There are three fantastic reasons you should go to Albuquerque this weekend, June 24-26 2011. 1 - The air smells like warm root beer. 2 - We hear you can eat your soup right out of the ashtrays in the local Holiday Inn (it’s ok…they’re clean). …and 3 - Star Trek is making a splash at the Albuquerque Comic Expo. 

That’s right, included in a long list of great guests are LeVar Burton (TNG), Marina Sirtis (TNG), and Raphael Sbarge (Voyager). You’ll get your chance to meet and chat with the stars themselves, as well as hear them talk about…what else but, Star Trek. Marina and LeVar’s panel promises to be very entertaining. Just imagine listening to two of the original cast members of Star Trek: The Next Generation reminisce about their time on the show and regale the audience with tales of hard work and hijinks on the set.

Non Star Trek related (but still totally cool) guests include: Stan Lee, Peter Mayhew, Jeremy Bulloch, Ernie Hudson, Richard Hatch, Anne Lockhart and many more!

Here's an interesting event that was just brought to our attention by the show organizers. It's is called the Frank & Son Collectable show and on June 11th they will be hosting they're 2nd annual Star Trek Day featuring cast members & guest stars from every Trek series. It's not a convention per se, but more of a chance for fans to get autographs and photo-ops with their favorite stars. Also at the event, the Cinema Makeup School of Los Angeles will be on hand doing Star Trek/ Sci-Fi makeup effects on attendees. Cryptic Studios will be there as well, with PCs setup for you to try out "Star Trek Online", plus free trials of the game for the first 150 people in attendance.

Get your party hats on and head to Houston, cuz Comicpalooza is happening this weekend! You’ll get a chance to see, hear, and meet Marina Sirtis (Next Gen) and Tony Todd (Next Gen, DS9, Voy) over a fantabulous three day weekend.

In addition to the Trek representation they have a ton of other guests including; Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), Sean Maher (Firefly/Serenity), Meaghan Rath (Being Human), Sam Tramell (True Blood), and many many more. You say, “Who’s gonna be there?!” 

So you saw the reminder about Dallas Comic Con,  the other day…now here’s the 2nd part of the Texas convention double-header this May! Next Gen’s very own counselor Troi is going to be meeting, talking with, and signing autographs for Houston area fans at Comicpalooza May 27-29. Hmmm…do you think she’ll be wearing her jumpsuit? Well, even if she’s not, we can’t wait to see her and hear what she has to say. It will be a true treat seeing her for the first time.

Happy Birthday to our favorite ship's counselor Marina Sirtis. I wonder if she knew that we were going to say that... According to Memory Alpha, Marina was born this day in 1955 in the London Borough of Hackney to Greek parents who initially did not want her to pursue a career in acting. She trained at the Royal Shakespeare Company, affiliated with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, to which she had to apply in secret so her parents would not find out. Once she earned a name for herself in the theater, she went on to television. Having grown up in London, she became a huge soccer fan (her brother plays the sport in Greece), and a supporter of Tottenham Hotspur FC.

If you're in the Orlando, Florida area this weekend, here's your chance to see a Trek living legend and three of the Enterprise-D crew. Megacon is the place and Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, & Marina Sirtis will be there March 25th through the 27th, with a special appearance by William Shatner on Saturday, March 26th. Also on hand all weekend is Robin Curtis, Savek from "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock". Here's something we forgot about until just now, Robin also played Tellera in the TNG episodes "Gambit PT I & II". The usual autographs and photo-ops will be available. Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, panel schedules and details aren't available. Be sure to check out the convention details and media guest info below.

A Houston Texas area convention nearly slipped past our radar, with Marina Sirtis & Tony Todd listed as guests! Called Comicpalooza, the Houston based convention started in 2008 as a simple signing event set to coincide with the release of "The Dark Knight". In 2009, it grew to a two-day comic book festival set in a local mall, focusing on promoting creators, connecting with the media, and fostering new growth in the fanbase. In 2010, Comicpalooza moved to the George R. Brown Convention Center as a multi-format convention celebrating not just comics, but also sci-fi and fantasy, horror, steam punk, New Media, movies, film, and gaming of all types.

Summer Glau, "Firefly" & "The Sarah Connor Chronicles", is in Australia for the Supernova series of conventions and was recently interviewed for Scifi Australia where she admitted to being a huge TNG fan. 

"...the show I really grew up on was Star Trek: The Next Generation. That was a show that I watched with my parents that I talked them into letting me stay up to watch it. I got to meet Marina Sirtis last year, which was a really special moment for me. I grew up idolizing her." Said Glau, when asked what scifi she would show to a friend to introduce them to the genre.

She also revealed that she would love to meet The Shat.  Yeah, who wouldn't?

Today I received an email from our good buddy Miles, from The SciFi Diner podcast, with a terrific video from youtube (via i09). The video features a good conversation between Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis. For me, the video encompasses the best part of TNG. Past all of the phaser fights and fantastic science fiction, Next Gen feels like home and being with the ones you love.