Space-Ex 84

Convention
Name:	Space-Ex 84
Dates:	1984
Frequency:	Cancelled
Location:	London, UK
Type:	Multimedia convention
Focus:	general fandom
Organization:	ISTRA (The Interplanetary Space Travel Research Assoc.)
Founder:	Mike Parry
Founding Date:	1979
URL:
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Space-Ex 84 was a high-profile SF convention failure, an abortive attempt to set up a British multimedia SF convention which was repeatedly moved and postponed, gradually diminishing in size. It was first advertised in 1979 as taking place on 4-11 August 1984 in the Wembley Conference Centre, through smaller and smaller sizes and locations to a three-day event in the Central Hall, Westminster starting on 6th August 1984. Shortly before the convention members were told that the fees they had paid "had not bought them actual membership, merely the right to half-price admission." On the day there was nothing at the site except a sign saying "SPACE-EX IS CANCELLED". Members lost their registration fees, and the convention folded with debts to many companies including costume suppliers (who made uniforms for ushers) and magazines that had carried the convention's advertising.

The convention as originally proposed would have had a budget of £280,000 but given the original membership rates would have needed to attract at least 15,000 attendees to meet that budget; the largest UK general SF conventions of the period (the 1979 and 1987 Worldcons) only had 3114 and 5425 members, although there had been larger media conventions. While Space-Ex might have been pitched to a wider audience, there was little effort to market it apart from some advertising in magazines such as the BBC's Radio Times magazine and the games magazine White Dwarf.

Fan Comments

From a fan in 1985:

If anyone knows where Mike Parry is, I would like his address. Mr. Parry has been selling registrations for SPACE-EX for several years. Many people turned up at the Central Hall Westminster, where the con was supposed to be, only to be told by staff that they had never heard of Mike Parry or ISTRA. This is a little strange since only the week before the ISTRA table at the Plaza Cinema in London was selling registrations for it! Then, I heard that the con had been "delayed" and would take place over the weekend of the August Bank holiday. It didn't happen then either! The only suggestion I can make to anyone who paid for the con and hasn't had their money back is to take him to court. Fraud is not nice. It is not the sort of behavior you would expect from someone who is -- allegedly -- a "fan."

External Links

• Ansible Newsletter 04, November 1979 - Ansible reports initial announcement of the convention.
• Ansible Newsletter 35, October 1983 - raised some doubts about the convention's lack of publicity.
• Ansible Newsletter 39, August 1984 - more reports of problems with the convention.
• Ansible Newsletter 40, October 1984 - news of the cancellation.