Gallifrey 2010 is only a few short weeks away, and we wanted to share two important details about our facility, the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel.

The Marriott recently extended our room block for one final time, meaning that there are still a couple of hotel rooms available at the Gallifrey One rate (for the low, low price of only $114 per night!) If you haven't yet decided on whether to stay at the hotel, we encourage you to do so, as our evening events can run well past midnight and the bar/social scene upstairs can go far later! As of today (February 6) you may still be able to grab the $114 rate, but when these last few rooms are gone, they're gone. At that point, don't worry: the Marriott still has rooms, just not at our rate; instead, you'll have to reserve at the higher regular hotel rate. So get them while they're still available; we expect these last few discounted rooms to be gone in the next couple of days!

Meanwhile, Gallifrey One would like to announce the 2010 parking rate information at the Marriott. Parking is only $10 per day for convention guests for self-parking (or $23 per day for valet parking.) In order to get this discounted rate (at the airport, regular daily rates are much higher!), you must tell the parking attendant (or valet attendant) that you are with Gallifrey One UPON ARRIVAL. Daily attendees can then pay this discounted rate when entering the parking lot; make sure you keep your receipt when you leave so you don't have to pay again. Overnight attendees can pay the parking rate on your hotel bill. Again, we emphasize that you should tell the Marriott you are with Gallifrey One when you arrive. If you have any issues with parking, stop by the Member Services desk (right next to Registration) so we can assist you further. As a note, if you don't tell the hotel upon arrival that you're with Gallifrey One, and instead simply pull a parking ticket, bring the ticket to the Registration desk for a parking sticker.

We look forward to seeing you at Gallifrey 2010!

Discount pre-registration rates for Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21 are now over... however, you can still pre-register for the convention until February 12, 2010, for the at-the-door price of $75 for the weekend. Pre-registration allows you easy check-in (including limited Thursday evening pre-registration badge pickup) as well as your name listed as a pre-registrant in the program book. Advance registration will close after February 12 and will reopen for new registration on Friday morning, February 26 at 10:00am at the convention.

We have updated the Membership List with all registrants up to today. We're very excited for a successful year, going in with our largest pre-registration ever... nearly 1,000 paid full weekend pre-registered members!

The Convention Schedule has been updated today. The schedule page now includes a map of the convention space (since we've moved a lot of things around this year), as well as the Fan Video schedule for Saturday, February 27; the Autographs tentative schedule as it currently exists; the updated Kaffeeklatsch schedule for Saturday and Sunday; and additional Cosplay Programming including costuming meet-ups as well as scheduled photo events in the TARDIS Photo Plaza (a continuation of the fun from last year!) This should give our attendees a better view of everything happening during the weekend at Gallifrey 2010.

Three and a half weeks and counting! We look forward to seeing you at Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21 starting February 26!

Gallifrey One will be bringing a new feature to our convention starting with this year's event: the Kasterborous Kaffeeklatsches. These small, informal gatherings are modeled after similar events at other conventions: a chance to have more face time with selected guests in a much more intimate setting, over a cup of coffee or hot tea. Click on the link below for more information…

Gallifrey One is happy to announce a major change to one of the most popular parts of our annual conventions: the autograph queue. We’re calling our new process “Flyaway” Autographs, and we hope will make a huge impact on our attendees in one important way: the end of the long autograph lines! Read on by clicking the link below...

Want to keep in touch even more? While Gallifrey One continues to post updates on our Facebook page, the Gallifrey Base Forum and our own Twitter feed, we'd like to note that cyberspace is full of comments and excitement in anticipation of the forthcoming Gallifrey 2010 convention. Check out the Twitter "hashtag" both attendees and prospective members have been using for a while: #gally (click the link, then enter #gally in the search window!) Also, the folks at the dw_cosplay Livejournal group have been adding to the fun with preparations for all the costuming you'll see at the convention. Know of any others? Let us know!

As a reminder, our $70 pre-registration rate is only good for a few more days... get yours until Sunday night, January 31! After that, full weekend pre-registration will be available for $75 (the at-the-door rate) for a limited time only (closing in early February, reopening Friday morning February 26 at the event). Pre-Register today - remember, every pre-registrant is noted in the convention program book!

Gallifrey One would also like to announce our Daily Rates for our 2010 convention: $35 Friday, $40 Saturday, $35 Sunday. Daily registration is only available at the door (Gallifrey One does not take pre-registration for anything but full weekend) during business hours (10am-7pm Friday, 9am-6pm Saturday, 9am-2pm Sunady). Our daily rates are structured so that two consecutive days cost the same as a full-weekend rate... incentive to get a full weekend badge and enjoy unfettered access to the convention.

A few Programming Updates as well. Some new things you can look forward to: over four hours of never-before-seen episodes of the new K9 TV series screened by its producers, on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. We will also be hosting an exclusive authorized preview screening of "The Seven Year Hitch," a brand-new documentary about the years following the classic series cancellation from 2Entertain that will be on a forthcoming Doctor Who DVD release later this year, in our late-night Friday timeslot (11:30pm) as well as on Sunday morning for early birds. Telos Publishing will host a reading session featuring Frazer Hines reading from his autobiography "Hines Sight" and author Sam Stone reading from her latest novel on Friday night at 9pm. Tony Lee screens his never-before-seen short film "The Shoot" on Saturday at 6pm. Cubicle 7 will be in our dealers room to promote their new Doctor Who: The Role Playing Game, along with a gaming table with demo gaming all weekend. And finally... we'll have some special guests throughout the course of the weekend from the science fiction genre, autographing at a few tables outside our main ballroom.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for more updates on our 2010 event - including news of our brand new Autograph process and information about our Saturday/Sunday Kaffeeklatsches. This year promises to be the biggest Gallifrey One of all; we hope you'll join us!

Gallifrey One would like to announce that we have selected Direct Relief International as the target charity of the Bob May Memorial Charity Auction at next month's event, Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21.

Since 1948, Direct Relief International has worked to help people who confront enormous hardship to improve the quality of their lives. The tradition of direct and targeted assistance, provided in a manner that respects and involves the people served, has been a hallmark of the organization since its founding. This non-partisan, non-sectarian relief and aid organization works around the world to help those in need the most: from disaster assistance in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the countries affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, to the provision of medical material aid during times of extreme hardship across the globe, Direct Relief currently works with over 300 partner clinics, hospitals, associations, and organizations in 59 countries (as of 2008), spanning five continents, with an emphasis on people living in developing countries and people victimized by disaster or war. Most recently, Direct Relief has been involved in support efforts to aid the victims of the recent earthquake that decimated Haiti, helping to deliver medical aid to the injured as efficiently as possible, and expects to be part of the Haiti support effort for weeks and months to come. For all of its efforts, Direct Relief has received among the highest ratings of any U.S. nonprofit from many reputable charitable watchdog organizations. In light of the Haiti catastrophe, Gallifrey One's board has chosen to select Direct Relief as our beneficiary in order to help them in their extraordinary efforts, and Direct Relief has graciously accepted our assistance. You can find out more information at directrelief.org.

Gallifrey One's annual charity auction has raised over $65,000 over the years for many charitable organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the Red Cross, the Foundation for the Study of Infant Death, the Hurricane Mitch Disaster Relief Fund, the War Child Charity, the Downs Syndrome Association, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Actors and Others For Animals, and the American Heart Association, and we are delighted to add Direct Relief International to this list.

Gallifrey One's annual charity auction has, since last year, been named in perpetuity for Bob May, cast member of the classic science fiction TV series "Lost in Space" and a long-time member of the Gallifrey One family, as a dealer, programming guest and always enthusiastic auctioneer at our annual charity auction. Bob passed away in January 2009, and Bob's family continues to provide their kind support to our charity auction.

The Gallifrey 2010 Bob May Memorial Charity Auction will take place at Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21 on Sunday, February 28 from 11:00am to 5:00pm (end time approximate). Donations are very welcome at our convention to be auctioned during the event; we gladly accept science fiction, fantasy and horror media merchandise, books, artwork, collectibles and much more. All auction items can be donated to the convention by stopping by our "Supply Unit" in the Los Angeles Airport Marriott's Philadelphia Room, right next to convention registration, at any time on Friday or Saturday. We hope you'll join us at the auction to help raise money for this very worthwhile charity.

A few additions to this weekend's major programming update: first, we are thrilled to announce that long-time Gallifrey One guest Paul Cornell has been able to work around his busy schedule and join us after all! Paul will be participating in panels and, of course, we are delighted to welcome back his "Just a Minute event to the judging half-time of this year's Masquerade!

Our Preliminary Schedule has been updated (several times, in fact) since it went live. Many of our additional programs have been added to this (including science programming).

A word about Autographs... we have heard from several people asking us not to change our autograph policy. In fact, we have no intention. We're working on the final details of an exciting change in the way attendees line up for autographs (read: if it works, you won't have to!) More details on this soon.

Finally... we've been reminded by our hotel liaison that hotel reservations are still available for those wishing to stay in the hotel, and that there is a final deadline of January 31 for anyone wishing to make a hotel reservation and be guaranteed the low rate of only $114 per night at the Marriott. Let us be clear: there should always be hotel rooms available at the hotel (they've never sold out in the five years since we moved here), but that is the date we will be able to reserve you rooms at our rate; after that, you'll have to reserve at the Marriott rate. Email us if you have any questions regarding this.

Gallifrey One has some major, exciting programming developments to share about our impending twenty-first convention, Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21, in only seven weeks time... updates on guests, events, exhibitors, programming items and much more.

Preliminary Schedule Now Online: The first draft of our Program Schedule is now online; please note that this is tentative and still subject to a great deal of change between now and the convention.

Guest Update: We are delighted to welcome to Gallifrey One comic artist Matthew Dow Smith, whose work includes "Hellboy," "Supernatural: Origins," "Nightcrawler," "Starman" and, of course, the continuing Doctor Who comic books from IDW Comics, who is making his first Gallifrey One appearance; writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, most recently the creator of the series "The Middleman" and also a writer for "Medium" and "Lost"; and comics writer Mark Waid who is best known for his eight-year run on "The Flash" and his work on "Captain America". Regrettably, writer Gareth Roberts has had to withdraw from our program due to new work commitments; we hope to see him next year.

New Exhibitors: For their first visits to our dealers room, Gallifrey One is pleased to welcome IDW Comics, publishers of the monthly Doctor Who comic book series, and Cubicle 7, creators of the new Doctor Who Role Playing Game. IDW will have a booth in the dealers room as well as a panel event on Sunday, while Cubicle 7 will have a booth as well as a demo area for live demo gaming of its new RPG game. We also have several new dealers recently confirmed including Willow Jewelry, Mike's Comics-n-Stuff and Emily Danyel.

Mysterious Theatre 337: The folks behind the annual Friday night event have announced that, for the first time ever, they'll be skewering the new series. That's right... Mysterious Theatre 337 proudly presents their take on that 'classic' first series Doctor Who story "Aliens of London" and "World War Three," Friday night at 9:00pm in our main ballroom. This is a scripted presentation (no audience participation!)

Tanuki Suit Riot: Local Los Angeles band Tanuki Suit Riot, which has played various conventions including anime events here in California, will be joining us Friday night at 8:00pm in our main ballroom. Tanuki Suit Riot is well known for their covers of video game themes and television theme songs, and they're die-hard science fiction and Doctor Who fans, too; they'll be bringing their own interpretations of the theme songs of Doctor Who, Red Dwarf and much more to our main stage, for our first-ever live band performance at Gallifrey One.

Live Commentaries: This year, Gallifrey 2010 will feature no less than six live commentaries including the controversial "Torchwood: Children of Earth, Part 4" with writer John Fay; the animated "Dreamland" series with star Georgia Moffett, writer Phil Ford and director Gary Russell; the Sarah Jane Adventures two-parter "Enemy of the Bane" with Tommy Knight, writer Phil Ford, director Graeme Harper and Gary Russell; and Doctor Who stories "The Age of Steel" with Andrew Hayden-Smith and director Graeme Harper, "Midnight" with director Alice Troughton and "Last of the Time Lords" with director Colin Teague.

Interview Blocks: Because we have so many guests that we want to give proper attention to, the main ballroom will open at 12pm on Friday (usually we start main programming at 1pm) and feature six hours of non-stop, back to back interview sessions with our guests (some half hours, some 45 minutes), starting with Nicholas Briggs at noon, Big Finish's John Pickard at 12:30, an hour with Debbie Watling & Frazer Hines together at 1pm, Anneke Wills on her new book at 2pm, classic series writer Bob Baker interviewed at 2:45, a half hour with Torchwood writer John Fay at 3:30, Sarah Sutton at 4pm, Katy Manning at 4:45, and the US convention debut of Tommy Knight at 5:30. Meanwhile, Louise Page will feature in her own hour-long interview focusing on her costuming and Tony Lee & Pia Guerra will share the spotlight in an additional interview that day. On Saturday, Andrew Hayden-Smith and Georgia Moffett will be featured in their own interview chats, as well as our "Director's Roundtable" featuring Graeme Harper, Alice Troughton and Colin Teague, while Sunday features a one-on-one interview with Graeme Harper. This schedule does not include other Q&As our guests are participating in, such as the Big Finish audio roundtable on Saturday featuring several of our guests talking about their audio work, the Barry Letts Tribute, or Sunday afternoon's Companions Roundtable featuring all six of our Doctor Who classic series actors, and of course, many of our guests will be participating in the live Sunday afternoon taping of the "Doctor Who: Podshock" podcast program as well (which will also feature a couple surprise guests!)

Photo Studio and Autographs: Gallifrey One is trying something new this year: our friends at Tenth Planet will be taking over this year's photo studio and doing semi-professional photography for us; photos will be printed and offered for purchase a few hours later for a nominal fee - that way you can grab your 8x10 and have it autographed later in the day. We are doing this instead of the logistical nightmare that our photo studio has been in the past with scheduling. Meanwhile, we do have autograph sessions all three days, and we're introducing a brand new autograph system in the next week or so… be on the lookout!

Panel Programs: Most of the panel discussions we previously announced have made it onto the schedule; a few we're still looking for additional panelists for. We've also added a discussion about the international distribution of Doctor Who and how it works with BBC America; a discussion about Doctor Who fan art including some demo work by two fan artists who also happen to be animators and illustrators; and a "Young Adult Fiction" panel we're currently adding more writers onto hosted by Audry Taylor. We will also feature four science programs, which we'll be announcing the details of within the next week or so, including panel participants; in previous years this has focused on space sciences and we're sure this year will be more of the same. And finally… as we previously announced, we will feature several "adult" oriented panels, mostly discussions of an adult (18+) nature on science fiction media topics, including fiction, television and sexuality; these panels will take place later on Friday evening. We may also have a few Saturday night panels as well, to be announced.

Special Panels and Events: We've added a few special events we think you'll enjoy. Bob Baker and Paul Tams bring us a special sneak peek at the new K-9 television series on Saturday. Louise Page will be joined by Gary Russell as the two take a tour through her many costume designs in a Saturday afternoon slide show that will give you insight into the production of the Doctor Who series and its fabulous apparel. Telos Publishing is celebrating their tenth anniversary, and so we're throwing them a panel celebrating that fact with some of the writers that have participated in their book series over the years. Mad Norwegian Press' new book "Chicks Dig Time Lords" will be celebrated at Gallifrey One this year with a launch panel featuring its editor and as many of the writers in the book that will be at the convention. IDW Comics representatives will preview some of what they have to offer on their Doctor Who line on Sunday. Our friend Scott Armstrong is back this year with a panel focusing on paranormal investigations; Arne Starr is back with his Sunday "Trailer Park" science fiction video clip show; and of course Eric Hoffman will have his usual tribute panels including a video/slide retrospective on Friday featuring some of the classic Doctor Who companions, and his Sunday morning "Dr. Hoffman's House of Trailers" panel. And we are delighted to announce that, following in the footsteps of last year's very special "Gallifreyan Wedding" event, two of our attendees, Ben Adams and Kim Pfeiffer, will be tying the knot at this year's convention on Saturday early evening.

Masquerade: Gallifrey 2010's Masquerade promises to be our biggest event of all, and the instructions for costumers to participate in the Masquerade are already on our website. Last year we had nearly 50 participants, and this year will be more of the same - especially with our special guest judge being Louise Page, the Doctor Who series costumer for the past four years! We will also be holding both an important "pre-meeting" for Masquerade participants on Saturday morning, as well as a post-mortem event to discuss the night's glories on Sunday morning. Additionally, because Paul Cornell unfortunately cannot make it this year, his usual "Just a Minute" event, which would be serving as our 'half-time' will not be taking place; instead, our costume/masquerade team is putting together a special live skit performance to make the evening extra special!

Friday Night Fun: Besides our live band and Mysterious Theatre 337, we have several other events going on Friday evening. Starting at 7pm in our hospitality suite, it's the return of the Gallifrey One Ice Cream Social. Then later in the evening, we open up our "Gamble With Time" Casino night (no money, of course, just for fun!) and Gallifrey's 2010 Karaoke Kafe for your enjoyment. We have a cash bar outside the rooms hosting these two events for your convenience (with, once again, a special themed cocktail available for purchase).

Fan Videos From noon to 6pm Saturday, our video program will turn over to fan videos entirely. We invite fan video participants who wish to introduce their videos to join us in the room. Meanwhile we're looking for additional fan videos so please contact us immediately if you have a production ready to show (must be Doctor Who themed!)

The Kasterborous Kaffeeklatsches: Not yet on our program schedule, the Kaffeeklatsch is a new event we're trying out this year… instead of a general meet-up, these are scheduled one-hour events with one or more guests and up to 12 participants. Free coffee and tea accent a special hour for individual Q&A, storytelling, and much more. We will be announcing sign-ups for these fairly soon; note that it is very likely signups will take place on Friday, even though the events are only Saturday and Sunday.

Children's Programming: Once again, we'll have an active children's program featuring hands-on activities open for younger children, to give you time to enjoy the convention. More details about this (which was extremely successful last year) very soon!

And more is coming! This gives you a rough idea of all the fun we've got going on this year at Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21, but there's more to come: our full-weekend video program, special daytime events, autograph sessions all weekend, and much more! Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to email us. Enjoy!

This week, we are putting the finishing touches on our 2010 program, and it's going to be amazing! Gallifrey One is pleased to announce that we will have four simultaneous program tracks this year (last year we had three), plus our kaffeeklatsches, autographs and much more. Each day this week on our Facebook page and Twitter feed we're featuring special sneak peeks of our major program announcement and tentative schedule, both of which will be posted this Saturday on our website. In reverse order by day this week:

Friday Update: Our charity auction on Sunday; Friday night's Karaoke party and 'Gamble with Time' monte carlo night; full-weekend costumers' cosplay room; video program all three days; "The Year in Review" on Sunday; Podshock taping with special surprise guests; and much more!

Thursday Update: Friday's Mysterious Theatre 337 skewers the new DW series for the first time; Friday 2-5pm is our "interview block" with one-on-one 45-minute interviews with guests, plus three panels Friday night in our adult-themed (18+) panel block; ten kaffeeklatsches (and counting), sign-ups available on site; Sunday mid-day's launch panel for Chicks Dig Time Lords. Still more to come!

Wednesday Update: We welcome TV writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach, comic writer Mark Waid, and others (incl. surprise guests at the Podshock taping on Sunday); more program includes panels on young adult fiction, remaking books & comics into TV/film, international distribution of Dr. Who; our 10th anniversary salute to Telos Publishing; the return of Arne Starr's Trailer Park. Still more to come!

Tuesday Update: Seven different live commentaries (including DW, Torchwood and Sarah Jane); Saturday's costuming slide show with designer Louise Page; previews of K-9: The Series; our Barry Letts tribute panel; demos & discussions on prop making and illustration; four science programs and Paranormal Investgations. Still more to come!

Monday Update: Gallifrey One welcomes IDW Comics, role-playing publishers Cubicle 7, comic artist Matthew Dow Smith, and our first-ever live band, Tanuki Suit Riot (performing on Friday night). And that's just the start!

Attention all persons interested in displaying in the Gallifrey 2010 Art Show: the official rules and information guide and a reservations form for space in our 2010 convention are now available on the Dealers Room and Art Show page. If you would like to display art in the Art Show, see the handy information guide.

In anticipation of our major programming announcements later this week and next week, Gallifrey One is now putting out our annual call (a bit later than normal) for the following. You can answer the call by emailing us - go to the bottom of the email page and use our email form to contact us.

FAN PANELISTS to participate as moderators and panelists on our discussion panels, both Doctor Who universe and science fiction media in general. For a list of the panel topics being discussed at this year's convention, see the Programming page (under "Programming Tracks and Discussion Panels"). Note: this is for panelists only; all attendees are welcome to attend the panel discussions.

FAN VIDEOS as part of our Saturday afternoon fan video track. We have a number of videos being presented already but we have a limited amount of time left to fill; if you are interested in having your video shown please contact us with information about the video and its running time.

If you have contacted us about either of these in the past, we ask that you submit again just to make certain we got it! Gallifrey One makes no guarantee of this participation but we'll try to accommodate as many requests as possible.