Wolf SG-4
Con Report
Part One

I honestly can't believe how quickly this weekend went! Or why I didn't take more notes! Oh well.

I wrote the notes from Saturday when I got back to my room much later that night. On the Sunday, I tried writing during Michael's talk. As a result, all of the following is paraphrased except for whatever appears in quote marks. Please also note that this is not a full con report, and is Michael-centric.

The Cocktail Party

After being reunited with some friends - Mel, Chris and Mags - we headed up to the small bar where the party was being held, and met more friends - Rhian and Jo.

The guests arrived at around half eight and started at the far end of the room. Michael and Lexa moved from group to group together whilst Amanda did the same, if at a slightly slower pace. When Michael and Lexa got around to us, we'd been arranged into this big arc and after some ice hockey talk (specifically, the current state of the Cardiff Devils), Mel asked Michael and Lexa to pose for photos with two snuffles - little cuddly bears. After Mel took a photo of myself with Michael, he closed his eyes and put his hand to his head in what looked like pain. I turned around and asked, "Are you alright?" (It's a reflex! Someone goes "ow", I go "y'alright?" <shrugs>) and he replied, "Well, I have…the other eye." Having a flash go off in your eyes continuously for an hour and a half *can't* have been nice. Many more photos later and with Michael quite blinded by all the camera flashes, he finally escaped, jokingly yelling "Right, that's it. I never want to see any of you ever again!" Well, we took it as a joke…

Not long afterwards two more friends, Jeanine and Nora, finally arrived after being stuck in Dublin airport for hours. Mel took them on a mission to get their photo with Michael and even though he'd asked for no more photos (probably on account that he couldn't *see*), he agreed immediately.

We were pretty much the last group that met Amanda. She was really chatty and has this great Essex accent. She also had her photo taken with a snufflebear (the significance of which will be revealed later). Bryan (Wolfevents "guy in charge") was trying to keep Amanda moving because there was somewhere she had to be, but Amanda wasn't going to be rushed and gave her complete attention to each person she was talking to.

After the cocktail party, my roommate Beth arrived. Then it was a case of 'let the weekend begin'.

Opening Ceremony

Lexa came on stage first. No Stargate whoosh but a warm welcome from the audience. She chatted a little and probably would have continued if someone hadn't stopped her to announce Amanda and Michael. They came through the Stargate (for those who don't know, Wolf have a big model of the Stargate which lights up, revolves and has an event horizon projected behind it) with Amanda leading Michael by the hand. When the crowd finally quietened, Amanda asked in her Essex accent "Anyone from Essex?" to which there were quite a few yells, so Michael asked "Anyone from Kamloops?" to which there was, er, silence. I wish I could remember Michael's reaction to that, but, no. Everyone was surprised by the Stargate starting up again, and this time Tom McBeath (Col. Maybourne) stepped through. His catchphrase for the weekend? "Hellooo Maybourne!" We showed our appreciation for the surprise guest as he greeted the others on stage and then they all left to start with the photograph sessions.

Photograph Session

We were amongst the last group for the Saturday photo session. Amanda's photos were being cleared first because she was due on stage for her first Q&A session. There was some joking around by the guests, the photographer was like an Energizer bunny and generally the atmosphere was great.

Saturday Q&A's

These are the things that I remembered off the top of my head. We missed the start of Amanda's talk because we were still in the photo session.

Amanda:

- Michael leaving:
"Sad - very sad." Amanda also said that filming Meridian was very hard and that the crying and emotion in the episode was all real.

- Michael's directing:
Amanda described Michael's reaction after she'd finished filming a scene. She said he called it "okay" and said, "I can cut around it" then walked away. When he realised Amanda wasn't too happy he went to talk to her and Amanda did this impression of him all stressed out: 'And yadda yadda, and I've got so much to do, and all these people want to speak to me, etc.' Very funny.

- Comments previously made by Joseph Mallozzi:
Amanda doesn't agree that Sam is the hardest character to write for. She also said that if they had trouble writing for Sam because she's a woman, they should "write Sam as if she were a man" and then she would bring the femininity herself.

- What episode would she like to direct:
"Emancipation. I'd rewrite it, then direct it."

Lexa:

- Dating Michael (someone was bound to ask):
"Wonderful." I'm sure she said more but I can't for the life of me remember what. Sorry.

- Cats:
Lexa LOVES cats. She said that she wanted forty of them and has a tiny tattoo of two paws on her lower abdomen. She's also determined to have a cat on set with her this year.

- Appearing in Stargate:
She would if she got the opportunity. Lexa would like to play a Goa'uld, and wanted to play Bastet in the S5 episode Summit but couldn't due to filming schedules. She was also offered the chance to play Reese in another S5 episode, Menace, but again couldn't due to clashes in schedules.

- Playing Andromeda:
Lexa finds playing three versions of Andromeda "interesting". She feels that Rommie is moving away from the others because she is gaining more experiences.

- Goof:
Lexa was taking a drink when someone asked her a question. As soon as she could speak she said, "that always happens when you put something in your mouth" to which the whole audience started laughing. Can't think why!

Michael:

- Possibility of returning to Stargate:
Michael said he would return to Stargate "if the character was used appropriately". He said discussions would probably start when he returned to LA, and that hopefully they'd be able to find a "middle ground".

- Meridian:
He said that he hadn't seen Meridian yet but that he knew there were agendas to meet and "other fish to fry".

- The Artist's Circle:
I can't remember the question but Michael seemed rather surprised when the person asking said that she'd seen it on the Internet.

- Cats:
Michael would be okay with two. He said that Lexa could be "an old divorcee with 40 cats. Or widow."

- Hobbies:
Michael's main hobby is spending time with his daughter, Tatiana. He said he couldn't really do much work away from North America at the moment since leaving Tatiana would "break my heart".

- Tatiana:
When Tatiana was two, Michael asked her who the person on the TV was (him as Daniel). He did an impression of her looking at the TV, back to him, back to the TV, making glasses with her fingers and saying "Daddy!" Two months later, he asked again to show someone how cute she was, to which she looked quickly, said "Daddy" and then went back to what she was doing. Michael said something like Tatiana not being impressed anymore.

- Best time on Stargate:
Someone asked Michael what his best time was on Stargate and he answered with "the birth of my child." After that, he said "the first day".

- Facial Hair:
"When you have to keep the same style day in day out for nine months, you want a change." He said that facial hair needed to be wacky to be fun and that very few seemed to like it, to which he replied, "tough bananas!" He also jokingly noted how people here (in the UK) seemed to be rude and diss people.

- Danny-Whumping:
When someone (I think it was a member of the SG crew) told Michael about Danny-whumping, his reaction was "they don't like the character?" "No, they do," he was told. Michael was a little confused by the idea of people "beating" on someone they liked. A member of the audience yelled, "You always hurt the one you love" and Michael joked that he wouldn't want to live in their house.

- Slash:
Someone asked what had happened to a manipulated image of Jack and Daniel kissing which was given to Lexa the week before in Germany. Michael stalled a little, said that Lexa can be sarcastic (she'd said she liked it), and then ended with, "I think we tore it up." He went on to say that it was a little "spooky" but continued with, "whatever floats your boat, whatever stirs your coffee. Expect me to join in? Nooooooo!" Good save!

- Future work:
Shows Michael would like to work on - he mentioned The West Wing (yay!), Friends (woohoo!) and The Simpsons (yay!). He asked if Seinfeld was popular over here (which it isn't, really), noted that it wasn't made anymore but implied that that was the kind of show he'd like to work on.

- Manifest Destiny and typecasting:
Michael spoke a little about how this Outer Limits episode was filmed - basically, the four acts were all one shot each, and if someone made a mistake in the last line of the act, for example, they'd have to film the whole eight-odd minutes again from the beginning. I wanted to ask where he was in relation to the camera during filming (for those who haven't seen this, the story is told through a video-diary filmed by a camera that Michael's character wears on the side of his head) but I couldn't find a way to stop the question sounding dumb, so… no. Michael said that he'd taken the role for the filming experience and was not worried about being typecast at the moment (which was the original question).

- Puff and Ruffle/Wounded Lamb:
A famed story across the SG fandom, Amanda Tapping (in her Essex accent) actually asked Michael to explain the 'puff and ruffle' act ie. the way the male cast members act when a new female guest star arrives on set. His impression was very funny, complete with denials of his own involvement and examples of what some of the guys would say to the latest female guest - 'can I show you around?', 'if you need anything, just come and find me'. Amanda interjected with 'come find me in my trailer'. Michael then tried to turn the tables by describing the "Wounded Lamb" act which the female cast members put on in the same situation. Cue an immediate change from confident TV star to someone so sad and hurt you couldn't help wanting to try to comfort him. If you weren't laughing so much, that is.

And that was the end of the Saturday Q and A.

Fancy Dress Party

All four guests attended the Fancy Dress Party. They were given microphones so they could make comments as the entrants showed off their brilliant costumes (and acting in some cases). At one point (I think it was as one of the Hathors stood in front of the guests), Amanda said, "Michael doesn't go down…" and then stopped, possibly because she'd realised what she had/was about to say (we certainly had - we were all dying of laughter!). When Amanda had stopped laughing, she corrected herself with "Michael doesn't get on his knees to pray to anyone."

What happened during the judging is on its own page and is linked to at the end of this report.

SG4 Con Report Part 2

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