WormholeRiders

Heya SciFi Fans,

After coming from Nalini’s Q&A, I then had to proceed to another room for Casey Bigg’s session. I was lucky enough to get a front row seat. There I got comfortable and got my camera in one hand and my video cam in the other. I enjoyed this Q&A.

Although there was a chair for him to sit on, and he did grab a chair and situate it for him to sit down to chat, Casey then quickly moved the chair out of the way and walked around. As you will see in the video, I had to move the camera several times to keep up with him! I hope you enjoy the video session as much I enjoyed watching and recording it for you.

Karen Ford

Heya science fiction convention fans,

I continue my report on SciFi on the Rock held April 17-18, 2010 in St. John’s Newfoundland. After making my rounds through the vendors downstairs of the hotel, I came across another section set up of all sorts of cool SciFi toys and comics by Buddy Toad Comics!

Then I set myself up, with the laptop in tow and got ready to make my first tweet. As I was doing so, Max Grodenchik was heading down the little ramp and headed towards one of the tables that was set up for the special guests to arrange their pictures of the various roles they were in. Max sets out his pictures and sits back to await for people to pop by.

I then went back upstairs and that’s when I ran into Darren Hann and Peggy Dixon from Scifi on the Rock. They had a small table set up so I asked if I could get a picture of them for my write up. They were more than happy to do so, as this would also give them a lot more coverage to where we are on the map.

You will notice that I a lot of venturing from the main floor to the bottom floor while I was waiting for the first Q&A to start, which was with Nalini Krishan, lovely and gracious lady to chat with. I was honoured enough to get a picture with her.

Click image above to visit Karen on Live Journal.

After I had the picture done, I felt someone, more like, something, looking at me. I turned to my right and low and behold, this is what was staring back at me!

Max was intrigued by seeing a life-size R2D2 so he had to have his turn and play.

Then I noticed that Casey Biggs was missing from his table. With looking around, it didn’t take me long to find him. Playing a video game and apparently losing badly, according to him when I asked him how he done? He said “I died 5 times.” We both  chuckled.

So I ventured back over to Carson’s booth again to have a small chat to give Max and Casey time to have their fun. They were so great and loved interacting with us. This convention has something that others probably doesn’t have, a more relaxed and intimate feeling. The guests are never rushed and you’re never rushed to get signed autographed pictures from them.

So a little while later, I went to Casey’s table first, and having a chit-chat about how he’s enjoying himself, he told me that other then the fog, he was having a great time. He asked me if I was at the convention yesterday (April 17th), of which I said, no, couldn’t get a baby sitter. He informed me that he preformed at the Catina that the convention has had the past couple of years. Something that you can get up on stage and sing, act out something, read poetry, whatever turned your crank.

After some time of trying to decide on what to get, I opted for a Star Trek DS9 trading card with Casey’s character – Damar and Rene Auberjonois’ character – Odo. Casey said that if we are lucky enough to get Rene here, I can have him sign it as well. I was also honoured by Casey to get a picture taken with him.

Click image above to visit Karen on Live Journal.

Then Max was back at his table. I asked how he was enjoying his time here and he said the same, loved it here. That’s when I noticed that he had a handbook of places to go to here in Newfoundland. He asked me if I was from here. I told him sort of, I’m living in here but I grew up in a community 1.5 hours away from here. He asked it’s name, I said Cavendish. That’s when he took out his travel book and had a map of all of Newfoundland and asked where it is.

At this time I pointed to the little dot for St. John’s and showed him handy about where I grew up. That’s when he asked what part of Newfoundland it’s called. I told him Trinity Bay. He was very curious, something you very rarely get. That’s when he told me that he had plans on going to one of our parks, Terra Nova Provincial Park. I chuckled and told him that, that part was three hours away. He opted for a much closer location to visit. LOL After our lovely chat, I asked if I could get a picture with him. I never realized just how short he was, lol

Click image above to visit Karen on Live Journal.

By this time it was soon time for the first Q&A, so I went upstairs yet again to see what room it was going to be in. Realizing that it was Nalini first, I went back downstairs to nab her before the session started. That’s when I asked her if it was OK with her to video her session and to have it hosted on this site. She was concerned at first, but when I informed her of the professional group of people that run this site and that we are a credited news agency that reports from other conventions from all over the place, she then asked for the site’s address. Giving it to her,, she agreed for me to video and take pictures.

This ends the written part of my time at the convention and leads to the Q&A’s of all three special guests. I hope you enjoy the sessions as I had a lot of fun listening to them each equally. I hope you enjoyed reading my report and would consider on visiting us here. My next reports will be about panels, but first I have a surprise for you courtesy of WHR.  So until then, take care.

KarenFord1

This is just a short report to get you hooked and interested into my little section of the science fiction convention world known as SciFi on the Rock! One of the nicest things about this convention is the intimate nature of the event.

On Sunday April 18, 2010 I attended this great convention. I was dropped off at the Holiday Inn by my dad and with my backpack camera’s new laptop in tow to get registered with the management of SciFi on the Rock as Credentialed Press for the WormholeRiders News Agency. Carrying the back pack and laptop and other equipment around for 9 hours was not easy let me tell you.

SciFi On The Rock was attended by more than 1,300 visitors, but when compared with the larger conventions where standing in line for hours for autographs and photo ops are the norm, I am happy to report that we suffer from no such situations. It is a nice event and I hope that after you read all my reports, you may elect to visit St. John’s next year.

When walking into the double sliding doors of the convention hotel, I was met with this big sign. Do any of you know what it really is of and what it is from? Oh and the answer is NOT Star Trek. Guess again!

During the registration time, I was greeted by some of the wonderful team from the SciFi on the Rock organising committee.

I arrived early as should all convention goers and I decided to mope around a bit. Why? Because at 9:00 AM on a Sunday, there was not really a whole lot going on. After registering, I ventured downstairs to see what other venues were getting set up for a day of science fiction convention fun at SciFi On The Rock featuring Casey Biggs (Damar in Star Trek Deep Space Nine, X-Files), Max Grodenchik (Rom from Star Trek Deep Space Nine) and Nalini Krishan (Star Wars Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Revenge of the Sith). More on each of them in my next report.

After surveying the situation, I then met up with my cousin, Carson. No not Dr. Carson Beckett from Stargate Atlantis, but every bit as as nice. Carson is one of the guys who set up Newfoundland’s West Coast Con last year.  He’s got his second convention one coming up in October 23 – 24, 2010 .  Please check out his web site and see what exciting actors he’s got lined up to visit his side of Newfoundland.

Then I met up with Matt and Ellen, two wonderful and nice authors from here in St. John’s.  Check out the site, I’m still reading their novel BLACK WOMB. It is a very interesting read.

Visit Engen Books Dot Com

I shall conclude this daily report with a picture I observed that reminded me a lot of David Hewlett. Naturally I had to purchase picture, and so would you when you you will see why.

This is just a small taste of what I seen.  I will be writing a detailed reports and be posting video of the SciFi on the Rock convention panel special guest in the near future I covered for WormholeRiders. Check back soon for lots of fun with Nalini, Casey and Max.

KarenFord1

Hey Star Trek Fans!

It has been long overdue for a Star Trek convention to be back in San Francisco. Creation Entertainment held the convention at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in Union Square. They had a decent size vendors’ room to roam around.

Creation Entertainment also had the chance to add two extra guests in the vendors’ room Richard Keil (best known as JAWS from The James Bond films) and William Wellman, Jr. (Bajoran Security Guard).

Also in the vendors’ room was Gary Lockwood (Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell of The Original Series and 2001: A Space Odyssey). I had the pleasure of taking pictures of each. I did receive an autograph from Gary Lockwood for giving him my black permanent marker because he did not have another that would work. How cool is that? Gary autographing my photo of choice!

Onstage first was the Quark Family or Armin Shimmerman (Quark of Deep Space Nine) and Max Grodenchik (Rom of Deep Space Nine). One of the most common questions they answered was how long did the make up take? Both agreed that it took anywhere from 2-3 hours depending on the make up artist. Each complimented each other on how well the other was doing since Deep Space Nine. You could tell the close bond between the two. It was fun to watch them play off each like brothers in real life. A couple of times Armin jumped down from the stage to speak directly to fans he could not hear questions from. One was from a little boy that wanted Armin to recite a few lines from an episode. Armin stood behind the boy as he let him recite it himself. It was very cute. Unfortunately, it was too dark for me to take a picture of that moment. Armin made a point to say that the writers produce the scripts, but it’s up to the actors to “bring to life” the written word of the screen writers. Both certainly did in DS9!

Right after we had Casey Biggs (Damar of Deep Space Nine). Casey came out talking about his audition for Deep Space 9. His audition only consisted of five words. Julliard trained he did what he thought would work. He did not realize once he got the part of Damar that he would have to wear two pounds of rubber. He told us he did not know if he could act under all that rubber. Fortunately he got encouragement from the producers and did just fine.

Shortly after Casey brought on stage Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Maxwell Forrest of Star Trek Enterprise, Alpha-Hirogen of Star Trek Voyager, and Seskal of Deep Space Nine) do sing a few songs. Casey played the guitar while Vaughn played the ukulele. The first song was about Vaughn’s first Trek Cruise to Hawaii. The second was a funny song about Red Shirts on The Original Series and the last song was about the women of Star Trek. Each song received quite a few laughs from the fans. After the song Casey turned the stage over to Vaughn.

Vaughn talked about how he truly enjoyed sitting in the Star Trek Enteprise “Captain’s Chair” in the episodes “A Mirror Darklly” and kissing Hoshi for one of the episodes on Enterprise. It also happened to be his favorite episode. He was asked if he liked playing the good guy or bad guy better. He said that which ever would pay better, which got a lot of laughs. He said that he was just happy to be working doing what he loves. Our very own WR_Systems asked Vaughn a few questions about his Admiral Forrest character. Would Vaughn have loved to seen Admiral Forrest been part of a spin off series from Enterprise based on “A Mirror Darkly”. Vaughn responded with a, “HELL YES!” He also said that his character died to which WR_Systems responded with no one ever stays dead in Sci Fi, he was transported to “Empress Hoshi’s” Quarters on the Enterprise!

A little later in the day we had the pleasure of having another duo onstage, JG Hertzler (Martok on Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Robert O’Reilly (Gowran of Star Trek: The Next Generation). I knew they would be on stage together, but I did not know they would be in full Klingon make up and costume. It was great! All the years I have been to conventions I do not recall any guest stars dressing up like these two did.

They would be in Klingon character for a moment and suddenly switch out to another or themselves. It was hilarious to watch them both. Robert or Martok was giving out some gumdrops to a few fans as well as flirting to those he could see. Another fun moment was when they had asked for all those who were dressed as Klingons to come up on stage to sing along with them a Klingon song.

My personal favorite part of their Q&A session was the Klingon rap song they did. They danced along with the song and posed here and there. Some of my photos got blurred because I was laughing during the performance and could not keep my camera still. Have to say their Q&A seemed like it flew by because of the antics that went on.

Last, but not least was Chase Masterson (Leeta of Deep Space Nine). She no longer has the short red hair as she did on the show. She now has lovely long blonde hair. When she first came in I remember doing a double take because I almost did not recognize her. WR_Systems will have a full report on Chase since I had to leave early to save our spot for our photo op with Chase right after her Q&A. I will add that I did convince WR_Systems to do the photo op, but really did I really have to twist his arm? LOL

I ended my day with WR_Systems and I at Chase’s photo op. We were second in line. Have to say this was his first photo op and it was fun to see how nervous he was, it was cute. Chase was very kind and took a moment to speak with us both. I cannot wait to see how well our photo turned out. (WR_Systems’s here: Chase you and I will be posted with the report on “Leeta”- YAY!)

Tuesday I will continue reporting with the two most popular captains in Star Trek, William Shatner (Captain James T. Kirk) and Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean Luc Picard)!

SciFiFanGirl616