Conventions in the 1970s.

Convention season is officially upon us. Among the gatherings that await fans are Comic-Con International in San Diego, Star Trek Las Vegas, the gaming convention Gen Con in Indianapolis, Atlanta's Dragon Con, New York Comic Con, Mission New York by ReedPOP and CBS … and the list goes on and on.

Today, pop-culture conventions of all kinds are commonplace; but in the 1970s they were new and different. These conventions weren't sponsored by financial entertainment juggernauts. Instead, they were organized by superfans—and in the case of Star Trek they had a secondary agenda: to keep the series alive!

The phrase "Star Trek Lives!" was used on flyers advertising the first big Trek convention, held in New York City in 1972. It was also part of the Star Trek revival campaign undertaken by fans in the early 1970s.

In this episode of Saturday Morning Trek, host Aaron Harvey explores the early Star Trek conventions and see how they became the template for today's cons.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Early Fandom (00:05:24) 1973 Convention Clip (00:07:31) The First Star Trek Convention (00:14:46) The Actual First Convention (00:19:33) Saturday Night Live Skit (00:23:47) Next Generation Fandom (00:35:57) Palmolive Commercial (00:51:48) Fandom Outside the US (00:52:26) Larry Nemecek's Con Story (01:01:51) Star Trek: The Motion Picture Teaser (01:06:49) Closing (01:11:31)

Host Aaron Harvey

Production Aaron Harvey (Editor and Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Charlynn Schmiedt (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Executive Producer) Eric Extreme (Associate Producer) Mike Bovia (Associate Producer) Joo Kim (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager)