Dragon*Con '08, Part 2
Continued from [ here].
We're still in the Torchwood Panel.
James said he would do any stage musical written after 1975. He'd love to do "Jesus Christ Superstar." Gareth said he'd do anything before 1975, and mentioned "Mack the Knife," which I guess means he'd do "The Threepenny Opera," which is what that song came from. And he said that "Sweeney Todd" was awesome. Anthony said his girlfriend made him watch "Mamma Mia!" three times. Heh. Gareth said his girlfriend took him to "Mamma Mia!" and he snuck out to watch "Dark Knight" instead. He's such a guy.
Someone asked about the other Torchwood actors and why they hadn't come to Dragon*Con, and Gareth said, "They're all busier than me." Then he said, "Naoko would have been here if she'd been invited. Did anyone invite her? Well, whose fault is that?"
To the question of making Torchwood more child-friendly, Gareth said that it wouldn't be changed. It'll still be "sexy and bloody and John Barrowmanny."
Any chance of Ianto being the filling in a Captain sandwich? James: "We're going to have to develop some more trust, I can tell right now." Gareth said, "I'll ask." He said he wouldn't say it's not a possibility for the future.
James was excited about the "homophobic backlash" regarding Torchwood, because there are "so few subversive TV shows." Once he found out about the backlash, he got addicted to Torchwood.
Is there a chance James will appear on Heroes? James likes Heroes - he watched the first season while filming TW in Wales - but no one's contacted him about being on. He'd love to, though.
Gareth's favorite episode of TW to act in was the cyberwoman episode. He said the most challenging episodes to watch are "Countrycide" and "Fragments," although I'm not sure what he meant by that.
James said he wanted to do a "George W. Bush is a bad President" book for audio. :(
James said he tends to get hurt a lot on set, although he didn't get hurt in the "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" fight scene with John - which, by the way, is when he "fell in love with John." However, he did get hurt when he was handcuffed to Eve Myles and she pulled him out of the car. He didn't get his feet under himself fast enough, and he fell face-first into the pavement. Apparently, the scene wasn't ruined, but he did spit out a tooth. Also, according to James, the TW car is "the least comfortable car in the universe." After that conversation, Gareth turned to Anthony and asked, "Any injuries in bed with Naoko?"
Someone asked if Ianto was fluent in Welsh, to which Gareth replied that Ianto was probably like himself in that aspect - knows just a little bit, mostly the rude stuff. James said that in the grocery stores, all the signs are in English on one side and Welsh on the other, so if you're looking at the wrong side you can't find the pickles. He didn't realize that at first, so he was walking down all the aisles from the wrong direction and thinking, "That's just mean."
Gareth and James partied together when James was over there for filming. They peed on the courthouse - "Showed respect to the bailiff." James said everyone should visit the place, and Gareth said, "James Marsters - Spike from Buffy - fucking loves it!"
The question was what character the guys would play if they could play any character they wanted. James said he wanted to play a disillusioned Star Trek ship captain searching for Earth. Aside from the Star Trek thing, the way he described it sounded like he wants to be in Battlestar Galactica. Gareth said he wanted to play Macbeth, and Anthony said he's always wanted to be James Bond. (Did I mention how cute Anthony is? Man. He was so cute.)
Someone asked if it was awkward to film the naked hide and seek scene with John, but Gareth said John makes scenes relaxed and comfortable, that he's professional and sensitive. James said, "He's the most sensitive maniac I've ever met."
At this point, a girl asked if James would drink out of the flask she had with her, because Gareth and Anthony had both done it at a previous panel. The track director interrupted and said they weren't allowed to do that, and then the girl was really embarrassed and kept apologizing for asking. But you know, she should have known better than to ask something like that because at the beginning before the panel started, the track director told us we couldn't ask for a hug or give any of them a present or anything like that, because that sort of thing was for the Walk of Fame. So I didn't actually feel sorry for the girl for embarrassing herself.
Someone asked if Gareth would rap for us. And I just got a big kick out of him doing this, because it seemed so incredibly random. He leaned up to the mic and rapped (sort of) "All I want is a proper cup of coffee, made in a proper copper coffee pot." Heh! It sounds like a some kind of vocal exercise, like "The big black bug bit the big brown bear, made the big brown bear bleed blood." But to give him credit, he didn't stumble. He laughed at the end, though.
Someone asked about whether the guys go online and read about themselves. (It was the dreaded fanfic question.) James, of course, gave his standard answer that he tries to stay away from the Internet because it's like heroine to him, although Gareth said he does check it out from time to time. He said he read a review of the cyberwoman episode and there was a really mean comment that would have crushed him if he were more sensitive, but instead he found it sort of funny. Then he said, "What was the other bloody thing...? Oh!" Someone said in a review of one TW episode that they thought Torchwood was supposed to be sexy, but the only pair of tits they showed was when Owen and Ianto were in the same shot. Everyone sort of awwwed at that, but Gareth was like, "I still think it's funny."
After that, there was some discussion on how mean British people can be to each other and still think it's funny. James said when he was hanging out with them in Cardiff, he kept thinking they were going to get into fists fights, because that's what would have happened with Americans. Gareth explained that the difference was, "We have a sense of humor."
James' favorite character from Buffy (other than Spike) was Giles. He said he learned a lot from Tony Head.
Someone asked how James could reconcile the two parts of his character on Torchwood - the evil/devious side and the love that he has for Captain Jack. James said he didn't think it was hard to love someone and be devious. But he also told us a story about how he blew a stunt (Gareth: "You blew a what?") but didn't want to tell anyone that he'd hurt himself. He realized he was bleeding through his costume and was embarrassed, so he went to John Barrowman and told him what had happened, and that he didn't want everyone to know. So then John called in like, a secret doctor to come and fix James up with bandages and salves and stuff, and that's how he "came to a sense of love for John Barrowman." Then he said, "And we never told anyone, but now I'm telling the world!"
That's it for my notes. Wow, that was a longer panel recap than I expected! I hope you guys are still with me.
When we got up to leave the panel, I turned to my mom and said, "So, how hot is Gareth David Lloyd?" And she goes, "He is SO cute! I'm in love with him now." Which pretty much sums it up for me too. (More on this later.)
Following the panel, we went downstairs to one of the dealer rooms to meet up with Brad, Nat, and Amy, who had decided not to go to the Harry Potter panel after all. There was a really big dragon hanging over some of the booths in the dealer room, which was kind of neat:
Grr. Arg. *breathes fire*
There was a Heroes panel scheduled for 2:30, so we figured we should go ahead and get in the line for that. When we went to get in line, though, someone told us that the Heroes panel had been canceled - that every Heroes panel had been canceled. So then we went in search of an information booth to see if that were true, and on the way, we found someone's four-day D*C pass lying on the ground near the escalator. So we took it with us and left it at the info booth. We are good people like that.
It turns out that all the Heroes panels had, in fact, been canceled. I'm still not sure why that happened, considering that they had four of the Heroes actors there. But while we were near the info booth, I saw a sign for the celebrity photo ops, which reminded me that I wanted to buy a photo op ticket for James Marsters and another one for Gareth David Lloyd. So we went from the Marriott to the Hilton in search of Froggy the photographer and his crew.
The Battlestar Buffet
Our first celebrity photo op.
When we got to the Hilton, we left Brad, Nat, and Amy at the Walk of Fame while Mama and I went to find out about photo op times and prices. When we got there, we saw that there was a group photo op for four of the BSG actors - Aaron Douglas (Chief), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Hogan (Tigh), and James Callis (Baltar) - and it was almost time for it to start. I had not planned to get any BSG photos, but as soon as I saw it and realized it was almost time, I wanted it. BAD. My mom did, too, but she was reluctant because it cost $150. I offered to split it with her, and she finally agreed - as long as I promised not to tell my dad how much it cost. We each fronted $80, and I asked for two fives back, one for each of us. Then we decided we needed an extra print so we could each have one, and that was $10, so we gave our fives back to the woman sitting at the table. And then I saw that James and Gareth were doing a photo shoot together the next day for $90, so I went ahead and bought that one, too. I gave the woman $100, and she gave me the two fives back again. :)
We were actually the first people there for the BSG photos. They didn't start shooting until 2:00, and it was only 1:30. I would've thought there would be a longer line, though. I mean, there were already a couple of girls waiting in line for the James Marsters photo op, and that didn't start until 4. (Have I mentioned lately that I'm glad I'm not insane?) I don't get why someone would line up two and a half hours early for a 15-second picture. Unless there's some special reason to be first. Is there? Do they give you something if you're first? Because it's like this - yeah, you might be the first in line, but you still waited in line for two and a half hours. The way they rush through these things, I'd rather be the last in line and only wait twenty minutes, you know?
While we were waiting there, James Kyson Lee walked out of the photo room and Richard Hatch walked in. There was a very short line for Richard Hatch photos, which is kind of a shame because he seems like a swell guy.
The way they did the BSG photos is this - they asked for the people who had individual photo op tickets to go first, and all the group ticket holders had to wait and go last. So even though we were there first, we had to wait behind everyone who wanted a picture with just one of the BSG actors.
Tahmoh Penikett walked in the photo room while we were waiting, and he was wearing a hat.
Mama: *frowning* Didn't he know he was getting his picture taken?
Me: I think the hat's kinda sexy.
Girl waiting with us: THERE'S TAHMOH ISN'T HE SO HOT OH MY GOD HE'S SO HOT!!!
Me: See?
While we were standing in line, we also found out that we had bought the more expensive group shot without realizing it, which meant that Edward James Olmos (Adama) was going to be in the picture, too. And that's when my mom started freaking out.
Her: Is my hair okay? It's not sticking up, is it?
Me: Looks good.
Her: What about this? *indicating her black and grey BSG tank tops* Is the black one centered over the grey one?
Me: Yes.
Her: Fix it.
Me: It's fixed. You look fine.
Her: I wish I hadn't worn a tank top. My arms are gonna show. My fat arms.
Me: Your arms aren't fat.
Her: They are when I stand like this.
Me: So don't stand like that.
Her: How should I stand? I don't want my arms to press against my sides because then they flatten out look too wide.
Me: Just put your hand on your hip.
Her: Then my flab hangs down. I wish I had time to go brush my teeth again.
Me: Chew some gum.
Her: I don't want to be chewing gum in the picture.
Me: *sigh*
Her: Do you really think I should put my hand on my hip?
Me: Yes.
Her: Alright. Is my hair okay?
When it was time for the group shots to start, we walked into the room and saw a couple of other people go before us. Michael and Eddie (Tigh and Adama) were standing on one side and Aaron and James (Chief and Baltar) were standing on the other side, with Tahmoh kind of in the back. Mama volunteered to stand between "the old guys" so I could stand with the younger ones - really she just wanted to be close to Eddie - and I said that was fine, but when it was our turn, I walked up and shook hands with Tahmoh, Michael, and Eddie, and Eddie said to me, "Okay, sweetheart, you stand right here," and sort of turned me around right next to him with his hand on the small of my back, so I had to stand between him and Michael anyway (who put his hand on my shoulder). I was okay with that, but I feel like my mom was a little disappointed that Eddie was touching me and not her. But it's not like you can tell Admiral Adama, "Actually, I wanna stand next to Baltar," you know? He gave me an order and I followed through!
My scanner's not working, so I had to take a picture of our picture in order to post it:
This was right before I changed Eddie's religion with my scythe.
I think Tahmoh's hat was really working for him. And James' suspenders. There aren't many people who can get away with wearing suspenders, but he is definitely one of them.
I shook hands with James and Aaron after the picture and thanked them all. For some reason, I didn't get nearly as nervous for this picture as I did last year for my picture with James Marsters or my Greg Grunberg and Nathan Fillion pictures in January. I didn't start shaking at all, and I certainly didn't vibrate. I think maybe I'm getting used to meeting famous people. Which is something I never thought I'd be able to say.
On the other hand, I shook a little when I met Gareth.
After we walked out, we went back to the Walk of Fame to meet up with Amy, Brad, and Natalie, but they weren't there. So I decided to go ahead and get James Kyson Lee's autograph. He plays Ando on Heroes, and he's one of my favorite characters. Although I guess pretty much everyone on that show is one of my favorite characters. Anyway, it was a good time to meet him because there wasn't a line.
James Kyson Lee
It's how we roll...
When I first walked up to meet James... wait a sec. What's the deal with there being so many Jameses at Dragon*Con this year? James Marsters, James Callis, James Kyson Lee, Edward James Olmos... crazy.
Anyway, when I first walked up to meet James, I shook hands with him and introduced myself, then tried to decide on a picture I wanted him to sign. There were a lot of them. In one, his shirt was unbuttoned and sort of blowing back from his body so his chest and stomach were completely exposed, and I was like, "Look at you, without a shirt on!" and my mom goes, "Wow." And he sort of laughed. (Later, Mama was so embarrassed that she said wow. Apparently, it had just come out.)
So I chose a picture, and he said, "Can I make this out to Jenny?" and I said yes, and he said "Okay" and smiled at me before he started writing. While he was signing it, I asked him if he would write "It's how we roll" on the picture, which is something that Hiro and Ando say to each other a couple of times in season one of Heroes, and he said, "Oh, you remembered that!" and looked pretty pleased. He wrote the line and signed his name and drew the godsend symbol next to it, which is the same thing Greg Grunberg did when I got his autograph.
He wrote "Ando" on it - as if I would forget his character's name.
Then Mama asked if she could take a picture of him. This sort of embarrassed me because there were some people in the Walk of Fame who had signs attached to their namecards with a picture of a camera with a crossed-out symbol over it, meaning not to take their picture, and he was one of them. My mom hadn't seen the sign, though. But James, nice guy that he is, didn't want to say no, so he sort of looked around and then nodded at her quickly, like okay, hurry while no one's looking!
You even mention tights and a cape, I'm going home.
After he gave me the signed picture, I thanked him and shook his hand again, and we said it was nice meeting each other, and he gave me a really friendly smile. And I didn't shake at all! Well, no more than I normally do. I was super proud of myself. It was barely even awkward.
We left the Walk of Fame then to meet up with Brad and Nat and Amy. It turns out, they had just been sitting on the floor nearby, waiting for us. But they had taken some pictures inside the Walk of Fame before we got there:
Jewell Staite's a blonde now. When did that happen?
And Morena's a pixie.
So guess who forgot to bring her Firefly DVDs to Dragon*Con to get signed.
Yeah.
*is an idiot* I have Nathan, Alan, Adam, Ron, and Summer's signatures on the DVDs, and Jewell and Morena were perfectly accessible to me and I HAD LEFT THEM AT HOME. For the rest of the con, whenever I had a spare moment, I kicked myself for that.
Brad and Nat also made a friend right after they registered that morning:
She's MARRIED to the Muffin Man!
We all talked for a few minutes, but then Brad and Nat went off to do their own thing, so Mama and Amy and I decided to go back in the Walk of Fame to meet Sean Astin.
Sean Astin
Hobbits never say die!!
There was a longish line for Sean, but we didn't have anything else urgent to do, so we waited. While in the line, we met a girl in front of us who was carrying a James Marsters autograph. She had been looking at the names of the other actors on the Walk of Fame and then turned to us and said, "Who's Nathan Fillan? Fill... een. Fillee-own?"
Don't worry, I didn't slap her in the face. Although it was a near thing.
I said that he was Mal on Firefly, but she'd never heard of Firefly. She'd also never heard of Doctor Horrible or Waitress, and she'd never seen an episode of Desperate Housewives or Lost. When I mentioned he was on Buffy, she seemed confused, then said she'd only seen Buffy up to the point where Buffy died, which SHOULD'VE been the end of it - where it was supposed to end.
I didn't slap her at that point either.
Then she started talking about how she was SUCH a huge James Marsters fan, and when she met him she told him she'd seen every episode of Buffy, even though she hadn't. I asked if she went to the Torchwood panel earlier, but she hadn't, and wanted to know what Torchwood was. I told her it was a spinoff of Doctor Who, which... she'd never heard of. So I pointed at her autograph and said that the outfit James was wearing in the picture was what his character wears in Torchwood. But what I really wanted to say was, "What the hell are you doing at a sci-fi convention?"
Also in the Sean Astin line, there was a girl in a pirate outfit carrying a flask. She overheard us talking about James Marsters and mentioned that she'd wanted to get him to drink out of her flask, but... And I was like, "Are you the girl from the Torchwood panel?" and she goes, "Yes! That was me!" And said something about the track director being mean to her. But honestly, I think she should have known better.
Anyway, Sean Astin. He's supernice! He was sitting there with his hat turned backwards and wearing glasses, and when Amy and I walked up, he said, "You're sisters!" Then when my mom walked up, he said, "You're a whole family!" We were surprised, because I don't think I've ever been anywhere with my thin, blonde, green-eyed sisters and been recognized as their sister before. Plus, I had Fray hair and Fray lips and Fray eyes at the time. But it was cool that he noticed, because he's the first person who ever has, just by looking at us.
He asked how to spell my name, then commented that there were a lot of different ways to spell it - which seems to be a conversation that I have with a lot of the celebrities that I meet. It's kind of funny the way he signed the photo I chose. First he signed his name, then he did a smiley face above it, then he wrote my name above that, and then he wrote the quote I wanted off to the side. He did it all backwards. Heh.
I had wanted to get him to write "Goonies never say die" but when I saw the picture selection, I wanted the one of him as Sam from Lord of the Rings, so I decided to ask him instead to write "Hobbits never say die." When I asked him, I started with, "I know I'm mixing up two of your movies, but..." He repeated "Hobbits never say die" after I said it and kind of laughed, then said, "No, I've written that before." And then he did shifty eyes! It was so cute. You've never seen good shifty eyes until you've seen Sean Astin do shifty eyes. Amy was like, "Oh, you're not original," to me, and I pouted, and Sean said, "Actually, I just didn't want you to feel bad for... cross... genderizing..." Then he turned to Mama and said, "Help me out here, mom!" and we all laughed. As he was writing the quote on the picture, he commented that it was a good picture for it since Sam is holding a sword and looking all tough. The way he said that struck me as kind of funny, because he said, "He's getting ready to fight." As though the person in the picture were someone else and not himself.
Two exclamation points!! He so loves me.
We didn't take a picture of Sean because he had a crossed-out camera hanging from his name sign. We only spoke for a moment longer, then started to leave. Sean shook hands with Amy, but I had already turned to go, and he said, "Wait!" and shook hands with me as well. Then he said it was nice meeting us and shook hands with Mama and said, "You too, mom!" I feel like I'm leaving out some of what we said, but just know that I got the overall impression that he's a really nice, friendly guy, and very easy to talk to. I sort of wish I'd signed up to do a photo op with him.
After we walked away from Sean's table, Amy said she wanted to meet James Callis, so we went over to the BSG tables on the other side of the room. We passed by Micky Dolenz, who hasn't changed a bit. That was kind of surreal. Also, Beau Bridges was sitting near the BSG crowd, so Mama took a picture of him.
Every time we saw good old Beau, I got the overwhelming impression that his eyebrows had been glued on. But I'm pretty sure they weren't. ...were they?
Amy didn't want James' autograph or anything; she just wanted to meet him. I'd already met him before and didn't want an autograph either, and Mama was just happy to be there, so when we got up to the table, we just chatted for a minute. Amy and James talked about Bridget Jones' Diary, but to tell the truth I wasn't paying much attention - Tahmoh was sitting at the next table over and looking fine. All I remember about the conversation is that James said "Cheerio!" when we walked away.
After that, it was off to Peachtree Center for some food. I think the last thing I had eaten was a Twizzler five hours ago. On the way to the mall, I got stopped a few times for pictures. For lunch (a very late lunch), I got a Gorin's pineapple and banana smoothie, Amy got Thai, and my mom got a philly cheesesteak sandwich.
While I was in line at Gorin's, an old dude came up to me and said, "What are you supposed to be?" He was leering at me. I told him I was Fray the Vampire Slayer, but he said he'd heard of vampire slayers and I didn't look like one. He asked if I was supposed to be like Buffy, and I said sort of, but from the future. And then he gave me this disbelieving look and said, "Ooookay." It was the only time during the whole con that someone made me feel really lame.
But! As soon as I stepped away from Gorin's, a couple of guys called out "Fray!" and asked to take my picture. They were really nice and thought my scythe was awesome, and that made up for the old dude.
Here's something kinda funny: There's a sports shop in the mall right next to the food court called "The Fan's Wear." We walked by it every time we went in the mall, and the mall was always packed to overflowing with all kinds of fans... but no one was ever in The Fan's Wear. Ever.
Poor, lonely sports shop.
It was just after 4:00 by this time and there was a Firefly panel at 5:30, so we decided to go ahead and line up for that. So it was off to the Hyatt again.
Saturday's Firefly Panel
OR More Fun with Approximate Quotes, Part III: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Jewell Staite, and Morena Baccarin
I don't know how early people started lining up for this panel, but we got there over an hour before it was supposed to start, and it was already several hundred people long. They had actually moved the line away from the Centennial ballroom so it wouldn't block the flow of traffic through the Hyatt. The line started near the bathroom, went down a hall, up some stairs, outside, through a breezeway along the side of the building, around the corner and all the way down that side of the building, around that corner, and all the way down that side of the building. It took us ten minutes to walk to the end of the line!
The Firefly line down one side of the Hyatt. We had to turn that corner at the end and go all the way down the next side of the Hyatt before we got to the end of the line.
After we had waited in line for about half an hour, we heard people asking where the end of the line extended to, and the answer was "It goes down to Beruit (sp?) Street." A street! They were marking the end of the line by what street it reached! And there was still about 45 minutes to go before the panel even started.
Some people asked for my photo while we were in the line. One person just wanted a picture of my scythe, which was fine with me since it meant I didn't have to get up. Amy made friends with a really nice girl in the line named Kate, who was dressed as Kaylee.
Kate: [after seeing an interesting costume] Wow, did you see that guy's forehead? That was crazy.
Amy: I know! What if it was real? I'd feel bad if it was some sort of real tumor and everyone was staring at him thinking it was a costume. And really going to Dragon*Con was his last wish before he died.
Kate: I don't know, I think if I were dying of some bizarre forehead tumor, I'd go ahead and dress it up for Dragon*Con. I mean, why not?
The room was completely packed before the panel started. We were told it had a capacity of about 1,500, and there were about 3,000 people in the line. I feel lucky that we even got in! I guess these Firefly flans are pretty serious when it comes to their Captain. I'm just glad I had already met him in January so I didn't have to stand in the crazylong line at the Walk of Fame.
They were still loading the room at 5:45. A guy came out on stage to encourage people to give blood at the blood drive that was going on in the Marriott. They had about 500 units so far, but Comicon had had 856, so he was pushing for enough to beat Comicon. Oh, I forgot I had taken a picture of the blood drive on my phone the day before!
It was right outside of the Whedonverse track room. Which I found appropriate.
When Nathan, Alan, Jewell, and Morena finally walked out on the stage, they got a standing ovation. Just for being there. Nathan pulled out Morena's chair for her, and then Alan started pouring champagne for them all in honor of Nathan and Jewell's 4th anniversary of being Dragon*Con guests. (It was Morena's 3rd and Alan's 2nd.) Alan said it was nice to be back with Jewell and Morena again, although he didn't care about Nathan. He said that he had barely seen them since they weren't even sitting with him and Nathan in the Walk of Fame - they were sitting, I think, in the Stargate section. Alan said, "What is this show you're on?" and Nathan said, "Traitors. The word you're looking for is traitors."
The best part of Firefly panels is the great rapport the actors have with each other. You can really tell they're all friends.
They started talking about Morena's drastic haircut. She said that lots of people were telling her it was a shame about her hair, but she was like, "Dude. It grows back." Nathan rubbed her head and said, "It's growing back really nicely." Jewell said, "I think Morena looks beautiful with short hair."
Nathan: If you miss your hair, don't worry. I saved it. I'm making a little doll.
Jewell: What's weird is that I really believe that.
Morena: It's not for voodoo, is it?
Nathan: No, I just sleep with it.
Alan mentioned that if you have an electric wheelchair, you should be careful around Nathan because he'll steal it. Nathan said, "Anything motorized." Alan said something like, "I've got some great video of Nathan stealing one yesterday. He'll steal it and then use up all the battery power before giving it back." I remember Nathan [doing that] at the [ FX Show] in January.
On the subject of giving blood, Nathan asked if everyone knew their own blood type. Then he said we should find out because 15% of us could be O negative, which is the universal donor. Nathan himself is O neg, which he learned while in college. He said the big partying night in college was Tuesday nights, so every 90 days on a Tuesday night he'd go give blood and then go out drinking. Heh.
I think someone asked about pranking each other, and so we got a story about Nathan giving Jewell a jewelry box with a hole cut out of the bottom for his middle finger so that when she opened it, he'd be flicking her off. (This is the early version of dick in a box.) So then for Valentine's Day, Jewell made an anonymous valentine for Nathan that was really crazy, that was like, "If I can't have you, I'll kill myself," or something. And then she put it in his mailbox at home so that it would look like some obsessed, insane fan knew where he lived. But then inside the valentine she put a separate sealed envelope, and inside that, there was a photograph of herself shooting a bird at him. Nathan said that photo is now framed in his bathroom.
For the Firefly blooper reel - the one that they showed at the cast party - Nathan had a little stuffed Caleb doll flicking off Jewell. So at a Firefly panel at a previous Dragon*Con, Jewell and Peter David organized a mass bird-flipping. They passed out flyers explaining that at a certain signal phrase, everyone should stand up and shoot a bird at Nathan during the panel. (Jewell had us all do this, just to experience what it looked like.) Nathan said that after that, people kept coming up to him and saying, "Do you want me to go flick Jewell off for you?" But he was like, "Dude, I had eight thousand fingers flicked at me. Anything now would just be like throwing rocks at a brick wall."
For the whole length of the panel, anytime someone asked a question, Alan would give that person a little Firefly card that all four of them had signed. Which is awesome, because if you had just gone to get their autographs in the Walk of Fame, you would have had to pay about $80. Also during the whole panel, Nathan had his cell phone out and was playing little sound effects into the mic whenever he thought it appropriate. Silly man.
When one girl got up to ask a question, Nathan demanded to know what was in her hand, which I thought was kind of strange of him. It was a Hello Kitty notebook. I think this was the girl who asked what made each of them happy, after which Morena launched into this whole thing about acting and being in plays, and started talking about this play she had just been in. When it was Jewell's turn, she just said, "Shoes." Alan said he really liked hangliding, that it was so exhilarating that it just makes you laugh. (That always happens to me when I'm on a roller coaster. I just laugh the whole time.) Nathan said, "That's what the fear of death will do to you." When it was Nathan's turn, he said that being outside makes him happy, and good weather, and when you're stuck in traffic and someone lets you in front of them and you wave at each other even though you don't know each other.
Someone asked if there was a story behind Jayne's hat. Nathan said, "No," and made his cell phone do a weepy sound into the mic. Then Alan said, "But you still get a card."
Jewell said that her favorite costume that she'd seen was the girl who came as Jayne's hat. They asked if the girl was there, but apparently she hadn't made it into the ballroom.
Someone asked Alan to answer his next question in the German accent he used in the movie 28 Days. He laughed, but didn't do it. Nathan was like, "I'll do it! [German accent] 'Look at my package.'"
Someone asked where Nathan was last year, since he didn't come to D*C. He turned to Morena and said, "Where were we, Morena?" She acted all hurt and said, "I can't believe you don't remember." Then Nathan started talking about Alan going to Australia and "telling everyone I said there was gonna be another Serenity movie!" Morena said, "You got us all excited and then you crushed us."
Alan said something about Nathan's "little Myspace page."
Jewell: Did you say little?
Alan: Oh, is it big?
Nathan: 50,000 friends and counting. Who here is my friend on Myspace?
*lots of hands*
Jewell: Who's my friend on Myspace?
*hands*
Nathan: Hmm... seems to be lower than mine. That's weird.
Morena's favorite episode is Out of Gas. (Mine too.) Nathan said his mom's favorite line from that episode is "'Everybody dies alone.' Makes her cry a little bit." Jewell said that her favorite episode is Jaynestown because Alan plays the very best drunk she's ever seen. Alan was flattered by that. He said his favorite episode was actually an idea of his that never got shot: He wanted the Serenity crew to have to travel through a wormhole to get to a job, but the wormhole changes people molecularly for a short period of time. Like, one of the girls would have a bushy mustache and one of the guys would have an enormous butt, etc. Usually after people travel through these wormholes, they wait a while before doing anything else in order to go back to their regular selves first, but due to time constraints, the Serenity crew would have to do their job without waiting, so they'd all have to go through the whole thing with their bodies a little screwed up. It sounded like a really funny idea for an episode to me, but at the same time, I sort of don't see that kind of thing fitting into the Firefly universe, which is just a tad more... serious. Nathan said his favorite was also Out of Gas.
Morena said that someone had asked her earlier how Wash and Zoe ended up together even though it was clear from Out of Gas that they didn't like each other when they first met. She asked Alan what his take on that was, and he sort of fidgeted around and said, "Haven't you ever met someone you didn't like initially but fell in love with later?" To which Nathan replied, "Alan Tudyk." After that question, Alan said, "Thanks, Morena," and handed her a Firefly card. She goes, "You didn't even sign this!"
I didn't write this down, but I think it was at this point that either Jewell or Nathan complimented the other one and then said, "...if you like eating horse shit." Apparently, it's a thing Nathan always said to Jewell and Morena on set - he would given them a really sincere compliment about their acting in a scene, and just when they would start to thank him, he'd say, "if you like eating horse shit." Nathan said, "It's tough love. You'll thank me later."
Someone asked what they liked about Dragon*Con, and one of the guys - I can't remember which one - said that the anticipation leading up to it was palpable, and when you get here, BOOM. "It's like an orgasm over the whole weekend."
Nathan introduced us to his best friend ever in the whole world - "Alan, it's not you" - Jeff Fillion, his brother, who was sitting out in the audience with Morena's mom. Jewell's husband was also out in the audience, but he was standing over at the side near where we were sitting.
After a question, Alan started to give the girl a signed Firefly card, but then Nathan said - "You can have that card OR this mystery envelope that I prepared earlier!" She decided to take the envelope instead, and it had $40 in it... which is the amount of money it would take to get half of the signatures that were already on the card. He thought it was funny. But Alan gave her a card anyway. Nice guy.
Alan talked about being in Spamalot on Broadway. He and Morena both said that it really makes an actor's day when you go up to meet them and mention you saw them in a play. Alan said when you say you liked their performance in a movie, the actor's going to say, "Oh, thank you very much," but when you say you saw them in a play, they're going to say, "Really??? Which night were you there???"
At this point, someone came to the mic and said he'd never seen any episodes of Firefly. Really, guy? This is what you say in a room packed full of diehard flans? But then he went on to ask which scenes were the most difficult to film and which were the least difficult. Which isn't a bad question, but at the same time, it makes me wonder why he'd even care if he'd never seen any of the scenes anyway.
Jewell said the scene where she's in the engine room with Jubal Early (when he threatens to rape her) was "not a fun day at work." Then she said the least difficult scenes were "anytime I had to make out with Sean."
Jewell: I'm just being honest. He smells beautiful.
Alan: He does smell good.
Morena: Good thing your husband's here...
Jewell: It's okay, my husband thinks Sean smells good, too.
Morena said the scenes she found most difficult were in Heart of Gold when she told Mal she was leaving and in Safe, the scene with Jewell and Sean in the general store. She and Jewell got the giggles so bad that it was really hard to get through the scene. And a fly kept landing on Sean's nose, which made it even worse.
Alan said something like, "All the action scenes were really easy for me because I was always just on the ship." But then he and Nathan agreed that the torture scene in War Stories was really difficult. They had to jiggle for eight hours as though they were being electrocuted, and the next morning they felt like they had really been electrocuted.
After they were all done answering the question, Alan said to the guy who asked it, "I'd like to give you a card. This is of a show called Firefly."
Someone came up to the mic and said, "This question is for Nathan," who immediately replied, "But Morena's going to answer it." The person was confused for a second, and Nathan was like, "No, ask it like you're asking me, but Morena's going to answer for me." The question was who would win in a fight, Mal or Captain Hammer. Morena whispered something to Nathan, and then he leaned into the mic and said, "She just asked me who Captain Hammer is." Everybody started laughing, and when she realized he was a character from Doctor Horrible, she was like, "I've seen it! I just forgot his name!" Then she answered that Mal would win, "Because Mal's a badass across the board."
I'm not sure what this next question was, but it was something about when Firefly was canceled. Maybe it was how each of them found out the show was in trouble? Anyway, they all seemed to get really sad while they were answering. Morena looked like she was going to cry, and Nathan petted her. She said that she was worried when Fox started showing the episodes out of order, and when they kept getting pushed back because of baseball, but that she didn't let herself get too worried about it because Joss didn't seem to be too worried about it. Alan said when they kept getting passed up in favor of baseball, it wasn't that big a deal because that was happening to a lot of other good shows too, but he realized they were in trouble when Fox decided one night to show Happy Gilmore instead of Firefly - a movie that had been out for years. One of the guys said sarcastically that that baseball season had been a really good season, though. Jewell mentioned that when Joss got them all together to tell them about being canceled, he started with, "I've got nothing good to say."
After answering that question, Alan said to the person who asked it, "Here's a card. Thanks for bringing us down."
The last question that I wrote down in my notebook was about learning different accents. I think Alan said that he and Morena had both gone to Juliard, where they do a lot of accent coaching. He asked if she could do any accents, and she said yeah, a little, so he was like, "Do one." Heh. She just laughed. Alan said that they teach you how to speak with zero accent at all, which is the accent he used when he did the voice of the robot in the movie "I, Robot." Then he did an impression of Nathan and an impression of Christopher Walken, which was excellent.
For a couple of clearer pictures of the Firefly panel - and some of the Torchwood panel, too - check _sin_attract's journal [here].
After the Firefly panel was over, we filed out with everyone else. It's sort of a weird feeling being in such a huge group of people all going in the same direction like lemmings. I wonder if lemmings can get claustrophobic? Everyone was pressed together so tightly that I felt like I could pull both my feet up off the ground and still be carried along in the right direction.
My mom and I decided we wanted to go see if our BSG photo was ready yet, so we went from the Hyatt to the Hilton. It was weird going outside into the daylight, because for some reason Amy and I had both convinced ourselves that it was already nighttime. I guess it's because the Centennial ballrooms don't have any windows. As we were crossing the street, some guy yelled out, "Fray! Awesome!" And another guy complimented my weapon. :)
Our Battlestar picture was out, but there was only one copy. We asked about the other copy, and the woman we talked to said to come back in the morning to see if it had been printed yet. This woman was really rude. (I actually recognized her as the rude woman we talked to about pictures at the FX Show in January.) When we were looking for someone to ask about the copy of our picture, I looked in the room where the photo ops were taking place - but I didn't go inside or anything. Anyway, she was in there and saw me peek in, and she hurried over to the doorway where I was standing and physically pushed me away. It was startling, because I can't imagine running up to somebody and just pushing them, you know? She pushed me and screamed in my ear at FX, too. Is this sort of thing really necessary?
While we were looking at some of the other photos that were ready to be picked up, I noticed a picture of James Marsters with a girl who was extremely unphotogenic. I said something to my mom like, "Aren't you glad you weren't making that face in our photo?" And the girl next to me reached over and picked it up. I thought at first that she just wanted a better look at the awful photo, but no. It was her. Maybe I shouldn't complain about other people being rude...
We also saw some really terrible Adam West photos. My recommendation? Don't get your picture made with Adam West. Seriously. He doesn't want to touch you. He doesn't want to be within ten inches of you. He doesn't really even notice that you're in the same photo with him. In fact, you aren't. You were digitally placed about ten inches away from Adam West in your photo. You didn't even meet him.
Oh, and I think it was at this point that my mom and I noticed a guy wandering around the photo area who looked freakily similar to my brother. We thought he was actually Brad from the side. But he wasn't.
Amy and Mama and I found a place to sit down together and regroup, figure out what we wanted to do next. A couple of people came up to get my picture while we were deciding. I think it was at about this time that the dinner and concert with James Marsters and Gareth David Lloyd was starting, but I hadn't tried to get a ticket for that. It was $150, and I heard they started lining up for those tickets the night before. But if you want to see some pictures from that event, check [here] at mad_brilliant_'s journal.
Amy really wanted to go to a Lost panel in the Marriott. It didn't have any celebrity guests, but we agreed to go to it with her because Lost is her favorite TV show. And anyway, she came to the Buffy comic book panel with me, so it was only fair.
The Lost Panel
I hadn't seen the 4th season, so I got a little... well, you know.
The X-Track room was a little smaller than the Whedonverse track room, but it was already nearly full when we got there. We didn't find three seats together, but there were two empty seats with an empty one right behind them, so we sat there. I think the reason it was so crowded is because it was the only Lost event that was happening all weekend. Before it actually started, though, the person sitting next to Amy got up and left, so Mama moved up to sit with us.
One of the panelists was a little late getting there, so the X-Track director talked to us a minute. She mentioned the girl with the flask in the Torchwood panel and explained why she had told her James couldn't drink out of it. Something about it being a liability issue. It makes sense, but I got the impression that she felt bad for having to tell the girl no.
The two panelists for this event were... I don't have their names. But one of them is a girl in charge of [Lost Radio], and the other was a guy involved with [The Lost Experience]. Since I had only seen the first couple of episodes of season four and the panel was mostly speculation about the upcoming season, I got severely spoiled for this show. It's okay, though; I knew what I was getting into. But I'll admit I was pretty thoroughly lost (har har) the whole time and gave up trying to take notes for this report. So no Lost spoilers for you! I spent most of the panel texting with my friend Evan, who couldn't come to Dragon*Con but wanted to, and who is also a big fan of Lost.
Me: they keep talking about vincent. who is vincent?
Evan: the dog.
Me: oh... an actual dog. i just thought they were being mean.
Mostly what I gathered from this panel is that it is possible to have a panel run by fans who are very professional and diplomatic when it comes to answering questions, who don't hog the mics, and who don't argue with or ridicule the people asking questions, even when the questions are silly or really off the wall or the people are uninformed. And who never say, "Who even cares about that?"
Amy really enjoyed this panel. She even got involved in the discussion and asked a question. You go, sis. I also enjoyed it, but mostly for the opportunity to not have to pay attention to what was going on. :)
When the Lost panel ended, it was about time for both the Shindig and the Colonial Fleet party to start in the Sheraton, so we headed in that direction next. We weren't really sure which one we wanted to go to - we really wanted to go to both - but when we got to the Sheraton, there was a man standing there directing traffic, pointing one way for the Shindig and one way for the BSG party. So we had to make a decision.
The Shindig
Up until the punching, it was a real nice party.
We decided to do the Firefly party first. There was a really long line for it, so we got in the line, and while we were standing there, a couple of people wanted my picture. One short, barefooted girl came up and wanted to hold my scythe, and when she walked away, Amy said, "Was she a hobbit?" She wasn't, but the people in line ahead of us thought that was pretty funny.
The room the party was in was very big. It was actually the same room that the Doctor Horrible and Buffy sing-alongs had been in, but all the chairs had been moved out of the way. There were some tables set up with chairs around them and a cash bar at the back of the room, and in front of the stage was a big open area for more people to sit down or to dance.
Count the Jayne hats in this picture! I see at least six.
The band that was on stage when we came in was called Emerald Rose. Their music had a Celtic flavor that I really enjoyed, and people started dancing almost immediately - although it was pretty much all girls, and they were dancing in the corner of the room instead of in front of the stage:
Someone kept turning off the lights. The first time it happened, everyone screamed like little kids, which I thought was kind of funny. I figured someone had just accidentally leaned against the light switch, but then it kept happening. Finally, the band was like, "Guys, we need to be able to see at least a little bit so we won't bang our heads against the mics." During one of the songs, a girl named Stacy came up to the front and did some real Irish dancing - you know, like Riverdance - which was pretty cool. More people started dancing in front of the stage after that:
Of course, the Jayne hat girl was there:
I found out at the party that this was the same girl who came dressed as Serenity the ship a couple years ago. How awesome is that?
There was a really cute guy dressed at Doctor Horrible sitting behind us on the floor, so I turned around and started talking to him about his costume. Amy and I ended up talking to this guy and some of his friends for a long time. One of the girls was dressed as Kaylee and another girl, the girl who had made Doctor Horrible's costume, had on a steampunk outfit. I asked about steampunk right as they were changing bands to the Bedlam Bards, and this new band was so loud that I didn't hear a single word of the girl's answer. She just kept on talking, and the Kaylee girl jumped in a couple of times and helped, but I just sort of nodded and smiled and laughed when they laughed because I seriously couldn't hear a thing.
I found the music of the Bedlam Bards to be pretty depressing. I liked Emerald Rose much better.
There was another Doctor Horrible sitting nearby, so we asked if we could have a picture of both of the Doctors together.
The guy on the right is named Malik, but I didn't catch the cute guy's name.
We talked to Malik for a while, and he showed us a letter he'd gotten from Bad Horse. The three cowboy guys gave him the letter and sang the song to him, too! I think it's absolutely hysterical that these guys were going around doing that for all the people dressed as Doctor Horrible.
While the Bedlam Bards played, I didn't see anyone dancing, but a largish game of Duck, Duck, Goose did break out on the dance floor. Yeah. I don't know if this is a tradition at the Shindig or what, but I think I saw the same thing happen two years ago.
A few people asked about my scythe. One man came up to take a picture of it and asked me if I had made it myself (lots of people asked me that). Amy and I joked that he was flirting with Mama, and she got really embarrassed. Another dude was passing out fortune cookies and spilled his drink on my sister. The cookies all had the same message, which was a recruitment message for a bunch of people who like to dress as the Independent army from Firefly. It was a nice cookie, but I doubt I'll be joining.
After being at the Shindig for about... I guess it was an hour or so, we decided it was time to leave. We were already in our hotel, and Amy wanted to go back to the room and watch Doctor Horrible, since she missed a lot of it during the sing-along. As we walked out, though, we decided to stop by the Colonial Fleet party for a few minutes anyway, since it was in the same hotel and last year some of the actors had shown up.
Man, I am SO glad we did!
Still with me? Click [ here] for the rest of the report!
We've still got BSG and Dollhouse panels, as well as more celebrity interaction to follow - and my mom's Dragon*Con highlight, the Colonial Fleet party! (And my highlight, the photo op with Gareth and James.)
We're still in the Torchwood Panel.
James said he would do any stage musical written after 1975. He'd love to do "Jesus Christ Superstar." Gareth said he'd do anything before 1975, and mentioned "Mack the Knife," which I guess means he'd do "The Threepenny Opera," which is what that song came from. And he said that "Sweeney Todd" was awesome. Anthony said his girlfriend made him watch "Mamma Mia!" three times. Heh. Gareth said his girlfriend took him to "Mamma Mia!" and he snuck out to watch "Dark Knight" instead. He's such a guy.
Someone asked about the other Torchwood actors and why they hadn't come to Dragon*Con, and Gareth said, "They're all busier than me." Then he said, "Naoko would have been here if she'd been invited. Did anyone invite her? Well, whose fault is that?"
To the question of making Torchwood more child-friendly, Gareth said that it wouldn't be changed. It'll still be "sexy and bloody and John Barrowmanny."
Any chance of Ianto being the filling in a Captain sandwich? James: "We're going to have to develop some more trust, I can tell right now." Gareth said, "I'll ask." He said he wouldn't say it's not a possibility for the future.
James was excited about the "homophobic backlash" regarding Torchwood, because there are "so few subversive TV shows." Once he found out about the backlash, he got addicted to Torchwood.
Is there a chance James will appear on Heroes? James likes Heroes - he watched the first season while filming TW in Wales - but no one's contacted him about being on. He'd love to, though.
Gareth's favorite episode of TW to act in was the cyberwoman episode. He said the most challenging episodes to watch are "Countrycide" and "Fragments," although I'm not sure what he meant by that.
James said he wanted to do a "George W. Bush is a bad President" book for audio. :(
James said he tends to get hurt a lot on set, although he didn't get hurt in the "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" fight scene with John - which, by the way, is when he "fell in love with John." However, he did get hurt when he was handcuffed to Eve Myles and she pulled him out of the car. He didn't get his feet under himself fast enough, and he fell face-first into the pavement. Apparently, the scene wasn't ruined, but he did spit out a tooth. Also, according to James, the TW car is "the least comfortable car in the universe." After that conversation, Gareth turned to Anthony and asked, "Any injuries in bed with Naoko?"
Someone asked if Ianto was fluent in Welsh, to which Gareth replied that Ianto was probably like himself in that aspect - knows just a little bit, mostly the rude stuff. James said that in the grocery stores, all the signs are in English on one side and Welsh on the other, so if you're looking at the wrong side you can't find the pickles. He didn't realize that at first, so he was walking down all the aisles from the wrong direction and thinking, "That's just mean."
Gareth and James partied together when James was over there for filming. They peed on the courthouse - "Showed respect to the bailiff." James said everyone should visit the place, and Gareth said, "James Marsters - Spike from Buffy - fucking loves it!"
The question was what character the guys would play if they could play any character they wanted. James said he wanted to play a disillusioned Star Trek ship captain searching for Earth. Aside from the Star Trek thing, the way he described it sounded like he wants to be in Battlestar Galactica. Gareth said he wanted to play Macbeth, and Anthony said he's always wanted to be James Bond. (Did I mention how cute Anthony is? Man. He was so cute.)
Someone asked if it was awkward to film the naked hide and seek scene with John, but Gareth said John makes scenes relaxed and comfortable, that he's professional and sensitive. James said, "He's the most sensitive maniac I've ever met."
At this point, a girl asked if James would drink out of the flask she had with her, because Gareth and Anthony had both done it at a previous panel. The track director interrupted and said they weren't allowed to do that, and then the girl was really embarrassed and kept apologizing for asking. But you know, she should have known better than to ask something like that because at the beginning before the panel started, the track director told us we couldn't ask for a hug or give any of them a present or anything like that, because that sort of thing was for the Walk of Fame. So I didn't actually feel sorry for the girl for embarrassing herself.
Someone asked if Gareth would rap for us. And I just got a big kick out of him doing this, because it seemed so incredibly random. He leaned up to the mic and rapped (sort of) "All I want is a proper cup of coffee, made in a proper copper coffee pot." Heh! It sounds like a some kind of vocal exercise, like "The big black bug bit the big brown bear, made the big brown bear bleed blood." But to give him credit, he didn't stumble. He laughed at the end, though.
Someone asked about whether the guys go online and read about themselves. (It was the dreaded fanfic question.) James, of course, gave his standard answer that he tries to stay away from the Internet because it's like heroine to him, although Gareth said he does check it out from time to time. He said he read a review of the cyberwoman episode and there was a really mean comment that would have crushed him if he were more sensitive, but instead he found it sort of funny. Then he said, "What was the other bloody thing...? Oh!" Someone said in a review of one TW episode that they thought Torchwood was supposed to be sexy, but the only pair of tits they showed was when Owen and Ianto were in the same shot. Everyone sort of awwwed at that, but Gareth was like, "I still think it's funny."
After that, there was some discussion on how mean British people can be to each other and still think it's funny. James said when he was hanging out with them in Cardiff, he kept thinking they were going to get into fists fights, because that's what would have happened with Americans. Gareth explained that the difference was, "We have a sense of humor."
James' favorite character from Buffy (other than Spike) was Giles. He said he learned a lot from Tony Head.
Someone asked how James could reconcile the two parts of his character on Torchwood - the evil/devious side and the love that he has for Captain Jack. James said he didn't think it was hard to love someone and be devious. But he also told us a story about how he blew a stunt (Gareth: "You blew a what?") but didn't want to tell anyone that he'd hurt himself. He realized he was bleeding through his costume and was embarrassed, so he went to John Barrowman and told him what had happened, and that he didn't want everyone to know. So then John called in like, a secret doctor to come and fix James up with bandages and salves and stuff, and that's how he "came to a sense of love for John Barrowman." Then he said, "And we never told anyone, but now I'm telling the world!"
That's it for my notes. Wow, that was a longer panel recap than I expected! I hope you guys are still with me.
When we got up to leave the panel, I turned to my mom and said, "So, how hot is Gareth David Lloyd?" And she goes, "He is SO cute! I'm in love with him now." Which pretty much sums it up for me too. (More on this later.)
Following the panel, we went downstairs to one of the dealer rooms to meet up with Brad, Nat, and Amy, who had decided not to go to the Harry Potter panel after all. There was a really big dragon hanging over some of the booths in the dealer room, which was kind of neat:
Grr. Arg. *breathes fire*
There was a Heroes panel scheduled for 2:30, so we figured we should go ahead and get in the line for that. When we went to get in line, though, someone told us that the Heroes panel had been canceled - that every Heroes panel had been canceled. So then we went in search of an information booth to see if that were true, and on the way, we found someone's four-day D*C pass lying on the ground near the escalator. So we took it with us and left it at the info booth. We are good people like that.
It turns out that all the Heroes panels had, in fact, been canceled. I'm still not sure why that happened, considering that they had four of the Heroes actors there. But while we were near the info booth, I saw a sign for the celebrity photo ops, which reminded me that I wanted to buy a photo op ticket for James Marsters and another one for Gareth David Lloyd. So we went from the Marriott to the Hilton in search of Froggy the photographer and his crew.
The Battlestar Buffet
Our first celebrity photo op.
When we got to the Hilton, we left Brad, Nat, and Amy at the Walk of Fame while Mama and I went to find out about photo op times and prices. When we got there, we saw that there was a group photo op for four of the BSG actors - Aaron Douglas (Chief), Tahmoh Penikett (Helo), Michael Hogan (Tigh), and James Callis (Baltar) - and it was almost time for it to start. I had not planned to get any BSG photos, but as soon as I saw it and realized it was almost time, I wanted it. BAD. My mom did, too, but she was reluctant because it cost $150. I offered to split it with her, and she finally agreed - as long as I promised not to tell my dad how much it cost. We each fronted $80, and I asked for two fives back, one for each of us. Then we decided we needed an extra print so we could each have one, and that was $10, so we gave our fives back to the woman sitting at the table. And then I saw that James and Gareth were doing a photo shoot together the next day for $90, so I went ahead and bought that one, too. I gave the woman $100, and she gave me the two fives back again. :)
We were actually the first people there for the BSG photos. They didn't start shooting until 2:00, and it was only 1:30. I would've thought there would be a longer line, though. I mean, there were already a couple of girls waiting in line for the James Marsters photo op, and that didn't start until 4. (Have I mentioned lately that I'm glad I'm not insane?) I don't get why someone would line up two and a half hours early for a 15-second picture. Unless there's some special reason to be first. Is there? Do they give you something if you're first? Because it's like this - yeah, you might be the first in line, but you still waited in line for two and a half hours. The way they rush through these things, I'd rather be the last in line and only wait twenty minutes, you know?
While we were waiting there, James Kyson Lee walked out of the photo room and Richard Hatch walked in. There was a very short line for Richard Hatch photos, which is kind of a shame because he seems like a swell guy.
The way they did the BSG photos is this - they asked for the people who had individual photo op tickets to go first, and all the group ticket holders had to wait and go last. So even though we were there first, we had to wait behind everyone who wanted a picture with just one of the BSG actors.
Tahmoh Penikett walked in the photo room while we were waiting, and he was wearing a hat.
Mama: *frowning* Didn't he know he was getting his picture taken?
Me: I think the hat's kinda sexy.
Girl waiting with us: THERE'S TAHMOH ISN'T HE SO HOT OH MY GOD HE'S SO HOT!!!
Me: See?
While we were standing in line, we also found out that we had bought the more expensive group shot without realizing it, which meant that Edward James Olmos (Adama) was going to be in the picture, too. And that's when my mom started freaking out.
Her: Is my hair okay? It's not sticking up, is it?
Me: Looks good.
Her: What about this? *indicating her black and grey BSG tank tops* Is the black one centered over the grey one?
Me: Yes.
Her: Fix it.
Me: It's fixed. You look fine.
Her: I wish I hadn't worn a tank top. My arms are gonna show. My fat arms.
Me: Your arms aren't fat.
Her: They are when I stand like this.
Me: So don't stand like that.
Her: How should I stand? I don't want my arms to press against my sides because then they flatten out look too wide.
Me: Just put your hand on your hip.
Her: Then my flab hangs down. I wish I had time to go brush my teeth again.
Me: Chew some gum.
Her: I don't want to be chewing gum in the picture.
Me: *sigh*
Her: Do you really think I should put my hand on my hip?
Me: Yes.
Her: Alright. Is my hair okay?
When it was time for the group shots to start, we walked into the room and saw a couple of other people go before us. Michael and Eddie (Tigh and Adama) were standing on one side and Aaron and James (Chief and Baltar) were standing on the other side, with Tahmoh kind of in the back. Mama volunteered to stand between "the old guys" so I could stand with the younger ones - really she just wanted to be close to Eddie - and I said that was fine, but when it was our turn, I walked up and shook hands with Tahmoh, Michael, and Eddie, and Eddie said to me, "Okay, sweetheart, you stand right here," and sort of turned me around right next to him with his hand on the small of my back, so I had to stand between him and Michael anyway (who put his hand on my shoulder). I was okay with that, but I feel like my mom was a little disappointed that Eddie was touching me and not her. But it's not like you can tell Admiral Adama, "Actually, I wanna stand next to Baltar," you know? He gave me an order and I followed through!
My scanner's not working, so I had to take a picture of our picture in order to post it:
This was right before I changed Eddie's religion with my scythe.
I think Tahmoh's hat was really working for him. And James' suspenders. There aren't many people who can get away with wearing suspenders, but he is definitely one of them.
I shook hands with James and Aaron after the picture and thanked them all. For some reason, I didn't get nearly as nervous for this picture as I did last year for my picture with James Marsters or my Greg Grunberg and Nathan Fillion pictures in January. I didn't start shaking at all, and I certainly didn't vibrate. I think maybe I'm getting used to meeting famous people. Which is something I never thought I'd be able to say.
On the other hand, I shook a little when I met Gareth.
After we walked out, we went back to the Walk of Fame to meet up with Amy, Brad, and Natalie, but they weren't there. So I decided to go ahead and get James Kyson Lee's autograph. He plays Ando on Heroes, and he's one of my favorite characters. Although I guess pretty much everyone on that show is one of my favorite characters. Anyway, it was a good time to meet him because there wasn't a line.
James Kyson Lee
It's how we roll...
When I first walked up to meet James... wait a sec. What's the deal with there being so many Jameses at Dragon*Con this year? James Marsters, James Callis, James Kyson Lee, Edward James Olmos... crazy.
Anyway, when I first walked up to meet James, I shook hands with him and introduced myself, then tried to decide on a picture I wanted him to sign. There were a lot of them. In one, his shirt was unbuttoned and sort of blowing back from his body so his chest and stomach were completely exposed, and I was like, "Look at you, without a shirt on!" and my mom goes, "Wow." And he sort of laughed. (Later, Mama was so embarrassed that she said wow. Apparently, it had just come out.)
So I chose a picture, and he said, "Can I make this out to Jenny?" and I said yes, and he said "Okay" and smiled at me before he started writing. While he was signing it, I asked him if he would write "It's how we roll" on the picture, which is something that Hiro and Ando say to each other a couple of times in season one of Heroes, and he said, "Oh, you remembered that!" and looked pretty pleased. He wrote the line and signed his name and drew the godsend symbol next to it, which is the same thing Greg Grunberg did when I got his autograph.
He wrote "Ando" on it - as if I would forget his character's name.
Then Mama asked if she could take a picture of him. This sort of embarrassed me because there were some people in the Walk of Fame who had signs attached to their namecards with a picture of a camera with a crossed-out symbol over it, meaning not to take their picture, and he was one of them. My mom hadn't seen the sign, though. But James, nice guy that he is, didn't want to say no, so he sort of looked around and then nodded at her quickly, like okay, hurry while no one's looking!
You even mention tights and a cape, I'm going home.
After he gave me the signed picture, I thanked him and shook his hand again, and we said it was nice meeting each other, and he gave me a really friendly smile. And I didn't shake at all! Well, no more than I normally do. I was super proud of myself. It was barely even awkward.
We left the Walk of Fame then to meet up with Brad and Nat and Amy. It turns out, they had just been sitting on the floor nearby, waiting for us. But they had taken some pictures inside the Walk of Fame before we got there:
Jewell Staite's a blonde now. When did that happen?
And Morena's a pixie.
So guess who forgot to bring her Firefly DVDs to Dragon*Con to get signed.
Yeah.
*is an idiot* I have Nathan, Alan, Adam, Ron, and Summer's signatures on the DVDs, and Jewell and Morena were perfectly accessible to me and I HAD LEFT THEM AT HOME. For the rest of the con, whenever I had a spare moment, I kicked myself for that.
Brad and Nat also made a friend right after they registered that morning:
She's MARRIED to the Muffin Man!
We all talked for a few minutes, but then Brad and Nat went off to do their own thing, so Mama and Amy and I decided to go back in the Walk of Fame to meet Sean Astin.
Sean Astin
Hobbits never say die!!
There was a longish line for Sean, but we didn't have anything else urgent to do, so we waited. While in the line, we met a girl in front of us who was carrying a James Marsters autograph. She had been looking at the names of the other actors on the Walk of Fame and then turned to us and said, "Who's Nathan Fillan? Fill... een. Fillee-own?"
Don't worry, I didn't slap her in the face. Although it was a near thing.
I said that he was Mal on Firefly, but she'd never heard of Firefly. She'd also never heard of Doctor Horrible or Waitress, and she'd never seen an episode of Desperate Housewives or Lost. When I mentioned he was on Buffy, she seemed confused, then said she'd only seen Buffy up to the point where Buffy died, which SHOULD'VE been the end of it - where it was supposed to end.
I didn't slap her at that point either.
Then she started talking about how she was SUCH a huge James Marsters fan, and when she met him she told him she'd seen every episode of Buffy, even though she hadn't. I asked if she went to the Torchwood panel earlier, but she hadn't, and wanted to know what Torchwood was. I told her it was a spinoff of Doctor Who, which... she'd never heard of. So I pointed at her autograph and said that the outfit James was wearing in the picture was what his character wears in Torchwood. But what I really wanted to say was, "What the hell are you doing at a sci-fi convention?"
Also in the Sean Astin line, there was a girl in a pirate outfit carrying a flask. She overheard us talking about James Marsters and mentioned that she'd wanted to get him to drink out of her flask, but... And I was like, "Are you the girl from the Torchwood panel?" and she goes, "Yes! That was me!" And said something about the track director being mean to her. But honestly, I think she should have known better.
Anyway, Sean Astin. He's supernice! He was sitting there with his hat turned backwards and wearing glasses, and when Amy and I walked up, he said, "You're sisters!" Then when my mom walked up, he said, "You're a whole family!" We were surprised, because I don't think I've ever been anywhere with my thin, blonde, green-eyed sisters and been recognized as their sister before. Plus, I had Fray hair and Fray lips and Fray eyes at the time. But it was cool that he noticed, because he's the first person who ever has, just by looking at us.
He asked how to spell my name, then commented that there were a lot of different ways to spell it - which seems to be a conversation that I have with a lot of the celebrities that I meet. It's kind of funny the way he signed the photo I chose. First he signed his name, then he did a smiley face above it, then he wrote my name above that, and then he wrote the quote I wanted off to the side. He did it all backwards. Heh.
I had wanted to get him to write "Goonies never say die" but when I saw the picture selection, I wanted the one of him as Sam from Lord of the Rings, so I decided to ask him instead to write "Hobbits never say die." When I asked him, I started with, "I know I'm mixing up two of your movies, but..." He repeated "Hobbits never say die" after I said it and kind of laughed, then said, "No, I've written that before." And then he did shifty eyes! It was so cute. You've never seen good shifty eyes until you've seen Sean Astin do shifty eyes. Amy was like, "Oh, you're not original," to me, and I pouted, and Sean said, "Actually, I just didn't want you to feel bad for... cross... genderizing..." Then he turned to Mama and said, "Help me out here, mom!" and we all laughed. As he was writing the quote on the picture, he commented that it was a good picture for it since Sam is holding a sword and looking all tough. The way he said that struck me as kind of funny, because he said, "He's getting ready to fight." As though the person in the picture were someone else and not himself.
Two exclamation points!! He so loves me.
We didn't take a picture of Sean because he had a crossed-out camera hanging from his name sign. We only spoke for a moment longer, then started to leave. Sean shook hands with Amy, but I had already turned to go, and he said, "Wait!" and shook hands with me as well. Then he said it was nice meeting us and shook hands with Mama and said, "You too, mom!" I feel like I'm leaving out some of what we said, but just know that I got the overall impression that he's a really nice, friendly guy, and very easy to talk to. I sort of wish I'd signed up to do a photo op with him.
After we walked away from Sean's table, Amy said she wanted to meet James Callis, so we went over to the BSG tables on the other side of the room. We passed by Micky Dolenz, who hasn't changed a bit. That was kind of surreal. Also, Beau Bridges was sitting near the BSG crowd, so Mama took a picture of him.
Every time we saw good old Beau, I got the overwhelming impression that his eyebrows had been glued on. But I'm pretty sure they weren't. ...were they?
Amy didn't want James' autograph or anything; she just wanted to meet him. I'd already met him before and didn't want an autograph either, and Mama was just happy to be there, so when we got up to the table, we just chatted for a minute. Amy and James talked about Bridget Jones' Diary, but to tell the truth I wasn't paying much attention - Tahmoh was sitting at the next table over and looking fine. All I remember about the conversation is that James said "Cheerio!" when we walked away.
After that, it was off to Peachtree Center for some food. I think the last thing I had eaten was a Twizzler five hours ago. On the way to the mall, I got stopped a few times for pictures. For lunch (a very late lunch), I got a Gorin's pineapple and banana smoothie, Amy got Thai, and my mom got a philly cheesesteak sandwich.
While I was in line at Gorin's, an old dude came up to me and said, "What are you supposed to be?" He was leering at me. I told him I was Fray the Vampire Slayer, but he said he'd heard of vampire slayers and I didn't look like one. He asked if I was supposed to be like Buffy, and I said sort of, but from the future. And then he gave me this disbelieving look and said, "Ooookay." It was the only time during the whole con that someone made me feel really lame.
But! As soon as I stepped away from Gorin's, a couple of guys called out "Fray!" and asked to take my picture. They were really nice and thought my scythe was awesome, and that made up for the old dude.
Here's something kinda funny: There's a sports shop in the mall right next to the food court called "The Fan's Wear." We walked by it every time we went in the mall, and the mall was always packed to overflowing with all kinds of fans... but no one was ever in The Fan's Wear. Ever.
Poor, lonely sports shop.
It was just after 4:00 by this time and there was a Firefly panel at 5:30, so we decided to go ahead and line up for that. So it was off to the Hyatt again.
Saturday's Firefly Panel
OR More Fun with Approximate Quotes, Part III: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Jewell Staite, and Morena Baccarin
I don't know how early people started lining up for this panel, but we got there over an hour before it was supposed to start, and it was already several hundred people long. They had actually moved the line away from the Centennial ballroom so it wouldn't block the flow of traffic through the Hyatt. The line started near the bathroom, went down a hall, up some stairs, outside, through a breezeway along the side of the building, around the corner and all the way down that side of the building, around that corner, and all the way down that side of the building. It took us ten minutes to walk to the end of the line!
The Firefly line down one side of the Hyatt. We had to turn that corner at the end and go all the way down the next side of the Hyatt before we got to the end of the line.
After we had waited in line for about half an hour, we heard people asking where the end of the line extended to, and the answer was "It goes down to Beruit (sp?) Street." A street! They were marking the end of the line by what street it reached! And there was still about 45 minutes to go before the panel even started.
Some people asked for my photo while we were in the line. One person just wanted a picture of my scythe, which was fine with me since it meant I didn't have to get up. Amy made friends with a really nice girl in the line named Kate, who was dressed as Kaylee.
Kate: [after seeing an interesting costume] Wow, did you see that guy's forehead? That was crazy.
Amy: I know! What if it was real? I'd feel bad if it was some sort of real tumor and everyone was staring at him thinking it was a costume. And really going to Dragon*Con was his last wish before he died.
Kate: I don't know, I think if I were dying of some bizarre forehead tumor, I'd go ahead and dress it up for Dragon*Con. I mean, why not?
The room was completely packed before the panel started. We were told it had a capacity of about 1,500, and there were about 3,000 people in the line. I feel lucky that we even got in! I guess these Firefly flans are pretty serious when it comes to their Captain. I'm just glad I had already met him in January so I didn't have to stand in the crazylong line at the Walk of Fame.
They were still loading the room at 5:45. A guy came out on stage to encourage people to give blood at the blood drive that was going on in the Marriott. They had about 500 units so far, but Comicon had had 856, so he was pushing for enough to beat Comicon. Oh, I forgot I had taken a picture of the blood drive on my phone the day before!
It was right outside of the Whedonverse track room. Which I found appropriate.
When Nathan, Alan, Jewell, and Morena finally walked out on the stage, they got a standing ovation. Just for being there. Nathan pulled out Morena's chair for her, and then Alan started pouring champagne for them all in honor of Nathan and Jewell's 4th anniversary of being Dragon*Con guests. (It was Morena's 3rd and Alan's 2nd.) Alan said it was nice to be back with Jewell and Morena again, although he didn't care about Nathan. He said that he had barely seen them since they weren't even sitting with him and Nathan in the Walk of Fame - they were sitting, I think, in the Stargate section. Alan said, "What is this show you're on?" and Nathan said, "Traitors. The word you're looking for is traitors."
The best part of Firefly panels is the great rapport the actors have with each other. You can really tell they're all friends.
They started talking about Morena's drastic haircut. She said that lots of people were telling her it was a shame about her hair, but she was like, "Dude. It grows back." Nathan rubbed her head and said, "It's growing back really nicely." Jewell said, "I think Morena looks beautiful with short hair."
Nathan: If you miss your hair, don't worry. I saved it. I'm making a little doll.
Jewell: What's weird is that I really believe that.
Morena: It's not for voodoo, is it?
Nathan: No, I just sleep with it.
Alan mentioned that if you have an electric wheelchair, you should be careful around Nathan because he'll steal it. Nathan said, "Anything motorized." Alan said something like, "I've got some great video of Nathan stealing one yesterday. He'll steal it and then use up all the battery power before giving it back." I remember Nathan [doing that] at the [ FX Show] in January.
On the subject of giving blood, Nathan asked if everyone knew their own blood type. Then he said we should find out because 15% of us could be O negative, which is the universal donor. Nathan himself is O neg, which he learned while in college. He said the big partying night in college was Tuesday nights, so every 90 days on a Tuesday night he'd go give blood and then go out drinking. Heh.
I think someone asked about pranking each other, and so we got a story about Nathan giving Jewell a jewelry box with a hole cut out of the bottom for his middle finger so that when she opened it, he'd be flicking her off. (This is the early version of dick in a box.) So then for Valentine's Day, Jewell made an anonymous valentine for Nathan that was really crazy, that was like, "If I can't have you, I'll kill myself," or something. And then she put it in his mailbox at home so that it would look like some obsessed, insane fan knew where he lived. But then inside the valentine she put a separate sealed envelope, and inside that, there was a photograph of herself shooting a bird at him. Nathan said that photo is now framed in his bathroom.
For the Firefly blooper reel - the one that they showed at the cast party - Nathan had a little stuffed Caleb doll flicking off Jewell. So at a Firefly panel at a previous Dragon*Con, Jewell and Peter David organized a mass bird-flipping. They passed out flyers explaining that at a certain signal phrase, everyone should stand up and shoot a bird at Nathan during the panel. (Jewell had us all do this, just to experience what it looked like.) Nathan said that after that, people kept coming up to him and saying, "Do you want me to go flick Jewell off for you?" But he was like, "Dude, I had eight thousand fingers flicked at me. Anything now would just be like throwing rocks at a brick wall."
For the whole length of the panel, anytime someone asked a question, Alan would give that person a little Firefly card that all four of them had signed. Which is awesome, because if you had just gone to get their autographs in the Walk of Fame, you would have had to pay about $80. Also during the whole panel, Nathan had his cell phone out and was playing little sound effects into the mic whenever he thought it appropriate. Silly man.
When one girl got up to ask a question, Nathan demanded to know what was in her hand, which I thought was kind of strange of him. It was a Hello Kitty notebook. I think this was the girl who asked what made each of them happy, after which Morena launched into this whole thing about acting and being in plays, and started talking about this play she had just been in. When it was Jewell's turn, she just said, "Shoes." Alan said he really liked hangliding, that it was so exhilarating that it just makes you laugh. (That always happens to me when I'm on a roller coaster. I just laugh the whole time.) Nathan said, "That's what the fear of death will do to you." When it was Nathan's turn, he said that being outside makes him happy, and good weather, and when you're stuck in traffic and someone lets you in front of them and you wave at each other even though you don't know each other.
Someone asked if there was a story behind Jayne's hat. Nathan said, "No," and made his cell phone do a weepy sound into the mic. Then Alan said, "But you still get a card."
Jewell said that her favorite costume that she'd seen was the girl who came as Jayne's hat. They asked if the girl was there, but apparently she hadn't made it into the ballroom.
Someone asked Alan to answer his next question in the German accent he used in the movie 28 Days. He laughed, but didn't do it. Nathan was like, "I'll do it! [German accent] 'Look at my package.'"
Someone asked where Nathan was last year, since he didn't come to D*C. He turned to Morena and said, "Where were we, Morena?" She acted all hurt and said, "I can't believe you don't remember." Then Nathan started talking about Alan going to Australia and "telling everyone I said there was gonna be another Serenity movie!" Morena said, "You got us all excited and then you crushed us."
Alan said something about Nathan's "little Myspace page."
Jewell: Did you say little?
Alan: Oh, is it big?
Nathan: 50,000 friends and counting. Who here is my friend on Myspace?
*lots of hands*
Jewell: Who's my friend on Myspace?
*hands*
Nathan: Hmm... seems to be lower than mine. That's weird.
Morena's favorite episode is Out of Gas. (Mine too.) Nathan said his mom's favorite line from that episode is "'Everybody dies alone.' Makes her cry a little bit." Jewell said that her favorite episode is Jaynestown because Alan plays the very best drunk she's ever seen. Alan was flattered by that. He said his favorite episode was actually an idea of his that never got shot: He wanted the Serenity crew to have to travel through a wormhole to get to a job, but the wormhole changes people molecularly for a short period of time. Like, one of the girls would have a bushy mustache and one of the guys would have an enormous butt, etc. Usually after people travel through these wormholes, they wait a while before doing anything else in order to go back to their regular selves first, but due to time constraints, the Serenity crew would have to do their job without waiting, so they'd all have to go through the whole thing with their bodies a little screwed up. It sounded like a really funny idea for an episode to me, but at the same time, I sort of don't see that kind of thing fitting into the Firefly universe, which is just a tad more... serious. Nathan said his favorite was also Out of Gas.
Morena said that someone had asked her earlier how Wash and Zoe ended up together even though it was clear from Out of Gas that they didn't like each other when they first met. She asked Alan what his take on that was, and he sort of fidgeted around and said, "Haven't you ever met someone you didn't like initially but fell in love with later?" To which Nathan replied, "Alan Tudyk." After that question, Alan said, "Thanks, Morena," and handed her a Firefly card. She goes, "You didn't even sign this!"
I didn't write this down, but I think it was at this point that either Jewell or Nathan complimented the other one and then said, "...if you like eating horse shit." Apparently, it's a thing Nathan always said to Jewell and Morena on set - he would given them a really sincere compliment about their acting in a scene, and just when they would start to thank him, he'd say, "if you like eating horse shit." Nathan said, "It's tough love. You'll thank me later."
Someone asked what they liked about Dragon*Con, and one of the guys - I can't remember which one - said that the anticipation leading up to it was palpable, and when you get here, BOOM. "It's like an orgasm over the whole weekend."
Nathan introduced us to his best friend ever in the whole world - "Alan, it's not you" - Jeff Fillion, his brother, who was sitting out in the audience with Morena's mom. Jewell's husband was also out in the audience, but he was standing over at the side near where we were sitting.
After a question, Alan started to give the girl a signed Firefly card, but then Nathan said - "You can have that card OR this mystery envelope that I prepared earlier!" She decided to take the envelope instead, and it had $40 in it... which is the amount of money it would take to get half of the signatures that were already on the card. He thought it was funny. But Alan gave her a card anyway. Nice guy.
Alan talked about being in Spamalot on Broadway. He and Morena both said that it really makes an actor's day when you go up to meet them and mention you saw them in a play. Alan said when you say you liked their performance in a movie, the actor's going to say, "Oh, thank you very much," but when you say you saw them in a play, they're going to say, "Really??? Which night were you there???"
At this point, someone came to the mic and said he'd never seen any episodes of Firefly. Really, guy? This is what you say in a room packed full of diehard flans? But then he went on to ask which scenes were the most difficult to film and which were the least difficult. Which isn't a bad question, but at the same time, it makes me wonder why he'd even care if he'd never seen any of the scenes anyway.
Jewell said the scene where she's in the engine room with Jubal Early (when he threatens to rape her) was "not a fun day at work." Then she said the least difficult scenes were "anytime I had to make out with Sean."
Jewell: I'm just being honest. He smells beautiful.
Alan: He does smell good.
Morena: Good thing your husband's here...
Jewell: It's okay, my husband thinks Sean smells good, too.
Morena said the scenes she found most difficult were in Heart of Gold when she told Mal she was leaving and in Safe, the scene with Jewell and Sean in the general store. She and Jewell got the giggles so bad that it was really hard to get through the scene. And a fly kept landing on Sean's nose, which made it even worse.
Alan said something like, "All the action scenes were really easy for me because I was always just on the ship." But then he and Nathan agreed that the torture scene in War Stories was really difficult. They had to jiggle for eight hours as though they were being electrocuted, and the next morning they felt like they had really been electrocuted.
After they were all done answering the question, Alan said to the guy who asked it, "I'd like to give you a card. This is of a show called Firefly."
Someone came up to the mic and said, "This question is for Nathan," who immediately replied, "But Morena's going to answer it." The person was confused for a second, and Nathan was like, "No, ask it like you're asking me, but Morena's going to answer for me." The question was who would win in a fight, Mal or Captain Hammer. Morena whispered something to Nathan, and then he leaned into the mic and said, "She just asked me who Captain Hammer is." Everybody started laughing, and when she realized he was a character from Doctor Horrible, she was like, "I've seen it! I just forgot his name!" Then she answered that Mal would win, "Because Mal's a badass across the board."
I'm not sure what this next question was, but it was something about when Firefly was canceled. Maybe it was how each of them found out the show was in trouble? Anyway, they all seemed to get really sad while they were answering. Morena looked like she was going to cry, and Nathan petted her. She said that she was worried when Fox started showing the episodes out of order, and when they kept getting pushed back because of baseball, but that she didn't let herself get too worried about it because Joss didn't seem to be too worried about it. Alan said when they kept getting passed up in favor of baseball, it wasn't that big a deal because that was happening to a lot of other good shows too, but he realized they were in trouble when Fox decided one night to show Happy Gilmore instead of Firefly - a movie that had been out for years. One of the guys said sarcastically that that baseball season had been a really good season, though. Jewell mentioned that when Joss got them all together to tell them about being canceled, he started with, "I've got nothing good to say."
After answering that question, Alan said to the person who asked it, "Here's a card. Thanks for bringing us down."
The last question that I wrote down in my notebook was about learning different accents. I think Alan said that he and Morena had both gone to Juliard, where they do a lot of accent coaching. He asked if she could do any accents, and she said yeah, a little, so he was like, "Do one." Heh. She just laughed. Alan said that they teach you how to speak with zero accent at all, which is the accent he used when he did the voice of the robot in the movie "I, Robot." Then he did an impression of Nathan and an impression of Christopher Walken, which was excellent.
For a couple of clearer pictures of the Firefly panel - and some of the Torchwood panel, too - check _sin_attract's journal [here].
After the Firefly panel was over, we filed out with everyone else. It's sort of a weird feeling being in such a huge group of people all going in the same direction like lemmings. I wonder if lemmings can get claustrophobic? Everyone was pressed together so tightly that I felt like I could pull both my feet up off the ground and still be carried along in the right direction.
My mom and I decided we wanted to go see if our BSG photo was ready yet, so we went from the Hyatt to the Hilton. It was weird going outside into the daylight, because for some reason Amy and I had both convinced ourselves that it was already nighttime. I guess it's because the Centennial ballrooms don't have any windows. As we were crossing the street, some guy yelled out, "Fray! Awesome!" And another guy complimented my weapon. :)
Our Battlestar picture was out, but there was only one copy. We asked about the other copy, and the woman we talked to said to come back in the morning to see if it had been printed yet. This woman was really rude. (I actually recognized her as the rude woman we talked to about pictures at the FX Show in January.) When we were looking for someone to ask about the copy of our picture, I looked in the room where the photo ops were taking place - but I didn't go inside or anything. Anyway, she was in there and saw me peek in, and she hurried over to the doorway where I was standing and physically pushed me away. It was startling, because I can't imagine running up to somebody and just pushing them, you know? She pushed me and screamed in my ear at FX, too. Is this sort of thing really necessary?
While we were looking at some of the other photos that were ready to be picked up, I noticed a picture of James Marsters with a girl who was extremely unphotogenic. I said something to my mom like, "Aren't you glad you weren't making that face in our photo?" And the girl next to me reached over and picked it up. I thought at first that she just wanted a better look at the awful photo, but no. It was her. Maybe I shouldn't complain about other people being rude...
We also saw some really terrible Adam West photos. My recommendation? Don't get your picture made with Adam West. Seriously. He doesn't want to touch you. He doesn't want to be within ten inches of you. He doesn't really even notice that you're in the same photo with him. In fact, you aren't. You were digitally placed about ten inches away from Adam West in your photo. You didn't even meet him.
Oh, and I think it was at this point that my mom and I noticed a guy wandering around the photo area who looked freakily similar to my brother. We thought he was actually Brad from the side. But he wasn't.
Amy and Mama and I found a place to sit down together and regroup, figure out what we wanted to do next. A couple of people came up to get my picture while we were deciding. I think it was at about this time that the dinner and concert with James Marsters and Gareth David Lloyd was starting, but I hadn't tried to get a ticket for that. It was $150, and I heard they started lining up for those tickets the night before. But if you want to see some pictures from that event, check [here] at mad_brilliant_'s journal.
Amy really wanted to go to a Lost panel in the Marriott. It didn't have any celebrity guests, but we agreed to go to it with her because Lost is her favorite TV show. And anyway, she came to the Buffy comic book panel with me, so it was only fair.
The Lost Panel
I hadn't seen the 4th season, so I got a little... well, you know.
The X-Track room was a little smaller than the Whedonverse track room, but it was already nearly full when we got there. We didn't find three seats together, but there were two empty seats with an empty one right behind them, so we sat there. I think the reason it was so crowded is because it was the only Lost event that was happening all weekend. Before it actually started, though, the person sitting next to Amy got up and left, so Mama moved up to sit with us.
One of the panelists was a little late getting there, so the X-Track director talked to us a minute. She mentioned the girl with the flask in the Torchwood panel and explained why she had told her James couldn't drink out of it. Something about it being a liability issue. It makes sense, but I got the impression that she felt bad for having to tell the girl no.
The two panelists for this event were... I don't have their names. But one of them is a girl in charge of [Lost Radio], and the other was a guy involved with [The Lost Experience]. Since I had only seen the first couple of episodes of season four and the panel was mostly speculation about the upcoming season, I got severely spoiled for this show. It's okay, though; I knew what I was getting into. But I'll admit I was pretty thoroughly lost (har har) the whole time and gave up trying to take notes for this report. So no Lost spoilers for you! I spent most of the panel texting with my friend Evan, who couldn't come to Dragon*Con but wanted to, and who is also a big fan of Lost.
Me: they keep talking about vincent. who is vincent?
Evan: the dog.
Me: oh... an actual dog. i just thought they were being mean.
Mostly what I gathered from this panel is that it is possible to have a panel run by fans who are very professional and diplomatic when it comes to answering questions, who don't hog the mics, and who don't argue with or ridicule the people asking questions, even when the questions are silly or really off the wall or the people are uninformed. And who never say, "Who even cares about that?"
Amy really enjoyed this panel. She even got involved in the discussion and asked a question. You go, sis. I also enjoyed it, but mostly for the opportunity to not have to pay attention to what was going on. :)
When the Lost panel ended, it was about time for both the Shindig and the Colonial Fleet party to start in the Sheraton, so we headed in that direction next. We weren't really sure which one we wanted to go to - we really wanted to go to both - but when we got to the Sheraton, there was a man standing there directing traffic, pointing one way for the Shindig and one way for the BSG party. So we had to make a decision.
The Shindig
Up until the punching, it was a real nice party.
We decided to do the Firefly party first. There was a really long line for it, so we got in the line, and while we were standing there, a couple of people wanted my picture. One short, barefooted girl came up and wanted to hold my scythe, and when she walked away, Amy said, "Was she a hobbit?" She wasn't, but the people in line ahead of us thought that was pretty funny.
The room the party was in was very big. It was actually the same room that the Doctor Horrible and Buffy sing-alongs had been in, but all the chairs had been moved out of the way. There were some tables set up with chairs around them and a cash bar at the back of the room, and in front of the stage was a big open area for more people to sit down or to dance.
Count the Jayne hats in this picture! I see at least six.
The band that was on stage when we came in was called Emerald Rose. Their music had a Celtic flavor that I really enjoyed, and people started dancing almost immediately - although it was pretty much all girls, and they were dancing in the corner of the room instead of in front of the stage:
Click to viewSomeone kept turning off the lights. The first time it happened, everyone screamed like little kids, which I thought was kind of funny. I figured someone had just accidentally leaned against the light switch, but then it kept happening. Finally, the band was like, "Guys, we need to be able to see at least a little bit so we won't bang our heads against the mics." During one of the songs, a girl named Stacy came up to the front and did some real Irish dancing - you know, like Riverdance - which was pretty cool. More people started dancing in front of the stage after that:
Of course, the Jayne hat girl was there:
I found out at the party that this was the same girl who came dressed as Serenity the ship a couple years ago. How awesome is that?
There was a really cute guy dressed at Doctor Horrible sitting behind us on the floor, so I turned around and started talking to him about his costume. Amy and I ended up talking to this guy and some of his friends for a long time. One of the girls was dressed as Kaylee and another girl, the girl who had made Doctor Horrible's costume, had on a steampunk outfit. I asked about steampunk right as they were changing bands to the Bedlam Bards, and this new band was so loud that I didn't hear a single word of the girl's answer. She just kept on talking, and the Kaylee girl jumped in a couple of times and helped, but I just sort of nodded and smiled and laughed when they laughed because I seriously couldn't hear a thing.
I found the music of the Bedlam Bards to be pretty depressing. I liked Emerald Rose much better.
There was another Doctor Horrible sitting nearby, so we asked if we could have a picture of both of the Doctors together.
The guy on the right is named Malik, but I didn't catch the cute guy's name.
We talked to Malik for a while, and he showed us a letter he'd gotten from Bad Horse. The three cowboy guys gave him the letter and sang the song to him, too! I think it's absolutely hysterical that these guys were going around doing that for all the people dressed as Doctor Horrible.
While the Bedlam Bards played, I didn't see anyone dancing, but a largish game of Duck, Duck, Goose did break out on the dance floor. Yeah. I don't know if this is a tradition at the Shindig or what, but I think I saw the same thing happen two years ago.
A few people asked about my scythe. One man came up to take a picture of it and asked me if I had made it myself (lots of people asked me that). Amy and I joked that he was flirting with Mama, and she got really embarrassed. Another dude was passing out fortune cookies and spilled his drink on my sister. The cookies all had the same message, which was a recruitment message for a bunch of people who like to dress as the Independent army from Firefly. It was a nice cookie, but I doubt I'll be joining.
After being at the Shindig for about... I guess it was an hour or so, we decided it was time to leave. We were already in our hotel, and Amy wanted to go back to the room and watch Doctor Horrible, since she missed a lot of it during the sing-along. As we walked out, though, we decided to stop by the Colonial Fleet party for a few minutes anyway, since it was in the same hotel and last year some of the actors had shown up.
Man, I am SO glad we did!
Still with me? Click [ here] for the rest of the report!
We've still got BSG and Dollhouse panels, as well as more celebrity interaction to follow - and my mom's Dragon*Con highlight, the Colonial Fleet party! (And my highlight, the photo op with Gareth and James.)