The Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant celebrated its 10th anniversary this year at Dragon*Con. Backstage, contestants snarled over last-minute costume adjustments and fought for the few available safety pins supplied by the human lackeys who scurried to obey their commands. The 2007 Miss Klingon Empire, when asked by the Daily Dragon how she felt about relinquishing her title, growled, “I’ll cut the head off the new winner, and then I’ll have two crowns and a trophy [the upstart's head].”

Sean Astin, best known to con-goers for his role as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, is attending his first Dragon*Con. He agreed to sit down for a chat with the Daily Dragon. Before we began, Sean said with a wide smile, “I love Dragon*Con. I LOVE Dragon*Con!”

Enter a world where dragons poise with curved talons, frozen in rosewood; where brooding warriors recline among wolves; and trees sink Celtic-knotted roots into unyielding rock and weep for the moon: enter the Dragon*Con Art Show.

Artist Steve Hickman presided over this year’s Art Show Awards ceremony, dedicated to the late Dr. Patrick James Roberts.  As the ceremony began, Hickman said he had the honor and responsibility of serving on the three-panel jury for the show.  He also told the gathering of juried artists that he was surprised by the size and quality of the Dragon*Con Art Show.

The 501st Legion, Vader’s Fist, began right here at Dragon*Con in 1998.  A popular part of the annual Dragon*Con Parade, the Star Wars fan group, begun by founder Albin Johnson, now has over 4,000 members in 40 countries.   That’s a lot of white armor.   But the Legion consists of far more than just stormtrooper clones.

Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) and James and Oliver Phelps (Fred and George Weasley), the busy stars of the Harry Potter movies, kindly agreed to adjust their schedules to answer a few questions for the Daily Dragon.

Saturday night, artists gathered in excited anticipation for the Art Show awards, presented by celebrated artist Todd Lockwood. The awards consisted of three categories: the Special Awards (people’s choice), the Treasure Chest Charity Art Project (the charity art project), and the Juried Awards.

Artist Don Maitz, who judged the treasure chests, could not attend because he was currently judging the Dawn Look-alike contest. A member of the audience joked that Maitz was judging “another kind of chest.”

Even Master of Ceremonies Eric L. Watts’s spirited performance of “Hey, Miss Klingon” could not overshadow the political message of the newly-crowned 2007 Miss Klingon Empire, VarkNa B’traughh (Valerie Rice): the Klingon campaign to conquer Earth. “We must save the humans from their biggest enemies–themselves.”

The pageant opened with “Klingon Rhapsody,” accompanied by two trembling, red-shirted Federation security guards. Only one guard appeared as a captive during the event, running errands and pouring water at a Klingon warrior’s command, as well as toadying to the one human friend of the Klingons, emcee Watts. The fate of the second red shirt remains unreported, and he is feared dead.

The pageant was judged by a celebrity panel, again led by certified Miss America Organization pageant judge Autumn Skye Boothe along with judges Ken Feinberg (who appeared as an alien captain …