Dragon*Con 2007 Sunday/Monday: Toward the finish line
I only got about two hours of sleep Saturday night because I was so badly dehydrated. I'd had about two and a half drinks over the course of five or so hours, and I'm sure the alcohol did not help at all, but I also hadn't been drinking much water for a couple of days; standing in line all the time is not compatible with true hydration, which requires that you not be standing in line so that you can go to the bathroom. So I kept almost dozing off and waking up ragingly thirsty, drinking a bunch of water, lather, rinse, repeat, and by Sunday morning I was almost delirious with exhaustion and feeling pretty nauseated.
We started the day off with a brisk standing in line for Claudia Black's autograph, and at that point I just wanted to get through it without tripping or saying anything stupid. I am really shy, and get very panicky in situations where I feel like I'm on the spot to say things to people I don't know very well, and I also couldn't even think straight at that point, so I was pretty much of dreading the whole thing.
The way Julie Caitlin Brown ran the Stargate autographs was also very weird and not at all in keeping with the way things usually work at Dragon*Con. Usually, the Walk of Fame (where the actors sit to do autographs) is pretty informal; you walk around and rubberneck, you walk up to an actor and get an autograph if you want, you can spend a few minutes chatting, especially if he or she isn't busy. Part of the whole point of Dragon*Con is that it's an atmosphere that encourages low-key interaction between the fans and the actors, who are often walking around with everybody else. Last year, Alan Tudyk and Summar Glau were both huge draws on the Walk of Fame; there was a long line, it was orderly, and a couple of con volunteers made sure it ran smoothly. But Julie Caitlin Brown had it set up so that you bought tickets for the Stargate autographs you wanted, and then got the autographs separately, which meant I guess that the actors didn't actually have to handle money but also meant much more standing in line. The layout in the Marriott's basement was not conducive to having a big Stargate autograph line, and the whole atmosphere was very much that of a cattle call, which was not fun for the fans and probably wasn't that great for the actors either. Julie Caitlin Brown herself was out herding people, and not being very nice about it. Saturday night, we rode the elevator with a very angry Klingon (hee!) who was complaining bitterly about having spent a lot of time in the wrong line for Stargate autographs because he couldn't get the right answer out of any of her people about where he was supposed to be. It was also inefficient; we were only getting Claudia's autograph, and ended up getting stuck behind a huge line of people getting other people's autographs while she sat there twiddling her thumbs, waiting for her next autograph; none of them could even start until everybody was there, which was a problem since Christopher Judge was late. (Although while we were waiting she did call a girl in a wheelchair with a cast on her leg who wasn't in line over and spent a few minutes talking to her and giving her an autograph.)
In retrospect, I have thought of some interesting things I could have said with her in my 45 seconds of face time, but at the time, I think I was doing pretty well to have Generic Conversation #1:
Her : "Good morning. How are you?"
Me [thinking, "Don't say something dumb, don't say something dumb."] "Very well! How are you?"
Her: "Good!"
Me: *picks up autograph* "Thank you!" *flees*
So, yes, that was profound. But then, A MIRACLE OCCURRED. As we collected off to one side of the room, brynnmck (who was also having peach vodka/dehydration issues) and I discovered that OUR HANGOVERS WERE CURED. Cured by Claudia Black's magic hair! Or possibly the adrenaline rush. One of those things.
And then it was time to get in line for the Stargate panel.
2:30 -- Stargate panel
[Panelists: Corin Nemec, Jason Momoa, Christopher Judge, Paul McGillion, Lexa Doig, Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Vanessa Angel, Alexis Cruz]
As we sat waiting for the panel to start, I leaned over to asta77 and, pointing to the little pile of something on one end of the table on the stage, said, "Are those... My Little Ponies?!?"
Yes, yes they were.
Because Stargate Atlanta had done My Little Ponies up as each of the actors' characters and the moderator kicked the panel off by handing them out.
I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.
Above: The ponies are distributed.
Sadly, I did not get a good picture of Michael Shanks' face of abject WTF. He also wondered why his pony had E=MC^2 on its ass, and not to nitpick the My Little Ponies, but... I am going to nitpick the My Little Ponies (truly, I have few places lower to go after seeing Dante's Cove), because obviously that is much more appropriate for a Sam pony than a Daniel one. Claudia Black did her pony's hair.
Above: Michael Shanks discovers that his pony has E=MC^2 written on its ass.
This panel was a lot more free-flowing and chaotic, probably at least in part because several of the participants were hung over and/or hadn't gotten a ton of sleep the night before. Judge and Shanks did some joking that indicated they'd had quite a night the night before, and Shanks joked about going to a strip club with them... and his wife. Lexa Doig just rolled her eyes at all of them.
Someone asked Christopher Judge about his hair, implying that it was quite a change from Teal'c's, and Christopher Judge asked jokingly whether the person had actually watched the show, since Teal'c had in fact had hair for the last couple of seasons. He also said he'd been thinking of something along the lines of Jason Momoa's hair, and had seen some footage from "Sateda," but the Stargate people were like, "it's already been done." At some point, either here or later, the conversation came around to whether Jason Momoa had done the dreadlocks for the Ronon role, and he had had them for several years before being cast.
There was a question about tattoos: Shanks had one on his upper arm and Jason Momoa was sporting a very distinctive diamond-pattern tattoo on one forearm. This was apparently a Hawaiian tradition of some kind; he had had the tattoos done with his father and some other male family members, and I believe, if I understood what he was saying correctly, that there's another part to it on one of his legs, and the pattern had to do with the family and the gods or spirits it identified with, including shark teeth for a shark. He did not get permission from the show before getting it done. The conversation moved on and Shanks never answered about his tattoo, but I believe it was a temporary one he'd just done for fun for the con?
Above: Jason Momoa's tattoo.
Michael Shanks got a question about how the longevity of the show and the Daniel character had affected the way he played the character. (I think this might actually have happened on Saturday's panel, but am not sure.) He joked about realizing at one point that he was stuck, he was really going to be doing this character for a long time, and also joked about how in the early seasons people were always telling him to stop doing that annoying thing. But he did say that as time went on, he'd felt a need to really explore different aspects of the character.
They showed a promo for A Dog's Breakfast at one point.
They talked a little bit about Claudia coming onto the show; I believe the question brought up that both Claudia and Michael had told the story of meeting each other for the first time on their panels the previous day. Christopher Judge reminisced about meeting Claudia, not having really been involved with the episode since Teal'c wasn't in it much and coming across her and Shanks rehearsing the fight scene where Vala tries to strangle Daniel with her thighs and feeling really left out at that point.
Vanessa Angel told a story about Christopher Judge showing up at her hotel room in the middle of the night naked when she was guesting on the show. Michael Shanks then launched into a hilarious rant about how he'd be up half the night learning pages and pages of dialogue and Christopher Judge would show up on the set, having barely slept, hung over, to say his one line. Christopher Judge then leaned into the microphone and intoned, "Indeed."
Above: In the middle of the night! Naked!
At one point, a baby in the audience made a noise, and Christopher Judge leaned forward and asked, "Are you breastfeeding?" and I have no way to describe the look on his face other than to say that his eyes were glittering. Then he turned to Claudia Black and said something like, "You're breastfeeding, right?" and she leaned into the microphone and said, "Um, security!"
Above: Christopher Judge: "Breastfeeding!" Claudia Black: "Security!"
Someone asked about desserts on the show, and what was up with the jello. After some joking around, Michael Shanks actually gave a serious answer, which is that when you're filming eating scenes, you do them over and over and over again, so you want to use food that (a) you can eat over and over and (b) won't get stuck in your teeth. Jello is apparently the perfect food for this.
Above: If you are Claudia Black, you can absolutely rock a slinky blue maternity dress with sparkly, beaded neckline.
4:00 - BSG panel
[Panelists: Mark Sheppard, Aaron Douglas, Kevin Grazer (science advisor), Richard Hatch, Jamie Bamber]
By this point, I was pretty much running on fumes, so I don't remember this panel in as much detail as I'd like.
Someone from the audience, in the preamble to his question, talked about how from the miniseries on he'd watched the show while feeling that the answer to whether or not humanity deserves to survive was "No," and feeling like the outcome of Baltar's trial was a truly redemptive moment, one that changed that answer. Jamie Bamber got really excited about this, telling the questioner that he really got what the show was about. He then went on at some length about the current state of the world and the lack of sustainability, and how these were fundamental questions about ourselves that we're facing right now.
Mark Sheppard was asked about what it was like to come to the BSG set and told the story of how he'd actually caught up to as much of the show as he could before filming his part, but when he got on set, everybody was saying goodbye to Katee Sackhoff, which really confused him since he'd only seen through the New Caprica/occupation episodes. Edward James Olmos handed him a stack of tapes or DVDs and said, "You need to watch these." (Here, Mark Sheppard did a spot-on impression of EJO's voice, and it was hilarious.) In general, Mark Sheppard came across as very much someone who is interested in and watches genre TV on his own; he talked about the new Doctor Who at one point and hinted that he was trying to get a part on it and some kind of communication between his people and the Who people is happening. He seemed really fanboyish and thrilled with the idea, and it was very endearing.
Someone asked Sheppard about going from one sci fi show (Firefly) to another (BSG) and said that he actually didn't consider BSG to be sci fi, but more of a political show. (Why can't it be both?)
There was a question about the revelation that Tyrol's a Cylon, and how that will affect his family, and what it means that he has a child. The person was clearly asking for spoilers, and the rest of the audience was groaning and covering its ears. I thought Aaron Douglas actually handled the question pretty well, saying that those things were issues that would be dealt with in Season 4 but not getting any more specific than that. I'm pretty spoiler-phobic about BSG and that did not put me in a homicidal rage, so I call it a win.
There was a question for Kevin Grazer about whether or not the show has actually spent time working out how the FTL drives work; he said that they had, but that he wasn't going to talk about it at this point because they want to leave room for the possibility of those details being used as a plot point.
Richard Hatch once again talked about how excited he was to have the chance to play Tom Zarek, who he regards as a really interesting character. He regards Zarek as someone who is capable of doing bad things while not necessarily being bad, and thinks there always has to be a place for someone like Zarek, a radical idealist, to stake out that position in the debate.
* * * * *
I was losing it by the end of the BSG panel, so unfortunately I missed sdwolfpup and jarrow272's vidding panel so that I could go back to the hotel room and lie down for a while. I actually napped for 10 minutes! And then Sunday night we gathered to watch the masquerade, which is a combination costume and talent contest, on the hotel con channel.
The contest has a tradition: if an act is painfully bad and/or goes on too long, stormtroopers with brooms come out and sweep it off the stage.) We were really longing for the stormtroopers on several occasions, like when the guy in the Hulk costume dropped his prop offstage while careening around like a lunatic, and when the woman dressed as a vampire slayer did a godawful dance/fight routine to the Buffy theme without actually displaying any ability to either dance or fight. There were some really great costumes, though.
* * * * *
10:00 -- Stargate panel
[Panelists: Alexis Cruz, Vanessa Angel, Christopher Judge, Jason Momoa, Michael Shanks, Lexa Doig]
There was much sunglasses-wearing on this panel. Make of that what you will.
I came in slightly late, just as Michael Shanks was taking a question about Mega Snake and his character, Lester. He tried to blow it off, and the questioner was like, "If I sat through two hours of it for you, you can answer my freaking question." Sing it, sister! He joked that it wasn't his fault she didn't have anything better to do, but said he'd modeled his Southern accent on Ben Browder's, which he said was a Tennessee accent despite the fact that Browder had lived in North Carolina for a time. [Disclaimer: asta77 and I also watched Mega Snake, and agreed that it was not soul-destroyingly bad, unlike some other Sci Fi Originals we have seen. Sands of Oblivion, I'm looking at you! Shanks' part was actually pretty cute.]
The moderator asked the panelists to all talk about a big epiphany moment they'd had. Vanessa Angel spoke of coming to Manhattan for the first time at the age of 16 and having a moment of knowing what her future was going to be, and that it was going to be in New York. Lexa Doig talked about the birth of her first child and being a mom for the first time. Michael Shanks talked about seeing Lexa at their wedding. (Lexa: "You dirty liar!" Heh. They had quite a lot of sharp, sarcastic back-and-forth over the course of the weekend, and at one point Michael Shanks told the audience, "You don't know us!" because they do a lot of that and it's all done in affection. I could totally relate, since Mrs. D. spent the first six months she knew D. thinking that we were really mean to each other, when what we actually are is really sarcastic.) Christopher Judge also talked about seeing Lexa at her and Michael's wedding, but then answered seriously that there is nothing to compare to the birth of your children.
Alexis Cruz told a funny story about being cast in the Stargate movie, and how his agent thought it was a tiny part in a low-budget loser that he shouldn't take. At the time, he'd just graduated from a performing arts high school in New York and wasn't working, so he took the part; it soon became apparent that the movie was not, in fact, low-budget.
Paul McGillion told a really hilarious story, complete with Scottish accents, about telling his parents he'd gotten the Beckett role on Atlantis and his father confusing StarGATE with Star TREK.
Jason Momoa was asked what was up with his "island gigs" (North Shore and then Atlantis) and joked about being one of two Hawaiian actors.
Above: for thedeadlyhook, Jason Momoa in glasses.
There was a question about why Christopher Judge wasn't in the portions of Continuum that were shot in the Arctic. He said he'd been in the pre-production meetings initially, but when faced with the choice of going somewhere where you had to pay attention to the direction you peed in or playing golf, he had chosen playing golf.
Someone asked about upcoming projects; Shanks has a part in Christopher Judge's Rage of Angels and Judge has been spending a lot of time working on that and some associated graphic novels.
Someone asked why they'd all chosen to come to Dragon*Con, and they talked about how the smaller conventions were often pretty impersonal (I think they were talking about the autograph lines there, which makes it the height of irony that they'd chosen to have their Dragon*Con appearances managed by Julie Caitlin Brown) and they felt like Dragon*Con was a good chance to interact with fans, and they got a kick out of the costumes and the enthusiasm and the whole experience. Except, Michael Shanks inserted, that he drew a line at the furries they'd seen the previous night in an elevator. Christopher Judge expressed confusion as to why Shanks would have problems with people dressed in animal costumes, and Lexa Doig had to take him aside to explain, after which he said, "WHAT?!? Wait, WHAT?!?" for about five minutes. It was pretty funny. Lexa Doig was like, "Don't you watch CSI?" Michael Shanks addressed the audience with, "Congratulations, people, you have actually managed to offend Christopher Judge," but Christopher Judge ended up saying, "So where does one get these costumes?" Heh.
We didn't stay for the BSG panel, since it was only going to be Kevin Grazer, Mark Sheppard, and Richard Hatch, and we ended up leaving for the airport fairly early because of rumors of huge security lines.
I enjoy seeing the actors and the costumes and the spectacle of Dragon*Con, but mostly I go to meet up with other fans. The best part of the convention experience, for me, is the opportunity to be out and open about fandom with friends who understand and speak the same language. I miss that terribly now.
* * * * *
Some links!
sdwolfpup took some photos that captured the experience perfectly.
molly_may on the Lone Gunmen and Friday Firefly panels, the Saturday Buffyverse panel, the Saturday Trek panel, and the masquerade.
asta77, who runs bamber_news, actually scored an interview with Jamie Bamber on Friday; she has posted a transcript.
thomasina75 on Ellen Muth's panel, with some info on the Dead Like Me movie.
We started the day off with a brisk standing in line for Claudia Black's autograph, and at that point I just wanted to get through it without tripping or saying anything stupid. I am really shy, and get very panicky in situations where I feel like I'm on the spot to say things to people I don't know very well, and I also couldn't even think straight at that point, so I was pretty much of dreading the whole thing.
The way Julie Caitlin Brown ran the Stargate autographs was also very weird and not at all in keeping with the way things usually work at Dragon*Con. Usually, the Walk of Fame (where the actors sit to do autographs) is pretty informal; you walk around and rubberneck, you walk up to an actor and get an autograph if you want, you can spend a few minutes chatting, especially if he or she isn't busy. Part of the whole point of Dragon*Con is that it's an atmosphere that encourages low-key interaction between the fans and the actors, who are often walking around with everybody else. Last year, Alan Tudyk and Summar Glau were both huge draws on the Walk of Fame; there was a long line, it was orderly, and a couple of con volunteers made sure it ran smoothly. But Julie Caitlin Brown had it set up so that you bought tickets for the Stargate autographs you wanted, and then got the autographs separately, which meant I guess that the actors didn't actually have to handle money but also meant much more standing in line. The layout in the Marriott's basement was not conducive to having a big Stargate autograph line, and the whole atmosphere was very much that of a cattle call, which was not fun for the fans and probably wasn't that great for the actors either. Julie Caitlin Brown herself was out herding people, and not being very nice about it. Saturday night, we rode the elevator with a very angry Klingon (hee!) who was complaining bitterly about having spent a lot of time in the wrong line for Stargate autographs because he couldn't get the right answer out of any of her people about where he was supposed to be. It was also inefficient; we were only getting Claudia's autograph, and ended up getting stuck behind a huge line of people getting other people's autographs while she sat there twiddling her thumbs, waiting for her next autograph; none of them could even start until everybody was there, which was a problem since Christopher Judge was late. (Although while we were waiting she did call a girl in a wheelchair with a cast on her leg who wasn't in line over and spent a few minutes talking to her and giving her an autograph.)
In retrospect, I have thought of some interesting things I could have said with her in my 45 seconds of face time, but at the time, I think I was doing pretty well to have Generic Conversation #1:
Her : "Good morning. How are you?"
Me [thinking, "Don't say something dumb, don't say something dumb."] "Very well! How are you?"
Her: "Good!"
Me: *picks up autograph* "Thank you!" *flees*
So, yes, that was profound. But then, A MIRACLE OCCURRED. As we collected off to one side of the room, brynnmck (who was also having peach vodka/dehydration issues) and I discovered that OUR HANGOVERS WERE CURED. Cured by Claudia Black's magic hair! Or possibly the adrenaline rush. One of those things.
And then it was time to get in line for the Stargate panel.
2:30 -- Stargate panel
[Panelists: Corin Nemec, Jason Momoa, Christopher Judge, Paul McGillion, Lexa Doig, Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Vanessa Angel, Alexis Cruz]
As we sat waiting for the panel to start, I leaned over to asta77 and, pointing to the little pile of something on one end of the table on the stage, said, "Are those... My Little Ponies?!?"
Yes, yes they were.
Because Stargate Atlanta had done My Little Ponies up as each of the actors' characters and the moderator kicked the panel off by handing them out.
I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP.
Above: The ponies are distributed.
Sadly, I did not get a good picture of Michael Shanks' face of abject WTF. He also wondered why his pony had E=MC^2 on its ass, and not to nitpick the My Little Ponies, but... I am going to nitpick the My Little Ponies (truly, I have few places lower to go after seeing Dante's Cove), because obviously that is much more appropriate for a Sam pony than a Daniel one. Claudia Black did her pony's hair.
Above: Michael Shanks discovers that his pony has E=MC^2 written on its ass.
This panel was a lot more free-flowing and chaotic, probably at least in part because several of the participants were hung over and/or hadn't gotten a ton of sleep the night before. Judge and Shanks did some joking that indicated they'd had quite a night the night before, and Shanks joked about going to a strip club with them... and his wife. Lexa Doig just rolled her eyes at all of them.
Someone asked Christopher Judge about his hair, implying that it was quite a change from Teal'c's, and Christopher Judge asked jokingly whether the person had actually watched the show, since Teal'c had in fact had hair for the last couple of seasons. He also said he'd been thinking of something along the lines of Jason Momoa's hair, and had seen some footage from "Sateda," but the Stargate people were like, "it's already been done." At some point, either here or later, the conversation came around to whether Jason Momoa had done the dreadlocks for the Ronon role, and he had had them for several years before being cast.
There was a question about tattoos: Shanks had one on his upper arm and Jason Momoa was sporting a very distinctive diamond-pattern tattoo on one forearm. This was apparently a Hawaiian tradition of some kind; he had had the tattoos done with his father and some other male family members, and I believe, if I understood what he was saying correctly, that there's another part to it on one of his legs, and the pattern had to do with the family and the gods or spirits it identified with, including shark teeth for a shark. He did not get permission from the show before getting it done. The conversation moved on and Shanks never answered about his tattoo, but I believe it was a temporary one he'd just done for fun for the con?
Above: Jason Momoa's tattoo.
Michael Shanks got a question about how the longevity of the show and the Daniel character had affected the way he played the character. (I think this might actually have happened on Saturday's panel, but am not sure.) He joked about realizing at one point that he was stuck, he was really going to be doing this character for a long time, and also joked about how in the early seasons people were always telling him to stop doing that annoying thing. But he did say that as time went on, he'd felt a need to really explore different aspects of the character.
They showed a promo for A Dog's Breakfast at one point.
They talked a little bit about Claudia coming onto the show; I believe the question brought up that both Claudia and Michael had told the story of meeting each other for the first time on their panels the previous day. Christopher Judge reminisced about meeting Claudia, not having really been involved with the episode since Teal'c wasn't in it much and coming across her and Shanks rehearsing the fight scene where Vala tries to strangle Daniel with her thighs and feeling really left out at that point.
Vanessa Angel told a story about Christopher Judge showing up at her hotel room in the middle of the night naked when she was guesting on the show. Michael Shanks then launched into a hilarious rant about how he'd be up half the night learning pages and pages of dialogue and Christopher Judge would show up on the set, having barely slept, hung over, to say his one line. Christopher Judge then leaned into the microphone and intoned, "Indeed."
Above: In the middle of the night! Naked!
At one point, a baby in the audience made a noise, and Christopher Judge leaned forward and asked, "Are you breastfeeding?" and I have no way to describe the look on his face other than to say that his eyes were glittering. Then he turned to Claudia Black and said something like, "You're breastfeeding, right?" and she leaned into the microphone and said, "Um, security!"
Above: Christopher Judge: "Breastfeeding!" Claudia Black: "Security!"
Someone asked about desserts on the show, and what was up with the jello. After some joking around, Michael Shanks actually gave a serious answer, which is that when you're filming eating scenes, you do them over and over and over again, so you want to use food that (a) you can eat over and over and (b) won't get stuck in your teeth. Jello is apparently the perfect food for this.
Above: If you are Claudia Black, you can absolutely rock a slinky blue maternity dress with sparkly, beaded neckline.
4:00 - BSG panel
[Panelists: Mark Sheppard, Aaron Douglas, Kevin Grazer (science advisor), Richard Hatch, Jamie Bamber]
By this point, I was pretty much running on fumes, so I don't remember this panel in as much detail as I'd like.
Someone from the audience, in the preamble to his question, talked about how from the miniseries on he'd watched the show while feeling that the answer to whether or not humanity deserves to survive was "No," and feeling like the outcome of Baltar's trial was a truly redemptive moment, one that changed that answer. Jamie Bamber got really excited about this, telling the questioner that he really got what the show was about. He then went on at some length about the current state of the world and the lack of sustainability, and how these were fundamental questions about ourselves that we're facing right now.
Mark Sheppard was asked about what it was like to come to the BSG set and told the story of how he'd actually caught up to as much of the show as he could before filming his part, but when he got on set, everybody was saying goodbye to Katee Sackhoff, which really confused him since he'd only seen through the New Caprica/occupation episodes. Edward James Olmos handed him a stack of tapes or DVDs and said, "You need to watch these." (Here, Mark Sheppard did a spot-on impression of EJO's voice, and it was hilarious.) In general, Mark Sheppard came across as very much someone who is interested in and watches genre TV on his own; he talked about the new Doctor Who at one point and hinted that he was trying to get a part on it and some kind of communication between his people and the Who people is happening. He seemed really fanboyish and thrilled with the idea, and it was very endearing.
Someone asked Sheppard about going from one sci fi show (Firefly) to another (BSG) and said that he actually didn't consider BSG to be sci fi, but more of a political show. (Why can't it be both?)
There was a question about the revelation that Tyrol's a Cylon, and how that will affect his family, and what it means that he has a child. The person was clearly asking for spoilers, and the rest of the audience was groaning and covering its ears. I thought Aaron Douglas actually handled the question pretty well, saying that those things were issues that would be dealt with in Season 4 but not getting any more specific than that. I'm pretty spoiler-phobic about BSG and that did not put me in a homicidal rage, so I call it a win.
There was a question for Kevin Grazer about whether or not the show has actually spent time working out how the FTL drives work; he said that they had, but that he wasn't going to talk about it at this point because they want to leave room for the possibility of those details being used as a plot point.
Richard Hatch once again talked about how excited he was to have the chance to play Tom Zarek, who he regards as a really interesting character. He regards Zarek as someone who is capable of doing bad things while not necessarily being bad, and thinks there always has to be a place for someone like Zarek, a radical idealist, to stake out that position in the debate.
* * * * *
I was losing it by the end of the BSG panel, so unfortunately I missed sdwolfpup and jarrow272's vidding panel so that I could go back to the hotel room and lie down for a while. I actually napped for 10 minutes! And then Sunday night we gathered to watch the masquerade, which is a combination costume and talent contest, on the hotel con channel.
The contest has a tradition: if an act is painfully bad and/or goes on too long, stormtroopers with brooms come out and sweep it off the stage.) We were really longing for the stormtroopers on several occasions, like when the guy in the Hulk costume dropped his prop offstage while careening around like a lunatic, and when the woman dressed as a vampire slayer did a godawful dance/fight routine to the Buffy theme without actually displaying any ability to either dance or fight. There were some really great costumes, though.
* * * * *
10:00 -- Stargate panel
[Panelists: Alexis Cruz, Vanessa Angel, Christopher Judge, Jason Momoa, Michael Shanks, Lexa Doig]
There was much sunglasses-wearing on this panel. Make of that what you will.
I came in slightly late, just as Michael Shanks was taking a question about Mega Snake and his character, Lester. He tried to blow it off, and the questioner was like, "If I sat through two hours of it for you, you can answer my freaking question." Sing it, sister! He joked that it wasn't his fault she didn't have anything better to do, but said he'd modeled his Southern accent on Ben Browder's, which he said was a Tennessee accent despite the fact that Browder had lived in North Carolina for a time. [Disclaimer: asta77 and I also watched Mega Snake, and agreed that it was not soul-destroyingly bad, unlike some other Sci Fi Originals we have seen. Sands of Oblivion, I'm looking at you! Shanks' part was actually pretty cute.]
The moderator asked the panelists to all talk about a big epiphany moment they'd had. Vanessa Angel spoke of coming to Manhattan for the first time at the age of 16 and having a moment of knowing what her future was going to be, and that it was going to be in New York. Lexa Doig talked about the birth of her first child and being a mom for the first time. Michael Shanks talked about seeing Lexa at their wedding. (Lexa: "You dirty liar!" Heh. They had quite a lot of sharp, sarcastic back-and-forth over the course of the weekend, and at one point Michael Shanks told the audience, "You don't know us!" because they do a lot of that and it's all done in affection. I could totally relate, since Mrs. D. spent the first six months she knew D. thinking that we were really mean to each other, when what we actually are is really sarcastic.) Christopher Judge also talked about seeing Lexa at her and Michael's wedding, but then answered seriously that there is nothing to compare to the birth of your children.
Alexis Cruz told a funny story about being cast in the Stargate movie, and how his agent thought it was a tiny part in a low-budget loser that he shouldn't take. At the time, he'd just graduated from a performing arts high school in New York and wasn't working, so he took the part; it soon became apparent that the movie was not, in fact, low-budget.
Paul McGillion told a really hilarious story, complete with Scottish accents, about telling his parents he'd gotten the Beckett role on Atlantis and his father confusing StarGATE with Star TREK.
Jason Momoa was asked what was up with his "island gigs" (North Shore and then Atlantis) and joked about being one of two Hawaiian actors.
Above: for thedeadlyhook, Jason Momoa in glasses.
There was a question about why Christopher Judge wasn't in the portions of Continuum that were shot in the Arctic. He said he'd been in the pre-production meetings initially, but when faced with the choice of going somewhere where you had to pay attention to the direction you peed in or playing golf, he had chosen playing golf.
Someone asked about upcoming projects; Shanks has a part in Christopher Judge's Rage of Angels and Judge has been spending a lot of time working on that and some associated graphic novels.
Someone asked why they'd all chosen to come to Dragon*Con, and they talked about how the smaller conventions were often pretty impersonal (I think they were talking about the autograph lines there, which makes it the height of irony that they'd chosen to have their Dragon*Con appearances managed by Julie Caitlin Brown) and they felt like Dragon*Con was a good chance to interact with fans, and they got a kick out of the costumes and the enthusiasm and the whole experience. Except, Michael Shanks inserted, that he drew a line at the furries they'd seen the previous night in an elevator. Christopher Judge expressed confusion as to why Shanks would have problems with people dressed in animal costumes, and Lexa Doig had to take him aside to explain, after which he said, "WHAT?!? Wait, WHAT?!?" for about five minutes. It was pretty funny. Lexa Doig was like, "Don't you watch CSI?" Michael Shanks addressed the audience with, "Congratulations, people, you have actually managed to offend Christopher Judge," but Christopher Judge ended up saying, "So where does one get these costumes?" Heh.
We didn't stay for the BSG panel, since it was only going to be Kevin Grazer, Mark Sheppard, and Richard Hatch, and we ended up leaving for the airport fairly early because of rumors of huge security lines.
I enjoy seeing the actors and the costumes and the spectacle of Dragon*Con, but mostly I go to meet up with other fans. The best part of the convention experience, for me, is the opportunity to be out and open about fandom with friends who understand and speak the same language. I miss that terribly now.
* * * * *
Some links!
sdwolfpup took some photos that captured the experience perfectly.
molly_may on the Lone Gunmen and Friday Firefly panels, the Saturday Buffyverse panel, the Saturday Trek panel, and the masquerade.
asta77, who runs bamber_news, actually scored an interview with Jamie Bamber on Friday; she has posted a transcript.
thomasina75 on Ellen Muth's panel, with some info on the Dead Like Me movie.