I heard there was going to be a Doctor Who convention in Toronto. This is unusual because the fan base is not that large, it being a British show and in competition with big budget US shows like Star Trek. Typically these tend to be small with about 50-100 people attending and one guest, some minor companion that a low budget convention can afford.

This time there was to be not one but four guests. And even more astonishing they were able to get one of the actors that played 'The Doctor' usually the most expensive type of guest. I went along having been totally out of the fandom scene since I finished university and time on my hands not working.

The last time I went to a convention was 1996. What surprised me when I first walked in was the culture shock of seeing so many people come dressed in costumes of various good/bad characters from the show. Even young children were dressed up, sometimes it was a family affairs with the parents in costume too.

The hallways had an interesting display of some fan made costumes and replicas of various characters

There were two fan built Daleks that liked to patrol the halls terrorizing people.

In the dealers room it was interesting to see the wide variety of Dr Who merchandise available. It was exclusively from Dr Who not other genre areas like Star Wars or other movies.

Something new I was not aware of is 'Cosplay'. To my understanding this is people dressed up in costume roleplaying their own adventures (something we did as kids in the playground). There was a separate room for that to go on as well as a tv room to watch favourite episodes.

In the main hall were various panels. Of particular interest was the one discussing the discovery of 'missing episodes - The Web of Fear' from the 1960s that were thought destroyed but found at a tv station in *****ia that had bought them in the 1960s. This was the first big discovery of film prints since 'Tomb of the Cyberman' was found at a tv station in Hong Kong in 1992. Finding lost episodes is a favourite topic of fan discussion and 'Marco Polo' is also rumoured to have been found in the African find.

The guest panels followed. First up was Don Starkey who plays Sontaran Commander Drax. He mentioned how long it takes for makeup and problems with bathroom breaks. Drax makes a popular trio with Human Jenny and Silurian Reptile Madame Vastra who fans would like to see get their own spin off tv show. Starkey said the problem with this is the lack of sound stages available for another simultaneous tv production.

Next up was sound engineer d*** Mills who worked on the serious from its start in the 60s to after the end of its initial run into the 90s. His presentation was over the two days of the weekend and I was only there for the Saturday. He talked about his early career and the evolution of sound in the 50s/60s but not much about his time on the show which would be in part 2 on sunday

The more popular guests were next up. Director Graeme Harper who was involved with the show from the 80s and again in the new tv series. He talked about his career and how he learnt the skills to get to where he is.

The final much anticipated guest was Peter Davison who played 5th Doctor from 1981-4. I met him at a convention in 1993 and was not that impressed with his attitude towards the show making meeting him somewhat of a disappointment. Over the years his attitude has either mellowed or he has learned to be a better 'in-person' actor at these live events. His daughter is now married to the actor that played the 10th Doctor so his family life is somewhat complicated and tied in with the show.

Finally was the autograph session, the photo session had already taken place this morning. A big change from when I last went to conventions is you know have to pay for photos/autographs on top of convention admission which was $45. For a photo with Peter Davison you had to pay an extra **FIFTY DOLLARS** . Good job I have my photos/autographs from 1993 coz I'm not paying that kind of money.

Supporting artists like Director Graeme Harper and Sound Engineer d*** Mills were free so I was able to get their autographs. But there were still long lines for Peter Davison. I didn't know conventions had become so expensive now with $45 admission + $50 photo/autograph PER GUEST. Dan Starkey was also an extra charge on top of Peter Davisons + admission.

Overall it was an interesting event, good to see some local fans I hadn't seen from the 90s, and a lead in to the 50th anniversary special at the end of the month (see next entry)