Gallifrey One 21: The Delayed Report
Hey Gang,
So I know this has been posted about a lot already, but I thought I'll throw in my two cents on the Gallifrey experience. Sorry for being so late - Time Quest, traveling and my birthday had a way of pushing this report off despite the fact I've been writing it up off and on for about a month now. Better late then never, right?
Full of Season 6 Awesomeness - so says photographer Scott Sebring
Anyways - Simply put- one of the best cons ever! If you're thinking of going next year - then GO. It's one of the most friendly cons I've been to and you can tell it's run by the fans for the fans. Easily approachable guests, positive vibes and fan friendliness can be easily found here.
More Info and Pics
So my con went like thus:
Thursday Night:
Pick up my new rubber latex castings for the new Cyberman arm and leg joints. Then try out the Troughton make-up Vickie (flibbertyjitz) had devised for me. Tie on the new hatband for the Seven hat supplied by steve_ricks. Use the nifty cut-it-along-the-diagonal to make it fit and tie right and yay - it works. Lasso in help from Scott and Vickie on attaching phone cords, gluing in hooks etc on Cyber-joint pieces. Spend half the night sewing in new hooks into my leggings and painting said latex joints with the muchly hard to find H2O Krylon paint and metallic finish. Watch the pilot to It Takes a Thief to help pass the time. Robert Wagner is 60's cool. Vickie and I were getting punchy from lack of sleep. Oh yeah, and also edit the entire soundtrack to the Unsung Hero Brigadier skit. I manage to complete the soundtrack by about 7AM. I didn't sleep at all. Who needs it anyway? It's not a con unless you lose some sleep.
Femme Six- Kudos for pulling that off!
So - I finished everything only having to abandon my Sash of Rassilon planned for a Pratt Master outing that never happened.
minervamoon as Black Orchid Tegan
Friday:
Femme Five!
Van Donovan as Two meets... another Two- plus we get to show off the new Series TARDIS backdrop
So no sleep, and skipped breakfast. I'm a machine! Well actually I'm just not a breakfast guy. Loaded up the car. Drove in to the LAX Marriott literally slapping my face every 5 minutes to stay awake for the drive. The car vibration is a killer to resist when trying not to fall asleep! Checked in around 10AM. Unloaded the car. Texted everyone the room number or the cryptic texts as Sarah (minervamoon) called them (which most of us tend to use as a changing room anyway).
Taking a moment to pose with a Ten and Matt as Eleven
I took the Classic and New Series TARDIS wall backdrops to the Cosplay Hall. Thanks to the help of azarsuete and her friends, we got both backdrops put up in about 45 minutes, just in time for the Dealer's room to open. Also posted the Cosplay Hall schedule and recruited Micheal to be our Master for our Masque Skit. Happy to have a "Delgado" so we wouldn't have to settle on the Pratt master for the skit.
Micheal as the Master, strollerman as New Era UNIT officer meeting Scott as the Brig
Around noon, I went back to the room and changed into Four. I played back the skit audio for the first time to Scott and Vickie who were now in the room changing into their costumes - The Brigadier and Gas Mask Zombie - as well. Our hearts sunk. To our ears, the audio sounded awful. Too talky, too fast a pace. Were the gunshots even loud enough? Fearing we'd bore people than entertain them, we debating scrapping the entire entry. We decided to think on it.
Two Fours - with ninjarisu
So I left and swung by the TARDIS photo plaza for the classic era meet-up and as I suspected it was just too early for most folks and pretty much no one was there. I had the MK III "Revenge" Cybermat with me to show off to some friends who I couldn't find, so I left it temporarily in the care of Tara. I did a sweep through the Dealer's room - struck out on finding a 1993 Radio Times for Time Quest. I ended up getting one off trusty Ebay later. Ran into Diana/violet_lane and Kevin as Rose and spacesuit Ten respectively. Mucho impressed!
Kevin as Spacesuit Ten
The Brig and a Gas Mask Zombie
Also ran into my friend Paul and azarsuete again (in costume as Revenge/Cyberman Sarah Jane this time). Sarah/minervamoon was both impressive and a little scary in how much and how well she could quote The Trouble with Tribbles when we stopped by the tribble booth.
Sarah Jane and the Brig
The Brig and Ten
Particular note to Scott's Brig costume which he put together in roughly six weeks which was a minor miracle considering how hard it was to find several elements of the costume. It's a lot more difficult than it looks and a simple trip to the army surplus store doesn't cut it for 70's UNIT. The end result was pretty fab and it went over very well with attendees. If Scott ever decides to do a breakdown on the five-rounds-rapidness of his Brig costume it'll get posted here for sure.
Classic UNIT
After walking the floor for a while, we stopped back at the room, I picked up some costume items and the three of us went to the Costuming 101 panel which Scott and myself were part of the moderator group on. Lucifer1 and Preadestinatio were on this panel with us and I thought we covered a lot of good ground for beginners touching on all the basics from off-the-rack buying, thrift shopping, modifying, and downright making costumes.
LOL - Two on trial again form the Time Lords
From there, I had to leap frog right across the hall, costumes still in hand, to help moderate the "Costuming as the Doctor" panel with Matt Hearn, Lucifer1 and Horizonchaser. This panel was a bit more loose, & a lot more fun. I remember estelofimladris giving me hard time about my most challenging costume item... (finding the right beige gaberdine for my five frock or the right paisley for my Seven scarf is pretty high on that list!) and when asked about my next costume on the plate aside from the never-ending upgrades of Four, Six, One, the never-ending search for Invasion Cyber gear etc... I gleefully mentioned wanting to do a VOC Robot (Black or Green) and of course get my Captain Marvel flying (figuratively). When asked by Van if I would ever consider doing a companion - I said sure "I'd cosplay Jackson Lake" LOL. Okay that's a cheat. In all seriousness: I don't do crossplay, so out of the male companions my favorite character is Ian Chesterton - but you really need a *S1 Group* for that. My next pick would be Harry Sullivan. I think the best Male classic 'can't-mistake-it-costume' is Jamie McCrimmon but strangely that appeals to me less than the other two. Although if we're talking fantasy sky's the limit on money and time costumes, I'd love to do a Zygon.
Costuming as the Doctor panel. Don't we look like total experts?
We had a laugh with a bit of double act (Robert Holmes would be proud) banter I had with Van Donovan while we compared Two costumes (and how to do them) as well as comparing Eleven items with Matt and Horizonchaser (both were in Eleven costumes for the panel).
Sensing danger!
It was around here I ran into Tadao and he gave me my Cosplay Hall Staff badge. Hey, I got it on Friday instead of Sunday like last year. Bonus. Although my picture looked crazy- Tadao had snapped it in a hazy moment of running about last year so he reminded me I needed a new one taken.
Afterwards, we met up with Kevin, Diana/violet_lane and Sarah/minervamoon and they took us to see their Vespiform in the hotel room. I inadvertently blurted out this secret costume in route (sorry again!) but it didn't do this prop/costume any justice. Superb work! Ingenius craftsmanship - doubly do for making it portable for air travel.
violet_lane and kevin sportin' the monsters
After some milling around through the dealer's room, bumping into various folks from the forums and so on I finally made my way to the Louise Page Friday Panel. I sat down next to Risu, violet_lane, Kevin and minervamoon for this and we were all looking forward to it.
At the Louise Page Panel with Kevin, violet_lane, minervamoon and ninjarisu.
Aimeekitty moderated the panel and she did a great job keeping things moving so a lot of the major points were hit about Louise's career, her start on Dr. Who and of course costume design/fabric questions! Louise passed on some funny stories about the types of meetings she attended in the Who production office and the genesis of David's Blue suit that almost never-was. At certain point she opened up her portfolio book she had prepared for the convention as well as a magic bag of swatches. When she brought out a large section of the fabric used for Tennant's coat you could literally feel the room being pulled forward on an invisible string while we all said "Oooooo. Ahhhhh." Louise was nice enough to field a lot of questions on Tennant's coat, suits, ties, and the spacesuit. It was pretty funny how she passed on her condolences to Kevin about what a nightmare the Spacetoys suits were to work with - something he'd just experienced first hand! Finally I piped up with a Jackson Lake question on the inspiration and the fabrics. She mentioned that the look was a kiss to all of the past Doctors and RTD wanted a Hartnell look. The end result came out pretty well to me so I asked about where the fabrics were purchased. She then opened up her portfolio book and there were swatches and exact info on where everything was bought including reference numbers for the wool. She invited me up to take a look and I couldn't help but say "Oh My God!" That got everyone laughing.
Jackson Lake! From Louise's book
Louise was amazingly open and let me copy down what information I needed after the panel was over. Bearing in mind the wealth of information contained in the book that pretty much everyone wanted a look at - Aimee suggested meeting us cosplayers 'off the schedule' in the Cosplay room the next morning before her main stage panel. Louise agreed. How awesome is that! So we all noted that on our calendars and said our goodbyes.
Now it was probably around 6:00PM, and we were tired so we skipped Opening Ceremonies to get food. Scott, Vickie, Van and myself changed into civvies and planned to head out to grab said dinner. Again we bumped into Kevin and Violet_lane, Minervamoon and Aubrey (our Seven) in the lobby. We agreed to take a detour and listen to the Masque Skit audio while we were all together without anything super pressing. With a 'fresh' audience of 5 new people listening to it (and laughing at all the right parts) we decided we'd just been too close to it before and weren't seeing the forest for the trees. My lack of sleep was justified and we'd agreed put the skit on after all.
Nyssa and Zoe- two decades collide.
We then went our separate ways and ate dinner. For Scott, Aubrey, Vickie, Van and Myself it was a walk down to Denny's. After a Grand Slam and some digestion, I met up with my GF Teri in the TARDIS plaza. I looked at some yarn Tara showed me for a new purple for the Four Scarf. I liked that it was darker than the previous version but it was too dark, and Scott pointed out it didn't have enough red in it. Then I retrieved my Cybermat and upon popping back to the Cosplay Hall I spotted disaster. Egads! The TARDIS Backdrops were starting to come down! So Teri & I repaired as best we could, luckily I brought a lot of spare tape with me.
Two and Three - one of my fav pics if it weren't for the fact my wig was really slipping here.
Two and Three lay claim to Zoe
Then we met up with my friend Cliff (who cosplays Eight for us) in the hotel room and made plans for the next day. Soon after, I ventured out to stop by the Casino Night to say hi to Tadao and Amy/hystericblue42 in her Lucy Saxon dress. Somewhere in there I popped my head into the Titanic party and finally ended up hanging out in the lobby with Van for an hour or so. It was there I got my 500 Year Diary christened & signed by Frazier Hines. He seemed distracted by the folks around him so I moved on. I stopped to listen in on a funny anecdote Louise Page was recanting about Catherine Tate and John Simm and their costume fittings. Apparently, Catherine kept adding belts to her costumes that Louise never planned for and John Simm was unprepared for the 40 plus costume changes he had to do for the End of Time. He thought it would all be done in CGI. I hated to go but finally, mercifully, I headed off for some much needed sleep...
Saturday:
Woke Up. Felt like a truck had hit me. Managed to revive with some aspirin, water and chocolate. I think I got a power bar in there somewhere. A fine breakfast combo if there ever was one. Have I mentioned I'm not a breakfast guy?
Two and Jamie are afraid of whatever monster created the 2nd Two next to Zoe
I suited up as Two while Teri suited up as Zoe. Scott and Vickie arrived early to help me with my make-up and suit up themselves as the Brigadier and Novice Hame. Special notice to Vickie for not only making the Zoe costume but putting together the Novice Hame in about a week and spending 4 hours on the make-up time alone Saturday.
Novice Hame! Photo by Van Donovan
Chris suited up in his New Three Costume he'd made based on the Death to the Daleks figure (along with the new greek coin ring i picked up- thanks to warmcanofcoke for the info there! Chris added the never-ending joke of the Elvis sunglasses too...)
The Three Doctors Revisted
Cliff suited up as Eight and Kevin K. finally arrived to suit up in my brand spanking new Eleven costume. Aubrey arrived and suited up as Seven - picking the brown coat to be "Battlefield" accurate for the skit. Although I never caught this til a few days later, Aubrey must have been in quite the rush because he was always wearing my Seven hat sideways (the center ridge was going the wrong way) pretty much *all* the time in every photo. (shrug).
Kevin K looking like a very Serious Eleven.
Kevin K as Eleven and minervamoon as Terminus Nyssa
We ventured out and I zeroed right to the Cosplay Hall to a) sign us up for the Masque and b) get to the 'off-the-books' Louise Page meet-up. Again, we entered as exhibition only to not extend our time limit and allow a few repeat performers. I handed over our forms and audio CD and hopped along. Then I went straight out to partake in the impromptu Louise Page reception and portfolio book viewing in the hallway. I got a ton of nice pics and Louise was extremely nice in answering my Jackson Lake questions. I got her to sign my diary and we took a photo in the Cosplay Hall where Scott got his equipment set up before she had to dash off.
With Louise Page. Photo by Scott Sebring.
Shortly after I remember hanging with Lucifer1, Antieden and Praedestinatio as well as Kevin and violet-lane in the front lobby snapping pics with and of their fab costumes. They were very popular with the fans!
Time Lord academy!
Two Eights rather puzzled by Two's artifacts
Two has grave doubts bout his own future...
From here I spent time alternating between getting some character Pics with Teri by the TARDIS backdrop and sweeping the Dealer Room so I could get an autograph from Katy Manning (Who signed it "See you in 500 Years!"), Deborah Watling and Anneke Wills. I asked for a photo with Deborah Watling who seemed pretty impressed I was dressed up as Troughton but the handler was having none of it. Deborah gave me a wink and a nod to meet her at the end of the table to sneak a picture but before I could do so she got stopped by a few other fans for signatures and the timing passed. Oh well, I'd get another chance with her on Sunday.
Channeling Troughton!
The out of character shot- Van took this as I gave my GF a kiss - Not Canon! Not Canon!
The Publicity Shot- Diary or recorder?
Hangin' in the TARDIS
Pictures were taken though with Anneke however. We also got some shots with Frazier who was a great sport with us at his table. Another girl actually stopped us when we were all together and said how she thought Zoe's outfit was purple and we had the color wrong. Frazier was nice enough to point at Teri's outfit and say "No the color was pretty much like that!" Nice to see our fabric hunt wasn't in vain!
Frazer approves of Zoe's catsuit
Two Jamies? The Mind Robber Part II?
Best Shot Ever.
Who's this Hamish Wilson again?
Later, we got a whole slew of cosplay photos in the photography set-up Scott had ready in the Cosplay room under the nice lights and backdrop. Teri and I got a few nice TARDIS shots as Two and Zoe - I only wish we'd had Van around then to make it the full Season 6 crew.
Explaining the plot- all captured by Scott Sebring.
I made a note to stop off and drop off my fan film entry to the video room. Sadly we lost track of time later and I wasn't able to stop in and see how the KTEH segments went over. For those who saw them, I hope you enjoyed.
For those who missed it and the previous posts about it- you can still see all 5 KTEH Segments featuring the Gallifrey Police Box, 2 Fan Dalek Replica Builds, my Cyberman costume, Sonics, Brian & Mette's Vashta Nerada Spacesuit costumes & the original TVM TARDIS Console in the links below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZygNEvScI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4DDTD1UOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZyatCNpMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hpFc_Ool9M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q98nJsXLCY
Two with Jamie, Zoe visit Polly!
Two 2nd Doctors enjoy some tunes
Explaining to Zoe in the TARDIS
By 3PM we started rehearsing the skit so we could get our cues and physical actions down. We did this extremely out of order based on who we had on-hand at the time. Random people wandered in and out of the room during this time- probably amused or confused at what we were doing.
Bob with his Director cap on
Rehearsing the Brig skit
Shocked Van would take this picture!
Scott really put off eating to get in as much rehearsal time as he could and he was fading fast but he managed to pull through. Somewhere in here we all pulled together during a mass accumulation of cosplayers for a big group picture:
Two and Four share thier love of Jelly Babies
Group Shot
Cosplay Gathering
The Brig Recommends New Earth Gets some Guns. Three disapproves.
The more we rehearsed the more little bits of business we started coming up with to liven things up since no one had any dialogue. I was liking what was coming together. The Ten/Rose section got the least rehearsal because Kevin and Diana had to leave to free themselves of their cumbersome costume props for a while before going on later that night in their own entry.
Just a fav shot of mine.
Episode 1 - The Doctor and Zoe step out of the TARDIS
During this AZDavros's Dalek made an appearance and we got some fun shots with it. We managed to get quite a large gathering of cosplayers around for a good group photo and I think it was somewhere in here a few of the sorority girls stopped in for a picture with the Dalek.
Oh My Giddy Aunt!
Dalek in the TARDIS?
Group Shot- this time with Dalek.
The Brig ain't afraid of no Daleks
Turns out the girls came from down the Hall for a Sorority Auction-a-Date charity event was being held. It was an odd combination!
"The New TARDIS for 2010..."
Caught slipping away!
Wrong Place, wrong time... making sense out of this map...
After more rehearsal, I was pulled off for a few minutes by AZDavros a little later to get a closer look at this fabulous New Series Dalek. We'd planned to have another Cyberman/Dalek face-off like we'd accidentally had the year before. I hadn't counted on Scott, Vickie and the gang taking such a late "lunch" though, but we all in turn hadn't expected to be rehearsing so late. When they walked off, I was on watch duty on Scott's photography equipment so I couldn't leave.
Funniest shot you'd ever see on Dr. Who- Doctors, Novice and The Brig at lunch.
To top it off the usual crew of folks who help me into the Cyberman costume were no longer there. So this delayed me for a crucial hour and consequently the Dalek meet-up never happened as planned. Well, there's always next year.
You can see our Dalek/Cyber encounter in 2009 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NypoAq7Z86A&playnext_from=TL&videos=w4sQUu9WhqI
Before leaving Van had the bright idea to get some double Two's shots while we were both in Troughton gear. Fantastic!
Two meeting a truly Mod Three: Apparently this was how he normally dressed- NOT a costume!
Mirror Mirror Dr. Who style
The Twos fight over Zoe!
A Knowing Smirk over some very private 500 Year Diary agendas...
Standing Off
On the way back, I ran into Van who pointed out John Levene was only a hop away from us coming out of a nearby hall. So we made sure to get a couple of photos with him as he said "Just a quick one as I have to be off" but he was so nice and posed for not one but two pictures. I remember his wife backing us into the 'good light' in the room for a better shot.
Two and Sgt. Benton!!!
Just Hanging with Benton - Probably the best we got my wig to look all day!
Soon after it was getting close to Green Room time for Masque entrants. I suited up as the Cyberman, while my friend Cliff changed into my Four costume.
Teri helping me into the Cyberman costume. Photo by Kevin Kittridge.
We all met back in the green room and ran through the skit to the best of our ability while everyone else was doing costume tweaks or being judged on workmanship up close. I stopped for a minute to pass on my condolences to the White Robot and the Ergon from Arc of Infinity since we were all three dressed in rather constricting, cumbersome and hot costumes. Overall I have to say Britgeekgirl (who I usually saw running around in her Romana I outfit) really stepped it up this year with the new forms and rules and managed a much smoother, less headache-inducing Masque than last year. (at least from my humble POV!). My hat's off to her.
Robot envy
The cool cool Brig
The Cyber Invasion stops for a victory toast
There was a delay, but soon we made our way through the back hall and waited for a while in the side hallway getting quite a bit of fun antic snapshots to pass the time. My visibility really ain't all that great so Teri had to lead me by the hand half of the time which made for an amusing sight.
Zoe leads the Cyberman
We made sure we were last because we were exhibition only in order to push our running length and bearing this in mind we thought it best to go on as the final entry.
The Brig After Hours.
The Invasion!
The Brig and Three share a moment.
Ten and Eleven NOT happy to be facing a REAL Cyberman.
Yep- not happy at all.
Soon enough, we were asked to go on stage and I nearly lost my way for a minute because inside the backstage area it's pitch dark and my helmet has low visibility as-is! I had to get led to the stairs and luckily my new latex knee joints had paid off because unlike in previous cons, I was actually able to climb them! I got a nice reaction when I stepped out even though I felt something shift in my helmet when I walked on.
We've already heard enough about the scientific adviser and his companion - Photo by Anthony Trembley
The Cyberman being softened up by the Brig's bullets Photo by Anthony Trembley
I was worried something might have dislodged but it was my cue and the show must go on. Looking at the footage afterwards, I see the back plate had partially come off! At least it didn't fall off and the overall effect was still good. Yet another thing to tweak on the Cyberman! Anyway we'd worried the skit wouldn't go over well and the reaction was quite the opposite - everyone laughed at the right parts and I heard we got a standing ovation when it was over.
The Brigadier The One The Only and the Best- Photo by Anthony Trembley
You can still see the skit here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9KMGCFfimg&feature=watch_response_rev
It was nice to see all the hard work pay off. For a little perspective- only 6 weeks prior when we briefly thought Paul Cornell wasn't going to make it, Shaun took me up on an offer to do a half-time show. I'd gotten to outlining the structure and the main ideas when Cornell was able to make it after all and the idea was scrapped.
Reversing Polarities and what have you... Photo by Anthony Trembley
Why the nerve of some robots- they must not be English! Photo by Anthony Trembley
Defeated by the power of a bucket of Goo? Photo by Anthony Trembley
One of the ideas I'd had in the outline was to "hang" a skit on the Brigadier, since I knew Scott was putting the costume together and it was a natural hook to bring together various characters and costumes. Since we were back IN the Masque though, it meant we were subject to several restrictions we didn't have the year before. Pre-recorded audio being the chief one. Well I generally loathe trying to time out anything dialogue wise on pre-record and it was getting difficult to come up with something *without* dialogue. No matter what, I knew I'd end up relaying on a Narrator with music whatever we decided on. Dr Who doesn't work so well as a 'silent movie.' For a minute everyone seemed had the mindset that it was too tricky to deal with it and best to not bother doing a skit at all. Scott then said 'Worst case, I'll just walk on as the Brig and just shoot everything he faces and walk off' Welllll... I'd wanted to hang a skit on the Brig and he'd just pretty much handed me the running gag.
He got to wear the uniform and he got to shoot something - Photo by Anthony Trembley
Bananas are good? Was it an *British* Banana? Photo by Anthony Trembley
So much like how our retirement skit went down in '09 I sat down the Sunday before the con, and wrote out not just the Brig skit but a 2nd skit about RTD/New Who which I have to say I thought was funnier and darn good therapy to boot. However, we decided the Brig had potential for wider appeal so we opted to go for that one. I tweaked the script according to group suggestions, and then called in a mutual friend of ours who does professional voice over work to knock out the narration and he did a superb job. He wasn't much of a Who fan so I sent him a clip of the Brig and asked for "Stiff upper lip British" and he delivered. Apparently, Monty Python was his aim so it all worked out.
When the Brigaider's happy he shoots something. Photo by Anthony Trembley
The Brigadier was NOT Amused. Photo by Anthony Trembley
I spent a night selecting music cues from my Dr. Who CD's because I did my best to keep it all "True Who" and 'True to Era' and managed to generally succeed. However, time got away from me on my Cyberman as usual and I was suddenly left with literally the night before to put together the audio SFX and music and marry it to the Voice Over. Hence, why I spent all night editing it and getting no sleep!
After the Masque we drifted back to the Photo set up in the green room because I had asked Scott to get some good 'profile' pictures of the Cyberman while I was still in costume and the photography was still up.
Cyberman ready for his close-up
We got all the shots and then some. Several of our Doctors took advantage of having a Cyberman to face off with! I made sure to get some Cyberman with Cybermat shots as well.
Makes me laugh every time - The Unsung Hero! Photo by Vickie Sebring
A Lost Invasion Publicity Still courtesy of Scott Sebring
Seven and the Brig - Together again.
Cyberman and his pet- the Cybermat.
Cybermats are cuddly after all
Shock! Horror!
Everyone seemed to make good use of having a Cyberman to face off or comedy pose with. We popped back briefly to see all of the awards get handed out for the show and I'm glad so many of the awesome costumes that impressed me won!
Doctor Who - 1974 - the candid shot.
Bob needs water. Badly.
On our way back Teri and I got stopped near the elevators for a good 20 minutes for photos. Shades of Comic Con! I know two more of those sorority girls got pictures with us and had NO IDEA who we were. "Oh My God, a Robot and a Spacey sparkly chick!"
Zoe and Cyberman caught in the hallway for pics
Somewhere in here I ran into Nick Briggs by the elevator who seemed pretty impressed and asked me to say "The beacon is ours!" While I don't have any kind of amp or voice changer on the costume I channeled my best Christopher Robbie and shouted the line. Luckily, Nick was pretty close to me and it had quieted down so he could hear me well - and the '75 Cyberman pretty much sounded like guys in helmets so it worked for me. "Excellent, that's fantastic!" he said before I think getting a photo and walking off. Nice to have the approval of the voice of the Daleks.
The Beacon is Ours!
Finally we as a group of various Doctors and aliens made our way back to the room only to find none of us had a key. So we waited in the hallway for a good 20 minutes while Scott got a fresh one to let us in. I know that must have been an odd sight to see for those wandering the halls!
I was mercifully freed from the Cyberman suit- and I think I'd spent the longest stretch in it ever. I normally average 2-3 hours in it and this time I spent close to 5 and half hours total. I probably lost a good ten pounds!
Our Third doctor hooked me up with a lot of water to replenish and he also pulled off a miracle by finding something I'd lost earlier that day which I had recruited several other con folks to help me look for. I was so thankful I kissed the back of his velvet coat while being stripped of silver neoprene. I doubt he saw or knew but yes, I really did.
Novice Hame at the restuarent
Then Scott, Teri and I got a late bite at the Champions restaurant in the hotel. On the way, we ran into Bryan and Mette in thier fab Ood costumes which we'd only glimpsed before. I finally got them a DVD of the KTEH segments and posed Teri for a pretty funny photo of her being attacked by an Ood! :)
The Ood Possessed
Teri at the mercy of the Ood!
At the restaurant, I felt a lot better since I'd more or less skipped lunch so it was good to eat! Afterwards, Scott and Vickie headed for home, while Teri and Van relaxed in the room. I grabbed my diary to sneak a signature from Jon Blum and Kate Orman in the lobby who signed my diary "I am not crazy." I got to tell Jon how much I enjoyed the Fearmonger as my favorite of the Seven audios. I ended up pinballing between quite a few conversations with britgeekgirl, ninjarisu, jazzynightowl, hystericblue42, estelofimladris, Tadao and a number of the rest of the Torchwood gang. I got a lot of very nice feedback on our skit and requests for more at the 2011 Gallifrey. We'll work on it! I finally got Tadao a tape I'd been meaning to mail back to him for months which was from the KTEH TARDIS shoot back in August. I also briefly ended up meeting Phil Ford and got his autograph on the fly as well. After a good hour or two chin-wagging about the con and costumes and so on, I finally had to call it a night. I crawled into bed and totally crashed.
Six! This was after his infamous 'sexy' dance in the disco.
SUNDAY:
Van and I woke up early since Van had been drawn for the Guest Brunch and had nicely asked me to tag along as the "plus one." There was some initial confusion on where the brunch was held but we figured it out in the end and were led to a room on the lower level. We sat at a table with lucifer1 and a handful of others and got treated to a really nice spread including eggs, bacon, chicken, rice - pretty much the works. Oh except toast. No toast! Where was a Talky Toaster when you needed one? Anyway Louise Page sat down at our table first and it was nice to chat with her a bit more. She seemed to be enjoying the con a lot! After 20 minutes or so they rotated guests so everyone got a little time with them. Next up was Greame Harper, the director of many new series episodes and of course, The Caves of Androzani. I wanted to ask him a bit about that but I didn't want to interrupt the conversation flow which mainly centered on who our favorite Doctors were. Next up was John Levene, who was rather serious at first discussing topics about his hard childhood and how sad he was to hear of Barry Letts passing. Then, he spoke of happier times on Dr. Who and the great friendships he'd had with Jon, Katy and Barry. We had heard he enjoyed our skit so Van mentioned this and John said he was in tears over it and passed on some lovely compliments. Always nice to get the approval from the celebrities!
One of my favs- just love how the Zoe suit looks in this shot.
During one of John's anecdotes though, disaster struck. Now I've said before, I'm really NOT a breakfast guy. I don't think my stomach is designed for heavy food intake before noon. So anyway I got a REALLY upset digestion disagreement all of sudden and I had to leave. I felt awful on the timing but that was that. By the time I got back, I'd missed Tommy Knight and they were on to Alice Troughton and Georgia Moffet. I came at a good time because somehow the topic of our skit had come up again and like John, Alice was giving us a lot of praise. I was humbled and flattered - I think she gave me one of the best compliments I ever got on my writing. Again I'm not worthy. :) We discussed more of her work as well as Georgia's before they moved on. We were poised to accept Frazier to the table next, but my stomach refused to settle down so I had to make a permanent leave. It was a shame, as I'd missed the rest of the guests including Bob Baker and the end-of-brunch photo. Ack!
Double ack because of the brunch in general it meant I missed dropping by the Cosplay 210 and the Masque Post-Mortem panels.
Anyway, I got back to the room and finally got back on my feet after a bit. Teri, Scott and Vickie then arrived. Scott changed back into the Brig costume and Vickie and Teri decided to stay in civvies to relax. Because there was influx of guests coming in that day late check-out was not allowed, so we had no choice but to hastily pack up to leave there and then. Van left with his bags although he'd misplaced his Two recorder (which we later found thank goondess), plus Scott and Vickie made sure they had thier stuff and left. I kept out a few Monster-esque items for my panel later that day and dropped them off in one of the side rooms behind registration with the blessing of Tadao. They snagged me for my lovely new badge photo around then so I'm glad they remembered! I then ran back and hopped into my Seven costume to finish out the con in that outfit brandishing my new umbrella from the monthly group runs Drwhojr has been making. We loaded up the car, got everything put away and checked out.
Two Sevens on the hunt
Now we could finally enjoy the rest of the con. From here we wondered the halls, bumping into another Seven, Whisper's Echo as a brilliant Curse of Fenric Ace, and John Levene again. This time Scott was with me as the Brig and John made a point of shaking his hand and telling him "If Nick Courtney had seen your skit he'd have f***ing killed you!" We took a number of pictures with him, and he made a point of asking us to drop by his website later to send on the link to our skit (and unfortunately all efforts to contact him this way have bounced back to date). John made a special point to compliment Scott's Brig costume because he had "the narrow trousers like we used to." lol.
Seven, Ace and the Brig- Curse of Fenric or Battlefield???
I dropped by the autograph room after this and finally got my pictures with Deborah Watling and Katy Manning! It was well timed since I'd caught both more or less as they were wrapping up to leave for the weekend!
With Deborah Watling!
With Katy Manning!
I bumped into Tony Lee and got him to sign my diary as well. He was nice enough to give us a big thumbs up on our skit too which was awesome. I think we were flattered to hear "and when he's (insert emotion here), he shoots something" being quoted around the hall that afternoon. TARDIS Tara caught me around then, handing me the payment for my Blue Six costume which she'd helped me find a buyer for at the con. Thank you Tara! I chatted with hystericblue42 and a number of the Torchwood gang for a moment, bought my buddy a Gallifrey Con T-Shirt and then remembered: The Cosplay Hall backdrops.
Off and on during the convention, the TARDIS backdrops tended to slip here and there so I considered it a mercy to finally take them down. I did so pretty swiftly with the help of Teri. We saved the backs of them for re-use again later as well. Once rolled up we ran the backdrops out to the car and back in record time. When we got back, I met for a moment with Horizonchaser to help him find a good size for the S21 Davison Sweater.
But time was ticking - I had to get to the Dr. Who Monster Panel I was partly moderating. I grabbed my costume items from the safe room and made it just in time. AZdavros, Kevin and Paul Salamoff (who has previously been nice enough to allow us to take pictures of the TVM Console he owns) all had a good time and I think we hit on a lot of good points sharing tips for beginners and intermediate folks alike.
At the Monster panel
I felt like I was coming at it from the budget standpoint of what monsters can you do for $50-$100. In contrast, the others were much more experienced with latex, foam, make-up, hardware and of course building complex items like Daleks and Vespiforms. I got to show off my Master costume, Cybermat and Cyberman components which was fun to break it down for everyone.
That Iconic Look Panel
Right after this was That Iconic Look panel that Scott and Vickie were partially moderating with estelofimladris, Kevin C., and scifichix. I attended to lend moral support and the discussion was pretty interesting touching on modern and classic costumes, casting yourself for a costume and the importance of silhouette. I felt like there were a lot of kindred spirits there!
Time Crash 2 - Nasty Suspicions
Seven reminds Ten how to track nuclear missile convoys
Afterwards, it was pretty much time for closing ceremonies. But Scott, Vickie, Kevin, violet_lane, minervamoon, Teri and myself were so busy talking and thinking about dinner we missed them! I felt bad for missing the Davison video which I had to catch on youtube later.
You can still see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wFetdWqtA&feature=player_embedded
I heard this Gallifrey broke all attendance records at around 1500 people! Crazy! Anyway we decided food was paramount so we all headed to the hotel restaurant for a much needed meal. We had a nice laugh finally going over all the pictures in my camera, discussing costumes for next year and what a great time we'd had.
Finally we parted ways since Kevin, Violet_Lane and minervamoon all had a flight to catch later that night. I got my last pictures on my camera while bumping into Kevin (the other Kevin - Our Eleven) who was hanging out at the last LobbyCon.
Seven and Nyssa in the lobby
I felt like staying a little longer and enjoying the vibe, but Scott, Vickie and Teri were about to leave and I realized I was going to need time to unload the car all on my own at home, and above all - SLEEP.
So we made our last goodbyes in the parking lot and I made the drive home in my Seven costume. a little sad, a little weary, but very happy. My post-con depression was mostly cut off by my upcoming Time Quest/UK trip which I've already posted about on here. Gallifrey had been such a great con, and surprisingly one of the most social I'd been to despite it's smaller size (compared to the likes of San Diego Comic Con). I can't wait for next year! Bring on 2011!
Looking back, it's interesting that I never once had time to make it to any of the big main ballroom Guest talk panels. I was having too much of a good time hanging with friends and fellow cosplayers so no regrets. Although it's been nice to get a healthy taste of what I missed there via Van's entry on the subject. Speaking of - for those who missed it you can read all about Van's POV at Gallifrey here:
http://vandonovan.livejournal.com/1127309.html
(Getting ready for Time Quest!)
Thanks! Til Next Time,
-Honorarydoctor
PS What injustice has The Brigadier committed to NOT have a tag on this comm?
So I know this has been posted about a lot already, but I thought I'll throw in my two cents on the Gallifrey experience. Sorry for being so late - Time Quest, traveling and my birthday had a way of pushing this report off despite the fact I've been writing it up off and on for about a month now. Better late then never, right?
Full of Season 6 Awesomeness - so says photographer Scott Sebring
Anyways - Simply put- one of the best cons ever! If you're thinking of going next year - then GO. It's one of the most friendly cons I've been to and you can tell it's run by the fans for the fans. Easily approachable guests, positive vibes and fan friendliness can be easily found here.
More Info and Pics
So my con went like thus:
Thursday Night:
Pick up my new rubber latex castings for the new Cyberman arm and leg joints. Then try out the Troughton make-up Vickie (flibbertyjitz) had devised for me. Tie on the new hatband for the Seven hat supplied by steve_ricks. Use the nifty cut-it-along-the-diagonal to make it fit and tie right and yay - it works. Lasso in help from Scott and Vickie on attaching phone cords, gluing in hooks etc on Cyber-joint pieces. Spend half the night sewing in new hooks into my leggings and painting said latex joints with the muchly hard to find H2O Krylon paint and metallic finish. Watch the pilot to It Takes a Thief to help pass the time. Robert Wagner is 60's cool. Vickie and I were getting punchy from lack of sleep. Oh yeah, and also edit the entire soundtrack to the Unsung Hero Brigadier skit. I manage to complete the soundtrack by about 7AM. I didn't sleep at all. Who needs it anyway? It's not a con unless you lose some sleep.
Femme Six- Kudos for pulling that off!
So - I finished everything only having to abandon my Sash of Rassilon planned for a Pratt Master outing that never happened.
minervamoon as Black Orchid Tegan
Friday:
Femme Five!
Van Donovan as Two meets... another Two- plus we get to show off the new Series TARDIS backdrop
So no sleep, and skipped breakfast. I'm a machine! Well actually I'm just not a breakfast guy. Loaded up the car. Drove in to the LAX Marriott literally slapping my face every 5 minutes to stay awake for the drive. The car vibration is a killer to resist when trying not to fall asleep! Checked in around 10AM. Unloaded the car. Texted everyone the room number or the cryptic texts as Sarah (minervamoon) called them (which most of us tend to use as a changing room anyway).
Taking a moment to pose with a Ten and Matt as Eleven
I took the Classic and New Series TARDIS wall backdrops to the Cosplay Hall. Thanks to the help of azarsuete and her friends, we got both backdrops put up in about 45 minutes, just in time for the Dealer's room to open. Also posted the Cosplay Hall schedule and recruited Micheal to be our Master for our Masque Skit. Happy to have a "Delgado" so we wouldn't have to settle on the Pratt master for the skit.
Micheal as the Master, strollerman as New Era UNIT officer meeting Scott as the Brig
Around noon, I went back to the room and changed into Four. I played back the skit audio for the first time to Scott and Vickie who were now in the room changing into their costumes - The Brigadier and Gas Mask Zombie - as well. Our hearts sunk. To our ears, the audio sounded awful. Too talky, too fast a pace. Were the gunshots even loud enough? Fearing we'd bore people than entertain them, we debating scrapping the entire entry. We decided to think on it.
Two Fours - with ninjarisu
So I left and swung by the TARDIS photo plaza for the classic era meet-up and as I suspected it was just too early for most folks and pretty much no one was there. I had the MK III "Revenge" Cybermat with me to show off to some friends who I couldn't find, so I left it temporarily in the care of Tara. I did a sweep through the Dealer's room - struck out on finding a 1993 Radio Times for Time Quest. I ended up getting one off trusty Ebay later. Ran into Diana/violet_lane and Kevin as Rose and spacesuit Ten respectively. Mucho impressed!
Kevin as Spacesuit Ten
The Brig and a Gas Mask Zombie
Also ran into my friend Paul and azarsuete again (in costume as Revenge/Cyberman Sarah Jane this time). Sarah/minervamoon was both impressive and a little scary in how much and how well she could quote The Trouble with Tribbles when we stopped by the tribble booth.
Sarah Jane and the Brig
The Brig and Ten
Particular note to Scott's Brig costume which he put together in roughly six weeks which was a minor miracle considering how hard it was to find several elements of the costume. It's a lot more difficult than it looks and a simple trip to the army surplus store doesn't cut it for 70's UNIT. The end result was pretty fab and it went over very well with attendees. If Scott ever decides to do a breakdown on the five-rounds-rapidness of his Brig costume it'll get posted here for sure.
Classic UNIT
After walking the floor for a while, we stopped back at the room, I picked up some costume items and the three of us went to the Costuming 101 panel which Scott and myself were part of the moderator group on. Lucifer1 and Preadestinatio were on this panel with us and I thought we covered a lot of good ground for beginners touching on all the basics from off-the-rack buying, thrift shopping, modifying, and downright making costumes.
LOL - Two on trial again form the Time Lords
From there, I had to leap frog right across the hall, costumes still in hand, to help moderate the "Costuming as the Doctor" panel with Matt Hearn, Lucifer1 and Horizonchaser. This panel was a bit more loose, & a lot more fun. I remember estelofimladris giving me hard time about my most challenging costume item... (finding the right beige gaberdine for my five frock or the right paisley for my Seven scarf is pretty high on that list!) and when asked about my next costume on the plate aside from the never-ending upgrades of Four, Six, One, the never-ending search for Invasion Cyber gear etc... I gleefully mentioned wanting to do a VOC Robot (Black or Green) and of course get my Captain Marvel flying (figuratively). When asked by Van if I would ever consider doing a companion - I said sure "I'd cosplay Jackson Lake" LOL. Okay that's a cheat. In all seriousness: I don't do crossplay, so out of the male companions my favorite character is Ian Chesterton - but you really need a *S1 Group* for that. My next pick would be Harry Sullivan. I think the best Male classic 'can't-mistake-it-costume' is Jamie McCrimmon but strangely that appeals to me less than the other two. Although if we're talking fantasy sky's the limit on money and time costumes, I'd love to do a Zygon.
Costuming as the Doctor panel. Don't we look like total experts?
We had a laugh with a bit of double act (Robert Holmes would be proud) banter I had with Van Donovan while we compared Two costumes (and how to do them) as well as comparing Eleven items with Matt and Horizonchaser (both were in Eleven costumes for the panel).
Sensing danger!
It was around here I ran into Tadao and he gave me my Cosplay Hall Staff badge. Hey, I got it on Friday instead of Sunday like last year. Bonus. Although my picture looked crazy- Tadao had snapped it in a hazy moment of running about last year so he reminded me I needed a new one taken.
Afterwards, we met up with Kevin, Diana/violet_lane and Sarah/minervamoon and they took us to see their Vespiform in the hotel room. I inadvertently blurted out this secret costume in route (sorry again!) but it didn't do this prop/costume any justice. Superb work! Ingenius craftsmanship - doubly do for making it portable for air travel.
violet_lane and kevin sportin' the monsters
After some milling around through the dealer's room, bumping into various folks from the forums and so on I finally made my way to the Louise Page Friday Panel. I sat down next to Risu, violet_lane, Kevin and minervamoon for this and we were all looking forward to it.
At the Louise Page Panel with Kevin, violet_lane, minervamoon and ninjarisu.
Aimeekitty moderated the panel and she did a great job keeping things moving so a lot of the major points were hit about Louise's career, her start on Dr. Who and of course costume design/fabric questions! Louise passed on some funny stories about the types of meetings she attended in the Who production office and the genesis of David's Blue suit that almost never-was. At certain point she opened up her portfolio book she had prepared for the convention as well as a magic bag of swatches. When she brought out a large section of the fabric used for Tennant's coat you could literally feel the room being pulled forward on an invisible string while we all said "Oooooo. Ahhhhh." Louise was nice enough to field a lot of questions on Tennant's coat, suits, ties, and the spacesuit. It was pretty funny how she passed on her condolences to Kevin about what a nightmare the Spacetoys suits were to work with - something he'd just experienced first hand! Finally I piped up with a Jackson Lake question on the inspiration and the fabrics. She mentioned that the look was a kiss to all of the past Doctors and RTD wanted a Hartnell look. The end result came out pretty well to me so I asked about where the fabrics were purchased. She then opened up her portfolio book and there were swatches and exact info on where everything was bought including reference numbers for the wool. She invited me up to take a look and I couldn't help but say "Oh My God!" That got everyone laughing.
Jackson Lake! From Louise's book
Louise was amazingly open and let me copy down what information I needed after the panel was over. Bearing in mind the wealth of information contained in the book that pretty much everyone wanted a look at - Aimee suggested meeting us cosplayers 'off the schedule' in the Cosplay room the next morning before her main stage panel. Louise agreed. How awesome is that! So we all noted that on our calendars and said our goodbyes.
Now it was probably around 6:00PM, and we were tired so we skipped Opening Ceremonies to get food. Scott, Vickie, Van and myself changed into civvies and planned to head out to grab said dinner. Again we bumped into Kevin and Violet_lane, Minervamoon and Aubrey (our Seven) in the lobby. We agreed to take a detour and listen to the Masque Skit audio while we were all together without anything super pressing. With a 'fresh' audience of 5 new people listening to it (and laughing at all the right parts) we decided we'd just been too close to it before and weren't seeing the forest for the trees. My lack of sleep was justified and we'd agreed put the skit on after all.
Nyssa and Zoe- two decades collide.
We then went our separate ways and ate dinner. For Scott, Aubrey, Vickie, Van and Myself it was a walk down to Denny's. After a Grand Slam and some digestion, I met up with my GF Teri in the TARDIS plaza. I looked at some yarn Tara showed me for a new purple for the Four Scarf. I liked that it was darker than the previous version but it was too dark, and Scott pointed out it didn't have enough red in it. Then I retrieved my Cybermat and upon popping back to the Cosplay Hall I spotted disaster. Egads! The TARDIS Backdrops were starting to come down! So Teri & I repaired as best we could, luckily I brought a lot of spare tape with me.
Two and Three - one of my fav pics if it weren't for the fact my wig was really slipping here.
Two and Three lay claim to Zoe
Then we met up with my friend Cliff (who cosplays Eight for us) in the hotel room and made plans for the next day. Soon after, I ventured out to stop by the Casino Night to say hi to Tadao and Amy/hystericblue42 in her Lucy Saxon dress. Somewhere in there I popped my head into the Titanic party and finally ended up hanging out in the lobby with Van for an hour or so. It was there I got my 500 Year Diary christened & signed by Frazier Hines. He seemed distracted by the folks around him so I moved on. I stopped to listen in on a funny anecdote Louise Page was recanting about Catherine Tate and John Simm and their costume fittings. Apparently, Catherine kept adding belts to her costumes that Louise never planned for and John Simm was unprepared for the 40 plus costume changes he had to do for the End of Time. He thought it would all be done in CGI. I hated to go but finally, mercifully, I headed off for some much needed sleep...
Saturday:
Woke Up. Felt like a truck had hit me. Managed to revive with some aspirin, water and chocolate. I think I got a power bar in there somewhere. A fine breakfast combo if there ever was one. Have I mentioned I'm not a breakfast guy?
Two and Jamie are afraid of whatever monster created the 2nd Two next to Zoe
I suited up as Two while Teri suited up as Zoe. Scott and Vickie arrived early to help me with my make-up and suit up themselves as the Brigadier and Novice Hame. Special notice to Vickie for not only making the Zoe costume but putting together the Novice Hame in about a week and spending 4 hours on the make-up time alone Saturday.
Novice Hame! Photo by Van Donovan
Chris suited up in his New Three Costume he'd made based on the Death to the Daleks figure (along with the new greek coin ring i picked up- thanks to warmcanofcoke for the info there! Chris added the never-ending joke of the Elvis sunglasses too...)
The Three Doctors Revisted
Cliff suited up as Eight and Kevin K. finally arrived to suit up in my brand spanking new Eleven costume. Aubrey arrived and suited up as Seven - picking the brown coat to be "Battlefield" accurate for the skit. Although I never caught this til a few days later, Aubrey must have been in quite the rush because he was always wearing my Seven hat sideways (the center ridge was going the wrong way) pretty much *all* the time in every photo. (shrug).
Kevin K looking like a very Serious Eleven.
Kevin K as Eleven and minervamoon as Terminus Nyssa
We ventured out and I zeroed right to the Cosplay Hall to a) sign us up for the Masque and b) get to the 'off-the-books' Louise Page meet-up. Again, we entered as exhibition only to not extend our time limit and allow a few repeat performers. I handed over our forms and audio CD and hopped along. Then I went straight out to partake in the impromptu Louise Page reception and portfolio book viewing in the hallway. I got a ton of nice pics and Louise was extremely nice in answering my Jackson Lake questions. I got her to sign my diary and we took a photo in the Cosplay Hall where Scott got his equipment set up before she had to dash off.
With Louise Page. Photo by Scott Sebring.
Shortly after I remember hanging with Lucifer1, Antieden and Praedestinatio as well as Kevin and violet-lane in the front lobby snapping pics with and of their fab costumes. They were very popular with the fans!
Time Lord academy!
Two Eights rather puzzled by Two's artifacts
Two has grave doubts bout his own future...
From here I spent time alternating between getting some character Pics with Teri by the TARDIS backdrop and sweeping the Dealer Room so I could get an autograph from Katy Manning (Who signed it "See you in 500 Years!"), Deborah Watling and Anneke Wills. I asked for a photo with Deborah Watling who seemed pretty impressed I was dressed up as Troughton but the handler was having none of it. Deborah gave me a wink and a nod to meet her at the end of the table to sneak a picture but before I could do so she got stopped by a few other fans for signatures and the timing passed. Oh well, I'd get another chance with her on Sunday.
Channeling Troughton!
The out of character shot- Van took this as I gave my GF a kiss - Not Canon! Not Canon!
The Publicity Shot- Diary or recorder?
Hangin' in the TARDIS
Pictures were taken though with Anneke however. We also got some shots with Frazier who was a great sport with us at his table. Another girl actually stopped us when we were all together and said how she thought Zoe's outfit was purple and we had the color wrong. Frazier was nice enough to point at Teri's outfit and say "No the color was pretty much like that!" Nice to see our fabric hunt wasn't in vain!
Frazer approves of Zoe's catsuit
Two Jamies? The Mind Robber Part II?
Best Shot Ever.
Who's this Hamish Wilson again?
Later, we got a whole slew of cosplay photos in the photography set-up Scott had ready in the Cosplay room under the nice lights and backdrop. Teri and I got a few nice TARDIS shots as Two and Zoe - I only wish we'd had Van around then to make it the full Season 6 crew.
Explaining the plot- all captured by Scott Sebring.
I made a note to stop off and drop off my fan film entry to the video room. Sadly we lost track of time later and I wasn't able to stop in and see how the KTEH segments went over. For those who saw them, I hope you enjoyed.
For those who missed it and the previous posts about it- you can still see all 5 KTEH Segments featuring the Gallifrey Police Box, 2 Fan Dalek Replica Builds, my Cyberman costume, Sonics, Brian & Mette's Vashta Nerada Spacesuit costumes & the original TVM TARDIS Console in the links below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZygNEvScI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4DDTD1UOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZyatCNpMU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hpFc_Ool9M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q98nJsXLCY
Two with Jamie, Zoe visit Polly!
Two 2nd Doctors enjoy some tunes
Explaining to Zoe in the TARDIS
By 3PM we started rehearsing the skit so we could get our cues and physical actions down. We did this extremely out of order based on who we had on-hand at the time. Random people wandered in and out of the room during this time- probably amused or confused at what we were doing.
Bob with his Director cap on
Rehearsing the Brig skit
Shocked Van would take this picture!
Scott really put off eating to get in as much rehearsal time as he could and he was fading fast but he managed to pull through. Somewhere in here we all pulled together during a mass accumulation of cosplayers for a big group picture:
Two and Four share thier love of Jelly Babies
Group Shot
Cosplay Gathering
The Brig Recommends New Earth Gets some Guns. Three disapproves.
The more we rehearsed the more little bits of business we started coming up with to liven things up since no one had any dialogue. I was liking what was coming together. The Ten/Rose section got the least rehearsal because Kevin and Diana had to leave to free themselves of their cumbersome costume props for a while before going on later that night in their own entry.
Just a fav shot of mine.
Episode 1 - The Doctor and Zoe step out of the TARDIS
During this AZDavros's Dalek made an appearance and we got some fun shots with it. We managed to get quite a large gathering of cosplayers around for a good group photo and I think it was somewhere in here a few of the sorority girls stopped in for a picture with the Dalek.
Oh My Giddy Aunt!
Dalek in the TARDIS?
Group Shot- this time with Dalek.
The Brig ain't afraid of no Daleks
Turns out the girls came from down the Hall for a Sorority Auction-a-Date charity event was being held. It was an odd combination!
"The New TARDIS for 2010..."
Caught slipping away!
Wrong Place, wrong time... making sense out of this map...
After more rehearsal, I was pulled off for a few minutes by AZDavros a little later to get a closer look at this fabulous New Series Dalek. We'd planned to have another Cyberman/Dalek face-off like we'd accidentally had the year before. I hadn't counted on Scott, Vickie and the gang taking such a late "lunch" though, but we all in turn hadn't expected to be rehearsing so late. When they walked off, I was on watch duty on Scott's photography equipment so I couldn't leave.
Funniest shot you'd ever see on Dr. Who- Doctors, Novice and The Brig at lunch.
To top it off the usual crew of folks who help me into the Cyberman costume were no longer there. So this delayed me for a crucial hour and consequently the Dalek meet-up never happened as planned. Well, there's always next year.
You can see our Dalek/Cyber encounter in 2009 here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NypoAq7Z86A&playnext_from=TL&videos=w4sQUu9WhqI
Click to viewBefore leaving Van had the bright idea to get some double Two's shots while we were both in Troughton gear. Fantastic!
Two meeting a truly Mod Three: Apparently this was how he normally dressed- NOT a costume!
Mirror Mirror Dr. Who style
The Twos fight over Zoe!
A Knowing Smirk over some very private 500 Year Diary agendas...
Standing Off
On the way back, I ran into Van who pointed out John Levene was only a hop away from us coming out of a nearby hall. So we made sure to get a couple of photos with him as he said "Just a quick one as I have to be off" but he was so nice and posed for not one but two pictures. I remember his wife backing us into the 'good light' in the room for a better shot.
Two and Sgt. Benton!!!
Just Hanging with Benton - Probably the best we got my wig to look all day!
Soon after it was getting close to Green Room time for Masque entrants. I suited up as the Cyberman, while my friend Cliff changed into my Four costume.
Teri helping me into the Cyberman costume. Photo by Kevin Kittridge.
We all met back in the green room and ran through the skit to the best of our ability while everyone else was doing costume tweaks or being judged on workmanship up close. I stopped for a minute to pass on my condolences to the White Robot and the Ergon from Arc of Infinity since we were all three dressed in rather constricting, cumbersome and hot costumes. Overall I have to say Britgeekgirl (who I usually saw running around in her Romana I outfit) really stepped it up this year with the new forms and rules and managed a much smoother, less headache-inducing Masque than last year. (at least from my humble POV!). My hat's off to her.
Robot envy
The cool cool Brig
The Cyber Invasion stops for a victory toast
There was a delay, but soon we made our way through the back hall and waited for a while in the side hallway getting quite a bit of fun antic snapshots to pass the time. My visibility really ain't all that great so Teri had to lead me by the hand half of the time which made for an amusing sight.
Zoe leads the Cyberman
We made sure we were last because we were exhibition only in order to push our running length and bearing this in mind we thought it best to go on as the final entry.
The Brig After Hours.
The Invasion!
The Brig and Three share a moment.
Ten and Eleven NOT happy to be facing a REAL Cyberman.
Yep- not happy at all.
Soon enough, we were asked to go on stage and I nearly lost my way for a minute because inside the backstage area it's pitch dark and my helmet has low visibility as-is! I had to get led to the stairs and luckily my new latex knee joints had paid off because unlike in previous cons, I was actually able to climb them! I got a nice reaction when I stepped out even though I felt something shift in my helmet when I walked on.
We've already heard enough about the scientific adviser and his companion - Photo by Anthony Trembley
The Cyberman being softened up by the Brig's bullets Photo by Anthony Trembley
I was worried something might have dislodged but it was my cue and the show must go on. Looking at the footage afterwards, I see the back plate had partially come off! At least it didn't fall off and the overall effect was still good. Yet another thing to tweak on the Cyberman! Anyway we'd worried the skit wouldn't go over well and the reaction was quite the opposite - everyone laughed at the right parts and I heard we got a standing ovation when it was over.
The Brigadier The One The Only and the Best- Photo by Anthony Trembley
You can still see the skit here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9KMGCFfimg&feature=watch_response_rev
It was nice to see all the hard work pay off. For a little perspective- only 6 weeks prior when we briefly thought Paul Cornell wasn't going to make it, Shaun took me up on an offer to do a half-time show. I'd gotten to outlining the structure and the main ideas when Cornell was able to make it after all and the idea was scrapped.
Reversing Polarities and what have you... Photo by Anthony Trembley
Why the nerve of some robots- they must not be English! Photo by Anthony Trembley
Defeated by the power of a bucket of Goo? Photo by Anthony Trembley
One of the ideas I'd had in the outline was to "hang" a skit on the Brigadier, since I knew Scott was putting the costume together and it was a natural hook to bring together various characters and costumes. Since we were back IN the Masque though, it meant we were subject to several restrictions we didn't have the year before. Pre-recorded audio being the chief one. Well I generally loathe trying to time out anything dialogue wise on pre-record and it was getting difficult to come up with something *without* dialogue. No matter what, I knew I'd end up relaying on a Narrator with music whatever we decided on. Dr Who doesn't work so well as a 'silent movie.' For a minute everyone seemed had the mindset that it was too tricky to deal with it and best to not bother doing a skit at all. Scott then said 'Worst case, I'll just walk on as the Brig and just shoot everything he faces and walk off' Welllll... I'd wanted to hang a skit on the Brig and he'd just pretty much handed me the running gag.
He got to wear the uniform and he got to shoot something - Photo by Anthony Trembley
Bananas are good? Was it an *British* Banana? Photo by Anthony Trembley
So much like how our retirement skit went down in '09 I sat down the Sunday before the con, and wrote out not just the Brig skit but a 2nd skit about RTD/New Who which I have to say I thought was funnier and darn good therapy to boot. However, we decided the Brig had potential for wider appeal so we opted to go for that one. I tweaked the script according to group suggestions, and then called in a mutual friend of ours who does professional voice over work to knock out the narration and he did a superb job. He wasn't much of a Who fan so I sent him a clip of the Brig and asked for "Stiff upper lip British" and he delivered. Apparently, Monty Python was his aim so it all worked out.
When the Brigaider's happy he shoots something. Photo by Anthony Trembley
The Brigadier was NOT Amused. Photo by Anthony Trembley
I spent a night selecting music cues from my Dr. Who CD's because I did my best to keep it all "True Who" and 'True to Era' and managed to generally succeed. However, time got away from me on my Cyberman as usual and I was suddenly left with literally the night before to put together the audio SFX and music and marry it to the Voice Over. Hence, why I spent all night editing it and getting no sleep!
After the Masque we drifted back to the Photo set up in the green room because I had asked Scott to get some good 'profile' pictures of the Cyberman while I was still in costume and the photography was still up.
Cyberman ready for his close-up
We got all the shots and then some. Several of our Doctors took advantage of having a Cyberman to face off with! I made sure to get some Cyberman with Cybermat shots as well.
Makes me laugh every time - The Unsung Hero! Photo by Vickie Sebring
A Lost Invasion Publicity Still courtesy of Scott Sebring
Seven and the Brig - Together again.
Cyberman and his pet- the Cybermat.
Cybermats are cuddly after all
Shock! Horror!
Everyone seemed to make good use of having a Cyberman to face off or comedy pose with. We popped back briefly to see all of the awards get handed out for the show and I'm glad so many of the awesome costumes that impressed me won!
Doctor Who - 1974 - the candid shot.
Bob needs water. Badly.
On our way back Teri and I got stopped near the elevators for a good 20 minutes for photos. Shades of Comic Con! I know two more of those sorority girls got pictures with us and had NO IDEA who we were. "Oh My God, a Robot and a Spacey sparkly chick!"
Zoe and Cyberman caught in the hallway for pics
Somewhere in here I ran into Nick Briggs by the elevator who seemed pretty impressed and asked me to say "The beacon is ours!" While I don't have any kind of amp or voice changer on the costume I channeled my best Christopher Robbie and shouted the line. Luckily, Nick was pretty close to me and it had quieted down so he could hear me well - and the '75 Cyberman pretty much sounded like guys in helmets so it worked for me. "Excellent, that's fantastic!" he said before I think getting a photo and walking off. Nice to have the approval of the voice of the Daleks.
The Beacon is Ours!
Finally we as a group of various Doctors and aliens made our way back to the room only to find none of us had a key. So we waited in the hallway for a good 20 minutes while Scott got a fresh one to let us in. I know that must have been an odd sight to see for those wandering the halls!
I was mercifully freed from the Cyberman suit- and I think I'd spent the longest stretch in it ever. I normally average 2-3 hours in it and this time I spent close to 5 and half hours total. I probably lost a good ten pounds!
Our Third doctor hooked me up with a lot of water to replenish and he also pulled off a miracle by finding something I'd lost earlier that day which I had recruited several other con folks to help me look for. I was so thankful I kissed the back of his velvet coat while being stripped of silver neoprene. I doubt he saw or knew but yes, I really did.
Novice Hame at the restuarent
Then Scott, Teri and I got a late bite at the Champions restaurant in the hotel. On the way, we ran into Bryan and Mette in thier fab Ood costumes which we'd only glimpsed before. I finally got them a DVD of the KTEH segments and posed Teri for a pretty funny photo of her being attacked by an Ood! :)
The Ood Possessed
Teri at the mercy of the Ood!
At the restaurant, I felt a lot better since I'd more or less skipped lunch so it was good to eat! Afterwards, Scott and Vickie headed for home, while Teri and Van relaxed in the room. I grabbed my diary to sneak a signature from Jon Blum and Kate Orman in the lobby who signed my diary "I am not crazy." I got to tell Jon how much I enjoyed the Fearmonger as my favorite of the Seven audios. I ended up pinballing between quite a few conversations with britgeekgirl, ninjarisu, jazzynightowl, hystericblue42, estelofimladris, Tadao and a number of the rest of the Torchwood gang. I got a lot of very nice feedback on our skit and requests for more at the 2011 Gallifrey. We'll work on it! I finally got Tadao a tape I'd been meaning to mail back to him for months which was from the KTEH TARDIS shoot back in August. I also briefly ended up meeting Phil Ford and got his autograph on the fly as well. After a good hour or two chin-wagging about the con and costumes and so on, I finally had to call it a night. I crawled into bed and totally crashed.
Six! This was after his infamous 'sexy' dance in the disco.
SUNDAY:
Van and I woke up early since Van had been drawn for the Guest Brunch and had nicely asked me to tag along as the "plus one." There was some initial confusion on where the brunch was held but we figured it out in the end and were led to a room on the lower level. We sat at a table with lucifer1 and a handful of others and got treated to a really nice spread including eggs, bacon, chicken, rice - pretty much the works. Oh except toast. No toast! Where was a Talky Toaster when you needed one? Anyway Louise Page sat down at our table first and it was nice to chat with her a bit more. She seemed to be enjoying the con a lot! After 20 minutes or so they rotated guests so everyone got a little time with them. Next up was Greame Harper, the director of many new series episodes and of course, The Caves of Androzani. I wanted to ask him a bit about that but I didn't want to interrupt the conversation flow which mainly centered on who our favorite Doctors were. Next up was John Levene, who was rather serious at first discussing topics about his hard childhood and how sad he was to hear of Barry Letts passing. Then, he spoke of happier times on Dr. Who and the great friendships he'd had with Jon, Katy and Barry. We had heard he enjoyed our skit so Van mentioned this and John said he was in tears over it and passed on some lovely compliments. Always nice to get the approval from the celebrities!
One of my favs- just love how the Zoe suit looks in this shot.
During one of John's anecdotes though, disaster struck. Now I've said before, I'm really NOT a breakfast guy. I don't think my stomach is designed for heavy food intake before noon. So anyway I got a REALLY upset digestion disagreement all of sudden and I had to leave. I felt awful on the timing but that was that. By the time I got back, I'd missed Tommy Knight and they were on to Alice Troughton and Georgia Moffet. I came at a good time because somehow the topic of our skit had come up again and like John, Alice was giving us a lot of praise. I was humbled and flattered - I think she gave me one of the best compliments I ever got on my writing. Again I'm not worthy. :) We discussed more of her work as well as Georgia's before they moved on. We were poised to accept Frazier to the table next, but my stomach refused to settle down so I had to make a permanent leave. It was a shame, as I'd missed the rest of the guests including Bob Baker and the end-of-brunch photo. Ack!
Double ack because of the brunch in general it meant I missed dropping by the Cosplay 210 and the Masque Post-Mortem panels.
Anyway, I got back to the room and finally got back on my feet after a bit. Teri, Scott and Vickie then arrived. Scott changed back into the Brig costume and Vickie and Teri decided to stay in civvies to relax. Because there was influx of guests coming in that day late check-out was not allowed, so we had no choice but to hastily pack up to leave there and then. Van left with his bags although he'd misplaced his Two recorder (which we later found thank goondess), plus Scott and Vickie made sure they had thier stuff and left. I kept out a few Monster-esque items for my panel later that day and dropped them off in one of the side rooms behind registration with the blessing of Tadao. They snagged me for my lovely new badge photo around then so I'm glad they remembered! I then ran back and hopped into my Seven costume to finish out the con in that outfit brandishing my new umbrella from the monthly group runs Drwhojr has been making. We loaded up the car, got everything put away and checked out.
Two Sevens on the hunt
Now we could finally enjoy the rest of the con. From here we wondered the halls, bumping into another Seven, Whisper's Echo as a brilliant Curse of Fenric Ace, and John Levene again. This time Scott was with me as the Brig and John made a point of shaking his hand and telling him "If Nick Courtney had seen your skit he'd have f***ing killed you!" We took a number of pictures with him, and he made a point of asking us to drop by his website later to send on the link to our skit (and unfortunately all efforts to contact him this way have bounced back to date). John made a special point to compliment Scott's Brig costume because he had "the narrow trousers like we used to." lol.
Seven, Ace and the Brig- Curse of Fenric or Battlefield???
I dropped by the autograph room after this and finally got my pictures with Deborah Watling and Katy Manning! It was well timed since I'd caught both more or less as they were wrapping up to leave for the weekend!
With Deborah Watling!
With Katy Manning!
I bumped into Tony Lee and got him to sign my diary as well. He was nice enough to give us a big thumbs up on our skit too which was awesome. I think we were flattered to hear "and when he's (insert emotion here), he shoots something" being quoted around the hall that afternoon. TARDIS Tara caught me around then, handing me the payment for my Blue Six costume which she'd helped me find a buyer for at the con. Thank you Tara! I chatted with hystericblue42 and a number of the Torchwood gang for a moment, bought my buddy a Gallifrey Con T-Shirt and then remembered: The Cosplay Hall backdrops.
Off and on during the convention, the TARDIS backdrops tended to slip here and there so I considered it a mercy to finally take them down. I did so pretty swiftly with the help of Teri. We saved the backs of them for re-use again later as well. Once rolled up we ran the backdrops out to the car and back in record time. When we got back, I met for a moment with Horizonchaser to help him find a good size for the S21 Davison Sweater.
But time was ticking - I had to get to the Dr. Who Monster Panel I was partly moderating. I grabbed my costume items from the safe room and made it just in time. AZdavros, Kevin and Paul Salamoff (who has previously been nice enough to allow us to take pictures of the TVM Console he owns) all had a good time and I think we hit on a lot of good points sharing tips for beginners and intermediate folks alike.
At the Monster panel
I felt like I was coming at it from the budget standpoint of what monsters can you do for $50-$100. In contrast, the others were much more experienced with latex, foam, make-up, hardware and of course building complex items like Daleks and Vespiforms. I got to show off my Master costume, Cybermat and Cyberman components which was fun to break it down for everyone.
That Iconic Look Panel
Right after this was That Iconic Look panel that Scott and Vickie were partially moderating with estelofimladris, Kevin C., and scifichix. I attended to lend moral support and the discussion was pretty interesting touching on modern and classic costumes, casting yourself for a costume and the importance of silhouette. I felt like there were a lot of kindred spirits there!
Time Crash 2 - Nasty Suspicions
Seven reminds Ten how to track nuclear missile convoys
Afterwards, it was pretty much time for closing ceremonies. But Scott, Vickie, Kevin, violet_lane, minervamoon, Teri and myself were so busy talking and thinking about dinner we missed them! I felt bad for missing the Davison video which I had to catch on youtube later.
You can still see it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wFetdWqtA&feature=player_embedded
I heard this Gallifrey broke all attendance records at around 1500 people! Crazy! Anyway we decided food was paramount so we all headed to the hotel restaurant for a much needed meal. We had a nice laugh finally going over all the pictures in my camera, discussing costumes for next year and what a great time we'd had.
Finally we parted ways since Kevin, Violet_Lane and minervamoon all had a flight to catch later that night. I got my last pictures on my camera while bumping into Kevin (the other Kevin - Our Eleven) who was hanging out at the last LobbyCon.
Seven and Nyssa in the lobby
I felt like staying a little longer and enjoying the vibe, but Scott, Vickie and Teri were about to leave and I realized I was going to need time to unload the car all on my own at home, and above all - SLEEP.
So we made our last goodbyes in the parking lot and I made the drive home in my Seven costume. a little sad, a little weary, but very happy. My post-con depression was mostly cut off by my upcoming Time Quest/UK trip which I've already posted about on here. Gallifrey had been such a great con, and surprisingly one of the most social I'd been to despite it's smaller size (compared to the likes of San Diego Comic Con). I can't wait for next year! Bring on 2011!
Looking back, it's interesting that I never once had time to make it to any of the big main ballroom Guest talk panels. I was having too much of a good time hanging with friends and fellow cosplayers so no regrets. Although it's been nice to get a healthy taste of what I missed there via Van's entry on the subject. Speaking of - for those who missed it you can read all about Van's POV at Gallifrey here:
http://vandonovan.livejournal.com/1127309.html
(Getting ready for Time Quest!)
Thanks! Til Next Time,
-Honorarydoctor
PS What injustice has The Brigadier committed to NOT have a tag on this comm?