Watching Doctor Who

Gallifrey One’s Nineteenth Symphony: Opus 2008 was possibly more fun than last year, even given that I had to drive the seven hours by myself again. (That drive is just exhausting. Remind me to take an extra day off next year so that I don’t have to go back to work the day after a drive like that.) I arrived in L.A. a day early, so my Evil Twin and I found some time to go over to the Harry Potter Store in Santa Monica. This also allowed me to call my Mum from just outside her High School.

Anyway, the day of the Con finally arrived and we drove there through slightly less traffic than I was expecting. Once we got our badges sorted out we headed straight for the Dealer’s Room. Sadly (or…perhaps not so sadly considering that I had much less money to spend this year) the fabulous artist from last year was not in attendance. Also, the jewelry artist from last year did not arrive until much later. It didn’t really matter though. There was still plenty to look at. And look I did. I purchased a couple of pictures almost right away. One was a sexy Billie Piper pic for my husband who could not join me, and the other was a publicity still from the Torchwood episode: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. I’ll be adding these to my Wall of Who, so you’ll be seeing them at some point. I just need to buy more frames. Thinking of the long drive home that I wuld be dealing with in a couple of days, I also bought the Big Finish Doctor Who Audio Adventure: The Marian Conspiracy. It’s number six of those adventures, but I’ve been told several times that it’s good, so there you are.

When I was finally done with my close encounter with the Dealer’s room, we headed over to the autograph line. I met some new folks in line, including Berkeley who was quite fun to talk with. It was also discovered that Converse seemed to be the official shoe of the convention. This led us to wondering about the possible increase in sales of that sort of shoe. I managed to ask for autographs without fainting again this year. Quelle Suprise! I got four on that first go ’round. Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred (I couldn’t afford the $30 for a pic of the two of them, so I had them sign the inside cover of my program) were both really nice. I managed to leave all of the stuff I wanted autographed at home again this year, so Rob Shearman and Gary Russell were kind enough to sign my program as well. Actually, they signed Erik’s program, as I stole his for this purpose. Next year I will be prepared, darn it.

As I discovered last year, you can pretty much sit all day in the main room and have a fabulous time. You don’t even need to be too clear on what the topic is. We arrived in New Earth in time for the Lisa Bowerman interview. I knew that I recognized the name, but I was a bit fuzzy on the details, you know? (Lisa appears in the picture at the top of this post with her interviewer, Jason Haigh-Ellery who is the founder of Big Finish Productions.) Lisa, it turned out, is the voice of Benny Summerfield from the Big Finish audio dramas. Benny is a former companion of The 7th Doctor that appeared in some of the New Adventures novels, for example: Human Nature. She was created by Paul Cornell, and turned out to be so popular that she got her own series of Audio Dramas. Lisa Bowerman was also one of the Cheetah People in the seventh Doctor Story: Survival. Listening to the two of them interview each other made me want to go out and buy more Big Finish audio adventures. Too bad I know nothing about Sapphire and Steel. Apparently Lisa is producing (or was it directing?) some of those audio dramas.

The next event in New Earth was Gary Russell interviewing Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Now, you must understand that I have a soft spot for Ace. When I was in High School, a friend and I created a character that we thought would be the perfect new companion. She would have skills with Chemistry and everything! And then…along came Ace, who blew things up with her own brand of nitroglycerin. Let’s just say that we were thrilled to see our character come to life. (Though we never did figure out how the BBC managed to read our minds.)

Sophie and Sylvester were asked several random questions, such as: “If you could have any three people over for a dinner party (living or dead) who would you choose?” and “Do you still have any of your childhood toys?” Sophie ended up with Sylvester and several folks with the surname of Bergman at her dinner party. Sylvester had Sophie, Bill Clinton, and either The Marx Brothers, Charlie Chaplin, or Buster Keaton. When it came to the question of Childhood toys, Sophie mentioned a Doll House that is still at her parents’ house and Sylvester…well, let’s just say that he glanced down at his lap. *ahem* All in all, a most amusing and insightful interview.

The next program up was The Music of Doctor Who with Mark Ayres, a television composer who worked on Doctor Who during the Seventh Doctor era and member of the Doctor Who Restoration Team. This event included everything from discussion of different synthesizers to the music Mark submitted in his bid to be the musical master of the new show.

Finally, at 6pm, came the event I’d been waiting all day for. The Opening Ceremonies. You never know what the guests are going to do. This year, Sylvester McCoy came up onto the stage and straight into the TARDIS. He then snuck out the back to come around and talk to Shaun Lyon (of Outpost Gallifrey) the moderator. Sophie Aldred took it a little further. She came up to the stage, entered the TARDIS, then appeared back out front (having walked around the back.) When the writers, etc. were introduced, among them was a certain someone named…

Steven Moffat. This year, instead of just saying “Hugo” and passing on the Microphone, he pointed said microphone at the audience and let us say it for him. Then, most of the rest of the folks down the line tried to figure out some way to work the word “Hugo” into their greetings. The fellow on the end even tried to say something about Jason and the Hugonaughts. Le sigh.

Sadly, we couldn’t stay for the masquerade, but we did get some photos of some folks in great costumes. For example, a drunk 10th Doctor. (Erik took this pic.)

Captain John Hart, I presume?

How about three Doctors plus Ace?

Until next time, this has been Elisa with your Gallifrey One Con Report for day one.

Rob Shearman, Gary Russell, Lisa Bowerman, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Mark Ayres, Shaun Lyon, Gallifrey One, Con Report