 |
| Department for Characters |
| GEKKO CHARMED Richard Dean Anderson was on the Vicki Gabereau Show. So were we. by The Doc |
 |
|
| The Doc, Pinkie and Delaese - also known as "The Three Skittles" - would first express their delight how the CTV studios welcomed the audience for the VG show. We've been treated to fruit juice and taco wraps - over here, you'd get lukewarm water and a pretzel. We got a little scared when we fetched our tickets and the assistant called out "oh my god! You're the people from Switzerland?" Darn. Had our warrants of arrest already made it to British Columbia? But it turned out that the CTV studios had a Swiss trainee, and it didn’t take us 10 seconds to get into a longer chat about the favours of being away from home. “So,” she said “that’s really cool – you came all the way from Switzerland to see MacGyver?” This should have rang all my alarm bells, but for the moment, I explained her that we were indeed here to see RDA, but didn’t fly in specially, and even if we had – so what? We chatted a little more, then we were rushed off to the studio, which was even smaller than expected, got our seats and prepared for the things to come. So far, so good. And now for the surreal part. I know how to connect an amplifier. I can take a computer apart in 10 minutes and put it back together again, know how to mix a “MacGyver”, a “White Lady” or a “Long Island Ice Tea”, and I have the ability to open the lid of every marmalade glass, no matter how tight it’s screwed, but obviously I was a hopeless failure when it came to the art of clapping. I wasn’t the only one, so we first had to take a crash course in clapping, cheering and being as natural an audience as possible. That’s not easy, folks. The enthusiastic smiling assistant – I felt like being in an aerobic class – showed us how to clap, when to clap, in what sound level, how to clap irregularly so it sounded natural, when to laugh and when not. Now I can clap professionally. Oh lord. I’ve seen the light. All in between, various donations from the show’s sponsors were raffled off. As usual, we’ve been unlucky – how I will keep on living without “How to get through the Menopause”, I don’t know, but I’m sure the gentleman who won will put the book at good use. Enter Vicki Gabereau. “Hello, hello, and hello to you, too. And we have so many foreign guests today, my my! From England? How nice! Ooooh – you’re from Switzerland?” Ok. What’s so darn exotic about Switzerland. I mean – it’s just a very small country in Europe, definitely nothing special, very boring, actually. “Oh you people – following Richard all over the planet!” I made a mental note not to join the Vicki Gabereau Fan Club any time soon. “Oh I must mention this on the show!” No, definitely no fan club membership for me. Don’t get me wrong: neither me nor anybody else around here has a problem admitting that we like the Gekko Charmer. A lot. It’s no secret. But none of us felt the need to be dragged in front of a camera and showcased as some sort of lunatic obsessed RDA fans, because we’re not. Nor was anybody else there. |
|
|
 |
 |
    
|
| On the Richter Scale of Fandom (1 – 10), getting tickets for the Vicki Gabereau show to see Richard Dean Anderson must be a 12. (Or 13, if you’d ask Vicki Gabereau). Not that getting tickets for the Vicki Gabereau Show to see RDA would be unlawful or harm anybody. But I guess it's one of those things you "just don't do". Like owning Britney Spears records. Or not recycling the newspaper. Things that are, as we say over here, "pas de bon ton". But still, we've done the unspeakable thing. When we found out that, for a change, Richard Dean Anderson was on the bill for the Vicki Gabereau Show a day after we arrived in Vancouver, not, as usual, one day after we left the town, we decided this was something we just had to see. This is not a transcript of the Vicki Gabereau Show – it’s more a couple of lines on how we experienced it. At the bottom of the page, you can download the show and watch it, though. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| THE MUCH-TALKED-ABOUT SEA SHEPHERD CONSERVATION SOCIETY "Sailing into harms way" |
| Richard Dean Anderson has, on many occasion, expressed his support for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as well as his admiration for the SSCS's head honcho, Captain Paul Watson. It's one of the things I really appreciate about RDA: he uses his name and his influence to support important causes, and even more, he's not only donating money, he's donating his time as well. Many "celebs" enjoy posing in front of children hospitals or animal shelters they supported with a fat check, but would most probably flee in panic if they had to play with a child or carry a dog. RDA doesn't mind getting his hands dirty. And he sticks to the things he believes in, popular or not. We'd like to give you some informations about the SSCS so you can make up your mind if you wish to support them or not. |
| I understand why RDA was so impressed by Paul Watson. As far as I can tell, they have a lot in common, and Watson is a brilliant speaker and rhetoric, he knows how to fill people with enthusiasm for his cause. Watson was one of the founders of Greenpeace, but he felt they sacrificed the purpose on the althar of diplomacy, to sum it up: Greenpeace didn't go far enough for him. Now, if RDA refers to Paul Watson as a "pirate", he's right. The SSCS does border the bounds of law, and at times oversteps them. No wonder the lobbyists of the fishing and whaling industry call Cpt. Watson a "terrorist", and rumours go there's even a price set on his head (I have no doubt this is true). So if you decide to support the SSCS, you *must* be aware that you support an organziation which might take unlawful steps to reach their goal. Cpt. Watson sank half the Icelandic (illegal) whaling fleet at the dock by hull modification from the outside. He disabled 5 Japanese (illegal) drift netters in the North Pacific by ramming on the high seas. He has defended harp seals, sea turtles and himself from mortal danger, yet no person was harmed or, as claimed by his enemies, killed in the process. My opinion? Support the SSCS wherever you can, unlawful or not. Watson and his crew are risking their necks for all of us. If we sit here and wait for people like George W. Bush to save the environment, there will be no environment left for our children. If the French had stuck to the law, there had never been a French revolution, so all hails to Captain Watson. |
| Nobody's keeping him away from speaking his mind ... |
| As per the official website of the SSCS, the goals of the organization are as follow: "The Society is committed to the goal of EXTINCTION OF ILLEGAL FISHING ACTIVITIES on our oceans. Unfortunately, illegal operations (whaling, seal killing, shark finning) have not only continued but have escalated in recent years. Sea Shepherd remains devoted to protecting the citizens of the oceans for as long as is necessary. The Prime Directive of the Society states that we uphold and defend all principles established by international conventions to protect and conserve marine species and ecosystems." |
| MULTIMEDIA - LINKS ARE FIXED! DOWNLOAD WORKS! |
| You can download this interview; we've split it in the three parts it also had on the show. Each part is between 5 - 7 MB and has a length of about 5 minutes. The quality will not knock you out of your socks, but it's better than no interview, after all. These are *.wmv. PART I The mobile (cell) phone, birthdays, season 6, "I'm a colonel, *thank* you", RDA's daughter PART II 25 ways to ruin your knee, the destiny of Teal'c symbiont, RDA and the blind cheetah, dogs PART III Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, trip to Chile and Patagonia, RDA's creative offspring, possible MacGyver movie |
| Ah, our Pinkie - she’s a red-head, you know, and got a temper to match. Though Mrs Gabereau tried to get an “I’m a fan!” confession from her, she resisted in her own inimitable way. Verbal frostbites, icicles forming in the air. When "The Canadian Talk Show Queen" realized that we were poor obsessed-fan-material, she stomped off into the background - "OK, alright, I will go back there to RICHARD and tell RICHARD that there are people in the audience from SWITZERLAND who DON'T like him!" D’oh! Somebody in the row behind me demanded that “Vicki stops talking and sends in the beefcake” – looks like this was heard, and there he was, Mr Anderson, sir, life-size, in real, three dimensional, in a white hooded sweater with a red “Canada” logo on the front, jeans. People tend to look very different in “real life” than they do on screen. As for RDA – call me shallow, but I sure did the guppy. Holy cow, what a man. Beside being really one of the most mild on the eye males ever to cross my way, that man’s got quite a presence. When he’s there, he’s there. A somebody, not an anybody. I was surprised how tall he is – I’m 5’ 3”, so naturally, everybody who’s taller than me looks like a giant, but gee, I think I’d need a ladder if I’d wanted to have a proper look at his knee! I got the impression he’s always thinking ahead of the conversation. Sometimes you think he’s not listening at all, but he obviously is, because he answers to the question. Then he seems to be absent-minded and thinking of something completely different. I think one of the hardest tasks for any journalist must be doing an interview with RDA. Things have changed in the time that passed since the Vicki Gabereau show. At the time of the interview, season 7 was still unconfirmed, and RDA mentioned that, if there was no season 7, he’d take a year off to spend it with his daughter, who clearly is the front, center and meaning of his life. He talked about being in the process of moving his house back to the states, and that, if he should be in Vancouver the next year, he’d stay at a hotel. At this time, I had the impression that he already mentally moved on from Stargate. Obviously this impression was wrong, as he agreed to do a 7th season, however, I’m sure there are other priorities in his life now, so we’ll have to wait and see to what extend his participation in the show will go. |
| It was - frightening? touching? moving? - when he – though unwillingly – talked about being in constant pain. He was making jokes about it, to distract from the subject, it was clearly nothing he wanted to discuss, but imagine being in pain 24/7, and doing all the things he does. Talk about iron will and determination here. Asked about the announced “Young MacGyver” movie, it seems that everbody's talking about it, but nobody has talked to him so far. His enthusiasm seemed pretty small, though – who could blame him. This show will be as necessary as a second head. The main reason for coming to the show was, quite obviously, RDA’s engagement for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. We have put together some information about the SSCS below – it’s not a household name, yet. |
| Ah, and he's got a very classy style to treat people, and sure made one lady from England very, very happy. She’d been waiting outside of the studio for quite a while, and obviously brought some presents for him. In-between two recordings, he broke off mid-sentence in his chat with Vicki, looked into the audience, thanked for the presents, and wanted to know who’d brought them along. When he left the studio, he went to her and shook her hand. This might have been a small gesture, but he did it, and you could just tell from the expression on the woman’s face how much this meant to her. It’s the small things that show class. He does, however, obviously not like (as in NOT) being grabbed. When somebody tried to shake his hand, you could actually see his anti-bodies putting on little helmets and getting out the fly-swats. So, if you should ever cross his path: look, don’t touch, folks! This should also go for the host of this show; not only is it pretty rude to hold your guest's personal notes into the camera, also planting one on him might be tempting, but should be avoided (Manual for Well Mannered Talk Show Hosts, page 147, 2nd edition). |
| The CTV Studios in Vancouver |
| Grin and bear it ... RDA, the eternal 14 year old. |
| RDA and Vicki Gabereau - after his mobile started to play the circus march! |
| ... though there seems to be an effective way to "shut him up" ... Vicki plants one on the Gekko Charmer. Don't try this at home, kids. |
| After RDA, we’ve been treated to an author who seems to live under the impression of being re-incarnated Socrates. I had this weird vision of VG telling her staff to “go out and get me some strange people to fill up the show!” and this gentleman was all they could come up with. After a minute or so, we’ve had it with Socrates, oh boy, and were ready and willing to take the cup of hemlock! |
 |
 |
| The end of the show was a hoot, though, with a family of pointers being introduced to the audience. I fell in love with a huge old dog who insisted to take residence on my lap (I already mentioned I’m 5’ 3”, didn’t I?), and I’d loved to keep him, but I think my cats wouldn’t have let me back into our flat if I had, so I’m still pointerless at the moment. |
| To sum up the experience: I feel some kind of awe - if anything at all, my respect for Richard Dean Anderson has increased. And he could charm gekko’s if he wanted to! |