Christian Cawley's Blog, page 331

Matt’s Plan For Tenth & Eleventh Doctor Adventures

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.

In an interesting chat recently, Steven Moffat reveals that not only did Matt Smith and David Tennant get along superbly during the filming of The Day of the Doctor, but that Smith had also concocted a way for both Doctors to have a few more adventures together!

They got on like a couple of old women. They just stay in the corner and gossiped the entire time. By the end of it, Matt told me that he’d worked out a plan that they’d both continue in Doctor Who: ‘do five individual episodes each and three together – would that be ok?’

While we can all agree on how incredible that would have been, Moffat didn’t go for it.

It was a nice plan. I think if I had said yes they’d have gone for it.

Oh, my! Smith is my doctor and Tennant is just barely behind him. Had Moff said yes and all the details worked out, not only would we have kept Matt for another series, we’d have gained another series with David Tennant, who a great number of Whovians regard as the best Doctor. Before fans of 10 and 11 begin organizing a mob, we must take into consideration that Steven Moffat probably has his reasons for continuing the course he’s charting for Doctor Who, a course that couldn’t account for a Smith/Tennant season long arc. So instead, we’re marching towards a regeneration and the arrival of Peter Capaldi. That is exciting in itself, but I cannot help but wonder what could have been.

Dear readers, would you have been keen to see a double act series of Smith and Tennant? Did Moffat make the right call here? Sound off below!

(Via Radio Times)

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Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Teaser Trailer: Behind The Scenes

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.

Admit it, how many of you are still freeze framing the trailer to see what else is in there? Don’t worry I’m doing it too. Having had some time to digest the teaser, the BBC have releases a hand full of behind the scenes photos showing just how all that wibbly wobbly magic was created, and quite frankly it is astounding.

I for one had not realised that most of the items, and indeed the Doctors, were actually real and on the set. I had imagined that much like the wonderful image for Big Finish’s Light at the End featuring Doctors Four through Eight, it had all been achieved by some very clever boffins on a laptop.  Not so, it seems that a combination of various look-a-likes and body doubles were employed.

Don’t forget that Kasterborous has a 222 image gallery of screen captures from the trailer on our Facebook page.

That opening section, going through the doors of the scrap yard and seeing all those memories; Hieronymous’ mask, a Clockwork Robot and the sign from The Cloven Hoof, all these things it would seem were really there. For me that makes the trailer even more special.

We can also see the Tom Baker double being fanned down between shots due to the sheer volume of the iconic scarf, which, according to the Radio Times, was a twenty four foot long replica created specially for the trailer.

Closer inspection also shows just how many Daleks featured in the clip, not to mention incarnations of Cybermen (is that a Gaiman Cyber-arm with attached gun I see in one shot?)

OK, San Diego Comic Con got to see some footage from the episode: big woop.

We have been given a hand grafted gem of a trailer, filled with specially shot footage; just think how long it must have taken to gather up some of those props, let alone the actual setting up of the scenes.

Honestly, if the BBC don’t release another thing, not a single photo, between now and November 23rd, I would be happy. But as always, my opinion is only the tip of the iceberg, we want to know what you think about the trailer, and more interestingly, has your opinion of it changed having seen the extreme amount of time and effort that has clearly gone into producing it. Maybe you would rather just have had a look at the episode?

Leave your mark in the box below and share your pearls of wisdom.

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Doctor Who: The Discontinuity Guide eBook Re-Release

James Lomond 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.

Good news Kasterborites! Out of print fan-favourite Doctor Who: The Discontinuity Guide, is returning as an eBook courtesy of Gollancz and the SF Gateway and will be accompanied by a series of four further unofficial cult TV guides.

Whenever you think to yourself, “I wish a knowledgeable trio of mega-brains had dedicated a substantial chunk of their lives to analysing ALL of the best pre-naughties sci-fi/ fantasy TV”… this is what you are wishing for. The guide, penned by Doctor Who novel stalwarts Paul Cornell (also the writer of Father’s Day and Family of Blood/ Human Nature), Martin Day and Keith Topping will be spearheading the return of four further guides documenting The Avengers, 90s Star Trek, X-Files and a Classic British Telefantasy Guide. Gollancz editor, Marcus Gipps said,

I’m thrilled to bring these books back. They may be representative of the time they were written, but they’re still entertaining, informative and enjoyable. All three authors have written Doctor Who novels and have a love of televised SF, and between them they bring a range of knowledge and critical thought to their subjects.

This I can vouch for. The Discontinuity Guide, published in 1995 was a smashing piece of work – affectionate, chortlesome and satisfyingly obsessive. In fact if you head over to the episode guide on the *original* official BBC site you will be able to have a sneak peek as the unofficial Discontinuity Guide was used for most of the background info! Each story is broken down into helpful and attention-grabbing subheadings – plot, episode endings, trivia, myths about the production, continuity, double entendres (!) detailed analysis and my favourite part: dialogue triumphs and disasters. It lists gems such as Irongron’s description of the third Doctor from The Time Warrior; “A longshanked rascal with a mighty nose!” There’s also a goofs section for each story and of the recently discovered Web of Fear (isn’t it BRILLIANT!) it notes,

“When talking about ‘underground trains’, the Doctor says that this is ‘a little after your time, I think, Victoria’. As Victoria comes from 1866 he’s wrong: the underground line between Farringdon Street and Edgeware Road opened in 1863.”

Nuff said. There is SO much attention to detail and obvious love for the show in the Discontinuity Guide – it’s huge and rather like the TARDIS you could immerse yourself for hours exploring favourite nooks and crannies and discovering new ones. This page describes the format and will let you know what you’re in for: www.whoniverse.net/discontinuity/guide.php

The eBooks will be available worldwide from 31st October. Highly recommended, and you can find details about them on the Orion Publishing website.

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Day of the Doctor Worldwide 3D Cinema Screenings

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 Day of the Doctor will be screened in 3D in over 400 cinemas worldwide on 23rd November, the show’s 50th anniversary!

Countries airing the 75-minute special include the UK, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Russia, Australia, New Zealand and Germany – all at the same time as the UK broadcast of the episode on BBC One. 216 cinemas across the United Kingdom and Ireland have already revealed that they plan to show The Day of the Doctor, with chains including VUE, BFI, Odeon, Cineworld and Picturehouse.

You can find a map of participating theatres near you here, though some are still expected to be announced.

Tickets go on sale this Friday 25th October at 9am, with the Odeon telling Kasterborous that they’ll be available via their website, app or FilmLine.

This comes as very welcome news: despite fans being reassured that the 50th anniversary special would be screened at cinemas nationwide, many enquiries were met with either silence or, as Manuel would say, a definite ‘we know nothing.’

Concerns were raised because screenings normally have to be pencilled in far in advance; the BFI, for example, had their 2014/15 programme in development back in April!

It looks unlikely that cinema chains like Empire and Omniplex will air the episode, which stars the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors (Matt Smith and David Tennant), Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman), Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) and Kate Stewart (Jemma Redgrave)… as well as the Daleks and at least one Zygon!

Roughly 30 cinemas in Germany will screen The Day of the Doctor, and up to 50 in Russia; those living Down Under will have a choice of 106 cinemas. Viewers in the US and Canada will find out about their local screenings later this week.

This is something really special, folks: a global celebration of the greatest show ever. We’re so lucky we’re here to experience this fantastic opportunity. I think we sometimes forget how lucky we are that Doctor Who is now the most widely-watched and most-successful UK show, loved by fans and casual viewers across the entire Earth.

It’s something the Doctor himself would be very proud of.

(Thanks to Mark Pledger, who initially raised his concerns about the cinema showings back in April.)

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The Day of The Doctor Behind-the-Scenes Photos [SPOILERS]

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.

Beware! There be minor spoilers ahead!

Honestly, don’t worry too much. A latest batch of photos has surfaced online and features what some people may call spoilers – but really, there’s very little that hasn’t already been at least strongly hinted at. So those who don’t want to know anything about The Day of the Doctor, look away now.

The Day of the Doctor photo spoilers

The majority of the photos star (presumably) the main enemy of the 50th anniversary special, the Daleks, in various states of disarray. One partly-exploded Dalek – frozen in time? – looks awesome, as does the army of three Daleks against a backdrop emblazoned with Gallifreyan symbols.

There’s also a creepy Zygon, seemingly reading the daily newspaper.

Impressively, not many spoilers have crept out about the 75-minute episode, which will screen next month. But one thing Matt Smith has let slip out is:

“Paintings. That’s all I’m saying.”

One of the photos certainly seems to back this up: a picture of Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, surely accompanied with the text from another photo:

“Placed into the care of my Government and future Governments to come, Until such a time as the Under Gallery is endangered, when it shall be presented to The Doctor.”

The Tenth and Eleventh Doctors are confirmed as appearing in The Day of the Doctor, but it’s rumoured that Doctor Five and Eight (Peter Davison and Paul McGann, respectively) will also make cameos. Davison has even stated that he’s got a copy of the script with his name embossed on it… and, typically, only cast appearing in the episode get that!

Anyone else getting really excited now?

(You can see all the photos here.)

The post The Day of The Doctor Behind-the-Scenes Photos [SPOILERS] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Introducing: The Vampires of Venice

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.

As part of our 50th anniversary celebrations, we’re looking back at some of the pivotal tales of all of time and space, taking on one Doctor each month, running up to November – and An Unearthly Child…

Venice is isolated from a world supposedly infected with the plague. Parents beg for their children to be inducted into the mysterious school run by Rosanna Calvierri. Vampires stalk the streets. And there’s something in the water.

But enough of that! It’s Rory Williams’ stag do! Tomorrow, he marries the girl of his dreams, the one he’d wait nearly 2,000 years for. Nothing can ruin the night – and then the Doctor shows up.

Rory’s first voyage into time and space takes him to an impossible, preposterous city in 1580 and introduces a fresh dynamic to the TARDIS. But, all the way back in March 2010, it also gave viewers a first proper glimpse of the Eleventh Doctor, the wonderful Matt Smith…

Cab for Amy Pond?

With the TARDIS falling apart around him, Matt emerged as the Doctor in the closing moments of The End of Time, thankful that he still had legs. After the Doctor Who Confidential that followed on New Year’s Day, a trailer for Series 5 debuted – but it wasn’t until Matt’s appearance on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross on 26th March that we got virtually a whole scene with the Eleventh Doctor in action.

In the interview, Matt talked about getting the part, how brilliant both David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston are, and showed off his new sonic screwdriver before a scene in which the Doctor met the Calvierri girls… who boast impressive fangs and don’t have reflections.

(The scene was dubbed with placeholder music, with the real score, conducted by Ben Foster, recorded on 1st April in Air Studios, London.)

It’s a scene which showrunner, Steven Moffat, highlights as particularly funny as Matt tries to hide his excitement! Though it’s quite a low-key affair, the episode was received well by cast and crew, with Matt a particular fan of the Vampire-like girls:

“I’ve never seen the crew more occupied and attentive! They looked like 1980s glam-rock stars. Come back – you’re always welcome!”

The critics were decidedly mixed, but 7.68 million viewers tuned in and The Vampires of Venice got an Audience Appreciation Index (a calculation of how enjoyable the episode is) of 86, considered excellent. A BBC3 repeat, however, gave the story a rare 92! The Toby Whithouse-penned script was conceived as a new jumping-on point with Rory joining the TARDIS.

The writer was approached by Moffat after being impressed by Whithouse’s Being Human. He’d previously written 2006’s School Reunion and an episode of Torchwood and pitched an idea based on the Doctor being stuck in a labyrinth. The idea, which eventually became Series 6’s The God Complex, was dropped for being too similar to another potential plot and Whithouse was instead asked for a funny, romantic story.

Venice was an obvious choice – but, just like the episode’s monsters, nothing is quite what it seems.

“Streets are piled high with bodies.”

Partly due to the modern-day Venice having been commercialised and partly due to the crew having to film both Vampire of Venice and Vincent and the Doctor in the same place, Trogir, Croatia, was used as the backdrop. The city had been under Venetian rule for over three hundred years, so much of the architecture was similar.

As the TARDIS crew enter the Italian city, they’re stopped to show their bill of medical inspection. Citizens are scared of the return of the Black Death. The real Venice was first struck by the bubonic plague in 1348, then 1575- 77 (shortly before Vampires in Venice takes place) then one final time in 1630- 31. In Doctor Who, Rosanna played on fear of the plague in order to cut Venice off from the outside world – and in reality, fear of the Black Death was palpable. Thousands had been wiped out, even the doge (head of state) Giovanni Mocenigo; during the last outbreak, about 500 people died each day in Lazzaretto Vecchio, an island located in Venice’s famous Lagoon.

Whilst digging the foundations for a new museum recently, trenches of the dead were uncovered in Lazzaretto Vecchio, believed to be the first lazaret, quarantine to prevent the spread of diseases. Over 1,500 plague victims were found, and their accompanying artefacts – jewellery, money, pottery and the like – show that it didn’t matter whatever status you held: rich or poor, if you carried the plague, you were sent to the lazaret to either recover… or die.

Their desperation also shows. Early victims were wrapped up and buried in rectangular trenches, but as the plague ravaged society, the dead were instead piled up.

16th Century Chronicler, Rocco Benedetti, who lost his mother, brother and nephew, described Lazzaretto Vecchio as “like Hell itself,” and reported that there could be three or four to a bed with the air filled with a foul stench and a constant chorus of moans and groans:

“Sometimes at the height of the plague, 7000- 8000 sick persons languished at the Lazzaretto Vecchio… It was truly impossible to provide for so great a need, there being so few to serve so many. We should not be surprised if scarcely one in ten survived, and if hundreds died every day upon those beds, stinking and blackened with smoke as they were.”

Venice certainly has a terrible history when it comes to the bubonic plague… but could it also have a history of vampires?

“I’m a Time Lord. You’re a big fish. Think of the children.”

On another nearby lazaret, Lazzaretto Nuovo, plague victims were unearthed, but one particular skull is of interest – as a suspected vampire.

The female skull had had its jaw forced open by a brick, a typical exorcism technique used throughout the Middle Ages on the suspected living dead. Many thought that vampires were a main cause of the Black Death so when the graves were reopened to dump more plague victims, a misunderstanding about decomposition meant the woman was seen as a vampire. Likely a lower class citizen, she died in either her 60s or very early 70s, and might even have been mistaken for a witch during her lifetime; nonetheless, a recent 3D imaging reconstruction reveals that she was just an ordinary woman, done some considerable injustice!

Helen McCrory (Rosanna) seems to have enjoyed being mistaken for a vampire, however; she told The Daily Telegraph:

“There are very few times in life you’re going to be running past a blue telephone box in medieval costume with large fangs. You can’t really give the licence-fee payer any more than 18 scantily-clad vestal virgins with Barbarella-hair and fangs, can you?”

Rosanna herself, though, might not even be based on vampire legends, but instead on the supposed ‘Blood Countess’ who lived in Hungary from 1560 to her death in 1614. Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed was accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls, and was said to have bathed in their blood to maintain her youthfulness! Though she was only convicted of the deaths of 80 women, accounts vary wildly, from 30-odd victims to over 650.

She was imprisoned without a trial, though her collaborators were killed in shockingly gruesome ways. Bricked in with only small slots in the walls for passing through refreshments, Countess Elizabeth Báthory was found dead four years after being jailed, a guard having looked in on her when plates of food began piling up.

(She quickly became a national folk story, but recent historians have begun questioning the ‘facts’ of her criminal activities; even the idea of her bathing in virgin blood only appeared in print in 1729, over a century after her death.)

“The life out there – it dazzles!”

Although The Vampires of Venice has its origins in gore, crime and disease, it’s refreshingly light, with more than a brief nod to the Hammer Horror films. Sexy fish vampires certainly made an impression on the Doctor! Viewers might be niggled by what happens to the Saturnynes left in the waters of Venice. Did they just carry on eating the locals until they all died out?!

Well, no – according to this deleted dialogue from when the Doctor, Amy and Rory are heading back to the TARDIS:

THE DOCTOR: “Oh, we’ll find them a nice suitable planet, drop ‘em off there.”

RORY: “How do we do that?”

THE DOCTOR: “Remember when you were a kid and you’d won a goldfish at the funfair and they’d give you a little plastic bag to carry it home?”

RORY: “Yeah…?”

THE DOCTOR: “Nothing like that.”

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Katy Manning Performs Doctor Who: Ghost in the Machine

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.

They say that here are only a few types of story in the world and that they’re used over and over again in inventive ways by very clever people.

One such clever person is Jonathan Morris, who must have at some point been watching the 1973 Third Doctor adventure Planet of the Daleks to take inspiration for his new Big Finish Companion Chronicle Ghost in the Machine.

Because this tale contains a specific story element that Third Doctor Companion Jo Grant made use of in said televised adventure. The use of recorded audio…

Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white as snow

And everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go.

The TARDIS is empty. The Doctor has gone.

Jo Grant steps outside into the darkness and finds the frozen body of her friend, and the ship’s log recorder. On it is attached a simple message – ‘Use Me’.

As she explores this place, recording her every move, Jo discovers the horror that lies in the shadows.

But by then it is too late.

For this particular story however, we’re sure that Morris will offer us something fresh and new as he always does, and with Katy Manning along for the ride as Jo Grant, this new Companion Chronicle looks set to be one of the creepiest yet! And for an added bonus, the story is directed by Louise Jameson!

Ghost in the Machine stars Katy Manning and is available on CD for £8.99 or via download for £7.99 from www.bigfinish.com.

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John Barrowman Would Love To Play Captain Jack Again

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.

Are you sad that Captain Jack Harkness won’t be appearing in Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary episode? You aren’t alone – Captain Jack himself is sad too!

In speaking with Radio Times, John Barrowman talked about the 50th anniversary, about his role on the show, and the impact it has had on his life and on the fans.

Speaking to the fans, they all love Captain Jack. Whether he returns or not is a decision for the producers. I’ve always said that if they did ask Captain Jack to come back then I would do it at the drop of a hat. Captain Jack changed my life, Doctor Who changed my life, so of course I would do it.

Of course I was disappointed in the first instance, but things have to move on. Anybody who’s a fan and who’s been in the show would have liked to have been invited back, but it just didn’t happen and there’s no sense crying over spilt milk. It’s going to be a great anniversary show and I’ll be watching like everybody else.

John is proud of his role, one that hadn’t ever been done before on Doctor Who, that of someone who was openly non-heterosexual. He also knows what an impact it has had on the fans, especially those who have a hard time with their own sexual identity.

I am absolutely proud of being a part of it. You’ve got these young teens in school being bullied because of the sexuality that they are just discovering. They write to me all the time to say that Captain Jack helped them be strong and positive about themselves, rather than hiding and being embarrassed. It was a great, great thing to have a hero who really doesn’t give a shit who he kisses.

He also spoke about the man who will soon inherit the role of the Doctor, Peter Capaldi.

I know Peter’s work, I worked with him on Torchwood, and I think he’s a wonderful actor. Those of us who are from Scotland have done very well on Doctor Who.

Barrowman will soon be back on television, hosting the new game show Pressure Pad for the BBC.

(via Radio Times)

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Regeneration Location Revealed?

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.

This article contains a potential spoiler for this year’s Christmas episode!

Steven Moffat may have revealed where the Doctor’s next regeneration will take place. Writing in the latest edition of Doctor Who Magazine, the show supremo says:

Pretty soon [Peter Capaldi] will arrive and he’ll be whisked off to begin the trip of a lifetime, probably wondering what it will be like, where it will take him, and how long it will last. And about then, Matt Smith will be standing in his TARDIS for the very last time, with his eyes on the studio door – because about to step through is a Scottish actor, dressed as him.

Does this mean we’re in for another TARDIS-based regeneration scene? It may sound that way, although he could well have just been talking in general terms about Matt’s departure, and we shouldn’t forget Moffat’s self-confessed capacity for dissembling when it comes to future storylines.

Elsewhere Moffat has spoken about the new Doctor’s first scene following the regeneration:

It’s utterly bonkers! He still thinks he’s Matt Smith, but he looks like he’s Peter Capaldi. He’s adjusting to who he is. It’s a transitional phase.

What do you think? Once more with feeling in the console room – or a secret location yet to be revealed?

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Paul McGann: I’m not in the 50th

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’d like to see one-time Doctor Who star in the 50th anniversary special, wouldn’t you? After all, everyone loves Paul McGann, including according to legend, Steven Moffat. Well, cool your boots, man – the star of Withnail & I has revealed that neither he not his predecessors will be making and appearance.

Speaking at the London Film and Comic Con last week, the actor (as you can see above) attempted to put all rumours to bed with a succinct “we’re not in it.”

Nor are we in the Christmas special let me tell you. I don’t think so anyway! Not unless they are going to shoot it next week.

The Liverpudlian actor explained how difficult it is to deal with rumours in the Internet age.

There’s all kind of rumours and counter-rumours and everything doing the rounds. One gets tired trying to refute things on Twitter and the like. Take it from me, I’m not in it.

Before moving onto talk about Peter Capaldi (“hopefully he’ll swear like a trooper, like Malcolm Tucker!”) and his work with Big Finish and The Minister of Chance, McGann also reminded his interviewer that he could easily return in the future if needed.

The thing about Doctor Who of course is that if not now, then maybe some other time. That’s the beauty of it. We can always come back.

We know that Paul. We just want to see you sooner rather than later…

 

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