Oh my crikeyness! Have you seen who’s going to Gallifrey One this year? A stellar line-up of Who alumni and luminaries will be attending the 28th incarnation of this convention at the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel from 17th to 19th February. Even though tickets are sold out, I’m almost tempted to mortgage my house to fund a trip over there at short notice. I don’t actually own my house, but I won’t tell my landlord if you won’t! Tickets sell real fast – if you want to go next year, make sure you get your tickets early. Feel free to buy me a ticket if you are feeling generous!
Facetiousness aside, there’s a whole TARDIS full of companions with the Eighth Doctor to keep them in check and stop them running off and getting into trouble. Good luck with that, Mr McGann! Companion-wise, we have Lalla Ward, Louise Jameson, Katy Manning, Anneke Wills, Peter Purves, Frazer Hines, Daphne Ashbrook, and John Leeson. Meanwhile, Torchwood will be ably represented by Gareth David-Lloyd and Naoko Mori, with Nicholas Briggs representing the bad guys as the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen.
From that murky and unknowable area behind the scenes, there is June Hudson (the lady we have to thank for Tom Baker’s costume designs), Roger Murray-Leach (set designer during the early Tom Baker years), Mat Irvine (builder and operator of the tin dog), and Dominic Glynn – music composer par excellence!
From the comic world, there will be the awesome Nick Abadzis, writer of the much acclaimed Titan Comics’ ongoing monthly series, Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor. We interviewed Nick last year. Also in attendance will be Paul Cornell who wrote Father’s Day for the Ninth Doctor and the excellent Human Nature Seventh Doctor novel, which he also adapted for the Tenth Doctor on screen. Those are some of my most favouritest stories of modern Whodom. Paul also wrote for Robin Hood and has worked on comics featuring Captain Britain, Batman and Robin, Wolverine, and a host of others.
David J. Howe and Sam Stone are mainstays of this and many other events and will be there in various capacities as both guests and hosts at different panels. David and Sam are also in the process of creating a private Doctor Who Merchandise Museum to exhibit David’s extensive collection of props, costumes, and collectables.
There are, of course, far too many guests to list here. Besides, what would be the point of doing that when the Gallifrey One website has already done that in much more detail than I would cover here!?
Looking at the event itself, there will be the usual interviews and panel talks along with some more intimate events, such as the “Kaffeeklatsch” – basically, a coffee and a chat with a small number of people and a guest or two. Sounds fantastic, but places are sure to go quick. A rather fun looking panel will be the “Nothing in the World Can Stop Me Now!” discussion where the guests will be discussing the very worst dialogue and stories from the show’s entire history. This is a subject that I’m sure every single die-hard fan will have lots of very strong opinions on!
It looks as though there will be a huge diversity of events covering cosplay, body image, gender swapping in the show, location hunting, steampunk history and influences on the show, Who-flavoured game shows, and all manner of other entertainments.
That all sounds rather fabulous, no?
Are you going? Can you smuggle me in your luggage? I’m not very big and will pay for my own food…
