Geek Girl: LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON 2011

Oh what fun. It's definitely convention fever what with Kapow! popping it's cherry back in April and fan boy mecca San Diego kicking off on 21st July.

London Film and Comic Con 2011 sandwiches nicely between the two, held at London's Earls Court over the course of three days.

Now, I've been to a few conventions now, and I am happy to report that LFCC was, by far, the medal winner for star access and star turnout. Row upon row of desks, row upon row of stellar sci-fi and fantasy names, I honestly didn't have time to meet them all! The only exceptions to this rule were Doctor Who hot property Karen Gillan and Alex Kingston, who were strictly shepherded to and from the stage, with no brazen photo ops in between (unless you paid the princely sum of £15+).

It wasn't all pleasure for me though as I worked hard, running a live Twitter feed for all who couldn't attend, with as many of the juicy exclusives and surprise moments to come out of the panels that my typing ability would allow. Any faster and there may have been smoke.

My highlight's included:

Voice of Doctor Who's K-9; John Leeson doing his finest K-9 for me
Having Brent Spiner wave finger guns at me as we passed each other
Singing 'Happy Birthday' (along with the rest of the audience) to Corey Feldman, who celebrated his 40th birthday on the day of his panel
7th Doctor Sylvester McCoy showing me to my seat as I budged up to get closer to the action.
The life size R2D2 replicas that were scooting around causing mischief

I also got to indulge my giddy-geek, carrying out my first roving-reporter interviews with Battlestar Galactica's Richard Hatch and Buck Rogers leading lady; Erin Gray (check out my interview section where I will be posting the recordings and transcripts). I had really fantastic chats with Buck Rogers himself; Gil Gerard (ridiculously disappointed I forgot to get a photo of him) and the Darth Vader, yes, David Prowse! I snapped as many of the guests as I could muster so please do take a peak (see a taste of them below).

So many huge positives however, do need to be balanced out with a couple of niggly negatives. Numero uno culprit being the shocking sound system on the main stage. The venue was separated out into three stages; I pretty much lived at the main stage as this is where all the A-list panels were held. But, the entire arena was open plan. As in Hellraiser's Doug Bradley could barely be heard over the dulcet tones of someone belting out Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' during the ill-timed karaoke contest. Then there was the live band that came on a number of times throughout the weekend, upstaging 'Goonie' Corey Feldman and funny man Brent Spiner (Star Trek's Data).

But rough with the smooth, for a very modest entry fee and an impressive lineup, you are sure to find me heading back to LFCC 2012, wrapping myself up the sights and sounds only found when surrounded by passionate devotees and cosplayer cool. Three cheers to another UK based con.