This report was originally written in the form of several emails to a Farscape cast member who had asked me tons of questions about the con. When I was all done he replied: "Many, many thanks for the adventure." Jules ;0) Burbank, Day One (stop me if you're bored) The first "official" day was Friday. The doors didn't open til almost noon but we were all ready to get started and rushed over to hang out in the lobby/dealer area. Of course, Save Farscape had a booth set up with a laptop playing the tv commercial which is airing in 27 cities this week and lots of hand-outs, petitions, etc including the cookbook which is for sale. While hanging out with LOTS of my friends, I saw Ricky Manning come in and went over to talk to him. I got to meet his wife, Cheryl, finally, after hearing lots of great things about her from Sue Barrett and the Aussie mob. We talked a bit and teased. A little later, Cheryl offered to take my picture with him. I told her, no. I already have a picture of ME with him. I want one of YOU with him. So, I took their picture. It remains to be seen if it turns out. I think Lani showed up in the lobby about this time and started signing autographs. I swear the poor guy LIVED in the lobby all weekend. Lots of people paid to have him sign stuff and I got a chance to talk to him about his con agent (who turned out to be a) sitting next to him and b) a scaper I knew online so I had a long chat with her about you and Jonathan coming over to do some cons next summer. I sent you her email address. Be sure and drop her a note. :) When I first walked up to his table, Lani saw me and looked puzzled and asked where he knew me from. I reminded him about presenting the Roswell in Sydney and then it clicked. Okay, into the room with the stage. Our seats were just left of center in the third row. Excellent, I thought. Creation showed a bunch of fan made music videos that had been entered in their contest and then Wayne came on stage to give his talk. Poor guy. He could hardly keep from breaking down as he spoke of the cancellation. He was his usual interesting self however and managed to make it through his spot. After that, there was a bunch of stuff I didn't stay around for (after all, I HAD to hang out in the lobby and harrass Froon and Lani, didn't I?). One of the things Creation did was show a trailer for Taken. And they were surprised the fans booed! After the intermission they auctioned off a bunch of Star Trek stuff (and some Farscape too, but it was pretty lame). Farscape props like an original qualta blade that you had to be rich to afford, etc. I didn't stay for that either. (<BG>) Anthony came on next and, well, screamed his way through 45 minutes. He was hysterical, as usual. This was my first time seeing him live. After his take, we all queued up for autographs with him and Wayne. Froon sat in on the session and gave autographs too. I had my copy of the 100 page special Farscape Magazine and I handed it to him and said: "You're in here somewhere, aren't you? Sign that." He looked at me and said: "You don't read it, do you? You just buy it to look at the pictures." He found a whole article about himself and wrote across it: "Jules! Read the bloody article! Kisses. Froonium Ricky Manning. (I had to have Cheryl translate the "kisses" though his handwriting is worse than mine!) Next was Anth. I mentioned to him that the Aussies would LOVE to see him at TaScape this year, and he promised to try if he was in the area. Wayne smiled his gorgeous smile and told me he remembered me from TaScape and that he has a photo and he and I in our hats that someone sent him. I told him that was me and that I'd sent him the Crackers Don't Matter Scorpius figure. I swear he's a dead ringer for Patrick Stewart, especially when he does his "deep voice". :0) Okay, that evening Wayne and Anth's band played for us. Anth made a big deal during his time on stage that this was a ROCK band and we should expect it to be LOUD and we had to jump around and dance, etc, if we came. Of course, the room was fairly packed for the performance, which surprised him. The band was... LOUD! I didn't understand a SINGLE WORD that man sang. LOL! But I enjoyed it anyway. From the back. <BG> There had been a funny thing about the name of the band. Creation listed it in the program as being called "SUNSpots" but the guys insist THEY never heard of that. The band's name was and always has been "96". So, that's what we heard. Lani, Gigi and Raelee (and Froon, of course) attended and danced a bit. They were waaayy up in front, so I could only see Lani's head through the crowd, but other people saw the rest of them. After the band, we had a writers group in the lobby of the hotel while Froon, Gig and Raelee were in the hotel bar. We all hollered "Good night" to them as they left. Raelee seemed a bit stunned. :0) So much for day one. Day two is CLAUDIA!! Are you sure you're up for that? Jules :) Burbank Con, Day Two (I'm on a roll here) Okay, before I go any further, let me explain a little bit about "Creation Cons". Unlike the BoBW Con you were at in Sydney, when Creation does a Con they strictly limit the guests exposure to the audience. They do this mainly by means of the "autograph line" where you are herded like sheep past the seated guests and told "no talking to the guests" and "no personalizations. Straight signatures only." When I saw Claudia in NYC last year, she stuck pretty close to this but this year she didn't. Not only did she personalize Jackie's photo for her, she talked to us and even reached across the table and took my arm as I was wheeling Jackie out. I nearly passed out (but we won't go into that. <BG>). They were allowed to talk to us at the "cocktail party" but it was strictly a meat market. I mean, I have never seen anything so sad in my life. Neither cocktails NOR parties were visible in that room! Also, Claudia didn't attend. Just as well. It was a mob scene all the way. Anyhow, back to the beginning of Day Two (Saturday). I played hookey and didn't watch the DVD extras (got 'em) or Kent McCord (can't stand him LOL!) so I stayed in the lobby and talked to Cheryl Manning. WHAT A MISTAKE! By the time I left her, I was literally sick and spent the rest of the day pretty much wanting to vomit (and not in a good way, ala Stark, either!) She was VERY negative about the whole "Save Farscape" Campaign and what we might accomplish and also she was very negative about Claud's chances of making it in the US. Since helping her get her career started over here has been the main goal of our fan group, CBOOL, for over a year, that was very disheartening. Although, it turns out that Cheryl didn't have a clue as to what we've been doing as far as the campaign goes and that we know that we HAVE to increase viewership and thereby the ratings in January if we want ANYTHING to happen at all and we have many, many plans in the works including the tv commercials that are running all this week, newspaper ads in USA Today and the Hollywood Reporter, etc. I really, really hope SHE'S wrong and we're right. I've heard that Ricky has been very depressed since he came back (understandable) and that's where she's getting her information from, but it was still a terrible downer. Meanwhile, onstage, Ricky was casting volunteers in a "Farscape" scene he'd written that they then practiced and performed later in the day. They also screened episode 10321 "Into the Lion's Den, part 2". After the intermission they had another auction (Jackie bought a HUGE oil painting of Rygel which she instantly regretted since she couldn't figure out how to get it home. Having been married to a painter, I knew just what to do, since it was only mounted on a stretcher frame. Except, she mailed it to Jonathan instead of keeping it. I hope he likes it). The volunteers performed their scene and then Claudia came out. She seemed nervous and immediately set about doing a piece of work, making fondue style hot-cocoa for a kid in a wheelchair. Then she talked for a while. She called Ben on her cell phone. He was in line with his kids waiting to see Santa, in Sydney. When she asked for questions, Jackie, Becca and I got right in the front of the line (well, second, third and fourth) so we could make our presentations. When she turned to me I actually was able to talk (imagine that! <BG>) and made a little speech about the Roswell Awards so that people would know what they were as they were presented during the weekend and then I got up on stage and gave Claudia her "Best Lead Actress" Award for 2001. I've been told she hugged me and kissed my cheek, but I'm waiting for the pictures since I have NO recollection of it AT ALL! LOL! Becca followed me and gave her the "Best Lead Actress" Award for 2002. I really think she was touched. At least I hope so. Jackie got up a little later and gave her an autographed first edition of Anne Rice's book "Pandora". Claudia admitted that she hadn't even read "Queen of the Damned". She went on to talk about how Jorge had told her they had a message board for QOTD and all anyone wanted to ask about was HER (True!). I hollered out "That was us!" and she said, real quiet, "I know." Obviously, Jorge had finally had a chance to tell her that her fans are "Terrifying in the best possible way." We found out on Monday just how true that was. I almost forgot to tell you the best/worst story from when Claudia was onstage! Almost at the end of the question time, a lady came up to the microphone and started to talk very fast. She said something like: "This may be my last chance to see you. I was a volunteer here last year, and I was going to again this year but my husband's been in the hospital. He had congestive heart failure but they're sending him home. I left him asleep in the car." Everyone gasped in unison and Claudia got the strangest look on her face and she said (dead serious) "I hope you rolled the window down a crack for him." while cranking her hand in the air. It was TOO strange! She ended up hugging the lady and signing something for her from the stage so she could go back and start the car's air conditioner. Now THAT'S a fan. LOL! I probably would have done exactly the same thing, in her shoes, but you could tell, Claud was a little spooked by it. :0) When Claudia got done with questions, they started the autograph line. Jackie and I were the very first (wearing our CBOOL t-shirts) and Claudia seemed really happy to see us. She said that she now knows that the "terrifying" quote is about her fans, not her and we got a chance to tell her that we were having dinner with Jorge Saralegui on Monday and invited her to come. She said she thought she'd be out of town by then, but she'd see. ;0) The autograph line took FOREVER, as you can imagine, with 300 Gold seat patrons and then as many General Admissions as wanted to pay an extra $45 - and Claudia talking to people! Much later, the cocktail party started in another room in the Convention hall. Several people came in Farscape costumes for a contest. We stayed until after Anth, Wayne, Gigi and Raelee left, which was about 10:30, then we actually tried to get some sleep (go figure!). There was more to come, after all, in day THREE! Whee! Jules :0) Well, you didn't stop me so onto Day Three! Of course, you know I'm going to use most of this on my website as my con report. This way I figure I'll at least have the details down in print, before I forget them. I never DID finish my report on the NYC con last year and I don't want that to happen again! LOL! Day three - the last day - always bittersweet. :/ First up on the stage was Lani Tupu. He talked a bit and took questions. Several people asked him about doing Pilot so he got one of them to come up on stage and read Crichton's part in a script while he did the Pilot parts. It's funny because, knowing he was voicing him, I have tried for over three years to "hear" Lani in Pilot's voice and never could... until last Sunday. Seeing him doing it made it much more real. Wow! What a difference. Almost like the difference between Anth being Anth and Anth being D'Argo. :0) Also, during the question/answer period, one of the scapers presented him with the Roswell Award for "Character Who Will Be Most Missed". He was quite obviously moved by this and kept the trophy with him out in the lobby when he was signing autographs later. Next was Raelee Hill. She came onto stage singing and did a whole song. Turns out she was worried because Tammy McIntosh did a tumbling run on stage last year and Raelee was worried about following her. It was interesting to hear her impressions of working on Farscape (since her first episode was mainly just she and Ben) and of the con as well. She seems like a "perky person" and a talented performer. She was definitely "on" for us. She was presented with the trophy for the "Best New Character", but I don't think it even sunk in to her what it was. She was fairly flying. After Raelee, Ricky Manning got up to talk. He had been teasing Lani earlier about reading from "the sacred text" and checking on something in a script. He's not known as "The Punctuator" for nothing! I heard and/or spoke to Froon so many times over the weekend that frankly, I don't recall what exactly he talked about on Sunday. I do know that he wasn't given much time and when a scaper tried to present the "Best Series" Roswell to him, Adam from Creation wouldn't let her and so it was given to him later when he was signing autographs. Next they aired "Revenging Angel". Since I'd already seen it at least 9 times AND since they had aired it at both cons last year, I didn't stay in the room for it but went on intermission early. In the afternoon they had another auction and then it was time for the last guest, Gigi. Gigi seemed a mess. She could hardly talk and seemed really upset or nervous. She was a little better when she started to answer questions. She told us about getting a gig in February for six months and about saying "Frell you!" in the first audition she went to. It was the first time I'd gotten to see her in person and was sorry to miss the bubbly sprite I'd expected. One of the scapers asked her to twirl some Chinese cloths, which she did. Man, is that girl LIMBER! After her time was nearly up, David Kemper came out and joined her on stage. Gigi hung on him like a lost puppy, poor thing. DK talked about the cancellation and what we could do. He mentioned that he'd heard something about the tv commercial and wondered who had made it, so the guy came up from the audience and talked about it a little and gave DK and Gigi both copies of the press kits they've been mailing to media everywhere. DK seemed surprised and impressed. But, we know it comes down to numbers, so all we can do now is work and wait. DK joined Gigi and Raelee afterwards to sign autographs. It was a very LONG, very SLOW line. I let Shipscat push Jackie through the line first and waited with my regular row (we'd kinda been taking turns pushing her, as it gave a real advantage as far as autographs go). Raelee still seemed overwhelmed by it all and signed her name really neatly and really tiny. :0) DK scrawled all over the article I had him sign. He seems to like his own stuff a lot. <EG>. I had purchased an extra ticket to get an autograph from Gigi. I had her sign the action figure first, for the auction, then I handed her my copy of the "Black and White" magazine that her photos are in. I told her it was for me and she could autograph whichever picture she wanted, not necessarily the cover. So, she took the book and look up at me and asked my name. I told her Jules. She turned to the photo that shows her tatoo so well and wrote: "Dear Joles, Dream the life, live the dream" with what looks like a butterfly after that and then she signed it. (so much for no personalizations, eh?). It was (is) awesome. One of the people in line presented David Kemper his Roswell trophy for "Die Me, Dichotomy", which he liked and I got another friend to take a picture of him accepting it. The signing went on well past 9pm because some friends were waiting with their baby (her name is Aeryn) to have photos taken with DK and had to stay until the end. By the time they got back to the room we were all famished and headed into LA for some food. Like most of these things, the con ended, not with a bang!, but with an "Aw shit, I'm tired!" LOL! Extra added attraction... Day FOUR!! Yep, Jackie and Ships and I stayed over for another day because we had a date with a movie producer! Jorge Saralegui had invited us out to dinner and Ships called him on his cell phone on Sunday and made arrangements to meet him at the Hard Rock Hollywood at 7pm on Monday. She told him we'd invited Claudia to join us and Jorge told her that on Friday he'd arranged to meet with her on Monday as well, so he'd tell her about the dinner too. Monday started out with us heading to a Mailboxes, etc so Jackie could mail the oil painting to Jonathan and I could mail the action figures to myself, then off to find the Jim Henson Studios and give THEM the extra Roswells we hadn't managed to present (we still had trophies for Tammy McIntosh, Paul Goddard and Rowan Woods). Driving in LA can be harrowing, so I stayed on the surface streets (avoiding the freeways) and we got to drive past the major studios like Warner Bros (with Bugs Bunny, etc painted on the walls) and Universal City. We finally found Henson's when Ships spotted "the frog" above the gate. This is a very cool place, with Kermit everywhere. They were very nice to us and let us in through the iron gate and had us go into reception. There were Kermits everywhere... even on the bathroom towels! Ships and I had a blast! (Jackie stayed in the van rather than make the walk). We ogled all their trophies, especially the Saturns and the receptionist took our picture standing in front of them. The gal from publicity never did make it downstairs to talk to us, so the receptionist ended up keeping the box. She sounded like she wanted to put the trophies in the case with the Saturns, once we'd shown them to her. LOL! I'll have to have Froon check it out and maybe leave the "Best Series" trophy there for her. <BG> After Hensons, it was onto Hard Rock Hollywood. We got there just a couple of minutes before Jorge and they were expecting him. He asked the greeter if someone had been in and left a bag for him. She told him it was already at our table. So, we go sit down and he hands a bag to Jackie. Inside it are three t-shirts from the Hard Rock that Claudia has purchased and signed for us, thanking us for everything. We were all just flabbergasted. It seems that she had spent 2 1/2 hours with Jorge and then had come to the Cafe and bought the shirts before she left to fly to New York! I found it hard to believe... Claudia gave ME a gift! WOW! (yes, I LIKE gifts! LOL!) Anyhow, we talked Jorge's ear off about Claudia and the campaign, etc for three hours. He finally begged to leave since he had to go back to his office and read a script before he could go home, so we were nice and let him go. On the way back to the car, we passed him getting into his Porsche. Since Ships had told him she needed a picture of him AND his car to convince this one friend of hers that he exists, I got to follow him into the parking structure and snap a shot of him getting into his car. Talk about feeling dumb! He was very, very nice though. We've all gotten to be friends with him in the eight months or so since QOTD came out, so it was nice to finally meet him. Back at the hotel, there was no way I could sleep. We had to get up at 4am to leave to turn in the van and get our flights out, anyway, so I mostly sat up and read. Both my flights out were great so my return HAD to be awful... and it was! They had the very first snowstorm of the year in Chicago (where I had to change planes) so all the flights in most of the country were thrown off track. I finally got home around 2am (and had to be at work at 9:30am). But IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!! I'd do it again in a minute. I'd fly to the UK this weekend if I could. Cons are exhausting and especially with Creation, we complain about them a lot, but we still keep coming back because we have a HUNGER to meet the people who make such a wonderful show as Farscape. I have never been a "fan" of another show like this and I can't seem to get enough of the people. I've met so MANY friends because of it and have traveled to places I never dreamed of going before. Being a Farscape fan has deeply enriched my life and I'll never forget it or all of you. Next time, I hope to see YOU at one of these. Any questions?? Jules ;0) |
THE 2000 - 2001 ROSWELL AWARDS 2001 Roswell Award Best Lead Actor Congratulations Ben Browder John Crichton - Farscape 2001 Roswell Award Best Lead Actress Congratulations Claudia Black Aeryn Sun - Farscape 2001 Roswell Award Best Series Congratulations! Farscape 2001 Roswell Award Best Director Congratulations Rowan Woods "Die Me Dichotomy" - Farscape 2001 Roswell Award Best Season Finale "Die Me Dichotomy" Congratulations! Farscape 2001 Roswell Award Best Season Premier "Season of Death" Congratulations! Farscape |
SOD screencap by JadesHand |
Thanks to everyone who helped present a trophy in Burbank at the Farscape Convention. Pictures and a report will be added soon! |
"THE BARBY" You might have heard that I flew from Michigan, in the United States, to Sydney Australia just to attend a "Thank you" Barbeque for the Farscape cast and crew. It's true. I did. I went there expecting to hand over the "Best SciFi Series" Roswell Trophy to the nearest crew member who might have shown up. Instead, I got to make a speech in front of SEVERAL members of the FS CAST and CREW, while being videotaped by a castmember, heckled by a few more (very lovingly, I might add) and then got to present the trophy to Lani Tupu (who portrays Captain Crais and the voice of Pilot). Dave Elsey, the head of Henson's Creature Shop, put it in his backpack to take to the studio, after we all had posed on the lawn for a group photo. They were very happy to receive the award and grateful that the Australian fans thought enough of them to hold the barby at all. We were just as delighted to have had them all attend. Thanks to everyone who voted for FarScape in the Roswell Awards, but special thanks to those intrepid webmasters from Chrissys.com, Mark and Drew. We appreciate all your hard work, fellas, and want you to know that, if there are any funds left over after the costs for the bbq are covered, they will be donated to the National Stroke Foundation in honour of Maura Fay (FARSCAPE's Casting Director who unfortunately passed away recently). So guys, the beat goes on..... Xenajules :) |
The 'guys' from the Creature Shop with the Best Series Roswell Trophy. To see the rest of my TaScape photos, go to: http://pictures.care2.com/welcome/373393683 |
THE 2001 - 2002 ROSWELL AWARDS |
Roswell Award 2002 Best Lead Actress In A Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations CLAUDIA BLACK Aeryn Sun - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Best Supporting Actress In A Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations GIGI EDGLEY Chiana - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Best Recurring Actress In A Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations TAMMY MACINTOSH Jool - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Best Returning Character In A Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations PAUL GODDARD Stark - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Best New Character In A Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations RAELEE HILL Sikozu - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Actor Or Actress In A Role That Will Be Most Missed 2002 Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations LANI TUPU Bialar Crais - Farscape |
Roswell Award 2002 Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Series Congratulations FARSCAPE |
Roswell Trophies Awarded at Farscape Convention - Burbank, CA Nov 22 & 23, 2002 |
Jeannie (Buttercupfree) presented David Kemper with the 2001 Award for Best Final - "Die Me, Dichotomy" |
JustPlainLisa gave the 2002 "Best Series" trophy to Richard (Froon) Manning. |
I gave a short explanation of the awards and presented the 2001 "Best Lead Actress" trophy to Claudia Black. |
Moonbebe presents the 2002 "Best Lead Actress" trophy to Claudia. |
