ICON 31 - Review

This was the best ICON I have ever attended.  Since 2008, my friends and I would travel out to Stony Brook to nerd ourselves up at the Sci-Fi Convention.  It wasn't what I was expecting at the time, but I found it to be really good if you were comfortable with being a participant instead of an observer.  Like our college years revisited, we would trek (he he) over to the Students Activity Center and sit in a classroom while we read the summary of the activity.

"Evil Laugh Contest"
"Star Wars vs. Star Trek"
"Furry's: How not to be creepy?"

Subsequent years proved to be less entertaining.  It seemed like an evolving experiment which would range from "very adult" to "family friendly".  Those of us from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi have children and in some cases, grand-children.  While we can appreciate adult-themed classes, it was awkward sitting with our children during some of those classes.  In 2011, it was way too tame.  Adult themed classes occurred during the evening, but during the day we were subjected to Twilight, Harry Potter and Teletubbies.  I was a touch uncomfortable with the middle aged man dressed as a teletubby, but that's just me.

ICON 31 brought the perfect blend of balance.  Enter Doctor Who!  The first class of the day, I sat in a "Dalek Building" class with my wife and son.  Steve Gostelow was an independent contractor who built Dalek's for the BBC and hosted the class in a Q&A style forum.  We discussed how to actually build a Dalek prop.  Any and all questions were answered, including how much the BBC paid for the work (not much).




Star Wars Rep in the Upper-Right


I sat on a panel for "Star Wars vs. Star Trek" as the lone Star Wars supporter.  I had some serious fun with the Trekkies and they certainly had some fun at my expense, as well.  My friend Sunil peppered me with comments aimed to question my intelligence for actually preferring Star Wars over Star Trek.  I stuck to my guns an pointed out that I had no trouble understanding Star Trek.  I usually just fell asleep before the show was over to register an opinion.

After this, I went to a "Game of Thrones" class, in which we discussed the book and television show.  The focus was on Season 2, which also covered opinions from the first book (Season 1).  In the end, they showed a couple trailers for the second season on HBO.

I had a blast.  I debated dressing up as Doctor Who, but in the end I'm glad I didn't.  I don't have the "stick thin" physique of Matt Smith and I wasn't about to shave off my Goatee again.

I look forward to seeing everyone in Stony Brook next year!

Doctor Who

In 2005, my friend Lee was so excited. We worked together at a law firm, in their IT Dept and sat next to each other. Lee being from the UK and I, from the USA, we loved to chat about things from the perspective of our native countries. X-Files was pretty much history, and at the time, I would only watch American sports on TV. This was actually quite boring, since sports had started to become unappealling to me. I really miss those days because it felt as though 2005 was a year in which I left my cacoon to be the person I am today. One of the TV shows he had been excited about was the upcoming return of Doctor Who. I had heard of Doctor Who, but only in a passing joke from Rowan Atkinson's skit at a comedy show from years back.

As time marches on, of all of Lee's suggestions, it was the one show that I did not follow up on.

Five years later, while flipping past channels, I came across BBC America and saw an interesting show was on. It was the 2010, Doctor Who Christmas Special. Michael Gambon played a scrooge in what seemed to be a bit of a steampunk world, in which fish could swim through the clouds. To say that I am obsessive, is an understatement. I had five years of catching up to do and I rushed to Best Buy to purchase my latest obsession. Season by season, I was enthralled. I even managed to get my sister into it.

To give a summary, Doctor Who is a Time Lord who uses a time machine to travel through time and space. The time machine takes the form of a 1950's era Police Box from London (see above). The main thing that gives the show longevity (1961 - 1989 & 2005 - Present), is the fact that the Doctor can die. If he dies, he regenerates into a new Doctor with all new personality traits and appearance. A new actor would take over the leading role of the show with an entirely different outlook. It's almost as if he's a different person assuming the identity of a Legendary Character, right? The Doctor is usually accompanied by a young girl and nowadays that the Doctor is played by younger actors, there can sometimes be an attraction between the Doctor and his Companion.

Doctor Who has everything when it comes to entertainment. Deep down to its core, it's a Sci-Fi television show and is good for all ages. This April, we'll begin the seventh season of the latest run of Doctor Who. If you have BBC America, it's worth giving it a look. Enjoy!