No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 2, 2012

Short version met Paul McGann, gave Frazer Hines a copy of my Doctor Who story which involves Jamie, got to talk to Sarah Douglass who, for the record, is nothing like the characters she plays on the screen, saw a lot of friends, had some great conversation, and got a few things.

And here is the slightly longer version of events from this weekend under the cut because this one is going to be long.

Caroline’s whole reason to go to the convention was that her friends were going to be there and she wanted to spend time playing with them. She got her wish and spent most of her time at the convention with her friends and I think they all had fun.

I have to give you a little set up for one of the things that happened this weekend. Now set the way back machine to 1996, I went to see the Fox Doctor Who movie with many of the Mighty Rassilon Art Players (MRAP) and quite of few members of the Terminus TARDIS in a sports bar where it had been arranged to watch Doctor Who. I think the staff there were amazed by the number of people that showed up and that each and everyone of us was a good tipper. We took over a good chunk of the sports bar. It was a fun evening and I was bet that I couldn’t make 8 Doctor Who puppets by DragonCon which was about 6 weeks away (maybe 8 but it was an insane amount of time for 8 Doctors to be built). I did it and the entire set was at DragonCon that year. Somewhere I have photos. Also that night was created the PMEB through some serious silliness that then became an internet group that I belong to.

Since then I have given various actors who played the Doctor their version of the puppet and years later heard about the puppet’s adventures with the actor from either the actor or someone who saw the puppet in action. Doctor puppet #8 had been out with an attempted to deliver him to Mr. McGann which failed because Mr. McGann had to cancel. However there were a number of PMEBers there and the puppet picked up the nickname Snogger. I think the ladies had a lot of fun with him. I swear he came back to me with a bigger grin than when he left.

Fast forward to about 2006 and the New Who series was going strong. I decided to remake the Doctor Who puppets filling in the ones that I had given away or sold and this time I left the hand rods off the puppets. I did an entire new set which took a while. They were at various conventions during 2006 and 2007.

I heard that Paul McGann was going to be at I-Con this year but I kind of took it with a grain of salt since I had heard those sorts of things before and professional commitments (ie work) seem to crop up. But Friday I decided that I was going to dig up Snogger and see what shape he was in. I found him and his stand but his coat was missing which was a problem. I wracked my brain trying to figure out how one got separated from the other. Then I remembered a bag of puppet clothing that I had which contained a couple of Doctor Who pieces and low and behold a rather rumpled coat that belonged to the puppet.

We went to the convention and to the Green Room where we had hope to find Caroline’s friends and our friends. We also scored a nice lunch. Peter went off to see a panel that some of his friends were on. I stayed with the kids so they could play. At some point Mr. McGann came into the room to get lunch. Peter came back from his panel and, because I got a big case of the shy, went to talk to Mr. McGann. Now you have to understand that people have different reactions to puppets. Some people don’t like puppets based on them and others love it. When he saw the puppet I knew it was going to be fine because his whole face lit up. He wanted to get his picture with the puppet and Peter informed him that this was HIS puppet. I got a bear hug and kissed on both cheeks. He really like the puppet. We chatted for a bit and left him to eat his lunch. After he was done, we took a couple of pictures of the actor, the puppet, and the puppeteer.

The Actor, the Doctor, and Me
(For the Visually Impaired: This is a photo that was taken in the Green Room of I-Con. There is grey brick wall behind us with a red door to the far right. From left to right is Paul McGann who is wearing a grey sweater and a blue scarf tied around his neck. He has short brown hair. He is looking at Snogger aka Dr. Who #8 which is a pink puppet with brown hair and green eyes. The puppet is wearing a white shirt with a cream colored vest and a brown velvet coat. Around the puppet’s neck is a grey cravat. Its mouth is open and it is looking at Mr. McGann. I am to the right of the puppet. My left hand is operating the puppets. I am wearing a black Harry Potter hat, a black t-shirt covered in Muppet eyes, and my I-Con badge around my neck.)

Later that afternoon I had a long talk with Mr. McGann about Withnail and I, theater, and stage managing along with teaching the craft. His wife is a stage manager by trade. It was a nice conversation that we both enjoyed.

We had dinner with a bunch of our friends at the Good Steer. It was a fun time with stories told and new plots hatched. Pretty typical convention meal with good company.

The next day I also got to get to Frazer Hines the copy of the Doctor Who Big Finish book “Qualities of Leadership” because I wrote a Jamie, Victoria, and Dr. Who story in there with William Wallace. We talked a bit about publishing and Doctor Who. It was nice. If you get a chance to talk to him at a convention, take it. He is fascinating to talk to and he knows his horses.

I heard Sarah Douglas talk about various topics including how social media got her a job. We also learned that the director of Strippers vs. Werewolves got canned after the last day of shooting so who knows how the film is going to turn out. She and I talked briefly about Chris Reeve.

Peter finished his last panel and we talked to our friends for a bit and went home after a very good I-Con for us.

I am grateful that things went so well at I-Con.

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