Star Trek Photos
1992 Grand Slam Intro

last update 10/21/03

The 1992 Grand Slam convention was the first big convention I ever attended. I've been to others previously but they paled in comparison to the amount of activities found in the Grand Slam. There were more stars (actually the entire cast of the Next Generation was present), presenters, activities and people in attendance than what I found at the smaller conventions. I attended the conventions just to see the actors and listen to their presentations. But after this convention I found that those who attended in costume and were the real gung ho type were just as interesting.

Out of this convention, one family stood out as the most interesting of those that I met there. Joanne and Luke, along with their daughters Amanda and Ashley, had come to the convention from Saugus, MA. What first caught my eye were the Borg outfits that Luke and Amanda were wearing. They were the best Borg outfits that I had seen at all the conventions to date. I chatted with the family for a while and found a more interesting side of them. It wasn't long before the event that Joanne and Luke were pretty much homeless and living with their parents to get by. Luke had lost his job, their bills mounted up and so to make ends meet they moved their family in with one of their parents. Luke found multiple part-time jobs to work and help with the bills and in his spare time he studied and taught himself how to work with electronics. After a while he finally landed a better paying and steady job at an appliance store. Their financial situation began to improve and so as a reward, the family scraped up some spare money to fly out to CA to attend the largest Star Trek convention event. In preparation for the event, Luke put together the Borg outfits that he and Amanda wore out of spare automotive parts, appliance parts and various other odds and ends he could scrape up (if you look closely at the end of Amanda's Borg appendage, you'll see the center part of a pizza box that Luke used). He used his knowledge of electronics to make the outfits actually functional and animated. Theirs was truly the best costume that I saw and knowing that it was all made from scratch made it that more impressive (enough so that the work was acknowledged and appreciated by Michael Westmore, but more on that later).

Along with their outstanding costume, Luke and Amanda even portrayed the Borg attitude correctly. Whenever they interacted with others they were always Borg serious. Their phrases and mannerisms were excellent. Luke even had a special voice box he put together that made him sound like a Borg. Their attention to detail was outstanding.

Luke and Amanda did not win in the costume contest, but they at least got honorable mention. (The one Borg outfit that placed in the costume contest was an outfit that someone bought and had sloppily put on makeup to look like a Borg. It was rather unimpressive.) On the upside, during Michael Westmore's presentation of his special effects work, he noticed Luke standing up in the back of the audience. Everyone else in front of him were seated, but Luke's outfit restricted his movements so he could not sit down in the audience. When Mr. Westmore noticed Luke, he stopped his presentation and was speechless for a moment. Then, very enthusiastically, he waved for Luke to come onto the stage and stand next to him as he was demonstrating the Borg accessories he made for the show. He talked with Luke and asked how he put his outfit together. He seemed quite impressed with ingenuity that Luke demonstrated in his outfit. And when Mr. Westmore found out that Luke's daughter was also dressed up, he waved her to come onto the stage along with any other Borg that were in the audience. When I spoke with Luke later about that, Luke was walking on clouds. It turns out that Luke was a very big fan of Michael Westmore and when he and his daughter were asked to appear on stage with him, it made all the time they spent saving for the trip worth it. I later gave Luke an 8x10 blowup of Michael Westmore and him standing together on stage. On a side note, at a later convention I had another 8x10 blowup of him and Luke on stage for him to autograph. When he saw that image he remembered Luke well and said that it was an excellent outfit that should've won the costume contest. He was not pleased with the judge's decision and said that those who put their outfits together should be considered a better candidate than those who just buy into their outfits.

On a humorous note, I kept referring to little Amanda as Ashley, Alexandria, or anything else that started with an "A." She finally got fed up one day and with her hand on her hip she firmly said, "My name is Amanda! Can't you remember that?!". It was so cute. I did get a picture of little Amanda outside of her costume and she was all smiles (Borg don't smile).

But, I've only talked so far about Luke and his family. There were other interesting people in attendance that I ended up knowing for a while after the event. Two individuals that attended were the best look alikes for Captain Picard and Data. The Picard look alike even had a name of Patrick Stewart. Their presence was well received as there were also other participants that grouped together to form the core of the Enterprise crew in the Next Generation. In upcoming additions of other Star Trek convention images, I'll run into the Patrick and Data look alikes whose presence made a bigger impact in future conventions.

Another group of people that were highly regarded at the convention was the Klingon Assault Group. They one first prize in the costume contest and they well deserved that honor. Their costumes were also made from scratch and the Klingon personalities with high accuracy.

Between the Borg, the Enterprise crew and the Klingon Assault Group along with all the actors, presenters and others I had met, this was a convention I will look back on with fond memories.

I hope you enjoy the images as much as I have and hope it gives you a glimpse into how fun a good Star Trek convention can be.

(There is one major problem with these images, since they had been reproduced so many times for others, the negatives they were scanned from have many scratches and imperfections.)

Editors note: There are many pictures that I have not yet scanned so check back in the near future as I´ll continue to post the other pictures.

All images & contents copyright © G.A. Trammel 1992 - 2003

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