Gallifrey 2005

recent status updates

Guest Update: Recently added as guests this year include Erin Gray, Wilma Deering in "Buck Rogers," who will be joining us on Saturday and Sunday to sign autographs; Tessa Shaw, who was a UNIT officer in "Spearhead from Space" and recently appeared in the Big Finish audio "Faith Stealer"; Peter Ware, one of the members of the Time Team from "Doctor Who Magazine". Sadly, Caroline Morris (Big Finish) and Sadie Miller (Elisabeth Sladen's daughter) cannot make it after all; both have recent schedule conflicts that will not allow them to join us.

Final Schedule Online: The final schedule of events at Gallifrey, including our Autograph Schedule, panelist assignments and other scheduling information, is online on the schedule page. This is the version of the schedule going into this year's program book, so we expect that it will be the final version used on site.

Programming Update: You can find a list of all of our programming and events on the Programming page, which has been revised to incorporate all of our latest programming schedule changes.

Art Show: Gallifrey 2005's art show is now sold out and no additional space is available. Also, our fan tables area is completely full. (The Dealers' Room has been full since last year.) A list of our artists is available on the Dealers/Art Show page.

Pre-Con Membership Closes: Gallifrey Conventions is no longer taking pre-registration for attendance at Gallifrey 2005! We will be completely open for on-site registration by attendees beginning Friday morning, February 18, at 9:30am, for the full weekend rate of $60; daily memberships and discounts for children under 17 are available (see sidebar at right). Gallifrey One accepts VISA and MasterCard on site as well as cash or check.

Volunteers and Charity Donations: We are currently accepting donations for the charity auction; email us for information on where to send your items to be auctioned. Also, we are looking for volunteer support beginning at 8:00am Friday morning, February 18, for setup of the stage, the unloading of items for the con suite and help with setting up the Art Show; please email us about that as well. (If you're available mid-day Thursday, February 17, please also let us know about that; we need more bodies for truck-loading in the mid-afternoon Thursday at the LASFS Clubhouse in North Hollywood.)

Transportation from LAX Airport to Hotel: Don't forget about the greatest reason for us being at the Airtel, the Flyaway Shuttle, a bus directly between the Los Angeles International (LAX) Airport and the San Fernando Valley, with additional hotel shuttle making your trip inexpensive and very simple. Click on the Hotel & Transportation page for full details... it's only a few dollars, saves time and makes things very convenient!

Doctor Who Confidential: We have confirmed that BBC3 will be sending four people from their documentary series "Doctor Who Confidential" to Gallifrey to do some taping for the project. This documentary series will be shown immediately after the new series airs on UK television, all about the making of each episode, and clips from conventions including Gallifrey will be included. They may be taking fans away for interviews, too, so keep an eye out!

Photo Studio: This year's Photo Studio session has moved from Sunday to Friday. This was a critical decision for us on two fronts, timing and space... Sunday was incredibly crowded with the charity auction *and* the UNIT Years Reunion/Jon Pertwee Remembrance panel, and in order to hold the photo studio with as much time as we felt we needed, we'd have had to cancel three or four panels! In fact, the Photo Studio will now be the *first* official event our six UNIT guests will take part in at the convention, starting Friday at 2pm... they'll be on stage from 4-6pm in various permutations. One of the benefits of being on Friday is we'll be able to offer a print of your photo to everyone who wants one (you'll need to checkmark the box when you're at the photo studio on Friday!) Our green room coordinator Rebecca has volunteered (and those of us who know her, know that when she volunteers, she follows through!) to print the best copy of every photo using her HP photo printer throughout the weekend. The prints will be available on Sunday for pickup (location to be announced). This is above and beyond the emailing of photos after the convention. BRING YOUR CAMERA! We will have someone standing by to take digital photographs (which will be emailed to you; you need to provide your email address before you take the shot), but you are welcome to use your own camera, too (as long as you have someone available to take the photo!)

The Ice Warriors Reconstruction: Gallifrey is delighted to announce the world convention premiere of Loose Cannon Productions' newest reconstruction, "The Ice Warriors". Loose Cannon and many of its counterparts have been creating reconstructions of lost Doctor Who serials for years, using photos and the audio soundtrack, and they just issued their release of the reconstructed two episodes that complete "The Ice Warriors". Gallifrey has been a proud supporter of the reconstructions for years and we're delighted to bring their latest release to our members... you can see it Saturday evening at 7:30pm.

Cricket: A reminder... While the convention itself officially ends Sunday night, those of you staying until Monday should plan to join us at a nearby park for our annual Paul Cornell Cricket Challenge, Gallifrey's yearly cricket match! Interested parties gather in the lobby at 9am for transportation (people who can provide rides are encouraged to help!) Maps will be given out at the Information desk throughout the weekend. Last year's cricket match was especially enjoyable, and we hope that this year's will be even more memorable. (The cricket match is subject to weather, of course, but while southern California had lots of rain in early January, the past two weeks have been unseasonably warm and dry... so we're hoping for the best!)

our charity auction

Gallifrey Conventions is delighted to announce that, in cooperation with Liningup.net, the beneficiary of our 2005 charity auction will be the Starlight/Starbright Children's Foundation. Starlight/Starbright is a non-profit organization dedicated to brightening the lives of seriously ill children and their families, offering an array of innovative, research-based programs that empower, educate, entertain, and inspire. The Foundation serves children and teenagers suffering from chronic, serious, or life threatening illnesses and injuries, including cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, kidney disease, as well as severe burn and spinal cord injuries; their programs are available to children and families, hospitals, clinics, schools, support groups, faith based organizations, and healthcare centers, and they serve more than 180,000 children each month.

We considered many possibilities for our charity auction this year. Many of us were struck by the recent horrifying tragedy in South Asia that claimed so many thousands of lives, but after careful consideration was given, the thought crossed our minds: with so many giving to the worthy cause of tsunami aid charities, other needy groups may not be so fortunate (remember, after all, the drop in contributions to so many charity foundations in the wake of September 11 when all of the donations were going toward the Red Cross and other aid groups.) In the end, we thought a children's charity would be an ideal target for our charity auction this year, especially insofar as that Doctor Who was, for its entire life on television, considered a children's program.

Helping us with our charity auction this year will be some folks from Liningup.net, an organization here in Los Angeles that has turned the fine art of waiting in line for the next Star Wars film into a fundraiser! Intrigued? Well, then, please join them at 2:00pm on Saturday in one of our programming rooms for Waiting For Episode III: Star Wars Lines for Charity, a discussion about both the next (and final!) Star Wars film as well as what they do and how they do it. The liningup.net folks are also running a room party that evening which all attendees are welcome to stop by! More details are available at their website, http://www.liningup.net

in memoriam

Gallifrey One has two very sad announcements to make about long-time friends of our convention. The first one concerns a member of our own family: Michael Mason, one of the original instigators of the discussions in 1988-89 that led to the formation of Gallifrey One, and who then served for many years as a committee member -- running such diverse units in various years as the Dealers' Room, Information, Staff Services, Programming Operations, Volunteers and, most especially, our Con Suite -- was taken from us as 2005 began, to our complete surprise and dismay. The committee and staff of Gallifrey Conventions -- including this site editor who knew him as one of my oldest friends, my roommate of seven years (91-98) and one of the kindest souls I've ever known -- are still reeling from the shock of having learned this only yesterday (January 3). It is difficult at such an early date to put into words how much we will miss our friend. Gallifrey One will dedicate our next convention to his memory and there will be some sort of memorial event for him on site.

Also, as widely reported in the press, legendary illustrator and friend of Gallifrey Frank Kelly Freas passed away on January 2. LA fans knew Kelly well, and long-time Gallifrey attendees remember the many times Kelly and his wife Laura Brodian Freas have been with us for our convention; in fact, Kelly has done slideshows of his artwork at four Gallifrey events, the last time only two years ago, and Laura has been one of our regular judges for the Gallifrey Masquerade for many years.

about gallifrey one

Gallifrey One, run by the Gallifrey Conventions group, is the world's longest-running annual Doctor Who convention. Created as an independent spinoff of the local fan club, the Time Meddlers of Los Angeles, Gallifrey has run an annual event every year since 1990 (always in February except for our first two, which took place in May.) Five of the actors who played the Doctor have joined us, Jon Pertwee, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann, and a multitude of companion actors from the BBC series and 1996 TV movie including Janet Fielding, Sophie Aldred, Nicholas Courtney, Bonnie Langford, Wendy Padbury, Mark Strickson, Sarah Sutton, Nicola Bryant, Frazer Hines, Deborah Watling, Matthew Waterhouse, Michael Craze, Anneke Wills, John Levene, Richard Franklin, Yee Jee Tso and Daphne Ashbrook. We have also welcomed Doctor Who producers Philip Segal, John Nathan-Turner and Barry Letts, script editors Terrance Dicks and Andrew Cartmel, and a multitude of other Doctor Who related guests including BBC Books editorial staff (and authors) Justin Richards, Stephen Cole and Jacqueline Rayner; Big Finish Productions' producers Gary Russell & Jason Haigh-Ellery and musician Alistair Lock; BBV's Bill Baggs; Reeltime Pictures' Keith Barnfather; Big Finish & BBV spinoff actors India Fisher, Lisa Bowerman, Jo Castleton, P.J. Ochlan, Camilla Aitken and George Telfer; the BBC Restoration Team's Steve Roberts & Sue Cowley; stuntman/actor Terry Walsh; and Doctor Who fact and fiction authors Paul Cornell, Kate Orman, Lance Parkin, Jonathan Blum, Craig Hinton, David A. McIntee, Steve Lyons, Mike Tucker, Andy Lane, Simon Bucher-Jones, Peter Anghelides, Nick Walters, Keith Topping, Martin Day, Dave Stone, Jon de Burgh Miller, Kelly Hale, Chris Howarth, Gary Gillatt, Lars Pearson, Jean-Marc Lofficier, Arnold T. Blumberg and David J. Howe.

In addition to our Doctor Who focus, it has been a pleasure to welcome a ton of science fiction actors, authors, producers and celebrities including Paul Darrow, Mira Furlan, Nigel Bennett, Danny Strong, Robia LaMorte, Tessa Shaw, Larry Niven, Stephen R. Donaldson, Brinke Stevens, Erin Gray, Jeff Conaway, Richard Hatch, David Gerrold, Dorothy C. Fontana, Frank Kelly Freas, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, John DeChancie, Jason Carter, Patricia Tallman, Julie Caitlin Brown, Marjorie Monaghan, Denise Gentile, Tim Choate, Ed Wasser, Aron Eisenberg, Gary Graham, Michele Scarabelli, Terri Treas, Robert Trebor, Bob May, Anne Lockhart, Susannah Harker, Samantha Eggar, Herb Jefferson Jr., Jack Stauffer, Peter Woodward, Carrie Dobro, David Allen Brooks, Marjean Holden, Daniel Dae Kim, Brad Dourif, Stuart Pankin, Beata Pozniak, Tucker Smallwood, Wayne Alexander, Robin Atkin-Downes, Gerard Christopher, Casey Biggs, Iona Morris, Michael Forest, Joshua Cox, Maggie Egan, Richard Herd, Spice Williams, Stephen Austin, Bill Blair, Kent McCord, Mark Allen Shepherd, Phil Brown, Lisa Getto, Scott MacDonald, Fiona Avery, Michael Reaves, Mojo, Mark Altman & Robert Burnett, Ethlie Ann Vare, Bjo Trimble, Eric Hoffman and J. Michael Straczynski, and so many more.

the fine print

Gallifrey 2005: The Sixteen Swashbucklers of Gallifrey One is a presentation of Gallifrey Conventions/Gallifrey One, part of Sparrow Creek, a California not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Board of Directors: Nicholas Cravotta, Robbie Bourget, Christian B. McGuire, Shaun Lyon and Sherri Benoun.

All guest appearances as announced are subject to professional commitments.