Star Trek Record Should be Vaporized Saturday

I’ve been a Trekkie ever since Star Trek: The Next Generation debuted in 1987. Although the original series was never my cup of tea (“Earl Grey, hot”), Deep Space Nine and the other spinoffs were appointment viewing when they originally aired, and I thank the Great Bird of the Galaxy that I can now watch any of them at any time via Netflix.

But in all that time, I’ve never been tempted to dress up as a Klingon or a Vulcan, much less a Cardassian or a Denobulan. So I was skeptical when the Texas Lottery announced an effort to break the Guiness world record for most people in Star Trek costumes at the Dallas Convention Center. (By the way, the record number is in question. The Lottery says it needs 1,041 people in costume, but it appears that a group of 1,084 showed up at a convention in London.)

To gauge whether enough Trekkies would be willing to participate in Saturday’s attempt, I reached out to the commanding officers of several fan clubs in Starfleet’s Region 3. “It is possible,” said Capt. John Coward of the USS Joshua, the Dallas-area’s largest club. “Everyone has been doing their best to promote it and get the word out. Flyers have been out everywhere, and the clubs have been displaying on their tables at the local conventions.”

Commodore Trisa Tunis of the USS Corsair said nobody from her Baton Rouge-based club will be able to make the, um, trek to Dallas on Saturday. However, “it is very likely the world record will be broken. After all, Captain Kirk is leading the effort.”

That’s right. William Shatner is scheduled to be in town Saturday, hopefully sporting a costume that fits a bit better than the one he wore during that Oscars bit.

But if you can’t be there, you have another local opportunity to mingle with hundreds of Trekkies. Rear Adm. Marian Murphy, of the USS Rachel Garrett in Weatherford, is chairing this year’s Starfleet International Conference, which is coming to Dallas in early August.