Special Notices

We encourage your feedback at our public forum/feedback page. All comments submitted in the Forum are not only publicly available, they are also sent directly to the convention Chairman.

The Chronicles of Who Fan Club will be taking your pledges during the next Ch 56 (WYIN, the other Chicago PBS channel) Doctor Who Marathon, August 5th. Stay tuned for additional details of what episodes will be shown. - JPG, 7/20/00

The latest information for Chicago T.A.R.D.I.S. 2000 convention is available at here.

MEET THE REGENT OF CENTAURI PRIME...
Wednesday, June 21st at 6pm Pacific Daylight Time

Log onto Yahoo at http://chat.yahoo.com

Damian London first appeared on Babylon 5 as a Centauri Senator in the Season One episode "The Quality of Mercy". Over the course of the five seasons of the series, he became Minister and then Regent of Centauri Prime. Damian has been an actor for 50 years, working with individuals like Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, and Julie Andrews. He has appeared on TV shows like Seinfeld, Ellen, Melrose Place and Days of Our Lives. To learn more about Damian, check his website at http://www.isnnews.net/the_zocalo/damian.htm
The transcript of the session is available at: http://tnt.turner.com/babylon5/

More information on the new convention: It's known as the Doctor Who Celebration 2000 at the Arlington Park Sheraton Hotel (formerly the Hyatt), November 24-26. Invited guests include Sylvester McCoy, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, Bill Baggs, Jason Haigh-Ellery, and Lars Pearson. Phone 888-734-7386 or email chicagotardis@aol.com for more info. 3-day is $35, and one day is $15 (unconfirmed). Convention Website

The rumored convention listed below (for Thanksgiving 2000) has been confirmed. (a little) More information can be found at The Chronicles of Who website!

If you receive Channel 56 out of Indiana (or if you put an antenna up real quick), you can catch all 4 parts of Doctor Who: The Deadly Assassin, followed by a Doctor Who special, "Who's Who" this weekend (Sat June 10, starting at 8pm). - JPG, 5 June, 2000

A rumor is apparently circulating that a convention is in the works for Thanksgiving weekend, at a hotel near Arlington Park Racetrack. All that I know is that Sylvester McCoy and John Leeson are *allegedly* already confirmed, however, there is no independant confirmation of this (or the convention for that matter). This convention is apparently being organized by 'Gene' - someone who was a dealer at some Visions conventions. If I hear any more, I'll pass it on. JPG, 30 May, 2000

Came home from dinner tonight and my husband had on Comedy Central. They were doing a spot on Eric Idle and his upcoming North American Tour of a stage show "Eric Idle Exploits Monty Python". MARK RYAN is one of the players. It will be here in Chicago on June 6th (Tuesday) and Milwaukee on June 7th (Wednesday). Tickets are available via Ticketschiester. APSchultz - 28 April, 2000

Happy Birthday wishes to Tom Baker - 66 years young! - 20 Jan, 2000

Stuffing your face with too many cookies and candy canes this holiday season? Then why not do your heart some good by making a donation to your favorite charity? "Need" sees no season, but suffering during the holidays can be particularly rough to those less fortunate.

From donating blood (a true gift of life) to making a financial donation to a charitable organization (think of all the money you saved by not going to Visions!) to volunteering some time at a shelter or soup kitchen, there are plenty of ways to help those around you. Who knows, you might even feel good too!

If you don't have a favorite charity, consider one of the following:

US

Make A Wish - grants "wishes" to children with a life-threatening/terminal illness and their families.
United Way of America - Provides help to meet the health and human-care needs of millions of people throughout America every day.

Children In Need - The BBC charity which aims to make a positive difference to, or achieve change in, the lives of disadvantaged children living in the UK.
Women's Aid - the leading national organization working on behalf of women and children experiencing physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in the home.

Most of the sites listed above allow making donations by credit card, so why not take a couple minutes to make a difference right now? And don't forget to check with your employer, as many companies will match your donation to a qualified charity.

There is apparently a Xena/Hercules (Creation) convention going on at the Hyatt this year (1999) during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Although I've heard that Bob & Patti will be assisting Linda Swiebocki (sp) with security for that convention, I haven't heard much else, other than possibly some sort of gathering in the bar tomorrow evening. I've heard that there may be something posted in the newsgroups in RADW.

As for some of Visions former security folk (John, Arnette, Chuck, Roberta, Carl) and a few other familiar faces from Visions including Ruth Ann, John Lavalie, Jennifer Adams Kelley, and Dennis Light, we will be at Leonardo's in Naperville this Friday evening from 6:30 on. They have a full bar, and the best stuffed pizza on the planet. If you want to join us as part of our reservation, please send email to tardis@xnet.com by 4pm this Friday. Or, just show up and hope there's room... JPG, 25 Nov, 1999

WYIN in Gary, Indiana, is now showing Blake's 7 on Saturday evenings at 9pm!!! I can pick this station up, and I live just beyond Aurora, IL - you'll need a good UHF amplifier (20db) and a good antenna, but can you really put a price on being able to watch Blake's 7 followed by Doctor Who again? - JPG, 13, Oct 1999

Dalek invasion continues... (updated 21st Sept, 1999 w/sighting in Avengers episode)

Just when you thought it was safe...and just in time to mark a special date in science fiction media... the Federation has posted its latest video crossover parody to the SIX MINUTE MOVIE website.

"The Six Minute Moon:1999" focuses on a group of people gathered on September 13, 1999 to see whether or not the moon goes PING! into outer space, just like the beginning of "Space:1999" says it will. Mulder drags Scully along to join the party...and then the TARDIS materialises.

"The Six Minute Moon:1999" can be downloaded in either low quality or high quality realVideo at the following site:

http://loredata.simplenet.com/6m2/

As always, the copyrights to "Space:1999," "The X-Files," and "Doctor Who" remain with the original copyright holders, and no infringement is meant. No money is being made off of this, either. And it's just a spoof.

- JPG, 10 Sept, 1999 (for Jennifer)

Image Sony Corporation's first robotic puppy carries an aggresive price tag of $2,500, but that didn't stop it from fetching buyers. The high-tech toy, the first consumer entertainment robot to incorporate artificial intelligence, sold out in just 20 min. Its name, Aibo, stands for "artificial intelligence robot" and sounds like the Japanese word for buddy.

Three degrees of freedom in its legs let Aibo walk with the realistically clumsy gait of a young puppy. It also has two degrees of freedom in its wagging tail, and three degrees of freedom for the neck. The brain of the robot dog is a 64-bit Risc processor with 16 MByte of RAM. The system uses Sony's Aperios operating system and Memory Stick recording media. A variety of sensors, including a collor CCD camera, stereo microphones, a heat sensor, infrared range finder, and a touch sensor, let the robot interact realistically with its surroundings. Aibo is the size of a Chihuahua and weighs 3.5 lbs with its lithium-ion battery.

Sony produced only 3,000 of these limited edition digital doggies for Japan and 2,000 for the U.S. but it anticipates more to come. Future versions of Aibo will include voice and face recognition as well as the ability to automatically return to the recharger when the battery gets low.

[Ed: It is unknown if the BBC has purchased one (or if there are grounds for copyright/patent infringement)]

Aug 5, 1999 - Machine Design magazine

WYIN in Gary, Indiana, is currently having a subscription drive. I live in Yorkville, IL (45 miles southwest of Chicago), and I can pick it up (with the help of an antenna and an amplifier), so if you live in the Chicagoland area, you can probably pick it up also. Please call and subscribe! Also, during one of the pledge breaks, they also announced they were considering bringing Blake's 7 back to the Chicago airwaves this fall! JPG, Aug 7, 1999

Your help is needed to identify what is thought to be a prop from an episode of Doctor Who. If you can identify the prop (episode), you'll receive three dalek postcards issued by Royal Post in May of 1999. more information - JPG, May.1.1999

Latest news (ok, rumor) on the Doctor Who movie is that it will be directed by Paul Anderson who has worked on such movies as Shopping, Event Horizon, and Mortal Kombat. A reference to the pending production was in Total Film magazine. They are in the early stages of production and have started work on casting. The special effects are slated to be done by the same company that did Lost In Space (The Film Factory). An official announcement is expected by August. The script currently being considered was written as long ago as two years, and PaulA is currently working with the author. - JPG, May 27, 1999

Rumor has it there is a Doctor Who movie in the very early stages of pre-production - a script is nearly ready and a director has been assigned to it - more details should be available Thursday. - JPG, May 24, 1999, 7:50a

Plans for a sequel to 'Blake' are gaining ground. Paul Darrow and Brian Lighthill, who own the rights, are developing a TV movie with the consent of Terry Nation's estate. However, it looks as though the Beeb are not involved. (According to Kevin Patrick Mahoney)

Also, according to Sky One, Blake's 7 is set for a TV movie comeback.

It is unknown at this time if any of the other cast members are involved. - JPG, May 24, 1999, 7:50a

You may be interested to know about two new Dr Who books, one of which is
soon to be published.

The author is currently trying to gauge the interest through the internet
to give some indication on numbers for the print run. He therefore would
like those who may be interested to register their e-mail details.

More information can be found at http://www.alphawaves.net/doctor/

Please spread the word to any other interested parties.

Regards,
Simon Meade
ALPHAWAVES

I thought you might like to know (and perhaps pass along this to
others...) that Channel 56, WYIN, a PBS station  in Northwest Indiana had a
Dr. Who "marathon" starting at 9:45 PM on February 27, 1999 with the airing
of ROBOT.  I *believe* this is the first time this station has ever aired Who.
Regardless, it was a test running to see if there's enough support to bring
Dr. Who to this station.  Apparently, they received around 100 calls during
the pledge breaks..which is a lot considering this is a very small PBS
station.  In fact, at times, the camera man had to leave his post and answer
calls.  Because of this amazing response, they *TENTATIVELY* have
decided to air "Planet of Spiders" on Friday, March 12th, at 7pm.  Also, the
hosts of the pledge drive indicated that the program manager is
*PROBABLY* going to *TRY* and pick up Dr. Who to air on a weekly basis
to start airing as early as April.  Not of this is 100% certain though...not yet.
This is not only good news for those of us in NW Indiana, but also for those
in the Chicago land area because this station reaches Chicago.  In fact,
many of the pledges last night were from people in Chicago!

Please share this information with whomever you'd think be interested in it.

Regards,

Anthony

- JPG, June 1, 1999

I regret to announce that Michael Craze passed away Monday December 7th. Seen in over 200 television appearances, films, and theatre, he will likely be remembered most by Doctor Who fans, as Ben Jackson, during the late '60s. - JPG, 12/9/1998

Looking for unique gifts for your friend who is a Blake's 7 fan? Or are you looking to expand your own Blake's 7 collection? Sheelagh's Shoppe features The Together Again Collection, including photographs, audiotapes, and lithographs, featuring a number of the the cast and production staff of the classic BBC TV series Blake's 7.

Fans of MT337 (Friday night, after the Masquerade), now have something to look forward to! Rumor has it, the episode being prepared is "Twin Dilemma". - JPG, 12/1/98

As of 5 pm November 29th, 3918 visitors had visited this site. Based on a donation of $.10 per visit, a combined donation of $391.80 will be sent to The Make-A-Wish Foundation, and Children In Need ($195.90 will be sent to each charity). Thanks go to all of you who took a few minutes to stop by! - JPG, 11/29/1998 [Note: As of December 10, 1998, a donation of Ł120 was given (via credit card) to CIN, and $200 was given (via credit card) to Make-A-Wish of Illinois.]

A letter from "MJ" at FOX Scheduling (11/10/98):

DR. WHO was ordered and aired as a one-time-only made-for-TV movie. We have the rights to repeat this title one more time over the next 2 years. Maybe nearer to the year 2000 (when the movie takes place). Stay tuned.

Unfortunately, there will be NO new series or more movies.

Thanks for writing

MJ
FOX Scheduling

The forum at this site has recently been improved to allow cross-posting to the forum on Visions "Official" site. Get twice the exposure for the same amount of work!

Please be aware that any responses posted at the official site, are not shown in this forum (although I am mulling over a way to automagically check for/acquire them).

One other benefit is that your posting at this site is automatically forwarded to Visions chairman via email. - JPG, 10/19/98

Due to the design of some pages on this site, if you have a color printer and try to print any pages with white text on black background, you'll basically end up with a blank piece of paper. There are two ways around this problem. In Netscape (and hopefully in MSIE and other browsers), there are two options under File->Page Setup that should help. First is the ability to force all text to black. The other is to print the background.

Due to the amount of ink that printing the background would require, I strongly recommend just setting the text to black.

If you're still having problems, please let me know. - JPG, 9/28/98

Dalek invasion? (updated 14th Sept w/second sighting)
What happened to the Tardis? (updated 19th Sept)

AGLNS (Automatic Guest List Notification Service) has been improved! Along with email notification, you can now register your Ameritech or Skypage alpha-numeric pager to receive notice of Guest updates! - JPG, 7/19/98

There are at least two other science fiction conventions using the Visions name, or a name confusingly close to Visions. The only convention we do, is Visions in Chicago, on Thanksgiving weekend. We have recently added "HME/" (which stands for Her Majesty's Entertainment) to the name Visions, to help distinguish us from them, but even so, it is easy to get confused. Please be aware that these other conventions are in no way related to us.

After 10/31, registration for the convention must done in person at the convention. This is being done to avoid problems of "checks being lost in the mail". Please note: To guarantee the special Convention Room Rate at the Hyatt, you MUST make a reservation at the hotel at least 14 days prior to the start of Visions If for any reason you can not attend, please cancel your reservations at least 48 hours in advance so that the room is available for other Visions attendees. Thanks!