hore Leave has a rich and extensive history with over 25-years of experience in the convention industry. These 25 years have not tainted the organizers but rather made them savvy to the needs of both VIP guests and fans alike. It is indeed one of, if not the best run and organized conventions, headed by Kett Kettering and Marilyn Mann, a convention by fans for fans which is obvious in their diligence and attention to detail. The guests they invite are more often chosen for their fan interaction and enthusiasm rather than their dollar-draw as Shore Leave is certainly a convention that caters to the fans in the Sci-fi and Cult genres. You can always be assured that a varied and exciting guest list awaits to please any fan in attendance and Shore Leave-26 was no exception! For the weekend of July 9-11th, 2004, in Hunt Valley, Maryland, the SL-26's convention committee of over 29 staff members and an additional 25 assistants put together a weekend of events which included an Art Show and Auction, Blood Drive, and extensive Dealer's Floor, Gaming, Masquerade and Video presentations, Panels with Pros in the Industry (such as Authors Ann Crispin & Kevin Summers) and more; in addition, Autograph sessions and Q&A Panels with featured Guests: Nicole deBoer and Cirroc Lofton (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Teryl Rothery and Michael Welch (Stargate SG-1), Mercedes McNab and Brian Thompson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel), Greg Evigan, Thom Christopher, Manu Intiraymi (Icheb of Star Trek: Voyager), and Clint Howard who have all done Sc-fi stints. But VIP Guests are not the only draw, fan organizations and charity events are high on the list of attendees and one can spend just as much time exploring these venues as in the talk sessions! There was more then enough to fill an entire weekend but here are a few of the highlights.

STAR TREK, STARGATE & THE COLLECTIVE

"Admiral on the bridge!" of the USS Sovereign

As you walk down the main corridor leading to the convention Halls you are overwhelmed by the fact that you are also walking into the bridge of a Star Fleet Patrol Cruiser; the U.S.S. Sovereign NCC-7500 in fact and are pleasantly greeted by the officer of the day, Jay from Philadelphia. He explained that the Sovereign is a fan club out of Philadelphia, PA, who brings this complete entire bridge set down to the Con along with the Captain's ready room and a Borg alcove. All this effort is put in for a Charity back in Philadelphia: The Children's Chapter of Saint Christopher's. "People can come up and have their pictures taken either with their own camera," Jay offers, "or we'll do them professionally here and have them printed out for them to take home. All monies go to our charity, we raffle off a chocolate basket, we have a DVD player, DVDs to go along with that." He explains their involvement with the Con and their organization, "We come down here to have fun with a 17-foot U-Haul truck every year. This entire set went through a world wind tour from Norfolk Virginia, Philadelphia, Buffalo, New York via Regal Cinemas and Paramount on the "Nemesis" tour when Star Trek: Nemesis came out back in 2000." Jay went on to talk about the extent of the Star Trek fandom, "We have 25-members in our group in Philadelphia, overall in Starfleet is close to 4,500. We're one of the largest clubs in the world; Starfleet is literally documented in the Guinness Book of Work Records as the largest Sci-fi fan club." And Jay proves that the dedication involved goes fan deep for each and everyone of them, "This is the only convention I get to go to now, I used to go to all of them when they were back up in Philadelphia, I've been doing this since 1991, so this is almost 15-years."

Jay offered up credit for the complex set to another member of the club, "The gentleman who constructed this set is Solomon Wright, it came out by pieces, very small; we started with the Borg Alcove and then we came up with the ready room and slowly the Bridge took shape (Photo: Ben Reid from Morristown sits at his command station), the doors were the last two pieces we put on. No plans, he did this all out of his head. This took several years to do obviously, piece by piece, but we come down here and raise money for the charities." Beryl Washington is the Rear Admiral of the USS Sovereign's Philly Chapter, (Photo: seated here with Jay on the Bridge) and she told us their Star Trek & Sci-fi club has served the Philadelphia area since 1990, with members who are not just your ordinary sci-fi fans but professionals from all walks of life including Doctors and Lawyers to a Physicist. They gather monthly for various activities such as the Renaissance Fair, visiting Museums, putting together Bar-B-Qs as well as attending conventions. It has turned into a huge family extending their love for Star Trek to various fund-raising organizations as well including the Youth Emergency Services (Y.E.S.) and the Philadelphia Children's Alliance. You can find out more about them and join their club via their website at: www.ussSovereign.com

The Nox, SGC and Tok'ra unite on earthly shores

Got Gate? Well, hold on to your Chapa'ai Gate fans because it's a hell of a ride! And we're not talking Goa'uld, wait, yes we are. For fans of Stargate SG-1 these terms are not lost on you but for everyone else, Tanya from New York gives us the lowdown on their Stargate Command website who was also a big presence at SL-26. "Stargate Command is a nationwide organization to promote Stargate fandom all over the country," she explains, "the group itself is divided into several teams; each region of the country gets assigned a team, the northeast is SG-2, out in Florida is SG-9 and California is SG-10. Each team gets assigned a Team Leader and an Assistant Team Leader and they run their own group, the group has the liberty to do what they want, if there's a Con in the area, they can have a fan table, they can have a costuming group if they want and do costuming days, go out and have fun promoting Stargate Fandom." Although this group is fairly recent in the world of Sci-fi, Stargate SG-1 the series itself is currently in its eighth season, the SG-Command is very involved and growing across the country every day. "We're approximately only a year young," Tanya admits, "we're going on our second year." And have rumors that this may be the finale season for SG-1 hindered their interest? "Not at all, in fact from our standpoint this isn't the last year. We've heard some various rumors about this being the end and this also being the beginning of seasons 9 and 10. We've heard lots of different stuff, but with Atlantis [the first SG-1 spin-off series] coming on there are people who are iffy about it but then there are those of us who are very excited; we're going to go on no matter what," she laughs. But it's that determination and devotion to Sci-fi shows from their fans that keep them on the air. "It's going to be great."

Tanya explains the SG-Command involvement at the Cons they attend, "We have fliers and the right promotional paraphernalia, we sell the patches for the various teams, we make sure we have our banner and items to promote the group and the TV show to get more members. At this particular Con there are two Stargate actors, Michael Walsh and Teryl Rothery who are Guest actors here and since this Con is in my team's territory we're presenting them with plaques that we designed, making them honorary members of the club. They will be the first ever inducted into the Stargate-Command, so when something like that happens we'll go that extra step just to make the club bigger and better." With the success of the recent premieres of both Stargate SG-1 (Season 8) and Stargate: Atlantis on the Sci-fi Channel, fans who want to be a part of the SGC can find no better place to share their love for the series'. Although deemed a 'costuming & prop building' organization, the SG-Command is much more than that, and just being a devoted fan of the series can get you through the gate! The upcoming San Diego Comic Con (July 22-25th) is hosting a huge panel of SG-1 and Atlantis stars and members of the Commands' SG-10 will be on hand as escorts. You can also find them in the Dealer's Room at Table: A-7 during the weekend. But if you want to enter the gate now, check out Stargate Command via their website at: www.SG-Command.net

The Collective model-makers of Star Trek

The Collective, by definition belong to the Borg, who only seek to "improve the quality of life in the universe" and add to their own perfection. To this end, they travel the galaxies, improving their numbers and advancing by assimilating other species and technologies. But The Collective we found aren't as mass-destructive but do excel in perfection. They specialize in building and customizing Sci-fi models and Omar Caal from Havertown, PA was happy to give us the Collective tour. "I'm one of the newest members of the Collective," he began, "and we're all model makers. We all started as Star Trek fans coming to conventions, as we got to know each other better we learned that we had a passion for building model kits and so we decided to start this and it just grew from there. Right now there are 5 members: Jim and Mary Ann Pugliese, Evon and Phil Giunta and Chris Winner." They've been doing this for about 5-6 years now he stated, "We basically started with one table and we've grown since then. In total here, including the miniatures that we've made we have at least a good 20-ships here. We make small ships, regular sized ships, resin ships, kit bashing (a combination of different model ships) which you come up with your own unique designs and so forth. We just have fun with it, and we've gotten a very good response with it as well which is part of the reason why we keep growing and doing more of this." Their customizing and detailing stand out and are an immediate draw of any fan to their table. "Well, what we also try to do is," Omar explains, "say some people if you go to a shows they just build a model and that's it, we try to get more detail involved, for instance this has customized decals with the name, the lifeboats, this base for this Klingon ship is from someone who specializes in building bases instead of using a generic base, coming up with different color schemes. The Polar Lights Enterprise A and the Klingon ship it can be a couple hours because it's snap-together and it's pretty easy, to something like this, (Photo: Omar holding his prize ship) which took a little over 3-months depending on the detail. It's challenging," he admits, "it can be tedious painting all the nitty-gritty details but the end result is always worth it and then people coming over and just saying, Wow, and buying them is a real god compliment for all of us." If you're a model-maker and want to share your talents, you may want to join The Collective, visit their website at: www.CollectiveModels.com

HEROES AND VILLAINS

Teryl Rothery (Dr. Fraiser) of "Stargate SG-1"

Brian Thompson (Luke & The Judge) of "Buffy"

Nicole deBoer (Sarah) of "The Dead Zone"

A highlight of every convention is the featured Q&A panels with the VIP Guests, and although Shore Leave is definitely geared towards the Sci-fi, two ladies who filled the halls to capacity were Teryl Rothery of Stargate SG-1, whose character was killed off last season to the great disappointment of many Gate fans, and Nicole deBoer who is currently on The Dead Zone, but is more familiar to Trekkies as Ezri Dax from Deep Space Nine. But Angel fans got the chance to experience a delightful 2-day panel with Harmony herself, Mercedes McNab, and humorous and insightful panels with Buffy cohort, Brian Thompson. A favorite at any convention, Brian can typically be found in the autograph area singing for the fans but this weekend, everyone got a chance to talk to this very sensitive and family-oriented man who has played almost every character on the face of the planet and beyond from series as the X-Files, Star Treks' Deep Space Nine, Alien Nation, to NYPD Blue, including James Cameron's The Terminator and he has a great story to go along with them all. As you'll read later, Brian had a little bit of fun at Mercedes expense but in his panel following hers, Brian explained how he landed his second role on Buffy.

"I did that to Joss Whedon," he admitted, "We were doing a Mortal Combat publicity stint at the Shrine Auditorium where they used to hold the Oscars, we were on the stage first and then they had us on the side of the room, signing autographs while the Buffy panel was on so that the people in long lines, there were hundreds of people, could be entertained while they were standing in line. It was pretty smart of them actually and it wasn't very disruptive and we kept our voices down sometimes," he joked, "and the panel all had microphones. While I was signing autographs there was a microphone in the middle of the audience where you could get in line if you had a question you wanted to ask the panel, so I left my autograph table and I got in line. The audience started to giggle when they saw it was me so I got up there and I said, 'Hi Joss, my name's Brian Thompson, I played the part of Luke in your television show Buffy, and I'm just wondering if I could be on your show again?'" Brian laughed as he continued, "and he said, 'I'm going to have you back as a 16-year old school girl wearing a skirt.' And I said, 'Okay, but I'm not going to audition in your trailer.' (laugh) Then I went back and signed autographs at my table and the next day I got a call from my agent and he said, 'Brian, how would you like to play the part of the Judge on Buffy?' So, talk about timing, to get to play a second part you'd obviously need to be pretty incognito and that's about as incognito as you can get, with about 10-pounds of rubber on your face."

Clint Howard and Mercedes

signing autographs for the fans

When fans were not attending the talk sessions they could easily wonder the floor and find their favorite guests signing autographs. The great thing about smaller conversions, though this was by no means small, is the quality time you can spend with the guests; being able to chat with them for a few minutes while they sign a photo or your piece of memorabilia. A few of the actors present brought back some great memories of classic television shows or just reminded you of how much work they have done over the course of their careers, while others just starting out in the business showed their professionalism and sincere appreciation for the attention given them by the Con-goers. Actors Greg Evigan of B.J. and the Bear and My Two Days treated fans to a surprise impromptu performance of his musical talents with an vocal selection as well as hitting the ivories (if you were lucky enough to be in the lounge) late Friday night. Recently, Greg is most proud of his originally composed scores recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the famous Beatles' Abbey Road Studios in London. Clint Howard, younger brother to Ron, has been in television or film since the age of two and fits in perfectly at SL-26 having appeared in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Grandy and as the Ferengi, Muk on Enterprise. Along with his Sci-fi work, Clint stared in some of the biggest films of the last two decades including, The Missing, the Austin Powers films, and My Dog Skip. On the other end of the spectrum, young Michael Welch, better know to non-Sci-fiers from Joan of Arcadia was a surprise hit as fans flocked to his table, but this young man's resume packs quite an impressive punch. Michael's appeared on Judging Amy, CSI, The X-Files, Chicago Hope, 7th Heaven and Stargate SG-1 where he played the regressed Col. O'Neill to amazing perfection! Michael was very gracious and happy to pose for photos with all the fans proving size doesn't matter!

Besides all the VIP action, there were interests outside the celebrity circles for every age group as well. A Gaming section was available for every enthusiast from Dungeons & Dragons to an impressive demonstration of War Hammer 40,000 (that's 40,000 years into the future) where Imperial good guys vs. Alien bad guys for control of the future of the world. Here teams battle each other in an ongoing game that took up a 10-foot table and then some, complete with buildings and multiply forces of good and evil. An Art room was made available for those inspired to bring they favorite characters to life via the pencil and pen, and there were quite a few talented fans doing their actor counterparts justice. The Dealer's Floor was very impressive and provided fans with more than just the usual posters, t-shirts, photos and trading cards, although they were in great abundance as well. Other vendors were on hand to show their wares such as Dream Works Custom Leather providing all your Renaissance needs as well as Star Trek and fantasy costuming plus Civil War period pieces. Lightspeed Fine Arts, Inc. has an array of lithographs and original production pieces of beautiful Star Trek and Stargate renditions as well as portraits of many of the series leading actors. Plus a variety of spacescapes to make any alien miss his home world. GreatWizards.com provided a table of original fantasy artwork while J&J Enterprises of Baltimore, who attends SL-26 every year, offered jewelry and weaponry of world class caliber custom work.

The most impressive event of Shore Leave had to be their Masquerade with an exceptional pool of talent to make any Hollywood costume designer. Not only are the costumes themselves impression, and of film quality, but the people behind them are just as remarkable! Besides their obvious devotion to the theme or character involved, most if not all of the fans share their talent for local and nationwide Charity organizations such as a rather infamous group of Klingons who have been invited on the original Enterprise navel ship (not set). (Photo: Jeff Kesler and Mike Broome from Maryland, Lisa Jackson from North Carolina and Sally Arkulari from Pennsylvania travel along the east coast to attend conventions, but in their home states will get together for various fundraises and hospital visits. In the case of the characters from Star Wars, not to be left out of this convention as there were several Storm Troopers about, Bryan and Samantha White from Baltimore spend their time attending Cons in Philadelphia and Virginia. Bryan told us this Vadar costume can cost up to $1,000-1,500 to make from a kit costume, but the hours that go into these original outfits prove that the Force extends far beyond the professional wardrobe department at Paramount.

The Masquerade's best of Star Wars

& Klingons of the Star Trek Galaxy

Hall & Nance of the USS Chesapeake

Finally, if you're looking for a good discussion you'll find just about everything on any topic imaginable. "CSI: The Morgue, the Merrier", "Andromeda: Who Let the Magog Out?", "Stargate SG-1 Goes for the Goa'uld", or how about "Smallville: Lex in the City." One such panel was relative to Angel fans and was titled: "Fallen Angel" hosted by the U.S.S. Chesapeake Star Trek and Sci-Fi Club of Maryland. The panel was fronted by Ann White and Scott Nance (who writes a column for www.mediasharx.com) who graciously invited CoA's Senior Writer Kristy Bratton to sit in on the discussion of the fall of Angel. Fans in attendance talked about where the characters would go from here, if the possibility of upcoming films continuing their tale was a possibility and if the finale ender was really the end. Certainly for some characters but fans hold true to the concept that this is a Joss world and anything can and usually does happen. Most fans were shocked that Wesley [Alexis Denisof] was killed off in the closing moments, more so then the demise of Lindsey [Christian Kane], but all agreed on the exceptional performance of Amy Acker and her transition from shy, brain-girl Fred to the fallen ruler Illyria. The Chesapeake Club attends many of the local area conventions and supports their fandom living in the Washington D.C. area. Randy Hall, organizer of the club explains they cover a wide range of topics from the latest conventions to book reviews as well as the current events in the space program which is covered in their monthly Newsletter, plus interesting editorials. Find out more about The Chesapeake Club at: www.usschesapeake.org