Originally posted by TJinLOCA
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I'm baaaaack! With the main event! 
Here's the reason I flew all the way to Chicago this weekend:
I can't begin to tell you how great Paul was ... when my son went up for his photo op, he gave Paul another big hug (a bit too energetic, I think?) ... but then after they'd snapped the photo, Paul said, "Hang on a second, this kid's too short!" And he scooped him up in his arms and had them take another picture!! It was so cute!
Then I came next, and he gave me a big hug (see previous photo...)
Paul's talk onstage was next. It was wonderful - he started out by saying, "I have never hugged so many women in one morning in my entire life." Then he dropped into the Scottish accent and said, "Thank you all very, very, very much."
Then he said he was sure by now everyone knew what had happened to his character ... people started hissing and booing their disapproval, and he went back into the accent again to say, "Exactly! What the hell were they thinking? Horrible! Horrible!"
He told some funny stories about getting the role of Beckett, and how he decided he wanted to read for it with a Scottish accent. The casting director for Atlantis didn't want him to do it - he said, "No one will understand him if he does a Scottish accent." Paul said he told his agent, "Tell him that there are educated Scottish people that you can actually understand!"
He also talked about the first table read they did, when no one had any idea that he was going to use the Scottish accent, and after they'd all been sitting around chatting amiably and getting to know each other, they started the read-through ... and he had some of the first lines, and came out with the full-on brogue, "I don't care what you say, Rodney, I'm nae gettin' in the bloody chair!"
And everything came to a dead stop! It was pretty hilarious. His impression of Joe Flanigan's reaction was absolutely hysterical.
Even funnier was the time that they had a guest star who had never seen the series, and they were doing some off-world scene, and when they started to shoot and Paul started delivering his lines in the Scottish accent the guy stopped dead and asked if it was a joke! Without dropping the accent, Paul said, "No, it's not a joke, mate! Watch the show and you'll see what the character's like! Do your homework!"
When he mentioned that Carson was indeed coming back for two episodes (which he's still filming - he goes back to Vancouver for the last two days of filming this week), everyone cheered - and one guy took that moment to get up and leave! Paul quipped, "Oh, okay, that's the guy who's saying, 'Dammit! I wanted that guy to stay dead!' Cheeky bugger."
At this point he had to apologize for being a little fuzzy ... "Sorry, I've got a cold ... I just took 4 Sudafeds. You're all purple right now."
When he started taking audience questions, I got up to get in line. The girl in front of me asked a good one - "Is there any chance of Carson coming back as an ascended being the way Daniel did?" This brought about much catcalling from the female audience members. Paul responded, "You mean ... naked, I take it?" More cheers. "Sure, if they put my head on Cliff Simon's body!"
He continued, "I'm a pasty white Scottish guy. You don't want to see that, trust me. And ... no."
The first thing I said was "Congratulations on your resurrection!" And then I couldn't say anything else because everyone started cheering so loudly! Then when everyone stopped cheering, Paul said, "I have to point out that TJ here and her son are part of the Save Carson campaign ... where is he? Stand up on a chair so everybody can see you, mate!" And my kid jumped up on his chair in the audience, and everyone started cheering and clapping. Paul was so cute - he said, "There he is! Nine years old. What a guy. Take a bow! Great! OK, now sit down, dammit! This is my time. Cheeky bugger, stealing my limelight." Oh my God! It was wonderful. My son was dying of laughter. Then Paul went on for several minutes about how hard everyone on the Save Carson campaign had worked on his behalf, and how much he appreciated it, and thanked me in front of that entire audience! GAK! It was amazing.
Anyway, after I got over the utter glee of being recognized like that, he said, "OK, did you actually have a question?" And I asked him about the missing scene in "The Tao of Rodney" between Rodney and Carson ... where Rodney had a touching goodbye scene with everyone except Carson, and I really wanted to hear him tell us the scene that had been written for them but never filmed.
Paul said he and David Hewlett were both really disappointed they didn't film the scene (previously described here by phibi, who heard him tell the story at FedCon, I think?), which involved Carson going to Rodney's quarters in the evening - when he walks in, he says, "Rodney, it smells like my mum's place in here!" and it turns out Rodney has cooked him haggis. "Because, of course, he's a genius and can do anything ... not like in real life ... no wait, I didn't say that, did I?" 
Someone asked Paul about his home life as a kid (he's the second youngest of seven children, six boys and one girl) and he said he felt sorry for his sister, and all the poor boys that ever tried to date her. He said he became an actor because he had to perform every day anyway! OH, and when he was born he had such a head of hair that his mother said, "Oh my god, look at the hair on him - he looks like a wee Beatle! We'll call him Paul." He swears that's true! So he's actually named after Paul McCartney.
One cute little boy asked him a long hypothetical question "What if Carson hadn't gotten blown up by a tumor ... and what if Weir didn't get hurt at the end of Season 3 ... do you think such and such would have happened?" Paul kept having him start over, and it always kept coming back to, "What if you hadn't been blown up, and ..." And finally he said, "OK, do you really enjoy saying what happened to me over and over? What was it that happened again? What?"
"You got blown up."
"How, exactly?"
"Um ... by an exploding tumor."
"THANK YOU! You're laughing now! This is fun for you? SECURITY! Remove that man." It was great. He finally told the kid he was a good sport for all the teasing, and brought him up onstage and gave him a present - a Stargate keychain. Then he asked him how old he was. He said "Twelve." And Paul asked the audience, "Are there any 12-year-old girls out there? Come on ... wave ... AH! There you are, darling." And he hands the kid a second keychain, and says, "Go give it to that lovely girl right there." That poor kid! It was a riot.
One of our Save Carson supporters gave him a wee baby turtle (ceramic) and he said, "Thank you! Wow, that's the first one of those I've ever received." Then he went on to say how he was staying at his brother's house in Vancouver while he was filming Atlantis, and he kept placing the turtles all over the house in unexpected places, just to drive him nuts. "I think I'll put this one in his pillowcase."
I could have listened to him all day, but eventually they cut him off so he could get to the autograph-signing. That was the best of all! It was late in the day and they told us there wouldn't be any personalized autographs, which is no big deal for me really (I already have one, that TJ in the UK got for me), but when we got up to him Paul insisted on personalizing our autographs. My son really wanted his "Save Carson" shirt signed, and Paul said, "Oh, come on over here then!" And wrote the CUTEST note on it for him - "To my wee buddy! Cheers! Paul McGillion"
My son gave him another big hug, and then Paul insisted on personalizing my autograph, which was on the letter page of the Cult Times issue that published my "Save Carson!" letter (next to a great photo of Paul). He was really impressed with the letter (which took up half the page!). He wrote, "To T.J., thanks for all the love! xxoo Paul McGillion" While he was signing it, I told him that I was the dancer that had performed the Highland fling with the piper at Comic Con, and he said, "Really? That's fantastic!" and when he was done signing, my son wanted one more hug, which he happily provided. I just started to say thanks and leave, and he jumped up and said, "Hang on, Mom, let's have a hug." And he came around from behind the table and gave me a HUGE hug, and told me, "Thank you so much for all your hard work. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me."
OK, I can die now. It was really just wonderful ... I only wish there's been more time to tell him how much I appreciate all HIS work! But all in all, I'd say it was a very successful first meeting. Sigh.
Here's the reason I flew all the way to Chicago this weekend:
Spoiler:
I can't begin to tell you how great Paul was ... when my son went up for his photo op, he gave Paul another big hug (a bit too energetic, I think?) ... but then after they'd snapped the photo, Paul said, "Hang on a second, this kid's too short!" And he scooped him up in his arms and had them take another picture!! It was so cute!
Then I came next, and he gave me a big hug (see previous photo...
)Paul's talk onstage was next. It was wonderful - he started out by saying, "I have never hugged so many women in one morning in my entire life." Then he dropped into the Scottish accent and said, "Thank you all very, very, very much."
Then he said he was sure by now everyone knew what had happened to his character ... people started hissing and booing their disapproval, and he went back into the accent again to say, "Exactly! What the hell were they thinking? Horrible! Horrible!"
He told some funny stories about getting the role of Beckett, and how he decided he wanted to read for it with a Scottish accent. The casting director for Atlantis didn't want him to do it - he said, "No one will understand him if he does a Scottish accent." Paul said he told his agent, "Tell him that there are educated Scottish people that you can actually understand!"
He also talked about the first table read they did, when no one had any idea that he was going to use the Scottish accent, and after they'd all been sitting around chatting amiably and getting to know each other, they started the read-through ... and he had some of the first lines, and came out with the full-on brogue, "I don't care what you say, Rodney, I'm nae gettin' in the bloody chair!"
And everything came to a dead stop! It was pretty hilarious. His impression of Joe Flanigan's reaction was absolutely hysterical.Even funnier was the time that they had a guest star who had never seen the series, and they were doing some off-world scene, and when they started to shoot and Paul started delivering his lines in the Scottish accent the guy stopped dead and asked if it was a joke! Without dropping the accent, Paul said, "No, it's not a joke, mate! Watch the show and you'll see what the character's like! Do your homework!"
When he mentioned that Carson was indeed coming back for two episodes (which he's still filming - he goes back to Vancouver for the last two days of filming this week), everyone cheered - and one guy took that moment to get up and leave! Paul quipped, "Oh, okay, that's the guy who's saying, 'Dammit! I wanted that guy to stay dead!' Cheeky bugger."
At this point he had to apologize for being a little fuzzy ... "Sorry, I've got a cold ... I just took 4 Sudafeds. You're all purple right now."
When he started taking audience questions, I got up to get in line. The girl in front of me asked a good one - "Is there any chance of Carson coming back as an ascended being the way Daniel did?" This brought about much catcalling from the female audience members. Paul responded, "You mean ... naked, I take it?" More cheers. "Sure, if they put my head on Cliff Simon's body!"
He continued, "I'm a pasty white Scottish guy. You don't want to see that, trust me. And ... no."The first thing I said was "Congratulations on your resurrection!" And then I couldn't say anything else because everyone started cheering so loudly! Then when everyone stopped cheering, Paul said, "I have to point out that TJ here and her son are part of the Save Carson campaign ... where is he? Stand up on a chair so everybody can see you, mate!" And my kid jumped up on his chair in the audience, and everyone started cheering and clapping. Paul was so cute - he said, "There he is! Nine years old. What a guy. Take a bow! Great! OK, now sit down, dammit! This is my time. Cheeky bugger, stealing my limelight." Oh my God! It was wonderful. My son was dying of laughter. Then Paul went on for several minutes about how hard everyone on the Save Carson campaign had worked on his behalf, and how much he appreciated it, and thanked me in front of that entire audience! GAK! It was amazing.
Anyway, after I got over the utter glee of being recognized like that, he said, "OK, did you actually have a question?" And I asked him about the missing scene in "The Tao of Rodney" between Rodney and Carson ... where Rodney had a touching goodbye scene with everyone except Carson, and I really wanted to hear him tell us the scene that had been written for them but never filmed.
Paul said he and David Hewlett were both really disappointed they didn't film the scene (previously described here by phibi, who heard him tell the story at FedCon, I think?), which involved Carson going to Rodney's quarters in the evening - when he walks in, he says, "Rodney, it smells like my mum's place in here!" and it turns out Rodney has cooked him haggis.
"Because, of course, he's a genius and can do anything ... not like in real life ... no wait, I didn't say that, did I?" Someone asked Paul about his home life as a kid (he's the second youngest of seven children, six boys and one girl) and he said he felt sorry for his sister, and all the poor boys that ever tried to date her. He said he became an actor because he had to perform every day anyway! OH, and when he was born he had such a head of hair that his mother said, "Oh my god, look at the hair on him - he looks like a wee Beatle! We'll call him Paul." He swears that's true! So he's actually named after Paul McCartney.
One cute little boy asked him a long hypothetical question "What if Carson hadn't gotten blown up by a tumor ... and what if Weir didn't get hurt at the end of Season 3 ... do you think such and such would have happened?" Paul kept having him start over, and it always kept coming back to, "What if you hadn't been blown up, and ..." And finally he said, "OK, do you really enjoy saying what happened to me over and over? What was it that happened again? What?"
"You got blown up."
"How, exactly?"
"Um ... by an exploding tumor."
"THANK YOU! You're laughing now! This is fun for you? SECURITY! Remove that man."
It was great. He finally told the kid he was a good sport for all the teasing, and brought him up onstage and gave him a present - a Stargate keychain. Then he asked him how old he was. He said "Twelve." And Paul asked the audience, "Are there any 12-year-old girls out there? Come on ... wave ... AH! There you are, darling." And he hands the kid a second keychain, and says, "Go give it to that lovely girl right there." That poor kid! It was a riot.One of our Save Carson supporters gave him a wee baby turtle (ceramic) and he said, "Thank you! Wow, that's the first one of those I've ever received." Then he went on to say how he was staying at his brother's house in Vancouver while he was filming Atlantis, and he kept placing the turtles all over the house in unexpected places, just to drive him nuts. "I think I'll put this one in his pillowcase."
I could have listened to him all day, but eventually they cut him off so he could get to the autograph-signing. That was the best of all! It was late in the day and they told us there wouldn't be any personalized autographs, which is no big deal for me really (I already have one, that TJ in the UK got for me), but when we got up to him Paul insisted on personalizing our autographs. My son really wanted his "Save Carson" shirt signed, and Paul said, "Oh, come on over here then!" And wrote the CUTEST note on it for him - "To my wee buddy! Cheers! Paul McGillion"
My son gave him another big hug, and then Paul insisted on personalizing my autograph, which was on the letter page of the Cult Times issue that published my "Save Carson!" letter (next to a great photo of Paul). He was really impressed with the letter (which took up half the page!). He wrote, "To T.J., thanks for all the love! xxoo Paul McGillion" While he was signing it, I told him that I was the dancer that had performed the Highland fling with the piper at Comic Con, and he said, "Really? That's fantastic!" and when he was done signing, my son wanted one more hug, which he happily provided. I just started to say thanks and leave, and he jumped up and said, "Hang on, Mom, let's have a hug." And he came around from behind the table and gave me a HUGE hug, and told me, "Thank you so much for all your hard work. I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me."
OK, I can die now. It was really just wonderful ... I only wish there's been more time to tell him how much I appreciate all HIS work! But all in all, I'd say it was a very successful first meeting. Sigh.
Thanks for sharing both the story and the pics. You and Paul look good together. Although it does seem like your son enjoyed Paul a wee bit more than you. Still that's a great report you gave.
Those are the moments when I really should have my thunk pillow at the ready.
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