Dragon Con Redux
All my training is complete, so no more trips to Delaware. I may have to go to Pennsylvania to train people at another site, but that should only be for a few days. The one good thing about being away is coming home. One of the best feeling in the world is to see Lee after being away for a week. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
Dragon Con was as always awesome. We had a fantastic time, and as those who know the story of how we meet it is also our anniversary. (Technically you could say the anniversary of our first date was September 6th, but we decided that it was better to say it is Labor Day.) It was even more people than last year, with attendance around 53,000. They exanded into a thrid hotel, which I think helped alot. It did not seem like as many people as last year because things were better distributed. The Hyatt is still a mess with the elevators, and I was pretty pissed that you could not take photos in the evening. Picture taking is a huge part of the con experience. I think next year I am staying in the Marriot.
I also really enjoyed meeting the gang from West Virginia, especially Jenn and Sam. I think I have for the most part meet all of Lee's friends.
One of the highlights of DC was watching the Star Trek New Voyagers episode "World Enough and Time". It has George Takie, a cameo by Grace Lee Whitney, and was written and directed by some TNG writers. It was outstanding. It was excellent and just as good as any ST episode shown on TV. If you are a Sulu fan you will LOVE it. It was very moving and had the right mix of drama and funny moments that are typicaly in TOS. Many in the audience, including me, cried a bit at the end.
Another highlight was walking in the Brit Track for a panel on "Hot Fuzz" and seeing my baby up there. The lady who runs the Brit Track recognized Lee from his audience participation and drafted him to help out. He did an awesome job, and hopefully will be on more panels next year.
I was a bit dissapointed in Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner. I was so excited to see the three of them, and found them all sarcastic, and not very cooperative. They hardly answered any questions fans asked, instead choosing to answer with snappy one liners, or jokes at the expense of the questioneer. In one case the poor guy was clearly mentally challanged and Spiner was an out right dick to him. I think Frakes would have been great alone, but being with Gates and Spiner he followed their lead. I realize they are tired of the same questions, but they have to remember a lot of the people there have never seen them. If you don't want to answer the same old questions, then don't go to Cons. What I think is funny is many of the stars seem to enjoy telliing the same stories over and over.
I will admit I got tired of people asking them if they were going to be the upcoming movie. One poor idiot went so far as to call the moive a "rumor" and clearly did not know about the recent casting news. I can understand them being annoyed a bit about that.
Still over all I wish I had went to fans panels instead of seeing them. I missed some panels on ST Canon, Doctor Who, BSG and dicussions about the ST movie to go to star panels. I did hit some of the author panels, and I enjoyed those. As alwasy I ended DC by going to see Peter David. He is always entertaining and I have to say always has new stories to tell. I would like it next year if they did some panels about each ST series. I know Voyager ended years ago, but I still want to get with fans and bitch about it. I think I will also hit more Brit Trak panels.
I did not like the "Mega" panels with the Stargate guest. You can't have 10 people on a panel and expect to cover many questions. I would have loved to hear more from Corin Nemic. I have seen Chris Judge and Michael Shanks before, but I felt bad for people who have never seen them before. They did not get the full experience of them cutting up and picking on each other.
Oh I almost forgot to mention Nichelle Nicholas. She is really an incredible lady. Very gracious, and you can tell she loves the fans. She was by far the best star panel I attended, and one of the best I have ever seen overall. She is so animated.
Still overall it was awesome and I already can't wait for next year. In terms of "stuff" I did not get much, and actually came home with $160. My main quest these days is collecting old ST comics. I am especially trying to get all of TNG stuff and Voyager. I picked up about 25 comics, a couple of magazines, and a t-shirt. It is a black baby tee, and says I Godzilla Toyko. (Instead of saying Godzillia, it just has his shiloette in red.) I love it.
Dragon Con was as always awesome. We had a fantastic time, and as those who know the story of how we meet it is also our anniversary. (Technically you could say the anniversary of our first date was September 6th, but we decided that it was better to say it is Labor Day.) It was even more people than last year, with attendance around 53,000. They exanded into a thrid hotel, which I think helped alot. It did not seem like as many people as last year because things were better distributed. The Hyatt is still a mess with the elevators, and I was pretty pissed that you could not take photos in the evening. Picture taking is a huge part of the con experience. I think next year I am staying in the Marriot.
I also really enjoyed meeting the gang from West Virginia, especially Jenn and Sam. I think I have for the most part meet all of Lee's friends.
One of the highlights of DC was watching the Star Trek New Voyagers episode "World Enough and Time". It has George Takie, a cameo by Grace Lee Whitney, and was written and directed by some TNG writers. It was outstanding. It was excellent and just as good as any ST episode shown on TV. If you are a Sulu fan you will LOVE it. It was very moving and had the right mix of drama and funny moments that are typicaly in TOS. Many in the audience, including me, cried a bit at the end.
Another highlight was walking in the Brit Track for a panel on "Hot Fuzz" and seeing my baby up there. The lady who runs the Brit Track recognized Lee from his audience participation and drafted him to help out. He did an awesome job, and hopefully will be on more panels next year.
I was a bit dissapointed in Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner. I was so excited to see the three of them, and found them all sarcastic, and not very cooperative. They hardly answered any questions fans asked, instead choosing to answer with snappy one liners, or jokes at the expense of the questioneer. In one case the poor guy was clearly mentally challanged and Spiner was an out right dick to him. I think Frakes would have been great alone, but being with Gates and Spiner he followed their lead. I realize they are tired of the same questions, but they have to remember a lot of the people there have never seen them. If you don't want to answer the same old questions, then don't go to Cons. What I think is funny is many of the stars seem to enjoy telliing the same stories over and over.
I will admit I got tired of people asking them if they were going to be the upcoming movie. One poor idiot went so far as to call the moive a "rumor" and clearly did not know about the recent casting news. I can understand them being annoyed a bit about that.
Still over all I wish I had went to fans panels instead of seeing them. I missed some panels on ST Canon, Doctor Who, BSG and dicussions about the ST movie to go to star panels. I did hit some of the author panels, and I enjoyed those. As alwasy I ended DC by going to see Peter David. He is always entertaining and I have to say always has new stories to tell. I would like it next year if they did some panels about each ST series. I know Voyager ended years ago, but I still want to get with fans and bitch about it. I think I will also hit more Brit Trak panels.
I did not like the "Mega" panels with the Stargate guest. You can't have 10 people on a panel and expect to cover many questions. I would have loved to hear more from Corin Nemic. I have seen Chris Judge and Michael Shanks before, but I felt bad for people who have never seen them before. They did not get the full experience of them cutting up and picking on each other.
Oh I almost forgot to mention Nichelle Nicholas. She is really an incredible lady. Very gracious, and you can tell she loves the fans. She was by far the best star panel I attended, and one of the best I have ever seen overall. She is so animated.
Still overall it was awesome and I already can't wait for next year. In terms of "stuff" I did not get much, and actually came home with $160. My main quest these days is collecting old ST comics. I am especially trying to get all of TNG stuff and Voyager. I picked up about 25 comics, a couple of magazines, and a t-shirt. It is a black baby tee, and says I Godzilla Toyko. (Instead of saying Godzillia, it just has his shiloette in red.) I love it.