Creation's Grand Slam VIII - Day Two: Saturday, 4/1/00

Creation's Grand Slam VIII - Day Two: Saturday, 4/1/00

Nicole deBoer (Ezri Dax)

Nicole began her onstage appearance by apologizing for her demeanor because the day before, she woke up to a neighbor yelling for help, ran out of bed naked(!), and right into the glass patio door and "cracked" her neck. She also apologized because her official Web site wasn't up yet because she hadn't had the time.

- Nicole was working in Canada when she was asked to do STAR TREK, and even though she was only going to be on DS9 for a year, she was very excited nonetheless.

- Right now Nicole is looking for work.

At this point, the front speakers stopped working, and Nicole jokingly commented about Creation supposedly being a professional organization. This received quite a bit of applause, especially from me. [grin]

- Nicole's audition story... Hans Beimler, whom she had worked with before, said he'd someday make her an alien. She was on the Canadian east coast filming a television show when she was asked to read some "sides" that were FAX-ed. She went to her hotel room, set up a videocamera, fixed the lights, videotaped herself reading the sides, and sent the footage to Paramount. She was then flown down to Los Angeles and set up in a hotel room where she wondered what she should wear for the audition. A car was sent for her, and she arrived at Paramount. Once there, Ron Surma, the casting director, asked her if she wanted any water, and she said no. And while she was sitting outside, a van pulled up, and an alien walked out... to be more specific, a very intimidating woman with an unbelieveable body in a one-piece suit. It turned out it was Jeri Ryan(!) on her lunch break, and for a "skinny petite girl" like Nicole to see what the producers had envisioned for a female alien was rather intimidating. Nicole then used sound effects of Jeri walking in her spacesuit to illustrate what she felt at the time. Nicole was then called into the office, and asked to wait. She was again asked for water, and this time she said yes. She was about to drink the water when she was called into the office, so she decided to take a quick swig while getting up, but the water unfortunately went down the wrong pipe. And when she was introduced, she walked in, choking and gagging. She asked to go to the bathroom, where she started crying and her mascera started running. She then composed herself, walked back into the office, and got the part. And you know the rest. [grin]

- Nicole thought that TV Guide's comment about her being "Ally McTrill" was a compliment.

- Breaking into acting as a kid, she got jobs based on how natural she acted in front of the camera.

- "Kissing Sid, Michael, Nana... Kissing's good. Why not?" - Nicole

- Nicole did two episodes of THE OUTER LIMITS but would not do it again since she's now done STAR TREK and feels that THE OUTER LIMITS is below her.

- Nicole also talked briefly about THE CUBE and was proud of her work in it.

Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax)

Terry began her onstage appearance by thanking the audience for wanting her back. In fact many fans who stepped to the microphone thanked her for appearing this year, since two years ago at Grand Slam she bid them a tearful good-bye. After that Grand Slam, I thought since she was starring in a higher profile series like BECKER, that going back to STAR TREK conventions would be below her, but to her credit, she appreciates her STAR TREK fan-base and has returned to say hello.

At this point, Nicole joined Terry onstage to tremendous applause and many camera flashes.

This is the first time "the two Daxs" have ever appeared onstage together (a few years ago Creation had William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, and Kate Mulgrew onstage at one time). Seeing them together onstage was almost like a reunion of two sisters.

There was also quite a height discrepancy between the two actresses, which the audience laughed about, so Terry removed her shoes to try and help Nicole out a little bit.

The following conversation after their initial small-talk generated much laughter from the audience:
[Awkward pause]
"So where are you from?" - Terry
"Toronto." - Nicole
"Ohhhhhh." - Terry

- Terry made an analogy between the Trill symbiont worm and Michael Dorn, which again generated much laughter from the audience.

- When asked by Terry, Nicole said she was in town for pilot season.

- As Nicole left the stage, Terry suggested that there should be a guest role on BECKER for her, and that received much applause.

Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris), and Tim Russ (Tuvok)

Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi)

- "Is this the best you could today?" - Marina, seeing Robbie's casual clothes

- "My new cast!" - Marina, about Bob, Robbie, and Tim

- In "Life Line," the upcoming episode featuring the return of Barclay and Troi, Troi gets to interact with The Doctor. Marina complained that she didn't get to play opposite with any VOYAGER castmembers in "Pathfinder" so that was resolved with the upcoming episode.v

- "Life Line" was Bob's idea. Two EMHs (The Doctor and his creator), like the two Datas (Data and Lore) in TNG.

- Marina mentioned her birthday, and while she said it's too depressing, the entire crowd sang her "Happy Birthday" nonetheless.

- When a couple brought their little dogs, dressed in Starfleet uniforms and named Data and Tasha (I kid you not) to the microphone, Marina said hi to them, remembered who they were from previous convention, and mentioned that she almost brought her own dog with her.

- The actor who played Sub-Commander Nivek (a Romulan) in THE NEXT GENERATION went to the microphone to say hi to Marina.

- Marina's husband bought a Tex-Mex (a style of cooking) restaurant in Lake Arrowhead. It's called Casa Coyotes and is located in "The Village" next door to Jeffrey Bean. She urged the audience to visit it.

- Marina posed for a photo with a baby dressed as a Borg. When the baby's father said that she had posed for a photo with the baby two years ago in Boise, Idaho, Marina replied that it's going to become a continuing family album since she would keep posing for photos with the growing child as time progressd. Then she realized what she just said and jokingly became depressed.

- Marina said she straightened her hair because she got sick of her curly hair.

- The only time Marina's real hair was seen on THE NEXT GENERATION was in "Encounter at Farpoint." She referred to it as "the exploding Brillo hair."

- Terry then ran onstage from signing autographs to say hi and hug Marina, and Marina then said that "Me and Dornie (her nickname for Michael Dorn) are [her] best friends in the whole world."v

- Marina then recounted a story when Terry opened a bottle of wine and the cork unfortunately hit her in the eye and tore her cornea. She called Marina and Marina, who was entertaining a friend at the time, rushed right over to Terry's house to help.

- Terry is Marina's hero because she left STAR TREK and got another role (BECKER) soon thereafter.

- When asked what her favorite THE NEXT GENERATION episode was, Marina decided not to pick an episode she was in, and instead picked "A Measure of a Man" because of its brilliance. She also commented on the fact that "The Best of Both Worlds" was recently voted the best STAR TREK episode ever, and that it was indeed a good episode.

- When asked what her age was, Marina jokingly replied that she was 29 again. She then mentioned that Jonathan Frakes had called to wish her a happy birthday, and jokingly said, "So, you're 29 again."

- Marina said that from here, Troi should go on to the next STAR TREK movie (duh).

- Marina commented that something new with Troi is always being done in the films, so she's happy with her character's development, whether it's "driving the ship" in GENERATIONS (which the audience laughed about since the Enterprise-D crashed), being "funny" (she said "not drunk... FUNNY") in FIRST CONTACT, and light-hearted in INSURRECTION.

- Marina said she wouldn't mind if Troi was captain "in an alternate universe."

- "If you bring gifts you get a [close-up] picture [of me onstage]." - Marina

- "Life Line" airs in May and Marina said she still fits in her spacesuit.

- According to Marina, the next STAR TREK film is being talked about, with meetings happening and stories being written.

- "There's good stuff for Troi, or so I'm told." - Marina about the next STAR TREK film.

- In "Life Line," Troi gets to lose her temper and she eats ice cream again.

- Marina mentioned how she plays "old [Counselor] Troi" on television (both THE NEXT GENERATION and VOYAGER) and "new wacky Troi" in the films.

- "On our ship, the captain designed our outfits." - Marina

- Marina's dog is now nine years old (in human years).

- Marina loved working on GARGOYLES as Demona. She was originally up for the role of the policewoman, but the producers decided to go with her as Demona. In fact, she was the only one on their list for the part. She joked that playing someone mean was a total stretch.

- In the same vein as the Borg-costumed baby, a girl showed Marina a photo of her at four months posing with Marina. When Marina asked the girl how old she was now, the girl replied that she was 12 years old. Marina then jokingly got depressed again. I think the whole audience did!

- In "Pathfinder," the scenes Marina filmed were just with Dwight Schultz, and it felt like she was filming THE NEXT GENERATION again because the soundstage and crew were the same for both TNG and VOYAGER. She jokingly said she felt like a queen again.

- "So this is VOYAGER. I like it." - Marina

- Marina then jokingly said she didn't like it and wanted the Enterprise back on Stages 8 and 9 again.

- "That's another way to get a photo. Tell me I'm the most beautiful woman on STAR TREK ever." - Marina

- "Did you come all the way from England to see us? To see me? Okay, two photos." - Marina

- Marina has a feeling that the next STAR TREK film will be the last one for THE NEXT GENERATION cast, and asked the audience to support it.

- Marina said the thing that keeps much of THE NEXT GENERATION cast going is doing the conventions because of the love the fans give her when she can't get that same kind of love elsewhere.

Marina then closed her onstage appearance with her usual but genuine thank you to the audience for supporting her and getting her to where she is today.

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