Time for a bit of Geekery.
Dallas Comic Con 2014 witnessed a Firefly cast reunion (well, minus Wash, of course he did get skewered by a giant hunk of metal and Inara was MIA as well, but, you know those companions and their schedules…) and a close to full reunion of the Star Trek Next Generation crew. I tweeted about this collision of fandoms and it went something like “truly a next generation”. While popular, the TNG signature tables weren’t nearly as crowded as the Firefly cast. And the Firefly reunion? Standing room only like an hour before it started.
I’m an all-purpose geek. I don’t have a single fandom I subscribe to as the “best”. True, Next Generation in character development and plot pales to the brief stint Firefly had on the small screen. But TNG was a loyal continuation of a venerable franchise with years of baggage and background to consider. Both are a huge part of my own geekitude and I couldn’t choose between them if asked. However, I missed the TNG panel late Sunday for a variety of scheduling reasons.
The Firefly panel almost ended early with the giant stage curtain collapsing on Nathan Fillion. He consoled himself in Gina Torres’ arms and got better quick. (Pretty sure her, Jewel Staite and Summer Glau could cure lepers with a touch.) The crew were pretty much the same grateful and entertaining bunch you would expect from an ensemble cast with such great on-screen chemistry, even after all these years. Highlights included Alan Tudyk calling in from Australia and Nathan Fillion doing a bit to try and convince him he was at home and a little kid that used his question time to ask “Why the heck are all these adults so excited about Firefly? What’s the big deal?”
The cosplay masquerade was impressive (a few pics above) and there was even a panel with Kevin J Anderson which turned into a talk on self pub after discussing his impressive body of work. That was a gold mine for writers and though much of what was mentioned I had already stumbled around and figured out, Peter J. Wacks, the managing editor of Anderson’s publishing house, Wordfire Press, was an incredibly helpful guy and spread some more wisdom later on at their booth.
Me and the legendary Stan Lee
One complaint I had was the photo ops. They had it down to a science and they moved lines QUICK, which was good. But you were in and out of the photo area so fast, I personally felt a bit bad. Yeah, I got my pics with Stan Lee and William Shatner, but I felt like I was using them as a prop – there was literally barely time to say “thanks” and even a hello when you walk up. It felt, well, rude. As celebrities, maybe they’re used to that though. (In fact, my Shatner pic caught me in the middle of doing that. Had I had 5 seconds to shake his hand and treat him like a person, that would have been cool. I could have also asked to do a KHAN! yell with him for the photo…heh)
With all the sci-fi geekery, I didn’t even get to make it to many of the comic book focused panels. They had an excellent line up of artists but I left with the blank-cover convention special edition comic unmarked. Better luck next year. Of course, by then, I may even spring for a table, book sales depending. They pretty much crammed thousands of my target audience for Crimson Son into a single building. I could possibly sell a few copies there, if I can keep my eyes off the cosplayers…
Categories: Con Updates
RUSS LINTON 
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