Dags is a mega cool dude who resides
in Melbourne, Australia. Although generally unknown
to world at large (for now), he does have some small
claims to fame.
Aside from once being a serious Batman
merchandise collector (refer to the Batman Collection page for
more details), Dags has been involved in his local
Science Fiction fan community since 1984 which has
seen him: run his own conventions; edit both his own
and other fan club newsletters; make his own award
winning costumes; produce and direct various fan
films; produce and direct his own online Sci-Fi video
shows; and he once even ran his own club - so you can
kinda say he's been around a bit.
Now if you want to see a comprehensive
list of Dags' entire fandom career, just go here.
Of particular significance though is
that Dags was also a co-founder of Star
Walking Inc: the Star Wars Appreciation
Society of Australia back in 1988. He served on the
committee of this club for 23 years before retiring
in 2011 ... only to return in 2013 (thanks to
Disney's takeover of Lucasfilm) then retiring again
in 2017 making a total of 27 years service!
During his final years at the club,
one of Dags' biggest achievements was editing 37
issues of the club's monthly newsletter The Force
which he successfully turned into an all-digital, all
colour, publication in 2014.
Being involved with Star Walking and
the Star Wars fan community meant Dags was able to
achieve a lot in his time, including these little
gems:
- He got to visit Skywalker Ranch in
1993 (look there he is! Second from the left)
.
- He appeared on a couple of TV game
shows starting with two stints on Family Feud (2008
and 2017) where his Star Wars team WON on both
occasions! He also appeared on 1 vs 100 but didn't do
to well in that.
.
.
.
- He was a co presenter and the editor
of all 42 episodes for the almost world famous Star
Wars podcast Star Talking
- He got to march in the 2009 Moomba
parade as a Star Wars character - though just
quietly, he also marched in the parade as a Star Trek
character back in 1987, shhh
- He helped organise a large number of
Star Wars conventions and themed banquets
- He appeared in a number of costumed
product launches including large gala events
- He has been a key presenter
discussing the Star Wars franchise at various
community and public libraries
- He was the long time co ordinator
and host of many Star Wars social club meetings
(called Skyforce) which were held in Melbourne,
Sydney and even one in Brisbane!
- He became famous among his peers for
creating Star Wars music video clips for conventions
and banquets
- He was celebrated by many as being
an excellent and entertaining auctioneer at various
fan events and conventions. In fact he became so well
known that he once even got to do it professionally
selling movies posters and lobby cards for a vendor!
- He appeared in the internationally
released 2001 Star Wars documentary The
Phandom Menace which
presented Dags with his first IMDBentry. Snce
then of course other entries have appeared in the
listing which Dags has been involved in
,- And although it's not entirely Star
Wars related, he had a documentary film made about
his Batman collection called Batman
and Me.
But the life of Dags doesn't just
revolve solely around Star Wars oh no, no, no.
As it turns out Dags is also a big
Star Trek fan and is heavily involved in his local
Star Trek fan club Austrek. In fact
Dags is the club's longest serving active
participant, having attended their meetings and
functions on a consistent basis since 1984 and is
also also the author of the club's 'History of'
article on their website. As a reward for his
devotion to Austrek, Dags was made a Life Member of
the club back in 2016 - something he was really proud
to receive - especially as it sits nicely alongside
his Life Membership to Star Walking.
.
But let's move away from the Sci-Fi
community for a tick.
From 2004 to 2012 Dags pursued one of
his greatest passions, film making under the banner
of DMFilms. It was his
passion for films which allowed him to create a
number of short films whilst helping others with
their productions as well, including some
professionally paid ones.
Want to see a classic Dags production?
Well just get a look at this... (running time 5 mins)
and there's this... (running time 7 mins)
and if you haven't had enough yet, then
try this... (running time 6 mins)
If you're keen to see more Daggy
productions, then just go to theDMFilmswebsite
After completing his film making
endeavours in 2012, Dags then re focused his energy
on running three Science Fiction conventions
Finally after achieving everything
listed above, Dags felt he still had some creative
talent left in his aging body so he decided to
produce 25 episodes of his own Science Fiction talk
show called Sci-Fi Zone (or The Zed as it became
affectionately known by the crew).
This show was a passion project for
Dags as it allowed him to talk about all facets of
the Science Fiction genre as inspired by his previous
conventions. If you want to see how it all turned out
you view all the episodes here.
.
Now just when you thought Dags
couldn't possibly do any more in his fandom life,
along with his mates MPS and Geoffro he created and
ran a live stream video show called Talk Nerdy To Me
which premiered during the Covid-19 crisis in April
2020 and ran for 31 episodes! With everyone
self-isolating and stuck at home, Dags felt the time
was ideal to bring a bit of joy into people's lives
by running a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Superhero show live
streamed each week on Facebook.
As Dags often said with a laugh, Talk
Nerdy To Me was kind of the ugly cousin of Sci-Fi
Zone. If you want to see how it all turned out, you
can see some of the special presentations here or some of
the discussion topics here
With the success of these shows firmly
under his belt, it was only a matter of time before
someone approached Dags asking for his help in
producing their shows as well. As a result 2021 saw
the launch of Rip It Off The Card which was the
brainchild of Dags' good friend Aron who had recently
opened his own collectable store.
Although the show was designed to
focus on collectors and collecting, it's primary
function was to be entertaining, fun and informative
whilst promoting Aron's store which it did very
successfully.
If you want to see how the show turned
out, episodes of season 1 can be found herewhile
episodes of season 2 can be found here
,
,
In his normal life (yes believe it or
not he does have one), Dags lives in a modest three
bedroom home which features his wonderful other half
(Lynne) and the ever lasting memory of his adorable
cat (Lulu) who went to sleep in June 2022.
Blessed with an array of great friends
and supporters, Dags acknowledges the three loves of
his life - besides Lynne and Lulu:
1) His house (officially named Sylvia
but more commonly known as The Dag House)
2) His bed - as Dags says "I
never met a sleep-in I didn't like"
3) The Sci-Fi fan community - which
has has truly shaped him into the Dag he is today.
Now there's a lot more exciting stuff
to say about our ever popular Dags, but we suggest
you check out the Who
is Dags section of this site for
that.
