Wales 2013, Part 2 – ‘Who’ Ya Gonna Call?

It’s Sunday morning and it’s too early, however I’m up and working to once again get my hair to defy gravity for a few hours, so having offered up the correct prayers to the hair gods I’m good to go. Once again Kate was being difficult (she and I will be having words soon…)

Having found the event location and parked up, it was time to spend the day at Cardiff International Comic Expo.

Ten Plus? – Redux

Yesterdays post got some interesting reactions. Some thought it was deep thinking, others a goodbye and others just weren’t sure what to make of it...

Me :)

Well... Don’t panic! I’m not going anywhere (see you can breathe again now). What it was is me looking back over what I’ve done and how much of an influence the man in the pin stripe suit has had.

What I want to do now is move forward from this point, what that does mean is expanding what I do, which will probably result in Ten taking a bit of a back seat for a little while, after all I can’t be me if I’m standing behind a Ten shaped shield.

Allons-y!!

Ten Plus?

How I'm best known. The Doctor

Recently I’ve been putting together a bucket list and it’s got me thinking (dangerous I know). My main thought is what do I want to be known for...

I’ve mentioned before that the Facebook page first launched back in 2010 I envisaged only ever getting a few likes, almost two and a half years later the page has over three thousand three hundred which is totally mad, I’m just me after all!

Back when I first started all I ever did was a few pictures and hang out at events, which while being good fun had a danger of becoming very ‘samey’ within a short space of time. As a result, in October 2010 I did my first event write up which added to what I do...

The Greatest Show In The Galaxy – Well Was It?

We all know that claiming to be the best is always problematic... If you’re at the top the only place you can go is down, so when an event is called ‘The Greatest Show In The Galaxy’ (GSITG) it sets itself a pretty mammoth task...

GSITG was organised by a new events company called Treble Ace Events, and as their first show it first came on my radar when they announced a number of Star Trek guests (it also helped that the event was due to take place relatively locally to me in Peterborough).

After the initial guest announcements I gave the event website the occasional glance, slowly but surely more and more guests appeared... Before long there was a massive line up including some big and rare names! I have no idea how the Treble Ace team managed to secure all the guests but it really was an impressive list!

So, a week prior to the event I bit the bullet and order myself a ‘Fast Track’ pass and write out up my ‘must meet list’.

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!

Tea in the Tardis (S2) - Lights, Camera, Doctor!

When I did my first blog interview/chat with Matt Elliott back at the beginning of March it was only meant to be a one off post and something a bit different.

Following that original post the idea of doing some more chat’s was pitched to me, why not I thought, so the initial post became a series of 3, the second being with Craig Hurle of Doctor Who and the Tardis and the third being with Michael David Key of Mike’s Star Trek and Doctor Who Art.

As the first ‘series’ of Tea in the Tardis posts was well received a second ‘series’ just had to be done, the plan is to being you a selection of chat/interviews with various parts of the Doctor Who fan universe. 

Ryan receiving the award for his short film CHOICES

This series will include the team behind Doctor Stew and the highly talented Comic Who, but first off I’m joined by actor/director/filmmaker Ryan Hendrick who you may know from the Fan Film Doctor Who – Beseiged, so without further ado, here we go...

MH: Welcome Ryan, can’t believe the last time I saw you was back at Dimensions 2010! Seems like a lifetime ago, easy first question for you, how long have you been acting and film making?

RH: I always wanted to be an actor from an early age and imagination got the better of me, I decided that I'd have to shoot some stuff when I was 14 to allow myself to experiment with acting, and then I caught the film making bug and drifted down the route of behind the camera for a number of years until I took a gamble and decided to train as an actor.

MH: Great stuff, it’s always good when someone is able to follow their ambition from a young age, I know one of the early projects you were involved in was Minds of Glass, tell me a bit about it.

Tea In The Tardis (S1) - Two Matt's...

Here’s a bit of a different post, recently I met another Matt, namely Matt Elliott (ME) who makes a truly amazing Matt Smith lookalike.

The original picture Matt sent me

So here’s an interview/chat that we did for my blog about how he got into this crazy world of Doctor Who events...

MH: So then Matt, are you a lifelong Doctor Who fan or are you new to the whole thing?

ME: I've never really seen any of the original series as I'm too young, although I do remember being scared of the theme tune after hearing it at a very young age. I would try and catch episodes when I could of the new series but my appreciation for the series definitely increased after Matt Smith was announced as the new doctor.

MH: Ah, so a newbie to the world of Doctor Who then, from what you’ve seen of the show do you have a favourite Doctor and a favourite companion?

ME: It has to be the 11th Doctor but I probably am biased.

My Return To Wales: Part 3, SFX Weekender 3 Hi-de-hi Campers!

Have you ever heard the expression, ‘if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all’? Well, if I was to apply this to my opinion of the SFX Weekender 3 this would be a very short post... Along the lines of: Arrived, saw dancing girls, went home...

*Insert comedy caption here*

I can, hand on heart, say this was the worst event I’ve ever been to.

I have to confess I’d not really given SFX much thought before I actually arrived, I wasn’t even sure what guests were going to be there, but the idea of it really was appealing, a few thousand like minded geeks taking over a holiday camp for a weekend, what more could you ask for?

Check in was from the Thursday afternoon, however, if you’ve read part 2 of my Wales posts then you’ll know I was busy climbing Snowdon that day, so we decided to get there on the Friday morning and go straight into the event.

On the Thursday though the little alarm bell in my head began to ring upon hearing stories of people waiting hours to check in... Not too promising. Luckily when we got there on the Friday there wasn’t a queue so we checked in quickly and then went off to find our ‘Gold’ level chalet...

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia - Day Two, And Relax...

Following a good night’s sleep (the free room upgrade the hotel gave me helped!) it was time for day 2 of the madness known as Expo/Memorabilia.

Wolverdoc?

I hadn’t really got anything specifically planned for day two so decided to take the day as it came.

Upon walking in I gave into temptation and bought myself photoshoots with both Alexa Havins and Arlene Tur, they had both been so nice the day before I decided it would be nice to see them again.

Also on the Sunday Tim and Laura debuted their new Cosplays, Laura as X-23 (Wolverine clone) and Tim as Dakin (Dark Wolverine / Wolverines son), I had to try out the Dakin claws and somehow managed to make having talons growing from your hands look camp... Oh well, I guess it’s a talent I didn’t know I had...

Sunday was a nice relaxed day, far less busy than the Saturday which is nice as you’re actually able to walk round and have a proper look at things as well as seeing some amazing costumes.

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia - Day One, Martha and The Doctor

My previous post got the moans and grumbles out of the way, now onto the event itself!

Expo and Memorabilia are two very different shows. Expo is all about anime, costumes and ‘free hugs’... Memorabilia is more of the classic signing event; they also differ a lot in how busy they are. Expo is manic (50K plus people) where as Mem attracts far less. Expo also seems to attract a younger crowd (well that’s how it felt to me).

The big draw for Memorabilia for me was Freema Agyeman, she’s never done an event before so this was an opportunity not to be missed. As there weren’t that many people at Memorabilia her queue wasn’t overly long (I’m done moaning about queues now). Freema was fab, she was really chatty and came across as really enjoying the whole experience. Now that she’s done an event I hope she’ll appear at more in the future.

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia – There’s Nothing Like an Organised Event...

...And this was nothing like an organised event.

The Doc and Babydoll

Now don’t get me wrong I was really excited about London Memorabilia, to put it simply Freema Agyeman was attending!

But before the good there are a few little moans I need to vent...

One: If you have 50,000+ people turning up to an event you need to have a well organised and managed queuing system... Expo have got most of it sorted, when you buy a ticket online it’s emailed to you and you print it off, simple.

Once you get to the event you ticket is scanned and you’re sorted... Well, not quite.

Once you’ve queued up to have your ticket scanned you then get to queue again to be given a wristband, here’s a really easy tip it you have lots of people scanning tickets (I think there were about 10) then make sure you have just as many giving out wristbands, if not you end up with a bottleneck...

Entertainment Media Show, Day 2 – Benedick meets Benedick (aka Matt meets David Tennant!)

So with day one of EMS completed and the series finale of Doctor Who watched it was time to put my mind to day two of EMS.

Why was day two so important, well unless you’ve been living on the moon you’d know that David Tennant himself was going to be there as a guest.

Benedick

Now call me a fanboy all you like, but for me this was epic and I have to confess I was very excited! However, I also had a dilemma... What do you wear to meet someone who you class as an icon??

I’d been pondering this very question from the moment that he was attending was announced. Normally for an event I’d simply don the 10^th Doctor suit and swan about as normal, but this was different, did I really want to meet David Tennant dressed at 10? How would he react and what would he think?

I asked the very question of what to wear to my Facebook Page and they replied with Ten but I still wasn’t really feeling it. I think the fact that the world and it’s mother (classic expression!) would be there dressed as Ten also didn’t really help, when I saw him did I want to be (or not be) remembered as just another Ten?

Entertainment Media Show, Day 1 – Has It Really Been Two Years?

Approximately two years ago the ‘Entertainment Media Show featuring Collectormania London’ (EMS) was simply known as Collectormania London, it was also the first convention event I ever went to so this event (in name rather than strict timing) was my 2^nd anniversary for being on the convention scene...

Why does this always happen to me?

Originally I was going to go for my standard 10^th Doctor look for this event, then the British weather intervened and we had an unseasonal October heat wave , so the Doctor gear was out and Benedick was in (complete with white paint!).

So Saturday morning Jemma was given the highly amusing show of me preparing to be Benedick, following on from Benedicks first outing at Glasgow (and another viewing of Much Ado About Nothing)  I’d got a better idea of how to apply the paint without having too many hand prints.

London Film and Comic Con - I Need To Be In Three Places At Once...

It's going to be a busy Saturday!!

LFCC Timings

10.00 Louise Jameson – Photo B (buy on day)

10.05 Christopher Lloyd – Photo A

10.15 Camille Coduri – Photo B

11.30 Derek Jacobi – Photo B

11.45 Karen Gillan – Photo A

11.55 Gil Garrard – Photo C

12.20 Erin Gray – Photo C (buy on day)

12.45 Kyla/Holly – Photo C (buy on day)

12.55 Christopher Lambert – Photo A

1.40 Mark Sheppard – Photo B

1.45 Karen Gillan – Photo A

2.35 Mary Tamm – Photo C (buy on day)

2.45 Brent Spiner – Photo B

3.20 Walter Koenig – Photo B

At some point I've got to find the time for Autographs as well!! Fingers crossed the gold ticket does its thing!!

It's All About The Hair...

Here's the how to video I did for Tennant hair...

Kate...

You’re probably wondering who Kate is and what she’s done to get a blog post dedicated to her...

Well, Kate is... My SatNav.

She’s softly spoken with a slight Irish accent and is my constant travelling companion. To rework a quote from Idris and The Doctor, “she takes me where I need to go, but not necessarily where I want to go...”

Wales Comic Con - Kate's Revenge...

The older I get the worse I get a judging distances... (Lincoln, that’s near Wales right?)

Having been at the Team Til Wedding the day before, Jemma and I had decided as we weren’t too far away we’d head over to Wrexham and give the Wales Comic Con a look, it was a new event for both of us and there were guests we both wanted to see.

As Lincoln was a little further from Wrexham than I’d originally thought we both had to be up rather early, which isn’t great when you don’t head to bed until almost 1am (I need my beauty sleep!!)

Collectormania Milton Keynes: Monday - It's oh so quiet...

So here we are, Bank Holiday Monday, the final day of C17, didn’t really want to get out of bed (again, was a theme for this event!)

Me with Stuart Milligan

Having got ready I was presented with a view of bad weather and a venue that seemed really empty, oh well. Onwards!

My plan for the day? Well to be honest I didn’t actually have one (apart from checking out of the hotel of course)... Having got fed up with the weather I decided to do something I hadn’t done in a long time, attend an event as me!

Yesterday I’d had my photo with Tony Head (yes Giles from Buffy!!) however I’d not been to get his autograph yet so that was first on my list of things to do. Jemma had tagged along with me and was dressed as Supergirl which did get a smile and the comment of “you must be cold!” to which Jemma sheepishly answered “yes” while wrapping herself up in her cloak. After seeing Tony, Jemma then decided it was time to change back into something a little warmer!

Collectormania Milton Keynes: Sunday - Spoilers Sweetie...

CM:MK Day two, Sunday and we all know what that means... Alex Kingston aka River Song! Being a Sunday, the event didn’t open until 10am which meant I was able to have a lay in, however even with the extra hour I still managed to oversleep!!

Me with Tony Coburn

Today in honour of River I was going for the Silence in the Library look, big hair, blue suit and black (with a hint of red) shirt and dark red (almost black) tie.

Showmasters knew how popular Alex Kingston would be so had a separate queue for her, people were already queuing when I got out of bed, would need a bit of time travel to ensure I got a good number VQ ticket...

With me still quietly praying for a day of no wind the doors opended and thanks to some good timing (timelord, timing... sorry, bad pun) I managed to grab myself VQ ticket 32 for Alex, result!

Knowing my photo with Alex was at Midday I spent most of the morning doing what I could to avoid any sort of breeze!!

Collectormania Milton Keynes: Saturday - Cardboard Cutouts, Death and Shakespeare...

The 6.30am alarm woke me with a bump! (damned comfy Hilton beds!!) After dragging myself out of bed and beginning to get ready it was time to meet Team ‘Til (Tim and Laura) for breakfast. Take it from me the only way to start a convention day is with a cooked breakfast buffet!!

Susan, The Doctor and Death

Skip forward to 9am and I was fully ready and raring to go. I also couldn’t wait to see Tim’s and Laura’s outfits, they were coming as Death and Susan from The Hogfather and, well, they looked amazing!!

Now, I do have one major issue with Milton Keynes and that is the venue, this may sound petty but for me especially the fact it’s open to the elements makes it cold (which I don’t mind) but it also acts like a wind tunnel and to put it simply... wind is UN-FRINGE-FRIENDLY!!

Saturday turned out to be a day of random gifts, the first of which was presented to me by my fellow convention goers, a large flat box approximately 4ft by 2.5ft. To my amazement the contents of the box was.... me!!! Well not the actual me, but a lifesize cardboard version!!  JonJon (long story...) would now have a cardboard companion!!