Destination Star Trek Birmingham showed Deep Space Nine some serious love on Saturday, Day Two of the epic event in England, with a wide array of panels with stars and creatives, once-in-a-lifetime photo ops and the world premiere of the documentary, What We Left Behind. So much was going on, in fact, that we’re devoting a full, separate highlights piece to it…
Quark Again
Armin Shimerman, courtesy of his longtime DS9 makeup artist, Karen Westerfield, donned Quark’s full makeup and costume for the first time since the show ended. A lucky contingent of fans participating in a private event, got to look on as Westerfield worked her magic, step by step, over three hours, and heard from both Shimerman and Westerfield as Quark spring back to life. (They returned hours later when Shimerman sat down and Westerfield removed his makeup.)
“I always say that Karen helped create Quark as much as I did,” Shimerman notes. “It was her idea to put the maroon shading around my eyes. The makeup accented the eyes, so you could see the eyes better. The other Ferengi characters didn’t have that, and it made a huge difference.”
At the two-hour mark, and well after both Aron Eisenberg and Kitty Swink (Mrs. Shimerman) popped in briefly, Westerfield handed Shimerman a large mirror in which to check himself out. “Good job, Karen,” he announced, playfully adding, “Christ, I look 20 years younger.”
Ferengi Family Reunion
It was a full-on Ferengi Family Reunion, as the gang was back together and, for the first time in nearly 20 years, back in costume. May we present Armin Shimerman as Quark, Chase Masterson as Leeta, Max Grodenchik as Rom and Aron Eisenberg as Nog. The quartet shared memories of the time on the show, the horrors of the makeup, rehearsing at Shimerman’s house, and more.
The actors also posed together for extraordinarily rare photo ops with fans.
And, yes, Shimerman/Quark revisited Quark’s Bar.
Star-Crossed Lovers
Rene Auberjonois and Nana Visitor have lost none of the chemistry that they shared for so long as Odo and Kira on DS9, or so their joint panel proved. There was an endless supply of love, affection, respect and laughter in the room as the two longtime friends played off each other.
Both actors confirmed that the way they interacted with each other on set convinced the writers to pair up Odo and Kira, though Auberjonois had his doubts and still does, a bit. “He was liquid,” Auberjonois explained. “He wasn’t a sexual creature. He was more than that. He was… everything. So, I never knew how that quite was supposed to be working.”
Visitor isn’t sure a character like Kira would fly today: a terrorist? Especially on a Star Trek show. “My character didn’t leave one stone unturned,” Visitor observed. “She got away with a lot. A lot.”
Drinking in Cirroc
Cirroc Lofton – are you ready? -- is 40 years old and stands six-foot-three. And so it was a man talking about his time as a boy on DS9. Lofton shared numerous memories about growing up on the set, chatted about his life today and, as always espoused his affection for Avery Brooks, who was as much his father figure off set as he was on it.
The Red-Carpet Treatment
As the day rolled into the evening at DST, fans were treated to the world premiere of the Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind. Prior to the screening, the film’s subjects and makers mingled with fans – many of them backers of the crowd-sourced project --on the red carpet.
Once the red-carpet festivities concluded and the audience was gathered in the main room, everyone involved directly with the film took a joint bow. Well, nearly everyone. Andrew Robinson somehow hadn’t made it onto the stage. When his colleagues noticed, they literally pulled him up off the floor to join them.
Ira Steven Behr then welcomed everyone. “It took us seven years to make 176 episodes of the show, and it took us five years to do an hour and 54 minutes of this doc,” he said. “After the movie, if you can explain to me why, I would love to hear it.” Behr then asked everyone who backed the film to stand up and requested a round of applause for them. And then it was show time.
Scroll down for more photos from the red carpet premiere:
Armin Shimerman, Kitty Swink and Rene Auberjonois
Vaughn Armstrong
Aron Eisenberg and his fiance
Chase Masterson
Cirroc Lofton
Jeffrey Combs and Casey Biggs
Ira Steven Behr and his wife
Make-up artists Karen Westerfield and John Paladin
Martha Hackett
Max Grodenchik and his wife
Nana Visitor with son, Django
Nicole de Boer and Walter Koenig
Robert O'Reilly
Producers of What We Left Behind
Steve Rankin with his wife
Andrew Robinson, Terry Farrell and Alexander Siddig
