PreviousNext
Issue #71
Summer 2006

Mindscanner

ConVergence Report

Massed Klingons Convergence 2006 kicked off with a blast and never slowed down. There were five ships from the Cold Death Quadrant, and Klingons came from points further to see Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and J.G. Hertzler (Martok), this year's Guests of Honor. And they were well worth the effort to come out to see, as they dominated the convention's scheduled panels, always entertaining, and very fun.

Ships present, by my reckoning, include (but certainly not limited to) the IKV RakeHell, IKV Black Thunder, IKV Warhammer, IKV Ice Dagger. There were several others I do not have the names of at the moment.

Klingon Wedding During their panel's, O'Reilly and Hertzler gave a good accounting of how they entered the acting field and the road that eventually lead them to their famous roles on Star Trek as Gowron and Martok.

Convergence has earned a reputation as a hard-partying convention, with parties controlling the cabana area, which is a great space for a party zone, and spreading onto the fourth floor this year. Many parties adopted the con's theme, "To Boldly Go..." with great gusto. The RakeHell's "Viva Las Vegas" was very popular, serving up the specialty drinks that has made it famous; although not Klingon, the U.S.S. Nokomis teamed up with the World Defense Force to form a two-room theme party based on the TOS episode, "Mirror, Mirror," complete with agonizer booth. The Warhammer ran the KPLA pirate radio, and, of course, the North Dakota folks put on "Captain Kirk's Den of Ill-Repute." In all, there were some 40, yes, FORTY, parties this year.

The masquerade had 25 entries, with four of the entries coming from the IKV RakeHell, including one entry from the ship's up and coming costumer's, Karin, who appeared as He-Man. Karin is six years old, and is on her way to becoming the youngest master level costumer. Qob, JaPa (IKV Black Thunder), Mordok and Sqotty provided comedy relief as the "Chancellor's Personal Guard," set to the tune of "Men in Tights." I wish I had been able to get a video of it. Patrick put in a non-Klingon entry as a Gargoyle, which looked very good, and Qe-Pa and Mordok entered as "Viva Las Vegas." Karin won Best Young Fan, and deservedly so.

Saturday night festivities include a Klingon Wedding for two new members of the IKV Rakehell: Earl and Holly. This ceremony was conducted by Gowron and Martok and attended by throngs of con-goers, with belly-dancers providing pre-ceremony entertainment and followed by a short dance party. This provided a number of photo ops with both O'Reilly and Hertzler.

Sqotty As the festivities continued, O'Reilly and Hertzler were inducted into the Clan MacDude by Sqotty and Qob, joining the ranks of John Colicos (Kor MacDude), William Campbell (Kolath MacDude) and Michael Ansara (Kang MacDude).

Qob then proceeded with KAG promotions and honors, with Gowron and Martok participating in adding to the honor bestowed on a number of fine warriors.

This large gathering ended with a group photo of the all the Klingons gathered around O'Reilly and Hertzler.

Sunday, last day of the con, was a slow day as people began to wind up their stay.

The high point on Sunday for the members of KAG was its presentation during closing ceremonies of a Death Howl Memorial for cast and crew of the Star Trek series who have passed on.

During closing ceremonies, J.G. Hertzler announced that he intends to move to the Twin Cities. This will be a welcome addition to the region.

KAG run panels included a Klingon makeup panel lead by Qob.

Convergence was a real blast this year, and consistently delivers lots o panels of interest, from costuming to hard science.

 - Lt. Cmdr Sqotty vestai-MacKlingon
<[email protected]>

PreviousTop_of_PageNext