Ah… Cult TV. In a way it’s a bit like Christmas – anticipated through the year and once it’s gone it seems like it’s over in a flash.
| We decided to travel to Liverpool in style - that meant first class there and back, complete with complimentary food and drink and the kind of seats you can really settle down in. Add some fun loving travelling companions and some magical Bertie Bott's every flavour beans and you have the perfect start to what promised to be the kind of weekend Colonel O'Neill would possibly describe as "three fries short of a happy meal!" |  |
And… getting back to the Every Flavour Beans (anyone who is familiar with Harry Potter will know what they are about) they are great fun on a rail journey… unless you get the horseradish variety!
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The group of intrepid Cult TV goers made a fashion statement in special edition polo shirts that declared we had "no fear" despite the fact that we "had just beamed down to an alien planet with Captain Kirk" and were "wearing red". |
| One of the first events on the Friday was a pub quiz hosted by Michael Hurst and featuring some very obscure questions for us to jot down. I felt I put my best efforts into writing down the answers as I was drinking Budweiser at one point and participating in a fellow attendee’s re-enactment of the antics of Mr Shake Hands man from Banzai! |  |
Then the opening ceremony kicked things off, followed by dinner which was, in a direct contrast to last year's event was edible!! The first evening’s disco was themed "the military and the macabre" – which meant dusting off my Stargate gear. The idea of the disco was great but it was a shame about the DJ, who didn’t seem to have caught on to what a convention was all about…
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As a result, several people turned up as characters from Mash, including Hawkeye, Hot Lips and… er… one of the other characters. Can you tell who isn't familiar with the show? However, there is a very memorable character from Mash who made an appearance, but a guy we know needed a prop. Luckily, Corinne was able to come up with the goods. So, we had our very own Klinger - the aforementioned guy, who was at that point, wearing a beautiful blue dress! He looked simply stunning! |
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We met a lot of interesting people that weekend, including no less than five Miss Marples for the Spies, Swashbucklers and Private Eyes night on Saturday… some of whom were male! |
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But they wore the garb well, right down to the respectable handbags. Saturday night also saw the return of the Men in Black, and their very own mascot, a large beaked alien called Oh-So-Kissable-Kevin. So named, because he couldn't stop showing people how much he liked them!
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As I have never sat down and watched an episode of Xena or Hercules, I was not too fussed about Michael Hurst being one of the main guests – that was until I heard his talk, saw his director’s workshop and well and truly enjoyed his Caberet turn – particularly he part where he donned a halo and wings to perform "No-one Loves a Fairy When She’s Old". Not only did he prove to be a versatile performer in that respect, but also down to earth in terms of his explanations about directing and how a particular episode of Xena was made during his workshop. He made the session humorous, interesting and extremely popular given the number of people who showed up for it! |
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It was great hearing Sylvia Anderson’s talk – I have liked Thunderbirds for ages, so I am a bit biased there – but hearing about how shows like Captain Scarlett were made, and the escapades that happened during their making was of great interest! |
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| The both agree
that one of the high points of Cult TV was Famous for Three Minutes. The
challenge was to get up on stage and be entertaining on a TV related theme
for up to three minutes (hence the name), and was open to anyone who felt
they were up to the challenge. And what a challenge it was! It was a challenge
to come up with an idea, a script, some props and the guts to stand in front
of hundreds of people looking like plonkers… but we did it! This is why
we ended up wearing blue dresses (a major event in itself as neither of
us EVER wear dresses), blue wigs, improvised jewelry and a good dose of
yellow body paint. The reason? We were Patty and Selma Bouvier, performing
"An Ode to Our Perfect Guy… MacGyver" - and we even had framed pictures
of Richard Dean Anderson to swoon over! Our victims - er - audience - could
not have been too scared by our performance as not only did we escape having
rotten fruit thrown at us - but we also won the contest!! While it was nerve
racking taking part, it was a great experience and we got some very positive
feedback afterwards! But… there was one puzzling thing. Why did all the
guys run away when we asked if they were married…? Monday morning saw Corinne and myself collecting our award for our performance. What a thrill that was, especially as Michael Hurst was presenting that particular award. As it was, I ended up going to collect an award again, for the Fiction Competition. Unbeknown to anyone in the group, I had entered it several weeks previously but didn’t want to tell anyone in case it didn’t get anywhere. I thought that was the case when Alex announced that the winning entry was a take on the Goggles, a radio show parody Cult TV do every year on stage. The fact that I couldn’t remember what the hell I had called my radio script, or its description left me in suspense until I recognised the last few words of my description, and when I heard my name being read out, I could not believe it. It was a great feeling to win – even though my entry wasn’t actually a take on the Goggles!! |
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Cult TV this year wanted to do the Stargate equivalent of adding Anise. They bought in a pretty female who was guaranteed to attract male attention. Like Anise, she was high on the irritant factor at times, and had a tendency to really grate our cheese! |
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On the opposite end of the scale, we had Michael Hurst who proved himself to be an all round entertainer with his hosting a pub quiz, a workshop, an auction, a guest talk and a very memorable cabaret turn! |
