And the word of the week is "Pheeew!" After travelling home all day this past Monday, then learning on Tuesday and Wednesday just how much my three-month-old changed over the 10 days I didn't get to see him (like not wanting to eat for Daddy any more), I am back home and a little less bleary-eyed.
Vancouver is a great city even when it's sopping wet, and as usual, a great time was had by all.
David drove down to Nashville a week ago Tuesday so that we could make the trip together and get some planning done. This mostly consisted of writing interview questions and deciding who would take the lead interviewing each person, should we happen to get time with them. I'm the sort who likes to over-prepare in order to feel comfortable, so that's a good 10 to 12 questions for every person, place, or thing who might agree to talk with us, from Michael Shanks to Carl Binder to Guest Star o' The Week to Key Grip #4.
I certainly had a few names at the top of my wishlist, especially those actors I am in love with (Amanda and Claudia -- in a perfectly appropriate, married man sort of way) and those who GateWorld has never interviewed before (Paul McGillion and Jason Momoa, for example). David has done many more interviews than me (thanks to his ability to record phone interviews well), so I got the privilege of leading the lion's share of our set interviews. Please forgive the boyish voice when you hear it -- I think I'm getting better, but if some people have "a face made for radio," then I think I have a voice made for print. I really am 30 and somebody's father.
Wednesday was a fun day to casually run around town with our official photographer, kiwigater. We conducted four interviews at two different talent agencies, and met some darn-nice actors. Some of this material you've already seen on the site, including a
personal message to his fans from Kavan Smith (
"Major Lorne"). Kavan was an early highlight of the trip.
Thursday and Friday we spent all day on set, and it just never gets old. Even after being on my feet for hours on end, waiting for the next interviewee to become available and not getting much done, it's still great fun to be there. It was my third year visiting, and I hope that it always retains that kid-in-a-candy-store vibe to me. The publicity team on set ferries us around all day long, and they are simply outstanding.
We'll be rolling out those interviews over the weeks to come, and I couldn't be happier with the great material that the casts and crew provided to us. Even Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, two of the busiest men in show business, seemed to enjoy chatting about the finer points of the Stargate universe for better than half an hour each. I suspect that after so many interviews with the mainstream press, they like talking about the show with a couple of guys who they know truly love it, and who have an encyclopedic knowledge of it. (Brad joked that he could use terms like "Harcesis" with us and not have to explain it.)
Friday the convention also began, and while I missed the stage activities, we had a blast at the GateWorld Get-Together that night at T.G.I. Fridays. This event drew about 25 people last spring; we were shocked when we had R.S.V.P.s for nearly 80 this year ... so many that the event nearly didn't happen! We couldn't find a restaurant to accommodate our group, and were debating splitting it into two parties for two different nights, or renting a hall and just ordering pizza. I'm so glad things worked out the way they did (73 attendees), but if our group triples in size again next year we'll definitely be in a spot.
Several actors provided us with photos autographed especially for this event, including four from Amanda. We gave those away in a random drawing, along with several other prizes. Titan Magazines kindly provided a box of the new
Stargate SG-1 /
Stargate Atlantis Official Magazine yearbook, so that everyone at the party could go home with a copy.
The party also gave me a chance to meet
Ivon and
BamBam, two of our star bloggers, face-to-face (BamBam for the second time, actually). Rainmaker's Bruce Woloshyn, one of GateWorld's oldest and dearest friends, also turned out again to chat it up with fans. Thanks, guys!
Saturday and Sunday consisted mostly of convention coverage, listening to the actors and crew on stage and taking notes. I'm still working on getting the last bits of this published on the site -- stay tuned for reports on Amanda Tapping's stage appearance, and the panel from JR Bourne and Cliff Simon. Creation put on a top-notch event this year, with the possible exception of a couple of jokers they let on stage for a trivia game on Sunday afternoon. (Yes, that'd be me and the aforementioned David, with help from kiwigater and
Shipperahoy).
Monday morning we rose at 4:30 a.m. to make it to the airport on time, only to have our cab driver tell us that it was daylight savings and we were running an hour late.
SON OF A! We spent the cab ride debating whether or not he was right, and thank goodness he wasn't.
My highlights from the week include an interview with Claudia Black (we had her for only 6 minutes last year before she was called back on set), seeing Amanda again and getting to talk with her a bit (and show off a picture of my beautiful baby), Kavan's interview (and the hilarious outtakes I hope you get to see), and reconnecting with Brad and Rob. With a site like ours, there is always a subtle tension between "Keep doing what you're doing" and "Why are you doing what you're doing?!", but they were incredibly accommodating and complimentary.
I also finally got to meet and interview Rachel Luttrell. Boy, it's hard to keep my small-screen love interests to just two with such a wonderful lady. And we polished off a total of 20 interviews at the convention, with what I think will turn out to be a really nice piece with the world's most soothing Tok'ra.
Vancouver 2006 will surely go down in history as one of my favorite "working vacations." I can't say I relaxed a lot, but I certainly had fun "working." I hope it pays off in spades when all of you get to see and hear these interviews!
Born to be a Stargate fan, Darren started GateWorld in 1999. In addition to personal and freelance
Web work he is also a writer, a graduate student in theology, a husband and a father of two. He is a big fan
of genre hits like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape, LOST, and Battlestar Galactica.
You guys had fun eh. I WILL be there for the Vancouver Convention, next year (I hope).
dang!!!! i wish i could have been there!!!!! sounds like you guys had fun....just think of all the opportunities you got... like interviewing the cast... ON SET!!!! i am one of the oh so jealous people in Australia... (friend of Sapph/Laura, she went to the dinneer)... i look forward to seeing all the stuff that you are going to be coming out with!!!
Lexa
Darren...all that can be said is a HUGE Thank You for taking time away from Josh and Mrs Darren to do this for all of us as well. Even though you love SG and GW as well Thank you so very Much for making GW the BEST place for Fans to come and enjoy the *Inside Scoop* and feel a part of the show as well.
I don't know why you do it all but I am so very happy that you do!! Tell the PTB that we appreciate all you do and because of people like you the show is that much closer to our hearts AND pocketbooks...LOL
Thanks Darren for working during the convention. Loved Kavan's message. Everything I have seen so far from the convention has been fantastic. :)