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janamelie.livejournal.com2015-05-07 03:47 pm
DJ 2015 Report (Part 2)
(Again, apologies for the lack of a cut, but library PCs are useless and my laptop isn't much better.)
Featuring an inebriated Chris Barrie...
Saturday Night
We started with the Costume Competition, which was great. You’ve all seen Kat’s Katerina outfit, but there were also two excellent Nirvanahs, a Platini complete with yellow and green props, several Gingham Rimmers, a Lister, a Kochanski 1.0, the Dibbley Family (the gay couple I mentioned in Part 1), a Rimmer from his dream in “TFTM” with bare thighs and sock suspenders and two warring members of the Cat race with different coloured hats. They were hitting each other with “stale doughnuts” and “sausages” and had to explain the context to the bemused compere who quipped: “Oh, I thought it was some kind of sexual ritual!” Clearly not that much of a RD fan. :p
As I’ve already mentioned, the winner was a little girl costumed as the Joy Squid, but I can only remember one of the runners-up – a woman dressed as Diesel Decks Rimmer, with lederhosen and her own custom-made Bob the Skutter.
After we’d been to a restaurant for dinner, we went down for the Saturday Night Disco and I was startled to notice Chris. His duties were over but he’d decided to stay the night.
He was chatting happily to people and nursing a red wine. So far, so fairly in keeping with my image of him.
But then he headed for the dancefloor along with Hattie and danced to several songs, including “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” and the aforementioned “Uptown Funk”. Kat and I naturally decided to join them. It was surreal. Yes, he does dance like your dad, but it was strangely endearing.
He then went back out to the bar and was surrounded by fans buying him pints and getting photos. Kat got one with him which I’m sure you’ve all seen by now.
If memory serves me, that’s when she realised that he was drunk.
I want to be clear about this – it was nothing like Rimmer in “TFTM”. He wasn’t slurring or struggling to stand up – he was just quietly merry.
There were obviously several members of the Fan Club team keeping an eye on him, Hattie and later Danny and Gordon Kennedy. They asked him at regular intervals if he’d prefer to go somewhere quieter but he kept saying he was having a great time.
I could be wrong about this as I couldn’t hear the conversation, but at one stage he was leaning against a wall and it looked as though one of the organisers asked him whether he could stand up! He stepped away from the wall and proved he certainly could. Even at the end of the night he was still steady on his feet.
Kat and I had befriended E, a lawyer from Missouri who’d recently discovered the show and fallen in love with it. Nobody she knows has heard of it, so she was utterly delighted by DJ.
She really wanted a picture with Chris but was too shy to approach him. Eventually I had a word with MissFlibble who asked on her behalf. When Chris eventually went to bed at around 2.30 am, she waited until he was out of earshot and then sank to the floor crying tears of joy about how this was the happiest day of her life. Cue hugs from strangers and the wedding invitation from the facially pierced, scary-looking but actually really nice Geordie bloke whom I mentioned earlier.
Before Chris retired for the night, he returned to the dancefloor for the last song at the suggestion of the organisers and enthusiastically led the revellers in a rendition of Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again”, which was a very popular song in the UK during World War II. Apparently Chris was a little bemused that most people only knew the chorus! I did wonder if he’d requested it, but apparently not.
Danny was drinking in every moment of this and made a quip about “Vera Lynn and tonic!” I have a feeling Chris won’t be allowed to forget this one. I have to say I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when Craig heard about it.
If I can say this without sounding creepy, Chris is fascinating to observe at close quarters. Watching the expressions which I associate with Rimmer when he isn’t acting is rather surreal (there's really no other word for it).
No, I did not spend the whole night staring at Chris. I also chatted to Hattie, who’s decided that her favourite episode in which she appears is “Dimension Jump”. I told her she did a wonderful faint.
Kat and I also had an interesting talk with Ruth Wheeler, a published sci-fi author who was selling her books at the event as they’re similar to RD conceptually. I said I wrote RD fanfiction and to my surprise she said that she would find that difficult as it’s an already existing universe. It was nice to be listened to and not condescended to as a mere fanfic writer. She was friendly and also looked good in Series VII KK red pleather trousers.
It was an amazing night and Kat, E and myself stood around chatting until our legs started to buckle beneath us and the bar staff were cleaning up around us.
Day 3 (Sunday)
Obviously this was a much quieter day, which was just as well as a lot of people were hungover. In the morning Hattie did a Q&A with Gordon Kennedy and they were both entertaining with stories of disastrous auditions etc. Poor Hattie once broke her foot on a completely white set because she couldn’t see the edge of it. Gordon claims he got the role of Hudzen because he really can break bricks in half with his willy, but refused to prove it.
Hattie was asked whether, given the news about XI and XII, she’d talked to Doug yesterday about a reappearance. She said: “No, I deliberately didn’t, actually.” Gordon broke the slight tension in the air by joking that he had as he has the advantage of being a lot bigger than Doug.
I really do feel for Hattie, being asked at every con she goes to about a return to a show she hasn’t been in for 20-plus years. It would be very easy to become bitter which makes her niceness all the more admirable.
Unfortunately I missed most of Danny and Robert’s Q&A but had a chance to talk to them later at the autograph sessions. Danny’s favourite Series X episode is “the one with the moose gag” i.e. “Trojan”. Robert went for “Lemons”.
I asked Gordon about his appearance in “Sherlock” and what Martin Freeman was like to work with. He was obviously pleased to be asked and said he couldn’t stop laughing and that Martin has a presence which made him understand why he’s been so successful.
I have to apologise to those whose questions I said I would try to ask. Basically, when you’ve stood in a stuffy corridor and queued for hours, you want your brief conversation with an actor not to be of the kind that will get you a funny look, which questions like “Do you believe in ghosts?” probably would. TL;DR: I chickened out. :o
Although I also did want to ask the questions I eventually did.
The lengthy queues for Robert especially meant I missed the final event, “Goitless”. I did catch the Closing Ceremony which featured a clever video. It was RD’s famous closing credits but edited to feature all the convention guests, Fan Club team, BTS people etc. A perfect way to finish.
Addendum
Bits and bobs which I forgot to include in Part 1 – during Chris and Doug’s Q&A someone asked him if his favourite role was Brittas or Rimmer. Doug teased him: “Remember where you are, Chris! If this was a Brittas convention…”
Chris replied: “Oh yes, a Brittas convention. I can’t remember which telephone box we held the last one in!” Laughter, then he added: “Actually, that’s not fair on Brittas.” But Rimmer is his favourite role.
Later in the autograph queue I heard him tell someone that his agent had told him that overseas broadcasters really want regular series, hence the push to film two RD series back-to-back. Hopefully this will set the pattern for the future.
Featuring an inebriated Chris Barrie...
Saturday Night
We started with the Costume Competition, which was great. You’ve all seen Kat’s Katerina outfit, but there were also two excellent Nirvanahs, a Platini complete with yellow and green props, several Gingham Rimmers, a Lister, a Kochanski 1.0, the Dibbley Family (the gay couple I mentioned in Part 1), a Rimmer from his dream in “TFTM” with bare thighs and sock suspenders and two warring members of the Cat race with different coloured hats. They were hitting each other with “stale doughnuts” and “sausages” and had to explain the context to the bemused compere who quipped: “Oh, I thought it was some kind of sexual ritual!” Clearly not that much of a RD fan. :p
As I’ve already mentioned, the winner was a little girl costumed as the Joy Squid, but I can only remember one of the runners-up – a woman dressed as Diesel Decks Rimmer, with lederhosen and her own custom-made Bob the Skutter.
After we’d been to a restaurant for dinner, we went down for the Saturday Night Disco and I was startled to notice Chris. His duties were over but he’d decided to stay the night.
He was chatting happily to people and nursing a red wine. So far, so fairly in keeping with my image of him.
But then he headed for the dancefloor along with Hattie and danced to several songs, including “Last Night A DJ Saved My Life” and the aforementioned “Uptown Funk”. Kat and I naturally decided to join them. It was surreal. Yes, he does dance like your dad, but it was strangely endearing.
He then went back out to the bar and was surrounded by fans buying him pints and getting photos. Kat got one with him which I’m sure you’ve all seen by now.
If memory serves me, that’s when she realised that he was drunk.
I want to be clear about this – it was nothing like Rimmer in “TFTM”. He wasn’t slurring or struggling to stand up – he was just quietly merry.
There were obviously several members of the Fan Club team keeping an eye on him, Hattie and later Danny and Gordon Kennedy. They asked him at regular intervals if he’d prefer to go somewhere quieter but he kept saying he was having a great time.
I could be wrong about this as I couldn’t hear the conversation, but at one stage he was leaning against a wall and it looked as though one of the organisers asked him whether he could stand up! He stepped away from the wall and proved he certainly could. Even at the end of the night he was still steady on his feet.
Kat and I had befriended E, a lawyer from Missouri who’d recently discovered the show and fallen in love with it. Nobody she knows has heard of it, so she was utterly delighted by DJ.
She really wanted a picture with Chris but was too shy to approach him. Eventually I had a word with MissFlibble who asked on her behalf. When Chris eventually went to bed at around 2.30 am, she waited until he was out of earshot and then sank to the floor crying tears of joy about how this was the happiest day of her life. Cue hugs from strangers and the wedding invitation from the facially pierced, scary-looking but actually really nice Geordie bloke whom I mentioned earlier.
Before Chris retired for the night, he returned to the dancefloor for the last song at the suggestion of the organisers and enthusiastically led the revellers in a rendition of Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again”, which was a very popular song in the UK during World War II. Apparently Chris was a little bemused that most people only knew the chorus! I did wonder if he’d requested it, but apparently not.
Danny was drinking in every moment of this and made a quip about “Vera Lynn and tonic!” I have a feeling Chris won’t be allowed to forget this one. I have to say I’d love to have been a fly on the wall when Craig heard about it.
If I can say this without sounding creepy, Chris is fascinating to observe at close quarters. Watching the expressions which I associate with Rimmer when he isn’t acting is rather surreal (there's really no other word for it).
No, I did not spend the whole night staring at Chris. I also chatted to Hattie, who’s decided that her favourite episode in which she appears is “Dimension Jump”. I told her she did a wonderful faint.
Kat and I also had an interesting talk with Ruth Wheeler, a published sci-fi author who was selling her books at the event as they’re similar to RD conceptually. I said I wrote RD fanfiction and to my surprise she said that she would find that difficult as it’s an already existing universe. It was nice to be listened to and not condescended to as a mere fanfic writer. She was friendly and also looked good in Series VII KK red pleather trousers.
It was an amazing night and Kat, E and myself stood around chatting until our legs started to buckle beneath us and the bar staff were cleaning up around us.
Day 3 (Sunday)
Obviously this was a much quieter day, which was just as well as a lot of people were hungover. In the morning Hattie did a Q&A with Gordon Kennedy and they were both entertaining with stories of disastrous auditions etc. Poor Hattie once broke her foot on a completely white set because she couldn’t see the edge of it. Gordon claims he got the role of Hudzen because he really can break bricks in half with his willy, but refused to prove it.
Hattie was asked whether, given the news about XI and XII, she’d talked to Doug yesterday about a reappearance. She said: “No, I deliberately didn’t, actually.” Gordon broke the slight tension in the air by joking that he had as he has the advantage of being a lot bigger than Doug.
I really do feel for Hattie, being asked at every con she goes to about a return to a show she hasn’t been in for 20-plus years. It would be very easy to become bitter which makes her niceness all the more admirable.
Unfortunately I missed most of Danny and Robert’s Q&A but had a chance to talk to them later at the autograph sessions. Danny’s favourite Series X episode is “the one with the moose gag” i.e. “Trojan”. Robert went for “Lemons”.
I asked Gordon about his appearance in “Sherlock” and what Martin Freeman was like to work with. He was obviously pleased to be asked and said he couldn’t stop laughing and that Martin has a presence which made him understand why he’s been so successful.
I have to apologise to those whose questions I said I would try to ask. Basically, when you’ve stood in a stuffy corridor and queued for hours, you want your brief conversation with an actor not to be of the kind that will get you a funny look, which questions like “Do you believe in ghosts?” probably would. TL;DR: I chickened out. :o
Although I also did want to ask the questions I eventually did.
The lengthy queues for Robert especially meant I missed the final event, “Goitless”. I did catch the Closing Ceremony which featured a clever video. It was RD’s famous closing credits but edited to feature all the convention guests, Fan Club team, BTS people etc. A perfect way to finish.
Addendum
Bits and bobs which I forgot to include in Part 1 – during Chris and Doug’s Q&A someone asked him if his favourite role was Brittas or Rimmer. Doug teased him: “Remember where you are, Chris! If this was a Brittas convention…”
Chris replied: “Oh yes, a Brittas convention. I can’t remember which telephone box we held the last one in!” Laughter, then he added: “Actually, that’s not fair on Brittas.” But Rimmer is his favourite role.
Later in the autograph queue I heard him tell someone that his agent had told him that overseas broadcasters really want regular series, hence the push to film two RD series back-to-back. Hopefully this will set the pattern for the future.
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