SHERLOCKED: Official "Sherlock" Convention

[J.P.]

Ah... not much. Sue apparently loved it, because she said it twice.

Had a positive reaction from another guest, don't remember who, sadly. And one reaction from a co-fan. I should make that print on the back because it was what people mostly have seen when I dashed by to the front of the lines.

 

No reaction from Mark though. Looking on the bright side - maybe he is the kind of man who looks you in the eyes and not at your... T-shirt.

[J.P.]

Firs illegal recording of Andrew's talk

 

[J.P.]

Videos of con and London

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ognt3glyZm4

[Inge l-w]

That was lovely! Look forward to more of your adventure, dear Agent J.P.! Hope that the problem with your neck was resolved before you attended the convention!

[J.P.]

Some funny pictures with Rupert

https://twitter.com/GravesDiggers

 

And yes, in case you wonder, I am procrastinating as hell...

[Arcadia]

I'm rather enjoying the suspense....

[Inge l-w]

Not just suspense! In a YouTube video about the music and what it means to the fans, our very own Agent J.P. is seen on camera, with Michael Price. Are we witnessing the birth of a social media star? ^_^

(Edited according to dear J.P.'s correction below)

[J.P.]

Wha...?!

Sorry, not Mark, but Michael Price and David Arnold. I knew that the guy with the big camera prying in the corner meant no good. I was trying to avoid him the whole weekend.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Could someone post a link to the video?

[Arcadia]

At around 50 seconds. Congrats, JP, you look fab! Good eyes, Inge!

 

[sfmpco]

Michael Price put together this nifty little video from the convention:

 

[Inge l-w]

Even before I read Sherlock Holmes stories and got hooked, I could observe: proper little terror for the family, thanks a bunch dear Arcadia! Perhaps ShadowDweller's quizzes have something in them after all, when I always end up being the problematic 'sociopath'. :D

[J.P.]

Finally, here it comes!

 

Well, this time was very different. I had an impression that it was less enthusiastic, less crowded and somehow less... festive.
On the other side my own condition was also very different. Maybe there was just not enough adrenaline in my system, or I had a unnoticeable cold, prolonged PMS, or the usual fall depression worsening. I really had a hard time, kept forgetting things, getting blackouts (how can you forget if you had your photo with Ben taken already?!?), felt rushed and still was always too late and unprepared. Made so much wrong decisions it would be enough for the next year.

Managed to step on Mark’s shoe, hit Rupert in the face with my big hair clip and in a knee jerk reaction almost put my hand on his cheek. Lost a bracelet and generally beeped up things. It's damn hard to operate in a stressful situation when your brain tries to curl somewhere in a dark corner of your head and sends you one f...cough after another.

Also emotionally it felt like being padded by a yard of isolating material from the outside word. Not even getting a tiny little bit nervous about flying. Not feeling anything about being in London again and generally wanting only to get to the hotel. Forcing myself to go to Speedy's and Bart's again and - feeling nothing. Where is the damn overexcited fangirl from the last time?

But enough of this. To facts.

On Friday we've been let in a bit earlier for VIP briefing and before the venue opened to the public, we could have an exclusive view on the costumes. (Sorry, couldn't touch the Carpet - there was always someone from the staff present in the area - but I blew some kisses in it's direction). We've also met Jason, who I suppose was the big boss of the event, at least of the material part of it: sets, props, decoration. He is a huge fan himself and told us about the cooperation with Arwel and his team. Apparently the producers were initially skeptical about giving out props, but they learned how dedicated the show-makers are, now they are very cooperative. Jason's team tries to collect duplicates of the props and furniture and as I suggested a museum, I was told it's not impossible.

There was also a funny story: Jason was trying to hunt down the vintage shelves that frame the door between the kitchen and the living room. After he spent hours and hours on research and finally told Arwel about his frustration, Arwel with a mischievous smile told him: "Of course you cannot find it. I've built it entirely." Oh, I would like to see it. :D

He also told us that he rescued the burned Gingerbread Man cookie from TRF - as he found it, it was already moulding, so they had to do a proper restoration. He also collects all the things that usually get trashed, like the street shields, so they can put them for an auction or such.

As I mentioned the all over bad light conditions Jason answered that it is a money problem - ExCel charges for additional light sources and the prices are ... I don't remember the exact amount he named but I remember how it made me feel, so it was laughably expensive. So much about the ticket prices and how they come together.

BTW, they had the squash ball in the auction this year. By synchronicity on (I think) Thursday evening there was an old black-and-white movie in TV and as I zapped into it, one of the characters was explaining how a squash ball under your armpit can simulate the lack of pulse. I couldn't work out the remote control for this (obviously too smart) TV set, so I don't know the title, I also had no time to watch the rest. Does it ring a bell by anyone? Might it be one of SH adaptations?

The Venue felt much emptier this time. No bus, no tank, no big shop with wallpapers and... no RealSFX. They were a highlight last time, I soooo missed those guys with their playfulness and contagious enthusiasm. The costume section looked bigger though. They also had huge posters of characters from TAB, one with the Smilie and one with modern Sherlock silhouette on the walls, so people could make selfies with them. Nice detail. But the rest... I don't know, I had an impression that they had no time to do things properly. The main stage, the same as last year, had pieces missing and the creases in the curtains made my aesthetic sense go bleh. The Victorian set felt wrong, and turned out to be the smaller version they used for the street scenes, so it was - and felt - a bit incomplete. I blame the fact that Arwel & Co. couldn't be there to look over things. Still, they managed to get the wall with the silk covering, which is amazing, changing color dependent of the angle you look at it.

We've had a long and satisfying (at least for me) chat with Arwel, who had only a small corner near the Victorian set this year, where he sat alone most of the time, guarding wallpaper samples, Sherlock's wig and 'staches of Watson, Lestrade and Hooper.

Anyway… Imagine: us sitting at the Victorian set like a children around a storyteller (sitting in Sherlock's chair) and the only element missing was the flickering light of the fireplace…

The fireplace is fueled with gas BTW, for it's easy to control. I knew they couldn't fire wood, because there was no way of installing a funnel, but I rather thought about ethanol (which I use at home).

The team put together the Victorian set in SIX WEEKS!

The red wallpaper on the fireplace wall is indeed hand painted (there was a post on Twitter mentioning it), first the background in red, then gold on the embossed floral motives. And that in two versions, the "real" 221b and the one for the street scenes.

Arwel told us a bit about driving the complete modern 221b wall to the end-of-the-world set of the boomerang deduction in SIB. The faces of those driving by!

I always wondered why they built the whole subway car instead of using a real one. It was - surprisingly - a matter of money and time. The only location where they would be able to shoot, was a tunnel part with a difficult access. Imagine carrying the whole needed equipment down and up a stairway. It was indeed more efficient to build that thing entirely in a a studio, with removable parts and all niceties.

Arwel outed himself as a hoarder and gave us a little insight in his garage. Sigh, at least he has a better excuse - he might indeed need some of that stuff for a film set… if he only remembered what's in there and where.

I also asked him about the second hint in the picture from the S4 trailer http://www.sherlockforum.com/forum/topic/3326-sherlocks-fun-facts-and-trivia/?p=102040
Well: the hint is indeed the circle sprayed with bright paint. According to Arwel it was based on a standard "power" symbol (it's up side down, but I didn't think of it at that moment) and the it stands for information. So it's another hint to "information is power", like the billboard from HLV. So, are we still not done with this theme?

Last but not least - gave Arwel a tee strainer, similar to this one: http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTIwMFgxNjAw/z/AIAAAOSwOVpXcYoD/$_1.JPG,that I had no use for, so before I throw it away it might find a way into some TV production. Arwel seemed to like it and told me to keep my eyes open in the future. Well, we’ll see.

Guests:
Ben was in such a good mood this time, he was literally beaming like a radiator, having fun with the photos and autographs. He made a hilarious impersonation of Steven in his talk. Was just a joy to watch. In the small meet/greet we’ve had he’s started to talk kids with one of us, it was so beeping endearing. This guy really seems to enjoy people. Or maybe he just learned that his gig with Pink Floyd was go?
Sadly he hasn’t brought Sherlock with him this time either. :P

Andrew, as he said in his talk, was a bit dopey, after a flight from USA and 2 hours of sleep. In another meet/greet thingy we’ve had with him and Amanda, he was so obviously fighting to keep his eyes open, that the only thing I could think of, was to find him a pillow and a silent corner for a nap.
If any of you folks out there ever again write/say that those guys are spoiled star prima donnas for not being as funny as you expect, I will find you and personally kick your stupid butt!

Amanda was witty and lovely to all of us, Loo as outgoing and huggy as last year. The girls both mentioned they would like to write something together. Rupert was tanned again and all over delightful, funny and ready for all kind of photo-pranks. He mentioned that Lestrade gets new shoes in S4.

Alistair Petrie turned out to be surprisingly funny, (he photobombed our VIP group picture with Amanda and Andrew), as was Danny Webb. The „smaller“ guests can be surprisingly good conversation partners because they have more time for chatting. You probably could spend hours with David Arnold and Michael Price, they were such lovely guys and great as a duo. Yasmine Akram, who might have been a little bit overwhelmed, told me that there was no behind-the-scenes information written into the script for the bathtub scene, so she actually don't know what they did there. Yes, I asked :D

I also asked Mark about chances to have the original scripts published. He seemed a little bit skeptical if there were enough interest for them. I tried to convince him there is. Fingers crossed.

I really hardly was able to notice my surroundings, so there will be no observations about cosplay and such, but I almost bumped into the Elephant in the Room: probably the best/most hysterical cosplay idea I saw so far, even if I believe I’ve seen the Dreadful Subtext  marching just behind the elephant’s tail. There is a picture here, I’ll try to find a better one. https://tmblr.co/Z3ms8n2CW4G1-

Having a VIP room next to the guest room provided an additional thrill. I could hear Steven laughing (surely about poor, misguided fans), one also could meet Louise in the loo (not me though) or make an elevator ride with Mark (there was a moment when I dared to hope we could get stuck there, but sadly it wasn’t about to happen). I’ve met Murray, the setter who played Redbeard and learned that instead of being stressed by the masses, he actually enjoys such situations, maybe even too much. :D And then… It turned out there was another event at ExCel, just across the corridor, New Scientist Live and they had lot of stuff that actually would interest me as well. Tim Peake was there and also Apollo astronaut Al Worden, who for some reason happened to come over to Sherlocked guests’ room. I wish I was half as old, so I could run into that room or at least wave through the window in a best exalted teenager manner. :( When it rains it pours…

BTW, One of BC’s bodyguards, one of them resembled a bit smaller and fairer version of Teal'c from Stargate series .

And now…
Well, that's a bit disappointing, but the differences between the airplane interiors in HLV and TAB were indeed caused only
by technical limitations. You can build quite everything, but not in such short time. They couldn't find seats from the same aircraft model, so had to use similar ones. BTW there was only a half of the cabin built. Makes more space for camera and lighting.

And it comes even worse: Mycroft's different tie and scarf are… well… it's costume department's fault. They indeed lost those two from HLV and had to replace them. There was even a line for Sherlock written into the script, something like: „You’ve changed your tie again, Mycroft" making changing ties Myc's OCD because they knew someone would notice the difference. But it didn't made it into the film. I think Mark said this, but I’m not sure. I only know that I have heard it.

Bye, bye my beautiful conspiracy theory! :( Am I supposed to kill myself now?
Oh, wait, there is still that strange reaction from the director to my post on Twitter…

Snigger.
 

[T.o.b.y]

Wow, thanks, J.P.! I am really sorry to hear you were so under the weather during your trip. I hope you don't regret going?

 

All the more thank you for writing up such a long, detailed report in spite of that. It does sound like a wonderful experience. And you even remembered to say hi to The Coat! :lol:

 

I wish I could go to London some day. It's definitely on my Bucket List. But there's the problem with time and the problem with money and... oh well. Some day!

[J.P.]

Another little detail:

[Arcadia]

OMG, the way you describe it, it sounds wonderful. Especially since it sounds as if all the guests were having a good time. I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Maybe that strange feeling just comes from emotional overload ... I remember in college I got so nervous before my jury process (to enter the art program) that I was almost sick with it; but by the time I got into the jury room hours later, I was completely drained of all feeling (and almost didn't pass as a result -- they said I didn't seem to care what happened!)

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing! Sounds lovely to me. Hope you collected lots of good memories.

[J.P.]

I don't know, it was so different from the first time (on the other hand it would be damn hard to top last year)

This emotional detachment is such a spoilsport, you do things because you have planned them because you know you will regret it some time, but you actually don't want to do them in the moment.

I've got caught in a vicious circle of overload, making mistakes which added to the frustration and made me do more mistakes. Thanks goodness it didn't made me aggressive. :D

 

But during the journey home I was near to kick a vending machine because it ate my 2 pounds - after I needed an HOUR to get my boarding ticket printed (couldn't find that bloody thing in my online mailbox, couldn't mail the file I had stored locally, because suddenly I couldn't connect to the mail server... and so on. I tell you, Android hates me!) Then it started to rain, so I really didn't feel like going out, then as it stopped raining and I thought maybe I could take a look at something, but after spending a while stuck in the subway, I realized that I won't have time for it, so I headed for Gatwick, where I arrived too early and tried to find a power socket near to a spot, where you actually can sit down. There were power sockets at a table for tablets etc, but they didn't work. The flight was delayed. I had to pay an extra fee because I didn't get all my stuff into one case. I was really expecting the airplane would loose a wheel and hoped it would happen on the ground. The flight was actually smooth, but during the deboarding a water bottle fell from the overhead bin, opened hitting the ground and made me look as if I peed myself. A true Murphy's Law festival.

[J.P.]

Oh, I forgot - Mark had his Emmy with him during the signing and I touched it *squeeee*

[Arcadia]

I don't know, it was so different from the first time (on the other hand it would be damn hard to top last year)

This emotional detachment is such a spoilsport, you do things because you have planned them because you know you will regret it some time, but you actually don't want to do them in the moment.

I've got caught in a vicious circle of overload, making mistakes which added to the frustration and made me do more mistakes. Thanks goodness it didn't made me aggressive. :D

 

But during the journey home I was near to kick a vending machine because it ate my 2 pounds - after I needed an HOUR to get my boarding ticket printed (couldn't find that bloody thing in my online mailbox, couldn't mail the file I had stored locally, because suddenly I couldn't connect to the mail server... and so on. I tell you, Android hates me!) Then it started to rain, so I really didn't feel like going out, then as it stopped raining and I thought maybe I could take a look at something, but after spending a while stuck in the subway, I realized that I won't have time for it, so I headed for Gatwick, where I arrived too early and tried to find a power socket near to a spot, where you actually can sit down. There were power sockets at a table for tablets etc, but they didn't work. The flight was delayed. I had to pay an extra fee because I didn't get all my stuff into one case. I was really expecting the airplane would loose a wheel and hoped it would happen on the ground. The flight was actually smooth, but during the deboarding a water bottle fell from the overhead bin, opened hitting the ground and made me look as if I peed myself. A true Murphy's Law festival.

You do realize that all that makes it an even better story... :P

 

By the way, didn't you have a secret we were trying to guess? I can't remember now if it was a question you were going to ask or a gift you were hoping to give. Care to share now that it's over? Or must we continue to live in ignorance?

[J.P.]

You have seen it already. The Goldfish.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Nice detailed story, I enjoy reading it.

 

Goldfish? You made it? Nah... I think Myfelt would be more memorable. One would be more appreciative with their likeness.

Goldfish is just...another goldfish for him.... He he.. :p don't beat me up! You can't find me anyway.

 

I think it's quite normal that you are not as enthusiastic as last year, nothing beats the first time for stuff like this.

[Inge l-w]

That flight from H#%* reminds me of Air Berlin, or Condor or Britannia or RyanAir at their worst! Why not go Lufthansa in the first place? I always do, got the Miles and More and as Sherlock would say :'off you pop'!

@VBS, do you actually mean popping your cherry as a conventioneer? There are so many of them around, not just for fans, for all manner of scientific fields, I am always deluged with invitations at particular times of the year. Not having a pen-knife or a fireplace with a mantel on top, I do not hold them in place with a jack-knife, simply bin them.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Popping cherry? XD Eww... but maybe something like that. Not necessary a convention, but can be everything else, and it may not always applicable, but the thrill of first time is different, especially when you are trying something identical.

 

I imagine if a Sherlock's fan visited Barts the first time, maybe she would be thrilled, screaming (preferably internally) "OMG this is where Sherlock and John/Ben and Martin first met. Wow, maybe his butt was on this chair. Look at that rooftop and the K2 telephone booth. Wowowow can't believe I am here."

While the subsequent time..*snicker* look at those fangirls being all happy about seeing Barts and butt on chair for the first time. Been there, done that.

 

There is also the thrill of not knowing. The crowd, the event, the way things are arranged, how it looks like, feels like. Maybe on the next one you already know, by doing this after this and that I would have the most efficient flow and maximize my time, I would be able to get to the toilet without queue on this particular second, or get to the transport without being squeezed like sardine, or simple things like bringing survival kits for long day, backpack for merchandise, wearing the right outfit etc because you roughly know how it's like.

 

I think so. Maybe. :p

[Arcadia]

I think so too.

 

I went to Obama's first inauguration. Bitterly cold, crushed by crowds, miles (literally) from the stage, exhausting ... and I loved every second of it! It was absolutely thrilling. The second inauguration I didn't even think about going. Not that I wasn't just as happy he was re-elected; but considering what I had to go through to get that thrill (frozen feet, extreme hunger, walking/standing for 7 hours, lost one of my favorite gloves - did I mention crushed by crowds?), I decided to watch it on TV the second time. (Although I did feel a little jealous of the people who went. Irrational creature that I am.)

 

I'll tell a story ... after it was over, my friend and I decided to go into one of the museums nearby while we waited for our train. Well, duh, guess what ... so did everyone else! Lines out the doors. We finally decided to head back to the train platform to wait. The whole area looked like a disaster zone; an unimaginable amount of trash everywhere, including clothing (I found a child's glove and wore it to replace my missing one.) People in dark winter clothes walking hunched over against the wind and looking exhausted.

 

We happened to go past the little known and little used rear entrance to the Smithsonian Castle; no lines, so we went in. It was even worse inside; dozens of huddled masses, yearning to be warm. Almost everyone had their shoes off in an effort to warm up their feet. Most of them were slumped over; on the benches, against the walls, under the displays. Zombie-like stares. The staff was providing little tiny cups of hot drinks. You'd think we were all refugees from an avalanche or something.

 

I guess my friend and I, being "locals", were a little better prepared for the weather, tired but not beaten; so we just toured the museum; more refugees in every room. Nobody speaking, just glazed stares. It was positively unnerving.

 

But I'll bet not a one of us regretted the decision to be there.

[J.P.]

Last year it all went so much quicker and it all was like being caught by an avalanche.

The all around "what the hell am I doing?!" feeling.

 

But there is also another factor there. I knew it would be a bit tricky, the end of summer and first days of fall are the danger weeks for me anyway. Normally I can put myself together and enjoy meeting people I like and share interests for a limited time. Like a weekend at a doll fare in Lyon which included a journey by car, 3 pers. hotel room and extreme heat.

 

Just wrong time, I suppose. Let's see what comes next. I was already asked if I'm going to the US event.

 

BTW, one of the VIPs came from Hong Kong(!). Two others went to the same school :D One didn't make it at all :(