Roadrunner

Here's the first batch of my pictures from the Stargate/Battlestar Galactica convention in Burbank. These are from the Saturday Dessert Party and Sunday Breakfast.

Samples...







View the complete gallery.

I was flying solo at this con with no one to take notes while I played shutterbug. Yipes! Therefore, any and all use of quotes in this post should be assumed to be descriptive in nature and not anybody's actual words. I also won't bother to repeat those items that I included in my news dump yesterday. But first, a tip of the hat goes to Brandy2Dog who purchased her Gold Member ticket at last year's convention, but was unable to attend and sold her ticket to me only about a week before the event. So thank you Ro, and I hope you'll be able to make it next year.
( Kate Vernon and Bear McCreary - spoilerfree )

I decided to go ahead and make an initial news dump from the Burbank convention to pass along items that might be of particular interest, then I'll do a descriptive report on the rest later. There are a few minor spoiler bits to report (thanks to Katee...surprise!) so everything will be behind the cut, but I'll also drop all the spoilers down to the very bottom for those who wish to avoid them.
( Cut for length and spoilers )

I'm back from the BSG convention in Burbank and working on a brain dump of the event, as well as sorting through my pictures...and true to shutterbug form, there are a LOT of them...so it will take me at least a few days to make a decent report and post pics to my scrapbook. For now, here's a little offering to take the edge off those hiatus cravings. (click photos to see full size)



Jamie Bamber, Jay Acovone, Joe Flanigan, and Katee Sackhoff at the Sunday Brunch


Jamie...Jamie...Jamie!

Pictures from Comic Con, San Diego, Saturday July 28th are now available.

Bionic Woman - with Michelle Ryan, David Eick, Glen Morgan, Jason Smilovic, Mark Sheppard, and Katee Sackhoff

TV Guide Hot List - with David Eick & Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman), Craig Tomashoff, Skeet Ulrich (Jericho), Matt Dallas (Kyle XY), and Masi Oka & Tim Kring (Heroes).

Heroes - with Jack Coleman, Zachary Quinto, Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, Hayden Panettiere, Tim Kring, Tim Sale, Masi Oka, Adrian Pasdar, Greg Grunberg, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Dania Ramierz, Noah Gray-Cabey, and James Kyson Lee

Battlestar Galactica - with Lucy Lawless, Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell, Ronald D Moore, and David Eick
 

Pictures from the Stargate panels at Comic Con, San Diego on Friday, July 27th are now available.

Stargate: SG1 - with Gary Jones, Martin Wood, Ben Browder, Amanda Tapping, Christoper Judge, and Robert Cooper

Stargate: Atlantis - with Gary Jones, Robert Cooper, Martin Wood, Joe Flanigan, Jewel Staite, Amanda Tapping, David Hewlett, and Joe Mallozzi
 

I now have pics available from Day 1 of Comic Con, San Diego (Thursday July 26).

Battlestar Galactica, with Richard Hatch, Bear McCreary, Dr Kevin Grazier, Mark Verheiden, and Brad Lineweaver
There was one more panelist whose name I unfortunately can't recall for the life of me. (oopsie, my bad). He is at the far end, stage right, and he works with Richard on numerous writing projects. If anyone can tell me his name, please do so, so that I can give him proper credit. - Update: The final panelist was Brad Lineweaver. Thank you Kevin Grazier for the assist!

Lost, with Harold Perrineau, Damon Lindelof, and Carlton Cuse.
 

This was the day that I knew would prove the most problematic with the crowds. Last year, the wait on Saturday just to get through the door and register was more than 3 hours long. This year, already badged and registered, I didn't need to worry about that, but the lines to enter the prime sessions would be another matter entirely, which is why I was out the door before the crack of dawn this morning to join the masses at Ballroom 20. The first panel of the day (The Bionic Woman) didn't start until 10:00am, but by 8:00 the line to enter the room snaked around the corner, down the long corridor, out the door, and down the length of the outside patio. {Trust me, that’s a long way.} Fortunately, I arrived in time to join the line only about halfway down the long hall. Yeah...only. Fortunately, the room seats about 4,500 people so I was still able to get a pretty good seat.

David Eick/Katee Sackhoff fans...don't get too overly enthused that this huge crowd was all made up of people desperate to see The Bionic Woman. That insane mass of people (like me) who gathered there so early were mostly even loonier than it sounds, because the large majority of them weren't waiting there just to see the Bionic Woman panel at 10:00...they were arriving early and prepared to sit through the early panels (or "suffer through them" as one person put it) in order to secure seats for the Heroes panel at 12:45pm. How do I know? Well, the hundreds of Heroes t-shirts on display in the line was one clue. The fact that everyone around me in line and in our seats in the ballroom all said they were waiting for Heroes was the next clue. The final confirmation was the fact that nobody within sight left their seats after the completion of The Bionic Woman panel nor after the subsequent TV Guide panel. Everybody stayed put until after Heroes. Then a large number of people did get up and exit the room, even though the Battlestar Galactia panel followed immediately after Heroes. This was a good thing for me, because I was able to scoot closer to center stage for a better vantage point for the BSG panel, but it was also a bit sad. I've attended the BSG panel for the last 3 years straight, and this was the first time that Ballroom 20 was not full to capacity (and in the previous years, the panels were held on Friday instead of sold-out Saturday). There were even scattered open seats within the first 10 rows of the room. Many people even got up and exited the panel while it was barely half over. Don't get the impression that the ballroom was anywhere near deserted: there were still thousands of people in the room, but the audience interest in BSG does unfortunately appear to be on the wane.

Going chronologically through the day, I'll start with ( The Bionic Woman )

The Bionic Woman panel was followed by TV Guide's Hot List, which frankly was rather a snoozefest. David Eick and Michelle Ryan sat on this panel also, but they didn't say anything that they hadn't already said in the earlier panel. Masi Oka and Tim Kring from "Heroes" made an amusing duo, and Skeet Ulrich and Matt Dallas are nice on the eyes, but I honestly can't repeat anything memorable from this panel. So...moving on.

Next up was the point of primary interest for at least 80 to 90 percent of the audience, ( Heroes - some minor spoilers. )

And last but not least, we come to ( Battlestar Galactica - some mild spoilers )

Pics from all panels will be coming soon. I promise.

Today was back-to-back Stargate panels.

Sadly, Michael Shanks bailed out of the SG1 panel for reasons unspecified, but thanks to Chris Judge and his cell-phone, Lexa Doig received a boisterous greeting from the crowd to pass along to her absentee husband...who was reported to have been on the porcelin throne at the time of the call.

I expected that the panel would provide a lot more in the way of information about the upcoming SG1 movies than we actually received. "The Ark of Truth" will be out in the spring, and "Continuum" will be released in the fall (2008). ( Cut for some spoilery talk )

They do hope that these DVD movies will not be the last of SG1's exploits. Whether that will take the form of more direct-to-DVD movies, TV movies, or theatrical releases...that's anyone's guess, and nothing more is currently in active pre-production, but all parties remain interested, so we'll see.

Farscape fans, Ben was asked about the new production of webisodes and confirmed that he has been speaking with the folks at Henson productions about it, but declined to say more than that. {sounds to me like contract negotiations are still underway} So, there's no real news to report at this time.

This was my first time seeing any of the Stargate actors in person. Ben looked a little frazzled, and he forgot to spit out his gum before coming onstage, but even a little weary he still looked hot. Amanda looked gorgeous. (Yes I have pics. They are coming soon.) Her hair has grown out quite a bit, but not as much as Chris Judge's dreadlocks. I think Chris is about the most jovial actor I've ever seen in person, and he has such a wonderful smile! He never gets to show that smile on SG1, and that's really a pity. {And yet again, I have reason to HATE WATER PITCHERS! but you'll see what I mean later}

Amanda had to pull double-duty and turn right around for the Stargate: Atlantis panel. Jewel Staite was an unanticipated addition to the panel and she too is just gorgeous. With Jewel and Amanda together, the boys are going to have some formidable new eye-candy to indulge in on Atlantis. ( Cut again for some spoilers )

Joe Flannigan is hoping to get a chance to direct (and tried to enlist the support of the crowd on his behalf) but so far he hasn't been given the approval. We may get a story later in season 4 that finally sheds some light on Shepherd's backstory, based upon some story ideas that Joe submitted himself.

{Oh, and did I mention that I yet again have cause to hate water pitchers? First Jamie in 2005, now both Ben & Joe. Geez. I can't win. You'll see what I mean in a few days.}

Because of the crowds, I was unfortunately unable to catch either Clive Owen or David Wenham in the big hall after the Atlantis panel. So if anybody happens across any pics of those two, point me to them, please!

The behemoth convention known as Comic Con San Diego grows ever larger. Unfortunately that means that you really can't hop quickly from one panel to the next any more and expect to find decent seats. You have to pick and choose carefully now, giving yourself PLENTY of extra time to arrive early (VERY early), which usually means missing one or more panels of interst in order to attend another. In my case, that meant skipping the Paramount Studio and Torchwood sessions to sit in on the "Battlestar Galactica" panel hosted by Richard Hatch and Bear McCreary, followed later by "Lost".

( Items of interst behind the cut. Spoilers for Lost. Very, very, very trivial spoilage for BSG. )