Reviews and opinions of the guests...

[Phantom]

I got to give props to Ian Hilditch as he was a nice chap and again i felt cheeky with the free auto.I got him to personalise the Ood shot with "To Thomas ....YOUR SONG IS ENDING SOON !" which i was surprised to hear hed only been asked to write as a dedication twice beforehand.

Thomas is my 8 year old nephew and i now feel like ive put a curse on him.If anyone ever knocks on the front door 4 times hes going to be petrified.

I must also say that Molly Peters seemed a very nice lady too.

[Zagreus]

I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. Everyone I met (with one exception - see my post in "Mickey Rooney Photosession") was so kind and took the time to chat with me.

Ke Huy Quan - Very nice, polite, friendly

Dave Prowse - Always friendly and liked my photo I'd made up so much he asked me to send one to him!

Velile Tshabalala - Lovely, chatted with me and asked about the photo I had made up to get signed. Said her Mum would love one!

Murray Melvin - A real gentleman. A cool look to him, but he is one of the nicest guys you could ever talk to.

Sonny Landham - A great, warm, caring guy. He reminded me of Elvis... And his assistant was lovely too, thanking me for using £5 notes.

 

Ernest Borgnine - The top-dog of the weekend. VERY funny (especially during photo-session), taking time for every single person. A wonderful personality, a fantastic looking man for his age.

George Kennedy - Again, taking time for everyone and telling me how much he loves the Englsh hospitality (I didn't bother telling him I was Scottish).

Angus Lennie - So polite and friendly. We talked about Greenock and his early performances.

[Psychosis]

Sonny Landham - A great, warm, caring guy. He reminded me of Elvis... And his assistant was lovely too, thanking me for using £5 notes.

 

Was that Saturday or Sunday? Just curious We love our £5 notes around there!

[Zagreus]

It was Saturday, early on in the day.

[Psychosis]

It was Saturday, early on in the day.

 

In that case, hello *waves* That was me. I was slightly desperate at that point, hehe. I remember you. Glad you had a nice time!

[Zagreus]

Thanks for remembering me - it was nice to meet you too!

[sdog]

With just one exception (a diminutive Hollywood star who rather let himself down with his attitude on Saturday) all of the guests I met were a real joy.

 

On Saturday Murray Melvin proved to be a real gentleman, very chatty and happy to discuss his work with Ken Russell. Chatting to him was a real highlight, but special mention too for Ian McNiece who as the "free guest" did a magnificent job. Thumbs up too for David Warner, Velile and a rather bemused but thoroughly likeable George Harris.

 

In the Autographica room Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy were fantastic guests and didn't disappoint in the slightest. They were real stars and a pleasure to meet.

 

On Sunday Russell Tovey and Lenora Crichlow were also utterly charming - terrificly friendly and seemed genuinely pleased to meet thier fans.

 

Finally, Madeline Smith was lovely too. I'd heard that she was worth meeting and am glad I made the effort because I had a long talk with her about Roger Moore and Frankie Howerd. I can see now why she remains such a popular guest.

 

Over all a great weekend - very well run, an excellent line up of guests, the special room for food and drinks was very reasonable and a great idea. Another very good event and with a few more trader stalls it could have been even better.

[Werewolf Tickler]

Thank you all at ShowMasters for a truly excellent day out. It was an insanely long day for me as I'd gone to the event straight from a 12 hour shift at work and spent over 3 hours on public transport!!!!

When I finally arrived I was relieved to see that none of my 3 guests had done a last minute cancellation. David Morrissey fans must have been well gutted. As I entered I noticed that there wasn't as many stalls as other events and that it was pretty small. This proved to enhance the atmosphere of the event as everyone was really friendly and having a great time.

First on my hit list was Sonny Landham and the fella did not disappoint. A very charming, welcoming man who appeared to enjoy meeting his fans every bit as much as they enjoyed meeting him. His talk was entertaining as well, random anecdotes and in particular the fight demonstration. Classic. The only downer was I had to leave before the photoshoot, so didn't get my pic with him. Next time Sonny!

Next up, George Harris. A signature that was an absolute must on my Raiders poster. What a nice bloke, very softly spoken and extremely friendly. We talked about the Raiders shoot near La Rochelle and the U Boat, which also featured in the German flick Das Boot. A delight to meet.

Finally, Ke Huy Quan. His queue was pretty slow moving but after a few minutes I got to meet the man himself. I was surprised by how little he seemed to have changed from the mid 80s, he must have access to some kind of fountain of youth or something! He was a nice guy and his partner was lovely too almost jumping off her seat when I asked to have our picture taken. I got 1 autograph and it will soon have a place of honour on my wall when I buy a frame for it.

Overall I had an awesome, if not very long day. And when Collectormania MK comes round (or any event with Predator guests) I'll be doing it all over again!

Thanks

[chrismk]

I have somewhat mixed feelings about this event.

Firstly, the guest list. Whilst I think in general, it was a strong line up (especially for Autographica), there were few guests I wanted to meet (which I realise is down to my personal choice and is not a compliant!) Secondly, I wasn't sold on the venue. The car park was horrific (such tiny, tiny spaces) and the place was a maze. There didn't seem to be enough room for dealers (that or a lot of them have given up/gone bust!) as it only took a couple of minutes to get round. I think if there had been guests like James Masters or John Barrowman on Collectormania side, it would have been a huge issue.

Finally, the communication was pretty poor (maybe the crew couldn't find each other in the maze). I only wanted to meet The Being Human cast, get a photo with them and listen to their talk. Meeting Lenora and the photos went smoothly, but there was a bit of a problem when they failed to return from their lunch. There was a large crowd waiting to meet Russell and we kept getting told that he was expected at the signing table before the talk. Of course, as time dragged on, it became evident that this was not going to happen (at one point, we heard that the guests couldn't be found - victims of the maze prehaps?) and we had to persuade the crew to issue VQ tickets to those who had been stood around for 40 minutes. After finally getting the tickets, we headed to the talk, only to find Russell and Lenora already on stage. Luckily, disappointment was averted by the brilliant talk between the two guests, who demonstrated that their chemistry is not just limited to when they are in character. Disappointment was further allieved when Russell turned out to be just as amazingly friendly a guest as Lenora.

 

If the venue is going to be used in future (as seems likely), then I think the communication needs to be drastically improved, as it undermined the efforts of the crew, who always do their best to make things run smoothly. I think better signage is also required.

[TommyT]

Sonny said he thought Obama was to blame too for having unrealistic policies.

Hmmm. I must admit it's probably a good thing I didn't say anything - my views are about as diametrically opposed to his as it's possible to be - and I'm not convinced about his understanding of economics or what the word 'libertarian' means. It would have probably ruined the experience of meeting him

Yes, sometimes ignorance is bliss. I have two friends in the US who have strong Libertarian Party leanings, and I got caught up in an argument last summer after Landham advocated committing genocide against several countries. Much as I quite like his film work, I couldn't have countenanced meeting him. Luckily I was unavailable

[ToyDreamer1976]

I had a great day thanks showmasters!!

 

I got myself George Lazenby's autograph and Sonny Landham's as Predator is one of my best films (can't wait to meet Richard Chaves) Sonny was such a great guy. After reading that when filming Predator he had a bodyguard to protect the other actors in case he kicked off made me wander what he would be like to meet. He was great and real chatty.

 

He told me that when filming Predator he had bad memories as the water filter system broke down and everyone had the runs lol (was it really mud that Arnie rubbed all over himself then?) he said everywhere stunk lol I also asked if there was a death scene filmed with him and the Predator fighting as I once heard this was done. He said no as it was only the one in the film "COME AND GET MY BLOOD"

 

I had my photo shoot with Sonny which was cool

and also heard Sonny's big booming laugh for real

 

Pure class

[Hustler]

 

We went along to all 3 Sunday afternoon talks as well...

Being Human talk - (maybe biased lol) - was terrific and so funny, cannot believe the guy who thought the show wasn't funny! Loved that Lenora & Russell totally called him out on it

 

Yea Me and the wife went to the talk as well which I thought was great..

I asked him the last question of the day which was how did he cope with his nude scenes in Being Human..

He looked at me for a good 5-10 seconds and then the audience just started laughing at him...

 

We went several occasions before this to get his autograph but everytime the staff said come back 10 mins l8r, or hes gone for lunch or now you need a ticket.

 

We thought that we were destined not to get his autograph, but after being persistent after the talk we got to the front of the queue and he remembered my question at the talk..

 

I told him the missus thought he had a great bum and he said thanks.. We asked him for a photo and he said yes and the wife could give his bum a feel while the photo was being taken.. Thats why she was grinning like the Cheshire Cat..

 

We met several guests on the Sunday and I have to say with hand on heart that they were all absolutely brilliant.. All spoke to us and all were happy to pose for photos (Apart from Joan Collins who wasnt doing Personalised Photo Poses) but at least she spoke and said have a nice day..

 

Ke Huy Quon, Lenora Crichlow, Russell Tovey, Mickey & Jan Rooney and Ernest Borgine were all top dollar and I would recommend anyone to meet them as they are worth every penny and as I said earlier nothing was too much trouble..

 

Keep up the good work SM

 

All the best all

 

 

Sean & Barbara