Battlestar Galactica‘s Richard Hatch passes away at age 71

16640914_10155020081314524_6473707869162128275_n Dragon Con 2007. My very first fan convention, very first Dragon*Con (before they took the asterisk out of the name), and Richard Hatch was the very first celebrity I got to meet. When he heard that it was my first con, he asked how I was enjoying myself so far, and even though there were others in line to see him, he talked to me for about 10 minutes without making me feel rushed or like I was taking up too much time. Then, he let me take a photo with him without charging me, because I had no cash and – as a newbie – didn’t realize that you needed cash back then for the Walk of Fame. (One of his co-stars wasn’t that gracious, and actually rolled his eyes at me).

Anyway, Richard was a class act, and he set the bar for how I would measure my interactions with guests from that point on. I am sad to hear of his passing today, and my thoughts are with his family, friends, and the Battlestar Galactica family. RIP

#RIPRichardHatch #BattlestarGalactica #BSG #CaptainApollo #TomZarek #DragonCon

I’m going back to…Dragon Con

Dragon Con is just over TWO WEEKS AWAY and I am starting to feel excited. Once again, I will get to represent Sci-Fi Party Line as media. I will also be sitting on a few panels and for the first time, I get to be a judge for a costume contest! Bring it on!

As of right now, I will be sitting on two panels each from the American SF & Fantasy Media and YA Lit Tracks. This is the information I have so far; I will continue to update this post as new information comes about (dates/times are subject to change):

Friday, September 2

Shannara Chronicles- Ellcrys Visions (Friday, Sept. 1 10:00 AM. Room M301-303, Marriott) MTV expands on their original content with the premiere season of the adaptation of Terry Brooks’ epic series. This first year we meet some of the main characters and then lost them. Did you think they achieved what they tried to or is this a series that will need to grow?
The Whedon Track Costume Contest ~~(Friday, Sept. 1 4:00 PM. Macon Room, Sheraton)~~ ~~Have a costume inspired by the works of Joss Whedon? Enter our costume contest for a chance to win a prize in one of our 6 categories.~~ Cancelled to accommodate additional track guests.

Saturday, September 3

Game of Thrones – Moving Past the Page (Saturday, Sept. 2, 11:30 AM. Room M301-303, Marriott) Season Review – As we move past the books, viewers were treated to upheavals in most of the factions within a song of Ice and Fire. Keeping to the series, we’ll discuss how this season changed so much within this world.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Special Rehearsal Edition) Discussion (Saturday, Sept. 3, 1:00PM. International North, Hyatt) Cursed Child SPOILER ZONE! We’ll discuss reactions, theories, and how Cursed Child does (or doesn’t) fit in with canon, and how it impacts fans.

Sunday, September 4

Fantastic Beasts and the Upcoming Movie Trilogy (Sunday, Sept. 3, 4:00 PM. Centennial I, Hyatt) We’re two months from the movie–what do we know? What are we excited to see? What about the new stories about the American wizarding world and Ilvermorny?

Dragon Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film. Every Labor Day weekend, about 40,000 people crowd the streets and take over the hotels of downtown Atlanta to meet friends, celebrities, cosplay and totally geek out. This year’s event will take place September 2-5. Ticket information can be found on the official website.

You can read more about my experiences at Dragon Cons past at this link.

Sleepy Hollow feeling more “hollow” with departure of additional cast

FOX’s “Sleepy Hollow” will return this fall without a majority of the cast from last season.

And…the Sleepy Hollow news continues to get worse – for me, at least.

There are several reports floating around today that some major changes are coming to Sleepy Hollow for Season 4: a majority of the season 3 cast will not be returning, and Sleepy Hollow won’t actually take place in Sleepy Hollow. Say what?

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My thoughts during the season 6 finale for “Game of Thrones”

12998274_10154088197344524_2803185125589195978_o This is what my Twitter feed would have looked like, had I actually been able to live tweet tonight (which I can’t, because I learned last week that my ability to multi-task in non-existent when Game of Thrones is on).

I am actually terrified of what is going to happen in this episode. Who is going to die?
I love how they start off the “previously on”…there’s no better sight than seeing the Stark banners go up again in Winterfell
So I guess we’ll see Dorne in this episode…at this point, do we really care about Dorne anymore?

Spoilers below.

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Sleepy Hollow renewed for fourth season

Credit: FOX

Well it was the news sleepyheads were waiting for: would we get a chance to find out what happens to Crane now that Abbie has died?

This afternoon FOX answered with a resounding “yes”. Sleepy Hollow, which saw some fan outrage at the end of the last season when Nicole Beharie – one of the two leads on the show – was written off the show, announced earlier today that there will be a fourth season.

Last year the show began it’s third season with major cast changes, as the characters for Katie Winter and John Noble were killed in the season two finale and it was announced during the post-season hiatus that Orlando Jones was leaving the show. As I discussed in Episode #245 of SFPL (and also in this blog post), the beginning of the season felt a bit “off” for me; the chemistry between Crane and Abbie felt off-kilter, there seemed to be a distance between the characters (and/or the actors), which I couldn’t define at the time. Since I don’t read a lot of pre-season interviews in an effort to avoid potential spoilers, I did not find out until after the season finale that Beharie had (apparently) been speaking of leaving the show since before season 3 premiered. Whether this was true or not, I do not know but I felt weird about it. When I met both Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie at last year’s Dragon Con, she did seem a bit quiet and distracted (yet very pleasant), and I attributed it to the travel and the sheer wow-factor of the con. Now I’m wondering if it wasn’t something else relating to her (possibly) knowing she was leaving the show.

In any case, the season ended with not only the death of Abbie, but also of Joe Corbin (Zach Appelman), The Hidden One (Peter Mensah) and Pandora (Shannyn Sossamon), who were the main antagonists of the season. This means that aside from Crane, Jenny Mills (Lyndie Greenwood) is the only other character left from the premiere season. This means new characters, new adventures, and a new purpose for Crane.

I’m not exactly sure how I am feeling about all of this. One of the main draws for me to this show from the very beginning was the undeniable chemistry between Mison and Beharie. You see partnerships on TV and in films and most of them are believable, but theirs was one of the few that I actually felt through my TV screen. Now with Beharie gone (and let me not forget to mention the fact that Captain Irving just “disappeared”, which I am still pissed about), I don’t know how I will feel in the fall when I turn on my TV and have to watch Crane mourn the loss of his partner and soul-mate. But I will watch, if for no other reason than to try to get my own closure on the death of one of the characters I’ve admired most in a long time.

Celebrating my birthday with The Avengers

Resized_20160505_203219-1[1] Yesterday was my birthday and one of the “traditions” I have is to go to whatever huge movie is opening that weekend. Last night I had the awesome treat of seeing the Thursday release of the highly-hugely-ginormously anticipated opening for Captain America: Civil War, the 3rd installment in the Captain America series (13th in the Marvel Cinematic Universe). Of course, like many others I went in with high expectations of the film, but even I wasn’t prepared for just how good this one was. I mean, really, it was damn near perfect.

Without going into any spoilers, here are just a few thoughts I had:

First and foremost, after the first 10 minutes into the movie I had one still-unanswered question: when in the hell are we going to get a Black Widow movie? Because damn!
Whoever did the casting for T’Challa/Black Panther deserves a medal. I think I’m in love.
Fight scenes = EPIC.
Spiderman!!!!! (And I will say that I like this version of Peter Parker/Spidey better than the last two).
When Ant-Man did that thing. You’ll know what I’m talking about when you see it.
The story regarding the conflict was not what I was expecting, and it made for a pleasantly, unpleasant surprise.
The humor and jokes were funny without feeling forced.

The only complaint I had was the fact that Bruce Banner and Thor were missing, but their absences did not take away from the film at all.

You’ll be able to hear my full thoughts when we discuss the film on the Sci-Fi Party Line Podcast. Until then, make sure you go see the film!!

SN: And yes, I’m STILL #TeamCap

Dragon Con adds guests from Dark Matter, DC TV universe and others

Last month Dragon Con picked up the pace on guest announcements, including some from shows/movies that are either on my “currently watching” or “need to watch/catch up” lists.

From the SyFy show Dark Matter, guest announcements include Anthony Lemke, Jodelle Ferland, Roger Cross, and Zoie Palmer; who are known on the show as “Three”, “Five”, “Six”, and “The Android”, respectively. The show follows a group of amnesiacs who try to piece together who they are and why there were in stasis on an abandoned spaceship. The show is set to premiere its second season on July 1.

Dark-matter-1-to-6-dark-matter-tv-series-syfy-38946441-512-509

Credit: SyFy

From the DC TV universe, we have Carlos Valdes (Cisco, The Flash), Caity Lotz (Sara Lance/White Canary, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow) and Ciara Renee (Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow).

Credit: The CW

Jack Gleeson, who is best known for portraying Joffrey Baratheon (the king we all loved to hate) on Game of Thrones, will be appearing at Dragon Con on Sunday only.

Credit: HBO

Karl Urban, known for a variety of shows and films in the fantasy genre, will return to Dragon Con. Urban was last here in 2014, and I have to say that his panel was one of the best ones I’ve attended in the 8 (eight!) years that I’ve been going to Dragon Con. Looking forward to seeing what he has to say now.

HU_15-Karl-Urban-Grey_1000.rccopy

And last but certainly not least Jason Isaacs, most recently known for portraying Lucius Malfoy – another love-to-hate-him character in the Harry Potter world – has also been announced to appear at Dragon Con. I am hoping that he will not be the only wizard to appear this year.

Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy Harry Potter. Credit: Warner Brothers