Mary Lou Who?

I was also really excited to participate in Dragon*Con in a new capacity. I’ve always attended this convention as a cosplayer and member of the press, but this year I was also a panelist! I sat on three discussion panels for the Stargate Multiverse Track and had a great time during all three! By Dragon*Con standards, they were pretty small panels, but we had great audiences. Team Dynamics, The Doctors of Stargate, Sexism in Stargate actually came to be highly debated topics. For each panel, the participants included highly knowledgeable members of the Stargate Multiverse Track staff who led quite interesting discussion. Ken Spivey of The Ken Spivey Band joined me as a panelist for the Sexism in Stargate panel as well. He brought a unique point of view as the only male member of that panel and though his interest in philosophy. If you missed it, here’s video from that panel:

Ken gave another great performance during his band’s concert on Sunday afternoon. The only thing I didn’t like about his show was that they needed to be in a bigger room! Quite a line had formed by the time the doors opened, and at least as many fans were turned away as got in. Next year I hope the Brit Track moves the concert so more attendees can experience the Doctor Who themed fun. If you haven’t heard The Ken Spivey Band’s music, you can hear their Celtic Time Lord Rock on Spotify and of course order their CD on Amazon. Here’s a peek at this year’s performance:

While attending panels isn’t generally my favorite thing about conventions (we all know I’m there for the costumes and the parties), two of my most beloved celebrities attended Dragon*Con this year and I got to see them both! As evidenced by my panels for the Stargate Multiverse Track, Stargate has been a big part of my life for a while now. It was the first show I owned on DVD in its entirety, and I’m a Stargate evangelist surprisingly to the delight of my non-geek friends. Richard Dean Anderson, or Colonel Jack O’Neill (also known as my favorite Stargate character), gave a great panel with several other members of the various multiverse casts. He doesn’t do conventions every often, which is why I was so excited to see him. He had some quite interesting points of view on the show’s direction and filming. Robert Picardo, most widely known as The Doctor on “Star Trek: Voyager,” was on that panel as well, and I had no clue how hilarious he was! He was full of quotes and one liners, and really livened up the panel in a way I had never seen before. Get a look at that romp here: http://spacegypsies.com/archives/7874

I also got to see “The X-Files’” Agent Dana Scully, Gillian Anderson! “The X-Files” was my first non-anime fandom, and the first time I learned about “shipping.” Let’s just say it opened a whole new world to my young eyes. For years Gillian Anderson has been a rarity at conventions, so this was not to be missed. She’s been doing mostly theatre since the end of “The X-Files,” but she was particularly excited about a great new project called “The Fall,” due to premiere on BBC Two in April! She told a few stories about her old “The X-Files” days too, which were incredibly interesting to hear. Catch a bit of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET2EmlJUrcA&playnext=1&list=PLuUL7WIBk69Vdcp0je-vNReNkpAV5qGeo&feature=results_main

As most of you know, I worked with Earth Station One for their Dragon*Khan Report leading up to the convention this year. We did one big group broadcast straight from the con. It was super cool finally meeting everyone in person! Those guys are really great, and totally know their stuff. Check out that episode here:

Disclaimer straight from ESO: Like the convention itself, this episode contains hard language, substance abuse, reports of nudity, and intense geekery.

http://erthstationone.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/earth-station-one-episode-127-eso-network-invades-dragoncon-2012/

Though I missed being Miss Martian in the parade, I did get to attend a Young Justice photoshoot! It was super fun to meet other lovers of the series and get some fantastic photos!! I also met another Miss Martian who did the comic version of her outfit. Here we are together:

And here’s a couple more sweet pics!

All three photos courtesy of Danny Hunter.

I’ll see if I can’t rustle up a few other photos from the con and share them with all of you.
All in all, Dragon*Con was a great convention. They always get the best guests and the best attendees. As always, I’ll encourage you to go, both new and old members of the con scene. Do it for the kittens.