Anyone else disappointed?

[Bohan_]

She hasn't?!? I'm actually shocked (and also wondering where the hell I got her auto from!)

 

Probably at some London show where the organisers have a manga fetish!

 

Alexandra Bastedo was not only in a main Casino Royale role but also had the leading lady role in the TV series The Champions - Signed only ONCE anywhere.

 

She is a huge guest for showmasters to get, I was really pleased with her announcement.

[dazzlerjames]

I live near Manchester and had already made the decision not to go to CM @ Milton Keynes - then they announced Ian and Maggie (who I also missed at LFCC) so give them time..

 

I personally am not interested in the bond or thunderbird guests but am looking forward to meeting Dirk, Dwight, Robert Englund and Bruce Spence. Also its sometimes enough to see the stars of yesteryear and how they look now (I'm 32 so remember dempsey and makepeace!).

How about inviting Boycie and Marlene to Manchester I know they did MK.

 

The trouble with film guests is that they are busier than those who are between series or on "leave" from acting.

 

I was disappointed with LFCC especially after spending so much on getting and staying there especially after Christopher Lee cancelled and only saw about 3 guests but it did free up more cash for "toys". But I didn't come on here slagging off SG-1 guests or Buffy (both of which I can't stand). If everyone enjoyed the same things and wanted to meet the same people - think of the queues!!!!

 

I'm rambling but I'm trying to say each to their own so just either go or don't!!

[martine]

I still have hope that there will be some rarer guest announcements or non regulars but so far. Yup pretty dissapointing, esp since I gave C10 a miss for this one while there were at least 7 I wanted there and now just Miranda.

 

At least I'll be seeing lots of friends again.

[orlilover]

I have to agree only Miranda Otto, Craig Parker and Robert Englund for me. Bring on somemore peeps SM.

Edited October 12, 2006 by orlilover

[jacksparrowsmistress]

Yes SM have been very busy announcing new guests, but there's not a single one in that bunch that interests me. So far the only person that even vaguely interests me from the entire lineup is Miranda Otto and I'm starting to think that even she's not worth coming up from London for, paying for travel and accommodation etc.

 

I'm sure there are others like me who just aren't interested in stars from yester-year. The ones I want to meet and pay out for are the current ones, people from current or very recent films/tv, not ones from 25 years ago, sorry.

 

I do hope that we get some like that or I will have to give it a miss, 1 person isnt worth forking out for this trip I'm afraid.

 

I have to say that this is the worst snobbery. Assuming you are old enough to recall the stars and shows of "yesteryear", what makes them so unsatisfactory ?? Yes we all want Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey and Josh Holloway, but personally I'm looking forward to meeting Wanda Ventham, George Sewell, Dirk and Dwight, and maybe even Colin Baker (again!) Just because it's been a while since a guest was in a hit show, doesn't

 

make them a crappy guest ....

 

I think that's unfair, she didn't say they were crappy guests, just that she wasn't interested in stars that are from films/shows that are old. I think that's a fair point, I too have no interest in people from shows that were on when I was a kid and I think past shows have shown that the more popular guests are the more current ones.

 

 

Thank you Chris, as you said, I didnt say they were crappy, I said they didnt interest me.

 

Yes I am old enough to recall the stars of yesteryear, and I was a fan of the A Team and other shows as a kid, but I'm not interested in paying out good money to meet stars from back then, especially ones that haven't really done anything of note (in my opinion) since then.

 

And I've never heard of most of the stars that have been recently announced. The 3 Bond 'stars' someone mentioned may have been important in those films, but I've still never heard their names before, therefore I'm not prepared to pay to meet them. The other stars that have been announced, such as Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson, are lovely guys, but I've met them both multiple times before, and so many of the others are repeat guests too (apart from Julie Benz who I'm not interested in meeting as I've never watched Buffy).

 

I'm not slagging off the guests, I'm sure they're lovely people, I'm offering my opinion, which I believe I'm entitled to do.

[dufresne]

OK so I worded it badly, and for the record, obviously I respect your opinion !!

 

All I was saying (and you have reinforced your belief in your most recent post) is that I consider it snobbery to not want older guests, simply because they haven't been famous more recently.

 

I was a fan of the A Team as a kid. Yes, I've seen it recently and it has dated terribly. In terms of 2006 telly it is clique ridden, badly made, and dare I say plotless ! And yes Dirk and Dwight have been living off the con circuit rather than acting for a good ten years. But they rocked my world in 1984 or whatever ..... and for THAT i want to meet them. To shake their hand. To have the typically brief chat that SM crew will allow.

 

Not one rat's a$$ could I give that neither has appeared in Buffy, or CSI, or Lost ..... or any show really since the A Team was cancelled. Their credentials are cast iron in my opinion.

[menmeryiset]

I also agree. The only 3 that interest me are Miranda Otto, Craig and Mark but I have already met Craig and Mark several times. At the moment i don't see it as worth the money going at the moment as none of the others interest me. I am hoping for some higher profile guests to be announced, which SM always seem to have a knack of coming up with close to the show :)

[jacksparrowsmistress]

I was a fan of the A Team as a kid. Yes, I've seen it recently and it has dated terribly. In terms of 2006 telly it is clique ridden, badly made, and dare I say plotless ! And yes Dirk and Dwight have been living off the con circuit rather than acting for a good ten years. But they rocked my world in 1984 or whatever ..... and for THAT i want to meet them. To shake their hand. To have the typically brief chat that SM crew will allow.

 

Ah there's the sticking point. I'd be happy to shake their hands and speak to them for the reasons you've said, but I dont want to have to pay money to do it as I have no interest in getting an autograph from either of them. Yes sometimes it's possible at SM conventions, but not often.

[Mr Pink]

i agree that there are not many great guests but the show is not tomorrow, there is stil time, i bet showmasters have something up their sleeve, i trust them to provide a great show, and plus my lotr wall needs miranda otto

[Lex_Luthor]

Showmasters know they can get guests in from the cheap end of the market without it affecting audience attendence. Those people who go to just to meet their friends even though they have no interest in the guests, will still have paid to get in, and those few people who are interested in the guests the rest of us haven\'t heard off will pay silly amounts for signatures as well has having paid at the door.

 

From past experience, no one is interested in what the older audience would see as high quality and expensive guests. Showmasters aren\'t likely to waste their money again on the likes of Reynolds, Biehn, Weller when in the main they don\'t attract people to events.

 

Forum users who in the past have started forums like \"why do you go to Collectormania?\" and give options like \"I only go to see my friends\" which get a huge response, are in my opinion partly to blame for all the poor quality guests.

[gilgalad70]

I've trawled through this thread since my post about Miranda/Julie etc...

 

'Only seen Brosnan Bond films, the rest don't interest me... ' HOW DO YOU KNOW!

 

'Only see films starring people I'm interested in.... ' How do you get to know these people you're interested in if you don't open your eyes and experience new sensations/people/feelings!

 

'There aren't enough current people.... ' 'they're all old shows...' Gee and to think UK Gold ever showed something modern! ITV4 shows The Champions every week, same as UFO, Space 1999, Persuaders (Now if SM were to get Tony Curtis........ I'd defy ANYONE to grouch about HIM!)

 

Btw, since Buffy and Angel aren't exactly 'current' tv shows by most definitions... why do you lot still beg for such ancient stars...?

[DavidB]

Showmasters know they can get guests in from the cheap end of the market without it affecting audience attendence. Those people who go to just to meet their friends even though they have no interest in the guests, will still have paid to get in, and those few people who are interested in the guests the rest of us haven\'t heard off will pay silly amounts for signatures as well has having paid at the door.

 

From past experience, no one is interested in what the older audience would see as high quality and expensive guests. Showmasters aren\'t likely to waste their money again on the likes of Reynolds, Biehn, Weller when in the main they don\'t attract people to events.

 

Forum users who in the past have started forums like \"why do you go to Collectormania?\" and give options like \"I only go to see my friends\" which get a huge response, are in my opinion partly to blame for all the poor quality guests.

 

There's no real logic behind that argument, especially the final paragraph.

 

For a start, everyone is aware (and yes, this includes Showmasters) that 'forum users' make up a small percentage of the overall attendance number at any show. And those who only go to see friends are an even smaller percentage. It may well be a 'huge' response in terms of the numbers that have answered a poll, but in the grand scale of things it's hardly representative of anything.

 

Poor quality guests will not be signed up just because Showmasters believe they'll get their entrance money and that's all that matters. What's the point in getting guests that no-one will meet? Any organiser wants an attendee to spend money beyond on the door!

 

And as for 'older audience', those are arguably the ones with the most money! So to cater towards them would be pretty sensible. Having a few 'older' attendees spending £300 on autographs at one event is a lot better than relying on a few 'younger' attendees spending £10 on the door just to get in and do nothing.

 

I'm pretty sure that it's more true of the Milton Keynes event that people can come along just to see friends etc as they don't have to pay to get in, while to go to Manchester AND pay to get in would be quite costly just to hang around with a few friends.

 

These are not predominantly social events, they are autograph signing events. It's proven time and again that if there's not good quality guests then people simply won't attend - they'll either wait for the next SM event, or go elsewhere for other guests.

 

By 'wasting' their money on Reynolds and Biehn etc, I assume you do know all the financial information about the events and the specific guests and whether they did well or not, yes? Because you can't just judge based on looking at queues or whatever, plus remembering back to that LFACC, there were travel factors etc too, so that's different. There's a LOT of benefits to getting guests of that stature and they WILL be popular, and they are still requested to this day to return. As for Weller, he was a miserable git most of the time as many have acknowledged, but he'd be good to get back for 24.

 

These lineups will always be put together based on finances and availability, neither of which any of us really know anything about because we're not told, so it's hard to judge reasoning behind any guest choice. However, I don't see people who go along to see friends as a reason for any of it.

[natfrog5]

It must be hard for Showmasters to satisfy everyone's wishlist at each event. I think they do really well.

 

I'm not going to deny that I would love so much for a Lost guest to be announced but if they dont then I've still got Joe and Julie to meet and I cant wait! Plus for me it's just as much about the social side, having fun, looking round the stalls etc.

 

xxxx

[salkunh]

If it wasn't for the fact that I live within spitting distance of Manchester and travel there most days for uni related shinanigans then I really wouldn't be going. As it is theres only two guests I want to see. I'm just gonna see those two then go to the Christmas Market in the city centre. Way more interesting then James Bond bit parts and Harry Potter guests.

 

Definately disappointed with Showmasters.

[showmasters]

...we have 4 WEEKS to go and we see this every time!

 

I am now going to close this topic as it really serves no purpose.

 

May I suggest to those that see nothing of interest for them this time to look the day before the show. Take a look at the guest list and decide to come. Or not.

 

But complaining 4 weeks before the show is a waste of time, because if we were to announce the likes of Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe or Roger Moore then this thread would just disappear. It's a waste of time for all of us. We cannot promise anything and complaining is certainly not going to push us to cancel our current guest line-up and change it to suit the few people who want to see a different range of guests. We know we cannot please all the fans all the time, it's a physical impossibility, but we do try to bring a wide range of guests so that there will be at least one or two guests that the majority of fans will want to meet.

 

We have confirmations from guests up to a couple of days before a show and a big name is just as likely to be announced at the last minute as a smaller guest, so just wait until the final list is up.

 

The fact is we have brought more major guests to UK events than any other organisation and more first time signers than any other organisation, and more fans come to a Showmasters event than any other organisation. We do our best, so if there is something for you this time then by all means do come along and enjoy the day, but if not then maybe try us next time.

 

But these "disappointed" threads are just a real waste of everybodies time.

 

Sorry, I just had to tell this from our point of view for a change.

 

Jason