FRIDAY: Sitting at LAX, Nichelle did an interview with Mancow (a big Chicago-based morning DJ) and I discovered we’ll be the cover story on a UK trade mag called FutureMedia. Our flight into Chicago hit some SEVERE turbulence; the plane lurched then dropped, a woman screamed, and my iPod fell to the floor, just out of my reach. That meant that I was possibly going to die while listening to Sting (it was on shuffle). Not good. Fortunately, the turbulence stopped and I retrieved the iPod and hit next. But the scars are still there…

After checking in to the hotel, we went down for the cocktail part of the evening and hooked up with Erin Gray & Gil Gerard (and his lovely wife Janet). We all had quite the blast and kept each other in stitches. I tried to talk Gil into getting a  Twitter account but he seemed reluctant. I also got to meet comic book artist/uber-talent Mark Millar who I’m a huge fan of.  Was there anything else? Mmmm… Oh yeah; Gil & Erin both want to do an episode of The Cabonauts together!

SATURDAY: We set up Nichelle’s table and a line of fans appeared - that never let up.  It was magical to see their faces and hear their stories of how Nichelle had affected their lives. I kept myself busy passing out Cabonauts postcards. At 1pm, we made our way over to the panel and premiered the pilot of The Cabonauts to a healthy crowd of people. It went down rather well, despite the sound system in the room that had clearly been blown out years ago. We got some feedback from the crowd and over 95% liked it rather a lot. We asked which character they liked best, and over all the responses everything seemed to come back even.

We went back to the autograph signing table for the rest of the afternoon then headed back to the airport just a few hours later. I’m happy to say we got back to LA without too much more turbulence.

All in all it was a whirlwind but also a great time and we met some lovely people. I also read the BEST book I’ve read in years and recommend that you go out and buy it THIS SECOND. It’s called “The End Of Mr. Y” by Scarlett Thomas, an English author who’s put together a 400 page book that’s both unputdownable and mind-blowing. Ostensibly, it’s about a book from the late 1800s that has a curse - anyone who reads it dies. But it’s SO much more and touches upon quantum physics, religion, thought memes, Einstein, etc, etc - and presents tons of amazing ideas. It also talks about a place called “Mindspace” which is very similar to the “Brainspace” that Cyril and Harry use in their off time in the series. Please go buy it - you can thank me later!

PS - I woke up Sunday morning to find a twitter from Gil. So go add him and tell him who sent ya - @gil_gerard !!!

Three crazy days are now behind us. I’m still reeling. So what happened? Here’s a few highlights:

For me, it started with one hour’s sleep on Wednesday night (don’t ask) before getting into a car with business manager Phil Ashcroft as we bundled off to San Diego at 5am. After navigating parking (a task that took almost as long as the 2 hour drive), we found our passes and started setting up a table at the huge Wizard booth.

Nichelle arrived around 10am, and the buzz and lines began immediately. So many people approached her for pictures and autographs, all full of love and respect for her and her work - it was almost overwhelming. We spent that first day, Friday, dealing with the hundreds & hundreds of people who had to shake her hand, touch her, and tell her how much she’s inspired their lives. What a living legacy!

I also had a quick word with John Barrowman - Captain Jack from Dr. Who and Torchwood - and he told me he’d like to do an episode of The Cabonauts if his schedule permits. Don’t believe me? I managed to get it on video! I’ll post it later this week.

That night we had drinner and drinkipoos with Erin Gray and her lovely daughter Sam who’s going to be starring in a new online version of Buck Rogers as…Wilma Deering! Sam seems like an absolutely terrific person and I’m sure she’s going to rock the role - can’t wait to see it!

Saturday, it all started up again only we scored a major coup at the start of the day. We were set to premiere The Cabonauts trailer at the Masquerade Ball, an annual Comic-Con event that’s attended by 6,000 people but we weren’t sure at what point in the proceedings that it would play. Once Nichelle suggested that she’d be happy to introduce it, the people at Masquerade pretty much jumped to get her on board - and within seconds, we’d locked in a time for Nichelle to get up on stage. And that night, Nichelle surprised a massive crowd as she walked onto stage to rapturous applause. The trailer got the right amount of laughs and a big cheer at the end - which was pretty damn cool. By the way, a quick word about the people who attend the Masquerade Ball in costume - WOW. The outfits were amazing, truly mind-blowing, and kudos to everyone who participated.

We also interviewed David H Lawrence - Eric Doyle from Heroes - who revealed on video that he’ll be on an upcoming episode of The Cabonauts playing…(wait for it)…a gay space pirate. We’ll be uploading that at some point soon too! And I had a chat with one of the stars of Lost who seemed quite interested in coming on board the Scarad too. He’s off to Hawaii in a few weeks, so schedule permitting, later on down the road he’ll be singing and dancing for us

Sunday was time to wind down - Nichelle and I were at the Cabonauts table for a few hours then called it a day after lunch. We all left very happy in the knowledge that we’d done a lot of word-spreading and, of course, the trailer debut will be the stuff of legend.

If you’re one of the people who stopped by the table and picked up a Cabonauts poster, thanks! Glad to have you on board too!

By the way; the picture of Nichelle above is courtesy of SciFiCrush.com who stopped by to interview her. You can check out the interview here.