‘Star Trek’ Convention Beams Into NYC With ‘The Voyage Home’ Staged Reading, Cast Reunions and Shatner

There’s been nothing final about the frontiers that Star Trek has opened up, and the upcoming 50th anniversary of the franchise is offering plenty of proof. On the eve of the legendary sci-fi show’s golden milestone (the original series premiered September 8, 1966 on NBC), thousands of fans will converge on Manhattan for a Trek-tacular celebration. Star Trek: Mission New York beams down to the Javits Center from September 2–4.

Among the event’s highlights is a staged reading of the movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this fall). The film featured the Enterprise crew traveling back in time to 1986 San Francisco in a search for humpback whales that could help avert an interplanetary crisis in the year 2286. (Don’t you just love science fiction?!)

This reinterpreted production of the film features The Man in the High Castle‘s Arnold Chun as Spock, Anna George (New Girl) as Uhura, John Harlan Kim (The Librarians) as Sulu, Nadia Dajani (Elementary) as Gillian, Katarina Mohracova (The Knick) as Chekov and Robert Clohessy (Blue Bloods) as the Klingon ambassador. Organizers are promising “a very special surprise” for the role of Admiral James T. Kirk.

Star Trek IV Live will be held on Saturday, September 3 at 5pm.

Other highlights from the convention (which is being produced by ReedPOP, the folks behind New York Comic Con) include panels with original series stars William Shatner (Kirk) and Walter Koenig (Chekov); tributes to Leonard Nimoy (Spock); reunions with the casts of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise; one-on-one conversations with Rod Roddenberry, the son of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and David Gerrold, the original series writer penned the iconic episode “The Trouble With Tribbles”; a Star Trek spelling bee; a look back at the very first Trek convention in 1972; and, of course, a cosplay contest.

The full Star Trek: Mission New York programming schedule can be found here and tickets can be purchased here.