Grand Slam Summit XV
SciFi Con
April 13-15, 2007     Burbank, CA


Please check out the great pics at Wire Image!


Thursday & Friday
The wind seemed like it was going to overturn our airplane, the landing was
almost a crash. I swear they were ready to hand out helmets as our plane was tossed around the skies! LOL Yet, nothing could keep these fans from heading to the Los Angeles area to visit with Adrian.

His first real appearance in the US in several years had us excited!
Elaine (coming from Illinois) and me (coming from New Mexico) flew into LA on Thursday and expected Gail and Carmen to be in later that day. The weather once again reared it's ugly head and their flight from Philadelphia was delayed
until the following day, Friday due to snow in Denver.  Such a shame, since Carmen had to miss all of the events on Friday.

Elaine and I checked into the hotel then headed over to the Con hotel (Marriott) to see if we could find any other Angels and look around. And who do we find? Nora and Jubie! We headed off to dinner (Nora's treat, thank you!) in the hotel dining room and let's just say....I will never again look at butter without thinking of our waiter, Max.  *VEG* We were allowed entrance to the main areas of the Grand Slam Con and wandered around looking at vendor tables.

The next day Elaine and I headed to Pasadena and looked around Old Town, before heading back to Burbank to pick up Carmen and Gail late Friday afternoon. The excitement of seeing each other once again was almost more than I could bear. The "Four" were together again.
Carmen, Elaine, Gail, Riley

After heading back to the hotel, we tried to catch up on recent events as we dressed to head to the Con  hotel which was nearby. Once there, we met up with Nora and Jubie and the group of us wandered around looking at vendor tables and schedules.  We took a little ride to Olive Garden for dinner. I cannot understand why we always get such gorgeous waiters (are we being punished?? LOL). After dinner we headed back to the hotel and situated ourselves in the tiny bar area.  

Later, we were joined by Carmel and Victoria who had traveled in from Australia by way of Vancouver. Carmel was feeling ill, but somehow managed to sit several hours with us where conversation and laughs flowed freely.

Never missing a chance for some laughs, as we left Olive Garden
the opportunity presented itself!!

Saturday
After a really.... really.... really!!!.. late night of fun and laughter we
managed to put ourselves together and head over to the SciFi convention.

First thing, we headed off to get our pictures taken with Adrian.
Talk about excitement!!!

We met up with Nora and Jubie once again, Sheryl also joined us and
we went to get our pictures taken. We each had a personal pic with Adrian taken.  

The photographer moved so quickly you had about 15 seconds to get into place, smile, and pray that the picture looked somewhat decent. Then we (the Four) raced up again to get our group photo with Adrian. Some people moved faster than others is all I'll say about that!! LOL

There was a loooong line of people behind us, and Adrian only had
a 40 minute window to get all the photos done.  He looked fantastic in a light lime green short-sleeved linen shirt worn over a tight white T-shirt. Yes, his abs were plainly viewable! (sigh) Khaki pants finished his ensemble. Again, my pics just don't show the colors right. :>(
"To My Angels  Peace Adrian Paul"

Riley, Gail, Adrian, Elaine and Carmen
(I'm having some computer graphic problems and can't get these pics to
lighten up as they should. Sorry!!! And....for some reason, the photographer took this photo
from the strangest angle making our feet look tiny and the faces larger. Honest!!! LOL)


Gail and Adrian
We took our photos to a drugstore to be scanned, but for some odd reason
the photos of Elaine and Carmen each with Adrian disappeared off the disc!
Luckily, Carmen sent me her pic and here it is.

Carmen and Adrian


Riley and Adrian.
The photographer caught us mid-laugh and trying not to!

After the photos, when our feet finally hit the ground again, we wandered around the hotel and met up with Uschi, then we found Dragon and Terri. Our little group had grown to ten (10) fans as we waited in anticipation for Adrian's Q & A to begin.

I had bought a new camera which I had been assured took fantastic pictures.
I may handle a web site, but the technology of these new cameras seemed to defeat me in certain circumstances. Grrrrr.

My pics of Adrian on stage are poor to say the least. It was a large auditorium, and we were far from the stage. Guess we are spoiled from the better seating at HLWW events. LOL
Our Reserved Seats were way back in row Q and there was also
a very wide aisle area between us and the seating in front of us.
Thankfully, the convention provided two large screens on either side of the stage so we could at least see some portions of what was going on.


Adrian was only on stage from 1:45 - 2:30 and it took at least 2 minutes before the camera flashes, whistles and excitement died down a bit before
he could even start speaking.

The Q & A

It lasted about 40 minutes, but he was also on stage with Tracy for a few minutes, so we got a bit more "Adrian time." He spoke about "The Source" saying it was going straight to DVD, and that he had other projects in the works but he did not elaborate.

Some of the questions:

 His favorite flower?
"Bird of Paradise" in case you ever wondered. LOL He said he had no idea why.

Would he talk for us with the Duncan
MacLeod Scottish burr?
He did...sigh....and.... he did, much to our pleasure. Sigh.

Why did the HL:Endgame trailer show so many things we did not see in the movie?
The leap through the hole? The splitting of Kell..and more.
(Some things I think many of us had wondered about.)
Adrian explained that he and some of the actors had been called up long after filming to create some extra scenes for the trailer. He said he was told that they were going to add special effects, and do this to it..and that to it and the trailer would be fantastic! Adrian stated that when he asked why these things were not in the movie he was told it was how things were done. He told us that he was concerned but most things regarding the film were out of his hands by then.

Would he tell us his feelings about
Bill Panzer's passing?
Adrian was solemn, and it was plain that he was really trying to hold things together. He told us about his first meeting with Bill when he was auditioning for Highlander, and he spoke of Bill's passion for the story, the series and anything to do with the franchise. He also said that right now, no one has any idea of what is going to happen next.


What was his most embarrassing moment?
Adrian laughed, blushed a bit and started to tell us. Didn't seem like he had to think at all about what it might be. Then he stopped and said that since he'd been asked to introduce the next guest, he'd tell us when they came on stage. (see below)
Tracy Scoggins, who played Cassandra in "Prophecy" (Season 5) was the next guest and together they discussed Adrian's most embarrassing moment.
It was while filming the scene at the very end of that episode. Duncan and Cassandra are kissing, entwined and she's clad in very little. It seems the filming took much longer than planned and after much direction (kiss the shoulder, kiss the neck, kiss here, kiss there) Tracy turned and tells the crew that "If someone doesn't say cut, then I'm going to need some birth control."
(I'm paraphrasing, but you can see this clip on the Blooper reel)

Tracy was dressed in black pants, an off the shoulder black top and accented it with a beautiful silver belt shaped like a snake. She looked gorgeous!

All too quickly the Q & A was over. Some of our group went to rest,
some of us went to eat, to play, to talk about the Q & A, take more pics
and pass the time. Adrian would be signing autographs at 5:20pm
 so we had a while to wait.

Carmen, Uschi, Gail, Elaine, Sheryl, Dragon

The Autograph Session

Later that evening we waited in anticipation for Adrian's autograph session. Though Adrian began signing at 5:20pm, it was nearing 6:15 by the time our turn
to line up arrived. Also signing at the same tables with Adrian were: Matt Frewer (Max Headroom); Hayden Pantettiere (Heroes); and Justin Hartley (Smallville).
The signing was situated off to the side of the stage, behind folding curtains
and the line snaked along one wall.

Each of us had different numbers, far apart, so we could not even enjoy the slow progressive line together. Gail and I had the lowest #'s and were near the front when Victoria came by and suggested that we all gather at the end of the line...that way we could go in together. Great idea! So we grabbed Elaine, Carmen and Uschi and since we were now the "official end" of the line, we sat in chairs near the wall and waited.

At the same time, the ballroom was filled with con-goers who were there to watch the costume contest. Lots of strange critters wandered that room...the twin Kling-ons were sooo funny!  (head to page two for more!)

Page Two
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