By Bruce Barton

So here we are, another school year is under way, another summer break officially over. Our family usually goes on one last trip just before school begins, and this year was no exception. However, the destination was.

While Tahoe is usually our annual August resting spot, this year it was Vegas, of all places. The annual Star Trek convention was in town and the kids enjoyed some of the early “Star Trek” episodes. So we figured it would be fun and different.

It was a so-so experience. I’m no player, so I’m not drawn to the casinos or the cheesy floor shows for that matter. But the Star Trek lure turned out to be as artificial as the rest of the “action” on the Strip.

One room housed a bunch of former actors who had made cameo appearances in various Trek episodes. They were all pushing autographs, for a fee, of course, and they all seemed to be writing books and running “production companies.” I told Bobby Clark, who played the Gorn King in the first series, that I had seen a lifesize model of the reptilian character at the Hilton’s Star Trek: The Experience attraction. He tried recruiting me to go over and lobby management so they would allow him to sign autographs over there and pick up a few extra bucks. Geez.

Another room was a big merchandising warehouse that basically included anything and everything relative to sci-fi/fantasy from the past 50 years. Autographed pictures of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, yes, but also actors on every series from “Lost” to “Battlestar Galactica.” Videos, trading cards, toys, comics - and more celebrities pushing autographs.

For instance, I talked a little to Bob May, the guy who played the robot on the 1960s TV series “Lost in Space,” an outer space version of the Swiss Family Robinson. May remained proud of his role, talking about how he developed the character and how the robot was the star of the series. Lots of nostalgia being traded around, to be sure.

The giant actor, Richard Kiel, who played Jaws in James Bond movies, also was there, leaning back in his tiny seat. My wife asked him if he had ever been on “Star Trek”. “No,” he said. We started to move away. He said, “Does this mean we failed the test?”

In the middle of all the convention clutter was Google, whose large, shiny, white booth offered visitors the opportunity to find their homes on computerized aerial maps that could pinpoint virtually any place in the world. I couldn’t really determine exactly why Google was in the middle of this sci-fi merchandising fest, except that the Mountain View-based high-tech giant succeeded in creating the impression that Google is everywhere.

Yet another large room, with hundreds of chairs facing a large stage, featured question-and-answer segments from various Trek actors over the years. We stumbled across Mariette Hartley, who took questions from adoring fans about her few bit roles in the original series. Frankly, I knew her more from her Polaroid TV commercials with James Garner and the resultant, “I am not Mrs. James Garner” slogan.

One more observation about Vegas in general: Why are people cold and shivering when summer days are 100 degrees and more? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the air conditioning.