Christian Cawley's Blog, page 252

Dignified Silents

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

The recent rediscovery of 1923 silent British film Life, Love and Laughter has been welcomed by the BFI, where the film has topped their ‘most wanted’ list for many years. Once returned from the Netherlands, there will be a screening, and critics are already wondering whether it will live up to the hype.

Sound familiar?

The response to the find has been remarkably level-headed, compared with the recent Who ‘omnirumour’, the latest chapter in which has seen certain hardcore fans denouncing TIEA’s efforts as ‘a sick joke’ and demanding a showdown on Twitter. For God’s sake, the guy went to one of the world’s danger spots to retrieve the episodes! If those fans had their way, we wouldn’t even be looking (dig out your VHS copy of The Ice Warriors and watch the documentary for the bit where he says it’s completely unreasonable to expect we’ll find any more), so yelling about hoarding of episodes and conspiracies is a bit silly.

It’s time to admit we all got our hopes up when the news first broke. Yes, it was a bit disappointing that the promised/rumoured mother-load turned out to be nine episodes, but The Web of Fear was as good as everyone hoped, and The Enemy of the World has proven to be a bit of a discovery. And if they are the tip of the iceberg, that’s great. If not, we’ll just have to start finding more serious, grown-up things to waste our money on. That’s all there is to it.

Returning briefly to the silent films, a Mary Pickford film from 1911 was found last year. A haul of 75 films, including early works by John Ford, was uncovered in New Zealand in 2010. If material of that age can resurface, there is every likelihood there’s more Who out there. Fandom will always be abuzz when episodes turn up, but let’s be sensible: when it happens, it’s good news, even if the find isn’t what we hoped for. To start calling foul on the people who work to track the episodes down is ungrateful.

Let’s be happy with what we got!

The post Dignified Silents appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Suranne Jones Would Like A Doctor Who Return For Idris

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.

Toby Hadoke, the man who’s Doctor Who scarf was eaten by flying insects, has posted a very special interview on his podcast on the Big Finish website.  In his quest to get anecdotes about every Who story ever made, he has talked to actress Suranne Jones, also known as Idris, the TARDIS–or just plain “Sexy”–in 2011′s The Doctor’s Wife.

Suranne Jones is notable in the Doctor Who universe, not only because she’s worked with both David Tennant (in 2010, in his post-Who series Single Father) and Matt Smith, but also because she played the title character in the Mona Lisa’s Revenge episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures.  The podcast talk between she and Mr. Hadoke is a pleasant and interesting way to spend a half-hour.  Some tidbits that she reveals that are of particular interest to Doctor Who fans, include:

She was going to play Idris using her native Northern accent, but producers and director Richard Clarke wanted it to be the standard RP English accent.

Jones liked working with Matt, Karen Gillan (Amy), and Arthur Darvill (Rory), and was thrilled to meet Neil Gaiman, who she was a fan of before learning he had written The Doctor’s Wife.

She’s not a huge Whovian, but does love the show and says, “(Doctor Who) does something to people, to their imagination and spirit.”

Suranne reveals that wouldn’t mind making a return appearance, such as if Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi just happened to find Idris’s body in a back room of the TARDIS. We think that you should get listening to the whole thing, frankly, so head over to the Who’s Round podcast page FORTHWITH!

Kasterborites, would you like to see Suranne Jones return one day as Idris?  Or would that spoil The Doctor’s Wife for you?

 

 

The post Suranne Jones Would Like A Doctor Who Return For Idris appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Sylvester McCoy Donates Signed Items To Charity Auction

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

We all have items in our closets that we no longer wear because they don’t fit or because we think they don’t suit our current style or that we just don’t like any more. Many of us tend to leave these items sit and languish in the back of the closet or buried in storage, collecting dust or ready to become food for the moths. 

But they can still do so much more good!

The Seventh Doctor himself, Sylvester McCoy, has done just that with items he no longer has a use for – to help raise funds for children in need throughout the UK.

Barnardo’s Great Winter Stock Appeal encourages everyone in the UK to donate their gently used winter coats, jumpers, boots, scarves, and other winter gear to Barnardo’s charity shops so that the stores will have these items to sell for a low cost come winter.

McCoy has donated a number of jumpers and scarves from his Doctor Who wardrobe as well as some items from the set of The Hobbit movies – all signed – to Barnardo’s in hopes to raise money for the charity.

All of the items are up for bid on eBay and all of the proceeds will go to the charity. But you need to hurry; they all end soon!

To find out more about the eBay auctions, how to donate your gently used items, or where your local Barnardo’s shop is located, please check out the charity’s website!

(via ContactMusic)

The post Sylvester McCoy Donates Signed Items To Charity Auction appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

More Doctor Who Lego on the Way?

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

Doctor Who’s enduring popularity with builders of models with little plastic blocks has been confirmed again with the news that a second proposed set could be in the offing.

Following last month’s news that a Who themed set had reached the threshold to be considered for production by LEGO bosses, another kit has made it to the review stage having amassed over 10,000 votes from enthusiasts.

Designed by Andrew Clark, Doctor Who and Companions features a TARDIS interior and exterior, console and street scene. There are a number of possibilities when it comes to figures, including a Fourth Doctor with very cleverly designed LEGO scarf, Tenth Doctor and Rose, and even a Twelfth Doctor and Clara. By way of villains, parents of budding fans can look forward to treading on a Weeping Angel, Dalek and Cyberman.

The most impressive part of the set is probably the truly enormous central console which lifts up to expose the heart of the TARDIS, a la The Parting of the Ways. It has to be said the mini figures aren’t the best likenesses, but that’s not really the point with LEGO anyway and the tiny Clara with a brassy northern barmaid look does have a certain charm.

The grandly named ‘LEGO Review Board’ will now take Andrew’s proposed set to the next stage of development before a final decision is made on whether to green light it for production. One way or another, it looks like Doctor Who LEGO is destined for the shops soon.

What do you think? Is this one built for success? Or should it be knocked down?

(Thanks to Warped Factor.)

The post More Doctor Who Lego on the Way? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Don’t Miss: Farewell Matt Smith!

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.

Grab a fez, straighten your bow tie and brace yourselves.

Today, Watch airs Farewell Matt Smith, a documentary celebrating the Eleventh Doctor era, in the UK at 5pm.

The special, narrated by River Song actress, Alex Kingston, originally screened on BBC America straight before The Time of the Doctor on Christmas Day. Charting the Doctor’s adventures from meeting a little Amelia Pond in her back garden all those years ago, battling vampires and Cybermen and flesh clones, being trapped in the Pandorica, stepping back into the shadows and stopping the Time War, Farewell Matt Smith makes its UK premiere this evening after a day of Doctor Who stories, including A Christmas Carol and The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.

Don’t miss it!

The post Don’t Miss: Farewell Matt Smith! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish Audios Nominated for Awards

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 Big Finish Mexican stand off! And there’s only one winner… you! The listener!

Big Finish have once again reached the shortlist of the annual Scribe Awards – organised by the International Association of Tie-In Writers – with Dark Shadows: The Phantom Bride and The Flip Side and Blake’s 7: The Armageddon Storm all receiving the nod alongside one another.

Last year, Big Finish took home the Best Audio award for Dark Shadows: The Eternal Actress by Nev Fountain, and now all three are nominated in the same category with writers Mark Thomas Passmore, Cody Quijano-Schell and Cavan Scott & Mark Wright (who were nominated in 2013 alongside Nev Fountain for The Companion Chronicles: Project Nirvana) all patiently awaiting the results, which will be announced at Comic Con in July.

The Scribe Awards acknowledge and celebrate excellence in licensed tie-in writing embracing just about every genre mainstay you can think of, from Star Trek to CSI, from Gunsmoke to Murder She Wrote, from Dune to James Bond, from Resident Evil to Hannah Montana.

(Via Big Finish.)

The post Big Finish Audios Nominated for Awards appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who Launches on Horror Channel Today!

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.

Good Friday, or one of The Best Fridays Ever? As many of you know, Classic Who has a new home on the Horror Channel, and it’s materialising today!!

A number of exciting animated trailers have emerged from the time vortex, depicting the Time Lord in some of his more daring encounters. Look out for the Seventh Doctor in battle with the Haemovores, or the Fifth Doctor taking on the dreaded Mara. Confused viewers may also have spotted the Third Doctor going head-to-head with the Cybermen, (an event beyond the reach of even the most seasoned ‘missing episode’ hunters, given that such an encounter never took place!), although a closer inspection of the question mark lapels confirms that it is, in fact, Doctor number six, not Jon Pertwee! Curses.

And as the Fourth Doctor intimates in the trailer, An Unearthly Child (the very first Doctor Who story) will kick off the proceedings today, starting at 7pm and concluding at 9.20pm (GMT), with such classics as The Mind Robber and Terror of the Autons following over the weekend.

This really is a new lease of life for the vast archive of TARDIS tales, awarding the former Time Lords an almost ‘immortal’ status, which Tom Baker recently alluded to. Future generations will be able to witness anew the heartbreaking conclusion of Earthshock, the half-lit passages of the Fang Rock lighthouse, and the awesome power of the Dodecahedron!

And before you indulge in a bit of caveman action, why don’t you check out our extensive interview with the one and only Tom Baker! (We’re really quite proud of it, y’know.)

The post Doctor Who Launches on Horror Channel Today! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Science of Doctor Who Tours Down Under!

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.

Audiences are being encouraged to bring their smartphones (as if you don’t carry them around with you anyway) or SIM-enabled tablets to The Science of Doctor Who, a live stage show presented by RiAus in association with BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand.

Described as “highly interactive,” the show has been in rehearsals all week in Adelaide, and host, Rob Lloyd explains:

“Fans will be able to interact via an online voting tool, with real-time results back on stage to answer big questions like: Who would win a battle between a Cyberman and a Dalek? Or how many DVDs are required to hold the entire data of a human body?”

There’s just over a week until the show tours Australia; here are the exact times and places:

Perth 26 April (2 shows)
Brisbane 10 May (2 shows)
Sydney 23, 24, 25 May (4 shows)
Adelaide 31 May (2 shows)
Melbourne 13, 14, 15 June (4 shows)

Lloyd says:

“Watching something cool on stage is one thing – taking part in the action and excitement happening on stage is something different altogether. Featuring plenty of original clips from the past 50 years of Doctor Who, there are no limits to this adventure as we travel the cosmos to reveal The Science of Doctor Who. Created by fans, for fans, everyone will not only enjoy this show – they’ll learn something as well!”

You can find out more at their official site!

The post The Science of Doctor Who Tours Down Under! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

John Guilor “Auditions” For Davros…

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

Doctor Who voice actor John Guilor – he who provided the voice of the First Doctor in The Day of the Doctor – has shared with us his latest comedy snippet.

Regular readers may now of John’s SoundCloud account, where the actor uploads very clever pastiches of classic Doctor Who, usually from the Tom Baker era.

This week’s gem, however, is a video. Click play above to check it out…

The post John Guilor “Auditions” For Davros… appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Shakespeare Notebooks Coming in July!

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.

We last saw him in The Shakespeare Code (2007) but an upcoming book will chart the history of the Doctor’s adventures with William Shakespeare!

We first saw the Bard in 1965′s The Chase via the Time-Space Visualiser, but of course the Doctor has had many meetings with the great man. Here’s what we can expect from The Shakespeare Notebooks:

Newly discovered entries and drawings in William Shakespeare’s journals reveal for the first time the astounding relationship between the great Bard and the Doctor.

 

Since his first adventure in 1963, the Doctor has enjoyed many encounters with William Shakespeare. Now, BBC Books has rediscovered notebooks, long thought lost, compiled by the Bard in which he divulges the influential role the Doctor played in his creative life.

 

Here are the original notes for Hamlet, including a very different appearance by the ghost; early versions of great lines (“To reverse or not to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow”); the true story of how the faeries of A Midsummer Night’s Dream were first imagined; stage directions for plays adjusted to remove references to a mysterious blue box; and much, much more.

We do wonder how many stories the book will cover: the Ninth Doctor met William in A Groatsworth of Wit; the Eighth in The Time of the Daleks; and the Fifth in The Kingmaker - and that’s just touching the surface! Nonetheless, it sounds a thoroughly entertaining tome.

Written by Justin Richards, The Shakespeare Notebooks is released on 15th July. It’s currently unavailable via Amazon. We don’t know why either.

The post The Shakespeare Notebooks Coming in July! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.