Part 6 of 6 JenskiJen’s Report as previously posted on the OB (Official Firefly Board)
JenskiJen’s Report
Serenity Premiere in Los Angeles –Thursday 22 September
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! I WENT TO THE RED CARPET PREMIERE OF SERENITY!!!!
Wow! It's still all sinking in... I walked the red carpet! I rubbed shoulders (not literally, but you know... figuratively) with celebrities! And I went to a VIP party!!
But first, let's go back a step... a few steps actually. Back to a time many months ago when I was planning my trip and had just decided to change my plans to include more time in the US to take in a convention or two. Waaaay back then, I didn't really know any Browncoats. It's hard to believe that now! And I'd certainly never attended a large convention... well, aside from those two Star Trek conventions I attended with Sally way back when. Heck, the closest I'd ever been to a celebrity was meeting some of the cast of the original series of Star Trek in an autograph line. Well, I've met other celebs, but they were just local ones... Paul McDermott, Mikey Robbins, Adam Spencer, Wil Anderson and the like - fun people and relatively famous by Australian standards. So when I was thinking about what might happen on my trip, and at conventions in particular, my expectations were limited to seeing celebrities from a distance. Catching them on a panel and if I was really lucky, maybe seeing them in a crowd. If someone had told me back then that I'd be attending the premiere of a Hollywood movie as a guest, I'd have told them to wake me up because I was clearly having one of my very graphic daydreams.... you know, the ones where you are part of the in-crowd and famous people recognize you. Well, little was I to know what would eventuate when you become friends with Browncoats!
I've been extremely lucky so far with respect to seeing (and sometimes meeting) celebrities, particularly in the Firefly-verse. And most of these opportunities have come about from the generosity of Browncoats. I owe so much to my Browncoat family, I'll never really be able to show you all just how much being part of this amazing community means to me. You have all been so generous in taking me in, showing me the ropes, letting me be involved in your events and allowing me to follow your shining example and give back to Browncoats across the globe. The feeling inside when I was able to share my experience (and schwag) with was reward enough. I never expected anything beyond that. So when I was told at Dragon*Con that I had been invited to attend the Red Carpet Premiere in LA as a guest, I was stunned to say the least. It may have seemed like I was being cool and taking it all in my stride, but inside my brain had literally frozen. And I've been on autopilot ever since. It's only now just thawing out... but then, close proximity to Nathan Fillion does have a tendency to do that, as any Fillionaire knows!
So just before I commence my report on this amazing experience, I want to re-iterate just how thankful I am to each and every Browncoat I have met along my travels - both in person and online. You have each given me more than you will ever know and I will cherish this forever.
To my report....
Okie dokie... where to start... hmmmm... a-ha! Sooo, on Thursday 22 September, we hit the road, taking the 101 from San Diego to Los Angeles. It's not a bad drive... lots of pretty scenery... and a smashing view of the Hollywood sign. After a few hours, we met up with Tamara and James at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in Burbank. After transferring the purple beast, we headed back to Tamara's place to meet up with Seawhere, MeiMei and Pip. We only had a short time to get ready, so we quickly frocked up and made ourselves as gorgeous as possible. At 5pm, our town cars arrived to take us to Universal City Walk. We wandered around, following the signs marked "Serenity Premiere" and the cinema appeared before us. Huge signs declared this to be the "World Premiere of Serenity" (well, technically that was in Edinburgh, Scotland but we weren't going to quibble) and barriers were set up around the red carpet.
We made our way around the back of the Hard Rock Cafe and found the Browncoats check in area to collect our tickets. There I met my wonderful host, Kim, who had generously invited me to be her guest for the evening. So we hung around, saw lots of familiar faces, had many Browncoat reunions, met some folk for the first time and generally had a blast hanging out. We worked our way back (very slowly) to meet up with other friends at the Hard Rock Cafe. We had managed to snag a section of the balcony adjacent to the red carpet... the perfect position for pictures! So we chatted and we ate and we drank and we schmoozed... I got to meet Greg Dean ("Real Life" comic artist - check out www.reallifecomics.com) and many many other Browncoats. After a while, some went off to stand behind the barricades in front of the stages, others went to find folk and some went off to do their red carpet walk early. But wherever folk were, as the sun went down the air began to sizzle with excitement.
I stayed on the balcony as long as I could (despite efforts by wait staff to make us leave) and was able to take some pictures and some video of the scene, the cast and the Browncoats...
Finally it was my turn. Kim and I stashed our cameras (as they weren't allowed on the red carpet or at the after party) and headed around to the start of the red carpet. By this stage, there weren't that many folk left behind the barricades but the carpet was packed! There were two parts of the red carpet - the VIP and the guests, divided by a rope barrier. Many folk were still milling about either being interviewed or watching the interviews, so we were able to see Christina Hendricks (Saffron/YoSafBrig) and many others. And our walk was captured on film in the background of an interview with Sean Maher!!!
We made it into the theatre without tripping over and making a scene, and found our cinema. There were four cinemas in total - one for the special "Blue Ticket" folk (which had the main cast and other celebs), one for the special "Red Ticket" folk (which had some of the minor cast) and two for the "Yellow Ticket" folk - we were in a Yellow Ticket cinema. After snagging our free popcorn and drinks, we settled in and watched the film.
WHICH IS BRILLIANT!!! GO SEE IT NOW... WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR???? GO!!!
Final comment from Rosie:
When the Time Machine gets invented, I am going back to just before the Serenity Premiere and hiring a photographer for all the Browncoats. So many pictures not taken outside to capture such an auspicious day, the day Browncoats did the impossible: Serenity flew again after Firefly was cancelled. Still brings tears of joy just thinking of it.
I hope you all enjoyed everyone’s tales. If anyone has pictures they want to add let me know!
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