The Dark Side Of Fandom

[hippydave]

As many of you reading this will know, I'm a bit of a Star Trek fan. Well, actually more than a bit - I'm a huge, giant Star Trek fan. I was introduced to the Bill Shatner-helmed original series as a wee lad as my mum liked to sit and watch it when it was on (Friday nights, if I remember correctly) back in the mid-to-late 70s. I loved it then, and

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[psychochicken]

Conventions. You have to be careful. Well, I have to be careful. There are many kinds - you have what used to be refered to as 'the media con'. This is the stereotype view of what an SF convention is - a bunch of people sitting around watching their favourite TV show. It used to be a bunch of people watching episodes they maybe hadn't seen, possibly imported from the States but in this day and age of internet downloads and litigous producers, they tend to be very lucrative and very expensive opportunities to sell merchandise and pay to have your picture taken with a star of the show. No thanks.

Then there's the "proper" convention, where it's all literature and panels about the sociological impact of New Caprica or whatever; which is good as far as it goes but the most fun happens when folks have had a few beers and the conversation gets going. I recall one afternoon on the beer during which I, in conjunction with a couple of folk I'd just met, designed a pufferfish gun to enable zombies to turn people into zombies at a distance. Much discussion was given to whether the shock of being fired from a gun, or that of the rapdidly approaching wall of flesh would make the fish inflate and become poisonous. A disporportionate amount of time was also dedicated to the back mounted water tank, as opposed to the firing mechanism itself....

A relatively recent development - what's become known as the 'fun con' - is my domain. An excuse to spend a weekend being desperately silly without being stupid, fun cons take all the silliness that generall ensued on the periphery of other cons and makes it the focus. Silly games, ludicrous panels, and of course, much drinking and merriment are the aim, often forsaking SF or indeed any other theme entirely. I'd heartily recommend it.

[hippydave]

Yeah, a "Fun Con" sounds more like my cup o' Rosey Lee. Sound advice there, I think. Much as I absolutely adore all things Trek - and I love all iterations of the show - nothing fills me with dread like the idea of sharing a room with a bunch of Math Club anal retentives dressed in Starfleet uniforms trying to get their homemade tricorders signed by Brent Spiner.