Pictures by John E Betancourt of Girls of Geek (@JohnEBetancourt) 

Pictures by John E Betancourt of Girls of Geek (@JohnEBetancourt) 

In the four years that I have attended Starfest, I have learned one valuable lesson when it comes to the Main Events stage; if the actor worked on any version of Star Trek their presentation will be nothing short of amazing. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love going to see the guests speak at Starfest, and this year I absolutely enjoyed seeing David Prowse and John Noble live, but as we mentioned before on Girls of Geek, J.G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly absolutely killed it when they took the stage, and while I expected them to be a hard act to follow, Jonathan Frakes was up to the challenge and he did not disappoint. 

In fact he came bounding out to greet the crowd, full of energy and joy to be there in front of his fans before getting into a few stories.  Jonathan fondly recalled his first convention in Syracuse, NY a mere twenty four years ago where he patiently waited to head out on stage and found himself in the vendor room staring at the Galoob action figures created for The Next Generation and the sign that simply read: “Buy one figure, get Riker free!”

Thankfully such animosity did not last.  Seven seasons and four motion pictures later, it was clear that Jonathan Frakes and his portrayal as Commander William Riker are still well loved, and Jonathan was more than happy to reciprocate that love as he openly joked with the crowd, and not to be upstaged by a pair of Klingons, made his way into the audience on a regular basis to spend time with the fans.   

The stories were few and far between, in fact the only other tale that I can recall was Jonathan’s retelling of a fight scene staged for the The Next Generation episode entitled “Q Pid” where the unfortunate choice to use a real sword left Jonathan with a nasty cut, but the good news that resulted from this injury was “we got the shot, Frakes can go to the hospital.”  Indeed he did, spending time in the emergency room still dressed in his Little John costume. 

But steering clear of the undoubtedly vast numbers of stories he could have told us was of no concern.  Clearly Jonathan just wanted everyone in the audience to have a great time, and that we did.   It was exactly as it should be, with everyone in that audience having spent so many years with The Next Generation as apart of their lives, myself included, Jonathan Frakes made it feel as if we were all just getting together with an old friend, to do nothing more than shoot the breeze. 

Bright and early Friday morning at Starfest, people gather in costume for their 15 minutes of fame at MediaFest. Radio shows, TV stations, reporters and photographers all come to get stories and take photos of the unique creations. This year, Fox News was there and did a few live video segments for their morning show. Girls of Geek was there to get photos for you! All pictures were taken by Girls of Geek Blogger, John E Betancourt. Follow him on Twitter @JohnEBetancourt 

The third and final day of Starfest is often times the most laid back of the entire convention.  With the Federation Ball having played out the night before, most of the activities and panels start a little later, offering all those attending just a little more rest.  In the past the Sunday events were somewhat lacking. Just a handful of panels, maybe a guest would take the main stage and the convention would just quietly end. 

But recognizing this, the good people behind Starfest have completely changed it up the last couple of years, adding more guests to speak on Sundays and bringing back the excitement.  Don’t get me wrong, Sunday is still pretty chill, but the excitement definitely builds. 

For us the day started off with a bang, as we stood in line to pick up Jonathan Frakes’ autograph.  We are fans first here at Girls of Geek, and if time allows, you definitely take a moment to indulge yourself.  But what made this day unique for me was the fact it was the first time in years I found myself star struck standing across the table from Commander Riker himself.  I spent seven years of my life watching Star Trek:  The Next Generation so to stand across from the First Officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise, you find yourself at a loss. 

But a quick trip to the vendor room to drop a little cash, and a little coffee shakes the nerves away, as we went back to seeing the sights.  We killed a little time at Comiccon, checked out whatever we could when it came to panels and such, merely waiting to see Mister Frakes on the main stage, and needless to say he did not disappoint. 

I would say more on his presentation, and John Noble as well, but those are posts that will be coming soon as we sift through the pictures and mountains of notes we took over the weekend. 

Instead we will go over how I found myself wandering the halls of the Denver Marriott as Michelle finished our last interview for the weekend, all the while watching the event slowly disappear.  The photo area was dismantled; the art room barren and robots were being packed away as the guests began to leave in droves.

The noise was slowly coming to a whisper and I realized I simply wanted more.  More of this amazing celebration about the stories we love, characters we bond with and the camaraderie between those who feel exactly the same way. 

It was only fitting that my last day at Starfest be the one that I simply let go and find myself in awe of the genre I so love, and it made my star struck moment all that more appropriate as I left with the bittersweet feeling of not wanting the experience to end, but the satisfaction of knowing that it would be here for me next year.  

Saturday at Starfest is without a doubt, the busiest day of the event.  Panels are in full swing, the guests have all arrived and everyone attending is ready to go out and about see everything that they can. 

For us, we started out with the smaller sights, spending a little bit of time over at Robofest to check out what amazing robots were on display this year. The highlight of the room as usual were “Robby the Robot” from Lost in Space and the fully functional R2-D2.  Both attractions seemed to delight anyone who spent a few moments in their presence.   This year Robofest shared space with the model room, allowing us to revel in the amazing craftsmanship that goes into the finite details of model making.

After our stop there, Girls of Geek spent a little time on the second floor balcony, checking out what programming would be coming up in the panels rooms later in the day and take a walk through the art show. 

Of course all of this is simply to kill a little time before heading into the Main Event room to check out the headlining guests, and today did not disappoint.  We kicked off with J.G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly, and for the details of that amazing performance, check out our earlier post. 

Immediately following that it was time for the actor who brought one of science fiction’s greatest villains to life, the man behind the Darth Vader mask, David Prowse.  He was a gentle and soft-spoken man, and that’s all I will go into when it comes to David right now, we have a larger post coming for his event so please stay tuned. 

Following David’s presentation the buzz around the facility continued to grow as Jewel Staite from Firefly arrived to greet her fans before Jonathan Frakes, Commander William Riker from Star Trek:  The Next Generation made his way through the halls of the Denver Marriot. 

The draw of these two stars was evident as the north end of the hotel, where the two of them were signing autographs, quickly filled up with eager fans hoping to snag a signature on their collectibles. 

But the highlight of the day was of course the costume contest, where at last you get to see the best of the best take the stage, and this year did not disappoint with an amazing Davros chair from Doctor Who, a full scale Skeksis from The Dark Crystal and the best Bender from Futurama that I have ever seen. 

There was so much to see today, that sadly we missed out on too many panels and other such events, but such is life at Starfest, too much to see and never quite enough time.  Sadly the end is near but not before Jonathan Frakes, John Noble and Jewel Staite take the main stage.  We’ll be there to cover it for you.  Until tomorrow Starfestians!  

The second day of Starfest leads to many things.  The day usually starts off for many with a delicious breakfast at the The Lift Inn, a wealth of costumes heading through the halls, and what many of us arrive for…the guests. 

This year Starfest kicked off with a bang as former Star Trek Klingons J.G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly took the stage first and they did not disappoint.  These two gentlemen immediately surprised the crowd by coming out in full Klingon makeup and costume and set the tone by getting crowd going into a rousing sing a long before getting right to the questions. 

But if the start of this was any indicator, it would be no normal Q and A.  J.G. and Robert absolutely thrilled the crowd, bringing a fan on stage to sing a Warrior’s song and several times they left the stage to greet the fans and interact with them.  It was something I had never seen before when it comes to Starfest and I will likely never see it again. 

What we witnessed this afternoon was an observation of joy, as two actors, thankful to the franchise than did so much for their careers took the time to simply entertain, slip into character and give their thanks to the fans who watched every episode.

In fact even after their presentation came to an end, rather than step behind the curtain they hopped off stage and melted into the crowd, chatting and posing for photographs.  It was an awesome sight to see, two men, showering everyone they could with their genuine gratitude. 

So after a long and painful wait, Starfest is finally upon us.  Unfortunately day one is in the books, but for the first time we had the chance to get a good look at what goes on behind the scenes before everyone else gets there.  

For us the day started with our first glimpse at Media Fest.  We had the opportunity to check out some of the costumes early before KDVR Fox 31 did some live interviews. 

After that we had the opportunity to explore the hotel and watch the incredible process of setting the entire event up.  Until now we had no clue how many teams worked in tandem to put together the vendor rooms, autograph lines and even registration. 

At two o’clock a line formed that ended in the parking lot, everyone in the line was patiently waiting to register for the event and pick up their passes, and autograph tickets.  It took until about five o’clock to see that line dwindle down when programming got underway.  

Balconies were ready, costumes were everywhere but the highlight of the evening for us was our first Meet and Greet event.  Starfest has held this event many times over the years and for a small fee you get the chance to sit down and chat with some of the headliners attending the event.

At our table we were graced with some fine local authors, and a few big names. Actors Dee Wallace (Cujo, E.T.), Robert O’Reilly (Star Trek:  The Next Generation and Star Trek:  Deep Space Nine), and John Noble from Fringejoined us at our table.  It was a unique experience to have these folks sit down and just chat.   If there is one thing Starfest is well known for is that it is a friendly and relaxed convention where the stars are allowed to interact on a personal level with their fans and this event was no exception. 

Hopefully everyone out there had a blast today, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing some amazing costumes tomorrow along with hearing some entertaining stories from the guests as we cover day two!  Until then!