Posts
Gallifrey One 2010
I'm running around finishing what I need to finish (a Pulse plot included) before flying off to L.A. tomorrow for the 21st annual Gallifrey One convention. This is my thirteenth year of attendance, without a break. I keep going back because of the unique atmosphere, a calm, loving mixture of business and pleasure. Gallifrey manages to maintain an ambience where guests and attendees can mingle freely, where things which seem difficult in cold Britain become somehow easier to manage. I think just being in California helps with that. It's become not only the world's greatest Doctor Who convention, but also a place for comics and SF fans, and, increasingly, costumers. Here's my schedule:
Friday:
1pm: Doctor Who in the Comics (panel with Gary Russell, Tony Lee, Pia Guerra, Matthew Dow Smith and Richard Starkings). Should be a hoot. Loads to talk about.
4pm: Autographs.
6.15pm: Opening ceremonies.
Saturday:
11am: Kaffeeklatsch with me and Phil Ford. Where people who've signed up in advance get to sit down with me and Phil and hear us babble about stuff. Like any night in the bar, really.
1pm: Fan Reactions to Character Deaths (panel with Tina Beychok, Kate Orman, Racheline Maltese, David Wise, Tammy Garrison). Could be blood up the walls. Some heavy hitters on the panel, so we're going to be doing crit. I've got some stuff to say that some in the audience won't want to hear. I love panels like this, where the issues get aired. Racheline and I have gone down this road before, and last time I enjoyed it a great deal.
3pm: Remaking Books and Comics into Television and Film (panel with Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Mark Waid, Pia Guerra, Marv Wolfman, David Gerrold, Paul Salamoff and Arne Starr). This year's first rendition of the Traditional Ill-Attended Comics Panel, but with a few more legends added and a new media focus. These are usually great fun, and comics fans are always surprised by how starry a sideshow it is in a con about something else. I mean, Marv Wolfman?! Last year, over doughnuts in the Green Room, I met Wendy Pini.
4.30pm: Autographs.
Sometime after 8pm: I'll be running my annual game of Just A Minute with celebrity guests while the Masquerade is being judged. It's always great fun, and I don't have to work very hard, because competitive actors, flailing writers and the format make the comedy.
Sunday:
Noon: Expanding Your Horizons (panel on SF literature, with Sam Stone, David Gerrold, David Howe, Kate Orman, David Wise). Great to see Gally trying something like this. I wonder what sort of an audience we'll get?
1pm: Seventy Years of Marvel Comics (panel with Marv Wolfman, Tony Lee, Gary Russell, Arnold T Blumberg, Josh Fialkov, Arne Starr). Another variant on the Traditional Ill-Attended Comics Panel. I've been to two panels with this title in the last year, and both ended up in enormous rows. I can't see, this being Gally, this one making it three in a row, but I might just start one to complete the set.
And that's it. The rest of the time, you'll probably find me in the bar or at the parties. If you're going, do say hello. Until then, Cheerio.
Labels:
Doctor Who,
Gallifrey
|
Hey, glad to see we're on a panel together! Yes, I have some very strong feelings about Fans Behaving Badly that I know're gunna get me some baaaaad reactions from, well, the fans who behave badly. I get told regularly that I am a hypocrite for hating haters who just like to hate and never have any sort of constructive, critical discussion of their feelings. I would recommend Shawn keep a fire hose on hand in order to clear all the blood off the carpets and furniture before the next panel comes in :)
Hope you have a great time.
Keep off that Bacon though:)
And may the force be with you!
I've basically said as much to Racheline, but between the character deaths panel and the one about where Torchwood can go (Which, oh god, where are my notes?!) I am filled with a giddy combination of dread and having fantasies about somebody having an amazing Jimmy Stewart moment a la Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
I'm so jealous I can't be there this weekend! Please have EXTRA fun for me! :)
Looking forward to seeing you again, last year was a blast!
Don't forget that Friday evening we also expect the pleasure of your company in the Titanic First Class Salon.
As always, looking forward to seeing you again.
Sounds like fun! One of these years I'll make it. Here's hoping the flight there wasn't too awful.
I had a brilliant time, review (of some sort, I'm moving house on Friday, while in the middle of a script) soon. Aimee, I'm sorry I missed you! I don't know how that's possible! The Character Deaths panel went well, I thought. And the Titanic party was a great success.