Spanning Time and Space: Entering The Doctor Who Fandom

Source.

There is something unique about Doctor Who fans. They're open and accepting to newcomers, and they harbor no ill feelings if someone is 'late to the game'. If you tell a Doctor Who fan that you've just started watching episodes, they'll kick into overdrive and tell you that you 'have to watch more', they want to know which episode you saw first, and how far you've gotten. They tell you their favorite story arcs and they commiserate with how you felt during your first Regeneration. There's no competition for who is a better or longer fan, only love for The Doctor and all things in the Doctor Who universe.

A passionate Doctor Who excerpt found on my tumblr feed. All the love for The Doctor.

It wasn't until January of 2012 that I finally started my Doctor Who adventures. The internet shared promise of adventure and excitement, amazingly written stories and characters that I would fall in love with. Doctor Who has an amazing back catalogue of episodes to work off of (considering the fact that it initially aired in 1963), so this deep and varied universe has fantasy and science fiction offerings for every type of interested viewer.

'Doctor Who' Doctors one through ten. Source.

Shortly after this I attended Gallifrey One in Los Angeles, an annual Doctor Who convention that has been going for over twenty years. I was nervous about attending because I was afraid the long time fans would see me as a faker, I’d only seen two episodes! 

This fear stemmed from previous experiences when entering new fandoms. Shortly after The Fellowship of the Ring movie came out my mom bought me the Lord of the Rings book. However, it was the movie cover instead of a traditional cover. As I read in public and at school I was met with grief from long-time fans who hated that new readers were brought in because of the films, and my movie cover book became a source of shame instead of welcoming.

Amazing 'The Angels have the Phone Box' snowflake art 

by a dedicated Doctor Who fan. Source.

So at Gallifrey One I told people that I was new. I didn't expect outright unpleasantries, but I also didn't expect their positive energy. Cries of, "Keep watching, it's amazing!", "Oh, wait until you get to [x] episode!!", rang around the convention center halls. Everyone eagerly encouraged me to watch more. Everyone was excited that I was new and wanted to talk about their favorite episodes. And now that I've caught up with the current season it's not uncommon to swap literal sob stories pertaining to certain heart-wrenching character arcs.

It might sound a bit dramatic, but Doctor Who has seriously changed my life! I've met new friends, explored new corners of the internet, and immersed myself in Who related activities and crafts such as lamps, paper sculpts, pumpkins, costumes, themed lip balms, and wallpapers. If any people out there are on the fence about taking the plunge, then I encourage you to jump straight in!

What is your Doctor Who story?

Allons-y!

-MJ

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

Are you all read up on parts one and two? Yes? Ok good.

A variety of Doctors, just for you.

At one point during our Great Ribbon Hunt of 2012, we saw a ribbon emblazoned with the words "I found the hidden Whos" and we enquired as to how we could get it. An attendee told us that if we completed the scavenger hunt in the program then the service desk would award it to us. We immediately found the hunt page and learned that scattered throughout the floor there were photos on the walls outlined in red. If we were able to find each of the 30 photos, and write down where we found them, then a ribbon would be all ours.

 A semi-completed Who scavenger hunt. The photos were of all eleven 
Doctors as well as other major/influential players of the series.

Rachel and I set off like rabid hounds (who else has watched season two of Sherlock? *sigh*), running from one end of the floor to the other searching for the pictures. The pages of the program told con attendees not to share their answers with others (because in addition to a ribbon we also received an entry to win a pass to next year's convention) but we encountered a few different friendly rule breakers anyway.

As we stood and looked around one particular hallway, two young boys (probably ten and thirteen) walked by and one of them whispered, "There's one under the table." We turned and thanked him, then saw the cleverly placed photo lower down on the wall. Another time we walked into a room and as a lady left she whispered, "There are two in here!"

We successfully found them all, as evidenced by my ribbon, but there was a tense moment when we were unable to find Doctor number seven. We slowly backtracked through the whole place and finally found him outside of one of the movie watching rooms, then practically ran to receive our ribbons. 

In addition to the room full of merchandise, the service desk was selling con t-shirts and special Doctor Who/Gallifrey playing cards. Rachel bought two decks, and then gave one to me :3

SHINY!!

I have a rather extensive playing card collection, so this marks a notable addition as well as the start of another nail in my Doctor Who loving coffin.

As the day drew to a close we were both exhausted, happy and covered in ribbons. I didn't want to leave, I wanted to go to the opening ceremonies and see the TARDIS that they had on stage, but we had plans elsewhere. She ended up going on Saturday as well, so I'm sure she was able to see the full sized TARDIS up close.

The whole thing was crazy fun and I definitely plan on going next year. I will get even more ribbons, I will do my best to dress up, and I'll actually get all of the jokes that everyone was constantly making.

I'll also be even more excited about things like this.

Has anyone else ever been? Does anyone else want to go? Who has ever dressed up as a Doctor? Who's your favorite Doctor? Do you own a sonic screwdriver? Do you watch the older series? I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Thanks for reading!

-MJ

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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

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

It is amazingly serendipitous that I happened to attend one of the world's largest Doctor Who conventions in the very same week that I started to watch the show. And really, after being in this situation, I am hard pressed to think of a better way to turn a tentative fan into a full blown obsessed individual.

I don't know much about the Daleks, but I know

I want my picture taken with one.

Rachel is a recent, but no less voracious, Doctor Who fan and she had big plans for us to watch a bunch of the 2005 continuation while she was in town. Sadly, with so many other things going on, we were only able to watch two episodes T_T That was enough to have my interest seriously piqued though.

 Control console, anyone? P.S. that's Rachel and she's awesome!

We arrived at the Marriott at LAX around 11 am on Friday and the place was aflutter with individuals dressed in long coats and scarves. I whispered to Rachel that it was difficult to tell who was in cosplay and who was in regular clothing. We registered and nabbed our snazzy badges, then set off looking around.

"Full Adult" =D I'll talk more about the 

amazing ribbons in a minute.

I felt really out of place and overwhelmed; I was completely surrounded by all manner of intense, die-hard fans, some had been watching the show since the '60s! I was blown away by the generational gaps in fandom: teens, children, adults and grey-haired ecstatic old men and women. I've been to conventions, and I'm familiar with the immediate companionship and camaraderie present among the attendees, but this Doctor Who con was centered on only one thing and that was a different experience.

We noticed right away that many attendees had colorful ribbons hanging off of their badges, but I paid them no mind. I figured it had something to do with their rank as Who fans. As Rachel and I walked the halls and got a lay of the land for events we wanted to see, we were called over to a vendor and told that if we filled out a survey then we'd get a muffin and a ribbon. It sounded simple enough, so soon we found ourselves with food and a brown ribbon to fasten to our badges. It was then that we understood the intense power of the ribbons, and we had ribbon fever badly. I had never been to a con with ribbons before; what a game changer!

The rest of my ribbons from the day. We ran around

like crazy trying to collect as many as we could.

Through the day we were confronted with really fun cosplay and some even better recreated creatures from the show. The dedication was admirable!

 A full sized remote controlled Dalek was wandering the halls, as well as

this super adorable K-9 that could be seen following people around.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for the second part of our adventures!

-MJ

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I'm a little "who"-ccupied at the moment.

***NOTE***

This was supposed to go up yesterday, and my phone decided to rebel!

******

Normal posting will resume tomorrow, but as for today I'm a little busy.

Expect a full report on Monday!

-MJ

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