Christian Cawley's Blog, page 146

Celebrate Big Finish Day 6 With ELEVEN Special Offers!

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.

Apparently it’s really tough to get a psychological assessment on a hunch. If it wasn’t, the men in white coats would surely have descended upon Big Finish by now as the producers of Doctor Who audio have announced yet more special offers, this time to celebrate tomorrow’s Big Finish Day 6!

Just a few days after their 12 Days of Big Finish-mas event closed, they’re making eleven connected adventures available for purchase at just £5 (CD or download, unless otherwise stated):

Doctor Who – Circular Time

Doctor Who Unbound – Sympathy for the Devil (£2.99 on Download)

Doctor Who Unbound – Masters of War (£2.99 on Download)

Doctor Who – The Companion Chronicles: Empathy Games

Doctor Who – The Lost Stories: The Children of Seth

Doctor Who – The Lost Stories: The Rosemariners

Doctor Who – The Eighth Doctor Adventures: Deimos

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Sands of Life

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: War Against the Laan

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Dalek Project

Doctor Who – The Fourth Doctor Adventures: The Final Phase

“But they’re not connected!” I hear you say. Ah, but they are in a way… each features the silky voice of British TV and cinema veteran David Warner (Cold War), who is one of the guests at Big Finish Day 6.

This offer will close on Monday morning, so if there is a title in the list that you fancy (and the two Unbound options are particularly interesting, with Warner as an alternative Third Doctor), get your orders in now!.

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Archive Interview: Peter Davison & Patrick Troughton On Breakfast TV, 1983

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.

As it’s still morning, and I’m struggling to type words that will make me any money, here’s a nice YouTube distraction. From 1983, an interview with Peter Davison and Patrick Troughton about Doctor Who‘s 20th anniversary on BBC One’s first breakfast TV show, Breakfast Time, with Frank Bough and an extremely flirtatious Selina Scott.

Despite the time of day, the Fifth and Second Doctor actors are wide awake and seemingly in playful mood, joking and generally being entertaining guests.

However, there are two curious things about it.

1. There is absoutely no mention of The Five Doctors. Clearly the guests are there to discuss the anniversary, but the special is conspicuous by its absence.

2. The studio seems to be far too big. Frank Bough might as well have been speaking to them from the Grandstand studio. Selina Scott is closer, but still, not all that close. Odd.

Enjoy!

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Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #7 Begins Two-Part Adventure! [PREVIEW]

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.

Out next week (January 21st 2015) is Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor #7, which sees the start of a new two-part story and we’ve got a preview of it for you right now!

Written by  ​Rob Williams with art by Warren Pleece, the storyline is as follows…

The day after tomorrow – and the Vrezian Confederacy and the J’arrodic Federation have brought their ‘honorable’ air-war to Earth.

They’re not here to invade, and they’re being exceptionally considerate about collateral damage, all things considered.

But human air travel is at a standstill, our culture is collapsing, the skies are clogged with toxic smog… And UNIT can’t do a thing, as the aliens vaporize the weapons stockpile of any country that dares interfere!

The deadlock needs a peaceful and clever solution – let’s hope the Doctor is up to the job!

And in the middle of it all… Alice is given a shocking offer she dare not refuse!

Here’s your preview…

Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor comes with three covers to collect:

You can pick up Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor from your local comic book store (or perhaps branch of Forbidden Planet if you’re in the UK) for $3.99 (or the local equivalent).

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Learn About Malcolm Hulke: Doctor Who and the Communist

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.

Malcolm Hulke is one of the most fascinating figures from behind-the-scenes of Doctor Who, and a new pamphlet examines his communist beliefs and their influence on his Who serials.

Written by socialist historian, Michael Herbert, and published by Five Leaves Press, Doctor Who and the Communist costs just £4.00 and surveys Hulke’s contribution not only to our favourite sci-fi show but also his further television work.

Hulke’s most famous for creating the Silurians and Sea Devils, the former having something of a resurgence thanks to their return in 2010’s The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood, and the ongoing presence of Madame Vastra. His first story, The Faceless Ones, is sadly missing from the archives (though naturally the soundtrack is still available), but subsequent serials of Hulke’s include The Ambassadors of Death, Colony in Space, and The War Games. Malcolm was a notable communist, but Third Doctor era Script Editor, Terrance Dicks, said, “What we never did was commission a Doctor Who with a political message but nonetheless if you look at it there is a streak of anti-authoritarianism in all Mac’s work: he doesn’t trust the establishment.”

@MJHerbert has nicked the title I wanted for my memoir. Guess I'll be using Marks And Angles after all. http://t.co/Klpoo5PRBQ

— Paul McGann (@pauljmcgann) January 14, 2015

Indeed, Dicks oversaw some pretty political stories, including Inferno, The Green Death, and Hulke’s Invasion of the Dinosaurs. Here’s our assessment of the social and political influences of Frontier in Space.

Malcolm considered Doctor Who a very politically-driven show, saying:

“Remember what politics refers to, it refers to relationships between groups of people. It doesn’t necessarily mean left or right… so all Doctor Who’s are political; even though the other group of people are reptiles, they’re still a group of people.”

Doctor Who and the Communist also looks at Mac’s commissions for various series like The Avengers, Pathfinders in Space, and Armchair Theatre.

The pamphlet looks to be a very interesting, informative read – and hey, as you can see, Paul McGann is intrigued too!

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August 15 is Doctor Who Comics Day!

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.

Titan Comics has confirmed that Saturday August 15, 2015 will be Doctor Who Comics day, in which fans, comic readers and retailers will unite for a day of events and promotions to celebrate the Time Lord’s adventures in comic form!

The 2015 event follows on from the success of last years Doctor Who Comics day event, of which Ricky Claydon, Marketing Manager of Titan Comics tells us “We received fantastic feedback from retailers and comic readers about last years Doctor Who Comics day event that we decided to turn this into an annual global event for Doctor Who fans. I can’t say too much about this year’s event at the moment but it’s certainly going to be even bigger and better! Stay tuned!”

Titan Comics will be revealing further details in February, and we expect to be able to bring those to you when they’re released. In the meantime, keep up to date with Doctor Who Comics day news Doctor Who fans and retailers should join Titan Comics on Facebook or follow @ComicsTitan on Twitter.

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Big Finish Comes Full Circle With Andrew Smith’s Mistfall

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.

If you were a fan of the Fourth Doctor serial, Full Circle then you’ll be pleased to know that the Andrew Smith-penned story is getting a sequel. While it isn’t a televised follow-up, Big Finish has fit the bill with this month’s release of Mistfall.

Mistfall picks up directly after the events of Full Circle, this time with the Fifth Doctor and companions in tow:

“Drawn off-course, the TARDIS passes through a CVE into a closed universe – a hugely improbable event with a tragically obvious cause. In order to escape inescapable E-Space, the Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Turlough are forced to venture in the wilds of planet Alzarius. But they’re not the only unwanted visitors to this strange world.

A Starliner has landed, captained by Decider Merrion – but why would Merrion risk rousing the Planet that Slept, and the monsters in its marshes?

Mistfall is coming. The Marshmen are coming. But while Nyssa and Turlough find themselves caught in the open, in the hands of fanatics who model themselves on the legendary Outlers, the Doctor and Tegan discover that the supposedly secure Starliner affords them no protection from monsters both within and without…”

This brand new release also kicks off the Fifth Doctor’s hotly anticipated E-Space Trilogy, which continues in the February and March Main Range releases.

Speaking of Andrew Smith, The Daily Record recently caught up with the Rutherglen native to discuss his sequel and the return of the Marshmen:

“I really didn’t expect it to happen, but there was something I had played about with a while back, an idea that never went anywhere, and one of those stories was called Mistfall. In the end I didn’t use any of the story elements from that, but I nicked the title! My novelisation of Full Circle has a passage at the end where the Marshmen return to the marsh, and I came back to that. When (script editor) Alan Barnes asked me if I had any ideas for the story, sent a copy of that passage to Alan and said, ‘This might be a good basis.’ The Marshmen have a mental communion and it’s clear that their job is to protect the ecology of Alzarius. That was always going to feature, to match up with the book…It was really nice to write a sequel to my own TV story.”

Doctor Who: Mistfall is available now. Tell us, dear readers, will you be checking out Smith’s Full Circle follow-up?

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A New Dalek Threat: Masters of Earth Reviewed

Meredith Burdett 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 a peculiar thing that the worlds of Doctor Who have never really paid all that much attention to the Dalek invasion of Earth that the First Doctor and his friends helped to overthrow. This is of course a guiltier trait of the television series rather than Big Finish who have returned to the Dalek-ruined Earth a few times over the years.

But with such a lavish history and the entire planet of human beings with interesting stories and scenarios to endure, why isn’t there an entire mini-series based on survivors of the Dalek assault?

Whilst that question starts to percolate through your mind, this reviewer would like to offer Masters of Earth as evidence that the story of Earth’s endurance and triumph is far from over and far from told.

When settling down to listen to the story, remember  that this is no set-piece-for-an-action-packed-Dalek-story. Masters of Earth is not simply a means to an end to shoehorn in Skaro’s finest and get them shouting a bit. This is a well-paced, character based play, with oodles of time to let the performers breathe and build a colourful world full of intrigue, heartbreak and of course, betrayal.  The fact that it’s set during the Dalek invasion of Earth is merely a happy coincidence, one to allow newer listeners to hop on board and discover the rich history of Doctor Who and all it has to offer. The Daleks make appearances and certainly have a nefarious scheme to play out but they are second in the list of monsters in this story. The real enemy is closer to the Doctor and Peri than they realise, and this only helps to embellish the qualities that human beings contain and the means that they will go to in order to ensure their survival.

With the Doctor trying to not get actively involved in events as they play out, his previous self will soon appear to help the Earth and he does not want his actions now to affect that in any way, his cautiousness does not pay off as he and Peri are dragged into events despite trying not to be. Nicola Bryant and Colin Baker continue to shine, clearly delighted to be working together once again. Bryant is also providing us with possibly her strongest ever performance as Peri that we’ve ever had. Neither too old or too young and naïve, this is a Peri that knows her mind, that has less fear, that has seen things that have changed her forever. With this, Peri is able to question the Doctor in an entirely different way; it’s incredibly refreshing to listen to these two back and forth and also incredibly rewarding.

At its heart, Master of Earth shows how far people will go: how far the resistance will go to fight the Daleks, how far this learned Sixth Doctor and tougher Peri will go to help one another and what happens when the need for survival outweighs anything else. This may well be a story with the Daleks in it but it is by no means a Dalek story. It’s rich, layered, glorious and above all, wonderfully human.

Another belter from Scott and Wright and a must listen for fans of the Sixth Doctor.

Master of Earth is available on CD or via download from Big Finish now.

The post A New Dalek Threat: Masters of Earth Reviewed appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Netflix US to Remove Doctor Who and Other BBC Programmes

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.

Dear American Whovians, it is time to take a seat, as this news is truly brace worthy. Streaming juggernaut Netflix is set to drop several BBC produced titles, including Doctor Who, from their content offerings. The long standing contract between the two media companies is set to expire on 31 January 2015, and there has been no positive indication that a new agreement will be reached.

As such, Americans who enjoy their BBC shows on Netflix are going to be seeking alternate ways to get their fix.

Personally speaking, I find this news to be rather terrible. Some of you may not know that I came to know and love Doctor Who via Netflix. Starting with the The Eleventh Hour through the end of Series 6, and then back to Series 1 and forward, I watched episode after episode of seemingly never ending, timey wimey greatness until I was fully and irreversibly hooked. Thus, it could be said that I automatically think Netflix when I think Doctor Who and that that correlation may be ending is a sad thing for me.

Now, this isn’t entirely surprising for us, dear readers, as we recently reported that it was a possibility. So what is there to do? If fighting until the bitter end is your cup of tea, there is a petition to keep Doctor Who on Netflix and can be found here (I’ve already done so). Should the unthinkable happen and the contract lapses, you’ll be relieved to know that there are some other options for you.

Both Amazon Prime Instant Video and Hulu Plus offer Doctor Who and other BBC programming, so those aren’t terrible alternatives (minus the damn adverts on Hulu…). And of course, you could always buy modern Doctor Who physically or digitally…it is probably less expensive in the long run. After all, $8 a month after so long grows to be way more than initial financial hit it would take to own the series for yourself. Consider it food for thought, fellow Kasterborites. I’ve even started my own collection with Series 8 on iTunes. Looks like I may be forced to start back filing a little sooner than I planned.

Have you signed the petition? Will you switch from Netflix? Do tell down below!

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10 Doctor Who Moments That Weren’t Quite Right

Jonathan Appleton 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.

When a programme has been around as long as Doctor Who there are bound to be moments that jar, that feel at odds with the ethos of the show, that somehow just don’t feel right… Whether it’s the Doctor boffing someone over the head, a companion becoming subject to cruel and unusual treatment or a plot point that leaves you asking what in the name of Gallifrey you’ve just seen, join us as we present the Kasterborous guide to Doctor Who Moments That Weren’t Quite Right!

Rock On, Doctor

Perhaps it’s unfair to start with something so early in the life of the programme when the character was still being formed but, certainly from a modern standpoint, the moment in the very first story when the First Doctor picks up a rock, slyly hatching a plan to cave in a caveman’s head on the grounds that he’s injured and slowing down the group’s escape is shocking stuff. Never again would the Doctor be presented as so ruthlessly calculating.

Never cruel or cowardly? Don’t you believe it.

The Doctor Offs An Ogron

For all his self-professed pacifism and antipathy for weapons, there have been a number of occasions when the Doctor has been more than happy to ‘lock and load’. A long-discussed moment came in part two of Day of the Daleks when Jon Pertwee’s Doctor terminates an Ogron with extreme prejudice. In fairness said Ogron, whilst not posing an immediate threat, was most definitely up to no good, what with all the paradox-causing shenanigans during that mysterious affair at Styles peace conference…

Not A Patch On You

Terry Nation was responsible for some bonkers plotting, God love him, and he outdid himself in The Android Invasion, a non-Dalek story for Tom Baker’s Doctor. Astronaut Guy Crawford’s realisation that the Kraals have hoodwinked him into believing they saved his life on the grounds that the eyepatch he’s been wearing for… oh, it must have been at least a few weeks, presumably, covers up a perfectly healthy eye is often quoted as one of Doctor Who’s most hilariously nonsensical explanations.

Ah well, it made a change from Terry’s regular favourites of countdowns, radiation poisoning and incarcerations.

Stop Myrka-ing About

I swore to myself I wasn’t going to resort to that hoary old cliché of criticising Doctor Who’s special effects when I started writing this but there’s no denying that Warriors of the Deep’s heart-sappingly dreadful Myrka fits this article’s theme… and then some. Even allowing for every excuse you want to make regarding budgets, time restrictions and all the rest of, there is something just so wrong about this frightful-for-all-the-wrong-reasons creation that you can only pity the poor actors who had to appear on screen with it before discreetly moving on.

Peri in Peril

It may have been a bold decision of the production team to make their new Doctor not just unlikeable but out-and-out murderously psychotic when Colin Baker made his debut in The Twin Dilemma, but it’s hard not to view it as a mistake now. The Sixth Doctor may have softened over time and his appearances in Big Finish audios have led many to view him as a true favourite incarnation, but he never got a fair crack of the whip on screen and it all started here with that alarming attack on his companion in his very first episode.

Decency of the Daleks

There are many moments in the TV Movie that could have been chosen for this piece: a half-human Doctor; a camp as Christmas Master; the programme’s continuity generally being stuffed in a washing machine and put on an extended spin cycle… But my nomination comes very early on in the piece, when we’re told that the Daleks agreed to the Master’s last request for the Doctor to collect his old foe’s remains. This reimagines the Daleks as being an altogether more decent, honourable bunch than we’d previously been led to believe.

 

I like to imagine the Doctor and the Daleks gathering for a rather stilted wake, sipping tepid sherry and wondering just how soon it would be polite to make excuses and get away. The Doctor: ‘So, see much of Davros these days…?’

Wheelie Good Fun

I remember meeting a friend in the pub that night back in 2005 when, after an eternity of waiting, we’d finally got to see the new series with the much-trumpeted transmission of Rose. I was thrilled to have the programme back, of course, but something didn’t sit right with me. Struggling to articulate why, I asked John (who likes the show but is by no means a fan) what he’d made of it.

Nicely encapsulating my misgivings far more succinctly than I had managed to, he responded: ‘Not sure about the wheelie bin…’

I Don’t Care If You Don’t Want To Go, You’re Going

It’s no wonder the Tenth Doctor regenerated at the conclusion of The End of Time. If it hadn’t been the radiation that did for him he would surely have died of old age, so long did he spend on that emotional tour of the galaxy to catch up with old friends one last time.

 

That aside, his parting wail of ‘I don’t want to go’ struck a wrong note with me and I couldn’t help feeling that it was a shame that this most popular of modern day Doctors had to bow out not bravely facing up to his unknown future, but as a bit of a self-pitying wuss.

Get Out Of Jail Free

What a fantastic set up for the season finale we were given in The Pandorica Opens. An impregnable prison built to hold the galaxy’s most brilliant mind, constructed by a fearsome alliance of every enemy from across time and space. Was I alone in finding the explanation for the Doctor’s escape less than satisfying? He got out… because he got out (that was basically it, right?).

Eh? That, together with those larky goings on with a fez and a mop, left me struggling to care by the time we got to that nonsense about rebooting the universe. Yeah, whatever…

Life After Death

Bringing us up to date, there are many things we could pick from for this list from Season 8’s closing episodes Dark Water and Death In Heaven. The Brigadier resurrected as a Cyberman and those unsettling ‘don’t cremate me’ pleas have been much discussed but my moment that didn’t feel right was the Doctor agreeing to help Clara find out what happens after death in the first place.

Why did he do this, when soon after he’s rubbishing the idea of an afterlife and dismissing the whole 3W presentation as a con? If the Doctor always knew that death really was the end why did he hold out the hope of rescuing Danny?

That’s our view; what about you? Which moments in Doctor Who didn’t feel right? What made you splutter out your fish fingers and custard? Let us know!

The post 10 Doctor Who Moments That Weren’t Quite Right appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Rumours Of Torchwood’s Death Seem To Have Been Exaggerrated…

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.

John Barrowman has revealed during a press conference promoting the latest series of Arrow (in which he is a series regular) that Torchwood is to return! At this stage, it is a return to radio, the medium in which the last adventures were aired back in 2011.

“My sister and I are discussing the possibility of writing one of them and whether or not that leads to something,” said Barrowman, with the understanding that there is a possibility that a return to TV for Russell T Davies’ Doctor Who spinoff, which starred Barrowman as Time Agent Captain Jack Harkness, erstwhile companion of the Doctor. Of equal importance to the original show was Gwen Cooper, played by Eve Myles who is currently messing with David Tennant’s head in Broadchurch, by former Torchwood writer Chris Chibnall, although Barrowman indicated that at least one story would feature the full Torchwood cast, which would indicate Naoko Mori and Burn Gorman would be involved as well as Gareth David Lloyd. Fans will recall that Toshiko Sato and Owen Harper died at the end of Series 2, with Ianto Jones following in the acclaimed Children of Earth.

Apparently three or four plays are planned at this stage, with Barrowman apparently able to head to the UK to record them (and even appear on TV if necessary) with the blessing of Arrow’s producers.

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Not only is Russell T Davies involved with this radio revival, but he is being assisted by his former Executive Producer colleague Julie Gardner…

What do you think, readers? Is it time for a Torchwood revival?

(Via Doctor Who News)

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