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prof_pangaeaGallifrey One 21: Blackjack (2010)
The Field Report!
ha, have been promising this for about a week now. major thanks to shaun lyon and all the organisers and volunteers at gally, because it was an amazing convention. if you can make it, i can't recommend going enough! very fun, very well-organised, super easy to get to and from the airport, and lobbycon is EPIC there.
lots of length follows these cuts! be forewarned!
2010.02.25 (thursday)
gally doesn't have any planned events on the thursday, unlike chicago TARDIS, but the lobby at the marriot is set up perfectly for lobbycon - right in the middle of everything, easy access to bar, lots of place to sit - so that had definitely kicked off by thursday evening. i met a bunch of new people as well as seeing old friends like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jigglykat, calapine, and taraljc met up with biichan (and sold her a couple shirts, hurrah!), talked to tony lee and rob shearman, who are always lovely (well, tony's lovely -- rob's a git, of course), caught up a little with morgeil, britgeekgrrl and brewsternorth, who just managed to get in before they started cancelling flights from the north east because of the giant snowstorm. also robert smith? and a bunch of other people without LJs (or whose LJs i don't know!). and at one point was given a "Boy-Toy of Rassilon" badge. so it was a good evening.
2010.02.26 (friday)
panels! oh, i did try to take notes, but i know i failed in a number of cases -- and i know that i ended up missing loads of panels i'd meant to go to in lieu of socialising with peoples. omg i know, WHAT KIND OF FAN DO I THINK I AM? anyway, i shall try to recreate some of the fun anyway.
friday kicked with an intro panel i didn't go to because i was showering instead. mmm, sleep, followed by cleanliness. but i made it to the next block to see the Doctor Who in the Comics panel. this had tony lee, matthew dow smith, pia guerra, paul cornell, richard starkings, and gary russell. a good panel, lots of interesting discussion, and once again the panel reminded me i should really read "voyager" at some point.
[discussing DWM comic -- Time and Tide, i think?]
Richard: "I wrote it from a plot by Gary Russell. Do you remember what your mother said about it?"
Gary: [sputters] "What -- When have you ever talked to my mother?!"
Richard: "I think she said, of all the Doctor Who stories you ever wrote, this was the best one. The one I wrote."
Gary: "...Yeah."
[describing writing a DW script for IDW and the editorial process]
Tony:
Panel 1
Doctor runs across a field
DOCTOR: "Doctor dialogue"
Panel 2
WORLD EXPLODES
Panel 3
Five million ninjas attack, all with individual faces and personalities.
"And then it goes to BBC Worldwide, and Gary says, "More ninjas!"
Tony: "We don't like doing Skype with Matthew, because he just reads the script and swears through the whole thing."
Matthew: "Oh, come on Tony, at least I've started wearing clothes."
Tony: "The average Alan Moore script is 40,000 words. That's 40,000 words each month! My average script is four. Four... words."
there was also an amazing story of how tony and pia got to open a doctor who exhibition when tom baker was the guest of honour and started a rambling story about how he met a goth girl on the tube on the way down whom he wanted to nibble. a cyberman was lowered onto stage to try and cut him off but baker just walked over, gave the guy a fiver and told him to buy himself a pint, and then walked back and kept talking. eventually he wandered away without actually pushing the Big Button so tony and pia were conscripted!
next is when i meant to go to the live commentary for midnight with alice troughton, but instead wandered round the dealer's room and talked to peoples. the dealer's room at this past chicago TARDIS was more impressive, i think, but it was still pretty good.
i think this was around the time i was wandering around and metredstapler, who was very cool, and we talked and she bought a TARDIS t-shirt for a friend. (and i remember i owe you a couple more too!)
then, the live commentary for dreamland! with georgia moffett, gary russell, and phil ford. this was loads of fun, but sadly i have no notes as it was obviously dark while the episode was playing. i hadn't seen dreamland before, partly from not having got round to it, and partly from, er, the animation making me want to cry. but it does seem as though a lot of that was to do with the fact that they were on an incredibly tight schedule with the project -- it absolutely had to air before december and tennant's big finale, and they almost didn't think they'd get it done at all. so apparently they've figured out they need about twice as long as they actually had to do something like that again -- and there does seem to be interest in more animated doctor who, so i hope they will! the other bit i remember is that there's a native american character in the story, and RTD challenged gary russell to see if he could find a native actor in britain to play the part -- and he did! (well, half-native, and from canada, but still!).
wandered around a bit, finally metgina_r_snape, which was awesome, chatted with peeps, and then - the katy manning panel! i sat next to someone cool for this panel but for the life of me can't remember who. sorry!
[talking about moving to australia after considering moving to LA]
Katy: "LA -- I thought, what else begins with A -- Australia! And it's warm!"
Me: [and probably rest of audience] "...LA doesn't start with 'A'..."
Katy: "When people say, 'Well, why didn't you marry Barry or whatever?' I say, 'Because I like him.'"
[talking about her habit of "visiting" and then becoming a houseguest for extended periods]
Katy: "If you see me at your house, and you see a glimpse of a toothbrush, don't turn your back, because I'll be IN!"
Katy: "The first Ophelia to start out mad and go slowly sane!" [her favourite review of her performance as ophelia - she shared it with david tennant when he asked her for a pic during his run on hamlet]
Katy: "Honey, I was up mountains in platform shoes -- I can do anything."
in conclusion, katy manning is awesome. this conclusion OBVIOUSLY not influenced by me talking to her later and her saying, "come here , you beautiful boy, and give me a kiss on the cheek!"
then was the tommy knight panel! he was very funny and cute. he was interviewed by scott handcock, who was also very funny and cute. so it was good times. he talked about meeting big names who have guest starred on SJA and having no idea who they were, since he's only 17, like russ abbott, who introduced himself thusly: "I am Russ Abbott, BOY." he said working with david tennant was great, because he brought so much energy into everything -- "Can I jump on the sofa? I really want to jump on this sofa." he also talked about wanting to be a pediatrician someday -- not really sure why, he just always liked to idea, and wants to do something helpful like that. of course, then he made jokes about "accidentally" losing his textbooks so he wouldn't have to do his schoolwork while he was over here.
Tommy: "Oh no, I lost my science textbook!! *cries*"
[talking about how much he knew about DW before taking the part of Luke]
Tommy: "Not much. But I knew what K-9 was! I knew what the TARDIS was."
Scott: "That's not what I heard. I heard you didn't know how the TARDIS got into Sarah Jane's attic."
Tommy: "Yeah, okay, I knew what it was, not how it worked."
[talking about skateboarding]
Scott: "Who's your favourite skateboarder?"
Tommy: "Oh, probably Chris Haslam."
Scott: "...See, I didn't know you could possibly give an answer to that question."
[talking about Elisabeth Sladen]
Tommy: "She's a big mother hen. Not that she sits on me!"
[the experience of colin teague chasing him up stairs with a ball on a stick, yelling "BE SCARED, BE SCARED!"]
Tommy: [deadpan] "I was scared."
[the possibility of Luke showing up on Torchwood]
Tommy: "Oh yeah, I'd be on Torchwood! With Captain Jack. I'm there for him! I'm there for him."
[realisation dawns as the audience starts to laugh, and he covers his face]
Scott: "Does the word 'slash' mean anything to you?"
Scott: "What do you think the future has in store for Luke? Where would you like him to go?"
Luke: "Drugs, sex, and rock n roll!"
i think it was after this that i happened to catchiko walking by me, dressed in an awesome femme!eleven costume. she was helpfully wearing a button labelled, "Hello, my name is IKO". then wandering happened. then opening ceremonies! which was the normal fun introducing the guests kind of thing, but with a couple of special videos -- one from steven moffat, saying basically, hi guys, wish i could have come to the con this year but i'm a bit busy with something you might have heard of... and ending with "By this time next year you'll all be in love with Matt Smith -- even the straight men." then there was a FABULOUS video from peter davison, which looked at first like a short little "sorry i couldn't be there" apology for having to pull out of the con, but turned into this long, hilarious look into his life working on the Legally Blonde musical, complete with a cameo from sheridan smith telling him off for spending all his time on the video recorder. and then after all the weirdness we see davison sitting at home, quietly drinking a glass of wine, and then suddenly david tennant walked in and sighed, saying something like, "Peter, you really need to stop breaking into my house", or something similar -- i'm not sure as it was sort of drowned out by 1300 people suddenly cheering MORE LOUDLY THAN ANYTHING I'VE EVER HEARD.
then going out to dinner with some friends! [omg i was spoiled by wonderful california weather so that when i got back to wisconsin i was unsatisfied with our incredibly warm 38 degree temperatures. ;____; ]. then -- lobbycon. was this the night tony lee was wandering around in a tuxedo? i don't remember. all i remember is i stayed up quite late and it was fun times.
2010.02.27 (saturday)
first panel was the Director's Roundtable with alice troughton, graeme harper and colin teague, moderated by gary russell, which was great! my favourite bit was probably alice troughton admitting that she used to sneak down the music levels after everyone would leave, which prompted everyone to start talking about how they always tried to turn the music down on their episodes as well! graeme harper made a great comment about the use of silence as well as mucis, which reminded me that he directed 42, which has one of the most moving uses of silence in the entire new series, i think. alice asked gary about directing audio and animation, to which he replied, well, it's really all up to the guy at the control board twisting knobs and such:
Gary: "And if it all goes wrong it's his fault, and if it goes well it's all down to my brilliance."
Alice: "You ARE a director!"
next, the big finish feedback panel. which was mostly free of lols but it was a good panel where jason haigh-ellery and nick briggs took suggestions and feedback from the audience on how to improve product, the website (it's in the middle of a massive redesign RIGHT NOW, thank goodness), ordering, subscriptions, etc. jason was mostly srs bsns, as usual, but nick threw in some fun.
[was taking a photo with sheridan smith and she said, "Come on and snog me!"]
Nick: "My lips were quivering like a virgin's."
Random Person: "I just heard a Dalek outside!"
Nick: "Yes, I know. I'm throwing my voice."
then followed one of my favourite panels, with louise page! she was wonderful, lots of fun, and really interesting -- i'm not particularly knowledgeable about costuming, but i like hearing about people who know their work, and she definitely does. she mentioned that billie piper wore lifts in the christmas invasion (and maybe all of s2?) because she wanted to be taller next to david tennant; the leather skirts the judoon wear are from a fetish shop in islington; RTD and phil collinson both kept going, "can you make the skirt shorter?" for quintus in the fires of pompeii! she also mentioned that john simm has got great legs, and looks great in pretty much everything you put him into -- which was awkward in EoT because a lot of the costumes were supposed to look comical on him. there was also the matter that some of them were supposed to be too big, and some too small, but it was almost impossible to find something too small for him (tiny dudes unite!). and of course how much he did not enjoy the dozens and dozens of costume changes he had to do for EoT, to which louise said, "You did read the script, didn't you?"
then tony lee interviewed georgia moffett. she was so awesome, guys! really funny and smart. tony did a good job of keeping everything on topic and i while i was there (had to duck out a little before the end) no one asked anything Horribly Inappropriate, which i was kind of steeling myself for. so yay! we discovered that although this was georgia's first US con officially, technically she'd been to gally before -- when she was a wee baby and her dad was a guest! she also told a story about a time when her dad and sylvester mccoy were in the same (stage) show and mccoy would hang out with her backstage and taught her how to juggle. awwwwwe.
[tony asks her about Peter Davison as a sex symbol]
Georgia: "I mean, bless him, he's my dad. But I'll tell him you think so, Tony!"
[tony asks her what medium she prefers i acting, and georgia says TV - on stage, if you emss up, people can see you; audio is a problem because she hates the sound of her own voicem tv and film, she can do things over if she messes up, so she likes that, because she likes avodiing embarassing things]
Georgia: [laughs] "I suppose that makes me quite lazy. I don't know if you've noticed, but anything for an easier life."
[about working with various actors who have played the doctor]
Georgia: "I want to tick them all off. I think that's a life ambition for me. [considers] Possibly I should get a second one as well..."
after this i wandered off to hang with peeps near the starbucks until the Sarah Jane roundtable! have i mentioned how much i love sarah jane lately? i do. this had tommy knight, phil ford, gary russell, and scott handcock, and they pulled alice troughton in as well.
Scott: "I was going to ask you [Gary] and Phil, as gentlemen of an older generation..."
Tommy: "He just called you old."
[someone from audience wondering if there are deliberate similarities between SJA and the tomorrow people]
Gary: "Russell will actually say in meetings, 'That sounds like the bloody Tomorrow People!' So it's used more as a yardstick of what we shouldn't do, honestly..."
Audience Member: *asks about where the idea for evil Sarah Jane came from*
Phil: "From Lis Sladen! She did something between takes, I don't know what it was, but it made me think of Evil!Saraj Jane..."
Scott: "Was it forked tongue?"
Phil: "Hahaha, yes!"
Scott: "Lis has a forked tongue that comes out between takes."
Tommy: "I want to do action stuff, like run around with guns or stuff."
Phil: "Haven't you learned anything yet -- Sarah Jane doesn't like guns!"
Tommy: "Luke does."
[this was followed by tommy recounting the experience of acting while something blows up behind you -- "You feel like a GOD."]
[gary recounting the tone meeting where the new character in series two was revealed]
Russell: "She's going to be called Rani."
Gary and Gareth Roberts: "..."
Russell: "It will drive the fans MAD!"
Audience Member: "Have you thought of bringing John Barrowman into the show?"
Alice: "Oh come on, it's a children's show!"
[someone asks tommy about acting with people who are older than him but playing the same age]
Tommy: "Well, I'm used to talking with people who are about my height, so whenever I'm with Danny, he's so short it's like he's eight, maybe nine years old, really."
Gary: "Scott, you've got a story about working with Nick Courtney."
Scott: "Do I?"
Gary: "Yeah, you thought you'd killed him."
i missed the barry letts tribute, sadly, and instead went to rob shearman's reading from his new book, love songs for the shy and cynical, which was gorgeous. highly recommended. then was hanging with peeps, followed by dinner, followed by more hanging. just a really wonderful evening.
2010.02.28 (sunday)
IDW comics panel! with tony lee, matthew dow smith, and denton tipton. got to see the fantastic matthew dow smith cover for the last tenth doctor story arc, as well as some of the gorgeous paul grist stuff. plus general talk about finally getting doctor who into a regular american monthly comic for the first time ever. IDW will be doing eleventh doctor comics once the tenth doctor story gets wrapped up, hurrah! (this of course precipitated a joke about matt smith drawing matt smith). matt expressed his dislike of drawing horses and cars, and tony mentioned gary russell's bizarre fear of cows and figured he could create the most hateful script of all time if he wrote a story about a war between horses and cows, driving cars.
[tony telling story about announcing "Matt Smith variant cover" for a tenth doctor comic, which actually crashed the site it was announced on]
Matthew: "Unfortunately I crashed the internet with disappointment."
Audience Member: "When are you going to let Tony loose and GI Joe?"
Tony: "That is a slash fic waiting to happen."
[someone talking about bringing frobisher into the IDW line]
Tony: "Ooh, can i change the ending of Final Sacrifice, so it's Frobisher coming at the Doctor screaming, "YOU NEVER LOVED MEEEE!!"
Tony: "Every time a vampire sparkles, a kitten loses its wings."
then i checked out the 70 Years of Marvel Comics panel because woah, marv wolfman. it was a pretty quiet panel, with people talking about things they'd loved best about marvel through the decades, and the strength of the characters, etc. favourite bit was definitely when someone asked wolfman what he thought the best thing jim shooter ever did as editor-in-chief at marvel and he replied, "The best thing he ever did at Marvel was to get me to go create the New Teen Titans over at DC." i also enjoyed joshua fialkov naming galactus as his favourite villain by saying, "I like Galactus, because I like giant men in short shorts."
then i missed the chicks dig timelords panel (sorry!) because i needed to see the live commentary for Enemy of the Bane, WHICH WAS GLORIOUS. once again, tommy knight, phil ford, graeme harper, scott handcock, and gary russell -- and they were all hilarious. i wish i had notes, but once again the darkness foiled me! i loved scott pointing out his favourite scene, which is when mrs. wormwood is running awkwardly from the bane in high heels; "Look at that. It's the campest thing you've ever seen." there was also quite a lot of commentary on mrs. wormwood/kaagh, which was hilarious and TRUE. "Oh, look, she's broken his heart!" "You see that bite out of his ear? Mrs. Wordwood." also commentary on the vintage rolls which they hired as the brig's car, and how the owner didn't like them driving it along the top of a cliff face. "He didn't like it when it came back with a long scratch along the side, either." "No...." it was GREAT. also, i'd forgotten how much i love that episode.
at some point during the day i missed out on a surprise visit by daphne ashbrook and yee jee tso! i'd seen daphne in the bar the night before, but i hadn't realised she was going to do a surprise panel and signing session the next day, and had no idea about yee jee. that was very cool! i caught the tail end of the panel just before enemy of the bane.
there was a lot of wandering and socialising after that. the ballroom was PACKED for The Year In Review and Closing Ceremonies -- no seats, and pretty quickly nowhere to stand, either! but it was still good fun, and they replayed the videos from opening ceremonies -- which i just missed as i had to run out to meet peeps for dinner. dinner ended up being a shorter affair than planned after one of the group had an allergic reaction to something in his spicy chicken soup (we went to a thai place which is famous for its live thai elvis impersonator. yes, it was as strange as it sounds), but he ended up being all right so at least there were no surprise trips to the ER. then it was time for lobbycon. i stayed up super late that night cos i knew once i went to bed the con would be over. :( but that night was lots of fun -- and weirdly, probably the most i'd ended up talking about doctor who (outside of panels) for the whole weekend.
anyway, a most excellent con, a good time hanging out with friends, and an all around nice time. highly recommended to anyone looking for something to do in the middle of a miserable february next year. can't wait to see all ya'll again. <3
The Field Report!
ha, have been promising this for about a week now. major thanks to shaun lyon and all the organisers and volunteers at gally, because it was an amazing convention. if you can make it, i can't recommend going enough! very fun, very well-organised, super easy to get to and from the airport, and lobbycon is EPIC there.
lots of length follows these cuts! be forewarned!
2010.02.25 (thursday)
gally doesn't have any planned events on the thursday, unlike chicago TARDIS, but the lobby at the marriot is set up perfectly for lobbycon - right in the middle of everything, easy access to bar, lots of place to sit - so that had definitely kicked off by thursday evening. i met a bunch of new people as well as seeing old friends like
jigglykat, calapine, and taraljc met up with biichan (and sold her a couple shirts, hurrah!), talked to tony lee and rob shearman, who are always lovely (well, tony's lovely -- rob's a git, of course), caught up a little with morgeil, britgeekgrrl and brewsternorth, who just managed to get in before they started cancelling flights from the north east because of the giant snowstorm. also robert smith? and a bunch of other people without LJs (or whose LJs i don't know!). and at one point was given a "Boy-Toy of Rassilon" badge. so it was a good evening.2010.02.26 (friday)
panels! oh, i did try to take notes, but i know i failed in a number of cases -- and i know that i ended up missing loads of panels i'd meant to go to in lieu of socialising with peoples. omg i know, WHAT KIND OF FAN DO I THINK I AM? anyway, i shall try to recreate some of the fun anyway.
friday kicked with an intro panel i didn't go to because i was showering instead. mmm, sleep, followed by cleanliness. but i made it to the next block to see the Doctor Who in the Comics panel. this had tony lee, matthew dow smith, pia guerra, paul cornell, richard starkings, and gary russell. a good panel, lots of interesting discussion, and once again the panel reminded me i should really read "voyager" at some point.
[discussing DWM comic -- Time and Tide, i think?]
Richard: "I wrote it from a plot by Gary Russell. Do you remember what your mother said about it?"
Gary: [sputters] "What -- When have you ever talked to my mother?!"
Richard: "I think she said, of all the Doctor Who stories you ever wrote, this was the best one. The one I wrote."
Gary: "...Yeah."
[describing writing a DW script for IDW and the editorial process]
Tony:
Doctor runs across a field
DOCTOR: "Doctor dialogue"
Panel 2
WORLD EXPLODES
Panel 3
Five million ninjas attack, all with individual faces and personalities.
"And then it goes to BBC Worldwide, and Gary says, "More ninjas!"
Tony: "We don't like doing Skype with Matthew, because he just reads the script and swears through the whole thing."
Matthew: "Oh, come on Tony, at least I've started wearing clothes."
Tony: "The average Alan Moore script is 40,000 words. That's 40,000 words each month! My average script is four. Four... words."
there was also an amazing story of how tony and pia got to open a doctor who exhibition when tom baker was the guest of honour and started a rambling story about how he met a goth girl on the tube on the way down whom he wanted to nibble. a cyberman was lowered onto stage to try and cut him off but baker just walked over, gave the guy a fiver and told him to buy himself a pint, and then walked back and kept talking. eventually he wandered away without actually pushing the Big Button so tony and pia were conscripted!
next is when i meant to go to the live commentary for midnight with alice troughton, but instead wandered round the dealer's room and talked to peoples. the dealer's room at this past chicago TARDIS was more impressive, i think, but it was still pretty good.
i think this was around the time i was wandering around and met
redstapler, who was very cool, and we talked and she bought a TARDIS t-shirt for a friend. (and i remember i owe you a couple more too!)then, the live commentary for dreamland! with georgia moffett, gary russell, and phil ford. this was loads of fun, but sadly i have no notes as it was obviously dark while the episode was playing. i hadn't seen dreamland before, partly from not having got round to it, and partly from, er, the animation making me want to cry. but it does seem as though a lot of that was to do with the fact that they were on an incredibly tight schedule with the project -- it absolutely had to air before december and tennant's big finale, and they almost didn't think they'd get it done at all. so apparently they've figured out they need about twice as long as they actually had to do something like that again -- and there does seem to be interest in more animated doctor who, so i hope they will! the other bit i remember is that there's a native american character in the story, and RTD challenged gary russell to see if he could find a native actor in britain to play the part -- and he did! (well, half-native, and from canada, but still!).
wandered around a bit, finally met
gina_r_snape, which was awesome, chatted with peeps, and then - the katy manning panel! i sat next to someone cool for this panel but for the life of me can't remember who. sorry![talking about moving to australia after considering moving to LA]
Katy: "LA -- I thought, what else begins with A -- Australia! And it's warm!"
Me: [and probably rest of audience] "...LA doesn't start with 'A'..."
Katy: "When people say, 'Well, why didn't you marry Barry or whatever?' I say, 'Because I like him.'"
[talking about her habit of "visiting" and then becoming a houseguest for extended periods]
Katy: "If you see me at your house, and you see a glimpse of a toothbrush, don't turn your back, because I'll be IN!"
Katy: "The first Ophelia to start out mad and go slowly sane!" [her favourite review of her performance as ophelia - she shared it with david tennant when he asked her for a pic during his run on hamlet]
Katy: "Honey, I was up mountains in platform shoes -- I can do anything."
in conclusion, katy manning is awesome. this conclusion OBVIOUSLY not influenced by me talking to her later and her saying, "come here , you beautiful boy, and give me a kiss on the cheek!"
then was the tommy knight panel! he was very funny and cute. he was interviewed by scott handcock, who was also very funny and cute. so it was good times. he talked about meeting big names who have guest starred on SJA and having no idea who they were, since he's only 17, like russ abbott, who introduced himself thusly: "I am Russ Abbott, BOY." he said working with david tennant was great, because he brought so much energy into everything -- "Can I jump on the sofa? I really want to jump on this sofa." he also talked about wanting to be a pediatrician someday -- not really sure why, he just always liked to idea, and wants to do something helpful like that. of course, then he made jokes about "accidentally" losing his textbooks so he wouldn't have to do his schoolwork while he was over here.
Tommy: "Oh no, I lost my science textbook!! *cries*"
[talking about how much he knew about DW before taking the part of Luke]
Tommy: "Not much. But I knew what K-9 was! I knew what the TARDIS was."
Scott: "That's not what I heard. I heard you didn't know how the TARDIS got into Sarah Jane's attic."
Tommy: "Yeah, okay, I knew what it was, not how it worked."
[talking about skateboarding]
Scott: "Who's your favourite skateboarder?"
Tommy: "Oh, probably Chris Haslam."
Scott: "...See, I didn't know you could possibly give an answer to that question."
[talking about Elisabeth Sladen]
Tommy: "She's a big mother hen. Not that she sits on me!"
[the experience of colin teague chasing him up stairs with a ball on a stick, yelling "BE SCARED, BE SCARED!"]
Tommy: [deadpan] "I was scared."
[the possibility of Luke showing up on Torchwood]
Tommy: "Oh yeah, I'd be on Torchwood! With Captain Jack. I'm there for him! I'm there for him."
[realisation dawns as the audience starts to laugh, and he covers his face]
Scott: "Does the word 'slash' mean anything to you?"
Scott: "What do you think the future has in store for Luke? Where would you like him to go?"
Luke: "Drugs, sex, and rock n roll!"
i think it was after this that i happened to catch
iko walking by me, dressed in an awesome femme!eleven costume. she was helpfully wearing a button labelled, "Hello, my name is IKO". then wandering happened. then opening ceremonies! which was the normal fun introducing the guests kind of thing, but with a couple of special videos -- one from steven moffat, saying basically, hi guys, wish i could have come to the con this year but i'm a bit busy with something you might have heard of... and ending with "By this time next year you'll all be in love with Matt Smith -- even the straight men." then there was a FABULOUS video from peter davison, which looked at first like a short little "sorry i couldn't be there" apology for having to pull out of the con, but turned into this long, hilarious look into his life working on the Legally Blonde musical, complete with a cameo from sheridan smith telling him off for spending all his time on the video recorder. and then after all the weirdness we see davison sitting at home, quietly drinking a glass of wine, and then suddenly david tennant walked in and sighed, saying something like, "Peter, you really need to stop breaking into my house", or something similar -- i'm not sure as it was sort of drowned out by 1300 people suddenly cheering MORE LOUDLY THAN ANYTHING I'VE EVER HEARD. then going out to dinner with some friends! [omg i was spoiled by wonderful california weather so that when i got back to wisconsin i was unsatisfied with our incredibly warm 38 degree temperatures. ;____; ]. then -- lobbycon. was this the night tony lee was wandering around in a tuxedo? i don't remember. all i remember is i stayed up quite late and it was fun times.
2010.02.27 (saturday)
first panel was the Director's Roundtable with alice troughton, graeme harper and colin teague, moderated by gary russell, which was great! my favourite bit was probably alice troughton admitting that she used to sneak down the music levels after everyone would leave, which prompted everyone to start talking about how they always tried to turn the music down on their episodes as well! graeme harper made a great comment about the use of silence as well as mucis, which reminded me that he directed 42, which has one of the most moving uses of silence in the entire new series, i think. alice asked gary about directing audio and animation, to which he replied, well, it's really all up to the guy at the control board twisting knobs and such:
Gary: "And if it all goes wrong it's his fault, and if it goes well it's all down to my brilliance."
Alice: "You ARE a director!"
next, the big finish feedback panel. which was mostly free of lols but it was a good panel where jason haigh-ellery and nick briggs took suggestions and feedback from the audience on how to improve product, the website (it's in the middle of a massive redesign RIGHT NOW, thank goodness), ordering, subscriptions, etc. jason was mostly srs bsns, as usual, but nick threw in some fun.
[was taking a photo with sheridan smith and she said, "Come on and snog me!"]
Nick: "My lips were quivering like a virgin's."
Random Person: "I just heard a Dalek outside!"
Nick: "Yes, I know. I'm throwing my voice."
then followed one of my favourite panels, with louise page! she was wonderful, lots of fun, and really interesting -- i'm not particularly knowledgeable about costuming, but i like hearing about people who know their work, and she definitely does. she mentioned that billie piper wore lifts in the christmas invasion (and maybe all of s2?) because she wanted to be taller next to david tennant; the leather skirts the judoon wear are from a fetish shop in islington; RTD and phil collinson both kept going, "can you make the skirt shorter?" for quintus in the fires of pompeii! she also mentioned that john simm has got great legs, and looks great in pretty much everything you put him into -- which was awkward in EoT because a lot of the costumes were supposed to look comical on him. there was also the matter that some of them were supposed to be too big, and some too small, but it was almost impossible to find something too small for him (tiny dudes unite!). and of course how much he did not enjoy the dozens and dozens of costume changes he had to do for EoT, to which louise said, "You did read the script, didn't you?"
then tony lee interviewed georgia moffett. she was so awesome, guys! really funny and smart. tony did a good job of keeping everything on topic and i while i was there (had to duck out a little before the end) no one asked anything Horribly Inappropriate, which i was kind of steeling myself for. so yay! we discovered that although this was georgia's first US con officially, technically she'd been to gally before -- when she was a wee baby and her dad was a guest! she also told a story about a time when her dad and sylvester mccoy were in the same (stage) show and mccoy would hang out with her backstage and taught her how to juggle. awwwwwe.
[tony asks her about Peter Davison as a sex symbol]
Georgia: "I mean, bless him, he's my dad. But I'll tell him you think so, Tony!"
[tony asks her what medium she prefers i acting, and georgia says TV - on stage, if you emss up, people can see you; audio is a problem because she hates the sound of her own voicem tv and film, she can do things over if she messes up, so she likes that, because she likes avodiing embarassing things]
Georgia: [laughs] "I suppose that makes me quite lazy. I don't know if you've noticed, but anything for an easier life."
[about working with various actors who have played the doctor]
Georgia: "I want to tick them all off. I think that's a life ambition for me. [considers] Possibly I should get a second one as well..."
after this i wandered off to hang with peeps near the starbucks until the Sarah Jane roundtable! have i mentioned how much i love sarah jane lately? i do. this had tommy knight, phil ford, gary russell, and scott handcock, and they pulled alice troughton in as well.
Scott: "I was going to ask you [Gary] and Phil, as gentlemen of an older generation..."
Tommy: "He just called you old."
[someone from audience wondering if there are deliberate similarities between SJA and the tomorrow people]
Gary: "Russell will actually say in meetings, 'That sounds like the bloody Tomorrow People!' So it's used more as a yardstick of what we shouldn't do, honestly..."
Audience Member: *asks about where the idea for evil Sarah Jane came from*
Phil: "From Lis Sladen! She did something between takes, I don't know what it was, but it made me think of Evil!Saraj Jane..."
Scott: "Was it forked tongue?"
Phil: "Hahaha, yes!"
Scott: "Lis has a forked tongue that comes out between takes."
Tommy: "I want to do action stuff, like run around with guns or stuff."
Phil: "Haven't you learned anything yet -- Sarah Jane doesn't like guns!"
Tommy: "Luke does."
[this was followed by tommy recounting the experience of acting while something blows up behind you -- "You feel like a GOD."]
[gary recounting the tone meeting where the new character in series two was revealed]
Russell: "She's going to be called Rani."
Gary and Gareth Roberts: "..."
Russell: "It will drive the fans MAD!"
Audience Member: "Have you thought of bringing John Barrowman into the show?"
Alice: "Oh come on, it's a children's show!"
[someone asks tommy about acting with people who are older than him but playing the same age]
Tommy: "Well, I'm used to talking with people who are about my height, so whenever I'm with Danny, he's so short it's like he's eight, maybe nine years old, really."
Gary: "Scott, you've got a story about working with Nick Courtney."
Scott: "Do I?"
Gary: "Yeah, you thought you'd killed him."
i missed the barry letts tribute, sadly, and instead went to rob shearman's reading from his new book, love songs for the shy and cynical, which was gorgeous. highly recommended. then was hanging with peeps, followed by dinner, followed by more hanging. just a really wonderful evening.
2010.02.28 (sunday)
IDW comics panel! with tony lee, matthew dow smith, and denton tipton. got to see the fantastic matthew dow smith cover for the last tenth doctor story arc, as well as some of the gorgeous paul grist stuff. plus general talk about finally getting doctor who into a regular american monthly comic for the first time ever. IDW will be doing eleventh doctor comics once the tenth doctor story gets wrapped up, hurrah! (this of course precipitated a joke about matt smith drawing matt smith). matt expressed his dislike of drawing horses and cars, and tony mentioned gary russell's bizarre fear of cows and figured he could create the most hateful script of all time if he wrote a story about a war between horses and cows, driving cars.
[tony telling story about announcing "Matt Smith variant cover" for a tenth doctor comic, which actually crashed the site it was announced on]
Matthew: "Unfortunately I crashed the internet with disappointment."
Audience Member: "When are you going to let Tony loose and GI Joe?"
Tony: "That is a slash fic waiting to happen."
[someone talking about bringing frobisher into the IDW line]
Tony: "Ooh, can i change the ending of Final Sacrifice, so it's Frobisher coming at the Doctor screaming, "YOU NEVER LOVED MEEEE!!"
Tony: "Every time a vampire sparkles, a kitten loses its wings."
then i checked out the 70 Years of Marvel Comics panel because woah, marv wolfman. it was a pretty quiet panel, with people talking about things they'd loved best about marvel through the decades, and the strength of the characters, etc. favourite bit was definitely when someone asked wolfman what he thought the best thing jim shooter ever did as editor-in-chief at marvel and he replied, "The best thing he ever did at Marvel was to get me to go create the New Teen Titans over at DC." i also enjoyed joshua fialkov naming galactus as his favourite villain by saying, "I like Galactus, because I like giant men in short shorts."
then i missed the chicks dig timelords panel (sorry!) because i needed to see the live commentary for Enemy of the Bane, WHICH WAS GLORIOUS. once again, tommy knight, phil ford, graeme harper, scott handcock, and gary russell -- and they were all hilarious. i wish i had notes, but once again the darkness foiled me! i loved scott pointing out his favourite scene, which is when mrs. wormwood is running awkwardly from the bane in high heels; "Look at that. It's the campest thing you've ever seen." there was also quite a lot of commentary on mrs. wormwood/kaagh, which was hilarious and TRUE. "Oh, look, she's broken his heart!" "You see that bite out of his ear? Mrs. Wordwood." also commentary on the vintage rolls which they hired as the brig's car, and how the owner didn't like them driving it along the top of a cliff face. "He didn't like it when it came back with a long scratch along the side, either." "No...." it was GREAT. also, i'd forgotten how much i love that episode.
at some point during the day i missed out on a surprise visit by daphne ashbrook and yee jee tso! i'd seen daphne in the bar the night before, but i hadn't realised she was going to do a surprise panel and signing session the next day, and had no idea about yee jee. that was very cool! i caught the tail end of the panel just before enemy of the bane.
there was a lot of wandering and socialising after that. the ballroom was PACKED for The Year In Review and Closing Ceremonies -- no seats, and pretty quickly nowhere to stand, either! but it was still good fun, and they replayed the videos from opening ceremonies -- which i just missed as i had to run out to meet peeps for dinner. dinner ended up being a shorter affair than planned after one of the group had an allergic reaction to something in his spicy chicken soup (we went to a thai place which is famous for its live thai elvis impersonator. yes, it was as strange as it sounds), but he ended up being all right so at least there were no surprise trips to the ER. then it was time for lobbycon. i stayed up super late that night cos i knew once i went to bed the con would be over. :( but that night was lots of fun -- and weirdly, probably the most i'd ended up talking about doctor who (outside of panels) for the whole weekend.
anyway, a most excellent con, a good time hanging out with friends, and an all around nice time. highly recommended to anyone looking for something to do in the middle of a miserable february next year. can't wait to see all ya'll again. <3
