Apologies from Showmasters

[Hobbette]

We had fun at the event We weren't really looking to get autographs or anything like that cos although we are fans of the movie and actors we just felt that there were younger, more enthusiastic fans who would appreciate that more. (Plus we fancy the guys ... weird to get an autograph and stuff then, right? For us anyway.)

 

But, we did get a great view of Elijah and Dominic from beside where they were signing. We helped a girl get a picture of Elijah while chatting with her mother Elijah seemed very polite - thanking everyone and stuff. Then we went round to see Andy and Sean and went outside for a better look through the window and that was the best thing to do really. We harassed Sean all day in fact He kept waving at us and he made a "brr-it's-cold-out-there" face at us (which we got a piccie of - aww) which was super nice of him. He was very good with the people he met in the queues but also to the few of us who kept popping up outside to say hello.

 

So all in all we had a fun day. And that was Monday. We weren't there for the weekend days cos we assumed they'd be mad - seems like we were right to suspect that. We went to the "Two Towers" screening on Sunday night and that was lots of fun - even though all the guys left Dominic do most of the talking!!

 

We'll definitely come back for 5 if the guests are who we want to see. But this time we'll bring mum cos she's, like, super obsessed and beyond jealous! So, in our opinion, CM was very good - the guys there were very helpful (except for the people who worked at the event who kept running in and out and setting down a ton of pictures for the actors to sign, interrupting the fans who had queued for tickets - that was out of order - cos it was the same guys coming back). MK is a great city - love it so much and the people there were very friendly and really helpful when we kept getting lost (something that happens easily in MK we were told by a helpful person). We hope it stays in MK cos we want an excuse to come back

[Katchoo]

I have to admit, it was all a bit too much for me, being a touch claustrophobic in crowds but I do feel on the whole that the complaints about tickets being handed out early are really a bit of a moot point. If people have queued overnight or from 6am then they're going to get the tickets first, as they should do. Whether the tickets were handed out early or not (and they weren't on the Monday, I know I queued for three hours before they did get handed out), the people arriving after 10 am on the Sunday never stood a chance of getting a ticket anyway.

 

What I did find, on the Monday was that there were so many people just hanging around the end of Elijah's queue that it was almost impossible to tell where it was, and most of those people were not going into the queue. IMO, there needs to more of a barrier around the end of the queue to stop bottle necking and keep the 'gawping' to a minimum. It's a minor criticism really, on teh whole I thought Monday went very very well, and kudos in particular to the lady with the grey hair managing Dom's queue, girl you rock! She sent people scurrying off with a flea in their ear if they tried to get in and lurk about and kept it running extremely smoothly.

 

I think Mk is fine, but I do tend to agree that the venue was a tad small for the 'Elijah Syndrome', but Sean, Andy and the others queues were easy to navigate so is it really worth moving the whole thing for the sake of two guests? I don't know really.

 

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, but on the whole I don't really think it was half as bad as a lot of people seem to think. People camping out or arriving early isn't anything new, ask football stadium box offices!

[hobbitlover]

Showmasters did an good job it was the screaming girls that made the mistake. Turn up early like I did then you will see them don't bang on the windows complain scream or run after them.

 

If you act like that they won't come back and showmasters won't ask them back.

[gilgalad70]

I've been reading more grouches dating from before my grouch last night. What planet are you guys on?

 

Making 4000 fanboys plus countless normal shoppers through the doors at 10am just because it's 'fair'? 4000 fanboys racing through that place would completely screw up everything. Like I said you'd then get complaints from those who picked the wrong doors etc. Or went the wrong direction, or just got done in the crush. Hillsborough? anybody remember Hillsborough? Hellooo?

 

Ok so to assuage the fans who would be guaranteed not to get an autograph, you set up a quick Q&A in the midst of chaos thus reducing the number of autographs the guys could sign anyway. hmmm, Dime Bar? Duh! If you wanna ask questions get a ticket for the screening. I did, and felt so sorry for Sala and Brent at the first TTT showing because 60% of the question were for Dom,. 25% for Lawrene, and all Four could answer the rest (Andy was a no-show on Saturday's screening)

 

Where are these shows that charge for entry but don't charge per autograph? I've done a few in the US and a few here, get charged per auto and per day at everyone bar Collectormania. How would charging entry then not charging per auto reduce queues? Once you paid your flat entry fee, you can then, therefore, get as many autos as you like, if you work the suggested system. So therefore the dealers can hog the guests even more, and quite frankly tell anyone who complains that they paid more than you so you can stick it, or put up with it. Dave Prowse at Memorabilia got huge queues yet charged more (plus the entry fee) Yet at the Temeura Morrison C2 show, he was charging less yet seemed to be unencumbered by auto requests on the Friday (my only day that time, my first at one of showmasters events..)

 

The virtual ticketing system wasn't that well explained, granted, it wasn't explained to the casual visitor or those that didn't have every digital byte of data burned into their brains.

 

The reason the security guys were getting folks to get off the mini-wall was so the fans wouldn't hurt themselves. It's called trying to reduce the US-style legal bills that would have surely ensued if little Frodo did happened to slip and break his neck from standing on the wall due to no real fault of Showmasters. If the security guys do it, it's their lookout. They are probably covered for liability, you wouldn't be. At my second go with Sean on the Monday (only having enough to get 6 of the possible 9 items I wanted signed at 5.30 the previous day after waiting all day and (shush.) going round the shopping centre and living a LIFE instead of hanging around all day) I asked after I had my items signed if I could shoot just some footage of Sean signing and taking a few quick shots. The security guy offered to move to allow a better shot and warned me about the risks if I took up my initial spot on the wall. I got my shots, didn't hold up the queues, and managed to not kill myself by slipping on the mud between the two walls (shame, I know).

 

On the Orlando thing.. I'm told that Orlando is in contact with showmasters, as are most cast members, either directly or via agents. Remember it wasn't Dom's agent or Elijah's agent that showmasters contacted to get them to the show. I'm told that Billy had such a good time in May that he got Dom to show briefly when he did to checkout the lay of the land, Dom got Sean in, and Elijah joined up at San Diego. Orlando came over with Dom from NYC, shared a room with him over the weekend (gee, how about adding that to the rumours Dom and Elijah mentioned at the screenings......) did a tour on Sunday, was even spotted Monday lunchtime, and at other times by two separate persons I know. One of the 'helpers' tried to suggest it was a 'very good' lookalike.

 

Whilst I'm not exactly pleased with the way things went (only 1 in-person sig from both Elijah and Dom, but bought 1 each from an evil dealer for the same price that they were charging up the road) I met the guys, got snippets of info and background I can pass on to other LOTR fans in the family who couldn't go, met Lurtz Mr Kil and Kristanna Loken, not to mention the great Corey Feldman! Twice! LOL! Could be worse ways of spending your money. Just think if you were an out and out Star Wars fan, no Billy Dee or Gary Kurtz...... I'd be well pissed if I'd got there and travelled hours and found NO ONE!

 

Btw did anyone else know that California is in the United States? Dom asked the crowd at the Sat screening who had travelled furthest to get here. Some girl eventually was able to show just how much of a fan she was by telling us California, adding it was in the United States. Just in case we thought that accent was from Califorrnia, West Midlands.... We got a few Malays etc as well, plus a STACK of Dutch.... (I'm told they like GOOOOOOLLLLLLLDDDD! so Daniel Logan says..) LOL!

[wyrdsister]

I've had my say on the subject already, but i'll just add a quick thought about the whole LOTR thing. First, I think it's an awsome achievement for SM to have brought these guests over. This said, the queuing system needs ajustment for big guests such as these, I'm not sure what could be done better. indesight is a wonderful thing, and it might be an idea to issue queue ticket away from the signing posts of high profile guests in the future. A separate booth at the SM organisers table might solve some of the crowding madness around the signings areas.

 

It was all a bit mad, but in the end, It worked out for me. As for the venue, well, I think it's fine, although a bit manic with shoppers around, who tend to be irrespectful of peeps like ourselves who have a hobby that has the "nerd" stigma attached. not pleasant at times, but I learned a long time ago not to vare much about that.

 

I have some ideas about bits and pieces which I'd be happy to share with anyone @ showmasters who are interested, if they want. I've already offered to help next event. I'm sure the mods have an e-mail address for me if they want to get in touch.

It was a bit mad, and a bit overwhelming for the many peeps ( like myself) but I got lucky and got the signatures I wanted. I was a bit cheesed off at a couple of things, but i trust Showmasters will put on a better show next year. :)

 

cheers

Steph

Edited October 8, 2003 by wyrdsister

[gilgalad70]

One minor grouch with the setup on Monday was why they kept the guys all up the aisles. No other guests. Lots of spare partition barriers about to stop gawpers on the sidelines etc. rearrange the temporary barriers to snake along horizontally so the queues don't clog up the whole place, plus to the casual shopper it looked like a ghost town. Signs up saying collectormania with all these guests listed, yet no seats taken... Plus at might also encourage the waiting masses to possibly wander around the stalls and find that one piece of fandom that will make their day even more complete than if just meeting Elijah... Eg, one of the Dutch dealers had managed to sell 80ps worth of envelopes in 90 mins, despite stocking tons of other stuff... 80 p in 90 mins.... hmmmm hectic..

[KT171]

maybe you should not put main guests next to a window either-poor Elijah was over heating and all my photo's were crap!!!

[m4sure]

Even though I was lucky enough to get to meet Elijah, Dom & Sean on Monday...I was however very upset by the way this event was managed by the organisers. To be told you can only take pictures of the stars whilst queuing up & then discovering that all you could see through your camera lens was PEOPLE QUEUING UP...and then being told that you couldn't have personalised Autographs & then the staff letting a handful of people to do exactly that...right after you...was MIS MANAGEMENT at it's worst!

 

I remember asking at the C4 booth about getting tickets & was told several different versions of how to ensure I got them in the space of 5 mins. It appeared that SM was making a lot of the rules up as they went along...no one knew what the other person was doing & with letting people get another ticket to see the same Star & preventing someone else getting a chance was very bad.

 

I didn't take SM advice, otherwise I would of left there empty handed...I was queuing from 4am on Monday to get anything...but still only had a few seconds with the actors. One thing that really made me angry was the way I was treated by the person handling Seans' queue. I had given him the photo to sign & he spoke to me for a nano-sec & asked me a question...but before I could reply all I heard was "NEXT PLEASE" & I was brushed off!

 

Ok I can understand that the queues need to move smoothly...but this was ridiculous!

Dom was more or less the same thing...couldn't even speak to him...he didn't even have time to look at me or even ask my name.

 

I don't blame the Stars themselves they were brilliant as ever...but you could see that they weren't happy with the rush...but then they had no choice like us.

 

As for the screenings...they were great...apart from the fact of the large group of guys pretty much taking over the front of the cinema & not letting others at the back get a word in edgeways at the Q&A!!!!!!!! That was very off putting.

 

I would definately come again...but I really think that SM need to take a really good look at how they will manage this event for C5. For a start...only letting fans get one thing signed & not letting some of them go back to get another one the next day. Maybe being able to pre-book the screening tickets with an autograph gauranteed when meeting the guests? Just a thought.

 

I did have some enjoyable moments from C4, but it was marred by some pretty much awful ones too.

Also, it really annoyed me, the way those girls kept screaming for Dom & Elijah...did they want them to think again before attending another one!?!

 

Please SM listen to the fans...we need this event as much as you do & I appreciate that you worked hard...but still a lot of guys got pretty traumatised by missing out!

 

If you're going to have rules...then stick with them...don't just tell someone something & then change your mind without telling the other staff.

And don't let some fans get all the privilages while others miss out totally.

 

Things need to be fair for everyone.

 

 

[Cheshire Cat]

It was the best weekend of my life and I'm nearly 40!!! Please tell that to the organisers. We turned up very early for everything to make sure we weren't disappointed and it worked. We sat in the front rows of the screenings, we got all the autographs we wanted and we met some brilliant people. I was spending the weekend with a lady who had travelled over from Alabama especially to see Elijah and we had a ball.

 

OK so there were a few problems because of the number of people who turned up, but the stars and fans were all behaving impecably as far as I could see and the only cause of distress was the abruptness and rudeness of the staff. My hug from Elijah Wood would have been captured on camera if two burly security guards hadn't stood in her way. When we protested we were told to come back at 6pm - 8 hours later!!!

 

There MUST be a limit on the number of autographs you can purchase off one ticket. The woman in front of me in the Elijah queue must have had well over 20 photographs to sign, no doubt so she could sell them on on ebay. This is NOT fair, and Showmasters needs to realize this.

 

But these small complaints apart it still remained the most memorable, exciting, exhilerating weekend I've ever spent. High on emotion and forming some fantastic friendships.

 

Please tell your son that it was worth his while. Many many people went away VERY happy bunnies.

[Gandalfia]

Hey Cheshire Cat, I met a lady from Alabama while in the queue for Andy on Monday. Was that you lot? It was myself and 2 other ladies and we were all ecstatic after having met Elijah about 3 minutes before.

 

After we saw Andy, you (if it was you!) were all sitting outside and we came over and spoke to you for a while. If it was you, I have a photo of two of you with Andy, if you want it. But you probably have loads as it is!

 

Taz xx

[TishTosh]

Lol, I was just thinking *oh no, Showmasters will probably read the whole of this thread* Lots of us are posting essays! HE heeeeeeee! I had a fantastic time! Altho I have the curse of the black marker pens! Dom signed my personalised auto in black, I asked him a few seconds too late to do it in gold or silver....OH NOOOoooo! Not again! My Elijah one is in silver tho..And if thats all i have to complain about then...I mean...come on! He heeee...Gettin me pics back soon....*Prays that they all come out well*...Im alot more taken with Elijah then I thought I'd be u know!

[noseybird]

I would like to add to all the comments on here. iwork in the shopping centre and had been able to get the sunday off. OK on sunday i only got andys sig and i had to wait until the end of the day, but i went with my sister-in-law and niece and we got some fab photos, which made up for the head-ache and all the chaos of the day.

On monday me,my hubby and sister-in-law with her two kiddys went , unfortunatly i had to leave them in the lij que whilst i went to work, however hearing dom and lij playing with the centrs tanoy was very funny and we managed to get lij and seans sig on the monday.

I have walked past and through every event held here inthe centre and this was the first one i took active involvement in and ok maybe a bit more preperation could have been done in the way of crowd control, but all in all i thought it was fab.

Edited October 8, 2003 by noseybird

[ElvesHaveHotmail]

None of this was Showmasters fault in any way but I wish I could re live that Sunday again! It was so horrid! First off...

I had not been to a Collectormania before and I didn't really realise that tickets to see the stars sell out so quickly so I left my house at about 11:20am and got there at around 11:40. Me and my best mate went inside and went to find Elijah. We saw tha massive board that's up behind him with the picture of Frodo on it and knew he was there so we started walking down. We also saw that Dom was next to him. Well, we both walked down there and while we did loads of girls started screaming at something. Me and my mate were both like, 'Who are they screaming at?' Later we found out that it was Lij and Dom going on their break but we didn't know at the time. So we kept walking down until we got to the side of where Elijah was signing and there were loads of people there and as I'm such a short person I couldn't see anything. So me and my mate went back up and looked around the stalls. While we were there we saw a white board where is said that the tickets for Elijah and Dominic were all sold out. I felt horrible! I didn't know they'd be sold out so quickly! So we walked back down to where he was so we could at least get a gander at him. But we still couldn't see. Then I heard a crew-person say that they were both on a break so I put 2+2 together and realised that everyone was screaming at them both going out so we went to where people were crowded round but no one did anything so we left to go to the stalls again... we just started to walk off when Elijah and Dom came back in! We were so gutted! And where we were standing would have been perfect to see him but as soon as we left he came back! So as we knew they were both there we wrnt back down but we still couldn't see anything! And as there was a load of epople the crew made everyone go more back than before so we couldn't see ANYTHING! I felt horrible so we gave up in the end! We walked off and my eyes started to water but I was determined to hold them back so I didn't cry. If I didn't hold it back I would have done! If he comes back next year (which I so badly hope) I will make it my mission sort of thing to meet him! I'll wait from midnight if I have to! Anyway... I just wanted to say what happened. Hope a load of other people had a great time and were luckier than I was.

[fadagaski]

It was Lij on the speakers? I heard Dom's announcement pretty well, but people started screaming with the second person and I thought it was Andy. Can someone please tell me what they said? Ta,

 

~fadagaski~

[_Sarah_]

I wasn't disappointed in ANY way..I can totally understand you! I mean..figure writing over 1000 autographs a day...!! The way you organised the whole stuff was fair..it was! Even if I had no sleep from sunday-monday..lol but it was worth it..! :)

For me it was a awesome, orgasmic weekend! It rocked! And I will be at C5 for sure!!! :)