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Wednesday 23 September 2009

Dragon Con 2009 #1


Thursday

The day started very early with a short flight to Charles de Gaul airport in Paris, followed by a nine hour flight to the States. I watched a couple of films and dozed a bit after lunch. Eventually I landed at Atlanta airport at 2 p.m. local time. Then followed the task of getting through customs and immigration. At least this year, it only took an hour and a half to get to the Marta station; a distinct improvement on two and a half last year. I reached the station for the hotels and made my way to the registration queue at the Sheraton. Sadly the room they'd picked lacked sufficient air conditioning and had a long queue. On the plus side, I had a battery operated fan. This proved worth its weight in gold as I slowly made my way to get my ticket and pocket programme. At last, over two hours later, I was through and on my way to the Hyatt. Finally I contacted my roomie, Zan, got my key and settled in. As I recall, they decided to go out to dinner - either separately or together - without me. So I carried on making myself comfortable.

I got my stuff sorted, then headed out for some food [although I wasn't feeling that hungry] and made my way to the Whedonverse track room to rehearse the pivotal Sweet/Dawn dance from 'Buffy Horror Picture show'. My memory is that I bumped into Sid on the way and we said hello, sharing a hug and a kiss. The rehearsal went on till about 10 p.m. at which time my internal clock called 'bed!' and so that's where I went.

Friday

Today was 'get as many autographs sorted as possible' day! I knew from last year that Saturday would be crazy, so I was going to do my best to avoid going into the walk of fame on that day. As I wasn't prepared to pony up $$$ for autographs from Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Patrick Stewart or Kate Mulgrew [I work on a fairly tight budget!], I kept away from the queues for their special dedicated signing room.

Bonita Fredericy [General Beckman]

She was sitting to the left of the main entry door alongside her hubby John Billingsly. I took a moment to recognise her, because she had her hair down [it just touches her shoulders] and she was smiling, with her eyes dancing. Quite different from the stern Beckman persona! I saluted her and she gave me one back. I commented on how different she looks with her hair down. She laughed and said it takes one and a half hours to get her hair a la Beckman!

I asked how her scenes were shot and whether she interacts with the other actors in real time. In season 1 her scenes [with Tony Todd, usually] were recorded separately with a non-actor delivering the feed lines. This wasn't entirely satisfactory for either her or the others. Now they rig something up so that the other actors can see her on a monitor and she has one on her desk plus an earpiece in her ear. She added that Adam is very naughty and makes her laugh [somehow that does not surprise me and I said so!].

Due to spending time getting most of the autographs I wanted, I arrived at the Firefly talk too late when it was already full [sorry, Ron Glass]. Then, at 8.30 pm came Dragon Con's first ever 'Chuck' talk!

Chuck: Now with Kung Fu action grip!



On the panel were four people; a gentleman called Patrick Cranford who was dressed as Oliver Hardy, Aaron Dunn and a lady plus third gentleman who gave their names so quickly I didn't catch them. The basic gist of the discussion was where might season 3 go following the dramatic end of season 2. Questions raised and discussed included:-

Will Chuck's new abilities be a curse rather than a blessing?
How will the writers keep up the romantic tension between Chuck and Sarah and make it believable?
Comments on a couple of future guest stars.
Chevy Chase being awesome as a villain ['a believable Dr Evil!', 'evil Steve Jobs!']
Will we get to meet Mama Bartowski?
[Warm comments about the excellent casting of Papa Bartowski]
Who might turn up as a villain? Dean Stockwell?
Might Tricia Helfer come back?
Awesome might get a bigger role.
If TPTB could cast Lawrence Fishburn as a mentor to Chuck... [Amazing stunt casting!]
Eureka had product placement; Subway sponsors Chuck ['our special sauce is really special'!]
Season 1 got a [re]run on SyFy
Perhaps John McKinley and Zach Braff could be cast as walk ons. They wouldn't have to be named, just be having a 'typical' Cox/JD kind of exchange. Then there could be a delicious moment when John encounters Casey and Zach plus Zach have a moment!
[There are good and bad crossovers]
Growing Morgan ['sounds like growing mould...'] [It's a bromance!] [Facepalm!]
Wienerlicious costume in the room!
[They would have had two if I hadn't been having to dash to the Sheraton post haste!]
Sarah is a killer – that's still going on for Chuck
Character development for Ellie?
Awesome = Malibu Ken [y/n?]
Bring back the British spy!
Intelligence agencies do recruit from universities

Buffy Horror Picture show [#2]

Arrived at the ballroom at a run! Happily I was mostly changed and just had to deploy my home-made Sweet mask and put my bags somewhere safe. It was absolutely amazing being Sweet the demon. I loved every minute of it. Thanks to the rest of the cast, who were awesome. I'll gladly do it again next year!!

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