This past weekend Gavin and I attended ‘Serenity Forever’, a
Firefly/Battlestar Galactica con run by Starfury Events.
This is the second Starfury con I’ve attended. I was in
Birmingham in December for ‘Midnight’ to meet David Tennant and Billie Piper. I
enjoyed it but found that there were a few things lacking – no dealer or
screening rooms, and long periods of time with nothing to do. As an attendee there alone, these were very
noticeable to me. While I was looking forward to ‘Serenity Forever’ I was also
slightly wary of being a bit bored. Turns out my fears were unfounded.
Approx 300 geeks descended on the Renaissance Hotel at
Heathrow for the three day event, which began with an opening ceremony
introducing all the guests: Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Jonathan Woodward and Nectar Rose from Firefly and Serenity;
Aaron Douglas, Leah Cairns and Stephanie Jacobsen from BSG, Elyse Levesque of
Stargate: Universe and Magda Apanowicz of Caprica.
For us the big draws were Jewel and Sean (I‘m a BSG fan but
Gavin hasn’t seen it), but all the guests were utterly amazing. Interesting,
engaged, and entertaining; they created a warm, welcoming and relaxed
atmosphere.
The guest Meet and Greet for the Gold ticket holders began
straight after the opening ceremony. Think speed dating on a large scale: 8-10
attendees per table and the guests work their way around the room, spending a
few minutes at each. Jewel and her friend Jen were first to stop by with tales
of their visit to Paris, and our table fed the guests well. Sweets were
dispensed (some with a health warning), while Magda ensured we all sampled a
bottle of whisky, something I slightly regretted next morning! Afterwards we
partied and danced into the night, with Leah throwing some shapes and leading
the Hand Jive crew.
Saturday dawned early with photo sessions. I opted for a
double pic with Jewel and Sean (no hover hands from them), while Gavin had a
moment with Jewel and a lady combo of Elyse and Magda. The rest of the day was
spent in the Q&As. It being Nectar’s birthday, Jonathan decided to make a human birthday cake
for her, and then proceeded to jump out of it. Trouserless.
Elyse and Magda were up next, the latter inadvertently
started a burping competition, which she won with ease. BSG then represented,
and Aaron regaled us with tales of his first scene with Edward James Olmos, who
welcomed him to the show by breathing the foulest stench into his face. He also
informed us of the importance of wearing underwear to work. That poor sound
guy.
Jewel and Sean then took to the stage, and the friendship
and love between them is undeniable. The shorthand you have with a friend when
you’re on the same wavelength was plain to see and they collapsed in giggles
frequently. Tales of Morena Baccarin’s ‘Bitchy Neutral Face’ were hilarious,
and left people practising theirs all through the weekend.
Autographs were up next, and fun was the order of the
day. Gavin was teasing Jonathan about
hair, I was talking to Aaron about whisky distilleries for his trip to Scotland
this week. Magda in particular took care to write something different and
amusing on every person’s photo, while
Jonathan (whose table was just before hers) took every opportunity to deface
every pic of her.
The costume competition revealed a parade of fabulous (and
disturbing) outfits that included the Serenity crew, a Borg Swedish Chef, Cylon
daycare (involving nappy wearing toasters in a pushchair, and Aaron rocking one
to sleep in a blanket), and the runaway winner, a giant Jayne hat.
Then it was party time again, and what a party! You know
those nights where it starts out rather quiet, and you think you might just
have an early night? Yeah, really glad I didn’t do that. As I was thinking
about heading to bed, Gavin overheard the Starfury organiser Sean Harry
approach Jonathan and inform him that some bloke called Joss Whedon was in the
house. Bed forgotten, we headed into the main hall, fully expecting it to be a
joke or a rumour. Then I approached the sizeable group at the bar and realised
the man in the middle was indeed Joss.
To say there was mild hysteria at this point is rather an
understatement. Everyone was positively vibrating with excitement, and watched
Jewel, Sean and Joss strut their stuff on the dancefloor. They had a ring of
security (who were fab and ensured there was no inappropriate behaviour, but
still allowed people to mingle with Joss and have fun). This is one of the
things I loved about the Starfury attendees: everyone was respectful of their
space and just enjoyed dancing with him, and felt so lucky that we were having
this experience. There was a lot of love in the room as strangers hugged each
other and squeed repeatedly.
They didn’t just make a ‘show face’ appearance either – I
didn’t check times but they were there for a good 90 mins at least. As the last
song began I had an opportunity to approach Joss so I took it. After asking if
he’d mind saying a few words, I was able to thank him for giving me so much
over the years, and tell him how much his work meant to me. That minute was
brilliant, and one that will stay with me forever.
I always worry about meeting my heroes (what if they’re not
as nice as they seem?) but he proved once again why he is my King. Listening to
everyone chanting “WHEDON! WHEDON!” as he stood on stage was fab, and as he
left a spontaneous singalong of the Firefly theme broke out, and brought a tear
to the eye.
Next morning, everyone was buzzing and those who hadn’t been
at the party woke up to realise what they’d missed. It turns out it wasn’t just
some attendees who’d been unaware of what Jewel and Sean had done, other guests
were a tad miffed they hadn’t met Joss either. While people were excited at
what had happened, they were respectful of those who’d missed out.
The focus soon turned to the experience that is Communion.
Led by Jonathan, it involved being fed a Pringle by Madga, blessed with whisky
by Aaron and given a shot by Jonathan, culminating in shouting ‘Hallelujah’
into the mike in Jonathan’s trousers. A typical Sunday morning, then.
For Babylon 5 fans there was a drop-by from Bruce Boxleitner
to enjoy, who was posing for photos and signing autographs and copies of his
new book. More talks followed, and we found out that Elyse stalked Jensen
Ackles on a flight and attempted to give Chris Pine her number in a coffee
shop, whilst Jewel countered with her “I dropped a load of tampons at Chris
Pine’s feet” and "Matthew Fox thinks I'm an idiot" stories. Celebrities get starstruck too, clearly.
To Elyse’s slight embarrassment we discovered she not only
raps about vaginas, she has a music video too. Jewel’s face went from stunned
horror to astounded admiration while the hall cracked up. If you want to see
it, you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMtMJSMw33k
Then it was all over bar the closing ceremony. Jonathan took his rightful place at the naughty table, while all the guests talked about the fantastic
time they’d had, and how they’d be back. And you know what? It wasn’t just
polite bumpf, they really meant it. They genuinely had enjoyed themselves, and
the weekend had gone too fast. It was sad to say goodbye to such a fab bunch.
I must thank the Starfury crew and volunteer stewards for a
fantastic weekend. Well organised and relaxed, everything ran smoothly and
everyone went home with a huge grin on their faces. While the event is pricey,
especially once travel and accommodation are factored in, I would definitely
attend another event and hang out with my Starfury family again.
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