Christian Cawley's Blog, page 244

Could Madame Kovarian Return?

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.

Picked up the new Doctor Who Magazine? Well, maybe you should – because showrunner, Steven Moffat, talks about the Kovarian chapter…

Last seen in The Wedding of River Song (seriously, how many times am I gonna write, The “Weeding” of River Song?!), Madame Kovarian was name-checked in Matt Smith’s swansong, The Time of the Doctor. In The Weeding (um, you did it again – Ed), Kovarian died. But that all happened in a timeline that never was, so, as Moffat says…

“Kovarian, logically, is still alive. The whereabouts remain a terrible mystery. Will she return to menace the Doctor again? Will she ever resume her once happy marriage with Tasha Lem (just a thought, but imagine the domestics!). Perhaps…

But let’s be honest: if Amy Pond, River Song, and a two-thousand-year-old Centurian who blows up Cyber fleets for emphasis were all pissed off with you at once, you might stay quiet for a bit.”

And as he notes, you can listen to the moment when Frances Barber realised her on-screen persona was still alive by putting on the ep’s commentary.

So c’mon, who’d like to see Barber’s kinky Eye-Patch Woman return – maybe with the Silence in tow?

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India Fisher, Sarah Sutton & Paul Darrow In Vortex #63

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

One of the high and lows of my month is getting the new issue of the Big Finish magazine Vortex (I say both as it’s the wonderful moment when I get to find out what my money will be going on this month, the bad is that usually after reading I realise I’m going to be living on pot noodles and cold baked beans for the remaining weeks).

This month looks to be no different as it’s all about one of the company’s best-loved additions to the Doctor Who universe, Charley Pollard. Companion to both the Eighth and Sixth Doctors Charley is finally getting her own series and this month’s Vortex has a rather good interview with the lady behind the adventuress, India Fisher, who talks about a number of things including the casting of Charley’s parents in the form of Anneke Wills and Terrence Hardiman both of whom will be well-known to Whovians everywhere as 1960s companion Polly and Hawthorne, the man in charge of operations in Series 5 episode The Beast Below (although if you’re like me you will never see him as anything other than The Demon Headmaster).

There is also a nice interview with Sarah Sutton (Nyssa) and Paul Darrow discusses Blake’s 7 as well as a look back at Sixth Doctor adventure Patient Zero’ which stars India Fisher as Charley Pollard bringing us full circle again.

What are your thoughts on the forthcoming Charley box set? Are you still a Big Finish virgin? Is anyone else as excited as me for Big Finish doing Terrahawks? Leave your messages and comments below and share with us.

Head to the Big Finish website to download the latest edition of Vortex.

 

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Doctor Who Legend Terrance Dicks To Give Talk

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.

Terrance Dicks, the one man who probably knows more about the Doctor than the Doctor himself, will be speaking at an event hosted by Airdrie Library.  The guru-of-all-things-Who will appear on Wednesday, 14 May at 7pm.  As stated by the Daily Record:

“…the real star of the evening is Terrance who’s had a huge influence on Doctor Who fans and the current team of writers on the hit BBC show.”

In addition to Mr. Dicks, the library will offer other festivities as part of it’s “geek night”:

“…gaming workshops, a quiz, and a chance to view the new full moon through the lirary observatory.”

In addition to dozens of his own works, the unbelievably prolific Terrance Dicks served as Doctor Who‘s script editor from 1968-1974 and wrote more Target novelizations of classic episodes than anyone else.  Nearing his eighth decade, he continues to be active in the world of Doctor Who.

To see his presentation on May 14th, a person can call the Airdrie Library at 01236 758070 or e-mail  at: airdrielibrary@culturenl.co.uk.

Personally, I would love to see Mr. Dicks write a script for Peter Capaldi.  How would you feel about a television return for the king of Doctor Who‘s written word?

(Via Doctor Who writer set to give talk at Airdrie library – Daily Record.)

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The Bounty of Ceres Cover Art Released

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 cover to Big Finish’s Doctor Who: The Bounty of Ceres has been released – and what a bounty it is!

A First Doctor story, The Bounty of Ceres is the third release in the Early Adventures series which replaces The Companion Chronicles. The 120-minute audio is written by Ian Potter and directed by Lisa Bowerman (or Bernice Summerfield to many).

It comes after September’s Domain of the Voord and October’s The Doctor’s Tale – and yes, it’s great to see that the first batch all focus on William Hartnell’s wonderful Doctor!

Bounty will star Maureen O’Brien as Vicki and Peter Purves as Steven Taylor, alongside Julia Hills, Peter Forbes and The Hungry Earth/ Cold Blood and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship‘s Richard Hope.

Keep an eye on Big Finish for more news about The Bounty of Ceres, which is released in November, priced £14.99.

The post The Bounty of Ceres Cover Art Released appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Matt Smith On Terminator: Arnie Won’t Kill Me

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.

You’ll have heard about the casting in the next installment of the Terminator franchise where ex-Doctor Who star Matt Smith will reportedly be playing an ally of central character, John Connor and play an important role in the new trilogy starting with Terminator 5 (subtitled Genesis) in July next year.

Smith commented,

Anyone our sort of age has an affection for those films. It’s like my childhood, seeing Arnold [Schwarzenegger] throw people from trucks. What’s not to like about that?

Coming from a hatchling cluster one solar year after Smith I can verify this as totes the case (what are you, 12? – Ed). Terminator brought the basic timey-wimey paradox to the masses via the medium of leather, shades and be-muscled one-liners. It rocks and will, it seems, repeatedly * be back *…

The interviewer also asked Smith how he’d like to cop-it on the silver screen at the hands of Schwarzenegger himself. Mindful of a chip allegedly implanted in his head that will detonate an explosive charge should he reveal any spoilers (a touch more technological than Moff’s spoiler control) Matt replied,

Yeah but then I wouldn’t be in it any more!

A good point, well made.

Are you looking forward to seeing Matt in the Terminator films? Does dark gritty machismo-filled sci-fi float your time ship or are you more a tea-and-cakes adventurer?

And what think-ye, Kasterborites of all of the US projects our good Doctors are getting involved in (thinking about Tennant in Gracepoint and Matt’s role in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut)? Who is getting a lot of American love these days – might we see more of an American presence in the show? How would you feel about an American actor as the Doctor? A Terminator-Who crossover?!..

(Via ENSTARZ.)

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The War Doctor Returns in Engines of War!

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.

Ooh, now – this is rather exciting. Remember back in 2005 how the Time War was nothing but a distant, mysterious concept, substantiated only by fleeting references from a teary-eyed Doctor? Well, now we have a brand new novel set during the war itself, with a brand new Doctor to boot!

Doctor Who: Engines of War is an official BBC release from author George Mann, so this crucial chapter in the Time Lord’s life is indubitably canon, (which is quite apt for a war story!) As the writer himself said in Doctor Who Magazine:

“A new companion! Calculating Time Lords! New Dalek paradigms! It’s a war story, at its heart, set against the backdrop of great turmoil and chaos.

“But it’s also about the Doctor’s personal journey, how he ends up where he is at the beginning of The Day of the Doctor. He’s been through the wringer; and in Engines of War, he’s not given any reprieve.”

The story opens with the Doctor leading a flotilla of war TARDISes against a Dalek stronghold, but, “in the midst of the carnage”, the Doctor’s TARDIS crash-lands on the planet Moldox, an apocalyptic landscape overrun with little green blobs in bonded polycarbide armour! Teaming up with a young Dalek hunter named Cinder, the Time Lord’s struggle takes him from “the ruins of Moldox to the halls of Gallifrey”, setting in motion ”a chain of events that will change everything. And everyone…”

Now, even if you’re not a book fan, Engines of War sounds like it has the potential to be All Kinds of Awesome. It’s not out until July 31st, so there’s plenty of time to get those £9.54 pre-orders in!

Go on – it won’t Hurt…

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Matt’s Hoping Capaldi Isn’t A “Better” Doctor Than Him!

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.

Despite heading back into the future (‘one possible future… From your point of view. I don’t know tech stuff.’) in the not at all necessitate by the rights reverting back to James Cameron in 2019, Terminator franchise, Matt Smith is still suffering from a case of Post Doctor Anxiety (no, not that PDA!).

Yes, when it comes audiences expectations of just how good the ‘he surely must be awesome’ Peter Capaldi will be as the Twelfth Doctor, Matt is still a little apprehensive about his place in the affections of audiences around the world.

Discussing Capaldi at a recent Wizard World Minneapolis Q&A session, Smith commented:

Peter will be brilliant… He’s a lovely man. He’s going to do something which is inventive and new, and he’s doing really well and he’s having a good time. I’m a massive fan of his before the show…

I’m a fan, like you guys now. I think he’ll be brilliant.

But when asked if he thought Capaldi would make a better Time Lord than he was, Matt replied:

Will he be better than me? I hope not.

He’ll be different, and it will be a different show and it will be a new show, and that’s what Doctor Who is about. I’ve got to let it go. And the great thing about it is everyone has their own Doctor. So, hopefully, there are a few eight or nine-year-olds out there who I’ve claimed.

Oh Matt, try a few million!

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Spoons, Terminators, Soap & Doctor Who Missing Episodes in the PodKast

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.

Hey, Kasterborites – it’s podKast time, in which Christian Cawley and James McLean discuss a few topical items that have been drawing attention in the world of Doctor Who over the past week.

This time, we’ve got our thoughts on the latest missing episodes development (if indeed it is related at all) and have a chat abut Matt Smith’s casting in the new Terminator trilogy (also taking a sidestep to chew over the last two movies in that franchise-by-default).

We also spend a bit of time on the matter of whether Russell T Davies made Doctor Who “soapy” – or wasn’t it always a bit like that?

Finally, our recommendations – don’t miss the moment when Christian reveals who should have been the Doctor’s companion in Series 7a!

Kasterborous PodKast Series 4 Episode 13 Shownotes

The Power of the Daleks: Reimagined pulled from YouTube
Capaldi’s Spoon Duelling Double
Matt Smith in Terminator Trilogy
RTD responds to “Soapy” complaints
Recommendations: The Trip to Italy, Orphan Black, The God Complex, Delta and the Bannermen

The Kasterborous PodKast theme tune is arranged by Russell Hugo. Featured image by @ollyog.

Listen to the PodKast

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

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

Meanwhile you can use the player below to listen through Audioboo:

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

Use the player in the top right of the Kasterborous home page, or visit the podKast menu link.
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You can also take advantage of the RSS feed to subscribe to the podKast for your media player, and even find us on iTunes!

The post Spoons, Terminators, Soap & Doctor Who Missing Episodes in the PodKast appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Series 8 Of Jago and Litefoot Confirmed… with Alien Puppets?!

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.

Big Finish has announced that dynamic duo of Jago and Litefoot will return for a new run of adventures, and their season eight premiere is a doozy!

Last seen in a Third Doctor story, The Scorchies, the race of alien puppets will make their return in the season eight opener, aptly titled, Encore of the Scorchies. But thats not all! Encore of the Scorchies will also feature several musical numbers from Howard Carter, and writer James Goss. Goss had this to say:

Howard Carter has provided an ambitious score for this. It’s suitably full of classic Music Hall numbers, while also sounding like the Royal Philharmonic falling off a cliff. If you only buy one Doctor Who release about evil puppets, then make it this one.

Big Finish also involved some musically inclined stars from the West End, including Jenna Russell (Bad Wolf/Parting of the Ways), Cameron Blakely, and Sarah Lark, for the episode.

Plus, did I mention evil space puppets in a musical episode?

The stories continue with The Backwards Men by Andy Lane (which is actually about men walking backwards, apparently), Jago and Litefoot and Patsy (Flaminia Cinque joins Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter as Patsy), and finishing up with Higson and Quick by Justin Richards (which promises “something goes very very wrong with Jago and Litefoot…”).

The CD set is available for preorder here, while if digital is your thing, it’s available at the same link now! What say you, Big Finish listeners? Are you excited about the new series of Jago and Litefoot? And how do you feel about evil space puppets?

(Via Big Finish).

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Doctor Who Comic Talk at Bristol Expo!

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.

Coming to the Bristol Comic Expo this weekend? Make sure you stay for Sunday’s panel on bringing Doctor Who into the comic world.

Held in Bristol and Brighton each year, the expo debuted in November 2004, replacing a previous comic festival, and has since featured stars like Ghost Rider co-creator, Mike Ploog; painter, Anne Stokes; and Ultimate X-Men artist, Ben Oliver; as well as Sophie Aldred (Ace in the Seventh Doctor era); the Doctor Who Magazine team, including Clayton Hickman and Tom Spilsbury; and comic artists, Martin Geraghty and Mike Collins.

This year, however, the guest list is smaller, but on Sunday 11th May, a panel, “Bringing Dr Who to the printed page,” will take place, featuring inker and artist, David Roach, occasional DWM contributor, Ben Willsher, and Al Ewing, who heralds in a new age of Eleventh Doctor comics in July’s Titan series.

The group will be discussing the leap from the TV screen to the printed page for 45 minutes from 12:45. It takes place at the Future Inns hotel, Cabot Circus.

But please note that this is a pre-sale-tickets-only event, so if you’re in the neighbourhood this weekend, you’ll need to purchase admission now!

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