Nebula (convention)

Science Fiction Convention
Name:	Nebula
Dates:	1991
Frequency:
Location:	Britanica Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, England
Type:
Focus:	Doctor Who
Organization:
Founder:
Founding Date:
URL:
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Nebula was a Doctor Who convention held in 1991.

Guests

• Peter Davison
• Nicola Bryant
• Nicholas Courtney
• Paul Darrow
• Michael Keating
• Sophie Aldred
• New Adventure's authors
• John Nathan-Turner
• Anthony Ainley

Some Photos

• flickr

Con Reports

Nebula 91 was officially a Doctor Who convention. I am not a DW fan, but I went because Paul Darrow and Michael Keating were confirmed guests. The convention was large by Blake's 7 standards, with about 400 attendees, in a hotel with a good sized conference hall for the main stage events and sufficient bar and lounge area for people just wanting to sit around and chat. They served reasonably priced food and all day coffee (a great relief for those of us who work best on ample supplies on caffeine).

In England at least the 'active' B7 and DW fandoms do not have much overlap. As a B7 fan at a big Who con there were a number of obvious differences. For instance, the majority of attendees were male; B7 fans tend to be female. The attendees were also rather serious in their approach to fandom. Perhaps because of this the convention seemed to lack the certain 'zing' in the atmosphere at first, and those people who had come in costume were not particularly eye-catching. There was a wide range of DW guests, although many of them were only there for part of the event. This led to scheduling problems (anyone know a con that didn't have scheduling problems?) and alack of communication at times. So far as I could see the panels consisted of the guests being interviewed on stage without much feedback from the floor. The panels were videoed and one very good idea was the provision of a huge screen behind the stage which was used for showing what the camera was seeing at the time (excellent for those at the back of a very large hall) and also for screening clips from episodes for comments. All in all good ideas but rather low-key. Enter Paul and Michael....

Saturday morning we decided to go for a breath of fresh air. Fifty yards from the con hotel we encountered Paul and Michael... I knew then it would be a good weekend. Their first scheduled appearance was an autograph panel later in the morning with John Nathan-Turner and Nicholas Courtney. (They may have been in the opening ceremony - but I missed It!) Their panel on stage wasn't until 5:00 pm. Paul and Michael wandered around, sat in the bar and chatted to people. The Who tans who saw this reacted with slightly shocked amazement. (I didn't see any of the Who guests hanging around in the foyer to chat...)

Five o'clock, following the showing of a clip from Project Avalon, Paul and Michael arrived on stage to great applause. Was the whole con really waiting for B7 after all? Judging by the response it could well have been. I'm not so sure that they really expected the 'Paul &Mike Show'. I suppose we have become accustomed to guests who spend most of the time sending each other up and telling funny stories. After about five minutes when the shock wore off, the DW fans decided they liked It too! The panel lasted about an hour and a half and got the best reception of any that day. Enquiries [sic] about B7 fan clubs and conventions rose sharply.

Later in the evening there was the auction for the con charity (a local children's hospital), followed by an 'entertainment', a 'sketch' performed by those guests present, entitled Whomcock's Half Hour. (For those who don't recognize the title. It is based loosely on a British radio comedy show of the 50's, Hancock's Half Hour.) In order to show there was no favoritism a lot of the jokes were taken from a couple of other vintage radio shows. The Goon Show and Round The Horne. For those interested in such things, it had a plot entitled The Great UN Butter Mountain Scandal, and it did more or less tell a story. It was presented as 'radio', read directly from the script and with sound effects produced by the actors with the aid of an electric synthesizer. It could have been a disaster. The fact that it was hysterically funny was due largely to Paul who played the Announcer, Hancock, and various other roles and whose expressions were getting far more laughs than the jokes. (1 will always treasure the moment when he read out the 'stage direction' - "Attempts Hancock impersonation...fails!") He was ably supported by Michael Keating, Nicholas Courtney, Frazer Hines, John Nathan-Turner, David Banks. Anthony Ainley and a lady who was, for one performance only, playing Sophie Aldred. Out of that group we got a Doctor, his companion, the Master, the Brigadier, and various supporting roles who may, or may not, have had anything to do with anything. The good guys won and the bad guys lost (at least, I think they did), and Paul walked off with the honors of the evening. It finished sometime after midnight, Paul and Michael came up to the bar for a final chat before retiring. The day certainly ended on a high note!

On Sunday the main guests, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred, came. Paul and Michael did another very popular panel in the morning by which time everyone had cottoned on to the right idea. A few very interesting clips started to appear on the screen - a scene from Deliverance for Paul, a shot of Vila asleep at the teleport for Michael... Then it was the Closing Ceremony and time to drift out to the carpark to say goodbye.

I admit I saw very little of the Who attractions on offer, but I still had a very happy weekend owing to the large amount of time spent chatting informally with Paul and Michael. The best indication of what the DW fans thought was the enthusiastic response that met Paul's appearances, and the rapid disappearance of flyers for next year's Space City Convention.

Nebula's organizers had decided to add a Blake's 7 flavour to this year's proceedings in the form of Paul Darrow and Michael Keating. Their dry humour, constant bickering and sardonic wit had the convention-goers in tears of laughter." And on Sunday, "...Darrow and Keating, the greatest comedy show in the galaxy, returned to wow everyone once more, and so the convention moved towards its climax.