Star Trek at McCormick place? Make it so! (Sorry I had to!) Well, Star Trek Mission Chicago DID make it happen this past weekend, April 8th through the 10th at McCormick place in downtown Chicago. 

I walked into the convention and was immediately greeted by lots of nerds just like me! There were red shirts (no casualties phew), and blue shirts, and my favorite, yellow shirts. There were also alien cosplays, people in dress uniforms, and even people dressed as iconic character races like Ferengi and Vulcans. I attended donning my “I survived the Delta Quadrant and all I got was this lousy teeshirt” shirt, and my Star Trek Next Generation sweater – that I just bought at the show, and my Trekkie mom wore her Janeway shirt so we fit right in!   

I admit I was disappointed at the small number of vendors that were at the show. I would say there was less than 50 there. The ones that were there though didn’t disappoint! They came supplied with artwork, toys, collectables, homemade creations, clothes, and other cool stuff. I bought some stuff from as well, including some tea from Apothecary Tea. You could even get ink down at Ink Fusion tattoos! In fact I saw a couple people get an autograph done on their arm from their favorite actor then go and get it permanently inked onto them. I wish to strive to that level of awesome nerdism.

What lacked in vendors was made up for in celebs! There were lots of actors at Star Trek Mission Chicago from all shows, and some from multiple shows. The big names this year were William Shatner (Original series), Kate Mulgrew (Voyager), George Takai (original series), and Walter Koenig (OS). Will Wheaton (Net Gen) and Doug Jones (known for lots of things!) were also some big draws this year, and all were super nice, especially Doug Jones  🙂 There were a ton of others there as well and I can’t list them all here, but they were all very nice and all clearly love their fans! Oh and keep an eye open for my really nervous interview with Chase Masterson (Leeta Deep Space Nine) and her anti bullying campaign!       

If you didn’t have money to spend but still wanted to have fun, there were a lot of panels as well. These panels gave the actors a way to not only get info out to their fans (like book promotions!) but also allowed fans to ask questions that they might not have had a chance to do when they were getting a photo or autograph. 

Star Trek Mission Chicago had a couple exhibits to experience as well. One exhibit allowed fans to step inside a booth and experience a surround 4D star ship experience without needing to wear those annoying headsets. There were four different views, allowing fans to feel like they are looking out the window of an actual Starship. They also premiered the new costumes and props from the upcoming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Very cool to see! And Photo Ops! You can sit in a real (replica) of a captain’s chair and take a picture in front of a green screen to have your own Starship captain picture!

One gripe I had about Star Trek Mission Chicago was it was a tad expensive. I thought that charging $40-$60 to cover such a tiny convention was a lot. I understand that there are fees and such that the convention has to pay, but I managed to do everything I wanted to do in just one day, so there was no way I would’ve needed to buy a whole three day badge.    

Overall I thought Star Trek Mission Chicago was a great attempt at bringing people back into the convention scene after all this Covid stuff. I loved all the celebs, I loved the photo ops and exhibits, but I really would’ve liked to see more vendors  but there were fun panels, interactive exhibits, and lots of celebs. I give it 3 ½ outta five baby dragons. 

If you missed Star Trek Mission Chicago you have another chance to check it out in Seattle! Road Trip!! For more information on Star Trek Mission conventions, check out their website https://www.startrekmissions.com/en-us.html. Live long and trek on all!