The 15th episode of a little science-fiction show called “Star Trek” aired right at the end of 1966, midway through the first season. In that episode, the crew attempts — though they encounter challenges — to take some rest and relaxation on an uninhabited world as a short break from a strenuous five-year mission in interstellar space.
Nearly 60 years later, the term “Shore Leave,” the name of that episode, lives on throughout “Star Trek” fandom, perhaps no more than at Shore Leave, a fan-run convention that up until this year took place in Hunt Valley, Maryland. For its 44th year, Shore Leave has descended on the Wyndham Lancaster Resort and Convention Center.
Over the years, the convention has grown from specifically “Star Trek”-centered to welcome all corners of pop culture nerd-dom — yes, even “Star Wars.” But make no mistake: “Trek” is still king at Shore Leave.
I was excited to check out the first day of the convention for several reasons, most important of which is that I am a big fan of “Star Trek” and had never experienced a convention in its honor. There are different levels of fans, and as someone who has seen every movie and every episode of each series outside of the recent “Star Trek: Discovery,” I would probably be considered somewhere between a “big fan” and “massive nerd” from an outside perspective.
At Shore Leave, this at first felt a bit like the bare minimum for entry. At a convention like this, you are just as likely to hear Klingon being spoken casually as you are to hear directions to various panel rooms. To celebrate “Star Trek” is to celebrate all of “Star Trek,” not just a certain era or even medium via which the stories are told.
Scenes from Shore Leave at the Lancaster Wyndham Resort & Convention Center.
Upon arriving Friday afternoon, I immediately jumped to one of the first panels, “Finding Our Monsters or Making Them?” featuring authors TJ Perkins, Hildy Silverman, J.K. Woodward, Danielle Ackley-McPhail and Lancaster native Greg Cox.
Cox isn’t sure how long he’s been coming to Shore Leave, but he guesses in decades, not years, first as a fan and then author of numerous books set in different eras of the “Star Trek” universe. Along with now being in his neck of the woods, this year’s Shore Leave is happening, fortuitously, the same week as the release of his new book, “Lost to Eternity,” a thriller set in the era of the movies that followed the original series. Cox said he had just been at Lancaster city’s The Comic Store signing all the new copies of the book
“I was so pleased when I found out that this was going to be in my backyard, basically,” Cox said. “It’s sort of a whole new world for all of us here.”
Cox described Shore Leave as a “high school reunion” of friends, colleagues and fans, all in one space. He said he’s excited to possibly meet a new friend in Trekdom during the weekend — Robin Curtis, who played Lt. Saavik in “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.” Curtis’ character from four decades ago appears in Cox’ new book, showcasing just how elastic and vast the show’s universe has become in the last several decades.
After 43 years in Maryland, the next generation of the Shore Leave science-fiction conventio…
“Star Trek” legacy
The Wyndham property is much larger than it looks from Lincoln Highway East in East Lampeter Township, and still Shore Leave has managed to fill most nooks and crannies with things to see, do and potentially gawk at. Between 3 and 9 p.m., for example, there were at least three or four panels happening at any time, a packed vendor space, a game room with hundreds of board games, an art show and auction, an arts-and-crafts demonstration and celebrity guests signing autographs.
This is not even to speak of late-night options such as the “Filk concert,” a showcase of the niche folk subgenre dedicated to songs about science fiction or the karaoke session at “Vic’s Place,”a re-creation of the hologram night club featured throughout television’s “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
In the vendor room, filled with just about every artisanal good that could possibly fit the likeness of William Shatner and other Trek luminaries, Michael Gates was at a large table filled with binders of autographs.
Gates traveled from Marcellus, New York, with dozens of binders of “Star Trek” and other pop culture actors’ autographs, conveniently including some as-yet uninked photos of Shore Leave guests for people to buy and get signed.
“In Syracuse, there’s a lot of local conventions, and I’m usually drawn in by the actors that make appearances,” said Gates, who is vending his second Shore Leave. “But the more I go and the more I recognize other vendors, I keep coming back for them, too. It’s a good way to make friends.”
Much like Trek itself, there is a lot to encounter and decipher, but certainly there’s something for every flavor of fan.
Matt Golden, of Harrisburg, ventured southeast for his first Shore Leave on Friday, the only day of the weekend that he can make it. Initially a fan of ’80s and ’90s television classics “Star Trek” Next Generation” and “Star Trek: Voyager,” Golden committed to experiencing the entire franchise during the COVID-19 pandemic and just finished the most recent series, "Star Trek: Discovery," a week prior to the convention.
“I saw that it was only an hour away and thought, ‘Let’s give it a go,” Golden said. “I’m having a great time. I’m really looking forward to the cast dinner with Robin (Curtis) later.”
Living long, prospering, etc.
During the day, Curtis and fellow actor BarBara Luna appeared on the convention center’s main stage for an hour-long Q&A. I have experienced fan Q&As of many stripes and usually walk into the room cringing, imagining the worst questions that could be asked. This one started the same way for me. Luckily, though, it quickly became a rollicking delight.
While both actors have had memorable parts in Trek lore — Curtis as the aforementioned Saavik and Luna as Marlena Moreau in the iconic Original Series episode “Mirror, Mirror” — the most fascinating aspects of the talk were the non-Trek stories. Both are return Shore Leave guests, which put them at ease onstage and taking questions. At 87 years old, Luna is a pip and legend of guest roles in hits of the ’50s through the '80s including “Hawaii 5-0,” “Fantasy Island” and “Gunsmoke.”
She was all too happy to recount run-ins with Hollywood royalty, including a funny tale that involved watching Katharine Hepburn mess with her then romantic partner Spencer Tracy from behind the camera while filming the 1961 adventure film “The Devil at 4 O'Clock.”
At one point, Luna, who formally retired from acting in the late ’90s, got serious and addressed the crowd.
“We have to thank you all for your loyalty to ‘Star Trek,’ to all the ‘Star Treks’— you’ve given us another dimension in life.”
Curtis then jumped in.
“I want to point out that Shore Leave was one of the first conventions I ever attended. You guys anointed me almost 40 years ago,” Curtis said, beaming. “I felt that sense of family and that sense of mutual appreciation and connection, and it’s why I come back.”
It was a touching moment and speaks to the ecosystem that a show like “Star Trek” can keep alive for all these years — even if you played a character only once or twice many years ago, there is a place you can go where people of all ages will be excited to see you and interact with you. And for the fan, an actor appearance at a convention like Shore Leave is a chance to tell them, personally, what it meant to you. It’s hard to be cynical of an enterprise like that—if you’ll pardon the pun.
Shore Leave 44 continues into Saturday and Sunday, and Shore Leave 45 has already been slated to return to the Wyndham July 11 through 13, 2025. I hope to return next year, and who knows? Fifty is not that far away. As Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of “Star Trek: The Next Generation" once said, “The past is written, but we are left to write the future.”
