Creation Con, Secaucus, NJ, 11/4/06 Con Report 
by Jess

We (my friend Lori aka strider6 from Gateworld, my mom, and I) set out for Secaucus at 9:30am on Saturday the 4th. Traffic was surprisingly light, especially on the Cross Bronx, and we managed to get to the hotel at around 10:20 or so. The con registration table wasn't opening until about 11, so we decided to walk around and see if we could find anyone else from GW. We met Freyr's Mother (and his dad ... so I think that makes him Freyr's Mother's Father...or Freyr's Grandfather, LOL), Trupi and Trupi's daughter near a small coffee stand in the lobby and chatted a bit. Close to 11am we headed for the registration table where there was a short lineup. We had thought about checking out some of the dealer tables out there, but they were only setting up. While waiting on line we found wwlh and Salty (also from GW), and then Suzotchka and her friends alyssa, Finnstardust and Gatebyte.

They finally let us into the main ballroom at 12. Lori and my mom decided to grab seats since they had general admission tickets. My seat was P13, which wasn't too bad; I was up about 4 or 5 rows from where the general seating started. We checked out some of the dealer tables they had at the back of the room. I bought a few photos - one of the Season 8 cast pics (not too crazy about the new ones), an Atlantis cast pic for Jason to sign, and then photos of Colin and Carmen to sign as well (I had brought a pic of Teryl that I had gotten at the previous con with me). I also bought a couple of the comic books, a SG-1 poster and Atlantis poster.

To start things off, they showed a music video, a team one to the Men In Black theme. Nice vid. :) Then Colin Cunningham was up and I thought he was great. He asked who paid less than $100 for tickets, and then went toward the back of the room to talk a while. Great pic opportunity, especially since a lot of my other pics came out crummy, lol.

He talked about a trip he took to New Zealand, especially about these "glow worms in a cave" and seeing a cow give birth. He said it was a nice experience watching a calf being born. Switching gears to SG-1, he said they kept the bar high and never pretended that the fans were stupid. Someone asked him when we'll see more of Major Davis. Colin started with, "Well, now that the show is dead..." He did mention something about two episodes, but said he'd love to get back on the show. He said that Major Davis never had a first name, and then just out of nowhere, someone (I believe on the Internet) said "Paul."

He spent some time talking about his other roles, in particular one from DaVinci, in which he sold drugs. He said that Major Davis is closer to him as far as that's concerned.

Someone else asked that, if he could play anyone else on Stargate, who would it be. A surprising (well, to me anyway) answer was that he had auditioned for Daniel Jackson, and that the part was close to his heart. He then said he wouldn't mind being Teal'c because he gets to wear "the gold thing."

Another question was about what he was doing now career-wise. He said he had a busy summer doing a show called Psyche and then something called Masters of Horror for HBO. He talked about what it was like working with some of the makeup effects for one of the horror movies.

The usual political question came up, whether political aspects of Stargate are related to today. He said that they're the same things since the dawn of time - good guys vs. bad guys, and sometimes the good guys have to be a little bad. He said that in good vs. evil, there's always hope, and we're not going to surrender to the evil workings out there.

Someone mentioned that Colin plays the sax and asked if he brought it with him. He said no, and if he did, they'd have to cut his rate in half. (LOL) He was asked what his favorite SG-1 episode was, and why. He gave three episodes. The first was A Matter of Time, which was his first ever episode. The second was Foothold, and talked about what it was like to hang around from those "pod" things with RDA; and the third one was Prometheus because there is a lot of Major Davis stuff in it.

Colin then showed some slides from some of the roles he'd done, including DaVinci's Inquest, The X-Files, Best in Show, Masters of Horror, and of course, Stargate.

Next was Carmen, and it was a pleasure seeing him again... he was very dignified, as always. Someone asked him what influenced him into acting and he said that movies and the magic of movies influenced him. He was also asked how was his favorite person to work with on SG-1, and he answered "Amanda." He also loves Teryl, Chris, and "Danny" (Michael). He said that RDA was fun - there was a distance there, but it was a comfortable one.

He said that Selmak brought humanity to Jacob, gave him an awareness of his daughter, family, and life. He said that his stepdaughter resembles Amanda, and photos of him with her were used in the show (I think we see them in Ascension). One scene that he really liked was in Tok'ra Part II, where he told Sam how proud he was, touched her cheek and Amanda just welled up. He said that that was his favorite episode to shoot.

Another person asked if he was upset about his character getting killed so suddenly. He said he was, that it was abrupt. There was a disclaimer on the script that they could not show it to anyone, and he realized why. He said that it bothered him a little because right after his funeral they just went fishing. Poor guy. ;)

After Carmen's talk they showed a video that was supposed to be about the relationship about Sam and her dad. Maybe I wasn't paying attention or listening to the words very much, but it didn't really seem to be that to me. It looked like it was about all the guys she knew over the years (Jack, Martouf, Joe Faxon, Narim, Pete, Fifth, and I believe I saw the scene from Meridian where she was watching Daniel in the isolation room - yes!! An actual scene!!!), then scenes with her and Janet as well as Cassie, and maybe about 30% of the clips featured her and Jacob. I saw it as more of a Sam-centered vid. Shame there were no clips of her with Teal'c (at least from what I remember).

Alex Zahara came next and it was interesting learning about all the parts he'd done over the years. He said he was the lead alien in Foothold, the one who was impersonating Daniel. He said that another guy actually passed out inside his mask. He talked about how he got into acting and about the other roles he'd done over the years (he had been in Sentinel when Stargate first called him). He was also in a Babylon 5 movie, and he played a clip from it.

Someone asked him about the most annoying makeup job he had on the show. He said there wasn't any, but the longest makeup was preparing as an Unas, which took about four hours. Dion Johnstone, who played Chaka, actually fell asleep in the makeup chair. He was also asked who his favorite character was (out of the ones he played), and he said it was Michael from 1969.

Next was a round of trivia. One of the questions was "Aaron Pearl played a young Hammond. What was his other role on SG-1?" None of the people on the panel knew it, so they asked the audience members and I said "Major Kearney" (in Lockdown). I think it ended up being Lieutenant Kearney, but they said it was close enough so I got to pick a prize. I took an 11x14 photo featuring Daniel.

Before Teryl came out, they played a vid dedicated to her (not just Janet but all her other roles as well) to the song "I'm To Sexy." Teryl was great as always, very energetic and seemed to be having a great time. She apologized for Michael not being there. She then mentioned that both he and Chris Judge got her into so much trouble the last time (not sure if this was 2005 or 2004?) but she said they were out drinking and didn't get back to her hotel room until about 5:30am.

Someone asked her if she is going to be in any other Stargate episodes. She said she was in S9 (though she didn't see it...*g*). She said it was weird coming back without Hammond being there and with Ben being there, but it was fun. She then posed so people could take pics of her and she said "Would Michael do that? No!" LOL

Someone asked her what shows she's a fan of. She said she is a big CSI junkie, and she wishes she could TiVo it but that stuff is too advanced for her (though Janet would know how to do it).

Another question was who would she patch up on a regular basis on the show. Her answer was so obvious ... Daniel! She talked about some Janet/Daniel moments including the ones in Rite of Passage and 2010. She said that, in the latter episode, Chris Judge didn't knowthat Janet was going to kiss Daniel and when it happened, he did this sort of double take and asked afterward, "what the hell was that???"

Someone else asked her what was the most challenging thing to do on Stargate. She said it was anything dealing with emotions - that you have to try not go go over the top and can't get too emotionally involved when you're a doctor. She mentioned Holiday as an example. At the end when Ma'chello passes, he says "thank you for my holiday." She said that at that scene, she couldn't stop crying but was holding it in, and you could see her eyes welling up. Another episode she mentioned was Into the Fire (I think), the scene where Teal'c goes back to Chulak and she and Hammond get to see him off. She said she and DSD were sobbing.

She said that Foodhold was also challenging to do, espeically being held up in those things for so long, especially when you have a small bladder. *g*

She was asked how she felt when she was told Janet would be killed off. She felt really sad, but they didn't have a contract and thought the show was definitely over at that point. She was going to do some theater and they asked if they could work around her schedule. Then they asked "How would you feel if we killed you off? This is the last year, and we need to shake things up and kill someone off." She said "then why couldn't you kill Hammond if you want to shake things up??" LOL. She said she was very sad and dind't want to leave.

She talked about how hard it was to film Urgo, that Dom DeLuise would try all these things to make her laugh, like pull her hair and blow in her ear, but i didn't work. People then started getting up and leaving the room and she said "Where is everyone going?" Someone said there was a photo op with Jason Momoa, and she said "Oh fine, she's dead so we'll just leave now!" lol

She was asked if they do movies for Stargate, would she be in it if they asked her. She said she would in a heartbeat, and that she hopes they would incorporate the original cast in it, that "if it ain't broke, why fix it." She said it would be nice to see some of the old cast. As far as the cancellation goes, she said she's sad for her friends and the fans, but the show was great for 10 seasons, and it was bound to happen.

She mentioned a few times how she loves Patrick Stewart, and when someone asked her if Janet had to die any other way, what would it be, she said the following (or very close to it): "On another planet, alone, with Patrick Stewart. And we wouldn't die, we'd Ascend." She was a riot.

Before Jason came on, they showed an Atlantis music video, a nice one set to an instrumental score. IMO Jason did quite well for his second con appearance. I was wondering if he was a bit nervous about it though, because he must have had four beers at least during his talk. It was funny because some guy would just appear from behind the curtains on either side of the stage and automatically hand him a bottle of beer. Anyway, he was asked what the best episode of Atlantis was so far, and he said Sateda. A few other people who asked questions mentioned that they never saw Sateda and he didn't look happy to hear that, LOL (in a jokey way of course).

Someone asked who his favorite costar was, and he said that Joe Flanigan was one of his best friends, and also Paul McGillion. As far as acting goes, it would be David Hewlett. He said David makes him laugh and is so much fun in person.

He was asked if they play practical jokes on Atlantis like they do on SG-1. He said not as much, though he likes to do it on DH every day. He said they like to pick on Rachel nonstop especially in scenes where they're offworld because she's usually the only woman offworld.

Someone mentioned that at a con, Torri had been asked what she would do if she was in charge of an episode, and she said they'd all sit around smoking pot and listening to John Lennon's "Imagine." The person asked Jason what he would do. He kind of laughed and said "Oh that is so Torri." He said that he'd be sitting in a huge chair and all the cast members would be in service to him, while "Imagine" would be playing backwards.

After his session they began the autograph sessions with Colin, Carmen, Teryl, and Jason. This went on from about 6:20pm to after 9pm. Jason's beers caught up on him I guess and he had to run to the bathroom several times. The girl next to me joked that we should go into the mens room to ge his autograph, lol. To speed things up, he started working the line and signing people's pictures while they were on line. Colin was very nice, and said to me "hi, sweetheart, how are you doing?" He asked what my name was and he signed my photo "Jessica, lovely meeting you! Colin Cunningham." Carmen remembered me from when I gave him the Tok'ra (Jacob) bear at I-CON last March, and he was very appreciative of the collection of stories and drabbles from the S/D Rebels. He signed my photo "Jessica, thanks for the bear!" Teryl was very sweet and I had given her a short story that one of my friends wrote in tribute to Janet. I said it's a birthday gift since her birthday was coming up. She thanked me and told me to thank my friend.

While I was geting the autographs, my mom and Lori went up to the room where SueB and some of the other Michael fans were watching Swarmed and having pizza. I was so disappointed that I couldn't join them. We didn't leave the hotel until after 9pm - I'd say around 9:10 or 9:15. Luckily traffic wasn't too bad on the way back and we got home about an hour later. All in all, it was a great experience and I was happy to meet some of my GW friends in person!

Now for the pics... sadly they did not come out that well. :( I think I need another camera. Here are the pics that I didn't find TOO bad. Click on the thumbnails to see them.

Colin:

 
Carmen:

 Alex:

Teryl:




Gateworld group photo (thanks, Lori!):


front l-r: Freyr's Mother, strider6, JessM, alyssa, and Gatemage
back l-r: wwlh, Salty, Qksilver99, Finnstardust, Suzotchka, and Gatebyte.

Autographs: