Starlogging With David McDonnell: Saddest Trek Encounter Ever

I’ve met a lot of Star Trek people.Editing Starlog and three different series of Trek licensed publications (Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, plus one-shots devoted to some of the movies), I oversaw multiple interviews with hundreds of different Trek folks (actors, writers, directors, producers, technicians, novelists, etc.). And thanks mostly to SF conventions and press events, I’ve even met a number of them. The saddest one of all was the late Angelique Pettyjohn.Now, I’ve debated the appropriateness of indulging in this memory play, but since it was a public event of a science fictional nature, it seems fair to comment. I certainly don’t mean to disparage Pettyjohn, but my encounter with the actress was offbeat, poignant and, well, uncomfortable.

It was 1985 or 1986—and one of the initial Los Angeles Starlog Festivals, this con was held, I think, at the historic but decaying Ambassador Hotel, once a vibrant part of the city’s social scene, but by then a fading backdrop to tragedy. It’s where Robert F. Kennedy, brother to a slain U.S. President and vying himself for that same office, was assassinated in 1968. Over the years, its urban surroundings had deteriorated, leaving the Ambassador as a somewhat threadbare jewel in the tarnished crown of Los Angeles. It was the perfect setting, not so much for an SF convention but a horror movie (and indeed numerous films and TV shows used the Ambassador as a shooting location, decades after it played host to early Oscar award ceremonies).Starlog’s name had been licensed by Creation Entertainment for these events, and although the magazine’s staff suggested guests and programming, Creation’s longtime partners Adam Malin and Gary Berman ran the show and made the major decisions. Unlike Starlog Festivals in other cities, the Los Angeles conventions didn’t have to budget for guest air travel, hotel rooms, food and such expenses. Since the celebrities were local, costs were lower (and may have been reduced further by the use of the well-worn Ambassador; other LA Starlog events utilized the more-inviting LAX Airport Marriott and the fabled Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim).We knew who the guests were (drawn from various SF movies and TV shows), but not all of the specifics of what they were to do. So, Starlog publisher Kerry O’Quinn, special FX editor David Hutchison and editor (me) were surprised by Pettyjohn’s Saturday night performance (as part of the events filling out the evening). Her claim to science fiction fame, of course, was "The Gamesters of Triskelion," an episode of Star Trek, broadcast in 1968. Frankly, it’s not one of the better Classic Treks. Maybe you remember it? Kirk, Chekov and Uhura are forced into fun and games in the gladiatorial arena on the planet Triskelion. Pettyjohn plays Shahna, a slave/fight trainer who represents both the fun and the games for Kirk. Fortunately, (SPOILER ALERT!) Kirk applies his action hero brand of seductive starship diplomacy and frees the thralls.

That night at the LA Starlog Festival, Pettyjohn donned a homemade replica of her original William Ware Theiss-designed, scanty outfit. It looked partly made of aluminum foil. As footage of her (then-) almost-20-year-old Trek appearance played on the screen above at the front of the hotel banquet room and a music track blared, Pettyjohn danced. She weaved and ducked. She haphazardly waved around a metallic, duct-taped facsimile of whatever Triskelionic prop she had used as a drill thrall (alien battle axe or cosmic can opener?).At least three jaws dropped and mouths remained open in shock and awe—Kerry’s, Hutch’s and mine. This was misconceived, a bad idea, an embarrassment. Her dance was intended to be exciting, nostalgic, futuristic and (probably) erotic. But this amateurish Trek rock video/live performance art just came off as...well, awful.