You mean there are actually conventions for Star Wars?

I was telling my father in Law this weekend about how my wife and I are going to LA. When he asked why, I told him it was mainly for a Star Wars convention. His respose was classic. "You mean therer are actually Star Wars conventions? People actually go? Do they dress up?

Seeing is how my wife and I got a kick out of this, I thought it would be funny to hear some of the responses you have received after telling people you are flying to LA from where ever you are to go to a ....yes Star Wars convention.

 

I get that all the time. I've been called everything from a geek, a nerd, even an uber dork! HA! And the dressing up question is always next! People are certainly shocked. My boss still doesn't know why I'm going to LA. I refuse to tell him. I'd never hear the end of it.

 

Yeah, I get the nerd thing too. I mean, basically they are right. It doesn't bother me though. Half the time it's from one of my friends with 2 jobs and three kids who hasn't been out of the house in months because they don't have time or nmoney. HAHA!

 

My family members, friends, and co-workers all know how passionate my wife and I are about all-things SW. So it never comes as a surprise to them when we tell them we are attending a SW-related function/event, or when we purchase a new SW item to add to our collection.

It is as commonplace to them as taking out the garbage or walking the dog.

 

YEAH! It's not like it's a Star Trek convention! HAHAAH

 

I gotta be honest, I think Star Trek conventions blow Star Wars conventions away.

A. There ar WAY MORE Trek conventions than Star Wars
B. There are bigger named celebs at trek conventions.

I went to a trek convention about 15 years ago that Shatner showed up at. I only went because my Mom was a Trekkie. He was funny as hell and very entertaining. Some cons get almost the entire cast of the Next Generation. What do we get.......Zuckass? Wicket? General Someone I never wanted to meet in the first place?

 

I've been to one and it was nice, but I'm not a Star Trek fan by any stretch of the imagination. I mean the stories area "okay" but the people irritate me to no end. I'm not sure why. I think the whole mentality of Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans is entirely different. I've always found that the Star Wars fans were the cool nerds. The Star Trek fans were always the ones posing questions like "who would win in a fight, the Enterprise or the Falcon?" I think that carried over into the convention so I didn't enjoy that part.

 

I've seen too many Klingons at regular cons to be interested in a 'pure' Trek convention - and who can forget the Star Trek Jurist?

Hard core Trekies scare me....

 

I had a guy at the convention dressed like Spock, who was like 4'9, 80 pounds and he was the security guy. I mean, DORK ALMIGHTY! Guardign the entrance like a tank was trying to get through. They are true true nerds. Although ever since the announcement of CIV, I have met some real geeks. It's like they came out of nowhere.

 

One word: Fanboys

Saw the trailer for this film a few months ago, and laughed my a$$ off.

 

I'm half Trekkie and Half Star Warsian (what do the Star Wars Fan base refer to themselves as anyway?) Which is strange because my mother was a hamster and my father smelt of elderberries.

 

OK

 

HAHA! That's a good question. I've never heard a phrase describing Star Wars fans. Nothing ever stuck as much as Trekkies. I guess that's something to be proud of.

 

I think we actually go with Sith or Jedi or Padawan of any other actual character description. Instead of saying I'm a Trekkie, we would say, I'm a Sith or I am a Jedi.

"The ceremonial banging of the plastic toys."
Triumph the Insult Dog

 

How about "George's Cash Cows"?

 

MOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

Other then CIII and one Star Trek con that I was FORCED into go to, I've never been to another convention... other then a local comic con. Now I know Pwinkie and I have an interest in going to an Annime Con but that's a private matter, right? Heh... What other kind of conventions have there been to celebrate a specific film?

 

That'a right! We got a thing for Sailor Moon. HAHA!

There are horror conventions all the time. they have them at the Crown Plaza right near my house. They have all sorts of horror movie people there. They are some weird cats, let me tell you. World Wizard is fun. I am going to head out to NY comic Con this month.

 

I've never had the pleasure of attending a SDCC, but my concern has always been the amount of Star Wars stuff they have there. I'm not interested in the other things that they have there - strictly Star Wars. Living here in NY, it's a big expensive trip to fly all the way to California only to discover that their isn't much of a SW presence at the convention.

Am I wrong in assuming this? Do the SDCC's have a large contingency of SW-related things?

 

I think this is in the eye of the beholder. There are WAY MORE Trek conventions and some are really good, and MANY of them are quite crap-tacular. For Every Convention where you get a Shatner or Nimoy or Stewart, you get ten with the Guy who played "Mr. Unpronounable Klingon Name #4" or "Red Shirt #6."

Every one I've ever looked into or been to, is lucky to have one or 2 mid-tier actors and one or 2 actors that you have to take their word for it that they were ever in Trek. You gotta take into account that over the pantheon of Trek they have MANY more folks to draw from.

Plus, you have got to keep in perspective the magnitude of the "Stars" we are talking about. You really can't compare Shatner to REAL A-listers like Ford, Portman, Neeson, Jackson, Lucas or MacGregor. I mean who are the biggest stars that were regulars on a trek show? Stewart, Shatner, Nimoy???? After that, you are right down on the same level as Zuckus, Ray Park and the rest. I don't really see a difference on that front except that the very biggest stars of Trek are a couple of magnitudes less then the biggest stars of SW and hence are easier to get to appear.

I like that Celebrations are a bit more special and I hope that they continue to hold them every 2 years at different spots around the country.

Having been to both, I'd say that each have their merits. But I would not say either "Blows Away" the other. I've been to some cool one or 2 day Trek Conventions, but Celebrations have a different feel to me. Somehow more immersive. Maybe for me it's because I REALLY have to plan to go to LA or Indy, but I can find a Trek or generic Sci-Fi con withing driving distance of where I live a couple of times a year.

In the end it's "To each his own." I like SW better then Trek in general, so that probably colors my opinion as much as anything too.

Doc

 

I agree with a lot of what you said. Recently though, I have seen through Creation net cons, that a lot of the TV folks are showing up. See, Star Wars produced either big stars or no bodies. Ford, Portman, McGregor and other big stars don't do cons. The Next Generation guys are always at cons. Local ones don't draw that much, but creation net eventa always have big names.

I love Star Wars way more than Trek. I would rather go to one Celebration than 98 little Trek cons anyday. there is a feel about a celebratino that is awesome. You look forward to it being an event. A huge event.

 

I prefer the SF and costuming conventions. They are a manageable size and have programming over a much, much wider range of activities than you'll ever see at a SW or Trek convention. They're just a weekend party that I can wear costumes to. For those, you could trip over most of the author/artist guests and not know who they are. But a lot of them are very entertaining for readings of their work or in panel discussions.

'Celebrity' guest conventions more often make me cringe. Most of the time, the guest is fine, but not always, and some fans can ask the most embarrassing questions; that's the worst part. I don't collect autographs, so I pass that up anyway.

The best of both worlds for me is if an actor I might want to see is in a stage play. No hassles, reserved seating and generally they're reasonably priced for what you get. Really, what I want from the actors is the show and I prefer format. I once saw Lucy Lawless in a matinee of 'Grease' and Brent Spiner in '1776' in an evening show with dinner in between. BETTER than any con IMHO.

 

I spent a good part of the Super Bowl party I attended talking SW and CIV. The SW shirt I had on is a good conversation starter. Everyone else had on football related shirts or hats.

The most frequent response I got on Sunday is: "What does one actually do at a convention." - this is usually asked with raised eyebrows and in a somewhat of a condescending tone. I simply responded, "Oh it is much like this party: we just dress up, talk SW, watch SW, debate SW."

 

Buy overpriced SW stuff.

 

This has become an interesting discussion. Having been an active Science Fiction fan since 1978, I have been to a lot of different conventions (cons) from fan run media , literary only and mixed media to the big and small corporate (for profit) cons. Generally if you want to have time to talk one on one with an actor, the best cons are the fan run ones. Some of these conventions only have a few hundred attendees so it is fairly easy to find the guest.

Best Trek convention I ever attended was run by a friend and the main guest was Majel Barrett. Because most of the fans attending were used to the Creation cons where the con closed at 6pm, only about 15 or so stayed for the dance. Majel got out her credit card (the name on the card was Gene Roddenbery) and she bought us all drinks.

Some of you were trying to think of other shows/movies that have had conventions devoted to them. Back in the 1980's, Doctor Who was very big and had some huge conventions. One con in Chicago had all of the doctors (Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, Tom Baker, Peter Davison & Colin Baker)except for the first as he had passed away.

I, myself, am more likely to attend regular SF conventions that are mixed media, costuming conventions and sometimes Worldcon. I have had, over the years, the pleasure of meeting Stephen King, Jim Henson, Gary Kurtz, Issac Asimov, JMS (creator of Babylon 5), Harlan Ellison, Timothy Zahn.... (this list could go on).

As for the original question, as most of my friends were also fans, that wasn't a real question. My parents and relatives quickly got over the fact that sometimes I would not be around for some holidays (namely Easter)as I was off attending a SF convention. And work, it depends on which of the jobs I have had over the years. The more mundane jobs, I really didn't care what any of my work mates thought as I didn't hang around with them.