The wifi at Gally gets painfully slow – to the point where you can’t get any sort of real connection for long stretches of time, especially if you want to be going to panels instead of hanging in the lobby waiting (im)patiently for connectivity.

Hopefully yesterday’s post not going up till today now makes sense.

Actually, there was another, even more compelling reason that post didn’t get finished until today. Sunday morning I was fortunate enough to have a ticket to the Guest Brunch Banquet, which was capped at 56 members (attendees). Eight tables are set up. Seven members sit at each, and the final place at any given table is left for one of the convention guests. Every twelve minutes, the guests do a somewhat more organized version of musical chairs, and switch to another table, so that all the members (in theory) get to spend a few minutes in actual, honest-to-god conversation with each of the guests.

Last year being my first, I didn’t really know anything about the brunch, and if memory serves, it had sold out during the previous year’s con anyway. But I am super glad I managed to get in on this one; it was wonderful. Our table started with Michael Jayston, which made my little heart go pitter-pat. I’ve always thought the Valeyard was a super awesome foil (and everyone here seemed to consider him a Doctor; Jayston complained that the BBC are the only ones who don’t seem to know it). Jayston was followed by Philip Hinchcliffe (producer from The Ark in Space to The Talons of Weng-Chiang, 1975-77), Dick Mills (sound engineer from 1972-1989), Deborah Watling (Second Doctor Companion Victoria), Mark Strickson (Fifth Doctor Companion Turlough), and Frazer Hines (Second Doctor Companion Jamie; the longest-running Companion on-screen, and at Gally). Peter Purves (First Doctor Companion Steven) didn’t quite make it to our table before time ran out, but I did chat with him a bit at his signing table later. I simply can’t say enough good things about all the guests. To a one, they’ve been fabulous in person to me as a fan.

The next thing I attended was a fabulous panel of guests talking about their experiences as Shakespearean actors. Hearing from Frances Barber, Stephen Thorne, Nicholas Pegg, Michael Jayston, Ian McNeice, Richard Hope, and Shaun Dingwall was, as with all the panels, both informative and funny. Thorne’s story (I’m almost certain it was he who told this one) about a production that got ad libbed in the middle when someone from the power company came to turn out the lights because the bill was overdue had me (and everyone else) in stitches. I could listen to anecdotes like that all day.

Since I was cosplaying the Ninth Doctor, I figured it was appropriate to go to the “Fear Her” panel about femme!Doctor cosplay and crossplay (when someone of one binary gender dresses as someone of the opposite binary gender). It was a good panel covering both philosophical and practical aspects. I look forward to attending more in that vein at future Gallys.

A few more autographs, chats with friends, and photo shoots (yay! for the femme!Doctors photo shoot) later, I was ready to park my butt in the main ballroom for the last few pieces of programming. Since I came to it late, there was no place to sit for the end of Mark Sheppard’s panel, but he showed himself to be a down-to-earth and all-around wonderful human being. When asked his opinion about cosplay, he endeared himself to the crowd by replying that he thought it was “the bravest ****ing thing I’ve ever seen.” I also had to laugh about how, when asked about his popularity in the online fandom, he shook his finger and said, “You’ve been very naughty boys and girls!”
The last actual panel involved the guests who had appeared in pre-Hiatus Who: Sylvester McCoy, Mark Strickson, Daphne Ashbrook, Michael Jayston, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, and Peter Purves. It’s always such a joy to see people who enjoy each others’ company and reminiscing for the fans. You simply can’t reproduce that dynamic any other way.

Ending the con was the annual Year in Review video presentation. We got to see some of the British media coverage of Who from 2012 – bits of which I’d seen online before – to give us a flavor of what the UK hears about Our Show. The last ten minutes or so of the presentation was an exclusive-to-Gally interview with Steven Moffat himself. Among the things he dropped were that there will be more than one 60-minute special for the 50th. I’m sure others will spread the rest of the news that I can’t remember. There were a few tidbits.

And then it was done. Closing Ceremonies let the guests say their thank you’s and farewells, Program Director Shaun Lyon said a few words about next year, and we all filed out. That last LobbyCon had a tinge of desperation (and the lobby this morning is kind of an extension of it – more like SadCon). No one really wants to let go of the con high, and if you’ve ever been here, you can’t blame us.

Only 361 days till Gallifrey One 2014.