Christian Cawley's Blog, page 314

The Day of the Doctor on BBC Breakfast News

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.

The BBC’s Breakfast News featured a fabulous behind-the-scenes look at The Day of the Doctor this week.

The 4-minute video–which is now available on youtube–finds correspondent Lizo Mzimba on the set of the anniversary special, basically interviewing everyone but the Zygons during location filming.

Mzimba first talks to Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith who says it is “thrilling to make” and loves working with his terrific co-stars, including co-Doctors David Tennant and John Hurt.

Tenth Doctor Tennant is next and says the whole experience of filming The Day of the Doctor is “completely different and weirdly familiar” at the same time and goes on to say “it would have been churlish to turn it down”…a slight stab at a certain other former Doctor, perhaps?

Impossibly lovely Girl Jenna (“No Louise, please!”) Coleman is asked by the reporter who her favorite Doctor to work with has been, which she side-steps admirably. She says that Clara has a familiarity with all three Doctors because she knows the Eleventh so well, and all three are like parts of the same person.

In the end, Mzimba says that the special hopes to “celebrate the past and looks forward to the future.”

If it does, then it truly will be The Day of the Doctor for many more days (and years) to come!

So, Kasterborites, if you had the chance to interview one Doctor Who star, who or Who would it be?

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50 Years in Time and Space: Amazing Doctor Who Animation [VIDEO]

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.

In a gorgeous piece of animation, artist Richard Swarbrick has made a beautiful tribute to the first 50 years of Doctor Who.

Combining stop action drawings of all the Doctors and some famous scenes with well-known phrases and moments from the past 50 years, Swarbrick has made a short but powerful tribute that celebrates the history of this amazing show.

For more of Swarbrick’s beautiful animations, visit the artist and filmmaker’s website.

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Russell T. Davies Is Just As Excited As 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 Daily Mirror recently caught up with Russell T. Davies regarding the history of Doctor Who and his involvement with the show, and it is glorious! Full of photographs from over the years, RTD waxes eloquent about growing up with the show and what it’s meant to him:

I was just a few months old when Doctor Who was first screened on November 23, 1963, so I am the same age as the show. It has formed part of the backdrop to my life and I’m proud of that.

While the commentary on stories behind each of the photos (some of fans with Cybermen, some candid shots of the classic Doctors) are remarkable and interesting, it’s the commentary on his time with the show and bringing it back from oblivion that are the most mesmerizing. Whether he’s talking Daleks or the challenges he faced during the beginning of the revival, the insight is great.

Regarding the Daleks:

When I took over the show, I was absolutely determined to restore them to their former glory. People said they’d had their day and we should come up with new monsters, but I knew they would work – and I was right!

His feelings on the show during the “wilderness” years:

There was a period during the Nineties when it was off air and it was a bit embarrassing to say you were a Doctor Who fan. It was ­considered a bit geeky. I lobbied hard to bring it back, but a lot of people weren’t sure if it would work for a modern audience. They said kids had moved on and they liked different things. But I thought ‘well, if I like it this much, I can make other people like it’. Now, it’s the coolest show in the world and everyone watches it!

And commentary on marking the 50th:

I’m 50 years old and even I find myself thinking ‘only one more week to go!’ And I’m going to sit down at the same time as all those thousands of fans and watch the anniversary show and feel exactly the same. I am so proud to have been part of it. Every day I think about it and I still love the show as much as I ever did. I just hope I get to see the 100th anniversary!

The interview can be seen in its entirety via the link below and is part of a an 84 page special issue of the Daily Mirror, entitled The Doctors The Archive, which is available now.

What do you think about RTD’s perspective? Would you like to see him return as a writer for an episode or two in an upcoming series?

(Via Mirror.co.uk)

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New Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Prologue [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 time has come for you to watch The Fall of Arcadia in this new Doctor Who 50th anniversary minisode, a prologue to Saturday’s big event, The Day of the Doctor.

Released earlier today on iTunes (amid a pricing controversy that saw UK viewers charged to download the minisode – if they could even watch it in its entirety, the clip - titled The Last Day - places the viewer in a POV situation as the Daleks invade Gallifrey. Click play above to enjoy (and apologies for the advert).

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Doctor Who Live Anniversary Pre-Show Simulcast This Saturday at 2:30ET!

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.

With only a few days left before The Day of the Doctor, more exciting news is coming in by the minute! Anglophenia reports that BBC America has joined forces with Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist Industries to bring the world a live simulcast pre-show to air just prior to the 50th Anniversary special.

It will be hosted by podcaster and Gizmodo: The Gadget Testers co-host, Veronica Belmont and will be shown live on BBC America and streamed globally via BBC America’s YouTube channel.

This is in addition to, and part of the massive Doctor Who takeover of BBC America this week. For those of you tuning in in the US, here is a great guide to everything that is airing this week on BBC America. Here’s hoping that the pre-show simulcast goes a little smoother than the Next Doctor simulcast did back in the summer (seriously, anticipating who the next Doctor will be was exciting enough without being held in a video loop waiting for the show to start!).

So, dear readers, will you be rocking the pre-show prior to the big event? (Spoilers: I am!) If so, are you tuning in at home or via your mobile at a theater waiting for the 3D screening to start? You know the drill; sound off below!

(Via Anglophenia)

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Steven Moffat: Doctor Who is Immortal

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.

In 1989, when the BBC’s Head of Series Peter Cregeen told fans to expect “a longer than usual wait” for Doctor Who‘s next outing, not even the Time Lords could have foreseen the 16 year wilderness that followed.

In a recent interview with the Radio Times, show runner Steven Moffat has commented on this controversial hiatus-cum-cancellation, and what it meant for the show’s enduring legacy.

That gap is important. It confers something very special on this most special of all shows: immortality. Doctor Who, for once and for all, is the show that comes back. Axe it at your peril, someone like me is going to call you a fool, and lots of people like you are going to read along and nod.

Moffat also remarked that the audience “just said no” in way that had never happened in British television before, meaning that the programme “just kept on going.”

While the BBC folded its arms and shook its head, there were books by the likes of Russell T Davies, Mark Gatiss and Paul Cornell. There were audio adventures, starring all the old Doctors. There was an action-packed American tele-film, and endless rumours of Hollywood movies. Doctor Who Magazine, whose purpose was to document the making of the TV show, carried on perfectly happily without the TV show being made.

In some ways, it could be argued that those 16 years were some of the most prolific in the show’s history. Many fans encountered the Doctor for the very first time thanks to the range of products that suddenly popped up on the shelves, (this article’s author being one such fan), and there’s no denying that it’s a significant, if slightly painful, chapter in the life of Doctor Who.

So is the show now immortal? Well, as the nineties proved, it’s a programme that’s very, very difficult to kill…

(Via Radio Times.)

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Strax Reports On Queen Elizabeth I

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.

SONTAR HA!

Our agent in the field has reported back again!

Commander Strax has some new intelligence on the activities of the one called “the Doctor.”

This is important information for the entire Sontaran fleet. Please make sure all of your battalion leaders have seen this report!

SONTAR HA!

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1963: The Assassination Games

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.

Blimey, talk about an anniversary celebration! The Doctor’s adventures continue this month thanks to Big Finish with the finale of their 1963 trilogy, this time featuring the Seventh Doctor. But to make things extra special, he’s not alone. Not only is Ace involved but also the Counter-Measures team featuring Group Captain Gilmore, Rachel and Allison from Remembrance of the Daleks!

Since 1988, every Doctor Who fan has waited for this reunion, and the story promises not to disappoint:

London. The end of November, 1963. A time of change. The old guard is being swept away by the white heat of technology. Political scandals are the talk of the town. Britain tries to maintain its international role; fanatics assassinate charismatic politicians and Group Captain Ian Gilmore is trying to get his fledgling Counter-Measures unit off the ground.

When his life is saved by a familiar umbrella-bearing figure, he knows something terrible is going on.  Whilst Rachel investigates an enigmatic millionaire and Allison goes undercover in an extremist organisation, Gilmore discovers a sinister plot with roots a century old.

The Doctor and Ace are back in town. A new dawn is coming. It’s time for everyone… to see the Light.

Written by author extraordinaire John Dorney, 1963: The Assassination Games will surely fulfil many a Doctor Who fans dreams as well as provide a reunion that everyone’s been waiting for!

1963: The Assassination Games is available from www.bigfinish.com on CD for £14.99 or download for £12.99.

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The Night of the Doctor: Reaction

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.

In the aftermath of last week’s minisode Paul McGann has revealed the secrecy involved in the shoot, said he’d be prepared to return to the role on-screen and urged fans to donate their hair for his wigs!

Whilst keeping schtum was not a problem (‘I’m the most secretive person…’) Paul says he was a touch disappointed at the way news apparently started to leak out last week, necessitating the release of the prologue to be brought forward.

He was more than happy, however, that the Big Finish adventures of his incarnation have been endorsed with his audio companions referenced as the Eighth Doctor said his goodbyes. Two and a quarter million views on YouTube alone tend to agree with this.

Elsewhere in an often amusing interview, Paul jokingly describes Colin Baker (sitting alongside him at a signing event) as ‘bitter’ at now being the only surviving Doctor not to have filmed a regeneration scene, and said fans could donate their hair to make his Doctor’slong locks!

Finally, if you’re feeling a twinge of disappointment that The Night of the Doctor means we can’t see Paul’s Doctor again, join those who have signed a petition urging Moffat to bring him back!

What do you think? A fitting end for the McGann Doctor? Or are you itching to see more?

(Via RadioTimes.com)

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Surprise Appearance in Anniversary Special? [POTENTIAL SPOILERS]

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.

Clicking this article might result in the revealing of a spoiler – if it is at all true. It’s up to you, Kasterborite.

Surprise Appearance in Anniversary Special?

There have been rumours for months and now Tom Baker has seemingly broken ranks about his Doctor Who anniversary involvement.

Yes, this could be considered a spoiler, but given that the news has appeared on one of the world’s biggest websites we’ll forego the formalities.

Says the oldest surviving Doctor:

I am in the special. I’m not supposed to tell you that, but I tell you that very willingly and specifically; the BBC told me not to tell anybody but I’m telling you straightaway.

It worked out very well, I think, judging by the reactions of the technicians.

Is Tom winding up the world’s most famous online newspaper publisher of unattributed content?

Well, a BBC representative told them:

As with William Hartnell’s recent appearance in the last season finale, anything is possible in Doctor Who. But nothing is certain.

What do you think – classic Doctors for the fiftieth? We’ve already heard that Peter Davison has a script, and Tom Baker has previously said that he will be watching the special – despite years and years of admissions that he only watches Doctor Who when he is in it…

(ViaHuffington Post/a> | thanks to Paddy)

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