So I finally got around to finishing up Battlestar Galactica. About two years ago, I said that if my sci-fi show got hijacked by gods, and turned into prophecy-driven fantasy, I would be most put out.

( I'm put out. )

By the end of yesterday, I'd already done more at this Dragoncon than I managed to take in all weekend last year. I want to go into detail, but it's the middle of the night, and I need to be up at the crack of dawn to feed Z, so I'll give you the basic summary:

Friday - Pirates, Marsters, Star Wars, BSG, Bob Asprin, Laurell Hamilton, Buffy

Z and I got lots of cooing and awwwing as mommy and baby pirates. He had the skull and crossbones patterned Babylegs that skellington gave us, and a onesie that said "Surrender the booties!" He has been, for the most part, a paragon of charm and delight all weekend, and it seems the whole con is enchanted with him.

James Marsters is nine kinds of hot (though rslatkin insists hers goes to 11). Z sat through the whole panel with nary a peep--well, of course for Marsters he'd be an Angel. ;) Tried to get into the Firefly panel immediately after him, but the line went up the stairs, out the door, around the block, and halfway to Augusta. So I went over to the Marriott and caught the second half of a Star Wars panel with Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, the old and new Boba Fetts, and the kid who played young Anakin Skywalker in Episode 1.

After that I managed to snag a seat for a BSG panel with Edward Olmos and a bunch of the rest of the cast. Aaron met me here, we traded off baby duty, and went to dinner w/ rslatkin and vatavian, who then accompanied me to a panel remembering fantasy author Bob Asprin. I jumped out of that one halfway through and went next door to see what Laurell Hamilton and Chelsea Yarbrough had to say about vampire fiction.

Then over to the Sheraton for the Buffy Horror Picture Show. Actually stood in line for that one, though the room didn't fill up anyway--and I was so far back that I couldn't see without standing up. Then back to the room to collapse and take over baby duty while Aaron went to the Abney Park concert.

Saturday - Parade, Potter, Abney Park, Pern, FIREFLY!!! Bujold

This morning I met rslatkin, vatavian, zudaru and ahhhnahhh for breakfast and to watch the parade. I've never done the parade at Dragoncon before, since it takes place at 10am, and who's up that early at Dragoncon? Anyone with a baby, that's who.

After the parade, I tried to catch a panel with Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies, but Z started to get fussy, and I had keep going out to jiggle him without disturbing the panel, so finally I gave up and got myself a seat on the concourse for the Abney Park acoustic concert. He was quiet all through this, until Aaron showed up to take over baby duty so he could get Z into his dragon costume for my Pern panel.

The Pern readings went very well, and we had a good discussion of translation and language differences and such. I was afraid the panelists would outnumber the audience! But with some tens of thousands of con-goers, even the most obsucre stuff draws a couple dozen people, so we had a nice audience. Which reminds me, we got written up in a Daily Dragon article. And Z in the dragon costume was just the cutest thing EVAR.

Then I caught the very tippy tail end (like, the last 10 minutes) of a panel with Sean Astin, who played Samwise Gamgee in the LoTR movies. Directly after this, I actually managed to get into a Firefly panel (despite those afore-mentioned lines), which was fantastic. Nathan Fillion: also several kinds of hot, though the jury is still out on whether he is more kinds than Marsters.

Then down to the bowels of the Hyatt for my Bujold panel, which really went quite well. I may have a future as a moderator of fan panels. The Cordelia costume went over well, though I really wasn't in it very long--just for that panel and then to get some dinner.

So that's the high level overview. More details later. Have I mentioned how nice it is not to be pregnant??

We have gotten ahead of our 2-a-month rental contract with Netflixx, which puts us squarely in limbo when it comes to waiting for the next BSG disk. We can't get the next one til August 14th! Woe! Lamentation!

So the new Battlestar Galactica (not so new anymore, but we're late adopters) is great stuff. It grabs you by the cojones and doesn't let go. If you don't have cojones, it grows you some, then grabs 'em, then doesn't let go. I love Starbuck and her expressive eyebrows. I love Sharon and her inner turmoil. I love Commander Adama and his Aral Vorkosiganness.

Sometimes, though, I want to grab the scriptwriters by the cojones and...well, here's what I mean:

( Spoilers Ahoy )

Aaron and I are now up to season 2, episode 5 ("The Farm"). Some of the last few episodes of season 1 were disappointing--"Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down," "The Hand of God," and "Colonial Day" in particular seemed to ring with the echos of the writers jumping from one plot point to the next as quickly as possible. It picked up with the season finale, and then started up strong again in season 2, so I have high hopes of it.

However...let me just say: If there turn out to be real gods in this show, and my sci-fi story gets pre-empted and turned into prophecy-driven fantasy, I shall be most put out.

Our flight home was delayed due to "something not installed correctly on one of the port-side engines." Thank you, Captain TMI. I did not need to know that. (Actually, his name was Captain Quickly, appropriate since we made it into ATL almost on time despite the long delay.)

It's a bloody crime that a flight this long (4-5 hours!), taking off at 3ish and landing around 11 local time, doesn't include a meal. I'm sorry, but the "snack service" doesn't cut it. Not even with--get this--the "Havarty-type cheese flavored spread." That's right--not Havarty flavored, rather cheese flavored and of a Havarty type.

The nice thing about a long flight was that we got in three episodes of Battlestar Galactica each way. Plus another one in the airport. Yeah, we're hooked.