Continuing the story of our Saturday at Gallifrey One 2019, it was getting close to 1pm, so we went over to Program A, where the Babylon 5 panel was still going on. We never really watched the show, maybe caught an episode here or there at some point in our lives, but the attendees who were asking questions during the Q&A seemed genuinely excited to have such a full panel of actors from the series. Indeed, the panel included Bruce Boxleitner, Claudia Christian, Mira Furlan, Patricia Tallman, and Walter Koenig.
The panel we were there for on Saturday, February 16 at 1pm, entitled “This or That,” is the brainchild of our Twitter friends Sage Young and Kim Rogers of Head Over Feels. It’s a fun panel where Sage and Kim ask the panelists to choose between things like coffee or tea, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, etc. Even the audience members get a chance to ask their own “This or That” questions. The panelists included Nicola Bryant (who played Peri Brown, companion to the Fifth and Sixth Doctor), Rosie Jane (Bill’s mother in Season 10), Caitlin Blackwood (young Amy Pond), and Director Rachel Talalay.
Right off the bat, in response to the first question — Star Wars or Star Trek — Nicola Bryant confessed that she was “not good at choices” because she has “very different moods.” She recalled that when she was younger, you had to be either Donny Osmond or David Cassidy — but she was both! So she warned us that she likely wasn’t going to be able to choose one or the other during this panel. Rachel Talalay commented that she wasn’t going to answer the Star Wars or Star Trek question, because she wanted to work on both!
However, when it came to the question of dog person or cat person, Nicola was quick to answer that she was a dog person, as was everyone else on the panel as well. We learned that she is allergic to both cats and dogs, but is much more allergic to cats. Nicola has two 3/4 dachshunds, one of which she’s had since it was a puppy, and the other which is a rescue. In fact, the rescue is the reason that her significant other did not accompany her on the trip to Gallifrey One, so that he could stay behind and take care of the dog, rather than boarding it somewhere.
One interesting thing we learned about Nicola in response to the question of “Would you rather communicate with dogs or with ghosts?” was that her house is located on a “Ghost Gate.” She actually lives in the house that she grew up in, although she bought the house later in life rather than inheriting it. Nicola recalled that when she was a young girl, she had a dream about seeing a ghost, but then when her father reprimanded her sister the next morning about leaving the same markings that Nicola had seen the ghost make in her dream the night before, she realized that maybe it was not a dream after all.
When it came to the question of Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, Nicola’s answer was Harry Potter. She commented that while she had read the Harry Potter books and seen the movies with her children, she couldn’t get past the first 2 pages of the Lord of the Rings books! Although Rosie Jane was the only one of the four who said she would rather have a secret garden than a secret library, saying she doesn’t read and prefers to watch TV and movies, she said she actually did read the Lord of the Rings books. She loved the movies so much that she racked up a massive pay-per-view bill that her mother still hasn’t forgiven her for! Caitlin Blackwood and Rachel Talalay, however, did not hesitate to answer Harry Potter.
As for which Hogwarts house they consider themselves to be in, of course Nicola answered that she’s in all of them! Caitlin agreed, saying that she thought there was a little bit of every one in her. Rosie told Caitlin she would think she’d be Gryffindor, and Caitlin seemed pleased with that answer. Rachel confessed, “There’s a little Slytherin in me.”
When it came to the question of whether you’d rather be the funniest or most intelligent person in the room, Nicola had a good answer. She said that to be funny, you need to be smart.
Regarding Vampires or Werewolves, Nicola once again had to have it all and said both. However, she pointed out that it seemed that both could only be around when it was nighttime. She figured that she could keep the vampire in her aforementioned secret library and have him during the day, and then have the werewolf at night. She also mentioned that she particularly liked the werewolf from True Blood. Rosie said that she was a big fan of The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals, so her answer was vampires. Caitlin had been a Twilight fan when she was younger and had always been Team Edward, so her answer was vampires as well. Rachel pointed out that there had been more representation of vampires and that there needed to be more werewolf representation.
When asked New York or LA, Rachel quickly answered London. Nicola agreed with Rachel’s answer. Rosie admitted that she’d never been to New York, though she would like to. Caitlin’s answer was LA because it has Disneyland.
The panelists were also asked to choose between the four Hollywood Chrises: Chris Evans, Pine, Pratt, and Hemsworth. Nicola didn’t hesitate, answering Hemsworth. Rachel said she’d have to fight Nicola for him. Meanwhile, both Caitlin and Rosie chose Chris Pratt.
As mentioned above, the audience also got a chance to ask questions, though the questions could only be “This or That?” questions. One audience question was whether the panelists preferred Doctor Who episodes that were set in the past or in the future. Nicola said that when she was younger, she liked the ones that were set in the past because she felt like she was getting the “truth” about history.
The question of Beatles vs. Stones never actually got asked because Nicola had scared the moderators away from asking it at the beginning of the panel by specifically saying she wouldn’t be able to answer that question. But an audience member asked a variation of that question: Beatles or Queen? Nicola said it depends on her mood. Though apparently she proposed to Paul McCartney when she was 3, but sadly he didn’t wait for her.
It had been hinted that the question of Marvel v. DC comics shouldn’t be asked, because they didn’t want to get Rachel in trouble, being that she has directed for both universes. However, a young girl did ask the inevitable question. Luckily, Rachel was excused from answering it. Nicola confessed that she doesn’t read comics, and she’s more of a novel reader. Rosie admitted that when it came to the films, she wasn’t sure which ones were Marvel and which ones were DC. However, she asked which one is Black Panther (it’s Marvel, for those unaware), so that seemed to be her answer.
Rachel had hinted that she had a Mick Jagger story, so someone asked her Mick Jagger or Harry Styles? Rachel pointed out that those were two very different age groups, and joked, “I’m not sure if I answered Harry Styles what would happen!” She then went on to tell us that when she worked on Ally McBeal in the 90s, they didn’t think that Calista Flockhart would think she was “hip” enough. Therefore, they started a rumor that Rachel had had an affair with Mick Jagger! Whenever she was asked about it, she would “neither confirm or deny” it. Rachel further joked about a desire for there to be a rumor about her and Harry Styles.
Rachel also had a good answer when asked the question of “Would you rather end world hunger or world pollution?” She said that global warming and pollution is such an important issue that we should take care of that first. Rachel pointed out that pollution itself could end the world, partially by creating more world hunger, so the pollution problem should be taken care of first.
Before we knew it, the one hour panel came to an end. It was really interesting seeing all these women from different facets of Doctor Who interact with one another and hear their stories. Thank you, Sage and Kim, for coming up with such a fun panel! Looking forward to seeing next year’s version.
We had a bit of free time between 2pm and 3pm, so we went back up to the room for a quick nap. We were grateful that we were given a room earlier, rather than having to wait until 3pm to check in!
Stay tuned for our recap and photos of our 3pm panel: the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker!
You can view more of our photos of Nicola Bryant, Rosie Jane, Caitlin Blackwood, and Rachel Talalay on the This or That panel at Gallifrey One 2019 below.
