Holodiction '97
August 9, Sydney, Australia
Guests: Jennifer Lien (Kes from Voyager) and
Patrick Stewart (Picard from TNG - Well, duh!)
Okay, now this was the best thing I have ever been to. Certainly the biggest convention (compared with the ones we have in Brisbane). It was great.
It began at 10.00 am. About four hundred or so people were lined up in the Sydney Opera House foyer from about 8.30am. This number increased to about 1500-2000 by the end of the day (well, it seemed like that many). The Opera House. Wow. They couldn't have picked a classier place for a Trek convention (seriously). Well, I thought it was unreal, having never left Queensland in my life before that weekend (yeh, okay, so I have no life - I already knew that).
They finally let in the ever-growing crowd about 5 to ten, and the first thing everybody did was cruise the dealers' tables (always an integral part of ANY convention). There were certainly a LOT more than had ever been in Brisbane, and I remember wishing "If only that phone bill hadn't arrived last week, then maybe I'd have some money". Everything from Franklin Mint and Starland, to King's Comics and Galaxy Books were there (the latter two I haunted religiously while I was down), and I was in merchandising heaven. Look, wish, drool, count money, look, drool, count money again (more didn't magically appear, though)..
That's about how it went for about three or so hours. There were a couple of people there done up in fantastic costumes. From memory, there were two Borg (VERY impressive) and at least two Klingons (very stunning). We eventually all piled into the main room with the big stage, where a couple of auctions were going on.
Jennifer Lien was our first guest. I really can't say much about her visit, except that despite her somewhat unresponsiveness to most of the questions and comments, she was more stunning in real life than on screen.
After Ms Lien said her goodbyes, we waited with baited breath as our next speaker, Jackie Edwards came out to scope the audience before her. Jackie Edwards is Patrick Stewart's assistant, and she answered as many personal questions about Mr Stewart as she could before introducing her friend, and our guest of honour.. Patrick Stewart himself.
The standing ovation lasted for about three minutes. This medium-tall bald Adonis in a lovely dark blue chambrey shirt and casual slacks just stood there, grinning, and lapped it all up. We cheered, and whooped, and when it finally died down, he said hello. This was followedd by another two minutes of cheering and clapping. Oh, does this man love attention!! It was great. Okay, the details of his talk have slipped a bit from my memory (anyone reading this who went would probably remember better than I). There were so many questions. I can remember a couple ( I think ). Someone jumped up and asked him if he could do his (rumoured) impression of Michael Dorn as Worf in First Contact. THAT was great. "If you were any other man I would kill you where you stand!" (see photo 5). Although we were told continuously that flash photography was most definitely NOT permitted in the Opera House, there was not a still camera in the place. I myself personally filled up a 36 exposure film, just with Mr Stewart (I do apologise to the Opera House for my blatant breach of your rules - and I realise that as a result, that will most likely be the first and last convention ever held there). For the entire time he was on stage, flashes were going off everywhere.
Two Borg stood up in the audience and as one came down to the microphone to ask a question, Patrick saw them and quietly inched away.. He spared a nervous glance in the direction of the two Borg and (keeping in mind what happens in First Contact), exclaimed loudly, "How dare you come in here dressed like that!" (see photo 6) The crowd roared and cheered, and Patrick just continued to stand there, suspiciouosly glaring at the costumed individuals. They asked their question (forgive me, I forget what it was), and he answered it quickly before moving onto the next one.
After 45 minutes, he was getting signals from side-stage that time was up (or growing extremely close). Ha! No chance was he going off stage. He told us a lot about what he was doing in Australia (filming Mobi Dick down South). After about an hour and a half, and numerous hints from backstage (gradually getting less and less subtle), he left us, but only after performing an excerpt from Shakespere's Henry VIII (I think).
It was unreal. He left the stage, and that was it. The end of the one and only appearance by Patrick Stewart in Australia (to date). Infinite Visions had an auction to finish up, and then it was time for one last scour of the dealers' tables before it was time to go. A great day, all in all.
PHOTO 1 - "You really think so?" PHOTO 2 - "Next, please!!"
PHOTO 3 - "I don't know.. why are you asking me?" PHOTO 4 - "Why thank you, I think so too"
PHOTO 5 - "If you were any other man, I'd kill you where you stand!" PHOTO 6 - "How dare you come in here dressed like that!"
I apologise that they are so dark, I haven't quite worked out my scanner's more detailed features yet ; )
Go to Holodiction '99 - Garret Wang
Go to Holodiction '98 - Brent Spiner and Jennifer Hetrick
Go to Holodiction '98 - Ethan Phillips
Go to Holodiction '97 - Rene Auberjonois
"Star Trek" and all subsidiaries are registered Trademarks of Paramount Pictures.
"Holodiction" is a production of Photon Productions
Personal photographs are the property of the author.
