Any comments on SG4???

[Annette]

Back now from SG4. Wondered if those went had any comments to make on it.

I had a fantastic time. Enjoyed seeing the stars - Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping and surprise guest Tom McBeath(aka Col. Maybourne). It was his first convention so was a tad nervous.

Also enjoyed meeting some of the peeps from ascifi.com - Pamie, Summershake, Skip, Anni and Mishkaz.

I also met the guys from InfinitelyBetter.com. Steve the head honcho is really cool. He does a monthly TV programme on the first Friday of every month on Ideal World channel. Advertising ascifi and saying Hello to the guys and gals here.


annette

 

[imported_Aphrodite]

...Hi Annette:wave: Glad you had a fab time!! Can you post any pics?

 

[DCBastien]

Asided from MCBS (Multiple cmaera breakdown syndrome) and QUTE (Queueing until time ends) I HAD A RIOT!
My my Mr Carpet Face looked very nice in his TIGHTIGHT pants, he and Amanda were a right old laugh!!!!!
The smallness of the hotel was my only main quibble, but i don't regret it. And any ohotos surviving MCBS will be posted as and when

*hugs to Netty*

 

[Anni]

It would have been nicer for me had I not been feeling rather unwell...... my hotel was fine....very posh. Just as well, considering all I seemed to be able to do was zone in and out of consciousness.

sorry guys..... I was hardly the life and soul of the party.

It was okay..... but in all honesty, it needed to be smaller.....not bigger. There is far too much queuing and far too few activities. Sitting there listening two days running to the fairly banal questions which ran close to.... "What's your fave colour?" was tedious and in all honesty, it would have probably been suicide to ask any sort of question that may have been viewed as intelligent or even slightly contentious... and I might have been able to fight one or two off.....but 999? Not at this stage in the game!

The con needs to be smaller and in a bigger venue. Too crowded, not enough places to actually sit and relax, too much officiousness (as per bloody usual) from the organisers and staff, the Q & A sessions seemed to always start at least 30 minutes late, but we were still treated to Brian rabbiting on when they could have made up for by getting the guests to do extra. Then there were statements made that the guests were 'tired and sick' which made me..... a very sick lady indeed and struggling to stay on her feet..... rather irritated. They were being paid to attend, and the least they could do was make an effort. Amanda did, but Michael wimped out..... Many excuses made about how tired he was from doing tours...

Well..my thoughts are, if you don't want to do the time...don't do the crime.

Sorry guys.... these cons are a pain in the proverbial and not worth the money we all fork out for them. A few intelligent discussion groups wouldn't come amiss and a little less of the 'Fans are hysterical, unwashed, diseased and therefore not to be allowed to contaminate the guests' attitude would be very pleasant. I am getting rather tired of being treated like a second class citizen and just because the more hysterical among us all scream with delight over just being in the same hemisphere as the godlike Michael and Saintly Sam, doesn't mean that I have to accept a shoddy, badly organised and generally irritating event.

The ONLY thing that happened on the weekend was that I got to meet the delightful Pamie again..... Summershake (Suzanne), Annette, Skip, Mishkaz and many others that I met at SG3. Now THAT was fun....I was just sorry I felt so exhausted all the time. The rest of them? Well dear old Michael and Amanda could have stayed home and vegetated for all the interest I had in them, although Amanda was quite entertaining.

Tom McBeath looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights.....and poor little Lexa spent the entire time trying to live up to Godlike Michael in the eyes of the fans.

 

[missySG2]

sorry you were unwell anni. But knowing how you felt, dont you think you should be a little more sympathetic about how AT and MS were over the weekend - it's very tiring being 'on show' for two days straight, even a healthy person would be run down, it sounds like they did pretty well for people who were sick!

It's a shame you didn't feel like it was personal enough - sounds like someone needs to come to a BOBW to me!!

 

[Anni]

Missy...... I went to work through a four month bout of chemotherapy. I am a contractor. If I hadn't worked I'd have lost the contract and my livelihood. There was no opportunity for me to rest and I wore a medication dispensing device which gave me the regular doses of a drug which not only kills off sick cells, but healthy ones also. I went to work, felt like absolute hell and also had to endure the medications they give you alongside in order to keep my airways open and my lungs taking in oxygen.

I was desperately tired, but nobody really asked me if I was alright, they just wanted the job done.

Do you see my point? I would sell my soul for this just to be a cold, or a case of me working through a minor illness. It's not that I don't have sympathy for those who are sick, but sometimes you have to get it in perspective. I worked through because I had no choice and received no applause for it. I simply got paid for doing a job. Michael and Amanda are by their own admission supposedly doing something they love doing, they receive accolades and enthusiastic caring from everyone around them. I'm sure that they could work around a damn cold or even a bout of exhaustion. I am sure that inbetween the appearances, Michael has had ample opportunity to rest. And sightsee.....

I'd pay real money for someone to offer me some suffering like that.....

 

[Annette]

Originally posted by Aphrodite
...Hi Annette:wave: Glad you had a fab time!! Can you post any pics?

As soon as I can possibly post some pics I will. Got to take films to be developed yet.


Anni - was wonderful to meet you and was sorry that you felt so awful. I'm glad we had the chance to meet face to face.


annette

 

[Indiana]

In the end, they're all only people.

 

[Matt@ikonboard]

Here is a little piccie of my sister and her bessie mate at the cocktail party (I've just been told to mention that)

 

[missySG2]

*giggle* he looks exactly the same as he did in October.. same chin fluff and sideburns and poofy hair and everything...

 

[ShelbyS]

I was just reading on one of the Yahoo Groups that Saturday night was really interesting. Someone said that they showed clips of Meridian and AT and MS got really emotional and everyone was crying.

ANyone who went care to elaborate more on this?

 

[Annette]

Hi Shelby - yes MS and AT were reduced to tears and were rather emotional. During the fancy dress competition while the guests were judging who was the winner clips were shown of Meridian. Apparently the US has not yet screened this eppy so MS and AT had not seen it. There was a lot of sadness about the fact that Michael was leaving and seeing the episode brought it home.


Matt - Which one is your sister? Is it Pamie on the right? Or Susanne (Summershake) on the left?


annette

 

[Anni]

I don't suppose it was easy for them to have it revisited. After all, they've been together five years or thereabouts, longer than many people are in an actual close relationship sometimes, they're bound to feel upset. I only hope that Brian at least warned them of what was to come and didn't just spring it on them as a fait accompli.

Annette, thanks for your kind words....your kindness at SG4 and your constant concern as to whether I was alright. I was overwhelmed by it as I was by Pamie's too. It was a delight and an honour to meet you all, AT and MS, I don't know and never will, but all of you were wonderful to meet.

I'm sorry about not being bright and breezy, but even I was taken by surprise at how exhausted I did feel, I had the weird idea from somewhere that I would feel enervated by the fact that it was a weekend away and the end of the treatment. The reality is that I still have a long way to go for recovery, I just hope I do it before July.

Never mind the SG4 guests.....give yourselves a round of applause for being lovely human beings!

 

[imported_Aphrodite]

..Hi Anni:wave: So sorry to hear that you are ill....why on earth did you go for? By the sounds of it, you wern't to impressed with the whole event. Take care

 

[DCBastien]

Ohh I can't wait for more pics, my camera being dead as it was.....

I had a great time, it was brilliant to meet you all!

Queing was a nightmare- not having enough seats, being too hot...... people refusing to give receipts for pre-orders of videos....

But aside from that, it was good. Mikey and Manda were great to listen too. The delays were bad yeah... and Tom was scared sh**less the first time (his first con) but later he was better. Lexa was... hmmm.......

They did say a better place next time and they really DO need it!

 

[Annette]

Anni came to see her fellow posters. Cos she's such a wonderful person.

Hotel didn't have a clue on how to run things. Too many people and guests with not enough time basically. A shambles in some respects. They sold too many tickets.


annette

 

[imported_Aphrodite]

..I'm having second thoughts about trying to get to the next SG Con after reading all the posts.. btw..how many tickets were there on sale?

 

[DCBastien]

NO! It was GREAT FUN! I loved practically every minute! There are ALWAYS things which can be improved. I would recommend one But be prepared!

We reckon 850 for SG-4. Maybe 900. And next con may be more as may be bigger place. Were seeling them at SG-4 already.

 

[Anni]

Aphrodite........ I went for the exact reasons Annette stated. I attended SG3 and enjoyed myself, but SG4 was much bigger and too distressing for me because I had just finished chemotherapy the week before. I had been seriously thinking about not going, but I really wanted to meet Annette, Skip, Pamie and everyone, so I went.

If you want to go to the con, then you should. You should at least experience it once and you may like it. But let's face it, I am 50 years old and while not exactly ancient or wanting in fun, unadulterated hysterical actor worshipping doesn't quite float my boat. Neither does sitting in a dangerously overcrowded hall waiting for a couple of actors to come on late and leave early!

Not to mention the lack of facilities in the Heathrow Park for a large influx of people. And the ridiculous questions that got asked....no rational discussion, just **** about what pranks geet played on set etc etc..... questions that these poor actors have been asked every single blessed time they appear at one of these things!

 

[Gee]

:rolly2: Anni,

What questions would you have asked then or is that not something you would do? I love going to these events to listen to the actors speak about their roles and would love to have the nerve/courage to stand up and ask a question. I know a couple of times Michael Shanks asked for controversial/interesting questions - I am presuming he expected a lot more questions about his departure from the series - (and no I do not mean he was disparaging the quality of the questions, but that he seemed kind of eager to answer them, but no one - including me - asked. I agree they must get tired of the same questions.

Of all of Wolfs events this had to be the most badly organised. The queues for everything were ridiculous. I think something like almost 900 tickets had been sold for this event. Now while I admire Brian's (sp?) intent to allow as many people as possible to see MS - and obviously because he knew that the tickets would all go and it is a business at the end of the day - there were too many people there for the size of the venue. I know a new venue is apparently being looked for because people will go to Wolf's SG events now but the situation this weekend was ridiculous. We waited FOUR HOURS from the time MS finished his talk in the morning until Amanda came on stage for 15 minutes followed by Tom McBeath for a further 15 mins and finally Lexa Doig. We had been promised an hour of at leat Amanda - who as always was terrific - and Lexa. Now I expected some adjustment for the surprise appearance of Tom McBeath but to allocate them just 15 minutes each on Sunday afternoon is insulting to both the actors and the con attendees. Michael was not seen again except by those waiting for photos or autographs. He was unwell and I am glad he stayed to finish signing autographs even though he looked rough and apparently left straight after that. Not too sure if he enjoyed the whole thing but that's my interpretation. I have to say he was gracious and polite at the cocktail party and at the photos on Saturday morning and the autograph signings later that day. His talk - all 40 minutes of it - on Sunday was also fine and I do hope he enjoyed it enough to consider returning one day.

I was annoyed at the time wasted on Sunday and honestly doubt if I will bother to go again. I was disappointed with the organisation at Gatecon last year and unfortunately felt let down by Wolf on this occasion. I did not personally have a problem with any of the stewards but did hear other people moaning about their bossy manner.