So this is really going to have to be the short, short version because I was showing James the video I took of the Barrowmans and it's later than usual...

Anyway, Willow flunked her "stay out of the bathroom" test. Potty pad was right there near her and she did not use it for either "job." Back to the bathroom for her today. :-( Hope the vet visit on Saturday will help.

Third verse, same as the first: parking garage, the "Luke Skywalk," then breakfast from Cafe Momo. As soon as I was done eating, I trotted over to the Marriott Imperial Ballroom for "The Barrowmans on Books." (If you thought I'd miss this one after the fun last night's panel was, you're mistaken!) I was not disappointed; this was an hour of straight—urm, mostly—fun, where you learned about skiing, china cabinets, woodcarving, and priming your pump. [evil grin] Oh, yeah, and John's conversion van, "Barry Vanilow." They talked more about Hollow Earth and its sequel and its characters, about traveling on location via ferry on a wild day and about a trip to Spain with "Barry" and what happened to him there, about collaborating on stories (including a very funny story prompted by a question from the audience about killing off a character), and divers other things, all the time good-naturedly sparring with one another. The laughter rang from the rafters, and it was a good way to start off the day.

Next I walked over to the Sheraton and attended "Doctor Who Universe: Characters and Companions" featuring Gareth David Lloyd (Ianto Jones), Noel Clarke (Mickey Smith), Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper), and John Levene (Sgt. Benton). Evidently they know about "skiing," too. Another hilarious, wildly rowdy panel, with Gareth and Noel being the "bad boys" (especially Noel, bantering about his success with the ladies), Eve trying to act the wide-eyed innocent next to them, and John adding a silly joke every once in a while. Eve finally said exasperatedly to Noel "I have a gentleman on one side of me and the ghetto on the other."

Someone asked who was their favorite strange character on the show and she said "John Barrowman."

Asked what their favorite lines were, Noel replied that his was "That means I'm the tin dog," and Eve's was, of course, "Have you seen a blowfish driving a sports car?" (Her favorite scene was one in which she was riding a motorcycle throwing cylinders of explosives; she had eighty minutes to learn how to ride it and they had to do it in one take!)

And they all had good words for Peter Capaldi.

At this point I had a "free period" and decided to dash to the Dealer's Room. Came through the garage and Peachtree Center again, and again had to get lost before I could find the McFarland booth. (they have display windows of various things sold in the America Mart, including Christopher Radko Christmas ornaments; he's doing a line of old-fashioned Shiny Brites this year and they look dreadful, all using that awful lime green! they didn't use lime green back then!). I bought two books of Harry Potter essays, including one just about Hermione, a Doctor Who essay book, and one about the Muppets because it looked interesting and mostly talked about The Muppet Show. Tried looking around at other things and pretty much was confused by the layout, the crowd, and things I didn't care about like clothes and leather.

I came out to stormy skies but no rain, and thank God because the McFarland lady didn't have any bags and here I was with four unprotected books! I ran like hell for the Marriott where my next panel was, and because I was early, stopped at the ARTC table to talk to Caran for a while. And she gave me a bag for my books, too.

Next panel was "Gerry Anderson Remembered," which was just what it sounded like. John Levene was on this panel, too—he was in the UFO episode "Close Up" as an interceptor pilot. We talked a lot about the puppet shows; not so much about Space: 1999 (but hear they look lovely in BluRay), but chatted quite a bit about UFO as that was everyone's favorite. Supposedly Anderson's son is trying to bring back Thunderbirds as a series using real models instead of CGI.

A short trip down the hall and I got right into "A Look at 50 Years of Doctor Who With Two Doctors" (I did not wait in one line today, but just found the end of each of them and went right in; the lines are crazy this year—they have one track's panels queuing up on the skybridge from the Marriott to the Hilton!). Peter Davison helped Sylvester McCoy on stage as the latter just had some surgery. There were lots of interesting question, like how did they feel about their regenerations (this came with much generous ribbing of Colin Baker) and how it was to work with Nicholas Courtney (Sylvester said with a smile, "Ah, bonhomie and vodka").

Favorite enemies: Peter's was the Cybermen (who eventually killed off Adric, to the relief of most fans), Sylvester said he didn't consider himself a "real Doctor" till he'd met with the Daleks. (Apparently Peter was worried about the episode where Rose "died" in the new series and shot Russell T. Davis an e-mail asking if it were true because his kids loved Rose and he didn't know if it would bother them. Russell said back snippily, "You killed off Adric...what do you care?" LOL.)

A boy asked Peter "You always had a fresh celery stalk. Was there a celery plant on the TARDIS?" Yes, said Sylvester, and it was dead when I found it and it stank. Peter said, "No. I was going to say I took the celery stalk and sent it back 24 hours every day so that it always stayed fresh." (He hates celery, by the way, just like Rupert Holmes hates pina coladas...)

And then they were asked "Do you have any advice for Peter Capaldi?" Sylvester: "Wear a kilt!" Peter Davison was on the announcement special with him and said when he had a minute drew him aside and said "What have you done?"

Of course the big highlight was someone asking since Sylvester plays the spoons, does Peter also play something. He was just about to say he did when Ken Spivey popped behind him with a guitar and he played some chords while Sylvester accompanied him on the spoons.

To the Hilton for "Needcoffee.com Vs. the Whoniverse," which was fun and turned into mostly a review of Season 7 and people talking about how they disliked the long drawn-out goodbye for Amy and Rory.

And finally back to the Hyatt for the Atlanta Radio Theatre's production of The War of the Worlds: The Untold Story. It seems H.G. Wells hadn't even seen the invasion; he'd gone off to France. But our hero, a doctor, had witnessed the invasion and told what he said was the true story, which involved a captured Martian, a mysterious professor, and a covert plot. The "reveal" at the end was a great surprise that also brought a chuckle. They also did a Rory Rammer adventure, "The Green Man's Burden" (taking place on Mars).

James was on a panel opposite the ARTC performance, so I had to wait for him to extricate himself from the bowels of the Hyatt before we could head home to hearth and fids. Came home to find the gate pushed away and Willow sleeping on the chair; it may have been during the thunderstorm. But she had used the potty pad during the day and the rug was mercifully clear.

Labels: books, conventions, food

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