FedCon 2009FedCon 2009Conreport by Geert Bonte

FedCon XVIII, 1-3 May 2009

© Geert Bonte 2009

FedCon 2009 by Geert Bonte is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Belgium License.Based on a work at issuu.com.

Introduction

FedCon has become a tradition, and one of the highlights of the year. So for the eight time in a row, I went off to Bonn, Germany.

Day 1 – Friday, May 1, 2009

On Friday afternoon I had to choose between Erin Gray (Wilma Dering from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century) and Richard Arnold’s chat with all the latest Star Trek news. I’m sure Richard’s talk was very interesting, but I went for Erin Gray. Sorry, Richard.

Before that, I had already seen two actors: Richard Hatch and Max Grodénchik. I had already met both actors on previous conventions: Hatch only last year, at FACTS in Ghent, Belgium, and Grodénchik some thirteen years ago, on a convention in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Richard Hatch plays Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica from 1978 and Tom Zarek in the new BSG series. Before he became a part of the new cast, he lobbied a lot to bring the

series back to life and proudly showed us his Second Coming trainer, which still looks very cool.

Max Grodénchik was as I remembered him from Tranquility Base II in 1996: very entertaining and funny, especially when imitating Rom or Quark. This actor is clearly not as dumb as his character on DS9 looks. He speaks German very well, and also demonstrated his musical talents (with two songs in German).

After Grodénchik’s panel I moved from the Main Bridge (the big convention room at the Maritim Hotel) to the Holodeck (the smaller room) for Erin Gray, and then back to the Main Bridge for Marc Alaimo, who played the illustrious Gul Dukat on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, whom I had also seen on two previous conventions in The Netherlands. Although his character is one of the bad guys, he’s one of my favorite actors of ST:DS9. Like many other Trek actors, Alaimo has a lot of experience in the theater and is a great Shakespeare actor.

After Mark Alaimo, another Shakespearean

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DS9 actor came on stage: Jeffrey Combs, who has two recurring roles in the series: the Vorta Weyoun (and his many clones) and the ambitious Ferengi Brunt, two very different characters. Combs is also known to Star Trek fans as the blue skinned Andorian Shran in Star Trek: Enterprise, and he also played Kevin Burkhoff in The 4400. Combs is very much a fan favorite, and he’s proven he can handle a lot of different roles.

Time to stretch my legs and find something to eat and drink, and prepare for FedCon’s first highlight: the Opening Ceremony, an event that is not to be missed. And this time, we were in for a treat. We got to see 28 minutes from the new Star Trek movie, about a week before the official premiere! From what I had seen in the trailers on the internet, I already knew this new movie was full of action. But from what we were shown at FedCon, it became clear that the movie is also full of humor. And the special effects look stunning. Thank you, FedCon and Paramount, for this wonderful present! And this was only Friday night!

During the rest of the Opening Ceremony, all guests of the weekend came on stage, except for Connor Trinneer (who hadn’t arrived in Bonn

yet, I suppose) and Summer Glau (who was a bit sick and preferred to stay in her room). But Master of Ceremonies Marc B. Lee – a man who has his own fan club (www.thumb-fc.org) – assured us we would see them on Saturday. Also, there was an unannounced guest: Lolita Fatjo, who became a bit emotional when she saw so many devoted fans (which reminded me of her appearance at Utopia two years ago).

John Billingsley appeared on stage wearing a THUMB-FC T-shirt, took it off and gave it to Marc B. Lee. (THUMB is the name of Marc’s fan club.) Robert Picardo had prepared a funny text in German, that he read from a piece of paper. Moments later, Max Grodénchik addressed the audience in fluent German, and he didn’t need a piece of paper. When Nichelle Nichols came on stage, she got a standing ovation before she had even said anything. Marc B. Lee introduced her as the mother of Star Trek. The fans obviously have a great respect for this lady.

The Opening Ceremony was followed by three panels: Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama, BSG), Nichelle Nichols (Uhura, ST:TOS) and John Billingsley (Dr. Phlox, ST:ENT). This was only Olmos’s third convention, and he told us about the recent visit

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of the BSG cast to the UN and what an honor it was for him to be able to address the UN. The full three hour video is available online. I’ll have to check that out. After Olmos, it was Nichelle Nichols’s turn. This lady is full of wisdom, she told a few historical anecdotes and demonstrated that she’s still a very talented singer. And despite her 76 years, she doesn’t look old. She said she wants to be an old lady when she grows up.

John Billingsley’s panel was the last one of the first convention day. Just like the previous time he was at FedCon (in 2003), John brought his wife, the actress Bonita Friedericy (Bonnie) on the stage and together they performed a hilarious act, with John losing his pants all the time.

Day 2 – Saturday, May 2, 2009

Those of us who were up early, could witness the photo shoot of the German Garrison of Vader’s 501st Legion, the world wide Star Wars fan club, at the entrance of the convention hotel. I quickly made a few snapshots and then went

to the Main Bridge (the big auditorium) for Robert Picardo’s panel. Picardo plays the EMH in Star Trek: Voyager and Richard Woolsey in both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. I’d already seen Picardo at FedCon in 2004, and I had listened to his cd’s Basic Bob and Extreme Bob in the car on the way to Bonn, to get in the mood. He showed us some very funny video sketches, sang a few lines from You are my sunshine and told us a funny story about how he first met Meg Ryan...

Then it was time for a guest I’d been eager to see: the lovely miss Summer Glau, who plays River Tam in Firefly and Serenity, Tess Doemer in The 4400, and the sexy terminator Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. In my opinion, Glau is a very talented young actress who has a great career ahead of her. She could very well win an Oscar some day. At some point, a fan dressed as a terminator asked: ‘Where is John Connor?’. Glau answered: ‘He’s in LA’, and then the fan replied with another piece of dialog from the first Terminator movie: ‘Then I’ll be back!’

After Summer Glau came the first double panel of the weekend: Marc Alaimo and Jeffrey

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Combs, who apparently were still recuperating from the FedCon party that took place on the previous night. They each were provided with a chair and a cup of coffee, and it was clear that they needed it!

They were followed by another DS9 guest: Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys). She spoke about being pregnant during the filming of the show and about getting to the hospital while still wearing Bajoran makeup. Then came the first Star Trek: Enterprise guest: Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed). When someone asked him a Heroes question, Keating did a (not very good) imitation of George Takei.

After Dominic Keating, Richard Hatch came on again, but since I had already seen him on Friday, I moved to Salon Koch on the second floor for Robert Vogel’s lecture ‘40 Jahre Mondlandung’ (40 Years Moon Landing). In my head, I flipped a switch from English to German, and a second switch from fiction to science. Indeed: 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing. On July 20, 1969, human beings walked on the moon for the first time, and I think it’s cool that FedCon gave this some

attention. Many sci-fi fans have a keen interest in science and technology in general, and astronomy and space travel in particular. In the mean time the first autograph session had started on the Holodeck.

On the Main Bridge, it was time for Marc B. Lee’s trailer show: a presentation of movie trailers of upcoming genre movies. Marc and Tom showed us the trailers of Transformers 2, Ice Age 3, G.I. Joe, Terminator Salvation, Star Trek (of course!), Astroboy, 2012, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Up and Angels and Demons.

The trailer show was followed by an auction, which I didn’t attend because it was the only moment of the day that I had time to eat lunch.

Normally, Christopher Judge was on next, but there had been a small program change. Because James Callis had to return home early, their panels were switched. James Callis (Gaius Baltar, BSG) had already been invited to FedCon two years ago, but at the time he had to cancel. This year, he made up for it. He’s also clearly a fan favorite.

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Callis was followed by a second double panel: Colin Ferguson and Jordan Hinson, who play sheriff Jack Carter and his daughter Zoe in Eureka.

And then another classic FedCon event: the Costume Contest. There was some confusion when the members of the jury were invited to the stage. When a certain Tim Brazeal was announced and appeared on stage, someone in the audience started to yell that he wanted his money back. Obviously, this was all a set up. The person on the sage was just a Brazeal lookalike, and the person who yelled from the audience ran onto the stage and got into a fight with Brazeal. It was just a sketch. For those who don’t know: the real Brazeal was responsible for the totally failed FedCon USA convention last year. It was a complete disaster, and both fans and guests were not amused.

While waiting for the results of the jury, the public was entertained by the Sarlacc Survivors Band – the name being a reference to the unfriendly desert monster from Star Wars. The public went wild.

After the Costume Contest, it was time for the Saturday evening program, which originally would have been entirely devoted to Battlestar Galactica, if only the panels of Christopher Judge and James Callis hadn’t been switched. So first we got Christopher Judge (Teal’c, SG-1), then followed by Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh, BSG) and Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin, BSG / Badger, Firefly and other series).

Christopher Judge seems to be the opposite of his character. Teal’c always looks very serious, while Judge was laughing all the time. And he was completely taken by surprise when a group of Stargate fans suddenly came marching in front of the stage and saluted him.

Michael Hogan appeared late on the FedCon guest list. He was a replacement guest for Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyroll), who canceled a few weeks before the convention. The public loved him and he talked about what it was like on the BSG set.

Mark Sheppard was the last guest for the day. Besides from his role as Romo Lampkin in BSG, he’s also known by genre fans for his role as Badger in Firefly. He also had a guest role in the

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fifth season of 24 and the failed Bionic Woman remake, and also appeared a few times in Joss Whedon’s newest series, Dollhouse.

In the mean time, Connor Trinneer (Charles ‘Trip’ Tucker III, ST:ENT) was on stage on the Holodeck, but because I’d already seen him before on FedCon (in 2004 and 2006) and because his session overlapped with those of Michael Hogan and Mark Sheppard, I decided to stay on the Main Bridge. There would be another chance to see Trinneer on the stage in Sunday’s Star Trek panel.

This concluded the official program for Saturday. Who liked to party, could now start doing so. But without me. I don’t like dark and loud environments, where you can’t see nor hear the person you’re trying to talk to. So I headed back for my hotel to get a good night’s rest.

Day 3 – Sunday, May 3, 2009

It’s unbelievable how fast time flies when you’re here. This is already the final day of the FedCon

weekend. Although I had told myself I wouldn’t buy any autographs this year, I couldn’t resist the charms of Summer Glau, so I decided to get in line for the second autograph session on the Holodeck, just to get an autograph of Summer. And while I was there, I made some pictures of the other actors too.

In the mean time, a number of repeat guests came on stage on the Main Bridge. In order of appearance: Christopher Judge, Dominic Keating, and Colin Ferguson and Jordan Hinson.

In the afternoon, it got more interesting. The BSG panel with Edward James Olmos, Michael Hogan and Richard Hatch was not to be missed, as was the Star Trek panel that followed it. Six Trek alumni were on stage at the same time. From left to right: Richard Arnold, John Billingsley, Nana Visitor, Nichelle Nichols, Connor Trinneer and Robert Picardo. Diana, a fan from Romania who had been asking questions to almost every single guest actor, was very funny again: ‘Hi Mr. Billingsley, I almost didn’t recognize you with your pants on!’, alluding to Billingsley’s appearance on Friday night.

After the Star Trek panel, many people left the Main Bridge, but I stayed for two more panels: Summer Glau (who was accompanied by Jonathan Woodward) and Mark Sheppard.

At 4.30 pm the Main Bridge was completely full again for the Closing Ceremony. During the ceremony, there was a special charity auction by a group of Klingon fans, who auctioned a big Klingon logo containing 37 autographs from actors and actresses who had attended FedCon in 2008 and 2009. Nobody suspected that this item would eventually be sold for one thousand euro’s!

Finally, all guests from the weekend appeared on stage, to say goodbye to the fans. Both Max Grodénchik and Robert Picardo did this with a song. And unfortunately, this meant FedCon 2009 was officially over.

I’m surely going to be there next year! FedCon is so addictive...

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