A Big Week In Geek!

There's no shortage of big news and events in the nerd world this week.

The biggest is the Calgary Expo revealing their new dates for the 2021 Expo.

They've pegged Thursday, July 30 through Sunday, August 2, 2021 for the show next year.

Normally it runs in April, but organizers wanted to secure later dates in hopes restrictions around the Coronavirus will have been loosened by then.

There's no gaurantee that's going to happen.

And chances are even if they do the Expo is going to look a whole lot different than in the past.

My bet is if it does go, mask wearing will be in place, and how celebrity photo op's and autographs will work is anyone's guess.

A lot of it will hinge upon the border opening up as well, as most of the celebrity guests will be coming up from the U.S. and other countries.

With no Expos or other gatherings for what will be by then, over two years, you can bet there was some excitement over the announcement.

Believe it or not us geeks are social creatures and love spending time (and our money) at these events.

The last Expo to run in these parts was Vul-Con in 2019.

No word yet on what they're planning for next year, but chances are they're eyeing a return as well, but again, all depending on what the health authorities say.

Speaking of being sociable, the annual "Light the Night Team Tosche Station Walk" is all set for Saturday, October 17 from 6:45 to 8:30 p.m. at the Eau Claire Market in Calgary.

The group is a Star Wars Fan Club I belong to and every year during the "Light the Night" festival in Calgary the group joins in for the walk in support of the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada to help raise funds.

Group members bring their lightsabers for the walk, lighting them up to help raise funds and awareness.

While the "Light the Night" festival is virtual this year, the Tosche Station members will still hold a "socially distant" walk on Saturday.

Donations are appreciated, but if you want to join in bring your lightsaber and meet the group by the YMCA at 6:45 p.m.

Group member Corey Hallisey says there's a great way to double your donation as well.

Hey Light-the-Nighters!

"Hey Light-the-Nighters!

If you want to leverage your company's corporate-matching programs (my employer TC Energy currently has a DOUBLE-matching program happening), and your company subscribes to a service like Benevity, be sure to tag your donation with a comment like: "Please direct my donation and any corporate-matched amount to Team Tosche Station - Calgary Star Wars Fan Force for the Light the Night Walk."

This will ensure your donation & corporate match will go to our Teams donation bucket.

See y'all on Saturday October 17th with lightsabers galore!"

However, there's another big event happening and it's Thursday, October 15, for Star Trek fans.

Season three of Star Trek: Discovery launches and there's no shortage of anticipation over this season as the crew of the USS Discovery, find themselves almost a thousand years into the future after the Federation has taken a hard left turn.

'll be a special guest on the "Infinite Diversity: A Star Trek Universe Podcast" on Sunday with my friend Brandon Shea-Mutala.

It'll be up to for your listening pleasure on Tuesday.

It's part of what is turning out to be a huge resurgence for all things Trek, as the new animated series "Lower Decks" just completed it's successful first season.

There's another Star Trek animated series in the works as well, that will see the return of Kate Mulgrew as she reprises her role of Captain Catherine Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager.

No date for that one yet, but it's created a fair bit of buzz in the fandom.

Same for the new live action show, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which focuses on the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike, a young Mr. Spock and "Number One," who were all introduced in Season two of "Discovery" and created so much fan interest, CBS decided to option a show of it's own starring Anson Mount, Ethan Peck and Rebecca Romijm.

And of course season two of Star Trek: Picard is soon to start production, if it hasn't already.

And as promised expect Whoopie Goldberg to be back as the Alorian Bartender "Guinan" this year.

Will John DeLancie as "Q" be far behind?

It's a good time to be a Star Trek Fan!

And even though it's not this week, October has another big date for geeks, this time back in the Star Wars Universe with season two of "The Mandalorian" set to premier on Friday, October 30 on Disney Plus.

You can catch up with the space version of the man with no name, along with his new sidekick "The Child" AKA "Baby Yoda."