Christian Cawley's Blog, page 207

Peter Capaldi on the Value of the Arts

Alex Skerratt 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.

New Time Lord Peter Capaldi has spoken of his concern for school leavers of the 21st century.

In an interview with The Big Issue, the Twelfth Doctor admitted that today’s students do not have the same opportunities that he was blessed with when he was studying in Scotland in the 1970s.

“I went there at a time when you could go,” he explained. “My parents wouldn’t have been able to afford to send me to university or art school. I went at a time when you got a grant.

“It may sound nightmarish to some people now, but the government paid for you to be educated, because they believed it was a civic responsibility. I certainly would not be here, being Doctor Who, if they hadn’t done that.

“So I find it alarming that we live in an age where it doesn’t work like that any more. That we don’t think as a society, it is worthwhile paying to help people be educated, and become the best they can be.”

Peter Capaldi has given some credit to The Glasgow School of Art for enabling him to fulfil his dream of becoming an actor, (even though he initially graduated in graphic design!)

“It is a fabulous establishment,” he stated. “The Art School – any art school – is a good place to be, generally.

“But that place, in particular, has a great atmosphere. Which comes from the fact that you have this big, meaty, industrial city which can be quite rough and tough.

“But you have in the centre of it, this great temple to art, which I think is a fabulous thing. It opens its doors to that city, and to me that is what art should be – an expression of the place and the people that it springs from.

“And obviously I had my student days there, and they were wild and crazy as they should be. But always at the Art School, you always had the sense of a kind of, if not a higher purpose, then a sense that the arts were valuable, that talents were valuable, that these were things that people had that should be developed and cherished.”

It would have been a tremendous shame had Peter Capaldi not been able to fulfil his desire to work in the film and television industry, and my DVD collection would certainly be in a much sorrier state! Whilst it is true that it is becoming increasingly difficult for school leavers to move on to higher education, it could be a few years before we see the full extent of the consequences, if indeed there are any.

Let’s champion the arts! After all, we can’t all be sporting heroes, (yours truly is the living and breathing proof of this!) What do you think Kasterborites? Are you in agreement with the Twelfth Doctor’s views on the value of the arts and higher education? Should we set our ambitions on Olympic gold medals instead of BAFTAs? Let us know.

“Football’s the one with the sticks, isn’t it?”

(Via The Sunday Times)

The post Peter Capaldi on the Value of the Arts appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Day of the Doctor ReKapped! Part 2

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.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.”

Marcus Aurelius.

MCGILLOP: McGillop.

07700 900 461: Take a look at your phone and confirm who you’re talking to.

(PAUSE)

MCGILLOP: But that’s not possible; I was just – -

07700 900 461: You were just talking to me, I know. I’m a time traveller: you figure it out. I need you to send the Gallifrey Falls painting to the Black Archive. Understood?

MCGILLOP: Understood, sir… But why would I take it there?

***

GALLIFREY. THE LAST DAY OF THE TIME WAR.

The War Council of Gallifrey deliberates their next move, as the Daleks focus their attack on the capital city. The Sky Trenches are holding, but for how much longer?

There’s a breach in the Time Vaults, the Omega Arsenal, where just one weapon remained: The Moment. “The final work of the ancients of Gallifrey,” the General explains. “A weapon so powerful, its operating system became sentient. According to legend, it developed a conscience.”

“And we’ve never used it?” Androgar asks.

“How do you use a weapon of ultimate mass destruction when it can stand in judgement on you?” the General explains “There’s only one man who would even try.”

The Moment has gone.

***

Time Lords of Gallifrey; Daleks of Skaro. I serve notice on you all. Too long I have stayed my hand. No more. Today, you leave me no choice. Today, this war will end. No more.

No more.

***

The War Doctor walks for miles, far away from the TARDIS, The Moment slung over his shoulder in a bag. He eventually gets to his intended location: a barn in the middle of nowhere, where he shall make his stand. There, a Bad Wolf appears. The Moment’s conscience. “I chose this face and form especially for you,” the somehow-familiar stranger says. “It’s from your past – or possibly your future. I always get those two mixed up… I think I’m called Rose Tyler.” She reconsiders: “No, no – in this form, I’m called Bad Wolf.”

She warns that if he does this, his punishment is to survive – and one day, he shall count the number of children on Gallifrey the day it burns. “Do you want to see what that will turn you into?” The air rips apart above them, a tear in space-time. “I’m opening windows on your future, “The Moment says.”A tangle in time through the days to come; to the man today will make you.”

And then a fez falls through the tear.

***

ENGLAND, 1562.

The Tenth Doctor rushes through a glade on a horse… with Queen Elisabeth I. They settle down for a picnic and a quick proposal of marriage (which the Queen graciously accepts), and then the Doctor announces that she’s actually a shape-shifting alien called a Zygon.

It takes him a few moments, but he twigs that the Queen is, in fact, the Queen, and it’s the horse that is a Zygon. “I’m going to be King…” the Doctor realises, and the pair run.

The two get separated, however, and when the Doctor finds the Queen again – there are two of her. Before he can figure out which is the Zygon, a rip in time appears above them.

First, a fez falls through… and then the Eleventh Doctor!

“Hello, ladies!” the bow-tie-wearing alien addresses the Queens. The two Doctors argue and the Tenth explains that one Queen is a Zygon.

“Elizabeth, whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one,” he says, and – after a kiss or two – they run.

Clara’s voice echoes through the tear in time: “Who are you talking to?”

“Myself,” the two Doctors yell, grinning.

“Can you come back through?” Kate Stewart asks.

“Physical passage may not be possible in both directions,” the Eleventh Doctor explains. “Hang on! Fez incoming!” And he throws it through the rip.

It doesn’t arrive in the Under Gallery; instead, a new owner (or the same owner, perhaps) returns it, as the War Doctor jumps through the time tunnel. He initially doesn’t believe these two youngsters are him, but after a display of their sonic screwdrivers, they finally convince him.

“Which of you is the Doctor?” asks Bentham, one of the Queen’s guards suddenly enters the clearing, followed by his peers. “The Queen of England is bewitched; I would have the Doctor’s head.”

One of the Queens returns and instructs her men to arrest the three Doctors and lock them in the Tower of London – which seems to rather please the Eleventh Doctor…

***

The three Time Lords are shoved into a cell, and the Eleventh Doctor immediately gets to work, carving numerals into a stone column. “In theory,” the War Doctor says, looking at the jail door, “I can trigger an isolated shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate.”

“We’d have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level,” the Tenth Doctor counters. “Even the sonic would take years.”

Unbeknownst to Doctors Ten and Eleven, the War Doctor is haunted by The Moment. “Ask them,” she tells him. “Ask them what you need to know.”

He asks them if they ever counted how any children there were on Gallifrey the day it burnt. “I have absolutely no idea,” the Eleventh Doctor insists.

“2.47 billion,” the Tenth says, and is appalled that, in 400 years’ time, he would’ve apparently forgotten.

“They’re you,” The Moment says to the War Doctor. “They’re what you become if you destroy Gallifrey: the man who regrets… and the man who forgets.”

And then she tells him about the sonic screwdriver. It’s the same software, but in a different case.  By scanning the door now and planting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the sonic, the result should be computed by the time the Eleventh Doctor is in this cell. 400 years in 4 seconds. They can open the door.

And it does open. Clara bursts through. It wasn’t locked.

***

The Black Archive will self-destruct in less than five minutes and the Tower is TARDIS-proof. The Doctor can’t land to stop the countdown. Until he thinks about the Stasis Cubes: Time Lord art, a frozen instant in time. Following a quick wedding, the three of them (plus Clara) hide in Gallifrey Falls, the 3D painting of Arcadia on the last day of the Time War.

Thanks to a phone call to McGillop, Gallifrey Falls is placed in the Black Archive, and the Doctors, alongside Clara, climb out. They’re confronted with two Kates, two Osgoods and two McGillops. Humans and Zygons – but which is which?

The countdown is keyed to Kate’s voiceprint, but with one halting it, and the other countermanding it, they’re at a stalemate.

“You’re about to murder millions of people,” the War Doctor warns.

“To save billions,” Kate retorts. “How many times have you made that calculation?”

“Once,” the Tenth Doctor says.

“And because I got it wrong,” the Eleventh Doctor takes up,” I’m going to make you get it right… So for the next few hours, until we decide to let you out -”

“- no one in this room will be able to remember if they’re human –”

“- or Zygon.”

They activate the memory filters in the Black Archive, and both sides, their agendas now unknown, cancel the detonation, and are forced to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all.

Peace in our time.

***

While negotiations go on, Clara introduces herself to the War Doctor. She tells him that her Doctor always talks about the day he wiped out the Time Lords to stop the war.

“One would.”

“You wouldn’t,” she says. “Because you haven’t done it yet. It’s still in your future… He regrets it. I see it in his eyes every day. He’d do anything to change it.”

“How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think?” he asks. “How did you know?”

“Your eyes: you’re so much younger.”

“Then, all things considered… It’s time I grew up.” He then tells The Moment that he’s ready, and disappears.

***

Back in the barn, The Moment has opened up, a big red button at its heart. “Those men… Extraordinary,” the War Doctor says.

“They’re you,” The Moment assures him.

“No. They were the Doctor.”

“You’re the Doctor too.”

“No. Great mean are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame – whatever the cost.”

Vworp! Vworp!

Vworp! Vworp!

Two TARDISes appear behind him and out step Doctors Ten and Eleven, followed by Clara.

“You were the Doctor on the day it wasn’t possible to get it right,” the Eleventh Doctor tells him.

“But this time – ” the Tenth Doctor says, putting his hand over the War Doctor’s.

” – You don’t have to do it alone.” The Eleventh Doctor joins hands with them, all three now resting on the red button.

But The Moment has one more thing in store for them: Gallifrey ripples around them, a projection of the children screaming and crying. They stand at the heart of Arcadia, the war raging around them.

A long time ago, the Doctor made a promise, taking up the name ‘Doctor’:

Never cruel or cowardly.

Never give up. Never give in.

Back in the barn – and the Doctor has changed his mind.

The Moment closes, the red button vanishing.

“There’s still a billion billion Daleks up there, attacking,” the War Doctor says.

But there’s something those Daleks don’t know: this time, there are three of them. And they all have the same thought…

Clara: So what are we doing? What’s the plan?

War Doctor: The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly.

Tenth Doctor: The Sky Trench is holding – but what if the whole planet just disappeared?

Clara: Tiny bit of an ask.

Tenth Doctor: The Daleks would be firing on each other. They’d destroy themselves in their own crossfire.

War Doctor: Gallifrey would be gone, the Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they’d annihilated each other. 

Clara: But where would Gallifrey be?

Tenth Doctor: Frozen. Frozen in an instant of time, safe and hidden away.

Eleventh Doctor: Exactly -

War Doctor: – Like a painting!

***

The War Council of Gallifrey gets a message from the Doctor: GALLIFREY STANDS.

Projections from three TARDISes come through: the three Doctors, explaining their plan. They propose flying their TARDISes into Gallifrey’s lower atmosphere, positioned at equidistant intervals, and freezing the planet and all its inhabitants in a single moment of time – held in a parallel pocket universe.

“The alternative is burning,” the Eleventh Doctor explains.

“And I’ve seen that.”

“And I never want to see it again.”

The calculations would take hundreds of years – but don’t worry, the Doctor started a long time ago.

The First Doctor: “Calling the War Council on Gallifrey: this is the Doctor.”

TARDISes materialise all around the planet, projections from all twelve Doctors appear around the Council.

No – all thirteen!

The Daleks increase their fire. But the Doctor is ready.

“Geronimo!”

“Allons-y!”

“Oh, for God’s sake. Gallifrey stands!”

Gallifrey disappears and a huge explosion echoes across the universe, the Daleks obliterated.

***

THE UNDER GALLERY, 2013.

The three Doctors look at Gallifrey Falls as they sip tea, Clara sitting behind them admiring the sight of three TARDISes lined up next to one another.

No one knows how the painting got to Earth, and the title certainly isn’t very encouraging. Furthermore, the time streams are out of sync, so the War Doctor won’t remember that he tried to save Gallifrey, not destroy it. “But for now,” he concludes, “for this moment, I am the Doctor again. Thank you.”

He heads back into his TARDIS and it dematerialises. Inside, his hands start prickling with light, his cells on fire. “Suppose it makes sense – wearing a bit thin,” he says, the glow spreading across his face. “I hope the ears are a bit less conspicuous this time…”

And he regenerates!

Back in the Under Gallery, the Tenth Doctor goes to leave, but asks his successor where it is they’re heading, seen as he won’t retain the memories either. “I saw Trenzalore, where we’re buried,” the Eleventh Doctor tells him. “We die in battle among millions.”

Giving Clara a kiss, the Tenth Doctor heads to his TARDIS, but turns back, just for a second and says: “Trenzalore. We need a new destination because… I don’t want to go.”

And his TARDIS, too, dematerialises.

Clara goes to leave the Doctor alone with his thoughts, but then remembers: “Oh, by the way, there was an old man looking for you. I think he was the curator.” She goes.

“I could be a curator,” the Doctor mutters. “I’d be great at curating. I’d be The Great Curator. I could retire and do that. I could retire and be the curator of this place.”

“You know, I really think you might.”

He turns to see the Curator, an old man with ancient eyes and sparkling intelligence.

“I never forget a face,” the Doctor says in wonder.

“I know you don’t, and in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few, but just the old favourites, eh?”

A smile passes between them.

The Curator focuses his attention on the painting, the painting with two names. But no. “That’s where everybody’s wrong,” the Curator explains – because hindsight is a wonderful thing. “It’s all one title: Gallifrey Falls No More.”

It seems that what the Doctor did worked. Gallifrey is still out there, frozen. “Is that what I’m supposed to do now; go looking for Gallifrey?” the Doctor asks.

He gets an enigmatic answer, of course, from the enigmatic man. “Who knows? Who – knows?” And the Curator leaves.

***

Clara sometimes asks me if I dream.

‘Of course I dream,’ I tell her. Everybody dreams. ‘But what do you dream about?’ she’ll ask. ‘The same thing everybody dreams about,’ I tell her: ‘I dream about where I’m going.’ She always laughs at that: ‘But you’re not going anywhere, you’re just wandering about.’

That’s not true. Not anymore. I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours; the same as anyone’s. It’s taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I’m going. Where I’ve always been going…

Home, the long way round.

NEXT TIME: “ELEVEN’S HOUR IS OVER NOW; THE CLOCK IS STRIKING TWELVE’S.”

The post The Day of the Doctor ReKapped! Part 2 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Cartoon Who, Karen’s Bond Wish, Terminator Genesis, Tom at 80 & Underground Fan

Drew Boynton 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 we go again! Bigger than the Third Doctor’s hairdo, faster than K-9 down a freshly-waxed hallway, and more informative than a talking computer in Sarah Jane’s attic, it’s the Kasterborous News Blast! Today’s Blast is “Five Rounds, Rapid!” as we take aim at: Doctor Who gets cartoony, Karen Gillan loves James Bond, Tom Baker turns 80, the Doctor returns to the London Underground, and Arnold Schwarzenegger pumps up Matt Smith!

The Name Is Legs, Ms Ginger Long-Legs

Karen Gillan, currently starring in the biggest hit movie in the galaxy, Guardians of the Galaxy to be exact, has her sights set on another franchise: Bond, James Bond. But she doesn’t want to be one of the famed Bond Girls, no!, she surprisingly wants to be a villain! In an article on TV3, she said: “‘My dad used to tell me when I was younger, ‘You don’t want to be a Bond girl; you want to be a villain. That stuck with me.’”

Her dad sounds like a smart man.  The former Amy Pond did play the villainous Nebula in Guardians… could she menace Agent 007 next?

Toons & Really Disney-Inspired Scenes

Internet cartoon creator Stephen Byrne has put together a Doctor Who short and posted it on YouTube. Called (of course) The Animated Adventures of Doctor Who, the 44-second trailer features fantastic fully realized 2-D animation of the Twelfth Doctor and Clara (with guest appearances by K-9, Daleks, and others) in jaunty adventures through time and space. The Twelfth Doctor has a high forehead and even higher hair, while Clara appears to be tiny and 10 years old!

A review on PopCultureMonster loves the clip, and I think most Whovians would agree!

Come With Matt If You Want To Live!

Arnold Schwarzenegger, that seemingly 100-year-old action star, has revealed via Twitter that the next Terminator film will be called Terminator Genesis Genisys. Yes, that’s the correct spelling… never question Arnie’s spelling if you want to live!

Why is this news on the Kasterborous News Blast? Because none other than the Eleventh Doctor himself, Matt Smith, is co-starring with the muscled former Governor of California in the future hit!

Four Score and Seven Doctors Ago…

Tom Baker, last seen curating space-time artwork with a familiar face, turned 80 years old just six months ago. Big Finish and Dalek-voice mastermind Nick Briggs sat down with Baker and had a chat about the former Doctor’s long life. As the Big Finish website says, Tom Baker at 80 “…forms two fascinating hours of engaging entertainment in the unique company of Mr. Baker.”

The interview will be available on CD and download in September, and all pre-ordered CDs will be autographed by Tom Baker!  SHH!

The London Underground Is Safe From Villainy… For Now

Someone–obviously a fan very excited about 23 August–posted a lengthy Doctor Who quote on a London Underground Service Board.

Someone on the London Underground really, really loves Doctor Who http://t.co/PCUjJ5yKTk pic.twitter.com/CZJNyBo96w

— i100 (@thei100) August 7, 2014

The anonymous poster (did anyone check to see if Moffat has a blue felt-tip marker?) even did some artwork to go with the quote… a tiny drawing of Peter Capaldi in his now-famous Doctor action pose.  Surely, he’s a good man.

(Thanks to everyone who sent this!)

Well, that’s it for today’s Blast from the past…and present…and future…and all of space and the universe. Tune in next time for more views and news from your friends at Kasterborous!

The post Cartoon Who, Karen’s Bond Wish, Terminator Genesis, Tom at 80 & Underground Fan appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield 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.

Glorious.

Is that allowed? Can a review for a Doctor Who related story be summed up in just one word? The answer is most definitely yes, but you didn’t click on the link to this summation in order to be treated to just one word, you wanted lots of them, something to inform your decision on what your next Big Finish Doctor Who-related purchase should be.

Quite frankly, it should most assuredly be this box set, and if you’re not putting your precious credit card details into the Big Finish website and ordering this new set of adventures now, you’re missing out.

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield (with added Seventh Doctor and Ace action for proper value for money) is not only one of Big Finish’s strongest releases of 2014, it also happens to serve as an excellent and glowing tribute to some of Doctor Who’s bleakest and most experimental days: The Wilderness Years of the early 90’s

Fans that now have long beards and lower back pains will remember all too well those dark years where Doctor Who wasn’t on the telly, where Big Finish didn’t exist and where the Universe suddenly had to accept that the Doctor was lost to it-stuck in a bizarre temporal orbit or some such. But you can’t keep a good Time Lord down for long and whilst the medium of television had abandoned the Doctor, the printed book refused to. Virgin Publishing took the Seventh Doctor and Ace to new worlds and let readers experience fresh and groundbreaking new adventures, stories that were too broad and deep to show television audiences.

With the advent of the grittier and more adult tales came far more realistic companions for the Doctor to travel with, people who had backgrounds and issues and desires and faults: cue Bernice Summerfield. An archaeologist from the future with a penchant for trouble and a high tolerance to alcohol, a woman who knew her own mind, could not be bossed around by the Doctor and got around a bit as well, if you get the drift. Bernice was one of the quintessential companion’s that we never got to see on screen but with this newest Bernice box set, we get so very close indeed.

A full on epic sage for Bernice Summerfield to endure with the Seventh Doctor and Ace popping up at the correct moments!

And that’s what this is, not a Doctor Who story with Bernice in the mix but quite the reverse, a full on epic sage for Bernice Summerfield to endure with the Seventh Doctor and Ace popping up at the correct moments to keep the plot moving forward with enough momentum to expel it into a separate universe.

Spread out over four stories, Bernice finds herself helping the Doctor to find Ace, who has gone missing under mysterious circumstances. The trail leads her from space bars to haunted planets, from time locks to the remnants of Skaro and all the while, the lady is amazing. Brave, witty, full of banter and, above all, clever- really, really clever.

Nev Fountain’s The Revolution starts proceedings of with a hilarious romp for the Doctor and Benny which sets the scene for the rest of the set. This is the lightest of the four stories and serves the listener well as a strong and enjoyable start. Una McCormack takes Benny to a far more isolated environment with Good Night Sweet Ladies, featuring all the thrills of a haunted house story with a Dalek mixed in as well, by the end of this segment, if you’re not at least weeping, then you have no soul.

Events take a far more action packed and excellently twisted turn with Guy Adams’ Random Ghosts for the penultimate story, which has been hot on the trail of Ace and stuck on a planet in the middle of a one day time lock, which causes everyone to rest day after day. The story is told through the medium of sound recordings (think of the latest horror film fad of found footage and you get the idea) and serves as an excellently original way to tell a story set in the Doctor Who universe, even by Steven Moffat’s standards. The final tale takes place on Skaro, and offers cameo’s galore from the tombs of Dalek history. From the very beginning to the last second of the drama, you’re glued to your various audio output device, slobbering for more, James Goss certainly knows how to write a full on, no holds barred drama and even offers a fresh perspective on the Dalek’s raison d’être.

It goes without saying that all of the cast are superb. McCoy, Aldred, Briggs and every single supporting cast member make this an incredible experience but there has to be a special mention to Lisa Bowerman who simple excels as Professor Bernice Summerfield. Maybe excels isn’t even the correct word to use for this particular performance; exemplary might be a better one. From the delivery of some great one-liners to the tears of a broken woman right through to the anger of a righteous soul, Bowerman powers through as though nothing can faze her, which is handy because the character she’s playing here demands that.

Bernice Summerfield played a hugely important role in the Doctor’s life for a very long time, one that is never given the true admiration that it should have because she was in print format rather than visual for so long. There have been wonderful Bernice box sets from Big Finish in the pat but this one serves as a fitting tribute to a wonderful woman who truly earned her place as one of the Doctor’s true Children of Time.

Let’s hope that Big finish decide to keep the Bernice adventures in this format for a few more box sets yet, Bernice Summerfield has never burned brighter than in these stories and it would be wonderful to hear more from this incredibly strong team.

Glorious.

The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield is available on CD or via download now from www.bigfinish.com now.

The post The New Adventures of Bernice Summerfield Reviewed! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Alternate Fan-Made Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebrations

Alex Skerratt 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 fair to say that script supremo Steven Moffat faced an almost impossible task when it came to the 50th anniversary celebrations of Doctor Who. He had to deliver a script that summed up everything that was great about the last half century, whilst paving the way for the future, whilst catering for the casual viewer, whilst delivering a good adventure in its own right. No easy task!

Since last November’s The Day of the Doctor, I’ve met several fans with polarised opinions of Steven Moffat’s final script. Some felt that it was a ripping yarn that didn’t need to dwell in its own history in order to serve as a compelling piece of science fiction. Others have been more critical, stating that the absence of (most) previous Doctors made it an ineffective 50th anniversary special.

As much as it pains me to say it – and as much as I do actually like The Day of the Doctor – I would have liked a little more ‘past Doctor’ action, even if it had been done using CGI, or even in the style of The Name of the Doctor‘s opening scene, where Clara interacted with the Time Lord’s past incarnations thanks to some clever inter-splicing of archive footage. Alas, all we had in the end were some brief shots of past adventures, along with a rather good Hartnell impersonation from John Guilor, and Tom Baker as… someone else, possibly. Where was the digitally-recreated Jon Pertwee, fighting a rabid pterodactyl courtesy of The Mill?!

Presumably, I’m not the only fan who feels this way, as a whole plethora of ‘alternate’ 50th anniversary videos have wormed their way into the webosphere. And they’re rather good!

Take a look…

The 12 Doctors

Of course, one of the major hurdles the production team faced with regards to previous Doctors was their age. It’s fair to say that Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy all look slightly different these days, and it would have been very hard to explain their more ‘mature’ complexions! But as we know, in the Whoniverse all things are possible, and just as an older Peter Davison can waltz into the TARDIS in Time Crash – thanks to a handy shorting of the time differential - so too can Doctors Six and Seven, brainy specs and all.

Hence, in this video, we have Colin Baker moaning about the console room’s “atmospheric lighting” and Sylvester McCoy bemoaning the new “helicopter” blades on the time rotor, with clips borrowed from the recent The Five(ish) Doctors Reboot. Keep your eyes peeled for Christopher Eccleston and Paul McGann as well, along with a rather amusing moment in which Doctor Number Five meets Captain Jack Harkness! Belgium-sized explosions aplenty, then!

Nine Recalls The Time War

This next video best fits Steven Moffat’s original idea for The Day of the Doctor, which was rumoured to feature Christopher Eccleston’s incarnation as opposed to John Hurt’s – until Eccleston declined the role, that is. It may not feature a CGI Jon Pertwee or even a pterodactyl, but I will forgive it anything because it has been so beautifully put together.

It features the Ninth Doctor reading Wilfred Owen’s ‘Dulce et Decorum Est,’ a poem which was originally written to describe the horrors of the First World War. In this video, though, the piece is given a new slant, being used instead as the Doctor’s emotional account of the final battle between the Time Lords and the Dalek race, with Flavia’s dulcet tones resonating in the time vortex. That’s more like it! Where was Flavia when The Day of the Doctor was going down?

So if, like me, you were slightly disappointed after last year’s anniversary spectacular, do not despair – these videos exist. Yes, in a parallel universe, David Bradley went back in time to collect Susan from the year 2164, and Eccleston finally got to interact with his ‘New Who‘ successors!

We can all sleep easy – at least until you tell us which of these you liked best, or better still, how YOU would reimagine The Day of the Doctor.

The post Alternate Fan-Made Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Celebrations appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Mind-Blowing Similarities Between Willy Wonka And Doctor Who

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.

Come with me, and you’ll be, in a world of fan deliberation!

He flies around space in a box, dresses eccentrically, enchants children and, on an off day, he can seem a little… intense. No it’s not the Doctor; it’s everyone’s favourite psychopathic candy dispenser, Willy Wonka … or is it…

Maybe, just maybe, the two aren’t so different.

Perhaps at the end of his regeneration cycle, with one life left to live, he swapped a future Trenzalore for a Toblerone? Maybe his TARDIS now takes the guise of a great glass elevator?  And is it feasible that his rather acute taste buds could have produced the kind of outlandish confectionary to dazzle and amaze children all around the world?

Prepare to have your preconceptions blown away like Augustus Gloop through an extraction pipe but could Roald Dahl’s beloved character in fact be the final regeneration of the Doctor?

Wonka, like the Doctor, has not only travelled in space before but has visited many other worlds; with the elevator possibly serving as his ‘bigger on the inside’ space craft

Firstly, abandon your theories based on Wonka being a psychopathic murderer and cannibal, or the whole story being a children’s version of Dante’s Inferno, and, instead, embrace a lighter take on both.

Drawing from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator the theory begins by laying down a few observations about the character and his likeness to the Doctor:

“He is an eccentric, super-genius
He has a very child-like sense of wonder, excitement and curiosity
This however seems to cover a darkness within him and a profound loneliness
Loves exploration, danger and adventure
Charges headlong into most situations
Able to remain calm and level headed, even in the direst of predicaments
Does not suffer fools easily.”

The theory then delves a little into his history – paying particular attention to his age: “First, in The Great Glass Elevator, we learn that, despite his youthful nature, he is actually very old, which is why he is retiring and passing the factory on to Charlie. This is despite the fact that he created a drug called Wonka-Vite which has the ability to regenerate a person’s body, making them 20 years younger with each pill, Wonka states that he does not wish to waste the pills on himself, we will come back to this later.”

What’s more, in the second book, Wonka and the Buckets travel into space via the TARDIS-like Great Glass Elevator, and encounter a deadly alien race identified by Wonka as the Vermicious Knids – a particularly nasty race of aliens which swarm throughout the universe and have devoured numerous other sentient alien races.

Meaning that Wonka, like the Doctor, has not only travelled in space before but has visited many other worlds; with the elevator possibly serving as his ‘bigger on the inside’ space craft (How else would he be able to travel to the Knid’s homeworld Vermes – some 184,270,000,000 miles away from Earth?)

Starting to sound familiar? Even the dress sense is very Doctor-like.

So what does the theory have to say about the Doctor’s journey from restless traveller to magical confectioner?

“The Doctor is far into his final regeneration. The TARDIS is unable to make long voyages through time, either due to its age (It was already a museum piece when the Doctor stole it/it stole him), or due to severe damage. The Doctor makes the decision to retire to his adoptive planet, Earth. There, to protect himself and those around him, he sheds the guise of the Doctor and all his known aliases and renames himself William Wonka.

Because of his love for jelly babies, he opens a small sweet shop where he can share his fantastic adventures with the children who visit, whose parents merely shrug them off as fairy tales. Because of the Doctors intelligence and incredible sense of taste (Something which is demonstrated multiple times), he begins to create all kinds of fantastic confectionery, the likes of which have never been seen on Earth before, and before long becomes the number one manufacturer of sweets in the world.”

Disguising the TARDIS as an elevator within his newly opened factory, the Doctor then begins to work on a formula that will allow him to regenerate once again so that he can fix the TARDIS and travel the cosmos.

Settling into a life of seclusion, loneliness begins to consume him (we all know how well he keeps in his own company), he manages to create a formula that could make him younger.  However, as the theory explains: “It cannot return his regenerative abilities so he decides to simply live out the rest of his days, but would like one last adventure, and needs a new companion to assist him, and who he can finally pass his legacy onto, but he has to be sure that they are worthy enough to face the dangers ahead and take on this responsibility, so he places five golden tickets within the packets of his chocolate bars…”

Well what do we make of the theory?

There have been both links between the two worlds (the Ninth Doctor novel Winner Takes it All draws parallels between the first book’s plot and its own promotional offer based morality) and in real life, with a large amount of Doctor Who cast members both old and new, playing parts in both the film adaptations (perhaps the most notable was Jon Pertwee, who auditioned for the role of Willy Wonka for the 1971 Mel Stuart adaptation) but nothing as well thought out and as explicit as this theory.

So have we uncovered our own Golden Ticket or is it nothing more than a load of pure imagination?

The post Mind-Blowing Similarities Between Willy Wonka And Doctor Who appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Day of the Doctor ReKapped! Part 1

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.

UNIT FILE #231163; SUB-SECTION 2-05.

TRANSCRIPT: INCOMING CALL FROM 07700 900 461. 23.11.2014.

MCGILLOP: McGillop.

(PAUSE)

MCGILLOP: But that’s not possible; I was just – -

(PAUSE)

MCGILLOP: Understood, sir… But why would I take it there?

***

UNIT FILE #231163; DOCUMENT A.

NO MORE – OR – GALLIFREY FALLS. ARTIST: UNKNOWN.

***

UNIT FILE #231163; DOCUMENT B.

LETTER FROM QEI TO THE DOCTOR.

My dearest love,

I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth who writes to you now.

You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery, where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned.

God speed, gentle husband.

***

UNIT FILE #231163; SUB-SECTION 2-10.

INCIDENT REPORT. CONFIRMED BY HEAD OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH, KATE STEWART; AND UNIT PERSONNEL #799: OSGOOD.

ALL ENQUIRIES TO BE DIRECTED TO THE BLACK ARCHIVE.

***

A lone policeman wanders down Totter’s Lane and up past Coal Hill School, where Clara is teaching. The class is dismissed and she’s off – to meet with her Doctor.

Clara enters the TARDIS and the Doctor welcomes her back with a promise of cocktails on the moon. The TARDIS, in the middle of a field, suddenly lurches as a helicopter picks it up and carries it across London. The Doctor reaches out and grabs at the time-space ship’s telephone.

Outside the Tower of London, UNIT Scientist, Osgood races to Kate Stewart, sat eating lunch and watching some sluggish ravens of death. Osgood hands the mobile to Kate.

“Doctor, hello,” she says. “We found the TARDIS in a field. I’m having it brought in.”

“No kidding!”

The Doctor falls from the TARDIS, grabbing onto its underside, as the helicopter changes course towards Trafalgar Square. The area is shut off – blame Derren Brown – as the TARDIS is set down outside the National Gallery. “I’m acting on instructions direct from the throne,” Kate assures the Doctor, handing him a letter. “Her credentials are inside.” He goes to open it, and Kate points to the museum. “No. Inside.”

Inside the National Gallery, the Doctor, Clara, Kate, Osgood and another member of UNIT, McGillop stand in front of a painting, one which doesn’t belong in this time or space: an oil painting – in 3D.

No More, or Gallifrey Falls.

“Time Lord art; bigger on the inside,” the Doctor tries to explain. The painting details the Fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey’s second city. “He was there,” he continues. “He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and that was the day he did it – the day I did it. The day hekilled them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks.”

And he remembers…

***

No More.

***

“Why have you brought us here to look at a painting?” the Doctor asks.

“The painting only serves as Elizabeth’s credentials, proof that the letter is from her,” Kate replies. “It’s not why you’re here.” Just as McGillop receives a phone call, Kate guides them through to the Under Gallery, passing by a picture of the Tenth Doctor with Queen Elizabeth I. And the Doctor remembers…

They continue, deeper into the museum. A corridor leads down into the Under Gallery, guarded by a series of covered-up statues, the floor covered in strange stone dust. He hands a sample of the dust to Osgood and asks for an analysis – in triplicate with lots of graphs and complicated sums.

Further into the Under Gallery, the Doctor finds something very, very important… “Someday,” Clara says to him, “you could just walk past a fez.”

They find themselves standing in front of more Time Lord art: landscapes in 3D. But there’s glass all over the floor. “Look at the shatter pattern, “the Doctor tells Clara.”The glass on all these paintings has been broken from the inside.” Sure enough, the pictures are all landscapes with no figures at all. There used to be. Somethings – lots of somethings – have escaped.

However, before he can investigate further, a tear in time opens up above them, a twisting mass of bright colour impossibly ripping through thin air. And the Doctor grins, throws first his fez through… and then jumps in himself!

Clara and Kate just hear disembodied voices, one of which is definitely the Doctor. The other one… somehow sounds like the Doctor too. Snippets of speech slip through:

 “Regeneration. It’s a lottery.” –

“Oops, I’m wearing sandshoes!” –

And another voice: female, very proper:

“But what about the creature?”

Clara shouts after him: “Doctor? Is that you?” The Doctor calls back a confirmation. “Who are you talking to?” Clara asks.

“Myself,” comes two voices.

They’re apparently in England, 1562, and the Queen has been replaced by a shape-shifting alien (both of whom are now running around somewhere in the nearby woods). Clara wonders if he can come back through. Physical passage may not be possible in both directions, so as a test, the Doctor throws the fez. But it doesn’t come back to the Under Gallery.

Kate heads off, instructing Clara to “keep him talking.” Meanwhile, she arranges for another UNIT Scientist, Malcolm (who looks a bit like Lee Evans), to send over incident files, codenamed Cromer.

Clara listens as the two chat to one another through the rip – “Reverse the polarity”; “It’s not working”; “We’re both reversing the polarity!” – and then, with the polarity confused, a third voice joins the fray:

“Anyone lose a fez?” –

She listens as a fair bit of arguing goes on, before further voices, those of soldiers, join in. Kate returns, and Clara tells her, “I think there’s three of them now.”

“There’s a precedent for that.”

The female voice cuts in again, and the soldiers all yell: “Long Live the Queen!” But the Queen seems to have come back from her escapade a little grumpy: “Arrest those men; take them to the Tower.” And they’re marched away by the Royal Guard.

Not to worry though. “Dear God, that man’s clever,” Kate says. “C’mon!”

“Where are we going?” asks Clara, already following Kate out of the museum.

“My office. Otherwise known as the Tower of London.”

***

“It’s like somebody smashed up a lot of old statues,” Osgood concludes, sifting the analysed dust through her hands. McGillop looks around at the statues around the corridor, covered up by sheets.

“Why would anyone do that anyway?” he asks. Then Osgood realises – and puffs on her inhaler. He asks if she’s okay, only to be told they need to get out of there.

“The things from the paintings: I know why they smashed the statues,” she replies.

“Why?”

“Because they needed somewhere to hide.”

The sheets fall from the figures around them, revealing horrific orange aliens, covered in suckers, venom sacs in their mouths oozing disgusting slime. Zygons. They attack McGillop, and copy Osgood – but luckily, she escapes.

***

Kate and Clara arrive at the Black Archive, a UNIT collection of dangerous artefacts with the “highest security rating on the planet – the entire staff has their memory wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling.” What’s more, the place is “TARDIS-proofed,” so the Doctor’s ship can’t land.

Kate also gets another member of UNIT to look in the Tower of London for a string of numerals, circa 1562.

Inside the Black Archive, Kate shows Clara a vortex manipulator, portable time travel courtesy of Captain Jack Harkness – but they can’t use it without the activation code… which the Doctor has. A photo comes through of the numerals left in the Tower, just as McGillop and Osgood come in. “Why have they followed us?” Clara asks.

“Oh, they’ve probably just finished disposing of the humans,” Kate says. Her face swells and venomous slime explodes from her mouth. She’s a Zygon.

Clara grabs the vortex manipulator, types in the activation codes from the photo – and disappears into the past.

***

Osgood finds Kate – the real Kate – strung up in the Under Gallery. She’s still alive, but only as the Zygons need to ‘refresh the image’ for the copy. “If those creatures have access to the Black Archive,” Kate warns, “we may just have lost control of the planet.”

***

THE TOWER OF LONDON, 1562.

Three Doctors wait in the dungeon.

The Eleventh Doctor scratches numerals into a wall; the Tenth Doctor paces up and down, thinking of how to escape; the War Doctor watches them with interest.

And then Clara bursts in: the door wasn’t even locked. “Why wasn’t it locked?!” the Eleventh Doctor says, exasperated – and gets a reply from the Queen: “Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping.” But that’s not exactly the whole truth…

She leads them to a balcony overlooking the Zygons’ stronghold. A landscape painting also awaits, accompanied by a cube. A Zygon touches the cube, dissipates and reappears in the painting. “It’s a Stasis Cube,” explains the War Doctor. “Time Lord art – frozen instants in time.”

“The Zygons pop inside the picture, wait a few centuries until the planet is a bit more interesting, and then out they come!” the Tenth Doctor goes on.

“So the Zygons are invading the future from the past!” Clara realises.

And the Queen really is the Queen! She killed her Zygon duplicate and the actual Zygons, in a prime example of arrogance, never even considered that it weren’t their own commander who survived. “The future of my kingdom is imperilled,” she says. “Doctor, can I rely on your service?”

Of course she can! He’ll need his TARDIS. Naturally, she’ll give it him. But first, there’s a wedding to attend.

***

The real Kate and Osgood enter the Black Archive and inform the Zygons that there’s an emergency protocol: in case of alien incursion, a nuclear warhead will detonate in five minutes, keyed to Kate’s voice-pattern. It’ll destroy London, but it’ll stop the Zygons.

The Doctor’s voice comes through over the Space-Time Telegraph, a gift from the Time Lord to the Brigadier; a hotline straight to the TARDIS. He begs Kate not to start the countdown – but she does. Her Zygon counterpart tries to stop it, but the order is countermanded again and again. “We only have to agree to live,” the Zygon says.

“Sadly, we can only agree to die.”

***

Meanwhile: on Gallifrey. It’s the last day of the Time War.

And a billion, billion Daleks are attacking.

TO BE CONTINUED…

The post The Day of the Doctor ReKapped! Part 1 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Doctor Who World Tour Hits South Korea! [CATCHUP]

Daren Thomas Curley 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.

Today in South Korea, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman embarked upon the next stage of the Doctor Who World Tour! The Q&A portion of the event was streamed online live through YouTube, but if you missed any of it, don’t worry – we’ve caught the highlights for you below!

Naturally, the screening of Deep Breath wasn’t streamed, but plenty more was…

The master of ceremonies and Korean stand up…

 

Peter and Jenna arrive:

Questions came from fans posted on the Internet and there in the audience, and were translated via the interpreter…

This fan made tiny TARDIS was shown and Jenna made a spoiler about it’s not unlike something in the new series…

Visit from Korean boy band ZE:A who had the TARDIS in their video teasing their song ‘Breathe’.

The band love Doctor Who and thought with the new episode called Deep Breath, it was a sign. One member even asked a bemused and confused Peter if he can have a part in the show itself. And unknowingly, he agreed, ish.

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And they gave out some gifts…

Including real ‘fans’ for the Doctor and Clara:

They talked about inspirations for their costumes and Peter revealed he’d always wanted to be in black and was dressed in black when he first appeared in The Day of The Doctor. Jenna said Howard, the costume designer asked her how would she like her action figure to look and use that as their inspirations. Then it was time for a clip from The Snowmen and Jenna explained at with that outfit they were going for Mary Poppins and Nancy from Oliver Twist.

After the new series trail played out and the presenter did an impersonation of Peter from the ‘Listen’ trailer, another fan-made gift was presented, a portrait and a hair clip…

With the audience telling them how much they loved the audience, the final photo was a selfie of Jenna and Peter with the whole audience…

The post The Doctor Who World Tour Hits South Korea! [CATCHUP] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Back Tenspotting by Emily Blake on Kickstarter

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.

Her name is EMILY BLAKE and she is a FAN GIRL! …Her words.

Alarum, Kasterborites – we bring to your attention a delightful looking kickstarter aimed at making a short film rom-com set in the subculture (superculture?) of sci-fi conventions and cosplay…

Take a look at the kickstarter video – the film (would/ will) be called “Tenspotting” and tells the story of Angel, played by Chloe Dykstra (Heroes of Cosplay and writer on Chaotic Awesome) who finds her soul-mate at a sci-fi convention. He is cosplaing as the Tenth Doctor and fulfils all of her fan-girl boyfriend fantasies. But she doesn’t get his digits or even his name. The problem/ conceit is that there are a lot of Tenth Doctor cosplayers at conventions and so her one-true love is hart to spot…

From what I can see this is a labour of love with a solid romcom premise and a load of really ridiculously good-looking people in front of the cameras. Take a look:

Cosplay is something that the Americans totally have down – I’m sure we Brits can do it too but there’s something about the energy and sheer abandon behind dressing up and getting together that happens stateside. Energy and enthusiasm seem to be the watch words here – take a look at the show reel from Respect Films, the production company.

And here’s the lead, Chloe Dystra initiating a Who-themed Harlem Shake that I HADN’T SEEN UNTIL NOW. The video is introduced by comedian and Who-buff Chris Hardwick who will be hosting BBC America’s pre-show before the first episode of Series 8 airs and Doctor Who: After Who, the live, um… “post”-show:

At the time of writing they had around $2k and need around $6.5k more to get funded – they have until 4th September so take a look and if this would tell the story of your soul’s search for Geek-love (and meets your strict planning and budgeting requirements) help them out by visiting Kickstarter and backing the project today!

 

The post Back Tenspotting by Emily Blake on Kickstarter appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Fifteen Great Doctor Whos for Big Finish’s 15th Anniversary!

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 year was 1999. The world was jabbering away at the looming Y2K threat. Movie goers were treated with both Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and the highly anticipated initial entry of George Lucas’ Star Wars prequel trilogy. It was, by most standards, a fabulous time for entertainment. Unless, of course, Doctor Who was your bag.

Only three years earlier, BBC and Fox faltered with their attempt to revive Doctor Who with a TV movie. As great as parts of McGann’s only full length adventure as the Doctor were, it wasn’t enough to bring in the American viewers it would have taken to bring the series to order. So save that brief feature length adventure, Whovians were thrust back into the Wilderness Years. One of the many good things to come from the time when the Doctor could not be found having new adventures on the television is that he found a new medium to explore until RTD brought the show back in 2005: audio adventures.

The summer of 1999 also saw Big Finish begin its foray into licensed Doctor Who stories. While several unlicensed audio stories from the Audio Visuals fan series were produced in the late 80s-early 90s (a little BF trivia for you: several members of the staff at BF, including the current NuWho voice of the monsters, Nicholas Briggs, got their start on the AV series), Big Finish’s range represented the first major licensed push into the format. Fifteen years later, the Doctor Who range at Big Finish is more popular than ever and is the only place to get brand new adventures with the surviving Classic era Doctors and their still-living companions (although death has a habit of being overcome in Doctor Who, as later Big Finish projects have proved). In honor of this achievement, we want to take a look and give you fifteen of the best highlights from the beginning of the series to present. Let’s start, shall we? (Writer’s Note: these are in no particular order, just a list of stories you should get to know!)

The Sirens of Time

Any list marking a Big Finish anniversary has to include this story. Why? Because it’s the first! Not only is it the first, it’s also a Multi-Doctor story! The audio play featured Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy reprising their roles as the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Doctors. Certainly not a bad way to start off!

Destiny of the Doctor

This one is important because it’s the first time that Big Finish was able to include any reference to any characters and events that originated from the 2005 series forward, thanks to a partnership with license holder AudioGo. More in the same vein as the Companion Chronicles, a companion from the Doctor’s time narrates each story, thirteen in all across the series, beginning with Carole Ann Ford and concluding with Jenna Coleman.

Light at the End

We all laughed, cried, and celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who back in November. Primarily, that happened through the wonderful television and cinematic releases commissioned to celebrate the Doctor. Some of you may not be aware that Big Finish also got in on the act and released a special project to mark the occasion as well. The Light At The End featured Doctors 1-8 (with stand in actors for Hartnell, Troughton, and Pertwee) and a host of former companions, facing a threat that threatens “their very existence.”

Several versions were released, including a special limited edition on vinyl!

Storm Warning

You may have noticed that we mentioned Paul McGann’s sole TV outing as the Doctor (until last year that is!) a bit ago. What becomes of a Doctor that only gets one shot at the role? Fortunately, for fans of the McGann Doctor, he lives on and flourishes at Big Finish! Storm Warning marks McGann’s first return to the role of the Doctor, and the beginning of a run of stories for his incarnation and new companions that continue to this day.

Davros

A revived Davros? Check. His first chronological encounter with the Sixth Doctor? Check. No Daleks in the story? Check. Davros finds Colin Baker’s Doctor tasked with finding out why the Kaled genius is helping an Earth-based company on humanitarian initiatives, including famine relief. Without giving too much away, you can be assured that Davros probably isn’t interested in the well-being of humans.

This story is by Lance Parkin, probably the best Doctor Who author never to write for the TV series.

Destination: Nerva

First thing, first; we all know that Tom Baker is widely regarded as the most popular Doctor of all time. While it took about 13 years to come to fruition, Big Finish landed the “genuine article” himself and commissioned new adventures with the beloved Fourth Doctor and Leela. The first of these brand new adventures is Destination: Nerva. The story picks up just after The Talons of Weng-Chiang and features his second trip to Nerva, as it’s just been built.

Dust Breeding

While the Doctor’s most iconic foe is the Daleks, it is the Master that is his true arch nemesis. Making his Big Finish debut in Dust Breeding, this Seventh Doctor story features the Master as played by Geoffrey Beevers, whom you may recall as having played the decayed Master in the Season 18 serial, The Keeper of the Traken. It’s also notable for the return of actress Caroline John to Doctor Who (Third Doctor companion, Liz Shaw).

Dark Eyes

This initial box set entry into the Dark Eyes line is important for several reasons, and here are a couple of them. The first, it’s amazing. Really, it’s fantastic. So fantastic that it won the 2014 BBC Drama Award for Best Online Drama. Secondly, this release gave us an official BBC approved new look for the Paul McGann Doctor. A fresh haircut and a similar look to Eccleston’s Ninth Doctor (leather jacket, etc.), and a commissioned photo shoot giving Big Finish artists something new to work with, as McGann’s described appearance hadn’t shifted much from the 1996 TV Movie.

(Also, it was that good, Kasterborous editor Christian Cawley wrote the review!)

Frostfire

The Companion Chronicles began in 2007 as a “spoken novel” story form, where a Doctor’s companion narrates the story and is typically only accompanied by one other cast member. The very first in the line is Frostfire, a Hartnell Doctor story featuring Maureen O’Brien reprising her role as Vicki and meeting up with famous author Jane Austen.

Sword of Orion

I may very well be criticized for appearing to favor Paul McGann stories, but this entry is notable all the same as the very first time the Cybermen feature in a Big Finish story. It’s also notable as it is Paul McGann’s first encounter with the Silver Nemesis. I’m willing to take my lumps, though, as Sword of Orion is great and was adapted from an Audio Visuals drama of the same name. And a certain Mark Gatiss is part of the cast. Wonder where I’ve heard that name before?

Dalek Empire I

This initial entry in the Doctor Who line of Big Finish is interesting. Imagine a tale of a war against the Daleks with no Doctor to be found in its plot. The only heroes are those who are brave enough to stand against the Daleks. If you can picture that in your mind, you’ll understand where Dalek Empire excels. It’s a similar tactic to that which Disney and Lucasfilm are taking with the upcoming Star Wars: Rebels; a new story, with new characters, set in the universe you already know and love. What’s not to like about that?

Starborn

Big Finish fans might be surprised to see this title here. This is a recent Companion Chronicles story, set in the Hartnell Doctor era, just after The Romans. It features Maureen O’Brien as Vicki and weaves an absolutely beautiful story. Starborn is, perhaps, my favorite of all the audio dramas (indeed, my favorite amongst the Companion Chronicles). Look out for our review of the story soon.

Trial of the Valeyard

It may not be completely fair to include this in the list, as there is really only a couple of ways to listen to this one before December, as it was released as a subscriber bonus for 2013, but it warrants a mention nevertheless. The Valeyard, famous for his appearance in the 1986 serial, Trial of a Time Lord, and his mysterious origin is the mystery that the Colin Baker seeks to figure out as the Time Lords have put the Valeyard on trial this time around. It’s a brilliant return to form for Baker, Michael Jayston (the Valeyard), and Lynda Bellingham (Inquisitor Darkel).

Trial of the Valeyard is a must-listen when it becomes officially available in December.

Spare Parts

This 2002 Fifth Doctor story sought to do for the Cybermen what Genesis of the Daleks did for the Daleks, by showing us the origin of the Doctor’s deadly foe. Arguably, the story is more engaging and fulfilling than the Tom Baker Dalek origin story. Spare Parts was also partly adopted for NuWho two parter Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel.

The Boy That Time Forgot

Recently we told you that Matthew Waterhouse would be making his Big Finish debut this month in the Fifth Doctor Box Set. What you may not know, is that it won’t be the first time that Adric has appeared in Big Finish story telling. Played by Andrew Sachs, this Adric survived the events of Earthshock and evolved into something more; the Scorpion King! Depending upon your opinion of Adric as a companion, this fate is either better or worse. Either way, The Boy That Time Forgot does make for a great story and one you should check out!

There we have it, dear reader! Fifteen great stories from fifteen great years of Big Finish Doctor Who releases! If you are still uninitiated, you may want to check out the site now. Big Finish is offering some sweet discounts to celebrate the occasion. What say you? Agree with the list? Is there an audio adventure you like more than the ones above? Let us know!

And join us in congratulating Nicholas Briggs and company on a happy 15th! May they have many, many more!

The post Fifteen Great Doctor Whos for Big Finish’s 15th Anniversary! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.