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Photos © Ann Wortham 2003, All Rights Reserved
Walk of Fame
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Live from
Dragoncon where I have crippled myself (worse than usual) and have a lovely ice
pack on my goose egged size ankle. ;-)
Not a whole lot to report on the Stargate front overall yet because Chris and
Tony don't have a panel until tomorrow (Sunday). They have a 2nd one scheduled
on Monday which, alas, Leah and I will miss because it is scheduled 15 minutes
after we leave for the airport. Grrr.Chris wasn't here until last night but
Tony Amendola was here all day on Friday, talking to the fans and signing
autographs on the Walk of Fame. We only had a chance to say hello to him.
This morning, there was an awesome parade of science fiction and fantasy fans
in costume that is almost indescribable. I talked to the con staff last night
and found out a good time and place to watch the parade, and we got there
early. Consequently, I got great photos. George Takei led the parade, giving
the Vulcan salute and he was followed by a collection of demons and vampires
and all sorts of things! There were whole groups of Klingons, including biker
chick Klingons. A huge LEGION of stormtroopers and imperial guards. Elves. And
more. Some of the other guests also rode in the parade. But we cheered the
loudest for our first glimpse of Chris Judge in his car! He looked gorgeous and
he had a contingent of folks dressed in SGC garb leading his car. I met up with
one of them later, a tall, good looking silver-haired gentleman and his nametag
said (I swear!) "Jack O'Neill"!!
After the parade, we headed down to the Walk of Fame where we fought our way
through the teeming crowds and waited for Chris to show up. We had a great time
talking to him a bit later on and he loved the two Teal'c cartoons of Leah's
that we had brought for him to sign. In fact, he kept trying to BUY them from
us! He has a deep, loud laugh and he laughs quite a lot and never seems to stop
smiling. The cartoons we had brought were the Teal'c and Bra'tac one and the
Wormhole X-Treme one. We actually had copies for him, so he didn't have to buy
them. ;-) He told us how excited he was to be coming to France to
Frenchcon in November and he also confirmed that Michael Shanks will be coming,
as well. He seemed quite overwhelmed by many of the fannish items such as
t-shirts and buttons and the cartoons and my Teal'c bear I had brought (and I
saw another Teal'c bear someone had evidently given him -- or maybe he bought
it off of them <g>), etc. He kept offering to buy *everything*. LOLOLOL.
He was just delightful. I can't wait to see his panel tomorrow.
We also spent some time at the one day minicon Offworld today, and I will give
a report on that a bit later. Marcia Patterson and her crew are to be commended
for their hard work on both Offworld and the Dragoncon Stargate track of
programming. I've got to put my foot up right now!
The Welcome Back Daniel party is scheduled for tomorrow night at 7 pm in the
suite Maureen has kindly provided. Oh, and we've been promising everyone that
Thor will indeed attend again, just like at Fan Odyssey (where he manned the
deli counter).
Oh, and the Dragoncon program book is as gorgeous as ever. They did a fantastic
job with the full page Welcome Home Daniel ad that Solutions, Our Stargate and
Stargatefan.com placed. It looks absolutely lovely and it's on the page right
before the first set of guest listings.
Something I forgot to mention -- Anne McCaffrey is here and she talked about
the possibilities of making a movie out of her Dragonrider books. She said that
the actor she would most like to play F'lar is ... PETER WILLIAMS!
Very quick
report on Chris Judge and Tony Amendola's talk as I have to get
back downstairs for autographs and shopping and such. There *are* spoilers in
this post for Season 7 and Season 8.
The ballroom was packed! The guys had an SGC escort into the room and we all
shouted "Jaffa Kree!" three times as they came in (led by the
wonderful,
vivacious Marcia Patterson, who tirelessly runs the Dragoncon Stargate
programming
track).
Chris and Tony were absolutely delightful together and you could see the
obvious chemistry between just as it comes through on the screen between
Bra'tac
and Teal'c.
A very young Stargate fan, Drake, who was dressed in an Anakin Skywalker
costume (but he looked like a young Daniel Jackson!) ended up on the stage with
them for the entirety of their talk and he was an absolute hoot. Chris promised
to pay him every time he started to say a swear word and the kid was cleaning
up ... he was also extorting money from Chris throughout. At one point, Drake
pushed Chris on the arm and Chris fell over on the stage, to everyone's
amusement.
I actually got up to ask a question (I usually don't). I asked Tony if we
would see more of him in S7 and he revealed that Bra'tac is in FIVE episodes in
S7 and only two have aired so far. He is in the 2nd half of Evolution and also
in the two-part season finale (The Lost City). When asked if he would be in
Season *8*, Chris interrupted and said "Yes, he will be."
I asked Chris how he felt about Michael returning to the show and he said he
was absolutely ecstatic to have Michael back with them. He went on at length
about how crushed he had been when Michael left and how happy they all were to
have him back. He praised Corin Nemec for coming into a difficult situation
and doing a good job but he said "Who could possibly replace Shanks?"
He
commented that there were two actors on the show who really made him *work*
hard and
made him feel like he had to really study his script and be on his game and
they were Tony Amendola and Michael Shanks because they were such great actors
that he didn't want to look stupid.
Xochi got to ask a question and Tony and Chris were quite taken with her
voice. A cell phone went off in the middle of her question and Chris answered
it
and was walking back and forth yelling hello into the phone. Xochi leaned into
the mike and said in a sultry voice "Can you hear me now?" and Chris
about had
a heart attack. It was really hilarious. Anyway, she asked him if he'd be
writing more for the show and he said he had just pitched an idea for a 3
episode
arc and that he thought it was looking good that it would go forward
(presumably for the 8th season).
Which reminds me, he was also asked if Jolene Blalock would be returning and
he said he wasn't allowed to say (but he implied that she would be). He also
indicated that he had really wanted her for the role of Ishta and suggested
her, but he never thought in a million years they would actually GET her. He
was
stunned when Robert Cooper told him they'd hired her. He said kissing her was
just "horrible." (said with great sarcasm, of course!)
Trish, who some of you may know as a big Chris and Corin fan from Gatecon and
the Colin Cunningham list, brought Chris some Scotch as a gift. He actually
opened it up and poured her a glass and shared it with her. I got some killer
photos. The expressions are rather difficult to describe, but trust me, it was
priceless.
Got to go for now. I'll probably remember more later!
The Welcome Back,
Daniel Party
I've just
come from the Welcome Home Daniel party which was, I think I can
say, another resounding and fun success. THe room (a fairly decent sized suite)
was packed for several hours. Before the party started, people were already
lining up outside in the hallway, clamoring to get inside! I actually went out
and passed out Welcome Home Daniel badges to them to appease them as we were
running a little late (more on that in a bit). The party began at 7:20 or so
and
when I came back down to our sleeping room at midnight, there were still a
bunch of determined partygoers having a nice discussion about Sam's career in
the AIr Force and the languages Daniel must speak/know. I would say at least
several hundred people wandered through our doors throughout the night and new
ones were still straggling in even at midnight.
Thor manned the table full of door prizes this time (rather than the deli
counter) but keeping with tradition, it was an ironing board. Later on in the
party, people were shamefully groping poor Thor and posing for photos with the
happy alien. He never stopped smiling.
Tony Amendola joined us briefly (pictures later!) to loud cheering. He
thanked all the fans for everything they do for Stargate and joined us in
welcoming
Daniel back to the show. He assured us that they hadn't killed Bra'tac yet!
I've got to soak my foot and get some rest, but I just want to hand out a few
quick thank yous and I'll try to give a fuller report later. John and Maryann
Hawk -- there would have been no party without them. They hauled our boxes of
party goods and door prizes and supplies up from Florida. THey moved boxes
around for us. They took us grocery shopping last night. THey donated some of
their own food. They helped us set up the suite and tear down and they are
taking the leftover goods home for us. I couldn't have done it without them.
Kelly and DJ and Chance and I hope I'm not forgetting anyone for bringing
awesome Stargate door prizes and tirelessly helping with the set-up and the
teardown.
JR for bringing and setting up the entertainment center (so to speak) and
providing the ice and drinks (along with DJ).
Marge and Rangerlynn for contributing food and also helping with the set-up
and throughout the party.
Xochi for handing out door prize tickets at the door.
Graculus and Leah and Maryann for helping pull the tickets and distribute the
door prizes.
Leah and Maryann and Chance for help distributing flyers throughout the con
and advertising the party and for getting the word out when the party had to be
relocated. Marcia Patterson of Dragoncon for announcing the party during
major Stargate programming at the con and Lisa Norfleet for also announcing it
at
her STargate panel.
Talia from the Marriott guest services
staff who found us a suite at a moment's notice when the person who promised
us one reneged and we had to relocate the entire party (after having advertised
it to hundreds of fans all weekend) with less than an hour to go until the
time of the party. The Marriott gave us a *gorgeous* suite on the concierge
level on the top floor of the hotel. The view of Atlanta as the sun set was
absolutely breathtaking. Just unbelievable.
I apologize if I've forgotten anyone. I'll try to catch you later!
The story on Tony ... when we went to his autograph table this morning, he and CHris weren't there yet. The folks there told us they wouldn't be coming until after their talk at 11:30. So, I told Leah to leave one of the party flyers on their tables for them since we were busy passing them out around the con. And let me pause for a moment here and thank Dragoncon and all of their fantastic STAFF. I went to the information booth in the Marriott and asked them where I could post a notice about the party and they took the flyer and posted it right there on the booth! They also directed me to some flyer tables and told me where the information booth in the Hyatt was. I went over to the HYatt and at the information booth there, I asked where I could post the party notice. One of the staff members grabbed the flyer from me and said "Daniel Jackson! I'm so happy he came back! We are putting this up RIGHT HERE!" And as I left they were standing up on a stepstool doing exactly that!!!
Anyway, I digress. Later in the afternoon, I stopped by to speak to Tony for a moment and I noticed he had a party flyer. I asked him if he was going to come and join us and he said he was going to certainly try. I figured he was just being polite. Well, moving the suite worked to our advantage, I think, because shortly after the party started I sent Leah out to get some supplies from the hotel and to tell them to turn the phone on. She ran into Tony on our floor and asked him if he was coming to the party. He said he thought it was downstairs and she told him the new location. He said he'd been down to visit just as soon as he could ... and sure enough, a short while later, he dropped by. What a nice surprise!
Indeed it could have, with less than an *hour* to go before the party when
the person who had promised us a suite *finally* admitted that they didn't have
one and they had no intention of paying for one. Luckily, the hotel was able to
a) find one for us -- they had been sold out completely the night before and b)
gave it to me for $100.00 off the normal price. Of course, I wasn't expecting
to have to pay *anything* more after already buying food and party goods and
prizes and having been repeatedly promised for a month or more that the room
was taken care of, right up until that last moment. The truly mortifying part
of the entire experience is that someone was actually *in* the room that we
were told was "our" suite and that room number was advertised on
flyers all over the convention (of roughly 25,000 people) and announced at
Chris Judge's panel of around 600 people by the head of the convention Stargate
programming *and* given to Chris and Tony. There was indeed someone booked into
that room, the hotel told me, and furthermore, it wasn't even a suite anyway!
It was truly an adrenaline pumping experience that I would not care to repeat.
I do partially blame myself since the person who had promised the suite had
also promised to do numerous other things for the party ahead of time and did
not follow through on a single one of them. I have to admit, though, once they
gave me a room number on Friday morning and told me they were checked in, I
took them at their word.
Come visit a Stargate Forum by and for
the fans of “Classic” Stargate: Our Stargate!
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