knitchick1979 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
knitchick1979) wrote2008-12-01 08:05 pm
knitchick1979) wrote2008-12-01 08:05 pm
Chicago TARDIS - My Report!
Get ready for a massive report on my packed weekend!! :) Pictures forthcoming as soon as I can get them developed (I used my film camera this weekend) ETA: My pictures, such as they are, are now here! Click on the thumbnails for full size!
So Friday I got up way early, barely slept at all between making some salads for the weekend ahead of time and being way too excited. I had more than enough time to get up, have a little breakfast, get ready and get out the door by shortly after 8 am. I've been to Yorktown before but I had been having trouble remembering the hotel. Not a problem when I got there -- it must have been recently built cuz I'm SURE I would have remembered that huge building right around the corner from Von Maur (where I usually park). It has been a while since I have been to Yorktown.
So, got there, got in line for registration. Talked with some nice people in line and got a few looks (in a "wow it's Captain Jack" good way, not "OMG who's that weirdo" way :) ). I was in my regular Torchwood Jack costume but doing a "Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" variation -- dark blue shirt, and wearing my TARDIS key on a twine string around my neck (I ran out of time to solder some stuff on there to make it a proper perception filter). Got some compliments on that key through the day.
Once I finished up with getting my registration stuffs, I headed off to the first autograph session of the day. That was the Big Finish guests, and of them only one had worked on the one Big Finish audio CD I own. So I had Jason Haigh-Ellery sign my Big Finish CD's booklet (I have "Land of the Dead", a Five and Nyssa story, got it at Wizard World), then the rest I had sign my programme (I'm kinda glad I noticed people ahead of me doing that). Everyone was so nice!! Lisa Bowerman (she is Benny Summerfield in the audios) made a correction to her bio in the programme, writing "Is still an actress!" by the part where it mentions she's now a professional photographer. Then she was like "oh I've sullied your programme" and I said no worries because I used to copyedit the school paper and I do that kind of stuff myself. So Simon Guerrier sitting next to her chimes in that he did that too, but once you've been paid to copyedit you don't do it for free anymore. I was like I WISH I could get paid to do that! So when he signed my programme he wrote "Got paid to correct spelling -- it's great!" (he cracks me up!! I love him!!!). Further on down the line I also got autographs from Paul Cornell, Robert Shearman, Ciara Janson, Laura Doddington, and India Fisher. Now this was first thing Friday, so I barely knew what anyone did! I really didn't even know who was who to tell you the truth :) But everyone was so nice, and over the weekend I got to know a lot more about them!
So once I got my signatures I left, I came around the corner and started talking to a very nice gentleman named Dan about my Captain Jack coat and it turned out he was first in line of the non-reserved people for the Colin Baker photos. So that was perfect, I became second in line and spent some time chatting. I really wish I had thought to exchange emails with him, ah well. So I was a smidge nervous because I had brought my old camera. I didn't want to get my photos with Colin and Elisabeth Sladen on my digital camera because it is pretty poor quality, so I wanted film but my Nikon N50 was completely out of juice (somehow the dang thing was ON for however many months it was in my closet, drained the battery!), and so I ended up taking my Yashica. For those who've never seen this camera it is ancient, at least 35-40 years old by my calculations, perhaps more. My grandfather got it used, he doesn't recall when, my dad's had it since he doesn't remember when but at least 1978, and it's been mine since 7th grade (1992). It is completely manual, and it's not the easiest focusing system either. The battery it takes, for the light meter, isn't even made any more so I have to set the aperture myself (not a problem, who needs a light meter anyway?) But it's not like the digital or even the Nikon where I can hand it to someone and say "push this button", no I've gotta give a lesson on the focusing system.
THANK GOD they have professionals there!!!!!!! I handed my camera to the guy when I got in there and he goes "SLR or rack focus?", looks in the viewfinder and goes "Ah, rack focus okay." I was very relieved!!!!!!!! :D
ETA: That was the photo that came out!
I go sit next to Colin and he points to the rank braid on my coat and asks what it is so I explain that I'm Captain Jack Harkness. We pose and while the guy's focusing he asks "Aren't you sweltering?" (my Captain Jack coat is 100% wool and very heavy) and I'm like "Nah I'm used to it." Picture taken the guy hands back my camera and I shake Colin's hand and manage to walk out without fainting from over-squee-age! Run into Dan again at the exit and we talk a bit more as we make our way to the dealer room.
I spent some time in the dealer's room, wandering around, ended up getting (with the meager funds I had) a Torchwood 2009 calendar, the fourth series Companion's Guide (I've already got the third series one, got that at Wizard World, and I love these because they have detailed descriptions of what went into making each episode and lots of pretty pictures -- including FINALLY a reference for what kind of shoes Donna is wearing with the purple dress in Fires of Pompeii and a full length shot of the dress so that will really help when I make that dress!), a Nicholas Briggs button, and a Chicago TARDIS t-shirt. I also grabbed a bunch of cards, there's a shirt that says "Captain Jack Harkness never slept here" that I want to buy (from A Wrinkle in Time -- they had a ton of nice shirts).
After that, I decided to skip Colin's autograph session because I really didn't have anything to get signed and no money to buy a photograph there to get signed. I walked out to my car for a bit of lunch (salad and pretzels that I'd brought). Then, I ended up wandering into the 2 pm Big Finish panel, which I hadn't planned on, but I LOVED IT. I got to learn about Laura and Ciara's roles -- they're brand new to Big Finish, having just recently been hired for a new lengthy storyline, The Key To Time. Yes, just like the first season with Romana and the Fourth Doctor, there is yet again a hunt for the Key to Time. I really want to hear this storyline!! Simon really won me over even more (what he signed in my book had already won me over a ton!) during this session, he's hilarious!!
Then it was off to the Torchwood panel. That was a lot of fun!! The panelists were mostly from Mad Norwegian Press, which I had not heard of before this weekend but I will definitely be checking out their books now! Very candid, and lots of fun back and forth. :) Of course I'm the dork that had to correct them at one point -- they were saying there's three Jacks in WWII and I was like nuh uh, four. Yes, there was the Jack that was conning the Doctor, the Jack that was freelancing for Torchwood waiting for the Doctor, the Jack that was thrown back in time with Toshiko by Bilis Manger, and the Jack that was frozen in a drawer at Torchwood thanks to his brother. God I'm such a geek....but I do have a somewhat valid excuse -- it's called, I'm creating an alternate universe and therefore I need to really know the canon before I can twist it!!
After that I just stayed in my seat for the Masquerade 101 panel. Got to meet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
britgeekgirl finally, after enjoying her posts on ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dw_cosplay so much! Learned a bit more about Masquerade, and I think I am going to swing things with ARFTCo next year so I can stay late on Saturday and enter the Masquerade there. Chicago TARDIS is a much smaller con, and much smaller Masquerade, than Anime Central and I think I'd feel a bit more comfortable competing there first.
Saw some cool costumes at the panel but I only took one shot, because I was just so in love with this costume!!! Donna, from "Turn Left", complete with time bug on her back!!
When that panel ended I had to race out and head home. Stopped at home, switched my salad container from earlier for another salad and grabbed my script and basically walked right back out the door to head to the show. Show went well, despite not having David to run sound so Carole ran the sound until we got to the third scene of Zombie Christmas, when she left the booth because she's in the fourth scene, and I had to run lights and sound on my own the rest of the show. I didn't screw up, yay! Then we headed home and thus ended Friday.
So Saturday I got up a little later, didn't need to be there right at nine since I had my badge, so I got there around 10:15 or so. Saturday's costume was the debut of my still-in-the-works WWII Jack from "Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" -- I have the jacket and pants for the uniform, the jacket has the proper patches on it and the right rank bars, I'm just still looking for the hat and the scarf he wears around his neck but I borrowed close enough pieces from ARFTCo's costumer for the day (THANK YOU TINA YOU ROCK!!!!)
When I got there, I decided to skip the Journey's End panel and head right to queue up for Elisabeth Sladen. There was a lot of confusion because apparently some schedules said she was doing photos at 11 and some said 1. I get in line and it's getting close to noon and I wanted to go to Nick Briggs' panel at noon! Then they apparently couldn't find her! Someone said she went shopping, I guess she thought the photos were at one as well. So they gave us numbers so we could come back at one and line up in the same order. So after about an hour and a half of standing in line I headed over to alt.alt.programming for the author roundtable with Nick Briggs. Which was GREAT!!!!!!! He is just a wonderful, funny, enjoyable guy. I asked about what was different writing for audio versus other media, and it really helped me :) He said that he's in episode four of series three of Torchwood (YAY! SQUEE!), and then he was asking if anyone knew what was supposed to be happening in the new series and so I got to tell Nick Briggs spoilers :) (oh my god am I Queen Geek or WHAT!?)
When the panel ended I went and rejoined the Elisabeth Sladen line and spent a lot more time queueing. At one point Colin had walked by us and said "You poor things spend all your time queueing!" -- he's so nice!! Got my photo with Elisabeth, she asked about my costume and I said I was Captain Jack. She made the best remark -- "Captain Jack loves Captain Jack" LOL! I love her!!
Unfortunately, that photo did NOT come out :( Oh well.
And, I posed with two really awesome cosplayers, Ten and Idiot's Lantern Rose, but that didn't come out either, that's what sucks about using a 40-year-old manual focus camera.
Left that line, got right back in line for the autographs. Ugh. I am so sick of queueing. Didn't get much of a chance to talk with Elisabeth because they were pushing people through but I did say I was enjoying the Sarah Jane Adventures (had her sign my DVD set) and I was really looking forward to the next series. And I said I was trying very hard to be a good girl and wait for the official release here but I was dying to see the new episodes. :)
Got this pic of two cosplayers, I'm not positive who exactly they're cosplaying but he looks pretty much like Eight to me. Correct me if I'm wrong! But I just thought their costumes were really lovely and wanted a picture!
Then I ran outside to try and get something to eat, sucked down a bagel and then came back in with my friend's tripod (borrowedhuskyfriends's tripod for the day), and tried to quickly get a couple shots of myself with the TARDIS and Dalek they had in main programming before running over to get in line for Nick Briggs' autograph.
These are the shots I took with the Dalek and TARDIS, with the camera set up on a tripod:
The queue was horrid, and I was starting to freak about about making call for the show on time. Dan (the gentleman I was chatting with waiting for Colin on Friday) was helping run the line and he tried to pull strings but it didn't happen. Got to the front and I had Nick sign my Big Finish booklet and my series three Doctor Who box set (right by the Daleks picture). Chatted a bit with him, Robert Shearman, and India Fisher about my costume (oh and the fact that I was wearing my Nick Briggs button on the coat!), India was asking what my costume was and I pulled out my Jack action figure. :) Then I said I had to run to make call, which I did just barely make. I got there about 7:05 but I beat one of our actors (who is notorious for being late), so I consider that to be on time lol!
So right after the show we dropped Joanna off and then I went home and completely passed out. That ended Saturday.
Sunday I was back and forth and back and forth over and over about what costume to do. I have a fourth Doctor costume mostly together -- after a great breakdown ondw_cosplay, I added suspender buttons to the pants I had for that costume (I had no idea he wore suspenders til that breakdown!), and I haven't gotten a shirt that really suits that costume but I've got white button-down shirts that work, plus I've got a wig, a hat, and my not-quite-canon scarf. I figured I could just use my black Doc Martens that I had worn on Saturday for WWII Jack for the Doctor as well. My other thought was my closet Donna cosplay.
Then I saw the forecast. I was still thinking Donna but then I was like, no, be practical. My Jack coat is really nice and warm so I decided to do Jacqueline (my fanfic OC, a female version of Jack) because she wears boots and warmer pants :) Got up a little later than planned, I was really tired, but I still got there about quarter after ten. Went to the knit a Fourth Doctor scarf panel just out of curiosity, ended up helping teach knitting a bit. Then I decided to skip the Star Trek panel and go make one last trek through the dealer's room. After that I went and heard part of the new series guests in main programming and then I raced outside and snagged my lunch bag from the car (in the snow). I sat in the lobby area and had a quick bite before heading back into main programming to see Elisabeth Sladen.
New Series Guests:
Before she came out, I got a picture of myself stepping out of the TARDIS as Jacqueline (which will be my Facebook pic at some point) -- thanks to the gentleman who took it for me! I handed him the digital camera, and I have to say I was like "WOAH my hair looks so wavy there!" I guess because my hair got so wet when I ran outside and air dryed, it turned wavy :)
I went up and asked a question for my friendpockychopstix who couldn't make it to the con, she told me to ask how is K-9 so I did (and I recorded it with my digital camera). The panel was enjoyable, Elisabeth Sladen is really awesome.
Then I ran over to alt.programming for the Jack vs Jack Attack! panel, another interesting Torchwood discussion and it really did make me think. Again, because of my AU Torchwood team led by Jacqueline I have been really examining Torchwood canon a LOT lately, and thinking about the details.
After that I headed in for the State of the Whoniverse panel -- all the guests that were still there, so Gary Russell, Colin Baker, Jonathan Blum, Kate Orman, Arnold Blumberg, Lisa Bowerman, Nick Briggs, Paul Cornell, Laura Doddington, Simon Guerrier, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and Robert Shearman. OMG that was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I really want to find a video of it so I can enjoy it again and again (so if anyone runs into it -- I know I saw at least 2-3 video cameras going, TELL ME!) I raised my hand for a question, and Nick Briggs pointed at me and said "Captain Jack there" (OMG SQUEE how I managed to not melt into fangirl goo at that point I don't know!!!!!!), I asked what they thought the future of the spin offs was. These people have such a great raport with each other, it was the most entertaining panel. Of course, when the inevitable who's gonna replace Tennant question came up, there was some talk about wanting to see an older Doctor (I believe it was Lisa who first mentioned it), and Nick made the comment about thinking the schedule was a bit too punishing for someone older. So of course Colin (who seems extremely keen on returning, love him!) kept making cracks about age and his bedtime throughout the rest of the panel and into closing ceremonies. It was great, everyone was sitting but Colin kept jumping up, ever the showman. :) I have to say, especially after that panel, I really hope I can manage to get series one of the new series before next Chicago TARDIS so I can get Robert to sign it, he cracks me up with all his comments and complaints about how his episode, "Dalek", keeps getting overshadowed and overlooked. He asked why Adam (the pathetic bloke who travelled with the Doctor and Rose after that episode then got dumped at home) wasn't in "Journey's End" and Gary shot back "Just to annoy you" or something along that line :) That was the only time I got to see Gary talk all weekend, I wish I had gotten to see more. I like Gary a lot! He did such an awesome job on Torchwood :)
Pictures of the State of the Whoniverse panel -- from left that's Gary Russell, Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum, Lisa Bowerman, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Laura Doddington, Simon Guerrier, Phil Collinson, Arnold Blumberg, Colin Baker, Nick Briggs, and Robert Shearman.
And I also got a couple of videos -- Colin being ever the showman, and More of Colin.
Then everyone left the stage and they started setting up for closing ceremonies. I went over to the sound board and asked the guys what the song was that was playing -- it was a cool variation on the theme song and I wanted to know where to find it. Turns out they wrote it for the con, and I gave the guy my card so he could send it to me! I can't wait to get that email, I really loved that song, it was SO awesome!
I also got a chance to get a couple photos ofbritgeekgirl in her amazing Romana I costume (honestly one of my favourite Romana costumes of all time!):
Closing ceremonies was pleasant. Simple, sweet, suiting the con I thought. Y'all gotta realize that I've gotten used to Anime Central. Attendance there is about 10,000 people. I've also been to three Wizard World cons, which are also a bit bigger, not sure how big but definitely gotta be in the thousands. The only other cons I've been to were an itsy bitsy nothing-to-it Star Trek con in Indiana YEARS ago that I made my dad take me to, and a small comic convention a college friend talked me into going to, about seven years ago. So this was really the smallest con I've been to in a long while and it was a bit of a shock. They announced the attendance figure was like 782. Woah. I was like "well, no wonder it seemed so empty compared to Acen!"
So they auctioned off a couple issues of Radio Times, then the convention chair made some remarks (I didn't realize it til then -- this was a very nice gentleman I had spent some time chatting with at Wizard World back in June in the dealer's room, and I figured he had something to do with the con from how he was talking about things but I had NO CLUE WHATSOEVER that he was the CHAIR!). Then Jennifer Adams Kelley, who does the programming and publicity, brought out each guest and let them make a last remark. Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman were first, they made some lovely remarks and then had a nice passionate kiss on stage :) Wish I were quicker on the draw with the camera!
I did get this shot, though, not sure how well you can see what I was trying to capture -- Simon somehow ended up with a TON of badges on his shirt between the State of the Whoniverse panel and Closing Ceremonies.
My memory was starting to shut down at that point, I hope I can find video of this, but what cracked me up was a couple of the guests played up being scared of the mic being shoved at them :) and then when Paul came out (oh man was it Paul? I think it was) he came and stood at the end of the line of people instead of standing more stage left and spoke very loud, so then you got this comedic group cower right next to him (Nick, Gary, and I forget who else were all acting terrified of him). Just hilarious.
Then of course Colin was at the end, again, just wonderful! Next time he's here, I have to make it to one of his panels, no question. I never was big on Six but then again I haven't seen that many Six stories. Now, I am going to start requesting those like crazy from the library. He's won me over just being such a great person. (plus he was wearing red crocs all weekend, which cracked me up no end). He very vocally pointed out the behind the scenes people that run the con, making sure they got recognition, very lovely of him. :) Oh and I got some video of Colin as well!
They also mentioned upcoming cons like the new Hurricane Who, Gallifrey One and the Who cruises, wish I could go to those! Then as we left we got con-exclusive trading cards (it's basically an ad for a trading card series coming out), and I picked up some reg forms.
Then before I left I spotted Gary in the lobby area and snagged him to get him to sign my Big Finish as well, got to chat with him a bit, he's great to talk to. :) Then I went and dug out my car and headed home.
I had some pizza for dinner then Carole came and got me and we headed to borrow a laptop from our friend, then headed to the final Chicago write-in for NaNoWriMo at Open Books. I got a little written to add to my word count but we all spent some time chatting and visiting so no one got a lot written. But I updated to my final official count of 53,261 for the year. We left around 11 when everyone was starting to disperse and headed to the Starbucks at Piper's Alley.
Oh and when we left Open Books, somehow out of all the empty parking spots on that block, what had parked RIGHT in front of us in the short time we were there? The Torchwood Truck!!! (well not the *real* Torchwood truck but it was a big Land Rover just like the one they made the one on the show from!)
I wrote some more but we were having trouble getting on Starbucks WiFi so I didn't get to add it to my count. Then after a little while we swapped computers (my comp doesn't have wireless built in) and Carole wrote her homework on my comp while I used John's to try and look up stuff for my paper. We ended up leaving Starbucks at 4 am and after prying open the car headed home. I passed out til about 4 pm today and now that I've written up this HUGE post I need to dive into working on my paper.
So Friday I got up way early, barely slept at all between making some salads for the weekend ahead of time and being way too excited. I had more than enough time to get up, have a little breakfast, get ready and get out the door by shortly after 8 am. I've been to Yorktown before but I had been having trouble remembering the hotel. Not a problem when I got there -- it must have been recently built cuz I'm SURE I would have remembered that huge building right around the corner from Von Maur (where I usually park). It has been a while since I have been to Yorktown.
So, got there, got in line for registration. Talked with some nice people in line and got a few looks (in a "wow it's Captain Jack" good way, not "OMG who's that weirdo" way :) ). I was in my regular Torchwood Jack costume but doing a "Sound of Drums"/"Last of the Time Lords" variation -- dark blue shirt, and wearing my TARDIS key on a twine string around my neck (I ran out of time to solder some stuff on there to make it a proper perception filter). Got some compliments on that key through the day.
Once I finished up with getting my registration stuffs, I headed off to the first autograph session of the day. That was the Big Finish guests, and of them only one had worked on the one Big Finish audio CD I own. So I had Jason Haigh-Ellery sign my Big Finish CD's booklet (I have "Land of the Dead", a Five and Nyssa story, got it at Wizard World), then the rest I had sign my programme (I'm kinda glad I noticed people ahead of me doing that). Everyone was so nice!! Lisa Bowerman (she is Benny Summerfield in the audios) made a correction to her bio in the programme, writing "Is still an actress!" by the part where it mentions she's now a professional photographer. Then she was like "oh I've sullied your programme" and I said no worries because I used to copyedit the school paper and I do that kind of stuff myself. So Simon Guerrier sitting next to her chimes in that he did that too, but once you've been paid to copyedit you don't do it for free anymore. I was like I WISH I could get paid to do that! So when he signed my programme he wrote "Got paid to correct spelling -- it's great!" (he cracks me up!! I love him!!!). Further on down the line I also got autographs from Paul Cornell, Robert Shearman, Ciara Janson, Laura Doddington, and India Fisher. Now this was first thing Friday, so I barely knew what anyone did! I really didn't even know who was who to tell you the truth :) But everyone was so nice, and over the weekend I got to know a lot more about them!
So once I got my signatures I left, I came around the corner and started talking to a very nice gentleman named Dan about my Captain Jack coat and it turned out he was first in line of the non-reserved people for the Colin Baker photos. So that was perfect, I became second in line and spent some time chatting. I really wish I had thought to exchange emails with him, ah well. So I was a smidge nervous because I had brought my old camera. I didn't want to get my photos with Colin and Elisabeth Sladen on my digital camera because it is pretty poor quality, so I wanted film but my Nikon N50 was completely out of juice (somehow the dang thing was ON for however many months it was in my closet, drained the battery!), and so I ended up taking my Yashica. For those who've never seen this camera it is ancient, at least 35-40 years old by my calculations, perhaps more. My grandfather got it used, he doesn't recall when, my dad's had it since he doesn't remember when but at least 1978, and it's been mine since 7th grade (1992). It is completely manual, and it's not the easiest focusing system either. The battery it takes, for the light meter, isn't even made any more so I have to set the aperture myself (not a problem, who needs a light meter anyway?) But it's not like the digital or even the Nikon where I can hand it to someone and say "push this button", no I've gotta give a lesson on the focusing system.
THANK GOD they have professionals there!!!!!!! I handed my camera to the guy when I got in there and he goes "SLR or rack focus?", looks in the viewfinder and goes "Ah, rack focus okay." I was very relieved!!!!!!!! :D
ETA: That was the photo that came out!
I go sit next to Colin and he points to the rank braid on my coat and asks what it is so I explain that I'm Captain Jack Harkness. We pose and while the guy's focusing he asks "Aren't you sweltering?" (my Captain Jack coat is 100% wool and very heavy) and I'm like "Nah I'm used to it." Picture taken the guy hands back my camera and I shake Colin's hand and manage to walk out without fainting from over-squee-age! Run into Dan again at the exit and we talk a bit more as we make our way to the dealer room.
I spent some time in the dealer's room, wandering around, ended up getting (with the meager funds I had) a Torchwood 2009 calendar, the fourth series Companion's Guide (I've already got the third series one, got that at Wizard World, and I love these because they have detailed descriptions of what went into making each episode and lots of pretty pictures -- including FINALLY a reference for what kind of shoes Donna is wearing with the purple dress in Fires of Pompeii and a full length shot of the dress so that will really help when I make that dress!), a Nicholas Briggs button, and a Chicago TARDIS t-shirt. I also grabbed a bunch of cards, there's a shirt that says "Captain Jack Harkness never slept here" that I want to buy (from A Wrinkle in Time -- they had a ton of nice shirts).
After that, I decided to skip Colin's autograph session because I really didn't have anything to get signed and no money to buy a photograph there to get signed. I walked out to my car for a bit of lunch (salad and pretzels that I'd brought). Then, I ended up wandering into the 2 pm Big Finish panel, which I hadn't planned on, but I LOVED IT. I got to learn about Laura and Ciara's roles -- they're brand new to Big Finish, having just recently been hired for a new lengthy storyline, The Key To Time. Yes, just like the first season with Romana and the Fourth Doctor, there is yet again a hunt for the Key to Time. I really want to hear this storyline!! Simon really won me over even more (what he signed in my book had already won me over a ton!) during this session, he's hilarious!!
Then it was off to the Torchwood panel. That was a lot of fun!! The panelists were mostly from Mad Norwegian Press, which I had not heard of before this weekend but I will definitely be checking out their books now! Very candid, and lots of fun back and forth. :) Of course I'm the dork that had to correct them at one point -- they were saying there's three Jacks in WWII and I was like nuh uh, four. Yes, there was the Jack that was conning the Doctor, the Jack that was freelancing for Torchwood waiting for the Doctor, the Jack that was thrown back in time with Toshiko by Bilis Manger, and the Jack that was frozen in a drawer at Torchwood thanks to his brother. God I'm such a geek....but I do have a somewhat valid excuse -- it's called, I'm creating an alternate universe and therefore I need to really know the canon before I can twist it!!
After that I just stayed in my seat for the Masquerade 101 panel. Got to meet
britgeekgirl finally, after enjoying her posts on dw_cosplay so much! Learned a bit more about Masquerade, and I think I am going to swing things with ARFTCo next year so I can stay late on Saturday and enter the Masquerade there. Chicago TARDIS is a much smaller con, and much smaller Masquerade, than Anime Central and I think I'd feel a bit more comfortable competing there first.Saw some cool costumes at the panel but I only took one shot, because I was just so in love with this costume!!! Donna, from "Turn Left", complete with time bug on her back!!
When that panel ended I had to race out and head home. Stopped at home, switched my salad container from earlier for another salad and grabbed my script and basically walked right back out the door to head to the show. Show went well, despite not having David to run sound so Carole ran the sound until we got to the third scene of Zombie Christmas, when she left the booth because she's in the fourth scene, and I had to run lights and sound on my own the rest of the show. I didn't screw up, yay! Then we headed home and thus ended Friday.
So Saturday I got up a little later, didn't need to be there right at nine since I had my badge, so I got there around 10:15 or so. Saturday's costume was the debut of my still-in-the-works WWII Jack from "Empty Child"/"Doctor Dances" -- I have the jacket and pants for the uniform, the jacket has the proper patches on it and the right rank bars, I'm just still looking for the hat and the scarf he wears around his neck but I borrowed close enough pieces from ARFTCo's costumer for the day (THANK YOU TINA YOU ROCK!!!!)
When I got there, I decided to skip the Journey's End panel and head right to queue up for Elisabeth Sladen. There was a lot of confusion because apparently some schedules said she was doing photos at 11 and some said 1. I get in line and it's getting close to noon and I wanted to go to Nick Briggs' panel at noon! Then they apparently couldn't find her! Someone said she went shopping, I guess she thought the photos were at one as well. So they gave us numbers so we could come back at one and line up in the same order. So after about an hour and a half of standing in line I headed over to alt.alt.programming for the author roundtable with Nick Briggs. Which was GREAT!!!!!!! He is just a wonderful, funny, enjoyable guy. I asked about what was different writing for audio versus other media, and it really helped me :) He said that he's in episode four of series three of Torchwood (YAY! SQUEE!), and then he was asking if anyone knew what was supposed to be happening in the new series and so I got to tell Nick Briggs spoilers :) (oh my god am I Queen Geek or WHAT!?)
When the panel ended I went and rejoined the Elisabeth Sladen line and spent a lot more time queueing. At one point Colin had walked by us and said "You poor things spend all your time queueing!" -- he's so nice!! Got my photo with Elisabeth, she asked about my costume and I said I was Captain Jack. She made the best remark -- "Captain Jack loves Captain Jack" LOL! I love her!!
Unfortunately, that photo did NOT come out :( Oh well.
And, I posed with two really awesome cosplayers, Ten and Idiot's Lantern Rose, but that didn't come out either, that's what sucks about using a 40-year-old manual focus camera.
Left that line, got right back in line for the autographs. Ugh. I am so sick of queueing. Didn't get much of a chance to talk with Elisabeth because they were pushing people through but I did say I was enjoying the Sarah Jane Adventures (had her sign my DVD set) and I was really looking forward to the next series. And I said I was trying very hard to be a good girl and wait for the official release here but I was dying to see the new episodes. :)
Got this pic of two cosplayers, I'm not positive who exactly they're cosplaying but he looks pretty much like Eight to me. Correct me if I'm wrong! But I just thought their costumes were really lovely and wanted a picture!
Then I ran outside to try and get something to eat, sucked down a bagel and then came back in with my friend's tripod (borrowed
huskyfriends's tripod for the day), and tried to quickly get a couple shots of myself with the TARDIS and Dalek they had in main programming before running over to get in line for Nick Briggs' autograph. These are the shots I took with the Dalek and TARDIS, with the camera set up on a tripod:
The queue was horrid, and I was starting to freak about about making call for the show on time. Dan (the gentleman I was chatting with waiting for Colin on Friday) was helping run the line and he tried to pull strings but it didn't happen. Got to the front and I had Nick sign my Big Finish booklet and my series three Doctor Who box set (right by the Daleks picture). Chatted a bit with him, Robert Shearman, and India Fisher about my costume (oh and the fact that I was wearing my Nick Briggs button on the coat!), India was asking what my costume was and I pulled out my Jack action figure. :) Then I said I had to run to make call, which I did just barely make. I got there about 7:05 but I beat one of our actors (who is notorious for being late), so I consider that to be on time lol!
So right after the show we dropped Joanna off and then I went home and completely passed out. That ended Saturday.
Sunday I was back and forth and back and forth over and over about what costume to do. I have a fourth Doctor costume mostly together -- after a great breakdown on
dw_cosplay, I added suspender buttons to the pants I had for that costume (I had no idea he wore suspenders til that breakdown!), and I haven't gotten a shirt that really suits that costume but I've got white button-down shirts that work, plus I've got a wig, a hat, and my not-quite-canon scarf. I figured I could just use my black Doc Martens that I had worn on Saturday for WWII Jack for the Doctor as well. My other thought was my closet Donna cosplay. Then I saw the forecast. I was still thinking Donna but then I was like, no, be practical. My Jack coat is really nice and warm so I decided to do Jacqueline (my fanfic OC, a female version of Jack) because she wears boots and warmer pants :) Got up a little later than planned, I was really tired, but I still got there about quarter after ten. Went to the knit a Fourth Doctor scarf panel just out of curiosity, ended up helping teach knitting a bit. Then I decided to skip the Star Trek panel and go make one last trek through the dealer's room. After that I went and heard part of the new series guests in main programming and then I raced outside and snagged my lunch bag from the car (in the snow). I sat in the lobby area and had a quick bite before heading back into main programming to see Elisabeth Sladen.
New Series Guests:
Before she came out, I got a picture of myself stepping out of the TARDIS as Jacqueline (which will be my Facebook pic at some point) -- thanks to the gentleman who took it for me! I handed him the digital camera, and I have to say I was like "WOAH my hair looks so wavy there!" I guess because my hair got so wet when I ran outside and air dryed, it turned wavy :)
I went up and asked a question for my friend
pockychopstix who couldn't make it to the con, she told me to ask how is K-9 so I did (and I recorded it with my digital camera). The panel was enjoyable, Elisabeth Sladen is really awesome. 
Then I ran over to alt.programming for the Jack vs Jack Attack! panel, another interesting Torchwood discussion and it really did make me think. Again, because of my AU Torchwood team led by Jacqueline I have been really examining Torchwood canon a LOT lately, and thinking about the details.
After that I headed in for the State of the Whoniverse panel -- all the guests that were still there, so Gary Russell, Colin Baker, Jonathan Blum, Kate Orman, Arnold Blumberg, Lisa Bowerman, Nick Briggs, Paul Cornell, Laura Doddington, Simon Guerrier, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and Robert Shearman. OMG that was SO MUCH FUN!!!!! I really want to find a video of it so I can enjoy it again and again (so if anyone runs into it -- I know I saw at least 2-3 video cameras going, TELL ME!) I raised my hand for a question, and Nick Briggs pointed at me and said "Captain Jack there" (OMG SQUEE how I managed to not melt into fangirl goo at that point I don't know!!!!!!), I asked what they thought the future of the spin offs was. These people have such a great raport with each other, it was the most entertaining panel. Of course, when the inevitable who's gonna replace Tennant question came up, there was some talk about wanting to see an older Doctor (I believe it was Lisa who first mentioned it), and Nick made the comment about thinking the schedule was a bit too punishing for someone older. So of course Colin (who seems extremely keen on returning, love him!) kept making cracks about age and his bedtime throughout the rest of the panel and into closing ceremonies. It was great, everyone was sitting but Colin kept jumping up, ever the showman. :) I have to say, especially after that panel, I really hope I can manage to get series one of the new series before next Chicago TARDIS so I can get Robert to sign it, he cracks me up with all his comments and complaints about how his episode, "Dalek", keeps getting overshadowed and overlooked. He asked why Adam (the pathetic bloke who travelled with the Doctor and Rose after that episode then got dumped at home) wasn't in "Journey's End" and Gary shot back "Just to annoy you" or something along that line :) That was the only time I got to see Gary talk all weekend, I wish I had gotten to see more. I like Gary a lot! He did such an awesome job on Torchwood :)
Pictures of the State of the Whoniverse panel -- from left that's Gary Russell, Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum, Lisa Bowerman, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Laura Doddington, Simon Guerrier, Phil Collinson, Arnold Blumberg, Colin Baker, Nick Briggs, and Robert Shearman.
And I also got a couple of videos -- Colin being ever the showman, and More of Colin.
Then everyone left the stage and they started setting up for closing ceremonies. I went over to the sound board and asked the guys what the song was that was playing -- it was a cool variation on the theme song and I wanted to know where to find it. Turns out they wrote it for the con, and I gave the guy my card so he could send it to me! I can't wait to get that email, I really loved that song, it was SO awesome!
I also got a chance to get a couple photos of
britgeekgirl in her amazing Romana I costume (honestly one of my favourite Romana costumes of all time!):
Closing ceremonies was pleasant. Simple, sweet, suiting the con I thought. Y'all gotta realize that I've gotten used to Anime Central. Attendance there is about 10,000 people. I've also been to three Wizard World cons, which are also a bit bigger, not sure how big but definitely gotta be in the thousands. The only other cons I've been to were an itsy bitsy nothing-to-it Star Trek con in Indiana YEARS ago that I made my dad take me to, and a small comic convention a college friend talked me into going to, about seven years ago. So this was really the smallest con I've been to in a long while and it was a bit of a shock. They announced the attendance figure was like 782. Woah. I was like "well, no wonder it seemed so empty compared to Acen!"
So they auctioned off a couple issues of Radio Times, then the convention chair made some remarks (I didn't realize it til then -- this was a very nice gentleman I had spent some time chatting with at Wizard World back in June in the dealer's room, and I figured he had something to do with the con from how he was talking about things but I had NO CLUE WHATSOEVER that he was the CHAIR!). Then Jennifer Adams Kelley, who does the programming and publicity, brought out each guest and let them make a last remark. Jonathan Blum and Kate Orman were first, they made some lovely remarks and then had a nice passionate kiss on stage :) Wish I were quicker on the draw with the camera!
I did get this shot, though, not sure how well you can see what I was trying to capture -- Simon somehow ended up with a TON of badges on his shirt between the State of the Whoniverse panel and Closing Ceremonies.
My memory was starting to shut down at that point, I hope I can find video of this, but what cracked me up was a couple of the guests played up being scared of the mic being shoved at them :) and then when Paul came out (oh man was it Paul? I think it was) he came and stood at the end of the line of people instead of standing more stage left and spoke very loud, so then you got this comedic group cower right next to him (Nick, Gary, and I forget who else were all acting terrified of him). Just hilarious.
Then of course Colin was at the end, again, just wonderful! Next time he's here, I have to make it to one of his panels, no question. I never was big on Six but then again I haven't seen that many Six stories. Now, I am going to start requesting those like crazy from the library. He's won me over just being such a great person. (plus he was wearing red crocs all weekend, which cracked me up no end). He very vocally pointed out the behind the scenes people that run the con, making sure they got recognition, very lovely of him. :) Oh and I got some video of Colin as well!
They also mentioned upcoming cons like the new Hurricane Who, Gallifrey One and the Who cruises, wish I could go to those! Then as we left we got con-exclusive trading cards (it's basically an ad for a trading card series coming out), and I picked up some reg forms.
Then before I left I spotted Gary in the lobby area and snagged him to get him to sign my Big Finish as well, got to chat with him a bit, he's great to talk to. :) Then I went and dug out my car and headed home.
I had some pizza for dinner then Carole came and got me and we headed to borrow a laptop from our friend, then headed to the final Chicago write-in for NaNoWriMo at Open Books. I got a little written to add to my word count but we all spent some time chatting and visiting so no one got a lot written. But I updated to my final official count of 53,261 for the year. We left around 11 when everyone was starting to disperse and headed to the Starbucks at Piper's Alley.
Oh and when we left Open Books, somehow out of all the empty parking spots on that block, what had parked RIGHT in front of us in the short time we were there? The Torchwood Truck!!! (well not the *real* Torchwood truck but it was a big Land Rover just like the one they made the one on the show from!)
I wrote some more but we were having trouble getting on Starbucks WiFi so I didn't get to add it to my count. Then after a little while we swapped computers (my comp doesn't have wireless built in) and Carole wrote her homework on my comp while I used John's to try and look up stuff for my paper. We ended up leaving Starbucks at 4 am and after prying open the car headed home. I passed out til about 4 pm today and now that I've written up this HUGE post I need to dive into working on my paper.
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I'm super jealous you met Elisabeth, I just love her! Can't wait to see pictures. Now I will also go back to the paper I should be writing ;)
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We are planning to do another Doctor Who/Torchwood shoot at Acen, there's already a Torchwood thread in the cosplay section of the boards. We had a pretty decent turn out this past Acen, like five Tenth Doctors at one point! :)
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WOW!!!
Wow!! Sounds like you had one heck of a crazy good time! I wish I could have gone (couldn't because I'm saving all my $$$ to be able to go to the LA con in Feb. 09), but reading your account was almost like I was there with you!
Thanks for writing that all out with pictures and that vid (you lucky thing, you!)
No suprise your costume when over as well as it did...you've done an absolutely fabulous job on recreating it!
I really hope to see you at the LA con...I'd love to meet you in person!!
~Al
Re: WOW!!!
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