Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Dragon*Con Part I - The Panels

As I mentioned in my Awkward and Awesome post, this year I spent a lot of time waiting in line. Which I HATE by the way, but is necessary if you've got limited time and incredible people to see. It's a conundrum I face every year, but this time around there were a few people I was dying to see (though I missed Mercedes Lackey! Dammit!) and for the most part all the waiting was worth it. 

To try and limit the ridiculous size of this post (though seriously, it's still too big) I didn't link to every random closeup I took of the guests, but you can check out the full album of pics I have here.

 Buffy and Angel Guest Q&A
Juliet Landau, James Marsters
Juliet Landau, James Marsters, J August Richards
This one was so fun! Marsters is always a riot but seeing Landau (Drusilla) and Richards (Gunn) was a treat. It was wonderful seeing them interact with each other and talk about some of the experiences they had working with the show's writers and of course, Whedon.

Weird, Amazing, Psychotic Life: The Farscape Cast Reunion
Keither R.A. Decandido, Rebecca Riggs, Gigi Edgley, Virginia Hey
Claudia Black and Ben Browder are my absolute favorites but I enjoyed sitting in on this panel and getting to hear from the villain of the show (Rebecca Riggs)

Stan 'the Man' Lee - Excelsior!
Stan Lee
A hilarious old man who loves his work and his fans. What's not to love?

Click below for MORE! 



Jason Mamoa
Jason Mamoa
Eh. I don't love him, I think he's a bit of an ass. Plus any panel that starts with someone asking 'can I touch your biceps?' is not my favorite. I didn't stand in line very long for this though so I don't consider it a waste really. 

Stranded in the Delta Quadrant
Tim Russ, Robert Picardo, Garrett Wang
Year after year Voyager panels are consistently awesome. These guys love to answer questions, joke with each other, and generally just provide a fantastic experience.

A Steampunk's Guide to Sex
Eh. I dropped into this with some friends but I just don't find steampunk vibrators all that interesting. Especially since the one panel member who was actually a sex worker didn't really say anything.

Next Generation
Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakers
Another Star Trek win (with the caveat that Jonathan Frakes is an ass. A loveable ass, but still an ass)! Any panel that starts with a speaker in the middle of the audience imitating the attendees is almost guaranteed to be awesome. Even if it's awesome in that 'what the hell is happening right now?' kind of way.

In Search of the Lost City: Supergate IV
Jason Mamoa, Torri Higginson, Joe Flanigan, Cliff Simon, Robert Picardo, Richard Dean Anderson
AAAHH RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON! AHHH! *Cough* Oh, sorry about that. Little bit of a Jack O'Neil freak out there - won't happen again, I promise. Let's be honest, he's the only reason I went to this panel. SG-1 is seriously one of my favorite sci-fi shows EVER and the 'will they, won't they' romance between him and Carter sustained me through many a crappy evening. He was hilarious to listen to (he's a kind of a crochety old man) but you could tell that he was having a lot of fun and it made being person number 441 in line (yep) worth it. I so wanted to take him home!

Final Thoughts:
I'm probably forgetting something here, but that's a quick glimpse into what Dragon*Con is like - lots of waiting followed up by an hour long panel that may or may not be worth it (one of the many reasons I always travel with a book). Now that's not to say I don't consider the whole con experience completely worth while, I do. I think whatever you end up doing you'll be surrounded by cool people and see/learn something new. But the sheer number of people and how that affects your chances of getting into anywhere is a bummer. I wanted to see 'Awesomely Bad J-Rock Videos' and didn't expect people to flock to it (especially since it was in a smaller room). I get there and people are lined up outside in case anyone leaves. WTF? It happens though and it's why having the app is so great - can't get into a panel? Pick the next one during your time slot and try again!

P.S. - I didn't include a pic but I also attended a panel entitled 'Sex and Romance in Sci-fi & Fantasy'. My thoughts? Not too terrible at all. It was interesting to hear the authors speak about why they choose to close the curtain on sex scenes (or not), whether it be a desire not to be pigeon holed or to protect their future book aspirations. It was one of the few discussion based panels I made it to and it did make me nostalgic for last year, where these made up the bulk of my experience.