The 28th annual Gallifrey One, a Doctor Who convention, took place at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott February 17-19, 2017! Read on as we recount our experience at our third Gallifrey One. Josh is going to start off by telling you what we did on Friday, February 17, our first day of the con.
So our journey to Gallifrey One began with myself picking up Violet at work in Santa Ana at 5pm. The rain had begun coming down pretty hard during the day, and I knew it would be an adventure going to LA on a Friday night. Violet finally got to the car, and deciding to try out the app Waze for the first time, we planned our route to the LAX Marriott.
On the freeway, things were going pretty well at first. The rain was coming down, but it was manageable. There was typical traffic as well. But as the sun began to set, things started getting pretty hairy on the freeway. Traffic slowed way down, not due to accidents or heavy traffic, but really because the rain was coming down so hard, that it was very difficult to see out of the windshield. It basically came to me gripping the steering wheel really tight and following the taillights of the car in front of me. When it got pretty dark, being in the carpool lane became a bit of a pain, as the headlights from the cars going the other way were getting in my eyes.
But luckily, the journey though precarious, ended with no tragedies. We made it to the Marriott, and were able to get parked with no incidents. We then picked up our badges, and still had plenty of time for the night, as we made it to the Marriott a little after 6pm. We had been worried that we would miss the registration cutoff time of 7pm due to the rain and traffic, so we were relieved that we made it on time, and safely. The badge pick up was pretty empty, so we managed to get that quickly. We then checked into the hotel, headed upstairs, and dropped off our luggage. Outside the rain was still coming down. We took a look out our window, and as expected, the view of the pool was pretty boring, and wet. No people outside unfortunately.
Our next stop was food. Violet and I were both pretty hungry. We didn’t feel like venturing too far either, so we went to the Marriott restaurant Latitude 33. After our dinner, we headed back to the hotel room and took a nap. I was pretty tired from a busy day at work, so I passed out for a couple hours.
When we woke up, we decided we should make our way to the Program A room, which was where the “Idiot’s Lantern” would be taking place. It was supposed to start at 10:30pm, but wound up being a few minutes late, seemingly due to technical difficulties.
While we were waiting, Violet noticed that our camera battery was nearly dead, so I went back up to the room to grab one of the spare batteries. Unfortunately, after a thorough search, it turned out that the camera batteries somehow did not get packed, nor did the charger. So we would have to go camera-less all weekend and instead rely on our phone cameras. Apologies in advance for the poor quality of pictures as compared to the pictures we normally take.
But the show finally started. The panel was essentially a sketch comedy routine, revolving around Doctor Who. The first one had where the character swallowed a dwarf-star gemstone, which grants wishes. The character wishes that Tom Baker never stopped being the Doctor for Doctor Who. It was pretty entertaining to see how their “timey-wimey” scenario played out. All of the gaps in Doctor Who were filled in now, rather than having gaping holes. But there were repercussions too–ratings for the show tanked, and Tom Baker, who showed up to the panel (I should clarify, a person dressed up as Tom Baker) says he just wants to be let go.
There were other pretty funny skits as well. For example, the Doctor tries to talk sense into Kylo Ren, by having him talk to the various incarnations of Anakin/Darth Vader. He first talks to young, pod-racing Anakin. Then after some parody, Kylo talks to Padme-infatuated, sand hating Anakin. Then finally he talks to Darth Vader himself for a few more pokes at Star Wars, particularly the scene where George Lucas ret-conned Darth Vader’s “Noooooooo!’ in to the movie.
Captain Kirk, James Bond, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Sherlock were not safe from the skit either, with all of them trying to one-up the other in terms of how long they have been around. Sherlock won obviously, being around for 125 years. There was a pretty funny Superhero skit, where the Justice League interviews a potential new recruit named the “Ghost” who apparently was in the Christmas special (I fell asleep during it, and never caught up–shame on me!).
There were a few pre-recorded skits as well. For example, Tom Baker’s scarf was “puppetized”, and was answering email/Twitter/Facebook questions. There was also a parody of Hunger Games, where all of the Doctors had to battle it out for the last one standing. It looked like it was coming down to Tom Baker and Matt Smith in the end, but we never got a full conclusion to it.
The show lasted about two hours or so, and was a lot more fun than I thought it would be. The Justice League and Star Wars panel stuck out the most to me, for obvious reasons.
After Idiot’s Lantern, Violet and I headed up to the room again. The lobby was still pretty hopping, with people chatting away. Violet and I were pretty tired though. Violet passed out immediately, but unfortunately for me, I wound up stuck awake most of the night, due to the planes flying overhead from LAX and just generally being unable to sleep.
Click here to continue to Part 1 of our Gallifrey One 2017 Saturday Report!
