Up early this morning; had breakfast at the hotel first, then went upstairs, finished packing, covered up Schuyler, got Willow off the luggage cart (she wasn't going to be left behind!), and took the fids and the luggage home. You could tell it was Sunday; we got home and back in just a little over an hour, and were able to see a half-hour of Sophie Aldred's second panel. (It was supposed to be later on, but they told her she should get to the airport earlier because she had an international flight.) She told some cute stories about her kids, who did not see Doctor Who till they were elementary school age, and it scared the younger. She also talked about the scene in "Remembrance of the Daleks" where she had to attack a Dalek with a metal baseball bat. Turned out this was one of the Daleks that had an operator inside, not a remote controlled one, so not only was the poor guy in there vibrating from the metal-on-metal contact, but then the director called a tea break and forgot he was in there!

(There was also a cute story about Sophie's little boy "getting even" for Mom having scared him with an episode where Ace gets attacked by a Dalek. The two boys were up asleep in their rooms while Sophie and her husband were downstairs watching "The Empty Child," which of course has the little boy in the gas mask calling "Are you my mummy?" The whole house was dark and they were getting creeped out watching the story. Suddenly the youngest started calling "Mummy!" "Mummy!" and Sophie went to see and saw him silhouetted against a window. Very spooky!)

Following this we went to a panel about the Enigma machine and how it has worked into media. This was done by Louis Robinson and a young woman named Ashley. Much chat about Bletchley Park, the machines themselves, the secrecy of the employees, how long the British had knowledge of the German code, spies, and much more historical goodness.

We took time to have a burger from the lunch stand they had at the bar, and then stood chatting to the Spiveys until it was time for the Ken Spivey Band (no relation) to perform. This is a young man and his dad, who usually do Celtic music, but this concert was Doctor Who-oriented, including the two songs they did last night, except for the perennial "Wild Rover." They had a CD of regular Celtic song, which we bought.

Then wandered through the dealer's room. James bought me a tiny print of an anime style Doctor 10 with Doctor 5 (very cute!), alà "Time Crash," and I bought the hardcover Owly book and more magnets (at least I don't have my hotel keycard in my pocket this time to be demagnetized!), and James bought me the "summer" print, so now that means I have all four seasons of Owly prints. Then we stopped and talked for a bit with Mike and Kim before going to the "K-9 and Other Australian Television" panel, which was mostly K-9 (we watched most of the first episode of the Australian series, which is a kids' adventure).

I then had Andy Runton sign my book and print since he hadn't been at the table when we'd been there earlier. He did a cute little drawing in the book, which is a full-color Owly story!

Last Who panel was "Real Life Issues" in the series—indeed, how do you "go home again" after being a companion? (And put up with things like your annoying parents, re Martha!) It ended up with people chatting about how they found Who fandom (or fandom, period), and the sheer wonder of when you walk into a convention for the first time and realize "There's someone like me."

The final actual panel was a "showdown" between Stargate, Star Trek (all versions), and Doctor Who, with a six-"man" panel. More of a discussion than a competition, of the strengths and appeal of each show, what appealed to the person about the show and why it was memorable, and even some nasty asides about Enterprise. :-)

The final panel is always the closing commentary, where Alan Siler and the rest of the con committee thank everyone who made the programming, registration, film, and other essential parts of the convention possible. Then the audience gives feedback on the hotel (some disapproval this year, as always; we weren't the only people with problems), and gives suggestions for future panels. Many different types were offered—oh, and I made sure to pass on Louis' suggestion about a longer Holmes panel, too!

And then like the Doctor's companion in the Ken Spivey Band song, the convention's said "so long" to us and it's time for us to go back to real life, which means it's time for that good old fashioned post-convention depression...

(We listened to the CD on the way home...quite nice. Hope they record the Who stuff! I'd love the companion song.)

Labels: conventions, friends, television

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