Stellar Voyage

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	Stellar Voyage
Dates:	1982, 1984
Frequency:
Location:
Type:
Focus:	fan-run, not-for-profit
Organization:
Founder:	Mary Ellen Matyi, Michelle Ward
Founding Date:
URL:
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Stellar Voyage was a Star Trek and science fiction convention.

1982

It was held at the Cleveland Sheraton Hopkins Airport Hotel on June 11-13, 1982.

Scheduled guests were Walter Koenig, Bruce Hyde, Bill Hickey, Howard Weinstein (author of the pro novel, The Covenant of the Crown), stuntman Tom Morga, a NASA representative, and Tom Batuik (creator of Funky Winkerbean and co-creator of John Darling). Allan Asherman was the emcee. . George Takei arrived just as the con was ending as he was in town for a transit seminar.

cover of the 1982 program book

The con committee was Mary Ellen Matyi (Operations Co-ordinator), Michelle ward (Programming, Guests, Publicity), Jim Bandsuh (Publicity, Graphics).

Other staff: Jim Green (Security, Gofers), Scott DeBoard (Security Assistant), Tarsie Dehne (Gofers Assistant), Lisa Sharf (Programming), Jeff Sabo and Marilyn Rowe (Films), Lyle Deavers and Tracy Douglas (Video), Hazel and Rebecca Williams (Art Show), George Oliver and Jim Wampler (Dealers Room), Christine Bunt (Costume Contest/Operations Assistant), Carolyn Atkinson and Cheryl Gloger (Trivia Contest), Jennifer Goodwin and Jacqui Green (General Assistants), Judy Schmitt and Diane Montoro (Registration), Fritz Kurz and Stephanie Dorcy (General Security).

Con Reports: 1984

After the con had officially ended, the girls secretly learned that George Takei was going to be kidnapped at the airport and brought to the hotel. The bare chested Trekker in the green cape was probably George's deciding factor in agreeing to visit their hotel. As he entered the lobby, about thirty Trekkers yelled, "Hi, George!"in unison. He was overwhelmed. His famous hearty laugh warmed all hearts. He firmly believes that Sulu should be the new Captain of the Enterprise now that Spock is dead. Who can deny George? Next movie title: Star Trek III: The Wrath of Sulu.

StellarVoyage'82 was held in the Cleveland Sheraton Hopkins Airport Hotel on June 11-13, 1982. Scheduled guests were Walter Koenig, Bruce Hyde, Bill Hickey, Howard Weinstein (The Covenant of the Crown) and Tom Batuik (creator of Funky Winkerbean and co-creator of John Darling). Allen Asherman [sic] performed the role of emcee. Other speakers included stuntman Tom Morga and a NASA representative. A special surprise for the diehards who stayed past the official closing time on Sunday was an appearance by George Takei, on his way to a transit seminar in Cleveland.

The general atmosphere of this con was one of geniality. The organizers of this con did a good job in keeping the talks and other major events fairly on schedule. The video and film events, however, were run extremely poorly. There was no set schedule for most of the showings. Star Wreck was the only one listed in the program, besides the usual vintage SF movies. Episodes, both video and film, seemed to be shown only once, at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, and with no advance fanfare. The only way to find out what was being shown in the film department was to spend the entire con in the film rooms, a concession, I, for one, was unwilling to make. If this committee does decide to put on future cons, this is an area where distinct improvements could be made.

The dealers room was fairly good, and generally well- run, although there was a small snafu at one point concerning early opening of the room Saturday for dealers to set up. This was quickly taken care of, however, and did not occur again to my knowledge.

The speakers were all interesting. Bruce spent one of his talks on the subject of the Hunger Project, and the other singing for us (he did not do Kathleen this time, possibly because no one asked him to). Bill once again gave us his version of his role in STTMP and seems to be pretty sure that some kind of role will turn up for him in ST III. Walter spent most of both of his talks in discussion of the new movie. For the nit-pickers who pointed out that the episode the movie sequels. Space Seed, was first season, and, therefore, Chekov couldn't have known Khan, he had a reply. You see, Chekov was aboard the Enterprise at that point. The reason we do not see him in the episode is because he was on Deck 3, in the bathroom with...uh...a problem. Khan's encounter with him took place near this particular locale, outside of which Khan had been waiting, somewhat impatiently. When Chekov finally emerged, Khan confronted him. "You—you I will remember." Is it any wonder Khan suffered a little wrath? Walter also described the filming of the incredibly, wonderfully disgusting ear sequences and answered other questions on the filming itself. And perhaps the most important question — will there be a ST III. At this moment, it seems almost certain.

Other events, official and unofficial, included: the ever-present costume contest, art auction and trivia contest (the latter developed by yours truly, who won't presume to review it); the first annual Pavel Chekov scream-off; the WKFS club party, which was a bash (if I say so myself); and assorted filksings. It was a chance for friends to meet for the first time, to renew old acquaintances and to generally have a fun time — which,in the end, is what happened. It'd sure be nice to have another one next year.

Stellar Voyage '82 was an enjoyable convention, with one exception. Since I don't want to give you the wrong idea about SV '82, I'll start out with the good stuff and get to the problem later.

Although many people had not yet arrived, the con officially started at 5:00 p.m. Friday evening with both the dealers room and registration opening. The first talk, by Howie Weinstein, was at 6:00 p.m. Howie was followed at 7:00 p.m. by Frank K. Zubricky, a spokesman from NASA's Cleveland office. Mr. Zubricky answered questions and screened a film of a humorous, enjoyable press conference that took place after the first flight of the Columbia, STS-1. The press conference answered important questions and also revealed both astronauts' sense of humor. Mr. Zubricky was followed by Allan Asherman and a session of Filk Singing.

Saturday and Sunday were both filled with enjoyable talks, two each for Walter and Bruce Hyde, one each day, and, unfortunately, only one appearance each for Bill Hickey and stuntman Tom Morga.

Walter's talks, both question and answer sessions, were, as always, interesting and enjoyable. One of the sessions did heat up a bit when Walter angrily insisted that all of the rumors about De Kelley be stopped. He said that De is now and has been healthy and the rumors were both improper and incorrect.

Bruce's Saturday talk was very inspiring. It was focused mainly on his interest in The Hunger Project. On Sunday, Bruce spent most of his hour playing the piano and singing.

On Saturday night, Carolyn Atkinson and her mother, Mimi, hosted a WKFS party. We all had a great time, with hotel security coming but once to complain about the noise, and made quite a dent in the case of champagne brought along by the Atkinsons (not to mention the ceilings and walls)!

Sunday evening, after the end of the con, those who were still hanging around got a pleasant surprise. George Takei, arriving in Cleveland for several days of meetings, was hijacked and brought to the hotel for a semi-unannounced visit. He willingly hopped up on stage and answered questions and talked about The Wrath of Khan. George suggested a TV series spinoff of Star Trek that he said should be called Captain Sulu. How about calling it Captain Sulu and First Officer Chekov?

If you're still wondering about the one exception to our enjoyment of SV '82, it was the so-called "Sunday Brunch with Guests." In the April 21 con info flyer, we were told, "The Sheraton Hopkins is well-known in Cleveland for its cuisine so it promises to be a great breakfast/lunch." Well, no one told the cooking staff about this. The food was pretty bad and the guests didn't even show up until almost everyone else was gone.

For the rest of the weekend the hotel staff was friendly and tolerant and they made our stay in Cleveland an enjoyable one—the Sheraton Hopkins is a beautiful little hotel.

Mary Ellen Matyi, Michelle Ward, Jim Bandush, and the entire SV '82 staff did an excellent job. Although Cleveland is not quite an abandoned area, I suspect that, had the con been held in the NYC area, they would have had to close registration because the con would have exceeded its maximum.

1984

"Wrath Side Story, a Musical" was a con skit written and performed at this con. The script was by Julia Ecklar.