Contrary to the mellow vibe of most of the rest of my con schedule, Sunday started out more stressful than I’d have liked. Having briefly woken an hour before I was ready to get up, I then woke up an hour later than usual, which left me feeling pressed for time.(I had plenty, but try telling my brain that.) I got my morning blogging and language practice routine out of the way and had sufficient time to get nervous before I gave moderating a panel at Gally a go for the first time.

The panel, “A Doctor for Divided Times,” was about how the show, and the Doctor, have addressed “political” issues over the entire run. (Suffice to say that yes, Doctor Who has always been political.) I’m not really the best one to judge how it went, but a couple people told me it was a good panel and I did a good job as a moderator, so I’ll choose to believe the positive feedback. I might even volunteer to mod more in the future!

With the nerve-wracking part of my day out of the way, all I had left on my schedule was a long day in Program A. After an early lunch on the patio with my roommates before one of them had to leave to catch his flight, the other roommate and I spent some time in the Dealers Room. Since I’d decided on Saturday that I wasn’t going to sacrifice that many hours of my con to standing in line for an Eccleston autograph (which makes me sad, but Chris has told other attendees here that he plans to return to Gally, so I’ll cross my fingers for next time!), I had a little extra cash, and splurged on something I’d had my eye on.

Then we moved into Program A, where “Doctor Who Blu-Ray: Behind the Scenes” was just ending. We saw maybe five minutes of the panel before it was time for the next one (a screening of “The Daleks’ Master Plan, Episode 2: Color Edition”), and we took advantage of the break to move to better seats. They were well enough placed that we stayed there the rest of the day.

Some of the guests had short interview panels then. Since Planet of the Dead isn’t an episode I particularly like, and I haven’t seen her in anything else, I wasn’t super excited for Michelle Ryan (Lady Christina de Souza). I’ve always had a soft spot for Anjli Mohindra (Rani Chandra in The Sarah Jane Adventures and Queen Skithra in Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror), though, so it was lovely to see her on stage.

Next was another live commentary. This time it was The Witchfinders, featuring writer Joy Wilkinson, director Sallie Aprahamian, and actress Tilly Steele (Willa Twiston) and moderated by Deb Stanish. The only down side to live commentaries, in my opinion, is that it’s hard to split my attention between just re-watching the episode and listening to what the guests have to say. Still, I enjoyed both aspects here.

Then it was time for the final formal panel of the con in Program A, “The Enduring Magic of Classic Doctor Who.” David J. Howe of Telos Publishing interviewed actors Peter Davison, Sarah Sutton, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Frazer Hines, Geoffrey Beevers (the Master in The Keeper of Traken and on Big Finish), Marcus Gilbert (Ancelyn in Battlefield), director Michael E Briant, and production manager Margot Hayhoe. Although I’ve seen several of these people multiple times before, I still felt like I wasn’t hearing repeat material, so for me it gave off the vibe of sitting around chatting with friends.

Rather than screening the usual Year-in-Review video that usually goes before Closing Ceremonies (it had been moved to an earlier slot in the weekend in a different program room), the Gally schedule listed a “Special Video Presentation To Be Announced.” In other words, we were all sitting there waiting to watch The Haunting of Villa Diodati with 1500 of our closest friends.

I won’t say anything about the episode itself, because I still have to watch it a second time and formulate a coherent review (which I hope to post on time on Wednesday morning, but no promises). But the experience of watching it that way was really special. I didn’t have captions, which I’ll need for sure the second time through in order to catch all the details, and my view of the screen was slightly obstructed from time to time, but hearing the whole room gasp or burst into laughter together (and then immediately quiet down because hush, they’re talking again!) was really special.

And then it was already time for Closing Ceremonies. Christopher Eccleston himself came on stage to thank us for our hospitality, saying it was the best birthday ever and that he wished he could’ve shared all this love with his son Albert and daughter Esme. (Then he went back to the signing table and finished signing autographs for everyone who wanted one until the line was done.)

Next there was a little special surprise for us in the form of two short videos. The first was a phone video from Steven Moffat, the eternal showrunner—which then got snatched away by Chris Chibnall. They fought over the phone for a bit before Chris won out, leaving Steven’s form receding into the distance. The second was a more formal one from Chris himself—UNTIL JODIE FREAKING WHITAKER popped up behind him to say hello to Gallifrey One herself!!! The room went nuts. I can’t even describe how that felt, feeling that the Doctor herself was talking directly to me, as one of the attendees.

Before I knew it, all the guests had been on and off the stage after giving their thanks and farewells, and it was over. Continuing the mellow vibe of the rest of the weekend, friends and I had dinner at the pizza place next door, then noped out of Lobbycon to play a card game by the pool until it was time for folks to go back to their rooms and pack before bailing early Monday morning.

Another Gallifrey One is in the history books. I can’t wait to do it again next year.