Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?

Hi all,

I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July 24th this
year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a private room
in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of UFO) there
to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?

Antonia's willing. I'm wiling to advertise it on my website, fly down
there and interview her. But would anyone else show up? And if it's in a
hotel meeting room, I suppose we have to set it up, reserve a room, get a
microphone & speakers and some munchies -- I don't know, since I've never
been involved in putting together something like this before.

So what do you all think? Too far away? Not worth it? Or perhaps it'd be
nice to spend a little time in San Diego in July? :-) Let me know, since
if we're going to reserve a room, we should probably do it soon!

And for those of you not sure who I'm talking about, here's some photos:

http://ufoseries.com/character/joanLeaningToMic.jpg
http://ufoseries.com/guide/harrington.html

Note that due to another event Antonia is participating in (which hasn't
been announced yet), the date and the city are already set -- it's just
that we have the opportunity to set up something that evening, if there is
interest.

So is there?

Marc

Marc;
Awesome. I'd be interested.
Steve


>From: Marc Martin <[hidden email]>
>Reply-To: [hidden email]
>To: SHADO Discussion Group <[hidden email]>
>Subject: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?
>Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:35:07 -0800

If this gets setup, I would be interested in attending.

I'll DEFINITELY be there! ;)
AT

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Marc Martin [hidden email]
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:35:07 -0800
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?


Hi all,

I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July 24th this
year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a private room
in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of UFO) there
to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?

Antonia's willing. I'm wiling to advertise it on my website, fly down
there and interview her. But would anyone else show up? And if it's in a
hotel meeting room, I suppose we have to set it up, reserve a room, get a
microphone & speakers and some munchies -- I don't know, since I've never
been involved in putting together something like this before.

So what do you all think? Too far away? Not worth it? Or perhaps it'd be
nice to spend a little time in San Diego in July? :-) Let me know, since
if we're going to reserve a room, we should probably do it soon!

And for those of you not sure who I'm talking about, here's some photos:

http://ufoseries.com/character/joanLeaningToMic.jpg
http://ufoseries.com/guide/harrington.html

Note that due to another event Antonia is participating in (which hasn't
been announced yet), the date and the city are already set -- it's just
that we have the opportunity to set up something that evening, if there is
interest.

So is there?

Marc


 

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Oops! Forgot to edit! Sorry!


Original Message:
-----------------
From: Marc Martin [hidden email]
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:35:07 -0800
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?





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Hi all,

By the way, the reason this is on July 24th in San Diego is that Antonia
has tentatively agreed to be at the FAB Gear booth (http://fabgearusa.com/)
at the San Diego Comic Con
(http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html) on that day. There she
will be signing autographs. So, at the very least, one could go to this
convention and meet her there.

Since she's only a guest at a specific booth, and not an official
convention guest, there will be no planned question & answer session. So
this is where we could jump in and plan our own. Depending on the demand,
this could either be at a local restaurant or a local hotel meeting room.
Hopefully we have some con-savvy people or some people familiar with San
Diego to make some suggestions, since I have no experience with this sort
of thing.

However, if there doesn't appear to be enough demand for an evening event,
I'll still probably fly down there to meet her during the day, take
pictures, and perhaps do an interview which I could publish on my website.

But of course, it'd be better if there were more fans there -- just for an
excuse to meet some other folks on SHADO!

Marc

Marc-
The correct link for FAB Gear is http://fabgearusa.com
Somehow the parenthesis got included in the link you sent below and doesn't
work.
Thanks-
AT

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Marc Martin [hidden email]
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 08:33:59 -0800
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?


Hi all,

By the way, the reason this is on July 24th in San Diego is that Antonia
has tentatively agreed to be at the FAB Gear booth (http://fabgearusa.com/)
at the San Diego Comic Con
(http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html) on that day. There she
will be signing autographs. So, at the very least, one could go to this
convention and meet her there.




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--- In [hidden email], Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July
24th this
> year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a
private room
> in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of
UFO) there
> to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?

Marc,
This sounds wonderful! And if you need some assistance organizing
things, I'd be happy to help. I have contacts in San Diego. I'll
definitely be attending. Joan was always my favorite moongirl!
Yours,
Denise

Count me in. San Diego is only a jump from Arizona....what an opportunity
that would be!

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Martin [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Sat 1/24/2004 12:35 AM
To: SHADO Discussion Group
Cc:
Subject: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?



Hi all,

I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July 24th
this
year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a
private room
in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of UFO)
there
to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?

Antonia's willing. I'm wiling to advertise it on my website, fly
down
there and interview her. But would anyone else show up? And if it's
in a
hotel meeting room, I suppose we have to set it up, reserve a room,
get a
microphone & speakers and some munchies -- I don't know, since I've
never
been involved in putting together something like this before.

So what do you all think? Too far away? Not worth it? Or perhaps
it'd be
nice to spend a little time in San Diego in July? :-) Let me know,
since
if we're going to reserve a room, we should probably do it soon!

And for those of you not sure who I'm talking about, here's some
photos:

http://ufoseries.com/character/joanLeaningToMic.jpg 
http://ufoseries.com/guide/harrington.html 

Note that due to another event Antonia is participating in (which
hasn't
been announced yet), the date and the city are already set -- it's
just
that we have the opportunity to set up something that evening, if
there is
interest.

So is there?

Marc




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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

At 08:33 AM 1/24/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi all,
>
>By the way, the reason this is on July 24th in San Diego is that Antonia
>has tentatively agreed to be at the FAB Gear booth (http://fabgearusa.com/)
>at the San Diego Comic Con
>(http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html) on that day. There she
>will be signing autographs. So, at the very least, one could go to this
>convention and meet her there.

Marc, this comic convention is a HUGE event. I know your not too much of a
general convention fan but this show is tremendous and has plenty of guests
from all over the entertainment industry. A great opportunity to see
Antonia for sure but if you are going....especially if you want to make a
real trip out of it check out the entire guest list of the show.

SD is too far for me to go myself but if this does turn into a fan run
event off on the side let me know if you want to promote it on the east
coast or whatever. Looking forward to tons of photos and hopefully a good
recording of your Q&A sessions.

Will you be polling the list for possible questions for Antonia once this
event gets firmed up.

>Hopefully we have some con-savvy people or some people familiar with San
>Diego to make some suggestions, since I have no experience with this sort
>of thing.

I don't know about the San Diego Comic Con (Except again....it's a huge
show with 1,000s of fans be prepared to be squished!) but the big
conventions out here have a thing called a SIG! : - ) Stands for Special
Interest Group. These are offered by the convention....usually a worldcon
or a big convention (Like DragonCon) for fans who want to have a small
group meeting but is also listed in the convention activities. Usually
people who dig Pern, or a certain author or TV show meet in a small space
for an hour.

Contact the committee now and pester them, if it takes more than 2 weeks to
get an answer. Then, if the answer is no you can move ahead with renting a
room in a local hotel (Probably best would be the hotel you plan on staying
in or Antonia's to make it comfortable and easy for her). Divide the cost
of the room between the people who sign up to come for this (Shouldn't be
too much, especially if you are going through a hotel all of you are
staying at) Use your AAA discount, or some other discount that you can get
(Whatever credit card you have....union you belong to....etc. Be creative)

Also....find out if the hotel can provide you with a VCR and
television. Maybe you can view an episode with her while she comments. OR
Marc can put together a clip tape of various scenes from UFO for her to
comment on. (If you need help with that Marc I've hacked my DVD player and
could make a tape for you but I suspect you are better at this than me)

>However, if there doesn't appear to be enough demand for an evening event,
>I'll still probably fly down there to meet her during the day, take
>pictures, and perhaps do an interview which I could publish on my website.
>
>But of course, it'd be better if there were more fans there -- just for an
>excuse to meet some other folks on SHADO!

I think, if you do get a bunch of people out for this Marc, that will be
the highlight of the event. It would be a great social opportunity to have
dinner or hang out with fellow fans. A few years back when it looked like
we were going to be able to sustain the Space 1999 conventions a little bit
longer we (Meaning me and several other fans) were always pushing to invite
Ed Bishop to a Space 1999 convention, just to open it up to the UFO fans so
all of us could get together. This never gelled but the events we did have
orbited around our Space guests while hanging with the fans for a day or
three made the whole experience really great.

When Gerry Anderson did a signing in Times Square in 2002 a few of us met
and hung out for hours before and after the signing. We even had Bill
Latham (Author of the new Space Book) come out as he is local to the
area. Just terrific fun. Getting Gerry's Autograph was cool but talking
with the fans and Bill for hours in the hotel bar was the best.

I'm still hoping....especially since A&E has really done a complete release
of all these Anderson shows in the US, that more Anderson related guests
will make the rounds to established conventions and autograph shows. We
had Captain Scarlet here last Halloween and Shane Rimmer also. I still
want to see Commander Straker and Lt Ellis myself! : - )

>Marc

>Will you be polling the list for possible questions for Antonia once this
>event gets firmed up.

Yes, of course! As I'm sure there will be questions that the attendees
might not think of...

>Also....find out if the hotel can provide you with a VCR and television.

Now, maybe it's just me, but it seems that if people have come from all
over the place to meet Antonia or each other, the LAST thing people would
want to do is watch episodes of UFO that they already have on DVD!

(but I guess I could compile some short clips of Antonia from UFO and a few
other of her films)

>I think, if you do get a bunch of people out for this Marc, that will be
>the highlight of the event.

Yes, I agree -- I found that to be the case for the Fanderson "Century 21"
event as well... the guest stars and the collectibles drew me to the
convention in the first place, but meeting with other fans made it really
special. So perhaps we need to allow some time and a place for people to
meet, maybe even bring along a UFO collectible or something...

>I still want to see Commander Straker and Lt Ellis myself! : - )

Anthony Taylor has already pointed out that with a name like Antonia Ellis,
we're liable to get people who think she *is* Lt. Ellis! :-)

Marc

Put me down as a YES!

Bill

--- In [hidden email], Marc Martin <marc@u...> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July
24th this
> year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a
private room
> in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of
UFO) there
> to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?
>

I just noticed the same thing happened to the Comic Con link, the
parenthesis at the end sends you to an error page. Here is the right page:
http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html
Phil is correct aobut the size of the show and calibre of guests. Though
not much is listed at the site yet, last year Hugh Jackman, Kate
Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie and many other actors were at the show to
promote their new films. It wouldn't surprise me to see Bill Paxton there
this year hawking the Thunderbirds movie.
Unless I am mistaken, the San Diego Comic Con Iternational is the largest
genre convention in the world. 70,000 people attended last year, and this
year that is expected to increase by another 10,000 or so.
It boggles the mind, actually.
AT

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Marc Martin [hidden email]
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2004 08:33:59 -0800
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?


Hi all,

By the way, the reason this is on July 24th in San Diego is that Antonia
has tentatively agreed to be at the FAB Gear booth (http://fabgearusa.com/)
at the San Diego Comic Con
(http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/CCIWhatsNew.html) on that day. There she
will be signing autographs. So, at the very least, one could go to this
convention and meet her there.




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At 02:03 PM 1/24/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>Now, maybe it's just me, but it seems that if people have come from all
>over the place to meet Antonia or each other, the LAST thing people would
>want to do is watch episodes of UFO that they already have on DVD!
>
>(but I guess I could compile some short clips of Antonia from UFO and a few
>other of her films)

No, I meant to have some video of her as part of the Q & A or discussion
while shes there to jog her memory of the show and perhaps give some behind
the scenes anecdotes.

It could be a short as 10 minutes with pausing for her to tell us (Actually
you guys, I can't go!) what's happening etc. A lot of times that sort of
thing helps the guest remember what happened on set 35 years ago!


>Yes, I agree -- I found that to be the case for the Fanderson "Century 21"
>event as well... the guest stars and the collectibles drew me to the
>convention in the first place, but meeting with other fans made it really
>special. So perhaps we need to allow some time and a place for people to
>meet, maybe even bring along a UFO collectible or something...

This sounds a little silly but for the two Space 1999 conventions I went to
I brought along a memory or autograph book for everyone to sign. I had the
guests as well as the fans sign it.

Bring the Soundtrack so you can play it in the room before she starts
speaking! ; - )

Here! This track for when she walks into the room to speak! : - )
http://www.ufoseries.com/temp/track.mp3

Seriously, if interest in the Comic Con is low for your group (I'd be in
the comic con 24/7 looking for Joe Straczynski! He goes every year) plan
something simple for all of you to do after the Ellis (Antonia that is)
event is over. Something simple and quiet where everyone can talk and hang
out.

> >I still want to see Commander Straker and Lt Ellis myself! : - )
>
>Anthony Taylor has already pointed out that with a name like Antonia Ellis,
>we're liable to get people who think she *is* Lt. Ellis! :-)

Your gonna need a bigger room!

I'm getting jealous already! Hopefully this is a sign of things to come
and more UFO people will go on the convention circuit.

About the size of the Comic Con, bring comfortable shoes, there will be A
LOT of fans around and sometimes (SOMETIMES) these people aren't the most
polite. Plan ahead, bring the things you need (bottled water, food in case
there are long lines for food) use the bathroom before going into the
convention center etc. Sounds silly but sometimes paying $10 for a bad
hamburger after paying $150 to get into a convention is enough to make it a
really bad experience. Most of all, on site be flexable.

Check the weather (Well, this is an East Coast thing) but a light rain
poncho is sometimes a lifesaver if you don't have your car
nearby! Probably not a problem in San Diego but then again you'll need Sun
Screen and Sun Glasses! : - )

Sheesh! I sound like my Dad!

Hi all,

So, it looks like we've got about 8 people here who would
be interested if we set up some sort of question & answer
session with Antonia Ellis during the Comic Con. Assuming
that we can somehow get a few more folks interested, that
would seemingly be enough to put something together.

I've had a few people advise me privately that it might be
best to keep this to a small gathering -- no more than 30
people. Certainly this would make it easier from a
logistics standpoint. (and perhaps we'd have a hard
time getting more than that anyway, so it may not
be an issue)

I've also followed Phil's advice and emailed the Comic
Con to see if they might have a room for us at the
convention center for our Q&A session. No response
as of yet.

Also, if anyone is familiar enough with downtown
San Diego to be able to recommend a place where we
could meet (like a hotel conference room, a private
room in a restaurant), please let me know. The
closer to the convention center, the better!

We've also had some suggestions of perhaps bringing
along some of our own collectibles to show, but I
suspect we could only do this if we put it in
a hotel meeting room.

Marc

I just got back from a trip of a few days and see that Antonia is going to be
in San Diego. Talk about luck. Sadly I can't be there.
Have a good time Marc and you other lucky (Censored!). Remember don't drool!

James K.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

If I didnt live on the wrong side of the Atlantic I'd certainly be
interested.... Any chance anyone can get me a blank card signed by Antonia?

_________________________________________________________________
Find a cheaper internet access deal - choose one to suit you.
http://www.msn.co.uk/internetaccess

Blast! I wish I could be there, but cannot make it as I will be in Seattle
at exactly the same time... I was in SD a few months back... ugh...

I sure hope it all works out for everyone that does go.

Please, please can someone take a load of digital photos for those who
cannot make it.

I'm not normally into autographs, but seeing that Antonia hasn't really been
to many (if any?) of the conventions, I'd sure appreciate it if I could send
some of my UFO collector cards - with Antonia (Joan Harrington) on them - to
some kind person on this list (please... smile... creep.. creep... wistful
grin, and subtly provocative raising of eyebrows) so she could autograph
them... I'd pay for all the postage and stuff etc.

Best, Griff

"Griff gradually morphing back from creep mode"

-----Original Message-----
From: Marc Martin [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 7:35 AM
To: SHADO Discussion Group
Subject: [SHADO] Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?


Hi all,

I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July 24th this
year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a private room
in a restaurant), and had Antonia Ellis (Lt. Joan Harrington of UFO) there
to chat with us for the evening. Would anyone here come?

So is there?

Marc

The short answer is "yes, I'm in too". The long answer is that I live in
San Diego and could perhaps assist you in setting this up, selecting venue
or at least recommending a good steak house or Italian restaurant away from
the rampaging con hoards.

The con *should* be able to get us a SIG room but one thing to remember is
that during con there is no place in downtown that is going to be quiet.
For quiet, nice and away from tons of con people the only thing to do is to
get away from downtown 3-5 miles. San Diego is huge and there is plenty of
town away from downtown. I know some people and places and I could make
some calls. Within downtown is doable but transportation is easy and
farther away from downtown the cost goes down too. Another thing to
remember is that anything good that requires reservations within 2 miles of
con is probably already booked that entire weekend. Con is REALLY big here
in SD.

On any other night but the 24th (already reserved) I could reserve the SDAA
observatory and we could scan the skies and up to 15 of us could have our
event in the adjacent "warm room" too. We could still go to the star party
already scheduled that night, we just wouldn't have the place to ourselves
like we need for the discussion. Perhaps UFO members in town might be able
to stay another night to go even if Antonia cannot, the offer is there.

Shawn Kelly
www.sdaa.org


> Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2004 23:35:07 -0800
> From: Marc Martin <[hidden email]>
>Subject: Who Wants to Meet Antonia Ellis in San Diego?
>I'm curious to know what the interest would be, if, say, on July 24th this
>year we rented a hotel meeting room in San Diego (or perhaps a private
room
>in a restaurant), it's just
>that we have the opportunity to set up something that evening, if there is
>interest.
>So is there?
>Marc

> The long answer is that I live in San Diego and could perhaps assist
> you in setting this up,

Hey, that's great! I'm still looking into the possibility of having
the Q&A session at the con itself -- since Antonia is going to be
there anyway signing autographs, that would be the easiest option
for her and cheapest for the rest of us (no meeting room to rent).
I'm also looking into meeting rooms at local hotels, but it if what
you're saying about them all being booked already is true, then
that'll go nowhere...

> selecting venue or at least recommending a
> good steak house or Italian restaurant away from the rampaging con hoards.

I guess this brings up a philosophical question about how close to put a
meeting/dinner relative to the con? In the past 2 comic cons, MiscMayhem
has brought in a guest from SUPERCAR, and held a fan get-together at the
Westin, which is about 7 blocks away. They reportedly had a great time
there.

My thinking is that if we have this Q&A session offsite, it should be as
close to the con as possible, to make it easier for folks to get to
(especially me, who wasn't even planning on renting a car, and for others
at the con who learn about the event while passing the FAB Gear booth).
But of course, if this means that things are going to be too crowded and
too noisy, then perhaps it could be a bit further away...

Marc