Chaos At FedCon? Sure Sounds Like It

Cancellations, budget problems, minimal attendance at opening ceremonies, and a very public denunciation from one of its scheduled (and later canceled) headliners have put FedConUSA in such a tailspin, the German company that owns the rights to the FedCon name has already washed their hands of it.

Fans who bought tickets in advance this past week for the convention were told that headliners would include Aaron Douglas and James Callis, the SyFy Genre Award-nominated actors who play Chief Tyrol and Gaius Baltar respectively on the SciFi Channel hit show "Battlestar Galactica." However, neither actor showed up, and Douglas himself visited the FedConUSA boards to make sure fans knew it was not his fault at all.

"We are both still very hopeful that we are able to make it, but at this point, with less than 24 hours before my flight, I still do not have a flight or many of my contractual obligations met by the promoters," Douglas wrote on the boards Thursday. "My name is still on the Web page as confirmed, but I am not confirmed. I have agreed to come, as I want to, but no one is returning my calls or e-mails to my agent."

Convention organizer Tim Brazeal, who three years ago collected money from "Star Trek: Enterprise" fans through his TrekUnited campaign that claimed to be purchasing a fifth season of the UPN show, said the decision to ax Douglas and Callis from the schedule came down to one thing: money. And that was something, apparently, FedConUSA organizers were lacking just hours before the start of the event. Despite Douglas' request that he fly on the more economical Alaska Airlines, Brazeal insisted that guests take American Airlines or United Airlines, which had a difference of $6,000 he said. Douglas, however, said he was able to find a ticket on Alaska Airlines for just $1,600.

Douglas and Callis weren't the only guests taken off the guest list in the final days leading up to the convention. Jaimie Alexander, who plays Jessi XX on ABC Family's "Kyle XY," told fans on her MySpace page that she had been scheduled as a guest at FedConUSA, but as of Wednesday, her name had been removed from the guest list. She apologized to fans who had purchased tickets to see her at the convention, and said she didn't know she had been canceled until she saw that her name was removed.

Talk about this story