Alpha: 2012 Opening Ceremonies and Guest Panel

Introduction

Warnings

• Quoted items may sometimes be mild paraphrases or compressions.
• Unquoted statements are more heavily paraphrased or compressed, but some phrases may still be as originally spoken.

Details

• At about 11:45 or shortly thereafter, the Ballroom opened and the attendees could enter.
• What drew everyone's attention first was "The Wall" -- a series of about 150 publicity and behind-the-scenes stills (and perhaps some vidcaps?) printed at 15x22.5" size. This became the centerpiece of many discussions over the coming days, and it was immediately announced that all of these, some autographed, would go up for bid on Sunday.
• It appeared perhaps about 125 people were present, give or take more than a dozen.
• After everyone sat down, there was an audio presentation of quotes from the series, followed by the guests of honor present that day appearing: Christopher Penfold, Nick Tate, Judy Geeson, Anton Phillips, and Prentis Hancock.
• Opening ceremonies flowed immediately into the general Q&A.
• There was a sentiment expressed about who would have thought, that after 37 years, we would all be here, at this convention? Chris expressed that he thought that (the late) Johnny Byrne and George Bellak would have liked to be here too.
• Nick was asked whether he remembered carrying Judy. He said he did and said something to the effect of her being as light as a feather.
• There was a question from the audience wondering if the guests realized how the series was an inspiration for many people to get involved in technology, including in NASA.
• Judy talked about "To Sir With Love." No one had a clue that it would be so big, especially with such little support. They did their own makeup and clothes. Sidney Poitier took a nominal fee and a percentage, and it was the latter that "set him up for life." She later mentioned that viewers often have a story about when they saw the movie.

• Dr. Mathias was one of Anton's earliest parts. He thought it was "magical" going to act at Pinewood, and agreed with others' sentiments that this studio was not shabby. He also stated Sylvia Anderson was nice to him.
• Nick indicated they were on the most modern stages (L and M), and that "every episode was like shooting a mini-film." He noted they never did get to nine days per episode in the first season, but did in the second.
• Asked if they kept any items from the filming of the series. I think Nick indicated not. Prentis mentioned the commlock he had and sold at charity auction for $1999 at the con in 1999.
  Nick: "No one offered me my commlock."
  Prentis: "No one offered me my commlock."
• Nick stated that he took the S19 over a couple other roles available at the time. He stated that this was despite plans that his character was going to be killed in the first episode. He still took the role, however, because he had "a feeling about the show" thinking it was going to be bigger than Star Trek. "But as we all know, it was not." Yet he often meets people who remember the series, such as about six out of ten sound board people, he thought. He feels there are probably "millions" of people that are technical (overall) and that many of them remember the series. He felt that the series, especially Year One, was "science faction" -- a term he and some others (inc. Christopher Penfold too, if I recall correctly).
• Chris had "sense of doing science fiction for television that had not been done before." However, then the series produced to that point went to focus groups, and.... "Focus groups tend to say that they like things that they had seen before." Thus, there were already negative statements emerging regarding the first season. This started creating some pressures early in the history of the series.
• Nick stated something to the effect that while there were some good things that happened in the second season, he was "deeply distressed" about the people who were let go (between seasons).
• Anton added the atmosphere was different. Like friends in the first season, but that it just was not as much fun in the second.
• Chris indicated the original "Black Sun" script (from David Weir?) came in at ~130 pages, which would have been ~130 minutes. Chris rewrote it with some initial discussion with Johnny Byrne.