The biggest convention on the Star Trek calendar has to be the annual soirée at the Rio All Suites hosted by Creation Entertainment.  Spanning five days the panels, autographs, cosplayers and news will cover the entire gamut of the franchise we love.  And this year promises to be no different with guests including George Takei, Jeri Ryan, Brent Spiner and Rainn Wilson.

On top of that, the party continues into the night with themed parties, Saturday’s promises to be epic as the Gala Celebration will play host to a 45 piece orchestra performing, including guest conductor Jeff Russo with his Star Trek: Discovery theme (a world first) and Dennis McCarthy conducting the Deep Space Nine suite.

Discovery promises to be front and centre of proceedings with what’s sure to be some sneak peaks at the forthcoming second season – quite a number of the cast are confirmed to be in attendance. There’ll also be an exhibit featuring the props and costumes from the latest iteration of the franchise.

Chase Masterson, Max Grodenchik and Aron Eisenberg will be reunited on stage to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Deep Space Nine, along with a special screening of Far Beyond The Stars and a panel Q&A afterwards, plus a look into the documentary What We Left Behind.

What’s a Star Trek convention without our Captains? (At least some of them) – William Shatner, Kate Mulgrew and Jason Isaacs will be on stage in separate appearances.  I’m sure there’ll be more panels and stage shows…

The August 1-5 convention is expected to play host to 15, 000 Trekkies and 120 guests, continuing a decade-long tradition of celebrating our beloved franchise.

1701 News and The Trekzone Plexus Facebook page will have daily wraps from the convention, while The Trekzone Plexus on Twitter will provide an aggregated feed of highlights from the convention… so be sure to like, follow and subscribe!