Only 14 episodes of the television show “Firefly” aired more than 20 years ago, but the sci-fi series has such dedicated fans that an effort is underway to reunite the cast in a new format, and four of the program’s original stars will be in central Iowa this weekend to talk about it.
Ben Penrod is founder of Des Moines Con, which will hold its fifth annual event in Iowa’s largest city starting tomorrow.
“We are going to have Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite, Summer Glau, and Sean Maher, all from ‘Firefly’,” Penrod says. “I’m a huge fan of ‘Firefly’, it’s one of my favorite shows of all time. Being able to do this is really exciting, especially after they announced that they’re trying to put an animated series together.”
The four stars will hold a Firefly Reunion panel on Saturday, while each will be available for autographs and photo-ops, together and separately. Fan backlash after “Firefly” was cancelled eventually prompted the shooting of a full-length movie, “Serenity,” released in 2005.
Penrod says several other well-known TV shows are holding reunions at the convention this weekend, too, including the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” with five of the program’s original voice actors appearing in Des Moines.
“Ninja Turtles is very important to me and my childhood,” Penrod says, laughing. “We also have the ‘Futurama’ reunion with Billy Rust and Phil Lamar. We’ve got a ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ voiceover reunion with some of the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ cast. And we’ve got a ‘Hazbin Hotel’ reunion.”
While some convention attendees go just to see the celebrities, others go to be seen — wearing elaborate costumes depicting their favorite superheroes, villains and anime characters. Penrod says “cosplay” continues to grow in popularity and is now practically a mainstream hobby.
“I would estimate that maybe a quarter of everybody who comes to Des Moines Con will be in some kind of costume,” he says, “and it’s such a cool thing to see. I love seeing how much work people put into their costumes. We’ve got costume contests Saturday and Sunday.”
The massive vendor area features an array of items for sale, including comic books, apparel, toys, all sorts of cosplay accessories including light sabers, and dozens of artists selling their original works.
Des Moines Con will be held through Sunday at the Iowa Events Center downtown.
