I'm going to see Ethan Phillips tomorrow!

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

And I'm very excited!! I always enjoyed Neelix and Ethan Phillips is a great actor.. plus I hear he's a great speaker!

http://www.firstcontactconventions.com.au/OzTrek4 Event Melbourne.htm

Yayness!!!!!

(on and Brent Spiner, yay too!!, though I wouldn't have gone just for him)

Apparently Kate Mulgrew is coming to Aus later this year, which I am highly looking forward to, as in swooning.

 

[exodus]

Awesome!!!!

Ethan Philips, Robert Picardo & Tim Russ, IMO are the 3 best cast members of Voyager to meet in person. They're all very funny and interact the best with the crowd. They act just as comfortable on stage as they do off.

You should have a great time meeting Ethan.

BTW, his real name is "John".
Ethan is his stage name.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Here's to hoping you have oodles of fun!

 

[SRFX]

no one ever comes to Perth anymore

Though I guess I got to see Connor Trineer last year so that's something at least.

 

[froot]

Good luck and have fun! I'm so jealous. He seems ridiculously funny.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

So?

How did it go?

Lots of good times, I hope!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Oh it was great!! Got an excellent photo with him and he was very friendly with my son (who has always been a huge Neelix fan). He talked at 1000 miles an hour on the stage. Told some terrible jokes! The con was small compared to US ones I assume, under 200 people, very well run and enjoyable. Brent Spiner was also great to listen to though kind of.. how shall I put this.. dismissive of some people's questions in the "you do know this is fiction?" manner. Actually said that a couple times. Zero of that from Mr. Phillips.

Ethan (do people call him John? They all seemed to refer to him as Ethan there) went into a ramble about "what was up with Neelix and Kes, was it platonic or romantic, what was really going on, we never knew and maybe it was a bit creepy but we never knew that either" (picture all this X 10 at rapid fire). He said they filmed a big ~goodbye, we are no longer together but we will remain friends~ scene during the ep Warlord but that it was never shown and that this left the viewers in the dark. Thought that was very interesting. I might have some of this on film if my son was taping that part and if so I post exactly what was said, but that was the gist.

Talking to all the fans was the best part

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Excellent news re: Phillips. Your son must have been on cloud 9!

As for Spiner, remember HE'S been going to cons for something like... 24 years. I suspect we fans are at a loss to ask him something that "hasn't" been asked a few hundred times before.

Still... he could have been more gracious.

 

[od0_ital]

Brent Spiner is a bit of a dick at cons. I saw him back in '04, and the guy in line ahead of me told him he was sorry to see Data killed off in ST: Nemesis. Spiner's reaction was, "Its just a fictional character, you know."

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I asked him how he felt about his character being killed off. I was remembering hearing Claudia Christian speak very passionately about her character's growth and about another actor on Bab 5 being very upset over their character's death, that was in my head when I asked him. Got "you do know this is fiction?" and also the point that they all knew this was the last movie.. still lets not forget that Shatner was none too impressed with the death of Kirk. Be it ego, less chance of a comeback, attachment to a character.. there seemed to me to be plenty of good reasons a person might have some feelings over a character they had played for seven years dying.

However since I'd already heard the dismissive "it's fiction" answer a few times in reply to other people's questions I wasn't surprised, LOL. I was tempted to say, "but now Data can't appear in the books as a character" but I knew that would go down like a lead balloon, LOLOL

And yeah, a contrast to hear Phillips talking about his character with affection.. he said that he thought Neelix had the best ending since in the end he found his people.

And you know.. yes "it's just a fictional character".. but it's people's affection for these characters that means there is even a con the first place.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

And let me just add, so I'm not being an ungrateful fangirl, that Spiner did some fantastic Picard impressions. You could hear a collective gasp the first time it was done so well.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Sounds like a fun time!

And you know.. yes "It's just a fictional character".. but it's people's affection for these characters that means there is even a con in the first place.

You should have told him that!

I was tempted to say "but now Data can't appear in the books as a character"

He already has. He was in the Countdown comic as captain of the Enterprise-E in the lead-up to Nero and Spock going back in time, and the how and why of his return is told in the novel The Needs of the Many. But apparently they're an alternate timeline to the other books, or something

 

[exodus]

Oh it was great!! Got an excellent photo with him and he was very friendly with my son (who has always been a huge Neelix fan). He talked at 1000 miles an hour on the stage. Told some terrible jokes! The con was small compared to US ones I assume, under 200 people, very well run and enjoyable. Brent Spiner was also great to listen to though kind of.. how shall I put this.. dismissive of some people's questions in the "you do know this is fiction?" manner. Actually said that a couple times. Zero of that from Mr. Phillips.

Ethan (do people call him John? They all seemed to refer to him as Ethan there) went into a ramble about "what was up with Neelix and Kes, was it platonic or romantic, what was really going on, we never knew and maybe it was a bit creepy but we never knew that either" (picture all this X 10 at rapid fire). He said they filmed a big ~goodbye, we are no longer together but we will remain friends~ scene during the ep Warlord but that it was never shown and that this left the viewers in the dark. Thought that was very interesting. I might have some of this on film if my son was taping that part and if so I post exactly what was said, but that was the gist.

Talking to all the fans was the best part

I think only his acting friends call him John off stage, plus the majority of the public don't know. So if they called him "John" on stage, the audience might not know who they're talking too.

It was a fact that Tim Russ( or was it Robert Picardo?) told us about his name change at a Con. I went too years ago.

I'm glad you enjoyed yourself.

 

[2 of 10]

Neelix totally rocked, just wish that the writers did not strand him in an astroid on the border of the Delta and Beta quad, so close to seeing earth and yet so far away.
He also was in "First Contact" as a human materde at the resturant the Jean Luc offed the Borg...

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Neelix totally rocked, just wish that the writers did not strand him in an astroid on the border of the Delta and Beta quad, so close to seeing earth and yet so far away.
He also was in "First Contact" as a human materde at the resturant the Jean Luc offed the Borg...

What does he care about earth, other than curiosity. He found his people that he thought were lost to him forever.

 

[2 of 10]

Neelix totally rocked, just wish that the writers did not strand him in an astroid on the border of the Delta and Beta quad, so close to seeing earth and yet so far away.
He also was in "First Contact" as a human materde at the resturant the Jean Luc offed the Borg...

What does he care about earth, other than curiosity. He found his people that he thought were lost to him forever.

Good point, I just liked Neelix so much that I wish he did
make to the Federation, after all he did spend 7 years on the quest to get to Earth with the rest of the Voyager crew.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Yeah I think it is we, not Neelix, who would like him a bit closer to earth :-D

I kind of think he was really through with all that sight seeing now that he could actually be with his own people again, and start building family and home which were always very important to him.

 

[exodus]

Neelix totally rocked, just wish that the writers did not strand him in an astroid on the border of the Delta and Beta quad, so close to seeing earth and yet so far away.
He also was in "First Contact" as a human materde at the resturant the Jean Luc offed the Borg...

What does he care about earth, other than curiosity. He found his people that he thought were lost to him forever.

I agree.
Neelix was looking in a way for home too, expect home wasn't the AQ for him. Home was having a family of his own kind again.

 

[od0_ital]

Ethan Philips also played a Ferengi in TNG 'Menage a Troi'. And I think he did it again for that ENT episode, too.