BSG, Firefly, Farscape

[fiksal]

EDIT: editing this post because it's from 2008. So it's less of a current events and more of a reminiscing

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Why are all three mashed into one topic? Because I just came back from the Dragon Con.




I am probably still in a little bit of shock, but this was really a lot more fun than I expected it to be.


Of and - spoilers of sci-fi shows might be inevitable, so beware...


First off, what is the Dragon Con. It's a sci-fi / comic book / gaming / anything related convention. It happens once a year in Atlanta. I have heard of it before, but didn’t really know how big it was and what's going on there. Well the convention is now in 4 hotels [1]. The convention occupied 2-3 stores of each hotel for four days. The 30,000 (or so I heard) some people that came to the convention effectively blocked the downtown of city of Atlanta (traffic cops were required at the intersections). In the peak hours [2] all hotels were filled with a LOT of people. Every 3rd person of which was in costume. Big portion of costumes were very good.


I went to the convention to see sci-fi actors though. My first goal was to see Jewel Stait. However it so happened I talked to her very briefly.

I also met [3]:

Michael Hogan
I very cool guy to talk to. I happened to catch him on Friday evening as he was leaving the so-called "Walk of Fame" area (where the actors gave out autographs and talked to people) and got to ask him a few questions about the show, his part and acting. The next day I took a picture with him, plus talked to him a bit more about sci-fi shows and what not [4]. And the following.
The interesting things he mentioned [5]:
He was definitely kept in the dark about being a cylon (which I kinda guessed). He've mentioned that the way 1st half of Season 4 has ended was pretty amazing, and that there's a lot more stuff coming. I've asked him if clues about Tigh being a Cylon were left throughout the show. He didnt think so, and thought that the writer(s) came up with that later on (Season 3), so if there were, they(writers) must have been smarter than both of us.


James Callis
Same time when I met Michael I saw James leaping (not very gracefully) over the table. He did say hi to me and ran away saying 'ciao'. I got to talk to him later on about his part, and got his autograph plus took a photo with him (same goes for Michael, actually).
The summary: I've told him that I liked that they have made Baltar sympathetic, though obviously a very flawed person. James commented on it saying, this was his and the writer(s)'s plan from the beginning, as they wanted him (Baltar) to be different from the old show and obviously… sympathetic... - a human, basically.


Aaron Douglas
We talked/joked about the convention and that it all looked somewhat crazy and chaotic (to me). I've asked about the Season 4, to which he confirmed that they finished filming couple months ago, but Sci Fi is basically milking Battlestar for all it's got.
What's next: Caprica and the new Razor.

Tahmoh Penikett
Now I know how to actually pronounce his name. Though I still dont think I get it quite right. Apparently it sounds something like T-ah-t-m-oh. It's an idian name, since one of his parents is indian. Just like Aaron (and really everyone else from Battlestar), is also a fun guy to talk to. Then of course we compared his name to mine and determined that my first name is easier to say than his. Though just the opposite when it came to last names.
By the way, the rumours are true about Helo's character being scheduled to die at the end of miniseries. When they started showing it around, he got a lot of good feedback (got some from Edward as well) and Helo was then set to appear in the series.

Edward James Olmos
Got to talk to him as well, though it was pretty hard to find a good time to talk to him, since he always had a big line of people lined up in front of his table. And I am not that patient, in general. I've had much to talk about with him, especially since at that point we all have just came from Battlestar panel (with all the actors that were at the Con). I did mention that if only all sci-fi shows (on sci-fi channel) were like Battlestar.


Battlestar Panel
About two hours (or so); five Actors; one room; 1700 fans. We nearly filled up the big auditorium at the Hyatt. Of course I wasnt patient then either, so I didnt get in line until it was 5 minutes before the show - thus why I ended up quite far in the back - but it worked ok because of the big monitors.
As I mentioned earlier [5], there were a lot of questions asked and answered. Everyone had something fun to say; Aaron dressed up in his uniform (and ended up showing up late). Everyone shared their favorite moments in the show. Edward's was the episode "33"; Michael's was the speech that Adama did in the mini-series, so-called "so say we all".
Apparently [6] Edward really emphasized that last part at the end of speech, and repeated it more than script asked for. So that the reply that he got from the troops was actually not quite scripted. And on that note, they have ended the panel. Edward did a speech, thanking the fans for the support, and concluded with multiple "so say we all", followed by the echo from near 1700 people.



I also met:


Jewel Staite.
Very briefly. She seemed distracted so I havent talk to her much at all. Though she also had quite a line as well.

I didnt meet: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk and Morena Baccarin. Since the first two were nearly impossible to get to [7]. And just didnt get around to talking to Morena.

At the Firefly panel, the brown coats filled up the same above mentioned room completely. The line for the panel had wrapped around the Hayatt's floor at least twice. As before [7], I came in too late and was way on the back of the line. There were rumours of the auditorioum being full already so we werent sure if we would able to get in, but it all worked out.

Four of those guys were quite funny, and odd (in a good way). There were not many serious questions and the guys joked around quite a bit. Nathan did end up kissing Morena - I am sure all the girls were screaming like mad - since, if you know, the relationship between characters was cut short. Alan, however refused to kiss Nathan.

I bet all those videos are on Youtube already. I surely didnt have time to make them myself.



Then I saw the Farscape guys. Honestly I didnt plan on talking to them, as I've seen this show long time ago, and probably not to the end. I did enjoy that show when I was actually watching it, but at some point they kinda lost me. Nonetheless - that show had something interested.
So I thought I have a few words with ...

Gigi Edgely.
And what an odd duck she is - in a good way! She's a very interesting, pleasant, and funny person to talk to. I dont think we even talked about the show. We probably talked more about convention; where she is from; where I am from and so on. After I came back from the Farscape panel the next day, we chatted a bit more - I ended up telling her about my racing (and showing my race car to her and David), plus taking a few funny pictures with her. Hehe.

David Frankin.
Is also a fun guy to talk to. I've mentioned to him that after meeting them I began to be interested in the Farscape again and will give it a shot. I've also described my racing season to him in detail.

Virginia Hey.
I got to talk to her on the last day of the Con. One time I came in before that and she was actually at a meditation class (that she apparently was in charge off). Perhaps I should have gone there too.


As I mentioned above, I ended up going to Farscape panel, as well. Though I barely remember all other actors, they were 'mentioning' at the panel, it was kind of nostalgic. Even though their panel didn’t get nearly as many people as the other two above, this was one insane panel! David, Gigi and Virginia put on quite a show. I was laughing so much that I forgot to make a video. [8]


I also briefly talked to:
Lou Ferrigno, Lance Henriksen (who has a western coming out this year), Walter Koenig (has a movie too), Richard Hatch (who by the way is a good speaker [9]), wrestling star – Virgil (who signed a photo of him and Andre).
Saw Kevin Sorbo at a panel as well, on the first day of the Con, when I was kinda wondering randomly.

Not to mention: the comic book artists we've met along the way, who are friends of my family.

I’ve also spent a lot of money, since almost every autograph and photo cost me at around $20, give or take. I don’t though have a problem with that - since it’s obviously a volunteer thing. Some of the guys, like Michael Hogan, Aaron (I think), were actually donating money from the photos to a children’s charity (so it was option, but I paid anyway).

Plus picked up a few comic books and CDs.



Well then, that's it for now.
Photos are on my Hard Drive, for now.





[1] Most of the stuff that I was interested in was happening in 3 of the hotels. The 4th one was apparently added to the Con just this year, so I suppose it may explain why not much was happening there. And those hotels were: Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and Sheraton. Those who were in Atlanta know how giant those hotels are. To me though, they were the biggest and the coolest looking hotels I ever saw.

[2] Which are hard to identify... But they basically were from 10am to 8pm-ish. And in Hyatt they were from 10am to apparently midnight and on.

[3] Surely you can figure out who those actors are?

[4] Being Russian made me a little bit of a celebrity among fans.

[5] It's a good assumption that right now, at 23:59 I cant remember a half of what he said. But I am sure it'll come to me when the context is right.

[6] If I heard him right.

[7] Quite a bit more than 20min wait. I am not patient.

[8] Hm... I don’t know what to add. They are awesome.

[9] At his panel.

[nirwin]

That sounds fantastic. Would love to attend one year, but flights to the U.S.A. are so expensive.

Shame you didn't get to meet all the Firefly cast, Nathan in particular seems like quite a funny guy in real life, but you did get to meet Jewel Staite (if briefly), so it must have been worth it.

Glad you had fun.

[Dragoongfa]

Lucky you, i second Nirwin on loving to be there but money is an issue .

[fud]

I also met:


Jewel Staite.
Very briefly. She seemed distracted so I havent talk to her much at all. Though she also had quite a line as well.

You lucky bas...

I'd have made more of an effort to meet Morena though.


I'm assuming Summer was nowhere to be found? Probably doing season 2 of Sarah Conor (can't wait really, next week)....

[fiksal]

That sounds fantastic. Would love to attend one year, but flights to the U.S.A. are so expensive.

Shame you didn't get to meet all the Firefly cast, Nathan in particular seems like quite a funny guy in real life, but you did get to meet Jewel Staite (if briefly), so it must have been worth it.

Glad you had fun.

Yep, the line for Nathan and Alan was kinda long, and they havent stayed there for too long - only a few hours on Saturday and maybe Sunday too.

You lucky bas...

I'd have made more of an effort to meet Morena though.


I'm assuming Summer was nowhere to be found? Probably doing season 2 of Sarah Conor (can't wait really, next week)....

Yep, Summer and Gina werent there. Adam was actually listed as a guest but then cancelled.


Jewel seemed nice, I just didnt get around to talking to her again later on. I probably could have tried getting to talk to Morena as well, but missed it somehow.

As I said there, I had way too much fun talking to Battlestar and Farscape guys.



Though, I did buy a Serenity comic book.

[fud]

I'd have tried to weasel my way into a picture with Jewel and Morena on each arm, with a giant ****-eating grin on my face.

[fiksal]

I'd have tried to weasel my way into a picture with Jewel and Morena on each arm, with a giant ****-eating grin on my face.

sorry, I got distracted by Gigi:

Gigi 1
Gigi 2
Gigi 3



in other news:

Michael
James
Richard

[fud]

That's just not right.


[jealous]

[fiksal]

That's just not right.
[jealous]

and I am upset that the Con is over

I got like 5-6 pics with Gigi. Whereas of Michael, James and Richard I only got one of each.
David took the first three, while Gigi was posing, then Gigi's agent (I think) stepped in and took some more.

I also couldnt resist on the 3rd one.

[fud]

Can't really blame you on that one.

[fiksal]

Can't really blame you on that one.

by the way, dude, you too can fly out to Dragon Con next time,

I might do it next year, plus there's a guy from work who is interested as well.

[fud]

If Jewel Staite is there, I just might have to.

[muppetts]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Firefly-Damn-H ... +Damn+Hero

Firefly book alert, just came out and was on their facebook

[Morkonan]

Why are all three mashed into one topic? Because I just came back from the Dragon Con.

Well, darn. If I had known you were going I might have gone too! It's great, isn't it?

Edward James Olmos

Wear one of these to get to the front of the line next time: https://www.slashfilm.com/lol-team-edwa ... s-t-shirt/

Gigi Edgely

My favorite character in that show and she did such an outstanding job with it! Friggin' wonderfully done and "alien" yet "not alien." Fantastic work on her part. Oh, and she's hella cute, too.

Dragoncon is friggin' "teh shiznit." It's awesome. It's the biggest thing evar. Well, almost. I think the Pyramids at Giza might be a slightly bigger deal, but whatevs - They're old. There's so much darn cool stuff at Dragoncon. I love the booths and the hawkers selling all their collectibles and such. There are some decent presentations and roundtables, too. And, some crappy ones, too.

And the costumes and cosplayers... Some of that stuff is so obviously a labor of love that it's impossible to make fun of them. In that environment, they're the normal ones. (I did see a guy who so obviously thought he was an actual, real, vampire, that I couldn't help but laugh... He wasn't impressed and I felt a little bad for him.)

There is one bad thing about such 'cons - Instead of true, real, "cosplayers" who are everyday folk having a good time, the hobby has been invaded by friggin' Instagram models trying to make a buck and drive views/click to their "almost porn" pages. That ticks me off, since that's not what that's supposed to be about. I'm also not a fan of the "pros," either. But, I guess that anything that can be commercialized if it's popular enough will eventually get commercialized.

A hearty congratulations on your Dragoncon! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

PS- If you're not familiar with the area, one bit of advice - Never, ever, drive yourself anywhere in Atlanta. Never. Don't do it. Never rent a car, never drive a friend's car, never drive your own, anywhere. Just don't. And, never expect to get anywhere in Atlanta "on time," not even if you left the day before... Just going "across town" can be a risky, improbable, proposition at times. There's a ton of wonderful stuff to do and great places to see in Atlanta, but every excursion to these places is a separate "trip" in and of itself. You have been warned...

[pjknibbs]

Well, darn. If I had known you were going I might have gone too! It's great, isn't it?

You would have known he was going if you'd read this thread when it was first posted a decade ago.

[Rapier]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Firefly-Damn-H ... +Damn+Hero

Firefly book alert, just came out and was on their facebook

If only someone hadn't locked this topic.

[fiksal]

A hearty congratulations on your Dragoncon! I'm glad you enjoyed it!

PS- If you're not familiar with the area, one bit of advice - Never, ever, drive yourself anywhere in Atlanta

Indeed a few years too late

If mods permit we can reminisce a little.

I actually used to live in Atlanta, moved couple years after that. And since then I've been to every Dragon Con since. I've raised stakes at partying a few more times - slept in the atrium on a couch in Marriott in a kick ass subzero costume. More than once.

And yep, I drove in Atlanta too


I dont live there now, as the company I worked for, no longer has a presence there. But I come back when I can, as I still have many friends there. To DragonCon, I havent been back in last a couple years, but I plan on next one - ish.

it's a long shot, but we could make it happen?

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oh and Gigi.

Still have a crash on her, she is so awesome in person. When she jumped out of her table to pose for several photos with me, that was a highlight of that trip and a few since.

Only to be matched by Katee Sackhoff, who had a more professional photo taken with me. So hot.

[Lyth]

lol, hey - long time no chat, glad to see you are still doing well and having a good time.

Nice title, will probably be rewatching all of the above over the next few weeks for those inspirational moments.
Which one to watch first will be the tough choice.

Dragon Con sounds fun, why haz I not heard of it before? :/

[fiksal]

lol, hey - long time no chat, glad to see you are still doing well and having a good time.

Nice title, will probably be rewatching all of the above over the next few weeks for those inspirational moments.
Which one to watch first will be the tough choice.

Dragon Con sounds fun, why haz I not heard of it before? :/

True, somehow our posts dont intersect Though not that I post often either.

DragonCon is quite a lot of fun, and since this original post 10 years ago, I've been to a few. If you make it a point to visit one, I can give a quick run down of what-s and how-to-s.

It's more fun to go with friends too.

[Morkonan]

Yeah, grats on having your thread necro'd!

I last went about five years ago.. ish? I met Peter Jurasik, but didn't take any pics or anything. (I don't do the whole "take a picture with the stars" thing. But, I will donate or buy a autographed pic.) He was a really nice guy, laughing it up with the fans, smiling the whole time. It was heartwarming to see how much he appeared to enjoy everything. I bought some stuff, too, but I don't remember wtf it was.

A friend and I went and we split off from his wife and her friend and roamed all over. We went to some round-table on some sciencey stuff, don't remember what it was but.. meh. Should have gone to the comic or some sci-fi presentation I bet. I really liked looking through all the stuff that people were selling. Oooh, one thing I really enjoyed was seeing all the old-school D&D stuff - People were selling all the back issues of all the old Dragon and Dungeon mags as well as all the old modules! Figurines, collectibles, art, etc, really cool stuff to buy at Dragoncon. Lots of comic book and graphic novel artists are there, as well, and some do custom work "while you wait." Really cool! In short - It's all really cool!

Dragoncon is awesome. Anyone interested in going should be very sure to get there for the parade!

http://www.dragoncon.org/?q=parade

Dragoncon Parade: 3200 participants, 65,000 spectators. (Do a google image search to get an idea of what you'll see!

And, if you're younger than I am and are interested in the crazy darn parties that go on "after hours" during Dragoncon, make sure to book rooms at one of the many nearby hotels far in advance. You will not regret it. You won't... really you won't. Those things get crazy. If you have yet to experience physical intimacy with someone besides yourself and don't mind "crazy," well there ya go... Also - Be sure to get there early for registration - The lines are long. (They move fairly briskly, once it starts, though.)

I lived part of the time as a kid on Peachtree street, downtown. Part of my college life was spent in Atlanta, too. I have friends there and visit fairly often. (Or did. Haven't been there this year due to stuffs getting in the way.)

Atlanta is an awesome town, it just sucks. Living in one of the satellite areas is optimal, but it still take three hours to get any darn place you'd want to go.

As the next ones comes upon us, it might be a good idea to resurrect the thread to see if anyone wants to get together for it or at least have lunch or something.