XDA

My son used to go to the annual Starfest, lately at the DTC Marriott, and I used to kid him a lot for going. One time he asked, how can you criticize me for doing something you know nothing about? Fair enough. So I went last year, and it was pretty fun, but not so fun that I wanted to go the next year; but when next year arrived, a few days ago, I only remembered the fun (including ridiculing some of the people there) and not the tedium or the fact that I was paying nearly $50 for movies I had already seen several times in much more comfortable seats. So I went again. And it was OK.
We recognize the Star Wars clone storm trooper, but who is the woman supposed to be?

Worst news about the future: The 80 minutes of previews (trailers) for movies over the next 6 months. Oh my God. They're nothing but American cartoons, movies made from comic books and remakes. Adam Sandler's movie looked the best of the lot. Bleak, bleak, bleak!


Best thing about Starfest-- girls who dress up like Xena and her 'friend' Gabrielle.

The bad news about this guy's costume was that he's about 5'7".

The action comic book-like movie of A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, which they tried to show the first 27 minutes of, is the new movie by Richard Linkletter (who made Dazed and Confused). It is a rotoscope (filmed then animated) about drug addiction--doesn't look a complete success.

Truest Words Spoken: Joe Flanigan, a CU grad, who plays himself on Stargate Atlantis said. "My character is not exactly a stretch on the show."

Weirdest inclusion at a Science Fiction festival: Pirates. What the frack?

Worst Misuse of the Podium: Sulu (George Takei) talking about his gayness for the bulk of his time on the stage. They guy has to be 70 .

Fellow Blogger Alex stops to smell the rose.

The best thing about the female Klingons on the TV shows and in the Star Trek movies is that they are very well endowed--to use the French vernacular, their balcony is full--and so the women who dress like Klingons at the Starfest have to have the same attributes or use bustiers and wonderbras to achieve the look. Alex here, who blogs at ScifiPundit with the lovely Cheryl, is getting a close up look to the costuming method with his friend from High School. His wife is very understanding.

Not the Brightest Bulb in the Sign award: Tricia Helfer, who plays Cylon style 6 on Battlestar Galactica is a pretty woman who is very nice and personable but probably doesn't read Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in her spare time, if you know what I mean.
This woman seemed the sanest of the fan club fanatics seeking new members--no idea what the subject matter of the club was.

Most trepidation for a movie award: Pathfinder. It's set in 892 in Labrador with Skraelings and pre Leif (Lafe) the Lucky Vikings (all good); so they film it in a British Columbia rainforest--two places which could not look less alike. It stars Karl Urban and Moon Bloodstone, who were both there for an hour or two. I don't know. It has Clancy Brown as Gunnar and the Vikings speak Icelandic. We'll see.

More than meets the eye award: Gary Jones, who plays the guy who runs the stargate. He was pretty funny, much more than his constantly repeating "Chevron 6--Encoded" on the show would lead you to believe.

Star Wars trooper and fighter pilot.
Dean Haglund from the X-Files "Lone Gunman" trio (left) and some poseur.

Haglund was there last time and is not afraid to make fun of himself (which I assume is a talent he picked up early in life). He is deep into improvisation--the death of comedy.

Dirk Benedict of the Original Battlestar Galactica and The A-Team and a smirking fan.

I was going to write sarcastically about this guy as he seems bitter about the fact that the new Starbuck (a woman) is a more manly character than he ever was and because he would not shut up up on the stage but I'm going to leave the dismissal to the more talented Cheryl. The other reason is that he's a cancer survivor and that fact just takes all the wind out of my sails.

Six guys with absolutely nothing going on in their lives. I mean sand people. Come on.
Hey guys, lets dress up in coarse burlap costumes with hot heavy headpieces. It will be fun.
Denise Crosby, who was cracking herself up on stage, looking not quite as good as her spread in Playboy a few decades ago.
I never liked her character on the show but that she made fun of herself in the pretty good documentaries Trekkies and Trekkies II makes me like her more. And the Playboy layout. That helped too.

Once you have the helmet, the costume just seems to fall in place. Guy assigned to the death ray on the Death Star.

What caused the Star Wars art director to make that design is anyone's guess.

The other thing I noticed is that there seems to be a connection between sitting on couches watching TV for long periods of time and the body types of the fans. At one point we were looking for thin, good looking people in normal dress. There were none (including, alas, me).

Saw Serenity again and was laughing my ass off. In fact, the Browncoats were a repeated motif. There was a documentary Done the Impossible about reviving the canceled TV show Firefly into a big studio movie, which failed. Oh well.

The short Darth Vader and his even shorter enemy.
More Troopers and what appears to be a Boba Fett in winter camo.
What's with the dirt? When have we ever seen a storm trooper get dirty on Star Wars? When have you seen anyone get dirty in a Star Wars movie?

A different Fett and the same non-mobile R2-D2. If you want to make a Boba Fett costume, I have the link. I also have the name of a good psychiatrist, which actually might be more important in the long run.

The funny thing is that some guys had real (empty) guns as part of their costumes and some guys had toy guns, but they had to inspect even the toy guns and tag them before they would let you walk around holding one (I guess that was for safety).

I kept saying I was going to try to talk to one of the guys or girls in costume but for the second year all I wanted to ask was: "What are you dressing up for?"

Bloody Pirates and some guys in skirts. At the Bar. What are the odds?

Sheila took all the good photos, of men that is, like this one just above.