Jordy

LMAO @stargatefan: regardless of whether you put your videos on YouTube or not, you had no business taking them in the first place. That trick your husband pulled with leaving the camera recording during the autograph session was underhanded and downright rude. Ask yourself what Patrick might have said to you had he realised what you were up to...

Yeah, mine too, I occasionally see him when I get the train to work in the morning! Cool! I've seen him in the big Tescos on Hibel Road. I didn't like to bother him for an autograph while he was shopping, though... Great to hear he may be attending the event.

LOL, you could just leave the doors open and roll into the event in the morning without even having to get dressed XD

Excellent news - very pleased to hear this. If it's possible to get Marshall as well that would even better, especially seeing as he's from my hometown :)

The photoshoot tickets for Sunday still aren't on sale... If the online store is closing (at least for international orders) on Monday, this is cutting it very fine indeed.

If the numbers don't make any difference to when you'll be called, why does it matter?

When is this going to happen? I'm going on the Sunday and would like to book a photo asap :)

I haven't actually met him, but I did go to a talk/Q & A session that he did a few years ago at another con., and I've got to say he was instantly likeable: warm, funny, appreciative of the attendees and very friendly natured. Someone brought up the issue of him having spoken negatively about Trek and its fans, and he sort of made a joke of it and said "Why, what have you all heard?" He then asked us all not to throw anything at him and clarified that he only meant really extreme obsessed fans, and that while he wasn't happy with the way Voyager was written towards the end, he did support many of the character arcs. Incidentally, he didn't swear at all during the talk :) I'm sad that he's had to cancel this time but I'm sure there's a good reason for it.

Lost guests would be a dream come true - they seem so rare at UK cons. Personally I'd especially love to meet: Michael Emerson, Nestor Carbonell, Mark Pellegrino (Jacob) and Emilie de Ravin.

Sorry, but selling is not allowed on the forum. This includes the transfer of pre-paid rooms. Maybe you should try and post on a couple of Harry Potter forums instead?

Wouldn't that only be the case where you're able to book the flights well in advance, though? If you can't get guests well ahead of time, which seemed to be one of the problems with this con., your options for lower rates are probably limited...

I don't claim to know exactly what guests get paid, and of course organisers won't say specifically, but after going to several cons you begin to get an idea. £45 000 to cover FOUR Lost main cast members seems way way too low to me.

Thanks, I'll do that shortly. The refund went into my account today - cheers.

Thanks, I'll do that shortly.

I have a question...I got a new debit card (new account and number and all that) at around the time I booked for Abrams Inc - I really can't remember if I used my old or new card to pay with. There's a possibility it might have been the old one, which is now dead and gone. If it was, the refund won't go through. Should I just wait the seven days as normal and then contact you if it hasn't shown up in my account?

But you aren't ever risking the ticket money itself. Showmasters have NEVER failed to refund any tickets, unlike other events in the past which have folded, owing lots of money to potential attendees. Yes, I realise there are some people who have sadly lost out on the money they've spent on travel and/or non-event hotels. I really feel sorry for them and I hope that Showmasters can come up with some way of repaying them for their support, even if they aren't able to refund these costs. The £80 is the amount I've lost on this con. through travel and hotel fees. It goes hand in hand with the ticket cost, because I wouldn't buy a ticket without making good and sure I can get to the event and have somewhere to stay...I'd worry that if I waited until too close to the event to book hotels/trains etc, they might be booked up. Or at least, the rates would be higher.

I certainly won't be buying a ticket in advance for this type of event again. I genuinely want to support cons such as these, but the plain fact is I can't afford to risk my money like that. I just don't have enough spare to be able to chance £80 or so. It's a shame that more tickets weren't sold, but after what happened with some previous cons, it's inevitable that people will be wary of committing their money and time until a strong guest line up - in terms of both quality and quantity - is in place. I am surprised at how few people bought tickets, though. Michael Emerson may not be your conventional Josh Hollway pin-up type, but in my estimation, from trawling a fair few Lost forums he's one of the most popular actors in the show (and has a good number of adoring female fans, too... )

Too true. If they cancelled the whole thing, they'd still lose out, and on top of that have to deal with a lot of flak from people who (like myself) have already booked transport and accomodation which may not be refundable. That's not a threat by the way - I'm not saying I would lay into them or anything, just that I think in terms of getting something for their money, many people would rather the con go ahead in some form than not at all. Also, I understand they'd been trying to book Michael for a couple of years now, and now that they've finally 'hooked' him it would seem even more of a waste to cancel

I would still go just to see Michael for definite. Out of a terrific cast, he's easily my favourite character/actor. I wouldn't want to pass up an opportunity to see him here in the UK, because it might not come again.

For me, there are several Lost actors who have relatively small roles but because they're great characters and are central to the plot, would be every bit as welcome as a main cast member. Examples: Nestor Carbonell, Alan Dale.

I'd definitely rather have a small Michael-based event than see the whole thing cancelled, if it comes to that. I reeeeally want to meet him :) It'd seem a terrible shame to book such a wonderful guest and then have to cancel him (as opposed to him having to cancel).

They're not busy filming Lost - not at the moment, anyway. Lost is currently on its inter-season hiatus, and won't start filming again until September. So, the main cast are theoretically available to attend cons and so on. Whether they will come to this one, as we've seen, is another matter :S I'm getting quite worried now. I've already booked my hotel and train...

I tipped a couple of fellow Michael/Ben fans off at another forum - I know at least one of them booked a ticket.

I respectfully second what Wyn has said. I full understand that SM has a lot going on and all....but it is getting quite late in the day, and the most worrying thing for us all (IMO) is not the lack of guests per se but the silence from SMs. It's difficult not to get concerned for the convention when we don't hear anything for weeks on end :) I also hope that this thread doesn't get automatically locked - I understand that threads can't be allowed to turn whiney or aggressive, but (again IMO) locking threads in which people are politely expressing legitimate concerns is quite frustrating and makes people feel that they aren't even allowed to ask what's happening.

While 99.9 % of actors I've met at cons appeared to be really enjoying themselves meeting the fans, con appearances are still work for them (and probably quite hard work, too...it must be tiring to spend hours signing autograph after autograph, and posing for pictures etc) so it's perfectly fair that they get paid for it. Doesn't mean they're aren't nice people.