Awesome Con 2014 Review

Awesome Con 2014 was held this past weekend at the Walter E Washington Convention in the heart of Washington DC. I was there the Saturday and Sunday at the Con covering all the happenings. I was highly impressed considering this was only the 2nd year of the Con. The variety of celebrities was very impressive. Billie Piper to Ernie Hudson to voice actors to multiple actors from the Walking Dead. This Con had something for everyone.

Now before I tell you the negatives of Awesome Con, I want you to remember this was only their 2nd year and what they pulled off in only their 2nd year was pretty.......well, Awesome. My major complaint was the autograph structure. There were no set times for autographs. You just had to wait in line to hope the person you wanted the autograph from was coming back. I waited over 3 hours on Saturday in line for Billie Piper and the volunteers had no clue when she would be back to sign autographs. I did finally get my autograph on Sunday, when there was less people at the show. This was a problem only with the major stars like Billie Piper. Some of the other lesser known guests, were a lot easier to get their signatures. But it would be nice to know when they would actually be signing.

The other negatives about Awesome Con are just minor. The attendance for the show was incredible on Saturday. Which met lines for pretty much anything you wanted, panels, food you name it and you were in line. Maybe a cap on Saturday should be in order. Lastly, the number of dealer stands needs to be increased. For some folks, this is there one chance a year to
buy merchandise that their local comic shop doesn't carry.

Now for the positives of Awesome Con. The variety of guests was such a huge plus in my book. Yes, I would love to see more Dr Who actors, but it was nice to see Ron Glass, Sean Austin and Rob Paulsen/Maurice LeMarche, the guys who voiced Pinky & the Brain. I am also now a fan of Richard Horvitz who voiced Invader Zim. I sat in on his panel on Sunday and was blown away by Richard's humor. Now, I'm starting to go back and watch some of his work.

I was also impressed with the number of volunteers helping out at the Con. For the most part they were pretty knowledgeable about what was going on. The venue was superb. It was big enough to house all the attendees on Saturday and I didn't feel overwhelmed, except when I was waiting in lines. Lastly, I was impressed with the panels. Every guest had a Q&A and the major guests had a Saturday & Sunday panel. I was only able to attend 2 panels, Richard Horvitz and Simon Fisher-Becker. The audio was great in the panels and the seating was comfortable. I wish I would have been able to attend more panels, but I was not leaving their without adding Billie Piper's signature to my collection.

Now just looking at Awesome Con as a Dr who fan, having Billie Piper there was like the Holy Grail for some fans. I knew she was popular, but the number of female fans of hers really stood out to me, She looked very tired, but was as nice as nice can be. My highlight was meeting Simon Fisher-Becker and being able to sit down and interview him for the site. We was such a pleasant man and if you ever get the chance to catch him performing "My Dalek has a Puncture", you have to see it. His story and background was sad, but inspirational. There was a good selection of your usual Dr Who merchandise. It would have been nice to see some Big Finish audio cd's, but we can't have everything we want. The other Dr Who item I want to highlight was the Tardis photo booth. I had never seen them at a con before and was impressed. For a fee you got to step into the Tardis with a green screen behind you. You got to select the background you wanted and then got pictures taken, like at a photo booth. I will try and post my pictures on our Facebook page.

So to rate Awesome Con 2014, I would give it a 4 out of 5 Tardis's. They have the beginning of a great Con, that's actually on the east coast. I want to thank the staff at Awesome Con for having me and a special thanks to Simon Fisher-Becker for allowing me to sit down and interview him.

See you in 2015!

Interview with Simon Fisher-Becker

I got to sit down and interview Simon Fisher-Becker, who played Dorium Maldovar in multiple Dr Who episodes. You might remember him as the "big blue guy" along side Matt Smith. This was conducted at Awesome Con 2014 in Washington DC. 

Kate O'Mara Passing

I am sadden to learn that Kate O'Mara passed away today. Kate played the evil Time Lord, Rani in "Mark of the Rani" and "Time of the Rani". She was probably best known for her role on "Dynasty".

The Rani was such a great character. When we first meet her in "Mark of the Rani". She's really not evil, she's just a scientist doing research. She just didn't have much regards to human life. She thought she was better then the humans. They were lab rats. That really doesn't make her evil. It's kinda like how we test things on animals. It would have been nice if her character was used more, but it was toward the end of the show, so it's hard to blame them. 

In my opinion, the Rani had one of the best TARDIS console rooms ever. It was beautiful. It even had, what looked like the rings from Superman II instead of the column in the center of the console. Come to think of it, it's the only TARDIS owned by a female we have ever seen. It shows that her eye for decoration was much better then the Doctor, Master and the Monk. I wonder how Romana  would have decorated her TARDIS?

Kate O'Mara will be missed dearly by the Doctor Who community. 

East Coast Who Coming to AwesomeCon

April 18-20, 2014 in Washington, DC will be the site of Awesome Con, a pop culture gathering of all things geekdom. We here at East Coast Who are happy to say that we will be attending and reporting all the happenings back to our fans. Now we here at East Coast Who tend to gravitate toward the world of Dr Who and Awesome Con has us covered.

Billie Piper aka, Rose Tyler companion of Eccleston and Tennant will be a guest at Awesome Con. I am stoked about meeting Billie Piper. You just don't get many opportunities to meet her and get her autograph. I realize, I will have to wait in line but it will be worth it.

Simon Fisher-Becker better known as Dorium Maldovar will also be a guest. You might better know him as the Blue guy during Matt Smith's run as the Doctor. Last we saw of his character, he was just a head in a box. Simon also has a one man show called "My Dalek has a Puncture" that is touring the UK.

Lastly, Ernie Hudson peaks our interest. Yes, he was a Ghostbuster, but he also was on Torchwood " Miracle Day" as Stuart Owens opposite of everyone's favorite Captain Jack Harkness.

Awesome Con has a big list of celebrities, voice actors & comic writers and artists that will be attending. We are honored to be covering this event for our fans and hope to maybe snag an interview with one of the Dr Who actors. Keep your fingers crossed. You can learn all about Awesome Con at their site http://awesomecondc.com/  If you see us walking around Awesome Con wearing our East Coast Who shirts, come over and say hi and we will get you a free pin.

Forgotten Legend

Most of us fans of Dr Who know the actors names that play the Doctors and his companions. Some of us more hardcore fans can tell you some of the writers, producers and even script editors. But not many of us know who Christopher Barry was until he passed away this week. He was a brillaint director and worked on some of the biggest episodes of the classic series. He directed the first episodes of the 2nd and 4th Doctors, The Daemons, the Brain of Morbius and directed The Daleks. In The Daleks, he gave us one of the greatest scenes and moments of Dr Who, when we end the episode of Barbara screaming and all we see is the plunger of the Dalek. Absolutely brilliant. The scene still gives me goosebumps and I can't imagine what people were thinking in 1963, when they saw this. Christopher Barry should be celebrated right there up with any of the actors, writers and producers of the show. He was that important and will be missed by the whole Who Universe.

Brand New Gospel of Gallifrey Column

Just posted the newest edition of Gospel of Gallifrey. TJ examines the new Doctor, Peter Capaldi. Click here to enjoy.

Video History of Dr Who Contest

We need your help. We have a new monthly video history of Dr Who done by our newest contributor, Katie. What's the problem you ask? We need a name for it. That's where you guys come in. What should we call this? The winner will win an East Coast Who pin and an autographed card of John Levene who played Sgt Benton of UNIT during the 3rd and 4th Doctor eras.

Watch the video below and think of a cool name that we can call this monthly video. Submit your name ideas to eastcoastwho@yahoo.com with your name and mailing address. Katie will be selecting one winner from the entries. Contest ends on February 8th, 2014. Good Luck.