Con Report, Part Two!
Ok... feeling a wee bit better and no more coursework for a couple of weeks... so thought I should write this down whilst it's still vaguely fresh in my mind!
Ok, first of all, 'she wasn't there'? What was that supposed to mean?! Hmm... I wonder how many random thought processes made their way out of my brain and onto paper when I was writing the first half? Ah well.
Now, I must admit, what little I can remember of any talks are sort of jumbled together, so I'm just going to bunch 'em all in one big lump. Too confusing elsewise. Unlike the other cons I've been to, the questions were all asked by an MC. I suppose that it''s good (I'm always too self-conscious to go up and ask anything) in a way, but I think the guest-audience interaction is more fun. And you can ask follow up questions. So maybe they should have had queues up the sides and only if they ran out of questioners should they read out a submitted question. Or at least alternate! Anyway....
SG-1:
This consisted of Peter Williams (Apophis), Colin Cunningham (Major Davis) and Alexis Cruz (Skaara). Can I just say now that Colin Cunningham is bloody mental? Soo different from his character, who is quite stoic... maybe it's the curse of stoic characters that they have to be played by outgoing, crazy guys - like Chris Judge playing Teal'c! He was very good at filling silences that otherwise may have been awkward. Peter Williams was just cool. I'd seen Alexis in Vancouver and his talk was very serious there, but he was a bit more light hearted here.
Hmm.. let's think... Well, Colin was talking about how much power we fans had without really knowing it. For example, he was reading a fanfiction story where they'd written his first name as Paul... and then, lo and behold, his name was suddenly Paul Davis! Someone asked Skaara what his surname was, and he said Ra. Peter said he was too cool to need a surname - he was just Apophis. Paul quipped that perhaps before he was a good, he was Apoph, to which Peter replied that it was more likely to be Apuf. Certainly explained the gold lipstick, skirt and shapely legs!
Alexis was talking about his time on Sesame street as well and certainly scars your memories to think what all the puppets were doing after takes! And he was also talking about one of his first acting jobs was in an advert for Kraft's macaroni and cheese. He was supposed to be writing lines on the board, whilst his teacher sat on the desk and pulled out -as you do - a steaming hot plate with mac and cheese on it. Alexis had never had mac and cheese before and was beginning to get a little bit hungry... I think this shoot when on ALL day (which seems a bit ridiculous to me) and every take they would bring out another, freshly cooked mac and cheese and use that one. And the director wouldn't let him have any at all - all day! How mean. But he went home and his Mum made him some instead!
If that's all I can remember, that's seriously crap. Oh, yeah, I 'asked' Alexis a question about whether he would do a sequel to the original films if they happened (to which he replied something along the lines of hell, yes) and what he thought his character development would be. He was saying about how he loved Skaara and how hard it was for him to learn to like/love the character of Klorel (which he finally got in the last episode Klorel was in (Shades of Grey?)) and how he would find it easy to slip back into Skaara because we (the fans) haven't let him let go. You know, keep coming to conventions etc. that kept the characters alive for them. That was a bit sweet.
Hmm.... maybe more will come back to me later!
Joe and Jason Talk:
Well, Laura came in just before the first one in a bit of a daze... bless her! She was saying how Jason had sat next to her and kept touching her (minds OUT of gutters, please) and how he had been 'reading' his Mr Strong book. He seemed a bit bemused by the creme egg (which is strange because they have them in Canada. Maybe not the US, though, but I don't see why not!). But Laura was actually glowing, she was so smitten, bless her! But I didn't get much time else to talk to her because I was sitting with Pip not them.
Anyway, I loved the Joe-Jason talks. You could so tell that they were really the best of friends and that was great to see. Joe was a little exhausted that day (so not surprised), but on the second day he'd really perked up and lot and you could tell he felt so much better (probably that extra hour or so lie in he had!).
Anyway, they talked about lots of stuff. Someone asked what Ronon's gun was called (like Vera in Firefly) to which he replied Little Shep. (Yep, there was a lot of Shex going on that weekend!) Someone else asked what their favourite tatto was and Jason pointed to the inside of his thigh where he had a picture of Joe. He really cracked Joe up, it was funny just watching that part of the talk. Someone else asked if they could do impressions of the rest of the cast... for Paul they just said "Thank ye" a lot, which actually sounded pretty good. Rachel was: "I'm so tired". And David... well, David Hewlett had a whole category of his own. But they did say he was a seriously funny guy. Jason got the one up on him once, though, because David was letting rip on him because he'd got something wrong in the scene, making all the crew laugh, until Jason just turned to them and said "Why is it always the fat guy that's funny?" LOL!
They were asked about pranks - you know, what was the worst one ever played on them, what was the worst they'd ever played etc. They couldn't say the worst one ever played (which I think is the one with all the porn posters they put in DH's trailer), but they said they didn't get many pranks played on them. Possibly because Jason just looks as though he'll punch you (!) and Joe's the leading man. But they apparently terrorised David Hewlett. And this is where they did a DH impression (or Joe did).
They'd been on location somewhere and were driving back. Well, I think Joe and Jason hitched a lift with one of those big lorries/trucks they have to cart things around. David was driving his little volvo, or whatever the hell it was. So Joe was being David driving and Jason was being himself as he quite spectacularly mooned David as they were driving past him! Joe could NOT keep a straight face.
Onto more serious stuff, they were asked about how they felt about Enemy at the Gate and they said they hated it. I'm glad they're so honest about it. I think they felt as we did - it was all a bit rushed and put together too well to end it. Joe was saying how it's supposed to be the set up to the movie, but there were no cliff hangers, nothing. All tied together and put away. Probably why Jason doesn't think there'll be a movie and I can see why. Yes, they haven't got rid of the Wraith problem, but they have no practical way to get back to Pegasus so why even bother. Angry now. But they were a bit like 'McKeller - where the hell did that come from'? (Cazz and Laura were cheering at this, but then we reasoned that they may not have actually SEEN Brainstorm, so for them it really has come out of the blue.) Jason also pointed out that there was no way in real life that a girl would pick David over him, lol! He also said that he thought Ronon should have died, as in properly. And at the end they said it was a bit like they were out there having a smoke - and Joe was complaining about how everyone had hooked up and he was all on his own. But I love that they see the ending as we do - rushed up in a neat little box. Gah!
Also talking about how stupid Ronon felt when he had to shoot his gun - because, of course, it's all special effects so nothing happens. That's why he started doing that little twisting, swivel thing he does - just to make it feel a bit more believable for him! And Joe was talking about how the bullets cost a $1 each, so they're told not to fire too many... to which he replies with 'better give me another mag', lol!
They also discussed the creative team behind it. Joe liked Robert Cooper, thought he wrote good Sheppard episodes, but some of the writers just don't care that much. But if they read something in the script that their character says or does, then they'll go to the writer and just say that that's not what they would do. And Joe said if he gets any exposition he always goes and says no, that's not what my character does. So they usually give it to David! It's nice to know they get to add creative input into the story and discuss with the guys. But apparently 'Sunday' was the only storyline where they couldn't give any input - didn't see the script until it was all finalised and I don't think they were very happy about it.
Hmm... what else... oh yes. Someone asked them if they'd ever fought, being housemates as they were, and they said only one big fight. They didn't tell us what that was, fair enough, but Joe joked that Jason had been bringing home 12 year old single malt instead of 16 year old single malt scotch (at least I think it was scotch =o). Also Jason once punched a hole in the wall of their hotel room and instead of getting it fixed just put up a poster over it. Joe was trying to get the room ready for when his wife was coming up to see him.. and tries to take the poster down, because it's for Brokeback mountain... only to find a massive hole in the wall behind! Dilmena! Leave Brokeback mountain poster up.. or display the hole in the wall? (I don't see why he couldn't just go and get another poster...)
And Joe is very impressed with his action figure. He apparently gives them away as presents to people more famous than him. And he's friends with Hugh Jackmans family (how cool), who also has a figurine (Wolverine). So their kids usually make them fight each other. Joe's figure is apparently taller than Hugh's, so I think he wins quite a lot. And they were asked what sort of cartoon character they'd be. Apparently Joe's kids were happy Atlantis was cancelled, because now he can do "a good show, like Spongebob". lol Oh, oh! And he was talking about his part in a movie called Thoughtcrimes (which I haven't seen.. what kind of JF fan am I?!) where he's thinking the theme tune to Scooby Doo. Apparently it was supposed to be something serious, like "She's going to fire me" etc. but Joe was all, "Most of the time I think about stupid things, like.. "cheeseburger"." So he suggested what if he was thinking something really stupid, like a show tune - like Scooby Doo. The director loved it, but less so when it cost them $30000 to buy the rights! Oops!
Hmm... I think I'll leave it for now... it's like a whole other post just on it's own...
Well, after the Joe-Jason talk we went downstairs, although I don't know why... maybe to pick up our photo ops with Joe? Anyway, we missed the first 9 questions of the quiz, which is a shame, because I think we were doing quite well. Although Jay Avacone and the Beliskner haunted us for the rest of the evening. (And the planet Jonas is from is called Langara... couldn't remember that one, either!) But Vanessa Angel, whoo! One of the more random guest stars I remember, although I have no idea why.
Afterwards was the skit. At first I thought it was the actors (minus Joe, who'd gone onto London to see his family) putting on a skit, but actually it was meant to be us! =o Well, the actors were sort of skitting along with us... Colin was the director, who actually looked the part with his little black beret, Peter was the producer and, consequently, spent most of the time on the phone, Alexis was the acting coach (who has actually done some acting workshops for Creation cons) and Jason was the star they were trying to replace. He fitted the glove of spoilt star quite well, turning up late, sleeping, heading out to get booze, then heading out to pick up girls (lucky crew members he came back with, lol).
Anyway, the person in charge - the casting director or whatever - was a lady called Julie, who is actually the agent of at least Joe, Jason and Alexis. She was in Babylon 5 as well, I think. So she needed people to play the parts of Sheppard, Ronon, McKay, Teyla and Dr Watts (a new, male character). Of course she hits upon the age old problem that convention attendees are mainly women! Not that many guys there at all (certainly not ones that were willing). But in the end we got 6 guys (2 apiece for Sheppard, Watts adn McKay) and 4 girls (for Ronon and Teyla). They went off to practice in their little groups and then came back after a few minutes to show off their scenes (they were auditioning) I'm not quite sure what happened whilst they were rehearshing, but never mind.
Well, the first team came back and did their two scenes. They were actually quite good. The skit started off with Rodney complaining to Sheppard and Teyla about this new scientist they were expecting on Atlantis, Dr Bill Watts. Rodney points out that he's very suspicious, just popped out of nowhere knowing lots of stuff about aliens etc. Ronon then turns up with Dr Bill Watts. Poor Ronon's one line is something along the lines of "I found this guy wandering around. Shall I kill him?" (no wonder Jason wants to leave!!!). Anyway, introductions and even as they go to shake hands there's a spark between Sheppard and Watts...
Next scene: John's bedroom. He can't sleep and tells Atlantis people - control room? - to send him Rodney. Rodney pops in straight away because he 'sometimes waits outside your room, waiting for you to call my name'. John tells him he's been having strange feelings - for a man! - and Rodney rejoices, thinking it is him, until John awkwardly tells him it's actually Dr Watts. Rodney is upset and says John should tell Watts how he feels and if he says no, then John too will know 'what it's like to be rejected.' He leaves and then Sheppard calls for Watts who, again, magically appears in his room (also waiting outside... =S). John conesses his strange love and then Dr Watts reveals that he is, in fact, Elizabeth Weir! She didn't die, but got changed into a man and now she/he has come back to Atlantis!!!
It was pretty funny, and so didn't see the Weir thing coming. Cheered a lot at that (and so did Cazz and Laura until they suddenly realised this meant it was Sparky and not Sheyla! Then they started booing. Yeah, fair enough, but it was funny). I thought the first group was better. All the actors were quite good and they did have the benefit of going first, which meant all the jokes were fresh, especially the revelation. In that sense, I'd have hated to be in the second group. Their Bill Watts was excellent, so camp, but overall the actors weren't as good. But they won, simply because after the big reveal, Colin yelled that this is where it became a musical and so the John and Watts had to sing the rest of their lines! That was so funny and it was a good thing we'd seen the first one because we couldn't understand a word they were saying! lol Well, they won because of that, basically.
Hmm... right, I think that was the end of the Saturday talks etc. There was an auction after that, but we just stayed for the first lot which was dinner for two people with all the guests (minus Joe). I can't remember how much it went for - £325? - and Laura did bid at one point but it quickly escalated beyond our price range! I think if there were 4 of us and not 3 - it's such an awkward number - (and we had more money) then we might have bid a bit more, but never mind! There was a party that evening, but it didn't start for a couple of hours or so, so I volunteered to go get Pizza Hut takeout and then we went back to our hotel. Of course, by the time we'd got there, Laura (who had been on a tremendous high until then) suddenly deflated. In fact, we all felt quite tired so we decided just to eat our Pizza and watch some Atlantis eps on the computer. Tried Search and Rescue but it was corrupted, so moved on to Phantoms instead.
It was quite strange sitting next to Laura and Cazz... every so often the bed would shake as Laura squee'd in disbelief. Or, when a particulary yummy shot of Shep came up, both would say "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" and the bed would squee and shake again! Me, I was just tired. Laura had reflated since food whereas I'd just sunk! Anyway, after Conversion - bug shep! - and went back to my own room for blissful slip...
(although of course I did then decide to read my book until 12.30. Dum dum)