Heard a tourism ad for Key West, Florida which has the line “There’s only one road into Key West[…]” on The D-Con Chamber podcast. This is where my mind went.

EDIT: For anyone doubting the validity of a YouTube channel, Ellie Littlechild and Seán Ferrick are people that attend Trek events. I met Seán at STLV last year. On top of this they have interviewed Mulgrew. While this news is unconfirmed as Ellie stated, Seán relayed this information second hand from Star Trek: The Cruise, which featured the cast of Voyager for its 30th anniversary.

This special announcement comes after previously announcing Bruce Greenwood (Captain Pike) and Jennifer Morrison (Winona Kirk) from ST09 for the convention.

Various ticket packages are available (which mainly include access to the park itself). Tickets start at $74 (Sunday dates), $79 (Friday dates) and $84 (Saturday dates).

If you are interested in cosplaying, the website has a list of restrictions. The ones I noted that would apply to Trekkies are no phasers, no balloons (I saw a person with balloons at STLV), or service animals in costume/part of costume (I saw this too at STLV). So please read the list before dressing up.

A big disclaimer at the top here that I am going to be discussing familial death.

Hello to everyone reading this. Not sure why I am greeting you, the reader. Last week my maternal grandfather passed away. He was in hospice care with bone cancer and overall poor health. The lead up to being admitted into hospice was a sudden and unexpected turn. During my grandfather’s final days, my family set up a computer at the foot of his bed so we could watch shows with him. Regardless if he was awake or not I took time by his side and watched Enterprise. As an important side note, I have always lived with my grandparents (I’m Filipino; this is a cultural thing).

In the week since my grandfather’s passing, I have been rewatching Enterprise. When the show first broadcast in 2001, I was 10-years-old. I grew up watching TNG, seeing First Contact and Insurrection in theaters and going on The Klingon Encounter attraction at Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas. For me, my grandfather was the Star Trek fan who I looked up to. I watched it because he did. So when Enterprise premiered, it was the first series I was old enough to watch in completion during its first run broadcast. I remember my grandfather being excited for “Broken Bow”. He let me stay up late on Wednesdays (and later Fridays if I recall correctly, when the timeslot changed) to watch with him.

Getting to watch Enterprise at the age of 10 to 13 (“These Are the Voyages…” aired four days before my 14th birthday) had a big impact on me. I didn’t realize till later as an adult when I finally took the time to watch all of Classic Trek and then all of New Trek (circa November 2023) how much Star Trek meant to me. You’d be hard pressed to not find me wearing a badge on a daily basis. As a Southern California resident, I drove out to Beverly Hills to attend the advanced screening of the Discovery finale in May. Then in August I finally attended my first convention: STLV.

I am writing this as my way of being reflective. Watching Enterprise with my grandfather is one of the happiest memories from my childhood. I miss my grandfather so much. Each time I watch an Enterprise episode, I feel like a kid all over. This brings me joy during a time of grief. I intimately associate Enterprise with my grandfather.

Someday in the future I want to get a tattoo of the mission patch in honor of my grandfather.

The way The Doctor is able to change appearance so quickly, jump through glass panes and that hallway wall running, scream Matrix to me.

Biggest take away: Wang was cast in Picard season 3, promoted to admiral, and over time cut out before production.