guest of Honor: George Alec Effinger (went to the same high school as Andre Norton and Roger Zelazny, is a writer) (14)
• Art Show (15)
• Banquet, Volunteers (16)
• Laser Gun Raffle (17)
• Star Wars: Book Vs. Movie, article by Bev Traub (18)
• General and Movie Schedule (22)
• ad for The Fourth World Fantasy Convention (24)
• Costume Ball (25)
• And Now For... (25)
• Their Force Is With Us, article by , article by Jan and Greg Luke (26)
• A Brief, Non-Techical Description of Special Effects in the Cinema, article by Joseph G. Grillot, Jr. (28)
• Yes... There is Going to Be a Movie, about the Star Trek movie, article by Kay Johnson (36)
• ad for New Orleans Science Fiction Association (42)
• Film Reviews (43)
• The Search, fanwork by R. Strother (44)

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  from the 1978 program book

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