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Vulcan beaming with pride |
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Written by Caroline Zentner Lethbridge Herald
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Thursday, January 21 2010, 9:05 PM |
Spock is once again helping Vulcan live long and prosper and this time he’s doing it in person.
Leonard Nimoy is scheduled to visit Vulcan April 23 before his appearance at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo April 24 and 25.
“It’s one of those few occasions where I’m almost speechless,” said Dayna Dickens, Vulcan’s tourism co-ordinator. “It’s just such a wonderful gift for us.”
Nimoy is the guest of honour at the Expo and organizers decided to include a visit to Vulcan to help promote their event and help the town celebrate its new status as official Star Trek capital of Canada.
At the Expo, a show dedicated to comics and other pop culture genres like sci-fi, fantasy, anime, gaming, animation and horror, plans include a panel discussion called Spock vs. Data between Nimoy and Brent Spiner, who portrayed the android Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other events are still in the works, said Kandrix Foong, Expo organizer.
Spock’s visit to Vulcan will be the highlight of new Trek developments in the upcoming months.
“He’s been such a fantastic ambassador for the town of Vulcan ever since he telephoned us last March,” Dickens said. “It’s been an incredible blessing and an amazing ride for us.”
She was referring to the phone call she received after the town learned it wouldn’t be hosting the premiere of the Star Trek XI movie released last spring. Nimoy was critical of Paramount Pictures’ decision not to award the premiere to Vulcan. Then Paramount put together a special pre-screening for Vulcan residents in a Calgary theatre. Even though Vulcan didn’t land the premiere, the two-year campaign leading up to the release of the movie generated publicity for the town and visitor numbers spiked in response. New ideas are in the works for this year.
“We are now formally licenced with CBS and we are the official Star Trek capital of Canada,” she said. “That’s going to open up huge opportunities for Star Trek fans and certainly for the town of Vulcan.”
A line of licensed collectible merchandise will be launched and the town is also working on creating unique products like Star Trek bottled water and Vulcan jerky.
“All of our Vulcan souvenirs now will be collectibles because they will be created with Star Trek imagery and they will only be available in Vulcan County,” Dickens said.
Vulcan has commissioned a lifesize bronze bust of Mr. Spock which Nimoy will be asked to unveil during his visit.
“We’re going to ask him to make his iconic, live-long-and-prosper hand sign that we’re going to immortalize in bronze as well. It’ll be a wonderful new attraction for people to put their hand in the hand of Spock himself when they come to visit,” Dickens said.
More celebrations are being planned for this year’s Spock Days when the Vulcans invade Vulcan. Tim Russ, who portrayed the Vulcan Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, will be the celebrity guest at Spock Days.
“It’s shaping up to be a really exciting year for the town from a tourism standpoint,” Dickens said.
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