Anyway... I enjoyed the convention a whole lot. Very interesting, and very fun.
The number of guests was totally impressive: Catherine Schell, Barry Morse, Zienia Merton, Prentis Hancock, Johnny Byrne, Keith Wilson, Christopher Penfold, George Bellak, John Hug, Kevin Conner, Richard Hatch and Jack Stauffer from /Battlestar Galactica/, John Muir (who helped moderate a lot of panels), Grace Lee Whitney, and more. Incredible.
The guests were great, and besides being on several panels apiece, they often mixed with attendees. The *number* of guests added another dimension, in terms of how many of the panels would put several guests together, to not only get individual viewpoints, but to get comparisons and direct interaction.
Catherine Schell was absolutely charming, and despite her great hesitation to attend conventions in the past, looked very comfortable and like she was having fun (and I heard it reported she did indeed feel very welcome and was enjoying her time).
Martin Landau didn't attend, unfortunately (actually, I would have been rather surprised if he had shown, I'm afraid), and neither Nick Tate and a few others, but the slate was ambitious, and most of the many guests *did* make it, so I didn't end up disappointed in the end (though I was definitely very happy Catherine *did* make it :-)
Bringing in /Battlestar Galactica/ actually was a curiously complimentary presence, in the sense it added something interesting to the Space: 1999 side of things, in that the both series are working on revivals, and the BG crowd happens to be further along (still a major roadblock with Universal, of course), so there was noticeable cross-discussion of that issue.
"Message From Moonbase Alpha" was reshown (twice). It is, BTW, from what I saw and heard, being treated as "canon" by most (all?) people, since it Carlton (owner of the ITC library) gave special permission, it was written by Johnny, and was acted by Zienia -- even though the film is only seven minutes long (but what a seven minutes!). Between "Message," all sorts of discussion about possible revival efforts, the recent DVD announcements being the buzz of the convention, the separately remastered episodes (four or five), Powys Books possibilities, the Cinescape article, it was all quite exciting.
Johnny is a major proponent of the revival, and the panels with him were all very interesting. When Christopher was present, things got even more interesting. The Keith Wilson tribute room was great, so was the George Bernard Shaw tribute that several Space: 1999 actors played in, as was watching Barry for "Merely Players." I got to meet people again who attended the last con, or who are Online Alphans.
The con committee really put a whole lot together.
There was quite a lot more, and I'm probably missing some of the really big bits too (and more detail associated with what I *did* mention), but I'll really have to "digest" it all (adn get some sleep), so later.
Pictures will be uploaded in due time as well (which shouldn't be more than a couple weeks since I will develop them with the CD option).
----David
P.S. New York itself is something else. Many, many, MANY very tall buildings, bright lights, speeding taxicabs, Times Square (two blocks south), Empire State Building, etc. I'd never been to the city before, and despite being in downtown Chicago a few times, New York is still much larger. The convention hotel itself was 46 stories -- and there were plenty of taller and almost-as-tall buildings surrounding it. If you want to talk other planets, NY almost felt that way to me. NY added something of a surreal and grand aspect to where the "location" aspect of the convention.
(Slightly altered from version sent to Online Alpha. Written and modified on M-09/04/00. Full version to follow.)
See also MainMission: 2000 Pictures
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Return to Space: 1999 Conventions