First off the weekend….

I went to comic con this weekend. It was great fun. I find myself now trying to seek an answer to the american dream. Find something legal you enjoy doing. Next… find a way to make lots of money at it. There must be a way to make money on the con circuit 🙂

I got into San Diego at about 6:05 pm on Friday. Since the registration desk closes at 6pm; this meant I was not attending any of the Friday evening activities :-b

I tried to bravely make it thru the weekend without thinking too much of the fact that Troll at Pennsic had opened that morning.


I managed to find some real treasures at CC this year. I found a grey-market video table where I picked up vids of “Space Academy“, “Quark“, and “The Greatest American Hero” I attended a workshop for voice actors and was pleased that I was on the right track. I just need to find a session so that I can make a good demo. Later in the day there was a panel of Voice artists. This was very cool because one of the speakers was Gary Owens (Laugh-In, Space Ghost, Powdered Toastman)

Upstairs was the autograph room. This is where you find two sets of people. The really famous who want to break their hands for hundreds of people, and the “Remember my 15 minutes” who get to meet their true fans up close (and charge them $20 for a picture. I got to speak with Stephen Furst (Animal House, St. Elsewhere, Babylon-5) I commented on his comic delivery through facial expressions. He asked me about my interest and I explained “aspiring director” he was very, VERY cordial and pleasant. I was (I have to admit) flustered and overwhelmed. But when all was said and done, I had an autographed script of Animal House.

Also in the auitograph room, I met James C. Leary who plays “Clem” the droopy-skinned, dog-like, demon from Buffy this weekend. Nice guy. Model-like face. It’s a shame they keep it buried onder latex. But it’ll mean he’ll get other work. I chatted for a few with him. I told him that my bet was on him as the big bad for next year. He laughed and said, “It’d be nice… but no one’s told me anything like that yet.” I smiled and said, “Well, the writers never tell the actors anything until they need to know it.” He laughed too. He said, he just enjoys being on the show.

I also met “Kathy Garver” the voice of “Firestar” from (SM&haf) I was surprised to discover it was the actress who’d played little Sissy on “Family Affair”. johnny Whittiker (her brother on the show, and the lead of Sigmund and the Sea Monsters) was there on Sunday, but I didn’t speak with him. Ms. Garver and I had a nice long talk about SM&haf. I told her that it was one of the better cartoons of the era. I commented that in a time of weak female role models, I felt Firestar was one of the better ones who took an active role and was just as strong as her team mates (This is a credit to the writers and the acting). At the same time I surprised her when I commented that the commeraderie of the characters sounded like the actors were actually looping voice overs together rather than at seperate times like the normal procedure. She was surpirised because she said it was the only show she’d done where the actors were looped together. She credited my having a good ear and a good sense of actors voices. A note. talking to a voice actor who primarily used their natural voice can be unsettling. Everynow and then when I looked away from Ms. Garver, it clearly felt like I was talking to Anjelica

Finally, and (to me) most importantly. for the first time in literally 25 years, I got to speak with Pamelyn Ferdin face to face. Pam was the original voice of Lucy in “A boy named Charlie Brown” (The Spelling Bee, why most of us over 30 know “I before E except after C”) Pam was also the adorable little girl who took over Kirk’s enterprise in, “And the Children shall lead.” She was also “Fern” the little girl in “Charlotte’s Web” Pretty much from 66-78 if you needed an adorable girl with a slight whine in her voice… it was her. Pam dropped out of acting about the time she hit 20 because the voice just wasn’t working for what the media wanted, but she returned briefly about 2 years ago when she took on the voice of the ‘Pseudo Girl-Scout” in the recent cartoon ‘Detention”

My knowledge of Pam is relatively complete on the entertainment side mainly because she’s a relative. Sadly, lost somewhere to the annals of time are her original shooting scripts for “Space Academy” which she gave to me when I met her the first and only other time at the age of 9. I told her briefly who I was. She was absolutely pleasant and still has an infectious smile and attitude. (Though, this may be necessary to be on that side of the autograph room) I’m going to be emailing her when I can find the details of where our families meet.

I also went to a muppet session. They talked about the upcoming, direct-to-video Kermit origin movie. This will feature a pubesecnt Kermit that they spent a few weeks designing. Amazingly he looks the same…yet different. At the end of the seesion they let people try on muppets and see how they were at it. (Sadly, I couldn’t get myself chosen for this.) I did however talk to one of the Henson Admins who told me exactly where and to whom to send a demo to.

The costume contest (the ComicCon Masquerade) earned a B-/C+ in my opinion as compared to other years. I think next year, I’m going for a press pass.

I got to spend time with firebrand_ and a dear old friend of mine Jaisan. firebrand_, K and I went out for Thai after the masquerade. I had to fight to stay awake at the restaurant. (And faired pretty badly in my fight) Jaisan and I hung out and went geek watching and artist trolling on the dealer floor. Then we bailed for dinner and Goldmember.

All in all… A fantastic weekend.

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