I was bound to fall in love with this place. As a fan of movies in general and Doctor Who, The Lord of the Rings, Buffy, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Marvel and a long etcetera in particular, this was meant to be my Promised Land. And indeed it was.

This is the kind of event that leaves you wishing these things happened every weekend. After a chaotic tube journey (damn you, District line), my partner in crime Krista and I managed to get to Earls Court Exhibition Centre in time to get our press passes. And so the experience began.

I must say I am ashamed of myself, because the first thing I witnessed was some man speaking on a panel and I did not realise it was Chris Barrie, of Red Dwarf fame. Me, who grew up watching The Brittas Empire! Again, completely embarrassed.

Thankfully, I did recognise the rest of the speakers from every panel I attended. Ralph Macchio (Karate Kid) and Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) proved to be some of the most easy-going and nicest people, especially Macchio who, 30 years after the release of Karate Kid, still feels passionate about the movie and its fans, but also looks like he hasn’t aged one bit in three decades! My jaw dropped to the floor when he mentioned that he had a 22-year-old daughter.

The other two big mentions should go to the Game of Thrones and Doctor Who panels. The first one saw the always amusing Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Ross Mullan (the man behind every White Walker and other creatures on DW as well) and Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel –the interviewer had to read out his name from his phone; embarrassing). Flynn was asked about his preparation for the brothel scenes and they all declared themselves Team Arya.

As for the Doctor Who panel, it was perfect. I am still waiting for the day when all the living Doctors get together to do one of these, but for now this works just fine. Very, very fine. Led by Colin Baker, the Sixth Doctor was joined by members of the Classic Who cast: Peter Purves (Steven Taylor), Frazer Hines (Jamie McCrimmon), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Wendy Padbury (Zoe) and Lalla Ward (Romana II). Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of this Comic Con and a feast for Doctor Who fans.

The LFCCW was truly an event in which you could find anything. Dozens of stands filled with merchandising, paintings, odd collector’s items and new toys, books, comics and so much more to buy. A place to meet your idols and to take some memories home with you. In my case, I took home Daenerys and Heisenberg pop vinyl toys and could not purchase two books of Doctor Who and Lost because they didn’t accept cards. Just my luck. But I keep with me the other type of memory: that of witnessing an event of this magnitude, the casts of these shows and movies talking so passionately about their experiences and the fans absorbing every second as if was golden. And in many ways, it was.

MCM Comic Con, here we come!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.