Brand New, Gospel of Gallifrey Posted

We just posted the newest article of Gospel of Gallifrey written by TJ Tunnington. This month he examines people's hatred of Dr Who because of visual effects. Enjoy

Frazer Hines Q & A at Chicago Tardis 2013

Frazer Hines Question & Answer session at Chicago Tardis 2013. Frazer played Jamie, a companion of the 2nd Doctor.

Review Chicago Tardis 2013

Chicago Tardis 2013 is now over and I thought I would give you a review of the convention.

Guest line-up was awesome. Paul McGann, Peter Davison & Colin Baker. 3 Doctors at one convention is very hard to do. Not only having 3 Doctors, but bringing in classic companions, Louise Jameson, Frazer Hines, Sarah Sutton, Nicola Bryant & Daphne Ashbrook put it over the top. Then add some current Dr Who actors like Dan Starkey, Richard Hope & Nina Toussaint-White. Then the line-up from Big Finish and throw in some writers like Tony Lee makes this guest line-up epic. Then to top it off, they bring in Freema Agyeman! Wow, is all I can say.

Now the drawback to having such great guests is that it can create lots of problems for attendees to get photos and autographs. This is where Chicago Tardis did not do well. I think they should have allowed less people to attend the convention or find a bigger space. This would have made for a better experience for the fans. I think they tried their best and the actors actually went out of their way to make sure all the fans who wanted photos and autographs were seen. If you are going to have a superstar line-up, like they did, then you need a bigger space.

The main stage panels were great. The actors did a fantastic job telling stories and jokes and even doing a Christmas carol. There is so much going on though, that it's hard to see all the panels or one had to leave during it to make sure one got their photo/autograph that they wanted. My favorite main stage panel was the Q&A with Dan Starkey who plays Strax. He was very funny and you can tel
l he's a big fan of Dr Who before he was even on the show. He actually did some of the Q&A using Strax's voice. Hilarious. One of my other favorite panels was Frazer Hines. He has some of the best stories and does an awesome job of impersonating Patrick Troughton. Just watching him, you can tell that he loves what he did on the show and loves what the show has become.

I did not get to see much of the side panels because of everything that is going on the convention. What I saw was kinda lacking in substance and guests. There were very few panels, I wanted to see. The one I did go to it was hard to hear them because there was no microphone in the room.

Cosplay was great. You can see some of the pictures we took in our costume play section. The Chicago's costume contest is called the Masquerade Ball. The place was packed for this competition. I was surprised that some of the great costumes I saw earlier in the day were not on stage. I'm not sure if they didn't sign up or didn't meet the requirements for the competition. The overall winner was a couple dressed as Matt Smith and Jenna Louise Coleman in "The Snowmen". Pretty decent costume.

During the halftime portion of the Masquerade Ball was the Dr Who improv group WHOPROV who acted out a story with suggestions from an audience member. This was better then the actual contest, I thought. The actors did a fantastic job.

Lastly, Chicago Tardis raised $2900 for the Illinois Food Bank with their silent auction and their live auction. Your's truly spent almost $600 on a poster signed by 17 people from the show including Patrick Troughton Jon Petrwee Elisabeth Sladen & many others. I have pictures of the poster on our Facebook page.

Overall, I give the Chicago Tardis a 3.5 Tardis's out of 5. It was a solid convention. The highlight for us was having Louise Jameson insist that we be allowed to interview her for our site. She ushered us back to the green room for the interview even though we knew Chicago Tardis did not want us there. While backstage we saw Freema Agyeman walk in and hug Peter Davison. Sarah Sutton and Frazer Hines were hanging out. I will always remember how Louise went out of her way to help us. She is a class act. The other highlight was seeing Frazer Hines wearing our logo pin on stage for the closing ceremonies.

Big Finish Panel at Chicago Tardis 2013

This was the Big Finish panel at Chicago Tardis 2013, featuring Jason Haigh-Ellery, Ken Bentley, Tracey Childs, Amy Pemberton & Paul Spragg.

Interview with Louise Jameson

We were able to sit down and interview Louise Jameson at Chicago Tardis 2013. Louise played "Leela", the companion for the 4th Doctor (Tom Baker) from 1977-78. A big thanks to Louise for doing this for us.

Here we come Chicago

We are heading out to Chicago Tardis, very soon. The convention runs Nov 29 - Dec 1st. We will be out there for the whole weekend and will be tweeting all day long with the happenings and photos of the convention. If you are going to be at the show and spot us, come over and say hi. We will have a limited number of Freebies to give out. Follow us on Twitter for all the happenings of the show. http://twitter.com/eastcoastdrwho

Day of the Doctor Review

This was the episode 50 years in the making and did it ever deliver. This was probably the first in the new series that very little information about the episode hadn't leaked. It was kinda like the classic series, before the internet and you had no idea what was to come.

This episode could be broken down into two stories, the Zygons and the Time War. The Zygons looked great. Dr Who production has done such a great job of creating new looks for old villains. Just like the Ice Warriors early this year, the Zygons looked awesome. The story itself felt like it wasn't complete. It seemed like they just dropped the Zygon story all together. We needed to know what was in the treaty and do the humans and Zygons get their memory back after the treaty is signed? Hopefully, the Zygons will return soon to answer our questions.

The other story in this episode dealt with the decision of John Hurt to wipe out the Time Lords and the Daleks. Throughout the whole story, I just kept saying to myself "Don't do it, John". I think everyone was surprised how they used Billie Piper. Her playing the "Bad Wolf" Rose would not have been my first choice. Wouldn't it had been cool to see the conscience of the weapon change during the episode of older companions? Yes they wouldn't have looked the same, but it still would have been cool to see everyone. In the end the Doctors came up with their own plan to end the Time War. A little far fetched if you ask me. So the Daleks are destroyed with crossfire. Yea, not the greatest idea Moffat ever had. I think he got stuck and couldn't find a way to destroy the Daleks. The best thing to happen with this story arc is that Gallifery is out there and the Doctor will try and find it. I love Gallifrey stories, whether it be from the classic series or Big Finish stories, you know when Gallifrey shows up the story will be a classic.

Lastly, I could not end this without talking about the appearance of Tom Baker. This was a well kept secret by Moffat and it was well done. Tom Baker finally returns to Dr Who after so so many years. Yes, he has done Big Finish stories, but seeing him on TV brought a tear to my eye. His voice was exactly like it was back in the late 70's. I could close my eyes and hear that voice and see my favorite Doctor reliving my favorite adventures. It will be interesting to see if the Curator will ever be brought back and if they explain who he really is. Is he the Doctor or is he not? If not he seems to know a lot about the Doctor's past and his future.

Overall, Day of the Doctor gets a 4.5 Tardis's out of 5. Great episode.