Christian Cawley's Blog, page 22

Out Now: Doctor Who – The Complete History #9

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.

Issue 9 of Doctor Who: The Complete History, the 80-volume partwork charting the entire history of our favourite show, has just been released, the first book of the series of 2016.

The issue collects together material for stories 130- 132, including the return of the Silurians and Sea Devils in a not-so-popular tale. It also features one of my favourite serials…

Warriors of the Deep

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough land on Sea Base 4, an underwater military installation. The base is attacked by the Silurians and the Sea Devls, who intend to provoke a devastating nuclear conflict that will wipe out humanity.

The Awakening

It’s 1984 in the village of Little Hodcombe. A group of villagers are re-enacting scenes from the English Civil War. But their war games have gone too far, manipulated by the evil influence of the alien Malus.

Frontios

The TARDIS is drawn down to Frontios: the planet which buries its own dead. There, the last members of the human race are fighting for survival but, beneath the surface, something sinister lurks.

Okay, so which serial do you think is one of my faves? Any guesses? It’s not tough – there’s only three choices.

It’s Frontios! Oh, I love how bleak and smart it is. Something so different. In fact, I fancy a rewatch. Similarly, I’d like to rewatch The Awakening. Warriors of the Deep? I watched it last week. Not as terrible as its reputation… but not a thing of wonder either. Part 3 is the worst bit, right?

Heck, I love anything starring the Fifth Doctor!

Doctor Who: The Complete History #9 is out now, priced £9.99.

The post Out Now: Doctor Who – The Complete History #9 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who Spin-Off, Class to Air on BBC America This Year

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.

Doctor Who spin-off, Class will be screened on BBC America, as revealed on a press tour.

It was always suspected that this would be the case – the series is a co-production with BBC America – but this is at least confirmation that US fans won’t have to simply hope for a DVD/Blu-ray release. But we don’t know yet if it’ll air in the UK on the same night or even week as its UK debut.

In the UK, it’ll air on the online incarnation of BBC Three before cropping up on BBC1 too.

The eight-part series will take place at Coal Hill School, where Doctor Who began and revisited in Remembrance of the Daleks and most recently, throughout Series 8. Basically, it was where Clara Oswald taught, and so was featured most extensively in The Caretaker. Class is written by Patrick Ness, a much-loved Young Adult novelist whose tear-jerking A Monster Calls has been adapted for cinema.

Steven Moffat and Brian Minchin act as executive producers, but it remains to be seen how (or if at all) Doctor Who Series 10 deals with Coal Hill School. Now that Jenna Coleman’s left, it seems pretty unlikely that a return visit to the academic institution is in the offing. No Doctor Who characters have been confirmed for Class as yet – not even Mr Armitage or Adrian! Here’s what Ness says on Twitter:

Class… 1) is set in Coal Hill School with aliens & terror & emotions & shit 2) will air on BBC3, then BBC1, with new ep then up on BBC3…

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Class… 3) will premiere on BBC3 & BBC1 this Autumn 4) and VERY soon thereafter on BBC America, who are co-producing…

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Class… 5) is eight episodes long, written by yours truly (I'm working hard!) 6) executive produced by Brian Minchin, Steven Moffat & me…

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Class is… 7) a YA series but I'm aiming for what all the best YA does: stories for everyone and 8) something I'm very excited about!

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Class aims for all that I love about YA: fearlessness of genre, fearlessness towards darkness, complex heroes & heroines and plots that move

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Other than all that, why spoil everything now? There's cool stuff a-coming…

— Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness) January 9, 2016

Class begins filming in Spring.

The post Doctor Who Spin-Off, Class to Air on BBC America This Year appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish’s The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous 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.

‘Don’t be fooled by the rocks that I’ve got, I’m still, I’m still the Doctor from the block.’

…is really how one must think of the War Doctor when approaching any story that features him so far in the Doctor Who Universe. For as far as his description maintains that he will take things, no writer has ever portrayed him going too far. The Day of the Doctor, Engines of War and now Only the Monstrous all offer a different kind of Doctor than we’re used to but not one that we’re entirely uncomfortable around. Surely one of the major ‘selling’ points of this, less well known, incarnation of our favourite Time Lord is that he is not the Doctor. He goes to a place where the Doctor can never go and takes action during the Time War to such an extent that Doctors Nine, Ten, and Eleven all deny he ever existed, covering up their shameful actions so that no one may ever find out just what it took to win the war.

Of course once the War Doctor, played with monumental aplomb by John Hurt, starts to flesh out more and more of his hidden years, the more we get to know him. And as we do, the more we realise that he’s actually changed as a character very little.

Let’s take a breath for a moment. Only the Monstrous, the latest boxset from Big Finish that ties in the classic and new Doctor Who worlds, is a very stylish adventure indeed. Harrowing, terrifying and full of action. Cleverly, rather than dropping us straight into the heart of the Time War and leaving us there to fend for ourselves, writer Nicholas Briggs decides to side step that action to another war. One that, at first, seems to be contained outside the rivalries of the Time Lords and the Daleks. But, as the story unfolds, this war links inexorably with the War Doctor’s own troubles, and it only gets worse for him from there. This gives the tale an opportunity to grow the character of the War Doctor, his companion Rejoice and the motivation of the Daleks and the Time Lords. In fact by the end of this, Briggs reveals how soulless the Doctor’s people have become, nicely foreshadowing events in The End of Time and Day of the Doctor.

The story is not the issue however. The War Doctor is.

A character so terrifying and nasty that he was denied as an incarnation and yet, when on screen or on audio, the War Doctor never seems as terrible as he’s made out to be. Of course, we hear about what he’s done in his younger days, the sacrifices he’s made, but when all is said and done, he’s still the Doctor; he never seems that different.

Of course, as a character, the War Doctor must be very difficult to write. One would have to ensure that the character was not too evil so that he became unlikeable. One could also not make him too flippant about death and killing, similar, for example, to a character such as Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as that would go against his core values. The audience that tunes in for Doctor Who in any format expect a certain ‘Doctoriness’ (to coin a word) about the character. Put simply, the War Doctor cannot help but be the Doctor, whatever he claims. He has the grumpiness of his First, Third, Fourth, Sixth and Twelfth incarnations, the flippancy of the Fifth and Ninth, the rage of the Eighth, and the steely determination of the Tenth and Eleventh. But this is just amalgamation of his other selves. Unfortunately, as sad as it is to say, for the War Doctor to truly reach his maximum potential, we will all have to hear or see him do something deeply disturbing. Briggs has the right idea with Only the Monstrous; he starts with the War Doctor activating a Time Destructor, has him denying his name throughout proceedings and ends this series with a terrible decision to be made. But for the next War Doctor boxset, we’ll need the character and the story to be pushed to the very limits.

To add more to the Doctor Who mythos, which is partly what these tales are designed to do, Big Finish will have to turn the Doctor on his moral axis completely and show our hero as a terrible man. What better way to fully understand the story of his guilt and redemption in the post-2005 television stories could there be? At the moment, with what we’ve seen and heard from the War Doctor, it feels as though the Eighth Doctor should have been more accurate as he died on Khan: “I don’t suppose there’s any need for a Doctor anymore….Grumpy. Make me Grumpier.”

Ranting about the character of the War Doctor aside, Only the Monstrous is something that you will want to listen to. The story itself is strong, the Daleks are given more to do than simply bark out plot exposition and shoot at things. The supporting cast is perfect, the direction is strong and, of course, John Hurt Is the Doctor once again, never mind the fact that he’s waging a Universal war and is generally a bit miserable because of it. This starts the Time War chronicles well, we already know that there’s more to come from Big Finish so let’s hope they do what they do best and embellish the War Doctor with plenty more colour and flavour.

The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous is available as a CD boxset or via download from Big Finish.

The post Big Finish’s The War Doctor: Only the Monstrous Reviewed! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

See Previously-Unseen Patrick Troughton Photos in Smile On Your Face

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.

It’s the 50th anniversary of Patrick Troughton’s first appearance in Doctor Who this year, and a new book celebrates the brilliant man who quickly carved a place in the heart of many Whovians.

Smile on Your Face is a collection of photographs from Patrick’s varied career, compiled by his son, Michael Troughton. Michael of course played Professor Albert in Last Christmas (2014) and has also voiced characters in two Big Finish audios, Lords of the Red Planet and The Romance of Crime.

The hardback book follows Michael’s biography of his late, great father, a special anniversary edition of which is available signed and dedicated from Amazon.

This photographic journey through time uses recently discovered personal albums covering Patrick’s extensive career from 1945-87, compiling the best of the collection including images in studio, behind-the-scenes, continuity, location, telly snaps and gifted photos, revealing the talented and much missed actor at work.

You can get the book directly from Amazon, priced £29.99. It’s a perfect celebration of a greatly-admired man.

The post See Previously-Unseen Patrick Troughton Photos in Smile On Your Face appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Marigolden Oldies: Sylvester McCoy Joins Documentary The Real Marigold Hotel

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.

The Seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy is to star in a new BBC Two travel documentary series, The Real Marigold Hotel, which promises to take its cast on the journey of a lifetime.

Inspired by The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel movie series, the show, which has no formal connection with the franchise, documents the authentic experience of eight famous senior citizens as they head to India on an experimental adventure.

Joining McCoy will be actor Miriam Margolyes (who appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures), dancer Wayne Sleep, comedian Roy Walker, chef Rosemary Shrager, darts champion Bobby George, singer Patti Boulaye and former news reader Jan Leeming for three weeks to see if they would consider spending their golden years retiring to the other side of the world.

The official synopsis reads:

Four thousand miles from home, the group will land in colourful Jaipur, capital of the state of Rajasthan in Northern India, to test whether they can set up a better, more rewarding retirement here than in the UK.

In the scorching heat, the group will take over a haveli – an Indian private mansion – and from the moment they arrive they will have to work out how to set up home together: from who’ll cook and clean and whether they will hire staff, to how they will get around and spend their time.

Their unforgettable Indian adventure will see the group fully embrace Indian culture, from the surprises of the capital’s largest slum to meeting Jaipur’s Royal family at the opulent Rambagh Palace. As they settle into local life, members of the group will take to yoga and learn some Hindi, experience shopping in the hectic streets, hunt for potential properties and take advantage of the medical care. We’ll see them visit the Ganesh Chaturti festival, ride elephants, make a trip to one of the holiest Hindu cities in India, Varanasi, and also test out long-distance travel by embarking on a 150-mile trip to the jewel in India’s crown, the Taj Mahal.

From the environment to the food, the transport to the customs, moving away from the UK is guaranteed to be a culture shock for our cast – as they leave routines and loved ones behind to adapt to living together and to a completely new way of life.

The series is set to air late-January 2016

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Capaldi Honours the Life of William Hartnell

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 late William Hartnell would’ve been 108 years old today, and to celebrate the life of a man who brought the character of the Doctor alive, Peter Capaldi shared his memories of those early days in the TARDIS.

In the touching video, he recalls the “magical spirit” Hartnell brought to the role, accompanied by images from his 1963- 66 tenure.

For many of us, the First Doctor seems almost legendary. A lack of repeats mean that generations grew up with subsequent Doctors but only knew of previous incarnations from specials like The Three Doctors, Target novels, and other licensed books. Fortunately, The Five Faces of Doctor Who, a season of repeats in 1981, afforded another look at An Unearthly Child.

But of course, now all his stories are widely available – either on DVD or, in the case of missing episodes, as soundtracks.

Nonetheless, whatever your introduction to the show, there’s something fascinating about the early years and in particular, the man who started it all. I don’t remember my first First Doctor serial, but I do remember being warned that the Doctor used to be grumpy and irritable, that the show could be a bit naff with shaky walls and all of that malarkey, and that there was some dodgy acting.

Nonsense. Piffle. Poppycock.

Hartnell was brilliant. Shaky walls? Rarely. Dodgy acting? Well, occasionally, but ever from our regulars.

As I said before, for many of us, the First Doctor seems almost legendary. And there’s a real reason for that. So stick on The War Machines, enjoy The Smugglers on CD, or tuck into Doctor Who and the Crusaders. And share your memories of he First Doctor below!

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Mark Gatiss: Sherlock Movie Possible With ‘Right Story’

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.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman may already be movie stars in their own right and, judging by the box office returns for The Abominable Bride, there’s a clear appetite to see more Sherlock on the big screen – so what does co-creator, writer and actor Mark Gatiss make of the shows chances of making a full leap to the big screen?

Understandably, as these things must, it once again comes down to story – can they find a big enough and worthy enough tale for movie audiences?

Speaking to the Mirror Gatiss said:

“Of course we could do a movie but it would have to be a story of sufficient scale to make that move, because they’re already very big, very expensive and very movie-like… We don’t want to just send the cast away on holiday.”

Sherlock on Holiday sounds like a hoot – how about a trip to the Shetlands? Shetlock! There you go; this thing writes itself.

As for the immediate future, well they’ll be more episodes coming next year but Gatiss concedes, it’s getting harder to get everyone together.

“We’re doing three more episodes of Sherlock next spring, then we’ll see. Obviously Benedict and Martin are both hugely successful film stars, but they’re both very keen to do more.

“It is, genuinely, increasingly difficult to get together. It’s taken us a long time to get these dates fixed. It’s like a chess game and you fix one bit and something else moves. We all certainly want to do more.”

So would you like to see Sherlock on the big screen? Or basically, just more Sherlock? How can we cast some sort of spell to clear their schedules?

 

 

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Steven Moffat Addresses Heaven Sent ‘Plot Holes’

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.

Here we go again. Comes a new issue of Doctor Who Magazine, comes another round of Ask Steven Moffat – which is either your chance to address the head honcho with relevant burning issues or Moffat’s chance to plug a few plot holes, depending on how cynical you’re feeling.

This month’s burning concern is Heaven Sent – namely, the brain-melting puzzle box disguised as a castle wherein the Doctor found himself trapped alone, well, alone with a terrifying monster. Oh, and he’d been there for millions, then billions of years attempting to, quite literally, crack the mystery at the heart of this baroque torture chamber.

Unsurprisingly, there were a few questions, well, a lot of questions but narrowing them down to just a few such as: If every room in the castle reset every so often, why didn’t the diamond wall do the same? Who left a set of dry clothes by the fire for the Doctor to find? And why was there an ancient picture of Jenna Coleman’s recently-deceased Clara hung on the wall? – DWM, via the Radio Times, pinned Steve Moffat down, tied him down to a chair and got him to answer them.

First order of business, that harder than diamond wall; why didn’t it simply reset every time the castle reset?

“It’s not a room in the castle, it’s the outer wall of the [Confession] Dial,” he explained. “The clue is that it’s 20 feet of Harder Than Diamond. Why bother making it so hard, if a resetting stone wall would do?”

Fair enough, but what about that other set of clothes? As the Doctor dives into a pond to escape the monstrous Veil, he finds an identical dry set of clothes for him to try on. But who put them there? How did they know his size? And, if it was a respawned Doctor, isn’t there a naked Doctor running about the place?

“Naked Doctor Who?? It’s AGAINST THE LAW, I tell you,” Moffat responded. “Showrunners have been executed for less. No, of course there wasn’t – I sort of wrote that moment to force you to think that the first time round the castle (the first of many times) wasn’t the same as the version we saw.”

Moffat then explains that, in his mind, the first few times the Doctor went into that room he merely found a generic pair of clothes in his size – who put them there and where from? – and later changed back into his normal ones. But then once he didn’t make it back to them…

“Next time round, the Doctor finds his own clothes drying for him. The loop is complete – the end now triggers the beginning and that makes it permanent.”

That loop getting tighter also serves as an explanation for the missing paving slab – the one that literally points the Doctor towards the location of the diamond wall – well, it’s simply another note from a past self who is getting impatient with how slowly it’s taking him to figure out just why Room 12 is significant.

His hope, which thankfully for him turns out to be true, is that these clues will survive the reset process: the skulls in the lake, the drying clothes and the dust in the teleport room (as well as the portrait of Clara, which Moffat says the “soppy” Doctor painted himself) – all pointing him towards Room 12 and his eventual rendezvous with the Time Lords and Gallifrey.

So do you buy Moffat’s explanations? Does knowing Moffat’s reasoning somehow lessen what is an outstanding episode? Do you still have burning questions about just what happened in Heaven Sent?

 

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Out Now – Make a Date with River & the Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine #495

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.

It’s a match made in time and space, the River and the Doctor – and while it seemed like their story had been told as the singing towers serenaded them – well, we all know how the Doctor hates endings.

But while their on-screen story is on hold for now, they’re very much a going concern when it comes to the brand new Big Finish audio adventure The Diary of River Song and Doctor Who Magazine has an exclusive interview with Alex Kingston and her new beau, the Eighth Doctor Paul McGann.

Teasing a little of what’s to come, Alex Kingston reveals:

“River has to interact with the Eighth Doctor to save him, to help him. When she’s figured out how she can do that without having to be physically present in front of him, alongside helping him, she can then tease and flirt a little bit, because she knows she’s safe, and she knows she hasn’t overstepped a boundary, or changed his or her future in any way by that actual physical interaction. So she can then have fun! She’s in control.”

But what does the Eighth Doctor make of the stranger who seems to know everything about him?

“What the Doctor says to River when he realises her acumen, her calibre, is ‘Wow, hang on a minute – where did you pick up all this?! For an amateur, you ain’t half clever’. He says, ‘Any time you fancy joining me, I could always do with a pair of hands’. He realises, almost instantly, how clever she is. ‘If you’re ever stuck for a trip round the universe helping me out, you’re on.’ So there’s that lovely playfulness as well. Of course, he’s doing it in blissful ignorance. And she’s trying not to appear too clever, and give the game away, but of course she has to save his life. So it’s great. It’s childish, but it’s great fun.”

Issue 495 also includes:

Ask Steven Moffat – Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat answers readers questions about the recent episode Heaven Sent – and find out whether the Doctor ever had to run around the castle naked.
The Dragon Lord – The latest comic strip adventure continues with Part 2 of The Dragon Lord, written by Steve Lyons, with art from Adrian Salmon.
Cereal Killers –  Doctor Who fans of the 1970s will get nostalgic, as we take a trip down memory lane and meet the artist behind Weetabix’s series of artwork cards, which were launched in 1975, and given away with packets of breakfast cereal.
The Eleventh Hour Approaches – The Time Team returns to watch the first adventure of the Eleventh Doctor – The Eleventh Hour. What will they make of the new Doctor, Amy Pond and Prisoner Zero?
Wreaking Havoc – A tribute to stuntman Derek Ware, who worked on Doctor Who during its first decade, and has recently passed away at the age of 77.
The Exxilon Factor – The Fact of Fiction takes an in-depth look at the 1974 Third Doctor adventure Death to the Daleks.
The DMW Review – DWM reviews the recent Christmas Special, The Husbands of River Song. We also take a look at the latest books and audio and revisit 1968’s The Wheel in Space and 1977’s The Face of Evil.
The DWM Season Survey – Vote for your favourites of the most recent series, plus the book and audio releases from the past 12 months!

PLUS! All the latest official news, previews of upcoming releases, competitions, the answers to The Watcher’s Fiendishly Festive Christmas Quiz, The DWM Crossword and much more!

Doctor Who Magazine 495 is on sale now, price £4.99.

The post Out Now – Make a Date with River & the Doctor in Doctor Who Magazine #495 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Paul McGann On His Time as the Eighth Doctor

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.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Doctor’s return to our screens – albeit for one night only and to celebrate his debut as the Doctor, Paul McGann has been reflecting on his experiences as the Eighth Doctor.

Looking back on his time on board the TARDIS for the 96 TV Movie – a co-production between the BBC and Fox in the US – McGann admitted that it “feels like a bit of a dream now”.

 “What I was asked to do by Fox and the Beeb and Universal, back on the pilot, was actually really specific,” he explained. “It was quite strict. I had to do as I was told – but with good reason. They were taking a punt. It was very speculative.

“When we made it, we were following a pretty strict edict. It’s got to do this, it’s got to include that, he must wear this. But with the proviso that, if it did go, we’d then get more latitude, and get to include some of my own ideas. But it’s all hypothetical, because it never happened.”

Acknowledging his own disappointment that he didn’t get to play the Doctor again is one thing but in keeping with his pragmatism, he can’t imagine the show without David Tennant or Matt Smith either.

“Of course, when I joined, there was nothing – it had just been booted into the long grass. So there was disappointment and a bit of gloom and uncertainty,” McGann said.

“Now it’s not just certainty, it’s great, happy days, and there’s all this lovely speculation – where’s it going to go next? And my Doctor of course is part of that.”

Of course, his first appearance on screen in 17 years was The Night of the Doctor, an integral and rather brilliant piece of the 50th anniversary celebrations – however, there was the small matter of keeping it a secret from not only the general public but also, his fellow Doctors. But ultimately, the feeling of validation from fans reaction to his brief return made the experience one that he’d love to do again.

“I don’t mind doing a little bit every now and again and stealing all the glory!” he joked. “It’s quite fun. You’re coming in at the 89th minute and scoring the winning penalty – yeah, I’ll do that.

“Whereas poor old [Peter] Capaldi’s gotta do nine months and 16-hour days. Yeah, OK, let him do that. Let someone else do the heavy lifting!

“Just on a personal level, if I ever had misgivings – just about being in Doctor Who in the first place, or the nature of it – they’ve long since gone. I really enjoy it. It’s a good family to be part of – and it’s still going places. It’s a lovely thing to be associated with.”

To read more about how McGann kept his comeback a secret from his fellow Doctors and the financial concerns following the announcement that his Doctor wouldn’t return head over to Digital Spy.

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