The final frontier: the Marriott hotel!
by Travis Combs
The Metropolitan
(Photos by Becky Rosenstiel- The Metropolitan)
Maelyn Monahan and Uncle Dave Morgan practice fighting with their light-sabers at Starfest on Sunday. The two are members of The Order of the Grey. Monahan and Morgan portray two "Star Wars" characters. Morgan portrays Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Order of the Grey can fight Jedi or another fighting style. Starfest was held at the DTC Marriot Hotel the weekend of April 16-18.
"I don't give interviews," said Peter Mayhew, his large and tall frame lounging in a chair behind an autograph booth, "It's bad for the convention."
Also known as Chewbacca the Wookie, Mayhew had spoken, and at that moment the collective bubble of a generation of adoring "Star Wars" fans burst with an anticlimactic pop. Are there two or three 'rs' in "RROOAARR"?
Space, the final frontier, a place of unknown possibilities and opportunities for exploration for man and mankind, the bastion for the unquenchable fire of the human spirit. Space, this final plateau for humanity, which holds an ever-present backdrop of millions of suns and galaxies. Space, the next great step for mankind...ah, forget it, the next great human frontier was at the Marriott hotel in the Denver Tech Center, which hosted the Starfest science- fiction and fantasy convention last weekend.
Wookies, uniformed "Federation of Planets" members, Jedi Knights, Middle-Earth elves and hobbits, and a peppering of "average" humans mingled and played among the backdrop of the ultra-fantastic world of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The three-day 2004 Denver Starfest convention held its own small corner of space and time on this third tiny rock from the sun in this tiny corner of an equally tiny galaxy in the midst of an apparently infinite universe.
(Photos by Becky Rosenstiel- The Metropolitan)
Sean Astin accepts a gold rabbit named "Oscar." Mist Mountains Smial (pronounced like the word "smile"), a local "Lord of the Rings" fan group, felt Astin was slighted at the Oscars and decided to give him "Oscar," which they call "The Golden Coney Award."
Astin launched into what he might have said if he had received an actual Oscar. Astin played Samwise Gamgee in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
"Star Wars" theme music played in the background with an urgent sense of pride as the not-quite-human and all-too-human leisurely strolled and took in the sights and sounds of the various forms of active and passive entertainment.
Walking into the merchant's room, the mementos, trinkets and other objects of pop culture's garbage bin seep into and eventually overwhelm the senses. The merchants, some of them professional, make a living by traveling from one convention to the next, sit back in chairs while displaying items of interest.
Obsolete laser discs of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and "Mars Attacks" seem to line themselves in cardboard boxes, expectant that one person's garbage is another's treasure- trove. Realizing that no technology in today's market will enable them to be viewed, this does not stop them from selling for $10-50 a disc. Movie posters for such films as "Alien" and "A Clockwork Orange" are placed in just the correct position to grab and hold the attention of the eye. "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" dolls and figurines are proudly displayed in their original plastic wrapping and seem to say, "Yes, you can play with me; you're never too old."
Photos by Becky Rosenstiel- The Metropolitan
Maelyn Monahan and Uncle Dave Morgan practice fighting with their light-sabers at Starfest on Sunday. They are two members of The Order of the Grey. Monahan and Morgan portray two "Star Wars" characters.
"We're not getting rich but we're having fun," said John Harper, one of the merchants at Starfest, who bears a slight resemblance to 'the comic book guy' in "The Simpsons." Harper is one of the few proud merchants who manages to sustain a living by selling his wares from convention to convention. "We travel all over the place. We go west and we go over the pond to England."
This year's convention featured such activities as gaming, movie viewing, panel discussions, and guest speakers.
Starfest was also not without its share of a strong celebrity presence. Such notable and not-so-notable movers and shakers in the world of science fiction and fantasy movies, television shows and literature included Richard Hatch of the classic seventies show "Battlestar Galactica," Lance Hendrickson, a well known villain fixture in the sci-fi world, Sean Astin, known primarily for his role as the lovable asthmatic leader of "The Goonies" and who also played a noteworthy role as Samwise Gamgee in the obscure "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and, of course, Peter Mayhew, whose role as Chewbacca the Wookie in the original "Star Wars" trilogy made him a household name.
"When I was young, I found I had a natural talent for it," said Mathew Helms, talking of his gift for martial arts. Helms, whose androgynous look and penchant for pancakes in the horror film "Cabin Fever," have pole-vaulted the Denver resident into cult-figure status.
"I just had a natural affinity for it (martial arts)," said Helms. "I have a passion for it. I saw it being done on T.V. and I tried it and I was hooked."
Despite his young age, Helms, 15, has begun to play his game with the big boys, with his role as a disease-infected psycho in "Cabin Fever" leading to an appearance in "Cabin Fever 2."
Age is irrelevant here at the convention. The young peacefully coexist with the older, more seasoned, science fiction fans. These older fans have seen movies, T.V. shows and other sci-fi pop culture phenomena come and go. Dressed in the standard "Star Trek" federation of Planets fatigues, Vincent Schoenfelaer represents the 'old school' Starfest convention-goer-the guys who have seen and know it all.
(Photos by Becky Rosenstiel- The Metropolitan)
Jeff Gainey from Iconographics, wraps a poster for a customer. Gainey sells posters of movies such as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Pirates of the Caribbean." Gainey traveled all the way from Alaska.
Sitting on a bench and enjoying the artificial 75-degree hotel lobby weather, Schoenfelaer has been attending sci-fi conventions for over two decades.
"I was interested in sci-fi in my youth," said Schoenfelaer, as two Jedi-knights sparred with light-sabers swinging to and fro in the immediate background.
"I read Jules Verne and I got into that with various other writers and I really got into 'Star Trek' when that first came out. I remember the first episode (in the sixties). I love the classics still, and the others as well."
Old school indeed.
"I caught the first convention at McNichols arena," said Schoenfelaer, while the two sparring Jedis come ever closer to a mock-climatic "death by light-saber" finish.
"Once the fan-based conventions came along, the cons kept getting better and better year after year."
(Photos by Becky Rosenstiel- The Metropolitan)
Sean Astin signs an autograph for Broccan Ware, center, on Sunday. Walter Ware, Broccan's father, and his family stood in line for over an hour just waiting to get an autograph from Astin. Later, Astin spoke with fans at a Q&A session.
Therapy. We all need a break from reality. Don't lie; you have your own methods, too. It could be chemical substances, sex, movies, reading, schizoid delusions of grandeur, or even knitting. We all have a 'place' we like to go in our imaginations where there really is a happy ending and you really do get the girl or guy. Many of those at the Starfest convention do this also, just with a little more style and flair.
"I get a great deal of enjoyment from these because I see a lot a people with a very positive attitude and it just goes with this energy. It's a great boost. A break from reality and all its tensions is helpful," said Schoenfelaer, smiling as the light-saber fight dissipates into a realization by the Jedis that they have to work in the morning. |
