An unconventional weekend.

WARNING: THIS BLOG ENTRY IS 1600 WORDS. IT'S BRILLIANT BUT DON'T MOAN THAT IT'S TOO LONG - JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY IT. IF YOU ARE PART OF THE MTV GENERATION AND HAVE A TEN SECOND ATTENTION SPAN THEN READ IT IN TWO SITTINGS.

This is the blog entry you have all been waiting for! Namely my attendance at my first ever Doctor Who convention (‘Gallifrey 20’ at the LA Marriot 13-15 February). I may be a big fan of the ‘Who’ but I have never done this type of thing before (honest!). In the past I have been happy just talking about the show to those interested (or in some cases to those patently not interested). I don’t even go to interweb forums as these online types suck all the joy away from a program. My fandom has been limited to watching the show, buying DVDs & magazines - and that is it. Though thinking about it I do have some of the toys including a big old remote controlled Dalek. But that is it– Promise!

So what made me go to this convention? The first factor was the location. It was in LA (like me) and that meant American fans. They are a different breed to the cynical nerd in the UK. They like to dress up as Cybermen and to celebrate the show. I imagine people in blighty go to these things to moan that the program isn’t as good as it was in the old days. I heard conventions in the US were more of a joyous celebration and this convention was the daddy. It had been going twenty years and if you are going to lose your virginity this was the place to do it.

There was also some great guests including the sixth Doctor, my favourite assistant Perpugilliam ‘Peri’ Brown, Phil Collinson (producer from 05-08) and loads of the writers. Over the three days there was everything from panels debating aspects of the show to big Q&A sessions with the guests. One of my favorite things was watching the writers do live commentaries over the episodes they have written. The best bit for me was the dealer’s room that had every bit of Doctor Who merchandise ever made. I only spent a hundred dollars or so (or so I told Emma). I could have spent so much more…

I arrived on the Friday for the start of it and met up with my friend Jeremy. This was his third time in LA in eight months (I think he enjoys it here) and he likes his Doctor Who. In fact during the wilderness years when it wasn’t being made he watched it every weekend on UK Gold. He stuck with Who, whereas I left it behind as a relic from yesteryear. I was fourteen when Doctor Who got axed and I quickly forgot my favorite show.

Actually this will be a good point to quickly talk about why I became a Doctor Who fan. I would like to point out that I am no sci-fi dude. I find most of it pretty boring and a bit tedious if truth be told. The great thing about Doctor Who is that it isn’t sci-fi, it can be whatever it wants to be. What other show can do that? One week it is a historical drama and the next week it can be a murder mystery romp. The minute it becomes Battlestar Voyager III or whatever then I’m off.

As a child it was one of my favourite programs. I remember when I was six years old and watching Tom Baker turn into Peter Davison. I thought it was the greatest thing I had ever seen in my life. How bonkers was it that a man had turned into another man? At one point soon afterwards my mum almost stopped me watching it as it gave the seven year old Marc too many nightmares. I remember crying when I first saw Davros (the Dalek leader). I think I was quite a sensitive child.

Luckily my Grandparents ignored the potential ban and I remember settling down with them in 1983 to watch the 20th Anniversary special ‘The Five Doctors’. I think it was one of the best nights of my life dear reader. My granddad had bought me a history of Doctor Who book some months earlier and I read it nearly every day. It had stories of three other Doctors I had never seen before and I really wanted to ‘meet’ them. I saw a trailer and in this special all the Doctors were coming together for a big old adventure. I could have wet myself with excitement.

I remember that it went out on a Friday night during ‘Children In Need’. It was a ninety minute special and the TV event of the year! I sat in-between my Grandparents so I wouldn’t get scared with my book in hand to work out who was indeed who. I was so spellbound and enthralled that I didn’t even eat the sweets they had got me. I think from this moment not only did I properly fall in love with Doctor Who but it was then I decided that television was the greatest thing in the world. I knew I wanted to work in TV and I knew this was the greatest program ever made. And my mum let me carry on watching as the nightmares stopped.

Doctor Who gave me seven years of great enjoyment and I watched any new episode or repeat avidly. Then ‘Who’ was axed in 1989! If I’m honest this didn’t bother me that much. Some of the stories had become tired and I was now in my teenage years. I stopped buying comics and I found rock n’ roll. Football and music (not quite girls yet!) were my two main passions and poor old Doctor Who was cast aside.

When the series returned in 2005 I was a man in his late twenties and I was ready for Doctor Who again. I had grown up and what do men do once they have finished growing? They go back to being children! I remember being at a work conference in Birmingham and I saw a big billboard for the new series. It got my interest right away. I said to my colleague Rebecca “Look Doctor Who is coming back”. She couldn’t have looked less interested if I had told her I had a collection of apple cores to show her.

I, though, spent the rest of the day thinking back to those childhood memories and I got really excited about the new series. I thought it would probably be rubbish as comebacks normally are. I was so wrong though, it had Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor and it was written by Russell T. Davies! I watched the first episode and I was blown away all over again. It was amazing and for the first time in ages television seemed alive. It is now the top rated drama in the UK, the kids adore it and it is a huge success story. How brilliant is that? People said family viewing in the UK was dead. Doctor Who proved every TV expert wrong and ten million people each week in the UK tune-in for some proper entertainment.

I was so taken with the new season that I got back into the old episodes that I enjoyed as a kid. I have taken to buying every old story on dvd and they haven’t aged at all. Some fools say “Aren’t the special effects rubbish?”. I can’t say that I notice! If your soul is so empty and joyless that you need special effects to make a story watchable then I feel sorry for you. The stories are still brilliant, the acting still superb and the show is still a joy. It’s also a myth the show had wobbly sets. It has been proven that in twenty seven years there are only two examples of any set wobbles that total eleven seconds.

So that is why I am a fan again. And that is a good time to revert back to my conference story. Like I said I met up with Jeremy and we checked ourselves in to the proceedings. We then went to our first panel which was a discussion on the spin off show ‘The Sarah Jane Adventures’. And guess what? I was on this panel! I had kindly been offered the chance to be part of a panel discussing this ace show (due to me being a TV guru). It was my first convention and there I was up first. Luckily it was in one of the smaller rooms and you can even see some nuggets of it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLAfOZYhe7A&feature=channel_page

Now, it looks like nobody is in the room here as the front row was empty. I can assure you that there were hundreds hanging on to my every word. Actually that is a lie. I reckon there was a hundred max and the room was half full. It actually went really well and I got lots of nice comments and praise afterwards. I was delighted to do it. The clips here don’t do some of my ramblings justice.

From that point on the convention was just ace and throughout the three days the time just vanished. There were a few strange people but everyone was very friendly. That’s what matters I reckon. And I never knew Doctor Who had such a lot of lesbian fans. There were a few fair purveyors of lady love wondering around dressed as David Tennant or Captain Jack.

Speaking of Captain Jack there were loads of Torchwood fans there too. Torchwood is bigger than Who over here, and it’s actually the highest rated show ever on BBC America and beats series like Battlestar Gallatica in the ratings. Teenage girls seem to like it and there was a fair few of them here. During a Q&A with a couple of the stars, girls started screaming and whooping. It was most strange.

There was also a costume cabaret that was brilliant fun. This is a sketch I found on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2qSdwijtd0

Here is a dalek:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9yXMMXly2Q

After three days of ‘Who’ action it all ended on the Sunday with Phil Collinson doing a live commentary to ‘Journey’s End’ (the last episode he produced). It was one of the best hours I had ever spent in my life. I was enthralled hearing all the behind the scenes gossip. I was really sad the whole thing had come to an end.

Marc x

P.S. I’m not sure I would do it ever again. As I said earlier it wouldn’t be the same back home. But I have just heard that Peter Davison (my favorite Doctor) is booked for next year. Perhaps a trip back to LA could be in order after all?