Police were called after an argument between a Star Wars fan and a Doctor Who fan at a sci-fi convention in the UK. The media reports about it so far have been vastly overblown (probably for comedic effect), claiming over a dozen people in costumes had a “bitter row“. The argument was really only a verbal kerfuffle between one member of the Norwich Star Wars Club (NSWC) and one member of the Norwich Sci Fi Club (NSFC), says the chairman of the NSFC in a statement posted on Facebook. Well, he didn’t call it a verbal kerfuffle, but that’s how we imagine Britons talk.
The argument occurred at NOR-CON IV, a convention with over 1000 attendees held at the University of East Anglia. The dispute was between Richard Walker, the 63 year old organizer of NSWC’s convention, and Jim Poole, the 44 year old treasurer of the rival NSFC.
Walker reportedly confronted Poole, who arrived at the convention with a guy dressed as Judge Dredd and another dressed as the 10th Doctor (played by David Tennant). Really? Middle-aged Star Wars and Doctor Who fans have a reason to passionately argue about films and TV shows? Who has the energy? This story just keeps getting sillier.
Mr. Walker said the visiting club had been trying to undermine and embarrass the convention by posting comments on social media sites such as Facebook. But Mr. Poole said he had attended “in good faith” to collect autographs from two actors for a Doctor Who signature diary to be auctioned for charity. Both sides said there had been a long-running rivalry between the two groups and the events they organise. [The Telegraph via Bleeding Cool]
Ugh. So a Facebook fight turned into a one-on-one verbal argument turned into a call to the police turned into the media playing another game of “let’s laugh at the nerds” by portraying the story as if a crowd of Stormtroppers and a crowd of David Tennants started the world’s most asthmatic soccer riot.
Just ugh.
I wonder what the fans of other geeky franchises have to say about this supposed Star Wars and Doctor Who rivalry?
All according to the plan… *Jonathan Frakes cowboy sits at computer, logs into Facebook under fake name, trolls NSWC fan page*
[Banner picture by AskGriff. GIFs via Reddit, CBM, and Carlos Adama.]