Favourite geeky memories?

I'm sure I've told this before it was my 1st memorabilia con and I knew Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen  were going to be there so I met them and they were utterly charming, and they were at a very long table and at the end of it, I noticed someone else, none other than  Peter Davison, then my mother comes running to me and says "Quick I've cornered Baker" I was about to say I'd already met Tom we wheeled round corner to see a slightly bemused Colin Baker so I ended up getting 3 Doctor's Autographs and Photos for the price of one.

Regards

mark687

I've been a fan of Doctor Who since I was a little kid. My good friend Jen is also a longtime fan. We're each married to other people and our spouses are not particularly interested in Doctor Who, but they have that polite interest that kind people display towards geeky activities beloved by people they love. The two couples were convening at my house so we could drive to a local Doctor Who con together as a group. When they arrived, the first thing Jen said to me was "Can you believe it?! We were watching Doctor Who and Dave called the Doctor 'Doctor Who'!"

Me: What, is he WOTAN?
Jen: Laugh laugh laugh.
Me: Laugh laugh laugh.
Dave: Sigh.
Me: This is going to be a long trip for Dave.

I got into Gravity Falls late, but they'd usually have a Cipher to decrypt at the end pf every episode. During the gap between seasons, they released a bunch of shorts, each with an image that flashed at the end. I screen capped them all, fit them together to one image, then figured out the Cipher (which was a combination of all previous Ciphers across the episodes of Season 1) and solved it all to reveal a creepy message.

It wasn't that hard, but I couldn't believe how much fun I had doing it. Couldn't stop grinning for a while. I wish I could have had a go at the Bill Cipher scavenger hunt, which was a final puzzle after the series ended to find the real life Bill statue in the woods with buried treasure. Unfortunately it was all in America.

Back in 1997, Terry Pratchett (#speakhisname) came to my home town (Hobart, Tasmania). He gave an astonishingly entertaining talk for nearly an hour then sat and signed books for more than that. When it came to my turn for having a book signed he asked my name, then, when I said it, drew back a little and said, "Have I signed something for you already this tour?" Then he coughed, shook his head and said really quickly, "Ah, no, I'm thinking of somebody else," and wrote me out an autograph.

Several months later, I was performing Best Man duties for my best friend and his intended. The day of the wedding they presented me with a present as a thank you for doing so.

It was a handmade briefcase that had been decoupaged with images from Sir Pterry's books. In the middle of the top panel was a personalised inscription addressed to me written when the case was still in its planning stages. Everything else had been crafted around that.

To my shame I don't know what I value more: my friends, the case or the fact that my favourite writer worked hard at not spoiling a surprise present.

I don't have many, but this one is treasured memory and I told it on the old forum for sure.

I volunteered for a convention in Glasgow in 2001 at the Grand Central Hotel to be a general dogsbody and my assignment on the friday was the riveting job of "sit in this room, change tapes and hit play on the video every hour - and make sure no-one gets near the tapes" (for a marathon of the then brand new Season 7 of Star Trek Voyager. Honestly...I was bored rigid and was going to refuse if I was asked to do something as tedious the next day.

On the Saturday though, I was given the job of chaperoning Michael Sheard around. Getting him to panels, auctions, karaokes, photo sessions etc. I knew him from his multitude of Who appearances of course but also Star Wars and Indiana Jones as well as - inevitably - Grange Hill where he was the most infamous teacher in British telly history, Mr Bronson. His season of Auf Widershen Pet had just been repeated as well, I think, as he got questions about that more than I'd expect at a geeky event.

He was a real gent though, kept calling me "David Lloyd Gallagher" and I spent the 2 days making sure he was where he was supposed to be, never once calling him anything but "Mr Sheard" despite him saying I didn't need to be so formal as "he wasn't a teacher now". At the wrap up do for volunteers and guests to mingle, he said "I'd buy you a drink, but it's a free bar!" and gave me a lovely wee thank you note he'd already written out.

So for the world's scariest teacher; for man who played Hitler many times (including in Indy And The Last Crusade), for a man so wicked that Darth Vader force choked him for letting the Millenium Falcon escape in Empire Strikes Back.....he was really a lovely, warm man who really loved meeting people. I've seen plenty of guests just be there at cons for a quick payday - I got the impression Michael valued the days for much more. He died a couple of years later and I don't mind saying I did shed a tear for him. He's "that guy" for a lot of people but he'll always be more to me. When I see Pyramids Of Mars, Castrovalva, Mind Of Evil and his other appearances, I always smile and - maybe if I've had a glass or two - will be heard to say "Hello, Mr Sheard".

Maybe in her personal timeline she had met you, but for you that meeting is yet to happen.  You'll run into her again and this time she won't know you.

Many moons ago there was an animation art gallery that would invite animators and voice artists to give a short talk as the audience sat on the floor. I got to see some of Disney's Nine Old Men; Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnson, and Marc Davis. Mark Henn showed a pre-release clip of Beauty and the Beast. Bill Hannah and Joe Barbera each made an appearance. On the voice side there was June Foray, the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel. Billy West doing Ren and Stimpy. Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor providing the voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Don Messick known for making Scooby Doo and Astro talk. ruh roh.

On the Doctor Who side of things I got to see the Two Bakers. Tom was really out there and you could see with Colin's outgoing and fun personality in public why he was picked to be the Doctor.