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.

Once again, Supanova fever has hit Australia. Kicking off in Melbourne on the 13^th April and finishing on the 15^th, the pop culture event made it’s way up to the Gold Coast at the Convention and Exhibition Centre on the 20^th to the 22^nd. This was the first time Supanova had been held on the Gold Coast, as previous years have only seen it in the state’s capital, Brisbane.

Zapp Brannigan - Wil Wheaton loved these guys

Supanova always lives up to the hype and this year was no exception. It was a massive and star-studded line-up of international superstars. The highlight of this event was James and Oliver Phelps, from the Harry Potter series. It also saw Morena Baccarin and Summer Glau, from the cult-classic series, Firefly, Peter Facinelli from Nurse Jackie and Twilight, Thor’s Jaimie Alexander, everyone’s favourite Admiral, Edward J. Olmos, self-professed Geek, Wil Wheaton and Stargate’s Cliff Simon and Rainbow Franks, just to name a few. Also too, a host of artists, authors and voice actors including Richard Horvitz from Invader Zim (he signed my shirt, but it washed off in the machine).

The signing line(s) for the Phelps twins were enormous (not as long as the one for Tom Felton the year previous, mind you). However, if you were lucky (or unlucky, however you would like to put it) enough to be in this line, the upside to it was that they were directly next to Morena and Summer. Us fangirls were flailing inside… it was fantastic. They are just so stunning and Summer is ridiculously cute, sweet and adorable… she can’t be human – wait a minute! Now I know why she was in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Every guest was amazing. Even little Chandler Riggs from The Walking Dead was awesome, always happy to chat with the people who came up to get something signed. Cliff Simon and Rainbow Franks were a duo not to be messed with, always looking for a laugh. From what I heard, their Q & A panel was hilarious, Rainbow showing up late as Cliff had misplaced him the night before. I think this is the part where I should tell you that Cliff decided to flick a rubber band at myself and another girl from a distance, just for kicks; it missed.

The start of Summer and Morena's signing war

I didn’t get a chance to see any of the panels (I really wanted to see Summer’s and Morena’s but I was just so busy… so much to see), however I did get my photo with Wil Wheaton, Summer and Morena. When I went to get my picture signed by both the girls (I use the term loosely as I don’t want to keep having to use their names), a large signing war started, with Morena signing over Summer’s side, just to be funny. Apparently it escalated and by the time it had gotten to about the third or fourth person’s picture, there was almost no picture to be seen. I just love how much flack they give each other.

However, I think the best and most consistent of the guests, when it came to signing, was Rainbow. His were like works of art. He was a great guy to talk to and always took his time with each of his guests.

Supanova is a massive event for us Australians. When conventions come, us up in Queensland often get missed, so for us to have two Supanova events a year is pretty amazing. Everyone knows about it and it is hard to go a day at one of these events without bumping into someone you know… or avoiding them as it sometimes may be. I was told that the line to get in was huge and it was a two-hour wait for people to get inside the venue. It just shows how popular this event is. Inside, the product stalls were constantly crowded and it’s always about ducking and weaving to get through the congestion, but we love it. We got to stock up on all our nerdy and geeky apparel (I’m so glad my parents don’t ever ask me how much I spend at these events).

The ingenuity and uniqueness of the different costumes is always fascinating to see. The Cosplayers have some of the best costumes ever. I think this year we even had a Sonic the Hedgehog and someone in an air-conditioned Totoro costume. The 501^st Division is a hit with the crowds as they have official Star Wars costumes and to top it off, they always collect donations for the Starlight Children’s Fund.

Below is just a small collection of a few of the costumes that were there.

So, as you can see, it was a fantastic weekend for all. Fingers crossed for another Gold Coast Supanova event next year.

The Resurrection of Magic

Part One: Skin Hunger
Part Two: Sacred Scars

Several years ago at Dragon*Con, I met a young adult author named Kathleen Duey in the Hyatt Regency at the top of an escalator. I believe, and I might be wrong about this, I nearly knocked her down. Regardless, she was charming and polite and I promised to read her new novel “Skin Hunger.”

I never read young adult fiction as a child, going straight from non-fiction and Marvel comics to Leon Uris, Frank Herbert, and Ann McCaffery at age 11 or 12. I discovered young adult literature before starting college when I encountered a A Wrinkle in Time and the works of C.S. Lewis. I have made it through the Harry Potter books and the folks tales of Laurence Yep. I tried to read Twilight, I swear I tried. It didn’t go well.

Recently I ordered both of Kathleen Duey’s resurrection of magic books on Audible.com and prepared myself for an urban fantasy similar to Vampire Diaries. The setting could not have been more different, instead of a modern world, the tale was starts out in ren-fest/Tolkien world of magic and market places. I was honestly disappointed with how mundane and cookie-cutter this world seemed to be. I continued to listen. Within a few chapters I realized that this world was not like any I had ever encountered in literature, and that story I was reading was not going directly from point “A” to point “Z” and that the Resurrection of Magic would have very, very dark and bloody consequences.

The single defining feature of the books is actually their duality. The initial tales feature the live of the young girl Sadima as she discovers her magic ability to hear animals, finds that her skills might contribute to the restoration of magic overall, falls in love with a young Magician, Franklin, and deals with the mysterious and questionable Somiss, another magician. The other story covers Hahp as he attends a school of magic, suffers frightening horrors, and is the student of a magician, Franklin, and deals with the mysterious and questionable Somiss, another magician.

There is no clear sense of time early in either story, and it is difficult to tell immediately how Franklin and Somiss can be in both stories though the tales appear to be centuries apart.  This mystery works it way through both tales and they descend into pain, suffering, and loss. These two stories are tired very closely.

Skin Hunger, and its sequel Sacred Scars are both highly recommended for their vivid storytelling and incredible characters and struggles.  The one warning I give to he reader…have Sacred Scars on hand to immediately start digging in when Skin Hunger dies.

Hogwarts Castle

Two weeks ago I finally went to Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I’d been looking forward to the adventure since the park opened in 2010. Orlando is an 11 hour drive from Nashville, so I didn’t expect to ever actually go, but look at what you can do when you’re a grown up! You can spend your money how you want. And I wanted to go to Harry Potter.

A few friends and I were planning to attend MegaCon this year, and I convinced the group to take the opportunity to go to the park for a day. After all, when else were we going to be in Orlando? MegaCon had its ups and downs (more on that later!), but Harry Potter was all up. Even if we hadn’t gone to a convention, the seriously lengthy trip would have been worth our one day at what I affectionately call Harry Potter Land.

Now, Harry Potter isn’t what I would consider one of my ‘main’ fandoms, but I definitely enjoyed the books and movies. And I had to apologize in advance to all my friends about my continuous squeeing, but thankfully they fangirled just as much as I did. I mean, how often does the world of a book come to life all around you? The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is inside Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Admission to the park is $85 per person, per day, which I call a pretty high pricetag for happiness, but it’s definitely worth the money.

Yes, we even cosplay at Harry Potter Land.

Interestingly, Universal does not allow guests to dress up as characters while attending the park. I’m sure this is for safety reasons, as Disney has the same policy. So what did we do? Dress up as characters not from Harry Potter. We wore blazers sporting the Gotham Academy insignia.

At the front of the Harry Potter part of the park, visitors are immediatelygreeted by a life-size recreation of the Hogwarts Express. From there, it’s just a question of letting the crowds carry you along until you see everything. The main town portion is meant to be Hogsmeade, with Ollivander’s thrown in. You can go inside Honeydukes, Zonko’s, and Dervish and Banges, all canon Hogsmeade shops. There’s also the Owl Post, where you can send a letter with a special Hogsmeade postmark. Zonko’s and Honeydukes carry items you can probably guess – Chocolate Frogs, Sneakoscopes, Color Changing Hairbrushes, and Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. Ollivander’s however, is where I spent most of my shopping time.

Can you guess which wands belongs to which witch?

Ollivander’s offers a wand-choosing experience similar to what Harry goes through in the book before receiving his wand. My group chose not to wait in line to participate, as we were on a fairly tight schedule. I hear it’s quite a magical time, though, if you care to wait. Every wand costs $30, which I thought was surprisingly inexpensive for such an iconic item, especially when the same shop’s cheap polyester wizarding robes go for a staggering $100. Ollivander’s offers the wands of most of the books’ main characters, plus a few minor ones. They also have several individual designs; one for each month of the year. Many choose their birth month’s wand, but I went a different route. I’ve wanted to cosplay a Harry Potter character for a while now, but I’d been having a hard time deciding who. I’d been thinking about it all day, in fact, in and out of line, on and off of roller coasters. I finally decided on three separate wands. Yes, three. Not much of a decision, I know. And I know it’s excessive, but it’s for cosplay!That’s a good excuse, right?

I’m now the proud owner of the wands which chose: Fleur Delacour, Narcissa Malfoy, and Minerva McGonagall. And they’re all so gorgeous!! It was the best $90 I’d spent since that morning when I bought my park admission. Other than the wands, I didn’t really find anything in the shops I couldn’t live without. Well, other than a Chocolate Frog, but who could resist that?? I was surprised by the lack of new and interesting merchandise, but perhaps I’m just on the internet too much to believe anything is innovative. Most of the shops just carried t-shirts, pins, mugs, and other generic Harry Potter or Hogwarts themed items.

Dumbledore's Pensieve!

Besides the snow covered town of Hogsmeade, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter features two rides. One is simply an old ride given a new theme. Formerly called Dueling Dragons, the ride is now entitled Dragon Challenge. It has two roller coaster options: the Hungarian Horntail and the Chinese Fireball. Both are fun, but lacked the initial gut wrenching drop I look for in a good coaster. The Triwizard Cup theme, however, made up for the disappointingly short rides. The line wanders past signs supporting each of the Champions, the Champions’ tent, and the Cup itself.

Similarly, the other attraction’s queue was almost more fun than the actual ride. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is completely indoor and uses a combination of video screens and real scenery to make you truly feel that you’re in the world of the films. I actually shed a couple of tears while on the ride because of how genuinely awesome it was, and NOT because of the dementors and giant spiders. Not because of those.

While I never really understood what the ‘plot’ of the ride was meant to be, I really felt like we were on an adventure with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The trio visits you while waiting in line, explaining that you’re going to see a quidditch match or something, though I’m not sure what they were saying exactly because I was too busy admiring everything in Professor Binn’s History of Magic Classroom. From there, the line goes into Dumbledore’s office to receive a

Yeah, I took a picture of my lunch, what about it, punk?

message from him. The coolest thing about waiting in line for me (besides the House Points counter, Sorting Hat, and Potions Classroom doorway), though, was getting to see moving portraits. They really looked like paintings that moved! Even the screens were textured so that any glare would just make them look that much more real. We got to witness an argument between the portraits of Hogwarts’ founders and get a bit of a Hogwarts history lesson. It was really really cool to get to see the inside of the castle.

Universal really strives to make The Wizarding World of Harry Potter a full immersion experience, even offering food mentioned in the books. I opted for the Cornish Pasties and a glass of Pear Cider while dining at the Three Broomsticks. Pumpkin Juice and an abundance of Butterbeer are offered at stands throughout the park as well. I was surprised to find the drinks somewhat lacking, but maybe my expectations were just too high. Obviously, magical drinks must be the most orgasmically delicious things on the planet. Oh, and be

"Oh you may not think me pretty, but don't judge on what you see, I'll eat myself if you can find a smarter hat than me."

careful with the Butterbeer – it’ll have you on a sugar high for HOURS. I’d recommend the frozen version because the texture is better and it’s not so toothachingly sweet.

Besides my disappointment in rides and drinks, I’d call the experience more than satisfactory. The atmosphere itself made up for any shortcomings there might have been elsewhere. And now I have my three wands to remember it by! Overall, it was a very cool experience. It was like my school letter had only gotten lost in the mail and finally arrived, 12 years late.

Inspector Spacetime Logo

On September 22, 2011, Inspector Spacetime burst onto our screens via the quirky NBC comedy Community.  A parody of Doctor Who, Inspector Spacetime features the Inspector, who travels through time and space in his red telephone box, accompanied by his associates. Doctor Who fans everywhere shrieked in delight after seeing one beloved show spoof another beloved show; consequently, Inspector Spacetime became an overnight sensation in the online Whoniverse.

Community - Thursdays on NBC

Community is a brilliant comedy that centers around seven students attending Greendale Community College. It has the geeky flavor of Big Bang Theory, the balanced ensemble cast of Firefly, the witty dialogue of Gilmore Girls, and the bordering-on-ridiculous-yet-shockingly-brilliant comedy of Arrested Development.  It’s rife with inside jokes that only the geek community (or consistent watchers) would understand, and often there are multiple story lines unfolding in the background that one only notices on the second (or third) viewing.  However, like Arrested Development and Firefly, Community might be too smart for its own good, and the ratings have been dropping.  After an undeserved and disheartening mid-season hiatus, Community will return to NBC’s regular line-up on Thursday, March 15.

In Season 3, Episode 1, Abed’s favorite show Cougar Town gets moved to mid-season (eerily similar to Community’s eventual fate) and in an attempt to bring him out of his funk, he is first introduced to Cougarton Abbey (which is, of course, a spoof of the British series Downton Abbey).  However, after discovering that the show only lasted for six episodes, Britta finds a long-running British cult sci-fi show called Inspector Spacetime.  Similar to Doctor Who, the parody follows the adventures of the Inspector and his associate, Constable Reggie.  In the introductory clip, Constable Reggie asks, “where’ve we ended up this time?”  The Inspector responds, “the question isn’t where, Constable, but when.”  Blorgons (the equally evil and even more shoddily-constructed parallels to the Daleks) then advance, shooting lasers and chanting, “Eradicate!  Eradicate!”  Due to being Abed’s new favorite show, Inspector Spacetime references appear in several subsequent episodes, from Abed and Troy dressing up in costume to offhand comments.

Poster by Jonny Eveson - Click here to buy it from his website!

Overnight, the Doctor Who fandom embraced Inspector Spacetime (I’m going to just call them DW and IS for brevity’s sake).  The idea that fandom has come up with is that DW (referred to as “that other show”) is a ripoff of IS, allowing DW and IS to coexist.  Since that first introduction in September, fans have set up forums and collaborated to write a complete history of the series, design artwork, decide which actors played the eleven Inspectors and their associates, create a multitude of villains, and devise thousands of episodes, many of which have entire synopses already.  In many ways, IS is a parallel universe to DW, allowing fans to revel in inside jokes; but, in other ways, IS fans have gone off in their own creative directions.  The IS universe seems to be a fanfic dream, allowing writers to infuse their own ideas into their beloved show without altering canon.  Most story lines and concepts are the complete opposite of actual episodes of DW; for instance, whereas the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood (the title of which is an anagram of “Doctor Who”) is more adult-oriented, Inspector Spacetime’s equivalent spinoff Peacemist: Nicer Post (also an anagram) is more family-friendly.  Like the Doctor, there have been eleven incarnations of the Inspector; like DW, IS began in 1963, and after a short time off the air in the 90′s, has been “rejuvenated”.

Here’s a very short list of other DW concepts that have been translated into the IS universe.

Doctor Who                                   Inspector Spacetime
TARDIS police box                          BOOTH red telephone box (or DARSIT)
assistant/companion                       associate
Daleks                                             Blorgons
Time Lord                                        Space Master
Doctor has two hearts                     Inspector has no heart
K-9 mechanical dog                        FE-line mechanical cat
sonic screwdriver                            optic pocketknife/optical pliers (there is some debate over this, too)
regeneration                                    metamorphosis
Rory Williams                                  Rory Williams

Yep, that’s right – Rory Williams has been a character on both Doctor Who and Inspector Spacetime!  Regarding other similarities, character names in IS are often plays on existing DW characters – for instance, Brooke Rhapsody is the IS version of DW’s River Song.

11th Inspector Cosplayer

Inspector Spacetime has become such a phenomenon that Tony Lee, author of several Doctor Who graphic novels and the Big Finish audio play Doctor Who: Rat Trap, presented a panel about Inspector Spacetime in November 2011 at the Chicago TARDIS convention in Lombard, IL.  Everyone thoroughly enjoyed listening to Tony talk about IS’s history, actors like Christopher Lee and Steve Carrell who played the Inspector, and favorite associates like Mary Sue Brown and Constable Reggie (but not Jeffrey – everyone hates Jeffrey!)  Chicago TARDIS even had its own Eleventh Inspector cosplayer!

The universe that IS fans have created is multi-faceted and quite entertaining for those who know DW well.  I could go on and on about it, but I could never do justice to the immense creativity that IS has inspired.  The material on the Inspector Spacetime Wiki, TVTropes, forums, and ChicagoTARDIS panel will captivate you for hours, so pull up a chair, get comfortable, and learn about Inspector Spacetime.  (If you’re still clamoring for more Inspector Spacetime reading, check out Inspector Spacetime Confessions, which is beyond hilarious.)  After you fall in love with the Inspector, make sure you watch Community on Thursdays on NBC, because unless their ratings drastically improve, it looks like the end of this brilliant show.  And remember, there’s always room for one more …