popkin16

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I’m not sure how to begin? The problem with conventions is so much happens it’s difficult to relate it all. Things start to blur, other events are indescribable…

Anyway. I'm just going to take it day by day.

Friday

The first Stargate panel. Peter Kelamis (Brody from SGU), Conner Trinner, Joe Flanigan, and Richard Picardo.

Since this panel was at the beginning, I don’t remember much. Picardo showed up a bit late (the panel had barely started), but when he did finally arrive it was to a lot of cheers J I was surprised by how hilarious Conner Trineer is – I like him on SGA, but I don’t follow his career and haven’t seen him in anything else. I don’t watch his interviews either, but he has a fantastic sense of humor and seems like this great guy.

Brody mentions at one point that he was walking around the hotel enjoying the costumes and even stopped and asked for a picture with one of the people dressed up.

I do remember the panelists being asked what shows they watched. Trineer said he liked science fiction but didn’t watch much of it, which made the crowd laugh and go “awww” in a disappointed manner. Joe broke in and said that he loved science fiction, as a way to play off Trineer’s clear lack of interest in it. That made the crowd laugh, and then Joe went on to say that he watched whatever his kid’s watched, really. He claims to be able to quote Spongebob, and said he was a great father and let his kids watch Family Guy. Peter Kelamis told this funny story about a discussion with Robert Carlyle between takes. I don’t remember how the subject came up, Kelamis says, “Carlyle confessed – in that accent of his - he confesses he liked that show, the one where the guy made the cakes.” Kelamis asked if he meant ‘Cake Boss’. “That’s the one! It’s clever. He makes them look like little suitcases.” Carlyle had said.

At some point (maybe after the Carlyle story) the subject turned to “Once Upon A Time” – which there were a couple visiting stars from – and as a way to make up for his lack of interest in Sci-fi, Trineer joked he was a big fan of fantasy.

Trineer: “What’s that? What’s Once Upon A Time?”

Audience: “It’s fantasy!”

Trineer: “Oh, fantasy! Yeah, yeah, I love fantasy.”

It was really the way he was saying things, but it was very funny.

They were asked about future projects, and Joe said he’d signed on to a project for some big name game, but he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Picardo also said he’d signed a deal for a job with a gaming company, and said it may or may not be Mass Effect.

The first fan question was, “What would be the ideal date with Rodney McKay?" and I confess that for a few moments I was too embarrassed to look at him. But Joe really went with it: “It’d take place in a candlelit laboratory. We’d be eating lemon soup, and I would be wearing a lab coat – with nothing underneath. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.”

(Sidenote: My friend thebiggest_lie noted: Ttake away the lemon soup/lab coat and replace lab with bedroom and you have an actual scene from SGA. JUST SAYIN.)

There was one more interesting bit, but my memory has gotten a bit shaky. Joe made a McShep joke later on, I think it was in response to the question “What would you have liked to have seen your character do?” and Joe said he’d have liked John to have more romance – possibly with Rodney McKay.

Really, all I remember is later on in the panel Joe made a McShep joke. I’m deeply disappointed that I’ve forgotten the exact wording, but I believe that’s how it went.

*~*

The first Stargate panel and the Richard Dean Anderson panel were close together, so ember_firedrake and I weren’t sure we’d be able to make it in, since there are only so many people you can stuff into a room before it becomes unsafe. The line for his panel went outside, down to the sidewalk, and wrapped round two sides of the building. I heard later there were about 2500 people in the RDA panel. Luckily we got in, though we were quite far in the back and mostly had to watch off this giant screen.

RDA is Jack O’Neill. I think RDA is a bit chattier than Jack would ever be, but the sense of humor, mannerisms, and overall feel – all the same. I felt like RDA wasn’t fully Jack but enough so that I got this echo of Jack.

The first question RDA was asked was, “What’s in your pocket and can you make a thermonuclear bomb out of it?” (And the answer was “No.”)

I think one of the fantastic things about going to panels is getting to experience how hilarious these people are in real life. And RDA was no different – I laughed a lot at the panel. There was a woman at the table with RDA to ask the questions – fans would write them on a piece of paper, and the paper would be handed to her, so she could read the question to RDA. Whenever a convention worker would approach the woman to hand her a question, RDA would shout “LOOK OUT!” and throw his arm out in a warning gesture.

RDA had a problem hearing the woman at the two panels I saw him in (the second of which I will talk about later, since it happened on Sunday). He’d constantly be going “What? It’s hard to hear you.” And RDA would go off on a tangent or get so into what he was saying he’d forget what the original question was: “…what was the question again?”

Between his two big roles, he thinks he’s more like Jack O’Neill, though he feels that out of every character he’s ever played, he’s most like the one he played in a movie called Legend. RDA talked a bit about his three charities - which all the convention proceeds were going to - and then talked a bit about politics – RDA is an Obama man J He urged people to vote, whomever they wanted to vote for, and then reiterated his support of Obama. He apologized for his latest tweets, since they were all rather aggressive and grumpy, due to Romney’s lying. (His words.)

RDA talked about why he left SG-1, too. Apparently the mother of his child was moving back to LA or something, leaving him to be a single father. It was too difficult for him to fly to Vancouver and back while being a good dad, so he quit the show to raise his daughter. He said she’s fourteen now and recently told him, “I’m okay dad. It’s okay. You can go back to work now.” He said that it’s great that his kid gets it, that she really understood him.

And then he shamelessly plugged for a job :P

Actually, rather than reading my crappy, possibly inaccurate account, watch this video - someone uploaded the entire panel to youtube!

I got Joe’s autograph for myself and a friend who couldn’t be at Dragon*Con. He was really nice, and we chatted for a short while – there was a line behind me, so I couldn’t stand there and chat with him forever. I think most of our conversation while he was actually signing was about names – how to spell mine, how to spell my friend’s, etc. But after he was done he reached out to shake my hand, and I froze – though not because it was Joe, but because I’m left handed and I always take a moment to adjust, because I automatically reach out with my left hand (which is never the hand other people shake with). When I apologized and told Joe I was left handed, he called me evil and asked if I had my hand slapped when writing with my left hand.

Saturday

First thing Saturday – at 10:21 am – was my Joe Flanigan photo op. Which I specifically got so I could touch Joe, not for the actual picture (which I never look good in, and tend to want to die the picture out of shame).

I already wrote this bit to a friend, and it was not long after I got home, so I’m a bit…enthusiastic. And flaily. Copied and pasted:

Anyway. So. I was waiting in line to meet Joe and I'm feeling kind of dizzy and my legs are shaking because OH MY FUCKING GOD, JOE FLANIGAN OKAY. JOE. FLANIGAN. And he walks in and I am all ♥____♥ Then he walks past me and I'm like HOLY SHIT YOU ARE A SMALL DUDE. Like he's tall and everything, but he’s so slim. I was like jfc dude. Or maybe it was just the way he was standing, IDK. I just remember thinking "Jesus, look at you." I was second in line for the photo op, but the girl who was in front of me forgot her ticket in her bag across the room so I had to go first, which was terrifying. And Joe wrapped his arm around me and I kind of pressed myself against him and HE WAS SO WARM, OKAY. I mean, it's pretty hot and humid here in Atlanta, so pretty much everyone is like sweaty and stuff. But Joe was pretty warm, it was really nice. And he smiled at me and his eyes are pretty and I just aksdjf;a;as

Things get kind of confusing here – I can’t remember what order the panels were in, so I’m just going to write the last few panels out.

I think I had the Firefly and Farscape panels on Saturday? Eh, I’m sure the exact day doesn’t matter. Both were hilarious – I wonder what it is about the actors that make them so funny? I wonder if part of it is they put on a show for the crowd.

*~*

Firefly panel: Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, and Sean Maher. Right off the bat they were given wine, which they opened and sipped. And then someone in the crowd gave them…Firefly Whiskey or…something, I’m not sure. Some other type of alcoholic drink, which they tried and seemed to like very much (though they said it was strong). Jewel joked about two-handed drinking, but we all know how much she likes to drink :P

And then Nathan Fillion took over the panel.

It started with the question, “If you could be any other character than the one you played, who would you choose?”

And Adam Baldwin called Nathan up on his phone and put him on speaker. Nathan said if he could have chosen, he would have chosen Inara XD And just as Adam was preparing hang up, Nathan asked, “How does Jewel look?” After a taken aback pause, Adam looked Jewel over and said she looked fine. Nathan, hilariously, simply hung up on Adam. And a few seconds later Sean’s phone rang and he too put it on speaker :D Nathan repeated the question to Sean – “How does Jewel look?” – to which Sean replied, “Smokin’ hot.” And Nathan hung up again.

And then Jewel’s phone rang.

I don’t remember all that was said, though I think Jewel was kind of embarrassed by all the attention. I do know that Nathan eventually informs Jewel that he needs some arm candy at a film festival, and he wants to know if Jewel will go with him. Jewel hesitated, and then confessed she’d already agreed to go with Sean, but that they can all go as a group.

After Nathan hung up, Adam said, “He’s not even here and he takes over the panel. But he’s the Captain.”

*~*

I confess I remember very little about the Farscape panel, which had Virginia Hey, Gigi Edgley, and Rebecca Riggs. The discussion turned to how Virginia believes there’s a bit of every character in a person, and when you act you draw on that part of yourself to bring the character to life. Rebecca protested, saying she was nothing like Grayza, and then there were a lot of jokes about people needing spankings and Rebecca wanting to be the one to hand them out, so to speak.

The part that’s most clear to me is Rebecca’s most embarrassing moment on set. She said it wasn’t embarrassing at the time, but looking back she feels kind of humiliated.

Rebecca’s outfit is very low v-cut.

Apparently at one point she was standing around the set, and one of the costume department people approached and leaned over to look at Rebecca’s chest from inches away. The costume department lady was checking to make sure the v-cut was even – that is, the same amount of breast was showing. Australia has laws about how much breast you can show on television, and later Rebecca was wondering if her shirt was even, since nobody had been by to check. She approached this person she didn’t know very well. She just walked right up to them.

Riggs: Are they even?

[The man gives her an odd look.]

Man: They’re…malevolent.

Riggs: What?

Man: What?

Apparently the man thought she’d asked whether her breasts were evil.

The way the story was told it was just so damn funny, my stomach hurt from laughter.

Sunday

Two panels on Sunday: the last Stargate panel, which is the biggest, and a Battlestar Galactica one.

Stargate Panel: Jason Momoa, Torri Higginson, Joe Flanigan, Cliff Simon, Robert Picardo, Richard Dean Anderson.

There was a whole bunch of drama about lining up for the Stargate panel, since the hotel that was hosting the panel didn’t know what the fuck they were doing, and after waiting 3 hours ahead of time, my friends and I still got shitty seats.

But the waiting gave us a chance to see some great costumes:

A very cute John Sheppard:

Daniel & misc:

Jack and Daniel:

Joe and RDA were a little late. When Joe finally arrived, he apologized. “I was accosted in the bathroom.”

When RDA stepped onto the platform, Joe said, “That’s the guy that accosted me in the bathroom!”

I feel bad for the actors, because I know that they answer essentially the same question. Joe related the story about getting all the actors on SGA together before shooting began for the pilot and watching Galaxy Quest, and Torri saying, “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

Joe related a piece of advice RDA gave him: Be terrible at the gobbledygook. If you’re terrible at it, they’ll give the lines to someone else. And Joe, apparently, took that to heart.

When asked if they could be in a movie with any person, who would it be, Torri said she wouldn’t mind being in a porno with Johnny Depp.

RDA said it’d help if the volunteer spoke at a lower register, so Joe went over and took a question from her and returned to his seat, before saying, “This one is for Richard Dean Anderson. How was it working with Joe Flanigan?” (That video starts with Torri's wall-throwing story, so just skip past it to get to the Joe part.)

There was a very funny moment when RDA couldn’t hear the Dragon*Con volunteer who was up on stage with the actors. RDA climbed off the platform and walked down one of the aisles to hang out with the audience, and said he could hear much better from there. This lead to RDA awkwardly climbing back onto the stage and then popping up behind the panelist table, like a prairie dog sticking its head out of a hole.

Jason didn’t really say much, but with so many people on stage it was difficult to give them all equal speaking times. RDA was especially chatty, and much like in his solo panel drift slightly off topic. Or pause to mention how he couldn’t hear, or couldn’t remember something, etc.

It was a fun panel, but I had more fun at the RDA-Solo and the Joe-Conner-Robert-Peter panel. Part of this might be because I was sitting almost directly behind this camera man who was recording the panel, and as I’m sure you’re all aware, people are not transparent.

*~*

The BSG panel was last. It had Katee Sackhoff, Jambie Bamber, James Callis, Michael Trucco, and Richard Hatch.

I loved the accents XD Jamie Bamber is crazy well-spoken, and Katee Sackhoff seemed amused by all these intelligent questions & answers. I remember at one point she said something about sleeping with every male at the panel, and then Richard Hatch raised his hand like, “Not me!”

This is another panel I don't remember much of - sorry *wince* I remember Katee telling a story about a physics teacher from her high school approaching her mom and talking about how proud he was to have taught someone whose done so well, and Katee’s mom was thinking, “My daughter was not smart enough to take physics.” Katee talked a bit about Starbuck as a role model, as someone who had her good qualities and bad qualities. How Starbuck used sex as a way to deal (or not deal) with her emotions, and how orgasms kept Starbuck going.

At one point James Callis was talking about the sex on the show, and he ended with, “Hopefully someday you’ll all be able to have sex.” And the crowd sort of gave an “oooo” like a crowd does when a person gives another person a verbal burn. (Because the joke/stereotype about geeks being virgins). He was like “What? What?” and then Jamie Bamber went, “Have you seen these people at night?”

(There are certain parts of the convention you don’t want to wander into when it’s dark.)

*~*

Just some random things, now:

Virginia Hey from Farscape was staying at the hotel I was at. At one point she was eating dinner about six feet from me. She’s very nice and seems very Zhaan like.

My friend and I were walking behind Peter Kelamis for about a block :P I know there are little to know SGU fans on my f-list, but he was a nice guy.

I went to a Stargate Costume Contest:

Inside the Marriot:

The crowds on one level: