| BABYLON 5 |
Welcome to my Wolf 359/The Gathering (1995) Report!
Well, it's been three years now since I attended The Gathering, my
first convention. I have since attended The Alliance in Blackpool, the
report of which appears elsewhere. Unfortunately I didn't keep
a diary at the time, so as I'm writing this three years down the line I can't go into
huge detail. Wolf 359: The Gathering was ostensibly a Star Trek convention. Babylon 5 had
yet to truly take off, but it became apparent very quickly that Majel Barrett/Roddenberry was
the only Trek representative present, with JMS, Michael O'Hare (commander of B5 in its first
season) and Ed Wasser being the main attractions.
The great thing about this event was that the main guests were in the same hotel in Manchester as the convention itself. As you'll see from the photos, guests could be found lounging around all over the place! In fact, when I turned up in the lobby to register (I was based at a nearby hotel sharing a room with a pleasant bloke who was being a steward for the perks) JMS was stood there chatting to a group of fans. Not that I actually knew who he was right off...! The whole atmosphere was incredibly friendly and I rapidly joined up with various people, including many of the Uk.Media.SF.TV.Babylon5 regulars. So over the course of the extended weekend I ate, drank, danced, fancy dressed and generally had a great time. It was a great experience. Some of the highlights included my running interference for a girl who was getting hit on my Mr Wasser and his friend from the States; I kept in touch with her and her sister and actually ended up getting together with them to attend the Alliance. There was also the lift incident. I was going upstairs in the lift with a few lads I'd met when JMS and, I think, his wife joined us. He asked for a particular floor and someone pressed the button, but we didn't stop at his floor. When he realised this he just turned round to the button presser, looked at him and said, dead pan, "I trusted you". Everyone in the lift just cracked up. I think this was also the first occasion on which the blooper reels were aired in the UK, including the hilarious CGI representations of a wind-up Starfury and a Starfury losing one of its "strings". That gag is still being aired on UMTSB5 to this day and I remember one poor B5 acolyte being strung along (ahem) for several posts until someone kindly pointed out that the Starfuries didn't work on the Thunderbirds principle...! I believe this was also the first airing of the special music tapes - B5 battle sequences set to "We don't need another hero" and others. Top stuff. All in all, it was a highly enjoyable weekend which really got me into the fan side of things and allowed me to meet a far wider range of fellow devotees than had previously been possible. See for yourself...
The original photos from The Gathering were taken with a mix of a small
autofocus camera without zoom, and a Minolta Riva Zoom which I gave up on
soon after because it insisted on continuously draining its batteries even
when not on. Despite its occasional use, you may find some pictures grainy.
The light wasn't brilliant, so I've had to enhance some images as best I could.
If any person in these photos doesn't wish the photo to be reproduced here,
please let me know.
That's all, folks... This report written on 24th August 1998.
Cheers
Last updated 31 January 2002
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