Star Trek: Voyager’s Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) is a professional actor taking over the previously fan-run Trek Track at Dragon*Con this year.
Dragon*Con recently dispatched longtime TrekTrak director Eric Watts “with thanks” for his 17 years of service and promised attendees that “nothing has prepared you for what we have in store for this year’s ‘Trek Track.’”
Wang, best known for his role as Ensign Harry Kim in Star Trek: Voyager, accepted the position of Trek Track director. In his seven seasons on the popular series, Wang became a fan favorite as the clarinet-playing operations officer of the USS Voyager.
The Dragon*Con announcement called Wang “a science fiction fan as well as a Star Trek insider [who] will bring a fresh perspective to this year’s programming.”
I worked with him on the semi-pro production, Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, where he was very pleasant to work with. As the script supervisor, I spent a lot of time with him on set — a physically grueling experience where temperature went well over 100 degrees, even at night — and he was always professional and uncomplaining.
The track directors at Dragon*Con appear to be from the Atlanta area, where Dragon*Con is held every Labor Day weekend, so I’m guessing a lot of the grunt work (those directors work really hard, trust me) will be delegated.
The traditional Miss Klingon Empire beauty pageant is being replaced by the Miss Star Trek Universe competition. In addition, Dragon*Con has secured the following Trek guests for this year:
From Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Avery Brooks (Captain Benjamin Sisko), Rene Auberjonois (Odo) and Armin Shimerman (Quark) will be in attendance.
Jonathan Frakes (Commander Will Riker), Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi), and John DeLancie (the enigmatic Q) will represent Star Trek: The Next Generation. More Star Trek guests will be announced on the Dragon*Con website as appearances are confirmed.
Ticketing and other convention information can be found at www.dragoncon.org.
(Full disclosure: I’ve been a Dragon*Con and TrekTrak guest since 2005, and former director Eric Watts is a good friend of mine. I have been invited to return as a guest for 2010, as well.)
It will be interesting to see how Dragon*Con navigates this big change in their Trek Track’s management.
