Alright, let’s review quickly (click here for part 1): We are talking about FedCon Friday. I had already run across and almost into a number of our star guests, the highlight being Bruce Boxleitner whom I passed in the hotel lobby about an hour after FedCon opened. I had already had my picture taken with Peter Jurasik (“Londo Mollari” of »Babylon 5«), who was absolutely nice and charming and who’s embrace I can still feel ;)

On a side-note: except maybe for train-geeks (yeah, those people who love trains and model trains) the scifi fans are the best equipped bunch of people I have ever seen when it comes to photography. Seriously, about every 5th person was wandering around with a (D)SLR . At least, this way I blended in nicely with the crowd for a change, though I eyed some people’s equipment quite jealously, I have to admit. tschilai diagnosed a bad case of “Who’s got the biggest…” … but really, some of those lenses were just awesome (Thomas, I particularly liked your 100-400 IS ;) ).

Bruce Boxleitner

Now the moment I had been waiting for for about three months was finally drawing nearer: the panel of the President of the Interstellar Alliance, former Captain of the »Babylon 5« space station – Bruce Boxleitner!

I have to admit that taking pictures took up most of my brains resources and the whole panel is a little blurry, so excuse me if I don’t get the words right for the quotes, but the meaning will be the same.

That his show is anything but forgotten became quite apparent the moment Bruce Boxleitner hit the stage: the previously only moderately filled Mainbridge (the main room, seating about 2,000 people) had filled up and Boxleitner received a long, welcoming applause. While saying some introductory words, he also touched on the death of Andreas Katsulas, who had portrayed “G’Kar” on »Babylon 5«. Some people started to clap, others waited to hear more, but Boxleitner encouraged us: “Go on, give it up” and to his apparent surprise the room erupted in applause. Smiling he looked upwards, saying: “Can you hear that, Andreas? They still love you!”

How could we not?

Later into the panel a fan question touched the subject again and Bruce talked at lengths about his three deceased colleagues Tim Choate (“Zathras”), Andreas Katsulas and Richard Biggs (“Dr. Stephen Franklin”). The way he brought up the memories underscored what had been said numerous times throughout the years: that the »Babylon 5« crew really had been like a family.

Many thanks from me to the technicians responsible for the main screen on stage, who put up my “Tribute” wallpaper while Boxleitner was reminiscing. I hadn’t felt too comfortable about it at first as I wasn’t sure if there would even be a proper time to use it, but as it turned out it fit perfectly for that moment. Thank you, guys.

While there were not many questions during the previous panels, the fans were actually queuing on the microphones placed throughout the room now. At one point Boxleitner squinted against the stage lights (I have been standing on that stage and you really can’t see anything beyond the first rows), puzzled by the appearance of a fan – well, throughout his time on »Babylon 5« a Klingon never visited the station ;) Nevertheless he recognized the species (the costume was great!) and claimed that “Star Trek couldn’t get rid of you. We’d’ve blasted you out of the sky!”, only to wave seconds later apologetically at the Star Trek fans (He WAS joking ;) ).

Because of the many roles he’d played throughout his career, questions were not only asked about »Babylon 5«, but also about »Tron«, a movie he starred in with Peter Jurasik. Grinning from ear to ear he told about a memo Peter and he had received one day, asking them to please wear a bathrobe when walking through the stages or to lunch in their costume. Those tight pants seemed to have caused some fuzz … Though I have never seen the movie, it must’ve been quite popular because Boxleitner said giving his voice to his “Tron” character in the related video game made him a hero in his youngest sons eyes.

And of course, there were a fair share of rather … uhm, unusual questions:

Fan: “What happened to the planet?”
BB (confused): “Which planet?”
Fan: “The one below Babylon 5?”
BB (double-taking): “What happened to the planet below the station? Is that your question?”
Fan: “Yes. You destroyed the station, but what happened to the planet?”
[by now half the room had a fit of laughter]
BB (with great intonation in his voice): “Uh … don’t know. It’s probably still there?!”

Of course, the inevitable pleas for funny stories from the set of B5 came up and Boxleitner talked about a scene with him and Jerry Doyle (“Mr. Garibaldi”) where the FX coordinator accidently triggered an explosion prematurely. After diving away and debris raining down on them, crew members came running to see if any of them were hurt:

Crew: “Bruce, Bruuuuce, are you OK?”
BB (scrambling to his feet): “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Crew: “Ah. And what about the other guy?”

From that day on, Boxleitner said jokingly, the name on Jerry’s chair was replaced with the tag “The other guy”. :D

Another tidbit that actually came as a surprise for me and many other fans I’ve talked to later was that Mira Furlan did not consider herself pretty at all when in Minbari make-up (and we are talking past-season 1 make-up). I thought that the head-bone looked almost like a tiara and gave her character even more nobility. Bruce said he was constantly paying her compliments to re-assure her about her appearance. Funny, how differently things can be perceived.

Another amusing situation during the panel occurred when a very young fan (who had been around 8 or 10 when the show originally aired) asked his questions and Boxleitner suddenly realized that he might actually be one of the oldest persons in the room (“Have you guys even been alive when the show aired in the 90s??”). Over the laughter of the fans though he claimed proudly that he still fitted in his old wardrobes when shooting “The Lost Tales”. Unfortunately, he could not give any information if and when there were any more “Tales” coming out, but it was obvious how much he had enjoyed going back to his character and that he hoped for more.

The 45 minutes of the panel went by way too quickly and the stage crew used their subtle method to signal the actors that the last five minutes of their panels were running: they blew smoke on the stage. Now, that might not sound funny, but the strange hissing noise together with the white clouds forming behind the actors suggested something … not very delicate and always generated a lot of laughter. Boxleitner was the first of many actors that weekend to look confused over his shoulder, then turning back and saying with just the right ring to his voice: “Excuse me!”

Under tremendous laughter and applause Bruce Boxleitner left the stage (and had to come back out at least once again because the cheering would not cease), but I was already racing back to my seat to grab my bag and then headed to the first floor – the photo session with Bruce Boxleitner was coming up right after the panel. While exiting the Mainbridge, once again Peter Jurasik was walking in front of me, having attended his friends panel.

To my great surprise and pleasure there was already a long line for the photo session, proving once again that »Babylon 5« has many, many fans still. By the time I got close enough to see into the room where the pictures were taken (I was #87, but there were at least another 60-80 people behind me that I could see), the time for the session technically was up already and suddenly the fans to my right began cheering like crazy, making me jump. The reason stood right next to me: Jamie Bamber, Captain Lee “Apollo” Adama of »Battlestar Galactica«. I have to admit, seeing him at arms lengths was a treat, he really is cute and guess what the first thing was that crossed my mind? “Have you ever…?” (Darn you, Marc! ;) )

Anyway, I got my picture taken with Bruce Boxleitner (Have I mentioned how tall he is? And how attractive? And what a gorgeous voice he’s got? And…) and I think it was that experience that made my brain go into hiatus for the next hour or so because even with all the will in the world I cannot recall what I did in that time. I completely missed Mary McDonnell’s panel (which I deeply regret) and found myself in the Mainbridge just as John deLancie’s panel finished.

Jamie Bamber

Coming up next was Jamie Bamber and I was quite pleasantly surprised. He’s quiet, charming, and very modest and it was a pleasure to listen to him (he’s actually British, did you know that?!), especially as he told us about Edward James Olmos’ (Admiral Adama) ability to deliver his lines and take phone calls at the same time. [Thanks to Batch who pointed it out first: Leah Cairns told this story first, not Jamie Bamber. The other BSG cast just mentioned it as well]: They were shooting the scene where Admiral Cain (Michelle Forbes) comes aboard “Galactica” for the first time, but for whatever reason while they were shooting Olmos wasn’t even present. For the fun of it James Callis (Dr. Baltar) shuffled to Olmos’ spot and impersonated him so good that not even the producer noticed anything. When the other actors finally couldn’t take it anymore and cracked up laughing it took an explanation from them to the producers why they had “messed up” the scene ;) Oh, and Marc took it upon himself to ask the most important question of the panel (“Have you ever…”), which led to a temporary shortage of oxygen in the room due to 2,000 people having fits of laughter.

Opening Ceremony

Then – the opening ceremony. Before Marc introduced all star guests, he took the liberty of informing con-newbies (and some returnees) about the basic Do’s and Dont’s:

Drink enough, eat right, and SHOWER! And when you film in here, you DIE!

Especially the last part seemed to become a favorite quite fast, because for the rest of the weekend, Marc only needed to say “You film…” and the audience would chant back at him “… you die!”.

The introduction of the star guests was very interesting as it was the first time for me to see some of them. My fascination went so far that I almost forgot to meet my fellow con-fishes (volunteer translators) at the stairs leading to the stage. To inform the attendees of the con about the translation service Marc asked us 15 (?) con-fishes on stage. I don’t mind large audiences, but just standing there, smiling and not doing anything else was … uncomfortable. At least we could leave quickly again and I hastened to my seat to enjoy the rest of the ceremony and Marc asked one guest after the other on stage.

One of the scientists, who gave lectures during FedCon, told us proudly that he’d been asked by a US university to give a class on “The Physics of Star Trek” in addition to his normal courses; Steve Bacic appeared in a violently orange jacket he’d gotten from the sponsor Jaegermeister; Michael Shanks arrived just in time for the ceremony; Bruce Boxleitner didn’t even try to say something over the roaring crowd and Mary McDonnell read off a piece of paper “Es is su geil hier su sein!” (It’s fraking cool to be here).

Brent Spiner

Next up with his panel was Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek: TNG). I just loved him, but he’s got some really dark humor and either you can deal with that or you get offended. One fan obviously did not get along with that, complaining to Brent that he hadn’t been very nice in answering questions during FedCon 3. It was not just Brent Spiner who did a double-take – after all, we were currently attending FedCon 17!! Brent advised him in his best therapeutic voice to “let go of your anger, just let it go” while the crowd was giggling.

Spiner’s running gag during his panel(s) was the sentence “And I just wanted to say how proud I am about the work we do on Battlestar Galactica”. While the first time only BSG fans got the joke, he promised that by the tenth time he’d say it, he’d have the whole room roaring. It worked on the fifth try ;)

But the highlight of the panel was a fan who’d asked every Star Trek actor if they’d consider to play in his fan film (all of them declined more or less politely).

Fan: “Hi, my name is Keck…”
BS: “Keck?! What kind of name is that?”
Fan: “It’s not my real name, that’s Thomas. Keck is my nickname.”
…
Fan: “Would you like to play in my fan film?”
BS: “Well, let’s put it that way. The chances are better that I will rename myself to Keck than do that. Everybody, call me Thomas from now on!”

Credit goes to the fan with the next question, because he took the chance and addressed Brent Spiner with a “Hello, Thomas!”, to the evident surprise but delight of the actor. For the next minutes Brent showed his talent as a stand-up comedian and gladly jumped at the chances the fans offered him by referring to “Keck”, the interactions culminating in the exchange:

Fan: “Thomas, I wanted to ask you how you got be known as Keck?”
BS: “Well, you know, as a kid I always liked cake….”

Needless to mention, not only my stomach hurt after those hilarious 45 minutes.

Michael Shanks

The last panel of the day was Michael Shanks of Stargate SG1. To the delight of his fans he told us that Dr. Daniel Jackson will go to Atlantis as well for at least one episode and about a project he was working on together with Christopher Judge called “Rage of Angels”, with Christopher playing Gabriel and Shanks Lucifer. For some reason that made a fan assume the movie would be a comedy. “Why, because I play Lucifer?!” asked an incredulous Shanks, laughing despite himself.

More than that I cannot remember, being awake for about 20 hours at that point and completely overwhelmed with everything – and you wouldn’t believe how much laughing can wear you out! After the ST-board photo (about 80 attendees!) and some chit-chat with friends, the Apple-Friend and I staggered back to our hotel to get at least a couple of hours rest before Saturday and the famous Saturday-night party.

Coming up next: FedCon Day 2 – Saturday with Nicki Clyne and Leah Cairns, Michael Shanks being greeted by a division of Stargate’lers, Mary McDonnell and Jamie Bamber and the highlight Boxleitner and Jurasik together on stage.

For pictures please visit my Galleries.

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