Well my biggest piece of advice to you would be to say fuck the gatekeeping asshats who think people have to “prove” their interest in Star Trek by “quizzing” them on pointless details that no one should have any reason to know/remember. These people are basically subhuman garbage depositaries with no value themselves, and they know it. They’re steeping with insecurities, and they take it out on other fans, because quite frankly….it’s probably all they have going for themselves. 

However, I realize that saying “fuck the haters” and throwing up your zero-shits-given middle fingers and aviator sunglasses isn’t necessarily the most realistic of solutions for a lot of people. It takes extreme levels of confidence and years worth of built-up self esteem to get to that point of no longer caring what the “diehard fans” think, or even just realizing that you’re better than they are because you don’t stoop to their [repugnantly low] level. Just know that I got into Star Trek through the new films too, and the manner in which you got into Star Trek doesn’t invalidate how much you enjoy it presently. The new films were created/designed for the sole purpose of bringing in new fans, and the fact that we’re both here means that they did their job. If older fans look down on people who got brought in by the reboots, they clearly are missing the entire point.

Now…as for advice on how to handle these scumbag losers, should you ever have to encounter them:

-Because this is a convention, knowing who the cast members are is crucial—particularly the ones who will be there. It helps to write down a list of the cast members from each show, specifically with which character(s) they played. That way, if you see their names on the panel lineup, you at least know “oh, this person was X character on X show!” Since it’s ComicCon, really any actor from any show/movie is fair game (except the dead ones, of course, may they rest in peace). 

-If you have a way of figuring out which actors are going to be there in advance, try to read (or at least skim) their Wikipedia pages so you can get a more well-rounded sense of who they are as a person. You might be surprised which random facts stick out to you and you find worthy of remembering. For example, I can’t ever forget that Nichelle Nichols left home at age 16 to be a dancer/singer, Leonard Nimoy’s second wife Susan Bay (also called Susan Nimoy) worked on Deep Space Nine, Brent Spiner is the godfather to Gates McFadden’s son, Grace Lee Whitney was the original model for the Chicken of the Sea Mermaid in the 1950s, Marina Sirtis was forced to wear those weird catsuit outfits as Counselor Troi because of sexist double standards designating that she was “too fat” for the uniform, James Doohan prevented a girl from committing suicide because he kept inviting her to conventions and giving her things to look forward to, Walter Koenig’s father pronounced it “nuclear wessels” and that’s where he got the basis for his Russian accent as Chekov, and DeForest Kelley never had kids but instead adopted a ton of animals with his wife. Yeah, that’s some…random shit to remember off the top of your head for no reason. And this information isn’t even useful or valuable in any way whatsoever. It’s completely meaningless, but it may be worthwhile in dismantling gatekeepers. 

-I’m not sure how far you are into the Trek universe or how many shows/movies you’ve seen, but the best thing to do is to pick discussion sub-topics you’re passionate about. Not only will you remember them better, but you’ll present as significantly more “devoted” to those gatekeeping jerks. You’re a fan for a reason, so clearly something drew you to Star Trek. Figure out what it was, and research the hell out of it. For me, that was Spock and the Vulcans, which led me to researching Leonard Nimoy too, because he was basically responsible for the development of the entire Vulcan culture (at least in TOS and the original movies). I haven’t watched all of the shows or read all the novels, but Memory Alpha is a great place for exploring comprehensive guides for all existing canon, which includes specifying what their original sources were. 

-Speaking of Memory Alpha, it’s a great place to learn a lot about the Trek Universe in a very condensed amount of time. I read the entire pre-reform/Time of Awakening segment in under 5 minutes, and the whole rest of the Vulcan History page in under 10. That’s a topic that would normally take hours upon hours of reading novels, watching Enterprise, or going way out of your way to search through the depths of fanon hell to find out about. This isn’t to say that I know everything about this topic now—not by a long shot. But I have a solid foundation of it, and could easily fake my way through a conversation with someone who knows significantly more about it than I do. 

-In-universe historical events are good places to start with exploring available canon. The Tarsus IV Massacre is one of my personal favorites, but the fanon runs deep and the canon doesn’t tell us much, so in terms of canon, it may be better to stick to things like the Bajoran/Cardassian wars, The Delta Quadrant’s encounters with The Borg, The Vulcan/Romulan Reunification, or just researching an entire species of staple aliens such as the Klingons or Betazoids. Knowing the various alien cultures can always be helpful, especially if you’re dressed as a Vulcan. Just make sure that whichever topics you pick are things that you’re genuinely interested in, because this should be fun/enjoyable for you, first and foremost. 

-Knowing the fanon interpretations is equally useful as knowing the canon information. @pywren writes very impressive meta analyses on a large array of Star Trek topics, so I highly recommend you read some of those (I believe the tag is #pywrenmeta) once you find you’re confident with your knowledge of the canon information that they’re dissecting. Figure out which ones most grab your interests, and look for more fanon discussions on those topics. 

-If you don’t like reading things, watch the documentary “Trekkies” instead. It’s narrated by Denise Crosby, who played Tasha Yar on TNG. She’s a wonderful woman with a brilliant sense of humor, and that documentary highlights some crucial moments in Star Trek history, such as Gene Roddenberry’s story behind the development of Star Trek to the very first fan conventions created/held in the 1970s. Denise interviews various cast members expanding across all shows (except Enterprise, since it wasn’t out when she made this), and they all tell their own stories. It outlines not just Star Trek itself but the impact it had on the cast members and fans in a really comprehensible way. Yes, it’s mostly random anecdotes, but it’s also a documentary. And there’s nothing saying that documentaries can’t be equally entertaining as they are informative. 

-Have fun with this. Don’t worry about encountering the “oMG FAKE FAN!!!11!!1!” types. Don’t let their hypothetical existence ruin your convention experience, because for the most part, they either never left their basements in the first place, or they’ll leave you alone entirely. However, if they do decide to attack, hopefully you’ll be armed with enough knowledge to shut them down and invalidate their displaced insecurities. And remember, you can always just roll your eyes and walk away from them. 

I hope that this was at least somewhat slightly helpful. I really wish that people could be more accepting of the varying experiences that fans have, so new fans wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with this crap before they even go to the convention. I know that Trekkies in particular have a reputation for doing this, but I really hope that we as a community here are helping to change that, at least starting with being more accepting of each other. After all, that’s what Star Trek is really about.

LLAP, and I hope your convention experience is a good one. 🖖