Rewatch #3 Big theme ideas and questions

[Springer]

Originally Posted by Looney

WOW!!!!!

Now that is a convention experience I would never want to have. OMG! I can't imagine how that felt. I sooooooooooooooooooooooo hope we learn that they were actually stolen. That means there is a chance for recovery. But you do have a personal memory you share with JMS, even if it is a painful memory.

It was the Wolf 359 convention in Blackpool in the summer of 97. I wasn't one of the fans helping look through the rubbish for the notes – I had no idea that it had even happened, nor about any of the other drama that took place behind the scenes, until after the fact. Pretty much the entire cast, JMS and John Copeland were at the con, so credit to them that they put on such a professional front given everything that was happening. And like your Space City Comic Con, Wolf 359 was little bit disorganised. It was in a huge hotel on Blackpool seafront, the Norbreck Castle hotel (it did kind of look like a concrete castle), and there were literally thousands of fans in attendance. The organisers struggled to cope – you'd spent hours in a queue for autographs, the queues stretching out of the building and into the car park (fortunately the weather was good) and by the time you reached the autograph hall, the people you'd been queuing for had gone, and there were different guests there, so if you were unlucky you'd keep seeing the same handful of guests for autographs, while the guests got no breaks between signing autographs, doing talks, back to the autograph room and so on. JMS was really annoyed by the organisation and refused to attend any more Wolf 359 conventions because of the complete disorganisation. Add to that trying to frantically get all the cast signed onto the TNT contracts before the Monday (and fax everything across the Atlantic) and JMS losing his season 5 notes, it was pretty madcap.

But I was lucky – I got loads of autographs (I think the only two people who I missed were Andreas and Jeff Conaway), really good experiences meeting some of the guests (Ed Wasser is really cool, Michael O'Hare was such a nice gentleman, Wayne Alexander very humble) and the dealers room was exceptionally well stocked.Lots of memories. Walter Koenig did a special reading or soliloquy (can't remember what exactly, but just listening to him was brilliant), Andreas and Peter acted out the infamous spoof script for Exercise of Vital Powers (the one where G'Kar transitions into a female and Londo starts to fall for him), Richard Biggs and Jason Carter were just as good a double act in person as on screen, and seeing Bruce Boxleitner and Michael O'Hare on stage together was special.

That was 25 years ago, I was still a teenager! Crazy how time flies, I'm going to have to look through my photos from the con now :-)

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Looney

I sooooooooooooooooooooooo hope we learn that they were actually stolen. That means there is a chance for recovery. But you do have a personal memory you share with JMS, even if it is a painful memory.

Nope, they were thrown out when the con decided to change JMS' room without his knowledge (so he could pack his own stuff)

Weirdest Con experience Space City Comic Con 2016 - apparently the the promoter had computer issues when it came to tickets and payment issues when it came to paying the Guests. (I've told this story many times in the past so you may have heard it before.)

They didn't have computer issues, they flat-out over-extended themselves. The payments for hotel rooms bounced, the payments for photo ops were literally being run from registration windows to the talent. There'd been issues with the Guests being paid in Galveston but as I recall this one was the last straw and the con is no more.

[hypatia]

That’s unbelievable. I mean, hotels host events of things all of the time, don’t they? How could they possibly be this bad at it?

[Jan]

Originally Posted by hypatia

That’s unbelievable. I mean, hotels host events of things all of the time, don’t they? How could they possibly be this bad at it?

As somebody who's in the hotel business (albeit in the US), I can tell you that we do as we're told by the people who are paying for the room. If they say 'swap this person for that person', that's exactly what happens. Given that we don't know exactly where or how the note cards were situated in the room, it's entirely believable that they could be accidentally thrown out.

[hypatia]

I can certainly see changing people's rooms when the event organizer asks. It's just too bad no one recognized these notes were not just junk.

[Looney]

Originally Posted by Jan

They didn't have computer issues, they flat-out over-extended themselves. The payments for hotel rooms bounced, the payments for photo ops were literally being run from registration windows to the talent. There'd been issues with the Guests being paid in Galveston but as I recall this one was the last straw and the con is no more.

That is weird! I could have sworn you were there with me at the 2015 Con not 2016, but yeah you are right. But you are also wrong! I mean I know they had computer issues because there were problems with the WiFi, at least when I got there. I remember people were complaining because they couldn't use the WiFi to search anything and it seems like the employees couldn't scan peoples tickets for entry. Of course I can only say that was true for around the time I arrived. You are 100% CORRECT about them over extending themselves. I just poorly worded what I said when it came to payment issues with the guests. I meant they had issues with paying the guests. I didn't mean they had payment issues paying the guests because of computer problems.

Remember Julie Caitlyn Brown running around Galveston yelling at employees?! That was over the problems you mentioned. She is so scary!

😲OMG we haven't seen each other since 2016!!!!!! 😲 Seems like only yesterday that we had dinner and went back to your room....... 😘


OH YEAH!!!!! JUST NOTICED THIS WAS MY 1,000 POST.

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Looney

That is weird! I could have sworn you were there with me at the 2015 Con not 2016, but yeah you are right. But you are also wrong! I mean I know they had computer issues because there were problems with the WiFi, at least when I got there. I remember people were complaining because they couldn't use the WiFi to search anything and it seems like the employees couldn't scan peoples tickets for entry. Of course I can only say that was true for around the time I arrived. You are 100% CORRECT about them over extending themselves. I just poorly worded what I said when it came to payment issues with the guests. I meant they had issues with paying the guests. I didn't mean they had payment issues paying the guests because of computer problems.

Remember Julie Caitlyn Brown running around Galveston yelling at employees?! That was over the problems you mentioned. She is so scary!

😲OMG we haven't seen each other since 2016!!!!!! 😲 Seems like only yesterday that we had dinner and went back to your room....... 😘

Ah, now I understand what you mean. Julie Caitlyn Brown does like to be what she calls 'assertive' and the rest of us generally call rude, I'm afraid. Not saying she's wrong, just rather graceless about it.

Ah, yes...that wonderful evening...where I stole the dinner check out from under your nose!

[Looney]

Originally Posted by Jan

Ah, now I understand what you mean. Julie Caitlyn Brown does like to be what she calls 'assertive' and the rest of us generally call rude, I'm afraid. Not saying she's wrong, just rather graceless about it.

She definitely had justification. I just don't understand why it appeared she was arguing with every employee of the hotel, volunteer at the con, and generally anyone she stopped in the hall.

Originally Posted by Jan

Ah, yes...that wonderful evening...where I stole the dinner check out from under your nose!

And she is being quite literal everyone. We had a lovely meal at a Mexican Restaurant and I believe the check was in my hand when Jan snatched it. If my memory serves me there were audible gasps from the other patrons. ...........................

[Jan]

Originally Posted by Looney

She definitely had justification. I just don't understand why it appeared she was arguing with every employee of the hotel, volunteer at the con, and generally anyone she stopped in the hall.

Alas, at one point she was dis-invited (or so I heard from a staffer) from DragonCon after incidents where she'd literally put hands on attendees to put them where she wanted them to line up/stand. Sigh... I don't know if she still manages appearances for other talent or not anymore.

And she is being quite literal everyone. We had a lovely meal at a Mexican Restaurant and I believe the check was in my hand when Jan snatched it. If my memory serves me there were audible gasps from the other patrons. ...........................

Patrons, the chef...the whole restaurant was mesmerized by my audacity! It was a Very Good Trip, I thought, largely due to the company I was keeping!

[Looney]

Originally Posted by Jan

Patrons, the chef...the whole restaurant was mesmerized by my audacity! It was a Very Good Trip, I thought, largely due to the company I was keeping!

Jan is absolutely correct. I am awesome.

But for real we had a really nice time together and it pains me that we have not repeated it. It is a shame we can't all plan to meet somewhere for a big get together. Honestly I feel like there is where Galveston gives me huge regrets. I let the fact that I was totally broke at the time keep me from doing more..... like go to Phoenix that year. LOL