Saturday 25th October, 2003

Breakfast is a good start to the day, and indeed, was a good start for the Con to. The only downside was that the croissants were cold. How was that possible? Ah well.

Today, things were not that late, only about half an hour or so, but that is okay. Everyone was in good spirits for the start.
I did not manage to get to all the events for the day as I spent some considerable time in the Dealer and Autograph room hunting down people. I thought that was weird at first - I was not going to get anyone's autograph as due to my membership, we were going to get posters, but then walking past people's desks, how could I not? And suddenly I was sucked in to the big world of autographs, and to be honest, I was completely glad that I did. During the day I would run into Laurette Spang (she's lovely, she's friendly, and it was much fun) and also Virginia Hey from Farscape. Once I prised myself away from those two tables, I would eventually speak to other people during the day, do not get me wrong! I must confess though, the Dealer aspect was the disappoint for me. There was almost nothing there. You could get additional Galacticon T-Shirts, Colonial Warrior Uniforms, and some memorabilia, but not a lot, and not all of it related to Galactica. But I think there were three actual tables to buy stuff from.

The first panel was "The Incredible 25 Year Journey" with Richard Hatch. That was quite interesting, and got a lot better when he showed his "Second Coming" Trailer. Now I know what all the fuss is about. In fact, due to the lightning of the projector, it got played again, and if memory serves, it also got played again at the end of the session. In addition, we got the full 14-minute "Great War of Magellan" trailer, which was also quite fun. Spot the cast from Babylon 5 there!

Following this was "The Trail of the Kamikaze Cowboy", but I missed a lot of this as I slipped out just before it started and completely missed my timing. I caught some of the end when I was trying to get Richard Hatch's autograph, and he certainly knew a couple of amusing stories about his experiences on Galactica!

What I did not miss, though was "How to defeat the Cylons, Save the Universe and still look and act fabulous" with Sarah Rush, Laurette Spang, Anne Lockhart and Britt Eckland. That was a good laugh, although I did feel a bit sorry for Britt Eckland, as she was not actually asked much, appearing as she did in only the one double episode. I was trying to ask some questions, but I did not get picked.

Noah Hathaway was next, but he was not feeling too well, so his talk was cut short, but I did not get to hear that one. In fact, I stepped out until the biggie - "Everything you've ever wanted to know about Galactica and her stars and have been too afraid to ask". That was good. Every one of the stars that attended (save Noah Hathaway) was there. Initially Patrick Macnee tried to host the session by getting everyone to state their ages and say whom they were. Well, if you missed that, then at the time of writing (November, 2003), the following were:

The others would not comment...

You did not really learn a lot here, but it was funny that Richard would attempt to dominate the microphone and the others would then make faces and tell him to get off. One of the problems - in my opinion - was that everyone was dying to tell the cast just how much they appreciated them attending the Con that no many questions were actually being asked. Which was a bit of shame, but completely understandable.

Following this was "Expanding Universe, Galactica Style" where Tom DeSanto was giving a presentation about his attempt to do Galactica. While I had heard that he had been approached, I did not know just how far ahead he had actually got with the project until the network cancelled it. The show would have been a continuation of the series, set some 25-30 yahrens in the future. The Galactica and her fleet had settled down in an asteroid belt and effectively lost their way. Thinking that the Cylons had long forgotten them, they would have some surprises in store. Apollo was currently missing, and Starbuck was a Colonel. It would introduce new characters as well as the old, and would have been an excellent continuation in my opinion. Sets and costumes had started to be built, we were shown some experimental computer graphics, and it looked good. Unfortunately, with the events of 911, everything was put back a month, which meant that Bryan Singer (who was to have directed) had the X-Men 2 commitment, and Sci-Fi then cancelled the project. Apparently the sets, Vipers and Cylons have since been destroyed. How my heart cried!

There was a short reception, followed by the "Galactica Live! Banquet and Cabaret". This was a mixed thing... The food was excellent (as was all the food supplied, to be honest), and after that, the events started. Unfortunately, technical difficulties meant that we had seen what should have been the opening video several times during the actual dinner! Jack Stauffer hosted the event, and it included a short documentary about the making of Galactica, some humorous songs by Stu Phillips, some tributes to the lost actors, and then an appalling comedian. Whilst he was only on for ten minutes, I felt that I had to take an extended toilet break at this point. He was terrible. This was followed by the band, which I thought was very good. Unfortunately, they seemed to have the same impact as the musician the night before, and when it got to this stage, most of the crowd went and did other things. I am not entirely sure if the costume content actually went ahead that night - I was speaking to Richard Hatch about midnight when someone came up to ask him when it was being judged and he seemed to think it had been cancelled due to lack of attendees, but I was comfortable in the bar then and did not check up.

	The gorgeous Laurrette Spang and I
	How to defeat the Cylons, Save the Universe, and still look and act fabulous! (L-R) Anne Lockhart, Britt Eckland, Sarah Rush and Laurette Spang
	The lovely Virginia Hey and myself
	Sarah Rush, her newly adopted baby and myself
	Anne Lockhart and Me
	Everything you ever wanted to know about Galactica and her stars but were too afraid to ask (L-R) Patrick MacNee, Dirk Benedict, Herbert Jefferson, Anne Lockhart, Laurette Spang, Terry Carter, Jack Staufer, John Dullaghan, Sarah Rush, Dick Durrock, Ron Kelly, (Richard Hatch)
	Stu Phillips