...and it is good.

So, some time back, my friend Cliff had told me about the Bay Area Doctor Who fan club Legion of Rassilon. They meet on the 4th Friday of every month, and on the 5th Friday when there is a 5th Friday, and watch Doctor Who-related stuff on video, and talk about the show. Last night, I screwed up my courage and went to a meeting.

Not that it really needed much courage in the end. I was afraid that when I got to the meeting location (a Carl's Jr. in North San Jose), I wouldn't be able to identify the group. I needn't have worried - the remote-controlled Dalek and the mass of video equipment was a bit of a give away. I was also worried that I wouldn't know anyone there (as it turned out, Cliff showed up), and that as a long-running fan club, everyone would know each other and it would be cliquish. (Everyone did know each other, but it wasn't at all cliquish. I felt welcome right away, and I think after I made my suggestion of mounting the remote-controlled Dalek on a Roomba, I was officially part of the group.)

I should have known better than to worry. In my experience, Doctor Who fans in person are sweethearts, even by the already kind-hearted and generous standards of science fiction fandom in general. Doctor Who fans online, on the other hand - you should see some of the flamewars going on over on Outpost Gallifrey.

Anyway, it was great fun. Merv, who seems to be the more or less official group leader, has some way of getting recordings off of broadcast in the UK. (I suspect a friend or relative with a TiVo or something like that.) So, the group can screen stuff that hasn't aired in the US yet. Last night, we watched two episodes of Torchwood, which is a spinoff series from Doctor Who. We played with the remote-controlled Dalek, and discussed some plans for helping the local PBS station with pledge drives during its airing of Doctor Who. (For any locals reading this, KTEH, the San Jose public television station, will be airing the 2005 season of Doctor Who starting on Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., starting April 10th.)

But, the best part is, at next month's meeting, they'll be showing episodes from the new season 3 that starts broadcasting in the U.K. today! Part of the reason that I went to the meeting was to find folks to commiserate with over not being able to see season 3 for months and months. It looks like I won't have to wait that long.

So, yay for fandom!