Sam Carter/Amanda Tapping Discussion/Appreciation

[ChopinGal]

I'm not taking that bet, because I'm sure Amanda will remember the unforgettable Tracy Jane

Psst, Mandy, don't give my plan away ... this is the only way I can collect tons of Jaffacakes to take back to the States!! If I can't have Teal'c, I might as well settle for the Jaffacakes.

And for TJ to be speechless all week, well, I know the feeling. It still seems a bit surreal to me and I can't quite talk about it with the locals ... however, our fellow Samandans will probably find it hard to believe that TJ and I can actually be at a loss for words! Just ask Coley and 1speed though who got the brunt of my energy. I think they're still recovering.

[suse]

I have to make this post here. I can't believe I've posted 1000 times! (Well, more than that but Off Topic doesn't count).

I love Samanda. it's so nice to have a place on here that cares and isn't at loggerheads.

I guess I come here for the same reason Amanda does. You guys are a "pick me up"!

Suse

[Coley]

Psst, Mandy, don't give my plan away ... this is the only way I can collect tons of Jaffacakes to take back to the States!! If I can't have Teal'c, I might as well settle for the Jaffacakes.

And for TJ to be speechless all week, well, I know the feeling. It still seems a bit surreal to me and I can't quite talk about it with the locals ... however, our fellow Samandans will probably find it hard to believe that TJ and I can actually be at a loss for words! Just ask Coley and 1speed though who got the brunt of my energy. I think they're still recovering.

Dear Jester and mum number 2. I'm 100% sure that if you can't talk to the locals about GABIT, you will be talking to them about something else. I suspect that if you were quiet for more than a few mins - you may actually explode

Hugs always the RA

[scarimor]

... Given that I am really only watching SG-1 because of Sam these days, and also catch most of the SGA episodes, but don't feel thrilled about SGA--I want to see Sam occasionally on SGA if she is used well in the storylines. I'm biased toward seeing Sam.

I'm happy to see her on Atlantis as much as they like Like you, I really only watch SG-1 for AT/Sam now, but I watch Atlantis for itself, so I could be in for a treat if AT is deployed well there.

After seeing RDA onstage recently with Amanda for the Vancouver FMA awards, it struck me at how shy and uncomfortable he seemed in the spotlight. In many ways, she was carrying the show. So I thought he might be feeling nervous at Avalon and it sounds like that has happened. Amanda is probably leading him through the paces since he's a "con virgin".

RDA cherry... POPPED!

Thanks, TJ.

I like the company's description of Sam Carter: Astrophysicist Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter is played by Amanda Tapping. The character combines scientific expertise with a cool head under fire, and Tapping's statuesque beauty and vulnerable smile have made her a perpetual fan favorite.

Oh preach it, that's perfect

[minigeek]

mini too. They have powerful zoom lenses

Oh not me! I was the one whose camera konked, remember? lol No powerful zoom lens, here! Kat and Tsax, however, most definitely!

[1speed4Sam]

Dear Jester and mum number 2. I'm 100% sure that if you can't talk to the locals about GABIT, you will be talking to them about something else. I suspect that if you were quiet for more than a few mins - you may actually explode

Hugs always the RA

I concur.

I'm also pleased to report that the ringing in my ears has just about gone now...

I'd also like to say thanks to everybody at GABIT/AT2/Samandans 'R' Us - it was marvellous to meet you all, though I still can't believe the gang is once again scattered to the four winds. I didn't take any photos, but I've got so many wonderful memories stored away in my mind's-eye to keep me going until the next time we all meet up again somewhere, sometime.

You're all wonderful people, and I love you all to bits.

And just think - we'd never have met if Sam wasn't such a great character, and AT wasn't such a great person. Awesome.

[ForeverSg1]

Avalon Summary

Seeing as I've been asked on multiple occassions to give a brief summary of the Avalon weekend, I thought I'd try to write up a little something for you all. Please remember that there were five separate sessions, and I'm sure each will be quite different so if you know anyone else who attended you'll probably get very different responses. I'm really looking forward to hearing how things went for the other sessions. But as for me, I attended the Friday Am session, which was the first session of the weekend.

Our day started at around 7:30am, when Ambermoon, LadyJeep, Gatenv and I met up in the hotel lobby to catch the coach into Wells. It was rather brisk and wet that morning, but it didn't dampen our mood because we were all extremely excited about seeing RDA and Amanda. Unfortunately the coach arrived quite late, nearly thirty minutes late, and I think part of that excitement was starting to wear off as the cold settled into our bones.

Once on the coach, we set off on a lovely 45min drive through the Somerset countryside. Living in Texas, I have to admit the rain was a definite plus and I thoroughly enjoyed the lush green rolling hills that we passed by on our coach. Honestly, breathtaking does not come close to describing it.

Forty five minutes later we had arrived at our destination and we all disembarked the coach and headed towards the registration office, which was a tiny little place that the Avalon/G4 had acquired for the weekend. Slowly, but surely, we snaked our way out of the cold and into the warm building to acquire our daily itineraries, badges and tour passes and then one by one we rushed over to the Bishop's Palace where the daily event woud take place.

Inside the building we checked our coats and headed up the 400 year old staircase into a lovely room where we many fans were waiting for Rick and Amanda to arrive for the Q&A. Sadly, since the coach had arrived so late, the event started about thirty minutes later than planned so the G4 really had to keep things moving in order to stay as close to schedule as possible, but despite the unplanned changes in scheduled they greeted us all with warm smiles and politely escorted us to our seats and shortly afterwards Thomasina introduced Rick and Amanda.

Amanda looked stunning as usual in her jeans, pink undershirt and black sweater and Rick, well what can I say, he looked as hot as ever. I had to push Ambermoon's mouth closed on several occassions and wipe the drool from her chin. (J/K) She was really sweet and allowed me to take her seat on the aisle so that I could get better pictures, but unfortuantely I can't post them here.

The Q&A lasted about thirty minutes. Each of the questions had been presubmitted by fans and of those five or six where chosen by Thomasina.

The first question asked Rick if Jack knew any secret thing about Sam that noone else knew and vice versa for Amanda. I think Rick was a bit unsure how to answer the question at first, but Amanda jumped in by joking that Jack was afraid of millipedes and he screamed like a little girl when he saw them and later said another secret was that she'd seen him without any clothes on a few times while on missions. When it was RDA's turn to answer, Amanda leaned over towards RDA and said that Jack knew where Sam's mole was, but I don't think he really remembered the episode( which is quite understandable since it was Tin Man and I seem to recall RDA not being very fond of episodes where he had to play multiple parts). He later joked that Sam was really a man and the look on Amanda's face was priceless. LOL.

Another person asked RDA who he thought would win a knock down battle between Thor and Yoda. After some contemplation, RDA finally said he thought Thor would because he was younger.

There were several very nice questions asked, one attendee asked Rick and Amanda how they chose the charities they were associated with and another fan asked what was one of the most defining/inspiring moments in their lifes.

Rick and Amanda both said that they really felt that the world was in dire need of help and that we needed to do something now. Amanda stated that she felt drawn to charities where she could be the voice of the voiceless, like with children and animals, and they both went on to speak very passionately about what had drawn them to their charities.

For the inspiring moment question, Rick spoke about his trip to Tibet and the people he had met. I believe the SG-1 dvd's have a small clip about this trip and if you haven't seen yet, I would definitely suggest watching it. It was very good.

As for Amanda, she said that she went through some rough/emotional times during her late teen years and she took a camping trip in northern Canada where she stayed in a cabin that was literally four walls and a roof with no running water or amenities. And one night while she was there she couldn't sleep and so she decided to take a row boat out on the lake and afterward she laid down in the boat and looked up in the sky and above her was the Aurora Borealis. She spoke about how stunning it was laying starring up at the sky and listening to the sounds of the animals around her and she realized that she was as close to God as she'd probably ever be and it had a very calming effect on her.

After a few more questions we briefly said our goodbyes to Rick and Amanda and proceeded downstairs to another room where we would soon be having tea and biscuits with them. I was lucky enough to share a table at the front of the room with Skydiver, LadyJeep, Ambermoon, Sue( a friend of Sky's and rather well known fanfic writer, and SamCarter(GW). There were several other women seated at our table, but unfortuantely I don't remember their names. Sue and Sky were the lucky winners at our table to sit next to the empty seat and we all sat and chatted while we awaited Rick and Amanda's arrival.

A few minutes before our guests entered the room, a member of the G4( Sue ) came over and told us that it was our lucky day and asked us if we would mind squishing together so they could add another chair to our table as Rick and Amanda had decided to sit together during the chat and we were going to be the first table. So we happily pushed our seats together and nervously grinned and chattered amoungst ourselves while we waited for them to arrive.

Before I knew it, we were being introduced to Rick and Amanda and they were taking their seats. They both grabbed a cookie and then started making their way around the table asking about the charms we had been given.

I wish I could tell you all about the conversations we had, but unfortunately the room was very loud and so it was very difficult to hear everything that was said and I was sitting arms length away from 'the man' so my brain was rather mushy at the moment.

I do remember RDA asking me about my charm and Amanda asking me when my birthday was after I mentioned that my sign was Virgo and when I told her September 2nd, she smiled and said 'Hey, mine is August 28th.' to which I replied 'Yes I know' and she seemed a bit embarrassed.

It must be rather odd to sit and chat with people who know so much about you.

Sky had a rather lengthy chat with RDA about their hometowns and Amber had a nice chat with RDA about motorcycles, but I'll let them tell their stories.

After they left our table, I went outside to take some pictures of the Bishop's Palace and chatted with GateNV for awhile and about an hour later we were told our table was going upstairs to have our photos taken with Rick and Amanda soon, so we had to go gather up our things.

Amanda and Rick were both wonderful at the photo shoot. Rick kept running over to the computer screen to make sure that the photos looked ok and he'd make funny faces if he didn't like them. I'm sure it was an overwhelming moment for many of the attendees to stand between Rick and Amanda during the photo shoot, but I'm sure it will be a memory that they will keep with them for a very long time. I know I will. The photo shoot was very quick, so we didn't have much time to chat, but I did manage to thank them both for attending before saying my goodbyes.

Because the day was running late, we literally left the room, picked up our coats and ran into town to grab something to eat before jumping on a coach for our tour of Avalon and Glastonbury. The tour ended around 5pm and we had two and a half hours until the auction doors would open up, so we hung out at a local pub chatting with other Stargate fans -- largely due to the fact that we couldn't find a restaurant open but we had a great time anyway.

Sadly, RDA wasn't able to attend a great deal of the auction as I believe he was finishing up signing the photographs that were given out at the end of the evening, but we were given a surprise visit by Dan Shea who helped Amanda with the auction.

Amanda was amazing as usual, entertaining the attendees by running up and down the aisles trying to entice them to bid higher, but I think the biggest praise of the night has to go to our very own Ambermoon for her unabashed bidding on nearly 3/4 of the items. Thanks to her, many of the items went for much more money than they probably would have without her there. Thankfully, she was outbid every time, but it was in large part due to her that many of the bids went as high as they did, including the final bid on a visit to the Stargate Atlantis set. In the end, we raised over L3000 for charity and we were allowed to spend a few hours with two wonderful people. Hopefully, things went much smoother for the other sessions and RDA decides to do this again. As enjoyable as it all was, I'm ready to go home. I've decided that a week vacation is fun, but two weeks is a bit too much for me when I'm away from my kids. Hopefully I'll have much more time to chat and post more after I return home on Monday.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0100.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0094.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...valon_0093.jpg
Bishop's Palace - the venue

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0113.jpg
This is where the night's auction took place.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0155.jpg
Inside Well's chapel.

[Uber]

Wow...Kat. Those pictures are stunning. I'll bet they don't do the locales justice either. There's an essence you feel when physically being somewhere that two dimensional photos just can't capture.

As for the stories...squee. I'm so happy you and the others got to go and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your experiences with us.

[starlover]

Avalon Summary
<snip>

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0100.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0094.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...valon_0093.jpg
Bishop's Palace - the venue

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0113.jpg
This is where the night's auction took place.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0155.jpg
Inside Well's chapel.

Looks like you also had a wonderful time, thanx for posting this...i enjoyed reading it
And great pics as well, it looks like a wonderful place

[Tracy Jane]

Thank you so much, Kat. So glad you had so much fun. I bet AM's credit card was having palpitations, though!

[jckfan55]

I like SGA. {snip}...Fans of the show are frustrated, and I get that. I'm a little frustrated by some of the changes, too. Unfortunately, I'm afraid Amanda is going to take the brunt of it. This is the only reason I don't want Sam on SGA full time. (Yes, only reason. I'm not worried about my ship being affected by Sam in another galazy. Love is stronger than that. Cue gag from nonshippers.)

GAG!

[MickSpeed]

nice one Kat! Thanks for sharing and great location, as far as I can see at the gorgeous photos! But I wanna see one of AT and Rick

Great, that you can/want to share all this right from The Isle!

[ann_sgcfan]

Avalon Summary

-SNIP -

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0100.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0094.jpg

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...valon_0093.jpg
Bishop's Palace - the venue

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0113.jpg
This is where the night's auction took place.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...alonb_0155.jpg
Inside Well's chapel.

Oh WOW!!! Thanks so much for your summary at Avalon and at GABIT!!! It allowed me (someone stuck at home) to experience the con through your eyes so I, like many others, thanks you sooooo very much (including all those who shared their con reports) for this report the photos of the Palace/Well's chapel and of course your photos from GABIT!!

Amanda and Rick are truly my favorite two stars on SG-1, and probably the two actors I would most like to meet in the entire industry. It so great to hear that they are both genuinely caring people. It sounds like the questions were a little more on the personal level, regarding their inspiring moments. So again thank you!!!!

[jckfan55]

Avalon Summary

Seeing as I've been asked on multiple occassions to give a brief summary of the Avalon weekend, I thought I'd try to write up a little something for you all....
Amanda looked stunning as usual in her jeans, pink undershirt and black sweater and Rick, well what can I say, he looked as hot as ever. I had to push Ambermoon's mouth closed on several occassions and wipe the drool from her chin. (J/K) [/URL]

That would have been me too. Great report. Sounds like AT helped him through the experience and it went ok for him. Cool.

[minigeek]

Avalon Summary

Oh Kat, that's a fantastic con report.I'm so absolutely thrilled that you all had such an amazing time. I'm terribly sad I had to miss it (I think I would have been at your table, too!! *sinffff*) but just knowing you all from AT2 means that I actually felt like i got to 'see' (in my head) some of the moments you've described so well. That makes me all warm and happy inside.

All of you guys did us so proud! I wish I could hug you again in person but i'll have to wait until the 'next' time!! And Amber (who I can just SEE bidding on everything! lol WTG Amber!!!!), and LadyJeep, GateNV, Sky... I'm really just grinning from ear to ear here! Congrats to all of you and please be safe on your travels home ok? {{{{{ EVERYONE }}}}}

mini(the totally and apparently incurably sappy!)geek