Stargate Event
This was the first Stargate specific event that had been run in a while. It was also the first time Richard Dean Anderson had attended on event in Melbourne. At least the first time since I started attending events. There were a lot of great Stargate guests at this event, some I had met before and others I hadn’t. There was Richard Dean Anderson, Claudia Black, Ben Browder, Dan Shae and David Blue whom I hadn’t met before. And Christopher Judge, Connor Trinneer and David Nykl who I had met at previous events.
Chaotic Event
This event was memorable and not for the best reasons, it was chaotic and one of the worse events I’ve attended. The day before the event, Melbourne had been hit with a huge hail storm and it did a lot of damage. My car had been so badly damaged that it ended up being written off, same happened to lot of vehicles. There was a lot of building damage too, even had hail stones flying through the sky light at home.
Unfortunately, the building where there event was held also go damaged in the storm. This meant that there were a lot of last minute changes to accommodate. Due to this changes the attendees were stuck outside in queues for hours longer than expected. This would have been completely understandable if the situation had been explained to us. Instead we were stood outside waiting and wondering what was going on. It would have been a nice courtesy to be told why things were taking so long. In general the organisation of this event was quite bad, nothing seemed to go right.
Financial Woes
Leading up to this event, I hadn’t been in a good financial position and decided not to attend. It’s not so much the entry cost but all the additional costs once you are there, you need to consider. I knew this was going to be my chance to finally meet Richard Dean Anderson, but I couldn’t justify the cost. Only attended because an old friend heard about the event and brought me a ticket. I was incredibly grateful to this friend, it meant a lot and I didn’t have to miss out on the event. He also brought me a photo token with RDA.
It ended up being my lucky day in the end, I was chatting with a friend who had an expensive ticket. Her ticket included photos and autographs with all of the guests. She offered her photo and auto token for Dan Shae to me. I was dressed in my Stargate costume so it seemed perfect and I had to accept. I’m very lucky to have such amazing and generous friends in my life, it means I can enjoy events like this. It’s something special to be a part of such a great community.
Guests and Friends
The guests in attendance were all amazing and it was an honour being able to meet Richard Dean Anderson. During our photo opportunity I got to chat to RDA and he asked me about my costume. He asked how I managed to pull it all together, I told him I brought everything mostly off eBay. Whilst getting my photo with Dan we had a good chat about the P90 prop I had. He showed and explained to me the correct way to hold it. It was pretty amazing getting the opportunity to chat with both of these talented guests. They were both lovely gentlemen to talk to and willing to have a bit of a chat, not just a smile and click photo.
Entertaining Panels
The guests panels were done in pairs, Dan and Christopher Judge shared the stage and they were hilarious. At one point Dan was showing off his strength by doing push-ups with Chris sitting on his back. Ben Browder and Claudia black shared the stage together, they told many great stories. From Stargate and from Farscape, shows they have worked on together. Connor Trinneer and David Nykl shared their panel as well, and like the others they were entertaining. Sharing great stories from behind the scenes and more.
RDA got to have the stage all to himself and was the last panel of the day. He was also entertaining and shared many fun stories from the show’s he has worked on. Not just Stargate but also MacGyver, he was asked about the McGyver bloopers with Amanda Tapping too. I would have loved to have met David Blue unfortunately he had to leave early so I didn’t get the chance. I was never a huge fan of Stargate Universe, it strayed a little too much from the original for my liking. But out of all the characters in it, his was probably my favourite, just a nerd like the rest of us.
Autographs
Following all of the panels was the autograph session. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the photo printing and a lot weren’t back in time for autographs. People were left upset when they’re photos weren’t printed, and they weren’t able to get then signed. In the end the photographs ended up being sent off to the guests to be autographed. That meant that they could not be personalised, and fans missed out on getting that time with the guests. Luckily I didn’t have this problem, my photos had been printed, but I feel bad for those that couldn’t.
Even though I couldn’t really afford it, I decided to get autographs from the guests I hadn’t met before. I decided to get them to sign my Stargate BDU shirt, the one I’ve gotten signed since 2005. RDA was once again lovely to chat with, as was Dan Shae. Autographs was the only chance I got to meet Claudia and Ben, they were both great to chat to as well. Ben overheard me complaining about how hot and heavy the costume was. He commented about how hot their costumes got, especially under all the film set lights.
Event Overview
Even with the chaos of the event it was still good, the guests definitely made up for the lack of organisation. I understand given the issues from the storm, this was bound to happen. I feel as though they could have handled it a lot better and had more communication with attendees. Had we been aware of the problems we would have been more understanding. Other attendees were definitely effecting by the issues more than I was. Such as disabled attendees not having access to a lift to travel between floors. And of course the issue with the photography prints, I understand why people were so upset by it. I just hope that the organisers take onboard the comments and work to improve in the future.
Complete Guest List
Richard Dean Anderson, Claudia Black, Ben Browder, Dan Shae, David Blue, Connor Trinneer, David Nykl and Christopher Judge.
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