Guests: Colin Baker and Peter Davison, India Fisher, Caroline Morris, Andrea Thompson, Virginia Hey, Linda Harrison, David Franklin, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Brinke Stevens, Julia Nickson, Jeff Conaway, Neil Dickson, James C. Leary, Bob May, Julie Caitlin Brown, Mark Rolston, Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery, David J. Howe, Stephen James Walker, Mark Donovan, Clayton Hickman, Robert Trebor, Maggie Egan, Lisa Wilcox, Andras Jones, Celeste Yarnall, Kathy Garver, Herb Jefferson Jr., David Gerrold, Bill Blair, Lance Parkin, Kate Orman, Jonathan Blum, Peter Anghelides, Nev Fountain, Paul Cornell, Caroline Symcox, Lloyd Rose, David McIntee, Dale Smith, Keith Topping, Paul Ebbs, Mark Wright, Jon de Burgh Miller, Daniel Harcourt, Bill Baggs, Laura Palmer, Karen Parks, Lars Pearson, Arnold T Blumberg, Keith Hartman, Jill Sherwin and Eric Hoffman. (Originally confirmed guest of honor Sylvester McCoy had to cancel due to work commitments; authors Jonathan Morris, Nick Walters and Kelly Hale had to drop out for scheduling reasons; Mojo could not make it due to schedule problems as well; Tim Choate canceled due to a family emergency.)

An anniversary is always time for a party -- and this year was no exception. Gallifrey's salute to 40 years of Doctor Who, Gallifrey One - Episode XIV: The Faction Paradox occurred on February 14-17, 2003, and what better way to celebrate than welcoming two Doctors to Los Angeles simultaneously for the very first time? Originally, Sylvester McCoy was to join us; however, due to his current work schedule, he was unable to make it, and Peter Davison gladly stepped in to join Colin Baker for the first double-Doctor Gallifrey. And while the convention didn't get the attendance we'd hoped for -- we wanted over 800, but settled for 755 (very probably due to the economy and current war jitters... a terrorist alert was issued a mere two days before the convention) -- it was by all accounts the best and most successful Gallifrey to date.

Joining us this year on the Doctor Who front were a pair of ladies from Big Finish, the returning India Fisher (Charley Pollard) and the new companion Caroline Morris (Erimem), alongside Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery of Big Finish. Additionally, Mark Donovan (a voice in many Big Finish audios) was able to come over for his first Gallifrey, joined by Doctor Who Magazine editor Clayton Hickman and a score of Doctor Who novelists and authors, including some first-timers such as Lloyd Rose, Dale Smith and Mark Wright joining perennials Paul Cornell & Caroline Symcox and Keith Topping and returnees David McIntee (back after a two-year absence), Kate Orman & Jon Blum, Nev Fountain, Peter Anghelides (who brought the whole family with him!), Lanc eParkin, Jon Miller and Paul Ebbs. Bill Baggs returned for a fifth time along with Daniel Harcourt (star of several BBV video adventures), Lars Pearson (I, Who) talked about future projects and Laura Palmer & Karen Parks of BBC Worldwide visited with looks at current BBC America programming and their own spin on the future of the show. David Howe of Telos was joined by Stephen James Walker, his co-publisher, and web editor Roger Anderson, as well as Arnold Blumberg (co author of Howe's Transcendental Toybox).

The guest list was rounded out by a selection of science fiction actors, many at literally the very last minute (as noted by the leaflet that was printed after the program book, with ten guests on it!) Virginia Hey brought along Farscape co-star David Franklin; Dark Shadows legend Kathryn Leigh Scott attended on Saturday; Babylon 5 actor Jeff Conaway and genre actors Neil Dickson and Kathy Garver (the latter being, yes, the oldest daughter on the original "Family Affair") also stopped by. And they joined our annual list of sci-fi celebs, some returning, some new, all welcome at the crossroads that has been Gallifrey of many years running: Julie Caitlin Brown of B5 brought along actress Andrea Thompson (Talia), who has since gone on to such series as NYPD Blue and a brief stint with CNN, as well as actors Mark Rolston, Lisa Wilcox and Julia Nickson; James C. Leary represented Buffy fans worldwide with a brief Saturday appearance; and many local returning friends of the convention took talbes such as Brinke Stevens, Celeste Yarnall, Herb Jefferson Jr., Robert Trebor, Andras Jones, Maggie Egan, Bill Blair and Bob May. A special visit by comic legends Marv Wolfman & Len Wein took place on Sunday as well.

The convention was held, to a degree, in conjunction with the Sci-Fi Sea Cruise, which had taken place the prior week. Peter Davison was on board for the cruise, a guest shared by the convention (which Gallifrey had organized); other guests on the cruise included actors Mary Tamm and Deborah Watling. Due to some last-minute change of plans, neither Tamm nor Watling - who were to be "surprise" guests at Gallifrey for Friday and Saturday - were able to appear; Tamm had to leave immediately at the end of the cruise, while Watling waited for an early Friday afternoon flight to return for an event held in the UK for Nicholas Courtney the same weekend. Thankfully, Debbie was able to stay for a few hours, spending time chatting with fans in the lobby bar and taking pictures.

The Mardi Gras theme for this year's convention was a rather late addition to the fold -- a mishmash of time travel parodies (the Faction Paradox motif) and a slight resemblance (via the convention title) to Star Wars didn't quite hold interest early on. The theme was resplendent throughout the con with beads (and beads and beads and beads) and the purple and green décor (including the year's T-shirt selection). Indeed, there were different color beads for everything: gold and green for weekenders, purple for daily members, white for members of the local club, the Time Meddlers, amber and violet for setup and teardown, and special moon/star beads for the guests (as seen in the many photos).

Quite a number of costumes were seen throughout the weekend. The Friday night Masquerade featured Random Companion as best of show for her costume, Miss Band of the Assassins Guild; second place when to Raven O'Neill as the "sexy Robot"; and third place to Aubrey West as the Master. Additionally, hall costume awards were given to Debra Carruth, Suze Campagna, Susan Gleason, Jeff Koehn, Tracy Vivlemore, Mary Boyle, Zachary, Alryssa Kelly, Ana Cotton, Richard Poser, Kevin Roche, Menolly, Jessica Miller, Rebecca Barber, Yochanan Nathan Urias, Joyce McMaster, Jenny Parks, Bridget Grams, Scott Kuehner, and Christina Shuy. Also, the new tradition of convention parties continued (only a recent development); the Gaylaxicon convention and the Costume College both held parties in the hotel, as did several private groups such as the IRC chat group.

Two new DJ's joined the group for the dances; Michael John Simpson on Friday and Sunday night and Lynx on Saturday. Simpson also co-hosted the Sunday evening game show, Whooting Stars, based on the UK comedy game show "Shooting Stars," with Erik Engman. The team of Peter Davison, India Fisher and Jonathan Dennis beat the team of Colin Baker, Nev Fountain and Aaron Cistrelli. "In the end, [Davison's] team won," said the report in the newsletter, "though no one was qquite sure what the final score was… not even the scorekeeper!"

This year's Cabaret was notable for two respects: it was the shortest ever (clocking in at just under 90 minutes... an achievement brought about after listening to viewer comments that the previous year's, at over three hours, had gone on far too long), and that it was to be the last -- at least for the foreseeable future. Paul Cornell returned for a second year as cabaret emcee, welcoming Colin Baker on to do some poetry reading and a very short appearance by Peter Davison. Davison told the audience he'd believed he gotten away with not having anything prepared, so instead Davison did a spot-on impersonation of Bob May (who had been with him on the cruise) and "read from Colin Baker's poetry" (which involved him reading silently, and laughing!) India Fisher, Jason Haigh-Ellery and Caroline Morris got together for a brief act, and David Howe read some rather ribald poetry. Julie Caitlin Brown and Andras Jones performed from their own repetoires, as well as an amusing story about international cat curling by Tadao Tomomatsu! The show was bookended by comedy, including an opening sketch parodying the popular show "American Idol" (here known as "Gallifreyan Idol"!) hosted by Shaun Lyon and Michael John Simpson; and an end of very bad singing by the traditional Doctor Who writers' brigade spearheaded by Kate Orman. If that wasn't enough, the entire production was interrupted by pirates halfway through, doing their own (ahem) version of Penzance with a few slightly different songs. It was an evening to remember, in more ways than one!

The auction for the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death - the charity selected on behalf of guest of honor Colin Baker - raised $4,186.57, the second highest amount in Gallifrey history (slightly behind the total for the auction at Gallifrey 1997). The highest signle item was an oval-framed autograph needlework art of "Cat and TARDIS," which went for $400; other prominent items included a beautiful framed set of pictures with autographs from the original stars of Doctor Who and an A3 image of choice drawn and inked by artist Allan Bednar (Miranda). Some 340 auction items were donated, drawing the auction out to a record four hours and forty minutes. Additionally, fan/guest liaison Julie Scott, a certified massage therapist, set up shop in the dealers room for neck and back massages, and donated a quarter of the proceeds toward the final charity total.

If that wasn't enough, the weather - which had in days prior to the convention been wet and rainy (the first time for rain in nearly four months!) - cleared up nicely so that the third semi-annual Cricket match could be enjoyed. Nearly 40 people attended while the remainder of the convention spent time in the hotel with the first-ever Gallifrey photo studio, where fans could have their picture taken in front of the TARDIS with both Colin Baker and Peter Davison.

It was also, perhaps, the most social Gallifrey ever… with nearly 200 people in the hotel bar on Saturday night after the end of the Cabaret! Between that and the room parties, the committee estimates that more people stayed well into the evening (and into the early morning) than ever before. The only major issue at the convention was a minor break-in in one of the committee's hotel rooms; thankfully, nothing of any importance was stolen, and a brief visit by the police was barely noticed!

All in all, Gallifrey 2003 was a smashing success for all involved. Even with the thought of impending war and terrorist alerts, not to mention a severely downtrodden economy, those that attended enjoyed it immensely.

Gallifrey 2003 photos by Victor Kosuda, Suze Campagna, Shaun Lyon, Rebecca Barber, Alden Bates, Meg Lahey, Wendy Wiseman, John & Judi Heath, Scott Armstrong, Jennifer Oberth, Chad Knueppe, Shel Wolf, Jennifer Lowden and Keith Topping. All photos are used with permission and may not be reproduced elsewhere without express permission from the photographer.

The Gallifrey committee brought back a video project to the convention with the filming of Gallifreyan Idol, a short film taped at the January meeting of the Time Meddlers of Los Angeles in North Hollywood. The video was an insert to the opening sketch of the Cabaret, directed by Greg Hart and conceived by Shaun Lyon as the "auditions" for the "show" (for which the sketch would be the "season finale"). The video featured Shaun with Michael John Simpson as hosts introducing the auditions of Shannon Hart, Steffnee Peterman, David Milano, Rebecca Barber, Bruce Rowan, Eric Hoffman, Scott Busman, Suze Campagna, Wendy Wiseman and Diana Dougherty. In the sketch, one cast member (Peterman) gets rather abrupt and fights with another (Wiseman), while several scenes cut from the final product featured interviews in line with the cast members. It was short and sweet, and got some laughs during the event!