Christian Cawley's Blog, page 268

Guardians Of The Galaxy: Karen Gillan vs Zoe Soldana

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.

While at the US music festival SXSW (South By Southwest) to promote her new horror film Oculus, Who‘s Karen Gillan spoke to E!’s Mark Malkin about her role in another upcoming movie, the hotly anticipated Guardians Of The Galaxy.

Gillan plays the female villain Nebula, a bald, blue alien that she has described as “very sadistic and evil, but I like to think for a very valid reasons.” She famously shaved her long red hair off to play the role.

Nebula is the female villain and Lee Pace plays the male villain. We torment people. We’re really mean to people.

The film promises to be action packed, and one of those action sequences has Gillan up against Zoe Saldana’s character Gamora, a former associate of Nebula’s who is trying to change her life.

Karen spoke about doing the stunts for the big fight between the two characters.

We’re very angry towards each other. There’s a huge fight sequence. I had to train for two months before I could do it. We shot the thing for four days! I did all of my stunts and a stunt double did them, too. I refused knee pads at one point and of course then I bruised my knee but that was it.

Gillan also had to endure long hours in the makeup chair in order to become Nebula with her blue skin. When she first saw herself with the full makeup -

It was amazing. It was creepy and weirdly doll-like, child-like almost.

Oculus, which originally premiered in September at the Toronto Film Festival, is due to be released in the US on 11 April 2014 and in the UK on 13 June 2014.

Guardians Of The Galaxy is set to release 1 August 2014 in both the US and UK.

(via E! News, iamRogue)

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Will Doctor Who DVD Recon Animator Planet 55 Leave Australia?

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.

Australian studio Planet 55, who produced both the Reign of Terror and The Tenth Planet animated episodes, may have to move to the UK to continue working on Doctor Who.

The studio, who were hired by the BBC to animate at least three serials, with more planned in the future, are facing the pragmatic decision to move from their Central Coast studio to the UK, due to a lack of bandwidth.

As reported in ZDNet, The studio’s head Austen Atkinson told the Senate Select Committee for the National Broadband Network (NBN) yesterday that in the process of animation, the organisation needs to move about 30 gigabytes of data per day.

He went on to say that after Telstra was slow to repair ADSL lines in his area, the company has installed fibre to its premises and is paying AU$1,600 per month for a 50Mbps down, 50Mbps up link – with the all-important download speed severally lacking.

I do not care about the technology I just want the most pragmatic approach. It turns out that fibre is the most pragmatic approach until they invent something else. Because we have 50 people using 50 meg up and down you can imagine that that averages out at one megabyte. It is, quite frankly, pathetic.

Atkinson added that the company were forced to mail out its work, sending between one and three hard drives back to the UK per day, at a cost of between AU$300 and AU$500 per package.

Due to the cost of using these ‘posts’ to other countries the company are now considering relocating to Cardiff – with the practical issues putting a strain on mining the massive talent resources in Australia.

We have hit a bottleneck — not of talent. I found a massive resource of talent and trained them all myself, but if we cannot get our work out daily and communicate with our partners in LA or our partners in Dublin or our partners in Spain or wherever they are, what are we supposed to do? It is not practical.

He said that support for entrepreneurs was also lacking in Australia, and employment costs were also high compared to the United Kingdom, and the United States.

But help is at hand, in the form of well-known Doctor Who fan, former Communications Minister Stephen Conroy jokingly offering to do the construction work himself.

I have not been able to crack a gig as an extra on Doctor Who. Can you help? It is my final life ambition—can you help…I will personally dig it [the broadband cable] for you for that.

(With thanks to Joe)

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McGann On Doctor Who Return: “Why wouldn’t I want to?”

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.

Ah, the surprise of Night of the Doctor, the moment when we realised that the Doctor Who 50th anniversary really was going to be awesome.

Star Paul McGann felt it too, and he’s told Yahoo that he would welcome a return!

If the same thing were to happen again and Moffat were to say ‘Would you come back and do it and I’ll write it?’ Why wouldn’t I want to do it? If it’s going to be that quality, why wouldn’t you want to do it?

Oh yes! Just what we wanted to hear. Of course, McGann is under no illusions about whether it might happen or not.

There’s always all kinds of rumours. Doctor Who is like a rumour mill, isn’t it? ‘Yea, McGann is gonna do this, Matt is gonna do that, there’s going to be a spin-off, blah blah blah’. Of course it’s all b****cks because it’s Moffat who decides what they’re going to do next. And of course, now you’ve got a new Doctor in Peter Capaldi – I think it’s only fair that he gets a decent run on his own without any distractions so he gets his feet under the table.

However, Peter Capaldi AND Paul McGann appearing in the same episode might just be the most excellent thing to happen in Doctor Who ever. Unless, of course, McGann got his own Doctor Who: Time War spinoff series for BBC Three Online, or something…

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Now Playing on iPlayer Radio: Dalek, I Love You

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 time between series of Doctor Who (what I lovingly refer to as the “wilderness” months…) can be excruciating and slow. What’s a Whovian to do, dear reader?

In addition to speculating on just what kind of Doctor Capaldi is going to be or who Danny Pink really is, you might consider something a little different.

Available for your immediate listening pleasure, Colin Sharpe’s short play, Dalek, I Love You, is currently a streaming option in BBC iPlayer Radio. The story follows a Whovian named Nigel who meets a “curious girl” at a Sci-Fi convention. The play originally aired on BBC 7 (now known as BBC Radio 4 Extra) back in 2006.

At a running time of only 30 minutes, it is certainly worth your attention. If you haven’t heard the play yet, will you be checking it out? If you’ve already listened, what do you think?

Dalek, I Love You can also be found on the compilation CD Doctor Who at the BBC, the Plays, which can be picked up for a low price on Amazon.

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Doctor Who Coming to Robert Harrop Figurines?

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

If you’re a Whovian, who also happens to love the ceramic stylings of Robert Harrop, we have some news you’re going to want to hear about!

In a recent Facebook post, Robert Harrop Figurines teased that a meeting with the BBC had led to a newly commissioned series of Doctor Who figurines from the company:

“Well it has been on the cards one way or another for years and after a meeting Robert and I had with Jason from the BBC on Friday 7th March, literally at Crufts hehehe, we as of today are doing our own Tardis like spin on this incredible series.”

The post also promises to provide more information soon and to keep their Doctor Who line in the same stylings they have a reputation for, which by the way, here is an idea of what a Hartnell Doctor sculpture could look like (um, if it wasn’t Lady Penelope and Parker – Ed):

Fellow Kasterborites, what do you think? Is this a good fit for the Doctor Who brand or would you rather not see what comes of the new partnership?

(Via Facebook)

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Ex-Doctor Who Stars Excited By Peter Capaldi [VIDEO]

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.

Here’s a great clip for your lunchtime enjoyment – former stars Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy share their excitement for Peter Capaldi’s casting at the Doctor Who 50th Celebration last November.

Of course they’re not the only ones pleased to see such a superb actor starring in Doctor Who, but you can see the relief in their eyes at the prospect of someone else to talk to about the madness that is “being the Doctor” at future convention events…

My word – Peter Davison is funny, isn’t he?

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Ashes to Ashes & Line of Duty Star Keeley Hawes in Doctor Who Series 8!

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.

Actress Keeley Hawes – known to genre TV fans as Ashes to Ashes DI Alex Drake, is joining the cast of Doctor Who Series 8!

Currently starring as DI Lindsay Denton in the hit BBC drama Line of Duty, Hawes is to guest star opposite new Doctor Peter Capaldi in a single episode.

Hawes will play Ms Delphox, a powerful out-of-this-world character with a dark secret. Travelling across space and time the Twelfth Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and his companion, Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), will come face to face with the mysterious Ms Delphox when they arrive on a strange and puzzling planet.

Keeley Hawes as Ms Delphox in Doctor Who Series 8. Gulp. Type Phwoarty to infinity!

Says the stunning actress:

I am delighted to join Doctor Who and to be working with this incredible team. Ms Delphox is a great character and someone I’ve had a lot of fun playing.

While lead writer and executive producer, Steven Moffat:

Anyone watching Jed Mercurio’s amazing Line Of Duty will know that Keeley Hawes is having one hell of year. And now it’s about to get even better as she achieves the greatest villainy yet attempted on Doctor Who: she plays a banker.

(We suspect Moffat might be doing The Sun Makers‘ Collector a disservice there…)

Hawes guests in the episode by Steve Thompson and directed by Douglas Mackinnon, who has directed the actress in the acclaimed Line Of Duty on BBC Two.

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Reviewed: The King of Sontar

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.

Did you honestly believe that the Fourth Doctor would never again battle the Sontarans?

No, neither did the rest of us.

Over thirty years ago now, we caught the last ferocious battle between the Fourth Doctor and Sontar’s finest on the playing fields of Gallifrey, with the Doctor winning. But whilst The Invasion of Time may not be the most adored Doctor Who adventure for many fans, Big Finish’s opening story for series 3 of The Fourth  Doctor Adventures should put things right.

The King of Sontar has the Doctor and Leela thrown into the middle of a Sontaran conflict that has nothing to do with them, but the Time Lords have other ideas. Harkening back to stories such as Genesis of the Daleks and The Brain of Morbius, the Doctor is on a mission, something that he’s not terribly pleased about.

But the situation requires the hand of the Universes greatest hero and only the Doctor can stop the terrible and revered ‘King of Sontar’ General Strang from realising a plan that would put far too many lives in jeopardy.

John Dorney’s opening story delivers an excellent balance of romp and drama, taking into account that series 1 of The Fourth Doctor Adventures started with a straightforward drama in 2012 and series 2 began with a fairly lightweight adventure in 2013, The King of Sontar gives the listener a delightful mix of the two. Dorney also gets bonus points for his story by possibly addressing the height issue for Sontarans that first came about in 1985’s The Two Doctors, in which viewers were introduced to a very tall Sontaran. Seeing as they are a clone race, how can their height differentiate? The answer may well lie in The King of Sontar…

As performances go, we’re given some fantastic energy from the very start here, Tom Baker seems to be defying the natural order of the Universe by actually sounding younger and more energetic the older he gets. In a world where we know him as the Fourth Doctor and now also as the mysterious Curator in Doctor Who, it’s easy to envision him as both in these new stories, which is always fun for those that want to push the boundaries of canonicity. Louise Jameson is pitch perfect as the magnificent Leela and her alliance with a Sontaran as experienced in this play is not only natural and touching but also, surely, screaming out for a spin off series of its own.

Mentioning Sontarans, we have the magnificent Dan Starkey keeping up audio appearances in his now untouchable performance as a Sontaran. But whereas on screen we’ve seen him as part of a general Sontaran army (The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky) and, more recently, as the lovable and barmy Commander Strax (The Name of the Doctor), we have here an altogether different beast in the shape of General Strang, the greatest Sontaran ever cloned (perhaps). Starkey clearly relishes the chance to try something a little different here and by golly, does it ever work. Strang is a perfect mixture of psychotic, noble, tenacious and intelligent at the same time, in other words, a brilliant Sontaran for the Doctor to pitch up against.

David Collings also returns to the world of Doctor Who as misguided scientist Rosato. It’s wonderful to hear both him and Baker back together again but one feels that it’s only really in episode 2 where the two of them really battle it out for best performance. But considering their fellow cast members, it’s a fight that they have to work hard for.

If we can have stories of this quality for the rest of this year’s Fourth Doctor Adventures, we’re all in for a fantastic treat indeed.

The King of Sontar is available from www.bigfinish.com now on CD or via download.

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Classic Doctor Who Hits The Horror Channel!

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.

Fans of Doctor Who are set to find the TARDIS materialising at a new location this Easter as a specially curated selection of the Time Lord’s classic adventures in time and space start screening on Horror Channel.

The UK’s prime home for fans of horror, fantasy and sci-fi has completed a deal with BBC Worldwide to broadcast 30 stories from the Classic series which ran 1963 to 1989 featuring the first seven Doctors, starting with Hartnell and concluding with Sylvester McCoy.

This specially curated season give fans old and new a chance to get re-acquainted with favourite companions Jamie, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith, rogue Time Lords such as the Master and the Rani and all those iconic monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils and Ice Warriors.

Launching on Fri 18 April (Good Friday) the season begins with the very first story An Unearthly Child, starring William Hartnell as the Doctor. It then leads into a special WHO ON HORROR weekend – a classic marathon featuring one story from each of the Doctors across the Easter weekend. There will then be weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots with stories shown in chronological order starting on Easter Mon 21 April.

Horror Channel is screening many of the stories that are regarded as the most memorable that the show produced including The Mind Robber, The Daemons, Genesis of the Daleks, The Talons of Weng Chiang, The Caves of Androzani, Attack of the Cybermen and The Curse of Fenric. Many emphasise the horror elements of the programme from the first scary moments the Daleks appeared, to encounters with giant spiders and maggots, and even battles with Mary Whitehouse over the violent content of the show during Tom Baker’s era.

Alina Florea, Director of Programming, said today:

There are many horror themes that Doctor Who has tackled over the years and people of all ages have been terrified and found cowering behind the sofa. Our selection from the classic series include the original appearances of some of the most revered monsters and TV moments which captured the imagination of children and adults throughout the decades. Doctor Who is an iconic brand and we are proud and thrilled to welcome this giant of British television to our channel.

More and more cult programming has been coming to The Horror Channel of late, with Wonder Woman, Xena: Warrior Princess, New Twilight Zone, Star Trek and The Invaders filling the daytime schedule, reflecting the expansion of the channel acquisitions into the fantasy, adventure, and science fiction genres. Doctor Who will have been the first taste of frightening television for many Horror Channel viewers, and following on from the show’s record-breaking 50th anniversary celebrations last year, they will now have the opportunity to relive those terrifying moments and exciting cliff-hangers again.

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Professor Stahlman’s Gas – Olaf Pooley Reaches 100!

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.

Happy birthday, Olaf Pooley!

Not many people have been lucky enough to live for an entire century, and there are even fewer in the Whoniverse who can claim such an accolade. The actor, who played Professor Stahlman in the 1970 story Inferno, celebrates the big day on Thursday 13th March, and is only the second actor from the series to become a centenarian, (the first being Zohra Seghal from 1964′s Marco P0lo.)

Pooley has enjoyed a long and varied career as both an actor and writer, appearing in such shows as the original Star Trek and Dixon of Dock Green, as well as writing the film The Corpse starring the Celestial Toymaker himself – Michael Gough!

In recent years, Olaf Pooley has dedicated much of his time to painting out of his studio in Southern California, where he now resides. It’s a far cry from Professor Stahlman’s frenzied gas drillings, and we’re very relieved to hear it! Wherever you are Mr Pooley, have a fantastic day. The Whoniverse salutes you!

(With thanks to David)

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