PINK KHAKI - THE STARGATE SG-1 ONLINE MAG

If you want an autograph, I highly recommend you enclose a stamped and addressed (to yourself!) envelope. If you're living outside of the USA / Canada, enclose an IRC (International Response Coupon - called differently in every country, ask the friendly guy at your local post office).

Beside an IRC, you'll also need a lot of patience. LOT of. And though you might be lucky and get one personally signed picture, you might as well end up with a pre-print, an automatized signature or one signed by the personal assistant. But hey - no risk, no fun.

You might decide that you don't want to wait a year for and autograph and play with the idea of buying an autograph on sale on ebay. PLEASE be careful - it's unlikely somebody would fake an autograph by Peter Williams or Teryl Rothery for example, as these artists often visit cons and signings, and you don't have kidnap Teryl's goldfish to get an autograph of hers.

Things are different, however, for Richard Dean Anderson. I dare say that the majority of the RDA autographs on sale on ebay are either fakes, preprints or automatically signed. But I've also seen fake autographs on German ebay by "Michael Shanks" (who, I'm pretty sure, wouldn't sign an autograph with "Shancks"!)

Here you can see two examples - the second autograph on the left is the real thing, the first one is - well (thanks to Steve for donating the fake sample).

I hate writing letters.
I really do.

I spent some horrible Sundays in my childhood in front of some postcard, chewing on my pen and trying to thank my aunt for some knitted underwear - immediately handed over to my teddy - "but mum, I hate that stuff, why do I have to thank her for it?".

Then there was some disastrous attempt in declaring Seymour Pfinster undying love back in first grade. Dont ask.

And yes, I admit it. Ive written letters to celebs. And Im not talking about the "Mr Ambassador, I herewith protest against your country still slaughtering whales for scientific reasons …" notes.

Three I wrote, actually. The first I remember quite vividly, it took me weeks to finish this masterpiece, it was on pink paper, had more pages than the phone book of Los Angeles, included pictures of my budgie and my guineapig, and I sent it out in a pink envelope. You think thats bad? I scribbled a million hearts all over it. The thought of it makes me cringe, 23 years later, but hey, I was 10 years old back then, so cut me some slack!

In my early teens, I wrote another one. It was less of a fan letter, though, more a "ok, so you suck as a singer, youre not very bright, you have no taste in clothing - but hey, Im sure youre a nice guy, anyway" thing.

And then there was the chocolate bar which … but thats something different.

Now where was I - ah yes, writing to "celebs". In this case, to cast/crew of Stargate SG-1.

How to write? What to write? What to expect?

In the following, well try to answer some of your possible questions.

There are many reasons why you could wish to write to the gang:

You dig their work, and you think its high time to say "thanks, well done!"

You think RDA/CJ/AT/MS/your personal favourit is the kewlest thing ever since Heinz' put spaghetti in cans, and you want to let them know they are.

Then you can grab for a pen and write to

Stargate Productions
2400 Boundary Road
Burnaby, BC V5M 3Z3
Canada

or, in case of The Shanks, to

Michael Shanks
c/o SFM Agency
1122 S. Robertson Blvd, Suite 15
Los Angeles, CA 90035
USA

If you buy an autograph on ebay, don't hesitate to ask the seller before you bid when and where the autograph was signed. If he's trustworthy, he will provide you with this information. And always check the feedback of the seller.

Also be suspicious if somebody sells a "guaranteed authentic cast picture, signed by the whole cast of SG-1" with a "buy now" option for $ 29.99. Chances are high you waste your money on a fake.

And last but not least - isn't an autograph you got yourself from that special someone in person, connected with a nice memory of a special moment in your life, more fun than one signed with hundreds of others during a signing session for some seller?

A lot of us see the SG-1 team every week on the small screen. We invite the characters to our homes, and after more than 100 episodes, they are almost part of the family. We know what Daniel's favourit cookies are and what car Jack drives, we know Teal'c likes Star Wars and what Sam's house look like. But we don't know the actors and actresses who bring these characters to life. We might think we do, but we don't. And in any case they don't know us.

This is something to consider if you should decide to write a letter to an artist and include personal information. You are, after all, writing to a complete stranger. Read your letter thru and ask yourself: "If I'd get this, how would I react?" And be aware that most studios pay agencies to handle fan mail. And they are responsible for letters and autograph requests directed to a zillion of artists.

Your letter, maybe written with lots of love and care over weeks, might make it on the desk of Actor X, but he might as well never see it.

So think twice before you write anything personal - you don't know who's reading it.

If you're comfortable sending a picture of you and your dog to your favourit star, this doesn't mean you want Mrs Jane Pfinster, secretary at Agency X, to see it as well.

I don't want to discourage you to write to people you like and admire. And we know that some of the cast and crew actually do answer their fan mail personally; and there's no doubt they all appreciate your comments very much, also if they might not answer.

Don't expect anything, so you won't be disappointed.

Everything work-related - be it convention appearances or casting - is not the job of the agency handling the fanmail, but of the artist's agent (and depending on the artists, there might be more than one). At the same time, the agent tries his best to get his client casted and back on the set, so it might be adviseable not to distract him from his job by flooding him with fan mail.

Your name is Anderson and, as Pamela didn't want to share her wealth with you, though you claimed to be a distant relative, you try your luck now with RDA.

You're member of a cult who believes aliens will invade planet earth on July 8, 2012, and you'd like to convince Michael Shanks to buy two tickets for a ride on your spaceship.

You're convinced Chris Judge is the man of your life and you intend to propose to him.

You went to school with Amanda Tapping and you think she never paid the twoony back she borrowed from you when she was 14.

You're a talented writer, you just finished your script and you think it's perfect for Stargate SG-1? Great! Naturally, you want to submit it to the studio. There is one thing you must now:

STUDIOS DON'T ACCEPT UNSOLICITED SCRIPTS!

This is the job of your agent. He/she knows whom to contact. If you don't have an agent, find one - there's no way you can get a studio to accept your work if it's unsolicited. Another tip: as soon as your work is available online, your agent can't sell it anymore.

You are not happy with the direction of the show.

You dislike an actors interview.

Your favourite actress still didn't get a guest spot on the show.

You dislike a character.

In other words, you are no happy camper and you want to complain.

Now, you got every right to voice criticizm - but in a civil way. Insulting people won't get you anywhere. Write nothing you wouldn't tell the person in question also face to face. Don't write anything you wouldn't be willing to receive yourself.

Sleep over your complaint, re-read it in the morning and if you're still sure this is what you want to say - go ahead.

Some sites provide guestbooks where you can leave messages to cast and crew of Stargate SG-1; other sites, like rdanderson.com, give the possibility to drop a line on special occasions (like RDA's last birthday).

What's speaking for this way of passing messages on to crew and cast is the fact that a service like this is most probably cared for with more dedication than it would ever be by an agency. On the other hand, everybody can read your message, and you will never know if the recipient reads your message. But this is something you also won't know if you write to him or her directly.

Here are some links if you'd like to post online. These are the ones we know of and we think that you can trust to post.

Please read the rules for posting before you write something in these guestbooks, different sites have different policies.

THE RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON WEBSITE

On special occasions, the webmistress gives you the possibility to post messages to RDA - for example his birthday. This year RDA thanked everybody who congratulated him on his birthday, so you can post in full confidence.

LOOKING FORWARD

Looking forward to season 6? Then this is the place for you. Here you can post messages of support for crew and cast of Stargate SG-1.

SAVE DANIEL JACKSON

Here you can leave a message of support for Michael Shanks.

DANIEL IN THE LION PIT - The Soap Box

Tell the Shanks what you think.