Peter Davison Visits Brisbane

Peter Davison

Today I joined the crowds to meet the legendary Peter Davison in Brisbane ahead of The Dr Who Symphonic Spectacular this weekend.  That's right, the fifth Doctor Who paid a visit to my town.

I rocked up just before 7.00 where surprisingly there was no one else waiting. It still didn't take long for a small group of dedicated Whovians to gather with the line growing in dribs and drabs before a big influx around 8.30.  Then crowd was good natured and friendly with one participant even handing out celery sticks. 

Not too many Dr Who shirts were in evidence with many, myself included, obviously intending to make a dash for their respective workplaces once they were done.

The 7am Club

The ABC shop where this visitation was occurring opened at 9 with plenty of people taking the opportunity to take turns browsing while friends and strangers minded their places. Something the manager seemed very pleased about for some strange reason. The queue itself stretched a fair way around the floor of the Myer Centre and was getting close to the 150 mark.  The security guards keeping an eye on the line were pretty relaxed. Some of the passers by looked a bit confused though.

The age range was pretty diverse with the youngest being around 4 going right up to individuals who would have enjoyed the Peter Davison episodes on their first runs.

There were some very shy people in the crowd

The first full costumed fans made an appearance just after 9.30 with one in full Davison garb and another as Matt Smith which drew much admiration from the patiently waiting crowd.

Where the magic happened

As 10.00 came around the crowd was getting to be a bit too much of an issue for the available area so at that point all had to stand up to allow people to move forward.  Shortly afterwards newcomers arrived to the news that the crowd was well over 200 and they could not let anyone else join the queue.  This created a secondary area of people jockeying for a good vantage point to see Peter Davison.

At 10.15 it all started happening.  Peter Davison came out to the cheers of those at the front and almost immediately got down to business.  I managed a firm handshake and some polite chit chat before I was overcome with awe at meeting one of the classic Doctors.  My wife's Dr Who Annual was signed (only one item allowed), another handshake, some burble from me about how much of a privilege it was to meet him, a quick photo and I was on my way.

From the brief encounter he seemed very relaxed and genuinely pleased to be there.  If he was concerned about the crowd it certainly wasn't showing.

A relaxed Peter Davison

Now to wait to see him in action as the host of the Dr Who Symphonic Spectacular this weekend.  Of course I will let you know what I think!

Yours truly with Peter!

Esports Invades The Queen Street Mall

Lunchtime crowds were enthralled, curious, amused and bemused today as The Pig 'N' Whistle in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall, a very popular sports bar, played host to something a bit different.

An enthusiastic crowd gathered to watch the finals of the International Dota 2 Championships.  For those who don't know Dota 2 (Defense of the Ancients) is a free to play multiplayer online strategy game developed by Valve Software.  According to Dota 2 - Pubstomps festivities started around 5am which offered fortuitous timing as the grand final match between the Swedish esports team, Alliance, and the Ukraine's representatives, Natus Vincere, was heating up just as a sizeable proportion of Brisbane's workforce were heading out to enjoy a very sunny lunch break.

The place was packed and overflowing into the surrounding area of the Mall, and the crowd was going off.  I've seen enthusiastic sports fans at The Pig 'N' Whistle on a number of occasions, but I have rarely seen a crowd this engaged with the onscreen action.  The atmosphere was incredible (even if I did see a few drinkers looking very confused about the goings on).

I know the popularity of esports has been growing quite rapidly over the past few years, but to see this sort of turn out hosted at a major sports bar in Brisbane of all places is nothing short of incredible.  If what happened today is any indication I think we will be seeing more mainstream screenings of esports events in the very near future.