The Green Pill Secret: Convention Roundtable, Part 2

In the second part of our Convention Roundtable, we go through how we all got here. We begin by embarrassing Gracie by talking about how she grew up on the convention circuit. Lawrence Neals then talks about his convention experience and what it’s like now with money. Then Alex Boruff chimes in with how much fun he has coming to these conventions. Cat tells us all about how she got into the convention scene. And finally, I talk about how my Mom was part of the Mark Twain Masquers and how I went to conventions at a young age in both Connecticut and Montréal, and then founded the Northern Virginia Doctor Who Viewing Society in 1999, then did a bunch of Electric Car events and got into cosplay—beginning with Ian Chesterton, and most recently in a Fuck Yeah!, complete with Pornstashe—and finally back into the Doctor Who conventions with the Convention which shall not be named, where I met Cat and eventually started attending L.I. Who.

As before, the audio quality is frankly atrocious. I’ve done my best to clean it up but me thinks short of magical computer code, this is the best I can do. I think I’ve boosted the audio of our guests as best I can and since even I find them still relatively unintelligible, even subtitles are out of the question.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the special crawl at the beginning to bring you up to speed, and may the Force Be With You, until next time!

An Unearthly Child

I’ve been so crazy-busy on I’m Running Late today that my computer locked up and I was bored so I decided to watch some Doctor Who, which is what everyone should do when they’re waiting for a computer to behave.

I could have continued on with The Mutants, but I was feeling nostalgic to see again how it all began and see the source of my first cosplay, Ian Chesterton. I love Ian because he’s a Science Teacher and that suits me as a Scientist who runs The Science Book Club. Plus, I was enthralled by my very dear friend Ilona, who cosplays a simply smashing Susan! I must admit, I’ve been thinking about Ilona a lot recently so I guess it’s no coincidence I pulled up the first Doctor Who story ever, which of course features Ian and Susan.

Of course, Ian was always fond of Barbara and we’ve had a lot of trouble finding a Barbara cosplayer but I’m always happy to have find someone cosplaying The First Doctor for photoshoots. But usually it’s just me and Ilona and I have always felt we make a great team. That’s why she’s my cosplay bestie.

Meanwhile, not much actually happens in the story. A student is acting queer, the teachers investigate, and the Doctor kidnaps them. Not much more to say to that. Or maybe I was just too busy reciting the lines with the actors, I’ve seen the episode so often. Overall, a fun story, with light bits and campy students. I always enjoy that one and will watch it again… and again… and again…

Susan with Radio
“It’s John Smith and the Commonmen, they’ve gone from nineteen to two.” Susan is enjoying some tunes on her transistor radio. From An Unearthly Child © 1963, British Broadcasting Corporation

Will you watch Doctor Who with me?