The Tenth Doctor is my Doctor, and always has been. So when I learned that David Tennant was coming to my state (omfg!!) as opposed to either of the coasts, I jumped on the chance to be able to see him live and in-person. The experience was, in a word… fantastic!
I have been to plenty of science fiction and fantasy pop culture conventions in my lifetime, but never one run by Wizard World. Heading to an unfamiliar con in an unfamiliar city to meet one of my all time favorite actors who had played one of my all time favorite characters was intimidating, to say the least. But with the husband in tow, we adventured into the unknown, and had an absolutely wonderful weekend immersed in all things nerd.
Walking onto the con floor, Wizard World St. Louis
photo credit: J. R. Frontera
The shining jewel, of course, was David Tennant himself. (Yes, Matt Smith was also there, but I didn’t realize that until late, and for this trip, the entirety of my energy was focused on David. Matt will have to wait for next time!) I shelled out a lot of hard-earned cash for a “Dual VIP Experience” ticket (the only VIP option available when I booked), which promised me autographs from Billie Piper and David Tennant, as well as a photo with both of them. Later, Wizard World added a “Dual Doctor VIP Experience,” which gave you access to Matt and David together.
Before buying my tickets, I’d heard some interesting things about Wizard World conventions, namely that they were a tad unorganized when it came to how they handled the masses clamoring for access to their biggest names, and that they were very harsh in enforcing their “no photos with the celebrity guests unless you pay us for them!” rules.
And those things pretty much turned out to be true. But it wasn’t as bad as I had feared. Their lines could have been better organized in some cases, but it wasn’t anything more than mildly annoying. It certainly didn’t detract from the overall experience. Their rules were nowhere near as strictly enforced as I’d expected, either. I probably could have gotten away with more than I attempted, for sure. Heheh. Otherwise, it was much the same as all the other convention experiences that I’ve had, aside from the fact that this time I got to meet someone over whom I get genuinely star-struck.
That doesn’t happen to me. Ever.
If there was one thing Wizard World did exceptionally well, it was how they handled this rescheduling.
But this time it did. This time I fretted for weeks beforehand. I couldn’t sleep the night before. I was on the con floor at 9:30am the day of to do a round of recon so I’d know exactly what to do and when and wouldn’t miss out because of some rookie mistake on my part… Only to find out that David’s plane was delayed, and all of his appearances for that day (the only day he’d be there) had to be rearranged.
If there was one thing Wizard World did exceptionally well, it was how they handled this rescheduling. By the time I arrived at David’s autograph station to scope it out at 9:30am, they’d already posted the time changes and had a staff member there to explain everything in detail and answer questions — of which there were a lot — even that early in the morning. I had planned on simply standing in line all day, getting the autograph in the morning and photo in the afternoon, but I was suddenly left with an entirely free morning.
I busied myself doing other fun things until it was time to queue up for the photo. Over an hour in that line… for a picture that took about 5 seconds to take.
HALF of the line for the David Tennant & Billie Piper photo opp (photo credit: J. R. Frontera)
But what’s that they say? The memory will last a lifetime? Ha! I’m not sure that’s true, either. It’s only the Thursday after and it already feels like maybe it really didn’t happen. And no amount of staring at the picture makes it any more real. But, it happened. For 5 glorious seconds, I was able to stand side by side and arm in arm with my Doctor. And it was amazing.
Not just because David Tennant embodies the Doctor to so many people, but because he’s also just an awesome person all around. I was very impressed with his ability to be (or at least, pretend in a very convincing manner to be) so energetic and enthusiastic all day long with such a killer schedule. He must have landed and hit the ground running, as he arrived on the con floor sometime before 2pm. He had Group A autographs, then straight to the photos with Matt and Billie. His turn with Billie started at 3:30pm. That leaves very little time for the hundreds of autographs in Group A!
And then, after the photo ops, his panel with Billie was pushed back to 5:45pm. I can only hope he had time to eat some dinner beforehand, because immediately after that, VIP Groups B, C, G, and H were waiting out in the registration area for more autographs. Since everyone had to be off the con floor by closing time at 7pm, they set up impromptu lines and a table for David at the con floor entrance!
… he’s one of those people you want to see happy, you want to make them laugh, because they’re just so animated about it that it makes everyone else in the room happy, too.
Thankfully, I was Group B. (Although I wish I would have managed to get Group A, since they were allowed personalized autographs and the rest of us were not “due to time.” Pfft. Maybe there should have been just a few fewer VIP tickets sold, perhaps?) I don’t even want to know how long that poor man was there signing with a 6:45pm start for all of those people.
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But, despite all of this, he remained that bubbly personality we grew to know and love in the Tenth Doctor. That grin of his was positively infectious. He and Billie were cracking up at different points during their Q & A panel and I remember thinking that he’s one of those people you want to see happy, you want to make them laugh, because they’re just so animated about it that it makes everyone else in the room happy, too.
And I think that’s the most surprising thing I realized last weekend when meeting him in person. I hadn’t realized how much of himself David Tennant brought to the Doctor during his time on the show. But he really did. That emotion he displayed through the character, that contagious happiness and that terrible sadness — the very things that drew me most to his version of the Doctor — they are very much a part of who he is as a real person.
So yeah. The Tenth Doctor is just all that much more dear to me now. And so is David Tennant. If you ever happen to get the chance to meet him yourself, I highly recommend it. Just brace yourself for long, long, long lines and less than a VIP-level of treatment by the convention establishment.
Is it worth it, though? For this Whovian… absolutely!
And they lived happily ever after… (photo credit: Wizard World St. Louis and J. R. Frontera)
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