San Diego Comic Con 2009 Retrospective Report
Hey gang,
So after completing my SDCC 2010 report it occurred to me I never did a write up for SDCC 2009. With the help of my '09 photos I'm able to recall most of the events pretty well and seperate it from the '08 and '10 experiences (sometimes these cons start to blur together for ya especially when the same costumes are worn) so I'm making up for it now with this uber-late post. Enjoy the pics.
More info and pics
So SDCC 2009! This was the year I didn't really put together a new costume for con. I debuted my then-new Jo Sharp scarf for my Four costume. Although I discovered later it was too long as the Season 12 pattern and I would have it shortened to a more user-friendly Season 13 pattern the next spring. I added a Tricorder, wig and a pair of Durans custom Trek boots to my Dr. McCoy but that was about it.
The Improved Dr. McCoy
I did however give a big help to my GF who for the first time ever was accompanying me to a Con let alone one as big as SDCC (and in costume no less). I'd invited her often in the past but she always felt it wasn't her scene. I think after seeing the pics of how much fun my friends and I had at previous SDCC's she changed her mind. She really got into it and ended up having a great time.
So here's how it went:
Wednesday:
Another loaded car, another road trip down from the LA area. My GF and I arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt around 1PM. This is only 2 blocks further down the same side of the street where the San Diego Convention Center is, and essentially right next door to the Marriot Hotel & Marina which is adjacent to the Convention Center. We were shortly joined by Dori (usually cosplaying UNIT Soldiers throughout the weekend) and our friends Simon and Cliff as our roommates. I'd been warned by others that the rooms here were smaller than the Marriott (and hence not multiple roommate friendly) but I honestly didn't notice. It worked for us. I was happy that we were nice and close!
View from the room
We grabbed lunch with Batfriend and his wife Flibbertyjitz at Dick's Last Resort (something Flibbertyjitz later regretted- the food disagreed with her) and later got our badges for the con. We also got access to Wed Exhibitor Badges so we were able to get in about an hour early.
My GF takes command
Kirk smirk
The Rocketeer Statue just put out by Disney/Electirc Tiki.
It was really NICE to walk the dealer floor with practically no one around. It gave you an opportunity to really appreciate all of the displays. It was a nice way to break my GF into the con.
Nice Replica Prop display of TOS trek Gear...
Now this was the year that in addition to buying Dr. Who figures for folks from UGT (the then new Hartnell, Troughton and Blue Real Time Six figures (with B&W varients) I had also agreed to pick up a couple of items at Mattel, Hasbro and Hallmark. UGH. Never again! Never ever again! *Always* Say Never Again Mr. Bond!
Star Wars Prequel costumes
I passed by the Hallmark booth 10 minutes to opening where only a small line had pre-formed, I thought I'd swing back for the exclusive Star Trek ornament a friend wanted after seeing a little more of the floor. Bad move. By the time I did swing back a mere 25 minutes later, they'd sold out for the day. They neglected to tell me they only sold 100 of them a day.
Making a new friend...
Mattel also wasn't selling to Pro badge holders on Wed night either. Two strikes. The Hasbro line was mammoth and cut off for the night when I got over there too. Three strikes.
The Star Trek fragrance booth
I only managed to get the Who figures secured for the Gallifrey Base members (far less than what I bought this year in 2010 since in 2009 the toys were widely available online the day the con opened as well), an Adam Hughes sketchbook for a friend and the Mindstyle VINCENT robot plastic toy from The Black Hole.
The Rocketeer costume at D23
The Commander Costume at D23
Tron costume at D23
I made special note to check out the D23 Disney Archive booth where they had costumes and props from Tron, The Rocketeer, Sky High and Condorman!
Condorman costume at D23
Condorman props at D23
Really nifty to see the jetback and the Condorman props up close.
"It's a rocket! like in the comic books"
The London Prop booth had one of the original Superman Tunics From Superman II.
Original Superman Tunic
They also had the real miniature models of Maximillian, Bob and Vincent robots from The Black Hole.
Bob
Vincent
Speaking of Superman there was a BEAUTFUL 1/4 scale Christopher Reeve doll on display (and I believe already sold out on the pre-orders today).
Man of Steel
Chris Reeve
Underground Toys has also just unveiled the figures for the Third Doctor with Sea Devil and Third Doctor with Death/Dalek. These would be available for purchase the following month or so.
New Third Doctor galore
Sea Devil Pertwee
Death to the Daleks Pertwee
They would also later unveil the brand spanking new Classic Dalek Set #2 and the Tom Baker/4th Doctor Adventure set with Green Voc Robot, Mummy, and Destiny/Dalek. So I had to snap those up!
I made sure to get a picture of my GF with Snoopy (and pick up some Peanuts exclusive shirts for a friend).
Snoopy!
We also stopped by the AMC Prisoner (2009) Booth and got our "Special Village IDs" made up. They pushed this hard at SDCC with a giant "Rover" balloon floating nearby at the hotel and a bunch of guys dressed in the black white-piped blazers.
Be Seeing You
Nice touch but the classic blazer barely feature din the remake- I guess they felt they had to use the 60's original designs to grab people. If only I'd known how awful this TV remake was going to be or I'd have probably skipped it!
V Recruitment Booth. Got a brochure and badge here.. nicely done...
Later that night we had our annual dinner at Buca Di Beppo early with Batfriend, Alex and a few other friends. The Ravioli was on hand that time around. Though Fibbertyjitz missed out as her stomach hadn't recovered from what she at at Dick's Last Resort.
Thursday:
I got up early and managed to actually get in the Con Hall about half an hour before opening. They usually escort you to the 2nd floor and take you down in groups when they open, but they must not have looked at my badge closely enough. Anyway I managed to get in right when the doors opened and got to an eary enough place in line to pick up the coveted Gold Tunic Uhura Star Trek Hallmark Ornament for a friend.
Some of the Hallmark ornaments I snapped a pic of while waiting in line.
Then I made it over to the Mattel line only to see they'd already cut the line off. Again. Insanity. So I was told to go to the line on the 2nd floor to get a number for this main line downstairs. The same went for Hasbro. Ugh! UGT makes this so easy. I learned the hard way after this year I ain't buying Mattell or Hasbro or Hallmark stuff again. Too much hassle.
I also swung by Adam West's booth on the floor and bought his new DVD Adam West Naked! Where he comments on all 120 episodes of Batman. I would end up swinging back to the table again a little later between line scouting to get it signed as well.
Anyway, back at the room, this was our Star Trek TOS day again. My GF suited up in a Blue TOS Science Officer dress. I'd picked up the braid/patches and got lucky & found a matching plue Poly fabric that matched the blue fabric previously used for the tunics the year before. My GF picked up the wig online as well as the boots which doubled for her Black Canary later on. Flibbertyjitz made the dress (as well as pretty much all of the tunics the year before).
I got into my Dr. McCoy gear and we headed down to meet up with everyone at the Marriott Pool Cave area around Noon.
The Whole Crew..
Just the Red Shirts...
Spock!!!
We made quite a good (and large) group! Batfriend was Kirk again, Chris was Spock, Flibbertyjitz a Red Dress Lt., and our friend Steven as Chekov. Simon, Dan and Cliff were Red Shirts though Dan or Simon were often mistaken for Scotty.
Ready to take on the Romulans
Looking for the Horta...
Chekov looks for Nuclear wessels.
McCoy has a new nurse for the Day
This had been planned as a Star Trek Cosplay meet up actually. Only one or two others actually showed up. I learned later than most Con Attendees aren't familiar with the Marriott Cave area and couldn't find it or mis-assumed it was the front fountain near the driveway. We had picked that spot because a lot of the folks who wanted to go didn't have Thursday badges to get in the Center! (sigh) Well, you live and learn.
Why you cold hearted, green blooded Vulcan!
The Big Three
Regardless,we had a lot of fun grabbing pics in the cave. Singles, groups, the Big Three, red shirts, Dead Red Shirt etc. Eventually we made it to the Con Center wandering the convention floor.
Red Shirt down!
He's Dead Jim!
This was also the year our friend Ben was visiting us from the UK. He'd been a member of the Batman board since he was 13 and wanted to come over for a visit to the US, check out some Bat locations, hang with friends and you know, check out Comic Con. On Thu, he was nice enough to be on camera duty for us.
On the floor - remember where we parked
We wandered the floor and got a lot of compliments. Many fans simply gave us a 'silent' Vulcan hand salute as we passed by.
I think someone commented to Batfriend that our colors weren't screen accurate but very close to the 70's Animated Series. Without blinking, Batfriend replied "Exactly what we were aiming for." Best to not argue with fans like that.
Ahhh on the bridge
We stopped by this booth where they sold Star Trek themed fragrences.
KHaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
Tiberius cologne - the scent of a commanding man.
When your seven year cycle is up, all Vulcans chose Pon farr
Red Shirt because today may be your last....
There was Red Shirt, Pon Farr, Tiberius and Khan. They had a nifty backdrop of the TOS bridge so we took advantge of it and did some 'ad' posing with the various perfumes and colognes.
All the Red Shirts swear by it
Speaking of backdrops- they had a New JJ Abrams Enterprise bridge backdrop at the Paramount Booth (still pushing the '09 reboot film in a big way) where Orion Green Skinned Booth girls in Red Cadet dresses posed with you.
Pondering starfleet command?
We always half debated posing there as a group for cross-universe fun but the line was always just too long to bother with so we never did. Besides we got got pictures on the "right" bridge so who needs the bridge that looks like an an Apple Store?
Happy fan on a bridge
Then we stopped by the Diamond Select booth where they had a Replica Kirk Chair on display along with a bunch of the toys plus a wall of communicators and tricorders.
Captain on the bridge
Just testing out the chair
McCoy gives harsh orders
End of an episode- having a joke shot
We hung around there for a loooong time getting a bunch of pics. They seemed happy to let us stay as long as we wanted as we brought a lot of attention to the booth.
Red Shirts- Lock and Load
Phasers Set on Stun!!
The Group Chair Shot
A lot of people thought we were paid by Diamond to be there in costume to promote the new Tricorders and toys and such.
Captain's log.... Stardate... 2009...
You Klingon bastards! You killed my... Red Shirt!
We then stopped by the Stargate display and got a cross over shot of us 'coming through the gate'!
Star Trek Meets Stargate
Leading the charge
That drew a nice crowd. I made sure to get a Spock/McCoy examination scene. You know, like they would so with the Guardian of Forever right?
Fascinating Readings Doctor...
We passed by what looked like a giant ball of twine near the WB booth. I got a few funny shots of us examining that as well.
I'm a Doctor not a lumberjack!
Spock is wrangled to be a promotional tool for Paramount after all.
We ended up at the Sails Pavailion where we ran into more friends, did a dance for a video...
Show me more of this 20th Century custom thing called dancing
Bones what do you make of this?
Then we posed with some Tribbles, and met a young fan who was eager to show us his Tricorder.
Checking out the little one's tricorder
Funnily enough I was told by Ben later that people thought we GAVE this boy one of our own Tricorders. When Ben heard that he simply nodded to them and "Yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. Aren't they so nice!?"
Wrong Communicator Captain!
Red Shirts aren't safe from Wolverine
That night we got dinner at the Seaport Village which is on the harbor side right behind the Marriott and Hyatt. It's a scenic little area with shops and all kinds of eaterys and it beats the extra walking and crowds in the Gaslamp Quarter. Burgers, seafood, tacos, sandwiches, ice cream, a candy shop etc- there's a lot to choose from. Short of our lunch that day I don't recall going into the Gaslamp much at all for food the entire weekend. This was a frequent mid-day stop for a quick sandwich as well for Simon, Cliff and myself.
Giant Movie TF bumblebee display
One of the main topics of discussion was the then-upcoming KTEH segment hosting. We'd recently won the fan film contest and had been asked to drive up to the SF Bay area to host 6 Dr. Who episodes shown as a marathon. However we couldn't pick the episodes as promised as they were obligated to finish airing Series 2. At the last minute due to a miscommunication we thought they asked us if we could host 9 episodes instead of 6. This meant more time and coming up with three more 'links or skits' of material since they were leaving a lot of actual content up to us. It put a strain on things and as a result Batfriend, Cliff, Chris, Steven and Kevin dropped out of being involved. To be honest for a day or two there, we all thought of dropping out of the project entirely. More on this later.
A Typical Thu night view of the SDCC hotel room at the Hyatt
When we got back to the room, Simon was still trying to work on an Hourman costume for our superhero group Friday. But it was in no shape to be worn. It would go unseen. :( He also showed us his build-in-progress of the giant gun Eccelston used in Dalek. He was building an Air Horn gun into the thing to freak people out. He tested it with us SEVERAL times. Yeah it was LOUD. Luckily we convinced him to hold off on it since it would be sure to be confiscated by SDCC security after he tried it once. Also we needed him as Six, not as Nine. Trust me, it worked out in the end. With that we went to bed, wearing earplugs in case Simon got an itchy trigger finger again...
Friday:
I got up early again and found after much wandering around, the line for the Mattel & Hasbro ticket numbers to get in the downstairs purchase lines. They didn't exactly place a nice sign up for the Mattel line and it took a while to find them. Anyway I got my numbers. Both were for Saturday. It was a step forward but ugh!
Castle Greyskull - part of the main Mattel booth mock-up right across form where they actually sold thier exclusives and drove me crazy.
Back at the room, this was our Classic Super Friends Day. I suited up as the Kirk Alyn Superman (from the 1948 Columbia serial) while my GF got to finally debut her Black Canary costume. We'd bought jacket as a thift buy then had it tailored to the bolero length. She then bought the gloves, teddy, stockings and the boots which had a cuff that flipped down for this costume.
New Black Canary
She made the neck choker from a ribbon and a button found at Jo-Ann. The Canary Wig was styled and bought at Outfitter Wigs again. Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz were dressed as Batman & Wonder Woman with our friend Alex as Robin.
Simon and Cliff went off to enjoy the Con plain clothes that day while we arranged to meet up with Batfriend and co. at the Marriott in thier room. We got some cool shots on thier balcony while there./
Scanning for danger
Looking out for Metropolis
Then we headed down the the Marriott Pool Cave for some more singles and team shots.
Team-Up!
Justice League Unlimited
Heroines
Superman and Batman square off
Ben was dressed in his own 66 Batman costume today to enjoy the con in costume.
Ben struts his bat wings
He hung out with us at the Cave and then split off on his own when we hit the con center. In Ben's absence, Alex's wife Monica was nice enough to be on camera duty for us.
Robin and Superman
World's Finest
We did several rounds on the Convention floor. The kids really took to us especially Wonder Woman and the Black Canary.
Silver Age and Golden Age Superman team up!
Ascending to the Hall of Justice
With her biggest fan
There was one time as we headed up the escalator that a little girl who had been too shy to approach saw us getting away and ran up after us to get a picture with my GF. Black Canary was her favorite!
Eventully we made it to the DC Comics Characters gathering outside Ballroom 20 on the 2nd floor.
Gotta get this story in to Perry and get the scoop on Lois!
Superman meets Supergirl
There was a GREAT Penguin there who really got in character.
There were several other heroes and Villains like Firestorm, The Joker, Harleyquinn, Supergirl, Green Lantern and Catwoman.
I remember really trying out some more Kirk Alyn style poses rather than generic Superman/George Reeves poses. I settled on Kirk's neutral and arms down (yet outward) running-from-a-boulder-about-to-fly pose. It worked well but to hold that pose most of the time... really hurt my back. By the end of the day I was really aching all over and grateful to get back to the room.
We did a final sweep of the Sails Pavilion- really a great place for costumers as it's well lit, a fairly open space (so you don't hold up people traffic much when photographers gather) and it's pretty well ventilated so even hot costumes are tolerable up here. Up here, we swung by Adam West's Signing table and he asked Batfriend if we could come back tomorrow by his booth to help draw people while he signed autographs. How can you refuse the original Batman?! Ben had re-joined us up here and got some pictures with Adam as well.By pure chance a little llater on we had stopped at Adam's booth on the dealer floor as he was leaving. Luckily flibbertyjitz and Batfriend knew a back way out to beat the crowds so we ended escorting Adam out through the loading docks as a team of superheroes. It was surreal. If I recall correctly Batfriend and the rest of the gang got to escort Adam out of the Con Center again the next day while I was off elsewhere as Four.
Heroes with the one and only Adam West
Later that night, after another dinner in the Seaport Village, I tried out the Hyatt Jacuzzi to soothe my back. A wise choice! I only wish I'd spent more time in the whirlpool - but I say that everytime I go out of town. Seriously.
Saturday:
keeping an eye on Davros
Up and at it early again. This time I was denied entry on the ground floor, so waited in line upstairs to get in to try and finally grab these Mattel and Hasbro toys. Mattel has a strict timezone you had to use the ticket. Hasbro though was more loose and was a bit more first come first served. So being impatient, I did a bad thing and I cut the line to get in the doors. One of the security guards actually caught me (I was in costume already and easy to spot) but the guard got distracted with some potential fake badge holders and let me go on. I didn't like doing it but I was on a tight schedule. Anyway I made it to the Hasbro line and after a long wait, finally got what I came for - the 12 inch Baroness GI JOE movie doll for a friend. My ticket for Mattel wasn't good until late afternoon so that would have to wait.
Caught for cutting in line.
Today ended up being 66 Batman day for Batfriend, Alex, Flibbertyjitz, Cliff and my GF. For Simon, Chris and myself it was Dr. Who day.
Chris suited up as Three and Simon as Six. They agreed to meet me at the Sails Pavilion for the Dr. Who Cosplay meet up later on around Noon. I suited up as Four and left early to not only take care of the Hasbro/Mattel thing, but also try and hit the BBC America Booth for the Russell T Davies signing.
RTD arrives and preps for his signing
Turns out they'd already pre-given out all the 70 or so tickets for this signing the day before but I figured it was good to show support. I arrived at the booth and ran into hitshermark who'd made the Burning Giraffe KTEH fan film entry, hystericblue42, TARDIS_Tara (who I swapped some Scarf notes with while we waited), Dori and several others. We got caught on camera while waiting and you can see this bit on the Comic Con featurette on the Dr. Who Specials DVD box set.
Scarf comparisons between mine and Tara's
Anyway, traffic got congested and they moved the line across the hall and asked us to move. In the meantime, I waltzed over to the Holzeimer's booth to get John Barrowman's autograph. Here, I bumped into violetlane and her BF Kevin (dressed as Rose and Ten) and they agreed to snap a picture for me while I got my autograph.
Okay I didn't care so much about the autograph, since I wanted to ask him if he could send us a copy of the picture he took with with our group at the UGT booth in 2008. I had been dressed in the Cyberman outfit, and I had 5 or so Doctors with me. So I paid duly and waited a bit while John talked to a 300 Spartan cosplayer.
Waiting for John
When I got up I asked John about the picture and whether he remembered taking it. "I don't know. I take so many pictures with fans in costume it's hard to keep track" He said. "You take pictures with fans dressed as 70's Cybermen all the time? In America? At Comic Con?" I asked.
Cyberman? 2008? SDCC? Ring any bells?
"Well you know you'll have to try my webmaster we just switched servers and I'll see. It's probably buried on one of my hard drives. I'll have to dig pretty deep... and... long for it." He said staring at me a little too long. Look, I know he was making a joke and playing up the 'flare' in his persona there but ... yeah I wasn't amused. I just batted it off and told him to look for a 1975 Classic Cyberman from Comic Con and that'd be me. Kevin snapped a fresh picture with us and I moved on.
A picture with John Barrowman I got to keep
Incidentally, the Holzeimer's people had been kinda militant about him taking pics with fans the year before, so I was glad they laxed a bit this year. I did also follow up with John's webmaster and never got another response on the 2008 picture. No shocker there. Oh well, I gave it the one last try. Upward and onward.
I don't know about this unit... he's just not K9.
Eventually I met up with Steven again and I loaned him my Seven outfit. He changed in the bathroom and bag checked his clothes. We headed back to the BBC America Booth and RTD was just wrapping up. We asked one of the BBC folks if we could just snap a picture with him and I have a feeling being in costume meant a good PR pic for the website so they agreed. We got our picture on both thier camera and our camera and he told me "You're doing the John Nathan-Turner point thing weren't you?"
Doing the John Nathan-Turner point to RTD
I nodded and he really registered us then and said "Excellent costumes the both of you. Well Done!" Steven talked to him about how he was a big fan and loved the show. Then I shook RTD's hand and told him the one thing I was eternally grateful for. "Thank you for bringing the show back. It means a lot to me that new fans get to discover it today." He smiled, patted me on the back and we were off.
We just made it in time for the Dr. Who cosplay meet in the Sails Pavilion. Chris and Simon met up with us there as planned.
The Gallifrey Family Album
We ran into estelofmederis, scifichix, my friend Ramie and many others. We had a nice turnout and took a number of fun photos. Here's a nice smattering of them below:
Ooo. The Borg- any relation to the Cybermen?
Jack and Seven face off
Torchwood
Jack and Ianto share a moment
Seven still keeps his ground with Jack
Afterwards we wandered the convnetion floor and pretty much ended up with a small group of Four, Seven, Three, Six along with a Turn Left Donna Noble.
Doctors in Wonderland
We stopped by the BBC America booth and then the UGT booth to pose with our new respective toys.
At the BBC America Booth
Three approves his likeness
Three stood with the then-protoypes of the Pertwee figures, Six with the Blue Real Time exclusive and myself with the Four Adventure set!
Four looks forward to having some adventures with his adventure set.
Of course a nice bonus to this SDCC is that Colin Baker was there and signing autographs at the Alien Entertainment/DoctorWhoStore.com booth not too far from the UGT booth. I'd spotted him on Thurs in Star Trek costume and pointed him out to my GF and waved at him. He had waved back though with a puzzled look at the time. Guess not many people in Star Trek costumes approach him. :)
Simon looks forward to meeting Colin baker
Doctors on the outs while Donna flirts.
Anyway as soon as we walked up, he got up from around his table and greeted us. He mentioned how Simon had "good taste for dressing as number Six", and then he spotted Steven as Seven and he rolled his eyes and put his hand out to him to wave him off. "Not you again!"
Too many Doctors!
He commented "Did you cast for these costumes? Your friend has the right height. He's as tall as Pertwee!" We got some group pictures. Then he turned and eyed up my Six outfit Simon was wearing. He approved of the trousers, necktie, shirt, vest and spats. He immediatly knew most of it was Cloth Ears made."They are bloody good aren't they?" he said. Simon and I nodded. He noted the coat wasn't quite right (an understatement with the Honest Dragon coat to be sure) but "it's the kind of thing my Doctor would have worn" Then he noted the wig and said "That hair's a bit ridiculous though, but then again I suppose mine was too back then!"
Doctor and Companion crossing eras.
Actually Simon kept trying to direct Colin my way to answer specifics on the costume but Colin kept eyes on Simon the whole time. So he ended up mostly nodding and mummuring 'yes' to his questions. It was actually pretty funny. He asked if the shoes were Kickers like his originals. I said no, but I saw a pair that was part of the recent Bonhams auction. He asked how much his costume went for and I told him. I found out later he'd only just privately sold some of his personal costume items and he probably wanted to see how his outfit fared on open auction in comparison.
Six and... Six?
Anyway, Colin seemed pleased to be posing with another Six though and he got several photos with Simon who is a big Colin Baker Fan and seemed pretty happy about it! See, I told you it worked out for him.
Happy Camper Simon
We moved on and had fun getting our own Who crossover shots at the StarGate (and meeting another TOS Klingon!).
The Doctor subdues a Klingon with a deadly jelly baby
a Literal TimeGate?
StarGate marines got ample warning from UNIT on this Doctor...
We also stopped by the Diamond Booth and got a number of The Doctor at Kirk's Chair shots. I mean come on a Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover is inevitable isn't it?
Six is right at home on the Enterprise.
Ahhhh Space... the final frontier?
Three needs to test out the gadgets as usual
We tried to stop by the WETA booth again but they had none of their Dr. Who items on display this year (that we could see anyway) so we moved on.
What? What? What????
Six beats Three and Four to the Chair.
So they decide to play Contact to see who gets it next.
Our final dealer floor stop was at the Star Trek 'bridge' backdrop with the TOS fragrances.
The TARDIS aims for a Dalek ship and lands on the Enterprise instead.
Then we lost our Seven and Donna as they had to meet up with others. We then made our way to the Sails Pavilion to say hi to Batfriend and the gang. My GF was wearing the 60's Batgirl costume Batfriend had loaned her for this outing.
Doctors and Superheroes with Lois Lane
Cat Noogie for Batgirl!
As promised they were standing by Adam's autograph table attracting fans to the area and interacting with other fans & cosplayers.
Adam and the Bat Crew
The Girls get a new fan
Batman & Robin meet The Green Hornet & Kato
We got a few shots with them and then had a cool moment when we were approached by none other than Margot Kidder for a photo. She'd been wandering the floor, had taken a picture of us and then had returned a few minutes later now to get a picture WITH us. "Lois Lane!" I exclaimed in my best Tom Baker. "Can I get a photo?" She asked.
Lois Lane and Doctor Who
'Wonderful scarf! You make a great Doctor. I used to live in England and I would watch the show all the time!" (I imagine while she was shooting Superman I and II!) We took some pictures. She didn't reconize the Third or Sixth Doctor so I imagine Tom was the only one she saw.
Margot Kidder appreciates the scarf.
I offered her a jelly baby and she happily took a couple. "Jelly babies! I haven't had these in years! Thanks!" As she walked away with her friend she called out "I LOVE Doctor Who!" It was a surreal moment to be sure.
I love Doctor Who!
My final chore before we left was to make good on the Mattel line for the Ghostbusters Egon Spangler Exclusive figure, plus the Wonder Twins Superfriends and He-Man exclusives I promised a forum member. Well I got the Ghostbusters and Super Friends figures but they sold out of the He-Man book/figure completely along with the exclusive Gleek too. Argh.
Ascending to meet the High Council.. or enter an Omega Trap...
Well I was done. I got what I could. I'd refund the extra cash on Monday. Mattel and Hasbro are just not worth the trouble. Arghy Blargh. NEVER AGAIN. I'm so glad I normally skip exclusives. What I usually buy is at UGT where it's SO much easier to deal with it... sigh. I guess Who fans are spoiled there.
In the Land of Fiction????
Cliff as Green Hornet next to the then-freshly debuted Black Beauty from the 2010 movie.
On location.
We left the area shortly after to regroup at Batfriend's hotel room in the Marriott next door. I changed form Four into my Cyberman costume with help from Chris and Flibbertyjitz. My GF and Cliff got back shortly after and they changed into the Eight and Ace costumes (borrowed from Scifichix) respectively.
I was told this little boy was AWESTRUCK by seeing a real Cyberman.
Fans with Sonics and the Doctors
We were trying to get to the 2nd Who cosplay meet-up on the 2nd Floor at 6PM but it just took too long to get me into the Cyberman outfit. Plus I move terribly slow in it.
This guy was making it look like he'd stuck a truce between friend and foe.
Eight and Three having some bonding time over velvet.
So, we ran almost an hour late. Sure enough no one was there, and I never saw any pics surface from this 2nd meet-up so I assume to this day that it was a bust.
Ace ready to throw down with some Nitro-9
We turned around and headed to the BBC America Planet of the Dead screening at the other end of the floor. Now I can't walk that fast as the Cyberman and we were stopped for photos a lot along the way. I was doing my best to keep up a good pace (and I think I walked by some people wanting a photo along the way- but I can never be sure with the bad hearing and visibility I have in the outfit).
Six just chillin with the Mondas crowd.
We made it to Ballroom 20 where we ran into Batfriend as The Phantom and Flibbertyjitz as Jill Kismit.
The Phantom and Jill Kismit
We also ran into Donna Noble again and she led me to the screening area as I was losing visibility in the helmet by this point.
Being led by Donna to the screening
Wonder Twin powers activate!
When we got to the screening area we waited by the door rather then in line to accomodate people wanting pictures. Someone asked for Ace to attack me, but since we didn't have any Silver Nemesis sling shots or gold coins, the old baseball bat would just have to do.
Silver Nemesis part Deux
Once the line was in, we entered last and stood at the back of the room. We kept getting asked to take a seat but we had to insist we stand since I couldn't sit (without tearing up the knee joints) in my costume and honestly sitting for 2 hours watching Dr. Who through that helmet didn't appeal to me.
Hai!
You can see a small video of us at the panel here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnGkWPwJBaU
We drew a lot of attention. One guy told my GF as Ace "You know you should never be more attrative than the character you portray." She wasn't sure whether to take that as backhanded criticism or a geek attempt to flirt. Before we knew it, the lights dimmed and RTD and David Tennant were on stage introducing the episode. Tennant got a lot of cheers and he went on saying how he thought Comic Con was Awesome and he liked America becase we say words like "Awesome." He made a point of saying how this was the legal" premiere of Planet of the Dead and how none of us should have seen this yet... riiight? Then John Barrowman came on to intoduce Children of Earth part 5. He and Tennant ended up sharing an onstage kiss on the fly which left John 'woozy' in the knees. Pics of that can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monette39/3766464318/
Video of Tennant, RTD and Barrowman at the screening intro here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXzQfVX4Gvo
(Thanks to hystericblue42 for posting this)
Wondering what happened to Seven
Certainly got a crowd pleasing reaction. After that RTD, Tennant and Barrowman left the room out the back and they started the show. With that, we left too.
Silk Spectre stops by
The Phatom faces off with Bumblebee
Now I tried to make my way to the Photo Masque stage to get shots in my Cyberman outfit but they'd shut down the Sails Pavilion for some reason so you couldn't cross over. I know they set it up for the Masque overflow but to not allow any traffic to cross was pretty strange. They were really rude to me and practically almost shoved me over in the outfit to keep me from crossing the room. That um.. disgruntled me a bit so I thought 'Screw it. This isn't worth it. I'm hot and tired I'm just going back to the room instead to change.' So I led the charge with Chris, Simon, Cliff and my GF and we trudged back to Batfriend's hotel. Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz did make it to the Masque Photo stage though:
As we crossed the lobby of the Marriott, I was suddenly stopped by Chris who had to run up and catch up to me. "Bob, do you know who you just passed?" "Noooooo" I replied. At this point objects and people were just grey blobs to me inside the helmet. "David Tennant and RTD are standing over there near reception talking to some guys" Chris said. "Point me." I asked. He did. I walked forward but I saw... well a LOT of blobby people. I had no idea who was who. I leaned to my GF who was helping to point me by this stage, "Get out your camera." And then I leaned to Chris "I'm too slow and they won't hear me well, you need to walk over there and ask if we can get a group photo before they leave."
Despite what you might think from his cosplay photos, Chris is somewhat shy and not very forward. He hemmed and hawed at the prospect. Plus he was having trouble flagging Simon and Cliff back to us who were now further away down the hall. During the crucial minute or two it took for me to convince Chris to be our front man, Tennant, RTD and co were leaving. I followed to try and catch them at the door but I was just too slow. (The Cybermen have no chance of conquering the universe I tell ya).
Too blind to see RTD and too slow to catch Tennant.
So... we missed them. I mean they totally saw US. I was told RTD was pointing and smiling at all of us and Tennant locked eyes on Cliff and Simon like a weird recognizable Doctor-to-Doctor moment. However... knowing RTD and Tennant are fans themselves yet didn't motion to us at all to come over, and the fact they were in a big group of guys in suits... it put out the vibe they were probably doing real business and it was just the wrong time. At least this was the read Chris and Simon had on the situation at the time and why they hesitated so much in approach. Of course I didn't know that then, they told me this much later. It was a bummer.
The Phone is for you Leader...
Incidentally I had heard stories of other Who fans who ended up seeing Tennant or RTD in the Marriott restaurant or bar and even got to spend a little time with them. Batfriend even told me that on Friday he'd been going down the elevator (in civvies) and standing next to him was RTD who looked frazzled and he asked him "So, How are you holding up?" Thing was, Batfriend recognized that he should KNOW this guy... but he couldn't place him... until he saw my pic with him later on and I pointed him out. It was the headslap moment of the weekend.
Anyway, when we got back and I changed out of the Cyberman costume, I was pretty wiped out and laid down for bit. Right then Steven texted me that he'd just bumped into Tennant outside on the street and got a picture with him. He was raving about how cool he was to take real time to chat with him. I was jealous but then I burst out laughing. It was a crafted sitcom moment. It really was.
By now Batfriend and flibertyjitz had returned, we'd all changed into our civvies and we headed down to the Seaport Village again. I was pretty brian dead, only revived by Ben when discussing John Barrowman's noteriety in England for his flamboyance (G to the power of G Ben! It's still in my personal phrase book to this day.) and the infamous 'Hand' fake-out non-regeneration in Journey's End. I mean... shooting regeneration energy into his HAND? Really? I mean talk about a cop-out. Leave it to Batfriend and Ben to make me feel not so bad about missing out on the photo-op earlier.
And then I got some ice cream and all was well.
Sunday:
The last day of the con was a little more low-key. I woke up super super still-dark-out early due to a headache. After some aspirin, I used the time to load up the car and beat the rush. As we finished Checking Out, the mad Sunday exodus rush was starting. Glad to have skipped that and gotten out while the elevators were still fairly timely.
Dori, Simon and Cliff said thier goodbyes and headed out around 9AM. Simon and Cliff were leaving for LA and skipping the last day to beat the traffic.
My GF decided to stay out of costume to enjoy the con itself since it was her first SDCC. I had re-suited up as the 4th Doctor by this point. Batfriend and flibbertyjitz decided to redo The Phantom and Wonder Woman and headed off on thier own.
Vigilante, Dr. Strange and Kato stop by to join in
Special mention for this Phantom costume though. The tights and tunic were lucky finds at It's a Wrap which were screen used stunt tights from the 1996 movie. Batfriend bought the rings on ebay, and made the gun belt/holsters, re-made the buckle in resin using one bought from ebay as a guide, and made the neoprene mask/cowl. (The boots were recylced from the Kirk costume)
Flibbertyjitz made the trunks and Batfriend then hand painted/drew the designs on them both to match the tights based on the best photos and screengrabs he could find. For all the effort it turned out rather stunning!
Back to Sunday: The main point on the agenda for Sunday was the BBC America Doctor Who panel in Ballroom 20 at 10AM. Despite not lining up at 5AM, we got decent seats in the back. A lot of people seemed happy to see a classic Doctor in line while we walked in. The panel was a lot of fun. David Tennant was in good form as was RTD, Julie Gardner and Euros Lyn.
The Who Panl on Sunday our POV
They played the trailer to the End of Time which got everyone excited. David asked to see it again and they played it twice. David told everyone to not mind the cameras on the stage because they were filming for the DVD boxset. "So this is like a LIVE DVD Extra!"
Tennant arrives
They took a Q&A and the questions ranged from the thoughtful to the... um lame. But that's par for the course at these things. I remember someone asking if David or RTD would ever appear at Gallifrey One and David stayed quiet while RTD said they were aware of Gallifrey One and had no plans for the time being to attend but hoped to eventually in the future. Odd, but there you have it. They asked if they felt there was any difference between old and New Who. David and RTD pretty much said beyond it being updated "it's the same show. The same spirit."
Q & A
When asked who thier favorite Doctor was David said "I'd like to take a line from The Brigadier who said "Wonderful chaps. All of them." The last question was from an 11 year old girl who asked if David went into teaching what subject would he teach? "Oh you leave the hard ones for last don't you?" He admitted English was his favorite subject and that's what he'd teach. He ran up and they got a picture of him with the crowd behind him rock star style at the very end. Fun panel. You can see highlights from it on the Comic Con featurette on the Doctor Who Special Box Set.
or see the panel again here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nQmwwKmLE&feature=related
(Part 1 of 6 - remaining 5 parts side-barred on youtube)
Live DVD Extra!
Afterwards we bumped into violetlane and Kevin as Rose and Ten. We took a number of pictures with fans outside the Ballroom post Who-Panel. Like previous years I pretty much handed out all of my Jelly Babies til I was totally empty. We then decided to head over the post panel signing in the Sails Pavilion and no, Tennant was NOT signing. I can't imagine the insane line of fans if he did! I actually didn't have have a ticket for this as I'd missed out the previous day, but TARDIS_tara came through for me and hooked me up with one. Because we had a smidge of time before it started, I just had time to run back to my car and get my Doctor Who Series 1 Shooting Script Book I'd brought just in case.
RTD Signs Part Deux
I made it back in time when the line was properly moving and violetlane had been nice enough to save a spot for me as well as take these pics when I got the book signed. Julie Gardner was complimentary to my costume and they all collectively gave an 'Awwww' when they read Phil Collinson had signed the book for me already at the previous Gallifrey con.
Talking Cyber Costumes
I mentioned to RTD I was the guy in the Cyberman outfit. He lit up "That was you! Bloody marvelous Cyberman outfit. Top rate!" he signed my book and I moved along. I later learned that he name checked the costume in his recap of Comic Con in DWM the following month. He said something about there being (among others) "a very good 1975 Cyberman and a Japanese Jon Pertwee!" Our friend Chris thus immortalized in DWM as such.
Ten Squared
Kevin, violetlane, my GF and I then decided to head down to the IDW Comics booth to say hi to Tony Lee during his signing.
Ten and Four with Tony Lee
We ran into Steven (in civvies) and Dragoniching (as Ten) here and got some pictures.
Four and Ten Soniced Up
We were then told that Leanord Nimoy was signing at the Lightspeed booth. We tried to make our way over there but we missed him by five minutes. Drat. On the way there we also missed Nichelle Nichols signing across the way by seconds. Double drat.
Nichelle was wlaking away from her table when we walked up.
Instead Brent Spiner was there along with some Enterprise actors. Next door to the booth Corin Nemec from Parker Lewis Can't Lose was signing. Corin gave me a perturbed look. Not sure if he didn't like me pointing him out to my GF as Parker Lewis or if he just doens't like Dr. Who. Whatever. I moved on.
I got a call from one of my Browncoat friends that Nathan Fillion would be stopping by their booth for about half an hour unscheduled to do some impromptu signing.
Nathan at the Browncoat booth
We had nothing for him to sign but we stopped by away and managed to get our photos taken with him. My GF was pretty thrilled about that. He was nice enough to let me in twice because my camera messed up the first time. When I walked up for the pic I simply said "Captain" And he nodded back to me, "Doctor." Yep. Fillion knows all about the Doctor Who I'm sure. Or at least he's seen some Tom Baker episodes. :) I'll bet Mal's crossed paths with the Traveling Time Lord out there in the black somewhere.
Happy to meet Castle
"Captain." "Doctor."
Beyond that, it's a bit of a haze. I remember stopping by Jason Palmer's booth to compliment him on his new T-Shirts. Nathan stopped by here too to take a photo wearing one of said shirts at the same time strangely enough!
Nathan modeling a Jason palmer Sereni-tee
I picked up the last of the Dr. Who figures for everyone on the Gallifrey board to bring home and ship out later that week. Again it wasn't that much and the quantity was doable for lugging back home. My GF bought one of the retro Mego style Uhura Star Trek figures.
We stopped for a picture with Doc Brown and Marty McFly though! Thier costumes were great! The ultimate Time travel crossover!!!
Whoa Whoa Doc this is heavy.
As the hall was closing down Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz got a GREAT surprise though. On the way out they stopped by the Trek Fragrance booth and looked at the cool Enterprise bridge backdrop. "Wow" Batfriend said "Who gets to take that thing home?" They looked back and said 'You, if you want it." "Are you serious????"
Turns out, they were serious. It was too big for them to bring back. The backdrop had been mounted onto stiff foam card and couldn't be dismanteld or rolled up easily without pretty much destroying it. So they were planning on junking it! Luckily Batfriend snapped it up and they walked it out of the hall with some help. You can see how happy they are in this pic:
VERY happy campers
It was stored in the loading dock area til they could borrow a truck and pick it up the following week. It now sits in thier home ready for some strange new world exploring. Talk about a score!!
Some final cool Jungle setting/Cave pics of the Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks!
Later I got back to the car, changed into civvies and we wandered the Gaslamp looking for Flynn's arcade which Aubrey (our One from 2008, and Six at Gally 2009) had told me about the night before. Well it took us forever to find it and when we did it was too late- it was closed down and being packed up. We got a few Tron arcade tokens for our trouble. Bummer.
Master Control succeeded after all.
We had a final dinner at the Seaport Village again. We took our time and I was very happy I wasn't driving back in that thick traffic that night. I had a good sandwich and some more ice cream and all was well. Things ran late but we finally said our goodbyes to Batfriend, Ben and Flibbertyjitz and the gang. We ended up going to another hotel in the Hotel Circle area at the last minute in order to save some cash on the normal Hyatt rate and crashed there for the night.
We made the drive back on Monday afternoon after a Corner Bakery lunch and saying goodbye to a few fellow SDCC goers we met in the lobby. Another San Diego Comic Con come and gone! Exhausting but fun as always.
At KTEH the following week
Although the fun wasn't over yet on the Dr. Who front. I'd already cleared things up with KTEH and discovered Vandonovan, Simon and Aubrey were still on board to make a go of being PBS hosts. So I was busy calling in some favors to set up some local video shoot times the following week. This was so we'd be ready to drive up to Northern CA to shoot our marathon segments on Aug. 4th which was a mere 8 days away. This brought it's own set of challenges which I previously posted about on the KTEH site. To see how that all went down please check it out here:
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/08/30/who-fan-tastic/
Part 1 - Making the 45 Years and Beyond Fan Entry
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/09/13/tube-stop/
Part 2 - Submission/choosing process
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/09/23/how-who-are-you-confidential/
Part 3 - Shooting the Marathon segments
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2010/08/12/the-end-of-time/
Part 4 - Final Entry covering Cosplay in general and Who on PBS which we didn't have time to shoot in stuidio.
Shooting the PBS Marathon segments...
See all the KTEH Fan entries in the original Voting post:
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/05/15/time-to-vote/
The finished KTEH marathon segments can still be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZygNEvScI&feature=related
Part 1 - Introduction and Sonic Screwdriver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4DDTD1UOc&feature=channel
Part 2 - Cybermen through the years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZyatCNpMU&feature=channel
Part 3 - New Series and Classic Series Dalek fan builds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hpFc_Ool9M&feature=channel
Part 4 - TARDIS Key and the Gallifrey One Police Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q98nJsXLCY&feature=channel
Part 5 - TVM TARDIS Console and the Vasta Nerada.
The Whole Group!
Til 2010.. err, make that 2011. Whatever. Til next time,
-Honorarydoctor
So after completing my SDCC 2010 report it occurred to me I never did a write up for SDCC 2009. With the help of my '09 photos I'm able to recall most of the events pretty well and seperate it from the '08 and '10 experiences (sometimes these cons start to blur together for ya especially when the same costumes are worn) so I'm making up for it now with this uber-late post. Enjoy the pics.
More info and pics
So SDCC 2009! This was the year I didn't really put together a new costume for con. I debuted my then-new Jo Sharp scarf for my Four costume. Although I discovered later it was too long as the Season 12 pattern and I would have it shortened to a more user-friendly Season 13 pattern the next spring. I added a Tricorder, wig and a pair of Durans custom Trek boots to my Dr. McCoy but that was about it.
The Improved Dr. McCoy
I did however give a big help to my GF who for the first time ever was accompanying me to a Con let alone one as big as SDCC (and in costume no less). I'd invited her often in the past but she always felt it wasn't her scene. I think after seeing the pics of how much fun my friends and I had at previous SDCC's she changed her mind. She really got into it and ended up having a great time.
So here's how it went:
Wednesday:
Another loaded car, another road trip down from the LA area. My GF and I arrived at the Manchester Grand Hyatt around 1PM. This is only 2 blocks further down the same side of the street where the San Diego Convention Center is, and essentially right next door to the Marriot Hotel & Marina which is adjacent to the Convention Center. We were shortly joined by Dori (usually cosplaying UNIT Soldiers throughout the weekend) and our friends Simon and Cliff as our roommates. I'd been warned by others that the rooms here were smaller than the Marriott (and hence not multiple roommate friendly) but I honestly didn't notice. It worked for us. I was happy that we were nice and close!
View from the room
We grabbed lunch with Batfriend and his wife Flibbertyjitz at Dick's Last Resort (something Flibbertyjitz later regretted- the food disagreed with her) and later got our badges for the con. We also got access to Wed Exhibitor Badges so we were able to get in about an hour early.
My GF takes command
Kirk smirk
The Rocketeer Statue just put out by Disney/Electirc Tiki.
It was really NICE to walk the dealer floor with practically no one around. It gave you an opportunity to really appreciate all of the displays. It was a nice way to break my GF into the con.
Nice Replica Prop display of TOS trek Gear...
Now this was the year that in addition to buying Dr. Who figures for folks from UGT (the then new Hartnell, Troughton and Blue Real Time Six figures (with B&W varients) I had also agreed to pick up a couple of items at Mattel, Hasbro and Hallmark. UGH. Never again! Never ever again! *Always* Say Never Again Mr. Bond!
Star Wars Prequel costumes
I passed by the Hallmark booth 10 minutes to opening where only a small line had pre-formed, I thought I'd swing back for the exclusive Star Trek ornament a friend wanted after seeing a little more of the floor. Bad move. By the time I did swing back a mere 25 minutes later, they'd sold out for the day. They neglected to tell me they only sold 100 of them a day.
Making a new friend...
Mattel also wasn't selling to Pro badge holders on Wed night either. Two strikes. The Hasbro line was mammoth and cut off for the night when I got over there too. Three strikes.
The Star Trek fragrance booth
I only managed to get the Who figures secured for the Gallifrey Base members (far less than what I bought this year in 2010 since in 2009 the toys were widely available online the day the con opened as well), an Adam Hughes sketchbook for a friend and the Mindstyle VINCENT robot plastic toy from The Black Hole.
The Rocketeer costume at D23
The Commander Costume at D23
Tron costume at D23
I made special note to check out the D23 Disney Archive booth where they had costumes and props from Tron, The Rocketeer, Sky High and Condorman!
Condorman costume at D23
Condorman props at D23
Really nifty to see the jetback and the Condorman props up close.
"It's a rocket! like in the comic books"
The London Prop booth had one of the original Superman Tunics From Superman II.
Original Superman Tunic
They also had the real miniature models of Maximillian, Bob and Vincent robots from The Black Hole.
Bob
Vincent
Speaking of Superman there was a BEAUTFUL 1/4 scale Christopher Reeve doll on display (and I believe already sold out on the pre-orders today).
Man of Steel
Chris Reeve
Underground Toys has also just unveiled the figures for the Third Doctor with Sea Devil and Third Doctor with Death/Dalek. These would be available for purchase the following month or so.
New Third Doctor galore
Sea Devil Pertwee
Death to the Daleks Pertwee
They would also later unveil the brand spanking new Classic Dalek Set #2 and the Tom Baker/4th Doctor Adventure set with Green Voc Robot, Mummy, and Destiny/Dalek. So I had to snap those up!
I made sure to get a picture of my GF with Snoopy (and pick up some Peanuts exclusive shirts for a friend).
Snoopy!
We also stopped by the AMC Prisoner (2009) Booth and got our "Special Village IDs" made up. They pushed this hard at SDCC with a giant "Rover" balloon floating nearby at the hotel and a bunch of guys dressed in the black white-piped blazers.
Be Seeing You
Nice touch but the classic blazer barely feature din the remake- I guess they felt they had to use the 60's original designs to grab people. If only I'd known how awful this TV remake was going to be or I'd have probably skipped it!
V Recruitment Booth. Got a brochure and badge here.. nicely done...
Later that night we had our annual dinner at Buca Di Beppo early with Batfriend, Alex and a few other friends. The Ravioli was on hand that time around. Though Fibbertyjitz missed out as her stomach hadn't recovered from what she at at Dick's Last Resort.
Thursday:
I got up early and managed to actually get in the Con Hall about half an hour before opening. They usually escort you to the 2nd floor and take you down in groups when they open, but they must not have looked at my badge closely enough. Anyway I managed to get in right when the doors opened and got to an eary enough place in line to pick up the coveted Gold Tunic Uhura Star Trek Hallmark Ornament for a friend.
Some of the Hallmark ornaments I snapped a pic of while waiting in line.
Then I made it over to the Mattel line only to see they'd already cut the line off. Again. Insanity. So I was told to go to the line on the 2nd floor to get a number for this main line downstairs. The same went for Hasbro. Ugh! UGT makes this so easy. I learned the hard way after this year I ain't buying Mattell or Hasbro or Hallmark stuff again. Too much hassle.
I also swung by Adam West's booth on the floor and bought his new DVD Adam West Naked! Where he comments on all 120 episodes of Batman. I would end up swinging back to the table again a little later between line scouting to get it signed as well.
Anyway, back at the room, this was our Star Trek TOS day again. My GF suited up in a Blue TOS Science Officer dress. I'd picked up the braid/patches and got lucky & found a matching plue Poly fabric that matched the blue fabric previously used for the tunics the year before. My GF picked up the wig online as well as the boots which doubled for her Black Canary later on. Flibbertyjitz made the dress (as well as pretty much all of the tunics the year before).
I got into my Dr. McCoy gear and we headed down to meet up with everyone at the Marriott Pool Cave area around Noon.
The Whole Crew..
Just the Red Shirts...
Spock!!!
We made quite a good (and large) group! Batfriend was Kirk again, Chris was Spock, Flibbertyjitz a Red Dress Lt., and our friend Steven as Chekov. Simon, Dan and Cliff were Red Shirts though Dan or Simon were often mistaken for Scotty.
Ready to take on the Romulans
Looking for the Horta...
Chekov looks for Nuclear wessels.
McCoy has a new nurse for the Day
This had been planned as a Star Trek Cosplay meet up actually. Only one or two others actually showed up. I learned later than most Con Attendees aren't familiar with the Marriott Cave area and couldn't find it or mis-assumed it was the front fountain near the driveway. We had picked that spot because a lot of the folks who wanted to go didn't have Thursday badges to get in the Center! (sigh) Well, you live and learn.
Why you cold hearted, green blooded Vulcan!
The Big Three
Regardless,we had a lot of fun grabbing pics in the cave. Singles, groups, the Big Three, red shirts, Dead Red Shirt etc. Eventually we made it to the Con Center wandering the convention floor.
Red Shirt down!
He's Dead Jim!
This was also the year our friend Ben was visiting us from the UK. He'd been a member of the Batman board since he was 13 and wanted to come over for a visit to the US, check out some Bat locations, hang with friends and you know, check out Comic Con. On Thu, he was nice enough to be on camera duty for us.
On the floor - remember where we parked
We wandered the floor and got a lot of compliments. Many fans simply gave us a 'silent' Vulcan hand salute as we passed by.
I think someone commented to Batfriend that our colors weren't screen accurate but very close to the 70's Animated Series. Without blinking, Batfriend replied "Exactly what we were aiming for." Best to not argue with fans like that.
Ahhh on the bridge
We stopped by this booth where they sold Star Trek themed fragrences.
KHaaaaaaaaaaaaan!
Tiberius cologne - the scent of a commanding man.
When your seven year cycle is up, all Vulcans chose Pon farr
Red Shirt because today may be your last....
There was Red Shirt, Pon Farr, Tiberius and Khan. They had a nifty backdrop of the TOS bridge so we took advantge of it and did some 'ad' posing with the various perfumes and colognes.
All the Red Shirts swear by it
Speaking of backdrops- they had a New JJ Abrams Enterprise bridge backdrop at the Paramount Booth (still pushing the '09 reboot film in a big way) where Orion Green Skinned Booth girls in Red Cadet dresses posed with you.
Pondering starfleet command?
We always half debated posing there as a group for cross-universe fun but the line was always just too long to bother with so we never did. Besides we got got pictures on the "right" bridge so who needs the bridge that looks like an an Apple Store?
Happy fan on a bridge
Then we stopped by the Diamond Select booth where they had a Replica Kirk Chair on display along with a bunch of the toys plus a wall of communicators and tricorders.
Captain on the bridge
Just testing out the chair
McCoy gives harsh orders
End of an episode- having a joke shot
We hung around there for a loooong time getting a bunch of pics. They seemed happy to let us stay as long as we wanted as we brought a lot of attention to the booth.
Red Shirts- Lock and Load
Phasers Set on Stun!!
The Group Chair Shot
A lot of people thought we were paid by Diamond to be there in costume to promote the new Tricorders and toys and such.
Captain's log.... Stardate... 2009...
You Klingon bastards! You killed my... Red Shirt!
We then stopped by the Stargate display and got a cross over shot of us 'coming through the gate'!
Star Trek Meets Stargate
Leading the charge
That drew a nice crowd. I made sure to get a Spock/McCoy examination scene. You know, like they would so with the Guardian of Forever right?
Fascinating Readings Doctor...
We passed by what looked like a giant ball of twine near the WB booth. I got a few funny shots of us examining that as well.
I'm a Doctor not a lumberjack!
Spock is wrangled to be a promotional tool for Paramount after all.
We ended up at the Sails Pavailion where we ran into more friends, did a dance for a video...
Show me more of this 20th Century custom thing called dancing
Bones what do you make of this?
Then we posed with some Tribbles, and met a young fan who was eager to show us his Tricorder.
Checking out the little one's tricorder
Funnily enough I was told by Ben later that people thought we GAVE this boy one of our own Tricorders. When Ben heard that he simply nodded to them and "Yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. Aren't they so nice!?"
Wrong Communicator Captain!
Red Shirts aren't safe from Wolverine
That night we got dinner at the Seaport Village which is on the harbor side right behind the Marriott and Hyatt. It's a scenic little area with shops and all kinds of eaterys and it beats the extra walking and crowds in the Gaslamp Quarter. Burgers, seafood, tacos, sandwiches, ice cream, a candy shop etc- there's a lot to choose from. Short of our lunch that day I don't recall going into the Gaslamp much at all for food the entire weekend. This was a frequent mid-day stop for a quick sandwich as well for Simon, Cliff and myself.
Giant Movie TF bumblebee display
One of the main topics of discussion was the then-upcoming KTEH segment hosting. We'd recently won the fan film contest and had been asked to drive up to the SF Bay area to host 6 Dr. Who episodes shown as a marathon. However we couldn't pick the episodes as promised as they were obligated to finish airing Series 2. At the last minute due to a miscommunication we thought they asked us if we could host 9 episodes instead of 6. This meant more time and coming up with three more 'links or skits' of material since they were leaving a lot of actual content up to us. It put a strain on things and as a result Batfriend, Cliff, Chris, Steven and Kevin dropped out of being involved. To be honest for a day or two there, we all thought of dropping out of the project entirely. More on this later.
A Typical Thu night view of the SDCC hotel room at the Hyatt
When we got back to the room, Simon was still trying to work on an Hourman costume for our superhero group Friday. But it was in no shape to be worn. It would go unseen. :( He also showed us his build-in-progress of the giant gun Eccelston used in Dalek. He was building an Air Horn gun into the thing to freak people out. He tested it with us SEVERAL times. Yeah it was LOUD. Luckily we convinced him to hold off on it since it would be sure to be confiscated by SDCC security after he tried it once. Also we needed him as Six, not as Nine. Trust me, it worked out in the end. With that we went to bed, wearing earplugs in case Simon got an itchy trigger finger again...
Friday:
I got up early again and found after much wandering around, the line for the Mattel & Hasbro ticket numbers to get in the downstairs purchase lines. They didn't exactly place a nice sign up for the Mattel line and it took a while to find them. Anyway I got my numbers. Both were for Saturday. It was a step forward but ugh!
Castle Greyskull - part of the main Mattel booth mock-up right across form where they actually sold thier exclusives and drove me crazy.
Back at the room, this was our Classic Super Friends Day. I suited up as the Kirk Alyn Superman (from the 1948 Columbia serial) while my GF got to finally debut her Black Canary costume. We'd bought jacket as a thift buy then had it tailored to the bolero length. She then bought the gloves, teddy, stockings and the boots which had a cuff that flipped down for this costume.
New Black Canary
She made the neck choker from a ribbon and a button found at Jo-Ann. The Canary Wig was styled and bought at Outfitter Wigs again. Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz were dressed as Batman & Wonder Woman with our friend Alex as Robin.
Simon and Cliff went off to enjoy the Con plain clothes that day while we arranged to meet up with Batfriend and co. at the Marriott in thier room. We got some cool shots on thier balcony while there./
Scanning for danger
Looking out for Metropolis
Then we headed down the the Marriott Pool Cave for some more singles and team shots.
Team-Up!
Justice League Unlimited
Heroines
Superman and Batman square off
Ben was dressed in his own 66 Batman costume today to enjoy the con in costume.
Ben struts his bat wings
He hung out with us at the Cave and then split off on his own when we hit the con center. In Ben's absence, Alex's wife Monica was nice enough to be on camera duty for us.
Robin and Superman
World's Finest
We did several rounds on the Convention floor. The kids really took to us especially Wonder Woman and the Black Canary.
Silver Age and Golden Age Superman team up!
Ascending to the Hall of Justice
With her biggest fan
There was one time as we headed up the escalator that a little girl who had been too shy to approach saw us getting away and ran up after us to get a picture with my GF. Black Canary was her favorite!
Eventully we made it to the DC Comics Characters gathering outside Ballroom 20 on the 2nd floor.
Gotta get this story in to Perry and get the scoop on Lois!
Superman meets Supergirl
There was a GREAT Penguin there who really got in character.
There were several other heroes and Villains like Firestorm, The Joker, Harleyquinn, Supergirl, Green Lantern and Catwoman.
I remember really trying out some more Kirk Alyn style poses rather than generic Superman/George Reeves poses. I settled on Kirk's neutral and arms down (yet outward) running-from-a-boulder-about-to-fly pose. It worked well but to hold that pose most of the time... really hurt my back. By the end of the day I was really aching all over and grateful to get back to the room.
We did a final sweep of the Sails Pavilion- really a great place for costumers as it's well lit, a fairly open space (so you don't hold up people traffic much when photographers gather) and it's pretty well ventilated so even hot costumes are tolerable up here. Up here, we swung by Adam West's Signing table and he asked Batfriend if we could come back tomorrow by his booth to help draw people while he signed autographs. How can you refuse the original Batman?! Ben had re-joined us up here and got some pictures with Adam as well.By pure chance a little llater on we had stopped at Adam's booth on the dealer floor as he was leaving. Luckily flibbertyjitz and Batfriend knew a back way out to beat the crowds so we ended escorting Adam out through the loading docks as a team of superheroes. It was surreal. If I recall correctly Batfriend and the rest of the gang got to escort Adam out of the Con Center again the next day while I was off elsewhere as Four.
Heroes with the one and only Adam West
Later that night, after another dinner in the Seaport Village, I tried out the Hyatt Jacuzzi to soothe my back. A wise choice! I only wish I'd spent more time in the whirlpool - but I say that everytime I go out of town. Seriously.
Saturday:
keeping an eye on Davros
Up and at it early again. This time I was denied entry on the ground floor, so waited in line upstairs to get in to try and finally grab these Mattel and Hasbro toys. Mattel has a strict timezone you had to use the ticket. Hasbro though was more loose and was a bit more first come first served. So being impatient, I did a bad thing and I cut the line to get in the doors. One of the security guards actually caught me (I was in costume already and easy to spot) but the guard got distracted with some potential fake badge holders and let me go on. I didn't like doing it but I was on a tight schedule. Anyway I made it to the Hasbro line and after a long wait, finally got what I came for - the 12 inch Baroness GI JOE movie doll for a friend. My ticket for Mattel wasn't good until late afternoon so that would have to wait.
Caught for cutting in line.
Today ended up being 66 Batman day for Batfriend, Alex, Flibbertyjitz, Cliff and my GF. For Simon, Chris and myself it was Dr. Who day.
Chris suited up as Three and Simon as Six. They agreed to meet me at the Sails Pavilion for the Dr. Who Cosplay meet up later on around Noon. I suited up as Four and left early to not only take care of the Hasbro/Mattel thing, but also try and hit the BBC America Booth for the Russell T Davies signing.
RTD arrives and preps for his signing
Turns out they'd already pre-given out all the 70 or so tickets for this signing the day before but I figured it was good to show support. I arrived at the booth and ran into hitshermark who'd made the Burning Giraffe KTEH fan film entry, hystericblue42, TARDIS_Tara (who I swapped some Scarf notes with while we waited), Dori and several others. We got caught on camera while waiting and you can see this bit on the Comic Con featurette on the Dr. Who Specials DVD box set.
Scarf comparisons between mine and Tara's
Anyway, traffic got congested and they moved the line across the hall and asked us to move. In the meantime, I waltzed over to the Holzeimer's booth to get John Barrowman's autograph. Here, I bumped into violetlane and her BF Kevin (dressed as Rose and Ten) and they agreed to snap a picture for me while I got my autograph.
Okay I didn't care so much about the autograph, since I wanted to ask him if he could send us a copy of the picture he took with with our group at the UGT booth in 2008. I had been dressed in the Cyberman outfit, and I had 5 or so Doctors with me. So I paid duly and waited a bit while John talked to a 300 Spartan cosplayer.
Waiting for John
When I got up I asked John about the picture and whether he remembered taking it. "I don't know. I take so many pictures with fans in costume it's hard to keep track" He said. "You take pictures with fans dressed as 70's Cybermen all the time? In America? At Comic Con?" I asked.
Cyberman? 2008? SDCC? Ring any bells?
"Well you know you'll have to try my webmaster we just switched servers and I'll see. It's probably buried on one of my hard drives. I'll have to dig pretty deep... and... long for it." He said staring at me a little too long. Look, I know he was making a joke and playing up the 'flare' in his persona there but ... yeah I wasn't amused. I just batted it off and told him to look for a 1975 Classic Cyberman from Comic Con and that'd be me. Kevin snapped a fresh picture with us and I moved on.
A picture with John Barrowman I got to keep
Incidentally, the Holzeimer's people had been kinda militant about him taking pics with fans the year before, so I was glad they laxed a bit this year. I did also follow up with John's webmaster and never got another response on the 2008 picture. No shocker there. Oh well, I gave it the one last try. Upward and onward.
I don't know about this unit... he's just not K9.
Eventually I met up with Steven again and I loaned him my Seven outfit. He changed in the bathroom and bag checked his clothes. We headed back to the BBC America Booth and RTD was just wrapping up. We asked one of the BBC folks if we could just snap a picture with him and I have a feeling being in costume meant a good PR pic for the website so they agreed. We got our picture on both thier camera and our camera and he told me "You're doing the John Nathan-Turner point thing weren't you?"
Doing the John Nathan-Turner point to RTD
I nodded and he really registered us then and said "Excellent costumes the both of you. Well Done!" Steven talked to him about how he was a big fan and loved the show. Then I shook RTD's hand and told him the one thing I was eternally grateful for. "Thank you for bringing the show back. It means a lot to me that new fans get to discover it today." He smiled, patted me on the back and we were off.
We just made it in time for the Dr. Who cosplay meet in the Sails Pavilion. Chris and Simon met up with us there as planned.
The Gallifrey Family Album
We ran into estelofmederis, scifichix, my friend Ramie and many others. We had a nice turnout and took a number of fun photos. Here's a nice smattering of them below:
Ooo. The Borg- any relation to the Cybermen?
Jack and Seven face off
Torchwood
Jack and Ianto share a moment
Seven still keeps his ground with Jack
Afterwards we wandered the convnetion floor and pretty much ended up with a small group of Four, Seven, Three, Six along with a Turn Left Donna Noble.
Doctors in Wonderland
We stopped by the BBC America booth and then the UGT booth to pose with our new respective toys.
At the BBC America Booth
Three approves his likeness
Three stood with the then-protoypes of the Pertwee figures, Six with the Blue Real Time exclusive and myself with the Four Adventure set!
Four looks forward to having some adventures with his adventure set.
Of course a nice bonus to this SDCC is that Colin Baker was there and signing autographs at the Alien Entertainment/DoctorWhoStore.com booth not too far from the UGT booth. I'd spotted him on Thurs in Star Trek costume and pointed him out to my GF and waved at him. He had waved back though with a puzzled look at the time. Guess not many people in Star Trek costumes approach him. :)
Simon looks forward to meeting Colin baker
Doctors on the outs while Donna flirts.
Anyway as soon as we walked up, he got up from around his table and greeted us. He mentioned how Simon had "good taste for dressing as number Six", and then he spotted Steven as Seven and he rolled his eyes and put his hand out to him to wave him off. "Not you again!"
Too many Doctors!
He commented "Did you cast for these costumes? Your friend has the right height. He's as tall as Pertwee!" We got some group pictures. Then he turned and eyed up my Six outfit Simon was wearing. He approved of the trousers, necktie, shirt, vest and spats. He immediatly knew most of it was Cloth Ears made."They are bloody good aren't they?" he said. Simon and I nodded. He noted the coat wasn't quite right (an understatement with the Honest Dragon coat to be sure) but "it's the kind of thing my Doctor would have worn" Then he noted the wig and said "That hair's a bit ridiculous though, but then again I suppose mine was too back then!"
Doctor and Companion crossing eras.
Actually Simon kept trying to direct Colin my way to answer specifics on the costume but Colin kept eyes on Simon the whole time. So he ended up mostly nodding and mummuring 'yes' to his questions. It was actually pretty funny. He asked if the shoes were Kickers like his originals. I said no, but I saw a pair that was part of the recent Bonhams auction. He asked how much his costume went for and I told him. I found out later he'd only just privately sold some of his personal costume items and he probably wanted to see how his outfit fared on open auction in comparison.
Six and... Six?
Anyway, Colin seemed pleased to be posing with another Six though and he got several photos with Simon who is a big Colin Baker Fan and seemed pretty happy about it! See, I told you it worked out for him.
Happy Camper Simon
We moved on and had fun getting our own Who crossover shots at the StarGate (and meeting another TOS Klingon!).
The Doctor subdues a Klingon with a deadly jelly baby
a Literal TimeGate?
StarGate marines got ample warning from UNIT on this Doctor...
We also stopped by the Diamond Booth and got a number of The Doctor at Kirk's Chair shots. I mean come on a Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover is inevitable isn't it?
Six is right at home on the Enterprise.
Ahhhh Space... the final frontier?
Three needs to test out the gadgets as usual
We tried to stop by the WETA booth again but they had none of their Dr. Who items on display this year (that we could see anyway) so we moved on.
What? What? What????
Six beats Three and Four to the Chair.
So they decide to play Contact to see who gets it next.
Our final dealer floor stop was at the Star Trek 'bridge' backdrop with the TOS fragrances.
The TARDIS aims for a Dalek ship and lands on the Enterprise instead.
Then we lost our Seven and Donna as they had to meet up with others. We then made our way to the Sails Pavilion to say hi to Batfriend and the gang. My GF was wearing the 60's Batgirl costume Batfriend had loaned her for this outing.
Doctors and Superheroes with Lois Lane
Cat Noogie for Batgirl!
As promised they were standing by Adam's autograph table attracting fans to the area and interacting with other fans & cosplayers.
Adam and the Bat Crew
The Girls get a new fan
Batman & Robin meet The Green Hornet & Kato
We got a few shots with them and then had a cool moment when we were approached by none other than Margot Kidder for a photo. She'd been wandering the floor, had taken a picture of us and then had returned a few minutes later now to get a picture WITH us. "Lois Lane!" I exclaimed in my best Tom Baker. "Can I get a photo?" She asked.
Lois Lane and Doctor Who
'Wonderful scarf! You make a great Doctor. I used to live in England and I would watch the show all the time!" (I imagine while she was shooting Superman I and II!) We took some pictures. She didn't reconize the Third or Sixth Doctor so I imagine Tom was the only one she saw.
Margot Kidder appreciates the scarf.
I offered her a jelly baby and she happily took a couple. "Jelly babies! I haven't had these in years! Thanks!" As she walked away with her friend she called out "I LOVE Doctor Who!" It was a surreal moment to be sure.
I love Doctor Who!
My final chore before we left was to make good on the Mattel line for the Ghostbusters Egon Spangler Exclusive figure, plus the Wonder Twins Superfriends and He-Man exclusives I promised a forum member. Well I got the Ghostbusters and Super Friends figures but they sold out of the He-Man book/figure completely along with the exclusive Gleek too. Argh.
Ascending to meet the High Council.. or enter an Omega Trap...
Well I was done. I got what I could. I'd refund the extra cash on Monday. Mattel and Hasbro are just not worth the trouble. Arghy Blargh. NEVER AGAIN. I'm so glad I normally skip exclusives. What I usually buy is at UGT where it's SO much easier to deal with it... sigh. I guess Who fans are spoiled there.
In the Land of Fiction????
Cliff as Green Hornet next to the then-freshly debuted Black Beauty from the 2010 movie.
On location.
We left the area shortly after to regroup at Batfriend's hotel room in the Marriott next door. I changed form Four into my Cyberman costume with help from Chris and Flibbertyjitz. My GF and Cliff got back shortly after and they changed into the Eight and Ace costumes (borrowed from Scifichix) respectively.
I was told this little boy was AWESTRUCK by seeing a real Cyberman.
Fans with Sonics and the Doctors
We were trying to get to the 2nd Who cosplay meet-up on the 2nd Floor at 6PM but it just took too long to get me into the Cyberman outfit. Plus I move terribly slow in it.
This guy was making it look like he'd stuck a truce between friend and foe.
Eight and Three having some bonding time over velvet.
So, we ran almost an hour late. Sure enough no one was there, and I never saw any pics surface from this 2nd meet-up so I assume to this day that it was a bust.
Ace ready to throw down with some Nitro-9
We turned around and headed to the BBC America Planet of the Dead screening at the other end of the floor. Now I can't walk that fast as the Cyberman and we were stopped for photos a lot along the way. I was doing my best to keep up a good pace (and I think I walked by some people wanting a photo along the way- but I can never be sure with the bad hearing and visibility I have in the outfit).
Six just chillin with the Mondas crowd.
We made it to Ballroom 20 where we ran into Batfriend as The Phantom and Flibbertyjitz as Jill Kismit.
The Phantom and Jill Kismit
We also ran into Donna Noble again and she led me to the screening area as I was losing visibility in the helmet by this point.
Being led by Donna to the screening
Wonder Twin powers activate!
When we got to the screening area we waited by the door rather then in line to accomodate people wanting pictures. Someone asked for Ace to attack me, but since we didn't have any Silver Nemesis sling shots or gold coins, the old baseball bat would just have to do.
Silver Nemesis part Deux
Once the line was in, we entered last and stood at the back of the room. We kept getting asked to take a seat but we had to insist we stand since I couldn't sit (without tearing up the knee joints) in my costume and honestly sitting for 2 hours watching Dr. Who through that helmet didn't appeal to me.
Hai!
You can see a small video of us at the panel here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnGkWPwJBaU
Click to viewWe drew a lot of attention. One guy told my GF as Ace "You know you should never be more attrative than the character you portray." She wasn't sure whether to take that as backhanded criticism or a geek attempt to flirt. Before we knew it, the lights dimmed and RTD and David Tennant were on stage introducing the episode. Tennant got a lot of cheers and he went on saying how he thought Comic Con was Awesome and he liked America becase we say words like "Awesome." He made a point of saying how this was the legal" premiere of Planet of the Dead and how none of us should have seen this yet... riiight? Then John Barrowman came on to intoduce Children of Earth part 5. He and Tennant ended up sharing an onstage kiss on the fly which left John 'woozy' in the knees. Pics of that can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/monette39/3766464318/
Video of Tennant, RTD and Barrowman at the screening intro here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXzQfVX4Gvo
(Thanks to hystericblue42 for posting this)
Wondering what happened to Seven
Certainly got a crowd pleasing reaction. After that RTD, Tennant and Barrowman left the room out the back and they started the show. With that, we left too.
Silk Spectre stops by
The Phatom faces off with Bumblebee
Now I tried to make my way to the Photo Masque stage to get shots in my Cyberman outfit but they'd shut down the Sails Pavilion for some reason so you couldn't cross over. I know they set it up for the Masque overflow but to not allow any traffic to cross was pretty strange. They were really rude to me and practically almost shoved me over in the outfit to keep me from crossing the room. That um.. disgruntled me a bit so I thought 'Screw it. This isn't worth it. I'm hot and tired I'm just going back to the room instead to change.' So I led the charge with Chris, Simon, Cliff and my GF and we trudged back to Batfriend's hotel. Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz did make it to the Masque Photo stage though:
As we crossed the lobby of the Marriott, I was suddenly stopped by Chris who had to run up and catch up to me. "Bob, do you know who you just passed?" "Noooooo" I replied. At this point objects and people were just grey blobs to me inside the helmet. "David Tennant and RTD are standing over there near reception talking to some guys" Chris said. "Point me." I asked. He did. I walked forward but I saw... well a LOT of blobby people. I had no idea who was who. I leaned to my GF who was helping to point me by this stage, "Get out your camera." And then I leaned to Chris "I'm too slow and they won't hear me well, you need to walk over there and ask if we can get a group photo before they leave."
Despite what you might think from his cosplay photos, Chris is somewhat shy and not very forward. He hemmed and hawed at the prospect. Plus he was having trouble flagging Simon and Cliff back to us who were now further away down the hall. During the crucial minute or two it took for me to convince Chris to be our front man, Tennant, RTD and co were leaving. I followed to try and catch them at the door but I was just too slow. (The Cybermen have no chance of conquering the universe I tell ya).
Too blind to see RTD and too slow to catch Tennant.
So... we missed them. I mean they totally saw US. I was told RTD was pointing and smiling at all of us and Tennant locked eyes on Cliff and Simon like a weird recognizable Doctor-to-Doctor moment. However... knowing RTD and Tennant are fans themselves yet didn't motion to us at all to come over, and the fact they were in a big group of guys in suits... it put out the vibe they were probably doing real business and it was just the wrong time. At least this was the read Chris and Simon had on the situation at the time and why they hesitated so much in approach. Of course I didn't know that then, they told me this much later. It was a bummer.
The Phone is for you Leader...
Incidentally I had heard stories of other Who fans who ended up seeing Tennant or RTD in the Marriott restaurant or bar and even got to spend a little time with them. Batfriend even told me that on Friday he'd been going down the elevator (in civvies) and standing next to him was RTD who looked frazzled and he asked him "So, How are you holding up?" Thing was, Batfriend recognized that he should KNOW this guy... but he couldn't place him... until he saw my pic with him later on and I pointed him out. It was the headslap moment of the weekend.
Anyway, when we got back and I changed out of the Cyberman costume, I was pretty wiped out and laid down for bit. Right then Steven texted me that he'd just bumped into Tennant outside on the street and got a picture with him. He was raving about how cool he was to take real time to chat with him. I was jealous but then I burst out laughing. It was a crafted sitcom moment. It really was.
By now Batfriend and flibertyjitz had returned, we'd all changed into our civvies and we headed down to the Seaport Village again. I was pretty brian dead, only revived by Ben when discussing John Barrowman's noteriety in England for his flamboyance (G to the power of G Ben! It's still in my personal phrase book to this day.) and the infamous 'Hand' fake-out non-regeneration in Journey's End. I mean... shooting regeneration energy into his HAND? Really? I mean talk about a cop-out. Leave it to Batfriend and Ben to make me feel not so bad about missing out on the photo-op earlier.
And then I got some ice cream and all was well.
Sunday:
The last day of the con was a little more low-key. I woke up super super still-dark-out early due to a headache. After some aspirin, I used the time to load up the car and beat the rush. As we finished Checking Out, the mad Sunday exodus rush was starting. Glad to have skipped that and gotten out while the elevators were still fairly timely.
Dori, Simon and Cliff said thier goodbyes and headed out around 9AM. Simon and Cliff were leaving for LA and skipping the last day to beat the traffic.
My GF decided to stay out of costume to enjoy the con itself since it was her first SDCC. I had re-suited up as the 4th Doctor by this point. Batfriend and flibbertyjitz decided to redo The Phantom and Wonder Woman and headed off on thier own.
Vigilante, Dr. Strange and Kato stop by to join in
Special mention for this Phantom costume though. The tights and tunic were lucky finds at It's a Wrap which were screen used stunt tights from the 1996 movie. Batfriend bought the rings on ebay, and made the gun belt/holsters, re-made the buckle in resin using one bought from ebay as a guide, and made the neoprene mask/cowl. (The boots were recylced from the Kirk costume)
Flibbertyjitz made the trunks and Batfriend then hand painted/drew the designs on them both to match the tights based on the best photos and screengrabs he could find. For all the effort it turned out rather stunning!
Back to Sunday: The main point on the agenda for Sunday was the BBC America Doctor Who panel in Ballroom 20 at 10AM. Despite not lining up at 5AM, we got decent seats in the back. A lot of people seemed happy to see a classic Doctor in line while we walked in. The panel was a lot of fun. David Tennant was in good form as was RTD, Julie Gardner and Euros Lyn.
The Who Panl on Sunday our POV
They played the trailer to the End of Time which got everyone excited. David asked to see it again and they played it twice. David told everyone to not mind the cameras on the stage because they were filming for the DVD boxset. "So this is like a LIVE DVD Extra!"
Tennant arrives
They took a Q&A and the questions ranged from the thoughtful to the... um lame. But that's par for the course at these things. I remember someone asking if David or RTD would ever appear at Gallifrey One and David stayed quiet while RTD said they were aware of Gallifrey One and had no plans for the time being to attend but hoped to eventually in the future. Odd, but there you have it. They asked if they felt there was any difference between old and New Who. David and RTD pretty much said beyond it being updated "it's the same show. The same spirit."
Q & A
When asked who thier favorite Doctor was David said "I'd like to take a line from The Brigadier who said "Wonderful chaps. All of them." The last question was from an 11 year old girl who asked if David went into teaching what subject would he teach? "Oh you leave the hard ones for last don't you?" He admitted English was his favorite subject and that's what he'd teach. He ran up and they got a picture of him with the crowd behind him rock star style at the very end. Fun panel. You can see highlights from it on the Comic Con featurette on the Doctor Who Special Box Set.
or see the panel again here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0nQmwwKmLE&feature=related
(Part 1 of 6 - remaining 5 parts side-barred on youtube)
Live DVD Extra!
Afterwards we bumped into violetlane and Kevin as Rose and Ten. We took a number of pictures with fans outside the Ballroom post Who-Panel. Like previous years I pretty much handed out all of my Jelly Babies til I was totally empty. We then decided to head over the post panel signing in the Sails Pavilion and no, Tennant was NOT signing. I can't imagine the insane line of fans if he did! I actually didn't have have a ticket for this as I'd missed out the previous day, but TARDIS_tara came through for me and hooked me up with one. Because we had a smidge of time before it started, I just had time to run back to my car and get my Doctor Who Series 1 Shooting Script Book I'd brought just in case.
RTD Signs Part Deux
I made it back in time when the line was properly moving and violetlane had been nice enough to save a spot for me as well as take these pics when I got the book signed. Julie Gardner was complimentary to my costume and they all collectively gave an 'Awwww' when they read Phil Collinson had signed the book for me already at the previous Gallifrey con.
Talking Cyber Costumes
I mentioned to RTD I was the guy in the Cyberman outfit. He lit up "That was you! Bloody marvelous Cyberman outfit. Top rate!" he signed my book and I moved along. I later learned that he name checked the costume in his recap of Comic Con in DWM the following month. He said something about there being (among others) "a very good 1975 Cyberman and a Japanese Jon Pertwee!" Our friend Chris thus immortalized in DWM as such.
Ten Squared
Kevin, violetlane, my GF and I then decided to head down to the IDW Comics booth to say hi to Tony Lee during his signing.
Ten and Four with Tony Lee
We ran into Steven (in civvies) and Dragoniching (as Ten) here and got some pictures.
Four and Ten Soniced Up
We were then told that Leanord Nimoy was signing at the Lightspeed booth. We tried to make our way over there but we missed him by five minutes. Drat. On the way there we also missed Nichelle Nichols signing across the way by seconds. Double drat.
Nichelle was wlaking away from her table when we walked up.
Instead Brent Spiner was there along with some Enterprise actors. Next door to the booth Corin Nemec from Parker Lewis Can't Lose was signing. Corin gave me a perturbed look. Not sure if he didn't like me pointing him out to my GF as Parker Lewis or if he just doens't like Dr. Who. Whatever. I moved on.
I got a call from one of my Browncoat friends that Nathan Fillion would be stopping by their booth for about half an hour unscheduled to do some impromptu signing.
Nathan at the Browncoat booth
We had nothing for him to sign but we stopped by away and managed to get our photos taken with him. My GF was pretty thrilled about that. He was nice enough to let me in twice because my camera messed up the first time. When I walked up for the pic I simply said "Captain" And he nodded back to me, "Doctor." Yep. Fillion knows all about the Doctor Who I'm sure. Or at least he's seen some Tom Baker episodes. :) I'll bet Mal's crossed paths with the Traveling Time Lord out there in the black somewhere.
Happy to meet Castle
"Captain." "Doctor."
Beyond that, it's a bit of a haze. I remember stopping by Jason Palmer's booth to compliment him on his new T-Shirts. Nathan stopped by here too to take a photo wearing one of said shirts at the same time strangely enough!
Nathan modeling a Jason palmer Sereni-tee
I picked up the last of the Dr. Who figures for everyone on the Gallifrey board to bring home and ship out later that week. Again it wasn't that much and the quantity was doable for lugging back home. My GF bought one of the retro Mego style Uhura Star Trek figures.
We stopped for a picture with Doc Brown and Marty McFly though! Thier costumes were great! The ultimate Time travel crossover!!!
Whoa Whoa Doc this is heavy.
As the hall was closing down Batfriend and Flibbertyjitz got a GREAT surprise though. On the way out they stopped by the Trek Fragrance booth and looked at the cool Enterprise bridge backdrop. "Wow" Batfriend said "Who gets to take that thing home?" They looked back and said 'You, if you want it." "Are you serious????"
Turns out, they were serious. It was too big for them to bring back. The backdrop had been mounted onto stiff foam card and couldn't be dismanteld or rolled up easily without pretty much destroying it. So they were planning on junking it! Luckily Batfriend snapped it up and they walked it out of the hall with some help. You can see how happy they are in this pic:
VERY happy campers
It was stored in the loading dock area til they could borrow a truck and pick it up the following week. It now sits in thier home ready for some strange new world exploring. Talk about a score!!
Some final cool Jungle setting/Cave pics of the Phantom, the Ghost Who Walks!
Later I got back to the car, changed into civvies and we wandered the Gaslamp looking for Flynn's arcade which Aubrey (our One from 2008, and Six at Gally 2009) had told me about the night before. Well it took us forever to find it and when we did it was too late- it was closed down and being packed up. We got a few Tron arcade tokens for our trouble. Bummer.
Master Control succeeded after all.
We had a final dinner at the Seaport Village again. We took our time and I was very happy I wasn't driving back in that thick traffic that night. I had a good sandwich and some more ice cream and all was well. Things ran late but we finally said our goodbyes to Batfriend, Ben and Flibbertyjitz and the gang. We ended up going to another hotel in the Hotel Circle area at the last minute in order to save some cash on the normal Hyatt rate and crashed there for the night.
We made the drive back on Monday afternoon after a Corner Bakery lunch and saying goodbye to a few fellow SDCC goers we met in the lobby. Another San Diego Comic Con come and gone! Exhausting but fun as always.
At KTEH the following week
Although the fun wasn't over yet on the Dr. Who front. I'd already cleared things up with KTEH and discovered Vandonovan, Simon and Aubrey were still on board to make a go of being PBS hosts. So I was busy calling in some favors to set up some local video shoot times the following week. This was so we'd be ready to drive up to Northern CA to shoot our marathon segments on Aug. 4th which was a mere 8 days away. This brought it's own set of challenges which I previously posted about on the KTEH site. To see how that all went down please check it out here:
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/08/30/who-fan-tastic/
Part 1 - Making the 45 Years and Beyond Fan Entry
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/09/13/tube-stop/
Part 2 - Submission/choosing process
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/09/23/how-who-are-you-confidential/
Part 3 - Shooting the Marathon segments
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2010/08/12/the-end-of-time/
Part 4 - Final Entry covering Cosplay in general and Who on PBS which we didn't have time to shoot in stuidio.
Shooting the PBS Marathon segments...
See all the KTEH Fan entries in the original Voting post:
http://blogs.kteh.org/doctorwho/2009/05/15/time-to-vote/
The finished KTEH marathon segments can still be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvZygNEvScI&feature=related
Part 1 - Introduction and Sonic Screwdriver
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4DDTD1UOc&feature=channel
Part 2 - Cybermen through the years
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiZyatCNpMU&feature=channel
Part 3 - New Series and Classic Series Dalek fan builds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hpFc_Ool9M&feature=channel
Part 4 - TARDIS Key and the Gallifrey One Police Box
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Q98nJsXLCY&feature=channel
Part 5 - TVM TARDIS Console and the Vasta Nerada.
The Whole Group!
Til 2010.. err, make that 2011. Whatever. Til next time,
-Honorarydoctor