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You've gotten an eyeful of Apollo Smile: now here are the rest of the
guests at Tranquility Base. Fans had a chance to get to know the guests
very well because there was a small turnout for the first night of the
convention, with only 30 or 50 people on hand.
Robin Atkin Downes is best known as Byron in Babylon 5, but he's had two other roles in that sprawling space opera. The fans at the opening ceremonies loved his explanation of how he played a Babylon 5 sex scene - including the Calvin Kleins he had to wear. |
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Gerard Christopher made a mark in the title role of the most recent Superboy syndicated TV series. He was a little older than the role implies: Christopher admits that he used to enjoy watching the Superman series with George Reeves and liked the old Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea series, becoming good friends with that series' co-star, David Hedison. |
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Six seconds of film in Death Valley, more than two decades ago...Hal Wamsley happened to be one of the two Jawas who shot R2-D2 in the original Star Wars movie (it's a long explanation), and he's played that brief appearance into a long run of appearances at sci-fi conventions. Wamsley makes his living as a stand-up comedian, but he's also interested in a health issue because of a friend who fell ill from a brain tumor. He used the convention to raise some money for the American Brain Tumor Association. |
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The literary and production contingent at Tranquility Base meets with fans at the opening party: (left to right) Steven L. Sears, co-executive producer of Xena - Warrior Princess; writer Kevin J. Anderson and his co-writer and wife, Rebecca Moesta. Sears told the story about how one Hindu group complained about a Xena episode and had it knocked off the air. He said other Hindu groups enjoyed the episode, and it may be re-aired one day. Anderson and Moesta told how they already have written a shelf full of Star Wars novels and next will take up the mighty task of re-starting Frank Herbert's Dune saga using the late author's original notes. |
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Robin Curtis was the life of the opening night party. Her role as the second Lt. Saavik in the Star Trek movies endeared Curtis to sci-fi fans, and she followed that up with appearances in the Babylon 5 and Space: Above and Beyond series. Curtis appeared with the late DeForest Kelley in those Star Trek movies, and at the opening ceremony, she said "We'll have to toast De this weekend. He was a lovely, classy, elegant man." Kelley died a few weeks before Tranquility Base was held. |
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Robert Krimmer has one foot in the sci-fi world and one foot in series television. He's been a recurring villain in Babylon 5 as Emperor Cartagia, but he makes his regular paycheck on a TV soap opera, One Life to Live (which has to be one of the few steady paydays in the acting business). Krimmer has a soft spot for genre TV and movies, and said he'd like to be in a sci-fi series if the opportunity arises. |
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Mark Goddard made his mark on entertainment in the Lost in Space television series, and keeps in touch with fandom at conventions. However, Goddard has one of the most unique personal stories in the business. He decided to drop out of full-time acting, received a masters degree in education and took on a teaching career. Not just any teaching job, but one of the hardest you can imagine - in the special education field at a special academy for at-risk youth in Massachusetts. Goddard admits he has to deal with what he called some "tough kids." |
