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April 16-18, 2004 "24-Hour Internet That
Way!" |
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Michael
Shanks appeared at the Denver Starfest convention in Denver, CO. You can read
some spoilers for Stargate Season 8 from our reporter on the scene here. You
can read numerous convention reports from our reporter, Dana Jeanne, as well
as other attendees, here
on the Our Stargate Forum. And Dana
Jeanne has now given us a special transcript (below) as well as photos from
the convention! |
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"24-Hour Internet That
Way!" |
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This report is based on my and two others'
admittedly sketchy memories. Michael Shanks talks….reallyreallyfast and it's
difficult to write, take photos and pay attention all at the same time. We
didn't get it all, and anywhere you see … … … it simply means he was talking
and we don't remember what he said.
Saturday, April 17: My flight lands,
amazingly, on time, and as I start to rush through the airport to the bus, I'm
reminded exactly why Denver is nicknamed the "mile high city." The
air...pant, pant…is very…pant…thin. Especially for those of us who live at sea
level in California. I make it to the hotel—which is huge, around 11 am;
Michael's first autograph signing is scheduled for 12:30pm. I just have time to
wash my face, brush my teeth and make sure my hair doesn't look like a
weed-wacker'd been at work.
There are a lot of people here, many of them
in costume. I'm seeing Legolas wannabees every where I look. People in outfits
I can't even guess at. Quite a few members of Stargate Command in green fatigues,
and even Her'u'er, complete with Zat gun, roams the halls.
Photo © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
It's quite interesting talking to some of
the people in the lines—and the lines are LONG. They're only longer for Sean
Astin (aka Samwise Gamchee). On Sunday, one girl admitted she was only in line
because she'd seen Michael’s panel on Saturday and thought he was cute. She'd
never seen the show, but by the time she'd got through the line we'd told her
exactly where to go and when.
THE Q&A PANEL
Saturday night, 7 PM
The conference "room" is HUGE.
It's very dark; they appear to have rigged up a screen or something that allows
little lights through and it looks like we're all sitting under the stars. The
emcee comes out and talks a little about how watching the show for 7 years is
like watching members of your family.
Emcee: Michael Shanks, come on out and meet your new family!
[Crowd goes wild]
MS: Hi there, everybody!
[Crowd goes even wilder and flashbulbs
start flashing as Michael walks from one side of the stage to the other
‘posing’ for pictures. As he turns his back to the right side, cameras flash
even more. He turns around, a big grin on his face.] How come you're all
still taking pictures?
MS: My voice is a little hoarse today; we had Karaoke at my house last
night, so, um, bear with me…… Are you guys all from the Denver area? [Various
yes and no’s are heard] I’ve never been to Denver before……. I'm okay with
this altitude, but if I pass out, just pick me back up!
Photos © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
Q: Will you take your cap off?
MS: No! That’s my Canucks’ cap!
Q: What’s your favorite episode?
MS: I have several, for various reasons. Um, Heroes…. was a sad episode…. [goes
on to explain what it meant filming it, then mentioned one or two other
episodes he liked]
Q: Could you share some things about working on Highlander and Andromeda?
Did you enjoy it?
MS: I liked being on Andromeda so much that I married her. [crowd awwwws
and cheers] Christopher Judge… has been going around saying “I loved being
on Andromeda” only Christopher Judge could come up with that…. Highlander was
my first ever job. Adrian Paul was very supportive….
Photos © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
Q: How did you and Lexa meet?
MS: …. met in the makeup room. First thing she said to me when I walked in:
Here, have a mint. I thought, "Here we go, another one of those paranoid
actresses." Because there were kissing scenes.
Q: Is it difficult learning to talk like an Alien? [confusion, until
the question was clarified—speaking alien dialect, not voicing Thor.]
MS: None of it means anything!! [laughs] You know, I just…. Kacheck
apoo koobba ….
Q: How did you get the part of Daniel
Jackson?
MS: [in a confidential tone] I did a James Spader Rip-off….
Q: I saw Sumuru last night—
MS: I’m so sorry!
Q: Actually, I quite liked it.
MS: So YOU were the that one person who saw it.
Q: There were four people in the room! There’s a raging controversy on
line right now—
MS: Now that’s novel….
Q: —about whether it was your choice to grow chin-fuzz or whether you were
told to do it.
MS: [makes a funny face] Yeah, it was my own idea. I’ve had a lot of
ideas in my life; some I’m proud of—and others—[long pause and strange
facial contortions] we wind up discussing in Denver. After I shaved it off,
they said: So that’s what you look like! What the Hell where you thinking??
Q: If this is the last year for Stargate, is there anything you’d like to
see Daniel do before it’s over?
MS [pauses to think]: No.
Q: What about his grandfather?
MS: Oh, yeah, yeah. Um, yeah…… Michael Greenburg and I have an idea for a
story. Will it get done? Who knows?
Q: If you could play any character who would it be?
MS [striking a pose]: I wanna play Samantha Carter [tosses his
head, crosses his legs and uses his fingers to comb “her” hair back from his
ear] Just for a day.
Q: [A rather garbled, difficult to hear question about working out]
MS: [says something about working out, doesn’t seem to quite get the
question]
Q: …well, you just have a great body!
[Crowd cracks up]
Photos © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
Q: In the beginning of the show, Daniel was always sneezing from his
allergies. He doesn't anymore. Why?
MS: Shots! Allergy shots, great invention. And before anybody asks,
Daniel's not a candidate for laser eye surgery, either.
New Q: Responding to several questions from on-line fans, Joe Mallozzi, in one
of his internet appearances, told us that a lot of things—emotional things—were
happening off-screen this year (Season 7). Could you please tell us how Daniel
reacted when he found out that Abydos had been DESTROYED and all the PEOPLE
WERE GONE? [pause] I’m a little hot about that.
MS: He was upset.
Q [makes ‘more’ gesture with hand]: More.
MS: Well, okay. On Tuesday he locked himself in his room and ate nothing
but Häagen-Dazs….... On Tuesday he walked the dog. On Wed—
Q: You know how fast I can get to the internet?
[Crowd cracks up]
MS: You’d do that to me?
Q: In a flash. [makes whooshing noise and motion with arm] 24-hour
internet!
MS [jumps up in a challenge and points to the doors] Go on, do it!
Do it! [pauses] Is that a threat or a promise?
Q: A bit of both. One more thing… Could you please ask Richard Dean
Anderson to have Jack smile at Daniel? [MS snickers] Not THAT way,
Michael! Don’t even—Michael! Don’t go there.
MS [cracking up]: I’m just sitting here! I’m not even talking!
You’re the one doing all the talking. [everyone is laughing, MS calms down
and puts on his serious face] Dana, how would you like Jack to smile at
Daniel?
Q [now outed as being your friendly OS reporter Dana Jeanne]:
Friendly. Like friends, like brothers. Like Chris smiles at you. [it was
getting hard to hear, everyone was laughing so hard, including MS.] I think
I'll just go crawl into that hole I just dug for myself....
MS: You have company there [laughs]
MS [to next questioner]: And what have YOU got for me?
Q: Question was about how Michael and Lexa deal with the way each other's
fans feel about them.
Photos © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
MS: I’m just a guest at this convention, I don’t know what you’re talking
about! ….. we're each other's biggest fans……until you brought up, I'd never
really thought about it. Now that I have….. what's said on tour, stays on tour.
Q: What has been your most difficult/emotional role on Stargate?
MS: Lifeboat, Legacy, Need… you have to continually bring up old baggage to
do roles like that….
Q: Will there be a season 9?
MS: I don't know. Maybe not, due to the high costs and to the fact that
Rick wants to go on his river adventures…..
Through out his time on stage, Michael would
periodically stand up, point to the exit and yell "24-hour internet, that
way!" in response to a particularly spicy question. Unfortunately, I can't
remember the questions…..
Photos © and courtesy of Dana Jeanne Norris
Michael Shanks Goes
“Through the Gate” at Starfest!
Here’s
a lovely little story, complete with photos, that we have to share with you
from behind-the scenes! A big thank you to Krys for allowing us to post the
story and photos!
Photo © and courtesy of Krys
My
honey, a friend of ours and I made a Stargate that won Best in Show at the Art
Show this weekend. When we first contacted the Art folks about how big it
was (12 feet by 4 feet by 9 ft high) they told KathE who runs the con and she
told Michael Shanks. He wanted to see the gate we made and just before he left
the hotel for the weekend he did come by. We got some great pictures of him
with the gate. My favorite was him with his hand on the event horizon saying
"You know what happens if I go through here". He looked at the book
we'd made of the gate history (how we made it etc) and then signed the gate for
us. He was really great about it and we had such a good time with him. He even
asked to have a picture with the artists. That was cool. --
Krys
Photo © and courtesy of Krys
Photo © and courtesy of Krys
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