Christian Cawley's Blog, page 142

Dark Eyes 4: Post Production Finishing and Casting News!

Nick Kitchen 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.

The time is drawing closer, dear readers! What may very well be as exciting to this writer as the anticipation of The Day of the Doctor was, I’m pleased to report that Big Finish has announced that post production on the highly anticipated final installment of the Dark Eyes series has nearly come to a close.

This final box set, Doctor Who: Dark Eyes 4, will once again see the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) take on Alex Macqueen’s Master, with Daleks and Sontarans thrown in for good measure!

In addition, Big Finish has released a in studio photo of Macqueen and Nicola Walker (Liv Chenka) (pictured above), as well as the full cast list for the audio. In addition to McGann, Macqueen, and Walker, the cast features Barnaby Kay, Rachel Stirling, Sorcha Cusack, Dan Starkey, Susannah Harker, David Sibley, Beth Chalmers, Charlie Norfolk, Derek Hutchinson, Alex Wyndham, Blake Ritson, Camilla Power, John Dorney, and Nicholas Briggs. While Strax won’t be making an appearance in the audios, it is kind of nice to see Starkey voicing the Sontarans.

The four parter is set to release in March, but you can get your copy at a special prerelease price. If you’ve never experienced Dark Eyes, now is the time to catch up. March will be here before you know it!

(Via Big Finish)

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BBC Cancels Doctor Who “Successor” Atlantis

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.

Despite its barnstorming performance when it first launched back in 2013, the BBC has announced today that Atlantis, one of the several genre shows to follow Doctor Who in the Saturday evening slot since 2005, has not been renewed for a third season.

This news comes midway through the second run, largely written by Misfits creator Howard Overman, who co-created Atlantis with Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy. Atlantis is the second of the Saturday night family adventure series to be cancelled. While Merlin was able to emulate Doctor Who’s success (although its lifespan was of course limited somewhat by knowledge of the legend!) Robin Hood started strongly but fell apart in the final series following star Jonas Armstrong’s decision to leave and the attempts to introduce Clive Standen as his successor (as illegitimate brother Archer). More recently, The Musketeers has enjoyed Saturday evening success and been moved to Friday evenings for its second run.

As a BBC spokesperson noted to Digital Spy:  “The final seven episodes of Atlantis will transmit on BBC One in spring. We would like to thank Urban Myth Films and all the cast and crew but the series will not be re-commissioned.

“We are very proud of both series but to keep increasing the range of BBC One drama we have to make difficult decisions to bring new shows through.”

When the first episode aired, Atlantis enjoyed the honour of being the best performing series opener on BBC TV for 7 years, since the arrival of Merlin. Sadly, this was not something the show could maintain, despite a cast list that included Sarah Parish (2006’s The Runaway Bride), Ken Bones, Peter de Jersey (both 2013’s The Day of the Doctor), Ronald Pickup (1964 serial The Reign of Terror was his first TV appearance), Jemima Rooper (the Big Finish version of the Eighth Doctor’s DWM comic companion Izzy) and Standen, who appeared as Private Harris in 2008’s The Sontaran Stratagem, The Poison Sky, and Turn Left.

So, bad news for Atlantis fans, but perhaps a silver lining for Doctor Who, if it frees Overman – whose award-winning Misfits marked him out as one of the best British genre TV writers at the moment – to contribute an episode or two over the coming years…

The post BBC Cancels Doctor Who “Successor” Atlantis appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

David Tennant Turns Purple For New Marvel/Netflix Production

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.

David Tennant is following his TARDIS predecessor Christopher Eccleston into the Marvel Universe as a villain the upcoming Netflix series A.K.A. Jessica Jones!

Starring Krysten Ritter (ABC’s Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt. 23), A.K.A. Jessica Jones is under the stewardship of showrunner Melissa Rosenberg. Tennant, currently on screens in series 2 of Broadchurch, joins a show with this interesting premise…

After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City. An enigmatic figure from Jessica’s past, Kilgrave’s reappearance will send shockwaves through the former super hero’s world.

Zebediah Killgrave is also known as The Purple Man. There’s a reason for this.

“I’m so honored and excited by the prospect of David inhabiting this multifaceted character,” said Melissa Rosenberg. “He can deliver the most heart-wrenching moment to the driest of lines, and all points in between. He’ll make Kilgrave a truly original villain.”

A.K.A. Jessica Jones has suddenly got itself a whole new audience…

(Via EW.com)

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Interspecies “Lesbian Kiss” Nominated for GLAAD Award

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.

We would usually offer our congratulations to Doctor Who for winning an award, except in this case it really isn’t worthy. Deep Breath‘s Vastra/Jenny kiss has been nominated for a GLAAD award. You may recall that the kiss was banned in several countries in Asia, which may have something to do with the nomination.

Ever since Doctor Who returned in 2005, the subject of non-traditional adult relationships has featured repeatedly, all to good avail. As Doctor Who fans we’re proud of this,  of Captain Jack Harkness, of Cassandra, of Gridlock, of risque jokes, and so too should you.

However, there is something not quite right with this particular nomination. We hate to spell it out and point out the obvious, but it seems a lot of you haven’t noticed that this, of course, isn’t a lesbian kiss. It’s an interspecies kiss, which is, we’re sorry to point out, a completely different thing.

Pedantry much? Well, perhaps. But is Madame Vastra a woman? No, she’s a reptile, a scaly, cold blooded creature with a long tongue. Meanwhile her “consort”, Jenny, is a human female. A mammal. Warm blooded.

Think of the difference between an alligator and a pig, and you’ll get an idea of where we’re going with this. Vastra might be an anthropomorphic lizard, but a lizard she is. If we’re to take anything from the Silurian stories, indeed any Doctor Who story that puts mankind at risk from the alien or the “unlike”, it is the acceptance that creatures that mean us harm are not human, that they have very little similarity to us. A look at both The Silurians and The Hungry Earth/Cold Blood highlights this, and uses it to split the two species (yes, species) apart again at the end. if we don’t see Silurians and other aliens in this light, then the narrative breaks.

You can’t have it both ways.

Now, it might be a case of taking things too literally; alternatively, perhaps we’re just doing this to highlight a major shortcoming in the highlighting of the Vastra/Jenny relationship as an example of tolerance in family TV. You might prefer to see it as a gay kiss, and there is nothing wrong with that. But, that’s not what it is. So let’s get out of the mindset of thinking that lizards snogging humans is in anyway acceptable, because it really isn’t.

(Oh, and it wasn’t a kiss, either, as we don’t generally breathe into our partners’ mouths. Just saying. Could be dangerous.)

We’re still waiting for a lesbian kiss in Doctor Who. Let’s see this little problem sorted out soon, entirely within context and not gratuitously, in the near future, and then perhaps GLAAD can legitimately nominate a genuine kiss between two women in Doctor Who.

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Catch Christopher Eccleston Promoting Fortitude on The One Show Tonight

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.

The Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, will be on The One Show tonight, chatting to Alex Jones and Matt Baker about new Sky Atlantic drama, Fortitude.

It’s quite a rare thing to see Eccleston on a talk show at all, so it’ll be a treat for fans of his leather-jacket-wearing Time Lord – although we do doubt he’ll say anything about Doctor Who. To be fair to him, that’s not what he’s there for!

In Fortitude, Christopher plays Professor Charlie Stoddart who’s working as head of a research centre in the Arctic Circle; the potentially-lucrative project could save his idyllic town, but the people of Fortitude are rocked by a mysterious death at the heart of their community. And he’s joined by The Day of the Doctor director, Nick Hurran, alongside a host of faces familiar to Whovians.

There’s Michael Gambon (A Christmas Carol), Chipo Chung (Utopia; Turn Left), Jessica Raine (Hide; Verity Lambert in An Adventure in Space and Time), Michael Obiora (Blink), and Alexandra Moen (Lucy Saxon in The Sounds of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords, and The End of Time) – so you likely won’t go five minutes without going, ‘ooh, I know that person!’

Eccleston has already said he’d be more than happy to return to Iceland to film a second series, and has enthused about the “extraordinary quality of light and air”, so expect general good humour tonight.

Gary Lineker will also be on The One Show as they broadcast the FA Cup Fifth Round Draw. Don’t get too excited, will you? Matt Baker, meanwhile, has also appeared in Doctor Who – in fact, in the Ninth Doctor episode, Aliens of London!

The One Show airs on BBCOne tonight at 7pm, and Fortitude debuts on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Thursday 29th January.

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Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor & Eleventh Doctor Volume 2 Compilation Details

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.

Do. Not. Blink. Because the second volume of Titan Comics’ Tenth Doctor series stars the Weeping Angels!

The Weeping Angel of Mons is written by Robbie Morrions with art by Daniel Indro and takes the Tenth Doctor into the heart of World War One.

Complete with a cover by the superb Tommy Lee Edwards (1985; Turf), here’s what this second collection brings together The Tenth Doctor #06- 10.

The second collection of the sell-out smash new Tenth Doctor series, from award-winning writer Robbie Morrison (Spider-Man, Drowntown, Nikolai Dante) and Daniel Indro (Sherlock Holmes, Green Hornet), sends the Doctor and new companion Gabriella Gonzalez hurtling back into the past – and into the trenches of World War One!

Bombed by the German artillery, arrested as spies by the British, Gabby and the Doctor soon learn that there’s something even worse moving in the gas and wreathes of smoke out in No Man’s Land… stone statues who move only when you’re not looking at them! The Weeping Angels have come to feed on the futures of young soldiers — in their hundreds of thousands!

This epic is released on 10th June.

And then there’s Titan’s Eleventh Doctor Volume 2, also out on 10th June.

Writers, Al Ewing (Loki: Agent of Asgard; Judge Dredd Megazine) and Rob Williams (Fear Itself: Uncanny X-Force; 2000AD) unveil timey-wimey plans of a mysterious organisation seemingly following the Eleventh Doctor and his companions around the universe.

A threat in reverse as time inside the TARDIS flows backwards! An ancient alien war for supremacy in the sky comes to near-future London! And the machinations of SERVEYOUinc revealed, when the Doctor hits them where it hurts – their wallets!

Three companions – three times the danger, three times the excitement! Experience every twist and secret reveal in the thrilling second act of The Eleventh Doctor’s first year in comics!

The graphic novel pulls together work by Simon Fraser, Boo Cook, and Warren Pleece from The Eleventh Doctor #06- 10.

Keep coming back to Kasterborous to read our ongoing reviews of these two series, as well as The Twelfth Doctor and – pretty soon – The Ninth Doctor miniseries!

The post Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor & Eleventh Doctor Volume 2 Compilation Details appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Appreciating Drunk History

Nick May 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.

Regular readers of Kasterborous may remember that I mentioned the ChiqueGeeks a few months back, two girls who have made it their mission to watch every new episode of Who and commit their thoughts to video whilst getting blotto. In that article, I name-checked Funny Or Die’s Drunk History, which dealt with a far wider remit- world (mainly US) history- through the filter of some hapless drunkards attempting to relate some key event or another, with their take on proceedings re-enacted by the cream of American comedy.

Well, now it’s here.

The British version is slightly different in that the producers have replaced the everyday volunteers with a number of stand-up comedians, none of whom look able to stand up come the end, who have been plied with booze and let loose on centuries of human endeavour. Like the US version, their ramblings are re-enacted by a cast of UK comedy notables. So far, we’ve had Rebecca Front (who costarred in The Thick of It with Doctor Who Peter Capaldi) in Kerry Howard’s largely unrepeatable take on the early life of Queen Victoria, and Rob Beckett’s account of the courtship of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves, performed by Mathew Horne and Marek Larwood. After the overheated The Tudors and the over-earnest Wolf Hall, I genuinely want to believe this version of events (‘Holborn (meaning Holbein)- I want you… to paint the **** out of her’).

Future editions promise Romesh Ranganathan on the discovery of Tutankhamun and Tom Rosenthal going face down in his pizza recounting the Great Fire of London. It’s on Monday nights at 10pm on Comedy Central. The Daily Mail hates it. That should be reason enough to watch it…

Chin chin!

The post Appreciating Drunk History appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Competition: Win Two Seats to the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular!

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 Symphonic Spectacular is a musical celebration of the iconic BBC series, featuring Murray Gold’s captivating music accompanied by specially edited video sequences of the Doctors in action, on the big screen.

The show features a host of the Doctor’s famous adversaries including the iconic Daleks and Cybermen, the spine-chilling Silence and many more fan favourites. The live monsters provide a dramatic contrast to the evocative and thrilling music written by Murray Gold, who has been responsible for composing music for the series over the last eight years, including the record-breaking (and BAFTA award-winning) 50th anniversary episode Doctor Who: The Day of the Doctor.

Fifth Doctor actor Peter Davison has been confirmed as the host of a six-city UK tour of the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular in May 2015.

The live show, which was a sell-out on its world premiere in Australia, will enjoy a limited run of thirteen UK performances in London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.   It features over 100 performers and is conducted by Ben Foster, who conducts and orchestrates the musical scores for the TV series.  Music will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and members of the BBC National Chorus of Wales.

The live music will be accompanied by a big screen presentation of key moments and specially edited sequences from the past 50 years of Doctor Who.

Sounds great, we think you’ll agree!

Now, you may have noticed from the title that we can help you get your hands on two seats that are up for grabs. To enter, you need to use the comments box below, wherein you must answer the following question…

What is the name of the actress currently playing the Twelfth Doctor’s assistant in the popular BBC TV series?

Billie Piper
Catherine Tate
Jenna Coleman
Karen Gillan

Before you leave your answer to this taxing question, please read the following…

Terms and conditions

Winners will be selected at random from all correct entries. Winner receives a pair of tickets to see Doctor Who Spymphonic Spectacular at their chosen venue and date. Full dates and times are to be found at http://www.doctorwho.tv/events/doctor-who-symphonic-spectacular/. There must be a minimum of one adult and one child.  Seat band may vary per venue and the winner is unable to choose their seats. Tickets to be collected at the box office with no cash alternative. Tickets are subject to availability and cannot be resold or transferred to another performance. Competition is run by boom ents on behalf of vision nine entertainment.

The post Competition: Win Two Seats to the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who Stuff In This Month’s Nerd Block: Revealed!

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.

Recall our recent Nerd Block giveaway? A winner was chosen, and he should have already received his January Nerd Block which comes complete with a Doctor Who-related item.

(Hence, you know, the giveaway being on Kasterborous!)

If by any chance you were wondering just what it was that Nerd Block subscribers would have found with their Kasterborous discount code, take a look below…

(Unless, of course, you are a Nerd Block subscriber and haven’t yet received or opened your box, in which case: SPOILERS!

Big thanks to #nerdblock for this block which features a #DoctorWho themed T-shirt!

A video posted by Kasterborous (@kasterborousdw) on Jan 23, 2015 at 2:31am PST

Incidentally, thanks to everyone who took part in our Nerd Block giveaway. We hope you had as much fun entering as we did reading!

The post Doctor Who Stuff In This Month’s Nerd Block: Revealed! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

7 Amazing Doctor Who Crossovers You Might Have Missed

Nick Kitchen 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.

One of the greatest things about the Doctor Who fandom is their passion for all things Who and their propensity for wanting to mashup the Doctor with just about any other programme or intellectual property out there. From SuperWhoLock to Eleven and the Ponds meeting Capt. Picard and the crew of the Enterprise, it would seem there really isn’t anywhere in time and space the TARDIS can’t show up.

The results are typically glorious and we here at Kasterborous would like to share with you some recent Doctor Who crossovers you might have missed out on. Slight disclaimer, if any of these aren’t technically “new,” they are new to this writer and I hope you’ll forgive if there is a bit overlap.

Blink to the Future

If you’ve clicked the play button in the player at the top (you seriously haven’t done that yet?), you’ll have experienced what in America is known as an “epic” crossover. For most in the US, Back to the Future, and its two sequels, are the staples by which all other time travel movies and television programmes are judged. It may be slightly unfair, as Doctor Who certainly came first, but it is what it is. This video from James Farr is incredible and manages to capture the best bits of both properties.

Marvel Allstar Meets the Doctor

As close as I'll ever get to a #Spidey/#DoctorWho cross-over. pic.twitter.com/GNtmPF4LHJ

— Dan Slott (@DanSlott) January 19, 2015

For a lot of modern comic book readers, there are no other versions of Spider-Man other than that which came from the pen of Marvel writer, Dan Slott. And while we may not see the Doctor swing through NYC with Spidey or roll through the cosmos with the Silver Surfer anytime in the foreseeable future, it is a nice touch that the cast members took time to rock the “Spidey Pose” with Slott.

Lightsaber Training

My very first science fiction love and fandom is the craziness that is all things Star Wars. While the Doctor has certainly overtaken its place, I still hold a great fondness for the original trilogy and parts of the prequel stories. While those of us in that particular fandom have a little less than a year to see what Abrams does with the property, you can feast your eyes on the magic that comes from deviantART artist drombyb. I’d so love to see a saber sonic, but then again, that’s not really the Doctor, is it?

The Doctors Seuss

Another deviantART member, drfaustusau, has imagined what the Doctors would look like as Dr. Seuss characters:

This needs to be an actual book line for child Whovians every where.

Minion Who?

Quand Doctor Who rencontre les Minions pic.twitter.com/DQZGZcR6p3

— ElBlondo (@elblondo) January 19, 2015

I haven’t seen the second installment of the Despicable Me series, but I thoroughly enjoyed the first film. After seeing this piece, I can definitely hear the Doctor speaking in “minion.”

“John Watson has been deleted!”

It couldn’t be a true Whovian crossover article if it didn’t include a little Sherlock, could it, dear readers? Courtesy of Jenny Meier and her Purrlock Tumblr, it really is quite a moving moment that calls back to Clara and Cyber-Danny in the Series 8 finale:

Thirteen of a Kind

Lastly, we leave you with deviantART’s SouthParkTaoist’s take on a deck of cards featuring all the incarnations of the Doctor and it is incredible:

The second that card deck becomes a reality, I’ll be placing an order post haste.

That’s a wrap, fellow Kasterborites! How do you feel about these Doctor Who crossovers? Did we miss any great ones that should be seen? Let us know below!

(Via BBC America)

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