my day at FX International

I just got home from FX International, a sci-fi type of convention here in Orlando, FL. I realized that this open admission fully discloses how much of a dork I truly am, but nevertheless this was my first time ever going to one of these things, and it was actually pretty fun.

The draw for me was getting to meet Nathan Fillion, who starred in the TV series "Firefly," the film "Serenity," as well as guest-starring on LOST as Kate Austen's husband and in "Waitress" with Keri Russell as Dr. Pomatter... (just in case you needed his resume;) Despite all his fine work, he's not exactly a household name.

First of all, the convention was a lot more low-key than I was expecting. I suppose I was thinking there was going to be all kinds of people dressed up in Star Wars costumes, and there were a few, but overall the atmosphere was fairly laid back.

Since my and my friend Matt's main goal was to meet Nathan, and participate in all things Serenity, we scoped out the whole picture/autograph scene, since neither of us had ever been to one of these and we didn't know exactly what we were doing. We stood in a really short line to meet Nathan and have him autograph our Firefly DVD sets. I changed my mind when I got to the front of the line and asked him to sign one of his promo photos. Absolutely LAME that they charge you per signature, but I DID want the thing signed.



He signed it "Melissa, Stay shiny, Nathan Fillion" in shiny silver Sharpie ink, so that was pretty cool I guess. Or shiny, as Browncoats like to say.

Then he, Elizabeth Rohm and Nicolas Brendon participated in a panel discussion, their common thread being director Joss Whedon of course. I realized that Nathan Fillion is completely cheesy when he's answering questions, which I guess is good because it seemed like he's enjoying what he's doing. We also saw him randomly speeding around on one of those electric wheel chair things in the exhibit hall. Matt just kind of said "Fillion" and pointed at him as he sped by. Kind of reminded me in Twister when they randomly say "Cow." Haha.

Then we stood in another line to get a photo taken with Nathan. I guess because he was pretty much the biggest star there, they weren't allowing us to take regular pictures with our cameras.

Ha--I love how this photo looks like it's a family portrait.


And yes, that IS Captain Mal's arm around me. Move over, Inara!

It was cool though because we ended up seeing Nathan at least two more times, and both times he actually remembered our names! He's got to have some crazy pneumonic system going on in his brain, for him to even attempt to remember the names of the hundreds of people he meets every time he goes to one of these things.

Anyway, then we got to meet Ray Park who played Darth Maul in Episode 1 of Star Wars. He was really warm and personable. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. It's not like he's a Sith Lord in real life or anything, right? He also had this delightful British accent.

Then we met Jake Lloyd who played Anakin Skywalker in Episode 1. He told us that he is in his first year of college. He seemed like he's basically just trying to enjoy life as a normal college kid. He's not really interested in making any films at the moment. I guess these conventions are pretty cool for him though. They're probably paying for his tuition!


I met a couple of Power Rangers, although I never really was into them as a kid. I didn't know a ton about the show. I was more of a VR Trooper kind of girl. So I never really understood the whole Power Ranger thing. But I met the two guys who played the Red Ranger, apparently.

I think the thing I was most surprised was how down-to-earth everybody was, particularly Ray Park and Jake Lloyd. Adam West was a bit eccentric, but it was still cool to meet him. Overall, it was interesting to meet people--including some of the comic book artists--mainly because it's nice to see people enjoy their work or whatever they're involved in.

To me, that's the most interesting thing about meeting anybody--finding out what they're passionate about and getting to see them excited about what they're doing, but at the end of the day, most of them are just regular people who are trying to make a living.

Anyway, that was my bit of fun for today. Totally felt like I was feeding the pop-culture machine, but it was still a fun time...