Christian Cawley's Blog, page 297

What Would You Like the Eleventh Doctor’s Last Words To Be?

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 Eleventh Doctor’s time comes to an end tomorrow in The Time of the Doctor. There will be tears.

One thing we all want to know is what Matt Smith’s final televised words will be. Tennant ended with “I don’t want to go”; Eccleston rightly thought himself fantastic; and McGann went with the wonderful “physician, heal thyself.”

We asked the Kasterborous team what they thought… or at least, what they would like to hear!

ANDREW REYNOLDS:

“Of course, it’s so obvious! Has anyone ever been so young?”

For a Doctor whose entire run has in some way been all about surviving disaster by the skin of his teeth – bumbling and fumbling his way towards unlikely victory while greater forces have designs on his ultimate undoing – I think it would be fitting for the Eleventh Doctor’s final words to be a realisation.

A sudden understanding of what everything has been about right at the moment everything changes – throw in a bit of winking foreshadowing and a quick acknowledgement of Matt Smith’s uncanny ability to act young through the mannerisms of someone far older and I’d be very happy for someone who’ll probably be blubbing like a baby come Christmas Day.

DREW BOYNTON:

I would love for Matt Smith’s final words to be something totally bizarre and unexplained.  As he was leaping into the fiery heart of an exploding TARDIS, the Eleventh Doctor could exclaim something like “The Master is my sister!” or “My real name is Doctor Dalek!” or “I’m wearing women’s slacks!” to a bewildered Clara.  And then out would pop a shiny new Peter Capaldi, and none of it would be talked about or explained ever again.  Well, until the 100th anniversary.

REBECCA CROCKETT:

I’m hoping it ends quietly for Eleven. He had such an explosive regeneration from Ten, has had such pain and ache and hardship, and I also think he will not expect to be regenerating but dying. So I want it to be quiet for him. I see the scene as happening in the TARDIS, with Clara, and with her comforting him as he presumes his end is near. They have a quiet, whispered conversation about all the good times and what she’ll do once he’s gone and the last thing he’ll  say is one of the first things he said – Geronimo.

NICHOLAS KITCHEN:

I’m not sure that I have anything specific in mind that I would like to hear from Smith’s mouth as the Eleventh Doctor takes his final bow. More than anything I really just want whatever his last words are to be meaningful and poignant. He entered our lives with “Geronimo!” and I feel that maybe it would be slightly cheap to say goodbye in the same manner. For an incarnation whose biggest strength has been his big speeches, maybe a bitter sweet speech on the way to Capaldi would be in order?

ALEX SKERRATT:

I think I might cry if he says “Geronimo!” I’ve never been fond of it as a catchphrase. In fact I’ve never been keen on catchphrases – such lazy writing, bah! Anyway, moaning aside, I hope his last words are witty. Let’s face it, with the, erm, “Eleventh” Doctor dying on Christmas day, we’re going to need a little cheering up. How about, “I’m focusing on a dress size!” That’s sure to make the forums implode…

PHILIP BATES:

I’d like to hear something as upbeat as Eccleston’s last speech – mainly as I’ll be struggling to hold back the floods of tears anyway; another “I don’t want to go” might just ruin Christmas completely.

Confession time: I find many last words too forgettable, too humdrum. They don’t sum up that Doctor well enough. Apart from “Carrot juice,” obviously. I suppose he could go with something Christmassy – Matt encapsulates the Christmas spirit more than any other Doctor – or even something Pond-related, but in my heart, I know what I want to hear.

I want something that sums up the enthusiasm, brilliance and excitement that Matt Smith brought to the Doctor. He may fear death, but he keeps an open mind and goes into everything with the spirit of adventure. And let’s not forget that Moffat likes to bookend eras in the most memorable ways. It may be obvious, but it’s the perfect word for a man who thinks the best is yet to come…

“Geronimo.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK, KASTERBORITES? LET US KNOW BELOW!

The post What Would You Like the Eleventh Doctor’s Last Words To Be? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Tasha Lem and the Psycho Space Nuns [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.

In this, the final preview clip for Doctor Who‘s 2013 Christmas special The Time of the Doctor, departing Matt Smith and co-star Jenna Coleman meet guest Orla Brady.

The travellers have arrived on Trenzalore, with Tasha Lem a seemingly welcome presence. But who is she? Does this clip give anything away?

And would you pay to see a group called Psycho Space Nuns?

I know I would!

The post Tasha Lem and the Psycho Space Nuns [VIDEO] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Where To Catch The Time Of The Doctor Around The World

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.

You probably know when to tune your TV set into the forthcoming broadcast of Doctor Who: The Time of the Doctor - but just in case you don’t (and are aware what time the UK broadcast is thanks to our endless plugging) then read on…

Although The Day of the Doctor was fortunate enough to have an international simulcast plus repeat showings (and cinema screenings!), that was a special one-off occasion. This time, you’ll be limited as to how you view the episode.

And by limited, we mean it’s business as usual.

So, let’s get the UK out of the way first, where the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special will air at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC HD. Subsequently it will be available to view on BBC iPlayer, although remember that iPlayer viewings on a computer/phone/tablet aren’t counted in the ratings (but those via a set-top box are).

Watching The Time of the Doctor outside the UK?

We’ll continue now to take in the options for international views, starting with the USA and Commonwealth countries first:

In the USA, BBC America viewers can enjoy The Time of the Doctor at 9/8c on Christmas Day
Canada’s SPACE will also be screening on Christmas Day at 8pm EST (along with a busy schedule of Doctor Who programming, as listed at Doctor Who News)
ABC1 in Australia screens The Time of the Doctor on Boxing Day at 7.30pm AEST
New Zealand’s PRIME is broadcasting on Boxing Day too, 8.30pm
Fans in South Africa will be able to watch the regeneration on BBC Entertainment at 11.25am on Boxing Day (December 26th)
Germany’s growing band of Doctor Who fans (and those in the nearby countries able to view FOX) should be ready at 9.35pm CET on Christmas Day.
Scandinvia and Poland have BBC Entertainment to thank or a 7pm CET broadcast on Sunday, December 29th.
Based in Latin/South America? BBC HD has a 2pm CST screening for you on Christmas Day.

However, wherever and whenever you’re watching The Time of the Doctor, have a great Christmas, from all of us at Kasterborous!

The post Where To Catch The Time Of The Doctor Around The World appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Steven Moffat Talks The Time of the Doctor [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.

“The pay-off to all of those things” such as “silence will fall” and the exploding TARDIS in The Pandorica Opens are promised by Steven Moffat in this new interview from the BBC’s official Doctor Who site.

The Time of the Doctor airs in just a few hours now, so if you’re not excited already, perhaps this teaser from the Moff will put you in the mood for Matt Smith’s final hour as the Doctor on BBC One at 7.30pm, Christmas Day…

The post Steven Moffat Talks The Time of the Doctor [VIDEO] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Two Great Doctor Who T-Shirts At RiptApparel Today Only!

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 are two great t-shirts to celebrate your Doctor Who love this Christmas. Although “Professor Whotonium” (left) is a mashup, it’s quite a good one; however, “Random Access Enemies” on the right is particularly stunning – we fancy we know which one will prove most popular, whether on t-shirt, hoodie, baby grow or whichever RiptApparel merchandise item you fancy!

Professor Whotonium and Random Access Enemies by nikholmes and alex.pawlicki will be for sale today, December 24th, 2013 – and then at midnight, they won’t be available at all!

To grab your tee – for a ridiculously low $10 (plus shipping) – or have the design printed on some other paraphernalia, head to Ript Apparel before midnight today. International shipping is available.

The post Two Great Doctor Who T-Shirts At RiptApparel Today Only! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who Knows Best in USA Magazines!

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.

Doctor Who has made the “Best” lists of two of the USA’s most popular magazines!

The newest Entertainment Weekly picks the Best (and Worst) of 2013 and features a small TARDIS in the top right corner of the cover. The collaged cover places Brad Pitt and Benedict Cumberbatch near the TARDIS, while tabloid sensation Miley Cyrus dangles precariously above it on her wrecking ball. Hmm.

The magazine also picks The Time of the Doctor as #2 on their Must List (The Top 10 Things We Love This Week) and say:

Even casual Whovians won’t want to miss this one: Matt Smith passes the TARDIS to regenerated Time Lord Peter Capaldi in the feverishly anticipated special.

And TV Guide–celebrating their 60th anniversary as everyone’s favorite television magazine–picks their 60 greatest television shows of all time. Although Doctor Who isn’t in the top 60 (Monty Python’s Flying Circus is the only non-US entry at #58), there is a picture of Matt Smith at the end of the article with this caption:

Readers’ Choice: Doctor Who. Your Facebook votes have been tallied and, though he didn’t make our list, it’s the Time Lord by a wide margin!

Later in the magazine, there is also a sizable photo of Matt Smith brandishing his sonic screwdriver and an article about The Time of the Doctor. The small article discusses the plot of this year’s Christmas special and tries to figure out the regeneration question.

So there you have it: Doctor Who is the best of 2013!

The post Doctor Who Knows Best in USA Magazines! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Talkin’ ’bout Regeneration

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.

Regeneration: it’s what makes Doctor Who the show that never ends and it’s what everyone is talking about at the minute – and with good reason. This Christmas we are going to say farewell to Doctor Eleven and hello to number Twelve.

So what better time to take a look at the whole business of regeneration, why have we had them in the past, which ones have worked and which ones haven’t, is there anyway that the process can be tampered with – for good or bad?

Let’s go all the way back to 1966 and the very first regeneration, which, if we are being picky, wasn’t even a regeneration; it was called a ‘rejuvenation’ so one could argue that Doctors One and Two were essentially the same Doctor, just with his clock turned back a bit. The whole purpose for regeneration/rejuvenation was to facilitate the switch from outgoing Hartnell to incoming Troughton in a way that made sense in terms of story. Considering that it was such a last minute addition to things (as we now know thanks to the discovery of the original scripts for episode four of The Tenth Planet in which Hartnell carries on with his companions) the fact that an eleventh hour addition to cover a change in actor could then go on to not only ‘rejuvenate’ the show (see what I did there) but to go on to define it is nothing short of remarkable.

After ten regenerations the show is still finding new ways to do it, from Troughton’s intergalactic witness relocation programme to McCoy’s gangland drive-by, but there has been one method that has been reused over and over, yet still seems fresh. Poison.

Yup, over the years the Doctor has bitten the big one through poisoning no less than four times. Pertwee was the first, thanks to his shenanigans on Metebilis III (yes, radiation is a form of poisoning); next was Davison, heroically taking the metaphorical bullet so Peri could live. Then we had the Ninth Doctor, Eccleston, re-absorbing the time vortex from Rose and saving her but effectively poisoning himself, and finally the spiky-haired wonder that was Tennant, who sacrificed his own life to save Wilf.

But while each of these shares a common method of dispatch, each is so uniquely crafted they never feel like repetition, you never hear someone say “remember that time he regenerated after he was poisoned” followed by confused looks: it’s always “when he saved Peri/Rose/Wilf” or “when he beat the giant spiders.”

Nothing, however, is perfect. Over the years we have had a couple of less than stellar farewells, namely those of Doctors Six and Seven who met their ends via a bump on the head and random shooting respectively. But I can forgive even these, as they were victims of circumstance, Six into Seven was hampered by the absence of its star and Seven’s exit suffered from ’90s Hollywood excess.

Thankfully both managed to gain a measure of retribution by poking fun at themselves in the Big Finish anniversary epic Zagreus:

[comparing 'deaths' with Doctor Eight]

Six: It’s a better exit than I ever had. A bang on the head, I ask you.

Seven: Even that’s more dignified than what I endured – didn’t see that one coming, did I!

So what about the limitations of regeneration then? We know that Time Lords can only use their ‘get-out-of-death free’ card twelve times, but even then there are ways round it as the Master has proven on multiple occasions – by effectively car-jacking the bodies of those around him once his limit was up, not to mention the rather generous offer he received in The Five Doctors of a whole new regenerative cycle in return for his help. Is this something that the Time Lords have the power to do for anyone? Is it the equivalent of having your overdraft extended? How about limits to the kind of death that you can recover from? We have already seen that you can kill a Time Lord if you get him while he is still regenerating (see Series 6 opener, The Impossible Astronaut) and we know that gun shots, poison (radioactive or otherwise) and even a nasty bump to the noggin can all be regenerated from. But how about decapitation, dismemberment or atomisation (I know, I missed my calling as a Bond villain) – could the Doctor make a comeback from any of those more grizzly deaths?

The Doctor’s already re-regenerated a handy hand when the Sycorax cut one off in The Christmas Invasion, but that was only because he’d recently changed…

From a writing point of view, it’s clearly in the show’s best interests not to answer many of these questions; let’s face it, we all know that once something is in the show it becomes law to the fans and can become quite a limiting factor in writing the show. Far better to say nothing and just use things as and when you need to. But from a fan point of view it would be great to be able to effectively dissect a Time Lord and find out what makes him tick… Maybe that’s why I have never had that blue box appear in my garden.

But I digress. Getting back to this Christmas, where do we stand? Well, we know that Eleven will become Twelve, but we also know that it’s actually the death of Thirteen outright as he has no more lives (again thanks to the War Doctor and the meta-crisis) and the as-yet-unexplained phoenix-like rebirth into his Fourteenth body. How is this going to happen, why does he have the face of a man who escaped the fires of Pompeii, and will we get answers? Who knows. But everyone has their theory, even me.

I think, for what it’s worth, that the Doctor will be fatally injured and dive into the TARDIS and randomly set co-ordinates and hope for the best. It touches down in Rome in 80AD at the home of none other than Caecilius who is waiting for the Doctor to emerge. Except it’s not the Doctor who emerges, not as such. He has pulled the same trick that the Master did in the TV Movie and given his essence a tangible form and dives into Caecilius’ body, taking it over. He is now the Doctor and has a limited time to find Gallifrey and get a new Time Lord body before this one dies out on him, thus giving a sense of urgency to the Gallifrey quest.

But what do I know?

What are your thoughts? If you think that they will do something totally different, let us know. The more madcap the better!

The post Talkin’ ’bout Regeneration appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

BBC Four Intends To Broadcast Missing Doctor Who Episodes

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.

Ever since it became apparent that missing Doctor Who episodes had been uncovered this year, one of the biggest questions has been “when will they be on TV?”

Well, if BBC Four has its way, the answer is “sooner, rather than later.”

A feature on the Radio Times website today serves the idea up as a very real possibility.

The BBC has confirmed that it has the right to air both The Web of Fear and The Enemy of the World in the UK decades after they were first broadcast.  And if they do get aired they will almost certainly be shown on BBC4, senior sources have confirmed.

…a senior BBC executive told RadioTimes.com that no decision had been made but that if BBC television were to obtain the rights they would almost certainly air on BBC4 and not on BBC2.

A Worldwide spokesman said that the “BBC has the rights to show them if they wanted to”.

At the same time, however, the BBC was unable to confirm what sort of deal or arrangement they have will TIEA and Philip Morris.

This all seems to have come about in response to Saturday’s Missing Believed Wiped event at the BFI, in which the genius behind Morris’ approach to the subject of missing tapes was confirmed along with the assertion that the Indiana Jones of lost tapes might have uncovered several tens of thousands of lost canisters (that link is particularly worth reading), many more than thought.

But let’s think about this: The Web of Fear almost complete and The Enemy of the World, on TV, 45 or so years later? How great would it be to see the Second Doctor on a TV set, topped and tailed by announcements and trailers for other shows rather than on a DVD?

With BBC Four’s future looking exceedingly rosy as a cultural archive, this would make perfect sense.

(With thanks to Joe)

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Strax Logs Field Report X1225/MAS

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.

What is Christmas? It’s many things to many people, I guess, but I don’t think you or I have ever heard it described quite like this.

Here, Commander Strax of the Glorious Sontaran Empire log a new Field Report to his superiors, cunningly numbered X1225/MAS…

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Clara Invites The Doctor For Christmas Dinner [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.

We reckon the trailer above is from pretty early in the The Time of the Doctor, the 2013 Doctor Who Christmas special which will introduce Peter Capaldi to fans and possibly even tie up a few plot strands running back to 2010.

Featuring Matt Smith and Jenna Coleman, the clip is striking in its juxtaposition of domestic and science fantasy.

The Time of the Doctor is Matt Smith’s final (regular) appearance as the Doctor. You can catch it on Christmas Day at 7.30pm on BBC One and BBC HD, and 9/8c on BBC America.

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