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Gatecon 2002 Day Five: Guest Panels |
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
September 12-15, 2002
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Last Updated 11/12/2002
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often get asked if reprints of my photos are available. If you are interested
in Photo Reprints, the details can be found on the main Gatecon 2002 page.
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Remember to click on the small pictures below to bring up a larger version of the photo.
Warning!
There will be Season 6 and even movie and/or Season 7 spoilers to be found in
the guest talks. These reports were written during the convention, for the most
part, although I have tweaked them here and there with comments, corrections
and/or updates and the like for the web page.
Well,
campers, we're reaching the end of Gatecon. It was a long, tiring, fun trip.
And it wasn't over after the convention for us, either. We had fun for a couple
of more days before we had to come back to reality and I'll give you a brief
report of that (and a few Stargate references thrown in) once I manage to tie
this up.
After
our bus driver rounded up all of us rowdy fans who were clambering all over the
set of the Prometheus and the Stargate, we headed on back to the convention as
the crew members who had so happily shown us around waved goodbye. I know some
of them were planning to be at the con later that afternoon. Autographs should
have been in full swing and many of us had VIP tickets with a low number, so we
were anticipating being able to jump right into the lines. Unfortunately, when
we arrived, there was total mayhem in the hallways.
I
wasn't sure what was going on, but first I had to find Leah, because she had
the tote bag with all of the books and photos to be autographed! Everyone I
asked had seen her somewhere (in the restaurant, in the dealer's room, in the
lobby). I dutifully hobbled wherever they pointed...and never found her. I
finally asked security on the autograph room door if I could check inside for
her and they kindly allowed it. And there she was, getting JR's autograph on a
photo for me! Hooray! Unfortunately, she didn't know I also wanted him to
autograph our Stargate book, but that's okay. At least the joint photo I had
taken of him and Colin got signed by both of them. She hopped into the next
line (for Alexis) and I dug into the tote bag and pulled out a few items for
myself. Then I went back to figure out where I needed to be in the outside
line. The security at the door was inclined to let me just join Leah, but I
think they realized it would have caused a riot and I had to agree that it
wouldn't be fair. People were giving them that wild-eyed look. They apologized
to me for asking me to leave, but there was no need. It was only fair, although
I was still trying to figure out what the heck was going on and why there was a
huge line outside when they were supposed to be going by number. Once I got out
of the room, I found out that at some point they had decided to chuck the
number system out the window and they were allowing any VIP ticket holder to
line up. The line was all the way down the hall. I knew there was no way
I'd make it into that room before they closed the doors. It was disappointing
but I knew that at least Leah was in there and would get us some
autographs. I wandered back to the lobby...where Rowan and a couple of people
told me there were actually two lines. There was a different one
if you could forego JR's autograph. Sooo, I trooped back down to the autograph
room and asked which line to get in if I didn't mind missing JR...and they
waved me directly into the room into a line for Alexis! From that point on, you
just moved onward to each subsequent guest. So, the only one I missed was JR,
after all, and Leah got his autograph for me and we had bought
his book and had it signed the day before. We did good! I was sorry
to see that Gary Jones wasn’t signing this year. I had hoped to have him sign
my calendar from last year. Did we miss his signing or was he just never there?
Leah
was next to me or in front of me most of the time, so I was able to grab things
out of the tote bag when necessary or at least tell her what to have signed.
When Don S. Davis saw the naked descended Daniel cartoon, he burst out
laughing. He just couldn't stop. He kept showing it to Teryl (who had
autographed it at Dragoncon) and she kept saying "Yeah, I've seen
it!" His reaction was priceless.
Teryl
finally noticed that I was there and she quite literally screamed
"ANNIE!" I showed her some of the cute photos of her vamping for me
at Dragoncon and goofing around with David Allen Brooks (from Babylon 5:
Crusade and also a fellow artist; we saw a lot of him in the art show and
during the artist reception at Dragoncon). She wrote "Work it,
girlfriends!" on one of them. She thanked us for Dragoncon and said that
we had "made the con" for them and they had had a lot of fun with us.
I joked that I had had the impression she was "frightened" of us,
which earned me a flabbergasted look. On the next photo, she wrote, "And
NO, you do not frighten moi!" <g>
Of
course, the moment I finally made it to the front of the long line for Don's
autograph, I did what so many others had done and asked for a hug. He said
"Certainly! But only if I can kiss you, too!" So, I had a lovely hug and
a kiss. I had my Highlander book for Don S. Davis to sign and, ironically, the
page for his episode is on the exact same page for Michael Shanks'! (Shanks
signed it for me at Wolfcon.) Don looked at it and told me that Jim Byrnes (who
played Joe on Highlander) is one of his best friends! Since we've met Jim many
a time and I've photographed him at a number of conventions and concerts, it
was a true moment of synchronicity. Then, like so many others have over the
years, Don told me that Adrian Paul was one of the nicest, kindest men he has
ever worked with. He also said that he (Don) had put Adrian Paul in the
hospital! He told the story that back when Don worked on Highlander, he was
still doing a lot of stunt work. There was a scene where he was holding out a
gun and Adrian was supposed to hit him at a certain point on his arm, but
Adrian missed his mark. The spot on Don's arm where Adrian hit him caused the
gun to be released as an automatic response and the barrel of the weapon flew
straight into Adrian's forehead. Don said that even as Adrian went flying
backwards and was on the ground with his hand pressed to his face and blood
pouring everywhere, he was still holding the other hand up in the air and
saying "It was my fault! My fault!" He told me about how not long
after that, Adrian was filming an episode and witnessed a purse snatcher (for
real) and without a second thought he went flying after the man and caught him
for the police!
It
was finally time to move along, though. We had another surprise guest in the
autograph session: Wil deVry, who played the Tok'ra Aldwin. A very sweet man.
Of course, I bought his photo! Others present during the session were Alexis,
Sarah Douglas (who also remembered us from Dragoncon and chatted with us some
about the convention and she even remembered we had come from Florida), Sueann
Braun, Frida Betrani, Jay Acovone, and Tony Amendola. Tony had a laugh at
Leah's new cartoon of Bra'tac and we gave him a digital copy to keep for
himself.
The
producers panel was first on the agenda for the afternoon and everyone had been
anticipating this, hoping for an announcement about the fate of a Season 7 for
the show or news of a movie. When I saw that they had moved the panel from the
end of the day to the beginning of the afternoon, I thought that it was
probably an indication that the news was going to be exactly what we'd heard
all week: no news. In fact, I had heard from someone who had been on the set
earlier that week that no one knew the answer yet. And, indeed, that is how
Brad Wright began the panel. Smart man that he is, he got it right out of the
way and said they still knew nothing. He did say that SciFi Channel has been
very happy with them and would like them to do another season so MGM approached
him about it. MGM would also like to see another season. So, there is something
else holding up the works, apparently, and Brad didn't elaborate what it might
be. He just said they were all hoping to know soon. When he was asked whether
or not the end of Season 6 would "work" as a lead in for Season 7, he
said that he has been assured by MGM that they will be allowed to
do a movie of some kind, whether it is a feature film, as they had hoped, or
simply a movie of the week type deal and that this movie would allow them to
wrap things up if Season 7 doesn't happen. He also indicated there were plenty
of opportunities left open to explore if they do get a Season 7. He still wants
to do the spin-off (Stargate: Atlantis) and the movie script, which has already
been written by Brad and Robert C. Cooper, is meant to be used as a bridge
between SG-1 and Atlantis...but the spin-off (and movie) will not
be made until SG-1 is definitely finished.
Okay...the
other folks besides Brad present during the talk were Michael Greenburg (it was
great to see him since he hadn't been at the panel last year), Martin Wood,
Damian Kindler and Joe Mallozzi dressed up as "Ba'al" for some
unexplained reason.
|
Alan announcing the
afternoon panels |
Martin Wood, Damian
Kindler and Joe Mallozzi |
Brad Wright, Michael
Greenburg and Martin Wood |
The Producers Panel |
Most
of the questions throughout were directed at Brad or Michael, although some
went to the group. The question was asked "Why does the Stargate in the SGC
spin when none of the ones off-world spin?" The answer was that they hoped
we wouldn't notice that kind of thing! (Actually, the first answer was
"Next question?") The technical answer was that the gate on the
permanent set actually does spin and work with a set of gears. The one they use
on location has to break down into multiple pieces and, of course, does not
have all of the gears built into it.
N.
John Smith was responsible for arranging the set tour for the attendees of the
convention. (Thank you, N John Smith!)
Why
was the choice made to have Daniel "ascend" rather than writing him
out in some other manner? Brad said that they decided they would like to leave
Daniel's departure open-ended so that he could come back for guest shots if he
wished. They asked Michael Shanks if he was amenable to the idea at the time
and he said "yes." So, they chose the ascension route. Brad had a
hard time hearing the question (actually, so did I and a lot of others, I
think) so I don't think he really understood the gist of it was why ascension
as opposed to all of the other ways the character could have possibly been
written out. Brad made the comment that Daniel has been back three times
(obviously there are two more upcoming appearances) and also Shanks has been back
to do the voice of Thor twice (and Brad added that he might do Thor yet a third
time). Martin Wood and Michael Greenburg (I think) both commented that they
were always glad to see Michael Shanks and there were no hard feelings among
any of them. It was great when he came back to film. They also commented
(sorry, I don't remember which one(s)) that they felt privileged to have been
able to work with a fine actor like Shanks for so long and that it was simply
an extra privilege to also now get to work with Corin Nemec.
Someone
asked when we were going to get bloopers and action figures. Brad said
"Our actors rarely screw up." Which got a laugh, but he said he was
serious. ;-) I don't have a note written down about the action figures. I don't
think he answered the question. Actually, he didn’t really answer the question
about the bloopers, either, come to think of it!
They
were all asked which episode(s) they found most interesting in Season 6. Joe
Mallozzi answered "Descent" and they talked some about the lengths
they had to go to create the flooded scenes and so on. Damian Kindler said
"The Other Guys" because it "got me a job." Martin Wood
said "Redemption 1 and 2" as well as "The Other Guys" and
"The Changeling," which was written by Chris Judge and Brad Wright.
Regarding "Descent," Martin Wood said: "Corin held his
breath" and Brad Wright quipped, "And the brain damage he suffered
was very slight." They bantered back and forth a bit about how long they
could all hold their breath. Michael Greenburg was of the opinion that his
favorite episodes were "Paradise Lost" (he enjoyed having Tom McBeath
as Maybourne back in that one) and "The Changeling." Brad Wright said
that for him it was "Abyss," because it was a very emotional experience.
I think it was Martin Wood who talked about "Abyss" and said that
they had to have three different sets, all identical, in order to create the
gravity well effects...and he noticed that the three sets of paint didn't
match. They had to paint everything to match real quickly and Rick and Michael
Shanks were standing around outside, literally waiting for paint to dry (they
were drying it with a hair dryer!) so they could do their scenes! RDA was only
available for the filming for four days because he was leaving for Chile.
Brad
Wright confirmed that if SG-1 goes to a 7th Season he will be leaving the show
as executive producer and serving as a creative consultant. He said he hopes to
have more time to write more episodes that way and also to concentrate on
developing the movie and the spin-off.
The
next panel was Jay Acovone, Wil deVry (Aldwin), Sarah Douglas, JR Bourne, Frida
Betrani, and Ron Halder (Chronos). Ron Halder has done some voice work on the
new cartoon, Stargate: Infinity and he's also going to be in the new X-Men 2 movie
as Stryker. Sarah Douglas told a hilarious story about having a "personal
nose wiper" on the set of Superman. They called him "Bert the
Snot." She said she spent a lot of time hanging upside down in the role
and they would call for the man to wipe her nose when it started running so
he'd bring a 40 foot pole with a tissue on the end! She said "Beat that,
JR!" Apparently, they had been swapping stories over the weekend and
trying to one-up each other.
JR
Bourne's goal this year was to raise $30,000.00 for the Canadian Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation. He was informed that the final tally looked like it was
going to be $30,200.00! Also, $1200.00 for the Twin Towers Orphan Fund was
raised by Sekh's Party. JR had some fun trying to explain the "Sekh's
Party" to the guests like Sarah Douglas and Wil deVry, who had never heard
about it until now.
JR tries to explain the “Sekh’s” Party
to the “Virgin” con guests… Wil’s reaction is priceless!
6841_3
|
The group |
Frida Betrani and Ron
Halder |
Wil deVry & Sarah
Douglas |
Ron Halder |
Wil deVry |
|
Jay Acovone |
Wil deVry |
Sarah Douglas |
JR Bourne |
Frida Betrani |
|
Ron Halder |
Jay, Wil & Sarah |
Jay and Wil |
JR with Sekh |
|
Teryl
Rothery was on next and she was as cute and funny as ever. Someone told her
they saw "The Idiot's Guide to Turtles and Tortoises" in Jonas'
office (on the set that morning) and they wanted to know why Jonas had that
book (Teryl's nickname, bestowed by Amanda Tapping, is "Turtle").
Teryl said that "Janice and Jonas are doing it, okay." She also
explained how she got her nickname of “Turtle.” It seems that when Janet went
with Sam and Daniel to Egypt at the end of “The Curse,” she was dressed up in a
combat vest with a big pack on her back. Being so tiny and all, Teryl said that
Amanda was giggling at the sight of her and told her she looked very cute, just
like a turtle.
Teryl
played Heimdall in the Asgard’s appearances on the show—not just the voice, but
also wore a motion capture suit. It's a black body suit and they put a cutout
on her body with Heimdall's head on her chest. The eyes were right smack dab in
the middle of her breasts. She had to wear a black hood so that the other
actors would quit looking up at her real eyes. RDA said he was still having
trouble so they made pop out eyes with red lights on her boobs so the actors
would focus on the right spot and talk to her breasts. She said RDA finally
just lost it and stuck his head right between her breasts and said "Love
ya, Heimy, love ya." Don S. Davis
looked at her and drawled, "Hon, I've never seen your breasts look like
that." He also said she usually made him stop looking at her
breasts instead of encouraging him to look there. Teryl does a wicked Don S.
Davis impression.
She
said that Janet has a lot more to do in the second half of the season.
She
was asked about reading fan fiction and she described reading a story about
Janet in the shower with Hammond. Tom, the Air Force advisor, was sitting right
in front of us and he was whining "Can someone send some of
that fiction to me?!?!" Janet called up the author of the
story and teased her that she was a "dirty, dirty girl." Dan Shea
popped into the back of the room and made some comment on the mic about Fraiser
and Siler fiction, but I didn't catch what he said.
Teryl
describe a scene cut from "Ascension" where she tries to get Sam to
go out with her for dinner or something and Sam says she can't because she has
a date. Janet's response is: "You???" After Sam leaves,
Teryl started doing a striptease with her stethoscope and lab coat, ending up
crawling on top of Dan Shea, who is in an infirmary bed as Siler. She hiked up
her skirt and straddled him and said "Just how sick are you,
Siler?" in a husky voice. She was mortified to learn that there was some
kind of behind-the-scenes filming going on and they got it all on tape.
The
Stuffy Guard came out and I believe they said they had collected over 1200
stuffies this year.
|
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Teryl demonstrates RDA’s
acting technique |
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Teryl with the lucky
bidder for Fraiser’s lab coat |
Teryl and The Stuffie
Guard |
Teryl shows off the bear
mascot |
Teryl and the bear get
close |
Teryl’s makes one lucky con-goer’s
day!
6841_7
Well,
we were exhausted, so as badly as I wanted to see the crew panels and the
closing ceremonies, we left after Teryl's talk ended. I managed to win the
silent auction (a whole album full of Michael Shanks and Amanda tapping photos;
there were actually some nice Lexa photos in there, too) I was bidding on and
we just barely had time to rest a few minutes, grab some dinner at Chronos and
then head for the theater across town where "Suddenly Naked" was
playing. This movie which features Michael Shanks in a small but fairly pivotal
role was quite a treat to see. The movie was witty and fun and I enjoyed it. I
hope it comes out on DVD because I'd love to own a copy of it. As usual, Shanks
just "pops" off the screen in every single scene he was in. We had a
laugh that he played two characters, one named Danny Blair and
the other one Donnie Blitzer (a fictional character in the heroine’s latest
book). The main character was named Jackie and often called "Jack."
There was also a scene with Donnie and a banana and we couldn't help but laugh
after all of the Jonas and banana jokes! We did spend a lot of time then (and
since) joking that, given an obscene moment or two in “Suspicious River” and
now in “Suddenly Naked,” we were going to have to start calling Michael Shanks
a rather rude name. Meant will all due respect and affection, of course! If you
get a chance to see it, check it out.
Next
up: some thank yous and a few comments and pictures from our post-con touring.
JR Bourne shows off his megawatt smile!
Or
Featuring pictures of Brad Wright, Alexis Cruz, Virginia Hey (from Farscape), Jay Acovone, Jay Brazeau, Tony Amendola, Erick Avari, Gary Jones, Teryl Rothery, Don S. Davis, Dan Shea, Amanda Tapping, Colin Cunningham, JR Bourne and more!
Featuring pictures of Michael Shanks,
Amanda Tapping, Tom McBeath
and Lexa Doig (from Andromeda)
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