holodiction '98
december 19 - sydney
Special Guest Star: BRENT SPINER (Data from TNG)
Special Guest Star: Jennifer Hetrick (Vash from TNG; DS9)
Featuring: Richard Arnold (Senior Research Consultant)
Prelude
One of the most unreal days of my life (so far). I left Brisbane at about 5.30 on Saturday morning, the convention due to start at the Wesley Centre in Sydney at 10.00. Plenty of time.
I made it to the Convention at about 9.30, and waited patiently in the queue with everyone else until they let us in at 10.00. We spent some time at the dealers tables before going into the main auditorium for our first guest, Senior Research Consultant (for everything Star Trek), Richard Arnold. He told us mainly what was to come in DS9's season 7, as well as Voyager's season 5. I have to admit, I tuned out for most of it (I don't really want to know what's happening in coming episodes). He had some very pretty slides from upcoming episodes, though. He did tell us a couple of tidbits of trivia (a lot of people will already know this). The guy who plays Damar in DS9, Casey Biggs, was actually married to Roxann Biggs-Dawson (B'elanna Torres from Voyager) - hence the 'Biggs' in her name. Cool, huh?
The auction proceeded afterwards, with the usual assortment of good stuff, mixed in with the rubbish (I mean, please, a First Contact Chocolate Bar??? with NO use-by date). Someone did score a Kate Mulgrew autograph for $65 (AUS). BIG score. People in Sydney have a lot of money to spend, though. I put off bidding in case they had a Terry Farrel autograph for sale, but no-one did. Not a one. I was disappointed. I went back to the dealer's tables and bought some Jennifer Hetrick photos and a Brent Spiner photo to get signed. I found Jennifer Hetrick in there signing autographs for the VIP ticketholders!! I queued up and got three photos signed, one personalised to me. Jennifer offered to personalise the second to my friend as a Christmas present. Very cool.
After that, we had a bit of time to kill before Ms Hetrick's talk, so I milled around for a bit, went round the dealers' tables, had a chat to the Kings Comics guys and debated over a Babylon 5 autograph. After that, we all went back into the auditorium for the first main talk of the day.
Jennifer Hetrick
About 2.30pm, Jennifer Hetrick came out on stage to raucous applause. With all the shutter-bugs in the audience, it was almost hard to see her for the flashing lights. Then she pulled out a camera and took a panoramic angle photo of us, the audience. It was great. I've been to a few conventions, and none of the guests have ever taken photos of us.
Jennifer regarded herslef a bit of a student of Austrralian slang (albeit a bad one), but she was a great guest. SHe enjoyed the audience and took the stupid jokes (and questions) with good grace. She is highly intelligent and quick-witted, making everyone laugh. She wasn't afraid to tell us something of her personal life (talking about her boyfriend, and told us a little of how she got started in acting. She began on the pub circuit, and got into acting later. Vash has been her favourite role she ever played (although she was also in Sliders and the X-Files), and she loves Star Trek fans. She is welcome to come back anytime...
Brent Spiner
The Main Event. The Big Tamale. Brent Spiner walked out on stage to a standing ovation. The cameras were going bezerk, and he just posed for everyone. Wish I had a better camera.
I remember a bit of what he said, but I got a good picture of what he's like. Where some people who act in Star Trek take the philosophy to heart (in a way, I suppose, becoming fans themselves), he is such a practical and straightforward person. To him, it's just a job, long-term employment. It pays the bills and makes life, financially, a lot easier to deal with. He loves playing Data, but as far as the fictional history of Star Trek is concerned, it is his belief that that is the purview of the writers, he just reads what his given (and as such he doesn't have and opinion as to how he felt when the Enterprise D was destroyed..). He puts everything into the part because he loves his job, and finds it a challenge.
He was a gentleman, answered every question as best he could (even the stupid ones). Both he and Jennifer loved to pay out on the fans with sarcasm and mocking, but it was all in fun. When Brent actually did offend someone, he felt genuinely awful and spent the rest of his talk trying to make up for it.
He talked for a bit about his love of film in general (considers himself an amateur film historian), and was very straightforward about his opinion of Sci-Fi (when asked). He views it as a part of the history of film he studies, and he's happy to be a part of that. But no more, I guess. The whole "fandom" thing is something else to make a quick quid.
He wasn't a performer, like Patrick Stewart, who genuinely enjoys conventions, or a comic like Ethan Phillips. He was just.. normal. Gentleman and scholar, not seemingly complicated. A refreshing change.
He considers himself a bed-potato (sleeping as his favourite past time - I can personally relate to that). All the instruments he plays on episodes of Next Gen are fake, he can't actually play them. But he sings, and he smiled a lot (which made me very happy). Unfortunately, he didn't sing a note for us this time. Maybe next time, if I have the guts to get up and ask.
The talk wound down, and it was time for autographs (for the VIP people). He left briefly for sandwiches and coffee (apparently), before returning to the stage, to much clapping and screaming (just one little whoop from your truly). He stood at the lecturn, put on his 'Patrick Stewart' deep voice and prepared to read a passage from the Bible (AAAARRRRGGHHH). He was kidding.
When it was my turn, my photo was passed to him to be signed and he said 'Hello' and asked how I was. I told him I was well, thanked him very much, and wished him a Happy Christmas (he looked a little surprised, but smiled and said 'Same to you'). That was all there was to it.
He signed the autographs, and left to another standing ovation. The day, for me, was over. I went back to my hotel room and fell asleep.
I'm really glad I went, and thank-you Sharron and Bill, and my Mum and Dad, for helping me get there.
Jennifer Hetrick Autograph (personalised)
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Go to Holodiction '99 - Garret Wang
Go to Holodiction '98 - Ethan Phillips
