Today we are opening up our Discussion Panel Participant Call to solicit panelists for our 2012 convention panel program. Visit the Panels page for the full list. If you're interested in participating on one or more of these panel items, you need to let us know before December 1, 2010; after that, we'll start filling up panels on first-come, first-served bases. Contact us via the convention email page to let us know if you're interested in a panel, what your qualifications are, and what days you'll be attending the convention. (Full guidelines on the panels page!)

Meanwhile, Gallifrey One is announcing our new policy for Autographs and our Volunteers procedures for our 2012 convention. Lengthy descriptions of both are available by visiting each of the two pages above, but to synopsize both:

Autographs: Due to the convention's growing size, we have scrapped the 'flyaway' system and have instilled a policy of one autograph per guest for the weekend for non-sponsored convention guests (identified on the autographs page) with the option to purchase additional autographs directly from the guest. Sponsored guest policies remain the same as well as autographs for our other guests. Guests fall into one of each of the categories and we'll be making sure this is noted in our program book. While we hate to have to limit the number of autographs, we don't want anyone going away disappointed.

Volunteers: Attendees can volunteer for credit on their volunteers form and join us for our new end-of-convention Volunteer Reception Party on Sunday evening at 8:30pm with refreshments and visits from many of our main celebrity guests. Our volunteers will also receive a special ribbon and we'll have some other nifty stuff available, too!

We hope these changes - both to the autograph session headaches as well as to help us add additional human resources to our growing convention - will enable enjoyment for everyone!

Guest Update: We are pleased to welcome actor W. Morgan Sheppard for his first Gallifrey One convention. Morgan was featured in the first episode of series six, "The Impossible Astronaut," playing the elder version of the character Canton Everett Delaware III... the younger edition of which, of course, was played by Sheppard's real-life son (and Gallifrey 2012 guest) actor Mark Sheppard. Of course, Morgan is well known to SF fans for a variety of other roles, including Blank Reg on Max Headroom (yes, we actually have a Max Headroom guest now to go with our theme!), the hologram Professor Martenson on seaQuest DSV, a variety of Star Trek appearances (including the warden of Rura Penthe in Star Trek VIBabylon 5 and other series.

We are also delighted to welcome back Chase Masterson from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, who returns from her much-enjoyed appearance at the convention last year after completing her new film "Yesterday Was a Lie" with director James Kerwin who also joins us; they will once again have a table in our foyer area to visit with attendees. Also making a return appearance is writer Simon Guerrier, long-time writer for Big Finish Productions as well as Doctor Who novelist for BBC Books, editor of many of the Short Trips collections, and creator of Big Finish's Graceless series. Simon is also the screenwriter of "Cleaning Up," a new short film that stars Louise Jameson, Mark Gatiss, Nick Briggs and Tracy Ann Oberman. Simon will be bringing a copy of the film, which will be shown during the convention and introduced by himself and Louise. Also returning are comics illustrator Blair Shedd whose work includes a stint as the illustrator on IDW's Doctor Who comics series; Futurama animator and AD Aimee Major Steinberger; and Battlestar Galactica science advisor and NASA scientist Dr. Kevin Grazier who will join us for panels.

One final, sad note: we regret that Frazer Hines will unfortunately not be able to make it to this year's convention after all. However, we look forward to seeing our dear friend Frazer in a future year!

Fan Video Call: Gallifrey 2012 today starts our open call for fan videos for our Saturday afternoon Fan Video presentation. Fan video submissions are welcome; please contact us and let us know you are interested in exhibiting. Currently we are accepting fan videos that have not been shown at the convention before, with a duration of one hour or less. Your request must have the following information: name of video, duration, writer and director, and a small paragraph description, plus any website link someone can use for more information. The fan video schedule fills up very quickly, so please contact us as soon as possible and let us know you're interested!

Marriott Hoteling Update: We've been keeping a trained eye on both our own hotel as well as hotels in the immediate area. Right now, there appear to be a small number of available hotel rooms again at our own host hotel, the LAX Marriott, available both through the Marriott website as well as on Expedia for $99/night (one dollar under the con rate, but not inclusive of a parking discount.) These are available as of October 14 without the convention code, for both the Friday and Saturday nights of the convention. We have no idea how long these will be available once word is out, so we urge you to reserve them immediately!

Additional Hoteling Rates: In addition, we've been able to find the following low rates on Expedia for the Friday and Saturday nights of the convention as of today (October 14), and will list them below starting with the closest options. The Thursday night prior to the convention seems to be a higher price, so you may want to reserve separately or shop around for the best options if you're coming in early. We've found the followign: Crowne Plaza (across the street), $95. Renaissance Montura (next door), $109. LAX Hilton (next door), $110. Courtyard by Marriott (around the corner), $89. Embassy Suites (around the corner), $110. Sheraton Gateway (one block away), $104. Radisson LAX (two blocks), $119. Travelodge (one major block), $79. Holiday Inn Express (near the freeway), $89. Again, if you're interested in a local hotel room, we urge you to claim these reservations immediately!

Gallifrey One is delighted to announce a batch of new guests for our forthcoming 2012 convention, Gallifrey One's Network 23.

February 2012 is becoming a major reunion event for the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie, with Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso and producer Philip Segal... and now we're happy to add ERIC ROBERTS to that list. Eric Roberts portrayed the Master in the film, and of course should be familiar to audiences for his many film and television appearances over the years. Roberts was with us five years ago and was a terrific guest, and we are thrilled to welcome him back, along side his wife ELIZA ROBERTS (who had a brief role in the film, as wife Miranda). Both will have a signing table in the hallway and will be participating in our salute to the TV movie.

Meanwhile, another science fiction legend will be with us for his first Gallifrey One appearance. JOHN DE LANCIE recently portrayed Agent Alan Shapiro in the final three episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day but is, of course, best known for playing Q on the various Star Trek series, as well as Stargate SG-1, Breaking Bad, Charmed and dozens of other shows (some of us even remember him from all the way back on Days of Our Lives... his first real sci-fi role!) John will be joining us on the weekend days and will be signing at his own table in our hallway greeting fans, so make sure you stop by and see him!

Beyond that, we are welcoming a huge collection of new and returning guest speakers, all of whom will be participating in programming throughout the weekend, including MARV WOLFMAN, the legendary comics writer; acclaimed horror and young adult novelist NANCY HOLDER as well as her occasional writing partner DEBBIE VIGUIE; "Sanctuary" producer/writer GILLIAN HORVATH; producer of "Haven" and "Castle," JOSE MOLINA; television animation screenwriter DAVID WISE and producer CRAIG MILLER; audio writer SCOTT ALAN WOODARD; comics letterer RICHARD STARKINGS; "Logan's Run: Last Day" writer PAUL J SALAMOFF; graphic novelist JOSHUA HALE FIALKOV; comics/anime publisher AUDRY TAYLOR; TIM HIRST of the UK's Hirst Publishing along with two of his writers, PAUL CASTLE ("Shooty Dog Thing") and RUTH WHEELER ("All Aliens Like Burgers"); Star Trek archivist and writer LARRY NEMECEK; and, as the start of our 2012 science program, TRINA RAY and SARAH MILKOVICH of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. All of these guests will be appearing on our panels throughout the weekend.

We are still actively speaking to other potential guests for 2012 and hope to have more announcements soon!

Gallifrey One today unveils its Discussion Panel program. Our discussion panel program track is one of the most popular facets of our annual event, focusing primarily on Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures, as well as the world of science fiction and fantasy television and media, and incorporating fan topics such as costuming, gaming and conventioning. Panel discussions are led in our panel rooms by both attending professionals as well as selected fans, with rousing dialogue that always makes for a memorable event. The full list can be found by visiting our Discussion Panels page. Please note that at this time this is our tentative list; we may (and often do) add to and subtract from the list based upon time, panelist interest and other factors. Also please note that we will be putting out a general call for panelists closer to the convention (usually around the November-December time frame) - we are NOT currently soliciting panelists.

Gallifrey One also is pleased to announce that we have selected Students Run LA as our target charity for the auction at the forthcoming Gallifrey 2012 convention. Students Run LA (SRLA) is a school-based mentoring and physical fitness program for at-risk middle and high school students in the Los Angeles area. The mission of Students Run LA is to challenge these students to experience the benefits of goal setting, character development, adult mentoring and improved health by providing them with a truly life-changing experience: The training for and completion of the Honda Los Angeles Marathon. Students who participate in SRLA learn to set and achieve goals, make new friends and become part of a team, and gain leadership skills. Established as an independent organization in 1993, Students Run LA has been a mainstay at the Los Angeles Marathon each year, with great success. In March 2011, 97% of the 2780 SRLA runners completed the Marathon. In June 2011, 97% of the 532 SRLA seniors who completed the marathon with SRLA graduated from high school and 97% of them planned to go to college or university in September 2011. You can find out many more details about SRLA by visiting their website, srla.org.

After many years of supporting different charitable groups for medical research, disaster relief and pet rescue, Gallifrey One's board of directors this year decided to do something a bit different: since the average age of our convention has been increasingly younger due to the strong support Doctor Who now receives from young fans, we wanted to reach out and support a charity dedicated to youth activities in the Los Angeles area. Students Run LA focuses directly on our community, and enjoys a very high success rate -- not to mention, the money donated goes directly to benefit the students (students do not pay to participate in Students Run LA; the costs to support a student in the program are covered by their fundraising.) Gallifrey One is delighted to support this very worthwhile charitable organization for our next auction.

Since 2009, our annual charity event has been named in honor of our late friend Bob May, best known for playing the Robot on the 1960s television series Lost in Space as well as for many years a participant in the Gallifrey One conventions as a program guest, dealer and auctioneer. The 2012 Bob May Memorial Charity Auction will once again take place on Sunday starting at noon. Auction donations are readily accepted at our convention all weekend! Science fiction merchandise and memorabilia of any kind, both new and collectible, are welcome. You can stop by the convention office during the weekend to donate any merchandise; you will receive a statement for your donation. Our Charity Auction page on our website describes many of the items we are looking to have donated for this auction. Attendees to the convention are very much encouraged to bring any items on our large list that they would love to see auctioned off for a great cause. You can direct any questions you have to us via email.

Our special thanks to Joe Mendoza for helping to arrange our partnership this year with Students Run LA.

Today we are announcing a new batch of confirmed guests appearing at our forthcoming 2012 convention, Gallifrey One's Network 23.

We are thrilled to announce that we've confirmed two directors of the most recent series of Doctor Who for our lineup. Five-time television series director TOBY HAYNES, who helmed this year's "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" as well as the preceding three stories "The Pandorica Opens," "The Big Bang" and "A Christmas Carol" will be joining us for his first Gallifrey One convention. We're also happy to welcome RICHARD SENIOR, director of next month's debut story "Let's Kill Hitler" as well as the recent mini-episodes "Time" and "Space"; Richard was also an editor throughout the preceding fifth series with Matt Smith and even directed the footage shown at the National Television Awards this year. Both directors will be joining us to talk about their work on the program.

Making a return visit to Gallifrey 2012 is NICHOLAS BRIGGS, who these days is the executive producer at Big Finish Productions for their Doctor Who and other lines (not to mention, one of their most prominent voice actors extraordinaire) as well as for the past six years on the televised Doctor Who the voice of the dreaded Daleks (among other alien baddies!) We are also happy to welcome for his first-ever US convention BARNABY EDWARDS, the principal Dalek operator on the TV series since its return in 2005 as well as a long-time actor, director and writer for Big Finish; some of his more memorable stuff includes playing Paul Hunt on the Cyberman audio series, directing nearly three dozen Doctor Who audios as well as writing the stories "The Bride of Peladon," "The Wreck of the Titan," "The Beast of Orlok" and "The Book of Kells". The Big Finish production team is also bringing two of their newest stars for their first visits to Gallifrey One: BETH CHALMERS, whose nearly dozen appearances in past audios led recently to her starring as new companion Raine Creevey opposite Sylvester McCoy in their "Lost Stories" series; and LISA GREENWOOD who appeared recently in "The Crimes of Thomas Brewster" as Philippa "Flip" Jackson, a role she will be returning to as a full-fledged Sixth Doctor companion opposite Colin Baker starting in early 2012.

And finally... what's a 1996 TV Movie reunion (besides Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso) without the man who made it happen in the first place? We are thrilled to welcome back PHILIP SEGAL, executive producer of the TV Movie and a friend of the Gallifrey One conventions for over fifteen years, who will join us for our reunion event on Saturday at the convention. Segal, whose last visit to our event was nearly seven years ago (how time flies!), is always filled with great stories about the first return of Doctor Who to the air, and we are honored to welcome him back.

In other matters... we are today announcing our open panel call for ideas for our 2012 discussion panel track. Unlike in previous years, we are already starting the 2012 program with a significantly large number of panels (both from suggestions at Gallifrey 2011 as well as some handy topics we've "borrowed" from some sister events!) and so our ability to use suggestions will be limited. We'd like to invite our attendees to visit the Discussion Panel page for some insight into what we're looking for.

Recently making its debut on our webspace is a brand new mobile version of our website. The mobile version can be reached on your iPhone, Android phone or other portable device by simply coming here to the site (it'll give you the option of using the mobile version or the standard graphics-intensive version), or you can visit it directly at m.gallifreyone.com. Our mobile site has nearly all of the same functionality as the standard version; the only major items not available are the photo gallery and the ability to register with the convention online. We're hoping to provide additional mobile services in the future, including a mobile version of our schedule you can use at the convention itself.

And finally: we recently revised our photo gallery to fit in with the new site architecture from the recent revamp, and in doing so we debuted our Gallifrey 2011 Gallery featuring ten pages of great photos from our most recent convention. There's even a link to the Late Late Show broadcast video from CBS on the final page of that gallery, too. You can see photos from all 22 years of Gallifrey One in the Photo Gallery.

Today we launch a brand-new, modern version of our website for Gallifrey One. The menu is very functional and everything that was on the previous site has been ported to the new one, albeit with a fresh, clean, modern look. You'll notice the rotating guest lineup on the front page (which you can pause and/or switch pages on with the bullet points at bottom), plus the compact look of our news pages. Your feedback is very much appreciated. Also, please note that there WILL be a version for mobile phones as soon as we can finish that (along with the revamp of the photo gallery, which will include all of the photos from 2011's convention). We hope you enjoy.

Incidentally, there are a few items being added throughout the week, including the convention site map and updated guest information. We'll continue to have more additions as the weeks go by.

On the convention front, big news today: we can confirm that the Marriott Los Angeles Airport Hotel is now sold out for our 2012 convention. The hotel has filled up predominantly with Gallifrey One attendees. However, we encourage you to visit the new Hotel Reservations page which has detailed information about hotels adjacent to the Marriott. We also encourage you to keep checking if you are interested in getting a hotel room at the Marriott; there are bound to be cancellations and reservations changes over the coming months. We are as shocked as anyone that our hotel has now completely sold out seven months before the convention (but our pre-registration is higher than last year's at this point), but assure everyone that there are plenty of places to stay very close by. We hope you can join us for 2012!

Gallifrey One is delighted to announce our third batch of celebrity guests for our forthcoming 2012 convention, Gallifrey One's Network 23:

We are pleased to welcome TONY CURRAN for an appearance courtesy Coolwaters Productions. Tony portrayed Vincent van Gogh opposite Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the acclaimed Doctor Who Series 5 episode "Vincent and the Doctor," which he briefly reprised in "The Pandorica Opens". His extensive career in film and television includes appearances in "Medium," "CSI," "24," "Underworld: Evolution," "X-Men: First Class," "Boardwalk Empire," "The Pillars of the Earth," "Gladiator," "Primeval" and many more. Tony will be appearing on stage for an interview on Saturday at the convention but will also be visiting for most of the weekend signing autographs and chatting with fans. We are grateful to Derek Maki at Coolwaters for helping us arrange this special appearance.

Making another return visit -- his fourth in a row -- is the fan-favorite FRAZER HINES, best known as Jamie McCrimmon to Doctor Who fans. Frazer has become a perennial at our convention and once again returns with Telos Publishing to visit with our attendees. Last year, his one-man show on Friday night received rave reviews, and we hope to have some special stuff in store for Frazer fans this year. Also making a return visit is actress VIRGINIA HEY from Farscape, who will once again be performing her meditation workshop (additional charge applies) and signing autographs all weekend in our dealers area.

JOHN SHIBAN makes his first visit to Gallifrey One in 2012. John is penning two episodes of the forthcoming BBC/Starz series Torchwood: Miracle Day and joins two fellow writers, previously-confirmed guests Jane Espenson and Doris Egan, for what we're certain will be a lively chat about the writing of, and making of, the latest Torchwood series. We'll also chat with John about his work on several series he has produced, including "The Vampire Diaries," "Legend of the Seeker," "Supernatural," "Star Trek: Enterprise," "The X-Files," "The Lone Gunman" and "Harsh Realm".

Scottish writer, actor and stand-up comedian CHARLIE ROSS will be with us for his first Gallifrey One experience. A fan favorite at countless Doctor Who conventions in the UK as well as many clubs and even the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Charlie's stage work has been enjoyed by many, and he's appeared in several audios for Big Finish Productions as well as penned a new book, "Smiles and Tribulations" for Hirst Publishing. We are delighted to announce, too, that Charlie will be headlining Gallifrey 2012 on Saturday evening as he brings his famous stand-up comedy routine -- with a Doctor Who focus -- to our main stage as our "half-time" event at the 2012 Masquerade. This is his first performance in America.

We are happy to welcome back IDW Comics after a year's absence, and they'll be back in our Dealers Room for 2012. With that, we are welcoming back editor DENTON TIPTON as well as welcoming, for the very first time, colorist CHARLIE KIRCHOFF. IDW Comics will be hosting a panel discussion about all of their latest Doctor Who comics offerings, including some special surprises, and Charlie will join us for the first time to discuss the process of comics coloring as well as his work on the series.

And if that's not all, we'd like to welcome back returning guests BARBARA HAMBLY, the acclaimed fantasy & science fiction novelist; television screenwriter JAVIER GRILLO-MARXUACH; Telos Publishing's DAVID J HOWE; award-winning horror novelist SAM STONE; Doctor Who writer, along with being the writer of the forthcoming "Big Finish Companion," RICHARD DINNICK; and long-time TV/film historian and writer ARNOLD T. BLUMBERG.

Of course, we'll have more guest announcements in the weeks and months to come, including some behind-the-scenes folks from the current series of Doctor Who. Keep watching for that later in the year.

Pictured in this story at top: Tony Curran; Frazer Hines; John Shiban; Charlie Ross

Autographs: Most of the feedback we received about Gallifrey 2011 was regarding the autograph sessions. Our autographs team did an amazing job with the unexpected massive influx of new attendees, but we've been working on changing the process and will be making some announcements this summer. Autographs will likely be moving back upstairs to the Meridian Ballroom, where it was in 2010, in order to accommodate some larger programming space. We're looking at longer times for some of our autograph sessions, to accommodate everyone, which may involve scaling back our 'flyaway' program (which works in theory but has had issues in practice) but limiting our main signing guests to one item only. Since a great many of our guests in 2012 are sponsored, and therefore autographing-for-payment, we may look at other ways to approach this, too.

Volunteers: Attendees volunteering at Gallifrey One has always been informal -- we've never really had a structured program, and we've had an ample amount of staff in the past. Our size increase warrants some changes on this level, and we're looking for ways to increase our volunteer base... which means incentivizing our potential volunteers. Over the next few months we'll be making some announcements about ways you can get involved with the convention; we will have a fixed volunteers desk next to Member Services, and you can sign up to help out with things such as door monitoring, assistance with setup, or helping out with our parties (the Friday night gala or karaoke). We're also looking at a new volunteers/staff party on Sunday evening after the convention is done, with some of our guests attending; if a volunteer has worked a certain number of hours during the event, they'll receive admission to the party. More on this in the months to come.

Room Sizes: Due to the increased number of attendees and the feedback we got after many of our programs were filled to standing room only (if that!), we are shifting all of our programming tracks into somewhat larger program rooms. Both our auxilliary programming track (live commentaries, major presentations, book launches) and our discussion panel track (Gallifrey 101 and all of the Doctor Who, Torchwood and SF media discussions) will be in larger rooms than in years past, with increased seating and microphones to hear the panelists, while our science track, costume programming and tribute panels will all be in a larger space than in 2011. Meanwhile, we're looking at putting in a second screen into the main programming hall so those in the back of the room can see more clearly.

Video Rooms: That's right, plural - we're adding a second video program room, increasing the amount of fan video, and enlarging the main video room with more seating. This will enable us to give you more programming and have seats available for all.

Evening Events: Masquerade lineup will be a bit more efficient than in years past, while we've been working on some new ways to accommodate everyone at the karaoke sessions on Saturday night. We're also going to streamline the timeline of the Masquerade a bit (half-time events, while always enjoyable, won't go on quite as long as it did this year!)

Food and Beverage: In order to help accommodate everyone who needs to grab a bite to eat or drink during the convention itself (and reduce the lines at the hotel restaurants), the Marriott will be setting up a snack bar during the day in the convention foyer. Attendees will be able to purchase sandwiches, beverages and other snacks at your convenience without even leaving the convention floor. This is something we are going to try out this year but it will be requisite on our members to support it -- if sales aren't high enough, we won't be able to guarantee it for the following year.

Scavenger Hunt: The Islands of Mystery Game was exceedingly popular during the 2011 convention, and we've heard from many people that it really helped them get "into" the convention -- not just the kids, but adults too. We're happy to announce that we've come up with another scavenger hunt-type game for 2012, though quite different from 2011 and a bit more open-ended (not necessarily tied to the theme like the Islands game was). We'll have details about this much closer to the convention, but it'll be something we hope many people will really enjoy. Yes, there will be a ribbon, too!

Dealers Room: We're happy to say, first, that all of our main dealers from 2011 will be returning for another year; nearly every dealer we have has been with us multiple times, some going back over a decade. But we've also added a few more: we're pleased to be welcoming three new dealers for 2012, Optimystical Studios, CeeCee's Hand-Knit Habitat, and Z'Etiquette Custom Carpetbags... Great new jewelers, costume apparel and knitware, including some Doctor Who specific stuff too! They will be going into the main dealers room, with some of our actor signing tables and exhibitors going into the main hallway as well as into the 'pass through' area.

Other Convention Floor Space: The TARDIS Lounge area - where Tara Wheeler's TARDIS resides and many of our knitters and cosplay folks have started gathering - will be in its own area directly across from the cosplay hall; no more will it be located in a pass-through area, blocking off half of the room for foot traffic. Meanwhile, we are expanding that pass-through area with exhibitor tables as well as dedicated space for gaming and socializing. We're hoping to add some scheduled gaming sessions in the game lounge.

Hotel Rooms: As we've noted, the Marriott has added additional hotel rooms to our room block, and of course the regular rack rates are only dollars more than the convention rate. Our hotel is doing everything they can to accommodate as many of our attendees as possible. When these are no longer options, we'll be showing you places in the very immediate area to stay - places that are within 5 minutes' walk.

We hope that this gives you some insight into some of the big changes we're making for 2012, and also what you can expect going forward. We'll have plenty of details about everything in the near future, along with some new guest confirmations coming up in July, so stay tuned!

It is with great pleasure that we welcome CAMILLE CODURI for her first North American convention appearance. As Jackie Tyler, the long-suffering mother of companion Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) introduced in the opening moments of the first episode of the revived Doctor Who series, "Rose," Coduri became an integral part of the show throughout several seasons opposite both Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant. Coduri appeared in 15 episodes of the series, including Tennant's final story "The End of Time"... and even traveled in the TARDIS with her daughter and the Doctor in "Army of Ghosts". An enormous fan favorite with an extensive repetoire of TV appearances, we are happy to have her for her first visit to a convention in the USA; Coduri's appearance comes to us through sponsorship from our friends at Tenth Planet Events.

We are also thrilled to welcome a big name from the science fiction world who recently made the transition to the world of Doctor Who: MARK SHEPPARD. As CIA agent Canton Everett Delaware the Third in "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon," Sheppard joined Matt Smith and his current TARDIS team as a close ally... but of course, he's well known throughout the TV world for his many appearances in such series as "Firefly" (as the criminal kingpin Badger), "Battlestar Galactica" (as lawyer-turned-politician Romo Lampkin), "Supernatural" (as Crowley), "Warehouse 13" (as Benedict Valda) and "Leverage" (as Jim Sterling), among two decades of other TV shows. Sheppard will be with us on Saturday and Sunday of the convention, appearing on two interview panels, and will be signing both days at his own table in the convention foyer.

Gallifrey One is also honored to welcome another face from the years of classic Doctor Who for her first visit to our convention: MAUREEN O'BRIEN. An actress for more than 40 years with a theatrical background in Liverpool, her first major break into British television was as Vicki, the orphaned young woman rescued by William Hartnell's Doctor on the planet Dido... the first-ever replacement for an original cast member of the programme (for the outgoing Carole Ann Ford). O'Brien appeared in 38 episodes of Doctor Who, eventually becoming the legendary Cressida in the now-missing story "The Myth Makers," and later went on to a successful television career as well as a crime novelist. Maureen has been on our wish list for many years and we're excited to welcome her, in a visit sponsored by Tenth Planet Events.

Making a return visit to Gallifrey One is the wonderful DAPHNE ASHBROOK. A guest of several past Gallifrey One events, Daphne co-starred with our guest of honor Paul McGann in the famed Doctor Who 1996 TV Movie as Dr. Grace Holloway, and was later reunited with McGann by Big Finish Productions (though not as Grace) in "The Next Life". Ashbrook, whose extensive resume includes appearances on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "CSI," Cold Case," "The O.C." and many other roles, will see her autobiography "Dead Woman Laughing" in release later this year, and her CD "Grace Notes" is already available (and will be at the convention, too!) This will be our first opportunity to put Daphne together with her movie co-stars McGann and Yee Jee Tso, and we're very excited to have her!

We are thrilled to welcome actor and author MICHAEL TROUGHTON to Los Angeles for Gallifrey 2012. In an appearance sponsored by his publishers, Hirst Publishing, Michael will be visiting Gallifrey One to commemmorate the paperback release of his forthcoming book "Patrick Troughton, By His Son," the biography of his father, who starred as the second Doctor from 1966 to 1969. Michael has been an actor on British television for many years, and joins us next year to talk about his dad, his memories, and the writing of the biography which will be out later this year in hardback.

Returning for a visit are JANE ESPENSON and DORIS EGAN, and writer/artist MATTHEW DOW SMITH. After a fantastic first visit, we're delighted to welcome Jane and Doris back after their episodes of "Torchwood: Miracle Day" air later this year. Doris Egan has penned the second episode of the forthcoming series, "Renditions," while Jane Espenson is the writer or co-writer of no less than five episodes including the season finale (with Russell T. Davies). Both were smash hits at this past February's convention: Egan is a former producer of "House," "Numb3rs" and "Dark Angel" and has written episodes of all three as well as many other shows like "Smallville," "Profiler" and "Tru Calling," while Espenson is well known in science fiction circles for her work on "Buffy," "Angel," "Firefly," "Battlestar Galactica," "Caprica," "Tru Calling," "Dollhouse" and "Warehouse 13". Also, after he wasn't able to make it last year, we are thrilled to welcome Matthew Dow Smith back; Matthew, who has drawn comics for every major American comic book publisher and has worked on such items as "The X-Men," "Hellboy" and "Starman," , has worked on IDW's Doctor Who comic book series, including writing and illustrating a short story for their 2010 comic book annual.

The list is by no means complete, either! We're still just getting started, so you can expect more behind-the-scenes production folks on "Doctor Who" and its spinoffs, as well as tons of local guests in the science fiction TV & film world, science programming guests and even a few surprises. Keep watching this space for details.

Please note that while we are attempting at this time to get more rooms for those evenings at the slightly lower rate, we cannot guarantee we will get any more at our price (and due to the large number of people calling directly asking for rooms, it may be unlikely.)

There are still plenty of hotel rooms available at the Marriott! Some of them are at higher rates, although the standard rate at this time if you book the hotel without the convention code (and stay more than one night) is $109/night, a difference of only a few dollars. We recommend the $109/night regular rate for those who are anxious to still reserve a room; we don't want anyone to miss out on a convenient room. The only down-side is that the regular rack rate does not include the discounted parking (but for those flying in, that may not matter.) Also, discounted rates with AAA/CAA are $104/night.

A note for those attempting to arrive on Wednesday (February 15) or depart after Tuesday (February 21): the online system is quoting a starting price of $219/night. However, please note the print in red that states that the room rate changes on February 16 (Thursday) to $109/night. You may wish to call the hotel directly.

Once the discounted rates (the convention rate, the $109 rack rate, the AAA discount rate, etc.) are all gone, hotel rooms will still be available, only at a higher cost. At that point, you may wish to check out one of the online reservations websites such as Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and so forth; as of today, Expedia has rooms available at the $109 rate as well. Also, should we run out of rooms at our rate and you would still like a low hotel rate, rooms at the hotels immediately next to ours are still available and plentiful: the LAX Hilton, the Renaissance Montura, Crowne Plaza and so forth.

We are aware that rooms outside of our regular block (Thursday through Monday) are significantly higher; we recommend checking out hotels in the area, including the Travelodge down the street (which is a 5 minute walk to our hotel). Unfortunately we cannot do anything about the higher rates early in the week.

Gallifrey 2012 is only in the advance planning stages, and it's on the strength of the past few years that we've grown substantially. We're planning an amazing year in 2012... you've barely seen the guest list we're starting to put together (and yes, for those wondering, we'll have an assortment of new Doctor Who series guests too; we've just started working on the guests from the recent shows!) That will be complemented by a huge assortment of programming, demos and presentations, twin video rooms, and much, much more. Due to all of this, we expected to fill the hotel again, but not this quickly. (And for the record: we expanded our room block from last year and still sold out; that's how many people have been reserving hotel rooms!) So, we will keep everyone posted over the coming months about hoteling as well as filling you in on the fantastic Doctor Who weekend we have planned at our annual celebration. Thanks for your support.

Guests: It is with great pleasure that we announce our initial guest lineup, headlined by a long-awaited return visit by PAUL McGANN. McGann is, of course, best known as the Eighth Doctor of Doctor Who, having taken the role for the 1996 TV movie and then later on audio for Big Finish Productions. McGann's last visit to Gallifrey One was nearly eight years ago, and we are welcoming him back in cooperation with our friends at Alien Entertainment - who will be co-sponsoring his appearance (though he will be signing autographs like a non-sponsored guest). McGann will be joined in this visit by his son JAKE McGANN, who has been portraying the role of the Doctor's great-grandson Alex Campbell (son of Susan Foreman) in the most recent Eighth Doctor Big Finish audios. We are very pleased to welcome them to Los Angeles in 2012.

Next, we are very pleased to welcome back LOUISE JAMESON, the classic Doctor Who actress who portrayed Leela alongside Tom Baker's Doctor. A fan favorite guest, Louise will be with us throughout the weekend, and this year will be bringing us a very special treat: on Friday night in our main ballroom, Louise will be bringing to us her acclaimed one-woman show "Pulling Faces". In the show, Louise portrays 12 different characters: "Louise guides you through a week in presenter Joanne's life as she does battle with her nipped and tucked nemesis, the evil agent, and her anti-surgery daughter Rachel." Not only are we glad to welcome Louise back, but we can't wait to bring this show to you as a very special Friday night event.

Tenth Planet Events, meanwhile, have confirmed three classic Doctor Who actors making appearances at this year's convention... one of them visiting for the very first time ever. We are thrilled to welcome for his very first Gallifrey One convention none other than WILLIAM RUSSELL, who portrayed schoolteacher Ian Chesterton when the show first debuted in 1963! Joining him are two wonderful guests making return visits to Los Angeles: MARY TAMM, who played the first Romana alongside Tom Baker, and RICHARD FRANKLIN, best known as Sergeant Mike Yates during the UNIT era of the show in the 1970s. All three guests are sponsored by Tenth Planet and will be both participating in programming as well as signing in the dealers room... and of course Tenth Planet will be sponsoring more guests for us to be announced over the coming months.

Joining us for a repeat visit as well, to help us celebrate this year's 15th anniversary of the 1996 TV movie, is YEE JEE TSO (Chang-Lee), who will be participating in what we hope will become a reunion of many of the actors and crew from the television film. Returning to the convention as well are Sarah Jane Adventures producer PHIL FORD and script editor GARY RUSSELL, comics writer and now audio script writer TONY LEE, and Big Finish's JASON HAIGH-ELLERY. And we're just getting started... these are only the people we've managed to confirm so far, and there are dozens of guests still to come, including some big names in the Doctor Who world, down the road!

Pre-Registration Opens: As of now, we have opened up pre-registration for Gallifrey 2012. Visit the Registration page to get started; you can register electronically via PayPal or by mail. Registration begins at $60 for the entire weekend... that's $60 per adult for every public function, panel, Q&A, special event, dealers room and art show admission for the entire weekend! After April 30, our prices will begin to climb in $5 increments until the final at-the-door rate of $90 (a slight increase over last year!) Don't miss out on a low rate which covers the entire convention!

Program: In addition to the special Friday night show being performed by Louise Jameson, we'll have a ton of great programming at this year's convention: the Saturday night Masquerade followed by our annual dance; two nights of karaoke this year along with our Friday night gala party; plenty of panels, autograph sessions, kaffeeklatsches, science programming, children's programming, discussion panels, live commentaries and much more. We'll have details about all of this during the summer months.

And the fun is just beginning! Make sure you follow our Twitter feed and join our Facebook page (if you're not already doing so) with the handy links to both in the top right hand corner of this web page. Follow us at the Gallifrey Base Forum in our own section. Join our mailing list, too, by emailing us! We'll keep you posted with all the late breaking developments throughout the year.

Keep watching as Gallifrey One journeys twenty-thousand years into the future... for Gallifrey One's Network 23, coming next February!

Gallifrey One's Catch 22: Islands of Mystery is now a memory! An extremely successful weekend from many accounts, with a record 2,186 members as of our treasurer's final post-convention count. We were able to raise over $4900 for our charity, Pet Orphans of Southern California. The weekend was a blur for many, but we hope all of you who did attend had a wonderful time. Here are a few post-convention wrap-up notes:

Autographs: We are well aware that for some of you the autographs process was a problem, due to the unexpectedly large number of attendees this year. While our autographs team did the best they could under any circumstances, we know for some of you that this was a major issue and a source of concern. Rest assured that we are working on streamlining this process and are looking at ALL aspects of the autographs system, and will make some changes for next year that will allow everyone to get the autograph they'd like.

Photos: We would very much like your convention photos to be able to put into our photo archive! Email us at photos2011@gallifreyone.com with your photos, or links to your photos on the web, so we can grab them and archive them for everyone to see!

About the Increased Convention Size: Bigger is not always necessarily better, and we at Gallifrey One are extremely cognizant of what happens when a relatively small event gets very big, very quickly. Some of you expressed concern about this, in fact, over the weekend, that perhaps the fun of Gally might be diluted with such a large turnout. Our board is currently discussing the rapid growth and what we can do to make certain that everyone has a great time; we'll be increasing the size of some program rooms, adjusting our autograph system as noted above, and making some layout changes to compensate. Don't worry: Gallifrey One will remain the fan-friendly, fan-centric event it's always been.

Post-Convention Wrap-Ups: Keep an eye on our Facebook page as well as the Gallifrey Base forum, plus the #gally hashtag on Twitter for people's comments and feedback. You're also welcome, of course, to send us your thoughts via email.

Our very special thanks to our very special guests this year: Peter Davison, Tracie Simpson, Janet Fielding, Sarah Sutton, Matthew Waterhouse, John Leeson, Frazer Hines, John Levene, Cush Jumbo, Paul Kasey, Neill Gorton, Rob Mayor, Ian McNeice, Gareth Roberts, Sarah Douglas, Chase Masterson, Jane Espenson, Doris Egan, Phil Ford, Joss Agnew, James Moran, Daphne Ashbrook, Virginia Hey, Daniel Logan, Emilie Ullerup, Larry Niven, Rick Sternbach, Gareth Skelding, Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Clayton Hickman, Barbara Hambly, Tony Lee, Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Blair Shedd, Gillian Horvath, Richard Starkings, David Gerrold, Denton Tipton, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, Jose Molina, Wendy Pini, Nancy Holder, James Kerwin, David J. Howe, Sam Stone, Lars Pearson, Christa Dickson, Richard Dinnick, David Wise, Lynne Thomas, Robert Smith?, Graeme Burk, Courtland Lewis, Darin Henry, Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, Kevin Grazier, Trina Ray, Sarah Milkovich, Bill Ernoehazy, Paul Salamoff, Audry Taylor, Aimee Major Steinberger, Arne Starr, Craig Miller, Daryl Frazetti, Eric Hoffman, the folks from Tanuki Suit Riot, Podshock and Radio Free Skaro, as well as special surprise guests Waris Hussein, Alaina Huffman and Pamela Salem, and Chris Hardwick from "The Late Late Show". We also send our thoughts to Gareth Thomas who was unable to join us for health reasons. Special additional thanks to Tom Straw and Cathy Hoesch at CBS, Derek Hambly, Paul Jones, Ed Stradling, Julie Caitlin Brown, Emily Danyel, Mary Krasn at Pet Orphans, and all our dealers, displaying artists, cosplayers, podcasters and attendees. Great big ginormous thanks to Catherine Douglas-Frank and her team at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. Finally, thank you to Peter Davison for an extraordinary video treat, and to John Levene and Kent Edens for the Gallifrey One salute at closing ceremonies.

And our thanks to all of you who made this a weekend that will not soon be forgotten. Thank you for joining us.