Chevron 7.4: The Final Part...Promise

It was my parent's wedding anniversary yesterday...they've been married for...um...well, as long as I've known them, so ages.  They went out for the day...a very cold and wet day I might add, but then that's what you get for getting married in Febuary...and stopped for dinner at a pub in Southampton.  They both went for Game pie, a concoction of various meaty delights...though in this case, after enjoying their meal...dad enquired as to the content...the young waiter listed off Rabbit, Venison, Pheasant and.....Ferret....They skipped dessert.

And on that delightful note I shall continue with the last of my Chevron 7.4 convention report...

I mentioned before that I was new to this particular convention, it cost a little more and was a bit more of a cattle experience when you took part in photo sessions and queued for autographs, it lacked a little in the whole party atmosphere of the Wolf con, but on a whole it was a great experience.  One thing different was that they 'auctioned' guest encounters with each guest on both Saturday and Sunday.  There were two ways to enter: simply write your top bid, ala ebay style, on a piece of paper under the guests name and just before the talk 10 people were chosen from the list or buy raffle tickets for the two remaining places. Already on a very tight budget (I was even surviving on Pop Tarts, crisps and hot cross buns as my food source for the weekend) I ummmed and ahhhed for quite some time until finally deciding on taking a punt on the latter option for two of the guests I most wanted a more intimate experience with....no not like that....jeez!

Clutching my ticket I went to check the board between guest talks and squeezing through the melee of people, elbows may have been used a little, I glanced at the winning raffle numbers, then at my ticket...then back at the winning numbers, then once again at my ticket.  On the third time of reading the three digit number on the scrap of paper in my hand which excactly matched the one on the board I let out a sound which can only be described as 'squee'.....A coveted place at the table with one Mr David Hewlett was mine.

As the twelve disciples sat the messiah entered the room...okay, so I may be exageratting somewhat, but there was an energized and excited atmosphere in the room.....and then, as he sat (in the chair next to mine I might add) David belched 'Never drink a can of coke on stage' he excused himself.

One lady in the room had a McKay voice message which she played and David said how originally the message had just been a advert for Stagate Atlantis but they changed the script, he also commented that it had been tiresome to do as there had been tons of names to read out to personalise the message. 

David is a total film buff and had mentioned 'Brick' in his talk he had been really impressed with the style and young actors, although he was having a bit of a senior moment when it came to their names at which point I helpfully jumped in (it was Lucas Haas and Joseph Gordon Levitt).  I suggested he try and catch 44 Inch Chest if he wanted to see a group of truly talented British actors just doing their thing, he seemed enthused.  He also mentioned a film he loved which involved getting a steamer through a jungle (though in my own senior moment I can't remember the name....Edit it was called Fitzcarraldo by Werner Hertzog...from David on Twitter) logistically he was impressed since the filmmakers had to actually get a streamer through a Jungle, something I get the impression David would quite like to have a go at.

We talked about the books he liked to read, I had asked about The Shining, which he had read recently, and he was suprised that so many people had read it when they were teenagers (or in my case 11) as it scared the crap out of him.  He particularly liked the moving hedges and thinks that's where the idea of Doctor Who's Blink came from.  He rattled off a few titles of other favourites and had a few more senior moments about some of the titles of others, though he has since put up a recommended reading list here and here , huh...I feel some frequent visits to the library coming on.

He chatted about Baz and how 'I didn't do anything for the first year', subtley alluding to the fact that babies don't do an awful lot (eat, sleep, crap...that kind of thing) and apparently he happily observed as the sprog 'peed in his own face.'  He then told a story about a time when Baz was younger and he was holding him.  Babies are floppy when they're little and his head was lolling all over the place, suddenly Baz held his head up and slowly turned to face David...which David demonstrated for his audience...at which point the kid apparently just stared at his father, prompting David to hold out the child to Jane 'Take it back, take it back' prompting a 'Please don't call our son it' from poor Jane as David checked for three sixes on Baz's head.  There is a scene in ADB where Mars gives David a similar 'devil' stare and is apparently a comment on what happened with Baz.

I asked if he managed to swipe anything from the Atlantis set.  He had his eye on a ZPM, but when he had tried to get one they had all disappeared, David has a theory that Flanigan has them since he was sighted on a few occasions hanging out nearby the ZPM's.  He also would've liked one of the banner's of McKay  from the Game which he would've hung in his bathroom at home, now that wouldn't have been at all creepy for those using the bathroom, no, not at all.  He did manage to get one of the control panels for the gate, but as the cast were told the props were needed for the movie they weren't allowed to take anything. (which of course is now unlikely to happen and MGM seem to have been selling off all the props anyhoo...grr)

And too soon it was all over, I'm sure there was much more, I know David mentioned that picking scripts is sometimes more about location and money than quality...case in point 2004's Boa vs. Python...He likes Jellybeans and is a fan of Alan Rickman.  Unfortunately I didn't have my notebook (not sure I would've been allowed to take notes anyway) and so these are just the part's I can actually recall.

David seemed to enjoy himself, he always seems to have plenty to say, keeps your interest, is very funny and is great at interacting with his fans...not too shabby at acting/directing/writing either.

After the talk I was heading back to my seat in the hall ready for Ryan Robbin's final guest talk and to make some notes from the David encounter, when I found the results for the other guest encouter I'd bought a ticket for were up.  Seems like my luck was well and truly in as my ticket matched the winner once again...this time Brian J Smith was going to have to put up with my inssessant babbling for the best part of an hour.

Hmmm, Brian J Smith, I mentioned he's had a close encounter with a non-ugly stick right.  So once again I was fairly excited...in a very British way of course...to be in this talk, also since I'd just been in David Hewlett's I'd missed all of Brian's talk on stage.  Again no notebook, I hadn't even made it as far as my seat in the main hall, so this is once again this is made up of memories and surreal flashbacks.

When Brian sat down and asked if anyone had any questions there was a silence followed by nervous laughter, so I stepped up with a general 'what's your favourite movie?' to kick things off.  He answered with Glory (Matthew Broderick) and said it was a great film about hardship and had a fantastic score, by James Horner if I remember.  He likes listening to film scores and is a fan of classical music aswell as bands like James and King of Leon.

He talked quite a bit about SGU and that he likes the way the characters are 'real people' reacting to the hardships and extreme situations they have been thrust into.  It's not always clear as to who are the heroes and villans and their actions to events have an air of 'how would you deal'.  He did say that he would 'airlock the stones' as he likes the idea of being more cut off from Earth.  I think everyone would agree there, as the stones do appear to be used a fair bit.  I asked what would happen if he wrote an episode and Brain said he's not really creative that way, but he create a desperate situation such as a fire so everyone would have to move to a different part of the ship, since there's much which hasn't been explored, and 'away from the IKEA beds' which got quite a laugh...He admitted that thing appear quite conviently out of those boxes which were brough through the gate 'We need thermal gloves...go check one of the boxes...Oh yeah, there they are'.

He talked about the 'sand' aliens from Air Part 3 and that he was intrigued when the 'dust' took on the appearence of Scott's face, he wondered if there was a significance to that and if there's a skill or sense which his character has which may be explored in the future, that would certainly give things a more interesting dimension in SGU.  Someone asked about alien's in the series and if there was going to be any which Brian said yes.  He talked about a new alien which is going to be scary and is, if I recall correctly, a creation from the FX team from District 9.

I asked about any pranks which had occured on set and Brian regaled a tale involving Robert Carlyle and Louis Ferreira.  Ferreira had set up a mini camera in Carlyle's trailer, it wasn't connected but had the appearence of a working camera.  It took a while for him to find it but when he did poor Robert was a little freaked out wondering who could be filming him. Those in the know kept quiet and naughty Ferreira set up another camera in the make-up van for Robert to find also, making him believe it was the make-up girls secretly filming him.  I assume at some point the jig was up and can only wonder how Robert Carlyle exacted his revenge.

He filmed Poirot during the hiatus from SGU, and originally wasn't going to get up to much during this period, he had a lot of fun filming it. I asked what else he was doing with his spare time and Brian said 'hitting the gym' since he needed to be fit for filming...that'll be for all those sex scenes I guess ;-)

Some bloke in the room started prattling on about the religious conotations of Stargate which got a bit heavy and he also started on about the probability of alien life using actual statistics of planets in the universe and beyond...I just attempted to bring the conversation back to something more Brian related (I wasn't there to hear some bloke's uber geek after all) and asked about what TV he likes to watch....Battlestar Galactica was the answer and that he likes to watch things in box sets rather than in TV so you can cut out adverts....I hear that...Anyway, that's about as much as my brain retained....I thoroughly enjoyed the two guest encounters, both Brian and David were very chatty and seemed comfortable in the small group.....And there it was all done, conventions are a rather intensive experience and expensive too but, bloody hell it's worth every penny.

And for your enjoyment an assortment of pretty pics and con party shinanegans:

Tina & Philippa

Brian, Sharon & Ryan get their party on

Random Jaffa and Ryan on the inflatable bungey

The gang: Sah, David, Tina, Christina and Philippa...and Tina's 'Eye of the Tiger' ala Supernatural

Chevron 7.4: Group Talks

Group guest talks are always good for a laugh, mainly due to the fact that they usually desecend into a certain amount of chaos, such are the larger than life personalities on the stage.  It's a chance for the more unusual, fun and sometimes down right bizarre questions to be asked.  It's a little tough keeping up with the spontaneous waffle which followed, but I tried my best to make notes of the highlights

A fairly regular question of the guests previous job gained quite the ecclectic mix of answers: circus performer from Ryan, bar tender from Brian, putting lipstick on large lipped, post op, women from Suanne (huh?), computer programmer from, none other than, David....now I just wrote the word 'sausage' for Sharon which had a little more to do with her working in a factory and a little less with..well, whatever you're thinking...and Bam Bam, well he 'bought a hair salon at 19' and then 'became a corrections officer' prompting several 'whaaat?' reactions from fellow guests as well as much laughter from the audience 'So, you were done with cutting peoples hair and decided to be a correctional officer?' Ryan said in some confuzzlement. David, having trouble processing the new information from Bam Bam's past, just turned to him and said 'you cut people's hair?...you...cut people's hair'...hehe...cos you know...it's Bam Bam.

In being asked a question about which emotions are difficult to portray Ryan quipped 'Joy, when Bam Bam is hurt', though I'm guessing that was one not so difficult to portray (awwws, for Bam Bam) followed by 'random laughter' as it's apparently tough to laugh on queue....especially after the double digitied take I shouldn't wonder.  Sharon said 'Acting drunk' prompting a surprised 'really?' from Suanne...I'm guessing a rather method approach is adopted by some people in the room.  David said he only has 'four looks' (he didn't give further detail, so I'll leave that for you to figure out the four....I suggest one is panic) he followed his answer with 'being quiet' as the most difficult thing to do.  Brain said generally 'intense scenes were easier than the lighter scenes' and Suanne answered that 'being serious with a bad script' was a tad on the tough side.

Fears was next up and understandably Ryan went with 'death....because your dead', Sharon had a different approach saying that she 'doesn't like standing near the edge of a cliff' at which point I'm guessing most people thought she was going with a fear of heights...there you would be wrong my friend, the reason young Sharon doesn't like the cliff's edge is that she finds it hard to fight the urge to push people off.  At this point in proceedings the rest of the guest shared a slight look of incredulous-ness and Brain, who'd been in the seat next to Sharon, made a bolt for the door.

Bringing things back on track and after returning to his chair, Brain said he's not so keen on flying...suddenly Sharon piped up with a story about their flight to the UK and particularly the pilot, before she could complete the tale Bam Bam cut in and a sort of verbal tet-a-tet erupted between the two, much like when small children are desperate to be the first to tell a parent something exciting...'Our pilot was called Captain Kirk' they eventually blurted simulatneously....which is actually pretty darn cool.

David has a fear of spiders and is in the process of teaching his son not to be scared of spiders, the flaw in his plan is that he finds himself balking at the first sign of movement from the arachnids.  Sharon  is not so fond of birds which she described as 'big, flappy....urgh'...Ryan kindly interjected with ' Pigeons are flying rats' earning an eyeroll from Bam Bam 'Yeah, they're terribly dangerous'....and Bam Bam's greatest fear 'me, disappearing'...natch.

Onto weird auditions, since it's a right of passage for actors to have some kind of cringeworthy experience (Kavan Smith has a doozy, which he kindly shared at Pegasus 4)...Ryan's was while audtioning for a car advert at he was encourage to 'make love to the car', Sharon took part in an audition for a jean commercial where each person was asked to put on the jeans and bend over...Bam Bam quipped 'that's how Joe Flanigan got cast'...hahahaha....ahem, moving on, Suanne Braun was at an audition with Steven Segal and mentally made the connection that he 'looked like my cat....big body...itty bitty head' and had to fight off a fit of giggles which, acting guru, Segal mistook for intensity.  And, while David was at an audition for CSI he was mid flow when a mobile started to ring, he got a little grumpy (David? grumpy?...surely not) with the folk in the room, before realising it was actually his phone that was ringing.  In an attempt to switch it off, in a panic, he instead answered the call and put it on speaker. Jane's voice asked 'Hello darling, how's it going?'....'Um...not very well' ...and no, he didn't get the part.

If they had to pick a reality TV show to appear on it would be:  I'm a Celebrity for Brian so he could 'hang out with Lou', Bam Bam thinks all reality TV 'is garbage' which gained a mighty cheer from much of the audience.  Sharon Taylor would go on the Bachelor to 'talk some sense in those women'.  Ryan likes the idea of appearing on Celebrity Boxing while David would go on Survivor Man but would do it really badly 'How to survive freezing water...oh, he didn't'.

Brain nearly let out a spoiler for SG:U when asked about which Stargate planet they would like to be stranded on saying that they 'go to paradise' in a future episode and turned to Bam Bam asking if he could tell 'has it aired yet?' Bam Bam queried 'no' Brain answered 'then you can't tell' spoil sport, Bam Bam.  Bam Bam had a think, started to answer then realized he was confused with Star Trek.  Sharon Taylor 'One with a Medieval village...oh, wait that's all of them' demonstrating that Sharon had figured out the Stargate writers cunning plan.  David would go to the puppet planet as he liked the idea of a 'puppet McKay'.  Now Ryan said something along the lines of going to a 'warm planet, with all of you' (meaning the audience) and I can't remember what then led to the guy getting out of his chair, crossing the stage and trying to go through the Stargate on the Chevron poster behind him...it was however very funny indeed.

There were a couple of questions which were your typical pappy convention question...something like 'what three foods would you have at a party?' and 'who would you invite to a party?'...and a few others which sounded like dating agency questions at which David quipped 'are these the Twilight convention questions'....very probably David.  I was beginning to suspect that the question's I had taken the time to e-mail pre the con, as per requested by the organisers, had disappeared into Stargate limbo and also there must've been many 'Sarah's' and 'Dan's' in the audience, as most of the questions appeared to be coming from them....Hmmmm.

Anyhoo, I managed to have a word with the guy in control of the mike and just before the talk wrapped up he headed over.  So, with all ears and eyes pointed in my direction I asked the final question of the event, the one which I'd been waiting the whole convention to ask:

'How would you survive a Zombie attack?'

It's fair to say there was a certain amount of laughter and an expression of 'Huh?' on the faces of the guests, but they dutifully answered anyway.  Ryan was first to respond wth 'Hide behind Bam Bam' leading into a 'Who would I hide behind?' from the man himself. David decided he would become the 'Zombie King' and Sharon added that 'if you can't eat 'em join 'em'...If I recall correctly Brain stated he would sing 'Don't Stop Believing' at them, 'badly' and then Bam Bam started to rattle of the rules of surviving a Zombie attack (off of Zombieland the movie) including 'Cardio, travel in a group, check the back seat, double tap....' and 'seatbelts' which was an assist shouted by Tina and Philippa in the crowd as Bam Bam stalled...Now while all this is going on I was still making blog notes, which was seen by Bam Bam.  'Are you writing this down?' he asked, somewhat incredulously, before as quick as you like David said 'Do you have a Zombie problem in your town?'....close David, very close....visit Bognor some time and see for yourself.  I just nodded and laughed as Bam Bam thanked me for the 'great and very relevant question'...And yes there was a tone which I believe may have been sarcasm attached to the statement.

And there wrapped the final guest talk and indeed the convention...but wait...there's more....To Be Concluded...

Chevron 7.4 Guest Talks: Bam Bam, Brian J Smith and a Stunt Demo

First off I'm a grumpy Brit today, the murk outside my window has turned to sleet, the t-shirts I ordered have arrived after 3 weeks but I have to fork out £15 to collect them, there's nothing remotely exciting on my calender for the next...well..ever....and the monster munch I ate for lunch are giving me a case of roast beef burps.  So, best that I go into nostalgic recollection mode and continue with my convention report:

Bam Bam & Brian J Smith

Once again another Stargate alumni was having his convention cherry popped, the lovely Brian J Smith wasn't sure what to expect from the whole convention experience, but this didn't stop him joining us fan girls on the dance floor the night before, rocking and belting out a medley of 80's and 90's rock tunes.  By the time it came to the Q & A he seemed comfortable and relaxed, even with Bam Bam's occasional baiting of 'take your shirt off'...and no, unfortunately all of his togs stayed on.  The chap does find the whole convention thing a tad surreal since a little over a year ago he was working as a bar tender.

Brian J Smith looking pretty

Bam Bam is another guest who I've met at a previous con, he is a chatty bloke and spends a lot of his time with the fans and trying to copy accents...best not to give up you day job Bam Bam ;-)  He played Gambit in X-Men 2 and spent a day of shooting playing poker as well as fight scene and stunt work, but his scenes were deleted...boo, hiss.

Brian was asked about his fellow cast mates on SG:U and he mentioned having a lot of respect for Robert Carlyle referring to him as 'A sweet, cool guy' who has a lot of time for the cast and crew and is always there to assist with any acting queries Brian may have. (How much would I love to meet Robert Carlyle at a convention....*stretches arms until shoulders pop from sockets*....this much)

Talking about the stunt work Bam Bam said that he keeps the fight scenes looking 'sloppy' in keeping with the raw, realistic theme of SG:U.  More of a pub brawl affair, which in turn leans towards the 'real people' feel and effects of their unplanned situation.  Bam Bam is also giong 'bionic' since injury has led the poor chap to need a double hip replacement, hence why he is co-ordinator of stunts.  From memory I think it was caused by repeatedly having to dive onto frozen ground.

Not entirely sure what Brian is saying to gain this reaction from Bam Bam...answers on a postcard...

He talked about the dangers of working with actors and them doing stunts...at this point I was sure David Hewlett would come up as apparently his compatability with even the most basic of stunt meet with some kind of injury...though he actually mentioned an incident on the set of The Eye/The Storm.  The lovely Erin Chambers (Sora) had never done any fight training but was keen to have a go, Robert Davi (Koyla) was also keen to strut his stuff but unfortunately got a little gung-ho during the stick fight.  Erin ended up with a fairly decent smack on the noggin and was a bit shocked and upset and retreated to her trailer.  Bam Bam followed with words of support 'Suck it up'.....or something a tad more sympathetic....and the scene, which looks great btw, was completed.

Bam Bam recounts Davi-Gate...

Brain spoke about filming the episode Air Pt 3, the one on the desert planet, which presented a challenge as it was 'understandably hot and sandy'.  117 degrees with no cover and one air conditioned tent for the actors to cool off in, which then became a smoking tent...kind of defeating the objective there I guess.  He said although it was a challenge it was his favourite to film.

I'm guessing Brian is aware of the conflicting reviews of SG:U, he genuinely wanted to hear our opinons when chatting and said that the next season will address many of the concerns.  He said the show is best watched on DVD (due to being able to watch without annoying ad breaks)...at which point Bam Bam interjected with 'freeze frame for sex scenes' (something which Bam Bam was constantly ribbing Brain about during the weekend)

Bam Bam insists that his nickname was due to a foreign director's inability to get his name right on set which ended up sticking....and 'has nothing to do with porn'

He also once played Simon Cowell...yes you read that right...Simon Cowell in one of those abomination Scary Movies films...where someone machine guns the opinionated tosser down (possibly 3, but I won't be watching to find out, soz Bam Bam)

They both talked about Twitter and how it's a great way to keep in touch with fans and keep up to date with developments on the series.  Although fellow cast mate David Blue (Eli) is apparently addicted and wanders round set asking how many followers  Brain and Bam Bam have...'How long would you like to stay concious'...is generally Bam Bam's reply. 

Brian has a, occasionally bossed eyed, King Charles dog called Cassie, who he was looking after for someone else, but missed her too much when it was time to let her go...aw, Brian you big sap you. 

Brian's amazingly infectious smile...

Bam Bam was asked about which actors were easiest and hardest to work with when doing the stunts...now this time David did get a mention, though not that he was hard to work with, but during the scene where he was high on Wraith juice they bascially went with David's own flappy fighting style which 'keeps it real' as McKay.  Rachel Luttrell was easy to work with, her background in dance apparently a beneift to stunt choreogrphy and Jason 'Frickin' Conan' Mamoa who apparently 'brings his own energy...and forehead'.  Apparently his de-dreading during the hiatus of one season led to some trouble (slapped wrist for Mamoa) as the wig he subsequently had to wear would routinely fall off during fight scenes (outtakes please).  Ben Browder is a natural at beating himself up 'Whumping I think you call it.....And he likes it' (okay then).  Joe Flanigan was apparently the person least likely to reherse, he's 'a great athelete' but preferred to play golf, surf or play guitar than reherse a fight scene (slapped wrist for Flanigan).  Bam Bam did a impression of how a day would go with the stunt guys kicking ass...think multiple cartoon ninjas 'hiiii-ya' and other such fighty noises, then as Joe Flanigan stepping in, karate chop 'wah-pah' wipes brow 'we got him'.

On the Sunday Bam Bam did a stunt demo on stage.  He brought on Sharon and they went through getting into the rhythm of using sticks, which I might add was awesome to watch.  Bam Bam said that working with Sharon was great as she does everything he tells her to do, once while training he told her to take off her shirt...which she then nearly went on to do...bless her, and naughty Bam Bam.  He also spoke about how important the practice is as while training Rachel once made an error in which one of the sticks wasn't protecting her face during a fast run though of a fight and he smacked her cheekbone, she was fine but the subsequent bruise led the make-up girl, his then girlfriend, to chew him out on set.

Mates Tina and Philippa were brought up on stage to assist Bam Bam while he was running through a fight routine with Sharon, his dodgy hips means he finds it difficult to kneel and the girls aided the 'old man' onto his knees and back up again....though luckily Tina didn't have to 'Turn left' (those puzzled should look up P4's stunt demo).

Bam Bam also did a routine with Sharon, Ryan and two stunt guys (James Embree, who's worked on Sherlock Holmes, Merlin and the new Robin Hood film and a guy who was Hugh Jackman's double in the X-Men movies)  He set up two fight scenes which were to be performed simultaneously....'that means at the same time' to Sharon when she forgot to practice while watching Ryan's routine.

One thing Bam Bam loves to do is micking taking and joshing and there was alot of this during the demo....there was much messing with the 'floppy' knife, mentioning of protecting 'twig and berries' and bemoaning the 'actors'...before the final run through of the 'fight'...which I happened to capture on film.....Shhh.



This one one of my favourite parts of the convention and I hope if Bam Bam visits again this will become a recurring event.  It certainly brings home the art of the stunt performer...two very enthusiatic thumbs up :D