(warning, my spell checker is still set in American, for the SGA stuff, so please excuse my transatlantic spellings.)

This week I took Adam to  “Better than Life”, a science fiction convention for fans of Red Dwarf. We found out about it when I went to Chevron 7.2 earlier this year. I’ve always liked Red Dwarf, but my son is a huge fan of the Show, so this was like a dream come true for him.

This was a slightly different experience for us because we had planned it much further in advance, so we had Gold tickets, and stayed in the convention hotel. Unfortunately, the squirrels were not there because they were at Collectomania last week, but we did meet some people who were at Chevron, as well as making some new friends.

Sadly, some of the cast had to cancel. Norman Lovett, who played Holly #1, had already canceled, but we were disappointed to find that Chris Barrie (Rimmer) wasn’t going to be able to come. Craig Charles (Lister) was expected on Sunday, but he canceled at the last minute because he was feeling sick.

Without some of the bigger names from the show, it could have been a disappointing weekend, but it was totally saved by the brilliance of the guests we did get.

The guests, in roughly the order that we met them, were:

Mac Macdonald (Captain Hollister) made a surprise appearance on Saturday morning to sign autographs, and appeared in some of the talks.

Hattie Hayridge (Holly #2) was a real trouper, and was here for the whole weekend, as was Steven Wickham, who appeared in Red Dwarf as the Gelf Bride.

Cloe Annett (Christine Kochanaski) was originally only booked for Saturday, but also came back for an extra group photo shoot, which the organizers arranged to make up for Craig being missing.

Danny John Jules (the Cat) was only expected for Sunday, but he turned up on Saturday to do an open line autograph queue, and an extra photograph shoot. He also did a highly entertaining extended talk to make up for Craig being absent.

Robert Llewellyn (Kryton) was there on Saturday, and took part in a highly entertaining quiz called the Kryton factor.

One feature of these conventions is that you get the chance to bid for a guest encounter, where a small group of people can share a coffee and chat with a guest. On Saturday, most people were bidding for Robert Llwellyn, but Adam decided he would rather meet the girls and we were lucky enough to get both Hattie and Cloe. Adam was the only child in the group and I’m pretty sure it made his weekend.

We saw Cloe, Hattie and Steven again at the gold ticket holders reception and the party. We got some candid photos with Steven, who didn’t have an official photo shoot. They’re on Adam’s phone so I don’t know if they came out. Both Cloe and Hattie asked Adam to dance with them, which pretty much made his weekend.

Sunday was Danny John-Jules day for us. We already had our free autos, but Adam wanted to go back for some extra autos with Danny, to personalize some large pictures and DVDs. Then we had our photo ops with him. Danny gave me a really nice snuggly hug, and the photographer picked that photo shoot to take 2 shots of me (I got to keep them both).

There was a group photo with  Danny, Hattie, Steve and Cloe, which was in place of Craig’s photo.  After that, we were lucky enough to be part of Danny’s guest encounter slot. Danny told us some stories about the Red Dwarf cast and a lot about his history and influences in the musical theatre. After lunch, he also gave an extended talk, which also included some singing and tap dancing – there is no limit to the man’s talents.

Sadly, I didn’t have enough money left to pre-book next year’s, but I do intend to go again. Guests I would most like to see again are Cloe, Hattie and Danny, but they were all great.

Spending today chilling out, although I am supposed to be catching up with my laundry. Photos may follow later, but I haven’t got round to scanning them yet,