The ConventionsLondon:1999 2024
The ConventionsLondon:1999
London, UK
13 - 15 September 2024, with optional additional days 11-20 September
The convention hotel was the Renaissance London Heathrow. It was originally planned for the Radisson, 5 minutes across the road, and several of us stayed there. The convention had about 200 attendees.
The National Film and Sci-Fi Museum was opened on 26 August 2021, in a location next to the central Milton Keynes shopping centre, and easily accessible by public transport from London. It is normally open on Fridays, Saturday and Sunday, but was opened specially for the convention group. Among the many original props is the original Moonbase Alpha, and a full-sized replica moonbuggy.
On registration, attendees got a lanyard, purple tote bag, and a folder with three pictures suitable for autographs.
Left to right, front row: Clifton Jones (in wheelchair), Brian Johnson, Gianni Garko, Carla Romanelli, Catherine Schell, Yasuko Nagazumi, Ina Skriver, Anton Phillips
standing behind, left to right: John Hug, Paul Weston, Pam Rose, Jamie Anderson, Jack McKenzie, Julian Glover, Isla Blair, Jack Klaff, Nick Tate, Paul Jerrico, Loftus Burton, Seretta Wilson, Paul Kirby, Suzanne Heimer, Quentin Pierre
The convention had the most guests (27) of any to date, some attending their first ever conventions. The relatively small size of the convention meant they were all accessible and friendly.
Prentis Hancock was ill and unable to come.
Most of the sessions occurred in conference rooms; this was the opening ceremony by Jack McKenzie. There were video messages from Johnny Byrne's wife Sandy and by Barbara Bain, who was deeply moved by the recent death of fan Rosie Badgett, who had been involved in running conventions for 40 years.
There were mostly two streams of programming, one for guest panels, the other for more fan-oriented activities.
A very large room included two lines of tables in the centre for guest autographs, surrounded by tables full of models, and a full scale Eagle cockpit set. This was the largest model show ever mounted in a convention.
The central bank of autograph tables.
See new merchandise below. The Eagle hangar is made by Richard Ashton for the Eaglemoss/Anderson Entertainment Eagles.
Replica Eagles and other models from Chris Potter, Chris Trice, Sanjay Rampal, Pete Hutton (and some original models, including the Eagle hangar jib). Includes Chris Potter's complete collection of Product Enterprise/Sixteen 12 Eagles.
From the collections of Andrew Frampton and James Winch. Many of the linked pages have additional photos of the models.
Andrew's collection includes Eagle 2, Alpha buildings, travel tube, Collision Course mine, laser tank, uniforms, spacesuit.
James' collection includes Space warp spaceship, Kaldorian ship, Immunity Syndrome mask, Eagle viewscreen, nuclear waste dome, Golos tower, space warp detector, stun gun, Alpha box, small Texas city buildings and 3 different dragon ships.
Christien Anholt also displayed his commlock and stun gun.
There were Fanderson and auction tables, plus the Eagle 6 table with original Force of Life radar (Darrell) and original scripts and Landau paperwork (mine)
The Eagle set, built by Darrell Simmonds and his team, was the highlight of the convention, and was used for several photo shoots with guests and a few lucky fans. The set even included a recreation of the Eagle viewscreen (the original prop was also at the convention).
The pilot side wall was detached and alongside the set, as it would have been during filming. The intention is to create a fully enclosed set.
Behind the Eagle set the passenger module computer, a set of Selene chairs and replica boxes and spacesuits.
Jamie Anderson showed the prototype of the Zika/Giant Leap Toys giant Eagle, which was revealed and went on pre-order at the convention.
Anderson also launched their new book The Armageddon Engine with author James Swallow signing copies on Saturday. Fanderson launched their new Destination Moonbase Alpha soundtrack, plus a set of Year 2 cards
Some of these were based on Martin Landau's ITC tapes plus recreated edits
The "Theatrical cut" was a widescreen version including all the cut scenes audio (usually accompanied by still photos) and some cut SFX scenes (from the "this episode" sequence and DVD/Blu-ray deleted scenes extras). While Gerry Anderson repeatedly said the original version of Breakaway was 90 minutes or even 2 hours long, this 70 minute version was the longest it could have been. It is actually somewhat longer, as includes both the original scenes (such as Koenig watching a TV report at the start) and the re-shot version (Koenig talking directly to Simmonds on the screen).
The theatrical cut was followed by a short film (generic space scenes) narrated by Anton Phillips titled "Return to Moonbase Alpha" following on from Message From Moonbase Alpha. It was conceived by Robert Wood and Warren Friedrich, and endorsed by Christopher Penfold and Sandy Byrne.
The auction on the final day included binders of Martin Landau's personal paperwork, Landau's personal tapes of the series, original scripts from Johnny Byrne's widow, replica and original computer panels, framed photos and replica models.
