Thursday, 6/29 & Friday, 6/30

D2K is here. This is the first year I have been able to attend all four days.

Arriving on Thursday, I had to navigate the fun-filled pre-registration line. It looked like I could have saved time by not pre-purchasing my membership, but I have always had a tendency to pick the slowest line. Must be genetic.

After picking up my membership kit, I checked into my Hotel, the Fairfield Inn Downtown. Then it was off to the con -- after a little detour on the cell phone with work.

The first panel I went to was: Battlestar Galactica - 21 Yearns Ago. Got the 411 on the BG world.

From there, I raced off to the excellent panel: The Doctor, the Ranger, and the Caretaker (minus caretaker Zathrus). This panel was with B5's Richard Biggs and Jason Carter. They made a very dynamic and humorous pair. Promised to party very hard with the Saturday nite party crowd at the Con dance.

Then it was a race to Walter Koenig's panel with Trek Trak. To be honest words can not describe how good Walter's panel was. The only thing I can say is "WOW!"

Friday morning I started in the Dealers' Room/Exhibition Hall. Lot's of hotties all over the place ;-)

While there, I took advantage of being near the Walk of Fame. I fleshed out my autograph collection very well, thank you very much. Before listing the celebs I got, let me start out by saying I was disappointed in the pricing. Pricing has basically doubled since last year. I observed last year how Jason Carter & RA-D was overcharging fans considering that they were lesser characters, IMHO. Their rate was $15 where everyone else of B5 fame was $10 (PJ, PT, MF, CC, etc.) This year, every B5 star was $20. While I paid the rate, it did mean I had to forego W. Krimmer for the second year in a row and Steve Austin. The autographs I collected today were: Andreas Katsulas, Bill Mumy, Richard Biggs, Walter Koenig, and Tracy Scoggins.

From there, I went to the traditional Babylon Park screening. Then off to lunch and back to the Dealer Hall.

The next panel I raced off too was: Brain to Badass -- is John Crichton becoming more like a Peacekeeper than he'd like to think? It was a good panel and a nice start to seeing a panel on my fave show!

Racing right along, I made it in time to get a decent seat for: Richard Hatch's Story, Battlestar Galactica. This was awe-inspiring for me. Richard was my favorite actor as a kid after his role of Apollo on BG. It's awesome to be looking on the stage and seeing and listening live to one of your childhood idols. I must get his autograph :-) Richard is working on a revival campaign to bring back BG. He has put together a 4 minute movie trailor that is simply amazing. Hundreds of fans were in the ballroom standing and cheering after the trailor was shown. Here's to bringing Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming to the fans! BTW, yes, Galatica 80 was just a bad dream ;-)

An Hour with Karl Urban was the next panel I attended. While I have been a Karl Urban fan ever since he was introduced to us as Cupid on Hercules back in '96, I was unprepared for how amazingly vibrant this young man was. Karl was simply the best panel I have been to at DC since my first DC back in '97. Ed Wasser blew me away then, and Karl did it this time. Karl honestly connected with his audience like no actor I have seen since Ed. He was simply amazing and made it look so effortless. Karl's current projects includes the movie version of: The Lord of the Rings and his new show, The Privateers. After finishing his panel, Karl even provided his fans with an autograph session (and thanks for still being in the standard rate range, Karl!)

That brings me to now as I sit here and type this. I may go back for the midnight performance from Voltaire, but that is undecided for now.