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Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Sci-Fi Weekender X: Part 1

It may be cold outside (despite the atmosphere), but 2019 is the year that Sci Fi Weekender (SFW) celebrates their tenth anniversary with not one, but two “geek camp” weekends.

Part 1 kicks off in Sheffield on the last weekend in March, with Part 2 taking place six months later on the Halloween weekend in Great Yarmouth.

Christopher Judge (Teal’c in Star Gate: SG-1), Sam Jones (the Flash Gordon), the ever-effusive Brian Blessed (“LOTS OF SHOUTING!”) and the award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky have already been confirmed for March.

Joining these guests are the authors George Mann, Thana Niveau and John Llewellyn Probert, as well as the editor Michael Rowley.

Sci-Fi Weekender would not be the same without The Dark Room, a live-show inspired by video games (which in turn inspired its own video game), where members of the audience contend with the show to see if they can escape and win £10,000.  This is only slightly harder than trying not to laugh through the experience.

For gamers everywhere, there will be MMORPG, described as “D&D Live”, but in reality it is so much more.  Forget your live-streamers, this unique experience from the creators of Knightmare Live redefines the concept of audience participation.  No show is ever the same.

Pop-up Puppet Cinema makes their welcome return with recreations of classic sci-fi films using hand-held Puppets.  With Sam Jones and Brian Blessed in attendance, they will be recreating Flash Gordon in their own unique style.

In addition to the cabaret performances, there will also be a deluge of bands.  First up are the classic eighties band Dr and the Medics, who are best known for Spirit in the Sky and their cover of Waterloo.  These flamboyant icons have a reputation as a great live act, with the NME referring to them as “THE live band of the year.”

Making a welcome return to SFW after their storming set in Sheffield last year is the cantina band Blues Harvest, who have built up a devoted following through their covers of tracks from sci-fi films and TV shows.

Joining the masters are the more piratical Jollyboat, a musical comedy double act known for their pirate pop songs and keyboard love song.  There will also be Flesh Tetris (yes, that is their name); retro SciFi eurotrash who use barbed weaponised synths to create pop music for unpopular people.

No stranger to Sci-Fi Weekender is the master of chap-rap; Professor Elemental.  For anyone not familiar with the Professor, imagine hip-hop extolling the virtues of a nice cup of tea.

When the bands are over, it isn’t time to go home, instead Level-Up Leroy strikes back for you all to hit the dance floor and learn why Leroy is the best nerd DJ in the universe (“There can be only one,” y’know…)

So, strap-on and strap-in for the Europe’s largest, and the UK’s only, sci-fi festival 10th anniversary.  2019 will be the year of The Geek.

Peter Ray Allison
Peter Ray Allisonhttp://www.peterallison.net
Science Fiction: the final frontier. These are the articles of the freelance journalist Peter Ray Allison. His continuing mission: to explore strange new realms of fiction, to seek out new genres and new visions of the future, to boldly geek where no one has geeked before.

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