Gallifrey One 2012

I just got home from my first ever (it won’t be the last!) trip to Gallifrey One.  It was a completely fabulous trip!  I flew into LAX on a Thurs morning – a very early Thurs morning.  I had to get up at 1:20am in order to catch my shuttle!

Once at the hotel, I met up with Wench Posse friends Glynnis, Suzette, and Nell.  I hadn’t met any of them before, so it was great to finally meet face to face – and they are just as fun and amazing in person as they are online.  They made excellent room-mates!

After settling into the hotel, we took a bus to the Santa Monica pier.  It was lovely to see the beach and the sunshine!

Above is the view from the Santa Monica pier’s Ferris Wheel.  We also rode a carousel.  Nell claimed the rabbit.

Santa Monica is the end of the Route 66.  After filming the fake version in Revelation video I did the costumes for, it was kind of cool to be at the real thing!

Friday, we skipped the morning/afternoon events at Gallifrey and went to LA’s fashion district instead.  We are all costumers, after all!  Unbelievable.  Simply unbelievable amounts of fabric and trim!  Good thing I saved room in my luggage, because I filled one of my suitcases mostly with stuff I bought.

Fabric…fabric…everywhere!  I’m thinking next time I go, I’m spending a lot more time here.  To get to the district, we had the hotel call us a cab…but our ‘cab’ turned out to be a limo!  Hurrah for awesome concierges!

Besides the district, we visited the FIDM museum, and saw an exhibit of the costumes from Oscar-nominated films.  My favorite dress was from The War Horse:

In the photograph it doesn’t look like much, but it has the most lovely embroidery around the neck.  I completely adored it.  Also on exhibit was pieces of famous movie costumes – Fred Astaire’s tap shoes was one especially cool item.  There was a small room of extant historical gowns as well.  They have one of Queen Victoria’s mourning dresses, and wow.  I knew she was short, but I was not at all prepared for how short!  Teeny-tiny!

Saturday was the first day to spend all day at Gallifrey.  I wore my Idris costume, Nell and Glynnis wore their Clockwork Droid costumes, and Suzette (who didn’t bring costumes this year) was our minion, offering everything from corset-lacing, to bag-holding, to foot massages!  Minions are excellent things to have.  🙂

There were many, many excellent costumes there.  Torchwood:

Lots of Elevens, large and small:

Lifesize Daleks wandering the halls and interacting with people:

Novice Hame:

Cybermen:

Vampires from Venice:

Girl in the Fireplace costumes:

A giant adipose:

A weeping angel:

The panels I went to were fabulous.  Mainly, I went to anything with the actors I liked in them, so there were lots of Mark Sheppard ones!  😉 Daphne Ashbrook (Eight’s companion performed “I Don’t Need No Doctor” with backups by Eight (Paul McGann) and the film’s director!

One thing that was very cool about these celebrity panels, was how much they were enjoyed by the celebrities themselves.  All of them had grown up fans of Doctor Who, and most had been dying for a chance to act on the show.    When the call finally came, they didn’t even care what the part was!  The genuine love they all have for Doctor Who just shone out from them, and that was truly amazing.  It wasn’t just actors doing their jobs, it was us and them, united equally as fans.  I’ve never experienced that before, and it was awesome.

My favorite guest was, of course, Mark Sheppard, because I have loved every single role of his I’ve seen.  His dad, W. Morgan Sheppard is also wonderful, and the interaction between the two of them was heartwarming and quite funny at times.  They obviously have a terrific relationship.

I had my picture taken with Mark Sheppard and Camille Coduri (Jackie Tyler).

Sunday, I wore my steampunk Tenth Doctor costume, Nell wore her female Fifth Doctor, and Glynnis wore her Vampires of Venice outfit.

Nell and I had our picture taken together at the actual Eighth Doctor TARDIS console.

The console is very cool:

Check out my ribbons!  By the end of the con, I had 25, far more than I’ve ever managed to collect at any other con…which is a testament to how truly welcoming and friendly Gallifrey is.  My favorite ribbon is the one (collected while I was wearing Idris) that says “Bitey Mad Lady”.  🙂

One of my very favorite costume I saw there was this Flesh outfit.  She was spot-on perfect – the makeup was film quality!

The other favorite was the Cassandra team.  There were two ‘moisturizers’, and when one of them saw me in the crowd of photo-takers, he called me over to get a pic with them – he especially wanted me to help moisturize!  That was fun.

Amber Benson (Tara on Buffy) was there signing copies of her new book, so I got one and chatted with her for a bit.  She’s super nice, funny, and very down to earth.  And gorgeous!  So very gorgeous, even when she’s just in normal clothes and makeup!

Altogether, it was the best con I’ve ever been to, and I really, really want to go back.  Next year is the big 50th anniversary, and they are promising MAJOR guests from recent years of the show.  Dare I hope for Tennant?  I’d be happy with Alex Kingston!

For more info on my costumes, and making-of photos, see my costuming blog:

http://www.freewebs.com/dragonflydesignsbyalisa/homefaq.htm

The Wench Posse: too much RAWK for one hand!

Next blog: after Gallifrey was over, I spent a day at Universal Studios.