From: lanshark@scf.nmsu.edu Date: 1995/12/01 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5Last weekend I attended Visions '95 in Chicago. Visions is a con for "unconventional television" (I think B5 qualifies) and this is the first year that they've had Babylon 5 guests. In the past, the majority of the convention goers have been Doctor Who fans (approx. 60%).
I arrived on Friday late afternoon, and this was reported to me by another convention goer, but I didn't see it in person. There was a gentleman from St. Louis that had a larger-than-scale remote- controlled K-9 that some people were riding around on throughout the con (mostly kids and builder himself). One of the riders was Michael O'Hare Friday night. I wish that I'd seen that and had a camera with me! (K-9 was a sometimes companion of the 4th Doctor (played by Tom Baker) from the Doctor Who series).
I saw Michael O'Hare and Mira Furlan in both the Sat. and Sunday panels. They were both very friendly, and seemed to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of the convention, although they weren't the laugh riot that Sylvester McCoy (7th Doctor), Brian Blessed, Gareth Thomas (Blake from Blake's 7) and Paul Darrow (Avon from B7) were. Their panels were still very entertaining.
Michael started out each panel by bribing the audience by tossing handfuls of chocolate "coins" wrapped in gold foil, embossed with the B5 logo and the Earth Alliance logo. Michael really does smile all the time :)
O'Hare said that he wasn't really working on anything right now, but he would start filming for an upcoming two-part B5 episode in which he will play Sinclair starting in January. He also mentioned that he might be appearing on stage sometime after that, but wasn't sure and didn't give any details. When asked about B5's storyline, he said he just didn't know (about upcoming events). Obviously Mira knew more since she has filmed more episodes than we've seen, and let one small spoiler slip...
just a little spoiler space....Ok... that should more or less do it....
When asked if G'kar would be brought into the conspiracy of light, she hedged and then said that she had filmed a scene with G'kar in which she has a conversation with him about this (so it sounds like G'kar will be joining the others in fighting the Shadows).
When asked about Sinclair/Delenn and Sheridan/Delenn and any upcoming romances, etc, O'Hare really took off with those, "Honey, what have you done to yourself?? I leave you alone for a year and now you've got hair" to Mira and had a field day (Damn, I wish I could remember better what exactly he said, but it was very funny).
Mira said that she had no plans to return to the former Yugoslavia (she is from Zagreb, Croatia), where she left 4 years ago just as the war was breaking out. She intends to become a United States citizen (she currently has a green card). You could really tell that the events in her country weigh heavily upon her and are the cause of a deep sadness and disappointment in her countrymen. They played a movie that starred Mira that her husband helped make just before they left Yugoslavia, but unfortunately, I never made the time to go see it. One interesting fact that came out during one of the sessions is the classification she has in order to have a work permit in the US. She is identified as being "an exceptional alien with unusual abilities".
During the Sunday session, there were two B5 scripts that hadn't been auctioned off at the charity auction (due to time constraints), so Michael autioned them off. One was for 1st season's "TKO", which was complete with coffee stains and Michael's signature. It sold for $360.00. The second was a script for second season's "Acts of Sacrifice", which was signed by the entire 2nd season cast, including the new guy, Jason Carter (Marcus). Two people were determined to get this script, and it finally sold for $1200.00 (to which Michael said, "Hey, my script only got a measly $360.00 "). He then offered to sign the 2nd season script only if the buyer wanted him to (which she did) and the other bidder (who went up to $1000) got his picture taken with Mira and Michael. All proceeds from the charity auctions and the variety show went to the "Make a Wish" Foundation. Michael was very good at putting guilt trips on the bidders: "Come on, it's for the *children*."
I don't know if it's worth noting, but O'Hare was the tallest guest at Visions '95 (he must be around 6'3" or 6'4", but I'm guessing; could be all the other guests were just short. I'd guess Brian Blessed was the second tallest person, and although not that tall, I'd guess that he outmasses him pretty handily. SF fans might rembember Blessed best from his appearance in the Flash Gordon movie with Sam Jones, and from the Queen soundtrack ("Gordon's alive!"). He's also guest starred in just about every British TV SF program I can think off, and he appeared in Brannagh's "Henry V" movie.
I'm afraid that I didn't attend the Variety show (I didn't know what it was, and so I didn't pay to get in). I've heard that Mira and Micheal did readings from Dr. Suess (I heard it was rather strange to hear Michael's deep voice reciting Dr. Suess). Since I wasn't there, I can't really add more.
Of all guests at the convention, the one I kept running into was O'Hare all over the hotel, and he's the only one I talked to (OK, so I only said "Hi", and he said "Hi" back, but he was very easy going and friendly).
Just to give a little plug for Visions, I thought it was a delightful fan-run convention, very well organized, and very relaxed. I've talked to other attendees from past years and they all spoke well of the con in past years.
The attendance has been steadily declining over the past few years, as Doctor Who fandom in the US declines (due to Doctor Who being cancelled in Britain, and fewer and fewer PBS stations showing it). Doctor Who has been the backbone of this con, and they may only break even this year. B7, Red Dwarf, and other miscellanous fandoms just aren't big enough to support it, so I'd just like to encourage people to attend next year if they are at all able to. So far, confirmed guests for Visions '96 are Colin Baker (6th Doctor) and Brian Blessed. Blessed's appearance alone is worth the price of admission, he is incredibly entertaining and boisterous. I've heard that Colin is an excellent guest as well.
I'm hoping that they get some more B5 guests next year (I think I'd most want to see JMS, because he always brings goodies like blooper tapes and unseen B5 episodes with him). All convention goers can vote on who they'd like as guests, so I wrote down JMS and Claudia Christian down (among others).
Special thanks to Susan Moore for adding things that I had forgotten or wasn't present for.
lanshark@scf.nmsu.edu
"Gordon's fucking dead!!" - Gareth Thomas, to Brian Blessed at Visions '95