London Film & Comic Con 2011 - Part 2: Saturday's Talks & Other Stuff

This article can also be found on Step2Inspire.

Over the course of the weekend, LFCC held numerous talks and Q&As by the guests, featuring an audience with Karen Gillan, Cosplay masquerades, auctions and demonstrations. Amidst my attempts to have quick interviews with the guests, I attended some of these Q&A sessions.

Saturday

10:55 - Sylvester McCoy & Sophie Aldred

After doing a few rounds of the guests first thing in the morning, I made my way to the main stage for an audience with former Doctor Who star Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor) and Sophie Aldred (his companion, Ace). The place was a hive of activity as Doctor Who fans both young and old sought their tickets and tried to find a seat. I smugly flashed my press pass and seated myself with Josh Harris and Richard Neal from What Culture, whom I had met the night before in the queue to talk to Christopher Lloyd.

McCoy and Aldred took to the stage, with the Seventh Doctor enthusiastically greeting the audience whilst his companion took a rather more neutral welcome. There’s no denying McCoy’s eccentricity, especially once he’s amongst the audience exclaiming “Hello hello hello. Welcome. Come, sit down. Make yourself at home. Hello, are you leaving?” Aldred just stood watching in amusement.

Amongst the Doctor Who related questions, McCoy managed to briefly talk about his recent casting as Radagast the Brown (necessarily pronounced by extensively rolling the Rs) in the upcoming Hobbit movies, and his experiences working on the set. Aldred mockingly asked whether the character had been thusly named with so many Rs especially for McCoy. “No no no, no no, no, no, yes, no, no, they didn‘t.” He replies, adding, “The character already existed. The reason why they cast me was because I was the only one who could say it that way. That’s how I actually got the part.”

I attempted to catch up with him towards the end of the day for a few quick words, but he insisted “I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t have the time. Funny old business, time...” So I simply shook his hand and told him I thought he was fantastic. “Thank you, and so are you.” He said in return, which I thought was rather nice of him, but guessed he must have mistaken me for somebody else!

11:35 - Mark Sheppard

Mark Sheppard’s talk was notably more sedate than McCoy’s, with an added layer of sardonic humour. Sheppard is probably best known for his recurring roles in shows such as Supernatural (demon, Crowley), Battlestar Galactica (lawyer and later president, Romo Lampkin), and more recently Doctor Who (former CIA, Canton Delaware III, although we have yet to see if he recurs, I might add…).

He has a rather refreshingly cynical take on the media industry, talking about one of the major differences he found between working in the US and the UK. “In  the US, they give you $100 dollars a day and provide you with food. At the BBC, they give you an allowance of £10 a day and you have to buy your own breakfast, lunch and dinner. I considered myself lucky if I was left with £4 at the end of the day!”

Sheppard also went on to talk about his role as Canton Delaware III in Doctor Who. “I got to do all the stuff I’d dreamt of as a child. You know, the bigger on the inside bit and getting to say ’Doctor… Who exactly?’ It was a dream come true.”

Whilst Sheppard has a rather frank and quite cutting sense of humour, he’s an incredibly down-to-earth man with little to no pretence and is a pleasure to chat with. Even if he is a little sarcastic. Adds to his charm I think. (And yes, I’m still perfectly heterosexual despite this bizarre man-crush I seem to have developed!)

13:35 - Brent Spiner

As a substantially large fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I couldn’t pass up the chance to sit in on a talk with Commander Data. People were eager to grab the opportunity to take photographs of Brent Spiner when he first got on stage, so he began by performing a series of tableaux for the cameras, ranging from jovial poses to more outraged expressions. He’s certainly a natural performer!

It wasn’t long until he launched into Star Trek anecdotes, recalling the first few weeks of filming with Patrick Stewart. “Patrick had never performed in the States before,” He began, “And he clearly didn’t know what to expect. We were continuously goofing around and having a laugh, whilst Patrick, as a former member of the Royal Shakespeare, was appalled by our behaviour!”

“By the end of the first week, Patrick had had enough, and stood up and said…” He now went into a rather impressive impersonation of Patrick Stewart…“’We are here to act!’ And we all just fell about laughing.” He then redeemed Stewart from the portrayal of an intolerant actor, saying “But it wasn’t long until Patrick joined in, and he was easily one of the worst of us.”

14:55 - Karen Gillan

The final talk of the day I attended was with Karen Gillan, who only recently shot to fame in Doctor Who as companion Amy Pond. Needless to say it was one of the most packed of the day, with people literally climbing the walls to see. I and the guys from What Culture stood on the sides, largely because there weren’t any seats available.

The questions focussed mostly on her role on Doctor Who, and the things that come with playing the companion. “It’s awesome,” Gillan said when asked what it was like having an action figure of herself, “I’ve got two of them already. I’ve kept them in their boxes, apparently they could be worth quite a lot in the future.” She laughed. Presumably she can sign them herself to double their value, too?! When asked about her favourite episode, Gillan stated “I love A Good Man Goes To War, but I still think there’s magic about the Eleventh Hour.”

I had hoped she would have spoken a bit more about her recent role in upcoming BBC Four television-film We’ll Take Manhattan, but unfortunately she had run out of time before I got an opportunity to ask about her experiences on work outside of Doctor Who.

And that concludes Saturday’s Q&As. The next article will focus on the talks held on Sunday, and will be online soon.