A couple weekends ago was President’s Day weekend — which is typically the weekend that Gallifrey One, the annual Doctor Who convention, is held in Los Angeles. But not this year, thanks to COVID-19.
Gallifrey One 2021 Postponed to 2022
Gallifrey One actually made the call pretty early, back in September 2020, to call off the 2021 convention and postpone to 2022, which was a smart call on their part. The dates for Gallifrey One 2022 are still up in the air, though. That’s because the Super Bowl is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles that month, so the convention’s host hotel, the LAX Marriott, is currently on hold by the NFL for the traditional President’s Day weekend dates, which would be February 18-20, 2022. It’s possible that the NFL may end up releasing those dates, but if not, the other possible dates for the convention are March 4-6, 2022. So, we’ll see what happens as we get closer to the dates!
In the meantime, tickets to Gallifrey One 2022 are still available at the price of $125 for adults, $75 for teens, and $35 for children.
[2/26/21 UPDATE] Gallifrey One has now confirmed that next year’s convention will take place on President’s Day weekend, February 18-20, 2022.
Looking Back at Gallifrey One 2020
Now, thinking about the Gallifrey One that would have been, I realized that although we posted about a bit about Gallifrey One 2020 on our social media channels, we never actually posted a write up on our site about it! So, instead of lament the Gallifrey One that wasn’t, we would like to take this time to celebrate the Gallifrey One that was, especially since it was the only convention we attended in 2020.
Idiot’s Lantern
Gallifrey One 2020, which took place February 14-16, 2020, once again saw the return of the Idiot’s Lantern sketch comedy show on Friday night. We both had to work on Friday, so we raced from Orange County up to Los Angeles and made it just in time to pick up our badges before the 7:00pm deadline. Idiot’s Lantern is always a highlight of the con for me.
As you can see on my badge and on the program, last year’s theme was the 31 Flavours of Gallifrey One, it being the 31st edition of the convention.
The fun thing about Idiot’s Lantern is that they not only incorporate Doctor Who characters into their sketches, but also other various characters in sci-fi pop culture, both current and classic. For example, this year’s sketches included Baby Yoda and the Mandalorian, as well as characters from Quantum Leap, The Flash, Star Trek and Bill & Ted. Always a fun time!
13th Doctor Cosplay
The next morning, we took advantage of the amenities of the hotel — namely the gym. I was in training for the LA Marathon last year (which actually happened just before the country shut down), and we were both in training for Spartan races (or so we thought… those all got canceled), so we had to stick to the training schedule, even in the middle of a convention!
Then I showered, got dressed in my 13th Doctor cosplay, and we went down to grab some lunch at Hangar 18, the restaurant in the hotel lobby. After that, we wandered the Dealers Room for a bit. They had a life size TARDIS set up in there, so I took a photo as the Doctor with the TARDIS. We also checked out the Art Show (no photos allowed in there, though).
I had cosplayed as Thirteen at Gallifrey One 2019, but missed out on the 13th Doctor Cosplay Meet-up that year because I was at work. So I was happy that this year I would be able to join the meet-up! There were quite a few 13th Doctors, both male and female, of all ages, and different versions too, such as the tuxedo version. Thanks to Josh for taking the photos! See if you can find me in the massive gathering of Thirteens…
This or That
By the time we were finished with the cosplay meet-up, it was time to head into the main program room, Program A, and grab our seats for “This or That,” hosted by our friends Kim and Sage at Head Over Feels. They have hosted this panel concept for the past few years, and they do a great job at it! Basically, they ask the panel members to choose one thing or the other: This or That.
This year’s guests included Pearl Mackie (who played the 12th Doctor’s companion, Bill Potts, in Season 10), Tosin Cole (one of the 13th Doctor’s companions, Ryan Sinclair), and Michelle Ryan (who played Lady Christina de Souza in the 2009 Easter special, Planet of the Dead). Topics of discussion included: Star Wars or Star Trek, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, the ability to communicate with ghosts or with dogs, Superman or Batman, and many more. You get the idea. Even audience members got a chance to ask their own This or That questions. Hilarity ensued!
Peter Davison
We stayed put in the room for the Peter Davison interview. For those who are unaware, he played the Fifth Doctor. We had actually seen him at Gallifrey One before, back in 2016, when he appeared on a panel with the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker.
Peter Davison talked about how when he was cast as the Doctor, he had concerns about being typecast, and only ever being known as Doctor Who. When a BBC executive producer took him out to lunch to address his concerns, Davison knew it was serious. However, Davison never got to his list of questions and concerns because the producer just got him drunk, and he agreed to be the Doctor! He recalled that it was a big secret, and his name never even came up in speculation of who the new Doctor would be.
Davison recalled when Tom Baker, the Fourth Doctor, gave him some advice about being the Doctor. He and Tom Baker went to the noisy BBC bar, where Baker told him, “What you have to remember about Doctor Who is…” and then he said something, which Davison had no idea what he said! However, he was too intimidated by him to ask him to repeat it.
It was a bit of a challenge trying to figure out how to play the Doctor, because each Doctor is cast to be different than the previous Doctor, but at the same time, he’s supposed to be the same person. Davison knew he wanted to be a nice Doctor, however. He also joked about how he made it his thing to run down corridors faster than the other Doctors — but then later a certain Doctor (David Tennant) stole it from him!
He also opined that having three companions in the TARDIS was too many. However, he clarified it was not his idea to get rid of Adric — though he thought it was a very good idea!
Audience members were also given the chance to ask Davison questions. One audience question was what is it like to have another Doctor in the family? (For those unaware, Tenth Doctor David Tennant is married to Davison’s daughter, Georgia). Davison said that it was very nice having him in the family, and he’d like to take credit for them being together. He recalled that David Tennant kept taking Georgia to Shakespeare, “trying to educate me.”
Davison also talked about coming back to the part of the Doctor for Big Finish. He recalled that he initially had no idea what it was about!
When asked at what point did he feel like “I’m the Doctor,” Davison said that it’s when you’re paired up with the TARDIS that you suddenly realize you’re the Doctor, because even when filming out in the countryside, people see you with it and automatically know that you’re the Doctor.
Live Episode Commentary: “Demons of the Punjab”
Another one of my favorite things about Gallifrey One is how they often do live episode commentaries — which are exactly what they sound like. They’ll play an episode while actors and/or writers of that episode provide live commentary. Writer Vinjay Patel and actor Tosin Cole were on hand to provide behind the scenes info about this episode, which was actually one of my favorite episodes of Season 11.
Christopher Eccleston
Then after the live episode commentary came the moment we had all been waiting for: the Christopher Eccleston interview. This was a pretty big deal because not only had Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston been largely avoiding conventions in general for a long time, but this was the first time one of the main “New Who” Doctors had been a guest at Gallifrey One (other than the War Doctor, the late Sir John Hurt, at Gallifrey One 2016). The room was completely full, to the point of being standing room only, and he entered the room to a standing ovation.
Interviewer Stephen Schapansky, from the Radio Free Skaro podcast, asked Eccleston about when he was cast. He recalled that he went out for a run and thought about Doctor Who (one such thought being that the Doctor has two hearts, “so he can love twice as much”), then emailed Russell T. Davies and agreed to take the part. He knew that he was not the first choice, however, as other actors such as Bill Nighey and Hugh Grant had turned it down.
When asked if he’d had an idea of what kind of Doctor he’d like to be, Eccleston revealed that he had actually based his Doctor on Russell T. Davies. For example, Davies wore a leather jacket and talked a mile a minute.
The topic of Eccleston’s Northern accent came up, and he commented on how in Great Britain, you cannot escape “the disease of class.” Someone with his accent, known as a “provincial accent,” would be labeled a working class person who could never be sensitive or intellectual. As such, it was important to him to do it in his own accent.
He also told us about working with Billie Piper and how she was initially terrified, as she had only had two roles prior to playing Rose. Eccleston felt like they didn’t get a very good director for the first block of the show, so they both felt lost. However, he felt better about the later directors, Joe Ahearne and Euros Lyn. The reason he became an actor is because he wanted to collaborate with people, so he appreciates when directors make it feel as if they’re working as a team.
As for Eccleston’s favorite episode, that would be Father’s Day, because he would have liked to see his parents as children. He thinks that if people were given the choice of going back in time, most people would go back to see people you could never see again. Eccelston expressed that even though we like the aliens on Doctor Who, in the end, what we really like are the people and the relationships.
He reminisced about walking onto the TARDIS set for the first time, then mused about the question of whether he missed it. Although the politics and backstabbing were horrendous, he loved playing the role.
Eccleston also talked about the episodes that Steven Moffat wrote, The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, which, in his opinion, were the best writing. He pointed out that Russell T. Davies feminized Doctor Who and paved the way for Jodie Whittaker to became the Doctor. He went on to say that Davies’ strength was writing Rose, while Moffat’s strength was writing the Doctor. Eccleston felt like in those episodes, he had the most amazing things to do. He recalled that there were scary parts to the episode, so he felt like he couldn’t show fear and that he had to inject a bit of glee so that the kids watching wouldn’t be scared.
When Schapansky asked at what point he felt like this might be his only season as the Doctor, Eccleston admitted that things went wrong pretty quickly, pretty much in the first block. According to Eccleston, a lot of bad things went down in his life because of the BBC, such as a journalist interviewing his father, who had dementia.
Eccleston speculated that perhaps part of what made the series succeed was the fact that the viewer is introduced to regeneration at the end of the first season. He joked that the viewer was given the choice to continue their relationship with the next Doctor, but he would just be better looking! He was mock offended by the audience’s reaction, responding, “You’re not supposed to say ‘Oh!’ you’re supposed to say ‘No!’ ” which the audience then followed suit.
He also shared a funny story about a guy who came up to him in a bar in Manchester. The man introduced himself, then went on to say that he did not enjoy Eccleston’s performance in Doctor Who, as he did not think he was alien enough! However, the man went on to thank him for bringing the show back. Eccleston thought it was a fair assessment and mused, “Once you’re the Doctor, that’s it. You have to take the good with the bad.” He also commented that people often tell him that he was their first Doctor, at which point he thinks to himself, “That means I’m not your favorite.”
Another funny story he shared was that he tried to watch the series with his kids, who asked, “Why do you look so much younger?” and “Is that you, Daddy? You weren’t fat then.”
As I mentioned earlier, Eccleston only recently started appearing at conventions. He talked about how in his theater background, when people got his autograph, it wasn’t because they actually wanted it, they already had it wanted to trade it. However, when he appears at conventions, everyone he talks to wants to actually keep his autograph and has something to say to him about his work, whether in Doctor Who or The Leftovers. He expressed appreciation for the people at Gallifrey One who had waited hours to get his autograph, and said that these things have helped him get over all the B.S. he went through with the BBC.
Schapansky asked if Eccleston would consider coming back to reprise his role as the Doctor in Big Finish, but Eccleston seemed content to keep his role as the Doctor limited to the 13 episodes he was in — with one exception. He promised to come back and play the Doctor in the 100th anniversary episode in 2063.
There were no audience questions, and this panel actually wrapped up our time at Gallifrey One 2020. Looking forward to Gallifrey One 2022!
