#daphne ashbrook said so in an interview that they did

[eighthwholove]

When she saw him, she knew he was her destiny!

FOX Promo for Doctor Who, The Movie (1996)

[circular-time]

So... Gallifrey One diary

The key to landing a Gally ticket after three years of trying, it turns out, is to say “Oh, I’ll never get into Gally. But that’s fine, because I love LI and Regen.” *click* HEY!  (Yes, it helps they fixed the servers.)

Unfortunately, I also landed a whopper of a sinus infection. So I had to pace myself.

Here’s everything I can remember about the weekend; brace yourself for a long post!

Thursday— I finished my portrait of Anneke, then, so sick I shouldn’t have been driving, I clawed my way up the 405 freeway on the back of Emerald Tiger. Figuratively speaking.

I poured into the hotel around 4.30. After unpacking and resting, I slithered down to LobbyCon where I met @comic-rust looking dapper in Four’s Logopolis outfit sans coat.  He was far too kind and took me to dinner, where we had a pleasant geekfest.

Kim-- Kim, drat, I am so terrible at names! led me down to karaoke, since I had not yet figured out the majority of Gally takes place on a subterranean level like Jabba’s palace. I people-watched for a little while before sinus headache and off-key singing decided to part ways.

Friday—

Panels! Panels! Panels!

11 AM  - The Ties That Bind Us promised a meet & greet for diverse fans, although by the time I arrived (fifteen minutes late) it was a fairly sparse audience with a panel telling us how great Gally was compared to lesser cons like LI Who and Regen. I kept my mouth shut. When in Rome... 

12 PM - Gentlemen’s Agreement — Frazer, Peter Purves and Prentis Hancock (Space:1999) rambled about their work on various shows. They kept poking Prentis to use a mike so we could hear him, which became a running gag. Frazer finally dangled a mike in front of him like a sound boom in a classic Who recording. Peter told funny production stories about old massive TV studio cameras, the challenge of setting them up for filming to avoid crossing their cables, and a Who director who kept doing just that.  Peter reminded us that early Who was filmed “as live,” with exactly an hour and a half to record the episode after rehearsal and the dry run to figure out said cameras. He recounted how Morton Dill (that hillbilly he played on the Empire State Building in The Chase) turned out to be his unwitting audition. He’d impressed the regulars enough — and, crucially, William Hartnell liked him — that Maureen suggested him to replace Russ & Jackie (Hartnell was very distressed about their leaving). So Peter had 3 weeks’ notice that he was joining the show. He’s always stressed his good luck, being in the right place at the right time. I wish I could remember what mischief Frazer got up to in that panel; he’s always a hoot.

1PM - The Sarah Jane Adventures — Katy Manning came for the second panel in the same room. There was fond reminiscing about Nicholas Courtney and Lis as well as Katy being her usual hilarious blind-as-a-bat batty self, waggling her butt while climbing over everyone. Also ranted about her room not having a full-length mirror, forcing her to teeter on the loo and try to see in the bathroom mirror; cue humorous hand-waving as she described falling into the toilet a la Trainspotting and surfacing in other people’s toilets. (She told this story a few times throughout the con). She mentioned the UNIT adventures coming up in which Jo and Mike and Benton team up with new Who UNIT. Jo and Osgood work together. Katy’s glad she doesn’t have to pretend to be young, for a change). Somewhat eclipsed by Katy, Matt Irvine, the K-9 operator, joined them and talked about the ins and outs of operating the dog. He kept the original K-9 in his workshop all those years so it’s still around.

For these panels I was sitting next to @rachel-aldridge​ wearing a perfect Dodo cosplay. I’m sure Peter approved.

Note to self: Gally schedule is confusing; it shows when panels start but not when they finish, and some start on the half hour. I missed Anneke’s interview (woes!)

At some point I peeked out of the cave mouth basement entrance to see the Deluge:

(From Wunderground) 

But I forgot to photograph anything because my brain was full of phlegm. Rain was sheeting down outside, but we were very snug down in our basement apart from some flooding in the main bathroom. STC reported lots of trees blown down back in OC, freeways blocked by water. 

2 PM -  You Just Got Holtzmanned! Gender-Swap Panel with @whovianfeminism​ and others was brilliant, of course. There was lots of intersectional discussion about representation/nonrepresentation of gender and genderqueer, people of color, class in Britain which is mostly lost on American audiences, characters with disabilities being few and far between, the Geena Davis 17% study and similar studies showing how men tend to perceive the ratio of women talking/existing in a given group as much greater than it is. We talked about the fact that Who EU and spinoffs like Class have better representation since they’re not controlled as closely by BBC bean counters deciding what will sell best at home and abroad. I especially liked the discussion of the pros and cons of genderbending�� recasting established male characters as women — vs. creating original female lead characters. Also the pitfalls of so-called “color blind” casting vs. acknowledgement of the issues various minorities face.

3 PM - Lalla Ward Interview with Gary Russell: I try to separate actors from characters, but let’s face it, Lalla puts an awful lot of herself into Romana...

... so, hella charismatic, intelligent, and poised, with decided opinions about things (including what personal questions Gary asked that she wasn’t about to answer). She has a glare that could shrivel diamond as well as a smile that could make it bloom. 

Lalla talked about her early career — it turns out she went into acting mostly as a dare and challenge to herself, when she was originally trying to be an artist. She started with a Hammer film (recently rewatched and was a bit shocked by gore), and played Ophelia in Derek Jacobi’s Hamlet. From Jacobi she absorbed the advice that people shouldn’t be actors unless they absolutely need to be, because otherwise they won’t have the drive. 

Her first Who role was Princess Astra, of course; she had no idea Mary Tamm was leaving (in fact she recalled Mary saying in the cantina that she was thinking of doing another season). So it was a surprise to be asked back. She was chosen because, the producer said, Tom got along with her, making her “worth her weight in gold.” 

Talk turned to costuming. Lalla said that for her first serial (Creature of the Pit, filmed out of order) she was wearing something “glamorous” that would’ve looked good on Mary but not on her, after which she worked with June Hudson to find her own style. 

(She hated the white scarf with the pink coat because it snagged on everything!) Lalla had the idea that Romana would shop at bazaars in different times and places, mix and match time periods to create her own distinctive style of no particular era. 

There was some frank personal talk about the brief romance/marriage with Tom and the dangers of getting so lost in the characters you play that you lose sight of yourself and the other person. Sounds like Tom was more head over heels with her, though that’s hindsight. She was not especially enamored of JNT (part of the reason she left) or his choice to replace her with Adric. Yeah, I know, most of this isn’t new news.

Finally, Lalla talked about her work with Danville Hall, a care home in Britain for actors and others associated with the acting profession; she spoke passionately about how society must do a better job of looking after the old. Gally’s charity auction at Gally raised over $18000 for Danville Hall and left her in tears; Lalla’s first two quilts —portraits of her dogs— were auctioned off.

Later in the afternoon came a Big Finish panel that’s kinda blurred together with the later ones and...

5.30 Paul McGann & Daphne Ashbrook Panel— Unfortunately by that time I was wiped and I don’t remember a thing other than Paul’s magical soft, soothing voice. ;) Oh, and his talking about Steven Spielberg sussing out he was lying through his teeth when he said he could ride, but still hiring him for Empire of the Sun and getting him a riding instructor. Paul clearly loved the horses and as usual was being too modest by half, saying the horses did all the work.

8.30 The Fan Club Invasion was the meet & greet I hoped for in the morning, a low-key social gathering. New Who fans found themselves suddenly wildly popular, since the icebreaker game/scavenger hunt asked for “someone who has never seen classic Who.” I rescued one (I hope) from a well-intentioned nerd trying to tell her classic Who stories in the most boring way possible. More importantly, I found a local Who group: Real Time Lords of Orange County.

Happiness Patrol— I caught the tail end of Dominic Glynn’s amazing show which I missed at Regen. I loved his arrangement of Colin Baker’s “Ten million years of absolute power. That's what it takes to be really corrupt!” speech and theme song.

Alas I was turning into a slug and couldn’t make it to Paul Cornell’s late-night podcast, which by all accounts was fantastic, and involved blacksmithing? I dunno. 

A lot of attendees liveblogged on Twitter — it’s well worth perusing Twitter’s #gally1 tag. Lou Jameson and others remarked on a red Dalek on someone’s balcony. Sure enough, it was across the courtyard from my room the next morning, storm or no storm!

(oh say can you seeeeeeee..... )

...and the Dalek was still there!

On Saturday morning, I made the unwise decision to try fresh-squeezed orange juice while on antibiotics. So I missed most of the day. But first...

10AM - Creature Feature panel - Nick Briggs hosted a roundtable with various monsters including Barnaby Edwards and Nicholas Pegg. (The short and how-the-hell-does-he-fit-he’s-too-tall Dalek operators.) Simon Fisher-Beck was there as well making tasteless jokes, and Jimmy Vee (new Who) and everyone else kept mock-scooting away from him. They gushed about various co-stars, especially Billie Piper. Nick confessed to an attack of evil, freaking out Jenna Coleman by whispering to her through her headphones while she was inside the Dalek. Barnaby recounted falling out the bottom of his Dalek in the first Dalek episode and alarming Billie Piper while she was doing a heck of an acting job. And he and Nicholas Pegg described the gushing-exploding-Dalek mess in The Magician’s Apprentice. Mud, McD chocolate shakes and compost squirted EVERYWHERE including inside the Daleks. (Nick called the episode “Poo of the Daleks.”) They went back to their hotel afterwards, totally covered in mud, and alarmed the patrons. (Having gone on 8-day horseback riding/camping trips and disturbed a wedding party in a hotel in much the same way, I know exactly that look of “uncleaaaan!”) 

After that, autograph alley time, where I tried not to make a fool or pest of myself while face to face with con guests. Lalla was polite but appeared to be nonplussed by my silly Lalla portrait (below) which I had side by side in the portfolio with the one I asked her to sign. Louise Jameson was sweet and encouraging about the Leela portrait I put in front of her. 

I snapped a few photos of great cosplays including @rachel-aldridge​ in her Black Orchid Tegan outfit (great pose!) and a Five wearing brainy specs (yay!)

Alas I didn’t get into the Nick Briggs/Barnaby Edwards Kaffeklatsch (missed cutoff by two). I was barely holding up the wall by that point, so it’s just as well. I returned to my room to faceplant for a couple hours until the world stopped spinning and the hot/cold flashes eased off. 

My main regret was missing the June Hudson panel; she’s the famous costumer of classic Who in the mid-seventies. Much love was heaped on her all weekend by stars and fans, richly deserved.

2PM Days Gone By — lovely classic Who panel with Katy, Anneke, Frazer, Peter, Prentis Hancock and Michael Troughton, but I was so blasted all I remember is Katy’s adorable/sad story about how proud she was to try and do her own stunts the first day— they had her roll out of a moving car! Got it perfectly on the first take, but tore all the ligaments in an ankle on the second take; Jon found her sobbing later being afraid she’d be sacked and defended her against idiot directors (I infer the last bit). Anneke repeated her story about how she was the one who wound up doing Pat Troughton’s hair, and also the general observation that if he hadn’t been able to establish regeneration and show that the show could continue without Hartnell, none of this (the con, fandom, Who) would  be here now. A fan put Peter Purves on the spot by asking him to sing Last Chance Saloon. He said “Fuck off!” but eventually, with everyone pestering him with lyrics and singing at him, he did it, for the first time since the episode was recorded, and he sounded fantastic. Anneke and Frazer got up and danced (why didn’t I get my camera out quick enough)? At the end, Michael Troughton distinguished himself by making the sound of Woody Woodpecker heard on a scratchy 45 record player — uncannily accurate— and the sound of a cat being sick— even more uncannily accurate. 

3PM - The highlight of my con was seeing lovely @barnabyedwards​ in late afternoon at the autograph table. He’s written one of my two fave BF audios and directed many more, and I’ve exchanged occasional Twitter banter with him for years, so I’ve been eager to meet him, all the moreso since I kept being confused by the other Barnaby Edwards listed in the schedule for LI Who. (They finally met at Gally; no observed Blinovitch effect.) When I told him my Twitter handle, Big Finish Barnaby lit up and said “Oh, it’s YOU!” Hugs all round. I asked him to autograph Emerald Tiger and picked up his cute "Barbara: Queen of the Galaxy” postcard, although I feel bad for not buying any of his finer art. I’m afraid I inflicted my art on him (he browsed through both my portfolio and another fan’s), and he very kindly gave me some tips.

This is an awful picture, like I said, but I don’t care because BARNABY IS SUCH A DEAR:

(Yeah, my bad eye was showing.) 

Outside it had almost stopped raining by Sat afternoon, and cosplayers collected under the “cavern” overhang [photoset and K9]. I was menaced by Sutekh and minions while helping a couple Fourth Doctors take pictures of one another. Afterwards: 

Then it was back to panels/interviews. I caught the tail end of an interview with Deep Roy, an amazing actor who’s played everything from Mr. Sin in Talons of Weng-Chiang to Scotty’s assistant in the Trek reboots. 

4.30 PM - The Gallifrey Chronicles panel was GREAT, Scott Hancock hosting (he wrote/directed recent audios) with Lalla, Lou, Sean Carlsen, John Leeson, and Gary Russell. Scott asked them what they wanted, and “another season of Gallifrey!” was the consensus. Exec Producer Jason Haigh-Ellery in the audience confirmed a new season, and then Scott spoiled that it’s going to be set in the Time War. Sean Carlsen spoiled me about plot points I haven’t heard yet (I’m up to Season 3), but he’s so cute I forgive him. I didn’t realize what a huge Who fanboy he was, so stoked to be working with Leela and Romana! Lou and Lalla talked about their “cheese and chalk” relationship, how they clash over their hippie/homeopathy vs rationalist/science worldviews, and how their friendship works despite having to “agree to disagree.” Which they and some Gallifrey writers have woven into the Romana & Leela dynamic. They loved playing/parodying each other in Spirit. I think this was the panel where Lalla mentioned she’d bloody well make a better president than the one we have. Much applause. (We mostly avoided politics this weekend, although it was the elephant in the room; veiled #resist comments peppered nearly every panel). 

John Leeson was too adorable, breaking into the K-9 voice to answer some questions, and at other times was quite naughty (when asked how he liked voicing two K9s and having three mistresses he said “Doggy heaven. We’ve already discussed the doggy position.”) He’s usually the last to know when K-9′s going to be used and hasn’t yet been contacted about possible new movie.

Gary Russell talked about how frustrated he was in the 70s that there were no female characters on TV but love interests or characters in menial/supporting roles, until Tenko (landmark show about female prisoners of war in WWII in which Louise Jameson starred). He felt female friendship and characters were interesting and not seen in media enough. So Gary initially came up with the idea of Gallifrey after seeing how Lou and Lalla hit it off while recording Zagreus; he wanted a West Wing style political drama with two strong women as the leads. He did consciously rewrite characters as women a lot during his time on BF, although he apologized for not hiring more women writers when he was producer.  I hit the mike to comment about how the relationship between Leela and Romana in Gallifrey is welcome and unusual in Doctor Who, because its leads are usually a man and a woman; SF in general seldom develops relationships between women or explores how they work together (or even how they argue.) 

In the evening I attended the Gallifrey reception where fans sat at small tables and the guests circulated in the nerd equivalent of speed dating. That meant we had brief face-to-face time with Lou, Lalla, Sean Carlsen, John Leeson, Matt Irvine (K-9′s designer, the self-described “back end of the dog”), Phillip Hinchcliffe, designer Roger Murray-Leach. Really great, although I feel bad for everyone who can’t afford this kind of thing (the organizers said it helped fund Gally and bring more guests). 

Lou was as warm and Earth Mothery as ever, Lalla gracious and warmer in person, looking understated but stunning in a kimono whose designer she was careful to note (and I’m not fashionable, so I can’t remember). John Leeson was adorable and sweet and so happy to be spending time with fans and clearly loves being K9. Phillip Hinchcliffe was dignified but delighted that some of us were listening to his new Big Finish audios— he was pushing them in a charmingly genteel way. Roger Murray-Leach, the designer of Weng-Chiang and Invasion of Time and a lot of the classic Fourth Doctor era, was glad we’re still having fun with his work (I gabbled something about “you set the stamp on Gallifrey and established what it looked like in all our minds,” which seemed to please him.)

The reception ended just as the Masquerade was letting out— that’s where I snapped the fab gel guard, Omega and Alpha Centauri with Three.

Sunday 

Hooray, I did NOT have orange juice and made it through most of the day without feeling diseeeeased!

Yes, the red Dalek was still there.

The @whovianfeminism​ meetup was cancelled after she was called away by a family emergency. It sounds like she had a thoroughly rotten weekend. :(   [Update: :( :( We should send warm thoughts her way. ) I hadn’t checked online, so I went down to the meetup as did writer Valerie E Frankel, who wanted to pick our brains for her book on the women in Doctor Who. She and I chatted. I’m afraid I got a little defensive at her characterizing most classic Who companions as 20-year-old miniskirt-wearing screamers. She seemed surprised when I pointed there were some alien companions, some scientists, that Vicki and Barbara sometimes wore trousers and/or sensible shoes, and that one fan has has found a lower scream-per-episode ratio for many classic companions than modern ones. Also I argued that miniskirts aren’t automatically a marker of sexism, but were originally something 60s women chose for themselves to be liberated, and that Sarah Jane was originally portrayed as a proponent of women’s lib. Frankel disputed me (She hadn’t seen SJ’s intro) and said that she saw classic Who through her “personal filter,” a modern perspective, and that she was basing a lot of her impression of classic Who women on Polly in Power of the Daleks (which is about as bad as it gets, admittedly). Frankel was planning on covering Charley, had heard of Evelyn, and I also suggested Erimem because (a) PoC and (b) first 50 Main Range are free on Soundcloud. I pointed her towards The Marian Conspiracy as well.

At noon I finally caught Anneke for a quick hug and friendly chitchat; she was so much fun at LI and Regen, and I’m sorry I didn’t see her more this time. She’s really enjoying having a second crack at taking Polly on new adventures and is all excited about an upcoming Short Trip.

12PM -  Loiuse Jameson Interview clashed with the Big Finish roundtable, woe! But I’m not about to miss a minute of Lou. She talked about nearly killing a cameraman with a knife throw (after which Leela’s knife was swapped for a blunt one), about having trouble with Tom until she finally stood up to him in Horror of Fang Rock (but they get along now), and about how Stuart Fell the stuntman discovered sexism on set when he was dressed as her for a stunt and got his bottom pinched twice. Once again she talked about how she modelled Leela’s body language and heightened senses on a little girl she knew upstairs plus her own dog (a pharaoh hound mix). She occasionally had her dog on the set; it was well-behaved except when she was being “attacked,” then they had to put it in another room so it wouldn’t protect her. Also while rehearsing her departure, the dog came over by John Leeson and mimicked his body language, both little doggy heads going down and being sad because Leela was sad. The producer tried to talk Lou into staying, but she refused partly because she wanted to move on, partly because the character of Leela was being weakened and forced to ask lots of "What Doctor/Why Doctor?” questions. She’s really enjoying recording Leela for Big Finish nowadays. I was intrigued to hear about her work on that 1980 series Tenko, a powerful show written by and for women. She’s been working almost continuously all her life. Right now she’s directing a play based on a boy who committed suicide from cyberbullying; producers have contacted her about turning it into a film.

And then as I was leaving I saw the cosplay twins Chihiro and Chieko in their Weeping Angels costume and landed the best con photos I will ever take by waiting for Lou Jameson to come down that hallway. :D

1:30 PM - Scary Monsters and Super Geeks— a tribute to Who fan David Bowie (whom Katy hung out with while dating Jimi Hendrix?! she was part of a wild crowd and enjoyed every minute, clearly). Paul McGann was crestfallen to learn Bowie had turned down the part of the Master for the movie because he was working on something else. They discussed a lot of Bowie’s career; big lovefest. I love the fact that male British actors are more relaxed about remarking on other men’s beauty; Paul referred to Bowie’s “unearthly beauty” while discussing Man Who Fell to Earth.

I had a photo with Lou, Lalla and the REAL, original K-9 (his eyes were lit, although you can’t see it!) Ignore my ghastly posture; look at Lalla and Lou being photogenic and gorgeous!

4.30 PM - Look Where We Are, Look Where We Started was an absolutely amazing panel on the women of Doctor Who ably hosted by Deborah Stanish of Verity! podcast; she managed to ask thoughtful questions tailored to each and every one of: Lalla Ward, Louise Jameson, Anneke Wills, Katy Manning, Katrin Stewart (Jenny Flint), Naoko Mori (Torchwood), Christine Adams (new Who & Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Hattie Hayridge (Holly on Red Dwarf), June Hudson, Daphne Ashbrook. What a lineup. The young and old, working and retired, actors and designers/artists. Can’t possibly summarize it all.

Here’s a few more of my miscellaneous cosplay photos including a greate couple dressed as John Cleese and Whoosername from City of Death.

Wrap-up had everyone come onstage (and dear gods Michael Troughton keeps imitating a cat being sick FAR TOO WELL the goofball), and we filled the auditorium.

Apparently some people kvetched at this con for not having enough guests? True that there have been more Doctors at the other cons I’ve attended, but this was a heck of a lineup, and that still wasn’t all of them— there were Titan comics, EU and new Who people I barely saw. I’m just sorry William Russell had to cancel (and Miles Richardson, who’s filming), as I fear I’ll never see Russ. 

Afterwards I went up for final LobbyCon, where I met @colinbakerstreet​ and @zetasigma​ (sporting the spiffy CIA outfit), plus @d_compare on Twitter (nice academic nerd, notice his Twitter is about half Who and half #resistance). Barnaby was down there too— no, @elvisomar​, he had not brought edibles but was flattered we liked his cooking Tweets! A hug goodbye. 

The Resistance was never far from anyone’s minds, although we spent most of the weekend taking a brain break and hiding from the storm. 

Monday 

Leisurely breakfast. Flight delays out of LAX meant a lot of guests were milling around in the lobby; I saw Lalla, Lou, Matt Irvine, Phillip Hinchcliffe, John Leeson who was delighted at the con experience and chatted cooking with me (he had to get home since he’s the cook in his family). 

I drove home listening to Primeval since it’s easier to focus on driving and not get distracted if I already know and love an audio. And then I collapsed and slept most of the day with a VERY annoyed cat pressed against me and making sure I couldn’t escape.

It was tons of fun, and I’ve met a few new fans to keep up with. I’ve been incredibly depressed and not sleeping well since the inauguration, so a brief break was just what the doctor ordered, sick or no. 

[DISCLAIMER: I wrote this down Monday night and Tuesday after the con, and my memory is by no means perfect.]