It was Halloween and it was time to start the 5-6 hour journey down to Great Yarmouth. What the weekend held for us, who knows, but one thing was for sure Sci-Fi Weekender was all about the family, and bringing all geekiness and nerdiness together.

On arrival, check-in was very quick and efficient, and the friendliness of the staff was courteous and polite.

Once settled into the amazing and very clean accommodation, it was time to get our bearings around the site.

What first came to mind, was that the whole weekender was under one roof, making it easier and quicker to get to each event timetabled. Although the Main void became packed out, it wasn’t overwhelmingly packed where you are like sardines. Around the outskirts of the main void was where traders were at, and authors, making it easier to get around and getting to see everything.

Even though the weather was not the best, the sun was shining through the fantastic lineup and the presenters/organisers enthusiasm throughout the whole weekend.

The schedule was jam-packed with pure entertainment. And as said before under one roof certainly had its advantages.

We had the introduction/opening ceremony brought to us by Chic’s very Jonni, along with Matt, Samantha Lee and David Howe. After that, we had the look back and discussion of past SFW events, which was entertaining.
Night one brought the SFW awards, and it was absolutely fantastic, especially as it was the first one at the sci-fi weekender. There didn’t seem to be one hitch, it ran like clockwork.

Everyone attending walked the red carpet and was greeted by paparazzi (official SFW photographers). It was great seeing everyone dressed up or in their cosplay, and getting photographed. It was wonderful and in some ways hilarious at times. The Dark Room Master himself Juan Robertson, gave us a treat as he did a rendition of “Time Warp” as Riff Raff, with a member of the audience, very entertaining and unexpected, but worth it. We also had entertainment from Area 51 girls, they are so amazing in what they do, very talented, and what they brought to it with their Halloween tribute to “This is Halloween” was amazing.

What was most exciting was the fact that the whole weekender was being filmed for Amazon Prime, ready for release 2020. Exciting times Ey?

For those that couldn’t attend the awards, there was entertainment on elsewhere, such as Jimcredibly awful quiz, which was a hit last year, and always seems to go down well, there was also a kids Halloween party going on with Bryony Pearce, a Halloween glitterball disco, as well as Dirty Rose, rocking out some hard rocking tunes that would get stuck in your head, and then a guest DJ later on into the early hours.

Friday had a jam-packed programme from the morning right through until early hours Saturday morning. I started my morning by listening and watching Sophie Aldred share her stories from being in Doctor Who, her voiceover roles as Tree Fu Tom and of course Dennis the Menace. She did give us a snippet of her doing the voices during her chat, which was surreal and amazing. Loved it. I then stayed on for the chat with Fintan Mckeown, mainly known for his role as Ser Amory Lorch in Game of Thrones. Such a great friendly chap. I was engrossed in him talking about behind the scenes, and the other characters in Game of Thrones.

Then came the legendary Gil Gerard, most famously known to every Geek as Buck Rogers. What a guy, such a nice chap. He was interviewed by Professor Elemental.

I always find they aren’t your normal interviews, but it’s a chat with a friend. And they reveal all sorts of what they got up to behind the scenes. It’s so captivating.

It was then time to grab a bite to eat, and just have a chill before heading back out to watch the Pop-up Puppet Cinema. As ever they were amazing. I watched them for the first time last year doing 2 shows, one of Jaws and Back to The Future, they were absolutely brilliant. I was intrigued by how and what they were bringing to the table this year. This year as the weekender fell on Halloween weekend, the Pop-up Puppet Cinema was doing The Thing and A Nightmare on Elm Street, 2 very good films. First up for me to see was The Thing, and I was not disappointed at all. With these films, I was not sure how it was going to go, especially as they are from the horror genre.

They brought humour to the table with this one, as well as keeping to the story as much as they can. They are only on for half an hour, so fitting it all in can be a challenge, but they definitely accepted the challenge and pulled it out the bag. If you ever get to see the Pop Up Puppet Cinema, I urge you to go see them, they are absolutely fantastic at what they do.

After I had finished watching Pop Up Puppet Cinema, I managed to catch the last half of Vampires: Sparkly or Dark, which was a discussion with Sam Stone, Dacre Stoker, Raven Dane, Bryony Pearce and Richard Dinnick. The last half I saw was really interesting, as they were discussing different vampire stories, films that have been made, other authors of vampire stories, and how they are portrayed, their own views etc. It was very interesting to hear, especially Dacre Stokers view on Bram Stokers Dracula, and other such films made.

Again it was time to hydrate myself, and get back to it, for some more jam-packed fun.

Going into the evening into Friday evening we were in for a treat. Again a jam-packed evening with so much going on under one roof, but different rooms.

We started off the evening with a very popular act that went down a storm in Sheffield earlier on in the year. And they were Jolly Boat. Such a talented duo, that had me in stitches with their quirky pirate songs. Every person in the room was singing along(if they could), but thoroughly enjoying this dynamic duo. And what’s great is you could tell that the duo themselves thoroughly enjoyed entertaining everybody. This was my first time seeing Jolly Boat, and I was both excited as I had heard and saw such great things from reviews online, but seeing it for yourself it was absolutely fabulous. If only you could download their stuff to listen and practise to at home.

Although Jolly Boat had finished their set, I was intrigued by the act that was following. What could possibly top them?

Enter Elvis Dead-Rob Kemp. I’ve been a fan of Evil Dead since Karen Woodham, from Blazing Minds introduced me to the franchise many many years ago. So this was gonna be interesting. It was a mash-up of Elvis songs performed by Rob Kemp, who is playing Ash from Evil Dead on stage, obviously changing a few lyrics to fit in with Evil Dead being played on the screens on stage. It flowed beautifully. And it was extremely funny, he had the whole place laughing, like belly laughing, and with it coinciding with the film franchise. It was genius. Once Rob Kemp had finished his set, even though the crowd wanted more, he posed for photographs with everyone that wanted a photo and chatted to various people in the room.

It was then time for us to head next door to watch an SFW family favourite DJ Level Up Leroy, this Guy is another genius, mixing videos with the music of everything geeky. I absolutely love it when this guy plays at SFW, and he has proven a very popular time and time again. This year he mixed up a bit of Disney along with Queen etc. It sounds awesome when you hear it. Love listening to what he brings to the table each and every time. Then to end the Friday evening, we had a treat, as Pat Sharp was “in da house”, spinning the decks with some great tunes from years gone back up to recent releases.
Then it was time to catch some zeds, and get some rest ready for Saturday, the last full day of SFW. Unbelievable how quick the time goes here, but that just goes to show how fun it is.

Saturday morning, I started off my day by watching a new horror/thriller film by Tom Paton. I have to admit I hadn’t watched any of his films, but by the end of this I was a fan of his work. Amazing film. Cannot wait to see it again. Once I had seen this film, I was talking to fellow Blazing Minds Team members, and they were telling me about other films of his that I should watch. So I put them on my to watch list. The film had finished but I was torn, I wanted to see the interview after, but also wanted to catch the last showing of A Nightmare on Elm Street from Pop up Puppet Cinema. Again I was blown away at their talent, and it was hilariously funny, with their own take of the film. Don’t want to give too much away, as you need to see these guys in action. Absolutely fabulous. Once the Pop-Up Puppet Cinema was over, I stayed to watch Ghostwatch-Behind the curtains. It was a look back at the 1992 BBC drama, that back then terrified a nation, including myself. I actually thought it was completely real back then. It was a very interesting look at it, and what happened behind the scenes etc. Very interesting indeed.

Then had a quick lunch, and settled myself back in for an interview with Gil Gerard, interviewed by Simon Potthast. Absolutely love Gil, and he had lots of stories to tell whilst he played Buck, and afterwards when it was all over.
There was so much going on each day, and some things clashed with other things etc., there was something for everyone, and everything was really jam-packed throughout the whole weekend. Unfortunately, I missed a few things on the schedule as it clashed with something else on it, but then I would be talking to someone from the weekender, and they would fill me on what they had been to see. There was a lot of positivity surrounding this weekend, which absolutely brilliant to hear.

It was interesting that I watched some parts of the schedule that I had never seen before, such as Hats Off Gentlemen, who are a science-based prog Rock group. These guys were really good, alright not everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like them, and they were original too.

Then it was time for The Cosplay finals, and I was very excited as 2 of our friends were taking part as Beauty and The Beast in their cosplay outfits. The outfits had been spent hours on and were of a great standard. Everyone that took part was amazing in their own right. You could tell the time and effort that went into making them. They all had to do something when they appeared on stage. Be it singing, telling a joke or as Vanelope Von Scweetz ribbed Jim Credible to the hilt. Very entertaining. The cosplayers were judged on performances and the cosplay outfits that were made. Belle and Prince Adam(Beauty and The Beast), were the winners, and they were completely blown away by the fact they had won a cosplay competition. With the cosplay coming to the end, and the winners announced, it was time for Foxdog. An act I had never heard of before. It was an inspired interactive entertainment, where you used your smartphone. Started off great, until someone hacked into the system. Then it went a little pear-shaped after that. It did seem to drag a little towards the end, but otherwise fairly entertaining.

Then came the one what everyone had been waiting for which The Dark Room, brought to you by the legendary host John Robertson. It is an interactive video game, with a lot of comedy from John Robertson, where the audience members attempt to navigate their way out of a dark room. It’s become a huge hit with the weekenders, and it is superbly and comedically brought to life by John Robertson, as well as the audience.

After all, the belly laughing, and comedy, and jam-packed evening, as well as the weekend, I knew tomorrow I had a long drive home, and my youngest was ready for bed. So unfortunately for me, my night ended after The Dark Room, but I left the rest of the Blazing Minds crew to party on all night with the legendary Level Up Leroy.

This weekend is a family weekend, there are some acts where it’s at the parent’s discretion should their kids attend, and most to be honest do.
One thing I would like to say about this weekender, it is unique, it is like no other. And no matter what your status is whether you’re a guest, press, trooper, VIP etc., we are all family when we are there, and that’s what’s so great about it. We all come together as one big happy family.

It’s family baby…SFW family!!

Chrissie Wood

Chrissie loves movies and spends a lot of her time with her kids at the local multi-plex watching a great selection of kids movies.