Different groups of people run into different challenges, come up with different solutions, and celebrate their fandom in different ways. I think that’s beautiful!
As mentioned in my blog launch post, after ten years of volunteering I’ll soon be taking a step back from convention committees. But I’m not going away! Conventions have become such an integral part of my life, and I suspect will remain that way for a long while. But I am looking forward to exploring my connection with them in different ways, making space for endless possibilities ahead.
So what’s next?
As someone who helped run a Doctor Who convention for so many years, it may be unsurprising that I’m starting out running! This year, I’ll be embarking on a journey to visit all of the Doctor Who conventions in the US! And what a perfect day to share this upcoming journey, on the eve of CONsole Room’s 11th year and my final year as co-chair.
The Blue Box Project
For those less familiar, Doctor Who is a British sci-fi TV series that launched initially in 1963 and came to the US first in 1972 and then more successfully in 1978. It features a time traveling alien that can go anywhere (really, anywhere) in time and space, and it’s absolutely wonderful. Conventions dedicated to the show have been a part of the US convention scene since at least 1979. The numbers of cons have fluctuated over the years, but there are currently five Doctor Who-specific cons being hosted around the US:
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- CONsole Room (Bloomington, MN | January)
- Gallifrey One (Los Angeles, CA | February)
- Long Island Who (Long Island, NY | August)
- San Diego Who (San Diego, CA | October)
- Chicago TARDIS (Chicago, IL | November)
My goal with this project is to visit as many Doctor Who conventions as I can in a single year in order to minimize variations in external impacts between cons. This isn’t an exact science; my journey is technically beginning with Gallifrey One in February, instead of CONsole Room in January. Recognizing the inherent bias of reporting on a convention I am currently helping to run, I want to make sure to give some space between stepping away from the convention committee and exploring the cons around the nation. But I’ll be returning to CONsole Room in a year to wrap up the first leg of this project!
What This Project is NOT
This project is not intended to be a competition or comparison in any way! Different groups of people run into different challenges, come up with different solutions, and celebrate their fandom in different ways. I think that’s beautiful! Seeing how other people celebrate their fandom is the primary reason I’ve had this project in my sights for a while.
It’s also not going to be perfect. It will provide a single (mostly), first-timer (again, mostly) perspective on similar events around the nation. At this time, it’s also not including *every* event that could arguably fall into this category, such as:
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- Sci-fi sea cruise – The timing didn’t work this time around, but this unique, sea-faring convention is typically hosted in the winter months.
- Doctoberfest (Indiana, October) – This one-day festival is on my list to visit soon, but, unfortunately, the 2024 dates were at the same time as San Diego Who. For the sake of the project, I opted for the more traditional convention experience.
- General Brit cons – Including these more generalized cons expands the possibilities greatly but also makes this a much larger project that will simply require a longer period of time to complete, not this one single year. For now, a narrowed scope is more doable.
Plans for future expansions on this project include all of the above, along with a possible short-run podcast (and I’m all ears if you have other thoughts on how this could grow or specific cons to consider)! But, for now, I have to acknowledge that I am just one person with finite funds and time.
Come Along, Pond
I’m so excited for this deep dive into these unique events! I intend to report on some of the unique things each event brings to the convention experience, how to prepare for each con, traveling tips, timelines to be aware of, and more. You can follow the journey by following:
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- Blog posts tagged with “Blue Box Edition”
- Visiting my project overview page for highlights of main points
Whew! That’s a lot of words, and it’s a big journey ahead. Allons-y!