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| | Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? | |
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+10k9yorkie Sabalom Glitz 77nation englishrose measkren happydalek Indiana_Brian AC Rempt J. Thomas Jeans Timeladyjojo 14 posters | Author | Message |
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Timeladyjojo RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 27 Age : 46 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| | | | J. Thomas Jeans RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 30 Age : 41 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:20 am | |
| I was living in Illinois in early 2002, and at the time I was planning on going to Chicago TARDIS in 2003 (because it was the 40th Anniversary year) but, as often happens, life had other plans. I've been dying to go to Gallifrey One. I suppose one day I'll get around to it. When I finally do, I'll be sure to post back. |
| | | AC Rempt RANK: Prime Minister
Number of posts : 830 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:58 am | |
| I went to a few of the first Gallifrey One cons. I got to meet Jon Pertwee and Colin Baker, along with the UNIT crew and some others. It was a grand time.
I keep thinking about heading up for one again (I live in San Diego now, so it would be a small trip, but still a trip), but I never seem to able to get it together. |
| | | Indiana_Brian RANK: UNIT Sergeant
Number of posts : 167 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:19 pm | |
| I have only been to one. That was in 1983 in Chicago at the Grenada Theatre. The guests were Jon Pertwee and Elisabeth Sladen. They showed 'The Mind of Evil' and 'K-9 and Company'. |
| | | happydalek RANK: Brigadier
Number of posts : 384 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:21 pm | |
| My favorite convention experience was Gallifrey One 2005, with the reunion of the UNIT gang. I got to see the three Doctor Who stars who have always been at the top of my list of the ones I would most want to meet: Elisabeth Sladen, Katy Manning, and Nicholas Courtney. All at once! Elisabeth Sladen is a classy, charming, beautiful woman; Katy Manning is delightfully bonkers; and Nicholas Courtney is a true gentleman. I've met Doctors 4-8 at various conventions. "Splendid chaps, all of them," but I would have to say meeting Tom Baker (at Timecon 1986 in San Jose, California) was the highlight because he was the one I grew up watching; the one I was most in awe of. Very eccentric, enthusiastic, and friendly. |
| | | measkren RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 38 Age : 68 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:32 pm | |
| I have been to every Gallifrey Convention since Gallifrey #7. I've met Doctors 5-8, Susan, Polly, Ben, the Brigadier, Sgt. Benton, Captain Yates, Jo, Sarah, Leela, Romana 1, Adric, Nyssa, Turlough, Tegan, Mel, Evelyn, Ace, Benny, Charlie, and Mickey. I want desperately to meet Nicola Bryant, but she has eluded me. I'm going to Gallifrey #18 in a couple of weeks. Scheduled are Colin Baker, Maggie Stables, Caroline John, Geoffrey Beavers, Eric Roberts, and Terry Malloy. I can't wait!
Last edited by on Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
| | | englishrose RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 33 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:18 am | |
| I was at Visions '95-Visions '98, the precursor con to Chicago Tardis. In those four years, I met Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Michael Craze, Anneke Wills, Frazier Hines, Caroline Johns, Geoffrey Beevers, Lalla Ward, Deborah Watling, Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, and others I may be leaving out without consulting my photo album. I have to say that the highlight of my four years at Visions was having my photo taken with Brian Blessed at Visions '95 and hearing him bellow "GORDON'S ALIVE!' and "OH WELL, WHO WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER, HA! HA! HA!" "SQUADRON FORTY, DIVE!" |
| | | 77nation RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 10 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:51 am | |
| Haven't but would be interested in finding something in my neck of the woods (Boston). You'd think with all the science geeks around here it wouldn't be a problem. Does anyone know of anything? |
| | | Sabalom Glitz RANK: UNIT Sergeant
Number of posts : 51 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:34 pm | |
| I've been going to conventions for many years... My first was back in the 80's in Boston. Creation Conventions covered Doctor Who back then. It was GREAT!!!!
That is where I saw An Unearthly Child for the first time. There must have been 100 people in the video room waiting to see it. No-one in America had ever seen it at that point and the crowd just went wild when Hartnell first appeared. And then when we heard the sound of the TARDIS for the first time....well, you can imagine!
It was great!
I now live in Chicago and always go to the Chicago TARDIS conventions. But they aren't as much fun as the Visions conventions in Chicago used to be.
I guess with DVD and the internet we cannot experience things as a group anymore. Thats a bit sad, but its the time we live in! |
| | | k9yorkie RANK: UNIT Recruit
Number of posts : 4 Registration date : 2007-02-04
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Mon Feb 05, 2007 9:33 am | |
| My first convention was Visions 96 in Chicago. I met Colin Baker, Sarah Sutton, Debrah Wattling, and Lalla Ward. I've also been to three Chicago TARDIS conventions, where I met Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy (twice), Sophie Aldred, Mary Tamm (my favorite!), Nicola Bryant, John Lesson, Maureen O'Brien, and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting. It was also great to see so many Dr Who writers and the Big Finish guys there as well! Now that I've moved to PA, I've made an annual pilgrimage to Chicago every Thanksgiving for the TARDIS cons. |
| | | happydalek RANK: Brigadier
Number of posts : 384 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Wed Feb 07, 2007 11:21 pm | |
| I want to pick up on something that Glitz said, about seeing "An Unearthly Child" for the first time at a convention. Back in the days when few PBS stations showed the Hartnell/Troughton episodes, it was a really big deal to seem them at conventions. I remember an article in "Whovian Times," the quarterly newsletter of the Doctor Who Fan Club of America, mentioning that Lionheart charged a great deal for the Hartnell/Troughton package, thus it was unattractive to PBS stations and few bought it (because it cost so much and there were so few episodes). I, too, saw "An Unearthly Child" for the first time at one of the Creation conventions of the 80s, and it was a magical experience. Nowadays, you want to see "An Unearthly Child," you just get on the computer and put it on your Netflix queue! Times sure have changed. The first Troughton I saw was "The Krotons," also at a Creation con, and everyone cheered upon hearing the TARDIS sound effect at the beginning. The cheering was followed by a burst of laughter as everyone looked for the TARDIS, and there it was, so tiny, in the bottom corner of the screen! Matthew Waterhouse was a guest at that convention, and he snuck in the back of the room to watch "The Krotons"! It's a great experience watching Doctor Who with a roomful of people who love it as much as you do. |
| | | englishrose RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 33 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Thu Feb 08, 2007 3:52 am | |
| As happydalek so rightly said, "It's a great experience watching Doctor Who with a roomful of people who love it as much as you do." That is the beauty of the convention experience especially when for the rest of the year you are surrounded by people who don't get it or have pre-conceived notions about science fiction. Watching favorite episodes of the show with like-minded people is one of the purest forms of pleasure known to us. |
| | | dalekman RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 11 Age : 54 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Thu Feb 08, 2007 11:48 am | |
| I haven't been to one in about 20 years. Peter Davison and JNT came to a convention at the University of Florida O'connel center: At the time it was a much more sci-fi looking venue. The roof is solid now, but back then the entire building was inflated like the sides are in the picture. Anyway, It was cool to get to meed PD and JNT, and we got to see the Two doctors and The Mark of the Rani long before they were ever shown on PBS. |
| | | measkren RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 38 Age : 68 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:44 pm | |
| I remember at Gallifrey we saw "The Lion," the first episode of The Crusade, as well as some of the webcasts now on BBCi--Shada and Scream of the Shalka.
That was pretty cool. |
| | | happydalek RANK: Brigadier
Number of posts : 384 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:50 pm | |
| I went to Gallifrey (the convention, not the planet) last weekend, and I wanted to pick up on what Glitz, Englishrose, and I were posting about previously. A marvelous troupe called the Offstage Theatre Group performed a play called "The Ten Doctors," and it was one of those live experiences that had that magical quality we were talking about. It was such a great feeling to be in a roomful of hundreds of people who were laughing at stuff like:
"Have you ever wondered what's it like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? To be exiles?"
"Um... no, not really."
Thanks to the internet (WhoNA, most especially), the dealer's room is not so big a deal anymore, as there are so many other ways of getting the latest merchandise. The real value of going to conventions is having these kinds of live experiences. I posted some more about the convention under the subject: "Anyone going to Gallifrey 2007?" |
| | | AC Rempt RANK: Prime Minister
Number of posts : 830 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:05 pm | |
| Sorry to hear about the dealer room, though. I loved going in there and just living it up beyond my means. |
| | | englishrose RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 33 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:56 am | |
| Ah yes, the dealer's room. Good times, good times. Granted that Jimmie Walker has nothing to do with either old/new Who but nevertheless the dealer's room was an essential part of the Visions experience back in the mid 90's since WhoNA hadn't materialized yet. It was the ideal opportunity to gorge oneself and stock up on Who-related items for the upcoming year. Plus where else can you find bootleg DVD's of "Celebrity T&A" and "British and American Screen Stars Nude." And for the brave and the bold, the Roger Corman "Fantastic Four " movie and "The Star Wars Holiday Special." Sophie Aldred was signing autographs in the dealer's room in '95 and I got to have a nice chat with her as well as get an autograph since, hey no line. |
| | | happydalek RANK: Brigadier
Number of posts : 384 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Mon Feb 26, 2007 10:29 pm | |
| Hey AC! I still lived it up beyond my means in the dealer's room! A guy was selling off the bulk of his Doctor Who collection, and I bought way too many issues of Doctor Who Magazine and In-Vision. He also had a lot of the foreign editions of the Target novelizations, such as the Japanese ones with the outstanding artwork on the covers. Also bought T-shirts embroidered with the Cybermen Tomb logo and a TARDIS. Englishrose mentioned buying those videos in the dealer's room, and sadly, those days are gone. The majority of those dealers have gone now; it'll be interesting to see if any of them show up at the San Diego Comic Con, which used to be a goldmine for those kinds of videos, but now hardly any. |
| | | englishrose RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 33 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:10 am | |
| Say it isn't so, happydalek. In the words of Sean Connery, "Those days are over", huh. That's a shame as newbie con-goers will never know the illicit thrill of bootleg collections of sex scenes featuring grainy footage of any number of actresses taking a paycheck for sci-fi/fantasy roles and some you wish you hadn't seen quite so naked. |
| | | Rogue RANK: Prime Minister
Number of posts : 985 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Sat Mar 03, 2007 6:37 am | |
| I haven't been to a DW con. But eleven or so years ago the PBS station here, WUSF, which broadcasts from the University of South Florida, brought in Sylvester McCoy to the college. While I was in high school, the station had been running the 4th through 6th Doctors' episodes, and if I remember right, were about to start with the 7th Doctor's episodes. Plus the TV Movie was coming soon, so it was a pretty big deal to have McCoy there. Someone was walking around in a green alien octopus suit, I forget the name, probably from a 3rd Doctor story. I remember standing in a huge line, waiting to get an autograph from McCoy and a picture with him. I still have the auto'd photo and the pic somewhere. Sadly I no longer have the TARDIS key on a necklace which cost me a $30 "suggested donation," but it was oh so magnificent. Someone I didn't even know, a student at the college, lent me the $30 because of how badly I wanted that key. Of course I paid him back when we got out of line, convincing my grandparents to pay him and I would pay them back Now I really want another TARDIS key... Anyways that in itself was a lot of fun. I can only imagine a full-blown DW convention! I've been to two Star Trek conventions and two Buffy the Vampire Slayer conventions, all of which were fun. I won "Best Vampire" at the first Buffy con I went to, going as Spike in his traditional outfit. James Marsters was at that con. He said I was like his Mini-me! I'll have to consider going to one of the USA based DW Cons... |
| | | englishrose RANK: UNIT Trooper
Number of posts : 33 Age : 56 Registration date : 2007-02-01
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Mon Mar 05, 2007 1:26 am | |
| - Quote :
- Someone was walking around in a green alien octopus suit, I forget the name, probably from a 3rd Doctor story.
That would be the hermaphrodite Alpha Centauri, winner of the most irritating voice in the original series contest. My fan geek tendencies force me to mention that it is from the two Peladon stories in the Jon Pertwee era, "Curse of..." with Jo Grant and "Monster of..." with Sarah Jane Smith. Women love the new series but they aren't impressed by knowledge of the old series as displayed above, story of my life. What BTVS cons have you been to, Rogue? I was at all four Moonlight Rising cons and also met James Marsters but my favorite memory is meeting Amber Benson twice. |
| | | terrasolo RANK: Time Lord Commoner
Number of posts : 1485 Age : 48 Registration date : 2007-03-06
| Subject: Re: Has anyone gone to any Doctor Who conventions? Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:33 am | |
| I went to the UK to visit friends and we went to Dimensions 2005 and 2006. We met Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Daphie Ashbrook, Frasier Hines, Paul Darrow, Maureen O'Brien, and a few others who I can't recall sadly.
They were fun, 2005 had a dalek that had the voice as well. He was sitting out side the bath room yelling at people coming out to was their hands. 2006 had an ood that looked and acted the part perfectly. |
| | | neonlogo RANK: Brigadier
Number of posts : 258 Age : 53 Registration date : 2007-02-02
| Subject: con-ven-tions!!! Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:39 pm | |
| I've been to about six conventions, all of them back in the 80's. I live in vancouver BC, so they would always be held down at Western Washington University in Bellingham WA. The first one I went to had Nicholas Courtney and they showed some grainy footage of Hartnell. Then I went to one with JNT, which wasn't that good. The third one I went to had Colin Baker and that one was great. It was the year he was sacked, and we got to watch TRIAL OF A TIMELORD before it was aired in England. Wicked. There were a few more in there somewhere... I then went to the WHO USA TOUR where they carted around a trailer full of WHO related junk. I got to sit in Bessie! I met Jon Pertwee who sang his "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" song. After that, WHO died on our local TV channel (KVOS TV 12) and as usual, the attention spans of people quickly forgot the show. My favorite part was always the dealers tables full of crap I just couldn't afford. I still have my complete set of DR.WHO Bookmarks I got from one of them. I had a bunch of those enamel pins, but they're all gone now. Oh those were the days. |
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