Friday @ MediaWest

[neadods]

MediaWest is smaller and less bustling than usual - the economy is hitting it hard, I think, with people deciding at the nth hour that they can't afford to come. (Gas is $4.08 as of this morning. And I thought $3.15 was highway robbery last year.) However, what has come makes for a nice, relaxing but not boring con.

There is no white-hot ubiquitous fandom this year - Stargate SG-1/Atlantis has finally fallen from that perch, although it is hardly "over." To my amusement, what seems to be taking its place is Torchwood. Torchwood is hot, hot, hot, with lots of panels and some gorgeous artwork. (There's a Karen River Ianto in the art show that may be worth the rest of my con budget.)

Notable door decorations include the Torchwood hub (complete with stuffed pterodactyl hanging from the ceiling outside), something involving vines and fairies, a crossover between Daniel Jackson and Indiana Jones re: the crystal skull told in captioned pictures, Fandoku with actor's pictures, and my personal favorite, the one covered in black with the stark white caption "This is not the door you are looking for. Move along."

Having said several times that I wasn't sure the vid show was something I felt was still relevant to me in a world of YouTube, I went after the last Who panel and was glad I did. There were multifandom vids that I wouldn't have seen otherwise that were delightful. And this year's "song I discovered because of the vids" was a Doctor Who vid to Everlife's "Look Through My Eyes":
You'll see, Trust me
I'll be there watching over you

Just take a look through my eyes
There's a better place
somewhere out there
Just take a look through my eyes
Everything changes
You'll be amazed what you'll find
If you take a look through my eyes

There will be time on this journey
All you'll see is darkness
Out there somewhere daylight finds you
If you keep believing

It started as Rose-Nine, but on the lines "everything changes" either the Doctor or companion changed so that it encompassed Nine, Ten, Rose, Martha, and Donna. Fantastic!

Under the cut, descriptions of the four Who panels. Before the cut - a mention of just how sweet it is to introduce yourself as "I'm Nea... my first Doctor Who fanfic was published in 1981, and my first professional Who fic was published this month."

The Panels:

Big Finish:
I lined up my selection of stuff - it went across the entire table, looked at the audience, and dried up. It wasn't the classiest of panels, but I covered the main topics - where to find them, what it is, how much it costs, how to get the downloads and samples, the types of stories they do, fan favorites, their license, the audios, the books, the new Stargate audios, etc. Someone had her laptop, so we downloaded their little clip for The Kingmaker. I may have sounded like a chipmunk on crack, but I hit the salient points, and not a lot of people left, so I must have been doing right.

Anyone Interested In The Older Doctors:
This one had been suggested by someone who wasn't online, which is why she didn't know about the burgeoning fandom. Sorry, this is a computer-enabled group these days. I pimped Unit Family, Green Bubble Wrap, Calufrax, Teaspoon, etc.

Theories on the Time War:
I'm so sorry, but halfway though this panel, I hit the wall, and had to go take a break. (I wasn't, fortunately, actually *on* this panel.) Theories of whether the Doctor realized what he'd do would be such a permanent final solution, of if Romana had played him for a catspaw, of the Time Lords themselves realizing they had to be destroyed, etc.

Morality:
I can only assume the lateness of the hour - 8-9pm - was what dampened the room. We had a good crowd, and people would keep throwing out topics to discuss, but nobody discussed anything! It was just eyes staring silently at each other. Dang. I'm going to keep suggesting it, but I'm going to suggest it be earlier next time.

Topics launched, if not discussed:
- Who does Jack report to, re: Torchwood?
- Is the suicide of the previous commander reason enough to give Jack the right to run Torchwood? Is he running it well? Is it a moral agency?
- Is the use of retcon in Torchwood overuse, just right, too little? Does Jack, who resents his missing memories, have the right to sling it around like aspirin?
- Who gave the Doctor the right to speak for the Earth? If it came from outside the Earth, does that still give him the moral right to do so without our buy-in? If it came from somewhere on Earth, does that person/group have the right to speak for all of Earth?
- Harriet Jones - right or wrong? The Doctor's reaction - ditto.
- Gwen Cooper - why does the "heart" of Torchwood congenitally lie to her boyfriend/fiance/husband?
- The Doctor and Sarah Jane - for people who espouse nonviolence, they use a lot of it.
- The Doctor says "The moral high ground is mine" and then commits genocide. Discuss.
- Face of Boe - Jack or not Jack, shouldn't he have told the people trapped underground what had happened so they could try to save themselves and break free?
- Gwen: right or wrong to chase down the people disappearing into the rift? Jack: right or wrong to not give the families of rift abductees closure? (Side discussion on how this hit him personally re: his own missing brother.)

Today, panels on LJ, Ianto, and women in the Doctor Who franchise. I will also try to draft the "going to conventions without going broke" article (mtgat, look for a filtered post only you'll see) and generally take it easy, because that cough from last night? Not allergies. I've got that doom-laden feeling of wheels spinning in my chest when I breathe.

Comments

Mediawestcon 08

[ashgirl2.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounds like you had a good time at the con.
So Torchwood and Supernatural were big this year, eh? That makes me feel better about not being able to attend again this year. I'm not interested in either show. LOL Maybe next year.