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Greetings!

Here are a few of my favorite things: Nintendo, Penny Arcade, The Legend of Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Fallout, Dungeons and Dragons, books, dice, Professor Layton, Shadow of the Colossus, Minecraft, and so much more. I'm going to talk a lot about video games, I sincerely hope you don't mind.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Gallifrey One - 23rd annual Doctor Who convention! Part two.

Welcome to the second part, feel free to dive in! If you haven't read part one, then do that first!

Rachel was really jazzed when we saw a lady in full steam punk attire who happened to have a floating shark balloon with her. I was perplexed, but she explained that it was something from the show. This most excellent lady had grammar ribbons (the 'bad grammar makes me [sic]' one in the ribbon photo from yesterday, which she handed out to individuals who told her their largest grammar pet peeves) and she also had pink pie ribbons for those who could sing the ending song to Portal.

Rachel, the shark lady, and the ribbon that she received as a reward.

One of the hallways contained a giant shopping room, and my goodness I had no idea there was so much Doctor Who merchandise!! Rachel freaked out and exclaimed, "I'm going to buy all the things!" and we waited impatiently for it to be open to the attendees at noon.

The tiniest of samplings of the items available for purchase.

Carpet bags!!! I was so incredibly impressed because I had never seen any in real life! They were made of all different Doctor Who style fabrics. Another vendor was selling a large variety of pins, charms and necklace pendants. Rachel bought a few for herself.


Does everyone love Tribbles?

I was quite taken with the Tribbles claw machine! It wasn't in commission, but it did hold a sizable number of Tribbles. There were all manner of sizes for sale, and the larger ones vibrated when you touched them! I wanted to get one for myself, but I haven't seen that Star Trek episode yet. >.> It's on my list, don't worry!

We consulted our programs to find out which panels sounded most interesting and ended up attending a Cosplay 101 and an Introduction to Old Who session. Between the two of them we watched the Father's Day episode of Doctor Who and my gawd it was so hard not to cry.

Rachel making notes on which panels sounded
most interesting.

The Cosplay 101 was neat and offered a lot of useful information for people new to the scene. I walked away with some helpful internet resources, which is great because I've had a few projects on my mind recently! The panel on the old Who episodes was really interesting because they talked up the value of the old episodes that many "new" fans tend to dismiss (apparently, this was what I was told at the panel). 

Many of the speakers were very touchy on the subject of the differentiation between "old Who" and "new Who", and they discussed the fact that it's all one show, all one entity, just with a twenty-some year break in between seasons. It seems that it's difficult to discuss which era you're talking about without saying old or new though, unless of course you say which Doctor you're watching.

It's all very new to me, but one thing I know for sure is that it's all one show, and watching the earlier seasons is important because it adds more weight and entertainment to the newer seasons. At this point I wonder if I should cease with the 9th Doctor and start with the first one, but seeing as I'm not used to watching anything produced in the '60s, it's probably best that I foster the Who-nger (Who hunger, get it?) with the recent seasons since they'll be presented in a filming format that I'm more familiar with.

Either way I'm anxious to watch the earlier seasons as well.

Come back tomorrow for the final wrap up! :D

-MJ

10 comments:

This is the most pictures I've had of me on the internet for years. *grins*

Here is a video for you (re: Sherlock): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRdr9kmeryc

Oh I would carry on with the Ninth Doctor. The 60s episodes are quite dull in comparison. Once you've watched loads of New Who and want more, then it's worth thinking about going back to the old days. I'm at the weird stage where I've seen all of the First, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh doctor stories and about 2/3's of the Second Doctor's. There are so, so, so many episodes to watch!

Oh my gosh that video. THAT VIDEO. *crying*

I'll definitely being carrying on with the 9th, he's my first and is also most accessible :D It'll be interesting when I start in with the older stuff!

Hope we didn't confuse on that "Introducing new fans" panel!!!

After 9-11, I'd start with 4 (the first real "cult" Who), then 5, then back to 3 and 2. 4 is like coming home after watching 10 and 11--they have soooooo much in common.

We had a great time too--so many fans, so much fun!

Best,
Lime

No confusion, no! Mostly it convinced me that I have to watch the earlier seasons :D Thanks so much for the ordering advice :)

I say definitely stick with it till you're caught up with the "post-Hiatus" (9th thru 11th Doctors) stuff. Once you're so hooked there's no going back (which is what happened to me, and how I ended up on that panel), then you'll probably be more willing to forgive the production differences that come with a 40-50 year gap. :) Let us know if you want further recommendations (or a repeat, if you can't remember from the panel) of specific stories to look into! :D

My largest concern is that I'll be too put off by the production differences. I have watched very few movies and/or TV shows that were produced in the 60s and 70s, but with Doctor Who I am determined to give it a shot. I was already planning on watching pre-hiatus Who, but your panel really drove it home!

I definitely wouldn't object to a refresher over specific stories to look into! That would be so great :D

Well, like I said on the panel, I find the black & white stuff (especially Hartnell) works better if you think of it as live theater. :) Here are some of my recommendations, Doctor by Doctor, in order of transmission:

* An Unearthly Child (first 1/2 hr episode only) - Hartnell
* The Aztecs - Hartnell
* The Tomb of the Cybermen - Troughton
(This is the one I started to comment on about being a bit racist. I was able to ignore that by thinking of it in the cultural context of the time.)
* Inferno - Pertwee
* The Talons of Weng-Chiang - T.Baker
(This is another one that's pretty badly racist, but again - a bit of a product of its time. Ignore the fact that it's a white man playing the lead Asian role, and take the rest for what it is, and it's great fun.)
* City of Death - T.Baker
* Castrovalva - Davison
* The Mark of the Rani - C.Baker
* Remembrance of the Daleks - McCoy

Some of these are reviewed (either under Reviews or under Nu-Views) at my blog. They're just my first picks to show new folks for each Doctor. If you watch one and really like it and want more, feel free to ask - I'd love to give further recommendations (and I'm sure Lime has a few, too)! :)

Gosh! So much to look forward to! Thank you so much for all of the feedback :D I will definitely keep you in mind for when I have future Who related questions!

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