Fan Expo Canada 2006 was held September 1 - 3 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada.  Jace had the pleasure of attending this years event!

The event opened on Friday, September 1st at 4 PM but advanced ticket holders, including myself, were able to get in at 2 PM (turned out to be more like 2:20 but oh well).  Immediately upon entering I purchased the Star Trek 40th Anniversary Captain Kirk Action Figure which was limited to 1000 and was an Expo Exclusive: 

I then walked around the expo hall which was huge.  Tons of vendors and even more people--many of whom were in costume!

 Walking around a group named Games Workshop was giving out bags.  Each bag had a "Warhammer" paperback book in it.  I was actually given two bags.  The first had the book, "Mark of Damnation" by James Wallis and the second, "The Laughter of the Gods" edited by David Pringle.  I'm not familiar with "Warhammer" but I may just have to take time to read these books.

After wandering for a bit I went to the autograph area and Robert Picardo, the Doctor on Star Trek Voyager, was signing.  He, like everyone else, did charge for his autograph.  He was very professional and courteous to all of his fans.

Next I waited in line to meet Gates McFadden, Dr. Beverly Crusher from Star Trek:  The Next Generation.  She came out and is quite lovely.  She talked to fans briefly but I was disappointed when she wouldn't look up at the camera when pictures were taken.  I later heard that she easily gets migraines from flash photography so that would explain it. 

I moved on then in the autograph area and immediately went to where Morena Baccarin, Inara of Firefly and Serenity, was signing.  The amazing part was that Christina Hendricks, who played Saffron in 2 episodes of Firefly, was at the booth signing with her.  Both were extremely nice and I asked if they thought we'd ever see any more of Firefly or Serenity.  Morena said, "I hope so," to which Christina added that she hoped so too and hoped her character would come along too.  I heard rumors throughout the Expo that there is a plan for either Serenity 2 in a few years or a revival of the TV series but it would be set a few years after the events of the movie.  We can only wait and see.

Both ladies were extremely nice to the fans and posed for great photo ops.

I then went to a session entitled "Up Close and Personal with Jim Lee."  For those of you who may not have heard of Jim Lee, he is an amazing artist that is currently working for DC Comics although he had worked for Marvel and had his own company for a time.  He is currently working on Batman and Robin as well as a revival of his comic WildC.A.T.s.  He indicated that this will be the comic with sort of a new start.  When asked about future plans he said that between Batman & Robin and WildC.A.T.s he will be busy for 2 years as well as he is working on the video game that is coming out with comic characters.  He then said he is planning on working on a DC project that has lots of characters but he would say no more. 

As we walked out we were given a limitied edition print of an All Stars Batman and Robin cover he did.

For more information on Jim Lee, please visit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lee

 On Saturday, September 2nd the event continued and I was there by 7 AM waiting in line to enter the Expo (which opened at 10:00 AM).  The first thing I did when the doors opened was make a rush for where Carrie Fisher was to be signing (she was only to be signing Saturday and Sunday).  I was about the tenth person in line to see her and I was glad of it too.  The line grew so much that they took the line out the door and up a stairwell.  I was later told that the line went all the way to the top of the stairs which was about 7 stories high.

After waiting a while she arrived to all of us snapping photos (sorry for the blurry shot)

I waited my turn and meeting her made my day.  She was extremely gracious and personable.  She personalized the head shot (I had to get a slave Leia picture signed :p) and took time to take a photo with me.

I told her where I was from and that I first came to this Expo just to see her.  She wished me well and a safe trip home.  Couldn't have been any nicer!

In the afternoon I attended a presentation on Star Trek New Voyages.  I had no idea that this even existed but it is a group of guys who started out filming new episodes of the original series with themselves as the actors, of course.  It has gained such popularity that Eugene Roddenberry, Jr. has become a producer and Walter Koenig is doing an upcoming episode as well as George Takei.

Ron Boyd, who plays Mr. DeSalle (an original character) was there and showed us parts of episodes as well as some teaser trailers.  Below is a picture of Ron who also gave out complimentary autographs on a post card:

What I saw was great!  I highly recommend you visit their site http://www.startreknewvoyages.com as the episodes and other material is available free on their site!  They also have a fan club at http://www.iftcommand.com

After that I went to "Intimate and Interactive with Gates McFadden."  This Q&A session was very interesting and she was very funny and down to earth.  What I took from this was that Gates McFadden seems very sophisticated and is quite the accomplished actress.  She has been doing teaching at various schools and has opened her own theater in France.

(sorry for blurry pictures--my camera was acting up)

When asked what she had felt would have been explored a bit more she had said her motherly relationship with Wesley.  She indicated that she had always felt when Wesley needed advice they showed him with Riker or Picard, which is understandable as he needed a male influence, but there was not a lot of time for her to be a mother to him.  She later also said that there were flirts that were taped between her character and Picard throughout the series but they often were edited out.

In a funny part of the session, a fan asked if she could speak Klingon.  She turned to the audience and asked if anyone there could.  Low and behold there was a fan dressed as a Klingon who said he could speak it.

She invited him on stage and had him recite a line that she repeated.

I then moved on to the Canada premiere showing of Star Wars:  Reign of the Fallen a Star Wars fan film by David McLeavy (also the star) who showed the fan film and then answered some questions:

This was not the first time I had seen the fan film as PSWCS had been given a copy to air at a meeting a few months back.  My feelings on the film have not changed since that time and that is while the film is excellent and well done--it is Star Wars only in the slightest sense. 

I asked why the time period that was used was chosen as well as the plot line.  I was told that they wanted to do something completely original, although it did have hints of some basic Star Wars references in it besides Sith and Jedi.  He was asked about a sequel to which he replied if Lucas would approach him.

 Unfortunately the film is not eligible for fan film awards as this was a drama which doesn't fit their categories.  To learn more about the fan film or to see an episode, visit:  http://www.reignofthefallen.com

Sunday, September 3rd was the big day!  I had purchased a VIP ticket for the William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy events.

It started off at 12:00 noon with a photo op with the two icons.  There were 200 of us with VIP tickets and we had 45 minutes to take the photos so it had to go quick.  We lined up and then were escorted in where Shatner and Nimoy were seated on stools in front of a screen.  Each of us then walked behind them and had our photo professionally taken.  The photos were then handed out at 6:00 PM.  Mine came out great! 

At 1:00 PM we then had an "Intimate and Interactive" with Shatner and Nimoy.

I was very impressed with Nimoy as he seems to be a very genuine man.  The two icons talked and joked back and forth as well as took questions from the audience (room was packed). 

The most memorable story from the presentation was Nimoy's response to when a fan asked how he persevered before he became a star.  He told the story of how he took a job as a cab driver when he first moved to LA and how one of his passengers was, the then Senator, John F. Kennedy.  Leonard Nimoy shared that JFK said that acting like politics is hard to break into but that "there is always room for another good one".  Mr. Nimoy said those words helped carry him and they are definitely words to live by.

The VIP ticket holders, followed by other ticket holders, were then escorted to another room where Mr. Nimoy and Mr. Shatner were seated.  They then autographed, but did not personalize, any one item we had brought.  I had purchased official head shots from the TV show that I had autographed.

It was great having been able to see these two actors who have influenced the science fiction community so dramatically!

I then moved on to have an autograph with James Callis, Dr. Gaius Baltar on Battlestar Galactica.  Pictures were not allowed to be taken with him during the autographs which he explained, later at his "Intimate and Interactive" session which I attended, that the reason for that was normally at conventions he asks for a donation in order to take photographs.  That wasn't allowed at this convention so he felt it wasn't fair to fans who had paid at other conventions for us to be able to do it free.  He also explained that the donations that he takes for photos is always donated to a charity, usually to the local area where the convention is being held.  He further added that he had donated a portion of his salary for this Expo to a charity! 

Mr. Callis was very personable and did a nice personalized autograph for me.  In his session, where we could take photographs (I was far in the back so I'm sorry they are blurry), he gave a few hints about Season 3. 

He indicated that Baltar is "kidnapped" so to speak and will not be back to the Galactica for some time.  When asked if there are going to be other guest stars to spice things up he smiled and said he could not or would not answer that but that they are taping in Vancouver.

He was very nice and quite interactive with the fans.  I can't wait for season 3 of BSG!

That was pretty much the gist of the convention.  But no convention is complete without fans in costume:

I had a great time and the people of Toronto were extremely nice and inviting.  On a personal note I did have the opportunity to meet Burger (aka JediSniper13) from the forums or just BugerShawnSnipe as we sometimes call him!

Its always great to meet someone in person that you have been talking to on boards/IMs for several years!  Was good meeting you Burger!