Liveblogging ChicagoTARDIS, Day 1

(Note: I'm posting, but not doing a lot of reading. If there's anything I need to know, please drop a note in the comments.)

After joining a group of local friends and their family to have, in the words of Arlo Guthrie, a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, the first event of ChicagoTARDIS was held - the Thursday night pizza party with the guests. (Read: with the Big Finish crew; Paul McGann isn't here yet and I haven't seen Naoko Mori yet.)

Guest-wise, I got to talk to Nick Briggs for a little bit. He told me that they'd straightened out the confusion over the rights with Sherlock Holmes, and now the CDs are for sale in America after all. (After all that, persiflage_1!)

So spread the word far and wide - THE BIG FINISH HOLMES STORIES ARE AVAILABLE IN AMERICA!

Nick told me that they considered themselves experts in SF but were just getting into mysteries, and could use a good Holmes expert for advice. As much as I'd like to swank and say that was me, it wouldn't be - but I could promise to pass the word on to an expert I do know... and as serendipity would have it, the expert's husband wandered up right at that moment to say hello.

I talked with Rob Shearman for quite a while - he's so interesting to talk to! Info from him:

- There will be a partial audio book of Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical produced by Big Finish. They are also talking about partially adapting Tiny Deaths as well.

- The handwritten story in the expensive edition of Love Songs really was handwritten individually for each edition. That edition has almost sold out, but Rob said "If I were you, I wouldn't buy it, it's too expensive!"

- He didn't want to cheat the purchasers of other editions, so that story is hidden in all of the editions of Love Songs. Really hidden; in one of them you need an magnifying glass to find it.

- Stephen Moffat has said that he wants his Doctor Who "to be the show kids dare each other to watch because it's so scary." But he also wants the general tone of the Whoniverse to be optimistic. (Rob hinted that Moffat has some ideas regarding fitting Children of Earth into the tone of the Whoniverse he's building.)

- He thinks British people keep being cast as villains in America because their accents sound "cold" next to ours. I'm still pondering that one, because I don't agree with it.

I also chatted for a while with renn, brewsternorth, prof_pangaea, calapine (the two latter not recognizing me at first because I haven't cut my hair in a year!), and borrowed a sharpie from taraljc to write my screenname on my badge.

On the way back to the room, I also ran into jigglykat, nnwest and dark_aegis; hopefully we'll find time to chat today.


This morning, I ran into Tony Lee in the lobby, complaining that he'd heard about Black Friday and wanted to see helicopters and ambulances and insanity. "Instead, I came down at 6 in the morning and all I see is Rob [Shearman] - and he's not even on sale!" However, when he discovered that he could buy new waistcoats at JC Penny... and that he could get there by walking across the parking lot to the building with JC Penny written on the side of it - he went off happy as a clam.

(I checked out the sales myself; although I find the mall more than a little disappointing, I am now the possessor of a 60% off pocket watch with a nice blank metal case... that won't be blank forever...)

Liveblogging ChicagoTARDIS - Friday

There wasn't much new that came out of Regeneration Blues (talking about favorite regenerations and learning to deal with regeneration), Days of Future Passed (thoughts on RTD), and Reporter of Bannerman Road (SJA); if you've been online, you've heard it all.

The Torchwood Babiez panel was rocking with absolute silliness, and y'all need to join me in sending waves of psychic energy to jigglykat to get her to draw that cartoon of 10 Doctor babiez standing around a crib with a bow-tied mini Matt Smith in it, because that would be beyond adorable!

I bought Love Songs for the Shy and Cynical and got it autographed... but I was talking to Rob while he signed with a sharpie; when I went to look at it later, it was unreadable because the ink had soaked in!

There are cosplayers: ( Five pictures under here. )

I didn't get a shot of the Charley cosplayer in the R101 jacket holding a Ramsey "vortisaur" doll (although I am sitting right next to her as she sews buttons on a coat.)

Interesting tidbits from Big Finish's panel:
- They are interested in spreading out from tie-ins, but sales of Phantom have been disappointing; the tie-ins have a built-in audience.
- There was a lot of pressure from the audience to bring Charlie back in some manner. India said she'd bribed us all.
- There were so many Sarah Jane-era monsters in the Eight/Lucie stories because Big Finish could use them and nobody else had reused them, and BF had already done daleks and cybermen.
- India was teasing Nick because he tried to read email *on the panel* under the guise of sending a help request for someone who couldn't get their download subscription to start on the right issue.

...augh, there was a lot more, but the shenanigans of the opening ceremony pushed it out of the mental buffer.

Opening ceremony: Nick Briggs was marched up the center aisle by the Dalek Woman. Later, he was talking about how he'd proposed to his girlfriend last year, and how maybe he'd propose to someone else -which is when Rob Shearman started waving at him. "And maybe have another baby," Nick said, ignoring him. Rob nodded and continued to wave.

Lee Jee Tso took a victory lap around the stage, accompanying himself with a boombox beat.

And Paul McGann made his first appearance, tied to Daphne Ashbrook with a 4th Doctor scarf.