(Re)Generation Who IV Convention Report

This was our fourth outing to (Re)Generation Who, and by now we had established something of a routine. We departed around eleven and arrived around four pm. We stopped once at a rest stop for lunch and again to pick up groceries so we wouldn’t have to eat out for every meal. The rooms weren’t ready at our scheduled check-in time, but that was hardly the fault of the convention. (And the people at the front desk did their best to get us in, so it wasn’t a major inconvenience in any case.)

Badge pick-up for the convention was smooth, but it always is. They’ve expanded every year, and I had a brief discussion with a friend about my concerns that the con might grow beyond what their infrastructure can support. If there are any such problems they were not visible from my perspective. (And I’m sure there must have been a few behind-the-scenes problems, as you don’t have an endeavor with so many people without some difficulties, but again, they weren’t conspicuous to me as an attendee.) What I’m saying is that the Onezumi staff makes a very difficult job look effortless, and that’s no small achievement. I have absolute confidence that they’ll be able to keep the con running for a very long time.

5 pm Friday Fifth Doctor Season 19: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse (Moderator: Keith R. A. DeCandido): We only caught the tail end of this one, but it was really fun. Tegan is one of those companions to whom I’ve warmed considerably since she began appearing in Big Finish.  Janet Fielding is really sharp and funny and she had the best anecdotes from the series. My favorite had to be how Anthony Ainley (the Tremas Master) wore a toupee in real life but took considerable pains to hide this fact. When he had to play Kalid in the Time-Flight serial, he wanted the make-up artists to put second bald wig cap over his existing wig in order to preserve the illusion. They did their best, but couldn’t quite pull it off, so as a compromise they pretended to fit him with a bald cap in his trailer. Doctor Who, everybody!


6 pm Friday: Writer Spotlight: Nev Fountain: Nev is among my very favorite guests at Regen. He’s been a professional writer for ages and has a comprehensive grasp of the fundamentals of the process of writing, as any writer must, but he’s also capable of articulating them in a clear and relatable matter. He gave a bit of advice that will stick with me: Jokes in a humorous story should always serve the story and should be cut if they don’t.

7pm: From Serving Chips to World War I: The Bill Potts Panel (Moderator: Amanda-Rae Prescott. Panelists Joy Piedmont, Tai Gooden, and Alyssa Franke): I know Alyssa’s work from the tremendously great Whovian Feminism site, but I didn’t know any of the other panelists. I came in late and missed the beginning and the panel, but I appreciated what I saw. The panelists have different experiences and perspectives than mine and took different messages from the episodes, but they voiced them in such a way that I understood where they were coming from. They’ve given me a new way to understand something I already love, and I thank them for that.

8 pm: Intro to Big Finish (With Jason Haigh-Ellery and Ian McCann). And a special guest appearance by Lisa Greenwood!  I don’t think I would have fallen in love with Regen as much as I have were it not for their enthusiastic embrace of Big Finish.

I didn’t know how big a player Big Finish had become, but they’ve been at it for 20 years now, and Jason said that they have employed 7,000 actors over those two decades and are now the second-largest producer of original audio programming in the world after the BBC.  That’s just bonkers!

I really enjoyed this panel. I’ll confess that I was not a fan of Flip Jackson, the character Lisa Greenwood plays in the audios, but she was just so lovely and engaging in person that she’s more or less won me over. I may have to reassess my opinion of Flip.

9 pm: We had a late dinner at a kabob restaurant near the hotel. I had the kofta kabob platter and a salted mint yogurt drink. Holy crap that was salty. One of my friends took a sip and asked if it was a milkshake for Poseidon.

10 pm: Writers on Deck Late Night Reading: I was a little bit late for this one, but I rushed in still wearing a winter coat, two scarves and my Strangeness in Space beanie. Kara Dennison was moderating and Keith DeCandido, Rob Shearman and Paul Magrs were on the panel. I’m so glad I hurried. Rob’s story was absolutely haunting and will stay with me for a long time. Paul’s story was deeply moving as well. You can read it at this link, and you should if you haven’t already.

We wrapped up with the 11 pm: Time and Space Jam DANCE PARTY with DJ Kangal and then it was off to bed shortly afterward.

10 am Sat: Big Finish Interview: Jason Haigh-Ellery – Director/Producer (Moderator: Kara Dennison). And another surprise visit from Lisa Greenwood! The most interesting part of the panel, at least for me was when Jason said that he’s often asked how one can write for Big Finish and he started speaking about the Paul Spragg Memorial Short Trips contest, whereupon Kara mentioned that the winner of the first contest was a Regenner and I piped up to say that it was me! (I should have opened with, “And I hear he’s super-talented and incredibly handsome!”, but I get tongue-tied when I’m nervous.) We went back and forth on the topic for a few minutes and the conversation returned to more general Big Finish discussion. The long awaited site redesign should be there soon and he said it takes a lot from Amazon’s layout and will have such features as recommended titles. That will be a welcome addition, I think. The site is functional, but there is certainly room for improvement and it sounds like they’re taking the time to get it right.

11 am sat: Zoology of Doctor Who (Host: Kelsey Wailes) This was another really solid panel. Kelsey Wailes examined certain alien species from Doctor Who and compared them to some real-world animals that exhibit some of the same distinctive traits.  This is an aspect of fandom that I really enjoy, how something that looks silly on the surface can be made to seem plausible with the right context and the proper framing. If you squint at them in a certain light they can appear to seem a little less ridiculous.

Not you, Myrka

1pm Sa Peter Capaldi  (Moderator: Kara Dennison)The big deal for me was that the panel was slightly slow to start, so Jason  Haigh-Ellery stepped up to fill in and I got a shout-out in front of the audience. It was surreal. You can hear Jen shouting out my location on the video. We were near the back. That was partially by choice; Jen was in her Weeping Angel costume and didn’t want to block anyone’s view. I had never experienced so many people turning around to get a look at me.

I enjoyed the interview itself. Capaldi is a very disciplined subject and played it pretty safe with this answers, but just the same he’s a big fan of the series and his love and enthusiasm came through with every reply.

2pm Sa Michelle Gomez  (Moderator: Craig Cobalt) I had to leave halfway through this panel, but I enjoyed what I saw of it. Michelle Gomez is just a fascinating person. She can make anything interesting. I’m quite looking forward to her turn in the Sabrina Netflix series.

We then took a longish break from panels. We spent some time outside the convention, Jen participated in the March for Our Lives (see if you can spot her in this picture!)

and we had brick oven pizza for dinner. I had the “Art Lover”. It had artichokes on it and it was super delicious!

Our next panel wasn’t until 9pm LGBTQ Experience In and Around Doctor Who I won't talk about what anyone said in this panel, out of concern that I might accidentally reveal some personally identifying information about one of the participants, but this hour was accepting and courageous and inspiring, the three traits I associate with Doctor Who at its very best.

10 pm Make Your Book: How to Self-Publish and Self-Market Without Dying (Hosts: Kara Dennison and Ginger Hoesly) I’m a big fan of Kara’s writing and analysis, so I definitely wanted to catch this panel. Knowing how to do something and being able to explain how to do it are two different things and I admire people who can do both. I always enjoy hearing specialists talk about the mindset and techniques that go with specialized endeavors.  I don’t know if I’ll employ anything I learned at the panel, but I’m happy for having learned it.

A gentleman had karaoke set up in the Atrium, so we did that for a while. We also caught the end of the costume contest before going to bed.

We slept in pretty late and the only panel we attended was the 12 pm Big Finish Interview: Lisa Greenwood – Flip Jackson. (Interviewed by Don Klees)

I asked Lisa about the fan theory that Flip is pregnant. I suspect that’s the case; the stories certainly seem to be implying it. Lisa said that she hadn’t been told anything along those lines by the writers, but she admitted that they know she’s terrible at keeping secrets, so they tend not to tell her everything. She really liked the idea and conjured up the visual of Flip running from the Daleks.

She also told the story of how she figured out the identity of the Twelfth Doctor before almost anyone else. She was working with Peter Capaldi on The Hour when he was cast and the BBC showed some close-ups of the new Doctor’s hand in the lead-up to the reveal. She looked at the picture and said, “Aha! I know that wedding ring!” and I thought that was pretty cool.

 And that was it. We did a little shopping. I picked up some shot glasses for Lily from Geek Boy Press, a Miyazaki lanyard from another vendor and a glitter candle. I bought a book and a CD (Peri and the Piscon Paradox. I’m not a huge fan of Peri, but Nev sold me on the story at his Friday panel) and some Kelsey Wailes prints from her booth.

I really treasure this convention. I didn’t know it would become a tradition with my wife and some of my best friends when I went to the first one, but here we are. I got to meet people I only knew through online correspondences and see friends I hadn’t seen for a year.

This year (Re)Generation Who was held on the same weekend as the March For Our Lives and for a time my Facebook feed was filled with nothing but posts about those two events. The confluence of the two is coincidental, but I suspect they’ll always be intertwined in my memory.

The entire weekend made me feel a bit less cynical about people for a little while, as if the convention was not a place where we find respite from the real world, but what the real world can be if we listen to our better angels.

I still function

I'm still alive, just not posting as regularly since I'm very busy in both my personal and professional life. I hope to resume more regular posting soon.

Black Panther (Spoilers)

We open right away with some “Daddy, tell me our origin story” exposition, which is fine. We’re well into our second decade of superhero movies as their own genre and we know the template by now. I’m fine with a Doomed Planet/Desperate Scientist/Last Hope/Kindly Couple expository infodump at the beginning of any such movie from now until the end of time.

I liked the prologue in 1992 Los Angeles quite a bit. Superhero movies tend to be loud and on-the-nose at their worst, but when the warriors arrive and N'Jobu says to open the door for the “Grace Jones” women because “they won’t knock again”, it was a nice understated declaration of who these women are.

T’Chaka was in a situation with no good options. He probably didn’t make the best choice, but whether you complete the sentence that starts with, “Hey kid, we killed your father and” with

“we’re leaving you here”
or
“we’re taking you away from everything you’ve ever known and you’re going to be raised by your father’s murderer.”

He’s certainly going to grow up resenting you. It’s like a no-win choice from a Telltale game.

 Nakia: Lupita Nyong'o’s Nakia didn’t have a whole lot to do and she wasn’t strictly necessary to the plot, but I did like how she responded in her introduction. When T’Challa is retrieving her from the Boko Haram convoy and he tells her that he wants her back for the coronation, an entire world of emotions flows across her face. Then she replies that she will come back.  There is a maturity there. This is her duty and she will discharge it faithfully with none of the oppositional defiant disorder that plagues super-hero movies.

Shuri: Letitia Wright was the best part of the movie as T’Challa’s sister Shuri. We totally need a sequel with the same cast but focus on her. I had guessed that she was in her early twenties, but the character is supposed to be sixteen, which is a pretty large gap between the two siblings.  She was a fun character to watch and the fact that she’s an almost unique role-model for African-American girls is almost incidental.

M’Baka was an interesting character. I liked him in the beginning as a bit of a devil’s advocate. I believe that authority should be questioned and M’Baka serves this role when he challenges T’Challa. My read was that he didn’t necessarily want to be king himself, but he wanted to make sure that T’Challa was the best-qualified person for the job. He didn’t want to rubber stamp the coronation.

(Also, during that fight I really loved it when T’Challa’s mom shouted, “Show him who you are!” to inspire her son. I appreciate the kind of quiet confidence.)

I also appreciated his question when T’Challa’s mom asks him to avenge her son’s murder later on in the movie and when he’s assured that the odds were fair, replies with something like, “Sounds like it was more a defeat than a murder.”

(Apparently, the character also goes by “Man-Ape” in the comics. They didn’t use that for the movie because it’s obviously tremendously super-racist.)

If you’ll excuse the digression for a moment, when I was watching Broadchurch with Jen she thought that the Scottish detective really looked like David Tennant, but assumed that he wasn’t, because I surely would have said something if he was. But all through the first episode, until she saw his name in the end credits, she assumed he was another actor who bore a startling resemblance and she was continuously distracted by that.  (In my defense, what was I going to say? “Hey, it’s David Tennant!”?)

I finally got to experience what it’s like being on the other side of the question. Every time W'Kabi was on screen I was asking myself, “Is  that Chris from Get Out or just somebody who looks like him?” (Spoilers: It is Daniel Kaluuya who played Chris, so point for Josh)

I think he was one of the few weak points in the narrative. Ulysses Klaw killed his parents and he makes T’Challa promise to kill him or bring him in for trial. Klaw is captured, but escapes and W'Kabi is so angry with T’Challa that he is instrumental in the coup that overthrows him. But cut the dude some slack. I’m not completely sure of the time frame, but he’s been king for less than a week, possibly for as little as a day. T’Challa has shown the intent to capture Klaw; he just hasn’t managed to do it yet in the extremely brief span of time that has elapsed.

Speaking of Klaw. Or Klaue, if you must. He was entertaining for the brief time he got. Manic, but not  “This is one doodle that can't be un-did, Homeskillet” level of obnoxious quirkiness. I was expecting to be annoyed by Martin Freeman, but I did like their exchange in the casino when Klaue offers a link to his mixtape and Martin’s Agent Ross deadpans, “Please don’t make me listen to your music.”

Roth must be the worst intelligence operative in the world, because he admits that he worked to cover up T’Challa’s involvement in Civil War, but never seemed to wonder where the Black Panther Iron Man level super-suit came from.  I can understand his willingness to help cover it up as part of some quid pro quo, but he never even seemed to ask the questions that would lead him to wonder why the leader of an apparently impoverished country had such a tool.

Michael B. Jordan is always great in everything he does. He continues the Chris Evans route of
going from Johnny Storm to someone else in the Marvel Universe.  His plot seemed to hinge on a number of unlikely events all coming to pass exactly as planned(meeting W'Kabi perhaps the only person who is sympathetic and in a position to help, being given a forum to plead his case and issue his challenge, T’Challa accepting the challenge and losing it) , which isn’t unusual for a super-hero movie, but I feel that Black Panther could have done better in this regard, since it was a cut above in almost every respect.

Perhaps I missed something, but are people allowed to challenge the king whenever they feel like it? I figured it was a “speak now or forever hold your peace” type deal and he wasn’t there. Sorry, you missed open enrollment in the regicide Olympics. Try again next year

Maybe he got special dispensation because he was of royal blood? It seems like it’s a pretty dumb system of government if anyone can challenge the king at any time.

Those are trivial complaints, though. He was a great villain with an understandable goal. Jordan oozes charisma and he owns this role. A common criticism of Marvel’s movie villains is that they come across as flat in their motivations, but both Killmonger and his father had goals and values that would be laudable under other circumstances.

I loved the world building that went into the movie. I don’t have the background to appreciate it beyond an extremely superficial level, but I love the thought that went into the choices for the clothing and languages and customs of the tribes.

I’ll end with a comment on representation. I’m a straight middle-class cis-gendered white American male. To a first order approximation, everyone I grew up watching on TV looked like me.  I’m sure the movie-makers faced pressure to make the movie less Afro-centric and I’m glad they stuck to their vision, because it is those elements that make this movie as enduring as I know it will be.

Today I learned about hats

I had always heard that JFK had destroyed the hat industry by not wearing a hat at his inauguration. It's something I had heard many times from many sources and never thought to check, but I learned from the Omnibus podcast (and confirmed on Snopes) that this was not true. He wore a top hat.

Time Shadows Auction

Following up on my earlier post about the Time Shadows anthology...

Artist Paul Cowan is auctioning off the art from the book and all proceeds are going to charity. Please check it out!