Who in L.A.: The Rest of the Story

Thursday Night:  Took the flight from Milwaukee to L.A. at 6pm – My friend Alan offered to drive me (Thanks Alan!).  It was a non-stop flight and it was packed!  I was quite nervous about the trip – or anxious.  In any event, the flight was relatively calm and nothing major happened.  I arrived in L.A. about 9pm and got myself to the hotel.  Ate, showered and went to bed about 11pm. 

Friday:  I woke up as early as I could and registered at 10am – after coffee.  Gallifrey One started at noon with Matthew Waterhouse.  After I got my name tag I walked around, ate some lunch and settled into my first panal.  After Matthew’s there was the one with Peter Davidson, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton.  These were all former companions with the fifth doctor.  It was incredible to see them all on stage – over 30 years from when they were on the show!  They all had GREAT chemistry together – but I found out that the reason Matthew was separate was because they ALL don’t get along that great…. oh well.

Later that day there was also a panal with the voice of K9 (!)  I LOVED IT!!

During the convention – I had time to walk around and make friends.  One guy, Kevin and I, walked around the vendor area to see what they were selling.  I was passing a table and I went white!  It was Sarah Douglas’ booth and she was there with her token gay pal.  She asked if I was ok – and I mumbled that I couldn’t believe that I was in front of a legend.  Sarah was so taken with my reaction to her that she told me she had to take a picture with me.  Imagine – me and a Superman nemesis!!  I almost fainted.  Turns out Sarah was there for her work on the games and various audio work.  She ROCKED!  I found out that they were staying at the same hotel I was in and I was told to stop by whenever… I didn’t because it was 2am by the time I got back to the hotel.

Why?  Well there were lots of things still to partake in at the convention.  One was the MST3K edition of the 5th Doctor’s first episode – it was insane!  After that there was a party, drinking, etc.  I met many cool people there and soon found out that there is a HUGE gay following of the show!

Saturday:  After getting some breakfast I walked over to the host hotel and settled in for more panal discussions.  I met Sammi, a bigger trivia freak than I am!  I went to the panal with Sarah Sutton and Janet Fielding – 2 of the companions.  At that panal I found out that it was a major bitch session about how women and actors were treated on the show.  It was an eye-opener – VERY much worth the price I paid at the door!  These are very intelligent women and their panal was one of the highlights!  They were both asked if they were confronted by the new Dr. Who, if they would consider being a part of it.  Sarah said she would consider it, but she’s not acting anymore – but Janet said she definately would because the writers in the new show actually care about the characters.  Basically, I think that the old series should have probably had more than one director on hand.  One for the technical stuff and the other for the actors – but hind sight is always 20/20.

There were tons of other discussions and then the 5th doctor came on stage to have his talk.  It was interrupted when Janet Fielding came on and the two of them had the floor.  It was turning into JANET-CON!  And I didn’t mind.  The Australian actress/former agent was in rare form and it was a delight. 

After a quick bite to eat, we all headed to a great party.  Much drinking ensued, more friends met (Hey Shawn!) and I stumbled back to my hotel at like 3am this time!  I don’t know how I remembered how to get back there after all the vodka, but I managed.

Sunday:  I found Sammi and the 2 of us chatted before the Sarah Jane panal started.  There were less major discussions going on – but the smaller ones seemed interesting as well and Shawn found me and we settled in for an afternoon of fun!  The Torchwood panal was AMAZING!! They offered a few spoilers (ask me about them…) and when they opened the panal up for questions who was the first one to get called on?  None other than Janet Fielding!  She asked the writer what his definition of ‘science fiction’ was and he basically said that he didn’t consider Doctor Who true sci-fi.  It was more of an action/adventure show.  Interesting.

I had to catch my plane after dinner.  I got back to the hotel, grabbed my bags and left for LAX and the red-eye flight at 9pm.  I got in Monday morning at 6:15am.

Met lots of new friends and I found out that people actually like to spend longer than a couple of hours with me!  Yes, it was quite the long, yet enjoyable weekend!  Hope yours was too!