Four Lights

Last weekend was a HUGE improvement on 2016. Firstly the variety of guests was much more varied and interesting than before. Actors are great, but having Ira and other behind the scenes crew and experts made for a much richer, insightful experience. Queuing was better organised, with signage more clearly telling people where to go. Having registration inside the hall avoided the chaos in the corridors I saw in 2016. The museum, gallery and mirror universe displays were much larger and properly displayed in an appropriate setting this time. The gaming zone surpassed my expectations. I thought we'd get only a few really old PC games, but the new playstation VR Bridge Crew game was there, as were some trek themed pinball machines. Lots more stalls and organisations present too. Some freeby photo op backgrounds and props were a nice and generous touch. My only two gripes would be 1, audio was still not as good as it could have been. Guests coudn't hear sometimes and when I attempted to listen to an Excelsior stage talk, I couldn't hear a thing and had to leave. The rogue stall blasting loud music almost created the same 2016 problems with echoy background noise drowning out talks -though not to the same extent thankfully. 2, I paid for the DS9 documentary. For the very expensive price a Q&A should have been included as well, plus cushions on the seats. 2 hours sitting on a hard surface was painful! I remember when this was announced the organisers promised they would learn the lessons of 2016. And, to be fair, I think they mostly delivered on that.

Any of the producers or writers. I know it'll always be the actors that'll be the bread and butter of these events in terms of enticing visitors, please though, for us, that section fandom who follow all the behind the scenes production stuff, try to get at least a couple of people like Ron Moore, Jeri Taylor, Rick Berman or Gretchen Berg. Ira Behr going to your German event I hope is a sign of great things to come with your UK one!

I had a few gripes immediately after I came back. Thinking about it a bit more now though, I can forgive most of them. I went mostly for talks, so I would still offer these three bits of feedback: 1, Please try to have the sound completely sorted for when the event starts. It seemed to take half a day on the Voyager Stage for the technicians to get it to work properly. 2, Try to increase talk lengths for 45 mins to an hour. This is standard practice in the States, and this event only takes place every two years, so every minute counts as far as I'm concerned. 3, Have rope cordons and signs up to separate lines. Having ropes at the Enterprise Stage would of saved a lot of hassle all round. Thanks.

I know London is obviously more well known abroad, but the NEC has Birmingham International Airport right next door to it. Seems pretty accessible from outside the UK to me. I also got a hotel room for £35 a night in the city centre at the Ibis Budget there. Those sort of prices in a central location would be impossible in the capital.

I hope if we're getting another DSTE in two years they go back to the NEC . This was the first UK convention I went to, and that was largely due to hotel prices not being crazy in Birmingham and journey times from the North being reasonable.

There is a bus numbered the 97A that runs back into town 24/7 from the NEC. My partner doesn't fancy the idea of sitting on it for 45 minutes though (which is how long the timetable says it takes) otherwise I could of done that. That might be another option for people who can put up with the long journey time.

Hard A4 plastic wallet with a stud opening will do for me I think. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Connect-A4-Polypropylene-Document-Folder/dp/B001GY03RO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1475675622&sr=8-1&keywords=a4+plastic+wallet If the photos shoot and autograph pics are only 8 x 10 (which is what I've read on here says) it should be big enough. Plus you can can keep all your printed off tickets in it at the same time.

Thanks. That's what I thought.

Really? Are you sure about those times? When I checked the national rail enquiries site it was saying the last train back into town on Saturday was at 23:49. I have bought a ticket for the party then, even though I'm staying in the city centre (I want to see the "rat pack" and soak up a bit of the atmosphere) I'd more or less resigned myself to the idea that I'd have to leave early though. If you know of any later trains that'd be great!

I agree with you completely. I understand that this event is probably a slight step down from the last two in London. It's not in the capital and they haven't managed to pull off any amazing feats like the 5 captains or the whole TNG cast this time round. Even so though, some prop guy from an independent company I've never heard of and Adam Nimoy, who is really there more for who his father is than his backroom role, just isn't enough in my view. The behind the scenes people (especially the writers and producers) have probably had at least, if not more to do with making the shows great than the actors have. I'm still hoping against hope that the organisers can draft in at the last minute at least one proper production name that us fans will have heard of. Here is hoping!