Watching Doctor Who

(My friend Erik, with whom I attended Gallifrey One this year, spent last weekend at the San Diego Comic-Con. Because he is incredibly cool, he took some pictures for me while he was there, and even wrote up a wee con report. So, take it away Erik - our reporter in the field!)

A Brief Report on Comic Con by Erik

There won’t be much in the way of gossip or brand spanking new details of the upcoming series here, but more of a general feel at the convention.

This was the 4th Comic Con I’ve been lucky enough to attend. They are complete madness…but in a good way. It has everything a geek could want (apparently a lot of geeks as it has become almost unbearably crowded lately). However, one thing that was for the most part missing from the con was signs of Doctor Who. Sure, you could sometimes find some back issues of the Marvel comic from the ’80s stuffed in random long boxes or the occasional plastic K-9 but no real sense that he was there.

That all changed this year. Among other things, there was the Doctor Who booth that was larger than twice the size of the average booth (not counting the huge ones from the studios and such) and there was always a large crowd around it. Besides the life-sized Dalek threatening us, it was filled with all the new toys, including the new line based on the third series. There was even a Face of Boe that made me happy. And what was most significant to me were the two Convention Exclusives, a Dalek
and Cyberman variant that were only available there. There was also a large amount of bootlegs of the episodes yet to be shown in the States, including Torchwood, the Fox movie from a few years back and the Sarah Jane Adventures.

The other thing that caught my attention was the number of people dressed as the Doctor. I saw five 10th Doctors alone! This compared to zero the previous three years. Heck, there was even a woman dressed as a character from Torchwood! There were more Doctors than Batman’s or Spider-Man’s. Granted, there were still more Stormtroopers and Anime characters walking among us, but this showed me that he has made his way into the community at large in a big way over the last couple of years.

Sadly, I missed the Torchwood panel (was working on Thursday), but again, that was something very exciting to see included in the main programming, among the Kevin Smith & Kate Beckinsale appearances and “Heroes” panels.

All in all, it did this long time Whovian’s heart good to see the strong showing our old friend had this year. There wasn’t even that “true fan” feeling of “Oh, sure, NOW you jump on the bandwagon!” I was just happy that so many people are discovering and enjoying him. Now next year, I’m thinking Mr. Tennant needs to make an appearance…

San Diego Comic-Con, Doctor Who, Dalek, Face of Boe, Torchwood