wren_kt7oz | Cologne - Final session

I'm kind of sad to be doing this one. Ah, well.

The final session started with a bit of chat about the weekend generally, and the party and the city walks and the flashmob.

Then they went through and allowed one question from the audience for each cast member.

Final audience questions

Harris was asked if he would be working on his acting or concentrating more on his music. He said that he while he wanted to go on with the music, he had a movie coming out this year and thought that he'd be concentrating on the acting for a while.

Peter was asked what he thought was the main difference between he and Emmett. He said "I'd have to say I think it's fashion sense. He said he finds it hard to distinguish where Emmett stops and he starts. He said something like "I know we're different, but I'd like to think that some of the best parts of me bled into Emmett and some of the best parts of Emmett bled into me."

Then he sat there sort of doing high kicks. It was kind of strange and funny.

Scott was asked if we were going to see more of Dr Filmore. That's the character that he's played in a couple of episodes of Bones. Scott described the character as a "Canadian forensic podiatrist". He said that he's not sure, but he hopes so. There was a bit of joking (in a kind of black comedy way) about the fact that the first ep he'd been in had been based on a real life incident, and now there had been this new thing with the guy who's been sending body parts - including feet - through the mail, so maybe that would lead to a new episode for Dr. Filmore.

(OT: All of which reminds me that one of the things that Scott was asked over lunch was about what was David Boreanz like. He said that the first ep he'd done David had been all 'don't look at me, don't talk to me'. Scott said he could respect that, that sometimes that's what actors need to do to get into their roles. But the second episode he'd been really warm and friendly and there'd been quite a bit of ad-libbing going on which made the set more relaxed. He said that now that David was a producer on the show, if he wanted a script change, or thought that an ad lib was a good one and should be kept, he could just okay it on the spot.)

Hal was asked which character from the show he would like to be his friend in real life. He kind of hesitated, and Sharon chipped in with "Be careful how you answer that."

(Again, this reminds me that while they were taking some of the group photos earlier, Sharon had lapsed into Debbie mode and given Hal/Michael a couple of clips around the ear for old times sake. LOL)

Hal nodded and said, "Well, I think we all know that Debbie would be the perfect person to go see, you know, Metallica live with."

Then he said, "That's a hard one. I think that maybe on a personality level, Ted. Scott's very charming in the role and you know ... it's like... we could wear the same jacket ... it's that kind of friendship."

While Hal was stuttering all that out, Robert was sitting back arms folded, giving him this look.

He said something about how in real life, he was probably closest to Harris, but he couldn't see himself hanging so much with Hunter. Then one of the mods asked him "You wouldn't include your husband as your best friend".

That brought more laughs and Hal tried to talk about separating out friendship from other relationships like his mother or his husband. He almost dug himself out of the manure. LOL

Robert was next - he was asked if there was any particular genre that he would like to get involved with - like dance movie, or horror movie.

He responded that he would like to move more into drama and spoke again about the film that he's doing in Prague in a month or two which is a period drama about freedom fighters. He explained that while he loved comedy and dancing his ass off, he'd never found any work as fulfilling as what he had done on QAF because it meant something - to him personally, and to many other people, and he wanted to find other projects that gave him that sense of meaning.

Thea was asked about the audio books again and gave a similar, but more detailed response to what she'd said in the meet and greet.

Michelle was asked, "When Mel proposed to Lindsay, and whirled her around, how did you do that? She's so much taller than you."

Michelle got up and said, "I'll show you."

She motioned Thea to her feet, then started doing 'warm ups' including dropping down and doing a couple of pressups. Then she picked Thea up and did kind of half a twirl before basically dropping her into Robert's lap.

It was hilarious. Simply hilarious.

Then we got Randy's last question. After discounting a couple of people because they'd already asked something at some point, they picked this one guy who asked:

"Justin, I address this question to you ..."

Two people on the stage corrected him with "Randy" and without even apologising he went on, "Do you like Cologne gay guys?"

WTF!!!!?????

No matter what Hal might think, no matter how sweet all the others were, in Gale's absence, Randy (and perhaps Sharon) were the big draw cards at this conference, and this was what he - and we - got as his final question?

He basically said something like 'yeah, sure'. And then waved his hands in the air in a kind of victory salute at having got away with such an easy (read meaningless) question.

The mods did promise to take another question, but it never happened.

Then we got to Sharon's final question and it could hardly have been more different. She was asked what life lesson she would pass on to all of us, the most important lesson in life.

There was a kind of stunned silence, and then she said, "Dream really big. Dream really, really big; and then follow it."

Then she said something like (I think) "and stay away from the cards". Not sure about that last part.

After that, each of the actors was asked to give their thoughts about the conference, and what they would take away with them.

Final thoughts - what they would take away with them

Scott was first. He said that he was taking home with him at least 20 extra pounds and a pound of chocolate - "thank you all very much".

Then he got more serious and said that he he'd enjoyed having the chance to connect with the rest of the cast again, and said that the energy that had been given them over the weekend (from us) had re-energised them, and given them the chance to reconnect with what they'd left behind 7 years ago and fire up their own passion and creativity again. That what he would most remember is "everything that you've given us this weekend, and I thank you for that".

Peter seemed to brush his hands across his eyes at that point and I think he was getting a little weepy already.

To cover this, he bopped Scott on the head with the microphone, and because it made a really cool sound, he did it again.

Peter's own response was that being back together had been really extraordinary and that "meeting all of you has been absolutely a thrill. It's been incredible, the amount of love and support it's just ... it really moved me. I think the moment that ... was at the club last night"

He explained that on the way to the club they'd all been sitting in the cab pretty much zombified, but then they'd walked in and this wave of loving energy had hit them and just lifted them. He said they'd had a great time dancing and joking around and that at the end, he'd just reached out with his arms and given a virtual hug to everyone there. Then he said I'm going to do it again."

He spread his arms wide and then wrapped them together in a hugging motion and said, "I'm taking you all with me."

(To allow this, Scott had to hold the microphone for him.)

There were awwwws all around the hall.

It was a lovely moment. So real.

Harris said that he had no idea how many people around the world had been affected by the show. He said that the convention couldn't have happened without and the fans, and thanked us and wished us all a safe trip home.

Hal said that it was going to be hard to select one single moment because there were about five hundred little moments across the weekend. He spoke of seeing Sharon's smile for the first time in some years, renewing the sense of family, seeing Harris's name on the list of attendees. He said how much he'd enjoyed the meet and greets where they'd got to discuss not just the broader issues of the show but also the individual moments that had affected the cast, and those that had affected 'you guys'. And he thanked those of us who'd asked questions in those sessions.

Robert said that he wanted to echo what the others had said. He said that this experience had caused him to relive one of the best times in his life. He'd enjoyed reconnecting with the other cast members, hearing their laughs, being really exhausted together - again (which drew laughs from the others). He said that it was wonderful recapturing that energy. He referred to how wonderful it was to see Harris as a grown man. He said it was amazing to hear from so many people who'd just found the show in the last year, or six months, and that on the dance floor the night before he'd really felt the love and the joy that we'd all seen at Babylon. He said he'd put his arms around Peter Paige and said "I love you man."

Then he said, "And I love you." and gestured to all of us. (sniffle)

Sharon started by asking what the original question had been, which cracked everybody up, especially Randy.

Then she said, "It's been wonderful seeing everybody again."

Then she spoke about Friday night, about how after a meal in a cafe they'd all gone over to the pub. She explained that she hadn't gone in with the others (because she'd been outside having a cigarette). She said, "They took me in another way. And I was in the dark, and I didn't know where I was going and this love, and screaming and calling out just hit me, and shook me to my core. I knew how many were coming, but I didn't know what that sounded like. I started crying. I didn't know that we were that loved internationally. And I will never forget it. I've never had anything like that happen to me before."

Then she hesitated a moment and went on "And the other thing I sort of wanted to mention was that I was very proud, in the Q&As, to represent Gale Harold."

That got an immediate round of applause that went on for over twenty seconds - which doesn't sound like much, but really ... it seemed at the time to last a long while. Sharon had to wait, she could not, even with the microphone, have made herself heard.

Then she went on, "As you all know, Gale could not be here. And please know, anyone who is in doubt, how badly he wanted to be here. A lot of us came early because Gale was playing in a soccer game."

She went on to say that some good things came out of him not coming. "First of all I got to play with Randy here.

"But also, I think all of us feel him here. Gale Harold was major in this cast, and in this story, and I think we all miss him. I feel him here this whole weekend, and I hope I can take home and tell him how much he is loved."

This time the applause went on for twice as long.

Finally, when it started to die down, Sharon said, "I'll tell him you said that."

Then the mod pointed out that Scott had taken a photo on his phone and was texting it to Gale.

Then Sharon said (her voice definitely shaky now), "I'll close by saying thank you, thank you to all of you for all the love you've thrown our way."

Thea was left trying to follow that, and started with "what she said."

Then she talked about memories, and how the moment when Michelle had taken her in her arms and tried to pick her up had reminded her of a blooper scene. (At this point, Michelle started to laugh, and they reached out and for a little while held each other's hands as Thea told the story. Michelle was wiping away tears, and I don't know if they were tears of laughter, or just the sheer emotion of the afternoon - of all the cast she had clapped longest and loudest for Gale, and I suspect that she was as moved by that moment as I was.)

The blooper was from the end of 314 where Mel and Linds find each other in the crowd and everything is fine with the baby, and with the world, and Stockwell's been defeated and it's all just wonderful ... "and then I dropped her!"

Then she went on to say "but you know what? We got up."

She talked about how the whole weekend had reminded her that no matter how far you fell, or how hard it was, you could always get up again, and rise above. She thanked us for reminding her of that. She thanked us for our individual hugs, and for those who had looked her in the eye and spoken of their lives and said that that was what the weekend had been about - engaging and sharing and telling our truths and our stories. She said, "We shared a little of that, and you took it and you ran with it and you continue to rise and ... and ... shine!"

(It seemed she really didn't mean to work the slogan in there, but it happened, and it was exactly right.)

Michelle said that what she would take away was the feeling of connection - with the cast, and how good it had been to see them all again - and "the connection I felt with each of you, individually".

She said, "It felt as if the world got smaller. And it became our own little world, and Utopia."

She then told about how she's allergic to caffeine, and that there was a moment on the stage when she'd realised that she must have had some, and her heart started beating really hard and she was wondering if she was going to have a heart attack. Then she said that she'd thought about the fact that she was surrounded by so much love, and in a country which has a great medical system, and she realised that she felt so safe in this country, in this room that it completely calmed her and the feeling just went away.

She said that that is the power of love, that it gives you the power to transcend anything. She said, "You gave that to me, and I'm going to take that, and I'm going to put it back into my work, and into the play, and when I write I'm going to think of all the conversations and the words we spoke to each other. And I want to thank you for teaching me so much, and thank you for being here.

Randy was last.

He started, "I will take home with me a feeling of being profoundly humbled."

He said that he didn't think too much about the work he did because it could make him excessively neurotic. That he just tried to show up on the day, do as well as he could and then forget about it.

Then he said, "To be reminded that things we did 12 years ago - particularly when they're on television and they're distributed across the world - continues to change people, and affect people's lives. It makes me feel so humble, and so guilty for not understanding the repercussions of what I do every day.

"I heard repeatedly this weekend people whose lives were changed by a scene I don't remember. People who have been rewarded, and changed positively and it ... just one person being affected by anything I did in that way would justify my entire life. Much less an entire room full of people.

"I know you guys are grateful to us. But you are the gift to us ... so thank you."

And that was pretty much the end of the formal part of the conference. After that it was all applause and farewells and tears and so much emotion - from everyone.

Sharon cried. Michelle was visibly fighting back tears. Robert looked kind of weepy and so did Peter.

And you don't want to know about the audience. Seriously.

Never seen so many people with smudged make up in my life. Not all in one place at one time.

It was the most wonderful weekend, the most wonderful experience - and to the people who shared it with me - you know who you are - I will be forever grateful. You made the weekend so much more special.

At various times the cast were asked if they would consider another convention.

Most said yes.

Part of me says 'yes' too. Yes, yes, yes.

But another part says that this one was unique. I'm not sure that it could be repeated.

And anything less would be such a disappointment. I don't know if I'd want to risk it.

Oh, well. Let's hope that at some point I'm forced to decide!

May QAF long have such a warm, wonderful, loyal fan base.

I do want to say one final thing. It may sound trite. But in the same way as Sharon spoke of feeling Gale with them, with us, so many times I felt you guys were there as well - in spirit, at least. It really did feel as if the energy in the conference room, in the smaller rooms where they held the meet and greets, in the pub, and everywhere we gathered all weekend, was not just from those who were physically present, but from the fandom as a whole.

I truly believe that this fandom is, at its very core, something quite special. I believe that it comprises people from all over the world who share some intrinsic values in terms of inclusiveness, and tolerance, and acceptance. And that the energy at this conference was about all those things, and that it came, not just from those who were lucky enough to make it to Cologne, but from those for whom the show has held a very special place in their hearts, and their minds, in the way they think and how they see the world.

So I want to thank all of you, because I honestly believe that you were all there in some way. All part of something that was an incredible, and incredibly precious, experience.

Thank you.

.

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: Let's Hear It for the Boy