CONvergence

As always, there will be a bunch of Doctor Who and related panels at Minnesota's Science Fiction convention CONvergence this weekend. I'll be on a few.

Since this convention has an additional day, one of the ideas is to have one panel for each decade of the show -- usually, when you cover Doctor Who, you don't really cover the whole history as much as you would really like.

Time	Room	Panel
Thu 5:00pm - 6:00pm	Edina TV	Doctor Who by Decade: The Sixties Covering the 1960's era Dr. Who, this is the first in a series of four panels exploring the rich and varied history of the classic British science-fiction series, focusing on the Hartnell and Troughton eras. Ben Ellis, Steven Manfred, Charlie Paulsen, Michael Scott Shappe, Michael D. Thomas
Fri 5:00pm - 6:00pm	Edina TV	Doctor Who by Decade: The Seventies Covering the 1970's era Dr. Who, this is the second in a series of four panels exploring the rich and varied history of the classic British science-fiction series, focusing on the Pertwee and T. Baker eras. Ben Ellis, Brian Jonas, Michael Lee, Emily Stewart, Michael Zecca
Fri 6:30pm - 7:30pm	Edina TV	Doctor Who: Series Four This panel discusses Donna Noble's year aboard the TARDIS and will contain spoilers and speculation around Series Four of Doctor Who and beyond. Also, what can we look forward to during the "gap year?" Michael Lee, Steven Manfred, Kelly McCullough, Lynne Thomas, Michael Zecca
Fri 9:30pm - 10:30pm	Edina TV	Torchwood Beyond the government, yada yada yada. Basically, this is an hour long opportunity to squee over Ianto, Captain Jack, and Captain John. Oh and talk about how much an improvement the second series was over the first as well. Christa Dickson, James Gottfried, Mara Kapp, Charlie Paulsen, Lynne Thomas, Dayna Jean Wolter
Sat 3:30pm - 4:30pm	A4 HotDish	What Does Franchise Continuity Mean to You? Continuity, or what is canon, is a very personal thing. Which Buffy Season 8 do you count - the comic version, the novels, or both? Do you consider animated Trek the last two years of the 5-year mission? Where do Doctor Who audios fit in? What about the Babylon 5 comic books or Star Wars video games? Or does it even matter at all? Remember - no one is "right" or "wrong" - come and share some of your more inventive and interesting canon theories in this respectful round-table discussion. Dave Benhart, Paul Harmeyer, Christopher Jones, Michael Lee, Video Team, Michael D. Thomas, Greg Weisman
Sat 3:30pm - 4:30pm	Edina TV	Reimagining of TV Shows It seems like the movie-remake craze of the past several years has filtered down to our television sets. What makes a remake successful? When should a show be rebooted (BSG) vs. making it a continuation (Trek: Next Gen, Doctor Who)? Daren Dochterman, Derek Mahr, Joan Marie Verba
Sat 5:00pm - 6:00pm	Edina TV	Doctor Who by Decade: The Eighties Covering the 1980's era Dr. Who, this is the third in a series of four panels exploring the rich and varied history of the classic British science-fiction series, focusing on the Davison, C. Baker, and McCoy eras. It probably would have been easier to say the JNT era, huh? Michael Lee, Charlie Paulsen, Lars Pearson, Michael Scott Shappe, Michael D. Thomas
Sat 11:00pm - 11:59pm	Edina TV	Cool Britannia Doctor Who isn't the only British import worth checking out. There has been a resurgence of sci-fi in the UK recently. Come learn about other series worth your while, like Primeval, Life on Mars, Hyperdrive, Jekyll, and many others. Ben Ellis, Brian Jonas, Michael Lee, Michael Zecca
Sun 9:30am - 10:30am	Edina TV	Sarah Jane Adventures It may be the least talked about/acknowledged of the current run of Doctor Who spin-offs, but it's definitely worth discussion. Is The Sarah Jane Adventures far better than it has any right to be? Rob Callahan, Heidi Johnson, Steven Manfred, Lynne Thomas, Michael D. Thomas
Sun 2:00pm - 3:00pm	Edina TV	Doctor Who by Decade: The Nineties Covering the 1990's era Dr. Who, this is the fourth in a series of four panels exploring the rich and varied history of the classic British science-fiction series, focusing on the expanded universe (audios, books, comics) and the 1996 McGann TV Movie. Heidi Johnson, Lars Pearson, Michael D. Thomas

I read it in the Times

Today's new york times has a profile of Russell T Davies.

Sir Russell?

Not yet -- but congratulations to Russell T Davies for being made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Very impressive!

Meet The New Boss

I found a website devoted specifically to Steven Moffat, which I'd link to in any case.

I've got all of Coupling -- one of my favorite comedies, as well as the easy-to-recommend Jekyll. I haven't seen much of the rest of his work -- not being easily available here -- but it's interesting to read up on his career as he moves to his biggest job...

Impossible Things

For me, one of the other improbable events if you sent this cartoon five years back in time is that it's now not unthinkable for there to be a Doctor Who reference in a modern American political cartoon...and it isn't Tom Baker.

That's as great a shock as any of the rest of it!