It’s a Saturday night, yet dozens of Cal Poly students are gathered in and around the new Baker Science building on campus. Many of them are wearing bow ties, foot-long scarves, or stalks of celery pinned to their clothes. Outside, there is a long table piled with food such as Jammie Dodgers and fish fingers and custard, while inside a playlist of classic rock songs blares from the speakers of a lecture hall.

The Whovians have arrived.