Gallifrey One

Convention
Name:	Gallifrey One
Dates:	1990 - present, usually February
Frequency:	annually
Location:	Los Angeles, California
Type:	fanrun
Focus:	Doctor Who and related Whoniverse
Organization:	Gallifrey One Conventions group
Founder:	The Time Meddlers of Los Angeles (fan organization)
Founding Date:	May 25-28, 1990
URL:	http://www.gallifreyone.com/
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Gallifrey One is an annual Doctor Who fan convention in Los Angeles, California. It is the world's longest-running annual Doctor Who convention.

Notable Guests

According to the official website: "With over 300 guests spanning twenty years, Gallifrey One has hosted (with only two exceptions) every single living principal cast member of Doctor Who from the end of the William Hartnell era in 1966, to the end of the classic series in 1989 and the 1996 TV movie."

Conventions

1. Gallifrey One (May 25-28, 1990)
2. Gallifrey One: The Sequel (May 3-5, 1991)
3. Gallifrey One in 3-D (February 21-23, 1992)
4. Gallifrey One Goes Fourth (February 26-28, 1993)
5. A Fifth of Gallifrey One (February 18-21, 1994)
6. The Six Wives of Gallifrey One (February 24-26, 1995)
7. The Seventh Seal of Gallifrey One (February 16-19, 1996)
8. Gallifrey One Across the Eighth Dimension (February 14-16, 1997)
9. The Nine Lives of Gallifrey One (February 13-15, 1998)
10. The Tenth Planet of Gallifrey One (February 12-15, 1999)
11. The Eleventh Hour of Gallifrey One (February 18-20, 2000)
12. The Twelfth Regeneration of Gallifrey One (February 23-25, 2001)
13. The Thirteenth Floor of Gallifrey One (February 15-18, 2002)
14. Gallifrey One: Episode XIV - The Faction Paradox (February 14-17, 2003)
15. Gallifrey One's Fifteen Minutes of Fame (February 13-16, 2004)
16. The Sixteen Swashbucklers of Gallifrey One (February 18-20, 2005)
17. Gallifrey One in the Seventeenth (And a Half) Century (February 17-19, 2006)
18. The Eighteenth Amendment of Gallifrey One (February 16-18, 2007)
19. Gallifrey One's Nineteenth Symphony: Opus 2008 (February 15-17, 2008)
20. Gallifrey One: 20 To Life (February 13-15, 2009)
21. Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21 (February 26-28, 2010)
22. Gallifrey One's Catch 22: Islands of Mystery (February 18-20, 2011)

1990

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  flyer for the 1990 con

1992

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  flyer for 1992

1994

1994: Con Reports

I did well at Galifrey the Fifth. It has a very small art show and media-stuff does best. Statistically, total sales this year were $1945 for 115 from 16 artists ranging from $200 t0 $1 for pieces sold. Last year, it was $1677 for 84 pieces and 23 artists, $75 to $1. They also had contest awards with cash prizes. Same folks run LosCon, WesterCon, and a few others.

1995

1995: Con Reports

We just returned from Gallifrey '95 where we has arranged for Philip Segal , executive producer of the new Doctor Who show, to hold a presentation (and where a merry time was generally had by all). Philip announced that he was very hopeful that he would be able to officially announce within the next couple of weeks that Doctor Who is back on line, not as a pilot but as a two-hour made for television feature....

Philip screened a video showing computer generate images of the opening titles -- remarkably like those used during the Tom Baker years --- and the new, unfolding, metallic spider-like Daleks. Philip stressed that these images had just been developed as tests to show the BBC what Amblin Imaging could do, and were no means final or definitive....

We would describe the reaction from the fans in attendance as overwhelming positive. Even the new Daleks seemed to be well received, if not by all, at least by the majority of the fans.

1998

1998: Con Reports

Con Report

As the years have passed, Gallifrey has expanded its range from being solely a Doctor Who convention to encompassing other shows and genres. This time was no exception. However, at its heart, Gallifrey is a Doctor Who event, and the series and subject was well represented beyond many fans' expectations. Colin Baker returned for a second time to unleash his wit and larger-than-life personality upon attendees, while male hearts were sent into overdrive (actually, more like tomtoms during a George of the Jungle theme!) when Deborah Whatling, still as gorgeous as ever, rejoined Gallifrey after her first appearance seven years ago. Making a rare convention appearance (and his first on the West Coast) was 'Adric' himself, Matthew Waterhouse, who made a hit with the fans.

[snipped]

Perhaps the most obvious thing at Gallifrey 9 was the presence of a goodly number of Britons (and one Scotsman) all connected with the Doctor Who novels from Virgin and the new line from BBC books. Many of them were here on their own, having heard from others about Gallifrey and the general one got from either meeting them or watching them is that they were out to have a good time. And were!

[snipped]

As the Convention was dedicated to the memory of Terry Nation, without whom Doctor Who would not have continued on the course that endeared it to fans over the decades, it is inevitable that there would be a tribute to the man. In this case, it was in the form of video clips put together by some guy named Eric Hoffman (anyone ever heard of him?). Unfortunately, due to a last minute time cut, only part of the footage that included , besides Doctor Who segments, footage from the horror comedy co-produced and authored by Nation, The house in nightmare park, and moments from Blake's 7.

[snipped]

With panels, the dealers' room, the art show(which included works contributed by Andrew Skilleter, Lela Dowling, an Amberwolf, among others), the panels, autograph sessions, videos (which included several of the Doctor Who telesnap restoration of lost shows as well as other episodes including Red Dwarf VII, the pilot for Terry Nation's Survivors series and other videos) there was plenty of things going on for those who braved the fury of El Nino.

1999

1999: Con Reports

Con Report

The first panel was with Nick Courtney and Wendy Padbury; they were both a delight. They were both introduced by Gary Russell, and soon as they took the stage he said, "Okay, have fun you're on your own.' Basically they were on their own, so they offered to take questions, do a little dance, whatever. Of course, the first question asked to Nick Courtney was "What's the eyepatch story?' Of course, he was evasive about it at first, saying it was a boring story and nobody wanted to hear that story, everybody knows that story.' Of course, Wendy said she would like to hear it, and the audience did too. But what became a short panto style banter of 'Oh, no you don't' 'Oh, yes we do'. Well, it made an interesting diversion for Nick to segue to a different story about just finishing a panto he was in back in the UK. Which was of all things, Dick Whitington and his cat, and no he didn't play the cat, though he had played Wolsey in the Benny New Adventures audioplay.

[snipped]

One of the main events of the day, for everyone I think, was the main panel session with Philip Segal and Daphne Ashbrook. This was Daphne's first convention appearance! When she was asked if she was given any background on the show in terms of videos, books, etc. she replied 'No'. And she made the made the fatal mistake of stating that fact, because, Gary Russell came back not more than five minutes later with a bag of merchandise from the dealers' room for, which she loved! Then someone asked what she thought of her character reappearing in the DW magazine comics, which she didn't have any ideas. Again, in walks Gary with some issues for her, which she immediately began looking for the comic while Phil answered some questions. It was hard not to notice the child-like expression on her face at seeing herself in a comic. As for Phil, he still believes that a possibility exists that Doctor Who may return and it is not dead. He recently started his own production company, PHILSTAR. And has already done some work on some movie of the week stuff. Later on was the major highlight of the weekend! The Special Presentation of the Lost episode #1, Doctor Who - The Crusade. It was in excellent condition and it was so nice to see a new, albeit old episode with William Hartnell's Doctor and Barbara, Ian, and Vicki. It was said that this episode is trying to be pushed ahead to the video release schedule for later this year and to be included with the release of the Space Museum.

[snipped]

Sunday's bid start for me was attending the panel with Bill Baggs and BBV, with their presentation on the new spinoff videos featuring many icons from the history of Doctor Who, from the Stranger series and Probe videos, to the newest productions like Mindgame and the Auton Triology! Yes, Auton II is now available and work is currently being set forth on a third Auton story. And their are plans for a sequel to Mindgame. And they also had a special videogram from Sylvester and Sophie from the set of the Audio Adventure in Time and Space series which has been revamped. The new title will be The Time Travelers and the characters will be renamed 'Domini' and 'Alice', to avoid copyright red tape. There is also discussion of a forth coming audio series starring K-9. Also, discussing the series of spinoffs, there was also a panel with Big Finish Productions -Gary Russell and Jason Hugh-Ellery, Lisa Bowman and Nicholas Courtney. They discussed not only how The New Adventures starring Bernice Summerfield Audios are continuing, but the licensing and future of the new BBC Doctor Who Audio Adventures will be done.

[snipped]

Of course, they had a masquerade contest, a video room showing mostly Doctor Who and some other great shows, an art show, an art auction, and a charity auction (which I spent most of my inheritance at again!). But the best thing going Sunday night was the Doctor Who Fox movie being shown the way it was intended, uncut and on the Big Screen! Of course to wet our taste buds even more while they were setting up the movie, we were treated to a showing of the parody video - the Few Doctors (which was done much in the style of Benny Hill sketches we all know and love!), and a few other teasers related to Doctor Who. Incidentally both Saturday and Sunday night after the main featured events they held dances which lasted very late for the few that fit the term of being nightowls.

2000

2000: Con Reports

First is Eric Hoffman's retrospective on the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison. Always armed with a quick anecdote, Eric seems to find new perspectives on our favorite program and our favorite actors. Next is 'An hour with Terence Dicks', where the former script editor and prolific Who author tells the history of his time working on Doctor Who and how he came to write all those books. Following along is Guest of Honor Peter Davison with his reminiscences of his time on Doctor Who. I missed some of talks at a couple of other conventions he had attended, so it was nice to hear his very funny stories of 'Janet Fielding and the Boob Tube', 'This is your life, Peter Davison' and referring between Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker during a photo shoot for a car advertisement. Peter has recently played the role of Inspector Christmas for an episode of the Mrs. Bradley mysteries with Diana Rigg. His reaction to the BBC being upset over Doctor Who being chosen as the best BBC drama series over the past sixty years 'It serves them bloody well right!' It's also nice to see the mention of Adric's demise in Earthshock can still bring a pleasant smile to Peter's face.

[snipped]

I attended the two Doctor Who audio panels that day. First was Bill Baggs and the crew from BBV. They have an upcoming 'Rani' story with Kate O'Mara in the works as well as plans to work with Tom Baker in a couple of projects. Second, the Big Finish group, led by Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery, played several trailers from their upcoming Doctor Who productions, including two with the Daleks, one with the Ice Warriors and even one with Colin's Doctor and Frobisher the 'Shape Shifting' Penguin of DWM comic fame. Steve and I had brought some DWIN/Myth Makers flyers and copies of Enlightenment and Myth Makers to the convention. Since there had been no opportunity to acquire a fan table, we endeavored to promote a DWIN room party for Saturday night. We made some hand-made posters and submitted a notice for the convention publication, 'The Black Scrolls of Rassillon.' About twenty people attended our party. Luckily we had plenty of munchies, including a good supply of Chessie puffs, as well as the fortune to be located only two doors away from the popular San Diego 'Con-Dor' convention room party. They were serving Chinese food in honor of the Chinese New Year. We ran our DWIN room party for an hour and a half so as not to miss the Saturday Cabaret. We sold a DWIN membership and a half dozen copies of our zines.

[snipped]

This was my first Gallifrey convention and I would have liked to a lot more about their traditions before I went to L.A. There were some inventive and numerous local variations on the usual convention activities I didn't expect and which I wish I had known about more about in advance. For example.

• They ran a massive 'Panopticon Challenge' Doctor Who Quiz all weekend, with questions located in the registration kits, in their newsletters, at special events and at each dealer's table.
• The theme for Saturday was 'Hawaiian t-shirt day' - if only I had received my convention progress report - sigh!
• Friday night included a carnival gaming event - Gallifrey's Port of Call- with tarot readings, street performers, tropical tattoos, a monkey pinata, ducky pond and more; there was an Ice Cream Social on Saturday night.
• I didn't know the Saturday Cabaret would include an impromptu(?) limbo contest! No one told me this.

Still, I was impressed with how hard-working and dedicated the Gallifrey One convention committee was, to supplement their program with so many events, contests, and activities.

2001

2001: Con Reports

Gallifrey has provided forum for fans of Doctor Who as an ongoing series via the BBC books and the Virgin books before them. With so many authors and readers on hand the convention fostered an environment unlike any that I have experienced before. With BBC Books Commissioning Editor Justin Richards on hand really felt like having the producer of Doctor Who in attendance. The people who create the books were able to sit down for three days with the people who buy and read the books to discuss what's been happening lately and what direction the books will be taking in the immediate future. On top of Doctor Who TV actors and Doctor Who book writers Gallifrey is increasingly featuring guests involved with the various audio/video spinoff projects being marketed these days. Teams were on hand from both Big Finish and BBV to promote their product lines and let fans know what's coming up next.

[snipped]

In terms of fan related programming The Fandom panel on Sunday morning was the best I attended. Scheduled to be a panelist I ended up sitting in the audience as the head table was already full by the time I arrived. Putting representatives of American, British and Canadian fans all in the same room and comparing experiences proved to be an interesting experience. Even though the panel was scheduled for for the cruel time of 10AM on Sunday morning the room was packed and it was standing room only.At times, Gallifrey seems like two or three conventions running at once. It's almost as though there's a main track of traditional Doctor Who programming (tv series, audio), a book based track and finally a number of guests from a variety of American series. You can attend the convention, get hooked into one track and almost forget that the others are going on.

[snipped]

Wherever you live, it's worth the trip to make it to Gallifrey. In addition to fans from all over North America there were a huge number of British fans in attendance as well as at least one fan from New Zealand from far away as New Zealand.

2002

2002: Con Reports

The Dealers room opens at 12 noon. One minute later, my credit card shrieks its last whilst buying a stack of Big Finish audios and the audio release of Dalek Master Plan. Just when I think the slaughter is over I see most glorious thing: a Talking Dalek. I decide with utter maturity to hold off buying it until Saturday. Then I see Mike has bought one. And so has Paul Cornell. Peer pressure immediately sets in and I bolt toward the cash machine in the lobby. So much for maturity. I sit in on the first interview with the guests of honor, Carole Ann Ford, Frazer Hines and Anneke Wills. Carole Ann is all class and poise; Frazer is lascivious, unbridled and knows the anecdotes letter-perfect; Anneke, well, I think we all love Anneke.. I notice, though, Anneke has climbed down on her scathing criticism of William Hartnell, but that's okay. This is followed by a Death Comes to Time panel with Dan Freedman and Nev Fountain, which quickly becomes a Q&A with the potential producers of a new TV series. Dan is surprisingly, painfully, shy. Nev on the other hand loves the attention and he's fluently bilingual with fans: one minute he describes new Doctor Who in broad dramatic terms that would appeal to outsiders, the next he's invoking Season 6 and Spearhead from Space. It's very impressive.

[snipped]

The day is packed with panels. One of the best thing about Gallifrey's programming are the panels, which feature a good mix of professional Who authors and fans. And Dave Stone. I catch a great one on one panel with audio author Rob Shearman, which Big Finish head Jason Haigh-Ellery joins in. It provides fascinating insights into what goes on behind the scenes in making Who audios. This is another thing I love about Gallifrey: the way it embraces Doctor Who in other media. The number of writer guests is always impressive, and the contingents from Big Finish and BBCi help to bolster this considerably. During the course of the day I attend panels on audios, talks with authors, and attend the official announcement of Big Finish getting the contract for BBCi's next online adventure.

[snipped]

By the time of the closing ceremonies, I am exhausted. But very happy with the experience. Gallifrey is fantastic con. In fact, I think it's the only major Doctor Who in North America worth attending.