Oz Comic Con Report: Sat & Sun
This is the first time Oz Comic Con has come to Brisbane and I am so glad they did. The con ran quite smoothly, volunteers were extremely helpful and really knew what they were doing. Everything ran mostly on time (but for actors *g*). The photo op and autograph lines were set out very well and it gave the entire experience a sense of calm in the chaos that is a convention. My only gripe would be the walking distance between the exhibition room and the panel stages, at the other end of the convention centre and up two flights of stairs. (That’s my cardio for the weekend).
The panels were wonderfully planned. Each question was run by a staffer to ensure they were not inappropriate, too repetitive and made sense. I have some jotted notes on the panels, but please forgive me, some things may be out of order. And excuse the crappy camera phone pics, which is all I had with me on Saturday.
Chris Judge: Saturday
Chris told the story of how he was cast in Stargate SG-1 and had long hair at the time, which was incorporated into the original design of Teal’c, but he cut it short thinking he hadn’t gotten the part, the next day however… The original Teal’c also had an Egyptian style beard, but Chris couldn’t remember the name (osird) and asked the audience to google it on their ‘cell phones’, which of course is not a term we use here, as a few members of the audience reminded him. *g*
From then on, TPTB were concerned when Chris came to them wanting to change his image and argued that he would not be as recognisable to the audience.
Chris also announced that he has given up on doing guest roles on other established television series as he doesn’t feel the majority of Hollywood has a positive way of running things and that this was in part due to his experience on The Mentalist wherein Simon Baker snubbed him and Jay Acovone. This was met with a fair bit of respect and he found the audience was on-side given we have all endured Simon’s Mentalist-esque ANZ bank ads (wank). He credited Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Greenberg for showing him how to create a positive working environment and felt he was sheltered in a way as this wasn’t the case elsewhere.
He told the usual flatulence related pranks, being strapped to the bed in Threshold and stuck inside a space suit. He also believed Teryl was too hyper in the mornings and duct taped her to her make up chair. During the filming of Fire & Water on the beach, he duct taped the Second Assistant Director. Everyone was cross with him because she was in charge of signing everyone off work at the end of the day and it took hours to properly free her.
Chris was also asked how it felt to have appeared in the most episodes of Stargate out of everyone in the cast. “Michael got appendicitis, Amanda had a baby, and Rick got old.”
Asked about his favourite Daniel death, he recounted the filming of Fallen when Daniel returned (from his death/ascension) in Meridian. He went over to Michael while he was lying naked on the ground and just walked off laughing. He thought Michael was an extremely good sport about Daniel’s return. He also chose Meridian for how it affected the entire cast and crew and recalled trying to film the scene in Revelations where Sam and Teal’c discuss Daniel’s ascension, however he and Amanda could not stop crying.
He also told the infamous story of having a G-string fashioned with a Stargate on the front that he wore in Unending under tear-away pants in order to get Amanda in the scene right after Landry’s death.
Chris laughed continuously throughout the panel (mostly at himself), though it was quite infectious, and prevented him from telling his anecdotes from time to time. At the end of the session, he auctioned off his script for Uninvited and his call sheet for The Dark Knight Rises to raise money for arts programs in schools throughout California who have had their funding cut by the state. He is supporting his daughter’s school and wants to help as many kids as he can to ensure they can express their creativity too.
William Shatner: Saturday
What can I say really? William Shatner is the ultimate showman.
He spoke about his previous trips to Australia, when he had planned to go diving, hunting, and flying. He was told the Great Barrier Reef was too polluted (because the Federal government delisted it from protection and the Queensland government approved mining and dredging in it, disaster and getting worse). He then went to Tasmania where he attempted to hunt wallabies (something he says he is philosophically opposed to now), however while he heard them, he never even saw one. Only the thumping of their hop, and the wind in the ironbark trees upon his return to the billy by the billabong. This experience led him to perform Waltzing Matilda in his one man show. He has his pilot’s licence and wanted to fly from Sydney to Coober Pedy, so went with a pilot who had flown his plane, country skipping from Canada to Australia and never gotten lost. On the way he saw a storm cloud and wanted to fly through it so the pilot agreed. He got them lost.
He has never watched Star Trek but for a few episodes of the original series and the first movie of the new reboot. After viewing it he called Leonard Nemoy and said “Even when you travel back in time, you’re still old.”
He was asked about his time filming Boston Legal and the origin of “Denny Crane”. Having Denny say his name as such was his idea, one that David E. Kelly and the writers took up, as his rationale was that Denny did it not for self-satisfaction as is assumed, but as a means of gauging the reactions of those around him. That is how Denny read people.
He also loves making documentaries, especially exploring the ways in which Star Trek has inspired and helped shape recent history. He mentioned involvement from Bombardier Aerospace and Commander Chris Hadfield.
Colin Ferguson & Kavan Smith: Sunday
Caught the end of this panel as we arrived early for Jason Momoa’s. Both Colin and Kavan lamented that they never get to do as many stunts as they want. Colin told of the filming of the penultimate Eureka episode in which he was eager to perform a minor stunt. He was told no, and the stunt man went on to snap his collarbone during the stunt.
Kavan also spoke a little about filming Stargate: Atlantis.
And upon being asked if they had taken anything from the set, suggested that it is not always a good idea… “If you take stuff from the set, and you’re heading to the border, some actors have been stopped at the border…”
Jason Momoa: Sunday
Jason swears. A lot.
And is really good at Australian accents.
He even did a few variations, from Adelaide ocker to a slow, deep Queenslander.
There were a few questions on the fight scene from Midway (ugh) about who he believed would have won, Ronan or Teal’c, and who would win in a fight between Jason and Chris. “Chris is old.”
He also spoke briefly about other projects such as a film he directed called Road to Paloma, and working with/for David Hewlett on Debug.
On Game of Thrones, he told of how he performed a Haka for his audition and scared the shit out of the casting directors.
He also hated the horse he worked with on Conan. It threw him a number of times, once, almost killing him. He doesn’t blame the horse and believes animals in general are not treated fairly and respectfully on sets.
Chris Judge: Sunday
Jason wanted to stay for Chris’ panel, but he was scheduled to sign autographs and had to depart. As soon as he was gone, Chris was told Jason believed he could best him in a fight because Chris is ‘too old’. “I am old enough to know better than to try to fight Jason.”
Chris says he was blamed for everything on Stargate. “It’s raining, Chris’ fault!” One time Michael called in and was rude and in a bad mood to someone over the phone, which was not tolerated on set. Chris was then called into TPTB. “You must have upset him!”
He was apparently also blamed for everything on Atlantis too. As one time he went out drinking with Joe Flanigan and Jason Momoa, and they turned up to set the next morning still drunk. Chris was called at home on his day off and blamed for Joe’s and Jason’s inebriated state. *g*
He doesn’t believe there will be any more SG-1 movies due to the reboot, but would play Teal’c again in a heartbeat if offered.
Asked if the Stargates were still around, he said he didn’t know for sure, maybe the Stargate: Universe gate. The fan replied “So sad”, and Chris agreed… because it was SGU. He asked the audience why they believed SGU didn’t work. He suggested that he just couldn’t watch it because it was too dull for his tastes. The general census was that it was missing the humour element that made the other two shows stand out in the genre. It was too boring, dark, (one person said black and stand-alone to which Chris pointed out that he was black and standing alone on the stage!), and that SGU deviated too much from the rest of the franchise.
On shooting The Dark Knight Rises, he went through a process of seven auditions, and on the last one was requested to perform with an Eastern European accent… During filming he was punched so hard his eye started bleeding. The paparazzi were listening in on their radio channels and when news spread that ‘Chris was hurt’, they believed it to be Christian Bale. Meanwhile Chris called his wife from the ambulance and freaked her out with all the sirens blaring. It turned out his eye was pierced in three places. Christopher Nolan still made him work the next day.
He was asked what costumes he liked and didn’t like wearing. Jaffa armour he said was very big and cumbersome, and that it was impossible to go to the bathroom until lunchtime and someone was able to help him out of it. His Jaffa armour because of its delicate materials, was only washed once a month. And, the Jaffa armour worn by the extras was washed once a year. Even worse, the extra’s costumes were not labelled, so they would have to wear each other’s eau de odours. He wanted to wear codpieces, and tried to ensure that every version of Teal’c he played in 200 had some version of a codpiece. (Which I totally don’t recall, so I may have to watch that again *g*)
Chris also played around with many double entendres and idioms of Australian slang that he had picked up.
At the end of his panel, he again held an auction, this time for his script for The Fourth Horseman I, which went for $500, and Midway, which went for $1500.
The panels were wonderfully planned. Each question was run by a staffer to ensure they were not inappropriate, too repetitive and made sense. I have some jotted notes on the panels, but please forgive me, some things may be out of order. And excuse the crappy camera phone pics, which is all I had with me on Saturday.
Chris Judge: Saturday
Chris told the story of how he was cast in Stargate SG-1 and had long hair at the time, which was incorporated into the original design of Teal’c, but he cut it short thinking he hadn’t gotten the part, the next day however… The original Teal’c also had an Egyptian style beard, but Chris couldn’t remember the name (osird) and asked the audience to google it on their ‘cell phones’, which of course is not a term we use here, as a few members of the audience reminded him. *g*
From then on, TPTB were concerned when Chris came to them wanting to change his image and argued that he would not be as recognisable to the audience.
Chris also announced that he has given up on doing guest roles on other established television series as he doesn’t feel the majority of Hollywood has a positive way of running things and that this was in part due to his experience on The Mentalist wherein Simon Baker snubbed him and Jay Acovone. This was met with a fair bit of respect and he found the audience was on-side given we have all endured Simon’s Mentalist-esque ANZ bank ads (wank). He credited Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Greenberg for showing him how to create a positive working environment and felt he was sheltered in a way as this wasn’t the case elsewhere.
He told the usual flatulence related pranks, being strapped to the bed in Threshold and stuck inside a space suit. He also believed Teryl was too hyper in the mornings and duct taped her to her make up chair. During the filming of Fire & Water on the beach, he duct taped the Second Assistant Director. Everyone was cross with him because she was in charge of signing everyone off work at the end of the day and it took hours to properly free her.
Chris was also asked how it felt to have appeared in the most episodes of Stargate out of everyone in the cast. “Michael got appendicitis, Amanda had a baby, and Rick got old.”
Asked about his favourite Daniel death, he recounted the filming of Fallen when Daniel returned (from his death/ascension) in Meridian. He went over to Michael while he was lying naked on the ground and just walked off laughing. He thought Michael was an extremely good sport about Daniel’s return. He also chose Meridian for how it affected the entire cast and crew and recalled trying to film the scene in Revelations where Sam and Teal’c discuss Daniel’s ascension, however he and Amanda could not stop crying.
He also told the infamous story of having a G-string fashioned with a Stargate on the front that he wore in Unending under tear-away pants in order to get Amanda in the scene right after Landry’s death.
Chris laughed continuously throughout the panel (mostly at himself), though it was quite infectious, and prevented him from telling his anecdotes from time to time. At the end of the session, he auctioned off his script for Uninvited and his call sheet for The Dark Knight Rises to raise money for arts programs in schools throughout California who have had their funding cut by the state. He is supporting his daughter’s school and wants to help as many kids as he can to ensure they can express their creativity too.
William Shatner: Saturday
What can I say really? William Shatner is the ultimate showman.
He spoke about his previous trips to Australia, when he had planned to go diving, hunting, and flying. He was told the Great Barrier Reef was too polluted (because the Federal government delisted it from protection and the Queensland government approved mining and dredging in it, disaster and getting worse). He then went to Tasmania where he attempted to hunt wallabies (something he says he is philosophically opposed to now), however while he heard them, he never even saw one. Only the thumping of their hop, and the wind in the ironbark trees upon his return to the billy by the billabong. This experience led him to perform Waltzing Matilda in his one man show. He has his pilot’s licence and wanted to fly from Sydney to Coober Pedy, so went with a pilot who had flown his plane, country skipping from Canada to Australia and never gotten lost. On the way he saw a storm cloud and wanted to fly through it so the pilot agreed. He got them lost.
He has never watched Star Trek but for a few episodes of the original series and the first movie of the new reboot. After viewing it he called Leonard Nemoy and said “Even when you travel back in time, you’re still old.”
He was asked about his time filming Boston Legal and the origin of “Denny Crane”. Having Denny say his name as such was his idea, one that David E. Kelly and the writers took up, as his rationale was that Denny did it not for self-satisfaction as is assumed, but as a means of gauging the reactions of those around him. That is how Denny read people.
He also loves making documentaries, especially exploring the ways in which Star Trek has inspired and helped shape recent history. He mentioned involvement from Bombardier Aerospace and Commander Chris Hadfield.
Colin Ferguson & Kavan Smith: Sunday
Caught the end of this panel as we arrived early for Jason Momoa’s. Both Colin and Kavan lamented that they never get to do as many stunts as they want. Colin told of the filming of the penultimate Eureka episode in which he was eager to perform a minor stunt. He was told no, and the stunt man went on to snap his collarbone during the stunt.
Kavan also spoke a little about filming Stargate: Atlantis.
And upon being asked if they had taken anything from the set, suggested that it is not always a good idea… “If you take stuff from the set, and you’re heading to the border, some actors have been stopped at the border…”
Jason Momoa: Sunday
Jason swears. A lot.
And is really good at Australian accents.
He even did a few variations, from Adelaide ocker to a slow, deep Queenslander.
There were a few questions on the fight scene from Midway (ugh) about who he believed would have won, Ronan or Teal’c, and who would win in a fight between Jason and Chris. “Chris is old.”
He also spoke briefly about other projects such as a film he directed called Road to Paloma, and working with/for David Hewlett on Debug.
On Game of Thrones, he told of how he performed a Haka for his audition and scared the shit out of the casting directors.
He also hated the horse he worked with on Conan. It threw him a number of times, once, almost killing him. He doesn’t blame the horse and believes animals in general are not treated fairly and respectfully on sets.
Chris Judge: Sunday
Jason wanted to stay for Chris’ panel, but he was scheduled to sign autographs and had to depart. As soon as he was gone, Chris was told Jason believed he could best him in a fight because Chris is ‘too old’. “I am old enough to know better than to try to fight Jason.”
Chris says he was blamed for everything on Stargate. “It’s raining, Chris’ fault!” One time Michael called in and was rude and in a bad mood to someone over the phone, which was not tolerated on set. Chris was then called into TPTB. “You must have upset him!”
He was apparently also blamed for everything on Atlantis too. As one time he went out drinking with Joe Flanigan and Jason Momoa, and they turned up to set the next morning still drunk. Chris was called at home on his day off and blamed for Joe’s and Jason’s inebriated state. *g*
He doesn’t believe there will be any more SG-1 movies due to the reboot, but would play Teal’c again in a heartbeat if offered.
Asked if the Stargates were still around, he said he didn’t know for sure, maybe the Stargate: Universe gate. The fan replied “So sad”, and Chris agreed… because it was SGU. He asked the audience why they believed SGU didn’t work. He suggested that he just couldn’t watch it because it was too dull for his tastes. The general census was that it was missing the humour element that made the other two shows stand out in the genre. It was too boring, dark, (one person said black and stand-alone to which Chris pointed out that he was black and standing alone on the stage!), and that SGU deviated too much from the rest of the franchise.
On shooting The Dark Knight Rises, he went through a process of seven auditions, and on the last one was requested to perform with an Eastern European accent… During filming he was punched so hard his eye started bleeding. The paparazzi were listening in on their radio channels and when news spread that ‘Chris was hurt’, they believed it to be Christian Bale. Meanwhile Chris called his wife from the ambulance and freaked her out with all the sirens blaring. It turned out his eye was pierced in three places. Christopher Nolan still made him work the next day.
He was asked what costumes he liked and didn’t like wearing. Jaffa armour he said was very big and cumbersome, and that it was impossible to go to the bathroom until lunchtime and someone was able to help him out of it. His Jaffa armour because of its delicate materials, was only washed once a month. And, the Jaffa armour worn by the extras was washed once a year. Even worse, the extra’s costumes were not labelled, so they would have to wear each other’s eau de odours. He wanted to wear codpieces, and tried to ensure that every version of Teal’c he played in 200 had some version of a codpiece. (Which I totally don’t recall, so I may have to watch that again *g*)
Chris also played around with many double entendres and idioms of Australian slang that he had picked up.
At the end of his panel, he again held an auction, this time for his script for The Fourth Horseman I, which went for $500, and Midway, which went for $1500.