Guests: Nicola Bryant, Frazer Hines, John Levene, Larry Stewart, Eric Hoffman, David Gerrold, J.M. Dillard, Brinke Stevens, Julie Ann Sczesny, J. Michael Straczynski and Jean-Marc Lofficier. (Invited guests Arthur Loy Holcomb and Daryl Mallett did not attend.)

Gallifrey moved yet again, this time up to the Burbank Airport Hilton -- a hotel it would only occupy for a single year, yet would serve as the groundbreaker for a long-string of science fiction events (including four AgamemCons and becoming the permanent host of Loscon, L.A.'s regional annual SF & fantasy convention.) There were of course big plans to continue the popularity of the last convention, and reverse the downward membership trend seen through the last three conventions. Nevertheless, in spite of this, and faced with difficulties stemming from internal conflicts and pressures within the committee (not to mention the fact that its chairman had moved out of town), many of the con's organizers consider this the black sheep of Gallifrey Conventions. Nobody could say later exactly why this con didn't click right; perhaps it was a lack of good timing.

At any rate, the problems faced in the wake of the fourth Gallifrey convention would inspire the organizers to rethink the ways they approached the convention. In the meantime, many fans were delighted to welcome two Doctor Who companions, Nicola Bryant and Frazer Hines (as year four was the first without a Doctor or major cast member like the Brigadier to anchor the guest lineup). Bryant, who was in the process of setting up a long-term job in Los Angeles, was able to join us for the weekend but due to personal difficulties attended only a few events. Frazer, on the other hand, was a true delight, though he didn't arrive until Friday evening and was forced to leave early Sunday afternoon because of filming commitments on his series "Emmerdale". Despite this, the two were quite visible for their events. John Levene was also on hand for some really nice panels -- due to the fact that he, Nicola and Frazer had all worked with Patrick Troughton (John and Frazer during his initial run, and Nicola during "The Five Doctors"), a special tribute during this weekend was presented early Sunday morning on Troughton and his legacy. All three, plus Eric Hoffman, did a wonderful Salute to Troughton panel on Saturday mid-day, which set the tone for the weekend nicely.

J.M. Dillard, a popular Star Trek novelist who had recently moved to California, made her first California convention appearance at Gallifrey Four. David Gerrold returned to host a second APLA charity auction, though with a slightly lower attendance than the previous year (at just around 400), it didn't do nearly as well. Neither did a presentation on "Babylon 5" by J. Michael Straczynski, who spoke about the pilot film which had just aired the night before the convention started, but whose panel was sadly underattended. Actually, many of the speakers had noticed how underattended panels were, but this was assumed to be a problem with the hotel's layout, which was simply too big for the convention's purposes. B-movie scream queen Brinke Stevens and artist Julie Ann Sczesny rounded out the rest of the guest lineup, along with Jean-Marc Lofficier who joined us again to talk about more Doctor Who topics.

Gallifrey's program actually got bigger this year, despite the shrinkage in size. "Gallifrey Tonight," the talk show, was presented hosted by Larry Stewart on Friday night. John Levene and Nicola Bryant joined together for "The Future of Doctor Who". The USS Alliance hosted a "Monty Python Room" all day Sunday, while Larry Stewart provided musical tones in his "Musical Madness" panel, something that would continue for many years. Some of the discussion panels that would occur this year would be "Larry Stewart On… Life The Universe and Everything" (many of the Gallifrey cons would have a "Larry Stewart On…" panel); "Deep Space Nine: A Discussion"; a talk on the second Red Dwarf American pilot; retrospectives by Eric Hoffman on Frazer Hines, Nicola Bryant and Patrick Troughton, as well as the 30th anniversary of Doctor Who; and something called "More on Dune," which was a follow-up to a running joke that had plagued Gallifrey since its first year. (In the first year's program, a nine and 1/2 hour version of "Dune" was touted in the San Dimas Room; this year, our "experts" were back to provide "more" on the trouble production. Ahem.) There were also several pro panels with JM Dillard and David Gerrold and others, such as "Wrapping Up the Next Generation" and "From Novel to Screen and Back Again". This year would also feature the last gasp of the "Leisure Hive Improv," the acting/improv workshop started at the first convention. The Improv was taken over by Ellen Rand and Laurie Koerber, two attendees who wanted to get more involved, and they actually had a good turnout, but unfortunately they would not be able to do it again the following year and it was permanently rested.

Despite all of these problems, most of the attendees seemed to enjoy themselves, though a disaster was suddenly averted on Saturday morning when it was realized the printer had only delivered half of the requisite number of con program books; an emergency print run was consigned by Robbie and volunteer Mike Korp to put the registration packages back on track.

The cabaret was a mixed bag, due to the fact that several readings were performed by Nicola Bryant, Larry Stewart and Ken Barr. Yet also there was much positive including Frazer and Nicola perfoming a parody of "Old MacDonald" done in Doctor Who form. Sound troubles forced the video crew to give up taping after this convention (the two that produced the video shortly thereafter had a falling out with the Gallifrey committee and never produced any tapes.)

Gallifrey Four's major problem was the look and feel of an underpopulated convention; even though over 400 people showed up, it never seemed like more than half were there, even though there were less than 10 no-shows. The bright side, though, was that Gallifrey Four also saw the arrival of a bunch of non-Who fan attendees, mostly from the LASFS organization, a trend that picked up speed in years to come.