Christian Cawley's Blog, page 289

Twelfth Doctor & Rugby Playing Clara Toys Unveiled

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 Twelfth Doctor and lifelong Doctor Who fan Peter Capaldi must have felt a particular fan boy stirring when images for the latest line of Doctor Who action figures were unveiled at the UK industry showcase, Toyfair.

Complete with  mischievous grin and a rather louche raised eyebrow, the newly-regenerated 3.75 inch Twelfth Doctor figure bares a decent likeness to Capaldi while, I’m not sure which episode saw Clara’s body melded with a Sontaran commander but the likeness is excellent…what’s that…that’s just Clara’s likeness…but she looks like a rugby player in a dress…

It’s hardly the most flattering incarnation of one of the most striking actresses to ever board the TARDIS.

Anyhow, the whole range from Doctor Who master toy licensee Character Options – based around the 50th anniversary and Christmas specials – for release in Spring 2014 includes a Zygon, brand new scrum half Clara Oswald, Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (minus the milk of human/Time Lord kindness), a screaming Weeping Angel, an Assault Dalek, an Imperial Guard Dalek and, last but not least, the newly-regenerated Twelfth Doctor.

So what do you think of the Twelfth Doctor’s first action figure? Does Clara need to stop working out as much? Why was there no Eleventh Doctor figure with removable wig (or Amy Pond for that matter, he said knowingly.)

(Via DoctorWho.tv)

The post Twelfth Doctor & Rugby Playing Clara Toys Unveiled appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Gallifrey One’s Convention Guest Apocalypse

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.

A virtual who’s who of Doctor Who will be attending the already-sold-out Gallifrey One 2014 convention in Los Angeles on February 14-16. Celebrating its 25th anniversary (hey, that’s half as old as Doctor Who itself!), Gallifrey One will have special guest Billie Piper making her first major North American convention appearance!

Rose Tyler will have two Doctors to pick from, as the “newly” regenerated Paul McGann and the always sensibly dressed Colin Baker will also be in attendance.   The Sixth and Eighth Doctors both recently appeared in the most excellent 50th anniversary celebration film, The Five(-ish) Doctors Reboot.

A Medusa Cascade of former companions and co-stars will also be there, including:  Frazer Hines (Jamie), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Katy Manning (Jo), Deborah Watling (Victoria), Matthew Waterhouse (Adric), the legendary Jean Marsh (Sara Kingdom), and many more.  Two Russell T. Davies-era guest stars, Annette Badland (Margaret the Slitheen, Wizards Vs. Aliens) and Lachele Carl (newswoman Trinity Wells) will also be making their first appearances at a USA convention.

Many other Who writers (Terrance Dicks, Paul Cornell), Big Finish-related guests (Tracey Childs, Gareth Thomas), Doctor Who luminaries (Toby Hadoke, Gary Russell), and sci-fi celebrities (Chase Masterson, Rachel Skarsten) will all also be there on Valentine’s Day weekend.

Once again, Gallifrey One 2014 is sold out, so you’re too late if you want tickets.  But, if you going (Mr. Lucky Von Luckerston!), let us know who you’re most hoping to see there!  And ask Billie if she wants my phone number.

 

The post Gallifrey One’s Convention Guest Apocalypse appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Will Doctor Who Win At The National Television Awards?

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.

It’s National Television Awards time again, which means the beginning of awards season in the UK. But to the point: is Doctor Who in with a chance of a gong?

You may recall that when voting started (it closed at midday today) Doctor Who was nominated in the Best Drama category, with Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman in the Best Performance category.

While we can’t say yet what the result will be, it is possible to get an idea of how voting is going by turning attention to Twitter, as the London School of Economics has done. As reported by the Radio Times:

Taking into account the volume of tweets, sentiment (positive or negative) and viewing figures, each show has been given a score out of ten, and a list of Hotlist winners selected.

Based on this, the result for Best Drama is predicted:

Drama

·        Doctor Who - 8.00

·        Downton Abbey - 7.00

·        Call the Midwife – 7.00

·        Broadchurch – 6.67

Fingers crossed!

(Via Radio Times)

The post Will Doctor Who Win At The National Television Awards? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Reviewed: Doctor Who Figurine Collection – Part 5 Silurian Warrior

James Whittington 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 may know that I like to be honest about Doctor Who so I’ll cut to the chase, The Hungry Earth and Cold Blood, with hindsight, weren’t exactly the greatest moments of Matt Smith’s tenure. An over-written adventure, it introduced the Silurians to a new audience and with that came a make-over for the Homo Reptilians. Though they looked quite dashing they lacked certain things such as the third eye that was used in adventures during the classic series and were given a lasso type tongue but more on this later. Here’s what the magazine sections have to offer about the adventure, Cold Blood.

The Magazine

The Figurine – Seeing the new Silurian design was a shock for a long time fan like myself and here the designers give their reasons for the changes. The third eye was dropped as they considered it was too reminiscent of Davros! Ironic really as they appeared in the show a number of years before him. It’s nice to see a rough design where they did include it though. Another reason for the face redesign was so that the actor’s expressions would be more visible. Nice that they had netting though. The short history of the Silurians is a nice reminder of their classic appearances, well apart from Warriors Of The Deep that is.

A Moment In Time – Cold Blood was the second of a two part adventure and for me is more memorable for the “Amy’s crack” story arc rather than the Silurian appearance. Chris Chibnall’s script failed to grab me as a viewer. I appreciate the underlying tones about race and tolerance but it just didn’t grab me.

50 Years Of Doctor Who – We continue our trek through time and discover we’re at the latter half of 1965 the year we got the Dalek 12-parter The Daleks’ Master Plan. It highlights the punishing schedule and how the team only got a month off between seasons. Later in the year it was announced that a second Dalek movie was to be made. More importantly the news of Hartnell’s departure was beginning to seep to the newspapers. Away from Doctor Who it was also the time when Thunderbirds took off for the first time, The Beatles played Shea Stadium and a toy versions of James Bond’s Aston Martin was the Christmas gift.

Doctor Who Universe – The focus turns to New Earth and the show’s fascination of looking to the stars to find something exactly, or almost exactly like our home planet. New Earth is a nice concept, populated by some inventive characters such as The Sisters Of Plenitude and the Face Of Boe though when the Macra became involved I felt it was a bit of a missed opportunity, especially as they had devolved.

Myths And Mysteries – The section that dares ask the questions continues with such important enquiries such as “Are The Silurians Right? Is Earth ‘Their’ Planet?” and “So Are The Silurians The Bad Guys?”

Who People – A lot has been said about William Hartnell and this short tribute to the man behind the First Doctor sums him up nicely. He was an old trooper, tired of typecasting and was given a chance to shine in a different light. I love his Doctor, everything was right, I care not a jot about his fluffed lines, he put the show on the TV map and I adore his interpretation of the Doctor.

Figurine

Last time I raved on about how wonderfully detailed the Weeping Angel, but this issue’s figure raises the bar even higher and is quite simply a stunning piece.

The new Silurian costume is replicated perfectly here, from the metallic mask to the mesh leggings, this scaly creature is a joy to behold. The neck rings and red cummerbund stand out against the tunic and are perfectly painted.

So then, another triumph for this series and the next one is sure to be popular, the Last Dalek.

The post Reviewed: Doctor Who Figurine Collection – Part 5 Silurian Warrior appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Did Doctor Who Betray Matt Smith?

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.

Was Matt Smith let down by the writing during his time on Doctor Who? That’s the verdict of an opinion piece that has prompted a slew of heated online debates.

US writer Ted B. Kissell argues that Smith, although brilliant in the role, was prevented from becoming the very greatest Doctor by Steven Moffat’s handling of the show:

The problem was never with Smith’s performance. It was with Steven Moffat’s conception of the character… All incarnations of the Doctor have been at least a little bit arrogant, but they’ve also tempered that arrogance with varying degrees of humility, selflessness, and a sense of wonder.

Kessell argues that an over-reliance on cheap tricks left the viewer struggling to care what came next:

The entirety of Season Six is when Moffat’s fascination for plot twists and open-ended mysteries (in our house, we describe this unfortunate tendency as “plotty-wotty”) took over the show, and the whole product suffered.

Although full of praise for Smith himself – ‘a wonderful actor… perfectly cast as the Doctor’ – Kessell certainly doesn’t hold back in his criticism of the show-runner’s handling of the character or the series as a whole.

There’s no right or wrong answer to these arguments, of course, and the fact that articles like this generate such a response demonstrates the depth of commitment people feel to Doctor Who. The programme has undoubtedly reached new heights of popularity internationally in the Eleventh Doctor era, and the sheer numbers watching indicate people aren’t being turned off. But Kissell’s views will chime with those who hope the coming of a new Doctor and the resolution of so many of the central plot arcs of recent series will herald a different style of story-telling for the show.

You can read the full article at The Atlantic.

What do you think? Did Matt Smith deserve better? Or was his era a golden age?

Keep it clean.

The post Did Doctor Who Betray Matt Smith? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Peter Capaldi’s Amazing Doctor Who Fan Art From 1976

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.

As we eagerly await our new Doctor’s first adventure on screen, we continue to receive glimpses into just how much of a Doctor Who fan Peter Capaldi has been since he was young. 

Capaldi has been known, in some small way, to the show’s fan base since he was a teenager, having sent a number of submissions to the official Doctor Who International Fan Club newsletter showing his love of the show.

(An interesting side note – at one point, Capaldi was unhappy with how Keith Miller was running the DWIFC and even tried to make that fact known to producer Barry Letts. Letts’ secretary,  Sarah Newman, encouraged Miller to continue with his efforts despite Capaldi’s criticism, which continued for some time, to the point that Miller says Capaldi “haunted” his time running the fan club.)

One submission was Peter’s high praise for Bernard Lodge’s opening title sequence for the show. Given that he attended the Glasgow School of Art, it’s no surprise that Capaldi has an artistic eye.

Today we have another of his submissions to the DWIFC newsletter, a lovely look at the TARDIS settled on an alien planet.

Capaldi has a lovely eye for composition, using the the light to great effect here. One could imagine this as part of a story board for any Who episode set on an alien world. One wonders if Capaldi might not have eventually been some part of the show’s production team, had the acting plans not worked out!

 

(via Bleeding Cool, TVCream)

The post Peter Capaldi’s Amazing Doctor Who Fan Art From 1976 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Cumberbatch Excited for Capaldi’s Doctor

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.

Wholock. SherWho. Whatever mash-up name you prefer, it is hard to ignore the interest that fandoms of both Doctor Who and Sherlock have in seeing the Doctor and Sherlock interact on our television screens. Thus, any time a star of either property speaks of the other, sparks are guaranteed to fly! This time, it’s the master detective (see what I did there?) himself commenting on the new Doctor!

Speaking to the Big Issue, Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch had this to say on Capaldi’s casting:

“It’s great news. I’m very excited to see him in Doctor Who. He is a class act, Peter, and a great actor.”

Cumberbatch has worked with Capaldi previously on the big screen in last summer’s The Fifth Estate. While we’re less likely to see a crossover between the two popular shows any time soon, there have been some rumblings that the Master may be making his return in Series 8 as the series’ big bad. Those rumblings have also indicated that Cumberbatch may play the Master’s next incarnation. All rumors at this point, but it doesn’t hurt to imagine what Cumberbatch’s Master would be like.

So Kasterborites, what do you think? Agree with Cumberbatch’s assessment of Capaldi? Would you like to see him as the Master?

The post Cumberbatch Excited for Capaldi’s Doctor appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Why the World Needs the Doctor

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.

“When they made this particular hero, they didn’t give him a gun, they gave him a screwdriver to fix things. They didn’t give him a tank or a warship or an x-wing fighter, they gave him a call box from which you can call for help. And they didn’t give him a superpower or pointy ears or a heat ray, they gave him an extra heart. They gave him two hearts.

And that’s an extraordinary thing; there will never come a time when we don’t need a hero like the Doctor.”

- Steven Moffat

As I’m writing these words, we’re about a week into 2014 and almost two months into Doctor Who’s 50th year. 50 years is quite an accomplishment for any institution, let alone for a sci-fi television show about a time-and-space-travelling mad man in a blue police call-box! However, my aim isn’t necessarily to celebrate that achievement. I feel as if we’ve already accomplished that, and continue to do so with our coverage of Doctor Who news throughout this 50th anniversary year. No, I want to look a little closer at the reason Doctor Who has had the staying power (minus the brief wilderness years…) it has enjoyed over the past five decades; and I believe that reason is hope.

You see, this world needs the Doctor. This world, which is still pretty wonderful, always stands just on the precipice of calamity and tragedy. Not convinced? Look at the unrest in the Middle East… fairly close to a “never ending, bitter war,” minus Daleks and Cybermen, of course. Or perhaps the frequent school shootings in America; children killing children because they’ve entered a state where they believe no one cares about them or that they’re led to believe that being different is somehow wrong. A good portion of this world has lost its hope.

Am I suggesting that Doctor Who is the answer to world peace? No, not quite. However, I am suggesting that much like the Doctor does in individual lives on the television, Doctor Who can be an agent for change and for bringing hope back to our world. Perhaps the show has never intentionally set out to have a social agenda (leave that for Torchwood ala Children of Earth and Miracle Day), but it has never intentionally shied away from tough questions and concepts that can be applied to the real world either. Always facing impossible choices and always being brave enough to find the way to do the right thing, even at great costs to himself. That is a trait that would be well served if passed on to those who watch the program.

Yes, this world needs the Doctor because this world will always need hope. Who better to give it to us than “the optimist, the hoper of far-flung hopes, the dreamer of improbable dreams.” The Doctor, and by extension the writers of the show, always give us something to take away each episode: whether it is a character lesson or reassurance that it’s okay to be “good weird.” I firmly believe that watching Doctor Who enables the viewer the opportunity to engage in hope weekly. And the Doctor is a hell of a great example for our children to watch and learn from! I was completely stunned, as I sat in a packed theater here in the states on November 25th to see The Day of the Doctor, at the number of children who were there to take in the 50th anniversary special. I have a feeling that American culture could benefit from its children watching the Doctor instead of the other mindless slop that passes for children’s entertainment these days (or the unattended viewing of adult programming by children, for that matter).

So, why has Doctor Who endured for over 50 years? Hope. The Doctor was designed as a hero who always brings hope. And at the risk of being a pessimist, we’ve never needed hope in our world more than we need it now. Long live the Doctor and may he always bring hope wherever the TARDIS lands, be it on Gailifrey or our television screens!

The post Why the World Needs the Doctor appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Straczynski Wants to Write Who!

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.

Babylon 5 creator, J. Michael Straczynski, wants to write an episode of Doctor Who (well, who doesn’t?!) – and even knows what story he’d tell!

The BAFTA-nominated scribe is keeping all the details to himself, however, saying:

“I would love to write a Doctor Who episode someday; I’m a huge fan. I’m curious to see how the new guy [Peter Capaldi] does, I love what Matt Smith is doing so I’ll give the new guy benefit of the doubt. I do know what [my] story would be. But honestly? Steven Moffat is doing such a great job on that show. That and Sherlock, the writing that this guy does is so far beyond the pale. We need to kill him as soon as possible to stop looking bad by comparison. I do know what it is but I’m not going to tell you.”

Straczynski is prolific, having written 92 of the 110 Babylon 5 episodes (including an unbroken 59 episode run), as well as animation, film and comics (Thor and Superman: Earth One). He’s also released a Screenwriting 101 book, The Complete Book of Scriptwriting, as well as the 2001-07 run on The Amazing Spider-Man with artists, John Romita Jr. and Mike Deodato Jr. - which I can’t recommend highly enough!

Seriously. It’s good. Properly good.

Would you like to see an episode written by Straczynski? Or would spelling his name just get on your nerves? (It’s easy once you get the hang of it.)

(Via Bleeding Cool.)

The post Straczynski Wants to Write Who! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Titan Gets Comic License!

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 been confirmed that Titan Comics has been awarded the license for Doctor Who comics.

The license was previously held by IDW, but concluded with last month’s special issue, The Girl Who Loved Doctor Who, written by Paul Cornell (Father’s  Day; Human Nature/ The Family of Blood).

As rumoured, the BBC has now confirmed that Titan has acquired the license, though it’s uncertain when we’ll see the first issues on stands. Nonetheless, we will see something this year, particularly as Titan Comics has noted that upcoming stories will feature the Tenth, Eleventh and – when Series 8 is broadcasted – Twelfth Doctors.

As publisher of titles like Tank Girl, Death Sentence - described by Popmatters as “like all your favourite episodes of Doctor Who” - Wallace & Gromit, and IT CAME!, Titan may be a smaller publishing company, and creative teams have yet to be announced, but the future certainly looks bright for Doctor Who. In fact, this might just be the start of something really exciting…

The post Titan Gets Comic License! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.