Creation decked the halls with faux stone gargoyles and cemetery pillars all around the stage. There was a HUGE praying angel by the registration table that had me reigning in my need to Blink! (Who fans in the house?)

And speaking of the good Doctor, Aldis Hodge (Jake) was asked about the fact that his character on Leverage is obviously a fan of the UK series. Hodge admitted that he only recently started watching Doctor Who and was unaware that the show went back as far as it did. The fans in the audience clued him in and loudly.

Aldis was one of my favorite guest star speakers of the weekend. It was his first con and I was afraid he’d be flash-struck but he wow’d the crowd. He talked about filming the big fight scene with Jared in All Hell Breaks Loose saying they enjoyed “being two crazy dudes rolling around in the mud and the rain.” A tight schedule meant no time to rehearse the fight, they were simply told not to kill each other and then, action! Aldis also hung out with fans and sang Karaoke with his brother until all hours of the morning, so I’d say he’ll be coming back to future cons.

Julie McNiven, aka fallen angel Anna said, in reference to killing Uriel, “I was a virgin killer. It was fun and I hope I get to do it again.” Then she added, on screen, of course. Shy and sweet, she seemed a little nervous about what fans might ask and sure enough the sex scene with Dean came up as well as questions about Anna’s relationship to Castiel. She said she didn’t think Anna and Castiel had ever been intimate but they had a stronger bond forged over thousands of years spent together in the trenches. As for how it was kissing Jensen? Her answer was a shrugging, ‘what can I say?’ Tough job, but someone has to do it.

Gabriel Tigerman (Andy from Simon Says) was a hoot as he tried to insert the name of his new movie, Skills Like This, into the conversation at every turn. He talked about his childhood fear of the movie Ghostbusters and a cleaning lady who once told him that his parents’ house was full of spirits that were “generally nice. It was the generally part that freaked me out.”

Gabe admitted he hadn’t seen My Bloody Valentine but that it had nothing to do with the fact that he auditioned for the role of the deputy and didn’t get it. He also was surprised that he didn’t get the guest star role in the Supernatural episode Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things. He thought he nailed it but was passed over. Karma was on his side, though, since he got a much better role as Andy. His only funny set story involved a scene in the Impala, he was in the back seat and just moments before the call for action, one of the J’s (he couldn’t remember which but I’m betting Jared) leaned over the seat and showed him a disgusting photo on his phone. Then it’s “action,” the boys snap right into character and Gabe was left floundering. No, he wouldn’t tell us what the photo was but it sounded pretty bad!

Alona Tal (Jo) was up next and I had a difficult time listening to her panel. I felt like there was a huge chip on her shoulder regarding her exit from the show. Save the flames, people, it’s just my opinion.

Richard Speight, the Trickster was first up on Saturday morning prompting him to exclaim, “I’m part of a balanced breakfast.” Balanced is a good word for this guy. He was fun and endearing but he nearly tore our hearts out with talk about his work on Band of Brothers. Since he was playing a real person, he made the effort to find the family of the man (no small feat, apparently) and it ended in a reunion with the man’s sister and man’s best friend, another soldier who was there when the man died.

On a lighter note, he spoke about the joy and the pain of being a part of Jericho.  He said, “as an actor, you never think of a show going on beyond being canceled.” So he was completely overwhelmed when the fans’ nut campaign put the series back on track again. He joked that fans of the Trickster should start a campaign to get him back on Supernatural. “Email your local writer, send them peanuts, that will confuse them.”

Richard also talked extensively about his final scene in Mystery Spot where Sam is begging him to bring Dean back. He joked that Jared is always begging for something; a coke, a shirt, so seeing him beg in the scene was old hat. “He’s also seven feet tall, seeing a guy like that cry. . . .I wore a slicker.” He credited the success of the scene to the late Kim Manners who arranged the blocking for the greatest emotional impact. “Really turning the screw with every step,” was how Richard put it and I’d say that’s dead on.

(Photo to the left – who is that man and why did I snap his picture?)

Charles Malik Whitfield, Agent Henrickson, was in the house. He gets my vote for the person who is least like their character. He was loose and all “in the hood” and very funny. He told his stories by acting out his reactions to things that happened like the moment he was told he was going to get his head dunked in a toilet. “Let us pray.”

When asked about when he found out he was getting killed off, he said he never found out. That he was in denial because the script only said, “white light.  They left out the page where it says on the news I didn’t make it.” It wasn’t until someone came up to him on set and asked him about the death of the character that he put it all together. “They go, anybody we really like, we kill.  I go, that’s not normal.”

The last guest of the day was Samantha Smith, aka Mary Winchester. She’s a big fan of the show and was happy to sit and chat about the twists and turns of the season from a purely fannish perspective. She talked fondly of her time on the show and came to realize that all of her favorite scenes involved fire. She did offer up one tiny spoiler which I’ll write backwards for those who don’t want to know.

(edosipe gnimocpu na ni s’ehs)

And typing backwards is tougher than it looks.

OMG! I just realized I never covered Misha’s panel! I should have added Jared to my Jensen report, then Misha to my Jensen and the J’s report. So, I guess there will be a part four after all.

Until then, a shout out.

I started attending Creation Cons when they were all about Star Trek and Doctor Who and they were being held in the basement of a hotel in Philadelphia. They’ve come a long way since then and they certainly do know how to put on a show. Still, with what I do for a living and my long history with cons, I find I’ve become a bit jaded. I beat that by spending much of my in-between panel times chatting with con newbies who are still fluttering with excitement. Two of my favorites were my seatmates, Kaycee and Frank (aka Tiffany). Two friends, barely out of high school (they protest saying five years isn’t barely, but I disagree), on their first trip to a con.  They indulged me with details of their photo ops and autograph sessions and they really helped smooth over my jaded edges. Thanks girls, for being such great con buddies.

Skills Like This.

Photos: J’s with gravestone by Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

Bad con photos – all mine.

Post from: SF Universe

Tonight, Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Jonathan Frakes, exerts his own kind of leverage when he takes over the helm of the TNT series. The episode is called “The Juror No 6 Job” and features a few Frakes friends that any good scifi fan should recognize – Brent Spiner and Armin Shimerman.

Leverage and Star Trek stars — that’s a combo I couldn’t pass up, so I got Jonathan on the last call of the day just as he was headed out to do the DVD commentary for the Leverage DVD.

Every TV show has its own style and pace, so what makes Leverage Leverage?

Jonathan: The heist! We all love heist movies and I’ve been looking for a heist movie to do for many years. So when Dean sold this series it was a great opportunity to make a little mini movie every week and also, it doesn’t hurt that this cast is so fabulous.

When you say, I want this to look like a movie, how dowse that translate to your role as a director?

Jonathan: We’ve got a wonderful DP named Dave Connell, who’s been my personal favorite. He did the Librarian movies with us and he’s maintained a look and we have a real strong philosophy about moving the camera and also the writing, John Rodgers and Chris Downey and the writing staff, you know, there are sometimes 90 scenes in these shows so it’s not sit down and two guys talking in a room very often.

I was particularly impressed with Aldis Hodge (Jake from Supernatural), in this episode. He blows me away.

Jonathan: He’s wonderful in the last act, isn’t he? Because you’re so used to him being a wise ass, when he pulls out the serious card, especially for fans of the show, it’s going to be a wonderful revelation to see him play that particular emotion.

Did you have to really pull that from him or did he go right there? Cause he seems like more of a comedy guy, to me.

Jonathan: He is more of a comedy guy. It took more than one take, but it was clearly a club that he had in his bag and I just had to provide an atmosphere that he was comfortable in and trust that he could do that. So, I think it was good for both of us.

I heard that you were in on the casting a little bit with Brent and Armin?

Jonathan: I did a little plug for the casting. When I read the script, I said this would be a great part for Brent. Dean was also a fan of Brent from having used him in Independence Day. So we got Brent on board. Then, in the casting session I’m thinking, we don’t have to read people for this corrupt juror – what about Armin Shimerman? They said, oh, we love Armin. I said, let’s use Armin and wait a minute, his wife, Kitty – I want to use a female judge, let’s use Kitty, let’s offer it to both of them. So then everybody’s life became easier. I got friends on the set who I knew were going to be great in the parts and now, fast forward another couple of month and we’ve got a win win.

Do we have more episodes of Leverage coming up from you?

Jonathan: Yes, they just got picked up for next season and Dean’s asked me to do a few for him, so I’m really thrilled to be back.

And we saw you in a little cameo too, did we not? A week ago?

Jonathan: I did get pulled out of the office when I was prepping. He said, “come here, come here, sit down, sit next to Tim, I need somebody to do this little bit.” So, that’s a perfect example of the way Electric Entertainment works.

Other projects you’ve got coming up?

Jonathan:  I’m leaving on Wednesday to go down [to Mexico] to do a series called Persons Unknown, which is a psychological drama. Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie) did the pilot.

It’s loosely based on The Prisoner, that old English series, and Lost, people who get kidnapped and brought into this 1950s B.F. Skinner behavioral town. They’re trying to figure out why they’re there, who they are, and there are surveillance cameras in every room . . .it’s like a horror movie.

We’re doing 12 or 13 of them for Fox Television but we’re still waiting on an air date.

Watch Leverage tonight and every Tuesday night at 10:00 on TNT and come back tomorrow when Jonathan answers two of my favorite random questions.

Photo: TNT/Alan Markfield

Post from: SF Universe