INTERVIEW: Connor Trinneer to celebrate ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Stargate’ at Sci-Fi Summit in NJ
Photo: Connor Trinneer, of Star Trek: Enterprise and Stargate Atlantis fame, will appear at Creation Entertainment’s Sci-Fi Summit in New Jersey. Photo courtesy of Creation / Provided by official site.
At a science fiction convention, celebrities get to meet their beloved fan base, people who have devotedly watched their shows and their characters on television and the big screen. It’s a special treat to be known for a cherished character in the world of sci-fi, but it’s doubly special to be known for two characters. That’s the case with Connor Trinneer, an accomplished actor who played Charles “Trip” Tucker on Star Trek: Enterprise and Michael on Stargate Atlantis.
Trinneer will be on hand at Creation Entertainment’s Sci-Fi Summit this weekend in Edison, New Jersey, to celebrate both characters and both franchises. His appearance, which includes a stage Q&A, VIP meet and greet, autographs and photo ops, will take place Sunday, Sept. 12. Joining him at the convention will be many others from the Star Trek universe, including William Shatner from Star Trek: The Original Series; Sonequa Martin-Green, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, David Ajala, Mary Chieffo and Noah Averbach-Katz from Star Trek: Discovery; Isa Briones, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora and Jonathan Del Arco from Star Trek: Picard; and Terry Farrell, Nana Visitor and Jeffrey Combs from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It should be noted for real Trekkers that Del Arco also starred in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Combs pulled double duty on Trinneer’s show, Star Trek: Enterprise.
“I love them,” Trinneer said of the conventions. “Yeah, they’re great. I’ve been able to travel the world going to conventions and meeting fans and having extraordinary experiences, being taken around the places that I travel to. It’s collectively worldwide a very interesting group of people.”
When Trinneer first signed up to play Trip on Enterprise he knew a little about the convention scene, and frankly he was nervous about appearing on stage in front of adulating Trekkers. He talked to some other actors who had made the jump into the con world, including his good friend Dominic Keating, and he decided to give it a whirl.
“My first convention would be Portland, Oregon, which is about 45 minutes from my hometown because I’d have my family in the audience,” he said with a laugh. “A couple big giant Klingons opened the curtain for me to come out on stage, and I was pretty nervous. But quickly I got my sea legs, and from that point forward, when the show was on, I did a ton of them. I probably do four to six a year around the world. Usually one year it’s domestic, and one year it’s international. I would highly recommend them to anyone. It’s a couple of things. One, you get paid to go to great places, and two you have this opportunity to go meet people who are very well-versed on your show and all the shows, and who tend to be really interesting people.”
This particular convention, which takes place at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison, New Jersey, will look and feel slightly different than previous incarnations. The COVID-19 pandemic is still a problematic reality in the world, including in New Jersey, so that means fans must be vaccinated or have a negative test upon entry. Masks will be required indoors, and attendees should expect less intimate encounters with the celebrities on hand.
“Well, I had done the Vegas convention a few weeks ago,” Trinneer said about Creation’s annual bash in August. “We had a Plexiglass partition in front of us, and there was a partition in between us for photo ops. I was a little concerned. I’m vaccinated, so I did feel that I was safer than if I hadn’t been. … To me, the truth is, look, we got to do the best we can. We’ve got to keep moving forward. We can’t just sit in the mire of this, and that was one of the reasons I decided to go.”
Trinneer looks back on his time with the cast and crew of Star Trek: Enterprise and has nothing but good memories. He did wish that the series went the full distance of seven seasons, much like TNG, DS9 and Star Trek: Voyager, but his character — spoiler alert — received a full arc, albeit a sad one.
“Well, we always would have liked to go the full distance, but listen the reality of being actor is that you lose your job all the time,” he said. “It’s just what happens. I get a lot of people who walk up to me and say that the final episode they didn’t like because my character was killed off. They’re often, to a person, surprised when I say, ‘I feel differently.’ I actually like the way that went. I’m the only character on the show that you got to see the full arc of them. For the actor, that’s really satisfying. You got to tell a story, and the story ended. I take a lot of satisfaction in the fact that I told the story of Trip.”
The actor fully expects to answer questions at the con beyond Star Trek because he’s also part of that other enormous “S” sci-fi franchise: Stargate, which sometimes holds its own fan conventions. At the Sci-Fi Summit, all shows and questions across the genre are welcome. In fact, joining the Trek guests will be Emily Swallow from The Mandalorian; Mark Jackson and Penny Johnson Jerald from The Orville; Tom Cavanagh and Danielle Nicolet from The Flash; and Steven Strait and Wes Chatham from The Expanse. Again, for Trekkers, it should be noted that Jerald was also a prominent cast member on DS9.
Trinneer remembers when Enterprise called it a day, and he didn’t want to continue in the science fiction genre, at least not right away. But then he received an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“I had said as the show ended to my agent that, ‘Hey, listen, I don’t think I want to do another sci-fi thing right out of the gate,'” Trinneer said. “But I saw this character of Michael on the breakdowns [for Stargate Atlantis] and called him up and said, ‘I know I said what I said, but ignore that. Can I get a read for this?’ He said, ‘Yeah, sure, let me check.’ So he called them up and called me back five minutes later and said, ‘It’s yours if you want it,’ so I jumped at it because I knew the description of the character. I didn’t know that he was going to quite have the presence on that show that he wound up having, but yeah that came right on the heels of [Enterprise].”
And now Trinneer is that rare actor who has a foot in two separate fandoms that are connected by their unique, beloved genre. Long live sci-fi!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Creation Entertainment’s Sci-Fi Summit will take place Sept. 10-12 at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in Edison, New Jersey. Click here for more information. Tickets are available in person.
