The Coffee Shop Fan Art: Happy Halloween

It’s close to midnight, and something Weevil is lurking in the depths of the Hub, for tonight is the witching hour, the night of the dead, all Hallow’s Eve, and who knows what might knock at your door trick or treating!!!

We have some awesome artwork for you this month. 

A welcome return to “Scaree Knight” and her hand drawn Torchwood team consisting of a gruesomely scary Captain Jack Harkness with his fly companions, proving that being immortal at Halloween doesn't necessarily mean your limbs will grow back. 

Myfanwy knows how to scare the kids and save them from the demon dentist by eating the chocolate herself, so long as she doesn’t share it with Joshua.

And Ianto Jones, entering into the spirit of Halloween with  cute little tail and ears.  Hello Pussycat, Meowww!

The Doctor has his hands full when he visits the Witch’s shop.  Love those mini pumpkins, “Agony Antje”, and look out for that giant bat!   

“Lyving Chaos” immortalises the long lost Torchwood team on this Halloween night, with a poem from the crypt.  

Captain Jack’s equally scary Nostrovite snappy snarly approach in the ‘Screaming At the Moon’ fan art designed by our very own “Kira Pumpkin” has me shaking in my shoes. 

And “Devil’s Droid” artwork ‘Beware of the Captain’ from ‘Adam’ episode has been given a truly brilliant make over for this Hallows Eve.  As Jack surveys the dead, are these people he’s killed after a vampire attack or is there something far more sinister at work here?

With thanks to all contributors to the Fan Art this month, and to find out who they are, check out the tags below.

If you have Fan Art that you would like to share on our website, drop us a line at projecttorchwood@ymail.com

The Coffee Shop How Big is Your Fandom Pt 2

"Agony Antje"

I’m not the only one with a massive collection of Torchwood or Who memorabilia, I’m certain that out there, someone has a far larger collection of the TARDIS or the Daleks, or the tin dog.  When we asked the fans on our Facebook Page and indeed on Twitter, it warmed our hearts to see fans post up their collection and post on the FB page.

Be it Torchwood or Who, the fans love the show, certain characters, and could tell you where they were when they purchased a particular signed photo, or where they had their picture taken, or indeed where they picked up their action figure. 

Below are fans who have shared their fandom with us, if you want to join in, then be sure to message us on Facebook, or email us at: projecttorchwood@ymail.com with your photos, including your name or username and maybe something about your collection.  It doesn’t have to be very long; the length is entirely up to you.

"Queen of Fire"

"Ghosty-Gwenie"

Special thanks to "Agony Antje", Ghosty-Gwenie and "Queen of Fire" for their photos.

The Coffee Shop You Raise Me Up Memories - Antje's Recording Studio Report 1st July 2014

Visiting John Barrowman for the recording of You Raise Me Up!

Back in March, I was lucky enough to be able to attend two of the studio visits John Barrowman did for his new album “You Raise Me Up.” (now available everywhere) that was founded through the Pledge system by his fans.  We were there and saw it being made.  You can’t really get any closer than that.

Having been to two of the studio sessions now, I start to see a pattern.  First, John would join us in the room we were sitting in, which had a big organ and also a black grand piano.  On the piano Matt would play and John would rehearse a song or two.  

On Tuesday these songs were “A Thousand Years” and “Skyscraper” and on Wednesday again “Skyscraper”.  This time John also recorded it as a video for his pledging page.  One time Matt sang along as well to help John with what he wanted and they sounded really lovely as a duet.

Here is the video they did that day: 

They also tried out different height levels for “Skyscraper” and one was an E which is very high and John asked if he really shall do that on tour every evening?  Then John would go into the glass cubicle we were sitting right across from to watch him work.  It was a bit like animals in the zoo but he obviously didn’t mind that we followed every step he did.

On Wednesday we watched him take off his blue sweater (he had a grey tshirt under it), take off his rings and watch and lay it all down on the table.  Then he grinned as it really did seem a bit like a strip tease but he did not continue with it. 

At the right side was another glass cubicle with all the technical stuff.  There sat Matt and Gavin and Katie with lots of computers.   We had all gotten headphones so we could listen to what they said to John, and hear John singing of course.  Before we started, he made sure that everyone was able to hear him:  “Can you hear me? Nod if you can hear me.”  After everyone had given the okay, we were ready to start.

It was amazing to have him right in our ears.  You could hear every little breath and throat clearing. 

Another interesting thing to learn about was the burping.  Someone on Twitter commented on it after the first studio session on Tuesday, and he mentioned it to us again on Wednesday.  It’s because he sometimes takes in so much air for those long notes, and it has to go somewhere after again.

Well that would be the saucy and icky stuff out of the way, now we can concentrate on the singing.  If him singing just to the piano in the room already had sounded great, I really was not prepared to what the first song – “Loch Lomond” – would be like.  He asked for the lights to be dimmed, to get him into the right mood and also for none of us to take pictures during that song. 

They started out with singing the song as a whole through once or twice, just to get him into the mood.  Later they would break up the song into several sections, so John would just sing the first part and sometimes even only the same line again and again until it was perfect, then the second part and then the last part.  Doing it like this helps them construct the ultimate good song out of the single parts.  “See?  This is how hard I work for you!”

He explained to us that he likes to do it in sections as it is easier to work with.  Technically, they could even construct it out of different words.  Some singers, who don’t know how to sing, do this and then the computer does all the hard work to make them sound good.

So, they started to work on the sections, and we were witnesses of seeing something that already was great, becoming even better during the hour.  Matt knows exactly what he wants, and he tells John in a lot of technical terms I did not exactly understand, as I am no musician.  He told him where to breathe, where to do the vibrato, whether to go close to the microphone for intimacy or more far away, and also sometimes they discussed which the right lyrics were and then Gavin would check them with the lyrics sheet.  John had a bit of a struggle to remember the new words, as he had been singing “Loch Lomond” for years with other ones, so they were ingrained into his brain.

Same with “Mandy”, there was a little break one time and he had time to go through the song and really look at the notes, and make notes for himself in there.  “Isn’t it amazing how you sing a song for years and have not the right melody,”  or something he said.

The lines on the sheet were numbered, so they always knew about which number they were talking at the moment.  Matt would say for example, “Let’s start from bar 67.”

At one point two girls in the front row got into the music so much that they started to sway in rhythm – only, they had the wrong rhythm and John was motioning to them to please stop as it was bringing him out of HIS rhythm.  But after he had finished singing he smiled and said, “I’m happy you enjoy it so much.”

“Mandy” was the first song on Wednesday, the same like “Loch Lomond” in a dimmed light, as it also was a very emotional one.

There was a bit of mishap with that song.  When John sang it through the first time to the music track Matt had done the other day for it, he broke off after the first verse and said: “You will probably hate me for this but I think it is too slow.  Will that cause us trouble?”  Matt agreed that it indeed did sound too slow and he was right, it sounded as if he was sleeping on his feet while singing!  So John went into the other cubicle and they tried to speed the track up a bit.  He sang along with the new one and it sounded much better.  We were also asked our opinion and raised our thumbs.

It then took 15 minutes for them to make all the right changes and while we were offered a toilet break nobody wanted to miss anything.  John went back to his own room and tried to fill the time.  First he invented a bit of music with rasping his sheets along the metal music stand, then also tapped the steel which sounded like a Xylophone, and finally tapped his fingers at the microphone.  I’m not sure but I think he even did a bit of tap-dancing.  He had a lot of energy in him which he needed to let out somehow.

John also talked a bit about the session yesterday and how people had commented on it afterwards on Twitter.  Some apparently thought he just went there and sung a song a few times, but did not expect all the hard work that went into it.

He also asked who was here yesterday and I held up my hand and he looked at me and said. “Right, you were here yesterday” and then continued to ask me how I liked it.  And I had a total brain fart.  I could have said so many things there, words like “wonderful” or “amazing” or “emotional” or “touching” or even “totally blown away” but since I had his voice so loud in my head, instead of hearing him through the glass, I somehow had failed to understand that we still could talk to him through the glass wall and he could hear us.  So I just nodded and mouthed something but did not say anything.  He must have found me very weird.

And he talked about the music sheets going up for the pledging and then added. “I feel bad, because it’s always the same people pledging, but I want to reach out to the others!”

He also had given some of his chocolates to the team and asked how they were.  Apparently it was some balls which tasted lovely and of course we had much fun with Gavin tasting John’s balls....LOL.

It probably should have not surprised me, but despite all of the hard concentrated work, there was still time for a joke here or there and a lot of banter going back and forth between John and Matt.  They have known each other for years and really work well together, it was amazing to see.  We laughed quite a lot.  I had come prepared to be as quiet as a mouse, but sometimes you needed to let that energy out.

He also tried to apologise to us but then again, we had come to watch him work, and this was work and sometimes things like that happen.  We wouldn’t have wanted to miss a single bit.  Finally they were ready and we could continue.

There was one part of “Mandy” where John had a very long note, the music stops for a moment while he still holds it and then continues.  He always was too long and not in time to continue with the lyrics when the music again set in, Matt then started to conduct him to give him signs when to stop and when to start again so it was spot on.

One time Matt asked John to add several vibrato’s and he did, but then he said. “It doesn’t sound like me.  I don’t want to sound like Andrea Bocelli or Michael Buble” and Matt agreed that it was indeed too much and they left only one of those in.  It was amazing to see that there never was an argument about who was right and who was wrong, just a mutual understanding and them trying to find the perfect song. 

So the longer this went on, the more notes he made on his sheets and those that were able to buy them are quite lucky gals.  It must be hard for him to remember all those little bits and changes.  Finally they reached the stage where he would sing the song again from start to finish, with all the changes, and he put all of his heart and soul into it.  One time after such a complete song, Matt said that most of this take will end up at the album, as it was beautiful.

When they decided they had enough of a song, they would put it together again and play it in our ears, with John sitting in the room with them listening to it.  It was like hearing the CD already.  Then there was a little break and we would go to a song where John was in full light in his cubicle and also didn’t mind any pictures taken.

On Tuesday he sang “Listen to the Music” and he was smiling all the time, and dancing, as it is a very upbeat number.  Same on Wednesday for “Hollywood.”  I have to admit I did not care for “Hollywood” much when it was at the concert back in 2011, but listening to it again and again, and seeing John having so much fun with it, made me really like the song.

On Tuesday for the song “Listen to the Music”, Matt also had invented some pieces where John would sing with himself in the duet.  They would play the song they already had, and John was asked to sing the same line a note higher or lower, like a second voice, which made the whole thing richer in the end.

With “Hollywood”, the music at the end went on like forever, and John started to totally let go and improvise a lot there.  At one point, he sang, “I’ll make you famous, be it with Arrow or Torchwood or Doctor Who”, we laughed quite loud at that!

When they played the finished “Hollywood” to us in the end, you could see everyone swinging around to the music.  It was finally time for US to let out our emotions, before we had hardly dared to breathe let alone move, to not disturb him in any way.  And we even sang along with the “Oh-oh-oh...”

Afterwards, he came out to talk with us a bit.  He said the next day they would have bagpipes for “Loch Lomond” and a few other songs, and even a Gospel choir.

The Tuesday session was on March 11^th, John’s birthday.  At the beginning he had asked it we wanted to eat the cake first or after.  We all said “After” as that meant he would be able to join us.

This was the (sparkly) cake before we all ate it!

So, afterwards we all gathered around the table with the sparkly cake on it, and John started to cut it and then gave out pieces to everyone.  There is a video of this in his Youtube channel here:

With it being his birthday he also received a lot of gifts from all the fans.  Some people had travelled quite far, there were fans from Australia and Ukraine, for example.

Please don’t ask what I was looking at in this picture, as I really don’t remember!  But it’s not what it looks like!  Hilarious picture.

You can watch this video, it shows the studio and John singing and a few behind-the-scenes: 

Last thoughts:  If there will ever be another CD founded by the fans and another opportunity for me to go to the studio again, I will do it in a heartbeat.  Or at the drop of a hat, as John is so fond of saying.  It was the best experience ever and I will never forget it.  I hope I could let you take part a little in it as well.

To view more of the photos from this report, visit http://dieastra.livejournal.com/109724.html

Pictures by me and my friends Sarou and Rachel

Expo & Cons Torchwood: Miracle Day by Antje Strauch

11.13. April 2014, Birmingham

One or two days before the “Miracle Day” Convention John Barrowman announced on his Twitter that he had unexpectedly a weekend off, and would be found at the Hollywood convention.

I guess that is in Hollywood.

I admit, it made me quite sad. I mean, technically I had known there was no chance he would be in Birmingham anyway, as he is one, in the US at the moment and two, shooting more “Arrow” but for me he still clearly was at the wrong convention.

But you know what? It was still great fun! I had two friends with me for whom it was the first time to see all those Torchwood stars, and it couldn’t have been a better introduction. A nice small familiar event, around 300 fans I think, and with Kai Owen, Gareth David-Lloyd, Naoko Mori, Dichen Lachman and of course Eve Myles, who had initiated the whole thing, on stage together, it was expected to be a blast.

We should have probably been warned about what was to come at Friday evening at the opening ceremony. 

Sean, head of Starfury events, tried to do a speech and introduce them but was interrupted by shenanigans going on backstage. 

You know, the screen they had put up to show what’s happening on stage to the people in the back rows, worked both ways. So we saw some shadowy figures, having fun with bananas or trying to pick Sean’s nose on the screen.

He was at a loss for words, and he admitted that was a first in the past 15 years of doing conventions. And he ended with the now famous “Thank God John Barrowman isn’t here!”

Well, in the end he was with us in spirit, as he got mentioned from those on stage quite a few times. Or at least his balls. But more about that later.

When Gareth was supposed to come to the stage, at first he was not visible, made only ghost-like noises and we should all help with making him visible again. We tried hard, and it worked, and out he came ;)

After the opening ceremony we went straight to the room in which the Meet and Greet with the stars for the owners of Gold tickets was supposed to happen. For once I was not the first of our group and only got told later that we did not choose our table ourselves, a guide asked how many we were and then placed us at a table in a way so that at each table a chair was kept free for the star that would join us later for a bit of small talk.

So just you know, nothing that happened after that was our fault. Not at all. We immediately hit off with the people on our table and had much fun with each other, we spent the whole weekend together and went for meals in the evening and everyone that heard us laughing was amazed to hear that two days ago we hadn’t even known each other. And we were a well-mixed group from several different countries and also mixed old con-experts and virgin newbies.

And there also was Giorgio. Surely many of you have met him, he was just there because he is friends with Dichen Lachman, who he had met at a con a few years ago. He had no idea what Torchwood was but I hope we were able to convince him that it was a show one absolutely must watch!

In the end, late in the evening, a lonely girl from the next table came over, saying how she liked us having fun, while apparently there had not been much interaction on her table, the others just left without even saying good-bye. How rude.

So, the stars at a con are one thing, but the most special thing is spending time with friends, meeting old friends again and new ones for the first time, which you then look forward to to meet again next year.

The downside is, that with all the stuff going on, you sometimes are going to one thing while others go to another, and you only meet in the hallway and in between “Hi!” and “I have to catch my panel!” there is not much time to talk, and you can’t split yourself in two. But then that’s what the hotel bar is for (I’m not one that likes to go to the parties, the music is not the kind I like, and it’s way too loud for me anyway. I’m getting old LOL)

So, back to the Meet and Greet. The first on our table was Kai. I have been to Meet and Greets before where the person sitting next to the star hogged all of his time alone and the others never got a word in, but this did not happen here. Kai asked everyone for his name, and where they were from, and if any of the Germans were from Bavaria… LOL (I should probably mention that apparently Bavaria had beaten Manchester in soccer a few days ago, but what do I know)

With Dichen we also talked about Germany because it turned out that even though she is from Australia, she has a German granddad! Which explains her last name Lachman, and we translated her that it means laughing man. She hadn’t known that yet.

I don’t actually remember much from our talks to Gareth and Naoko, but the reason for that is that Eve Myles was found more often ON the tables instead of AT them, and while standing there and having the full room’s attention, she announced that tomorrow there would be a screening of the episode “Contrycide” and they would do an audio commentary. And that we all should come in our pyjamas.

Several times ;)

In the end, it went like this:

Eve: “What are we going to do tomorrow?”

Fans: “A screening!”

Eve: “Of what?”

Fans: “Countrycide!”

Eve: “And what do you all wear?”

Fans: “Pyjamas!!!”

And so on. And right now I remember that Gareth had said this actually first at our table, that he would crash the screening and do a commentary. And he asked us for the time it would be on, and we gave it to him but later wondered how he would be able to do the autographs and screening at the same time. Thankfully it then got switched to an earlier time.

Eve spent way more than just the five minutes on each table, got gifts and chocolates and drinks everywhere and really had a blast. One girl had a self made resurrection glove, and of course Eve took this chance to resurrect Gareth. I couldn’t see it well because they were lying at the floor, but apparently she went for his special bits. Of course ;)

It was already past midnight when she came to us, we were the second to last table and the room had emptied considerably. Everyone was partying on in the other room but after Eve had left it was time for us to say good-night, as we had a full weekend ahead of us and well, a little bit of sleep would be nice.

That is me with the glove, but I did not make it:

On Saturday, there were the photo sessions in the morning. Then we were waiting what would happen next. While we did so, suddenly this guy – Ian – came to the stage and took a picture with Gwen, dressed as Gwen. He got quite a loud cheer for it! And he did look really good.

At noon, a new programme part had been included. The Torchwood episode “Countrycide” was shown, and the actors gave their running comments with it. And at least half the people in the room had shown up in their pyjamas, as requested by Eve.

  

If you remember the episode, it starts with the team driving in the SUV through the – well, countryside, and Owen comments on the smell. Then John aka Jack is shown on the wheel, and Gareth chanted “Gay – gay – gay – gay – gay…” Next we heard, was Owen’s “It’s disgusting.” I’m the last person to make any bad jokes about sexual orientation, but this was pretty funny as it was really right on the beat. And it got only worse from there. Sadly (or maybe luckily?) I didn’t understand some of the things they said ;) And I actually don’t remember much of the rest, except for that story about John and his hangover and that he said they should not film any close-ups of his face. Eve said he literally had just taken the sunglasses off (the scene where they go into the house).

They also informed us in every scene when John had been farting. I always wanted to know that ;)

In the middle of the whole thing Kai also called Owen Teale and asked us all to shout “Because it makes me happy, you … cheeky bastard” (can please someone fill in the missing words? Do you remember them?)

After that, the panels started in the afternoon. First up was Dichen Lachman. She had much to tell about her new movie “Lust for Love” which has been crowdfunded and she asked if any founders were in the audience, there were indeed some. And she was a producer as well as an actress and had to worry all the time whether to re-do a scene or leave it to not overstretch the budget.

  

They actually streamed the movie for us the other day, which was really nice and if was a funny little rom-com, about a guy who has no luck with the ladies and his friend (Dichen) who tells him different tricks and of course he ends up with her in the end. That was clear right from the beginning, but still there were some nice twists and great comedy.

Well into the panel someone asked if she could tell any stories from the Torchwood set. “Right, that’s what we are here for after all!” she replied. Even though she played an evil person in “Miracle Day”, the real Dichen was just lovely and cute. She said how much of a family they all were on set, and that she already knew a few of the crew from other projects and felt right at home. And she told the story about John scaring her (he seems to like that?) and she had a bottle of water which ended up all over him and they needed half an hour to get him dry again, and they laughed for ten minutes straight.

The next panel was with Naoko Mori and Gareth David-Lloyd. I have not written down all questions and answers, but a few memorable quotes. For example, if they were to rename “Torchwood”, what would it be? No hesitation: “John Barrowman’s balls”.

I also liked this sentence from Gareth: “I wanted to go in a hail of bullets but ended up with an alien fart.”

Naoko regretted that Tosh and Owen never got that lunch. They also were asked to give advice for themselves. Gareth: “Wear a gas suit!” Naoko: “Wear a bullet proof vest!”

The conversation came to the new Doctor Peter Capaldi and Gareth told a bit how wonderful it was working with him and Naoko looked at him: “He wasn’t in Torchwood?!?” Gareth replied: “You were dead.”

Turned out, she never had watched “Children of Earth” – and both of them never watched “Miracle Day” because, well, they weren’t in it ;) That became one of the running gags throughout the weekend.

Naoko not only didn’t know the later “Torchwood” seasons but also nothing about “Harry Potter” or “Game of Thrones”. She also told a funny story about when she was in “Doctor Who” for the first time. She got the script but didn’t speak English very well back then and looked up TARDIS in the dictionary. When she couldn’t find it, she actually called a friend to ask what it was. After she had spelled it out for him, he just hung up. Without an answer.

After those two it was time for Kai Owen and Eve Myles. They also had quite a few funny ideas what the show else could have been called:

“I’m really 69”

“The Teeth”

“The John Barrowman show”

“Pressure Pad”

“Tonight’s the night”

“4 hours of makeover”

Apparently they were prepared to go on like this for a while but we stopped there ;)

One question was also about if they ever stole anything from the set. Kai was adamant: “I never stole anything!” Eve: “Just my heart!” Awwwww!

Seeing the both of them sitting there, it felt really like an old couple! They work so well together and that is the reason why I am no Gwen/Jack shipper, sorry.

There was a moment where we talked about which dead people they would like to bring back to the show. For some reason or the other, Eve mentioned Anwen. Then they looked at each other and realized that she is not dead ;) Same happened when she was asked with which dead person she would like to spend an evening. That’s how the rumour that Kathy Burke was dead got out. Kai actually got out his phone and pretended to tweet about it LOL

There was also some very bad joke to the absolutely innocent question what Rhys' mother was doing nowadays. For some reason, Kai and Eve concluded that she was a prostitute – and selling Crispy Cremes. Make the connection yourself ;)

After they said that, Kai got his face into his hands and said: “Why do we say those things? At home we are not like that, but as soon as we are at a convention…”

In the evening we also got a costume contest but there were so many great costumes.  I always love costume contests. Fans can be so creative to make those things.

The first contestant was also the smallest: Gareth's daughter Lily as Alice in Wonderland:

Not surprisingly, she won the price for the best kid. She also was the only kid ;) Look at that proud Daddy's face:

A few Doctors

Ian as Gwen also took part. He won a prize and got a big smooch by Kai Owen

This was the best: Captain Jack and the alien sex gas. Not surprisingly, they won a prize and they also were the favourite of the audience

Tenth Doctor - he won a prize

In the break, when the jury decided who should be the winner, this little firl proved that she wants to be the new Eve Myles. She entertained the crowd with making all sorts of funny faces:

The Jury:

On Sunday, we went to get our autographs first thing in the morning. While waiting for the stars to arrive who were running a bit late, we chatted with one of the volunteers. He told us a fun story about another Starfury convention which was madness. As soon as he would stop walking just to catch his breath, a line would form behind him and then people would ask: “What are we queuing for?” – “Don’t know, I am just standing here!” LOL

When we finally were allowed into the room, as a nice extra we got a Torchwood poster which you could use to get signed. I always let the pictures I take with them signed though and got some funny comments about the poses.

Then it was time for the “Lust for Love” screening. Before and after Dichen talked a bit about the movie.

Poor girl was so cold, she was wearing her coat on stage.

Soon it was time for Kai Owen’s panel.

He had been given a solo panel but at the meet and greet Gareth had announced that he planned to crash it, and so Kai was only on stage alone for five minutes or so before Gareth arrived. The two guys together were also very funny. They all play so well off of each other, with one having a thought and the other finishing it. You’ll see soon what I mean.

Each had a beer in their hand – Kai in a glass, Gareth drank straight from the bottle – and after an Austrian girl had invited them to some famous beer festival in her hometown, there was a lot of beer talk. 

No matter what the question was, they would always return to it LOL So, someone would ask a question, and one of them would start to reply, but the other interrupted with: “…. is also a nice beer.” And then the other would agree and so on. It was hilarious.

They showed a bit of a video Kai and Eve had done for Sean. They were punching each other all the time, like a real stunt fight. Very good! You can see these scenes here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFIM_35-Xr0

Several questions also were about what they would like to see in a Torchwood season 5. 

Naoko was sitting somewhere in the audience as well, and always cleared her throat very loudly since for some reason they forgot to mention Tosh while listing all the characteres they wanted to see back ;)

Later she also told us that she would love to play an evil twin of Tosh or maybe her from an alternate reality, anything to bring the character back. She also had enjoyed that one episode “Adam” where she played her a bit differently. So, “Tosh with cleavage”, that’s what she would like to play.

Kai and Gareth also dissed PC Andy a lot ;) Tom Price was not there so could not defend himself against all the accusations. I don’t remember anything specifically, but they told about all sorts of stuff they would do for the fans and then: “Tom Price would never do that.” LOL

And then there was the girl that thought it was a good idea to have Jack pregnant in the first episode of season 5. After all, in the pilot he mentioned that he once was, so it should be possible. 

Kai and Gareth liked the idea as well, and the next thing we saw was them acting out the scene. Kai sat onto the chairs with his legs wide open, and Gareth crouched under the chairs and then came out with a “Ta-daaa! Ianto has been reborn!” We roared with laughter.

Gareth’s comment? “I was born out of John Barrowman’s arse – it was an easy ride.”

Also about Torchwood in 50 years: “We’ll all look like the Face of Boe, except Barrowman, he’ll still look the same!” Who needs enemies when he has such friends? LOL

Later Naoko went onto stage as it was her time, and both guys got up and left through the door at the side. Poor Naoko looked after them: “Don’t leave me alone!”

  

But they probably had more important things to do. But before they left, Gareth told the audience to not ask Naoko any questions about Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Children of Earth, Miracle Day or the TARDIS. Then he was gone.

But in the end, Naoko on her own was lovely as well, and she has had some interesting projects recently, like the one about the Mount Everest.

Suddenly, you could hear a very posh voice ask: "In the fantasy adventure series Harry Potter which of the Hogwarts teachers would you be?"

Every head turned, and who was standing at the microphone? Gareth! LOL 

And he kept asking questions about Game of Thrones and Miracle Day and in the end complained that none of his questions had been answered and he wanted his money back.

He had waited in line like everyone else, I already had spotted him well before he reached the microphone:

                     Later he was also joined by Kai there:

Then Kai took pity on Naoko and joined her on stage. 

And he teased her all the time. 

When someone wanted to know what they would do if they had only 24 hours to live, Naoko said: “Punch Kai Owen!” and he replied that she would then die because of that LOL

In the end she got her wish though, and he presented his backside for her to punch, and she did but immediately apologized and asked if she had hurt him and he acted as if he was REALLY hurting and sat down onto the chair very carefully with a scrunched face LOL

Also, this funny guy from “Avenue Q” suddenly showed up and talked with Naoko and even sang a song:

Then this hour was also over, and technically it was now Eve’s and Gareth’s panel.

  

But Kai only shortly left the stage and then came back, and they all spotted Naoko down in the audience again and asked: “What are you doing down there? Come up!” and so we were treated to a panel with all four of them together on stage. 

To hell with the schedule. 

By now Sean just let them do whatever they wanted – as that’s what they did anyway LOL

So, if one of them is already funny, and two of them together almost unbearable, you can imagine what happens if that multiplies again. I have no idea how exactly it happened but somehow everyone had ended up with a beverage, and a sort of game started. One of them would say a sentence like “I have never been in a dark corner with John Barrowman’s balls” or “I have never been touched in places by John Barrowman’s and didn’t enjoy it” and then everyone for whom it was a lie had to drink. I can tell you, they drank a lot ;) It was really funny to see how sometimes all lifted the glasses at once.

Other important things we learnt in this hour was the most embarrassing thing that has happened to them. Kai Owen once got sick over someone, he really puked at him. Naoko said she was good at “tripping over nothing”.

Another question was with which TV series Torchwood could do a crossover. Some very good ideas there, like “X-files”, “Warehouse 13”, “Being Human”.

The PC Andy dissing continued as well. Apparently both Gareth and Naoko had no idea that he had been in “Miracle Day” ;) Whenever this last season was discussed by those that were actually in it, like Kai and Eve, Gareth and Naoko pretended to be bored:

Eve also told the story how they asked her if she could ride a bike and she said yes, never having ridden one. She learnt it in half an hour, telling them that she was not familiar with this very model and if they please could show it to her ;) Then she went and did that scene where she blows up the ovens.

Kai also was impressed by that scene from the first episode, at the beach, and he actually was proud that the beautiful Welsh coast would feature there so heavily. 

John was driving the car himself when they were chased by the helicopter, he did not let any stuntman do it. 

And it was so freezing cold that they had to kept checked for hypothermia actually. The famous scene when Gwen fires the rocket and says “Torchwood!” her lips were so frozen that only “Twwd” came out ;)

They also told the famous story from the pilot again, Eve and John alone in a hospital, being bored and somehow they ended up photographing his balls and then sent the picture down the tube mail. It ended up in the maternity ward. They actually sent it back with some words added, that it was a nice picture and “come visit us soon” ;)

To go to the Torchwood set they had to go through the TARDIS all the time. Nice way to work!

What would Eve do if one morning she woke up as a man? “Call John Barrowman!”

At one time Naoko sighed: “Now you see what I had to put up with all the time!” Poor girl LOL

I also have a quote I have no idea whom it belongs to, but could be Naoko as well: “If you are involved with a character in a TV show it means you get more lines.”

They also played the birth scene again, this time with Naoko as the midwife. Kai was calling for Eve to hold his hand, but she just stood at the side, shaking her head ;)

  

They also had given a lot of thoughts about how the series could come back. Apparently none of them is ready to let it go yet. Kai wants it to get back to Cardiff, and reassemble the Hub somehow. Loud cheers from us. And they want PC Andy to die and Jack sings “My Heart will go on” at his funeral ;)

And Kai had the idea that we all should write the first episode for season 5, and send the script in to his page. Next year they would try to get the whole gang together and they would read the best scripts on stage. If you want to participate, send your stories to webmaster@kaiowen.com 

Then it was time for the closing ceremony. Sean said that with other fandoms, as soon as they are off the air the fans go away but with “Torchwood”, even so many years later, the fandom is still strong.

One by one they came onto the stage again and gave us a last word of advice. Gareth’s was: “Don’t buy the Torchwood set props at online auctions. You have no idea what John Barrowman did to these. He humped everything.”

He also said: “You guys deserve more Torchwood!” And Kai added: “You want more, ask for more!” 

Well, this is the official petition about it. Go and sign it! 
http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/danny-cohen-make-another-torchwood-series

Naoko promised that till next year she will read Harry Potter.

Oh, and as for this Hollywood convention? In the end, John was only there on Saturday, as he had unexpected work to prepare on Sunday. 

Which is interesting, as I guess I never pictured him to actually sit down and learn his lines. Which he surely does like every other actor. I probably expected him to just show up at the set and know them magically LOL

But no, he had to leave the con and go back home to do his homework. So, in the end, I think we got the better deal.

But I definitely look forward to next year and hopefully the complete team on stage together! I might die laughing then, but at least it will be a happy death.

To read the full report follow the links below 

http://dieastra.livejournal.com/97163.html