The 'Little Shop' that could

I first saw Little Shop of Horrors during its original film run. A couple times actually, sneaking designer cupcakes into a movie house near the University of South Florida.

And I'll admit, I got very attached to the Hollywood version, which basically totally changed the ending of the off-Broadway show -- both in content and tone. I understand why the test audiences didn't want Seymour and Audrey to die just after they had finally happiness with each other.

But I also appreciate the original director's cut, which was officially culled together in 2012 from unearthed bits and pieces of film from the vault. It's closer to the story concocted for the theater by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, which in turn, is what Roger Corman strived for in the original 1960 black comedy. Having Audrey II burst through the screen at the end of the modern-day version plays like a stroke of genius. That should be experienced on a huge screen to be properly enjoyed.

So to come full circle and see the movie the way director Frank Oz planned it to be seemed perfect. Sitting in the second row for a Q&A with Oz afterward would be like having a designer cupcake with me, and less fattening. So naturally, I had to make my way to the Schimmel Center at Pace University on Oct. 30 for the opportunity of a Little Shop fan's lifetime.

First we watched the film. So much fun to applaud at the titles and at the end of each main song. (I mouthed  the lyrics to every single one, obviously). The audience, most of whom probably weren't alive when the film was originally released, enjoyed every laugh -- particularly when Bill Murray arrived on the scene as the patient who enjoys dental procedures a wee bit too much. Everything he did and said got huge belly laughs. Also of note: They didn't seem to recognize Christopher Guest when he made a cameo as the first customer to see Audrey II.

Oz came out soon after the lights came up -- and it's startling to think about how much he's affected pop culture above and beyond this film. From Sesame Street to Yoda, he's long been apart of several generations' childhoods. But even the greatest don't always get their way, like when The Geffen Company called for a different ending to the movie. "No one wanted this ending because they loved Seymour and Audrey," Oz admitted. "It was a great lesson to me."

We learned the ins and outs of the making of Little Shop of Horrors, how all the tracks were recorded about a year before filming even started at Pinewood (aka the 007 stage). The songs were played back and Oz instructed his performers to lip sync perfectly ... or else. That proved particularly complicated in big numbers such as "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space," "Feed Me" and "Skid Row." The shot in which the camera rises from "Somewhere That's Green" to "Some Fun Now" also proved to be very trying. Put succinctly, Oz said, "The whole thing was a muther."

This "muther" was only Oz's second solo directing gig. He co-helmed The Dark Crystal with Jim Henson, basically on-the-job training, according to Oz, then handled The Muppets Take Manhattan, which he endearingly kept referring to as Muppet Guys Talking -- the name of the 2017 documentary featuring all five of the original Muppets performers. He originally said no to Little Shop because Oz didn't think he'd be able to handle 12 songs, a variety of guest stars and the burgeoning greenery.

 
Two main things changed his mind. The teenage chorus -- Tichina Arnold, Tisha Campbell and Michele Weeks -- and the realization that the whole thing was supposed to be silly, like the B-movie the original hailed from. "The girls opened it up for me, I knew I could bop them around," Oz said. "David Geffen said, 'Frank, it's supposed to be stupid.' That opened me up completely. ... Everything by Howard is tongue-in-cheek."

Oz cast Rick Moranis as Seymour at Geffen's recommendation, but getting Ellen Greene (who starred in the off-Broadway show) proved to be a little more difficult. "Now he's one of my closest friends," the director said of Moranis. "David wanted stars. I wanted Ellen because I didn't think anyone could be better. So we screen-tested her and David agreed. David suggested Steve [Martin]. We both wanted Billy."

Oz has worked a lot with Martin since on films such as Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Housesitter and Bowfinger. "I'm privileged that Steve trusts me," Oz said. "He and I are the same way. We are very, very serious about our comedy."

The director pointed out that none of the film was done in CGI. Everything was in real time, save an optical of a subway in the distance. The real problem area proved to be the plant ... once again. Because it was foam rubber, its mouth wasn't able to move as fast as Audrey II speaks or sings. So basically everything filmed for that was filmed slower and played back faster -- shot in 16 frames and played back at 24.

As the plant got larger, more bodies were involved with working it, the largest version had 40 for 60 people handling the moves. "I said, 'Guys, I don't want flapping. I want to be able to see every syllable," Oz said.

With designer Lyle Conway's assistance and sweet understanding, Little Shop grew for Oz. And it was good ... no, great ... no, spectacular, in fact. No matter what ending you watch.

The summer of Liz Phair

I never expected to be able to enjoy a live Liz Phair show three times over the course of a single season.

Technically, it was two in the summer and one in the fall, but since the final one went on sale in the summer, I'm shoehorning it in to my "summer of Liz Phair." It still blows my mind that I went to three shows in such a short time span.

It's probably because I've been a fan since Exile in Guyville, and I'd only been able at two concerts before the windfall. And the best part -- all three were different shows at different venues. It wasn't like an artist giving three straight performances at one place or following a tour to different locations. They were all in Brooklyn, the city I was born in. The cherry on top was finally getting to meet Liz and tell her, after all these years, how much her music has and continues to mean to me.

When Phair first started performing, she admitted she had to deal with stage fright. This year's performances showed how far she's come from then. She engages audiences and has started to feed off them. To hear Liz say she was looking forward to getting out on stage at the third show was rather mind-blowing.

The first one was wayyyy back on June 7 at the National Sawdust. The capacity of the striking venue is a mere 350 and it made for a very intimate night on the "Girly Sound to Guyville" Tour stop in support of the stupendous anniversary box set of the same name. I'll stop for a second to praise every single element of that release, because officially getting the amazing tracks and the eye-opening booklet examining all the elements of it was the first huge joy of the "summer of Liz Phair."

I found Exile in Guyville back in 1993 after it was voted Album of the Year in the Village Voice's Pazz and Jop Poll. I listened to it a lot as I wandered the streets of New York City that year. And the next year. I turned as many friends onto it as I could. I bought all the bootlegs I could lay my hands on. Eventually I found Support System -- once a mailing list and still a vibrant Facebook group -- and was turned on to a lot of the unreleased tracks. But having copies of copies' copies can't compare with the remastered versions on the box set.

And the first show felt like a celebration of all of that. Even better, I experienced it with the force of nature behind Support System (then and now) -- Jason Long, who flew in for the show. We queued up for the general admission event together, talking about the good ol' email list days as well as the box set and pondered what was in store for us that night.

Setlist: Fuck or Die, 6'1", Explain It to Me, Batmobile, Easy, Go West, Soap Star Joe, Ant in Alaska, Girls! Girls! Girls!, Help Me Mary, Stratford-on-Guy, Mesmerizing, Polyester Bride, Whip-Smart, Never Said, Fuck and Run, Divorce Song. 

Soccer Mommy (aka Sophie Allison) warmed us up and we were reminded of how widespread Liz's impact has been on music. And from the very first notes of the Johnny Cash-tinged "Fuck or Die" -- one of those songs we once clung to as a bootleg release -- the show was just a sweet sashay through history that, in a strange and wonderful way, we've come to share with Phair.

The first show, with just Liz and guitarist Connor Sullivan, felt like a big sing-along. The longtime fans in attendance knew all the songs, even some of the previously unreleased ones. As usual, I chose lip syncing over belting out the songs off key. No one needed to hear me do that, even in a room full of people doing the same.

We were definitely celebrating "Batmobile," a track that made the cut for the EP Juvenilia, but hadn't previously been played live and "Ant from Alaska," which surfaced on the previous anniversary edition of Guyville. So many songs are close to my heart, basically the entire setlist on this occasion.

Liz recalled sitting her bedroom recording the original Girly Sound songs and how she never expected to be celebrating Guyville and the box set release 25 years after that. "There are all these people in my bedroom," she laughed after loosening up around "Soap Star Joe."

From our vantage spot about halfway back, we could see Liz taking on intricate guitar chores on songs. I noticed it the most during "Easy" and "Girls! Girls! Girls!" but with the duo wailing away on stage, it was obviously ongoing. Most were the Guyville versions, but it was wondrous to hear a take on "Whip-Smart" closer to the original demo.



The second concert was a real surprise, a one-off show opening for Blondie at House of Vans on July 20. Another general-admission event, I got there early and parked myself on line with a lot of Blondie fans. The extra bonus was hearing soundcheck -- "Extraordinary," "Never Said," "Supernova," "Divorce Song" and what sounded like "Mesmerizing" noodling -- fairly clearly through a brick wall.

Setlist: 6'1", Fuck and Run, Divorce Song, Polyester Bride, Stratford-on-Guy, Never Said, Supernova, Johnny Feelgood, Extraordinary, Why Can't I?

It wasn't quite the same crowd of well-behaved diehard fans as the first event. They were more, ahem, a little like savages. My primary example is the millennial who wasn't there when the venue opened (and thusly hadn't parked in front of the stage for 75 minutes or so like the rest of us),  but muscled her way through the throng after Sasami opened the show. After I wouldn't give way so she could get a couple of inches closer, she poured her drink down my 1995 Phair shirt. I still didn't budge. Then she tried to shove her way past me by snarling, "You're not a lesbian, I am." I am all for LGBT, but that's not a golden ticket for rudeness.

Then again, a free show is a free show. It was spectacular to get a free t-shirt and a tote bag as well. Liz has worn her Vans shirt at gigs since and mine is already worn out as well.

Liz told us after years of wearing heels on stage and messing up her knees, she had wised up and started decked out in some comfortable Vans. She also donned a sweet Blondie shirt and a sequined shirt. She definitely worked the latter out on "Johnny Feelgood" and "Supernova."



She seemed to be having a blast on stage. Maybe it was the pressure-free existence in which she belted out 10 tunes with a full band and then hung backstage with Deborah Harry. While the audience didn't know the material quite as well this time, the energy and exuberance was definitely there for the hit-laden set.

The capper was the Amps on the Lawn tour stop at Brooklyn Steel (nope, no lawn there) on Oct. 6. That was right at the end of New York Comic Con, and the chance to see Liz again had me sold already, but then the added bonus -- a meet-and-greet!

We left the con early, that turned out to be a good thing since the directions I got online deposited us on the opposite side of Brooklyn. An Uber later, Sestra and I were still the first two people in line. So we were standing front and center for soundcheck. A fog machine seemed to be pumping away on high and Liz told us to "Come on in!" It seemed like a horror movie with a really good soundtrack.

The band started off with a warmup instrumental before kicking into "Supernova," "Polyester Bride" and "Mesmerizing." I teared up during "Polyester Bride," Liz was singing and I was mouthing the words at the same time. Liz asked whether it was all right if they worked on "Uncle Alvarez," -- as though we would complain about that -- because she felt like her vocals were wandering on lyrics like "imaginary accomplishments." Afterward, she asked, "Doesn't that [song] feel really relevant right now? It's kind of scary." Yeah, it really does.

I spent a couple months trying to figure out what to say to someone whose work has influenced me so greatly. But yet when I got to the front of the meet-and-greet line, what sprang to mind was how the photographer was "Tatum O'Neal-ing." Regular blog readers might recall that the Oscar-winning actress prefers to be photographed at an angle from up higher. And when I referred to Tatum as a verb, Liz asked about Tatum O'Neal-ing.

My subsequent dialogue went something like this: "Tatum O'Neal-ing is ... oh, hi, I'm Paige. Big fan forever." (Or some such bunk.) I started to explain Tatum-ing again. "Is it OK if I get a hug?  (Then after the hug,) so I thought [the photographer] was Tatum O-Nealing because he is so tall!" That really wasn't what I worked so hard trying to come up with for three months. But when it was her turn, Sestra saved the day -- as she often does. She told Liz I introduced her music to her and Liz asked "Do you want to join us?" for their photo as well. I think I made some kind of "uhhh, yeah" retort and a Roadrunner noise circling back over to them. That's when I started shaking. Oh well, at least my adrenaline rush held off until then.

Setlist: Supernova, Johnny Feelgood, Cinco de Mayo, Uncle Alvarez, Everything to Me, Never Said, 6'1", Help Me Mary, Blood Keeper (with Sadie Dupuis), The Game, Mesmerizing, Polyester Bride, Stratford-on-Guy, Extraordinary, Why Can't I? Encore: Fuck and Run, Divorce Song.



Back at the National Sawdust show, Liz had mentioned the unique energy of New York. "It might be supernatural," she said at Brooklyn Steel, later adding that if property values were lower in New York she would surely move here. "I couldn't wait to fuckin' get on stage tonight."

The audience at the last show seemed like a combination of the two prior ones, and they really liked the whitechocolatespaceegg material. We didn't get quite the vantage point we had for soundcheck, just a row of people or so behind, but we were close enough to make eye contact with guitarists Connor Sullivan and Cody Perrin. To the right of my sister, there were a bunch of jostling millennials who squeezed in after the end of opener Speedy Ortiz's set. I'm not sure how many knew what a boon it was to get the unreleased WCSE-era song "Blood Keeper," performed with Speedy Ortiz's lead singer Sadie Dupuis.

The full band sounded great. We had new insight into "Uncle Alvarez" after the soundcheck and were even listening for "wandering vocals" and knowing glances. Loved the new song, "The Game," although it was the one song I didn't know all the words to. Otherwise, it was just me rocking out and lip syncing to every song. It was all the more fun for having my sister there, and she held up well considering it was a long day that capped an exhaustively enjoyable Comic Con week.

I love how this trifecta ultimately panned out. The most emotional musical experience came first and the long-awaited opportunity to meet her and rock out with my sister was most recent. I couldn't have scheduled it better if I had something to do with any of it.

I'll be waiting patiently for my next opportunity to see her, but I don't expect anything like "the summer of Liz Phair" to wash over me again.

'Partying like it's 1995'

Give me a 'B' ... give me an 'e' ... what's it spell? Beck? Belly? Both!

I had the opportunity to experience both these '90s icons on stage and in their elements in the past several months. Both are artists I wasn't completely obsessed with during that decade, but have become increasingly so about in the ensuing years.

I'd been particularly bonkers over Beck. Ever since the Midnite Vultures album, he's soared higher and higher in my estimation. I love how he changes styles with each album. What could he do after racking up Grammys with the critically lauded, dreamy Morning Phase? To the extremely danceable Colors, of course!



So how many concerts have attended in your lifetime in which the overriding opinion wound up being "It wasn't as good as the record?" It can't be said about Beck. Despite the difficulty inherent in recreating the multi-layered sounds of Colors for the stage, he sounded outta sight in his first headlining gig at Madison Square Garden on July 19. "This is no small miracle to be here," he told us. It kind of felt that way to me, my Beck buddy Liam and the vibrant crowd as well.

Setlist: Devils Haircut, The New Pollution, Mixed Bizness, Up All Night, Wow, Qué Onda Güero, Think I'm in Love (I Feel Love interlude), I'm So Free, Dear Life (with Britt Daniel),  I Turn My Camera On (with Daniel), Girl Dreams (with Jenny Lewis), Lost Cause, Blue Moon, Video Girl, Colors, Loser, E-Pro. Encore: Where It's At Play, Can I Kick It/Good Times/See No Evil/I'm Waiting for the Man/Taking It to the Streets/Once in A Lifetime/In the Air Tonight, One Foot in the Grave, Where It's At (reprise).

As evidenced by the setlist, there was an amazing mix of tracks from virtually every corner of his discography. Spoon frontman Britt Daniel joined in for one of Beck's -- "Dear Life" and one of his own -- "I Turn My Camera On." Then Beck dedicated "Girl Dreams" to Bill Murray after finding out the actor liked the song. "I have a song called 'Girl' and a song called 'Dreams' and a song called 'Girl Dreams,'" he laughed. We were particularly thrilled to get the latter, since the One Foot in the Grave track hadn't been played live since 2003.



There were lots of fun Beck tidbits sprinkled throughout the night of music, including family history about his ancestors jumping overboard and then working on the docks in New Jersey. He thanked us for indulging his desire to change genres. But seriously, Beck, we're not coddling you in the slightest. When you can pull off a dance tune as well as one of the funky soul variety, it's not difficult to remain Team Beck. He told us that Colors came about as a result of all the energy he's gotten from fans over the years. On this particular date, those helping cultivate a strong dose of positive energy included his mother and his son.

Beck told a story of a previous appearance at the Garden, in 1997 for the Grammys. Odelay was a nominee for Album of the Year and he had just performed "Where It's At" when he was "taken through twists and turns" around the labyrinthine passageways and left in a holding area ... with Bruce Springsteen. "It was like a dream where you turn around and see Bruce," he recalled. "I asked him, 'What are you doing here?' He asked me, ''What are you doing here?"



That made for the perfect segueway into the song he performed that night at the Grammys, complete with a lovely "Strawberry Fields Forever" intro. Then the members of his band went around the horn spotlighting iconic artists from the city, including A Tribe Called Quest ("Can I Kick It?"), Chic ("Good Times"), Television ("See No Evil"), Velvet Underground ("I'm Waiting for the Man") and Talking Heads ("Once in a Lifetime"). Beck also brought back long beloved members of his band and I flashed back to Liam and my 2006 Jersey City show when they fell all over each other to cap "E-Pro" ... just as they had done back then.

At least I'd seen Beck before. I thought I had eternally missed the Belly boat when I was thrown a life preserver in the form of the Sept. 28 show at the Union Transfer in Philadelphia. The tour came on the heels of the band's very strong third album, Dove, very reminiscent of the catchy and heartfelt songs Tanya Donelly and company became known for in the '90s.



Set 1 setlist: Seal My Fate, Army of Clay, Dusted, Mine, Red, The Bees, Quicksand, Stars Align, Now They'll Sleep, Silverfish. Set 2: Shiny One, Gepetto, Faceless, Feed the Tree, Artifact, Slow Dog, Girl, Super-Connected, Full Moon Empty Heart, Human Child. Encore: Low Red Moon, Starryeyed.

"Did you miss us?" bassist Gail Greenwood asked when Belly took the stage and I didn't realize how much I did until just then. It didn't matter that they flubbed the start of "Army of Clay," in fact, it proved to be all the more endearing for the humanizing moment. Greenwood gave me the blog headline when she proclaimed we'd be partying like 1995. After proclaiming "time is elastic," that concept was tweaked to 1993 and used again for the band's seminal song, "Feed the Tree."



Donelly's vocals seemed a little buried from my perch on the second floor of Union Transfer, but the telltale Belly riffs were unmistakable, even in the new songs. The full force of Tanya's ability broke through the mix on "Red" and some of the newer songs. One concertgoer called for "Judy Staring at the Sun," the Catherine Wheel song featuring Donelly. Tanya laughed and said "it would sound very sad and and small with long pauses in between [the lyrics] 'She's suffering.'"

The chemistry between Donelly, Greenwood, lead guitarist Tom Gorman and drummer Chris Gorman was palpable. So much so that when someone shouted "Get a room" after Tanya kissed Tom, she responded, "If that was gonna happen, it would have happened a long time ago."



That week, the band was reeling on the heels of the Senate Judiciary Committee's dismissal of sexual assault testimony of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, referring to the miscarriage of justice several times during the night. Donely offered up a two-handed middle-finger salute and thanked the crowd for "turning a shit week into a fucking beautiful week."

Admittedly, at the time, I didn't know their songs as well as I wished I did, so I could lip sync to every single song. But that will surely change by the next time I get to see them, for Belly is right up my proverbial alley. The passion they have for playing with each other and to the audience backs up some amazing talent, for sure.

So if I could jump in a time machine and head back to 1995 or 1993, I'd surely be paying more attention to both Beck and Belly. I'd be Beck to the future with a Belly full of memories.

Doctors, superheroes and Boys, oh my!

Another year, another New York Comic Con. Which loosely translated means a lot of rushing around, muscling way through crowds, sharing some precious moments with favorite actors ... and coming down with con crud. But in the final determination, it all seems worth it.

Our Comic Con started early this year with a lottery win to see a screening of DC Entertainment's new series Titans. Even that came with added bonuses, namely Brendan Fraser coming on stage to tell us about Doom Patrol -- a show featuring characters dealing with physical disabilities instead of models -- and Kaley Cuoco's blink-and-you-miss-her Harley Quinn introduction.

The new-and-flashy Titans came off as ultra-violent and not particularly appreciative of history. Sestra deemed it character assassination -- and Dick Grayson's "f--- Batman" comment seemed to back that up. The powers-that-be apparently wanted that line of dialogue to be polarizing ... and it was. Half the audience greeted that sentiment with uproarious laughter and cheers as the rest of us shifted uncomfortably in our seats.

I thought the standout among the superheroes in the Titans family was Teagan Croft as Rachel, there seem to be a lot of places to take that character in the future ... and that will include a Season 2 as the show runners confirmed that it had been green-lit.

The next day it was on to the Javits Center. Day 1 is usually about getting as far through the vendor room as we can, but we wanted to see early arrival Dean Cain. So we jumped on to his line and waited ... and waited ... as the scheduled autograph time came and went. After an hour of that, we took off.

But we tried again later in the afternoon and guilted our way onto the line when it was about to wrap up for the day. Cain is very gregarious and engaging. In checking out our "Sibling Cinema" shirts and spotting the #10wordmoviereviews hashtag, he exclaimed, "I can read 10 words!" We also talked about Season 11 of The X-Files, since our other hashtag is #XFilesrewatch. He fondly recalled filming Lois and Clark when both shows were in their respective heydays. Although his handler gave us the move-along, Dean continued the conversation.

Sestra asked him which movie we should do a 10-word review of, and he mentioned Gosnell, his then-upcoming film on the story of Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell. (We definitely plan to get to that one when our schedule allows.) Spotting our Christopher Reeve Foundation Superman dog tags, he said he had gotten that too and met Reeve's wonderful children during his travels. Dean put us -- well, our Sibling Cinema business card anyway -- in his back pocket. And we got big hugs before and after our selfie snap.

After a hearty day of shopping, we went to the lively Neil DeGrasse Tyson StarTalk panel -- another lottery win for us. The "Hollywood astrophysicist" often took a backseat to his guests -- theoretical physicist Brian Greene and comic Chuck Nice -- while mulling over the topics of Doctor Who's time travel, the quantum physics of Ant-Man and Stranger Things' parallel universes.

It's difficult to convey how much fun the three discussions with a recap, but in simplest of terms -- the group voted thumbs-up on the idea of Doctor Who wormholes, mostly down on the seismic Ant-Man changes and split on parallel universes.

Put succinctly by the man himself, "The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." After excellent advice to wanna-be writers/creators to make sure what they present makes sense within the universe it exists in, DeGrasse Tyson shared an emotional letter to NASA he penned for the anniversary of that organization and his own 60th birthday.

Day 2 was full of fun interactions with more celebrities, including Alex Kingston -- close to Sestra's heart as River Song in Doctor Who, but just as close to mine for the vibrant production of Macbeth I attended at the Park Avenue Armory four years ago. During our quick photo op, I told her how amazing I thought she was in it. She halted and responded "That really means a lot to me." As that moment did to me. Meeting David Tennant -- Sestra's Doctor and my No. 2 -- consisted a lot of smiling and no small amount of perspiration (for me, at least).

We also did the Lois and Clark photo op with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher -- although the volunteers attempting to keep us in line with shouts of "Lewis and Clark!! Lewis and Clark!!" were simultaneously off-putting and amusing. When we got to them, I heard someone ask Hatcher how old she was. Teri declined with a polite joke and smiled when I backed her up with a "Yeah, Teri!" Ever-attentive Dean noted we had changed to our Wonder Twins shirts and exclaimed, "10-word movie reviews"! That's the kind of publicity we like.



As Sestra went off to our third lottery win -- for Karl Urban's The Boys -- I started a line to meet the authors of an amazing Apollo graphic novel. Matt Fitch and Chris Baker told me they had just flown over from England and I was their first fan. They seemed as excited to meet me as I was to greet them. Matt's space interest had been passed down from his dad, who was very much into the Challenger story, while Chris became interested in it more recently. Then Mike Collins was brought into the fold. I told them when I first heard about their book, I thought the original Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins (also an artist) might have contributed. Of course, Mike Collins -- who has worked on the Dr. Who series and drew the Sherlock: Mind Palace coloring book -- is no slouch in that department. In fact, Mike was unable to attend the con due to ongoing Dr. Who obligations.

When I reunited with Sestra, I heard about how she "borderline fan-girled" at The Boys signing, which included Simon Pegg as well. She told me she "broke the assembly line" by engaging in conversation with Urban, that included some side chat from Jack Quaid (described as "such a little flirt.") Sestra described it as being akin to the conveyor belt on the uproarious I Love Lucy candy episode in which everything got backed up and off track. I think she enjoyed being the cause of the backup in this case.

A few weeks earlier, we went back and forth before committing to the Doctor Who panel at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and so glad we ultimately decided in its favor because it was a wild and wacky one with Kingston, Tennant and Matt Smith. I think Kingston convinced them to go an unconventional route, so it featured the actors interviewing members of the audience -- including those dressed like their Doctor Who characters and children. It was a great way of getting around a traditional Q&A session.

When the audience did get to pose some questions, David got adorably unnerved when he was asked about what transpired on the set of "The Doctor's Daughter," the Doctor Who episode that featured his future real-life wife, Georgia Moffett. T-he details remained private on that, but Tennant felt a lot more comfortable bemoaning the budget during his years on the show. "We only went to Rome on green screen because HBO was leasing sets," he quipped. Meanwhile, Matt Smith and his compatriots got to travel to New York and go to Spain and other exotic locations to shoot the show.

One story I hadn't previously heard was how Tennant and Smith both stayed in the same flat -- at different times, of course -- while they were starring in the series. Smith teased that he thought about how Tennant went about memorizing the "incredibly wordy dialogue" within the same confines.

All three of them sound genuinely thrilled to be part of the show's legacy and threw their support completely behind the incoming 13th doctor Jodie Whittaker. We were really hoping she'd make a surprise appearance, but a late-night show had her booked that night, so it wasn't to be. To tell the truth, I didn't really remember we wanted that until we were heading home. 



Our last day at NYCC was an abbreviated one, but was highlighted by a photo op with Smith. We told him how much we enjoyed the previous night's entertainment. He asked "Was that fun?" while giving us fist bumps. Before and after that, we went to world premiere pilot screenings of a couple shows (Legacies -- the latest spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals -- and Roswell, New Mexico), both helmed by Julie Plec. I think we both preferred the latter, which kept the spirit of the original series and stars the affable Nathan Parsons. Sitting behind the casts each time, we got a darkened glimpse at their reactions to the inaugural showings. And aside from one power-hungry line coordinator for Roswell, it marked a fine end to this year's incarnation of the con for both of us.