Part 2/4 Torchwood convention "Miracle Day" 11.-13. April 2014, Birmingham
Part 2/4
So, on to the next part. At first I have to apologize, I forgot some funny detail in my first part about Friday here. When Gareth was supposed to come to the stage, at first he was not visible, made only ghost-like noises and we should all help with making him visible again. We tried hard, and it worked, and out he came ;)
On Saturday, there were the photosessions in the morning. See my pictures here and here and here. Then we were waiting what would happen next. While we did so, suddenly this guy - Ian - came to the stage and took a picture with Gwen, dressed as Gwen. He got quite a loud cheer for it! And he did look really good.
At noon, a new programme part had been included. The Torchwood episode “Countryside” was shown, and the actors gave their running comments with it. And at least half the people in the room had shown up in their pyjamas, as requested by Eve.
If you remember the episode, it starts with the team driving in the SUV through the - well, countryside, and Owen comments on the smell. Then John aka Jack is shown on the wheel, and Gareth chanted “Gay - gay - gay - gay - gay…” Next we heard, was Owen’s “It’s disgusting.” I’m the last person to make any bad jokes about sexual orientation, but this was pretty funny as it was really right on the beat. And it got only worse from there. Sadly (or maybe luckily?) I didn’t understand some of the things they said ;) And I actually don’t remember much of the rest, except for that story about John and his hangover and that he said they should not film any close-ups of his face. Eve said he literally had just taken the sunglasses off (the scene where they go into the house).
They also informed us in every scene when John had been farting. I always wanted to know that ;)
In the middle of the whole thing Kai also called Owen Teale and asked us all to shout “Because it makes me happy, you … cheeky bastard” (can please someone fill in the missing words? Do you remember them?)
After that, the panels started in the afternoon. First up was Dichen Lachman. She had much to tell about her new movie “Lust for Love” which has been crowdfunded and she asked if any founders were in the audience, there were indeed some. And she was a producer as well as an actress and had to worry all the time whether to re-do a scene or leave it to not overstretch the budget.
They actually steamed the movie for us the other day, which was really nice and if was a funny little rom-com, about a guy who has no luck with the ladies and his friend (Dichen) who tells him different tricks and of course he ends up with her in the end. That was clear right from the beginning, but still there were some nice twists and great comedy.
Well into the panel someone asked if she could tell any stories from the Torchwood set. “Right, that’s what we are here for after all!” she replied. Even though she played an evil person in “Miracle Day”, the real Dichen was just lovely and cute. She said how much of a family they all were on set, and that she already knew a few of the crew from other projects and felt right at home. And she told the story about John scaring her (he seems to like that?) and she had a bottle of water which ended up all over him and they needed half an hour to get him dry again, and they laughed for ten minutes straight.
The next panel was with Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. I have not written down all questions and answers, but a few memorable quotes. For example, if they were to rename “Torchwood”, what would it be? No hesitation: “John Barrowman’s balls”.
I also liked this sentence from Gareth: “I wanted to go in a hail of bullets but ended up with an alien fart.”
Naoko regretted that Tosh and Owen never got that lunch. They also were asked to give advice for themselfes. Gareth: “Wear a gas suit!” Naoko: “Wear a bullet proof vest!”
The conversation came to the new Doctor Peter Capaldi and Gareth told a bit how wonderful it was working with him and Naoko looked at him: “He wasn’t in Torchwood?!?” Gareth replied: “You were dead.”
Turned out, she never had watched “Children of Earth” - and both of them never watched “Miracle Day” because, well, they weren’t in it ;) That became one of the running gags throughout the weekend.
Naoko not only didn’t know the later “Torchwood” seasons but also nothing about “Harry Potter” or “Game of Thrones”. She also told a funny story about when she was in “Doctor Who” for the first time. She got the script but didn’t speak English very well back then and looked up TARDIS in the dictionary. When she couldn’t find it, she actually called a friend to ask what it was. After she had spelled it out for him, he just hang up. Without an answer.
After those two it was time for Kai Owen and Eve Myles. They also had quite a few funny ideas what the show else could have been called:
“I’m really 69”
“The Teeth”
“The John Barrowman show”
“Pressure Pad”
“Tonight’s the night”
“4 hours of makeover”
Apparently they were prepared to go on like this for a while but we stopped there ;)
One question was also about if they ever stole anything from the set. Kai was adamant: “I never stole anything!” Eve: “Just my heart!” Awwwww!
Seeing the both of them sitting there, it felt really like an old couple! They work so well together and that is the reason why I am no Gwen/Jack shipper, sorry.
There was a moment where we talked about which dead people they would like to bring back to the show. For some reason or the other, Eve mentioned Anwen. Then they looked at each other and realized that she is not dead ;) Same happened when she was asked with which dead person she would like to spend an evening. That’s how the rumor that Kathy Burke was dead got out. Kai actually got out his phone and pretended to tweet about it LOL
There was also some very bad joke to the absolutely innocent question what Rhy’s mother was doing nowadays. For some reason, Kai and Eve concluded that she was a prostitute - and selling Crispy Cremes. Make the connection yourself ;)
After they said that, Kai got his face into his hands and said: “Why do we say those things? At home we are not like that, but as soon as we are at a convention…”
In the evening we also got a costume contest but there were so many great costumes, that it deserves its own entry.
To be continued in part 3 Link to part 3 - Costume contest on Saturday evening
.
.
So, on to the next part. At first I have to apologize, I forgot some funny detail in my first part about Friday here. When Gareth was supposed to come to the stage, at first he was not visible, made only ghost-like noises and we should all help with making him visible again. We tried hard, and it worked, and out he came ;)
On Saturday, there were the photosessions in the morning. See my pictures here and here and here. Then we were waiting what would happen next. While we did so, suddenly this guy - Ian - came to the stage and took a picture with Gwen, dressed as Gwen. He got quite a loud cheer for it! And he did look really good.
At noon, a new programme part had been included. The Torchwood episode “Countryside” was shown, and the actors gave their running comments with it. And at least half the people in the room had shown up in their pyjamas, as requested by Eve.
If you remember the episode, it starts with the team driving in the SUV through the - well, countryside, and Owen comments on the smell. Then John aka Jack is shown on the wheel, and Gareth chanted “Gay - gay - gay - gay - gay…” Next we heard, was Owen’s “It’s disgusting.” I’m the last person to make any bad jokes about sexual orientation, but this was pretty funny as it was really right on the beat. And it got only worse from there. Sadly (or maybe luckily?) I didn’t understand some of the things they said ;) And I actually don’t remember much of the rest, except for that story about John and his hangover and that he said they should not film any close-ups of his face. Eve said he literally had just taken the sunglasses off (the scene where they go into the house).
They also informed us in every scene when John had been farting. I always wanted to know that ;)
In the middle of the whole thing Kai also called Owen Teale and asked us all to shout “Because it makes me happy, you … cheeky bastard” (can please someone fill in the missing words? Do you remember them?)
After that, the panels started in the afternoon. First up was Dichen Lachman. She had much to tell about her new movie “Lust for Love” which has been crowdfunded and she asked if any founders were in the audience, there were indeed some. And she was a producer as well as an actress and had to worry all the time whether to re-do a scene or leave it to not overstretch the budget.
They actually steamed the movie for us the other day, which was really nice and if was a funny little rom-com, about a guy who has no luck with the ladies and his friend (Dichen) who tells him different tricks and of course he ends up with her in the end. That was clear right from the beginning, but still there were some nice twists and great comedy.
Well into the panel someone asked if she could tell any stories from the Torchwood set. “Right, that’s what we are here for after all!” she replied. Even though she played an evil person in “Miracle Day”, the real Dichen was just lovely and cute. She said how much of a family they all were on set, and that she already knew a few of the crew from other projects and felt right at home. And she told the story about John scaring her (he seems to like that?) and she had a bottle of water which ended up all over him and they needed half an hour to get him dry again, and they laughed for ten minutes straight.
The next panel was with Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. I have not written down all questions and answers, but a few memorable quotes. For example, if they were to rename “Torchwood”, what would it be? No hesitation: “John Barrowman’s balls”.
I also liked this sentence from Gareth: “I wanted to go in a hail of bullets but ended up with an alien fart.”
Naoko regretted that Tosh and Owen never got that lunch. They also were asked to give advice for themselfes. Gareth: “Wear a gas suit!” Naoko: “Wear a bullet proof vest!”
The conversation came to the new Doctor Peter Capaldi and Gareth told a bit how wonderful it was working with him and Naoko looked at him: “He wasn’t in Torchwood?!?” Gareth replied: “You were dead.”
Turned out, she never had watched “Children of Earth” - and both of them never watched “Miracle Day” because, well, they weren’t in it ;) That became one of the running gags throughout the weekend.
Naoko not only didn’t know the later “Torchwood” seasons but also nothing about “Harry Potter” or “Game of Thrones”. She also told a funny story about when she was in “Doctor Who” for the first time. She got the script but didn’t speak English very well back then and looked up TARDIS in the dictionary. When she couldn’t find it, she actually called a friend to ask what it was. After she had spelled it out for him, he just hang up. Without an answer.
After those two it was time for Kai Owen and Eve Myles. They also had quite a few funny ideas what the show else could have been called:
“I’m really 69”
“The Teeth”
“The John Barrowman show”
“Pressure Pad”
“Tonight’s the night”
“4 hours of makeover”
Apparently they were prepared to go on like this for a while but we stopped there ;)
One question was also about if they ever stole anything from the set. Kai was adamant: “I never stole anything!” Eve: “Just my heart!” Awwwww!
Seeing the both of them sitting there, it felt really like an old couple! They work so well together and that is the reason why I am no Gwen/Jack shipper, sorry.
There was a moment where we talked about which dead people they would like to bring back to the show. For some reason or the other, Eve mentioned Anwen. Then they looked at each other and realized that she is not dead ;) Same happened when she was asked with which dead person she would like to spend an evening. That’s how the rumor that Kathy Burke was dead got out. Kai actually got out his phone and pretended to tweet about it LOL
There was also some very bad joke to the absolutely innocent question what Rhy’s mother was doing nowadays. For some reason, Kai and Eve concluded that she was a prostitute - and selling Crispy Cremes. Make the connection yourself ;)
After they said that, Kai got his face into his hands and said: “Why do we say those things? At home we are not like that, but as soon as we are at a convention…”
In the evening we also got a costume contest but there were so many great costumes, that it deserves its own entry.
To be continued in part 3 Link to part 3 - Costume contest on Saturday evening
.
.