All about Tahmoh Penikett: A full report & a first look at photos from Galactica 3!

Tremendous thanks to Patrick for sending in a very detailed report on the G3 convention this weekend in London. And thanks also to Shirl for being the first to share her convention pics!

Other convention guests were Rekha Sharma (Tory Foster), Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Gaeta), and Leah Cairns ('Racetrack'). Here are the Tahmoh-related highlights:

Bless his cotton socks, Tahmoh literally hopped off the plane straight into the Friday night "Meet & Greet", he's such a trooper! Looking pretty hot considering the jet lag, he still took the time to chat with everyone, and even stayed for part of the Friday night party. Alas, the jet lag got the better of him and he had to pack himself off to bed, resting up for the weekend's festivities.

Saturday, Tahmoh was the last talk of the four, after lunch, but he rocked up about 11am for the photo session. Given that only 170-odd people attended the convention, the photo sessions were a lot less hectic and Tahmoh was the consummate gentleman. The first talk session was genuinely amusing, with plenty of amusing anecdotes. He detailed his "most embarrassing audition" - for a tyre-company commercial that required him to dance around to "Eye Of The Tiger", while trying to sing the lyrics (and yes, he gave a demonstration - the man really knows how to work what God gave him!); he spoke about working with Tori Spelling ("hilarious" and completely down-to-earth); his time on Smallville - like Rekha Sharma, he described the atmosphere on set as "rushed", and felt that overall he was somewhat disappointed with the finished product. He went on to say he's not sure if he'll be coming back next year (to Smallville, not Battlestar!), but that if he does he hopes he doesn't have to wear the silver short-shorts again!

He also spoke about his feelings over some of the actions Helo has taken over the course of the series - notably, killing the infected Cylons from "Torn"/"A Measure Of Salvation" to avoid the genocide of the Cylon race. As far as his acting choices, he has come to realise that if he as an actor doesn't feel like Helo would truly say a line he's been given - as an example, he gave the line "They tried to live with us on New Caprica", from "A Measure of Salvation" - all he has to do is say it like he doesn't believe it, and it comes across in the character, which resonates with the audience. There was also the mandatory Edward James Olmos impression (Tahmoh's was second-only to Alessandro Juliani's), and there were also a few mini-spoilers (spoilerettes?) for the upcoming season - notably, that he's working a lot more with Mary McDonnell this year.

There was talk about his hardest scene to shoot - which would be killing Sharon in "Rapture" - and how the little girl that plays Hera only has to look at Tahmoh or Grace Park before bursting into tears, associating them as she does with the dark, claustrophobic sets!

In the autograph session, Tahmoh was evidently still jet-lagged but again was a total pro, taking the time to chat with everyone who came to his table. Again, as the con ended up a lot smaller than other sci-fi cons, it was a lot less stressful with autograph sessions! There was no sighting of Tahmoh at the party that evening (Leah Cairns rocked up around midnight for a boogie and some picture-taking of her own - you've never met more of a Battlestar geek than Leah!), but nobody could blame the fella.

Sunday was a lot more chilled out than Saturday (if you can believe) - with most people having done photos and autographs the day before, it was really just the talks. Tahmoh came on second, after Leah (who stuck around for his talk, badgering him with q's of her own - again, she's such a lovely, lovely nerd about the whole thing!), and the session wound up as a free-for-all, spurred on by Tahmoh, when Rekha Sharma, Alessandro and Leah joined him on stage. More questions, this time mostly about embarrassing situations/auditions/memories, etc... He spoke about an audition where "his friend" read the whole scene (a lovely, romantic "woo the girl" scene), felt so confident, but then realised he'd done it all with a giant booger hanging out his nostril. He'd like you to know it was definitely, really, honestly not him ;)

Of course, they kept the best until last - as you can only do at small cons such as this, the Sunday afternoon schedule was completely overwritten by the actors, who decided (after Bryan, the co-ordinator, threw the suggestion out) to hold an impromptu "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" style improv session, with scenes from "Crossroads, Part II". All four of them really got into it, and spent a good hour leaving the audience in absolute stitches. Tahmoh started off doing Lee Adama in the courtroom scene where Gaeta's giving his testimony, and immediately got down onto his knees (because, as you know, he's six-foot-ridiculous and Jamie Bamber, bless him, is 5-foot-tiny). The highlight of that scene was the "and now, in a sexy style" improv, which amounted to Leah purring like an oversexed Bond girl on the stand (as Gaeta), and the Tahmoh-dwarf porning all over her. And if you thought it couldn't get any hotter...

... a later scene involved each of them having to stand, sit, or bend over; Alessandro immediately bent over, leaving Tahmoh standing behind him making all manner of porn moves while Alessandro delivered Tigh's lines in a crusty Scottish accent, much to the delight of the audience. He later did the same to Rekha, just in case you thought he wasn't equal opportunity :) And then, came the improv-off; Leah and Tahmoh vs Rekha and Alessandro, doing a two-hander Sharon/Laura scene in turns, firstly in a musical style, and then as gangster rappers. Tahmoh did his best (Leah jokingly pointed out "if you can't sing well, Tahmoh, sing loud"), but it was clear Alessandro (a trained opera singer) and Rekha (made of pure awesome) outdid them here.

Later that night, everyone except Leah came back for the final party, and Tahmoh spent a lot of the time chatting to all sorts of people, along with Alessandro and Rekha (who was busy playing Jedi with various fans). He was a very genial, open guy with plenty of time for everyone, and having lost three of the original guests (Michael Trucco, Aaron Douglas and Callum Keith Rennie), it was so awesome to get Tahmoh and the others, who made the con what it was.