Last weekend’s 2012 Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, by all accounts, was the biggest SF fandom event ever held in Alberta. Thanks to the 1-2-3-4 punch of the entire original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, comic book icon Stan Lee, the definitive Batman, Adam West, and the twins from Harry Potter thrown in for good measure, the event attracted so many people the fire marshal ended up shutting down admissions on the Saturday.

Indeed the show had lots to offer fans. Except, maybe, fans of Doctor Who and Torchwood. One issue I’ve had since I started going to the Expo is that every year they bring in a wide range of stars from Trek, comics, the world of anime, but virtually nothing Who-related.

This year was actually better than most from a Who-franchise perspective, though you had to be paying attention. James Marsters (Capt. John Hart on Torchwood) was a big draw this year. Dave Prowse (the Minotaur in the Pertwee-era story “The Time Monster”) made good on a promise to return after health issues forced him to cancel last year. A surprise guest to the TNG 25th anniversary reunion was John de Lancie (Allen Shapiro in Miracle Day), who also snuck into a panel for fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic for which he does voices (the image above is taken from one of the many YouTube videos of this event). But as far as I could tell virtually no attention was paid to any of these guys’ work on the franchise. But then none of these folks became known because of their work on Doctor Who. The people who were and are strongly associated with the franchise—the Tom & Colin Bakers, the John Barrowmans, the Nicola Bryants, the Billie Pipers—we’ve never seen any of them at the Calgary Expo.

This year, the Expo had a goldmine by bringing in the cast of TNG to mark its 25th anniversary. The hope now is as the planners turn to 2013 they will now look at the next anniversary: the 50th birthday of Doctor Who. Imagine if they score a coup for Canada and bring in Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy and Paul McGann? Imagine the chaos if they managed to book David Tennant or Matt Smith (the latter’s doing the convention circuit in the UK so you never know; we’ll take as read that Christopher Eccleston doesn’t do conventions). The recent Gallifrey One convention in L.A. brought in the likes of William Russell from the UK to share stories - surely they could bring him to Calgary as well. Russell T Davies would be a huge draw, able to not only talk about his triple play of Doctor Who series but also to discuss his other work like Queer as Folk. John Barrowman is apparently a hoot at conventions, and by the time next April rolls around could be a big star on US TV if his new series Gilded Lilys goes anywhere.

By bringing in the entire cast of TNG (not a cheap proposition), the Calgary Expo announced that it’s in the big leagues. Surely they can bring in a Doctor or two, or a few companions, or a behind the scenes person like Nick Briggs. It would be a great venue for Steven Moffat to unveil a 50th anniversary announcement of some sort (recognizing that the series was in part created by a Canadian, Sydney Newman), or host the world debut of an episode if Series 7 is still airing. If they don’t bring in at least a few Doctor Who alumni (past or present) next year, it will be a golden opportunity lost for fans in this part of the world.

Postscript: As if we need more reason to get Doctor Who to Calgary, Mayor Naheed Nenshi reveals his love of the series - especially the Target novelisations - in a newly released magazine marking the Calgary Public Library’s 100th anniversary. Download it here (link via the CPL’s Twitter feed): Calgary Public Library: The 100.