SpaceGypsies

There is just something about Fringe that makes me fangirl like a complete loon. I’m not sure there are enough words in the whole English dictionary for me to describe the feeling I get when I watch it. Let me put it this way, not since Stargate SG-1 has a show captivated me in a way that Fringe does.

Last night, the season four finale aired; it was the second part of the continuation. For me to properly explain all my thoughts and feelings on the epic ‘Brave New World’ two-parter, I need to take you through the journey that has been the story so far.

If you’re a watcher of this amazing show, then this recap is not for you, well it is if you want to see me try to explain it all in a paragraph or few, which is no easy task (Challenge Accepted). Beware: Spoilers below.

Leads Jackson, Noble and Torv

Fringe is really centred around three main characters, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham, Doctor Walter Bishop (Australia’s Anna Torv and John Noble) and Peter Bishop (Mighty Ducks star, Joshua Jackson – who has amazing beard scruff).  The work they investigate usually has ties back to the wacky fringe science experiments Walter performed in the late 70s and 80s with William Bell (Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy), founder of Massive Dynamic – the largest privately owned R&D facility in the world.

In short, Walter is released from a mental institution to help save Agent Dunham’s partner, who was exposed to a cocktail of chemicals that turned his skin completely translucent. This whole thing created a domino effect and led Dunham to be pulled into working for Fringe Division to explain events that could mean the end of the world. Season one is centred on The Pattern and ZFT where David Robert Jones heavily features. We are also introduced to the Observers, who turn up at important points in history. However, their origin and purpose are relatively unknown until season four. Season one finishes with William Bell taking Olivia across to another universe – the ‘Red’ universe (ours is Blue – it helps to differentiate during the episodes).

During season two we learn that Peter is not actually ‘our’ Peter (he was taken from the other side as a boy) and Olivia discovers

William Bell (Nimoy) and Walter Bishop

more about the experiments that Walter and William performed on her when she was a child living down in Jacksonville, Florida. Did I forget to mention that in the previous paragraph? Whoops. Anyway, Olivia is special; she was given ‘Cortexiphan’ – a drug that enhances innate mental abilities. Due to the Cortexiphan, Olivia has a gift that Walter wanted to exploit – she can cross over to the other universe.  So anyway, back to the story. Basically, Peter felt betrayed and decided to join his real father back on the other side. However, Walternate wasn’t the man Peter thought he was and so, with help from other Cortexiphan subjects, Olivia crossed over with Walter and William Bell to bring Peter back. Only the main trio manage to return safely home, or do they?

Season three is a story about both of the universes, so you got to see the similarities and differences between the two worlds – they didn’t have coffee; could you imagine that? I’d die! I don’t want to give too much away because season three is quite awesome, but lets just say, the Olivias are a little bit different; one of them has an ‘evil vagenda’.  The season focuses on finding and building a machine that has the ability to destroy universes, to which somehow Peter and Olivia are the keys. The two universes are basically on the brink of war with one another and it is up to Peter to save them; only a trip to the future gave him the idea of how.

September (Michael Cerveris)

So finally, season four… I don’t know how to explain this season. It brought the story from season one full circle to an ‘end’ of sorts… in a Fringe way of course. The central storyline was the creation of a new universe and the destruction of the other two. Unknown to anyone was the bankroller for the idea. Season four started out with Peter having been wiped from existence and therefore, the timeline had changed, almost drastically in some instances. He was the lynchpin. Without giving away the whole story, Peter eventually found his way back into existence, but no one knew who he was. Memories of the past were lost. The key line of the season, which explains pretty much everything, was said to Olivia by one of the Observers, September: “In every version of the future, you have to die.” After the finale, the line finally makes sense. And let me tell you one thing, the William Bell of this world is like ‘Alternate Universe Spock’ – he just didn’t have his goatee.

I love storylines, and Fringe has one of the best storylines I have ever followed. For those of you who know me, that’s not the only thing I love about television shows… I am a major shipper. In this show, it is no exception. The thing is, the writers don’t jerk you around with following a couple, oh no, Peter and Olivia have been together on and off since the end of season two. I can’t tell you why they were ‘off’, but one thing is for sure, Peter and Olivia are forever destined to be together. The season four finale just cemented that…

SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER

Read the rest of this entry »

ConGlom's Dealer Room

MTAC and ConGlomeration were excellent back-to-back weekends. While MTAC was in Nashville, TN, ConGlomeration was held April 13-15 in Louisville, KY. You’ve already heard what I thought about MTAC, and ConGlom was a stark contrast. The average attendees’ age was probably twice what it was at MTAC and it definitely made for a different experience. The parties, for instance, were much cooler. Friday night I attended the Xerps party and got to try what they call “skippy,” a concoction of Keystone Light and who knows what else that’s sure to make your evening turn out either really well or really badly. Regardless of the manner of your night, you’re unlikely to remember much of the experience. Unfortunately for us, Friday evenings’ parties got shut down pretty early due to noise. We hit the hay in preparation for the following night.

"The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword"

We spent the majority of Saturday evening at Barfleet’s party. They’re a pretty awesome organization which uses Starfleet’s organizational structure in an effort to throw awesome convention parties around the Midwest. I must say they accomplished their mission at ConGlom! They served four different colors of punch (I went to bed with an entirely blue mouth…) and kept the music going to late into the night. Because of a friend’s connection to the group we were allowed to stay for the after party. It’s a good thing, too, because I wasn’t ready to go to sleep! We also stopped by a Ghostbuster themed party, which didn’t have as many people, but definitely provided some fantastic drink options. While I didn’t try a sample of each (though that was actually on the poster-sized menu), I had something made with root beer and cinnamon whiskey, which changed my life. A.MA.ZING.

As I expected, the Masquerade was the prime event of the weekend. For such a small convention, there were some surprisingly excellent costumes! Three members of my cosplay group, TL;DR Cosplay, actually won Best in Show! Dorian, Courtney, and Cy dressed as characters from the most recent Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.  Other winners included Arwen from The Lord of the Rings and Codex from The Guild. After the costumes had been presented, the judges began to rate each costume. Meanwhile, Mystic Hips Belly Dance performed for the audience. I especially enjoyed their use of comedy and geek items, including severed heads, a bottle of rum, and a bat’leth. One woman even performed with a live snake!

Codex from "The Guild"

I found only a few negatives to this convention, the most prominent of which was its people-to-space ratio. The Louisville Ramada Plaza Hotel and Conference Center was far too large for the number of attendees. We had to walk almost the full length of the hotel just to get to the conference center and panel rooms, usually passing attendees of the two other conferences being held at the same time. The hotel has a very strange layout and made our first hours there pretty confusing.  I wasn’t a big fan of the location, but the convention staff were great. Apparently physically obtaining a media badge is just always going to be a hiccup in my convention weekends, because the folks at the registration table looked at me like I was from Mars, just like the volunteers at MTAC did. They called the woman in charge of registration though, and she knew exactly who I was from our e-mail correspondence. She gave some instructions and I was soon given my badge, which ended up saying “program participant,” rather than “press.” Despite all that, they had great attitudes and were happy to help with anything we needed the rest of the weekend.

Belly dancing with a bat'leth? Suprisingly graceful!

While ConGlom featured a wide range of panels, some of the things I found most interesting were ongoing.  First of all, the game room was really great. It was probably better attended than anything else at ConGlom and hosted every analog game I could think of. There was also a surprising number of young children at the convention, due in part, I’m sure, to KidCon, a room completely dedicated to entertaining ConGlom’s youngest guests. It featured everything from visits by the convention’s guests of honor, to storytelling games, to crafts. I think more conventions should feature not only child-friendly programming, but child-intended programming, and I applaud ConGlom for rising to the challenge.

This convention also featured a fantastic dealer room. There were all sorts of items I’d never seen before, and a wide variety of fandoms represented. In the middle of the room was ConGlom’s art show and silent auction, which had some lovely pieces. I almost caved and bought a TARDIS light switch cover, but decided my TARDIS dress, phone cover, and tattoo were probably enough. I was surprised, though, by the level of craftsmanship and talent present at such a small convention. Were I a collector, I would have been delighted.

All around, ConGlom was a great small convention. It had awesome parties, cool people, quality costumes, and beautiful art. I’d definitely recommend it as a low key geek-away-from-home.

Hi, Space Gypsies!  I’m really excited to have the opportunity to write here– look for posts on the biology of science fiction and other science topics about once a month.  But before I start in on the good stuff, I thought I’d take this opportunity to introduce myself, and hopefully convince you why I fit right in here at SG.

I was a pretty dorky kid. I read the entire world, never made below an A, could reel off statistics for literally the entire Atlanta Braves roster, and my brothers and I had our own versions of elaborate tabletop gaming with Littlest Pet Shop and Matchbox cars (seriously, there was an economy and infrastructure). As I progressed into my early teenage years, I developed a healthy obsession with Star Wars and discovered THE INTERNET (I was definitely the kid who taught herself html in the seventh grade).

Remember when fandom lived here?

So you’d think that as I left home for my last two years of high school (at a math-science magnet boarding school) and then college, that I would get even more geeky.  Y’know, join an anime club, discover video games or Dungeons and Dragons, something that I’d been missing while mostly-friendless in my tiny, rural hometown.

But that didn’t really happen. Instead I joined a few academic clubs (shout-out to the Russian Club!), learned to play hockey, and read a lot, both for fun and for school. In fact, the only stereotypically geeky thing I did for the nine years after I left home was watch the entire Stargate franchise, fill in gaps in my X-Files knowledge and develop a fondness for Doctor Who.

And then, in 2010, a friend made me go to Dragon*Con. I was of course aware of the idea of conventions, but I’d never been to one, and I’d also never heard of Dragon in particular. What I realized within seconds of exiting the train at Peachtree Center was that Dragon*Con was a scifi/fantasty/lit/gaming/anime/nerdgasm and a complete blast. It opened my eyes to a whole new world of geekiness, and I was already a PhD student in science.

A family of pirates in the food court = why Dragon is amazing.

In the year and half or so since my first D*C, I’ve expanded my geek universe exponentially. I’ve made friends with an awesome cosplay crew here in Nashville, and have learned to sew and craft and make my OWN costumes: all skills I’ve never had! I learned to build my own computer, and am now using it to play World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’ve played D&D, Magic: The Gathering, and Skyrim. I have $100/month comic book habit. And did I mention I have tattoos of the ‘Earth’ chevron from Stargate and the Deathly Hallows from Harry Potter?

So…being a real grownup?  (I am, I own a house and everything). Even dorkier than being an awkward teenager.  And way more fun.

Even better, now I have an expertise!  As part of my columns here, I’ll be answering YOUR burning science questions: Feel free to email me at CyChase@spacegypsies.com with any and all inquiries about the plausibility of zombie viruses, the laws of alien evolution, or anything in between.

Pics or it didn't happen, I know.

Last Sunday brought the long awaited and highly anticipated return of the PBS Mystery series Sherlock to the US. Lucky UK fans feasted their eyes on Series Two several months ago. Sherlock is a highly entertaining modernization of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, where Victorian era ideals and technology make way for the 21st century. It can be enjoyed by both fans of the books, previous shows set in the Victorian era, and viewers who have no prior experience with Sherlock Holmes. As someone who grew up watching Jeremy Brett and has recently made a project out of reading the mysteries but is far from actually accomplishing it, I feel I have a mixed perspective on the subject.

WARNING: If you are familiar with the Sherlock Holmes mystery ‘A Scandal in Belgravia’, this review will not entirely spoil the plot for you, nor will it give away the ending, but it will reveal the modern twists that were added in Sherlock. Reader beware!

Read the rest of this entry »

I first visited the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (known as C2E2) last year and was very impressed! Held at McCormick place, which may be Chicago’s largest convention center, this con was all set to impress. With a star studded lineup of guests and vendors galore, C2E2 certainly doesn’t disappoint! Here’s the Good, the Bad and the Meh from C2E2 2012.

The Good-

Honestly, I loved this con so there were a lot of good things!

John Barrowman takes a video of the crowd for his mum.

- Organization! Reed Pop, the lovely folks that bring you C2E2 and PAX, have conventions down to a science. The full color programs are a great tool along with the mobile app, to help convention goers navigate the vendors and programming schedules.

- C2E2 Staff! I have to give a special shout out to the C2E2 staff. Those folks work hard! Not only do they work hard, but every staff member we spoke with was friendly and polite. If they didn’t know the answer to our question they quickly went to find it for us! The staff was simply lovely and made the convention all the more enjoyable.

- John Barrowman! Seriously, this man is FANTABULOUS! I admit I didn’t know much about him before his panel. I had seen Torchwood and enjoyed it, but that was about it. I left his panel wanting to watch everything this man has ever been in! He was amazing! I’m always impressed by actors who are appreciative and great with their fans. John Barrowman goes above and beyond. Yes, his autograph line was 2 hours+ long, but that was because he joyfully spent a moment with each and every fan.  You don’t see that often.

- John Cusack!Speaking of amazing celebrities, the opportunity to see Chicago legend John Cusack in person was a once-in-a-lifetime treat! He was everything you would expect John Cusack to be. He even had gracious answers for some of the rather awkward questions during his panel. I left his panel with a new appreciation for him as an actor.

With the wonderful David Newell

- David Newell! The name may not be familiar, but I guarantee most people will know him by his catch phrase “Speedy Delivery!” For more than 30 years, Mr. Newell played Mr. McFeely on the childhood classic Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. We met Mr. Newell at the Toonseum table on the vendor floor and the childhood memories came flooding back. The videos Mr. McFeely delivered to Mr. Rogers had always been my favorite part of the show. It was a honor to meet such a T.V. icon. His panel was also one of my favorite panels to date. He revealed behind the scenes stories, showed old clips and bloopers, and told the story of a man, Fred Rogers, who had touched children’s lives for generations. For me, this panel was the highlight of the weekend.

- Jake Rueth! Ever since I spotted Tiarala and Mythandros’ prints by Jake Rueth, I knew I had to have some. His art is colorful, whimsical and, well…it makes you smile. I purchased two prints from Mr. Rueth, my favorite, “Rainbow Shower” and the beautiful, “The Universe.” I can’t help but smile every time I look at these prints hanging in my home.

The Bad-

There wasn’t much bad when it came to C2E2. Overall, I have to say that nothing was particularly “bad” about this convention!

The Meh-

The Science Fiction Outreach Project was one of the many great booths at C2E2

- Programming. While C2E2′s programming was more varied than say, Wizard World, Cyphan Con (a smaller convention) had more when it came to variety of programming. If C2E2 adds more panels such as costuming and gaming, their programming line-up would move from decent to excellent.

- Food. This is more McCormick Place’s issue than C2E2′s. There wasn’t much in terms of food options. The food offered was your general cafeteria-style fair. Nothing flashy and certainly nothing healthy. Setting up food carts on the convention floor may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but ended up emitting a lingering funk in and around the food area that was a little nauseating.

- Artists’ Alley. This is the one place where more organization, or a better labeling system, would have been helpful. PlayItGrand and I spent a good hour looking for Ant Lucia, the amazing artist behind the Star Wars pin-up posters, only to walk right past him. I ended up purchasing one of his prints from a vendor who was kind enough to direct me to Mr. Lucia’s exact location in the Alley. Thankfully, Mr. Lucia was incredibly gracious and even signed my poster for me.

Original costumes from Captain America.

- Costume Contest. Granted C2E2 isn’t as big as Dragon*Con for costumes, but their costume contest was rather disappointing. First, it was limited to the first 30 contestants/groups to sign up. Given the size of the stage this ended up making sense. The PA system for the stage, however, was muddled and it was very hard to hear what the announcer was saying. (I’m sure the foam encasing our heads didn’t help either). Rather than using a pre-show judging system like Chicago TARDIS does, C2E2 used an applause-based system to determine the winners. Again, this is great if you have a costume that allows you to play to the audience, but it doesn’t really have much to do with the actual quality of the costume. A team of “celebrity judges” would have been awesome, as well as categories like Best in Show, Best Construction, Audience Favorite, etc. would have made this costume contest 100 times better.

- The C2E2 App. After having experienced an app like Dragon*Con’s, C2E2′s was kind of a disappointment. Mostly the app wasn’t fully updated and offered a poor search function and only marginal information in some cases. This made it difficult not only to find where a guest could be found, but when they were appearing throughout the weekend. For example, guests were listed as signing from 10:00 until 7:00. That’s a large window of time. If it were broken down to the actual times the guest would/should be sitting at their table signing it would eliminate the need for fans to constantly be returning to the autograph area to see if the guest was there.

A steam-powered computer...and it worked too!

- The Mailing List. Apparently registering as press for C2E2 automatically puts you onto a mailing list for various vendors and companies related to the convention. Pre-convention this is a great resource. It gives you an inside to some of the cool previews available at the con. After the convention it’s just annoying. We’re still receiving e-mails from companies who have clearly gotten our information off of the C2E2 press list. I don’t think this is C2E2′s fault. Obviously they can’t control what these outside persons do. Perhaps in the future, Reed Pop’s Media Relations staff should give guidelines to those who receive the press list and request that they not send informational e-mails post-convention.

Overall, C2E2 is a great convention. The location is great and so are the guests. Fans are just as friendly as you would expect convention goers to be. And the variety of vendors, artists, and guests is refreshing. This is a convention where you go to have fun. The expert way Reed Pop runs this con makes it relaxing for the con-goer. There’s very little frustration here. No unorganized lines or crowds. No rude or inexperienced staff members. This is, quite simply, a FUN convention!