'Doctor Who' convention draws kid fans
Kaylee Thompsen of Sayville and her father, Pete, at the L.I. Who convention Nov. 10 at the Clarion Hotel in Ronkonkoma. Credit: Newsday / Valerie Kellogg
If your child loves a time-traveling machine called the TARDIS and fears a race of cyborgs called Daleks, then buy your ticket soon for next year’s L.I. Doctor Who convention, to be held Nov. 13-15, 2015 (longislanddoctorwho.com).
The sold-out, three-day event last weekend drew more than 1,000 fans of the long-running British TV show, including children like 5-year-old Kaylee Thompsen of Sayville. She was at the Clarion Hotel in Ronkonkoma Sunday for the conference’s Kids Day in a TARDIS dress handmade by her mother, lifelong viewer Sarah, a mental health counselor. The girl’s been watching the sci-fi show for about a year, and is only on the third season as she makes her way through episodes on Netflix, said her dad, Pete, who works in information technology, but she could say why she likes it.
“Because the doctor saves the day,” she said enthusiastically.
Doctor Who is an alien who takes the form of a human and travels through this universe and others to save people and fix wrongs in his TARDIS, which looks like a small blue British phone booth on the outside but is an enormous space ship on the inside. Not only is it “just a fun show” for Kaylee to watch, but Pete added, “it opens her eyes to the possibilities.”
