the Doctor Who club in Atlanta, GA

need Doctor Who cosplayers for the Costume panel at TimeGate

Fri, 16 May 2008 23:38:38 GMT

For those of you attending TimeGate this year, as I have mentioned before, we are having a Costume Contest.
That event takes place at 10 PM on Sunday night. Sign-up sheets should be at Registration.

There's also the Costume Panel, and that's happening at 8:30 PM on Friday night. I would love to have as many Doctor Who cosplayers as possible in the audience, so that I can point to each one and ask them to stand up and model their outfit, and maybe even tell a little bit about it, if it was made for or by them, or if it was purchased ready-made (i.e. not made specially as Doctor Who garb, but that it was put together to make a Doctor Who cosplay outfit). Such a little talk must be brief, under a minute if at all possible.

Please email me off the community to let me know me that you're interested and which Doctor/Companion/Monster/Villain/Guest Star/Other that you cosplay, and that way I will know about how many DW cosplayers I can expect for our costuming panel at TimeGate. You can email me at acciochocolate at livejournal dot com .
Thanks! :)

For more info on TimeGate, Atlanta's Doctor Who and Stargate convention, please go here:

http://www.timegatecon.org/

Atlanta Gallifreyan meeing this Saturday 1 PM to 6:30 PM

Fri, 16 May 2008 19:30:23 GMT

Note the time change! Tomorrow, Saturday, May 17th, 1 PM to 6:30 PM.

From Alan's post about the meeting:

"Here's a very important note about note about our May meeting: Another group snuck in and reserved the room for that night before I could (I reserve in blocks and thought that I'd booked up through May, but obviously hadn't). So we will have our meeting 1:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. I've reserved the room for the rest of this year, so this is a one-time change."

worried about Donna

Fri, 16 May 2008 17:27:20 GMT

I'm a bit worried about Donna, because of a few lines at the end of The Doctor's Daughter .

More under the cut. Mild spoilers for The Doctor's Daughter, The Sontaran Stratagem, Army of Ghosts, School Reunion, and Doomsday.

Back on April 20th of this year I wrote a long essay on some comparisons between Season Four and previous seasons, mostly of Ten's era. This is a brief continuation of that meta. At the moment I'm a little worried about Donna, simply because of her conversation with Martha at the end of The Doctor's Daughter. Martha's once again trying to warn Donna about traveling with the Doctor, just as she did in the beginning of The Sontaran Stratagem, and Donna's not really paying any attention, or at the least, isn't concerned. In fact, she tells Martha that she's gonna travel with the bloke forever. Had I been a cat, my ears would have pricked up at this, as it somewhat parallels the exchange between Ten and Rose at the beginning of Army of Ghosts :

Ten: "How long are you going to stay with me?"

Rose: "Forever."

Rose is smiling in pure happiness, but the look on Ten's face is a bit ambiguous. He wants her to stay as long as she likes, as long as she can, but he knows that it can't last forever. He knows that she knows this too, after their little talk outside the coffee shop in School Reunion.

Yeah, I'm worried about Donna now. Especially after what happened to Rose.

For all you Billie Piper Fans

Tue, 13 May 2008 21:52:53 GMT

VIPs get the best of everything... including call girls. If you want to see the first two episodes of Secret Diary of a Call Girl unedited, free of charge, become a VIP Insider! Hurry so you don’t miss all the juicy details:

http://www.sho.com/secretdiary?content=vip

Remember, Weeds and Secret Diary of a Call Girl premiere Monday, June 16 at 10 and 10:30 pm ET/PT, only on Showtime.

TimeGate--Hotel Update

Mon, 05 May 2008 23:57:27 GMT

TimeGate VI: Regenerations is the Stargate and Doctor Who convention in Atlanta, GA, this May!

For those of you trying to book a room at the TimeGate hotel, you may be or may not be aware that our hotel had some trouble with their registration system week before last. The internal problem got fixed earlier this past week, but we were still having trouble with on-line registration. Thanks to the assistance of Lukas at HI, that problem has now been solved as well. So on-line registrations are working again! Which means that if you haven't booked your hotel room yet and still want to, you have until Tuesday, May 6 to do so, and you can either call the hotel or book on-line. Rooms are only $69 a night. Remember that the con runs from Friday, May 23rd to Monday, May 26th, 2008, at the Holiday Inn Select in Atlanta, GA.

Reservations can be done here: http://timegatecon.org/hotel.htm

Watching Doctor Who on the Sci-Fi Network

Sun, 04 May 2008 19:08:23 GMT

Well, The Fires of Pompeii was cut, just like Partners in Crime. :(

Spoilers under the cut.

What they did to Partners in Crime was a shame. They cut out most of Donna's conversation with her Gramps "up the hill", which of course led directly into where Ten suddenly realized that he was talking to himself in the TARDIS, and stopped and looked around. That was a heart-breaker of a moment.

But this sort of thing, the cutting of a character-building moment (i.e. no action/adventure or other exciting stuff) is so typical of SFC and the USA network which still owns it, right? At any rate, I remember with great sadness the first time I watched the second eppie of Quantum Leap on USA, and I was stunned by the fact that they had left out a very important conversation between Sam and Al, one that established how and why they had come together to build Project Quantum Leap. Whoever cuts these shows just Does Not Get It.

Okay, just found this on the latest mailing of "The Week in Doctor Who" (May 3rd, 2008)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thisweekindoctorwho/

The SciFi broadcasts should improve for the next few weeks. Partners
In Crime and The Fires Of Pompeii were over 48 minutes long each, and
SciFi edits to about 44 minutes, so important and interesting bits
were cut from the episodes to fit SciFi's time slot (including the
final scene in Fires Of Pompeii). Planet Of The Ood (SciFi airing on
May 9) is under 44 minutes, The Sontaran Stratagem (May 16) is about
44 1/2 minutes, and it looks like the next few episodes beyond will
be about 45 minutes long. So - the next few episodes should be either
unedited or experience much less editing. Expect a better viewing
experience heading forward.

Also from the newsletter, for those of you who watch the Sarah Jane Adventures:

USA - SciFi USA http://www.scifi.com has put preliminary June
schedule information on their website. Sarah Jane Adventures will not
air in June - the last episode premieres on May 30, with
Canadian/South African triple universe saga Charlie Jade airing at
8PM from June 6, making its US premiere. Doctor Who Series 4 airs all
4 weeks with new episodes at 9PM and 11PM Eastern, paired with
Battlestar Galactica (new) on June 6 and 13 and Stargate SG-1
(repeats) on June 20 and 27. Series 3 continues at 5AM EDT Fridays.
One Series 2 marathon on Thursday June 19 - 8 episodes from 8AM EDT.

For those of you who get BBCA:

USA - BBC America http://www.bbcamerica.com starts a weekday repeat
run of new Who at 6PM and 3AM EDT from May 12. BBC America has the
right to air the first 3 series (41 episodes).

A question for fans of the Second Doctor

Sat, 03 May 2008 00:47:06 GMT

Is there any sort of reconstruction with audio track and telesnaps of The Power of the Daleks? I know that there was the Target/Virgin novelization, but I want something closer to the Real Thing. Or even just an audio track recording? There's some clips on the Lost in Time set, but I was hoping for more.

A look at the first story of each new Doctor (part 1 of 10): the First Doctor

Thu, 01 May 2008 18:47:10 GMT

Why is it that quite often the first serial of a new Doctor is seemingly not a strongly-written story?

Over time, I wish to examine this idea, and will present each story in a separate post.

(I would like to, if I may, excuse the writer and production team and director by saying that sometimes they are new to the show, or dealing with a new actor in the part, and things don't always go smoothly. But that's all in the technical details. If the writing isn't up to par, all the wonderful acting and pretty SFX won't cover up bad plotting, weak characterizations, and other troublesome points. Btw, I will mention the writer, director, and executive producer for each story from the Second Doctor on.)

So, let's look at things on a case-by-case basis:

The First Doctor: An Unearthly Child aka The Tribe of Gum

Well, this is not technically a regeneration-ending or carry-over story, but it is an introduction story nonetheless. At first, the plot centers around the Doctor's present and future companions, i.e., Susan, a student, and Barbara and Ian, her teachers. But it moves along quickly to a junkyard, where the two teachers run into a cranky man as they look for their vanished pupil. Hearing Susan's voice, the two teachers push pass the old man to go inside a Police Call Box, only to find themselves in the TARDIS and at the mercy of a seeming madman. This irritable Doctor runs off with them to another time and place, perhaps to teach them a lesson? (Mind you, the irateness is seen rather often in later Doctors, especially when they are dealing with righteous indignation.)

The caveman story is interesting, but seeing the Doctor and his companions trapped and at the primitives' mercy is a little disconcerting for fans who have seen other Doctors before they ever saw the First Doctor. This isn't Two, who will trick them by being clever and then run away, or Three who will only fight after much peaceful discussion, or Four who will hide his amazing knowledge behind a facade of seemingly silly statements, or Five who will out-good them (for lack of a better phrase), or Six who will just dazzle them with his brilliance (while stunning them with his arrogance), or Seven who will cunningly confuse them, or Nine who will help his companions figure out what to do, or Ten who will baffle them with logorrhea and outright brilliance. No, the First Doctor is none of this, but a weary older gentleman who just wants to get back home (i.e. the TARDIS) and will do anything, even stoop to low cunning or bashing a caveman's head in. He's ancient and tired, and we must forgive him much. With the help of Ian's knowledge of how to make fire, the weary travelers escape back to the TARDIS. But as soon as the Marco Polo serial though, the Doctor regains (again for lack of a better phrase) his social skills, but never of course loses his wisdom or intelligence.

An Unearthly Child (considering all four parts as a whole) was an interesting start to a new series, but I don't think that it would appear as that strong a story had the First Doctor been other than himself. From the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Unearthly_Child In many ways, the serial consists of two stories; there is a strong discontinuity between the first episode, introducing the characters and establishing the premise of the series, and the three episodes set in the Paleolithic. The first episode, in particular, is often seen as a classic of television science fiction (though the contemporary critical reaction was somewhat less positive). Like many fans, I adore the first episode of the serial, but do not find the other three episodes to be as strong in the writing.

Last day for Time Gate VI pre-registration memberships

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:07:53 GMT

Today, April 30, is the last day in which to get your pre-registration memberships ($35 instead of $45 at the door) for TimeGate VI, a Doctor Who and Stargate convention to be held May 23 - 26, 2008 at the Holiday Inn Select in Atlanta, GA, USA.

http://www.timegatecon.org

You can either register via PayPal or print out the registration form and mail it to us. All information is at the Membership page:

http://www.timegatecon.org/memberships.htm

Updates are under the cut. :)

We've spoken to both of our guests of honour recently (Tony Amendola and John Levene), and they're both genuinely excited about coming.

We have a ton of fun things in store for you! Here's a super-quick partial rundown of some of the highlights:

- Meet the Guests Reception
- A Human Chess Match -- Doctor Who vs. Stargate! Come dressed up in Who
or 'Gate garb and be the chess pieces on our huge board!
- An acoustic set by local band Hyperdrive
- Doctor Who classic The Five Doctors -- MST3K style!
- A special performance by comedy troupe Professor Satyre's Sci-Fried
Sideshow! They're going to be performing new skits including MacGyver: SG-1
and The Brides of Doctor Who: A Hammer Production, plus some of their
greatest hits
- Singles Mixer -- Here's a chance for you to meet and get to know some of the other single folks that
you'll be sharing the weekend with
- Tony Amendola Q&A in main programming
- John Levene Q&A in main programming
- Team Trivia (play in teams of four....come with your team or sign up to
be on one at the con)
- CABARET -- Our guests will be performing comedy, song, and anything else that strikes their fancy,
to raise money for charity!
Cost is $5 per person, 100% goes to Habitat for Humanity
- Performance by the Mighty Rassilon Art Players, with a brand new play
From TARDIS With Love (Dragoncon goers love MRAP!)
- Mission report on NASA's Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn by Dr. Kevin
Grazier
- Live DVD-style commentaries: Battlestar Galactica episode Flight of
the Phoenix (by Dr. Grazier), Stargate SG-1 episode Threshold (by Tony
Amendola), and Doctor Who episode The Daemons (actor John Levene and BBC film
editor Louis Robinson)
- Special performance by the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company (Dragoncon regulars)
- Costume Contest
- Gaming Tournaments throughout the weekend
- And of course a ton of panels on Doctor Who and Stargate, videos galore,
a great con suite, photo ops with the guests, dealers, and all sorts of other things!

We hope you've made all your plans for TG. You also now have until May 6 to get your rooms at the special rate of $69 per night!

Upcoming Classic Series DVDs

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:29:32 GMT

(Alan posted this on the Atlanta Gallifreyan Yahoogroups list)

Release dates for the rest of this year's classic DVD releases has been announced, and there's some really great stuff coming this year! These are the UK release dates; North American releases are usually 6 months after.

K-9 Tales box set comprising "The Invisible Enemy" and K-9 plus Sarah Jane Smith spin-off story "K9 and Company": June 16

"The Brain of Morbius": July 21

"The Trial of a Time Lord" box set: August 18

"Four to Doomsday": September 15

"The War Machine": October 13

"Battlefield": November 17

Personally, I cannot wait for the "Trial" set! That's going to be awesomely good! But by releasing them all together, that means there's only two Colin stories left for DVD releases. "Attack of the Cybermen" and the atrocious "Twin Dilemma". It'll be interesting to see how they handle those.

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop would have been 50 on April 25

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:49:50 GMT

There's yet another article on the Radiophonic Workshop here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7365120.stm

Lots of pictures and mentions of Doctor Who, Verity Lambert, Delia Derbyshire and some Daleks. :)

("Stolen" from Alan's post on the YG--and yes, the link stil works!)

Meisha Merlin books need rescuing this week!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:50:50 GMT

From the Orac list (and please pass it along):

<http://eugie.livejournal.com/364858.html>

To All You Book-loving Atlanta Locals:

I just got a note from Sean Wallace, Publisher/Editor with Prime
Books/Wildside Press. It seems that SF/F publisher Meisha Merlin,
which declared it was shutting down in November, has a rather large
amount of stock (tens of thousands of books) in its Stone Mountain
warehouse (1440 Kelton Drive, Stone Mountain) that needs to be rescued
or it will all be destroyed/recycled.

Sean is renting a truck which can fit fifteen pallets, single-stacked,
or thirty double-stacked, but there's no forklift available, only a
pallet jack. So he has to fill the truck by hand. He'll be in town
Tuesday and Wednesday (4/22 and 4/23) to load up, and he's asked me to
spread the word that he's desperate for volunteers to help him. Anyone
who volunteers can cart off any books they want that don't fit into
the truck.

If you can help out or know of folks who might be able to, email Sean
at: seanwallace at comcast.net

A couple of comparisons amongst PIC and other DW eppies

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:13:53 GMT

While traweling through dwicons, certain icons made from certain screencaps kept popping out at me from PiC, and that caused me to think over certain scenes in Partners in Crime.

If you haven't seen Partners in Crime, School Reunion, and The Christmas Invasion, and the odd Sarah Jane DW story, there are mild spoilers below. (Cut for length, also.)

1) In Partners in Crime when Donna's talking to Ten about what she was doing with her life after the one day they had together in The Runaway Bride, I found this to be a little bit reminiscent of a similar scene in School Reunion where SJS's talking to Ten about her life after Four dumped her off. In both cases the Doctor is working on something. It's obvious that he's paying attention, as he looks at both Donna and Sarah Jane a few times during their "monologues" but it's also obvious that he's busy hard at work (repairing K-9 in SR and "fixing" the Incubator machine in PiC). His face is a little concerned, not frowning or upset or pleased or delighted, just interested. But then he's multi-tasking.:)

In both scenes, he then tries to cheer the gals up and it kind of backfires on him both times. With SJS, she says that she's depressed that he never came back for her, and he replies that they both needed to get on with their lives, basically. SJS says that he was her life. Not good.

With Donna, he's lonely with the departure of Martha, and basically finds himself agreeing to having Donna travel in the TARDIS; however, I'm not really sure that he meant to extend the invite again, as witnessed by the scene at the end where he tries to explain to her that if she comes on board, it's platonic only. He doesn't express himself well, and Donna misunderstands at first. Finally she figures it out, and they get over that little communications problem.

2) When the communications problem is solved, Ten gets a big smile/grin on his face. It's reminiscent of the one he gave to Rose when he entered Jackie's flat for Christmas dinner, after the wardrobe change, in The Christmas Invasion . And when he says that he would love to have Donna on the Tardis, it's similar to what he says to Rose at the end of TCI when she's uncertain that Ten would want her to travel in the TARDIS again.

Going back to the problem of the retconned SJS in SR for a moment, I'm in agreement with a lot of fans that this scene in the coffee shop doesn't really ring true. I like to think that she was perhaps at a low point in her life, perhaps a bit depressed or lonely, and seeing the Doctor again after many years (mind you, it's been a long time since we saw her in K-9 and Company and The Five Doctors) was a bit overwhelming. So she over-reacted to seeing him again at first, I like to think, but by the end of SR she's had time to think (there's at least two days and one night in between in the eppie) and realises that she does have a good life on Earth, and thus turns down Ten's offer of traveling in the TARDIS again.

I would like to point out that in K-9 and Company, in spite of some many supposed faults, SJS is getting on with her life, and is pleasantly surprised by the gift of K-9 ("oh, Doctor, you didn't forget" or words to that effect), and again in The Five Doctors, she's off on a job when she's taken out of time--in neither show is she shown to be actively missing the Doctor. And in The Five Doctors, she's surprised but rather pleased in her cute but gruff way to see Three again.

And SR seems to answer one more question. It's been speculated amongst fans that those taken out of time in The Five Doctors forgot that little adventure once they were returned to their own time lines. Not having watched very much of the Fifth Doctor's era in recent years, I'm not sure if the following is true, but I think that afterwards, there's no mention of it amongst the then-current Tardis crew. And it does now seem to be obvious that SJS doesn't remember the adventure of The Five Doctors as she makes no mention of it to Ten, and acts and speaks as though the last time she saw the Doctor was when Four dumped her off at the end of The Hand of Fear.

short review of a new column about SF art (with a DW ref)

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 02:10:10 GMT

http://io9.com/381305/ben-templesmith-brings-you-doctor-who-and-the-decapitated-corpse

"Welcome to a new column about science fiction art by Ann & Jeff
VanderMeer. Artist Ben Templesmith's daring, horrific, and sometimes
just plain perverse approach in graphic novels like 30 Days of Night
and his solo creation Wormwood, Gentleman Corpse is influenced by the
science-fantasy cosmos of H.P. Lovecraft's Old Ones and the work of
H.R. Giger. However, Templesmith says "The biggest influence on me
sci-fi wise has to be the BBC prop and art departments on old classic
Doctor Who episodes.""

TimeGate Staff meeting and AG meeting 4-19-08

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:36:38 GMT

There's a TimeGate general staff meeting from 2 PM to 4 PM this coming Saturday, 4/19/08, at the Doraville Civic Center. The AG meeting will start at its usual time of 4:30 PM. If you're interested in helping with the con in any way, please do come out. Directions for the Civic Center can be found on the AG site at:

http://www.atlantagallifreyans.org/

want to know when DW DVDs are coming out in North America?

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:17:36 GMT

The Frequently Asked Questions List for Doctor Who DVDs in North America site can be found at

http://home.comcast.net/~smanfred/DVD_FAQ.html

No pretty graphics, just good solid information for all NA fans. :)

some thoughts on "Partners in Crime"

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:18:46 GMT

These are in no particular order. I've watched the eppie twice, and enjoyed it both times, with some reservations, of course. :)

Under the cut, of course.

I was glad to see that Donna's pin-striped suit was a skirt and a jacket, not a pantsuit; as the later would have been too close to Ten's outfit. (From the POV of a cosplayer, those of us gals who had bought Ten-style suits are now a little disappointed that we can't reuse the outfit for Donna, unless that pantsuit she wore later in the eppie was indeed pin-striped!)

Also glad to see that Donna's hair wasn't so bridal poufy. Some have compared her hair style in PiC to that of SJS, but seriously folks, when your hair is straight, there isn't much that can be done with it. And the bangs/fringe is always in style. :) Frankly, I'm just glad to see another red-headed/ginger person in the TARDIS (always had a thing for Mark "Turlough" Strickson).

The little fat creatures were cute, and remind me, like everyone else, of something, but I can't think what.

Super Mary Poppins Nanny reminds me of Anne whatsherface from the British Millionaire show. It's the hair, the glasses, and that cool demeanor. Her personal twin thug set were rather scary; however, what happened to them? For that matter, what of all the folks employed at Adipose Industries? I hope that they got their unemployment okay. (Yeah, I know, don't inject reality into a fantasy TV show, but when said eppie is set in what seems to be current-day London, it's a little difficult not to.)

Ten and the guy and the cat-flap were just hilarious and yet so typical Ten. The line about what gets out was very sobering, however.

Many folks have compared the plot of "PiC" to the SJA "Invasion of the Bane"; there are surface similarities, but I have never gotten all the way through the later (I wanted SJS at Torchwood, not on a kid's show), I can't say much more than that.

I loved the harkening back to the screwball comedies, and hope that they keep some of this tone in the rest of the season. The show should be serious, but not always take itself so seriously. Even in the middle of horrible stuff, for example, Four would toss off a witty comment (much like James Bond in the movies) that amusingly went sailing over the enemy's head, but not the audience's collected heads. :)

I'm a little upset that Ten just casually threw away the sonic pen. Was it broken? No matter, that's alien tech now laying around for some clever ape to figure out. And couldn't Donna have used it? Not fair, and not right, Doctor.

Why did Rose vanish into thin air? A mystery to be sure!

The Doctor realizing that he's all alone in the Tardis was heartbreaking. Some good cinematography here.

Donna's grandfather Gramps (best use of a former DW actor ever!) was just so wonderful. I adored their interaction and am looking forward to seeing more with him. Not with Donna's mother, though. She is right to be concerned about her daughter, but it's obviously that she just doesn't understand Donna. Typical. (Reference to old Will Smith song deliberate.)

The misunderstanding between Ten and Donna when she was finally going to be back on the TARDIS was some brilliant writing. (RTD either writes well or poorly, and this was a good bit.) I want to see a companion in the modern era who is not in love with the Doctor, and Donna looks to be a safe bet, hopefully.

I was very amused that she was all packed and ready to go! :) And was also very pleased that when Ten was panicking over not being able to save all those people, Donna was calm and cool and collected, asked the right question, and gave him what she needed. This is not the panicked Bridzillia (any woman would have jitters to say the least on her wedding day), but a woman who has had some time to grow up and think and dream and explore. I believe that Donna will turn out to be Wendy Darling's to Ten's Peter Pan.

Partners in Crime

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:15:08 GMT

Has anyone found the first episode of the new season online yet?

Incidentally, the official BBC website allegedly carrying the new episode has crashed due to high traffic.

come to TimeGate! :)

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 01:08:44 GMT

Over Memorial Day weekend, this May 23-26, 2008, please think of attending TimeGate at the Holiday Inn Select in Atlanta, GA, USA. See the con's site here:
http://www.timegatecon.org/ for more info, like memberships, events, mailing lists, hotel pricing, and guests.

One of our main guests is "Sgt. Benton"! John Levene is our Doctor Who Guest of Honor. :)

The con has three tracks: the Doctor Who (and related) track, the Stargate track, and a general SF track, so there's something for everyone. The schedule for panels has been updated, so do check out the site and we hope to see you there! :)

AG meeting this Sat. Feb. 15, 2008

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:30:48 GMT

Same bat time, same bat station. :) In other words, things start about 4:30 PM at the Doraville Civic Center. Bring food, drinks, cups, plates, napkins, utensils, the usual. Check the website (linked on the profile page for the comm) to get directions if folks aren't sure where it is.

There's a TimeGate staff meeting beforehand, starts around 2 PM or 2:30 PM.

I'm hoping to attend both. Are we still showing Seven and do I need to bring my DVDs?

Wintertime fun with TARDIS toy

Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:25:07 GMT

About 2:45pm Eastern Time in the US today taking these pics. It isn't often that we get snow where I live (Atlanta, Georgia - southeastern area of the country). Had noticed the snow flakes getting a bit larger/fluffier than earlier and an idea struck...

For a size reference, here it is on my computer desk with Martha Jones, an original series sonic screwdriver and new series sonic & laser screwdrivers - plus one of the many versions of a TARDIS Key that has been seen in the original series:

For those curious to know -- the toy TARDIS is from the Dapol line produced in the UK back in the late-80s / early-90s. I've had this about 18 years now, give or take...

**crossposted between thetardis, doctorwho and atlgallifreyan communities...

TimeGate -- Guest Update

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:29:37 GMT

TimeGate, the Doctor Who and Stargate con in Atlanta, GA, USA, over the Memorial Day weekend, May 23-26 2008, now has another guest to add to our list:

Lars Pearson is a Doctor Who expert. Quite literally, he wrote the book on the subject. And ones that he didn't write, he's published. He's the head honcho of Mad Norwegian Press, a publishing house in Iowa that has published an extensive array of non-fiction Doctor Who reference guides covering the television show, the novels, the audios, the comics, and one that covers *everything* all at once. MNP has also published scholarly volumes on subjects such as Buffy, Angel, the Transformers and others, as well as a Doctor Who-related line of novels called Faction Paradox.

Those of you who are regulars of the British Media Track at Dragon*Con will know Lars from the Doctor Who panels that he's appeared on.

We're very excited to have Lars joining us here in Atlanta.

As always, please visit our website for all the latest news and information!

http://timegatecon.org/

meeting is this Saturday, Nov. 17th, 2007

Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:21:52 GMT

Just posting this over from the Yahoogroups list as posted by our fearless leader, Alan:

Hey y'all! Don't forget that our November meeting is this Saturday! We'll
be wrapping up the 7th Doctor's first season with "DragonFire" and then its
on to Season 25 (just in time for the anniversary) with one of the best
Doctor Whos ever -- "Remembrance of the Daleks"! I can't wait.

But there's something else very important that we'll hopefully be watching
as we celebrate the anniversary -- "Time Crash" with David Tennant and Peter
Davison! That airs the night before our meeting on BBC1. I'm *so* excited
about that. Will someone have it downloaded and be able to bring it to the
meeting? I've had trouble with my DVD burner the past couple of days, so I
don't want to rely on it to have "Time Crash" at the meeting. I'm hoping
someone else will be able to bring it just to make sure we're able to watch
it.

As always, we start at 4:30 and the videos get rolling about 5:00. Bring
some snacks and drinks to share with others if you can. You can get
directions at http://www.atlantagallifreyans.org/events.htm

The one thing I must get for my Son for Christmas...

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:26:20 GMT

Yep, he's three. He requests "Grampa Doctor Who" for Jon Pertwee, "Doctor Who Scarf" or "Tom Baker" by name, actually, "Doctor Who Fantastic" for Eccleston or "Tentent" for ... Ten. I just noticed how convenient that is.
My eyes are watering at the thought of this kid waking up on Christmas morning and finding that the TARDIS has materialized in his room.
It could go down as THE Christmas he remembers for the rest of his life. That's a lot of pressure... but I have a lot of time.

What do you suggest; should I try to order that from somewhere in the USA (no idea where) or just order it from Amazon UK?

I can also see my wife and myself having a lot of fun putting the TARDIS in small bathrooms or right outside the front door so that one can unexpectedly open a door and run into it. Oh, literally minutes of entertainment. What do you think, sirs?

Current Guests at TimeGate 2008

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 23:44:39 GMT

Our Special Guests are:

Stargate Guest of Honor:

Tony Amendola

Tony was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. He attended Southern Connecticut State University and graduated in 1974. After that he went on to attend Temple University in Philadelphia, graduating in 1977 with a Master of Fine Arts Degree. In 1978 he decided to make the move to Los Angeles to find work in film and television. Though this move was originally meant to be temporary, he lives there with his wife to this day. Tony is a theater-trained actor, and he has a long history of stage performances. Some of these include: American Buffalo, as Teach; Othello, as Iago; Filumena, as Domenico; and The Taming of the Shrew, as Petruchio. Mr. Amendola is known best to TimeGate attendees as Master Bra'tac in Stargate SG-1, but fans will also remember him from his many roles in series such as Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, The X-Files, Angel, Alias, Space: Above and Beyond, and many others.

Doctor Who Guest of Honour:

John Levene

Though Mr. Levene is best known for his role as Sergeant Benton on Doctor Who from 1969 - 1975, the good sergeant wasn't John's first role on the show. Nor his second. John first appeared (uncredited and unrecognizable) in the series in 1967's The Moonbase in the guise of a Cyberman. His first credited appearance was as a Yeti in 1968's The Web of Fear. He made his debut as Corporal Benton later the same year in the Cybermen epic The Invasion. Levene portrayed Sgt. Benton alongside three classic Doctors: Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee, and Tom Baker. In addition to Doctor Who, Levene has appeared in series like Z-Cars, UFO, Adam Adamant Lives!, and Carry on Laughing. His recent work includes the role of Reverend Bernie Shanks in CanniBallistic! (2002), as the Communications Captain in Automatons (2006), and is currently in preproduction on Satan Hates You, reprising his role as Bernie Shanks. This is Mr. Levene's first appearance in Atlanta.

Also Joining Us:

Louis Robinson currently makes his living as a professional singer/songwriter and can be found regularly performing and working with other singer/songwriters in the Atlanta area. Before coming to America, he worked for the BBC for many years, in a number of capacities in both television and radio. He wrote, produced, composed and directed many different productions. In the '70s, he worked in the film editing department, contributing to such shows as The Brothers (starring Colin Baker and Kate O'Mara), The Onedin Line, Doomwatch (created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, famous for also creating the Cybermen), and of course, Doctor Who. After leaving the BBC for two years, he returned in 1984, as Program Associate of the hit show Telly Addicts. He worked on the entire run of that show, from the development of its pilot in 1984 to the final episode in 1996. Robinson is also a Sherlock Holmes expert, and enjoys giving presentations on that subject.

Jana Oliver is an Iowa native who now enjoys the sunny winters in Georgia. The writing virus caught up with her in 1998 and hasn't let loose since. When she submitted an idea to Dragon Moon Press for a genre-blended novel involving time travelers, shape-shifters and Jack the Ripper, the Time Rovers™ series was born. The first novel, Sojourn, was nominated for the prestigious Compton Crook Award, won the Gold Medal for Science Fiction/Fantasy in the Independent Publisher Book Awards and was selected for ForeWord Magazine's Editor's Choice Award for Fiction, the first time a science fiction novel was chosen for this honor. It also won four romance awards, including the Prism for Best Time Travel. The second book in the series, Virtual Evil, was published in Oct. 2007, to be followed by Madman's Dance in Fall 2008. A lover of single malt scotch and expensive chocolate, Jana lives in Atlanta with her husband and the occasional feline. Visitors are always welcome at her websites: www.janaoliver.com and at www.timerovers.com

Performers:

Atlanta Radio Theatre Company — Since 1984, ARTC has been performing, recording, and broadcasting dramatic audio—fully dramatized, fully sound-scaped audio drama, far beyond the readings and "audio books" you can find in every bookstore. Think of it as classic "old-time radio", as it would sound with today's technology and dramatic techniques.

The Mighty Rassilon Art Players is a local theatre company performing original plays with a science fiction beat to them. Well known for their continuing saga of a group of superhuman crime fighters, the Brothehood of Damn Sassy Mutants (that's BDSM for short!), MRAP will be performing a brand new work for TimeGate called "From TARDIS With Love" by William Alan Ritch and Shawn Carter.