Touted as “The Coolest Show on Earth”, the 2007 FX convention held this past weekend was a success by many standards. Held at the spacious Orlando Convention Center this year, instead of the horrible fairgrounds it was located at last year, the show boasted more celebrities and much more space to move about than previous years.

The chance to meet their favorite celebrities is why most attendees make the trek to conventions both close and far to home, and this year’s guest list was impressive to say the least. Celebrity guests included Adam Baldwin (“Firefly”, “Daybreak”), Colin Ferguson (“Eureka”), Jaime King (“Sin City”), William Katt (“The Greatest American Hero”), and most of the cast of the upcoming movie, “Fan Boys” including Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”), and Sam Huntington (“Superman Returns”), to name a few. Perhaps the biggest coup was the inclusion of two main characters from NBC’s biggest and newest hit, “Heroes”, Hayden Panettiere (Claire) and Zachary Quinto (Sylar). This marked one of the first appearances of any of the “Heroes” cast in the regular convention circuit.

As a regular convention attendee, I am used to the many different aspects of the various cons outs there, but FX had something I hadn’t run into as of yet. Although FX was very well run, I have to say that one of the things I didn’t appreciate was the 25 wasted minutes I spent waiting in line to get into the convention only to find out that the only reason we were forced to wait was to have a rather clueless young man squirt each person’s hand with water in order to adhere a temporary tattoo we had been handed at the middle of the line. Why you may ask? The staff’s answer was that the “Fan Boys” tattoo was required to leave and re-enter the convention. Seems to me that my convention ticket would have done the same job. They also could have told us we were only waiting in line for a squirt of water to apply a tattoo I didn’t want, but that I could have applied myself. Free advertising? Yes. Annoying and unnecessary? Most definitely.

FX offered some new elements this year including professional photo ops with the celebrities and guest panels. The price for the average photo op was $30 which was reasonable, but unfortunately some celebrities were not taking pictures with fans when they signed autographs due to the availability of the photo ops. The panels were a welcome addition and provided the fans with a chance to ask questions of their favorite stars. Although there were a variety of panels including ones for “Fan Boys”, “Eureka”, and comic-themed ones, the only panel I managed to attend between seeking autographs and browsing through the many vendors’ booths, was the “Firefly” panel.

Although a cancelled in its’ first season, “Firefly” has surprised critics and studio execs alike by spawning a feature film titled, “Serenity”, and even five years after its’ demise generating new fans daily, as indicated by DVD sales of the movie and TV series. The panel included all three of the attending “Firefly” guests, Adam Baldwin, Christina Hendricks, and Ron Glass. As a huge fan of the cult hit, I have attended and seen many “Firefly” panels, but this one was by far one of the most intimate and unusual. Tired of the normal fare, the questions ran the gamut from “What’s your favorite breakfast cereal and cartoon show” to “Which President would you most like to portray on film”. With a small gathering of approximately less than 150 fans, the stars were very relaxed and discussed their love of soggy cereal (Adam), the remodeling of their home (Ron), their new series titled “Mad Men” (Christina) and how his wife accidentally shot herself with shrapnel on one of their first dates to a shooting range (Adam). For the curious, she wasn’t harmed and yes, she still married him.

I have to admit that one of the highlights of the convention, for me, was meeting the stars of “Heroes”. As my current favorite television show, I was very pleased that two of its’ stars were not only very friendly but very appreciative of the fans and the shows’ success. Hayden Panettiere portrays the cheerleader Claire with the power of invincibility.

She was very sweet and even prettier in person than on the screen. Zachary Quinto plays the evil nemesis stealing the brains and powers of the other heroes, Sylar, and as disturbing as his on-screen character is, Zach, as he prefers to be called, is charming and extremely endearing in person. He was exceptionally chatty and I learned he would love to stay on the show and not be killed off as most of the fans seem to think his story line will end. After telling him I thoroughly enjoyed his portrayal he encouraged me to write to the powers that be and tell them how I felt in the chance that his storyline may be extended. I have already done this and encourage fellow fans to do the same.

Normally most conventions have lame after parties, but the FX Rocks after party held at the Double Tree, the official con hotel, was surprisingly fun. Complete with free samples of Voodoo Tiki tequila to those of age and live music by recording artist Cori Yarckin, the party continued well into the night. Many of the celebrities attended and mingled freely with the attendees and all enjoyed the great performance by the band.

FX 2007 was a great time and despite the couple of bumps in the road I mentioned, I will definitely be attending next year again and I highly recommend it to anyone looking to meet some wonderful celebrities and have a good time in the process. “Coolest Show on Earth”? Probably not. A great time? Most definitely yes.