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blakes7-d Digest Volume 98 : Issue 99
Today's Topics:
Re: [B7L] Standard Speeds (an answer.. kind of)
Re: [B7L] "Deliverance" Convention
[B7L] Space City
[B7L] photo request
Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Re: [B7L] "Deliverance" Convention
[B7L] Back from Deliverance
[B7L] brazilian GP
[B7L] Worldcon
[B7L] Message for Pat Fenech :-)
Re: [B7L] Standard Speeds (an answer.. kind of)
[B7L] Blakes 7 videos
Re: [B7L] Blakes 7 videos
[B7L] Neutral Zone report (1/2)
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 18:49:11 +0100 (BST)
From: Iain Coleman <ijc@mail.nerc-bas.ac.uk>
To: B7 Lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Standard Speeds (an answer.. kind of)
Message-Id: <Pine.OSF.3.96.980403183750.2434A-100000@bsauasc>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
On Fri, 3 Apr 1998, Russ Massey wrote:
> Neil Faulkner wrote an article on the subject ('Safe at any Speed') in the
> Horizon Newsletter 28. In it he postulated that 'Standard' was 5,000c and
> Time Distort 1 was 3,000c. In a later series he used these speeds (increased
> by 10% for some unexplained reaon) as a basis for calculating the travel
> times for every episode of the series. Fascinating stuff, but God only knows
> why he thought it necessary to include the effects of relativity so that time on
> board was less for the crew than time perceived by planetary-bound
> individuals.
How on earth did he manage that? For a start, the time dilation factor is
imaginary for speeds greater than c. He must have either (a) done
something really clever or (b) engaged in some really hokey handwaving. Of
course, I would go for (b) every time - a pro keeps it simple.
[Mind you, there's always option (c) - develop a new system of physics
that allows the superluminal two-way communication that B7 takes for
granted - but that would be sadder than learning Klingon.]
Iain
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 09:21:57 +0100 (BST)
From: Judith Proctor <Judith@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
To: Lysator List <Blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] "Deliverance" Convention
Message-ID: <Marcel-1.42-0403082157-d07Rr9i@blakes-7.demon.co.uk>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
On Thu 02 Apr, JMR wrote:
> As one of the trio who organised the "Deliverance" convention in Stoke last
> weekend, I'd be interested to hear any comments and/or complaints (be
> gentle!). I can attempt to answer any questions anyone has (ie Why were
> things moved/cancelled) about the way the convention was organised and run.
> That's about all for now as I'm still too tired to think straight. Hope all
> attending had a good weekend.
I think the problems were a mixture of the avoidable and the unavoidable. For
instance, I stewarded the autograph queues and saw the problems there first
hand. However, I can't think of any system that would have coped better and
I've seen a number of different systems in operation at different conventions.
With that many guests, and that many people seeking autographs, there is simply
not enough time for everyone to get the ones they want. (I don't think timed
tickets would have worked here as the availibility of guests varied a lot on
different days)
Some of the cast, Gareth and Michael in particular, struck me as absolute
troopers, fitting in an extra signing and carrying right onto the end of an
almost impossibly long queue even though they both looked very tired.
The fans were also amazingly patient and well-behaved, even when they knew that
they were unlikely to get a particular autograph.
The only thing I would suggest there is that someone go down the line at
intervals (which is what I tried to do when I was on duty) to let those waiting
know who was actually in the room. Being more ruthless about chopping the queue
at a certain length would have helped on occasions when a signing was of finite
length (such as when the room was needed for another item) as many people queued
who had no chance of getting an autograph in a particular session.
Good points on the autograph queue were letting children jump the line, and Jon
trying to ensure that those who had membership for a single day only managed to
get an autograph on the day they were there. (The bootlace system worked well -
it was easy to spot who had which kind of registration)
The only delayed event that really annoyed me was the fancy dress competition.
I left a workshop that I was really enjoying to get there at the specified time,
only to stand around for about an hour and a half. I don't know whether the
cause of the delay was waiting for judges or waiting for the hall seating to be
rearranged or something else. I don't know if the length of the dalay could
have been predicted or not, but being given some information would have been
nice.
Unfortunately, that delay threw out the cabaret and everything that followed it.
I'm surprised no one thought of trying to catch up a little by having Dave Walsh
do his cabaret routine while the judges were deliberating on the fancy dress
results.
The auction was late and ran slow. But then auctions always run slow in my
experience unless you've got very experienced auctioneers (I've only ever seen
two conventions that ran a really fast auction - Closet Con and Neutral Zone).
There's always the temptation on the auctioneer's part to hold out for more cash
rather than moving speedily onto the next item. With that many items in the
auction, it was always going to be difficult to fit them in the time.
There were many good points to the convention. My youngest son spent much of
his time playing games and really enjoyed himself. Elder son had a great time
with the dalek. I enjoyed having a room specifically set aside for filking as
opposed to having to filk on landings. But why, oh why was the fan room locked
Saturday evening? There wasn't anything valuable in there, only chairs. With
the late running of the auction, would-be filkers turned up in dribs and drabs
only to be met by a locked door and wander off again without meeting one
another.
The same happened to the alternative programme room on at least one occasion.
Sheelagh Well's workshop was held on the landing with us all sitting on the
floor. Cosy and enjoyable, but probably a fire hazard.
I caught some of the discussion sessions which were fun. Better signposting of
the fan room might have helped more people find it. I'm told that some fans
never did discover where it was. Perhaps a notice on the lift doors on the
reception level would have helped?
The timetabling of events was pretty good. There will always be clashes of
events, but I see that as a good thing rather than a bad one. If there are two
things that I want to do going on most of the time, then someone is getting
things right. If nothing ever clashed, there wouldn't be time to fit everything
in in any case.
I'd like to have seen the video programme displayed in more places - I wanted to
plan around it and found that difficult to do without blocking a corridor while
standing looking at the video room door.
Overall, things were pretty good. The set up in the main hall was impressive,
the guests were numerous (I was surprised to find I really liked Brian
Lighthill whom I'd half-expected to have horns at last...), there was cheap food
available, ops was in a good location, the video programme was varied (even
though I actually ended up missing the ones I wanted because of clashes), the
alternative programme was wide-ranging and I met lots and lots of friends.
My only serious gripe is this. Who the hell decided to raffle Michael Keating
for breakfast when he was arriving at 2am the night before? (I think it was
Gareth who insisted that it be altered to lunch instead) Was he even asked?
Judith
PS. It'll be interesting to see what mistakes we make on Redemption. I've yet
to see the perfect con, so I'd be an idiot to assume we'll get everything right
ourselves.
I'll finish by saying thank you for all the hard work that the organisers put
into Deliverance. Being at a con is a bit like watching a swan swimming. You
can see the bird sailing on the water, but don't notice all the frantic paddling
underneath that is keeping everything afloat.
PPS. Watching telly when we got back, my husband yelled, 'come and see this'.
Lo, and behold, on the TV, on 'Local Heroes' was the con hotel!
--
http://www.hermit.org/Blakes7
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 19:01:58 +0100
From: Jill Beach <Jill.Beach@beachy.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Space City
Message-ID: <01bd5f2a$988414e0$0de3edc1@default>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Thankyou to Carol for info on Space City Jill
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 1998 18:34:57 +0100 GMT
From: STEVE.ROGERSON@MCR1.poptel.org.uk
To: space-city@world.std.com, blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] photo request
Message-Id: <49845879MCR1@MCR1.poptel.org.uk>
Has anyone got a reasonable photo from last year's Wolf 359 in
Blackpool of Gareth made up as Blake presenting the award to
JMS that I can use in the next Redemption progress report?
cheers
Steve Rogerson
Redemption 99 - The Blakes 7/Babylon 5 convention
26-28 February 1999, Ashford International Hotel, Kent
http://www.smof.com/redemption/
"The workers united will never be ignited"
Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 12:34:47 +0100
From: Julia Jones <Julia.lysator@jajones.demon.co.uk>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Message-ID: <FxWBNFAXlMJ1EwHo@jajones.demon.co.uk>
In message <199804022312.AAA01837@gnasher.sol.co.uk>, Dangermouse
<master@sol.co.uk> writes
>
>The good news is that Brian Lighthill said at Deliverance that there *will*
>be a second B7 radio show towards the end of the year!
>
>The bad news is that he also said that Barry fucking Letts will be writing
>it.
Argghhhhhhh!
Right, time I sent a letter - dear BBC, thanks for the effort but next
time can we have it written by someone who has actually seen at least
one episode?
--
Julia Jones
"Don't philosophise with me, you electronic moron!"
The Turing test - as interpreted by Kerr Avon.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 19:16:16 +0100
From: "Dangermouse" <master@sol.co.uk>
To: "Jenni-Alison" <jenni-alison@dial.pipex.com>, <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Message-Id: <199804032028.VAA10667@gnasher.sol.co.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> He also said that next time he'd get a script editor to check out the
> continuity errors, and that he'd get someone very familiar with the
> characters to check dialogue more closely. And we asked him to do
> something a little more scientific, rather than mythic, as it would
> be truer to B7, and he said he'd seriously consider it. I think that
> even though BL will be writing, he probably won't have the free hand
> he seemed to have first time round (we hope). And you never know, if
> he does a good job this time, we may forgive him ;-)
I fear this means we'll end up with just as bad a script, but with more
fanwank references in it...
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 14:46:09 -0600
From: "Reuben Herfindahl" <reuben@reuben.net>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Message-ID: <014001bd5f41$8851b110$660114ac@misnt>
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
-----Original Message-----
From: Dangermouse <master@sol.co.uk>
To: Jenni-Alison <jenni-alison@dial.pipex.com>; blakes7@lysator.liu.se
<blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Date: Friday, April 03, 1998 2:30 PM
Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
>> He also said that next time he'd get a script editor to check out the
>> continuity errors, and that he'd get someone very familiar with the
>> characters to check dialogue more closely. And we asked him to do
>> something a little more scientific, rather than mythic, as it would
>> be truer to B7, and he said he'd seriously consider it. I think that
>> even though BL will be writing, he probably won't have the free hand
>> he seemed to have first time round (we hope). And you never know, if
>> he does a good job this time, we may forgive him ;-)
>
>I fear this means we'll end up with just as bad a script, but with more
>fanwank references in it...
What a terrible prospect, what they really should do is round up the bloke
that wrote the recent Doctorless Doctor Who novel, Face of the Enemy. Seems
to me he could probably do a pretty good PGP story ;-)
Reuben
reuben@reuben.net
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 21:22:52 +0100
From: "Colin Gate" <spudgun@dial.pipex.com>
To: <jenni-alison@dial.pipex.com>, <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
Message-Id: <199804032053.WAA09727@samantha.lysator.liu.se>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
From what I remember of this discussion, he also said it was impossible to
get the 'Seven Fold Crown' proof read at all as the BBC retain a full
copyright until the release date of the tape (i.e. They will not let anyone
outside the BBC even read it). However, Jenni brought forward the point
about the mythical nature of the story not being in keeping with the series
at deliverance and, apart from her praise for his efforts to exhume the
series, probably had more impact than any other comment. I am thoroughly
looking forward to the next tape in spite of the 'Seven Fold Crown'.
----------
> From: Jenni-Alison <jenni-alison@dial.pipex.com>
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: Re: [B7L] Good news and bad news
> Date: 03 April 1998 10:16
>
> Dangermouse wrote
> >
> > The good news is that Brian Lighthill said at Deliverance that
> there *will*
> > be a second B7 radio show towards the end of the year!
> >
> > The bad news is that he also said that Barry fucking Letts will be
> writing
> > it. (even though my boss at Enterprises said this wouldn't be
> allowed after
> > last time... Still at least he's trying to get the rights to do a
> book
> > series someday.)
>
> He also said that next time he'd get a script editor to check out the
> continuity errors, and that he'd get someone very familiar with the
> characters to check dialogue more closely. And we asked him to do
> something a little more scientific, rather than mythic, as it would
> be truer to B7, and he said he'd seriously consider it. I think that
> even though BL will be writing, he probably won't have the free hand
> he seemed to have first time round (we hope). And you never know, if
> he does a good job this time, we may forgive him ;-)
>
> Jenni
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 21:32:00 +0100
From: "Colin Gate" <spudgun@dial.pipex.com>
To: <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>, "JMR" <jager@clara.net>
Subject: Re: [B7L] "Deliverance" Convention
Message-Id: <199804032053.WAA09728@samantha.lysator.liu.se>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
I for one had a fantastic weekend, there was always something to do.
Everyone was open and friendly and seemed to be there just to enjoy
themselves. The only down part was when it ended. I'm looking forward to
the next one imeasureably.
P.S. I have never seen anyone consume as much alchohol as Gareth,
Increadible!, and I thought I had drunk with the big boys.
----------
> From: JMR <jager@clara.net>
> To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
> Subject: [B7L] "Deliverance" Convention
> Date: 02 April 1998 21:37
>
>
>
> Hi All.
>
> As one of the trio who organised the "Deliverance" convention in Stoke
last
> weekend, I'd be interested to hear any comments and/or complaints (be
> gentle!). I can attempt to answer any questions anyone has (ie Why were
> things moved/cancelled) about the way the convention was organised and
run.
> That's about all for now as I'm still too tired to think straight. Hope
all
> attending had a good weekend.
>
> Judith
>
>
>
>
> J.M. Rolls
> jager@clara.net
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 98 02:04:00 GMT
From: s.thompson8@genie.geis.com
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Back from Deliverance
Message-Id: <199804040226.CAA18717@rock103.genie.net>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
... and catching up on e-mail. It's wonderful to have faces and voices to
attach to so many of the names here! I now hear Iain's Scottish accent when
I read his posts, and I know just what expression Julia has when she's
drooling over Avon.
Judith Rolls, good to see you here, and many thanks for a most enjoyable
con. I also want you to know that I very much like your fiction and am
happy to see that there's more of it in the new zines I acquired at the con,
although I haven't had time to read them yet.
Cylan, I'm enjoying your first-timer's report.
Carol K., you asked about the zine =Strategies=. As you probably know,
that's an adult novel featuring Avon. I'm pretty sure it's long out of
print, but it turns up fairly often in used zine sales. I can keep an eye
out for a copy for you if you like.
And someone, I can't remember who, asked about Space City. That's a mailing
list devoted to discussion of B7 fan fiction, especially erotic fiction, and
so you need to be over 18 (or whatever is the age of legal majority in your
area) to join. Send an age statement and request to join to the listowner,
Susan Beth: sbs@world.std.com . (You may have to wait a few days if she
happens to be busy when your request comes in, but usually it doesn't take
long.) Then, when you join the list, you should send a little introduction
telling what your fannish interests are.
Sarah Thompson
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 1998 02:23:33 +1000
From: "Roger The Shrubber" <darrenro@ozonline.com.au>
To: "B7 Main List" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: [B7L] brazilian GP
Message-Id: <199804040329.NAA18035@budapest.ozonline.com.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
The Maclaren pit crew at the Brazilian Formula One GP looked startlingly
like Federation troopers !
Which got me thinking ....
Soolin & Dayna would be a good fast tyre - changers, I would put Vila in
charge of something easy like wiping the gunk off the driver's helmet, I
would put Tarrant or Avon in charge of the jack, not Blake - I wouldn't
want to risk him making a speech to the opposition crews in the middle of a
pitstop. Cally could handle the fuel, but she'd have to prove herself
capable of lifting the fuel drum first.
Who would make a better Team Manager on race day ? Avon or Blake ? Or
someone else perhaps ? I'd want either Tarrant or Dayna as driver - they'd
either smash the car or win the race !
Naturally Orac would compute the fuel- stops , tyre -wear etc. You'd also
have to use him to interfere with the other teams telemetry !
___________________________________
from Darren r ..... Comments are welcome !
powerplay@cheerful.com
____________________________________
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 12:32:32 +1000
From: Tim Richards & Narrelle Harris <parallax@wire.net.au>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Worldcon
Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980404123232.007e5870@wire.net.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Julia Jones said:
>I know what it's like, having now twice missed
>out on the opportunity to go to Worldcon when it was within travellable
>distance :-(
Since you mentioned it... the Worldcon for 1999 will be Aussiecon Three and
is to be held in Melbourne. Tim has just uploaded the new website for the
con which you can find at
http://www.aussiecon3.worldcon.org
Maybe if there are enough B7 list members there we could have a room party?!
Narrelle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Richards and Narrelle Harris
parallax@wire.net.au http://www.wire.net.au/~parallax
"Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit;
by and by it will strike." - Shakespeare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 12:35:58 +1000
From: Tim Richards & Narrelle Harris <parallax@wire.net.au>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Message for Pat Fenech :-)
Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.19980404123558.007f6b10@wire.net.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I know Pat is floating around England there somewhere and hopefully will be
catching up with some folks from the list - so if someone could pass on
this message to her (which may be of passing interest to the list too...)
My novel, Witching Ways, has been shortlisted in the George Turner Award!
The winner won't be announced until July, but being one of nine new novels
shortlisted has given me the biggest buzz!!!! Several characters in the
book are based on some individuals we all know and love (which gives me a
tenuous link to excuse my posting this).
Thanks for the encouragement again, Pat! Have a great holiday!
love
Relle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Richards and Narrelle Harris
parallax@wire.net.au http://www.wire.net.au/~parallax
"Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit;
by and by it will strike." - Shakespeare
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 09:26:42 +0100
From: Russ Massey <russ@wriding.demon.co.uk>
To: Iain Coleman <ijc@mail.nerc-bas.ac.uk>
Cc: B7 Lysator <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Standard Speeds (an answer.. kind of)
Message-ID: <BIuUDBAC7eJ1EwlG@wriding.demon.co.uk>
In message <Pine.OSF.3.96.980403183750.2434A-100000@bsauasc>, Iain
Coleman <ijc@mail.nerc-bas.ac.uk> writes
>
>
>On Fri, 3 Apr 1998, Russ Massey wrote:
>
>> Neil Faulkner wrote an article on the subject ('Safe at any Speed') in the
>> Horizon Newsletter 28. In it he postulated that 'Standard' was 5,000c and
>> Time Distort 1 was 3,000c. In a later series he used these speeds (increased
>> by 10% for some unexplained reaon) as a basis for calculating the travel
>> times for every episode of the series. Fascinating stuff, but God only knows
>> why he thought it necessary to include the effects of relativity so that time on
>> board was less for the crew than time perceived by planetary-bound
>> individuals.
>
>How on earth did he manage that? For a start, the time dilation factor is
>imaginary for speeds greater than c. He must have either (a) done
>something really clever or (b) engaged in some really hokey handwaving. Of
>course, I would go for (b) every time - a pro keeps it simple.
>
Well Neil's purely amateur :) To quote from the article:
"Time is also subject to dilation effects of high speed travel - a ten day
journey at very high speeds might be experienced by the traveller as no more
than 6 or 7 days, perhaps even less. Dilation at sublight speeds is calculated
through the tau equation, at supralight speeds as 'arctau', but the effect is the
same - subjective time is not the same as 'absolute' time."
Yessss. I'll take Neil's word for the equations - not something I've ever felt
the need to examine closely.
>[Mind you, there's always option (c) - develop a new system of physics
>that allows the superluminal two-way communication that B7 takes for
>granted - but that would be sadder than learning Klingon.]
>
Might get you a Nobel prize though.
--
Russ Massey
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 04 Apr 1998 16:29:28 +0500
From: Senaka Rajapakse <senaka@doctormail.com>
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se
Subject: [B7L] Blakes 7 videos
Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980404162425.006cdce4@sri.lanka.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Can anyone tell me where I can get the Blakes 7 Videos in PAL by mail
order. I live in Sri Lanka, and Blakes 7 is no longer shown here. I did
find one site which offered the NTSC tapes. I understand that Fabulous
Films are releasing the videos in PAL - Does anyone know their email or fax
no?
Senaka
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------
Dr Senaka Rajapakse
Lecturer in Clinical Medicine
Department of Clinical Medicine
Faculty of Medicine
University of Colombo
Tel 503333
Fax 689188
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Apr 1998 23:40:31 +1000
From: Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
To: "Blake's 7 list" <blakes7@lysator.liu.se>
Subject: Re: [B7L] Blakes 7 videos
Message-ID: <19980404234031.10013@welkin.apana.org.au>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
On Sat, Apr 04, 1998 at 04:29:28PM +0500, Senaka Rajapakse wrote:
> Can anyone tell me where I can get the Blakes 7 Videos in PAL by mail
> order. I live in Sri Lanka, and Blakes 7 is no longer shown here. I did
> find one site which offered the NTSC tapes. I understand that Fabulous
> Films are releasing the videos in PAL - Does anyone know their email or fax
> no?
No, but I'd suggest the Horizon club
http://www.horizon.org.uk
or Engale Marketing
http://www.cyberscape.co.uk/strtrade/home.htm
as alternatives.
Engale Marketing (aka Star Traders) have the advantage that they take
credit cards, which is a great hassle-reliever for overseas folks.
Kathryn Andersen
(yes I'm back. Con reports shortly.)
--
_--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
/ \ | http://connexus.apana.org.au/~kat
\_.--.*/ | #include "std/disclaimer.h"
v |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 1998 02:49:03 +1000 (EST)
From: kat@welkin.apana.org.au (Kathryn Andersen)
To: blakes7@lysator.liu.se (Blake's 7 list)
Subject: [B7L] Neutral Zone report (1/2)
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Neutral Zone
20th-22nd March 1998
reported by Kathryn Andersen
(part 1)
Disclaimer: you may notice that this report is somewhat oriented
towards one guest in particular. Considering that he was the main
reason I went to Neutral Zone, and that I am now even more inclined
towards him than I was before going to this con, this should come as
no surprise. No, it isn't Gareth Thomas. (But it was for Judith.)
Thursday 19th March
I arrived at Heathrow at 5:30am GMT, and by 6:30 I was on the
Underground, looking at the stations going past and feeling like I was
on a Monopoly board. My trip was relatively simple: I only had to get
to Kings Cross - and deal with about three sets of stairs with three
bags. Fortunately, I encountered the wonderful English courtesy: three
separate people helped me with my bags at each set of stairs! After
being persuaded to buy a buffet food voucher by the man who stamped my
BritRail pass, and figuring out where to go and what train to get on,
I realized I had a while to wait, and, deciding not to put my cases in
a locker, I sat on a seat on platform 8 reading my book. Then, the
queue for the train-boarding, then the train, grabbing a seat that
wasn't reserved, and double-checking that it was indeed going to
Newcastle. Then, we pulled out of the brick-and-iron arches of Kings
Cross station, past the rows and clusters of identical houses, then
the green, green countryside - and more houses! One of the
differences between England and Australia: in Victoria (Australia),
once you're out of the city, it's country for miles and miles and
miles. In England, all that seems to be in smaller clumps. Another
thing was the quality of the light. Despite the sky being cloudless
blue, it felt as if someone had turned down the intensity of the sun
by about 10%. Some advice: never get a buffet food voucher, and don't
drink Lucosade in the mistaken impression that it's like Gatorade. As
everyone knows, train food is the epitome of medicrity.
I arrived in Newcastle, and caught a taxi to the Forte Posthouse
hotel. Christine and I *were* booked in (my usual paranoia was thus
assuaged) but the rooms were not free yet. Many people were arriving,
so we, strangers but fans, went upstairs to the bar lounge, and
nattered about Stargate, X-Files and other fannish topics, until the
rooms were available. So I dashed down to reception, checked in,
turned around, and there was Annie and Linda. Hugs all round. I
retrieved my bags from the cloakroom, went upstairs to my new room,
and did what I had been longing for for the last 12 hours - a shower
and a change of clothes! Then I went down, and Annie & Linda were
still waiting to check in, but that moment their room was ready, so
they checked in, and I helped them carry their bags up.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was a mixture of chatting to
Annie & Linda in 303, dashing up to 512, and dashing down to reception
to see if Christine or Judith or Pat had arrived yet. And eating
dinner, and talking to Christine when she did arrive. On one of those
ask-at-reception failures, when I was waiting for a lift, who should
come out of the arriving lift but Tucker Smallwood! So, he had
arrived already.
Friday 20th March
I had breakfast with Annie and Linda, checked in to the convention -
they spelled my surname wrong of course, so after an attempt to change
the 'o' to an 'e' I gave up and blacked out my surname entirely,
after finding that most people only had their first names on their
badges anyway. The program was three streams of videos, plus guest Q&A
sessions and more videos. No discussion panels or anything. And for a
convention with two S:AAB and one B7 guest, there was hardly any S:AAB
or B7 videos, which seemed rather odd to me. But since I only ended up
watching about two videos over the entire convention, I suppose I
can't complain - much.
I returned downstairs from my room after breakfast, wandered into the
downstairs bar area opposite the main hall, spotted Linda and Annie -
and did a double-take. The fellow in a pullover and jeans with grey
curlyish hair talking to them, was JAMES MORRISON! I hovvered for a
moment, he took one step away, and I said "Hello," and we shook
hands, and I said I'd travelled 10,000 kilometres to see him. He
said, "You're from Australia also?" and we talked a little of
accents. I then stumbled to a halt saying something about being
tongue-tied, and he said he was a little nervous himself (!) and I
said that we were all friendly. Then two other fen came up and made
comments about S:AAB, and I left him to them. Or them to him.
Whatever.
I caught up with Annie and Linda, and they told of how he had talked
of spiders. When the S:AAB crew had been in Brisbane for the pilot, in
a hotel, he found a big hairy spider in his room, and beat it to death
with a golf club. And then been told later that it was harmless. I
expect it was a Huntsman spider, which is, indeed, big and hairy, in a
velvety, dove-grey way.
We then went on a shopping expedition out into the grey, dry and crisp
day, and on the way back, I made a remark wondering if James had
managed to extricate himself from the fans yet, since the pattern
seemed to be that he would get about a foot further into the room and
be accosted by the next bunch. When we got to the next crossing, who
should we see coming in the opposite direction, but James Morrison, in
black overcoat and dark glasses, accompanied by a fellow in a brown
jacket. James nodded at us, made a remark about going for a walk, and
went on. Obviously, he did manage to extricate himself...
After lunch and a Highlander episode, I bumped into Annie & Linda
again, discovered that the dealers room was open, looked for Judith
and almost didn't recognise her with her new hairstyle. Happy
greetings! After buying a few things, going upstairs to grab some
Refractions, changing into my new Redemption T-shirt, putting my
things-to-be-autographed in a bag, I went back down again and found
that Judith was gone. Pat said that I had three guesses as to where
Judith was, and then answered herself, "Gareth, Gareth and Gareth."
Gareth Thomas and Judith were indeed to be found, as expected, by the
bar, with a bunch of people, having an interesting conversation which
ranged from former things that Gareth had been in, to Fermet's Last
Theorem. I eventually excused myself because my feet were tired of
standing, and moved into the main hall to find a seat for the opening
ceremony.
This began with a S:AAB video clip "Holding On For a Hero", all bouncy
and energetic, very good. Then the Guests of Honour were introduced
one at a time, starting with the fannish/writing ones, then the
actors, and the applause increased with each one. I'm not sure,
however, whether James Morrison or Steven Furst got the most
tumultuous reception. The actual guests were Jim Swallow, Keith
Topping, Joe Nazzaro, Sheelagh Wells, Gareth Thomas (B7), Tucker
Smallwood (Space: Above and Beyond), James Morrison (S:AAB also) and
Steven Furst (B5).
Then the guest Q&A, with all of them sitting in a row and the
microphone being passed back and forth. The questions were *not*
coming thick nor fast; I certainly couldn't think of any to ask. The
best questions were the two which were asked as general questions of
all the guests, and I've forgotten the first one, but the last one was
basically, "How did you get to be where you are today? How did you
start off?" Sheelagh summed it up pretty well - doing what you dreamed
of, taking the risk because it was what you wanted to do, because
there's nothing worse than looking back and saying "I wish I'd tried."
James said, very seriously (prefacing it with "The temptation to be
flippant about this is almost irresistable.") that he wanted to make
a difference, to influence how people think, and if he can ride on the
coat-tails of those greater (at that) than he, so much the better. He
then succumbed to temptation and made the flippant remark that he also
did it because, like with golf, he gets intermittent results. He also
said earlier in the Q&A, jokingly, that he only ever gets hired for
things that Morgan & Wong are involved in.
Gareth was more relaxed and talkative than anyone else up there, which
is no real surprise. Gareth grabbed the microphone just before the
committee person was going to declare the session closed, and said
that the only reason they were all there was because of us, that we
kept them alive, and asked us to give ourselves a hand. (as in
clapping). Then the committee person declared it closed, and said,
that though the guests had come from places ranging from 5 minutes
away (Keith Topping) to across the Atlantic (eg Tucker, James and
Steven), that some of the attendees had come all the way from
Australia, and asked the Australians to identify themselves, so the
half-dozen of us stuck up our hands, and they gave us a round of
applause. Then Gareth grabbed the mike and said "Is that the
Commonwealth of Australia, or the Republic of Australia?" and
Christine (and I think it was Pat & Sandy) yelled out "Republic!"
and I countered, "We haven't decided yet!"
Then the throng left the room slowly, and by the time I got out, I
spotted Gareth making his way to the bar, and James was heading
towards the lifts. Then I picked up my key, and there was a huge crowd
of people by the lifts, and the first lift that came departed full,
which left about five of us waiting for the next lift, including James
and a fellow carrying a chair. So when the lift came, the chair fellow
got in first and urged James to sit in the chair, but James demurred,
saying he had been sitting all day, and he offered it to me, so I sat
in it cheerfully, until the first floor, when the chair man took off
with the chair.
And someone remarked, "I wonder what he is doing with that chair?"
James said, "He's stealing it as a souvenir. Some people take
towels, other people take chairs."
And I said, "Judging by the lack of them, I think people are taking
spoons as souvenirs." (because at breakfast, there had been only one
teaspoon on the whole table.)
James said, with a twinkle in his eye, "I do."
Then I had to get out because it was my floor. (sigh).
Later, I ate some of the con food for dinner (baked spud) and sat with
Judith and we discussed fancy dress ideas, considering the costume
resources we had at our disposal. Judith eventually came up with this:
"As those who listened to the Sevenfold Crown will know, a teleport
malfunction resulted in Avon being cloned. However, fear not, the BBC
have now commissioned a new scriptwriter, a man who has watched the
entire series, a man who knows the characters inside out, a man who
doesn't think he's writing a Doctor Who script with Star Trek
technology. No, it's not Barry Letts - it's his seven-year-old son!
May we proudly introduce Kerr Avon in 'The Origami Tiara'!"
(Kathryn in Avon costume enters, surveys crowd with a snooty look,
lifts up bracelet) "Teleport now!" (taps bracelet in puzzlement.
Judith and Julie enter from opposite sides of the stage, both wearing
different Avon costumes. Kathryn takes a few seconds to notice, does a
double-take) "Oh no, not again!"
Then we went up to the second floor to do a bit of filking, and then I
had to leave to join my alloted time-slot for the autograph queue. I
got Gareth to sign my copy of "Morgan" which I had bought from
Judith ealier, her Morgan's Boy/Blake's 7 crossover.
It looked as if I might have been the first person to come through
with an Enarrare' 10 for people to sign, because both Tucker and
James examined it and asked me questions about it, so I went into the
usual spiel about it being issue 10 of a fanzine and being a S:AAB
special. Tucker asked if it was British and I told him it was
Australian, and he asked me where I was from, and he said that he'd
been to Australia recently for an episode of Flipper, but the little
he'd seen of the country would be like going to Las Vegas and judging
America by that.
I had a nice chat to Sheelagh and Joe because I was wearing my
Redemption T-shirt (they are GoHs at Redemption) and when I revealed
that I was the artist, they were very pleased to meet me. I didn't
know what to say to Steven Furst, so I didn't say anything.
James, too, had not seen an Enarrare' 10 before, so I explained about
it. When he saw the cover (I'd had it open at the circle poem so that
was what he saw first) he was impressed and asked my if I'd done it,
and I said no, Annie did it, and he wondered where she'd gotten the
photo of McQueen, because it was different from the usual publicity
photo of him holding his helmet, and I thought that it was just
lighter, but he pointed out that in the usual photo, he was looking
down, but on the Enarrare' 10 cover, he was looking up, so I said that
I would ask Annie and tell him.
Then I went up to 303 and chatted to Annie and Linda, then went up to
my room. I sat in bed and read Morgan until 12:30am (!) Must have
been gripping, eh? It was good; a character study in both directions,
Avon and Morgan. And I loved the recipricocity of each other's
salvation.
(continued in part 2)
--
_--_|\ | Kathryn Andersen <kat@welkin.apana.org.au>
/ \ | http://connexus.apana.org.au/~kat
\_.--.*/ | #include "std/disclaimer.h"
v |
------------| Melbourne -> Victoria -> Australia -> Southern Hemisphere
Maranatha! | -> Earth -> Sol -> Milky Way Galaxy -> Universe
--------------------------------
End of blakes7-d Digest V98 Issue #99
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