Sally's Detroit Expo Report (long)
Sarah E. Aalderink
Saturday, May 30, was a beautiful, sunny day in Detroit, Michigan. A
prefect day to spend inside Cobo Center's Michigan Hall. That tells
you how much I enjoy the sun. I arrived at Cobo at about 10:00am,
having driven from the other side of the state, and got into line
outside the Michigan Hall. Zane Jones and I had made plans to call
each other when we got in line and since the 20 or 30 people in line
ahead of me were not Zane, I placed the call. And got his answering
machine. Somehow, that figured.
From my spot in line, I had a good view of the escalator from the
upper floor and watched for Zane ...and watched those around me. I
tend towards shyness, so I didn't talk to anyone. One girl up at the
front of the line looked like a slightly chubby version of Scully, all
decked out in a black pant-suit with the long, belted jacket from the
movie. About 10:30, I saw Zane come down the escalator, take a quick
look around, and head for the end of the line. So much for my spot up
near the front. I grabbed up my pack and headed after him. When I
caught up, I rested my chin on his shoulder from behind and said
something to the affect of, "How am I supposed to call you when I get
your answering machine." Apparently, I scared the hell out of him by
doing that. Sorry, Zane!
After some quick introductions to Mike, Karen, Fred, and Mona (Zane,
correct me if I've misspelled this), we settled into the long wait for
the doors to open. Karen is a fellow phile, and while it seems that
Mike enjoys the show, I think he was just there to hang out with his
friends. Fred and Mona (Zane's parents) hadn't been expected at all
but seemed truly interested in being there. Fred went and found maps
and we studied them, plotting our adventures. Autograph ticket line,
merchandise, speakers, fan club, etc. Karen insisted that the
autograph line be first and since I didn't have any arguments to the
contrary, I agreed.
When the line started to move, it went fast. I'd estimate the total
attendence at around 1000 to 2000 people and not all of them were
there at the opening. I may mix up the order of events a little, as I
was just so happy to be there and meet Zane. After walking through the
file maze, we stepped out into the Michigan Hall, the strains of Mark
Snow's music greeting us. In front of us were all the things that had
been promised, photo ops, props, merchandise, the traveling theatre,
the trivia game, the stage, and the autograph area. Concessions were
behind me so I didn't notice them until later. I did notice that
indoor plumbing was readily available throughout the hall.
We headed for the line to get our autograph tickets. While standing
there we watched several people use the large bank of computers set up
with the official website and what appeared to be the game. Fred and
Mona caught up with us and offered to hold our place in line while we
did other things. Zane, Mike, Karen, and I went to play the trivia
game. None of us were fast enough to win. <sigh> It was still fun to
do! After that I'm not sure what we did but Karen noticed the
autograph line moving and we found that Mona had already been through
it once and was back in line for us a second time. Thanking her, we
finally took our own places in line, got our tickets and headed for
the seating area, where Fred had staked out a bench for us.
While waiting for Charles Nelson Reilly, we were treated to the
international clips tape. Mulder and Scully in a wide variety of
languages, fun and interesting! We hoped they would run a blooper tape
as well, but no such luck. Charles Nelson Reilly was introduced and we
were treated to clips from "Jose Chung's From Outer Space". He has
aged very well indeed and was just as funny as ever! Karen got into
the mic line and when it was her turn she asked which show he had
enjoyed making more, The X-Files or Millenium. His response was a
behind-the-hand, whispered "Millenium". His reason was that he'd had
more lines on Millenium. He also informed us that his character is
only dead in the mind of the character on Millenium (I'm sorry, I
don't know Millenium the way I know XF and I missed getting this ep on
tape). There is a possibility of a return appearance of Jose Chung!
If, perhaps, only in Charles Nelson Reilly's wonderfully warped mind!
After listening to CNR, we got back into line to get into the
autograph area. Just our luck, that's when William B. Davies was on.
We were ushered into the autograph area to await the end of WBD's time
on stage. I wasn't able to hear the whole talk or many of the
questions and answers but he looked great! I didn't get a chance to
ask Laura Cap's question, so I'm hoping someone there might have had a
tape recorder and has a transcript.
Then the trailer doors opened and it was autograph time! WBD was so
handsome up close. This man just plain looks great! His smile is so
sincere, the kind that is mirrored in his eyes. He signed my episode
guide under his picture. I had the chance to ask him Spooky's Toy's
question at that point. I asked, "Will we ever get to see CSM
waterskiing on XF." He replied with a grin and "Well, you know, I've
been trying to talk Chris into that. You'd think of all people, he'd
understand. But the writers seem to be balking at the idea. Might be a
little hard to write into the character but I'd still like to do it."
What a charmer! And he carefully looked at me while he answered... it
was so cool! Charles Nelson Reilly was also completely charming and
signed my episode guide in the front, since it was a pre-Jose guide.
He commented about people looking at his autograph there and thinking
he was just an extra. (He was smiling as he said this.) I assured him
that I would never mistake him for an extra, he laughed and I moved
on, taking a ticket for the next autograph session before I went.
I caught up to Zane and Karen and we exchanged our autograph stories.
Mike wasn't interested in autographs so he had wandered off. I'm not
sure what we did next, the day turns into such a blur. We wandered
through the props, bought scripts, joined the official fan club, had
our official ID photos digitally taken, had digital photos taken with
the Intrigue and MIBs, saw the movie pre-view and trailers and heard
parts of Doug Hutchison's talk. Doug was yummy in his black leather
jacket and seemed to be enjoying his time on stage. I seem to recall
him giving out his mailing address but I was too far away to catch it,
let alone write it down. I didn't catch any of his Q&As but I did talk
to him in autograph-land later.
By the time Steven Williams came out on stage, Zane, Karen, and I were
back in the autograph corral. We watched most of his talk on a
monitor. He was *funny! And very nicely dressed in tight jeans, boots,
a tight black t-shirt, and a floor-length denim duster. He took the
duster off almost right away and promised to tell us *everything. Then
he did a gunfire sound effect into the mic, and dropped on the stage,
writting out "D...A...M...N" before completely collapsing. He went on
to answer Q&As, most of which I can't remember. Zane and Karen were
sitting on the floor and part of the time I was just trying to brace
myself so I wouldn't fall over when Zane leaned his head against me.
He was kind of tired by this point.
The trailer doors opened again and we were treated to autographs from
Dean Haglund, Steven Williams, and Doug Hutchison. Dean was first. I
told him, "Gizzie says 'Hey'" but I think he missed the first part of
that and replied, "Hey! How ya doin'! Gonna stay for my show?" I
replied in the positive, retrieved my book, and moved before I lost
all dignity by drooling over him. Steven Williams was so cool! He was
wearing several silver earrings and that tight t-shirt was almost too
much. I started to tell him I liked his earrings when a photographer
stepped up next to us and told us to lean together like I was asking
him a question. Suddenly, SW was in my face with a huge grin. WOW. I
caught up with the photographer later and will be getting a copy of
the photo!!! Last, but certainly not least, was Doug Hutchison. I wear
a double earring connected with chains (a Bagorian earring, basically)
in my right ear. Doug said he liked it, I mentioned that I'd made it
long before Star Trek had come up with Bagorians, and he said I should
have copy-written it. Too cool!
After leaving the autograph area, Fred decided that he was tired and
it was time to leave. Karen was seriously disappointed, and so was I,
because I really didn't want to stay by myself. One of the crew
(Linda, I believe her name was) stopped us on the way out and said
that we *had to stay for Dean, he's so worth it. She even offered
admittance to the VIP lounge for Fred, so he'd let Zane, Karen, and
Mike stay. After a bit of talk, it was decided that Fred and Mike
would leave and that I would drive everyone else back to the hotel
after Dean Haglund's show.
Finding seats in the stage area was easy and we were soon tolerating a
reel of old promo ads. Ugh! Karen kept an eye on the autograph line,
knowing that DH would be on stage soon after that line was done. Zane
and I complained and commented on the old trailers and Zane even got
it down to a formula. "Something unusual happens, Mulder investigates
and Scully disagrees, and we're right back where we started from."
After watching a few more, I realized that he's right. That got very
old very quickly. But Dean's show was, IMHO, worth it!
Dean's show started out with a bunch of clips. He came out on stage
and answered the two questions that he always gets asked. "No, I don't
wear glasses and, yes, this is my real hair." He started by passing
out those little pieces of paper for people to write sentences on,
grabbed a guy to do the sound effects for the opening teaser, and
asked for weapon ideas. Someone up front yelled, "A vibrator!" and
Dean blushed ever so slightly. After some discussion we ended up with
a vibrating icepick as an option on the Olds Intrigue as the monster
du jour. After the innocent opening guy gets killed by the vibrating
icepick, we got treated to Dean in a lab coat, denying that "our
company has anything to do with this death". The fun part of this,
besides Deans wonderful improv, was the fact that he had a volunteer
behind him. This volunteer had her arms through the sleeves of the
labcoat, using her arms for Dean's. Next, one of the upper-ups at Olds
was brought up on stage to be confronted by Langley over the death
caused by the vibrating icepick option on the Intrigue. This is where
the little slips of paper came into play. Dean scattered them on the
front of the stage and used them for the conversation. The last
segment was Langley finding and disableing the car using jello. The
girl that I mentioned seeing at the front of the line waiting to get
into expo was the volunteer for this. Dean commented on how much she
looked like Scully. She had to make Langley move. If he was supposed
to look around, she needed to move his head. If she wanted him to
walk, she needed to tug on his jeans. Some of the positions he ended
up in had me laughing painfully. Several times he made the comment of
having too much cotton 'up there'. His jeans were *very high-water by
the time the Scully-girl had walked him across the stage twice. Well
worth the wait, I thought.
After Dean's show, we headed out, past the VIP lounge where SW, Doug
H, and WBD were mixing with the Olds people. Zane just walked in right
in, the man has guts. Mona, Karen and I watched through the bars as
Zane talked with SW and took his picture. WBD left with Linda on his
arm and bumped into me as he went past. Stupid, I know, but I was too
honored to say anything. I considered not washing my arm...
That was our day at eXpo. The rest is classified! ;-)
Lady Sally out.
CO, 5th Business, X-Ville, alt.tv.x-files.x-ville
SpookysToy
sard...@parrett.net (Sarah E. Aalderink) wrote:
<snipped for space>
> I asked, "Will we ever get to see CSM
>waterskiing on XF." He replied with a grin and "Well, you know, I've
>been trying to talk Chris into that. You'd think of all people, he'd
>understand. But the writers seem to be balking at the idea. Might be a
>little hard to write into the character but I'd still like to do it."
Thank you so much for asking this of him, and thank you for the rest of your
report! Glad you enjoyed yourself.
Spooky's Toy
>>> CoC, cog6, SWILS, BSS, <psy<cho<path <<<
// Sick!Otter MulderMaiden CusackCommandoGirl! \\
"Revise or cut. REVISE OR CUT!"
Monkey5s
Lady Sally reported:
>About 10:30, I saw Zane come down the escalator, take a quick
>look around, and head for the end of the line. So much for my spot up
>near the front. I grabbed up my pack and headed after him. When I
>caught up, I rested my chin on his shoulder from behind and said
>something to the affect of, "How am I supposed to call you when I get
>your answering machine." Apparently, I scared the hell out of him by
>doing that. Sorry, Zane!
AR AR AR!!! Hey, it was the X-Files, he should have been more alert!
<SNIP>
I did notice that
>indoor plumbing was readily available throughout the hall.
As far as I can tell, this is the only thing that really made the standard
indoor venue exhibition hall stops better than the former military installation
stops.
Fred and
>Mona caught up with us and offered to hold our place in line while we
>did other things.
Now THIS sounds like a wonderful BONUS!
<SNIP>
Charles Nelson Reilly was introduced and we
>were treated to clips from "Jose Chung's From Outer Space". He has
>aged very well indeed and was just as funny as ever! Karen got into
>the mic line and when it was her turn she asked which show he had
>enjoyed making more, The X-Files or Millenium. His response was a
>behind-the-hand, whispered "Millenium". His reason was that he'd had
>more lines on Millenium. He also informed us that his character is
>only dead in the mind of the character on Millenium (I'm sorry, I
>don't know Millenium the way I know XF and I missed getting this ep on
>tape). There is a possibility of a return appearance of Jose Chung!
>If, perhaps, only in Charles Nelson Reilly's wonderfully warped mind!
Ohh, this would ROCK incredibly. It was a wonderful ep, and I am hoping to
actually tape it when they repeat it.
<SNIP>
We wandered
>through the props, bought scripts,
So, which scripts did they have available at Detroit?
<SNIP>
. Steven Williams was so cool! He was
>wearing several silver earrings and that tight t-shirt was almost too
>much. I started to tell him I liked his earrings when a photographer
>stepped up next to us and told us to lean together like I was asking
>him a question. Suddenly, SW was in my face with a huge grin. WOW. I
>caught up with the photographer later and will be getting a copy of
>the photo!!!
WOW!!!!
<SNIP>
One of the crew
>(Linda, I believe her name was) stopped us on the way out and said
>that we *had to stay for Dean, he's so worth it. She even offered
>admittance to the VIP lounge for Fred, so he'd let Zane, Karen, and
>Mike stay.
<SNIP>
He started by passing
>out those little pieces of paper for people to write sentences on,
>grabbed a guy to do the sound effects for the opening teaser, and
>asked for weapon ideas. Someone up front yelled, "A vibrator!" and
>Dean blushed ever so slightly. After some discussion we ended up with
>a vibrating icepick as an option on the Olds Intrigue as the monster
>du jour.
AR AR AR!! Wow, so the Intrigue was finally good for *something* at the expo!
<SNIP>
This is where
>the little slips of paper came into play. Dean scattered them on the
>front of the stage and used them for the conversation.
That sounds so cool! This is different than the one he did in LA. Does anyone
know if this was just a new twist he came up with, or was this simply the
alternative to using the randomized script pages?
<SNIP>
>That was our day at eXpo. The rest is classified! ;-)
THANK YOU for posting this! It sounds like the expo, Saturday's version, at
least, was wonderful!
Monkey5s
dull,thimble
Coleen Sullivan-Baier
In <199806050044...@ladder01.news.aol.com> monk...@aol.com
(Monkey5s) writes:
>
>>the little slips of paper came into play. Dean scattered them on the
>>front of the stage and used them for the conversation.
>
>That sounds so cool! This is different than the one he did in LA. Does
>anyone >know if this was just a new twist he came up with, or was this
>simply the alternative to using the randomized script pages?
He did thew slips of paper last fall in Pittsburgh. *I* ws
surprised by the script pages in Chicago, but thrilled because Tom
Braidwood cam e out to read them. He used the slips of paper again in
DC.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXgizzieXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sarah E. Aalderink
On 05 Jun 1998 00:44:47 GMT, monk...@aol.com (Monkey5s) wrote:
>Lady Sally reported:
> Fred and
>>Mona caught up with us and offered to hold our place in line while we
>>did other things.
>
>Now THIS sounds like a wonderful BONUS!
It was!!! Seemed like any time we needed to stand in a line Fred or
Mona offered to hold our place. Couple of *really neat people! Now I
know where Zane gets it from. ;-D
>
<snipped CNR Q&A>
>Ohh, this would ROCK incredibly. It was a wonderful ep, and I am hoping to
>actually tape it when they repeat it.
I've got JCFOS, several times I believe but I need to catch that
Millenium ep, too! CNR seemed to think it was all quite reasonable (to
assume that JC would be back).
>
>So, which scripts did they have available at Detroit?
I picked up Humbug, Zane got Post-Modern Prometheus. There were two
others but I was so interested in a Darin Morgan as the first in my
collection that I didn't pay much attention. None of them were Vince
Gilligan's Small Potatoes, which is the only script that, to me, would
have beat out a Darin Morgan. Zane's studying for finals this week but
unless anyone else remembers, I'll ask him and see if he remembers
what the other two were.
>
><SNIP>
>. Steven Williams was so cool! He was
>>wearing several silver earrings and that tight t-shirt was almost too
>>much. I started to tell him I liked his earrings when a photographer
>>stepped up next to us and told us to lean together like I was asking
>>him a question. Suddenly, SW was in my face with a huge grin. WOW. I
>>caught up with the photographer later and will be getting a copy of
>>the photo!!!
>
>WOW!!!!
I'll post it on my website when I get it!!!
>
><SNIP>
>>a vibrating icepick as an option on the Olds Intrigue as the monster
>>du jour.
>
>AR AR AR!! Wow, so the Intrigue was finally good for *something* at the expo!
Yup! And I'm now also of the opinion that models should stay on the
other side of the camera. My picture with the MIBs was so dark it's
hard to tell it's me! We wanted to get a picture of Mike in the trunk
of one of the cars but no one had the key. <sigh> It might have been a
valid excuse but it just seemed so lame.
>
>
> Does anyone
>know if this was just a new twist he came up with, or was this simply the
>alternative to using the randomized script pages?
From what I've read, he seems to go back and forth between the two
alternatives. I think he uses the randomized script pages when there
is a writer at the expo. I'll trust the other eXpo-goers in our midst
to correct me if I'm wrong!
>
><SNIP>
>>That was our day at eXpo. The rest is classified! ;-)
>
>THANK YOU for posting this! It sounds like the expo, Saturday's version, at
>least, was wonderful!
Since my husband was home from Dallas for the weekend, Zane only got
me for one night! ;-> I'd do it all again in a heartbeat and highly
recommend the experience to the truly focused. Sadly, Detroit was the
last. Though I'm thinking of driving to Toronto if they decide to take
the expo to Canada... and if I haven't moved to Dallas myself by then!
>
>Monkey5s
>dull,thimble