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Dr. Who Convention Finds Home on Long Island

Dr Who Convention-20
A fan dressed as Dr. Who peaks out of a replica of the character's time-traveling police box (Joe Nuzzo/Long Island Press).
A fan dressed as Dr. Who peaks out of a replica of the character’s time-traveling police box (Joe Nuzzo/Long Island Press).

Fans of the BBC’s cult classic television series Dr. Who descended on the Clarion Hotel in Ronkonkoma for the first convention celebrating the show held in the Northeast in more than 20 years.

Consuming all three floors of the Clarion, the convention featured notable guests, including actor Sylvester McCoy, who played the series 7th Doctor and Radagast in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, and actress Chase Masterson of Star Trek and Dr. Who audio books.

“I realized that this was the 50th anniversary of Dr. Who and no one was doing anything for it,” Ken Deep, the show’s creator, said. “I thought, if not me, then who?”

Dr. Who, which holds the record for the longest-running science fiction TV show, follows a humanoid alien, or Time Lord, known as the Doctor, whose time-traveling spaceship disguised as a British police box leads him to face foes, right wrongs and save civilizations. The original series ran from 1963 to 1989 and was revived in 2005.

Click here to see more fans dressed as characters from Dr. Who

With the annual Long Island I-CON convention taking a break, Deep—an I-CON organizer himself—and other I-CON staff members focused their efforts on creating “L.I. Who.” The result was a convention with so many choices of panels, speakers, and featured events, it was hard for attendees to choose what to do next.

On the vendor floor, fans poured over a vast array of Dr. Who memorabilia and other sci-fi related merchandise while celebrities were busy signing autographs and taking pictures.

Of course, no sci-fi convention would be complete without colorful costume play, or cosplay. Many fans of the series proudly walked around the con in full costume stopping to pose for pictures or act out a scene with other cosplayers.

Having completely sold out the conventions 1,100 tickets, Deep is already planning a convention for next year. “L.I. Who 2” is scheduled for Nov. 7-9, 2014.