Last weekend in a Galaxy far far away, I attended the London Film and Comic Con. I do like a film fair. Stalls selling all manner of tat and film memorabilia that I love to peruse and occasionally buy from. Now, I didn’t buy an early bird ticket but I really wasn’t ready for the hugely long line of film fans waiting to get in or the nearly 3 hour wait until I finally got a ticket for entry.
When I moved inside Earls Court I was fairly shocked that the big space chosen to host this event was filled with thousands people and at the back was where I needed to go. I had to push my way through, on one of the hottest days of the year and that was truly a horrible experience. Frankly it was far too busy and the organisers were too greedy and not thinking of health and safety. After a fair amount of pushing and shoving I managed to get another ticket to meet one of the star guest, Carrie Fisher from Star Wars. I’ve met loads of Star Wars actors and everyone I know has a Dave Prowse signed photo but I’ve never had the chance to meet one of the big names like Mark Hamill, Harrsion Ford and Carrie Fisher. The ticket number I had was numbered around 800 and currently the line started at 50. So I had a fair wait and was told to come back in 4 hours. I used the time to look around and take some pictures of the people that had spent time and some real effort to dress up.
I returned to the Carrie Fisher line after 3 hours and the numbers were only up to 250 that didn’t bode well for my chances. However I got lucky and begged to be let in which I duly was. The rules for the meeting were fairly strict given how long people had waited. The signing wouldn’t be personalised and you couldn’t take her picture. All this I found fair ridiculous and another example of the greedy nature of the event. It was all about making as much money as possible for the fat promoter with the dyed black hair. However, I didn’t listen to the ‘No photo’ rule and decided to take a picture of her anyway.
I guess it’s a big business now but the over crowding and rushed experience with the guest made me feel a little underwhelmed and cheated out of the experience I and many other should have had. Anyway, I did meet Carrie Fisher.
M