dufresne

Come on ! he was also in Memento, The Sopranos, Bad Boys 1 & 2, Daredevil, Midnight Run, (and Goonies). I get the feeling he is on his was to MK in May ........

I'm not going to say anything more about accessibility to Milton Keynes. I will say this: You think Milton Keynes is IN London? We're situated 60 miles North-West, in a completely different country to the City of London, the City of Westminster, or any of the counties thereabouts. ~fadagaski~ No, you misunderstand. AS WELL AS CHARGING FOR ADMISSION .... this event is ALSO in LONDON (as opposed to a smaller town / city. Thank you Mr Livingstone !

Cheers mate. So is this a website, or another post ? is there something on here already that I can read over ?

TORn ? what that?

Please post here if you do ....

You see, that's the thinking i am after - this show is also in london !! I have nothing against MK specifically, there are just more accessible cities and venues !!

Joe Pantoliano William Sadler Henry Winkler Frank Oz Orlando Bloom Simpsons Voice people Kris Kristofferson Eddie Izzard Meatloaf George Cole & Dennis Waterman Alan Rickman Sean Bean Brit Eckland Alyson Hannigan Tom Berringer Denis Frantz Carrie Fisher George Lazenby Timothy Dalton Christopher Lee Hugo Weaving Alan Cumming Ray Park Ian McKellen

UNLIKELY !!

sigh ! CAN PEOPLE NOT JUST LOOK BEYOND THE FACT THAT MK IS WHERE THEY LIVE, OR NEAR TO IT ? THAT IS HARDLY A REASON TO LOCATE A SHOW SOMEWHERE !!

Oh, please !!! We all want to meet Elijah and the like five minutes from our home - what a pathetic reason to keep it where it is .... so that you don't have to travel ! What about the other 8999 of us ????

I admit I think it's time to move, but I am just curious what others think ..... If the guest list keeps growing in numbers and quality, so will the crowds. I take your point that Friday and Saturday were fine, but what if next time Viggo Mortensen, Frank Oz, Carrie Fisher and Timothy Dalton are there all four days ? THE CENTRE IS TOO SMALL AND BADLY LAID OUT FOR THE TYPE OF GUESTS COLLECTORMANIA ATTRACTS !! The ComicCon next year has Val Kilmer, and they are launching it at bloody WEMBLEY !!

Vote ................. NOW !

Surely if c4 proves anything, it's that you cannot bring such big names to a shopping centre. I wonder would things been half as bad without Andy and the Hobbits ? Anyway, please think beyond selfish reasons like "I live ten minutes from the centre", but surely C5 would benefit from being in a larger city, probably near an airport, but certainly in a closed off, dedicated venue. The bunfight that so many of us got caught up in cannot be allowed to reoccur !! It is vital that Showmasters maintain the calibre of guests - too many of these shows recycle the same faces and iritate fans. I never thought I would meet Robert Davi, Peter Weller of Honor Blackman. THANK YOU SHOWMASTERS for that chance. However, I do feel that if you do not relocate for C5, you will be forced to revert to hosting Kenny Baker, Paul Darrow and Michael Sheard (all nice guys, but you take my point ....) Anyway, let the votes speak ...........

Right ! I might as well post my thoughts on the weekend too ! I was only there for the Sunday, and have never been to a previous Showmasters event, but I have to say that the organisation was generally very good. It would seem that 80% plus of complaints are from people throwing the toys out of the pram, after not getting what they wanted. If you were to bring three out of four Hobbits to ANY event worldwide from now until the end of time, the crowds would just be MENTAL, but to do it 6 weeks before the premiere of the third movie ??? Use your brains people. All SM can do is SPECULATE !! Yes they said get there an hour before, and you SHOULD be ok, but nobody has a crystal ball. Just reading the posts in the forum, it was obvious that demand would be massive. If Dave Prowse, Kenny baker and Anthony Daniels had been at an event a month before the premier of Return of the Jedi, they would get writers cramp to say the least ! And as far as opening the doors early goes, what difference does it make ? If you had arrived at 9.45, you still would have been too far down the queue, whether it was indoors or out. I am just glad the centre let us in out of the cold. I had to rely on public transport, so I got to MK at 6.30am. I had a coffee at the bus station and went straight there about an hour later. I was still number 109 for Elijah !! (Great guy, but the American dealing with his queue needs a customer care course !!) I work for one of the main concert ticket outlets in the UK, and know only too well that you can never accurately predict demand, no matter how massive a specific show is. You know that bands like U2 and Westlife will be in demand, but will it sell out in an hour, or a week ? Will they play five concerts, or ten ? You just can’t ever be sure in advance ! This apart, I do agree that the venue is no longer suitable. I am sure a large open area within a shopping centre was fine when the guests were of the calibre of Kenny Baker and Paul Darrow (no disrespect to these random examples, or to Showmasters, but the first few shows did seem to feature “the regulars” of the signing circuit. If C5 and beyond continue to feature such world class guests (at risk of stating the obvious, lets hope they do) then we need a bigger, more suitable, CLOSED OFF venue. With all the guests in the same (approximate) area. After all, The four main LOTR guests were paired off, and could not have been further apart. It’s amazing that anyone got both Elijah and Sean. By the time you got a ticket for one, and FOUND the queue for the other …. Hands up who else felt like swearing at the Sunday shoppers who are obviously so bored with their own little lives, that they need to spend Sundays window shopping and poking fun at “the (insert geek based adjective of choice) people looking for autographs” while getting under our feet, blocking the areas and taking photos of everything that moved without spending money ? At least if the show was at a venue like the NEC you would be rid of this, and the congestion would be helped greatly. I doubt few people would mind paying 10-15 pounds admission for this to happen. Also, I think the show should move to somewhere more accessible for the international market it now attracts. Probably near a major airport, but certainly in a major city (no, sorry MK does not count !). It really has to be London, Birmingham, Manchester (or what’s wrong with Glasgow !!) The forum, and conversations I had over the weekend make it obvious that people are coming from all over Europe, not to mention the USA, Canada and Australia just to get their DVD signed at Collectormania ! These people need an accessible venue that they can get to by public transport, and has enough overnight accommodation for the sort of numbers involved. Please Please Showmasters, keep getting the rarer Bond and Star Wars guests, along with first time UK signers like Peter Weller (I still can’t believe I met Robocop!) and Kristanna Loken, but put the show where we can enjoy it without bottlenecks, gawpers and screaming teenage girls. Also – the virtual queuing is a good theory, but open to abuse. Cloakroom tickets are on sale all over the centre and are hardly foolproof. They also stand up to very little handling, and are small enough to loose easily. At the risk of putting your costs up, would special Collectormania numbered tickets be out of the question ?? Also, just to prove a point, I queued successfully for TWO Sean Astin tickets, 2 Dom tickets, and THREE for Serkis !! I just got one, and went straight back into the queue ! now …. A lesser man than me would be touting these tickets for profit – I know there is little can be done, but maybe you need to look into it ? I am sorry for those who didn’t get sorted, but when the Hobbit days were first posted, the forum was swamped with complainers – TOUGH COOKIES !! Similarly, I am sorry that you got up at three in the morning and drove 15,000 miles or whatever, but just because your wife spent 4 years hand making some piece of crap to give Elijah, doesn’t mean you deserve special treatment, sorry. THEY CAN ONLY SIGN SO MANY AUTOGRAPHS IN THE TIME AVAILABLE, get over it ! The organisation was fine, it’s just that the crowds (attendees and otherwise) because of the calibre of guest that made problems. I don’t think anyone, SM included, were FULLY prepared …. Lessons to learn : 1. A dedicated venue is needed with enough room and no gawpers 2. This venue must be more accessible internationally 3. The tickets for the queues need to be more foolproof 4. Possibly pre-sell admission to BIG guests ? 5. Good job Showmasters – keep up the excellent work and keep up the calibre of guests !!! To many shows just bring in the same old faces and expect to clear their mortgage !!

Right ! I might as well post my thoughts on the weekend too ! I was only there for the Sunday, and have never been to a previous Showmasters event, but I have to say that the organisation was generally very good. It would seem that 80% plus of complaints are from people throwing the toys out of the pram, after not getting what they wanted. If you were to bring three out of four Hobbits to ANY event worldwide from now until the end of time, the crowds would just be MENTAL, but to do it 6 weeks before the premiere of the third movie ??? Use your brains people. All SM can do is SPECULATE !! Yes they said get there an hour before, and you SHOULD be ok, but nobody has a crystal ball. Just reading the posts in the forum, it was obvious that demand would be massive. If Dave Prowse, Kenny baker and Anthony Daniels had been at an event a month before the premier of Return of the Jedi, they would get writers cramp to say the least ! And as far as opening the doors early goes, what difference does it make ? If you had arrived at 9.45, you still would have been too far down the queue, whether it was indoors or out. I am just glad the centre let us in out of the cold. I had to rely on public transport, so I got to MK at 6.30am. I had a coffee at the bus station and went straight there about an hour later. I was still number 109 for Elijah !! (Great guy, but the American dealing with his queue needs a customer care course !!) I work for one of the main concert ticket outlets in the UK, and know only too well that you can never accurately predict demand, no matter how massive a specific show is. You know that bands like U2 and Westlife will be in demand, but will it sell out in an hour, or a week ? Will they play five concerts, or ten ? You just can’t ever be sure in advance ! This apart, I do agree that the venue is no longer suitable. I am sure a large open area within a shopping centre was fine when the guests were of the calibre of Kenny Baker and Paul Darrow (no disrespect to these random examples, or to Showmasters, but the first few shows did seem to feature “the regulars” of the signing circuit. If C5 and beyond continue to feature such world class guests (at risk of stating the obvious, lets hope they do) then we need a bigger, more suitable, CLOSED OFF venue. With all the guests in the same (approximate) area. After all, The four main LOTR guests were paired off, and could not have been further apart. It’s amazing that anyone got both Elijah and Sean. By the time you got a ticket for one, and FOUND the queue for the other …. Hands up who else felt like swearing at the Sunday shoppers who are obviously so bored with their own little lives, that they need to spend Sundays window shopping and poking fun at “the (insert geek based adjective of choice) people looking for autographs” while getting under our feet, blocking the areas and taking photos of everything that moved without spending money ? At least if the show was at a venue like the NEC you would be rid of this, and the congestion would be helped greatly. I doubt few people would mind paying 10-15 pounds admission for this to happen. Also, I think the show should move to somewhere more accessible for the international market it now attracts. Probably near a major airport, but certainly in a major city (no, sorry MK does not count !). It really has to be London, Birmingham, Manchester (or what’s wrong with Glasgow !!) The forum, and conversations I had over the weekend make it obvious that people are coming from all over Europe, not to mention the USA, Canada and Australia just to get their DVD signed at Collectormania ! These people need an accessible venue that they can get to by public transport, and has enough overnight accommodation for the sort of numbers involved. Please Please Showmasters, keep getting the rarer Bond and Star Wars guests, along with first time UK signers like Peter Weller (I still can’t believe I met Robocop!) and Kristanna Loken, but put the show where we can enjoy it without bottlenecks, gawpers and screaming teenage girls. Also – the virtual queuing is a good theory, but open to abuse. Cloakroom tickets are on sale all over the centre and are hardly foolproof. They also stand up to very little handling, and are small enough to loose easily. At the risk of putting your costs up, would special Collectormania numbered tickets be out of the question ?? Also, just to prove a point, I queued successfully for TWO Sean Astin tickets, 2 Dom tickets, and THREE for Serkis !! I just got one, and went straight back into the queue ! now …. A lesser man than me would be touting these tickets for profit – I know there is little can be done, but maybe you need to look into it ? I am sorry for those who didn’t get sorted, but when the Hobbit days were first posted, the forum was swamped with complainers – TOUGH COOKIES !! Similarly, I am sorry that you got up at three in the morning and drove 15,000 miles or whatever, but just because your wife hand made some piece of crap to give Elijah, doesn’t mean you deserve special treatment, sorry. THEY CAN ONLY SIGN SO MANY AUTOGRAPHS IN THE TIME AVAILABLE, get over it ! The organisation was fine, it’s just that the crowds (attendees and otherwise) because of the calibre of guest that made problems. I don’t think anyone, SM included, were FULLY prepared …. Lessons to learn : 1. A dedicated venue is needed with enough room and no gawpers 2. This venue must be more accessible internationally 3. The tickets for the queues need to be more foolproof 4. Possibly pre-sell admission to BIG guests ? 5. Good job Showmasters – keep up the excellent work and keep up the calibre of guests !!! To many shows just bring in the same old faces and expect to clear their mortgage !!

Right ! I might as well post my thoughts on the weekend too ! I was only there for the Sunday, and have never been to a previous Showmasters event, but I have to say that the organisation was generally very good. It would seem that 80% plus of complaints are from people throwing the toys out of the pram, after not getting what they wanted. If you were to bring three out of four Hobbits to ANY event worldwide from now until the end of time, the crowds would just be MENTAL, but to do it 6 weeks before the premiere of the third movie ??? Use your brains people. All SM can do is SPECULATE !! Yes they said get there an hour before, and you SHOULD be ok, but nobody has a crystal ball. Just reading the posts in the forum, it was obvious that demand would be massive. If Dave Prowse, Kenny baker and Anthony Daniels had been at an event a month before the premier of Return of the Jedi, they would get writers cramp to say the least ! And as far as opening the doors early goes, what difference does it make ? If you had arrived at 9.45, you still would have been too far down the queue, whether it was indoors or out. I am just glad the centre let us in out of the cold. I had to rely on public transport, so I got to MK at 6.30am. I had a coffee at the bus station and went straight there about an hour later. I was still number 109 for Elijah !! (Great guy, but the American dealing with his queue needs a customer care course !!) I work for one of the main concert ticket outlets in the UK, and know only too well that you can never accurately predict demand, no matter how massive a specific show is. You know that bands like U2 and Westlife will be in demand, but will it sell out in an hour, or a week ? Will they play five concerts, or ten ? You just can’t ever be sure in advance ! This apart, I do agree that the venue is no longer suitable. I am sure a large open area within a shopping centre was fine when the guests were of the calibre of Kenny Baker and Paul Darrow (no disrespect to these random examples, or to Showmasters, but the first few shows did seem to feature “the regulars” of the signing circuit. If C5 and beyond continue to feature such world class guests (at risk of stating the obvious, lets hope they do) then we need a bigger, more suitable, CLOSED OFF venue. With all the guests in the same (approximate) area. After all, The four main LOTR guests were paired off, and could not have been further apart. It’s amazing that anyone got both Elijah and Sean. By the time you got a ticket for one, and FOUND the queue for the other …. Hands up who else felt like swearing at the Sunday shoppers who are obviously so bored with their own little lives, that they need to spend Sundays window shopping and poking fun at “the (insert geek based adjective of choice) people looking for autographs” while getting under our feet, blocking the areas and taking photos of everything that moved without spending money ? At least if the show was at a venue like the NEC you would be rid of this, and the congestion would be helped greatly. I doubt few people would mind paying 10-15 pounds admission for this to happen. Also, I think the show should move to somewhere more accessible for the international market it now attracts. Probably near a major airport, but certainly in a major city (no, sorry MK does not count !). It really has to be London, Birmingham, Manchester (or what’s wrong with Glasgow !!) The forum, and conversations I had over the weekend make it obvious that people are coming from all over Europe, not to mention the USA, Canada and Australia just to get their DVD signed at Collectormania ! These people need an accessible venue that they can get to by public transport, and has enough overnight accommodation for the sort of numbers involved. Please Please Showmasters, keep getting the rarer Bond and Star Wars guests, along with first time UK signers like Peter Weller (I still can’t believe I met Robocop!) and Kristanna Loken, but put the show where we can enjoy it without bottlenecks, gawpers and screaming teenage girls. Also – the virtual queuing is a good theory, but open to abuse. Cloakroom tickets are on sale all over the centre and are hardly foolproof. They also stand up to very little handling, and are small enough to loose easily. At the risk of putting your costs up, would special Collectormania numbered tickets be out of the question ?? Also, just to prove a point, I queued successfully for TWO Sean Astin tickets, 2 Dom tickets, and THREE for Serkis !! I just got one, and went straight back into the queue ! now …. A lesser man than me would be touting these tickets for profit – I know there is little can be done, but maybe you need to look into it ? I am sorry for those who didn’t get sorted, but when the Hobbit days were first posted, the forum was swamped with complainers – TOUGH COOKIES !! Similarly, I am sorry that you got up at three in the morning and drove 15,000 miles or whatever, but just because your wife hand made some piece of crap to give Elijah, doesn’t mean you deserve special treatment, sorry. THEY CAN ONLY SIGN SO MANY AUTOGRAPHS IN THE TIME AVAILABLE, get over it ! The organisation was fine, it’s just that the crowds (attendees and otherwise) because of the calibre of guest that made problems. I don’t think anyone, SM included, were FULLY prepared …. Lessons to learn : 1. A dedicated venue is needed with enough room and no gawpers 2. This venue must be more accessible internationally 3. The tickets for the queues need to be more foolproof 4. Possibly pre-sell admission to BIG guests ? 5. Good job Showmasters – keep up the excellent work and keep up the calibre of guests !!! To many shows just bring in the same old faces and expect to clear their mortgage !!

hey showmasters. let,s look at this logically. sean connery is out of the question, fair ? but what about moore, dalton, and *whispers* lazenby ?? are they all non starters? george has been known to raise his head occasionally .....

he was in x2 also. apparently chris is not into the signing thing. forbidden planet managed it a while go though !! yaphet kotto would be great - the first black bond villain does anyone know if he is into conventions ?? is he still alive ?? he would also please the fans of the alien franchise. sean bean - bond an LOTR - has he been mentioned yet ?? big bad borimir - ONE HUNDRED AND EIIIIIIIIIGHTYY !! UNLUCKY ! THEY SHOULD HAVE REWRITTEN IT AND GOT RID OF VIGGO !! CAN;T wait 2c honour and davi tomorrow. god bless the little hobbits for the distraction.

hi there - if u mean autographica.co.uk it was hacked recently, but tanya will be there. the site should be back up now. she will also be at the nec, birmingham on 29 + 30th november - their bond list is amazing. burt kwouk, zena marshall, shirley eaton, richard kiel, etc..... memorabilia.co.uk is the place to look..... i am sure SM will not mind

Hi guys - I am getting a boat from belfast in the next ten minutes. Then a bus from STRANRAER, and will be in Milton Keynes Coachway around 4.30 AM !!!! any info on travelling from here to the centre appreciated. Also, can i assume from the board that I should have no problem meeting Honor Blackman tomorrow ? Any help / info appreciated ! Dufresne 07754 737777 (texts welcome!!)

I think "dropping like flies" is a bit strong. However, I do wish Kane all the best, and a plague on the house of Mr Williams ! Take a look at the thread in his name to see why .....

I reckon he'll be at c5

Ooops ! Too late .... Eddie Izzard has been cast !

I am busing it overnight from belfast. I get to Milton Keynes at 4.30 am. Does anyone know if the bus station is open 24 hours ??

So where are all the Honor Blackman fans ???