EVENT: Newcastle Film & Comic Con 2015

The day is Saturday 28th March 2015

The time... is now!

 

A year ago, the first Newcastle Film and Comic Con ran by experienced Conventionites, Showmasters proved to be very popular indeed. Back then, my friend Mal and I waited nearly four hours to get into the venue and missed most of it. It was badly organised and felt the brunt of an unhappy public. In their defence it was the first one in Newcastle and they underestimated demand - especially those on the door purchases. On the other hand, sales for tickets stopped 2 weeks before so surely they would have had an idea of interest and capacity?

 

Fast forward later in the year when I attended the London & Film Comic Con in July 2015. This was much more organised and, in the main, I got to do what I set out to do - meet the Generalissimo himself, Stan Lee. An added bonus was meeting the legend Glenn Morshower but I was gutted I  missed my favourite cosplayer Ivy Doomkitty.  Such is the draw of these events.

 

The question was - had Showmasters learned their lesson and, more importantly, had we? This time we bought early bird tickets in advance (as opposed to last years buying on the door at the event). This proved beneficial as, when the door was opened, it only took about 20 mins to let us in from our queue position (which was a considerable way around the arena).

Busy day at Newcastle - and that was just the Early Bird tickets!

There were a lot of stars here today, but there were some cancelations - Red Dwarf's Robert Lewellyn and Craig Charles didn't appear as promised and Claudia Christian from Babylon 5 cancelled too. I was sad to find that there was only the sepia Back To The Future pic available at Newcastle (see my effort, right) and no DeLorean as anticipated. I couldn't complain though as KITT from Knightrider was there to waffle on at you.  

 

Eve Myles signs a photo for me

When you go to a convention such as this everyone has their favourite person to see or go for. Each person charges a significant amount for a photo or a signed autograph so even to get a couple of items signed by a few celebrities would cost nearly £100. So unfortunately you have to prioritise (unless you have a lot of money and/or amazing time skills). The most popular person by far today was James Marsters who was charming and lovely apparently. Sadly I didn't get to meet him myself but he was very popular with the public. James Cosmo and Jeremey Bulloch (two people I've met over the last month or so) were also there.

 

My celebrity priorities were two lovely and very beautiful women I got to meet and to see on their relevant panels. The first was Terminator 3's Kristanna Loken. In her panel she discussed the training regime of becoming the Terminator and what it was like working with Arnold Schwarzenegger. She said the role of being in such a successful franchise had changed her life. She also said she was working on some new projects and mentioned some of her recent works. These included a movie called Fighting for Freedom which was a movie made from a screenplay written by her father and the upcoming erotic thriller Maid For You. Later I got a photo with her and got to meet her and she was lovely.

 

 

The second panel I sat in on was absolutely mental and I enjoyed every minute of it! Eve Myles, Gwen from Torchwood (among other shows), came onto the stage and had everyone spellbound from the start. She was taking questions and her familiar, laid back, giggly persona shone through and was both endearing and enchanting at the same time. She spoke of her best friend John Barrowman and the fun they had on set in Torchwood, about how she "didn't" take any props from the set of Torchwood, working with David Tennant and how gorgeous she thought James Marsters is. She spoke of motherhood, of her child and her love of the Geordie accent and had one lad repeating the word "theatre" over again as she loved the pronunciation of the word in that accent. Later, after the rapturous applause, I got to meet her and got a signed photo.

 

While I was there, I mentioned to her the first ever convention I went to. Back in 2012, she was at the SFX Weeekender 3 in Wales. I've been going to conventions ever since then. "It's all your fault I come to these!" I said to her jokingly after explaining about my Wales adventure in 2012. "I get that a lot..." she said, and added, "They kinda addictive aren't they?" And do you know what? She's right.

 

I'm getting quite fond of visiting these conventions and this was much the same of what I'd expect from a Showmasters con. There were a few minor disappointments - the lack of a DeLorean (especially since they are making a fuss of the 30th Anniversary of Back to the Future) and some of the guests pulled out. But these things happen. However there were some great guests today, entertaining panels, excellent cosplay and... we didn't have to wait half a day to get started.

A great comic con going from strength to strength - can't wait for next year.

You can also get your picture taken with some of the stars - here's me with the
very beautiful Kristanna Loken - and you get to take a picture home too.