Sanctuary - Photos and Fan Review from Sanctuary's Event with the Tampa Bay Rays

Fan review and photos courtesy of Karen, who has given me permission to post. This is from the SciFi Night at the Tampa Bay Rays on August 30 in St. Petersburg, FL. (Please click on photos for a larger format.) (Thank YOU, Karen, for sharing both your story and your lovely photos!)

Sanctuary at Tropicana Field 08/30/08:

I went in my car with Melissa, my buddy or "niece" who tolerates and is greatly amused by my geekiness. She did however want to wear a Sanctuary T-shirt. Her parents were planning to join us closer to game time. I personalized all the adults Tampa Bay Rays T-shirts with Sanctuary on the backs and then sayings from the promos.

Arriving an hour before the gates opened we were surprised to find that there were already lines forming to get into the venue. We struck up conversations with some of those standing with us and found that there were several events going on concurrently at the game. It was figurine night, the last installment of the Saturday concert series featuring a local band and the reason we were there - Sanctuary, for SciFi night.

So much for "sunny" Florida, we were soon thankful that the stadium has a dome and air conditioning. Just prior to the gates opening the wind picked up and it began to rain. A typical Florida downpour. As we entered the gate we headed toward the escalator to try to find the line for Sanctuary. There was no visible posting of the event and upon inquiring where to line up the staff directed us in the opposite direction. We ended up having to backtrack around the incoming tide of soaked humanity.



It was worth every raindrop. As we rounded the corner I spotted Robin [Dunne], Amanda [Tapping] and Damian [Kindler] sitting beneath that same escalator we had been directed around. They were wearing navy blue Tampa Bay Rays training jerseys. There were a few people, ten or so, lined up getting the new promotional poster signed. The older gentleman in front of me the first time ( yes, fangirl went back multiple times) had asked Damian what this was about. Damian asked if he had seen Stargate. He replied "No," then Damian asked X-Files? "No" again,, at this point Damian shrugged, handed him his autographed poster and said "Hello" to me. He commented that the Sanctuary T-shirt my 16 year old was wearing was a collectors item now. I agreed as I continued to watch Amanda and Robin's reaction to the elderly man as Damian was signing the poster for me. After the man had walked off Amanda fell forward onto the table, laughing and shaking her head. Melissa pointed out the back of my shirt to Damian. He called out to Amanda - "hey check this out." I asked him how his flight was and he explained it was great and that David Nykl was on their flight into Atlanta headed to Dragon*Con.



I had taken the opportunity to order some personalized chocolate for Amanda and friends. There were red M&M's imprinted with "SANCTUARY" and "10/03/08 9pm" and blue and aqua ones imprinted with "GREAT 'N POWERFUL" and "AMANDA YOU ROCK." I also had some Dove milk chocolates in red foil. Inside the foil was imprinted with one of four sayings all beginning with SANCTUARY. Sanctuary dare 2 believe in the unbelievable, Sanctuary for all is not an empty motto, Sanctuary leave the world you know behind and finally Sanctuary October 3, premier 9pm on SciFi.



I reached into my bag and produced a bag of red M&M's for Damian, Amanda and Robin and then another bag of blue and aqua for Amanda. They were her birthday present. Amanda and Robin put their heads together trying to discern what was written on the small candies. Amanda reached across the table and gave me a big hug. She asked where I had gotten them. I explained that all things are available on-line.



I offered to help promote Sanctuary in the Tampa area. I asked if she remembered me from Tea at AT3 and she hugged me harder. We talked briefly about the event at the Paley Center in NYC and how I anticipated the reinvented version of Sanctuary, then I moved along since others were in line. I reached into my bag to remove the ice packs used to keep the candy from melting - even though it was raining the temperature was well above 80F, and realized I still had the Dove chocolates in there. Doh!



Circling back I saw that there was no line. We approached the table again and Amanda and the guys mugged for the camera with their M&M's. I handed the Dove bag to Amanda and asked her to unwrap one - instructing her to read the inscription. She replied "Oh wow, Damian look at this..." and there are other sayings as well I offered. I commented on the lack of line and she replied it was hit and miss, lines and then none. It had been really busy when the gates first opened. We departed again waiting for the rest of our family to arrive. Melissa asked if she could take a photo of me with Amanda so back to the table we went. Amanda and Robin were chatting with some fans but again there was no one else on line.

I approached Damian and he told me that he never had his words written in chocolate before, and that it was great! I finally had worked up the nerve to ask him about the show itself. He went on to describe the amazing qualities of the new RED camera, Martin Wood's vision and how incredible Amanda's performances have been. It is like nothing you have ever seen before! It will blow you away.



I told him I was hooked after the webisodes and could barely wait for the SciFi premier. I asked if he would take a photo with me and he agreed. I then asked Amanda for a photo and she obliged. More fans were lining up again and I didn't want to monopolize any more of their time so I said my goodbyes and good lucks and sought out our seats for the game.

While we were waiting on line for snacks a few fans had approached us and asked where the signing was. We gave directions to no fewer than twenty people. We chatted with others about the show, the movies and even Atlantis' cancellation.



Amanda thanks her catcher



Robin takes the field





From our seats the best view I had was of the outfield monitor. I snapped a few shots of Amanda, Damian and Robin taking the field, tossing the first pitches and then leaving the field - all off the monitor except for one. I had hoped that there would be promotional trailers playing on the monitor between innings or pitching changes but there were none. I think that was a missed opportunity to get some of the 34,805 in attendance to watch the premier. Oh well. I got to speak with Amanda, Damian and Robin and get some snapshots to share with fans who couldn't be there and that's what really matters.

Thanks for listening, Karen