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So it’s July and once again time to file my annual Polaris report, which I hope you will all enjoy. It was a wonderful convention. A new hotel and some great guests, great panels and fun with some wonderful friends.
This years guests were:
Actors:
Michael Hogan from Battlestar Galactica
Michelle Forbes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica and True Blood
David Hewlett from Stargate: Atlantis
David Nykl from Stargate: Atlantis
Matt Frewer from The Watchmen and Max Headroom
Claudia Black from Stargate SG-1 and Farscape
Authors:
Lesley Livingston
Gemma Files
Matthew LeDrew
Ursula Pflug
Adrienne Kress
R. J. Anderson
Violette Malan
Derwin Mak
Erik Buchanan
David Nickle
Stephanie Bedwell-Grime
Michelle Sagara West
Michelle Rowen
Rob St. Martin
Douglas Smith
Kenneth Tam
Julie E. Czerneda
Kate Story
Friday July 10, 2009
I arrived at the convention just after 6:00pm, thanks to a ride from hubby. This year the convention had been moved from the airport location to the Sheraton Parkway located just north of Toronto, because of renovations being done on the other hotel. So it was going to be a little different this year and since many long time attendees wouldn’t know where things were any more.
After I checked in, I went upstairs to my room to drop off my bag. While our room was nice, it was literary at the end of the very long hall. So it was a hike to and from the elevator every time. But the room itself was very nice, and it had a really nice deep soaker bath tub! As I was dropping off my stuff, Maggie (my roommate/friend) arrived, and the first thing out of her mouth was “so they had to put us at the very end of the hall!”
After we hiked back to the elevators, we went to find registration so we could get our badges and once completed it was off to dinner. Our friends Paul and Christine joined us for dinner and we were able to catch up and because none of us had a panel we wanted to go to right away, we had a little more time to just relax and talk.Our first panel (actually all 4 of us attended) was: The Polarizing Effect of Gwen Cooper-Williams. It was an interesting discussion about the character of Gwen from Torchwood, I was actually really surprised to find out that a lot of people didn’t like the way she was written, though I did enjoy some of the insights into the character people had.
After this, Maggie and I decided to take a walk around the hotel and learn the lay out and where everything was. It was a good idea (it was Maggie’s not mine, I likely would have just wandered around hopeless until I found what I was looking for the entire convention).
After our search and discovery adventures, we headed to The Pirate Parrrrrty. Polaris has started doing a theme dance on the Friday of the convention, last year it was Vampire (which was completely dead, pun intended! And the music sucked! Once again pun intended!). This year it was Pirates, and it was a lot of fun! The music was great! They even played Duran Duran (always great in my books!) and a bunch of other 80s music. Every once in a while they would through in a Pirate song, but they were really good and hip!
We were having a Whedonverse open meet up at the party, to allow anyone who wanted to come by and check out our group to do so, we even had a prize for the best newbie Whedonverse story. We had a few new people and Lindsey won the prize with her story about seeing Serenity for the first time.
We had a blast, saw a lot of old friends, some very cool customs, and danced! I also picked up a date, nice guy but really kind of dead!
After a while though I was done. I had a much earlier shift that day, so I could arrive at the convention at the start, so I was really tired. Maggie called me a whip and said I had no stamina, she’s right but all I wanted was a hot bath and a soft bed by then. So I left the dance in search of them and left the others to have more fun.Saturday July 11, 2009
Was up early (well early for me) and took way too long to get ready, so by the time I made down stairs to breakfast to join Maggie (who had already been up for a while) I didn’t have must time to eat, but I did inhale my breakfast before going to Michael Hogan’s Photo session. Why they scheduled it first thing in the morning I have no idea. Michael of course was wonderful (I so love him!!!) very warm and charming. When I went up to him, he took my hand and looked me in my eyes and said “Hello, how are you doing?” I replied with “great!” and then I said “it was really nice seeing again” He, got a look on his face like ‘Oh should I know her’ and then said “Yeah, you too, you look great!” (Hmm what I charmer!). Then I said, “It was nice to have him back in Ontario” and he replied with “Thanks, its nice to be back!”
Then we got into our positions to take the photo, once again, I sort of snuggled up to him and he leaded into me and gave me a hug for the photo (without me having to ask). I once again LOVE the photo! That’s 2 conventions, 2 photo ops and 1 major love for Michael Hogan!
Then it was off to get a seat for his (Michael Hogan) Q&A, I met up with Paul, Chris and Ali and we all sat together. As we were waiting, Chris hands me her iPhone and says, here a message from Janice (one of our friends) and I read that the party info for a private party for the James Marsters upcoming convention in Cherry Hill was released and it said that you had to send an email to get a ticket. I was really surprised because a friend of mine Amy Sue, was suppose to be keeping an eye on this and call/text me if the tickets actually went on sale and I hadn’t gotten anything. I was able to logged on my email and see if she had sent me anything, but she hadn’t. So I ran out hall and went to the lobby of the hotel to use the computers and send an email for both of us. I also sent her an email telling her I had done it. I then went back to the main hall for the Q&A, Michael had just started, so I hadn’t missed much. It was only after when I checked James website and re-read the instruction that I saw we were suppose to only send it after 1:00pm on Sunday (Duh! Slaps forehead!). Later when I checked my emails again, Steve Himber (James manager) sent me an email, advising I needed to re-read the instruction. I emailed him back and apologized and advised I panicked when I read it on my friend’s iPhone. He did let me know I wasn’t the only one to make the mistake.And in fact I shouldn’t have worried Amy Sue had been on top of it all long! If I can give anyone some advice, if at all possible try not to be planning / trying to get tickets to one convention when you are another. It’s just too much stress!
Now back to Michael Hogan! His Q&A was amazing, he was funny, interesting and had some great stories! I really enjoyed it. I did get to ask him a question, which was “I have question about Warehouse 13. You will be appearing it with your real life wife, playing your wife, as well as your son Gabriel is also in it. So what was that like?” He said it was great and that he really liked both role and the show and that he enjoyed being able to come back to Toronto to film.
After Michael’s Q&A, it was back to the photo room for my photo ops with Michelle Forbes. While Michelle was very nice, she seemed a little more remote and not as comfortable with people (as some guests are) so, I chose to respect that and keep my distance a little for the picture. But she was genially sweet and did greet everyone and smile.
Then it was back to the main hall once again for Michelle Forbes Q&A. We had been told that she did not want either video recording and flash photography (frankly I am surprised that more guest don’t ask for no flash photography, since I am sure it is very distracting). However shortly after she came out, people were told that in fact there was no photography what-so-ever, many of us had already gotten several shots (including myself).Michelle’s Q&A was good, she was joking and laughing with us at several things and I got the impression her humor runs to the sarcastic side of things. Which is why I likely found her funnier then most. Though she was a little stand offish on some things, like why she turned down the role in Deep Space 9. I guess she has been asked it one too many times, so in her mind we should be over it by now (hmmpt! Then she doesn’t know Star Trek fans, they never let go of anything!)
After the Q&A, it was off to the Whedonverse Geek-Off. Polaris does a Geek-Off (trivia contest) for several sci-fi genres, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who and others. The top 3 placers go one to compete in the Geek-Off Championship. I had to defend my title (running Whedonverse champ, 2 years in a row). And I did manage to keep it for a 3rd year, so yeah me!
Then it was autographs time. The first autograph was from Michael Hogan, I was joined by my friend Ali, who waited in line with me and then went up with me as I got my picture from Dragon Con the year before signed.
Michael was signing a lot of things with sayings like “Frakking Toasters” and such. So I expected him to do the same with my picture. But instead, he signed it “Magie, Your so beautiful!” I actually said Awwwwwwwwwww while he was signing it. And he looked up at me and said “Don’t tell me you don’t get told that all the time!” Can you say Awwwwwwwww again. He actually made me both tongue tied and blush (and I never blush!), I think I managed to mumble a thank you, your so sweet and leave. I really was taken aback by that! Ok, for the record once again, I TOTALLY LOVE MICHAEL HOGAN AND THINK HE IS ONE OF THE SWEETEST MEN ALIVE!!!
After that wonderful autograph, I got in line to get Michelle Forbes autograph. Ali was nice enough to hang around some more and keep me company, she also helped with the 3 posters I had for her to sign. I had a Star Trek poster (I finally found one I really liked, that was neural enough to have everyone from the Star Trek universe sign it, though that means all the autographs from Star Trek people I have gotten I will have to get again). Also my Battlestar Galactica poster and a True Blood poster.
It was good, fast no fuss and nothing interesting happened. Though, my friends Christine and Paul, tired to get her autograph, waited in line only to be told she wouldn’t sign non licensed photos (I might have been told that as well but because I had posters, I might not have been listening). But since she didn’t have any photos with her and the ones in the dealer room didn’t say if they were licensed or not some people like Christine and Paul didn’t end up getting an autograph.
We as fans do not mind follow the rules, but it would have been really nice to know them BEFORE hand. There seemed to be a real lack of commutation with Michelle’s rep’s and the convention. Because if they had known they would have advised the people attending, so we could have planned according.
After the autograph we had some free time and had a snack. I had missed lunch, but I didn’t want to eat a full meal because I was suppose to go to dinner with Maggie, Chris and Paul later.
Then it was off to do one of my Panels. I have been a panelist for the last 3 years and I really enjoy it. Though because I am such a control freak, I like to only be on panels that I come up with and can run. This year only 2 of the 5 I suggested were approved.
So my first panel was: Buffy & Angel to Hell and Back. And it was myself, Colleen and Jonathan as panelist.
The description for it was: Both Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6 have continued to gain popularity in the new series comics. Share in a discussion on how you see this brave new worlds. Which are your favorites stories, what did you NOT see coming. What new exciting upcoming stories or current stories have you running to the comics store to get your next fix.
We discussed the following:
- Who is up-to-date on and reading all the comics?
- Who believes that with the success of True Blood and Twilight that now would be a good time for a Buffy Movie? Or was it a case of too much Vampires right now?
- Who has heard that a new Buffy movie was being developed and it would be without Joss Whedon? And what people thought about it?
Then we discussed the Angel comics:
-The fact the Los Angeles was sent to hell? Yet, unless you were there, no one knew?
-Gunn was a vampire and was trying to take over hell and kill Angel. And in fact killed Connor in Hell.
-Seeing Cordelia again return to the story.
-Angel dies and LA returns to earth from everything went to hell, but all the people still remember being in Hell.
-The return of Kate, as well as a new written Kelley Armstrong, does the stories feel different or them better or worse.
-How does everyone feel about the new guest writes, are they excited about people like Juliet Landau writing a Dru comic?
-Spike Comics, there has been lots of them, how does everyone feel about them, like dislike, think they go well with the main story?
Then we discussed the Buffy comics:
-The Return of Warren (without skin)
-Buffy going into the future and meeting Fray / Killing Willow.
Michael was signing a lot of things with sayings like “Frakking Toasters” and such. So I expected him to do the same with my picture. But instead, he signed it “Magie, Your so beautiful!” I actually said Awwwwwwwwwww while he was signing it. And he looked up at me and said “Don’t tell me you don’t get told that all the time!” Can you say Awwwwwwwww again. He actually made me both tongue tied and blush (and I never blush!), I think I managed to mumble a thank you, your so sweet and leave. I really was taken aback by that! Ok, for the record once again, I TOTALLY LOVE MICHAEL HOGAN AND THINK HE IS ONE OF THE SWEETEST MEN ALIVE!!!After that wonderful autograph, I got in line to get Michelle Forbes autograph. Ali was nice enough to hang around some more and keep me company, she also helped with the 3 posters I had for her to sign. I had a Star Trek poster (I finally found one I really liked, that was neural enough to have everyone from the Star Trek universe sign it, though that means all the autographs from Star Trek people I have gotten I will have to get again). Also my Battlestar Galactica poster and a True Blood poster. It was good, fast no fuss and nothing interesting happened. Though, my friends Christine and Paul, tired to get her autograph, waited in line only to be told she wouldn’t sign non licensed photos (I might have been told that as well but because I had posters, I might not have been listening). But since she didn’t have any photos with her and the ones in the dealer room didn’t say if they were licensed or not some people like Christine and Paul didn’t end up getting an autograph.We as fans do not mind follow the rules, but it would have been really nice to know them BEFORE hand. There seemed to be a real lack of commutation with Michelle’s rep’s and the convention. Because if they had known they would have advised the people attending, so we could have planned according.
After the autograph we had some free time and had a snack. I had missed lunch, but I didn’t want to eat a full meal because I was suppose to go to dinner with Maggie, Chris and Paul later.
Then it was off to do one of my Panels. I have been a panelist for the last 3 years and I really enjoy it. Though because I am such a control freak, I like to only be on panels that I come up with and can run. This year only 2 of the 5 I suggested were approved.
So my first panel was: Buffy & Angel to Hell and Back. And it was myself, Colleen and Jonathan as panelist.
The description for it was: Both Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6 have continued to gain popularity in the new series comics. Share in a discussion on how you see this brave new worlds. Which are your favorites stories, what did you NOT see coming. What new exciting upcoming stories or current stories have you running to the comics store to get your next fix.
We discussed the following:
- Who is up-to-date on and reading all the comics?
- Who believes that with the success of True Blood and Twilight that now would be a good time for a Buffy Movie? Or was it a case of too much Vampires right now?
- Who has heard that a new Buffy movie was being developed and it would be without Joss Whedon? And what people thought about it?
Then we discussed the Angel comics:
-The fact the Los Angeles was sent to hell? Yet, unless you were there, no one knew?
-Gunn was a vampire and was trying to take over hell and kill Angel. And in fact killed Connor in Hell.
-Seeing Cordelia again return to the story.
-Angel dies and LA returns to earth from everything went to hell, but all the people still remember being in Hell.
-The return of Kate, as well as a new written Kelley Armstrong, does the stories feel different or them better or worse.
-How does everyone feel about the new guest writes, are they excited about people like Juliet Landau writing a Dru comic?
-Spike Comics, there has been lots of them, how does everyone feel about them, like dislike, think they go well with the main story?
Then we discussed the Buffy comics:
-The Return of Warren (without skin)
-Buffy going into the future and meeting Fray / Killing Willow.
-The return of Riley as a bad guy? Or is he?
-In “After these messages we’ll be right back” how many would have loved to see that story done as a TV show, to the old gang return to the first season maybe having them use old footage mixed in with new?
-In “Harmonic Divergence” What everyone thought about the return of Harmony and her reality TV show? As well as the Slayers now being the bad guys?
At the end I had a trivia question and I advised that the winner would get a prize. The question was ‘Who mansion did Spike take over in Spike: After the Fall’. It wasn’t an easy question, so only one person got it right. She received a copy of Angel – Not Fade Away # 1, so congrats to her.
After my panel, which I was told went well and people enjoyed. I went to get my book ‘Wondrous Strange’ by Lesley Livingston signed. I had found the book on sale and knew she was coming to Polaris, I picked it up and had her sign it. It looks interesting and I figured why not, but I haven’t read it yet. She said I was going to enjoy it, so cool.
After that I found Maggie, Chris and Paul for dinner, but they were going to go have Indian food. I chose not to join them, mostly because I am not a fan of Indian food, but also because I had pre-paid for the hotel buffet, so if I didn’t use it, it would just go to waste. So I had dinner on my own instead, the dining room was pretty crowd and a very nice women came to talk to the couple next to me and when she said she did have seat, I offered to share my table, she took me up on my offer, so it all worked out.
Then it was time for the Dollhouse panel, it was a lively discussion and that was very interesting. It was also interesting to see what others thought about the entire concepts and if Dolls were really volunteers, if being imprinted with feelings meant the same as consent with sex, and so on.
But about half way through I got a call from Amy Sue. I stepped out of the room to take the call because I knew if she was calling me it would be important. It turns out, she was the barer on bad news, there was some controversy going on with the organizers for Monster Mania regarding the private party that James was going to do, the same party that we were all trying to get a 1 of only 50 tickets for. The organizers for the convention flat out said that they would not let the party happen because it would conflict with the convention (it wouldn’t because it was being held off sight and after hours but whatever). We did discuss it and while we were both upset (coming between a James fan and her James is a very dangerous thing) but decided that we would still attempt to get the tickets and see happened.
As I went back into the panel my friends were all worried about me and had thought that something was wrong, I think Maggie wanted to smack me when she found out it was “only James Marsters”. Hey, this stuff IS important!
We (Maggie, Paul, Chris, Ali and me) then all went and had some drinks. I felt better about everything after a cosmo! We sat around and talked and had a great time.
For the first I decided to skip the Masquerade, while I normally really enjoy it. I wanted to attend the only Angels, Winchesters & Demons (Supernatural) panel during the convention (there was another but it got canceled). And since the year before, I had to miss all of them due to a crazy being on too many panels schedule, I was determined to make this one. It was cool and I enjoyed that discussion.
After that was the True Blood panel, while it was good. It was very hard to discuss it without also discussing the books and many (3 out 4) of the panelist hadn’t read them. They also, had some interesting (and by that I mean dumb) insights, like that Sookie was a dumb blond. More then a few of the people in there started to look to Maggie and me, to under some things, since we had both read the entire series. Maybe next year, we will do a Sookie Stackhouse books panel. Hmmmm I like that idea.
After the panel there was another dance (as well as more panels then go on until 2:00am) but I heard the soaker tub and soft bed calling to me once again, so I was done for the day. Maggie (the party animal) also decided to call it a night and not go off to swing off some chandelier.
Sunday July 12, 2009
I skipped the Charity Auction this year because they didn’t have anything I wanted to bide on, so I got to sleep in a little and then meet Maggie down stairs for breakfast, which I actual ate (instead on inhaled), it was pretty good. Though Maggie commented once again that I really should have some coffee with my sugar, hey I like it very sweet.
My first panel was the second one I was running called: Finding Serenity in the Verse and it was myself, Margaret-Anne, and Jayne as panelist.
The description for it was: Once there were 9 Big Damn Heroes aboard a Firefly class ship named Serenity, in a Verse ruled by The Allianceµ This is an in-depth discussion on the crew, the ship, the Verse and so on. And why after 6 years since being cancelled this phenomenon is only gaining speed.
We discussed the following:
-Ask how many in the room are relatively new fans?
-How did people come to the fandom? What made them start watching it?
-How many believe that this version of life in space is realistic?
-If people lived in the Firefly verse, would they choose to live on one of the outer worlds or on one of the core planets? And why?
-Did people agreed with the independents wanting to be outside The Alliance control?
-Did people think the crew of Serenity were Hero’s or Bad Guys that did some good things.
In between the discussion topics, I through out some Trivia questions, just to make it more fun and the first person to get it right got a Serenity mini poster (special thanks to Heather for those!)
Trivia Questions were :
*What is the cargo the crew are smuggling at the end of 'Shindig'? - Cattle
*What's the number of the brigade Mal served in? - 57th
*How did Zoe and Wash meet? – Mal hired him as a pilot
*What is the number on the elevator that Mal takes to the bottom of Mr. Universe’s complex to send the signal? – 6
*In 'War Stories', who was being tortured? – Mal and Wash
*On Miranda, after the camera spins around River, who does it stop on? – Wash
*What is the name of the Dr. who experimenting on River (and is killed by the Operative?) - Dr. Mathias
*What kind of engine falls right out of the sky? - A Capisan 38
*One of the greatest things about the "Firefly" cast is how well they gelled together, despite the differences in their ages. Which of these cast members is the oldest? – Ron Glass
*Which actor is never seen making a mistake in the either the gag reel included on the Region 1 DVDs or the extended gag reel? - Ron Glass
After the panel, we had to check out of the hotel and go and store our bags, once that was done I had some free time and went to check my emails. By this time I had already knew (thanks to another call from Amy Sue) that the party ticket sale for the upcoming James Marsters private party had been put on hold until they were able to work things out with the convention. Later we were told that it would not happen at all, but that James would still be attending the convention. So reading through the tones of emails where everyone was super upset over everything was interesting. I wasn’t really able to reply to anything, since I didn’t have the time.
I joined Ali and Margaret in line for Michael Hogan’s autograph, I wasn’t getting another one myself but was just hanging out with them, and I stay with them as Margaret also got David Hewlett autograph and I was able to get some pictures of her while she did it. I have to say I am not a Stargate fan, but David Hewlett was a really nice and funny man! He asked about our T-shirts since the 3 of us were all wearing our Firefly T-shirts, that I had made and gave people for Christmas (Paul and Chris were also wearing theirs on Sunday and yes, we planned it that way) when David found out they were Firefly t-shirts he talked about being a fan and how great the show and movie was and how he even had a man-crush on Nathan Fillion (wish I had been taking video instead and gotten that!). Woo Hoo for David Hewlett being a Browncoat!
The 4 of us (we were now joined by Kate) went to have some lunch, where we were joined by Sunny. I decided to skip Michelle Forbes Sunday Q&A so I could hang with the girls a little longer.
I went back down stairs for The Teaboy and the Welsh panel (Torchwood) and met up with Maggie. It was an OK panel, but a few people in it were getting on my nerves and I got the impression that they wanted to discuss season 3, but since some people had not see it yet (me being one of them) they kept it spoiler free (mostly, they let a couple of thing slip).
Afterwards I believe Maggie headed home (I don’t think she had any other panels after) and I went to the Sarah Connor Chronicles panel. It was the only panel I left early only latest about 20 minutes in the panel. I think it was suffering a little from ‘everyone was already too tired and it was late in the con’ syndrome. So it was too boring for me, who was also suffering from the same syndrome. So I went back to checking my emails and waiting for Michael Hogan’s Sunday Q&A, which was one of the last things.
I chose to skip the Geek Off Championship so I could see Michael Hogan, but I did stop in to get my certificate for the Whedonverse. While it might have been fun, I got my ass kicked last year, since I just don’t know enough about the other series to do well. You have to know a bit about it all and a lot of a few to do really well. And that’s just not me.
I was able to get a front row seat thanks to Vitra for offering me a seat next to her! Michael was as much fun as the day before or even a little more, he was very much worth me hanging around to see him. I also got to asked him another question and asked “Since he hasn’t done my conventions so far, has he had any ‘interesting’ experience with a fan yet?” He did get this strange look on his face and raised an eyebrow at everyone. Short answer he gave was “No” but he did he had some fun with a bunch of people the night before that he wouldn’t talk about and they now knew he would never saying anything (hmmmm wonder what that meant?).
Here is some video of Michael talking about finding out he was a Cylon.
Michael did end the convention for us on a super high note, he once again told the story of how Edward James Olmos kept repeating “So Say We All” in the scene when they are having the mass funeral after the Cylon attack. So he did the same thing, he stood at attention and said, “So Say We All” and had us repeat it, each time getting louder. We said it maybe 4 or 5 times! It was great!
So that was it, it was a really great convention! SO SAY WE ALL!!!
Magie
-In “After these messages we’ll be right back” how many would have loved to see that story done as a TV show, to the old gang return to the first season maybe having them use old footage mixed in with new?
-In “Harmonic Divergence” What everyone thought about the return of Harmony and her reality TV show? As well as the Slayers now being the bad guys?
At the end I had a trivia question and I advised that the winner would get a prize. The question was ‘Who mansion did Spike take over in Spike: After the Fall’. It wasn’t an easy question, so only one person got it right. She received a copy of Angel – Not Fade Away # 1, so congrats to her.
After my panel, which I was told went well and people enjoyed. I went to get my book ‘Wondrous Strange’ by Lesley Livingston signed. I had found the book on sale and knew she was coming to Polaris, I picked it up and had her sign it. It looks interesting and I figured why not, but I haven’t read it yet. She said I was going to enjoy it, so cool.
After that I found Maggie, Chris and Paul for dinner, but they were going to go have Indian food. I chose not to join them, mostly because I am not a fan of Indian food, but also because I had pre-paid for the hotel buffet, so if I didn’t use it, it would just go to waste. So I had dinner on my own instead, the dining room was pretty crowd and a very nice women came to talk to the couple next to me and when she said she did have seat, I offered to share my table, she took me up on my offer, so it all worked out.Then it was time for the Dollhouse panel, it was a lively discussion and that was very interesting. It was also interesting to see what others thought about the entire concepts and if Dolls were really volunteers, if being imprinted with feelings meant the same as consent with sex, and so on.
But about half way through I got a call from Amy Sue. I stepped out of the room to take the call because I knew if she was calling me it would be important. It turns out, she was the barer on bad news, there was some controversy going on with the organizers for Monster Mania regarding the private party that James was going to do, the same party that we were all trying to get a 1 of only 50 tickets for. The organizers for the convention flat out said that they would not let the party happen because it would conflict with the convention (it wouldn’t because it was being held off sight and after hours but whatever). We did discuss it and while we were both upset (coming between a James fan and her James is a very dangerous thing) but decided that we would still attempt to get the tickets and see happened.
As I went back into the panel my friends were all worried about me and had thought that something was wrong, I think Maggie wanted to smack me when she found out it was “only James Marsters”. Hey, this stuff IS important!
We (Maggie, Paul, Chris, Ali and me) then all went and had some drinks. I felt better about everything after a cosmo! We sat around and talked and had a great time.
For the first I decided to skip the Masquerade, while I normally really enjoy it. I wanted to attend the only Angels, Winchesters & Demons (Supernatural) panel during the convention (there was another but it got canceled). And since the year before, I had to miss all of them due to a crazy being on too many panels schedule, I was determined to make this one. It was cool and I enjoyed that discussion.
After that was the True Blood panel, while it was good. It was very hard to discuss it without also discussing the books and many (3 out 4) of the panelist hadn’t read them. They also, had some interesting (and by that I mean dumb) insights, like that Sookie was a dumb blond. More then a few of the people in there started to look to Maggie and me, to under some things, since we had both read the entire series. Maybe next year, we will do a Sookie Stackhouse books panel. Hmmmm I like that idea.
After the panel there was another dance (as well as more panels then go on until 2:00am) but I heard the soaker tub and soft bed calling to me once again, so I was done for the day. Maggie (the party animal) also decided to call it a night and not go off to swing off some chandelier.
Sunday July 12, 2009
I skipped the Charity Auction this year because they didn’t have anything I wanted to bide on, so I got to sleep in a little and then meet Maggie down stairs for breakfast, which I actual ate (instead on inhaled), it was pretty good. Though Maggie commented once again that I really should have some coffee with my sugar, hey I like it very sweet.
My first panel was the second one I was running called: Finding Serenity in the Verse and it was myself, Margaret-Anne, and Jayne as panelist.
The description for it was: Once there were 9 Big Damn Heroes aboard a Firefly class ship named Serenity, in a Verse ruled by The Allianceµ This is an in-depth discussion on the crew, the ship, the Verse and so on. And why after 6 years since being cancelled this phenomenon is only gaining speed.
We discussed the following:
-Ask how many in the room are relatively new fans?
-How did people come to the fandom? What made them start watching it?
-How many believe that this version of life in space is realistic?
-If people lived in the Firefly verse, would they choose to live on one of the outer worlds or on one of the core planets? And why?
-Did people agreed with the independents wanting to be outside The Alliance control?
-Did people think the crew of Serenity were Hero’s or Bad Guys that did some good things.
In between the discussion topics, I through out some Trivia questions, just to make it more fun and the first person to get it right got a Serenity mini poster (special thanks to Heather for those!)
Trivia Questions were :
*What is the cargo the crew are smuggling at the end of 'Shindig'? - Cattle
*What's the number of the brigade Mal served in? - 57th
*How did Zoe and Wash meet? – Mal hired him as a pilot
*What is the number on the elevator that Mal takes to the bottom of Mr. Universe’s complex to send the signal? – 6
*In 'War Stories', who was being tortured? – Mal and Wash
*On Miranda, after the camera spins around River, who does it stop on? – Wash
*What is the name of the Dr. who experimenting on River (and is killed by the Operative?) - Dr. Mathias
*What kind of engine falls right out of the sky? - A Capisan 38
*One of the greatest things about the "Firefly" cast is how well they gelled together, despite the differences in their ages. Which of these cast members is the oldest? – Ron Glass
*Which actor is never seen making a mistake in the either the gag reel included on the Region 1 DVDs or the extended gag reel? - Ron Glass
After the panel, we had to check out of the hotel and go and store our bags, once that was done I had some free time and went to check my emails. By this time I had already knew (thanks to another call from Amy Sue) that the party ticket sale for the upcoming James Marsters private party had been put on hold until they were able to work things out with the convention. Later we were told that it would not happen at all, but that James would still be attending the convention. So reading through the tones of emails where everyone was super upset over everything was interesting. I wasn’t really able to reply to anything, since I didn’t have the time.
I joined Ali and Margaret in line for Michael Hogan’s autograph, I wasn’t getting another one myself but was just hanging out with them, and I stay with them as Margaret also got David Hewlett autograph and I was able to get some pictures of her while she did it. I have to say I am not a Stargate fan, but David Hewlett was a really nice and funny man! He asked about our T-shirts since the 3 of us were all wearing our Firefly T-shirts, that I had made and gave people for Christmas (Paul and Chris were also wearing theirs on Sunday and yes, we planned it that way) when David found out they were Firefly t-shirts he talked about being a fan and how great the show and movie was and how he even had a man-crush on Nathan Fillion (wish I had been taking video instead and gotten that!). Woo Hoo for David Hewlett being a Browncoat!
The 4 of us (we were now joined by Kate) went to have some lunch, where we were joined by Sunny. I decided to skip Michelle Forbes Sunday Q&A so I could hang with the girls a little longer.
I went back down stairs for The Teaboy and the Welsh panel (Torchwood) and met up with Maggie. It was an OK panel, but a few people in it were getting on my nerves and I got the impression that they wanted to discuss season 3, but since some people had not see it yet (me being one of them) they kept it spoiler free (mostly, they let a couple of thing slip).
Afterwards I believe Maggie headed home (I don’t think she had any other panels after) and I went to the Sarah Connor Chronicles panel. It was the only panel I left early only latest about 20 minutes in the panel. I think it was suffering a little from ‘everyone was already too tired and it was late in the con’ syndrome. So it was too boring for me, who was also suffering from the same syndrome. So I went back to checking my emails and waiting for Michael Hogan’s Sunday Q&A, which was one of the last things.
I chose to skip the Geek Off Championship so I could see Michael Hogan, but I did stop in to get my certificate for the Whedonverse. While it might have been fun, I got my ass kicked last year, since I just don’t know enough about the other series to do well. You have to know a bit about it all and a lot of a few to do really well. And that’s just not me.
I was able to get a front row seat thanks to Vitra for offering me a seat next to her! Michael was as much fun as the day before or even a little more, he was very much worth me hanging around to see him. I also got to asked him another question and asked “Since he hasn’t done my conventions so far, has he had any ‘interesting’ experience with a fan yet?” He did get this strange look on his face and raised an eyebrow at everyone. Short answer he gave was “No” but he did he had some fun with a bunch of people the night before that he wouldn’t talk about and they now knew he would never saying anything (hmmmm wonder what that meant?).
Here is some video of Michael talking about finding out he was a Cylon.
Michael did end the convention for us on a super high note, he once again told the story of how Edward James Olmos kept repeating “So Say We All” in the scene when they are having the mass funeral after the Cylon attack. So he did the same thing, he stood at attention and said, “So Say We All” and had us repeat it, each time getting louder. We said it maybe 4 or 5 times! It was great!
So that was it, it was a really great convention! SO SAY WE ALL!!!
Magie
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