Reviewed: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and More at the Sci-Fi Weekender #6

Simon Mills is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Well, that’s another Sci-Fi Weekender come and gone! This is one of the largest sci-fi and fantasy events in the UK with thousands of attendees over two and a half days in North Wales.

I was there in my Doctor Burgundy steampunk outfit, my interpretation of the Fourth Doctor’s burgundy outfit in a steampunk style. I have thought for a long time that it had a definite steampunk style to start with, so I actually had to work quite hard to not just copy it directly but to find a different way of acheiving a similar but recognisable outcome. I use a “super reduced” version of the scarf which is around 8′ long but still very recognisable.

Enough about me and my foray into cosplaying… Let’s get on with the show!

Julian Glover talked about Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Doctor Who, and Game of Thrones. Julian was just about to celebrate his 80th birthday and revealed to us that he had in fact broken some ribs, but still turned up to this event because he didn’t want to let anyone down. It was clear when he stood up at the end of the inerview how much pain he was in, but hadn’t complained. What a trooper!

James Cosmo was also hugely entertaining and regaled us with tales of Highlander, Braveheart, and Game of Thrones.

Naturally, I was most interested to see and hear Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred. Sylv I saw a few years ago at a previous SFW so I was prepared for his habit of walking amongst the audience and getting up close and personal to answer questions and otherwise entertain us. Of course, he told many Doctor Who stories as well as recalling his days on Vision On, Jigsaw, Tiswas, Eureka and the show that gave him his break “The Ken Campbell Roadshow”. He told the story of how the legend of the ferrets down the trousers started – it was a stunt he did for the Ken Campbell Roadshow but somehow people started to believe that this was a traditional pasttime “up north” and so it has passed into British folklore! He also lamented being upstaged by a stuffed Hedgehog on The Hobbit that stole the limelight in his big solo scene!

The ever lovely Sophie Aldred, interviewed by Mr Transcendental Toybox himself, David J. Howe, demonstrated the many voices she used in the kids shows she’s been involved with and told how Sylvester McCoy was a real superhero when he saved her life while filming Doctor Who. Unfortunately, she had to leave early so wasn’t able to take questions. Which was a shame, because my question was going to be “can I have hug?” She did tell us about the kickstarter campaign launching for a free sci fi comedy podcast called Strangeness in Space – starring Sophie alongside her university chums Trev and Simon (children’s TV favourites from the 80s/90s). This sounds like it could be hugely entertaining, so go and pledge some money to the campaign, or if you can’t do that, then pleas at least listen to it when it’s available. Thankyou!

Apart from these star interviews, there were various acts and entertainments such as the always funny SFW version of “Just A Minute” with Sylv and Sophie vying for top spot. Some of the acts were top notch, such as the “One Man Star Wars“/”One Man Lord of the Rings” – a very funny Canadian guy who compresses these huge stories into around 45 minutes each with some great voices and witty/insightful observations. He was definitely a favourite with the audience! “The Festival of the Spoken Nerd” are a science comedy show mixing nerdy science humour with music and live demonstrations – hugely entertaining and worth going to see if you are interested in any combination of science and/or comedy and/or nerdy stuff.

The downside to this year is that it just seemed smaller and less well attended. Probably due to clashing with another event in Birmingham and, also the fact the organisers staged a Prog Rock event on the same site… Later discussions with the organiser made the reason clear to me – a large portion of people who are into prog rock are also into sci fi and fantasy, so it’s a win-win for the organisers. I’ve even read a review written from the prog rock viewpoint saying that they had their eyes opened to the world of sci-fi conventions by the opportunity afforded this cross-pollination experiment. I was promised that that there would be more of everything next year, especially the comic book stuff which was scaled back somewhat this year.

Also, I think due to the poorer attendance, there were fewer cosplayers around. I actually felt conspicuous dressed in my finery at the start of the first day – and saying that about a big science fiction and fantasy convention is quite something!

All in all, it was another great weekender with much fun and hilarity had by all, lubricated by a sensible quantity of beer – but not quite as great as previous years.

It was fantastic to meet and chat with the always lovely Sam Stone again and to meet new people and talk about costumes and even have my photo taken by a few people who liked my outfit! Very flattering to someone like me who just dresses up this way for the joy of it, not to compete or win plaudits.

Looking forward to SFW 7 now!

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