This year, Camp Stargate 2006 attendees consisted of babs, Darcy, DebA, devra, iiiionly (Charlene), JoaG and Oneofaradia (Amy). Wandering around we spotted Seanchaidh, Carrie, Mirawilliams, Travelling One, DanaJeanne, Mon, Sue, LoopyMowse, Artifuss, The One Ring, Ozymandia, Babsie - obviously people came from far and wide to attend this amazing fan run con. We also had breakfast with George Takei (okay, so it was only in our minds, in reality, we were actually at the same restaurant with him on two occasions).

From the comedian, Larry Stewart to George Takei, to Amber Benson and Adam Busch to Garrett Wang. Oh, and of course, the lovely Lexa Doig and her sidekick, Michael Shanks.

Larry was definitely an 3icebreaker at the con's opening ceremonies. Lotsa laughs as he lent his voice to the puppet, Ed the sock. Larry is an amazing voice impersonator and many a time we had to give the stage a second glance just to make sure the actual actor hadn't made a surprise appearance. Larry ran a panel called "Remembering Scotty" - a tribute to James Doohan. He had us crying and laughing with his personal memories of James, and it was a poignant look back into the man who is definitely a childhood icon for most of us.

Another childhood icon in attendance was George Takei. His anecdotes of the show were entertaining and brought back many a memory. "Oh. My." Between Larry and Garrett Wang's impersonations of George, when George actually said his trademark line, we weren't even sure it was actually George. George had a round of applause when a fan asked of his courageous announcement to the media last year. He talked about the ongoing struggle with equality and George appeared touched at the fans' support. At the end, he received a standing ovation as a thank you to his acknowledgment of how much the fans have played in the continued life of the Star Trek universe and Sci-Fi in general.

Garrett Wang (Ensign Kim from Voyager-who looks *much* better with long hair), was hilarious and if he gives up acting, he could definitely take to the stage as a comedian. He impersonated Sulu and the doctor from Voyager.

Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy) was a real sweetheart and very entertaining with an adorable giggle. She spoke of the groundbreaking relationship between Tara and Willow and how proud she was to have been part of such a mature representation of a same sex relationship.

Adam Busch (Warren from Buffy), was also there and he appeared with Amber on Sunday. He is a very talented musician and quite a charming young man. Unfortunately, some fans continue to confuse the actor with the character and he is still receiving death threats for killing Tara. Of course in real life, the two are dating and make a very cute couple.

Michael. What can we say except... SQUEEEE!!!!! (definitely a fan-girl moment). We got our first glimpse of him after waiting in line for two hours for autographs (with many nerve-related bathroom runs).

Lexa is incredibly beautiful and the camera doesn't even begin to do her justice. We all got our T-shirts signed (teehee and giggle), and has a wicked sense of humour. Oneofaradia asked Lexa to sign her Women of Sci-Fi DVD, and as Lexa's picture was not on the DVD label itself, Amy commented that it was too bad they hadn't chosen Lexa to be on it. Lexa felt that the two women on the DVD were the best pictures (not our opinion, of course), but gleefully signed over Brandy Ledford's chest (we think the photo is Brandy's... now if it had been a male, there'd be no confusion).

Waiting again in a short line, we simply stood, drooled, and tried not to trip over our feet when our turns came to get Michael to sign our T-shirts. It's all a blur, we have the photos to prove we were there but once the shaking and giggling stopped, which is not really an attractive look for "mature" women, we stood to the side and attempted to take a few photos of him.

An hour later, while waiting in line for our photo-ops with Michael, we had the pleasure of shaking George Takei's hand as he did a publicity appearance with Entertainment Tonight. He stopped at our group, commented on our Camp Stargate 2006 T-shirts and said that "Oh, My, he was in the wrong line." We were quick to inform him that he truly wasn't. (Geek girls from waaay back, to quote Amy).

Despite the tremendous amount of people waiting, the con was so-well organized that once Michael showed up, the line moved incredibly fast and managed to get everyone through despite the fact that Michael was 10 minutes late from doing an interview. We got back in line once again for a photo ops with Lexa.

Amy says Michael smells really good but JoaG comments she wouldn't know, she wasn't breathing throughout the whole time. He felt *great*, to quote devra, and looked trim and fit. Extremely trim and fit. Really, really trim and fit. Yeahhhh.

JoaG was holding Lumpy, who'd been beside himself knowing he'd be in a picture with Michael. When Michael asked "Dare I ask about the camel?" JoaG promptly said, "Ummm, no." And Michael replied, "Okay". So, if JoaG's got a red face in her photo, we'll all know why.

Every one of us Campers needed to be reminded that we'd either forgotten a bag, ticket, or ourselves as we floated away on a cloud from our photo encounters.

Siiiiiiigh. We walked away with many of those, supporting Char, whose legs wouldn't hold her up.

We returned to the end of the line, for another photo ops with Lexa. Amy ran off to a panel, which was a good thing because this time she didn't get blamed for the background panel and support coming apart and nearly falling on Lexa's head. The repairs were quickly made (thank God) because we were next. She was incredibly sweet and commented on our T-shirts.

Drum roll, please. The event we had been waiting for. Lexa and Michael's Q/A. The main stage was set with a comfy-looking chair, a table complete with tablecloth, and a mike, giving actors the choice of curling up or pacing around stage. Lexa was first with the Q/A. She is quick-witted, appeared very poised, relaxed and even took her shoes off as her feet were killing her. She spoke about Andromeda and Star Gate both, mentioned she was not appearing "at the moment" in Season 10 as she had been "gestating".

She was greeted by her former high school teacher, who was the first to step up to the mike. We were informed she'd been a brat as a teenager. Nothing bratty about her now.

She spoke about the weight gain she experienced during her pregnancies and we were amazed at how good she looked. A question was asked about how difficult it was being pregnant and being in the public eye, and she responded with a story about how she'd left Michael in the car while she went into a coffee shop to get a "decaf", and some man approached her, calling her "Earth Mother" and requesting to touch her tummy.

Her reply was an emphatic "NO!" and went back to Michael, wanting him to go back and be mean to the man. Michael's reaction had been, "That's funny". At this point, Michael came on stage, demanding she point out who was bothering her.

Their banter was incredibly funny and they looked and acted like a married couple. Oh wait, they are a married couple. (And yes, there were several fans throughout the weekend who were shocked to learn that Rommie has married Dr. Daniel Jackson – all males, for the record).

While describing their time together on the Andromeda set when Michael guest spotted, he convinced Lexa to tell us an off-colour joke which she'd been telling in an attempt to get the cute guest star to notice her. She promptly got up and demonstrated. (sorry folks, you really had to be there).

Someone asked whether Michael would be interested in doing a middle-aged Indiana Jones and Lexa quickly reiterated "middle age?" with a wicked grin.

Rumours about Michael portraying Captain America are not true, according to him. Although Lexa did make a comment about seeing Michael in tights, to which all the gals in the audience squeed.

Anecdotes about Chris' penchant for flatulence were once again discussed and described. This appears to be a popular way to pass time on the sets of Sci-Fi shows as Garrett Wang also brought this up in his talk. Chris' pranks were also described.

One of the things Michael commented on as being fed up of doing was being captured and knocked to his knees, which to our delight, he demonstrated. (Give us a second to collect our thoughts as this visual is still running rampart through our brains.) Whumped and captured Daniel, in our opinion, can *never* be overdone.

Someone wanted to know how Lexa would allow Michael out in the shirt he was wearing. For those of you who do not know what we are talking about, stop reading now, and go forth and search the internet, as our photos are not quite ready for to be posted, due to technical difficulties. Michael joked that the shirt was Lexa's as he fondled his nipples and the female members of the audience dissolved into puddles of drool.

They spoke together for about forty-five minutes, at which point Lexa's brother stepped up to the mike and said "Mom and Dad want you home to take care of the kids," which gave us a half hour alone with Michael. After a tender kiss goodbye she left and he gazed longingly at her six as she walked off stage.

We're sure all of you noticed Michael's breathtaking left bicep is now sporting a delicious tattoo of a cross. Lexa has a butterfly on her right arm; both tattoos are temporary. Damn it! Their 21 month old daughter has a tattoo to match her mommy's while Michael stated that his 3 month old son drew more than a few curious stares and comments at his tattoo which matched his daddy's. This idea was Lexa's and we gave a heartfelt applause and thank you to the woman for allowing us this lovely visual as Michael pumped up his arm for a closer look at her handiwork.

Asked if he'd seen the action figures, he replied that he'd seen them, but that he hadn't posed for them. An audience member graciously handed two of them to Michael for a closer inspection. He promptly placed them into a bent-over position and tried to mirror it, commenting on his doll's lack of butt. (Amazingly, Michael was not blinded by the multitude of flashing cameras from the audience).

During the last minutes of the talk, Michael brought up the subject of slash. He mentioned at a previous con, someone brought manips of Daniel and Jack and handed them to him. He commented on how the person was proud of her work and seemed to expect the same reaction from Micheal. Michael asked the audience how many were slashers. As we were sitting up near the front, we never thought to see how many had joined us in our first public *coming out*. Later we were informed that close to one quarter of the audience had proudly raised their hands.

Jokingly he asked "why" to which the audience erupted in a flurry of responses, which actually boiled down to "duh." With a wide grin, he told us to "stop", to which we all laughed and shook our heads no. It was not an insult, not a demand and was said in fun and jokes, and we believe he really wanted to know why slash was written and enjoyed. The discussion would have gone further but, unfortunately, his time was up. Damn!

This was an amazingly well run con, organized by fans who know the priorities of other fans. We haven't even touched upon the panels that were held in tandem to the Q/A sessions, all of which we had to give up on Sunday in order to have our time with our favourite actors.

A great time was had by all. The stars were all gracious, entertaining and genuinely seemed to enjoy being there. The con personnel went out of their way to make our needs met, listening to thoughts and asking for comments on how to improve the con in the coming years.

Thank you to all who participated, to the people we shared laughter with, to our Saturday afternoon luncheon companions, to our Saturday night dinner companions (woohoo, we rated a private room) and to our Sunday night room visitors. Only 363 more days to Toronto Trek 2007.

p.s. An apology for the overuse of certain adjectives but we really didn't know how else to describe this amazing weekend.

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as at 11.07.06