The convention list has been around for something in the neighborhood of 11 years. First as a print-only publication appearing in Starfleet’s Communique, and a few months later on my previous personal web sites. For the past eight years, the list has appeared on dactylmanor.org, and for several years was mirrored on Starfleet’s web site. Although Starfleet no longer carries the list, a number of their subsidiary organizations still syndicate it on their own web sites and in their newsletters.

So it’s probably high time that Fanboy’s Convention List had its own web site.

Please come back and visit as often as you like!

The guest in question, and I was more than a little surprised to run into him (even more so that he wanted to talk to me!) was Lorne Greene. He wasn’t on the con’s official guest list, instead, he was there as an attendee. From talking to him, he’s interested in getting onto the convention circuit but first wanted to check out the scene in-person. (He went full-out on it too, going so far as to show up with a reasonable facsimile of his “padded-robe” uniform from the original BSG.) He’d like to start coming to cons this year and gave me a card with all the appropriate contact information.

Talking to a friend about this encounter a short time later, we agreed that it was pretty cool someone of his stature actually wants to go to cons — so many of the well-known stars price themselves out of range. I was particularly surprised though since I thought he’d passed away about 20-25 years ago.

And that’s when I woke up.

Sure, booking Lorne Greene presents a few more challenges than most guests, but the good news is that he wants to be there.

Now if I could just remember that phone number….

When there’s no room in hell, the dead will walk downtown

If you can’t find me, it’s because I’m hiding somewhere with a baseball bat. (What little brains I have, I’m keeping!!)

As is usually the case, running across an episode got me to wondering if there was anything new. Last I’d heard, the Farragut crew was planning to re-shoot portions of “Just Passing Through”, and there were one or two other projects in the wings.

A visit to the Farrgut web site revealed a few convention appearances I’d known about, and one or two more that I hadn’t. Then I struck gold — a new episode!

Since April 2008, I’ve been looking forward to seeing Starship Farragut’s animated episodes. And while I’ve been writing this entry, I’ve been downloading a copy of “Power Source” – Farragut’s first animated episode.

This should be good. 🙂

Trailer

It’s certainly not a merger I would have expected, the images I have of the two companies’ products are just too wildly different. (Princesses on the one hand, Mutants on the other? Then again….)

One plus side I definitely see however is that Peter and Mary Jane Parker can finally take Aunt May on a trip to Disney World without anybody’s licensing department getting bent out of shape.

Update 9/2/2009: Thanks to Gavroche for pointing out the first of no doubt many Disney/Marvel cross-overs.

And sure enough, The Joy of Tech crossed over too!

I agree with the friend who thought this is the best Torchwood story yet.

*** Note — Spoilers ***

Gwen’s monologue at the beginning was fantastic. I think she was right about The Doctor being appalled, but I think he’d have joined with Torchwood in bucking the system.

I don’t know what to think of Jack right now. Sacrificing a child was a monstrous thing to do, but necessary to save millions more. The “six months later” part surprised me though. I didn’t expect him to run away and have no idea whether to expect him to return.

As noted before, this season makes the character of Jack Harkness a lot darker. I’m perhaps reading way too much into things, but it makes me want to interpret The Face of Boe’s sacrifice in “Gridlock” (Doctor Who, Season 3, episode 3) as a final act of atonement.

I wish the season was more than 5 episodes, but the story arc is fantastic. They’re definitely able to do a much richer, more complex storyline this way.

*** Note — Possible Spoilers ***

We finally get to discover that someone besides Gwen has a normal life of sorts. The side story with Ianto’s sister and her family is great. And holy cow, Jack has a family! I never saw that coming. It’s not the gay thing — they talked about this when the character was introduced in season 1 of Doctor Who, Jack is into everyone — he just doesn’t seem to be the kind to settle down like that. (That said, it was fun to watch Jack and Owen settling down into the role of a “couple” with all the bickering.)

I was also surprised by the revelation of Jack’s past — his personal past, after Bad Wolf and before finding “the right kind of doctor” again. When Jack was first introduced, he commented that because the Time Corps had blanked out his memories, he wasn’t sure whether if maybe he had some something horrible. It looks like 40 years ago he was a much darker person.

And dang! After losing Tosh and Owen at the end of season two, I really didn’t expect to see any of the remain characters get killed.

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