Geeks are a funny breed of human. One thing that defines us is our passion. We don’t just like our fandoms, but we love our fandoms with an undying devotion and passion. It is the reason why all across Utah, Whovians were glued to their Facebook and Twitter feeds this morning. Salt Lake Comic Con had teased that they might be breaking the internet with an announcement today, and left just a picture of the TARDIS.
This picture appeared from Bryan Brandenburg to the Salt Lake Comic Con page on Facebook, driving Whovians throughout Utah into a frenzy.
That was all. That was enough. Whovians throughout Utah could not wait to see what today would hold for them. The anticipation was so much for some that they couldn’t sleep. I literally saw someone post that they could not sleep last night in anticipation for this announcement. I predicted that maybe we would get a two for one announcement, and they would announce both Karen Gillan and Matt Smith. I knew that Bryan had teased before that maybe Karen would be back, which would be big news, but not break the internet big. I figured the only way they would do that was by announcing both. I think most of the fans out there thought the same thing. I am not a particularly smart person, so I am sure other people figured out the clues.
Then there was panic on a Salt Lake Comic Con group page. Someone had found out that Karen Gillan and Matt Smith were already scheduled for the 31st at Walker Stalker Con in San Francisco. This caused some to assume the worst. If they were already scheduled to be at one con that weekend, how could they make both. A few were a bit calmer about it and were able to talk them away from the ledge. San Francisco is not that far away from Salt Lake. It takes less than 2 hours to get there on a plane (trust me, I fly that all the time), which means it was still possible that the 2 of them could come here on Thursday and Friday and then fly to San Francisco on Saturday. Celebrities do stuff like that all the time. In fact last year, when Karen came, she came the first day straight from the airport. It is not that strange.
This, then led to each of us checking our Facebook pages every hour to see what Salt Lake Comic Con was posting, since they post at the top of each hour. 9:00 brought some Doctor Who facts, but no announcement. 10 am gave us an ugly DeLorean, which my eyes cannot un-see. This left us with the obvious theory that they would announce Matt Smith at 11 am, since he was number 11. Nope. They announced Karen instead. People were excited, but this just fueled the idea that maybe, just maybe both were going to be here. I thought maybe they were waiting until noon, since he was technically the 12th Doctor now (thanks, Moffat). However, they threw us a curve ball by announcing him first on TV. Once that happened, word spread like wildfire throughout Facebook that it had been announced, they were bringing us the Doctor and Amy. I do want to point out that the Facebook announcement did hit shortly before noon, so maybe I was right.
Of course, almost lost in all of this was the fact that we already had a pretty solid Doctor Who guest previously announced. Billie Piper was already announced as a guest. So now, that means we have two of the most popular modern companions and Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor coming. There had to be some kind of major panel announcement, right? Similar to the Star Trek TNG experience last year. How could they pass up such a great opportunity? Within hours, they announced that there would be the Doctor Who Ultimate Xperience. Which should be pretty epic. Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, and Billie Piper. It will be pretty amazing, but will it be ultimate? I think it might be.
Lat year, as they announced all the Star Trek folks coming, there was one face missing from the crowd. Patrick Stewart, and everyone was hoping that he would make it. He didn’t for the panel on Thursday night, but at the panel, it was announced that he would be there on Saturday only. I don’t think they knew for sure until right before the panel that he was coming for the one day. These folks are super busy, and even if they want to be there, sometimes they are not sure if or when they can make it. Behind the scenes, even though the con had begun people were still working on getting another big name guest, and their handwork paid off.
Why do I bring that up? I think they are still working behind the scenes to bring in number 10. I think they want this experience to really be the ultimate experience, and David Tennant would make it that, even more than it already is. I would buy my tickets now (I actually already did), because they will sell out, and you might be kicking yourself when they announce that Tennant will be there. That’s all speculation on my part. I don’t have any kind of inside source, but that is my guess. Salt Lake Comic Con posted their video of Billie Piper, as a reminder that she would be there too, and then said there was possibly more coming, they may have something else up their sleeve. Some think it was the Ultimate Xperience, but I think that was a foregone conclusion. I think they are working on getting David here, and they might just make it happen. Have faith, my fellow geeks, they can and will deliver. Today was a big day, but we still have 20 more days until the con itself.
After everything was announced, I just wanted to find a corner and another Whovian or 2, and just sit and geek out. It’s what we do. We get excited, and then we want to share that excitement with other people who are equally excited. I wanted to do this so much, that I spent a few minutes inside an FYE by my house. They normally carry quite a bit of Doctor Who stuff, and it happened to be right across the street from where my daughter’s girl scouts meet, and I was early and had some time to kill. I wasn’t the only one. I walked by a couple walking through the store, and the gentleman was in full on 11th Doctor cosplay. It was awesome. There was another young geek there who was just out of his mind excited about Doctor Who and everything Doctor Who. It was great. We were all out, celebrating today. It reminded me of the opening scene in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, when all the magical folks are out in the open in the muggle world. That is what my trip to FYE was like. It made me happy to be a Whovian, in Utah, a place that didn’t even exist on most geeky maps until recently, and is quickly becoming the geek capital of the world. Go us.
