Convention report - Sunday
Nov. 16th, 2004 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayOne of the fun things about updating the reviews on The Haven is when authors reply to my notification that they've been reviewed. Many of them seem genuinely surprised to have written something worth reviewing/recommending and I sometimes get some lovely comments in return about the archive. It gives me nice, fuzzy feelings after the headaches of getting 27 reviews coded and copied. When I finally get the archive onto a database, my life will be easier.
Anyway, onto the final day of SG-8.
After the minor technical problems with Saturday's breakfast/ticket combo,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
paranoidangel42 and I decided to do things slightly differently: breakfast first and then tickets. So 6.20am saw us glaring at alarms and rushing around to throw on jeans and sweaters before hurrying down to breakfast for 6.30am. Ouch. Coffee was seriously needed at that point. The cold that I had picked up and was just starting to feel on Saturday night did not make breakfast any easier, but my stomach settled when I had croissants and coffee inside me. We managed to be down in the convention suite by 6.50am to get our virtual tickets, meeting Beth and Kate on the way. Wolf had a better handle on timing, so we had our tickets and were on our way out just after seven. We also had slightly better numbers (67, 68, 69 and 70) - whoo!
Programming wasn't meant to begin until 10am that morning so all four of us decided we were too bloody knackered - and went back to bed for an hour and a half. Ah, sleep...
We were back in the suite by 9.40am, showered and bright-eyed, and Bryan the organiser had come up with the wonderful idea of cordoning off an area near the door for folks with tickets under 75 - i.e. us *g* No more fighting through eight hundred people to get to the door when our ticket batch was call. Yay! Somehow we managed to get exactly the same seats that we'd had on Saturday, which was cool because they were pretty good seats.
The plan was to take in the morning session (Teryl, Peter Wingfield...) and possibly skip part of the afternoon session because I wasn't feeling great - Beth and Kate would hold seats for PA and I so that we could nip in for the closing ceremony. Somehow that plan never happened...
Peter Wingfield was on first and he was much perkier (and louder - someone had obviously turned his microphone up). Again there were lots of questions about Methos and he was mock indignant about the way Tanith got written out of SG - apparently he wasn't available so they CGI'd him into the ship that immediately crashed. The indignity! *g* He had no idea what they'd be doing to his voice and eyes when playing a Goa'uld - didn't know why the director was telling him to "look up and open your eyes a bit" until he saw the finished eps and the glowy-eye things. He seems to have really loved playing Methos. Tthe "I'm just a guy" attitude that Methos had was in large part from PW. How do you play five thousand years old? You don't - you play a guy who happens to be five thousand years old, but it's not a huge deal to him. Every now again he pops comments into the conversation (name-dropping *g*), but basically you're playing a guy who's doing his thing and blending in with everyone else.
Don S. Davis was on stage next. He's a lovely guy with a rather soothing voice - not something I needed that morning *g* I did stay away and it was interesting to hear about all the things he's done over the years. Acting is only a tiny part of who he is - Don is an artist in many mediums.
Our next guest was...Teryl! She consistently got the biggest cheers/applause over the weekend *g* That day she stayed on the stage (to the relief of the SG-8 cameramen), but the stage couldn't contain the Teryl energy or enthusiasm.
The stage had been made up as a Stargate-like infirmary in honour of the two Stargate doctors at the convention. This included several white coats and at one point Teryl was asked to put one of them on. She happily did so and discovered a pen light in one pocket - the place lit up with flashes as everyone attempted to photograph her in doctor-kit *g*
Part way through Teryl's session, Paul McGillion popped onto stage to tease and distract her - the man is bananas. Of course, everyone insisted that he join in the white coat wearing and he dragged a poor question-asker onto the stage to sit in a chair while he and Teryl attempted to 'cure' her. It's amazing that SG-1 ever survived their visits...
The final 'treat' for Teryl was when the techies rigged up the screen behind her to show us her fantastic rendition of 'Big Spender' from the evening event in Germany earlier in the week. Very, very funny. Teryl slithered sexily off-stage to the strains of 'Big Spender'...
Paul McGillion returned to the stage for his question and answer session - without the white coat. Don't worry, a crew member found a replica of his Atlantis jacket to wear *g* After a couple of his "I'm single" declarations, one of the techies put "I'm desperate!" up on the screen behind him. The audience burst into laughter and Paul had no idea why *g*
None of my little group had booked photo sessions for Sunday, so we were able to wander off and do our different lunch things without panicked phone-calls midway through. After feeling icky at various points during the morning, I felt pretty good with some lunch in me so PA and I decided to take in the full afternoon session.
Our lovely low-numbered virtual tickets again got us into the cordoned-off area and we managed to get our familiar seats again. Yay! Ronny Cox was first onto the stage (no band - just Ronny this time) and he was as charming as ever. The strange thing is that I've now seen Ronny several times at conventions and he comes across as a really lovely, genuinely good guy. But he still managed to convince me that Kinsey is absolutely despicable when in every ep of Stargate that he's in. Ronny has put a lot of thought into Kinsey's motivations and thinks that he's one of the truly evil guys - he is absolutely convinced that what he's doing is right even though he's doing terrible things. Kinsey doesn't want to shut down the Stargate - he wants to control it because the power it would give him would be the pinnacle of his career. Kinsey doesn't want to destroy the planet, kill people or control slave armies - he just wants power so that he can pursue his agenda. In a way, that makes him scarier than Apophis.
The last guest of the day was Neil Denis. Or mini-Teal'c, as everyone had nicknamed him *g* Despite partying with the plebs until some ridiculous hour on Saturday night, he was still bouncey and talkative. Awww. At one point his father got up to ask a question - "Is there anything in your life that you'd change?" Neil said no - even though some crappy stuff had happened to him, he wouldn't be who he is without those experiences. It was a lovely moment :-)
With all the guest sessions over and the photo shoots finished, it was time to wrap up the official part of the convention. First there was a raffle to be drawn - Paul and Peter were called back to stage to draw the tickets and people won lots goodies, including one lucky person who won tickets to a future Wolf convention. I had my usual raffle-luck *g*
Over the weekend, people had submitted various art things in a competition and then results were announced and prizes given. The finalists for the computer art competition were also displayed, with the audience voting for them through the loudness of their cheering. The winning entry was a fantastic "Indiana Jackson" piece that looked amazing and got a deafening cheer. Whoo!
And then it was time for the closing ceremony. The guests were called back on stage to receive cheers and applause. Bryan thanked everyone involved andsazzle_02 got a cheer for her fearless signing all weekend. Just wish she could have seen more of the convention. Guh. The final applause for Teryl was amazing - she got a standing ovation, which I've never seen before. Poor Teryl was in tears *g* Bryan will be nuts not to invite her back for another convention.
With the thanks and cheers done, Bryan had one more thing - a Janet tribute video that had been made by some of her fans. Teryl was in tears in a corner, again, and it was a beautiful, if sobering, video.
Beth, Kate and I had already had our autograph sessions, but PA's ticket number was much higher so she had hers done that evening. We checked withyragg about the probable timing before hurrying off for a final chatter and giggle with Beth and Kate. They had to leave that night and had left their luggage in our room for the day, so we found out the approximate time of the coach and gathered their stuff...in time to miss the coach *g* Luckily there was another one fifteen minutes later so we packed them off and waved goodbye. It was around seven when we returned to the convention suite to find out that they were nowhere near to reaching PA's ticket number in the autograph queues. The lovely Saz, though, generously lent her ticket to PA so that she could go in. Thanks, hon. I sat out in the smoker's corner and chatted with G, Saz, Jill...anyone who stopped by *g* It still took a couple of hours for PA to get through the queues - that Paul McGillion...
It was a little before nine when PA finally emerged. Saz, Jill and G decided that they'd done enough stewarding for the day (well, they had been due off duty hours ago) and we were all hungry. We made arrangements to meet at their hotel for supper, nipped upstairs to drop off posters and cameras, and trotted over to the Sheriden for pasta and a long chatter.
After supper we all decided to return to the convention suite for a final drink at the bar. We picked up Marge from St. Louis again and settled into the smokers' corner to chat about fic, slash, Stargate, the Sentinel, bash Orry and everything else we could think of. At one point Neil Denis, who had been partying with the plebs again, went out into the parking lot with the Jedi Chefs for lightsaber battles. Minds out of gutters, folks *g* That boy has absorbed his martial arts training very well - he was basically wielding the saber as though it was a staff and beating the chefs hands down in each bout. I wish my camera hadn't been in my room at that point...
We finally scattered sometime after 2am, promising to meet up in the lobby of the Thistle Hotel for final goodbyes the following morning.
Monday morning was slightly depressing. PA and I had planned to sleep in (again) and were scuppered by the hotel (again) when housekeeping came in just before nine. Grrr. We sent the maid packing, but couldn't go back to sleep and got up instead. We managed to be breakfasted, showered and dressed in time to meet the gang downstairs. The quick goodbyes extended a bit, so PA and I nipped upstairs to finish packing and drag our cases downstairs in time to check out. And then continued saying goodbye *g* Half an hour and a couple of group photos later we finally admitted that the weekend was over and we'd have to start making our way home. Always the depressing part :-(
I had a great time at the convention. Although it's fun to meet the actors, the parts that will stand out in my mind most clearly are the times I spent with friends. That's what makes conventions - the old friends you get to see again and the new friends that you meet. It wouldn't be nearly as fun without them and I can't wait until the next get-together *g*
[/sappy moment]
Anyway, onto the final day of SG-8.
After the minor technical problems with Saturday's breakfast/ticket combo,
paranoidangel42 and I decided to do things slightly differently: breakfast first and then tickets. So 6.20am saw us glaring at alarms and rushing around to throw on jeans and sweaters before hurrying down to breakfast for 6.30am. Ouch. Coffee was seriously needed at that point. The cold that I had picked up and was just starting to feel on Saturday night did not make breakfast any easier, but my stomach settled when I had croissants and coffee inside me. We managed to be down in the convention suite by 6.50am to get our virtual tickets, meeting Beth and Kate on the way. Wolf had a better handle on timing, so we had our tickets and were on our way out just after seven. We also had slightly better numbers (67, 68, 69 and 70) - whoo!Programming wasn't meant to begin until 10am that morning so all four of us decided we were too bloody knackered - and went back to bed for an hour and a half. Ah, sleep...
We were back in the suite by 9.40am, showered and bright-eyed, and Bryan the organiser had come up with the wonderful idea of cordoning off an area near the door for folks with tickets under 75 - i.e. us *g* No more fighting through eight hundred people to get to the door when our ticket batch was call. Yay! Somehow we managed to get exactly the same seats that we'd had on Saturday, which was cool because they were pretty good seats.
The plan was to take in the morning session (Teryl, Peter Wingfield...) and possibly skip part of the afternoon session because I wasn't feeling great - Beth and Kate would hold seats for PA and I so that we could nip in for the closing ceremony. Somehow that plan never happened...
Peter Wingfield was on first and he was much perkier (and louder - someone had obviously turned his microphone up). Again there were lots of questions about Methos and he was mock indignant about the way Tanith got written out of SG - apparently he wasn't available so they CGI'd him into the ship that immediately crashed. The indignity! *g* He had no idea what they'd be doing to his voice and eyes when playing a Goa'uld - didn't know why the director was telling him to "look up and open your eyes a bit" until he saw the finished eps and the glowy-eye things. He seems to have really loved playing Methos. Tthe "I'm just a guy" attitude that Methos had was in large part from PW. How do you play five thousand years old? You don't - you play a guy who happens to be five thousand years old, but it's not a huge deal to him. Every now again he pops comments into the conversation (name-dropping *g*), but basically you're playing a guy who's doing his thing and blending in with everyone else.
Don S. Davis was on stage next. He's a lovely guy with a rather soothing voice - not something I needed that morning *g* I did stay away and it was interesting to hear about all the things he's done over the years. Acting is only a tiny part of who he is - Don is an artist in many mediums.
Our next guest was...Teryl! She consistently got the biggest cheers/applause over the weekend *g* That day she stayed on the stage (to the relief of the SG-8 cameramen), but the stage couldn't contain the Teryl energy or enthusiasm.
The stage had been made up as a Stargate-like infirmary in honour of the two Stargate doctors at the convention. This included several white coats and at one point Teryl was asked to put one of them on. She happily did so and discovered a pen light in one pocket - the place lit up with flashes as everyone attempted to photograph her in doctor-kit *g*
Part way through Teryl's session, Paul McGillion popped onto stage to tease and distract her - the man is bananas. Of course, everyone insisted that he join in the white coat wearing and he dragged a poor question-asker onto the stage to sit in a chair while he and Teryl attempted to 'cure' her. It's amazing that SG-1 ever survived their visits...
The final 'treat' for Teryl was when the techies rigged up the screen behind her to show us her fantastic rendition of 'Big Spender' from the evening event in Germany earlier in the week. Very, very funny. Teryl slithered sexily off-stage to the strains of 'Big Spender'...
Paul McGillion returned to the stage for his question and answer session - without the white coat. Don't worry, a crew member found a replica of his Atlantis jacket to wear *g* After a couple of his "I'm single" declarations, one of the techies put "I'm desperate!" up on the screen behind him. The audience burst into laughter and Paul had no idea why *g*
None of my little group had booked photo sessions for Sunday, so we were able to wander off and do our different lunch things without panicked phone-calls midway through. After feeling icky at various points during the morning, I felt pretty good with some lunch in me so PA and I decided to take in the full afternoon session.
Our lovely low-numbered virtual tickets again got us into the cordoned-off area and we managed to get our familiar seats again. Yay! Ronny Cox was first onto the stage (no band - just Ronny this time) and he was as charming as ever. The strange thing is that I've now seen Ronny several times at conventions and he comes across as a really lovely, genuinely good guy. But he still managed to convince me that Kinsey is absolutely despicable when in every ep of Stargate that he's in. Ronny has put a lot of thought into Kinsey's motivations and thinks that he's one of the truly evil guys - he is absolutely convinced that what he's doing is right even though he's doing terrible things. Kinsey doesn't want to shut down the Stargate - he wants to control it because the power it would give him would be the pinnacle of his career. Kinsey doesn't want to destroy the planet, kill people or control slave armies - he just wants power so that he can pursue his agenda. In a way, that makes him scarier than Apophis.
The last guest of the day was Neil Denis. Or mini-Teal'c, as everyone had nicknamed him *g* Despite partying with the plebs until some ridiculous hour on Saturday night, he was still bouncey and talkative. Awww. At one point his father got up to ask a question - "Is there anything in your life that you'd change?" Neil said no - even though some crappy stuff had happened to him, he wouldn't be who he is without those experiences. It was a lovely moment :-)
With all the guest sessions over and the photo shoots finished, it was time to wrap up the official part of the convention. First there was a raffle to be drawn - Paul and Peter were called back to stage to draw the tickets and people won lots goodies, including one lucky person who won tickets to a future Wolf convention. I had my usual raffle-luck *g*
Over the weekend, people had submitted various art things in a competition and then results were announced and prizes given. The finalists for the computer art competition were also displayed, with the audience voting for them through the loudness of their cheering. The winning entry was a fantastic "Indiana Jackson" piece that looked amazing and got a deafening cheer. Whoo!
And then it was time for the closing ceremony. The guests were called back on stage to receive cheers and applause. Bryan thanked everyone involved and
sazzle_02 got a cheer for her fearless signing all weekend. Just wish she could have seen more of the convention. Guh. The final applause for Teryl was amazing - she got a standing ovation, which I've never seen before. Poor Teryl was in tears *g* Bryan will be nuts not to invite her back for another convention.With the thanks and cheers done, Bryan had one more thing - a Janet tribute video that had been made by some of her fans. Teryl was in tears in a corner, again, and it was a beautiful, if sobering, video.
Beth, Kate and I had already had our autograph sessions, but PA's ticket number was much higher so she had hers done that evening. We checked with
yragg about the probable timing before hurrying off for a final chatter and giggle with Beth and Kate. They had to leave that night and had left their luggage in our room for the day, so we found out the approximate time of the coach and gathered their stuff...in time to miss the coach *g* Luckily there was another one fifteen minutes later so we packed them off and waved goodbye. It was around seven when we returned to the convention suite to find out that they were nowhere near to reaching PA's ticket number in the autograph queues. The lovely Saz, though, generously lent her ticket to PA so that she could go in. Thanks, hon. I sat out in the smoker's corner and chatted with G, Saz, Jill...anyone who stopped by *g* It still took a couple of hours for PA to get through the queues - that Paul McGillion...It was a little before nine when PA finally emerged. Saz, Jill and G decided that they'd done enough stewarding for the day (well, they had been due off duty hours ago) and we were all hungry. We made arrangements to meet at their hotel for supper, nipped upstairs to drop off posters and cameras, and trotted over to the Sheriden for pasta and a long chatter.
After supper we all decided to return to the convention suite for a final drink at the bar. We picked up Marge from St. Louis again and settled into the smokers' corner to chat about fic, slash, Stargate, the Sentinel, bash Orry and everything else we could think of. At one point Neil Denis, who had been partying with the plebs again, went out into the parking lot with the Jedi Chefs for lightsaber battles. Minds out of gutters, folks *g* That boy has absorbed his martial arts training very well - he was basically wielding the saber as though it was a staff and beating the chefs hands down in each bout. I wish my camera hadn't been in my room at that point...
We finally scattered sometime after 2am, promising to meet up in the lobby of the Thistle Hotel for final goodbyes the following morning.
Monday morning was slightly depressing. PA and I had planned to sleep in (again) and were scuppered by the hotel (again) when housekeeping came in just before nine. Grrr. We sent the maid packing, but couldn't go back to sleep and got up instead. We managed to be breakfasted, showered and dressed in time to meet the gang downstairs. The quick goodbyes extended a bit, so PA and I nipped upstairs to finish packing and drag our cases downstairs in time to check out. And then continued saying goodbye *g* Half an hour and a couple of group photos later we finally admitted that the weekend was over and we'd have to start making our way home. Always the depressing part :-(
I had a great time at the convention. Although it's fun to meet the actors, the parts that will stand out in my mind most clearly are the times I spent with friends. That's what makes conventions - the old friends you get to see again and the new friends that you meet. It wouldn't be nearly as fun without them and I can't wait until the next get-together *g*
[/sappy moment]
