Celebrities and fans alike will gather this weekend to fete James Doohan as the Alzheimer's-afflicted actor attends his final convention and receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

StarTrek.com and several other news sources are covering the festivities for the beloved Scotty, who will appear onstage along with all the surviving original series cast members — William Shatner (Kirk), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), George Takei (Sulu), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Grace Lee Whitney (Rand) and Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Chapel, Lwaxana Troi). The convention, entitled "Beam Me Up Scotty…One Last Time", will take place beginning this Friday at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Friday night events include an art exhibition and a party featuring entertainment by The Muddflapps fronted by Doohan's son, Chris. The convention beginning Saturday will include appearances by Star Trek: Voyager's Tim Russ, Star Trek: The Next Generation's LeVar Burton and Michael Dorn, actor Ben Stiller, astronaut Neil Armstrong, baseball player Jose Canseco and the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, Eugene Roddenberry, Jr.

The Saturday night banquet will benefit the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research, while the convention will conclude Sunday with an onstage appearance by the entire cast of the original series minus DeForest Kelley (McCoy), who died in 1999. On Monday, Doohan and Takei will lead a tour of the Hollywood Entertainment Museum where fans can sit on the Next Generation bridge set. Then on Tuesday, August 31st, Doohan will receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

StarTrek.com's report is available here. Additional coverage is at The Ventura County Star and The Indy Star. For more information on the convention, visit Planet Xpo. The Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation can be reached here.

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!