After taking a year off Creation Entertainment is returning to the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas for the 55-Year Mission Star Trek convention, kicking off on Wednesday, August 11th. And they just made a big announcement to protect the health and safety of the event.
STLVax
Creation is bringing over 100 Star Trek celebrities to Vegas in less than two weeks, and they are expecting 15,000 fans to attend their rebranded convention. They have been running Star Trek convention for five decades, including a long tradition of a big event every summer in Las Vegas, but this will be their first in-person con since the global pandemic began in 2020. And due to recent events – notably the upsurge of the Delta variant – they have just announced new protocols for the 55-Year Mission Las Vegas event.
All attendees will be required to bring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result to attend the convention. Those who are fully vaccinated will receive a special-colored wristband, allowing access for the entire event. Those with a negative COVID-19 test (taken within 3 days of attending the convention) will also get a special colored wristband, and (if attending Tuesday – Thursday ) will be required to be re-tested on Friday. Tests will be provided by Creation.
Proof of vaccination or test is becoming commonplace for events including Broadway shows and other big conventions, like PAX West.
In addition, all attendees of at the Las Vegas con will be required to wear a mask while attending the convention. Earlier in the week, the City of Las Vegas reinstated mask mandates. Creation will also have sanitizer stations placed around the convention.
A big part of conventions are celebrity photo ops, and Creation says they are working on a solution to allow for fans to not have to wear masks while taking photos. However, there will be a strict “no touching” policy for all photo ops, autograph sessions, and meet-and-greets with celebrities. Thin plexiglass barriers may also be used during photo ops and autograph sessions.
For more information and where to get vaccinated, visit vaccines.gov.
George Takei will be in Vegas (Photo: Twitter/George Takei)
More celebrities in (and out)
The list of Star Trek celebrities is now up to 114, which includes some recent additions and cancellations. Recent additions include Hana Hatae (Molly O’Brien from DS9), Shohreh Aghdashloo (Commadore Paris from Star Trek Beyond and The Expanse), Greg Grunberg (Commander Finnegan from Star Trek Beyond), Steven Culp (Major Hayes from Enterprise), and some more Trek guest stars.
Due to professional obligations, Star Trek: Discovery’s Sonequa Martin-Green, Hannah Cheesman, Ronnie Rowe, and Raven Duada had to cancel. TNG stars LeVar Burton and Gates McFadden have also bowed out in the last week.
The current list of confirmed guests can be found at creationent.com.
Shohreh Aghdashloo is the latest Star Trek headliner added to Las Vegas con
General admission tickets are available in advance or at the door and start at $65 for a single day. (www.creationent.com)
TrekMovie will be there
Most of the TrekMovie team is headed to STLV 2021. We will be reporting on all the big news here on the site along with regular updates on our social media. Our All Access Star Trek and Shuttle Pod podcasts will also have special coverage of the event.
Find more news on Star Trek events.
You couldn’t PAY ME to attend a con right now, but I applaud Creation for trying to make this experience as safe as possible.
I will be attending a trade convention this week…lot’s of jobs like mine depend on these and the last 15 months have been brutal workwise in my profession.
I’m vaccinated and will be wearing a mask — so hoping for the best.
Good luck and LLAP!
I agree. No cost is worth my life and my family’s lives.
If you sre vaccinated and wearing a mask you are going to be fine.
Quite frankly if a person is vaccinated alone they will be fine. And even though the unvaccinated are taking a much larger risk than the vaccinated, their risk of death is super low. The death rate continues to drop. We are back to more people dying on average every day from heart disease and other more common causes of death than from Covid. Where I live (a very large metro area) the rolling 7 day average of Covid related deaths is now 0.3.
I applaud this. I’m attending as a vendor, this year. While I’m fully vaccinated, I still don’t want to catch it or spread it. I’m sure there will be the kooks that put up a fuss… If it’s ok with the mods, I’d like to offer everyone a discount by saying Trek Movie at our booth. If mods approve, I’ll post our company name. If not, no worries!!
Of course no problem
Awesome thanks! Our company is called Heroes In Action/Destination Entertainment.
Ask for Denny and mention TrekMovie and we will work out a discount for you.
See you all there! Thanks Anthony!!
My favorite part of the con is getting photos with the stars, both the formal and the selfie at the table. What are they doing for those? Do you have to wear masks in the photos, or are you social distanced in the photo without masks? Can’t go this year, just wondering.
EDIT – found it in the fine print on creation’s website that they don’t know yet. May have plexiglass between you and celebrity so you can do no masks. All ops will be no – touch, so I guess no more hugs from Doug Jones.
“OK, everyone hold your breath for 15 seconds for the photo”
Could work!
I think you could get creative with the plexiglass! Reenact the death scene in TWOK, for example…
If everybody does that I hope they disinfect the plexiglass regularly ;-)
Ha! Good point. I hope they do anyway!
Last I looked through the website I thought Doug Jones has backed out.
Great to hear — so sick and tired of the SELFISH vaccine deniers and/or politicizers of science who believe everything they read on Facebook.
Need to give The Expanse a little love here — that’s Shohreh Aghdashloo’s awesome, career-defining sci-fi acting achievement in my book, no offense to Star Trek.
That show is fantastic, and she’s fantastic in it.
Fully support the vaccine mandate. Well done, Creation.
Good. Anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers are responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths.
For the past 20 yrs I’ve been lucky enough to work in the commercial space and satellite industry – and for abt 5 of those years I organized and managed events. I feel bad for the organizers, speaker guests, vendors and attendees. I hope they are somehow able to pull off a successful, fun and safe show, because I know how much money, planning and stress is going into an event like this.
Has anyone been watching Levar Burton’s Jeopardy stint? I’m sad to say this, but he’s…. not a good host. He’s way too earnest and he just comes off as clumsy and awkward. He’s not a natural fit, despite his excitement. I wanted him to succeed, but if I’m being honest here… he hasn’t. Bring on Mayim Bialik, who was awesome.
To quote Nomad…. That’s a total “non sequitur” to the posted article.
It’s totally relevant because LaVar had to drop out of Las Vegas to be available as the new host of Jeopardy.
Unless I’m mistaken he has finished taping his episodes as a guest host. Or has he been hired as the new regular host?
Not sure how this is related but after watching his first episode, I would completely agree. He looked very nervous and unsure of himself.
Apparantely his wife called him out on a few issues after they recorded that first show and it must have worked. After meeting with her, he obviously made some changes for the rest of the week’s shows and IMO he was great. Definitely good enough to be considered for the short list of possible replacements for Alex. We shall see what happens.
Good luck to him!
We will be there too. My wife needs the break from work more than I do but I think we all need to have some in-person trek. For us, the saddest part is that we will not be seeing a lot of our friends from Canada, Europe, Japan, Australia, England and all the south of the Border countries we made over the years at STLV.
I am vaccinated, and I personally refuse to go or support any event where I have to wear a mask. I also refuse to go to any event that makes take my paper vaccination card. I will happily stay home. I am actually going give my tickets to a fan willing to put up with the restrictions. I am not mad I am just not going to go under these conditions. Thank you for letting me vent.
I understand the frustration, especially if you’re already vaccinated. But this should be done this way.
Understood. I got stabbed myself and am extremely annoyed that some are making the vaccinated wear masks. There just is no reason for this. None. My employer passed around a document where we had to declare if were were vaxxed or not. It did have a “I choose not to answer” but the problem is they said they would treat those answers as a “Not vaccinated.” Why in the hell would they assume that all vaccinated people are perfectly willing to give up their privacy rights? I just haven’t filled it out. So far no one has given me grief.
But I’m right there with you. I got stabbed so I would no longer have to wear a mask. I’m not doing anything or going anywhere where vaccinated are required to wear masks. There is no data to support it whatsoever. It’s maddening. And no, it’s not the fault of those who opted to not get stabbed. They weighed their risks and options and chose not to do it. I’ve been vaccinated and honestly it doesn’t matter to me who has or hasn’t been. I’m as safe as I’m ever going to get.
Recent from the CDC… Full article linked but relevant is this…. “Emerging evidence suggests that fully vaccinated persons who do become infected with the Delta variant are at risk for transmitting it to others (2), (CDC COVID-19 Response Team, unpublished data, 2021); therefore, CDC also recommends that fully vaccinated persons wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission, and consider wearing a mask regardless of transmission level if they or someone in their household is immunocompromised or at increased risk for severe disease, or if someone in their household is unvaccinated (including children aged <12 years who are currently ineligible for vaccination).”
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7030e2.htm?s_cid=mm7030e2_w
Yeah… But that doesn’t explain why the vaccinated need to wear the mask. I’m not saying the unvaccinated should be forced to get stabbed. But I am saying that it is not up to the vaccinated to protect those who weighed the risks and made their own assessment for whether or not to get the shot. That’s on them. Those who did opt to get stabbed ought not be punished because someone decided not to. Also, the mortality of this thing is a far cry from what it was last year. It has been reduced more than 10 fold nationally. From a very very low percentage to begin with. There is no need for the vaccinated to wear masks anywhere. The data does not support it.
I’m just curious as to those who are exempt from wearing a mask are allowed to attend.
Part of the report indicates how much more virulent the Delta variant is, and how much more shedding is done even by those that get infected while vaccinated.
This isn’t about protecting those that refused to get vaccinated.
It’s about protecting those unable to get vaccinated. The immunocompromised.
It’s also about trying to keep infections down as much as possible to reduce chances of further, potentially more dangerous, variants from showing up.
This is not just about you.
We already know the variant is more transmissible. Conversely, it is also far less deadly. That still doesn’t change the fact that the vaccinated are being asked to protect people who have had the opportunity to get vaccinated themselves. The entire country has had the opportunity. It is unreasonable to screw the millions who have gotten the stab just because there may be six or seven people who haven’t had they opportunity yet.
This isn’t about me. It’s about everybody.
Wearing a mask is being screwed? How…. dramatic.
Your “screw them” point of view is pretty callous, ignores those that are unable to get vaccinated, and is one of the things that will just extend the length of everything.
The reason a large portion got the vax was so they could STOP wearing masks.
Looking at the data, this thing is pretty much over right now. The vaccinations seem to be working very well. Everyone has the opportunity to get them. Or if you’ve recovered you are pretty safe. The death totals are dropping to the point where they are lower than other causes of death. The only thing keeping this going are the fear mongers who are scared of 380 some deaths a day (out of a normal average of under 8000 deaths a day from a multitude of other causes) and the folks who will be frightened until the risk of death is zero. An impossible goal that will never get hit.
The 7 day rolling average for deaths in the US has increased in the last month from 205 to 497. For the same period hospitalizations have increased from a 7 day average of 14k (4k in intensive care) to almost 40k (10k in intensive care).
The US is trending in the wrong direction. But whatever, you do you. There’s a reason I’m not interested in crossing the border and the whole way it’s been politicized down there is a major component. Also gotta say, the US vaccination rate is not something to be particularly proud of either. At only 50% fully vaxed, and seemingly stalled around that number, that’s not enough to achieve decent herd immunity. Which I guess is a big part of the significant increase in actual cases.
Where are you getting that? I just checked again. According to the CDC the 7 day rolling average death total is 377. But that number still puts it below heart disease and dementia. In my area the rolling average death total was 0.3. And hasn’t risen this week. Cases are the only thing going up. Not deaths. Which really is the important figure I should think. And honestly, even with the authoritarian trends lately here in the States we are still better off than some of the draconian measures I’ve read about in Ontario. (Not saying you are there but that is where I read those things were taking place)
If you want to use the CDC data, that works just as well.
The current 7 day average for deaths is 454. The low point this year was one month ago, at 175. That figure has been slowly but surely increasing.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailytrendscases
When comparing Covid related deaths to other leading causes of death, be careful not to conflate incomparable things. Covid is an infectious disease that each person has the ability to do something that will reduce the spread to others.
None of the leading causes of death is something that a person can do something about to prevent it from happening to others. You can’t prevent heart disease or dementia in the person sitting next to you on the bus.
What do you consider “draconian”?
Great news! Hopefully all big mass events will go this direction moving forward.
I’m wondering if actors are really not attending due to work, or due to Covid-19 fears…there’s no way Creation would be honest about that. “So and So has withdrawn from the convention due to Covid-19”
There are a a number of people where it explicitly states that they’ve had to cancel due to professional obligations. This includes several Discovery actors. As far as I know Discovery hasn’t finished filming on its 4th season yet so this may indeed be the reason for not attending.
There are a few other people where it states that they have had to cancel for personal reasons. And then there are a bunch of people where no reason is given at all for the cancellation. You can speculate that some may have opted out due to Covid-19 concerns. I’m not sure if travel restrictions may also have forced some talent to cancel their appearance. There certainly are international fans who’ve had to cancel their plans due to travel restrictions.
Glad I’m not going.
This is getting dangerously close to our society having a “show us your papers” mentality. It’s pretty scary, actually. It’s hard to recognize our country anymore.
When you “paper” status can put other lives at risk, tough luck.
Your rights end at the variant-filled spit flying out of your mouth.
Vaccine mandates have been legal since George Washington.
Except it’s not putting “other lives at risk” any more than just living your normal life does. Heart disease currently kills 6 times as many as Covid does on a daily basis. Are we going to outlaw fried foods, smoking and not exercising too? I’m not going to not drive somewhere because I MIGHT unintentionally hit someone. That is absurd.
I’m floored at how many people aren’t bothered by losing their basic human rights. That is how a lot of bad things have started.
Guess I have to email them about my question in my previous post. Or does anyone here know if they’ll let you attend if you are exempt from wearing a facemask,but fully vaccinated?