AirLockAlpha.com

Organizers behind JumpCon have canceled a planned convention in Boston this weekend after seeing efforts to keep the convention together implode.

"Many factors that needed to come together to make it happen simply did not," said Shane Senter, the convention's organizer, in a statement. "We tried everything humanly possible and were unable to overcome the insurmountable obstacles. I wanted to see this succeed so badly that I was blinded to some warning signs that should have been obvious. I fully apologize to all the fans who've been inconvenienced by this late announcement and assure them that we're in the process of getting you all refunds."

JumpCon is the second major convention to fail this summer following the collapse of FedConUSA in Dallas on Memorial Day weekend which happened after the convention had already started.

JumpCon, however, had no name recognition, and in fact was a new idea developed by Senter that would plan a convention that would "jump" from city to city with a primary focus on stars from Star Trek properties as well as actors from "Battlestar Galactica," "Hercules" and "Babylon 5." But the idea hit serious trouble real early, according to TrekMovie.

Senter told the site that the collapse of FedConUSA forced one of his sponsors to back out. However, TrekMovie said it received reports that the problems with JumpCon started long before FedConUSA's issues went public. As early as Monday, Senter said he was working on finding alternative financing to keep the convention going, but by Tuesday morning -- just hours before being forced to cancel -- Senter sounded defeated.

"I am not giving up until I have exhausted every last resource I have, and I am almost [to] that point," he said.

John Billingsley, who played Dr. Phlox in "Star Trek: Enterprise," was one of the guests scheduled to appear at JumpCon, and was the celebrity on stage at FedConUSA when organizers announced the cancellation of that event. He told TrekMovie he got fed up with JumpCon last week because of missed contractual obligations from the organizers, and asked to be removed from the guest list, which he was.

On Tuesday afternoon, agent Erin Gray released a statement on behalf of Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Nichelle Nicholes, Mira Furlan, Marjean Holden, Stephen Furst, Tony Amendola and Tracy Scoggins that despite all her efforts to bring her clients to Boston, she simply saw no way it was going to happen.

"For weeks all of my clients have done everything in their power to accommodate Shane Senter at JumpCon from renegotiating contracts to extending deadlines, all in the hopes of salvaging the JumpCon events," Gray said in a statement to Airlock Alpha. "They were looking forward to attending and meeting the fans. However, at this late date, no money has transpired and no tickets have been sent."

Of course, the cancellation will affect "Battlestar Galactica" fans because JumpCon was the only American convention the two planned on doing this year.

"Edward and Mary trust the future will provide the perfect event where they can meet with fans and friends and thank them for their support," Gray said. "We are currently looking at other alternatives."

Refunds may be a tricky subject for Senter, who told TrekMovie that some 500 tickets had already been sold for the Boston event, but despite a policy to refund money within 14 days to anyone who requested it, he didn't have enough money on hand to provide the refunds.

Although FedConUSA and now JumpCon have put convention in a lot of negative light, TrekMovie columnist John Tenuto reminds fans that such problems are rare. He does warn that fans should research conventions and their history before buying tickets to attend.

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