Fedcon 2014 - Tony Curran

[dieastra]

One of the highlights of the recent FedCon for me and the guest that surprised me the most. A few days ago, I didn't even know his name... Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Scottish fella Tony Curran. You might know him from "Defiance", I know him as van Gogh in "Doctor Who". Lovely episode where the Doctor takes him to the present at the end with his time machine, and they visit the Louvre and he has tears in his eyes because everyone praises his paintings.

And Tony actually got a cheer from the Dutch fans when he pronounced van Gogh with the right "ch" at the start of the name - I had no idea! His panel was very funny, he talked in lovely Scottish. One story I remember is about him filming with both Kiefer Sutherland and his father Donald, and Kiefer did a scene where he pretended to be a German and spoke German rather well, and he always wanted to do that because his father had once done so in a movie back in the Seventies, which did deeply impress him. So later in the year Tony worked with Donald Sutherland and told him this story, and Donald laughed and said that he never told his son that his German was so bad it had to be dubbed by a real German LOL

I came to the photosession rather late and he loved my t-shirt with the Dalek doing Exterminating in the rain That's why he put his arm up like Gene Kelly, singing "I'm happy again". He didn't remember this at the autograph session though, so that's why he wrote what he wrote: "What the hell is this red head doing" and then announced that he was signing right over his arm, as he didn't like that his hand was cut off ;) Too funny. I love it.

Another funny episode from the autograph session. He called the girl before me "beautiful eye lady" but couldn't figure out what the color was. So he called her "beautiful eyes whichever color they are" and I said that as van Gogh he actually should know the color ;) We really had a blast chatting with him.

Comments

[tangotabby.livejournal.com]

How fantastic! We had the pleasure of meeting him at a con in the US a month or so ago, and he was absolutely lovely. He looked a lot different, though--his hair was long (as long as yours!) and not nearly so red :-) I almost didn't recognize him in your photo op!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Great that you met him too! Where do you know him from? In the autograph session I saw a picture of what he looks like in "Defiance" - I assume, or maybe it was another role, lots of make up, I'd never recognized him.

Maybe when you met him he was also in this or another role? I guess the red hair is his real color though, as he is Scottish. If you don't know the Doctor Who episode where he played van Gogh, watch it - he was amazing and really looked like him. I loved especially his eyes.

Is he living in the US at the moment? I really don't know anything about him but want to find out. I read which many else things he has done, amazing! Out of 22 guests he is currently on place 3 in the official Fedcon-forum poll of the favouritest guests. First place is Amanda Tapping, which makes me very happy. She was second to last at the opening ceremony, followed only by Richard Dean Anderson, and got a huge cheer and applause.

Did you also manage to see a panel with him?

[tangotabby.livejournal.com]

Vincent and the Doctor is one of my all time favorite episodes, and he was just amazing in that role! That's where I first saw him, and then I watched him in Defiance. Have you seen that one? His character in Defiance is not very likeable :-( To be honest, it's hard for me to watch him be such a nasty character! I'm not sure where he lives, but Defiance is filmed in Canada (Toronto).

We didn't get to see him on a panel, unfortunately; we were only that that con for one day, and the Defiance panel was the following day :-( But I'm hoping to see him at another con.

That's so cool that he was 3rd favorite at FedCon! I'm not at all surprised that Amanda is number one :-) She is such an incredible person, not only talented, but one of the sweetest actors I have *ever* met. Sounds like FedCon was wonderful!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I always tell people, I am actually not really a sci-fi fan... Stargate and Doctor Who/Torchwood being exceptions, as they don't take each other too seriously. I also like lighter shows like Eureka, but not Star Trek or Star Wars or anything that is set on a ship. So I haven't even bothered with Defiance, thinking it sounds just like another sci-fi show. I might have a look once it starts on German TV but so far we didn't have it yet.

Amanda is indeed lovely. Not sure you saw the picture of me and her back in 2003 which I recently posted?

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/70208.html

Before I saw her in "real" I hadn't actually been that much of a Carter fan. I was always focussed on Jack, and well, she is a bit uptight at times, no? LOL But Amanda is so open and warm and has a lovely smile, and she looked so different with the long hair and non-military clothes... I was blown away. She was also there in 2006 at the very first ever con with RDA, to hold his hand, as he was so shy and had no idea what to do. You could see their close relationship. They share the same kind of humor, it was great watching them together.

The Fedcon panels mostly were about Rick doing funny things and Amanda and Michael laughing until they cried ;)

Here is one example of this:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t31.0-8/10257011_10152439499283815_8479985474309862338_o.jpg

[sharp2799.livejournal.com]

You look wonderful!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It was a great con. Someone is doing a write-up, when she is finished I will post the links here. For once I don't have to be the one doing it, I just could sit back and enjoy.

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's awesome. I'm so envious.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

He was really awesome!

(and I really like your icon. Will I ever see action figure theatre by you? ;) )

Seriously, I'm famous. Someone I never met before came to me at Fedcon and said: "You're Astra who does those funny action figure stories, right?"

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

I've done stories with my 16 inch dolls over on flickr. The dolls made a few "movies." Not videos, just photo stories. A B&W noirish crime story. A romance. A science fiction story. But I doubt I'll do anything that elaborate with the 1:6 figures. I don't have the props. But I did do a 7 inch Stargate action figure story: https://www.flickr.com/photos/shellysblogger/sets/72157594492309995/

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Yay! I knew it! You've failed to show those to me so far ;) (or I failed in finding them. I really should take some time and go through all your Flickr pictures)

I love your backgrounds - the book and the plant! It's so easy to do something. Wait, did you make a headscarf for Daniel? In the picture where he is talking with the fair maiden, it looks like he is wearing one (there are also SG-1 figures in their desert uniforms, where he has one molded).

That throne chair is awesome! Also that figure on the left of it. Love Jack's shirt!

Oh boy, that doesn't look good for Daniel.

"Jack who has aged a bit" *dies laughing* Yeah, with Daniel getting into these kind of situations all the time, I bet he gets grey hair!

Seeing Richard and Amanda and Michael at Fedcon together, has really brought back so many memories of good old times, and I am doing a re-watch of my DVDs at the moment. I also gave the first season to a friend who was there and watched the panel but never saw the show. So far she likes it. Yay!

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

That adventure was filmed on my dining room table. The plant is artificial and was the centerpiece I had at the time. While I do have a hat and scarf -- bought at a miniatures show -- that fit the figures along with Hawaiian shirts like Jack is wearing, I think all Daniel has on is the hat and eyeglasses he came with. I don't sew, so any clothes are whatever I can find to buy. I had all the Stargate figures there were to buy and just recently sold them all on eBay to make room for the 1:6 figures. I did love Stargate, and still do, but I much prefer the larger figures now, and the 5 inch Doctor Who/Torchwood/Primeval figures. I'm glad you enjoyed the Stargate adventure. :)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I looked at the picture again and it probably was just the lighting that made his hair look greenish. Sorry.

I'm very sad that there is no complete SG-1 of the large figures, I only have Jack and Daniel, plus their faces are not as good as the little ones. I don't understand this, they had the laser scans, they should have been able to make them in big as well. I have seen some fan-made Teal'c and Sam though which looked amazing - also with much more detailed uniforms and weapons. But as I am not as much interested in the military stuff I never attempted this.

Here is my picture with the three of them btw. if you don't want to wait till I post it:

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q227/DieAstra/Fedcon%202014/Stargate600x404.jpg

And I'm not sure whether I already gave you the list with my Stargate figure pictures? This was the first fandom we did these, so there are the most stories, but also you can see how they evolve over the years and the background and props get better:

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/24280.html

[nycshelly.livejournal.com]

Very cool!

[alumfelga.livejournal.com]

Lovely picture :)

It looks like "van Gogh" in pronounced differently in every country. I know at least three versions now ;) Bravo for Tony for checking the original one!

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Thank you ;)

Wow, three versions?

[alumfelga.livejournal.com]

In Poland, we say Gog, with each g spelled like g in "fog". In the episode, and as I presume, in England and maybe other English speaking countries, they say Gof , and now you say it's supposed to be said with "ch" in the beginning. So many ways to say such a short name! But I think his paintings are more important than how to pronounce the name ;)

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

I think we use the Gog pronouncation in Germany as well.

There are even differences between Eastern and Western Germany. We say China with soft Ch, and they say it more like Kina.

[alumfelga.livejournal.com]

Are those pronunciation differences big, like dialects in the UK? I heard people in north France speak different French than people from the south. There are no such differences in Poland, although there are few regions where local dialects are still used, along with the "official" language. They're hard to understand for someone who's not from there.

[dieastra.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's more like that a different language developed in the 40 years Eastern Germany was on its own. Of course with a lot of political terms you don't hear anymore. Only when watching some old news I realize all the hollow words that were around all the time. A bit like the newspeak in "1984" (which was forbidden, for obvious reasons)

So there are a ton of different words for the same thing, and it was like learning a new language afterwards. We did not have as many English terms in our language as there are now also. Good old German words instead.

I read in the newspaper that babies from China are whining differently than German babies. That even so small they already have a feeling for the melody of a language, and try to match it. Interesting!

[alumfelga.livejournal.com]

It's interesting how much can change in forty years.

English words are everywhere now. It's fine, as long as they're used when there's no equivalent in the other language, like "weekend". But in business, I hear people using English words like "brief" or "content" just to sound more clever and important. I don't like that.

I read in the newspaper that babies from China are whining differently than German babies.
I didn't know that! It's fascinating how babies learn a language in the first place, and the fact that pick the melody so early is amazing. If only we could learn that quickly and instinctively as adults!