Christian Cawley's Blog, page 141

Karen Gillan and Caitlin Blackwood, Doctor Who’s Amelia Pond in Kansas City

Rebecca Crockett is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

It’s that time again dear readers: convention season has started! A new year means a new round of comic conventions across the globe, with more cons happening than ever before!

If you happen to be in the central parts of the US, then you’ll want to listen up.

Kansas City, MO is once again set to play host to Planet Comicon, the areas largest comic convention. Among the guests appearing at the convention are three fan favorites from Doctor Who – John Barrowman, Karen Gillan, and Karen’s on screen mini double, Caitlin Blackwood!

As you’ll recall, real life cousins Karen and Caitlin both played Amelia Pond on Doctor Who, working alongside the Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith. Caitlin first appeared as a young Amelia in the Eleventh Doctor’s first episode, The Eleventh  Hour. She has  since done more work in Scottish films. Karen went on to play older Amelia in 2.5 more seasons, and most recently was seen in Guardians Of The Galaxy and on tv in the sitcom, Selfie.

Barrowman is well known to Who fans for his role as the dashingly handsome Captain Jack Harkness with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors and is currently staring in the TV show Arrow.

Karen Gillan and John Barrowman are set to attend Planet Comicon on 14 and 15 March, the Saturday and Sunday of the convention. Caitlin Blackwood is set to attend 13-15 March, all three days of the show.

No word yet on when they might be part of any panel discussions, but both Gillan and Barrowman usually have their own panels.

Also happening at Planet Comicon will be a performance by the popular YouTube sensation Timey Wimey Puppet Show with Mike Horner of Mister Mike Puppets.

Sounds like it will be loads of fun! Wish I could go!

Planet Comicon will be held 13-15 March, 2015 in Kansas City, MO.

For more info on the cast appearances, tickets, and general information about the show, check out the Planet Comicon website!

 

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PodKast: Sonic Screwdriver Props, Police Box Replicas & Monster Redesigns

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

This week’s podKast takes the slow road; without Christian Cawley (no voice), James McLean and Brian A. Terranova choose to talk about props, specifically the sonic screwdriver and police boxes, as well as suggesting some redesign tips for the Daleks and Cybermen.

So kick back and relax with James and Brian in a sort of timey wimey fireside chat. Hot chocolate might be in order, it’s nice, comfy and warming, just like your hosts.

Kasterborous PodKast Series 4 Episode 51 Shownotes

Recommendations: San Demetrio, London, The Invasion, The Great Train Robbery

PodKast introduction by John Guilor. Theme tune by Russell Hugo.

Listen to the PodKast

There are several ways to listen. In addition to the usual player above, we’re pleased to announce that you can also stream the podKast using Stitcher, an award-winning, free mobile app available for Android and iPhone/iPad. This pretty much means that you can listen to us anywhere without downloading – pretty neat, we think you’ll agree! (Note that it can take a few hours after a new podKast is published to “catch up”.)

What’s more, you can now listen and subscribe to the podKast via our Audioboo channel! Head to http://audioboo.fm/channel/doctorwhopodkast and click play to start listening. You can also comment and record your own boos in response to our discussions! Meanwhile you can use the player below to listen through Audioboo:

You haven’t clicked play yet?! What are you waiting for? As well as our new Stitcher and Audioboo presence you can also use one of these amazingly convenient ways to download and enjoy this week’s podKast.

Use the player in the top right of the Kasterborous home page, or visit the podKast menu link.
Listen with the “pop out” player above, which also allows you to download the podKast to your computer.
You can also take advantage of the RSS feed to subscribe to the podKast for your media player, and even find us on iTunes, where your reviews will help the show considerably.

 

The post PodKast: Sonic Screwdriver Props, Police Box Replicas & Monster Redesigns appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Is This William Hartnell In A Long Lost Desert Island Discs?

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Here’s a treat for all: the surprising release of a long-lost segment from an edition of Desert Island Discs from 1965 featuring one of television’s biggest stars, William Hartnell!

Sadly, the full recording is no longer available, but the clip above does at least give us an insight into the first Doctor Who star’s early life, which he recalls as best he can with long-running Desert Island Discs present Roy Plomley, who started the show all the way back in 1942 (the clip is introduced by current host, Kirsty Young).

Commencing with Hartnell’s first choice of music, this clip was discovered today and the news made public by @farfromallover, an announcement that followed “a lengthy email chain with DID”.

Interestingly, there are rumours online suggesting that the clip is in fact a very clever fake. Certainly the clip was available to hear on the BBC website earlier today, only to be surprisingly withdrawn a few hours later.

What do you think?

 

 

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Did Christopher Eccleston Hang-up When Asked About Doctor Who?

Barry Rice is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Former Ninth Doctor Christopher Eccleston has been making the promotional rounds this week to talk about his new series Fortitude (premiering tonight at 9pm on Sky Atlantic), and one reporter from The Mirror was brave enough to ask about Doctor Who.

For most of the interview, conversation actually centered around the current state of the British film industry, and the perception of a class bias.

“In my experience, about 33 years in the industry, there has always been a class system,” says Eccleston. “Although there is nepotism in every single industry, I would say nepotism in the entertainment industry is much more insidious.

“It’s a society problem, really, in that we have always given precedence to people with an RP accent and those from public schools. That’s always been the way this country has developed and the entertainment industry, particularly at this moment in time, is built to reflect that.”

Eccleston, who comes from a working-class background himself, continues:

“It is far, far, far less likely that an actor of my background would be able to break through now than when I when I broke through in the early 90s.”

Interviewer, Clemmie Moodie tries to steer the conversation into a more lighthearted arena by mentioning last year’s internet hoax claiming Eccleston had died. But Eccleston is not amused. “What? Somebody said I’d died?” he asks. “My agent never made me aware of it. No, that’s very disturbing. I’m disappointed; members of my family might have read that, that’s really unpleasant.”

Finally, after having been warned three times by Eccleston’s publicist not to mention Doctor Who, the intrepid reporter asks Eccleston if he agrees that current Doctor Peter Capaldi is doing a great job. Eccleston is having none of it.

After a few moments of silence, and the reporter then asking if Christopher is still there, a female voice replies: “Christopher has hung up.”

As the interviewer mentions, Eccleston has made no secret of his disinterest in discussing Doctor Who. In another interview four years ago, the actor made some rare comments on the subject:

“I thought to remain, which would have made me a lot of money and given me huge visibility, the price I would have had to pay was to eat a lot of s***.”

The specific behind-the-scenes turmoil and “politics” that led to Eccleston’s exit from the TARDIS have never been publicly revealed.

The post Did Christopher Eccleston Hang-up When Asked About Doctor Who? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Are These 5 Doctor Who Villains More Powerful Than The Daleks?!

Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Apparently we should blame Russell T Davies. It’s his fault that the Daleks standing as the Doctor’s greatest foe has been undermined by near total failure. Be it his reliance upon fleet upon fleet of whizz bang Daleks making lots of noise and not a lot else, or his attempts to dilute the Dalek DNA with pinstriped abominations, What Culture, in a pique of frustration, have begun auditioning their replacements.

But we at Kasterborous cannot stand by and watch everyone’s favourite despots be cast as weak and fundamentally flawed – we love the Daleks and we won’t let their apparent misuse knock them from the number one spot.

In fact, let’s begin with that misuse. It’s a little hard to argue as the article does that a lone Dalek somehow possess more power than an entire fleet of the pepper pots: is it too much of a stretch to imagine that the same threat they carried in Dalek is still carried by those within the fleet?

If Russell T Davies is guilty of anything it’s of not reminding us enough during the fire and the fury of just how single-mindedly evil they can be – in fact, the difference in sense of jeopardy is akin to comparing Alien to Aliens – both have their value.

Anyway, let’s look at our new ‘greatest enemies’.

The Reapers

First potential conqueror of the Daleks are the Reapers from Series 1’s Father’s Day. In the episode we learned that they are an ancient race of bat-like creatures who live between universes and feast upon paradoxes created by higher beings meddling with the space-time continuum.

How does one feast on a paradox? By eating every living thing contained within those paradoxes on a sort of sliding scale based on how long they had existed before the paradox occurred. The older a person or object happened to be, the stronger they were against the Reapers attacks.

So what about the Doctor? Well, as hinted at during the episodes he does suggest that there are ways in which he could have mended the rift caused by Rose’s intervention. However, it appeared to be little more than wishful thinking; the only weapon he really had against them was his faith in humanity – he sacrificed himself believing that Pete would do the right thing.

Which brings us to the Daleks.

If we apply the rules of Top Trumps, it would suggest that the Reapers are at best equal to the Time Lords. If we take it as read that after the Time War, the Time Lords lost control of the universe – effectively removing the one barrier stopping the Reapers from leaving the Time Vortex and entering the universe at any given point where a ‘wound’ had appeared – and that the Time Lords were all but defeated by the Daleks, who’s march on the capital of Gallifrey involved them breaking down all 400 of the Time Lords sky trenches, resulting in the War Doctor using The Moment to destroy both races – then the Daleks would seem superior to the Reapers and arguably equal to the Time Lords.

If we go deeper into the specifics: the What Culture article goes on to point out that the Reapers are superior because they choose to live in the space between universes, that they wipe beings out of time as we may “…throw away a funny looking crisp you find somewhere in the packet” and the Daleks tend to avoid altering history therefore they must go full Blue Oyster Cult and fear the Reapers.

Now, as Army of Ghosts explained, the four most feared Daleks, the Cult of Skaro – a legendary sect above even the emperor himself – built a ‘void ship’, a one of its kind craft designed to exist between parallel universes and different dimensions. Not even the Time Lords believed the technology was possible – the same Time Lords who had been happily keeping the Reapers at bay in the time vortex.

The Daleks may not have been able to live freely in non-space but the fact that they managed to build a craft, travel into the void and avoid detection by the very same Time Lords happily keeping the Reapers at bay – I’m at a loss as to how: 1) they could be happily be living in the space between worlds if the Time Lords had imprisoned them in that dimension; and 2) how the Daleks could be inferior when they had avoided the very same wardens of time that the Reapers couldn’t escape from?

Which brings us to the second point. Wiping out beings is sort of what the Daleks do. It’s their party piece. Even if they don’t possess the organic means to do so they are effective killers. It’s really splitting hairs to argue that one race wiping out another for a singular purpose, be it existing within a paradox or just plain existing, is better than another because of the ease of which they do it. If anything the Daleks are not limited by any rules; if you aren’t a Dalek, consider yourself fair game for extermination.

What’s worse? Killing for a reason or killing for a cause?

And finally, do they really fear the Reapers? What this boils down to is what is more absurd: why is it strange that one creature attacks the whole of reality itself and okay for another to feast on paradoxes created by other beings changing the course of time?  Why is time given greater importance than a perceived reality?

Eisenstein argued that our understanding of ‘now’ is fictional; it is our limited understanding of nature that requires us to perceive time as a series of sequential events. Even the second law of thermodynamics suggests that as we rush towards entropy that time is heading towards the future rather than existing all at once, or to quote the Fourth Doctor: “The more you put things together, the more they keep falling apart”.

Does it seem odd that a race primarily seeking its own advancement would view the universe in this same manner? A race blighted by a Neutronic War?

At the heart of the Daleks exists a trauma; a massive cataclysmic event that forever scared them and altered the way in which they perceive reality: namely that time and space exist for the sole purpose of their advancement – Davros bent the universe to fit a philosophy of zero tolerance based on the idea that time itself can be altered to fit this reality.

So are the Daleks afraid to alter history because of the Reapers? Well, you would have to ask them what in this totalitarian society they view as history? Do they even acknowledge any history that doesn’t advance the Dalek cause? Like Orwell’s Big Brother, do they have an understanding of how history is used to advance a cause: do the Daleks understand that who controls the past controls the future in a literal sense? Or do they ignore the past because destroying reality now negates the need to worry about the past? If you are they only race left in existence, who is left to care about how history has been altered?

As the article rightly points out, the Daleks have only really stumbled across time travel as a means to advance their cause. They are, if anything, opportunists. In this sense, it’s more about what can you alter before the Doctor or the Reapers (if the Doctor lets them) stop your meddling.

Afraid? Not in the slightest.

The Great Intelligence

Dismissing the Daleks simply because their robomen were a bit naff does not a great foe make.

In this case it’s like saying boats are rubbish because they aren’t fighter jets – if, unlike the Time Lords, the Daleks can’t see all creation and had landed in a strange time, then surely we should be praising the fact that they had managed to absorb the minds of the dominate species on the planet and turn them into their puppets.

Let’s not forget the importance of that act to the First Doctor: if it’s enough to make him become more of the modern Doctor we are used to seeing – a man willing to stand up and help the helpless – then what does that say about their threat in the Possessing Minds category?

Yes, the Great Intelligence may have abandoned its own universe but the Daleks care not for any universe. They aren’t beholden to physical plane – they wanted to destroy reality itself.

Letting the Great Intelligence potter about in a physical form just gives them something to shoot at.

The Black Guardian

Okay, this one is a little tough but only if you think of them as competing with one another. Sure, he’s a pure evil God capable of creating vampires and wearing what appears to be a crow on his head, but why would he have a beef with the Daleks?

If anything, they could be of some use to each other; given the fact that he is at his most powerful when nearer the end of the universe – where his opposite the White Guardian cannot interfere – why not let the Daleks do the heavy lifting for him?

And if he’s the guardian of all chaos in the universe, what better agents for chaos than the Daleks? Sure they have a fixed ideology but to everyone else; pure chaos.

Admittedly there are a few ‘serious discussions’ to be had come the end of everything but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t use the Daleks to squeeze all the goodness out of the universe – his one true weakness – with their cold, unfeeling logic.

Who wouldn’t want to see this mutual lovefest?

Sutekh

Troubled spouse and self-proclaimed destroyer Sutekh is pretty formidable: the Egyptian God of Violence and Chaos, destroyer of stellar systems, imprisoner of victims through his eyes alone – he’s a card that one.

And it’s the stare where this argument lies; perhaps, as the article says, the Daleks stare is somewhat limited (all together “My vision is impaired!”) but when was the last time you saw a Dalek get distracted?

We can deal in absolutes – like the Time Lords being unable to stop him – but we know that is simply not true. So what’s to say that the incredibly paranoid Sutekh couldn’t be distracted by a threat to his hegemony – his real Achilles heel – and, in a classic pincer movement, be forced into the same time tunnel the Doctor used to cast him to his ultimate demise?

That’s the problem with these kind of all-encompassing deities: hubris. Sure are omnipotent and could destroy us all with a blink of that ubiquitous eye but they have to acknowledge the threat first – dismiss the Daleks at your peril mighty Sutekh!

Mandragora Helix

Saying that this planet-destroying energy force might kill you is akin to saying the sun will eventually expand and kill us all. So vast and vague is its power that you wonder whether it would even acknowledge the Daleks – in fact, it makes you wonder how any cataclysmic event occurs at all within the universe if, as the What Culture article believes, it will just eventually kill you anyway.

If anything, you’d think that letting the Daleks win and obliterate all reality for their own gains would be right up the Mandragora Helix’s street – if you can create an entire planet in the same way most of us create a sandwich, why not let the Daleks wipe out all life? It’ll clear the drawing board for you.

Of course as the reality bomb taught us, the Daleks have the ability to pull planets out of existence and shift them into diabolical alignment; then you think that they’d be able to shift just one of stars needed to align every 500 years to bring the Helix about to the left a bit.

Do any of these aliens pose a credible threat to the Daleks? Can you think of any others? The Beast in The Satan Pit perhaps? Let us know by hollering in the comments below!

The post Are These 5 Doctor Who Villains More Powerful Than The Daleks?! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Barry Ingham 1932-2015

James Lomond is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Barry Ingham, a British actor who worked alongside both the small and big screen versions of the First Doctor, has died aged 82 at his home in Florida.

Born in Yorkshire, Ingham had an impressive and varied career in stage, television and film working with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in musical theatre in both London’s West End and New York’s Broadway. With rich oaky tones and a thoroughly English timbre he was chosen to voice an anthropomorphic Sherlock Holmes in Disney’s The Great Mouse Detective (1986).

Ingham’s work on Doctor Who dates back to the sadly missing serial, The Mythmakers (1965). In the re-telling of the siege of Troy from Homer’s Iliad, he played Paris, son of King Priam in the sieged city and both captured the TARDIS and battled Steven Taylor. Geekbat describe Ingham’s comic performance as an “effete, aside-prone, jokester” as a highlight of the story which, unless more treasures are discovered in basements overseas, we can only enjoy on audio.

However before that he had appeared in the first Big Screen outing for the show earlier that year as the Thal, Alydon in Doctor Who and the Daleks alongside Peter Cushing’s time travelling Grandfather, “Dr. Who”. I remember repeatedly re-watching this film as a child and the totally committed performances by Ingham and his co-stars (despite the heavy eye makeup and beautified Wellington’s) were what made it captivating. Looking back, the score might make it the closest thing to a Doctor Who/ Austin Powers mash-up, but there are some sterling performances in there.

Ingham went on to feature in a number of well-loved genre series including The Avengers and Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) – in the latter he worked alongside George Sewell who would appear as Mr Ratcliffe in 1989’s Rememberance of the Daleks. Ingham is one of the few actors to cross the Atlantic Sci-fi divide, playing an Irish leader of a Colony in Star Trek: The Next Generation’s 1989 story Up the Long Ladder – he can be seen here comparing Human and Klingon beverages…

Ingham enjoyed giving lectures on drama appreciation for the Society of the Four Arts in Florida where he retired. He is survived by his wife, for daughters and eight grandchildren.

The post Barry Ingham 1932-2015 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Lethbridge-Stewart Launch Day Guests Unveiled!

Philip Bates is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Everyone at Kasterborous is excited about the upcoming Lethbridge-Stewart novel series, helmed by Andy Frankham-Allen – so much so, we talked to him in our podKast! And it seems we’re not the only ones to be enthused…

The WHO Shop, London, is holding a special day celebrating UNIT and launching the new series, with a wonderful selection of guests from across Doctor Who.

Andy Frankham-Allen will be there to sign the first book in the series, The Forgotten Son, set shortly after The Web of Fear. He’ll be joined by Hannah Haisman, granddaughter of Mervyn Haisman (co-creator of the Great Intelligence), and licencor of the Lethbridge-Stewart series; and Official Doctor Who Legend, Terrance Dicks. Dicks, of course, was Script Editor throughout the Third Doctor era, and wrote over 60 Who books – most of which are Target novels. And yes, he also wrote the Target novelisation of The Web of Fear!

Jemma Redgrave, too, will be at the launch: since 2012’s The Power of Three, she’s played Kate Stewart, the Brigadier’s daughter, cropping up in the 50th anniversary special, The Day of the Doctor, and most recently, Dark Water/ Death in Heaven (2014).

Further authors of the range will also be popping into The WHO Shop during their UNIT Day: David A. McIntee, writer of The Schizoid Earth; Nick Walters, who rounds off the first bundle of books with Mutually Assured Domination; and Jonathan Cooper.

The launch day of Lethbridge-Stewart is at The WHO Shop on Saturday 28th February, or you can order a signed copy of The Forgotten Son, priced £8.99.

Follow the latest from Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart on Facebook.

The post Lethbridge-Stewart Launch Day Guests Unveiled! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

In The Shed: Top Tips For Building Your Own Dalek

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Doctor Who has for many years fed on itself. Since the late stages of the Tom Baker era, fans have been involved with the creation of the show and their involvement took on a new meaning with the New Adventures books from Virgin in the 1990s. Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat were both big long-term fans of Doctor Who, and the majority of the show’s writers have affection for the travels of the mad man with the box.

But there is more to it than that. Since that policeman first wandered through the fog in 1963, Doctor Who has caught the imaginations of millions of children and adults. Some have scrawled Daleks, TARDISes and scarves in the back of exercise books while others have aimed higher with far more ambitious and impressive creations. In the Shed hopes to find the most accomplished fan creators out there, whose immense dedication to the craft of building, stitching, recording, painting and making artefacts that demonstrate their love and inspiration for Doctor Who will hopefully spur our readers onto follow them – with a few useful tips to get started.

Gareth Mugridge is one such fan, obsessed by the design and detail of Daleks he has built his own; in fact he did such a good job that it has been used on screen in the show!

Dalek Addiction

Gareth recalls that “initially I was looking for something to do as a creative thing. Doctor Who had not long returned to our screens and the studio moved from Newport to half a mile from my house so I think that played a part, initially I was going to build a TARDIS, but didn’t know where to start.”

“While working for a bookstore chain as events co-ordinator, we were always looking for ways to engage kids, particularly with reading. We thought a Doctor Who day would be a good plan given our close proximity to the studios and the popularity of the show.” Naturally this was the last piece of the jigsaw for Gareth, who then decided to take the plunge. Fortunately the Internet played a part and Gareth was able to find a website crucial to his development as a Dalek Builder. “I discovered a website, www.projectdalek.com, where I saw what I can only describe as works of unparalleled genius. I couldn’t believe that “fans” had built these things, they looked utterly amazing! I guess from that point I was hooked.”

Doctor Who fans have of course been building Daleks and other props for years, and Gareth had stumbled upon a fantastic community of guys who were happy to share information and help him work out just how hard it might be to build one. “I have that website and in particular, Mark Dando, John Darley and Alan Clark to thank for dragging me into the murky world of Dalek creation.”

Rob asked if I would be prepared to take my Dalek to the Mardi Gras and be on stage with Russell. You can imagine the answer!

In my previous experience of speaking to Dalek builders, I’ve regularly got the impression that they’re Dalek fans more than Doctor Who fans. This isn’t unusual. In the 1960s, the Daleks had a life of their own in comic strips and failed TV serials, and were often considered as popular – if not more popular – than the Doctor himself. Gareth, however, is clearly a Doctor Who fan, for whom “Tom Baker borders on godhood. I can’t begin to imagine how many hours I ran around our street, with my dad’s tyre pressure gauge as a stand-in sonic screwdriver! I kind of fell out of love with the show once Tom Baker left, but when the show returned in 2005 I was hooked again.”

But how magical are the Daleks to Gareth? “Lots of people will talk about the Nazi stylings and parallels but ultimately if you come up with such a great villain, as with most fiction, they frequently end up as popular, sometimes more than the hero of the tale.”

After all, who (other than Sidney Newman) can imagine Doctor Who without Daleks? Due to space requirements, Gareth’s Dalek (“my Dalek has a name, ’Bernard’!”) could only be constructed outdoors, with his dining room regularly resembling “Davros’ Lab on more than one occasion.”

Thanks to the website and the other builders, Gareth has learned a lot about the different Dalek designs and of course how to construct one. His favourite is the “tank” look of the 2005 model. “It’s a close thing between the Destiny of the Daleks version and the 2005 version… Actually, it’s got to be the 2005 version; you really can believe they are indestructible killing machines!”

Dalek for 15 Minutes

Now, Doctor Who has a funny way of thrusting fans into strange situations. Gareth Mugridge is no different. After building his Dalek, it wasn’t long before he was rubbing shoulders with the show’s producers… “I had built the Dalek and took it into work for the book event. Little did I know that one of the guys that worked there, Rob Keech, worked on the committee for the Cardiff Pride Event, one of the patrons of which was Russell T Davies. Rob asked if I would be prepared to take my Dalek to the Mardi Gras and be on stage with Russell. You can imagine the answer!”

“That day arrived, Russell was very complementary about Bernard and we acted out a skit on the main stage, an amazing experience!”

It wasn’t long before Gareth found himself meeting Russell again while working short-term with the BBC Wales Drama Dept Branding team – working on Doctor Who and Torchwood!

Building a wood, MDF and fibre glass construct of any size is not for the faint of heart.

“Shortly after my contract had ended I received a call from the Branding team asking if I still had my Dalek and if so, could they borrow it for an upcoming episode as they wanted as many physical props on set as possible, Russell had remembered my Dalek and suggested they call me!! So Bernard was collected, and taken to the studio and consequently appeared on Newsround on CBBC and if you look closely and are quick with the pause button you may just catch sight of him in the Series 4 finale two-parter The Stolen Earth and Journey’s End.”

The fascinating thing about Gareth is not only that he is one of many Doctor Who fans to have been inspired by the beauty of the post-2005 series, but that he keyed into his desire to build a Dalek and got on with the job of doing it.

Let’s be under no illusions here: building a wood, MDF and fibre glass construct of any size is not for the faint of heart. We wouldn’t recommend that you down this copy of Kasterborous Magazine and head out to your own shed without at least considering Gareth’s tips for getting through the process.

Top Tips for Building Your Own Dalek

Before you get started, make sure you have visited c and downloaded some plans and read the build diaries where you can learn from others how to obtain parts. Having someone who can help out physically from time to time is also useful.

As Gareth advises, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what you need but for the most part, you will need:

·   Patience

·   Plasters

·   A sharper saw!

·   MDF board in a few different sizes

·   World Cup candy floss balls

·   Fibre Glass

·   Basic wiring kit and switches / bulbs

·   Swimming pool matting

·   Wood glue

·   Plastic pipe

·   Aluminium pipe

Beyond that it’s pretty much up to the type of Dalek you’re building and the designs you’re using.

One last word from Gareth on building Daleks. “There are so many different variations of Dalek out there; certainly in the classic series they pretty much changed in some way every time you saw them. Realistically you just need to find something that works for you, even down to the paint job you give the Dalek.”

“You’ll find some amazing custom builds out there. Alan Clark’s ‘Storm’ for example, is a monster!”

What are you doing still reading? Head out to the shed and get building…

(This article first appeared in Kasterborous Magazine #1. Photos thanks to Gareth Mugridge)

The post In The Shed: Top Tips For Building Your Own Dalek appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Peter Davison Troubled By “the idea of a female Doctor”

Christian Cawley is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

Former Doctor Who star Peter Davison is currently touring Australia with the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular, and has naturally taken time out to promote the shows on TV.

Speaking to ABC, the Fifth Doctor star was asked about whether the Doctor should one day be played by a woman. His response was particularly interesting, not least for showing that the actor has clearly spent some time on the implications. “I speak now as a fan who grew up watching it,” he said.

“I have trouble with the idea of a female Doctor, only because I reckon if you’re born on Gallifrey a man, you’re probably a male Time Lord.”

It’s a good point. It isn’t, however, his main one. For this, we need to think about the dynamic between the Doctor and his various female companions. “It seems to me if you reverse that, if you have an uncertain, fallible female Doctor with a really strong male companion, you’ve got more of a stereotype than anything else.”

Davison doesn’t rule out a female Time Lord spinoff starring his daughter Georgia, however, returning as The Doctor’s Daughter femme clone Jenny.

What do you think? Does Davison actually make a very strong point there, or are you dead set on a female Doctor?

The post Peter Davison Troubled By “the idea of a female Doctor” appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Colin Baker Records Scenes In Star Trek Fan Film Series!

James Lomond is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.

In the murky tangled world of non-canon Who and the Fan Fiction Multiverse there are both riches and horrors to be found. There are also lovingly re-created super-camp homages to hits of yesteryear, and few more lovingly devised than Star Trek Continues.

This alternative take on the original 1960s Star Trek follows the voyages of the Starship Farragut (something to do with this chap?) and has featured notable alumni of the sci-fi world including original Incredible Hulk, Lou Ferrigno and now, our very own Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker . Invited to take part by STC’s Executive Producer, Vic Mignogna when both appeared at a recent Toronto convention, Baker commented“That [the original 1966-69] series was Star Trek at its best. It’s been very good for years, but those originals were just like Doctor Who was back in 1963 when it started. Star Trek was the trailblazer for sci-fi in the states.”

(Except that Doctor Who was better. Just sayin’…)

Produced by Farragut Films and housed in a 10 000 square foot site in Kinglsand, Florida, they re-created Starship sets in impressively accurate retro-detail for SS Farragut, a sister ship to the Enterprise. Mognogna himself plays Cap’n Kirk in the series which you can download several episodes and vignettes from at the Farragut Films website.

I have to say, I’m impressed – I can’t even tell whether this is a shot lifted from the original series or put together and treated to look suitably period by Farragut Films. If this is their work they’ve got impressive casting and wardrobe departments!

It’d be like fans nabbing the sets and costumes from An Adventure in Space and Time and beavering away at what went on between Seasons 1 and 2 of Who! The new installments of Star Trek Continues featuring Colin Baker are expected to premier at a suitable sci-fi convention in April or May this year.

The post Colin Baker Records Scenes In Star Trek Fan Film Series! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.