Redemption '01 - Daniel Tilley

Some personal recollections from a convention virgin (AKA Daniel Tilley)

I had never been to a convention before, I had been to a few one-day events but I have been told, and now truly realise, that it is not the same thing. This three-day Blake's 7 and Babylon 5 convention was truly enjoyable, like the one-day events I had been to, but it had a lot more going on in terms of panels, workshops and fancy dress.

I approached the weekend with a sense of caution - by nature I am a very shy person, and there seemed to be a lot of parties planned (one each night to be exact), however one of the things I found, was that no one expected you to do anything you did not want to do.

I spent the three days attending panels, which ranged from the silly but fun 'The B7 Balloon debate', to the more serious 'Why do we Love Villains' and 'Web Page Design Workshop'. David Walsh (a well known Servalan impersonator) did a very interesting talk about himself and Jacqueline Pearce, and how he came to be a Servalan impersonator. Gareth Thomas and Michael Sheard were the main guests for the weekend and both aside from giving fun talks and hosting some of the panels, also seemed to be really enjoying themselves. When talking to the stars of my favourite TV shows, I always feel as if I am acting like a gushing fanboy (which I probably am), however Gareth's and Michael's warm manners, and the fact they were enjoying themselves so much made it easier to relax around them.

One of the more fun things was attending the auction, I did not have much money on me (I had spent most of it in the dealers room) so I knew I would not be able to bid too much, but I still managed to walk away with two items. One a Sylvester McCoy signed photograph (which I got fairly cheaply), and a packet of jelly babies (which I probably spent too much on, but were not that expensive.

In the evenings (10.00pm-2.30am) I would chill out in the video rooms watching science fiction that I had not seen before, as I mentioned before I am very shy and get tired easily hence attending the discos and parties was not what I wanted to do. I did intend attending 'Anna's Wake' (the final get together on the Sunday night) however I had been up till 2.30am on the Friday and Saturday watching videos, so I literally collapsed on my bed when I went up to rest for a while on Sunday night.

If I have any complaints it is that there was too much to do and the weekend was far too short, however I enjoyed myself so much I have already signed on for 'Redemption 03'.


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