London Film and Comic Con/Liz Sladen

[x_los]

Went to the lacklustre London Film and Comic Con Sunday avec Katy and her friends. I say lacklustre—I enjoyed it WAY better than I thought I would, as I generally hate cons?

1) I used to work at anime cons in uni (good money, but irregularly so—not worth the transportation hassle, and the company structures themselves are often infuriatingly poorly organized), and have holdover!eugh. At any moment on the crowded floor I expect to be handed an Obi of Office and forced to sell Deathnote to overweight old men in sailor fuku.

2) I hate meeting actors. They’re men and women wearing the bodies of characters I love, and yet thoroughly not them. I can admire them as people as well as for their characters in rare cases (oh Patrick Stewart, be still my heart), but generally I not only have no wish to meet them, I sneak through the Richmond Waitrose like ninja for paranoid terror that Richard E. Grant will be buying bread or something, and I’ll duck into frozen foods only to be confronted by old!Davison (how dare he no longer look like Five and Tristan, etc.). And then I’ll be startled into gibbering something about all the slash I’ve read/written about People Who Look A Lot Like Them and I’ll have to go home and delete the internet before committing sepukuu.

Am a lot more wary now that I know a friend of mine ran into Grant on a Richmond bus. What is he doing taking mass transit? But I don’t think said friend could have been deceived, as he is incredibly film-savvy. Worrisome!

But, even so, Elizabeth Sladen was there and gave a brief Q&A and I was very charmed.

Katy once commented that Q&A's always, always suck, and aren't as good as proper talks. I tried to defend the masses and their right to Ask Stuff, but in general I’ve come to agree with her.

No matter who's talking or about what, it's nearly always really poorly structured and bad questions. I want to say something better just to SAVE the poor woman from the bajillionth WHAT IS IT LIKE TO TOUCH DAVID TENNANT O_O, and yet do not want to make an ass of myself/do not necessarily have a better question.

Sladen was v. graceful and tried to sort of close off the DO YOU FEEL IN THE UNDISPUTABLE PRESENCE OF GOD WHEN ADRESSING TENNANT MORE OR LESS THAN WHEN CARESSING MATT SMITH?, but no one had better shit? Really people should THINK OF QUESTIONS THEY ARE DYING TO ASK HER beforehand, self included.

Liz Sladen is not the best Question Fielder in the world in terms of taking a dung heap and capitalizing on it. Some people with enough BOMBAST or tact make gold from straw, and that's better when the audience isn't giving you a lot—though it comes off as gittish if they are, I suppose? But she was v. sweet

She did, however, kind of fumble the day's best question—the girl came at it from a triffley awkward angle, but she had good thoughts re: Sladen's remark about being protective of Sarah Jane as a character, and wanting to know how that feminism translated to her work now as a strong OLDER female character/actress. Sladen sort of went 'well, I mean, I intended to do the work and play the character, not sepcifically TO PORTRAY WOMEN'S LIB!!' And I know it wasn't /what she meant/ (in other interviews she’s had more collected, thoughtful remarks on the subject than the Q&A format necessarily allows for), more that she wasn't necessarily playing an AGENDA initially, but she came off as a bit RAR I HATE FEMINISM. Also she side-stepped the opportunity to talk about the Older Actresses/Character thing, which could have been interesting.

Then backrow!girl gracefully moved onto a second question re: working with Billie Piper and complimented her on how hilarious that Doctor-mocking bit of School Reunion was. Interestingly in addition to being lovely and grateful for the compliment, Sladen talked about the director being VERY NERVOUS about it and whether it would play or read as super-catty. Which... sadly I could see?

So that girl could have asked more good questions (that were not the THIRD rendition of WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MONSTER?! (though I LOVE that without thinking about it she just goes ‘Davros’)) if it hadn't seemed like Liz Sladen HATED HER AND HER FEMINISM OMG due to some awk phrasing.

I think seeing her worked for me because while I love Sarah Jane, she is not an ABSOLUTE FAVORITE of mine, capable of reducing me to a goopuddle. Also I haven’t ever written her—I don’t know, actually, whether it’d be difficult to now, having confronted the unhappy truth that she is a Person.

Though my GOD she has aged well and has great hair, make-up and airbrushing be damned!

Comments

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I've only been to two tiny cons because 1) I am not very overt about my geekiness, and others geeking-out for the world to see hits my embarrassment squick no end, 2) I'd rather spend the money on the books and movies, and 3) like you, I really feel no need to meet the actors. (Although I will admit that it was fun listening to Peter and Sandra and Mark Wing-Davey all discuss managing traveling the con circuit w/ brand-new kidlets. But then some arse sent them a Western Onion singing telegram to "celebrate" their new parenthood that interrupted the Q&A session and embarrassed the hell outta all of them, which kinda spoiled things.)

culf has some great pics from your con.

[x-losfic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 2 for SURE. And that sounds so embarrassing I'd have died in your stead. x_x I cannot stand watching people be Embarrassed even in films--irl is torture.

[blinkidybah.livejournal.com]

The only Q&A I've been to was Patrick Stewart at DragconCon... sooo ridiculous. Trek Question after Trek question -- and all super specific, 'what did you think of this ep" "how did you and random extra character #3 get along", etc etc...

At one point he was like, "guyz it was 30 years ago I don't remember this shit also I've done other stuff??"

And it SUCKED because I had a really good question but it wasn't open-floor :(

Then the last dude of the session was like, "well, everyone's going to kill me for asking this, but how did you get the idea for your Macbeth movie where you were a texas rancher blah blah.." and Stewart was like, "if anyone gives you shit for asking that send them to meeeee" obvs super happy to answer ANYTHING besides Trek.

So awkward.

[x-losfic.livejournal.com]

Well, like, the specific might be okay if it was like, 'this big well written Picard character ep--how was that developed?' or something, but if it's WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON WARP NACELLS? O_O then... no.

Awh, I DO love his respect for his Trek fans and simultaneously his Srs Theater Love? And did you see his domestic violence campaign ad? I loved him more for it.

I do wonder whether the actors WANT the sort of one-work. 'Tom Baker. Davros. Yes. No.' or something they might be less bored by but have to work harder to answer? probably v. dependent on the person.

[gothic-hamlet.livejournal.com]

I will never ever ever ever understand the lack of question screening for big-name guests. Ever. When Patrick Stewart was fielding the QA session at Dragoncon, the questioners were clearly pre-chosen in some way since they were all kept off to the side... and yet we were still treated to an hour+ of gems like Scone already mentioned. The closing one was an actually thoughtful question concerning King of Texas, and Stewart was clearly so relieved to hear it that he threatened bodily harm toward anyone who gave the guy crap over it not being yet another a Star Trek topic.

Storytime aside, that sounds like a fun time!

[x-losfic.livejournal.com]

Man, waist of Question Screening. :/ Surely people could be asked to think of something... better? I mean I guess they want to know what they want to know, but largely I think the question-askers themselves haven't REALLY thought it through, and it wouldn't go amiss to remind them beforehand, on a sign or during the warm up, to think it over, with possibly some pointers re: What Makes A Question A Good Question?

...i.e. for Liz Sladen, 'how many Doctors have you worked with' (TWICE) is more... wikipedia territory than Question Fodder.

[meaning-full.livejournal.com]

I also feel that, in a lot of cases, the best questions that nerd!fans have are probably better suited for the writers than the actors. I think people get so attached to characters they love that what they really want is an insight into that character's mind. And, even though the actors obviously have some really solid grasp of who their character is, ultimately, they are just memorizing lines and doing what the director tells them. I mean, don't get me wrong, good acting is very difficult and definately an art form in its own right, but as for insights into a character's personality or some big theme or concept, the writer is actually the closest you will ever get to talking to that character. it's just hard for people to separate the person portraying the character from the character his/herself, which is all made up by a writer who developed that personality. Case in point-- people have often asked David Tennant stuff like "your Doctor is very wordy. Was that your idea? Why have you made him so dark?" and he's pretty much always said, "Russel writes him that way. I get the scripts and I love them and I try to do what he's intended."

[x-los.livejournal.com]

This is all REALLY true. The directors, possibly, or show-runners (in an era when the BBC wasn't having one person do most of this shit?) might have more of the creative input they're looking for--expect POTENTIALLY in the case of really bombastic people who CREATED their characters (i.e. I think Pertwee felt perhaps too-able to talk about Three, and Tom Baker about Four).

[meaning-full.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true. I think Matt Smith's audition actually also really helped to form his character, from what I've read. Especially in terms of the physicality of his Doctor-- always clasping his hands together, that weird head-forward-tilt thing that makes him look like he has really bad posture. For me, I think a lot of why he feels old has to do with those little physical quirks that feel like the nervous habits of an older man or professor, and that really helps to define that personality for me.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Eleven *feels* more like one of the old-school Doctors to me than any other New Who Doctor, and I often like him better than I like his lines, and perhaps this is all actor-based character development, and you could ask him good questions about decisions he's made in how he'll play Eleven, because with him in particular I feel he may be more responsible for the character-coherence than the aforementioned people, who usually are? But you'd have to phrase shit well, AS technical or craft-related questions rather than like, the equivalent of 'why did you make ten dark?!'

[meaning-full.livejournal.com]

Right, especially as Moffat doesn't seem to be too great when it comes to character coherence. I think that's the best way to put it. I mean, there are scenes where I'll really like what what a character is doing or how they are behaving/reacting to a certain situation, but then there will be a scene later that seems to somehow contradict that scene. I think, if given the opportunity, I'd want to ask Moffat what the deal with Amy is. Is she polyamorous? Is Rory aware of this/okay with it? If she does have an unconventional orientation, why was she engaged in the first place?

That's interesting, that you like Eleven more than his lines. I think I know what you mean. Although I will say that there are certain lines he's had which I think do a lot to portray the ways in which he's different from other Doctors, especially new ones. For instance, it's kind of a small moment, but in the first ep when he tells Amy he can take her "wherever you like," that feels like something someone from a much older generation would say. Also, in "Vincent and the Doctor," I love that part where he jumps back in the room and yells, "Not that fast! But pretty fast," re: how long he'll be gone. That seems to me like something an older person would do to try to ease a younger companion's mind in a kid-friendly way, which has a lot to do with his relationship with Amy; I think he sees her as very young, and he likes being around her because it makes him feel young too.