New England Fan Experience - Nov 22, 2008 (part 1)
Well, I went to the revamped/relocated "United Fan Convention" (aka 'UFanCon'") last weekend with my son Gary, his wife Victoria, and their 2-1/2 year-old son Nicholas. I've been attending this convention for about 11 years, back when B5 was still on the air and most of the guest stars at these cons were from Sci-Fi shows. Even though I have observed the changing trends in fandom and guest stars over the years, I was still shocked (and a bit dismayed) to see how the popularity of the Sci-fi genre has faded away to be replaced by Manga/Anime. But more on that later ...
This year's sci-fi guests were Robert Picardo, Morena Baccarin, Peter Davison (the fifth Doctor Who), Mark Goddard (from the original "Lost in Space" series), artist Bob Eggleston, James Cawley (with "Star Trek: Phase II"), and .... I think that was it. Originally George Takei was going to be there too, but then he had to cancel at the last minute. The main draw for my son was Peter Davison, as Gary is a major-league "Whoovian."
We got to the convention around 11 a.m. (an hour after everything started) and there was quite a big line to sign in. Since we had the little guy with us, I was thankful that it moved rather quickly. Most of the people in line around us were dressed in Anime and Manga costumes and age-wise were between 12 and 25 I'd say. My son was looking at them with thinly disguised disdain and a slight sneer curling his lip - even though he is only 24, he is *not* into that fandom at all and thought the cosplayers very childish, I guess. Ah, fandom intolerance continues.
Unfortunately for Gary, we totally missed Peter Davison's talk, which was scheduled for 11 a.m. By the time we got our tickets, found our way around, etc., Peter was all done talking.
We checked out the dealer's room, which was mostly devoted to anime, although there were some good old sci-fi vendors at the back of the room. I took some photos because it *was* very colorful! My son and his wife were thrilled to pick up a "Serenity" graphic novel they hadn't been able to find in stores, and a friend of mine found some books she'd been looking for too (Hi, Karen!).
I was able to catch the tail-end of Robert Picardo's talk. He was charming and entertaining as usual, regaling the crowd with a story of how Tim Russ (Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager) was a major prankster and came on the set wearing nothing but a sock (I always think of them as "willie warmers"). He said that, being a method actor, he decided his character would respond with no reaction at all - after all, as the holographic doctor, he would have already seen Tuvok naked before. The mental image he invoked was hilarious, though, and the crowd loved him.
Next up was Morena Baccarin - I think most of the fans in the audience were "Firefly/Serenity" fans, even though a few people knew her from Stargate. Morena is a beautiful young woman, with vibrant big brown eyes, but she had her hair cut very short and it was a bit of a visual shock. She shared stories about getting into the "biz," her days at Julliard, and some on-set pranks while working on "FireFly." One story she shared involved another "willie warmer" - a little strange to have two such stories in one day, don't you think? Apparently there is one episode of "Firefly" which opens with Nathan Filion lying naked on the desert floor, curled in the fetal position. When the shooting for that scene was done and he stood up, turns out he was wearing a sock .... with a photo of Joss Whedon attached to the end of it! I'm sure she shared some more interesting info but my grandson was acting up a bit so I took him out for a walk around the hotel lobby so that Gary, Victoria, and the rest of the fans could actually *hear* what Morena had to say. I do know that the end of her talk was basically invaded by the arrival of multitudes of anime fans, in full dress regalia, stomping up the middle aisle to their seats at the front of the room - waves upon waves of people. Morena was trying to concentrate on what she was saying, but the observer could tell how distracted she was by this. She finally said, "I'm sorry, I'm distracted by all these new people coming in. Why doesn't the next speaker come on up?" I think she was a little taken aback when a person hopped up from the seat right in front of her and joined her on stage, but then she laughed. It was Vic Mignona, a voice actor in many of the anime shows including "Full Metal Alchemist" (the only one I recognized).