Creation Entertainment’s Gary Berman on this year’s 55-Year Mission in Las Vegas, and the future of Star Trek conventions
Creation Entertainment’s 55-Year Mission Star Trek convention in Las Vegas starts this week
AUGUST 8, 2021 - The convention formerly known as STLV (Creation Entertainment’s 55-Year Mission Las Vegas) gets underway this week, and Creation’s co-founder Gary Berman has some highlights for this year’s show and an update on its status over the next couple of years.
TrekMovie sat down with Berman and shared his comments over the weekend. Berman and co-founder Adam Malin founded Creation in 1971 and were looking forward to its 50th anniversary when they had to maneuver around restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But the show will go on in Vegas with some new guests and features, as well as vaccination and mask protocols to keep everyone safe.
In addition to the usual celebrity suspects that attend Star Trek conventions, Berman is also interested in bringing in unusual guests who have a Trek connection. This year that includes Kelsey Grammer, Captain Morgan Bateson from the Star Trek: The Next Generation season five episode, “Cause and Effect”, as well as Shohreh Aghdashloo, Commodore Paris from Star Trek Beyond.
Outside of celebrity guests, Berman highlighted some new features for this year’s convention. These include a Leonard Nimoy photography exhibit and archival video footage of Nimoy’s and William Shatner’s 1991 Creation tour, which will be seen for the first time. As part of the musical content this year, attendees can look forward to the singing talents of Star Trek: Discovery’s Anthony Rapp and Star Trek: Picard’s Isa Briones.
So what’s in store for the future of convention? The usual home of the convention, the Rio All-Suites Hotel and Casino, will be undergoing renovation after this year’s show, so Berman noted that it’ll be moving to Bally’s for 2022, and he said it is not clear where they will end up for 2023 and beyond. Berman did say, though, that the convention will remain in Las Vegas.
To read the entire interview with Creation Entertainment’s Gary Berman, head over to TrekMovie.com.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
