Looking back at the first Chicago TARDIS convention from 2000!

Today is Sunday, the 24^th of November, and yesterday marked the 50^th Anniversary of the British science-fantasy series “Doctor Who.” I myself have been a fan for 17 years (1996-2013), and I’ve never looked back.

This year marks another milestone for me: Next week, I’ll be attending my fourteenth Chicago TARDIS convention, at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center. With this in mind, I thought it might be a good idea to go back in time and revisit the first-ever Chicago TARDIS, held in Arlington Heights on Thanksgiving 2000.

The very first souvenir book.

A little historical context for you: Throughout the 1990s, “Visions” was the Midwestern “Doctor Who” and general British TV/SF/fantasy/horror convention. It started in 1990 and ended in 1998, but the dawn of a new century saw Chicago TARDIS rise from Visions’ ashes. Since I was too young for Visions, I feel less than qualified to talk about it…let us move on to Chicago TARDIS.

OK…I have to stretch way back for this one, because up until 2007 or so we used Chicago TARDIS primarily for Christmas shopping; the actual experience was secondary. I was like a kid in a candy store, though!! Just the sheer volume of stuff boggled my little mind, especially when you consider that I had only been a fan for about four years (dear God, how time has flown). The first thing I remember was a car with the license plate number “DRWHO63,” which I’ve seen for most of the years I’ve attended. The second thing was a young woman (?) in a Second Doctor costume with a homemade, radio-controlled K-9 (the Doctor’s tin dog) in tow.

The guests that year were Sylvester McCoy (the Seventh Doctor); Mary Tamm (the first Romana—sadly, she died in 2012); John Leeson (K9); and the crew behind the then brand-new Big Finish audio dramas, one of whom was New Series monster voice-actor Nicholas Briggs. I’ve since seen Sylvester at two further CT’s—2006 and 2012. I affectionately call 2012 “the broke year,” because even though I was unemployed and down to my last $100, I still made the effort to go to the con to get that third picture and complete the set.

Now let me tell you, if there’s one thing you can say about Sylvester McCoy, he is a hoot. We gathered around for the picture, and Mom asked him, “Is it all right if I touch you?” because she feared he might object. Instead of objecting, he belted out, “See me…Feel me…” from The Who’s Tommy, and everyone cracked up laughing. Last year, to celebrate my coming full-circle as a fan, I returned the favor at his Q&A session by reading his monologue from “Survival,” the final episode, but as if the Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) were saying it.  It made a lot of congoers' day, I can tell you.

Chicago TARDIS has given me a lot of memories and a lot of new friends over the years. Next week, there won't be a new update, because I'll be at the convention. That being said, though, I will start redecorating the site in time for Christmas! 

Now where did I put those blown-plastic reindeer? (*trips over a cord of tree lights*) WHOOOOAAAAAAHHH!

I'm okay...I'm okay!

We're getting close to the ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

In only five days, the Millennium Museum will be one month away from celebrating a full year of activity! The year HAS flown by, hasn't it?

I have a birthday cake-themed logo in mind, but I don't know if I'll be able to implement it in time. Unlike my hand-drawn logos, I want this one to be a more "physical" model, because the perspective is going to be tricky.

Oh, what am I saying? I've got a full month to worry about that! Let's get on with this week's post, shall we?

Yet another Millennium-themed plushie. I found this handsome specimen at Mike Bjorn’s Tux-A-Rama in Kenosha, WI. He’s fully decked out in top hat, tails, shirt, and bow tie, and his pocket watch is set for ten minutes to midnight. (The perfect time, really—the party atmosphere is always the highest at that point on New Year’s Eve.)

On his left ear, there’s a certificate of authenticity, which I’ve included a detail of. It was designed by doll and toy designer Lee Capocci, as you can see on the lower right corner of the certificate. It also says, "Issued once every thousand years," so it looks like I'll have to wait for the year 3000 for mine. :) 

 Uniquely, this bear includes a sound chip that, when pressed, gives an electronic rendering of a New Year’s Eve countdown and a few bars of that perennial New Year’s classic, “Auld Lang Syne.” At least I think it did...this one had some fairly run-down batteries inside it, which made it sound incredibly garbled.

At the time, you could have probably picked him up for about $20 at any department store, but I don’t think I ever saw one of these at the time. In fact, I only became aware of it when I saw it at Mike Bjorn’s in late August or so. And that’s why I started the blog: I’m more aware of stuff now than I was thirteen years ago!

Before I go, I just want to say that the "On This Day" stuff is sort of hard to do without getting some kind of a membership for one of those news-archive sites. Oh, to be in college again, where I could look up that kind of thing for free...That's why you haven't seen very much of it lately.

Finally, I give you a preview of next week: It's a retrospective of the first-ever Chicago TARDIS convention, which started on Thanksgiving weekend of 2000.