When is a convention not a convention? When they cancel most of the guests from the show that they are named after.
This is what happened in Seattle this past weekend, when Galacticon 4 ended up canceling almost all of the guests who starred in the recent Battlestar Galactica series. The reason why is still unknown, but there are rumors that the convention did not sell enough advance tickets and so they couldn’t afford the A-list talent… or even the hotel rooms to put the talent up for the weekend.
I had already bought my pass, since I was in town on business, and I wanted to see some of my favorites in person. Actors like Edward James Olmos, Grace Park, and Aaron Douglas. Douglas still showed, but not at the con: he basically went on his own dime and did a pub crawl in Seattle to make up for the cast being canceled (he called the convention “VoldermortCon” on Facebook). Class act.
The good news, they did have three actors from the new Galactica (which included Richard Hatch, who of course was also on the original series as well). Hatch was also there with three cast members from the original, but, with all due respect… most of the fans wanted the new cast, and didn’t get the talent they were promised.
Adding insult to injury, the cancellations were announced the day before the con, and most people who were traveling to the event from out of town was already on their way when the news came out.
If advance ticket sales were weak, then day-of sales appeared to be non-existent. He dealers room was filled with dealers, but not a lot of customers. I spent all I could to buy some stuff to help some of these folks out, but when some dealers started pulling up their tables at 2PM on Saturday… well, I understood.
The fallout of the con was… well, let’s just say that I don’t think there will be a Galacticon 5, ever. The head of the con resigned the day before the event, and there are a lot of ticked off fans who are wanting refunds (especially folks who spent a lot of money on VIP passes).
The nice thing was, I got to spend some time with some friends and also pick up some issues of the Planet of the Apes magazine Marvel made in the mid-seventies I did not have in my collection. I also got to see some very nice models and screen-worn costumes… So, there’s that.
UPDATE: Just found out that the people behind the convention opened up the event to anyone who wanted to attend on Sunday for free – which, of course, ticked off the 3-day pass and VIP ticket holders even more. A good reminder to always buy passes to something like this with a credit card – so you can dispute the charge when you didn’t get what you paid for.
And then, there’s this (from a parody account that was set up):
A sneak peek at next Galacticon's guests! pic.twitter.com/59kvbqr97H
— Galacticon 5 (@Galacticon5) August 2, 2015