What happened? What are the "recent actions"?

Xander | January 30, 17:44 CET

That's what I was wondering...

ProphecyGirl16 | January 30, 17:48 CET

I'm sure they're referencing the non-Flanvention in Burbank. People are jumping on the Browncoat Cruise, but that's a different kind of fan event than a big Con, so I can respect their sensitivity towards the fan base.

Tonya J | January 30, 18:02 CET

Sadly I think the convention couldn't book guests with no ticket sales and couldn't sell tickets with no guests. I got the feeling they were trying very hard to correct the mistakes of past Moonlight Risings, where they announced guests and cancelled them at the last minute.

It seems to me they feel the recent Booster disaster contributed to low ticket sales. Personally I think rebuilding ticket buyer's trust has been very difficult after recent years.

At least they are cancelling now, before most people have planned travel. You can't fault them for that.

[ edited by jletham on 2007-01-31 01:05 ]

jletham | January 30, 18:04 CET

I'm assuming people can get refunds on their 2007 tickets if they so choose.

Simon | January 30, 18:25 CET

Simon, I'm not so sure if refunds are possible since they only guarentee refunds for canceled, not postponed events. And although Flanvention2's cancelation might have been a problem, the fact still remains that Moonlight Rising had had it's own problems at their last convention when Adam Baldwin didn't come because he hadn't been paid, and even actors who did show up were not paid their contracted fees until many months later (if they finally did get paid at all).

embers | January 30, 18:34 CET

Just in case there's some sort of trend and a whole bunch of cons disappear and they have nothing to do, the Firefly cast is free to come hang out at my apartment in Portland for a beer or two, and maybe go to a movie. Say, I don't know, around June 23?

@theonetruebix | January 30, 18:40 CET

Am I alone in thinking that maybe there are too many cons for shows that don't get made any more? I mean, how many is it, five, ten, fifteen for Whedon shows alone? None of which have been on TV in three or four years? And then there's all the general cons thrown in... how much of a market is there for these things?

daylight | January 30, 18:45 CET

I've never been to a con. Are they fun? How do you decide which ones are the best? Is it mostly comic books and stuff?

kerfuffle | January 30, 18:52 CET

A cyberfriend of mine is trying to organize a con called Carpe Noctem in Milwaukee for spring '08. She has definite fan and celeb interest but the fiduciary concerns make it almost impossible.
And it does seem a bit much, given that it's many of the same celebs.

I wish PCH would be nice to me and bankroll me so I could get to these things...altho seeing Amber, Mercedes, or Juliet in the flesh I'd probably embarrass myself and everyone in the room

DaddyCatALSO | January 30, 18:55 CET

Conventions with good reputations and/or general fandom support are still doing very well. The disastrous Booster Event sold out, with 500 expensive-ish tickets.

"How do you decide which ones are the best?"

You'd need to be prepared to research them or rely on other fans. This didn't work in the case of Booster, even so. As for the best, I like bigger cheaper ones myself. If they collapse you haven't lost out much and they are a lot of fun. It all depends on what you want from a con.

jletham | January 30, 19:03 CET

Is Booster Events and Moonlight Rising the same people, different name?

Dietcoke | January 30, 19:24 CET

No they aren't the same, one fell apart due to bad business decisions, the other fell apart due to-- well they aren't the same, anyway.

jletham | January 30, 19:28 CET

The only problem with MR that I've had was last year's non-payment of guests, and that's not even really a personal problem. I still had a good time.

I'm glad to see that they're actually thinking about the best way to go about this in the wake of BE's demise, which I believe is a major factor in the decision to postpone '07. Plus...August is a terrible month in my opinion.

[ edited by Haikes on 2007-01-31 02:38 ]

Haikes | January 30, 19:37 CET

kerfuffle ... a good first con might be Dragoncon in Atlanta GA over the Labor Day weekend. It is an established Con and has many many fandoms (TV/Movie, comics, writers)represented.

resa | January 30, 19:48 CET

Keep in mind there are several different types of cons. There's the ginormous general cons like Comic-Con, Wizard World Chicago, Dragon*Con, etc. These have a huge number of guests, a huge number of attendees, and relatively low prices. I'd probably throw in the smaller siblings of these cons in there as well. Wizard World anything other than Chicago, WonderCon, etc. There's also small local general cons, like Capricon, AggieCon, etc. These have relatively small numbers of guests and attendees, and are usually cheap as well. Then there's the specialized cons like the stuff Creation, Vulkon, etc do. These have a small number of guests and attendees, but cost a pretty penny, because in general the guests are high-demand and chosen from a narrow range.

There's also stuff like WorldCon that doesn't really fit into these categories.

ObDisclaimer: None if this is anything formalized or terribly well-defined. I'm not even a seasoned con veteran or anything. They're just things I've observed in reading a lot about cons and attending a goodly number.

KernelM | January 30, 19:59 CET

Daylight, it is interesting that our canceled TV show, Firefly, could sell out a convention (because Flan2 was completely sold out of expensive tickets) but it didn't take place because the money had been spent to underwrite the conventions for Veronica Mars (Neptune Noir) and some other currently on-the-air shows (BE Scared). Which goes to show, as far as I can see, that the marketability has more to do with the intensitiy of fan feeling than whether or not the show is currently on the air. After all, the Star Trek conventions went on for over a decade after their TV show was canceled and before they got a movie made.

embers | January 30, 20:04 CET

Flan was the only specifically Firefly con though (at the time), wasn't it? It's certainly the only one I'd ever heard of. And I think Firefly specifically is a bit of a grower in terms of popularity; people tend to be discovering it on DVD rather than on TV, whereas with Buffy and Angel people noticed the TV shows first. It's got a certain sort of immortality to it, as well, since it got cancelled in the first season - and I can't think of another one-season show that has ever commanded as much interest as Firefly.

daylight | January 30, 21:04 CET

I'm unable to access Moonlight Rising's site. Is their server down due to too many hits, or have they taken it down themselves?

Shiai | January 30, 22:06 CET

Flan may have been the only soley Firefly con in the US, but over here in the UK Starfury have been running Firefly/Serenity conventions since 2005 (in fact I think we had the first ever soley Firefly/Serenity con), this March will see the fourth with a fifth planned for next year.

The same company has also been running L-Word and Charmed cons which appear to have been well attended, and this year are also running a Prison Break/Vernica Mars con which also appears to have a lot of interest, as well as some Whedonverse related cons.

I can understand a lot of people feeling burnt after flan 2 and I respect MR for at least taking some action well in advance. Probably the best way for them to regain the trust of the fans.

Cider | January 31, 01:58 CET

The only problem with MR that I've had was last year's non-payment of guests, and that's not even really a personal problem. I still had a good time.

Consider yourself lucky.

killinj | January 31, 14:57 CET