Saturday at ChicagoTARDIS

I have somehow managed to lose one of my knitting needles. I wouldn't have thought it possible to lose a 16-inch circular, no matter how small the gage!

Also, I really wanted to see Mysterious Theater 337, but proved to be too much of an old fart to stay up that late. When the Masq half-time was still running at about 10:15, I gave up. Did get a couple of pictures though, so they'll be in the wrap up post.

( PANELS )

The Masq was huge - 42 entries, although about 4 scratched. There were highlights, like the woman playing a harp medley of Murray Gold soundtracks and williqueen's Idris and the Rani "whose terrible genetic experiments have resulted in... the cast of Jersey Shore." But THE standout was whoever that was being the Anthony Ainly "Master" of ceremonies. He was incredible! Respectful when necessary ("I was priviledged to see the harpist's hands, please give her another round of applause") but always, always, *always* beautifully in character. Of a pint-sized second Doctor: "I'll finish shrinking him later." On being slagged off by a Martha contestant ("You? You're a rubbish villian!"): "Soon to be seen in a very limited edition in a doll store near you." And at the end, "Could the tech please do something about that drumming sound on the monitor?" Of course the audience grabbed that and ran, the whole auditorium clapping out the double heartbeat. Master: You're slightly off beat. Also? You will all die screaming."

He has just *got* to come back next year!

Sunday at ChicagoTARDIS

Only three panels today, and not much to share about the knitting circle or the con feedback panels. (Me: Get the Master back!) Apparently I missed a kickass panel yesterday when Matthew Waterhouse showed up for "The Perils of Male Companions."

So... I'll go on about the "Fifth Doctor Era QA" which was ostensibly about the Big Finish 5th Doctor range but was mostly about Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, and Matthew Waterhouse ragging on each other with Nick Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery getting the occasional word in edgewise.

It started without enough mikes for everyone on stage, so Peter gave his to Janet, then jumped down and sat in the first row. Then he popped up to the (then unoccupied) mike for audience questions and asked "What was your favorite story and what was the plot?" Janet: "That's an excellent question and someday I shall forgive you for it."

That was the last Big Finish question they actually got for about a quarter of an hour, as Jason and Nick occasionally mourned. (Janet's favorite bit of the new series - which she loves, because she feels 45 minutes gives you so much more time to develop character without rushing to the next cliffhanger in 20 minutes -- is Rose touching the dalek in Dalek. She mentioned that several times yesterday too, how powerfully emotional a scene that was.)

When they did get to talk Big Finish, they got to talk a bit about how they got into character without costumes or props (Peter: You just do it, really) and the perils of falling into Radio Acting with modulated voices instead of making the listener feel it. Nick, who records the rehearsals because sometimes he feels that's the best, least over-rehearsed take, said that Peter never read the scripts in advance. Peter said he'd never read the TV scripts in advance either, so his whole Doctor was based on never reading the script.

This evolved into a discussion of how Peter tends to overbook and be late, leading to people reading his part in readthrough. Matthew and Janet gave him crap about that. Janet: "I come back and he's working five jobs!" Peter: "I did that just for you." Janet: "We'd believe it if you weren't late all the time." Matthew: "Remember when he was late because of a gerbil in his kitchen?" Peter and Janet: "It was a mole!" Matthew: "It was a gerbil in my book."

This continued evolving until Janet *very* reluctantly said how good she thought Peter was as an actor, compared to the performances turned in by people playing Peter until he showed up.

Janet's favorite audio was The Cradle of the Snake; Peter didn't pick a favorite, although he mentioned Spare Parts many times. Matthew had been brought in to be a voice for the Dark Shadows series, and I have to admit, although my usual reaction to the Dark Shadows promos is "stop smoking the curtains" I went and picked up that audio in the dealer's room. (And a bunch of other things. This took me over budget, although not cripplingly so; I hope I don't end up regretting that.)

With barely two hours left of the official convention, I hope I finally get to see calapine! I haven't seen her all weekend!