OK, now I've got your attention, I thought I'd finally come back here for a few frelling reasons. I'm still too new here to be allowed to post photos as far as I can tell, so I'm afraid this won't be as visually interesting a post as I would have liked. Also I'm prone to posting very long messages about events, and am not thinking clearly as I somehow managed to skip lunch today and have only eaten a bowl of (imported/expensive) Lucky Charms cereal, which I read somewhere that Claudia likes, and two chocolates.
1) I'm rewatching Farscape. Really slowly. Bought the DVDs last winter and have watched the first five episodes so far (and four and a bit of them with commentaries, still need to see the rest of the 5th one). Weird to think that I was still at school when I first saw them, and that I'm older now than Claudia was when I first saw her playing Aeryn (not by a lot, though).
2) Slightly old news now, but in July I went to London Film and Comic Con, partly to meet a fellow Trekkie I've known online for years but hadn't met yet and see Gates McFadden with him, and partly to meet a certain Mr Browder.
In fact, I met Ben on the Saturday (dressed sort of like Vala, inspired by her anyway) and went back again on the Sunday (dressed rather like Aeryn, complete with home-made pulse rifle). Both costumes might have been more effective if I'd dyed my hair black before that convention rather than weeks after it, though.
James (the other Trekkie) helped me find where Ben was, and was able to see over the other people because he's taller than me, and asked "Is that him with the moustache?" I don't think James has ever seen Farscape unfortunately, so he wasn't definite who he was looking out for. I had no idea whether Ben had a moustache at that point, but when I saw it (while in the autograph queue), I had to suppress giggles! [Apparently he grew it for the Doctor Who episode he was in, and decided to keep it. I think he said his wife didn't like it, and I have to say I prefer him (to look at) without it.]
As I'm in the habit of wearing a tiara to conventions these days irrespective of whether I'm in costume (though it's kind of appropriate for Vala), I explained that I justify wearing it because my name (Sarah) means 'princess'...Ben ended up signing my Farscape photo to 'Princess Sarah'
- the word 'princess' ended up mostly across Aeryn. According to a website I found, my Farscape name is either Aeryn (if I put in my real name) or The Princess (if I put in Sarah St*r), so I thought that was quite appropriate.
When I went back on Sunday (Aeryn Sun-day), I got a Farscape costume card (of Crichton) signed, then went off for something to eat. Not sure if Ben saw me wandering around like a short lost Aeryn with a bag of popcorn, but I'd be intrigued to know what he was thinking if he did. Later went back to ask if he'd also autograph my pulse rifle (okay, cheap toy gun covered in black tape and altered with bits of cardboard)...which he did, via being amused by my "Blez out and eat some frelling crackers" sticker on the side of it, which was my Farscapey interpretation of all the posters and things saying "keep calm and carry on" (or some variant of it) that seem to be everywhere at the moment. However, Ben wasn't entirely happy with the autograph (on the barrel part of the pulse rifle), so he turned it over and did another one near the back end of it...! I was advised to keep quiet about the fact that I was getting two autographs for the price of one(), but there weren't many people waiting to see Ben at that point...I started saying something like "I should go, and let someone else come through", but Ben explained that he had to go and do a talk. Not wanting to appear stalkerish, I followed him after a slight delay to the area where the talk would be happening, and asked one of the convention staff whether I'd need a ticket to get in, because I'd only just found out it was happening. She said something along the lines of 'technically yes, but they were free tickets, so just go in', so I did.
I can only remember bits of the talk now, the main ones being:
*Ben spent most of it with a can of Red Bull in his hand (the one that wasn't holding the microphone)
*Someone asked what advice he'd give to someone wanting to be an actor - his first answer was "Don't!", though he went on to say something like, but if you must, you need to be really lucky. It definitely had "be really lucky" in it somewhere.
*Someone else asked whether he keeps in touch with the other people from Stargate SG-1 (might have said Farscape as well, not sure) - all I remember about that is that Ben said he'd seen one of the Stargate actors buying something in Staples, and that he'd seen Claudia about two weeks earlier, and if I remember correctly he said "she's still looking lovely" or something similarly sweet.
*At one point, Ben talked about something he'd acted in (possibly before Farscape, not sure) alongside an actress called Trish something, who'd played his character's wife. At some event (party, I think) after they'd filmed whatever it was, Ben was talking to another guy (completely forgotten who but possibly another actor), and this other guy was looking across the room at Trish whatever-her-name-is, basically saying he thought she was attractive...so Ben said something like "dude, that's my wife you're talking about", and the other guy didn't believe him...so he shouted out "Yo, Trish! You my wife?" and she played along and said yes, so the other guy apologised...!! Not sure whether Ben admitted she was only his screen-wife, though...
2a) Also went to a convention without any Farscape people in October, while suffering from a cold, and discovered that for some reason being near something autographed by Claudia seemed to make my nose stop running. Unfortunately the signed things (a card and two different pictures) were at least £50 each so it would have been a strange and expensive remedy.
3) Also in October, I went to Birmingham (which took three different trains from where I live) for Autographica, just to see Virginia Hey. Literally. I only decided that morning that I was definitely going (and still had the aforementioned cold, which didn't help), so by the time I'd put my Aeryn costume on and put some food and my tiara in my bag, it took basically all afternoon to get there. Worth it, though...
I managed to get into the venue (a hotel) without paying, and didn't see anyone selling entry tickets. Maybe they assumed nobody would leave it that late in the day to arrive (it was about 4pm, I think). Once in there, I walked past several ageing astronauts and a few people I'd either never heard of or didn't have any particular urge to meet, and then I found Virginia, who was being talked to by a man who I assume was a fan. Just as he left, another man came over to chat to Virginia briefly and show her a photo...I thought he looked somewhat familiar - turns out he was Dave Prowse who acted as Darth Vader (I'm not a massive Star Wars fan so I wasn't especially starstruck or anything, but Lord Vader and Zhaanie is a pretty odd combination!)
After Mr Vader went away (back to the dark side, probably) it was my turn to meet the not-so-blue Ms. Hey...she seemed pleased to see me even though we'd never met before (which gave me a taste of what it must feel like at the famous side of a convention table), and liked my tiara. However, she couldn't seem to hear me that well, so I ended up repeating myself a bit. She was sitting down the whole time, which was probably good as I've heard she's really tall (and I'm really not). I asked if she'd sign my pulse rifle, and she recognised Ben's autograph on it - I explained that he'd ended up signing it twice. I also confessed to not having made much effort to meet anyone from Farscape until recently, to which Virginia said something I'd pretty much been thinking anyway, about it being a good idea to seize the opportunity to see them when you can, as you never know when/if they'll next be in the UK if you don't. When the pulse rifle was handed back to me, it was adorned with not only a new autograph but also some hearts...inappropriately cute for a weapon, perhaps, but my pulse rifle's weird like that. 
(It's named Miss Sugarpink after a lyric from a song that was stuck in my head while I was making/customising it. It's also no use as a weapon because a) it's a toy, and b) I broke part of the trigger while modifying it.) Virginia suggested putting some tape over the autographs so they don't come off, which I'd considered doing previously but didn't get round to until after she said it. I remember mentioning something about having managed not to get into any security trouble carrying a mock pulse rifle around London in a bag around the time of the Olympics(!!)
Unfortunately I've forgotten the majority of what else we talked about, but I said something about how longwinded the journey had been, and Virginia said something about also having to get there via several different trains (including the Tube - turns out she's currently living in London), so I quipped that I wish trains could starburst like Moya...! I think she liked that idea, and also she apparently liked me enough to give me a little sample-bottle of one of her perfumes. Until then, I had no idea she even made perfumes, but she does. (Soaps and candles too, apparently.) I guessed (correctly, it turned out) that the tiny bottle would disappear into the lining of my leather-look vaguely Aerynesque coat the moment I foolishly put it into the pocket with a hole in, but did it anyway (then later had a moment of panic where I thought I'd lost it).
As I was leaving her table, I think Virginia said something like 'see you later', and at that point the plan was that she literally would, as I'd decided to go back and get a photo of her as Zhaan signed as well, since they're included in the autograph price if you don't supply your own item to sign, and she wasn't charging very much and nothing else there looked worth buying to me. Most of the stalls were packing their goods away by then, anyway. I went for a drink, which firstly wasn't what I originally wanted as they didn't do iced lattes and I'm a bit Sebacean about high temperatures (as in, I struggle with hot things), and secondly was so cold it took me about 40 minutes to drink! (Admittedly I was typing on my iPad between sips, but it was frelling freezing. In fairness, I did say I wanted a *cold* drink!) During those 40 minutes of icy smoothie, I noticed Virginia leaving the hotel with a suitcase...which meant my 'second autograph' plan was, to put it bluntly, frelled. Also while I was sitting there, I had another random Star Wars moment as Kenny Baker who was R2D2 came into the lounge bit with a woman I assume was his wife, sat at a table near me, and ordered some white wine. Not overly exciting, but that's what happened. To bring this event story crashing to a close, I'll summarise the last part - "and then I went home".
...After which I discovered that Virginia Hey has an official Facebook page which she runs, and that she seems to like everything I've ever posted on there. I have three theories on this: 1) I'm phenomenally talented but just haven't acknowledged it yet (not likely), 2) we have the exact same taste in everything (also not likely) or 3) she's clearly one of the nicest people in the universe including the Uncharted Territories
I feel a bit mean saying it, in light of the above, but Aeryn's still my favourite.. I'd love to be able to meet Claudia, even if it took 108 trains and a *sub-zero* smoothie to get me there...(!!) Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but if I ever hear that CB's doing a UK convention, I strongly intend to grab a bar (or several) of chocolate and my trusty pulse rifle, lace up my space-girl boots, try to avoid getting my tiara tangled in my hair, and be there.
1) I'm rewatching Farscape. Really slowly. Bought the DVDs last winter and have watched the first five episodes so far (and four and a bit of them with commentaries, still need to see the rest of the 5th one). Weird to think that I was still at school when I first saw them, and that I'm older now than Claudia was when I first saw her playing Aeryn (not by a lot, though).
2) Slightly old news now, but in July I went to London Film and Comic Con, partly to meet a fellow Trekkie I've known online for years but hadn't met yet and see Gates McFadden with him, and partly to meet a certain Mr Browder.
In fact, I met Ben on the Saturday (dressed sort of like Vala, inspired by her anyway) and went back again on the Sunday (dressed rather like Aeryn, complete with home-made pulse rifle). Both costumes might have been more effective if I'd dyed my hair black before that convention rather than weeks after it, though.James (the other Trekkie) helped me find where Ben was, and was able to see over the other people because he's taller than me, and asked "Is that him with the moustache?" I don't think James has ever seen Farscape unfortunately, so he wasn't definite who he was looking out for. I had no idea whether Ben had a moustache at that point, but when I saw it (while in the autograph queue), I had to suppress giggles! [Apparently he grew it for the Doctor Who episode he was in, and decided to keep it. I think he said his wife didn't like it, and I have to say I prefer him (to look at) without it.]
As I'm in the habit of wearing a tiara to conventions these days irrespective of whether I'm in costume (though it's kind of appropriate for Vala), I explained that I justify wearing it because my name (Sarah) means 'princess'...Ben ended up signing my Farscape photo to 'Princess Sarah'
- the word 'princess' ended up mostly across Aeryn. According to a website I found, my Farscape name is either Aeryn (if I put in my real name) or The Princess (if I put in Sarah St*r), so I thought that was quite appropriate. When I went back on Sunday (Aeryn Sun-day
), I got a Farscape costume card (of Crichton) signed, then went off for something to eat. Not sure if Ben saw me wandering around like a short lost Aeryn with a bag of popcorn, but I'd be intrigued to know what he was thinking if he did. Later went back to ask if he'd also autograph my pulse rifle (okay, cheap toy gun covered in black tape and altered with bits of cardboard)...which he did, via being amused by my "Blez out and eat some frelling crackers" sticker on the side of it, which was my Farscapey interpretation of all the posters and things saying "keep calm and carry on" (or some variant of it) that seem to be everywhere at the moment. However, Ben wasn't entirely happy with the autograph (on the barrel part of the pulse rifle), so he turned it over and did another one near the back end of it...! I was advised to keep quiet about the fact that I was getting two autographs for the price of one(), but there weren't many people waiting to see Ben at that point...I started saying something like "I should go, and let someone else come through", but Ben explained that he had to go and do a talk. Not wanting to appear stalkerish, I followed him after a slight delay to the area where the talk would be happening, and asked one of the convention staff whether I'd need a ticket to get in, because I'd only just found out it was happening. She said something along the lines of 'technically yes, but they were free tickets, so just go in', so I did. I can only remember bits of the talk now, the main ones being:
*Ben spent most of it with a can of Red Bull in his hand (the one that wasn't holding the microphone)
*Someone asked what advice he'd give to someone wanting to be an actor - his first answer was "Don't!", though he went on to say something like, but if you must, you need to be really lucky. It definitely had "be really lucky" in it somewhere.
*Someone else asked whether he keeps in touch with the other people from Stargate SG-1 (might have said Farscape as well, not sure) - all I remember about that is that Ben said he'd seen one of the Stargate actors buying something in Staples, and that he'd seen Claudia about two weeks earlier, and if I remember correctly he said "she's still looking lovely" or something similarly sweet.
*At one point, Ben talked about something he'd acted in (possibly before Farscape, not sure) alongside an actress called Trish something, who'd played his character's wife. At some event (party, I think) after they'd filmed whatever it was, Ben was talking to another guy (completely forgotten who but possibly another actor), and this other guy was looking across the room at Trish whatever-her-name-is, basically saying he thought she was attractive...so Ben said something like "dude, that's my wife you're talking about", and the other guy didn't believe him...so he shouted out "Yo, Trish! You my wife?" and she played along and said yes, so the other guy apologised...!! Not sure whether Ben admitted she was only his screen-wife, though...
2a) Also went to a convention without any Farscape people in October, while suffering from a cold, and discovered that for some reason being near something autographed by Claudia seemed to make my nose stop running. Unfortunately the signed things (a card and two different pictures) were at least £50 each so it would have been a strange and expensive remedy.
3) Also in October, I went to Birmingham (which took three different trains from where I live) for Autographica, just to see Virginia Hey. Literally. I only decided that morning that I was definitely going (and still had the aforementioned cold, which didn't help), so by the time I'd put my Aeryn costume on and put some food and my tiara in my bag, it took basically all afternoon to get there. Worth it, though...
I managed to get into the venue (a hotel) without paying, and didn't see anyone selling entry tickets. Maybe they assumed nobody would leave it that late in the day to arrive (it was about 4pm, I think). Once in there, I walked past several ageing astronauts and a few people I'd either never heard of or didn't have any particular urge to meet, and then I found Virginia, who was being talked to by a man who I assume was a fan. Just as he left, another man came over to chat to Virginia briefly and show her a photo...I thought he looked somewhat familiar - turns out he was Dave Prowse who acted as Darth Vader (I'm not a massive Star Wars fan so I wasn't especially starstruck or anything, but Lord Vader and Zhaanie is a pretty odd combination!)
After Mr Vader went away (back to the dark side, probably) it was my turn to meet the not-so-blue Ms. Hey...she seemed pleased to see me even though we'd never met before (which gave me a taste of what it must feel like at the famous side of a convention table), and liked my tiara
. However, she couldn't seem to hear me that well, so I ended up repeating myself a bit. She was sitting down the whole time, which was probably good as I've heard she's really tall (and I'm really not). I asked if she'd sign my pulse rifle, and she recognised Ben's autograph on it - I explained that he'd ended up signing it twice. I also confessed to not having made much effort to meet anyone from Farscape until recently, to which Virginia said something I'd pretty much been thinking anyway, about it being a good idea to seize the opportunity to see them when you can, as you never know when/if they'll next be in the UK if you don't. When the pulse rifle was handed back to me, it was adorned with not only a new autograph but also some hearts...inappropriately cute for a weapon, perhaps, but my pulse rifle's weird like that. (It's named Miss Sugarpink after a lyric from a song that was stuck in my head while I was making/customising it. It's also no use as a weapon because a) it's a toy, and b) I broke part of the trigger while modifying it.) Virginia suggested putting some tape over the autographs so they don't come off, which I'd considered doing previously but didn't get round to until after she said it. I remember mentioning something about having managed not to get into any security trouble carrying a mock pulse rifle around London in a bag around the time of the Olympics(!!) Unfortunately I've forgotten the majority of what else we talked about, but I said something about how longwinded the journey had been, and Virginia said something about also having to get there via several different trains (including the Tube - turns out she's currently living in London), so I quipped that I wish trains could starburst like Moya...! I think she liked that idea, and also she apparently liked me enough to give me a little sample-bottle of one of her perfumes. Until then, I had no idea she even made perfumes, but she does. (Soaps and candles too, apparently.) I guessed (correctly, it turned out) that the tiny bottle would disappear into the lining of my leather-look vaguely Aerynesque coat the moment I foolishly put it into the pocket with a hole in, but did it anyway (then later had a moment of panic where I thought I'd lost it).
As I was leaving her table, I think Virginia said something like 'see you later', and at that point the plan was that she literally would, as I'd decided to go back and get a photo of her as Zhaan signed as well, since they're included in the autograph price if you don't supply your own item to sign, and she wasn't charging very much and nothing else there looked worth buying to me. Most of the stalls were packing their goods away by then, anyway. I went for a drink, which firstly wasn't what I originally wanted as they didn't do iced lattes and I'm a bit Sebacean about high temperatures (as in, I struggle with hot things), and secondly was so cold it took me about 40 minutes to drink! (Admittedly I was typing on my iPad between sips, but it was frelling freezing. In fairness, I did say I wanted a *cold* drink!) During those 40 minutes of icy smoothie, I noticed Virginia leaving the hotel with a suitcase...which meant my 'second autograph' plan was, to put it bluntly, frelled. Also while I was sitting there, I had another random Star Wars moment as Kenny Baker who was R2D2 came into the lounge bit with a woman I assume was his wife, sat at a table near me, and ordered some white wine. Not overly exciting, but that's what happened. To bring this event story crashing to a close, I'll summarise the last part - "and then I went home".
...After which I discovered that Virginia Hey has an official Facebook page which she runs, and that she seems to like everything I've ever posted on there. I have three theories on this: 1) I'm phenomenally talented but just haven't acknowledged it yet (not likely), 2) we have the exact same taste in everything (also not likely) or 3) she's clearly one of the nicest people in the universe including the Uncharted Territories
I feel a bit mean saying it, in light of the above, but Aeryn's still my favourite.
. I'd love to be able to meet Claudia, even if it took 108 trains and a *sub-zero* smoothie to get me there...(!!) Okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but if I ever hear that CB's doing a UK convention, I strongly intend to grab a bar (or several) of chocolate and my trusty pulse rifle, lace up my space-girl boots, try to avoid getting my tiara tangled in my hair, and be there.
~
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