Christian Cawley's Blog, page 309

The Five Doctors Photographed!

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 one we missed from last week’s Doctor Who Celebration at ExCel in London – the five Doctor’s photographed together.

As you’ll see above, Matt Smith joined fellow headlining guests Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy for a historic photo opp that is unlikely to be ever repeated.

And below, you can see the finished image…

Five Doctors get together to celebrate the #DoctorWho 50th Anniversary! Watch the here: http://t.co/nWstsKYaV8 pic.twitter.com/XlFQmaKneG

— Classic Doctor Who (@classicdw) November 23, 2013

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Win Doctor Who Top Trumps Turbo!

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’re big fans of board games here at Kasterborous Towers so it makes sense that in this special week of Doctor Who merchandise giveaways we should be offering a copy of the new Top Trumps Turbo game!

Our followers on Twitter and Facebook will already know that we’re running competitions through our social accounts, and if you’re a forum member, you;ll probably be aware of the giveaway underway there.

Today, you can win Doctor Who: Top Trumps Turbo, a new version of the game equipped with an electronic turbo spinner and featuring six exclusive packs of cards.

To enter this competition, we need you to tell us – in the comments below – what your four unique Top Trumps qualities and score would be; the more creative, the better! We’re essentially asking you to become a Top Trumps card…

This giveaway ends at 11.59pm on Saturday, November 30th, so get your entries in quickly, and don’t miss our other giveaways this week!

The post Win Doctor Who Top Trumps Turbo! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Reviewed: Doctor Who Figurine Collection – Part 2 Davros

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.

Davros, one of Doctor Who‘s most enigmatic villains, makes an early appearance in this figurine range. Though initially disappointed that it’s the version from the David Tennant adventure Journey’s End (I’m not dissing Julian Bleach’s performance, it’s just I prefer the design of Michael Wisher’s Davros from Genesis Of The Daleks) this is a great looking collectable.

Issue 2 features:

The Figurine – Looking at the regeneration of a Doctor Who icon these first few pages highlight what was carried over from Classic Who to this incarnation such as the robot hand and the headpiece, although minus the balls. It looks at how each part of the costume and its base was re-designed and why. It does touch upon Terry Molloy’s stint in the chair but without a lot of detail.

A Moment In Time – Journey’s End isn’t my favourite episode of the new series. I feel it panders too much to fans and is way over-the-top to be involving. What held it together was an inspired performance from Julian Bleach. His Davros kept the tone dark and pure evilness giving the story more depth than it deserved. Here we learn of how and why RTD brought the Daleks back and their creator plus his fears of having a crowded TARDIS.

50 Years Of Doctor Who – The timeline arrives at 1964, a pivotal year in many ways for the first pieces of merchandise were released, Dalekmania was on the verge of happening and Christopher Eccleston was born.

Doctor Who Universe – The men and women of UNIT are scrutinised in this section which includes a quick pre-history of the force. It’s a timely reminder of the Classic era’s many happy adventures with the UNIT family and picks out its finest adventures. It also scans the Doctor’s deteriorating association with UNIT.

Myths And Mysteries – The section that dares ask the questions continues with such important enquiries such as “Why do the Daleks want to destroy reality?” and “Didn’t the Daleks try to move the Earth before?”

Who People – This brief history of the legend that is Ray Cusick looks at his work on the first few years of Doctor Who and how he truly was the creator of the Daleks.

But what about Davros? Heavy with plenty of sinister detail, this is the best looking Davros collectable I’ve seen. His skin tone and yellow teeth capture the rotting detail of the new TV version. His base is well painted though his control panel seems to be lacking some colour detail. I have seen some with the index finger broken so do check before you buy.

So then, a good issue but I wonder how long it will be until we get our first figure from the Classic series.

The post Reviewed: Doctor Who Figurine Collection – Part 2 Davros appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Matt Could Have Stayed In Doctor Who For Another Year!

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.

Departing Doctor Who star Matt Smith has revealed that he considered holding onto the role for one more year.

Admitting that while the time seemed right for him to move on, Matt also confessed that he found living away from home for much of the year difficult.

I’d have very happily done another year. It’s a wonderful show. But I think you gotta go when you gotta go, and for me, it just felt like the right time to move on.

It’s a very intense process to play the Doctor. The line-learning is really hard and you have to live away from home for 10 months a year.

We’ll never know, of course, how Matt’s extended time as the Doctor might have played out (just as we’ll never know how the Tenth Doctor might have been had he survived The End of Time and met Amy Pond). We can at least be sure that he’s proud of his work on Doctor Who.

I’m going to miss my friends, and being part of a show where people dress up and make you feel like you’re part of something really unique and special… It’s changed my life.

It is a huge honour to be the incumbent Time Lord, as it were, and something of which I am very proud… It is a great time to be part of it – and I know that Peter Capaldi is going to be a wonderful Doctor. I really do.

Matt Smith’s final appearance as the Doctor in The Time of the Doctor is set to be aired over Christmas on BBC One, an episode that will also herald the arrival of his successor – and we can’t wait!

(Via Los Angeles Times)

The post Matt Could Have Stayed In Doctor Who For Another Year! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Time of the Doctor – Spoilers Are Out There

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.

This week The Sun newspaper trawled Gallifrey Base for clues about the Doctor Who Christmas special – the final episode with Matt Smith starring as the Doctor – and printed a whole host of genuine-looking spoilers.

We’re not talking about the confession of an actor here, but a full, detailed synopsis of what is about to unfold in the episode. Published on Gallifrey Base before episode artwork was released this week, it nevertheless ties in with the characters and imagery on display.

So, what’s the situation?

Put simply, we believe that the published synopsis is very close – if not identical – to what is likely to occur in The Time of the Doctor. The rumours as originally posted have an air of authenticity about them, and are too convincing to dismiss.

As such, we’re going to issue our spoiler warning early this year. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Don’t entertain spoilers and don’t click THAT!

The post The Time of the Doctor – Spoilers Are Out There appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Kasterborous Team Reviews The Day of the Doctor

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.

Since 2005 we’ve reviewed every new episode of Doctor Who as it was aired. The majority of these reviews – particularly the event episodes – have been written by me, Christian Cawley, founder and editor.

It seemed a little unfair of me to hog the episode for my own personal review under the circumstances, so instead I’ve invited various members of the team to offer their thoughts on Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary romp, The Day of the Doctor.

James Whittington

As celebrations go this was bombastic stuff with delicate hints and nods to the past every so often coupled with props and lines that would have had the hairs on the back of any fan’s neck standing up to attention. The surprises were smart, each one lapped up and shared amongst those watching, or in my case explained to my daighters and wife. And then The Curator took the stage and the tears arrived. My whole childhood and adulthood was there. In five minutes my passion and love for the show welled up inside.

The story may not have been the finest, a slight Christmas Carol feeling to it, but the enthusiasm and edge between the Doctors was memorable, the Dick Van Dyke quip spot on, and hopefully this has paved the way for the return of more old favourites and old Doctors…

 

Mez Burdett

Best birthday ever. I could, for the life of me, not stop crying happy tears for the last ten minutes. Then I manned up and cried some more for the wonderful fifty years we’ve all experienced. Not one line, but it reflects my emotion, which was crying.

 

Becky Crockett

The movie was an excellent nod to the past of the show while being a magnificent look at where the show is headed!

 

Barnaby Eaton-Jones


Thirteen TARDISes hurtling towards Gallifrey to #SAVETHEDAY is something I didn’t even know my inner-fan was desperate to see

Emotionally and hilariously and nostalgically nourishing!

I turned 40 the day after Doctor Who‘s celebratory episode and, as the show has been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember, it all ties in with my happy childhood and my illness-ridden adulthood. So, watching it at the cinema was a no-brainer. Laughing and cheering and clapping along with everyone else was a touching experience. And I came out of the cinema in a bit of a daze, feeling like – however much us adults take fandom a little too seriously and critically – I felt like a child again that night.

Jonathan Appleton
All things considered Moffat and the team did pretty well I reckon, the dirty fibbers… I’m not sure how much sense parts of it made but hey, this one was never about that (although the redemption theme was nicely played and rather moving). Those last twenty minutes surely captured the essence of the programme as well as anything has in the midst of this extraordinary jamboree we’ve been enjoying for what feels like every one of those fifty years now.

Nicholas Kitchen
Steven Moffatt said in an interview prior to the 50th that the goal was to celebrate what’s come before and push the show forward into the future. The Day of the Doctor succeeded in both celebrating the past and giving the Doctor a new purpose: finding Gallifrey! While I feel there are more questions than answers after seeing the 50th, it was in my estimate the best episode of Doctor Who to date!



Alasdair McKenzie
One to rewatch endlessly, thanks to lovely, often hilarious interplay between the three Doctors.

If you’re a Kasteborous purist and want to know what I thought, then please give this week’s podKast a listen –  the excitement from Saturday evening is still clearly present, and you’ll also get to see how Brian Terranova and James McLean reacted to it. Until you do, let’s finish with James Main…

James Main

The Day of the Doctor made me feel like I was seven again.  Thirteen TARDISes hurtling towards Gallifrey to #SAVETHEDAY is something I didn’t even know my inner-fan was desperate to see. Bold, bonkers and with a visit from the future by the Thirteenth Doctor. Joyous!

The post The Kasterborous Team Reviews The Day of the Doctor appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who: Legacy Mobile Game Out Now

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.

There have been many Doctor Who games released on various formats over the last couple of decades. Some have been good and others have been…well, we won’t comment on all of them.

It seems however, that Tiny Rebel Games and Seed Studio may have got the balance just right with their release of the new Doctor Who games for iOS and Android platforms, Doctor Who: Legacy.

The free-to-play puzzle/RPG lets you build a team of your favourite companions and allies of the Doctor based on the show’s rich and wonderful (and brilliant) 50 year history and relive the Doctor’s greatest triumphs.

For today’s launch of the game (it’s free to download, by the way) players will have access to characters and episodes from series 6 and 7 of the Doctor’s most recent adventures from Lake Silenceo to Trenzalore, if you will. Series 5 content will be released (as a free add-on, we thought we’d mention) in the New Year and from there, players can expect more and more goodies to be added to the game as the year goes on. This is merely the beginning for Doctor Who: Legacy.

Having been lucky enough to get a hands on preview of the game recently at the big Doctor Who anniversary celebration in London, Kasterborous can confirm that the simplicity and rich content of the game may well lead you to lose hours of your life as you progress through the game and level up, adding new attacks and abilities to your characters as well as making sure that you have assembled the Doctor’s best and brightest in order to help save the Universe. The gameplay is a mixture of turn based fighting with a reminiscence of Bejeweled as well. Within 10 seconds, you’re hooked and plotting out your next 10 moves.

Featuring fun gameplay, excellent visuals and a musical score composed by the acclaimed Chris Huelsbeck, you do not want to miss out on this very special release.

Did we also mention that it’s free to download?

Doctor Who: Legacy is available on iOS and Android devices to download from today.

Is this the title to restore Doctor Who‘s videogaming fortunes? We think it might be…

 

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Doctor Who Adventures Goes Interactive!

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 Adventures magazine, has linked up with a new companion, the mobile-augmented reality and image recognition platform Blippar, to produce an edition that comes to life!

Readers of the biggest-selling UK pre-teen magazine for boys can interact with Doctor Who content in a completely new way in this amazing interactive edition which comes with a cool Eleventh Doctor dress-up set, including a sonic screwdriver, a fez, a bow tie and 3D glasses.

Out now, after downloading the free Blippar App and pointing a smartphone or tablet at the magazine pages, readers can use their device to:

Discover an awesome moving cover with a swirling vortex featuring all the Doctors.
Put their face on a monster!
Watch a top tip from everyone’s favourite Sontaran, Commander Strax!
See the fantastic comic come alive.
Put on the Doctor dress-up set then your picture taken with the TARDIS, Clara, Cybermen, Strax or Daleks.
Also, there’s a 3D monster fact file, super-scary Weeping Angel poster and amazing 3D Dalek poster which uses Blippar to bring it to life.
Plus, don’t miss the exclusive interview with David Tennant and Matt Smith which features a link to watch a video of them talking about what’s next for Doctor Who.
Finally, there’s a behind-the-scenes feature showing the First Doctor’s TARDIS being constructed at the Doctor Who Experience in Cardiff.

Says Doctor Who Adventures Editor, Moray Laing:

We pride ourselves on bringing our readers closer to the action-packed world of their favourite show and this time we’ve taken the magazine to another dimension. Blippar has allowed us to play around with some of the scariest monsters in the universe to create fantastic interactive content which we know our imaginative readers will love!

Issue 334 of Doctor Who Adventures magazine is on sale until 9 December 2013, priced at £3.99.

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Doctor Who: Say What You See Now Available + Mini Review!

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.

Well, The Day of the Doctor has come and gone and we have just shy of a month until ; what is a Whovian to do?

Fortunately for you, dear smartphone/tablet using reader, BBC Worldwide and Big Ideas have partnered together to bring you Doctor Who: Say What You See, a brand new game app for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices. The game is an interesting hybrid and if you’re already familiar with Big Ideas’ Say What You See: The Collection, you know what I mean; part Where’s Waldo and part word puzzle. The game is beautifully illustrated by Ryan Firchau and starts with three main canvases: the TARDIS, Totter’s Lane, and Gallifrey (coming soon).

Gameplay is fairly straightforward; each canvas allows you to pinch to zoom to identify objects and people. You tap on the puzzle piece and then the keyboard pops up with a box for you to enter your guess as to what the puzzle is referring to. This is where the game becomes both challenging and satisfying, as the developers have pulled from an excellent mix of Classic and nuWho.

With gaming apps, there is always a fine line to walk between catering to the casual gamer who has a few minutes until their next bus stop and the hardcore gamer that seeks to encounter a challenge. Doctor Who: SWYS pulls off the feat easily. For the casual gamer, and those who may not be as versed in Doctor Who, there are hint coins hidden in each canvas, as well as available for in app purchase. These coins can be used to provide hints for each puzzle object, including the answer if you want to spend your coins that way. You’re given 5 coins at the outset of each canvas, but using the sonic screwdriver will help you determine where to tap on the canvas to identify one of the hidden coins. Three “stuck” hints for people/places/things to search for in each canvas are also available. Once you’ve found one of the hints provided, the hint is reset to a timer. When time has expired, a new hint arrives to help guide you to victory.

Doctor Who and gaming has long been a hit and miss affair. However, I’m pleased to report that this is definitely a bright spot for Who mobile gaming. It is not only a well-crafted Doctor Who app, it is a well-crafted game, period. So, you’re still reading this, right? Ok, then! Get your game on! Links for iOS, Android, and Amazon Appstore/Kindle Fire are here. Let us know, dear reader, if you get a chance to play and your thoughts on the game.

(Thanks to Jon)

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Win The Amazing 50th Anniversary Doctor Who Books Collection

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.

Our five days of 50th anniversary giveaways continues today with the chance to win the complete collection of eleven BBC Books released to celebrate 50 years of Doctor Who!

Repackaged with new introductions and bold new covers, this is a collectable set of 11 titles for existing fans and also act as a n introduction to the depth and range of the Doctor’s paperback adventures from 1991-2008.

To enter this competition, you must have a Twitter account. Entrants must follow @kasterborousdw and retweet the message below using the hashtag.

#drwho50thbooks #giveaway – 11 books up for grabs see http://t.co/JA3WTpkC0l – to enter follow, RT & use hashtag. Ends 11.59pm Sat 30th Nov

— K Doctor Who News (@kasterborousdw) November 26, 2013

The full selection of titles are as follows:

Ten Little Aliens - Stephen Cole
Dreams of Empire - Justin Richards
Last of the Gadarene - Mark Gatiss
Festival of Death - Jonathan Morris
Fear of the Dark - Trevor Baxendale
Players - Terrance Dicks
Remembrance of the Daleks - Ben Aaronovitch
Earthworld - Jacqueline Rayner
Only Human - Gareth Roberts
Beautiful Chaos - Gary Russell
The Silent Stars Go By - Dan Abnett

We’ll be running further giveaways as the week progresses.

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