Last year at DragonCon 2004, I learned quite a bit about the science fiction genre, especially in television and film. Thus, this year I was able to better appreciate many more of the panels hosted at this fantastic Atlanta event.

• Spent an hour with some of the creative minds at RedStorm Entertainment, makers of the popular Tom Clancy video games Rainbox Six and Ghost Recon. Discussions turned to difficulties in console development for the upcoming Xbox 360, differences between PC and console development, and future directions for the company.
• Gigi Edgley (Chiana), Virginia Hey (Pa’u Zotoh Zhaan), and Raelee Hill (Sikozu Svala Shanti Sugaysi Shanu) from Jim Henson’s Farscape described their experiences when working on and off the set in this Q&A session.
• The cast of Serenity, one of the most anticipated science fiction movies of the year, joined us to talk about their experiences in the filming of the Firefly series and the upcoming film, stories from the set, and their disappointments in the premature cancellation of this western in space. Featured Morena Baccarin (Inara Serra), Adam Baldwin (Jayne Cobb), Ron Glass (Shepherd Derrial Book), and Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye).
• There can’t be a DragonCon without Star Trek. Robin Curtis (Saavik) from The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home, LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge) and Marina Sirtis from The Next Generation, Max Grodenchik (Rom) from Deep Space Nine, and Connor Trinneer (Trip Tucker) from Enterprise appeared in this StarTrek Celebrity Cavalcade, with guest stars featured from every Star Trek series.
• This year brought with a fair amount of digital and computer art. In a Fantasy Art Session with Photoshop CS2, Claudia McGuire with Adobe Systems presented some of the new features of Photoshop CS2, such as the spot healing tool. Adobe features a fully functional 30-day trial of Photoshop CS2.
• Digital Iron Artist brings the tradition into the 21st Century by pitting two digital artists against each other using only a computer. Despite the numerous technical difficulties, the panel was quite entertaining. Featured Joshua Strickland and Philip Straiger.

It’s the final day of DragonCon, and things are visibly winding down, but so far it’s been a blast.

• Inside Star Wars Characters. Jeremy Bulloch talked about his small part in The Empire Strikes Back as Boba Fett and the rising popularity of this minor character after the re-release of Star Wars in 1997. Aaron Allston, science fiction and fantasy writer, discussed his novels in Star Wars as well the Star Wars Expanded Universe. His favorite characters are Wedge Antilles and Wes Janson.
• In this familiar but nevertheless interesting panel, Cryptanalyist Elonka Dunin discussed Famous Solved and Unsolved Codes, with particular emphasis on the Beale, Voynich Manuscript, Dorabella, and Zodiac Killer ciphers. After leading a team that cracked the famous Cyrillic Projector cipher in 2003, her interest lies now in the CIA Kryptos sculpture. Fascinating.
• Garrett Wang, Voyager’s Harry Kim, spoke about his acting career start for Burger King commercials and the entertaining chain of events that eventually led to his role in this popular Star Trek series. He’s also a hilarious guy.

I wanted to see Dean Haglund of the cult classics X-Files and the The Lone Gunmen but was unable to due to a scheduling conflict. Perhaps next year. DragonCon is a fabulous experience and my only regret is that I didn’t know about it sooner.

This year’s DragonCon was again held at the Hyatt Regency and Marriott Marquis hotels on Peachtree in downtown Atlanta. DragonCon is America’s largest, multi-media, popular arts convention with something for every type of geek: American Sci-Fi Media, Anime, Art. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Comics, Electronic Frontiers Forum, Independent Film, Gothic Journeys, Robotics, Space, Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Star Trek, Star Wars, Anne McCaffery’s Pern, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, and so many more tracks and venues that it simply boggles the mind.

• Graham Watkins provided an interesting lecture on the science and speculation of Cryptozoology to start off the day. Creatures discussed include the Loch Ness Monster, Unicorns, Yeti the Abominable Snowman, Dragons, and more.
• Sadly, the presentation on Fighting MPAA Lawsuits was cancelled as a result of Hurricane Frances. Better luck next time.
• Georgia Tech Information Security Center Director Ralph Merkle covered topics in Un-Trusted Computing, including security threats such as viruses, worms, and spam, and secure hardware through the use of virtual machines and hash functions. I’m waiting on his presentation slides before writing more about this track.
• Of course, no Science Fiction convention would be complete without a dicussion on time travel. In Back to the Future, Sci-Fi author Davey Beauchamp and the participants discussed the possibility of time travel, time travel fiction and non-fiction, and the paradoxes of this fascinating genre. A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury was one of the more interesting short stories mentioned.
• Dennis O’Neil is one of the most renowned comic writers, having heavily influenced Wonder Woman, Justice League of America, as well as returning the dark tone to Batman. In How Comic Book Characters Evolve, O’Neil discussed the history of comics from the Yellow Kid to Dick Tracy to Superman, and the influence of comics on modern television and movies, such as CSI.
• The FCC Takes a Stand in the Copyright Wars. Paul Scheele, an FCC-licensed broadcast engineer, talked about the controversial FCC broadcast flag rules and its effect on digital television (DTV). Currently waiting on his presentation slides.
• My So-Called LiveJournal. Panel moderators and LiveJournal users Mystrys, sohma g. dawling, el Gorgo, and Zeppo discussed the stories and social phenomenon of this blogging community. Frankly, I was a bit disappointed. Reputation in the LiveJournal world is seemingly governed by such trivialities as Quizilla! and nonsensical memes. Perhaps it’s my elitism, but no thanks. I think I’ll stick with the real weblogs.

An amazing atmosphere overall. And scantily-dressed attractive women dressed as fairies - always a nice touch. I’m greatly looking forward to tomorrow’s presentations. See you on the flip side.