Supanova Perth Report. aka. The Weekend I Became A Back Up Dancer In A 'Merlin' Knights' Video
Through a fortuitous set of events I unexpectedly found myself in Perth this past weekend for the next leg of the #knightsontour at Supanova. I didn’t think anything could top the amazing Sydney show the previous weekend, but I was wrong. Perth was even better, if that’s possible.
My first order of business was the Arthurless Q&A on the Friday night, with Eoin, Rupert and Tom. This was hilarious, and culminated in an auction, where 3 stuffed toys (including a Smurf) were auctioned off and raised over $1,000 for a very worthwhile charity. Rupert seemed a bit quieter in this panel (and the Sunday one) than he had in Sydney, but he was still witty and funny. Tom has a great future in auctioneering should he choose to diversify his talents.
The next morning I had a photo with Bradley during his first picture session of the weekend. He looked utterly gorgeous and was still as gracious and lovely as he had been the previous week, which was also my experience in his other photo and autograph sessions throughout the weekend.
The group photo with Eoin, Rupert, Bradley and Tom was another chance to prove just how much of an oompa-loompa I am. Holy hell, those guys are tall, and it seems even more so when they're all together. They really do seem to have a lot of fun together and genuinely appear to be great friends. They were such good sports during the photo sessions and seemed to agree to all sorts of whacky poses with fans. The girl in front of me even managed to get them to pick her up so she could like across their arms like a plank.
Throughout the weekend I was able to briefly glimpse some of the people in front of me getting photos taken and I am/was amazed at Bradley’s ability to just stay “on” and treat each person as though their photo and/or autograph session was the first one of the day (not number 100/200/900) and make it such a positive experience for them. I saw more than one person come out of his photo sessions totally overwhelmed by the experience as they’d enjoyed it so much, no matter how brief. As per last week, extra photo sessions were added on for him such was the demand. His autograph line stayed full, with waits of more than 2-3 hours or longer being the norm.
The Excalibur passholders Q&A panel on Saturday afternoon was very relaxed. Aside from the opening question (have they seen tumblr/fan fiction, which thankfully got booed down by the audience), most of the questions and answers were quite entertaining. Eoin had some good one liners at times. Summary of the panel can be read here.
After missing out on an Eoin photo last week I was happy to get one this time, and I think he’s adapted well to the Australian lifestyle as he seemed very laid back in the photo session. I had a quick chat with him later him as he was signing the photo, where we briefly discussed how he liked Australia. I had a similar discussion with Rupert when I presented him with my photo from the previous week to sign. The sun was shining right in my eyes as I was talking to them (bit of a weird set up really), for which they both apologised, which was totally unnecessary, but a lovely thing to do anyway. Tom was taking various surveys over the weekend in regards to whether people liked Perth or not, as well as more obscure things such as ‘are you afraid of escalators?’. These Merlin boys certainly do think outside the box.
I’m sure by now, most of the Merlin fandom has seen the Harlem Shake video. Wow! What a way to end their time in Australia. I think this was organised by Bradley, possibly in response to some of the previous requests the guys had had for them to show off their dance moves at both the Sydney and Perth expos.
As we were waiting outside for the (general admission) Q&A on Sunday, one of the volunteers told us that the group was setting up something special for us. They probably only had about 10 minutes in between the previous actor's Q&A and their own, to set it up and film the before and after parts of the actual dance.
When we entered the room, we saw a camera on the stage set up on a tripod, and facing the audience. My friend and I thought they might be going to take a (still) photo of the audience as a souvenir. But no. It was much better than that.
Once the audience had filed in, Tom asked if we all knew what a Harlem Shuffle was (I’d heard of it, but didn’t know what the actual moves were). Bradley then asked us all to practice looking bored and disinterested (as he said we’d probably all be anyway by the end of the Q&A. Ha! No chance). Once we’d all ‘rehearsed’ this, Bradley introduced fellow Supanova attendees Kai Owen (Torchwood) and Anthony Montgomery (Star Trek) to the audience. From here, Bradley, Tom, Rupert Eoin, Kai and Anthony came down from the stage and joined the audience! That was certainly unexpected. Rupert had moved further down the aisle but Eoin, Tom and Bradley stayed smack bang front and centre. Then the music started, and everyone went wild, especially Bradley, Tom and Eoin (Eoin’s pelvic thrust has to be seen to be believed, lol).
There was a camera filming it from the back of the room and projecting it onto the big screen at the front, and there is a big cheer that can be heard during the video. I think that was when one guy in the audience took off his shirt and started waving it around. He was obviously getting into the swing of things!
We probably danced for about 3-4 minutes and it was hilariously good fun. It was certainly a very different introduction to any Q&A panel I’ve ever been to (for any celebrity) and was a fantastic ‘ice breaker’ for fans who had never attended a Merlin panel before. The finished product can be viewed on Bradley’s new You Tube channel, and a ‘BTS’ clip can be seen on Anthony Montgomery’s public facebook page.
The rest of the panel was great fun, and again, the true friendship between all 4 men shone through. A recap can be read here. They were all presented with some small footballs, and Eoin at one stage threw his into the audience. It was then thrown back, which Bradley easily caught as it loomed towards him.
This weekend was also a great chance to catch up with friends old and new, chat to other fans whilst waiting in line and just soak up the general atmosphere. Next weekend is going to seem very boring in comparison to the previous two weekends.
My first order of business was the Arthurless Q&A on the Friday night, with Eoin, Rupert and Tom. This was hilarious, and culminated in an auction, where 3 stuffed toys (including a Smurf) were auctioned off and raised over $1,000 for a very worthwhile charity. Rupert seemed a bit quieter in this panel (and the Sunday one) than he had in Sydney, but he was still witty and funny. Tom has a great future in auctioneering should he choose to diversify his talents.
The next morning I had a photo with Bradley during his first picture session of the weekend. He looked utterly gorgeous and was still as gracious and lovely as he had been the previous week, which was also my experience in his other photo and autograph sessions throughout the weekend.
The group photo with Eoin, Rupert, Bradley and Tom was another chance to prove just how much of an oompa-loompa I am. Holy hell, those guys are tall, and it seems even more so when they're all together. They really do seem to have a lot of fun together and genuinely appear to be great friends. They were such good sports during the photo sessions and seemed to agree to all sorts of whacky poses with fans. The girl in front of me even managed to get them to pick her up so she could like across their arms like a plank.
Throughout the weekend I was able to briefly glimpse some of the people in front of me getting photos taken and I am/was amazed at Bradley’s ability to just stay “on” and treat each person as though their photo and/or autograph session was the first one of the day (not number 100/200/900) and make it such a positive experience for them. I saw more than one person come out of his photo sessions totally overwhelmed by the experience as they’d enjoyed it so much, no matter how brief. As per last week, extra photo sessions were added on for him such was the demand. His autograph line stayed full, with waits of more than 2-3 hours or longer being the norm.
The Excalibur passholders Q&A panel on Saturday afternoon was very relaxed. Aside from the opening question (have they seen tumblr/fan fiction, which thankfully got booed down by the audience), most of the questions and answers were quite entertaining. Eoin had some good one liners at times. Summary of the panel can be read here.
After missing out on an Eoin photo last week I was happy to get one this time, and I think he’s adapted well to the Australian lifestyle as he seemed very laid back in the photo session. I had a quick chat with him later him as he was signing the photo, where we briefly discussed how he liked Australia. I had a similar discussion with Rupert when I presented him with my photo from the previous week to sign. The sun was shining right in my eyes as I was talking to them (bit of a weird set up really), for which they both apologised, which was totally unnecessary, but a lovely thing to do anyway. Tom was taking various surveys over the weekend in regards to whether people liked Perth or not, as well as more obscure things such as ‘are you afraid of escalators?’. These Merlin boys certainly do think outside the box.
I’m sure by now, most of the Merlin fandom has seen the Harlem Shake video. Wow! What a way to end their time in Australia. I think this was organised by Bradley, possibly in response to some of the previous requests the guys had had for them to show off their dance moves at both the Sydney and Perth expos.
As we were waiting outside for the (general admission) Q&A on Sunday, one of the volunteers told us that the group was setting up something special for us. They probably only had about 10 minutes in between the previous actor's Q&A and their own, to set it up and film the before and after parts of the actual dance.
When we entered the room, we saw a camera on the stage set up on a tripod, and facing the audience. My friend and I thought they might be going to take a (still) photo of the audience as a souvenir. But no. It was much better than that.
Once the audience had filed in, Tom asked if we all knew what a Harlem Shuffle was (I’d heard of it, but didn’t know what the actual moves were). Bradley then asked us all to practice looking bored and disinterested (as he said we’d probably all be anyway by the end of the Q&A. Ha! No chance). Once we’d all ‘rehearsed’ this, Bradley introduced fellow Supanova attendees Kai Owen (Torchwood) and Anthony Montgomery (Star Trek) to the audience. From here, Bradley, Tom, Rupert Eoin, Kai and Anthony came down from the stage and joined the audience! That was certainly unexpected. Rupert had moved further down the aisle but Eoin, Tom and Bradley stayed smack bang front and centre. Then the music started, and everyone went wild, especially Bradley, Tom and Eoin (Eoin’s pelvic thrust has to be seen to be believed, lol).
There was a camera filming it from the back of the room and projecting it onto the big screen at the front, and there is a big cheer that can be heard during the video. I think that was when one guy in the audience took off his shirt and started waving it around. He was obviously getting into the swing of things!
We probably danced for about 3-4 minutes and it was hilariously good fun. It was certainly a very different introduction to any Q&A panel I’ve ever been to (for any celebrity) and was a fantastic ‘ice breaker’ for fans who had never attended a Merlin panel before. The finished product can be viewed on Bradley’s new You Tube channel, and a ‘BTS’ clip can be seen on Anthony Montgomery’s public facebook page.
The rest of the panel was great fun, and again, the true friendship between all 4 men shone through. A recap can be read here. They were all presented with some small footballs, and Eoin at one stage threw his into the audience. It was then thrown back, which Bradley easily caught as it loomed towards him.
This weekend was also a great chance to catch up with friends old and new, chat to other fans whilst waiting in line and just soak up the general atmosphere. Next weekend is going to seem very boring in comparison to the previous two weekends.