DragonCon Report August 31 –September 4, 2007
Ron Glass, Mark Sheppard
Although there were many many people there, I really enjoyed DragonCon. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This is my very favorite Con. I really enjoyed seeing East Coast Browncoats I stayed with Hlgem, Tygie and ILoveJayne. I met Digby and his wife and Spooky. Eforhan was the first Browncoat I ever met and it was nice seeing him again as well as Pearl, Apida, and of course JRBlackstar. I spent 2 days in line with Beannie and Moya and I did get to see AnotherFireflyFan and Jencala which was nice. These reports were originally written for the folks on the OB, the original official message board and these are the names handles of many OB folks I met.
Friday
I took the red-eye and arrived early 8:13am. I took the train from the airport to the Peachtree Center which is next to the Hyatt. My first stop was of course Starbucks. Then I headed to the Hyatt to get to registration because here you really need those stinking badges. I wasn’t sure if it was in the same place since it has changed in the past 2 years. Luckily I ran into Tygie, she was helping Hlgem set up for the art show. She gave me my room key and I she told me where to go. The line was incredibly long I must say. I bought my badge on-site. However since Comic-Con sold out and I fear next year DragonCon may sell out if they cap attendance I am going to pre-reg for next year. The line was at least 2 hours almost 3 if I check my watch when I started. For some reason they only had one person issuing the badges after you pay. By the time I arrived however they had 5 folks, the line cheered each time they added another.
After registration I went to the room to drop my bags. I was staying at the Marriott. It was still under renovations but they did open up several new businesses, 2 bars, a new restaurant and a Starbucks. There is still a whole other half that they are renovating. Can’t wait to see what more they are going to add to it. Everyone was in the room when I arrived. I looked through the schedule and everyone was talking about what they wanted to see. I think Tygie and ILJ stayed together. Hlgem and I went out on our own.
Food was the first thing on my agenda. Then I decided to get in line early for the Firefly panel. It was scheduled for 4pm and I arrived around 2pm. In years past the line started at 12pm so I figured it was a good time to see how the line was. I ended up being among the first 10 and soon after Beannie arrived it was good to see her. We were in Centennial 1 a smaller ballroom. Claudia Black was going into Centennial 2 and 3. Star Trek was also going to start at the same time. The line for those who have gone before is in the same place next to the men’s restroom. We figured out that is the best place to sit and wait. We see many stars going into that restroom. Kevin Sorbo and the blond guy from Andromeda, Alexis Cruz and David Faustino were those I saw. When it was time to get into the ballroom there was a problem. The Firefly line and the Claudia Black line was merged then separated when it was time to go in. Now Peter is the Hyatt Security guard who has taken care of the Browncoats. He is the go to guy if you have a situation. Unfortunately there were many situations going on this year at the Hyatt. Someone else called the Claudia Black folks out of the line and decided to wrap it in such a way that is was clearly not a good idea. At the same time the Star Trek folks were coming to line up. At one point the 3 lines blocked the restroom and was clearly not a good situation. Once the Claudia line went in, things got much better.
The panel was Ron Glass and Mark Sheppard. I thought it should be called the Shepherd Hour. However Ron did not make it. This was my first time hearing Mark at a panel. He is absolutely wonderful. I knew from B3 that he was generous and a good guy but hearing him speaking just showed he is really the antithesis of the characters he plays. I am very much looking forward to Bionic Woman. I am happy Mark is getting so much work and still staying grounded and genuine. My favorite thing about Mark is that he enjoys the love he receives from all fans. There was a great More Romo campaign and it helped in getting him back on BSG for this year. Mark told several stories of which I can recall only a few. On the pilot Serenity there are 4 guys with him when Mal, Jayne and Zoe arrive. When he came back for Shindig he asked for the same 4 guys. Those guys were extras but they tracked them down since Mark thought of them as his guys. Shawna Trpcic, the costume designer also asked for his input on the hat and that touched him. When he returned he also wanted the hat. It had to be tracked down. Another Firefly story is when he is talking to Mal and Jayne and serving wood alcohol that scene took a long time to shoot and it was late, like 2:30am. They did that scene many times and Adam kept eating each time and they actually ran out of sugar at one point. Mark also said that later in Shindig when Book is walking to Badger, he requested a knife and an apple. He was doing homage to Ron Glass. Ron had a role on All in the Family. Something happened and there were 3 versions of the story, Archie’s version, someone else’s and then the truth. Ron was peeling and apple with a knife. This scene had a profound impact on Mark and he reminded Ron of it after the scene in the cargo hold. He also spent time with Summer so that Summer could pick up his accent and way of speaking. Mark did clear up a common misconception about him; he is NOT the voice of the Geico Gecko. He did speak like him but assured us it is not him.
So after the panel I went followed another California Browncoat to a Richard Hatch panel. After that I started getting very sleepy so I grabbed some food then headed back to the room around 7pm. Hlgem was there. I ate then tried to get some sleep, not sure if I did but I rested at least. I wanted to go to the Hero of Canton panel at the Hilton at 8:30pm then I was going to watch Done The Impossible again at 10pm. This is where I ran into Horsenbuggy. I never met her in person before so this was a treat. The panel was interesting and fun interactive discussion. Brian Wiser was leading both panels. It ended late around Midnight I think. I promised Horsenbuggy to walk her to her car. I tried getting into the Hyatt for JRBlackstar’s party but it was near impossible. I gave up and headed back to my room and went to sleep.
Saturday
We woke up at a quarter to 10am. The parade was at 10am. It is one of the things that I was really looking forward to. So I got dressed really fast and made my way to the Starbucks for the parade. The other 3 roomies were still sleeping. I was looking forward to seeing the 76th Battalion march for the first time. I saw Erik Estrada and Uhura, Princess Bride was represented with the 4 characters walking together. I couldn’t place it until I saw Inigo Montoya. The Browncoats were very well represented throughout the Con as well as the parade. Those members of the Battalion were well dressed. It was a great parade.
After the parade I went and grabbed some food then I made my way to the line. The Firefly panel Saturday was at 1pm but it was in Centennial 2 & 3. I remember seeing Beannie again but don’t remember anything exciting that day. Both ballrooms filled up, I think there was still room but it was almost full. This was Ron Glass’ first panel with Mark Sheppard. Ron decided to stand, he felt more comfortable so Mark stood as well. They took turns with the questions.
I enjoyed this panel immensely. Some questions were for Ron and some for Mark. It was hard for Ron to hear the questions, not due to Ron's age he said. Mark helped re-iterate when needed. All I really remember from this panel is Ron saying his reaction to Joss’ saying good news we have a movie bad news you die. Ron replied, “Well f*ck you too!” He was truly not happy with the decision but finally submitted to Joss’ decision.
After the panel I went over to the Exhibit Hall I wanted to find the Browncoat table. I was also looking for my favorite author Sherrilyn Kenyon. I headed back to the room first and then Hlgem and I headed over together. This year the Exhibit Hall was in the Hilton. Luckily my author was there so I lost Hlgem as I waited in line for an autograph. I found the Browncoat table on the other side. Next year I need to bring more money. The Southeastern Browncoats have been doing this at least the last 3 years. They put together a Browncoat Yearbook. It was full of pictures of the last 3 years of DragonCon. It has a hard cover and it was a must for me. Money has been tight so I decided it was worth it and since I already had both Mark and Ron’s autograph I chose to buy the book instead. I ran into Radegund as I was walking back. She was taking a bit of a break before heading to another panel so it was nice to see her again.
I decided to finish walking through the rest of the Exhibit Hall and then went to the James Marster’s panel. This was my first time hearing him. I’d seen him in concert and I have always loved Spike and Drusilla. After that Sherrilyn Kenyon was having a reading I wanted to go to but unfortunately the room was too small. She had another panel about a hour later at 7pm so I decided to get some food. I finally found where I needed to be and ate my food. The room for the next panel had a group of rock and roll folks telling road stories. I was sitting outside as I ate and the crowd kept laughing. Once I finished eating I decided to go in to get a seat for the next panel. Sherrilyn is a wonderful writer who has created a great world to live in. She is funny and smart as well as cute. I enjoyed that panel. I attended last year with a friend but did not know who she was at the time. I read all her books in the Dark Hunter series this year so it was very exciting to meet her and her thoughts on her work.
Well after this I went back to my room to rest. The Shindig that night was to start at 11:30pm so I needed to get some rest beforehand. Tygie, ILJ and I walked over to the Hyatt. We were hoping we would be able to get in since it was hard to do last night. Now something for everyone to know about the Shindig, it is hard to get into. There are more folks who want in than are able to be in. As we entered many folks were walking away. Someone had said it was closed. We kept walking. We arrived and someone was talking about the Fire Marshall saying we could not wait outside. I just moved to the side against the wall. The key to getting into the Shindig is being patient. We waited a moment and folks were let inside. Someone drew me in, I don’t even know who it was but she recognized me and gave me a hug. Unfortunately as we went in I kept walking and since she hugged me from behind I did not see her then I lost her once I went it. We were looking to see if we saw any familiar faces and we found Beannie. Folks leave because either they’re tired or it’s not what they expect. The Bedlam Bards took some time to warm up. We left around 1:30am. The Shindig lasted 3 hours, so the trick is get there early or wait and go a little late. It was fun seeing all the Browncoats having fun. There were several good Badgers, many Jayne, Kaylee, River and Mals. My favorite Mal is the one in the floral bonnet. It was a mighty fine shindig.
Sunday
Well I woke up went to church then went to get something to eat; this is when I saw Jencala. T.A.P.s aka Ghost Hunters was the first panel I wanted to see that day, it started at 1pm so I walked over there. I was quite surprised to see the long line. It was scheduled to be in Centennial 1 it was a fun panel. It’s a fun show and the guys are very down to earth. We exited at 2pm and I went looking for the Firefly line. Well Stargate folks were in line for the 2:30pm panel. Then Battlestar Galactica was getting ready to line up where the Firefly line should be. There was a Browncoat who took charge of the line and had us sitting on a counter behind the stage waiting to line up for Firefly. So we were in the pre-line. Once Stargate entered she moved us to a new location which I thought was a bad location so I told the girl. She took charge but knew she had no authority. I saw Peter making an announcement on stage and told her to call him over. Peter is a BDH; he made it into the yearbook on the BDH page next to Alan and Summer. I wanted to show it to him, he was thrilled. Then we explained there were 2 popular panels at the same time, BSG and Firefly. Poor dear he had to figure something out. The Adult Swim line was heading in to Centennial 1 so he said we could take that spot. I was happy we had him directing things.
Once we finally lined up officially I sat down. It was at this point I realized the problem. Both panels started at the same time. The lines would crisscross to enter. There was no way to move the lines they grew quickly. While waiting I saw JRBlackStar and Eric and was introduced to Digby, his wife and Spooky. I was bummed to hear that TinkTanker had left I was hoping to see him at one of the panels. I told the girl in charge of the line they were with me so she said it was fine for them to plop down since I’d been there so long. We saw Mark pass by as he attended the BSG panel. They allowed BSG to enter first since it was larger. It took a real long time. We entered our 4pm panel at 4:15pm Ron Glass was on his own for this panel since Mark went over to the BSG panel. I liked how Ron handled himself. He became very interactive with the crowd and walked among us. I am trying to think of something new he said during this panel but I can’t. I just remember being glad that Ron was doing such a great job on his own.
After the panel we went up to Room 456 JRBlackStar’s Browncoat Party Room. It took a while since the elevators were full. We arrived and then ordered pizza. There was a sign that she made everyone who entered the room sign. It was nice to just sit and drink and hang out. There were many conversations everywhere. ILJ and Tygie were there with me. Also there were Digby and his wife, Spooky, Eric and Pearl and then Apida came too. We watched the DragonCon Masquerade on DragonCon TV. I really wanted the Firefly Skit to win but the judges just did not get it. We had a few more drinks and took pictures and finally said our goodbyes. Spooky was the only one staying on Monday so we made plans to get together. ILoveJayne and I left at 1:30am I really wanted to tell those who did the Firefly skit how great they were. Fortunately as we crossed the street returning to the Marriott they were crossing to the Hyatt and I was able to tell them they should have won. They were awesome.
Monday
Now we had been waking up around 10am. So I told Spooky to come by around 10am. He said he was going to say goodbye his friends. Monday morning I heard knocking on our door we were all still sleeping. I thought maybe it was housekeeping and it turned out to be Spooky. I told him we were still sleeping and to wait by the Starbucks in the lobby. I was so sleepy I almost went back to bed. I checked the time and it was 9:21am early but not that early. I took a shower got dressed and met him down in the lobby. We walked over to the other Starbucks on the street across from the Peachtree Center. This was Spooky’s first time at DragonCon and he hadn’t even been to the Peachtree Center or through the bridges that connected the hotels. I grabbed my coffee and then we went back to the Peachtree to find something to eat. We had burritos at the Mexican place called Willy’s very good food.
After that we went to the art show to see Hlgem’s work hanging up. She has some great stuff. Some of the other art was over my head, some was very nice. People have great imaginations. We walked through there and then decided to try to attend Wiccy’s panel about Stargate fanvids. It was very informative as well as entertaining. The final panel of the day is a Goodbye to our guest panel. It was supposed to have some of the guest part of the Whedon Track. Unfortunately they all left beforehand. Wayne was the director of the track it used to be called the Buffy Track and finally chose to include Firefly now called the Whedon Track. The panel was supposed to start at 2:30pm and there were possibly 20-30 people in Centennial 2 and 3.
Finally Larry Bagby was introduced. He was the bully on Buffy who turned out to be gay. He has been acting since he was 12 and is now 33. Larry says he’s "that guy". "That guy" who looks familiar but you can’t place. His last big project was Walk the Line. He had started focusing on his music and then had the opportunity to audition for Walk the Line came up. Larry has also done some standup comedy. He did a Star Wars sketch-What if Star Wars was cast in the 80's with Michael J. Fox as Luke and Bill Cosby as Vader? He used both their voices and mannerisms it was hilarious. He would like to get into voice acting but it is a small niche. Someone recommended contacting Seth Green since he’s worked with him and maybe doing a gig for Robot Chicken. This didn’t come up in the panel but I found out he’s in the KFC commercial about man’s chicken then a little girl comes up and eats some. Commercial work probably helped fund his recent CDs. He sang some popular songs then some off his CD. It was a mini concert and all I kept thinking was this guy is really talented, funny and cute, actually adorable is the word. He deserves to be known and get whatever he wants. It was a great treat to hear him play. Afterward he sold his CDs and gave out autographs. I told him he is that guy but he deserves so much more he is really fabulous. Tygie took my picture with him. Larry was able to walk into a panel at the last minute and turn it into a great surprise. I felt it was a treat and a great way to end the con.
After that we said bye to Spooky and we went down to the art show to find Hlgem and since she was not there we went back to the room. It looked like a ghost town at the Marriott. We pushed the button for the elevator and it was empty, that is a sign the Con is over. Everyone leaving already checked out. We went to the room and began to chill out then Hlgem came in and said she needed to go down to the art show to check her stuff. So we did that and then an hour later we went back to the room. We decided we needed to get some dinner so we emailed Spooky about going to the Chinese Restaurant catty corner from the Hyatt. We didn’t hear back from him, we figured since he had not gotten much sleep the night before he was probably sleeping. However when we arrived at the restaurant there he was. It was a great meal. We all went back to our room and watched some TV. Finally we said goodbye and Spooky went back to his hotel and we all went to sleep.
Tuesday
Tygie left early. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. Hlgem, ILJ and I left at the same time. We helped Hlgem get her art to her car. She went to get her car and we waited out front from the hotel. What was neat about waiting was that I was able to see Sherrilyn Kenyon loading her car. During DragonCon she is in costume but one of her friends was with her and she is a petit woman with a personality that makes her larger than life. It was nice to see her in her natural surroundings in everyday life. Once we loaded Hlgem in her car. ILJ and I went to Starbucks and then to the Peachtree Center for breakfast. We took the train and ILoveJayne got off before I did. It was nice, relaxing and fun Con. The trick is to focus on what you want and be prepared for what may happen. I really can’t wait for next year’s DragonCon.
