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Page 4 of 6 The Convention begins
Right after the press conference, I had to get upstairs into the plant room for a crew meeting and introduction - after all, we had a DVD to shoot! As our disposition had been overthrown, I agreed to begin my shift immediately. When we entered the mainbridge, I was overwhelmed by the nice atmosphere, the many seats and the lovely set decoration. There were banners with runes on them, seemingly adapted from Stargate. In between, there was a little gimmick hidden: "42" was obviously no egyptian hieroglyph. Nice to see that people had a sense for some Hitchhiker's Guide humor. The first appearance on stage was Richard Arnold who has shown us his tremendous knowledge of Star Trek. He was quite impressive, it seemed as if there was nothing he didn't know about the franchise. Right after that, the film crew of Nydenion, the german science fiction movie, gave us some insight in their production. Especially the CGI effects and complex compositions with the use of matte paintings were reveiled. One could get a good impression of how much work is actually behind a single, short CGI sequence.
After this presentation, I was replaced by another DVD crew member. So, I took the chance to have a look at the entire convention. Right in front of the mainbridge, a bunch of Klingons had opened a camp of their own with some truly Klingon decoration. They were in a pretty good mood, as they were chanting most of the time. I also looked around the Ferengi market where merchants exposed all of their merhandising from various science fiction series and films. I couldn't resist and bought two Stargate patches - of course I chose SG-1 as my team. Very near, there was a little exhibition of fan art, including wonderful paintings with typical scifi motives. Upstairs, there was an exhibition of custom-built models including a life-size piece of the Enterprise-D engine room. When I finished my tour, it was time for some social activities. The crew of the German Scifi-Forum gathered at 15:30 for a meeting of everyone. We took the chance to get to know each other a bit, but soon spread into all directions since there was much on the programme of the convention no one wanted to miss. Back on the mainbridge, Robert Vogel was on stage and shared his impressions from the set of Stargate with us. He had some extremely funny stories from the 200th episode to tell. His jacket was also very striking: It was full of Stargate patches with an extraordinary big "WORMHOLE EXTREME" patch on the back - which also referred to the Stargate parody being shown in the 100th and 200th episode.  After Robert Vogel, I got nervous. It was time for the second star guest to come on stage on the mainbridge. And it was the same person who made me come to the convention at all, even though none of my friends were there: Laura Bertram (Trance Gemini) from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. I was curious: How many Andromeda fans would be around? How would that person behind my favourite TV character be in reality? And what would she have to tell us? She got on stage with a charming smile and although it was in the afternoon, the mainbridge was slowly filling up. The people however hesitated to ask questions. Some where too shy, others didn't know what to ask. Although there was a project team called the "confishes" who would help people translate, people didn't use that service and partially remained on their seats instead. Laura Bertram bridged the initial silence with some funny stories about the set of Andromeda and slowly broke the ice - also with the aid of her extraordinary charisma which obviously struck the people. After this panel, many had come to me knowing I'm an Andromeda fan and told me how much they would have been surprised of Laura and that they intended to buy the DVDs now. She conquered the hearts of the audience very quickly.
For me, this panel was connected with a special assignment. The fans from the Andromeda section of the Scifi-Forum asked me to utter the most famous running gag from Andromeda during her panel. At that time, I had my High Guard duty belt on with my Force Lance holstered. I was extremely nervous looking at the many people I had to speak in front of - in english! And the presence of Laura Bertram on stage didn't make it any better - I didn't want to disgrace myself in front of everyone. Nevertheless, I gave it a try and marched into the direction of one of the microphone positions and waited until it was my turn.
Suddenly Christian, the administrator of the Scifi-Forum spotted me from behind, ran in front of me, kneeled down and took some photos. What he didn't know was that he totally distracted me, especially since then, everyone left and right of me was looking at us. And in exactly that moment, the spotlight was thrown on me and Laura asked me to ask my question. In that very moment, I thought I would faint any moment. And I didn't imagine how much my english could fail once I'm nervous. However, I managed to ask my question: "In Andromeda, there was one running gag known throughout the entire series. It went basically like this: Have you seen my Force Lance?" and so I held up my Force Lance. Laura was smiling so bright and the obvious Andromeda fans in the audience started laughing. The others however didn't quite understand that joke. I continued: "Can you tell us where this joke originated from?"
I had just calmed down a little, but then Laura asked me to bring her my Force Lance to the stage. When I think of this situation right now, I don't even want to know how fast my heart beat by then. So, she took the Lance, demonstrated the ambiguity of its shape and mentioned that because of this look, Kevin Sorbo's favourite line when there were new women on set was: "Have you seen my Force Lance?". You get what she meant of you look at the photo.  When I turned away from stage, there were some people waiting for me in order to take a photo. They were Andromeda fans as well and needed reference photos of my selfmade holster belt. I would later meet some of them again for another funny action. The panel continued just as funny when she got asked about funny stories related to the tail she carried in season 1 and 2. She told us some very awkward and extremely funny stories of how she got her tail - specifically about when she had to have her body cast. After the panel, Laura had her photo session upstairs. Reason enough for me to leave the mainbridge for a while. When I entered the room, I was welcomed with the same charming smile and the words "Hi! Thanks for letting me use your Force Lance!"
We took the chance for some posing with the Force Lance - unfortunately to the total confusion of the photographer who lowered his camera and asked "now what the hell is THAT thing?". It was no use explaining anything to him, since his assistant immediately started to imitate a vibrator. With the result of the entire room bursting out in laughter and the shooting needing more time to finish. The result was a photo where she looks as cute as always and I do look totally dumb...oh well  Later in the evening, the Opening Ceremony was the first main event of the weekend. It began with a fanmade theatre play which unfortunately failed pretty much due to the lack of reherarsal and some technical failures which prevented the audience from hearing much of the play. It was a shame, especially since the fans had put so much effort into the planning. The outcome must've been very disappointing for themselves.
The rest of the opening ceremony went on without problems. Marc B. Lee introduced one guest after another with everyone gaining a loud applause. When the applause for Laura Bertram and Jewel Staite calmed down, there was always one fan whistling loudly, resulting in a very funny situation. The ones who had the longest appearance during the ceremony were obviously J.G. Hertzler, Robert O'Reilly and Suzie Plakston, who all had a very special way of saying "hi" to the fans. Hertzler even jumped down the stage and kissed and hugged everyone near him.  Then, it was time for a panel which most of the fans would consider as a definite highlight. It was time for Jonathan Frakes who immediately enthused the masses. He used the time to tell some anecdotes from the TNG set as well as to moan about Paramount in a rather ironic way - because their reserved seats were empty. He also seemed to enjoy playing a bit with the camera team. He went close to the right camera, looking straight in - much to the confusion of our cameraman Christian. Jonathan Frakes has also proven to be musical. Commencing with a loud "Voooolaaaareeeeee", the entire audience immediately joined in. This was predetermined to become a running gag on that day. The last panel was held by Cirroc Lofton and Avery Brooks together. They appeared pretty much as father and son, just like their roles in Deep Space Nine. As Cirroc mentioned, Avery Brooks was pretty much his father in reallife as well and took care of him. They both gave some insight on their relationship and both performed a bit of live music, each in his own style.
Avery Brooks was as philosophic as confusing. One fan was impudent enough to ask what Avery Brooks would smoke to come to such thoughts. He obviously referred to the hippie movement, but that question shocked most of the audience. Avery Brooks however remained calm, claiming that great thoughts would not need any mind-altering substances. He used Ghandi and other great personalities to prove his point of view. In the end, he gained a big applause for these words.  After this first convention day, it was already party time. Originally scheduled for saturday, many took the chance to hang out with friends already now. Especially Paul McGillion and Garrett Wang were two of the leading party people. After a meeting with the DVD crew, I got back to my hotel rather early since I wanted to be fit for the next day - which would prove to be the most exhausting during the weekend.
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