Corsham Sci-fi Day – We Need A Bigger Boat...

I’ll never work out why I always struggle to do a write up for Corsham, but I always do, but here goes...

If you read by blog about Corsham Sci-fi 2011 you’ll already know that I love this event! My comment last year was (and I quote) “a review cannot just say “AWESOME!!” in massive letters...” and I had a feeling this year would be no different!

Corsham Countdown!

This was my third time at Corsham (I know time flies!!) and this time it was going to be a bit of a special one, why? It was also my 30th birthday!

When Corsham 2011 came to an end there was a section on the Charity Sci-fi Forum asking for guest suggests for next year. As always I had a suggestion, no prizes for guessing who! Yes, Nicola Bryant.

What I hadn’t banked on was the answer... If you want her to be there Matt, then you need to invite her! You don’t need to tell me twice, email was sent and then it was a case of waiting for a reply...

To my great relief, Nicola replied and was available for the event and was also able to attend the pre event meal the night before. This was going to be a good birthday!

Corsham Sci-Fi Family Funday - Doctor Without a Companion

Costumers and Guests

Having decided that a review cannot just say “AWESOME!!” in massive letters here’s my review of the Corsham Sci-Fi Family Funday. Prior to the event I was feeling far from 100% thanks to an evil spring cold and after a nice relaxed drive in truly glorious weather I made it to Corsham just before 4pm on Friday afternoon, after having a good catch up with Matt Booker, it was time to quickly head to the venue to see how the event setup was progressing.

With the event setup going well it was time for a quick change and to head over to Rudloe Hall Hotel for the group meal out with the guests, my table was joined by Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti from Star Wars). The meal was very nice and highly enjoyable (although I would have like a bit more food).

The Doctor with Cyril

My 6am alarm was most unwelcome, once I’d finally found the energy to get up and ready I appeared at the venue some point around 7.30am. After many cups of tea, flu tablets and throat sweets I was feeling far more human by around 9am.

Today saw me as Doctor without one of my normal event companions, which would have meant a distinct lack of photo’s of the event on my part, it’s hard to take pictures when you’re in them! However my saviour appeared in the form of Tiny Time Lords mum who offered to look after my camera and take some snaps throughout the day.

The actual event itself really flew by, time flies when you’re having fun as they say!

Now for those that have read my reviews before I’d normally say what I’d done and who I’d met, but in this instance it didn't seem right, as such here are the highlights of the day:

Audience with the Daleks

Costumed Guests: There were loads! All looked really good and had great fun mixing with the crowds. A special mention has to go to ‘Cyril’ the Shansheeth who looked truly awesome (For those of you not familiar with a Shansheeth, the look like giant walking Vultures from the Sarah Jane Adventures).

Audience with the Daleks: The Daleks were on form today, I had the role of operating the roaming mic to get the questions from the audience. The Daleks we pure comedy as always, especially when asked their opinion on the new Daleks. I managed to avoid most of the Dalek fire and remained fairly dry, they did get me with a couple of good shots but the fringe survived! If you ever go to an event where an Audience with the Daleks is taking place I highly recommend giving it a watch.

And the winner is.....

Fancy Dress Competition: Always a highlight of an event as it’s great to see what costumes people come up with. Somehow I ended up on stage on host (I’m still not entirely sure how that happened?!?!), luckily I was ably assisted by Tiny Time Lord and an on stage cameo from K9. For the judging I was joined by Alan Ruscoe and Richard LeParmentier, the costumes in both categories were great with the winners for the under 10’s being a Cyberman and over 10’s was Christina as The Tardis. Great stuff!

Charity Auction: As part of the event there is a charity Auction. There were some brilliant items on offer including signed pictures, limited edition prints and the star item was a figures of Amy Pond and The Doctor each signed by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan. I walked away the proud owner of the Amy Pond figure.

The Auction. I really should be banned from auctions!!

As I said at the beginning of the review it would have been possible for me to sum up the event in one word, and that word would be “AWESOME”, but its true, the whole event was really good fun, on last count over 1400 people came through the doors and over £3,800 was raised for charity.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved and to all those who attended, without each of you the event couldn't have been what it was.

The date for the 4th Corsham Sci-Fi Family Funday is already set and will take place on April 28th 2012, which as it happens is also the weekend of my 30th Birthday, should be interesting...

Stars of Time II - My First Audience with the Daleks...

It’s 8.30pm on Friday November 5th, it’s raining heavily and we finally arrive at the Commodore Hotel, just outside Weston Super Mare. The journey had taken just under five and a half hours but Lucy and I had made it to our accommodation for the night. It’d been a long day of travelling, but it’s far easier going the day before rather than on the day.

The Doctor

So onto the day of the event, we got their around 9.30 an hour before it opened so that we could have a walk round and see what the plan was for the day.

This was my second appearance at Stars of Time, it’s a relatively small family orientated event. Due to its size it means that there is plenty of times to chat to the guests and queues aren’t too long.

David from Toymachine (the event organisers) had managed to get a good selection and number of guests. The main ones for me being Wendy Padbury (Zoe – Doctor Who) and Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore – Goldfinger).

In addition to the guests there was a Doctor Who photo area where people could have their picture in the Tardis or with a Dalek, there was also a Star Wars photo area courtesy of the guys from Garrison. I’d been asked to do a couple of pictures by the Tardis so the photographer had some to display, this would not be the last time I was photographed with the Tardis.

Audience with the Daleks

Part of the event is the ever popular, audience with the Daleks. On this occasion I’d been asked to be compare, the Doctor and three Daleks, what could possibly go wrong................

The audience with the Daleks was highly amusing, many jokes and the mandatory soaking of most of the audience by the Dalek water guns. The video has made it to You-tube, there is also a link on my page.

With the first Dalek audience completed it was time to wander (or should that be swagger?!?) around the event. At one point I was stopped by two children who wanted my autograph, this has happened to me before, but is something that I’ll never get used too!

Autograph Signing

For those of you who have never been to Stars of Time, it’s held in the Winter Gardens in Weston Super Mare. The Winter Gardens are also next to a shopping centre, so you can imagine what was bound to happen........ Dalek invasion!!

Nothing can really describe the shocked look on the customers of Burger King when a Dalek bursts in demanding Ice Cream and then proceeds to join the queue.

Early afternoon arrived and the two children who’d asked for my autograph earlier came and found me again, this time clutching a printed copy of a picture they’d had with me, they both asked me to sign them. As you may (or may not know) a biro won’t work on a photo, so a Sharpie was required, so off I ran to see Dave Prowse to borrow his!

Me with Wendy Padbury

Audience with the Daleks part two then started, the Daleks had been caught somewhere in the Time Vortex (or were suffering from technical difficulties). To pass the time and to stop me needing to do a one man show I was joined you a young assistant for a short bit of banter.

Two of the three Daleks materialised and the show went on. This time I was far more settled and feel I gave a better performance, far more jokes from the Daleks with a bit more adult content, Nicola Bryant somehow made it into conversation and I had to avoid laughing when the Dalek plunger shot upright and extended to its full length.

Anyway, back to the guests. Wendy Padbury was lovely, I’ve never met her before, I had her sign a picture for me, I’d also been sent a drawing of her to get signed which I did.

The Doctor

Honor Blackman was fab, i must admit I did get a little start struck (not normally like me) but she was really nice and I had a picture with her.

Nisha Nayar (Doctor Who and Tracey Beaker) I met her at the last Stars of Time event and she remembered me which was cool, she’s cool and was great to talk to, I look forward to seeing her again.

Dave Prowse (Darth Vader, but I’m sure you all knew that!!), again really easy to talk too, we ended up chatting about the best way to get to Norwich of all things!!

All in all, it was a really good event, not as busy at the last one (but there was another Doctor Who event that day so that probably explains it).

A really good family day out, I’d only make one minor amendment and that would be to have a set area for the paid for pictures which wasn’t in the main dealer hall. May also be an idea to have the possibility of an area with guest talks, but that’s just a thought.

If you’re ever in Weston Super Mare when a Stars of Time event is on its well worth a visit