This segment from what has to be local news on a 1976 Star Trek convention being held in Northglenn Mall in Denver, Colorado, is fairly amazing. Not just for the fans, who are awesome, nor for the reporter, who is unintentionally hilarious. But for the reminder that all these decades later, cons really haven’t changed that much.
From the show floor to the autograph tables (oh man, look how young Leonard Nimoy and James Doohan look!) to the cosplay runway, all of the things in this video are recognizably the same thing we see at cons now. Save the crowds, which nowadays clog up everything and kind of bum us out.
Also, the interviewer? He’s actually the most depressing part of the video. For the way he barks out “Who do you think you are?” at a Kirk cosplayer to the fact that he asks a Caitian if his people are ancestors to Romulans and Vulcans. That question took all the air out of my lungs, and I had to sit down so I wouldn’t be dizzy. That’s just offensive to M’Ress.