Gallifrey One took place in Los Angeles on February 17 – 19, 2012 at the LAX Marriott in Los Angeles, CA. The Doctor Who convention has been around for over 20 years and it does not intend to go away anytime soon. This event drew old and new fans of the show from around the country and overseas. Though this is a fan run event, there were dozens of Doctor Who actors and production staffers present at the event. Fans can get autographs and chit chat with their favorite actors and writers. Scarlet Rhapsody stopped by for Sunday, the last day to check out what was this event all about. Gallifrey One was also covered in our Zero Hour #5 podcast.

Gallifrey One 2012 Photo Gallery

This was quite different from the anime conventions we normally cover. Granted, Gallifrey took place at the same hotel as Anime Los Angeles, it had a different vibe to it. There were costumers. We so happened to show up on the day when girls dressed up as femme renditions of the Doctor. However, not as many costumers. People were there to meet celebrities from the show and to gather with likeminded nerds. Though it was the third day, panel rooms and video rooms were filled. Marathons for the K-9 special and Sarah Jane Adventures played in the video rooms.

Like Anime Los Angeles and Anime Conji, the hotel had a con suite. It was not grab and go as Anime Los Angeles, but it was a snack lounge where people can grab pop and some cookies. Signs all over the ballroom level advertised that the con suite was selling Girl Scout cookies.
Sunday was fairly busy. We spotted a few film crews in the ballroom lobby interviewing various fans and celebrities who were tabling for autographs. Something we did not catch until after the convention was that Community’s Inspector Spacetime was filming a promotional for the upcoming Inspector Spacetime series.

The vibe of Gallifrey One is rather positive. There was no sense of elitisim or drama. There was more of a sense of belonging and community. For example, I was wearing my Melty Chocolate dress. A fellow Lolita helped me fixed the ties in the shirring and helped adjusted my bow though we just met for the first time. Jared found it easy to talk to random people about all things Doctor Who. We were able to catch our colleague, Hoshikage, a judge for Anime Los Angeles’ masquerade. She mentioned that the late night parties get pretty wild.

We also stopped by a few unique displays to the con. Someone had a TARDIS console that fans can pose with. We also sat in briefly for a few of the costuming and props panel. I thought it was a good idea to place the costume repair station in a room that was exclusive to costuming panels. We were able to shake hands with John De Lancie, better known as Discord of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fame. He mentioned that Discord will return to the series.

We did have some time to attend one panel of interest. There was a Series Six panel. Many fans feel very 50/50 about this particular season. This panel focused on Moffat’s writing, the Pond Family, and the infamous River Song. Jared got in his Bizarro mode when he started ranting about Rory’s character development being ignored.

Overall, it was a pretty good event. Our only regret was not being able to get a photo with the replica TARDIS in main events. We would love to do this event again if we are in the Los Angeles area. We highly recommend this convention to anyone who has any liking to the Doctor Who series. I came in as a casual fan of Doctor Who (I am more of a Torchwood fangirl), but I really enjoyed the vibe what Gallifrey One had to offer.

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