Christian Cawley's Blog, page 336

Derek Landy Writes The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage

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.

Cripes! The latest eBook installment from Puffin’s 50th Anniversary collaboration with BBC worldwide will be online on the 23rd of this month.  This time, award-winning author Derek Landy brings us the 10th eBook with Tennant’s corresponding Tenth Doctor accompanied by Martha Jones on an adventure apparently inside a book – it all sounds cunningly self-referential!

Landy is the author of the Skulduggery Pleasant franchise of children’s novels and clearly a fan of the horror and fantasy genres. Like the other authors in the monthly eBook series, he is a big name in children’s literature winning awards for both his novels and his 2003 screenplay, Dead Bodies. And, of course like all talented people, he’s a Who fan!

I can proudly say that I was one of those kids who hid behind the sofa while experiencing Doctor Who (one doesn’t ‘watch’ Doctor Who, one experiences it) and that crazy blend of science fiction and adventure and horror has made me the writer I am today.

Landy notes that the Tenth Doctor took a particular pleasure in language and wordiness (Allons y Alonso, Timey-wimey, wibbly wobbly, etc.) Have a butchers at an extract from The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage on the Guardian site…

Landy has nailed the tone of Tennant’s chatty-witty-wordy Doctor and unsurprisingly wanted to write for this incarnation in particular. The premise seems oddly familiar from other areas of Doctor Who’s long narrative history and promises lots of sinister RP and lashings and lashings of intrigue. Could there be an old foe returning to put 10 through his fictional paces or is something else afoot?

Wild speculation of course – I haven’t had the privilege of a sneak-preview, promise! You can read The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, the penultimate eBook in the series, on 23rd October for £1.99 for Kindle readers/apps or purchase it in physical form in a compilation of all eleven stories after the series has completed in November.

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Eccleston’s Anniversary Absence Explained in SFX!

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 new issue of SFX magazine is out on Wednesday 16th October, and is a veritable The Three Doctors The Day of the Doctor festival!

Along with striking cover art and yet to be seen images, we also learn from Steven Moffat just why Christopher Eccleston turned down the chance to return to Doctor Who for the show’s 50th anniversary special…

I had an initial contact with Chris and, in a very amiable and gentlemanly way, he didn’t feel that he could come back to it.

There wasn’t any big fuss about it – I had a couple of meetings with him, and he was perfectly pleasant, and indeed quite enthused about the show, but he just doesn’t do that, it’s just not him.

Except, Mr Moffat, in Cracker - right?

Sadly, we don’t feel that this is the whole truth, but perhaps it’s the best we’ll get for a few years. In the meantime, don’t miss the next issue of SFX!

(Via Invasion of Time. | With thanks to Turquoise Tarquin)

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The Tenth Planet DVD Review

Barnaby Eaton-Jones 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.

If you’re a ‘Classic’ series fan, you’ll know that The Tenth Planet is kind of a big deal. It features two firsts. Not only does it boast the very first regeneration (although it isn’t called that yet), from original actor William Hartnell’s First Doctor, to incoming actor Patrick Troughton’s Second Doctor, but it also hosts the first appearance of the Cybermen; the legendary race of human-parts-made-machine who stalk the ‘Best Who Villain Ever’ lists, waiting for the Daleks to take their eye-stalk of the ball and eager to move from the second-placed slot to claim the top accolade.

If you’re a ‘New Series’ fan, you might well know these facts but the likelihood is that you won’t have seen the four episodes. If you have seen all four, then you’ve secretly stumbled across the missing last episode and you’d better jolly well give it back to the BBC before a man with a bowler hat comes to your door and takes it off you in a slightly condescending way. Or Ian Levine contacts you and asks to buy it.

So, whatever type of fan you are, I’d argue that you need this DVD in your collection (unless you’ve already got it, if you bought the lovely-looking but mixed-quality stories of the Regeneration box set recently).

 The Cybermen speak in a sing-song manner, Stephen Hawking-like in its inhuman cadence.

I’m not suggesting Stephen Hawking is a Cyberman, by the way. Cyber Controller, maybe. He’s a the clever one.

Ahem. 

What’s so good about it, you may ask? And rightly so. I often ask that and then tell myself the answer. This time, I get to tell you, which makes me sound less of a fruit loop to my neighbours.

For a start, this is an adult tale of complex matters and tension-building directives. The Cybermen on display are a far cry from what they would become (essentially, large Marvin the Paranoid Androids with a need to destroy everything in their sight for no discernible reason aside from they are very depressed about everyone else not being Cybermen too). These are not the sleek, super-fast, almost indestructible creatures who shout “Delete!” a lot and stomp round like an overgrown teenager. These are human-like beings, augmented by technology in order to survive. The technology involved may look like a large searchlight on their head and a giant radiator strapped to their chest but, even with a surgical sock for a balaclava, there is something disturbing and discomforting about these imposing, looming figures of mainly metal. The fact that you can see the eyes within the mask makes them more human, more realistic, more chilling.

Memorably, they speak in a sing-song manner, with no attempt to match their mouth to the words that are coming out. It’s almost Stephen Hawking-like in its inhuman cadence and, realistically, these clever-calculating Cybermen are also entombed  – just like our eminent scientist – in a way that cuts them off from the normal vision of a human being whilst trying to reason and impart knowledge to those around them. I’m not suggesting Stephen Hawking is a Cyberman, by the way. Cyber Controller, maybe. He’s a the clever one. Ahem.

In a nutshell, this is a story about a twin planet to Earth, called Mondas. As Mondas drifted from the sun, the inhabitants had to ‘enhance’ their bodies to survive and create a race of emotionless supermen. They are now returning to ‘upgrade’ the human race and restore energy to Mondas by sucking the Earth dry. In a space tracking station at the South Pole, personnel are monitoring the return of a space capsule and happen across the arrival of the Cybermen instead. Handily, the Doctor and his companions, Ben and Polly, are also there to lend a hand in thwarting the machinations of the metal monoliths. There’s a real sense of urgency as the story unfolds, with the Doctor incapacitated with exhaustion for the penultimate episode of the story (in reality, William Hartnell was getting over the effects of a bout of pneumonia). This all paves the way for the Doctor to ‘renew’ himself – in a different way to the Cyberman – at the end of the story, apparently just dying of old age and tiredness.

Script editor Gerry Davis (paired up with Kit Pedler for the writing of this story) had said that the Doctor’s ‘death’ was due to the energy being taken from him too, as well as Earth, via Mondas. This would make sense of his collapse in Episode Three as well. But, the script doesn’t play up this connection and expects the viewers to guess why he regenerates. Most fail to spot the link between Mondas, and its huge energy hoover, and the gradual deterioration of the Doctor during the story. Mondas eventually consumes too much energy and explodes, taking with it the threat to Earth and disabling the Cybermen who are fighting to gain control of the Antarctic base. By that time, the Doctor is on his way out.

The direction of Derek Martinus gives the story an added edge, with a distinct style and some impressive camera work and bold choices of framing scenes that means the missing fourth episode – which is animated – is enhanced by using the camera script to recreate it and, thus, gives it a real continuity and sense of style.

All the regulars perform well, with Hartnell’s very last line of “Keep warm!” - as he departs through the snowstorm to the TARDIS for his final moments – is imbued with a sense of subtle poignancy. Ben and Polly (Michael Craze and Anneke Wills) have a real chemistry together, and create a definite ‘of the time’ characterisations which the television audience can engage with. It is sad that they are dispensed of so quickly after Hartnell’s departure but they really seem to work best with the Grandfatherly figure of the First Doctor, bringing a youthfulness to him. With the more energetic and younger Second Doctor (who looks modern enough with the Beatles mop-top going on), they don’t seem to gel so well.

As for the supporting cast, there’s good range across the board even if nobody especially gives a stand-out performance. The attempt at a vaguely multi-racial cast – to showcase the ‘future’ (it’s 1986!) – is good for the time but the only person who gets a fully-rounded characterisation is General Cutler, who runs the Antarctic station. As always, that’s because he’s the one who commands attention. If you want to be remembered, especially in the forerunner of the overused ‘base under siege’ stories of the Second Doctor’s era, then you have to be reasonable and unreasonable in equal measures, whilst being in command, and make sure you SHOUT!

So, The Tenth Planet is a solid story rather than a magnificent one but it does contain that iconic regeneration scene and the first appearance of the Men from Mondas. For that alone, it is worth owning. Of course, there’s also the added bonus of…

Animation

Episode Four of The Tenth Planet is missing from the archives and so, as with some previous releases, BBC Worldwide have taken the decision to animate the surviving soundtrack. This has worked fairly well in most cases and, in the most recent (The Reign Of Terror – another First Doctor tale), the animation was very cleverly done but took odd liberties with the way it was directed and the huge amount of quick-edits that almost gave the impression that the animation was having an epileptic fit.

Suffice to say, returning animation company Planet 55 have learnt from their mistakes and obviously taken on board the constructive criticism from fans. This is a seamless transition from live action to animation, with a realistic flow to the direction (which matches the previous episodes) and an improvement on their previous effort. Obviously, it’s never going to be as good as the real thing but it’s a much better realisation than a slideshow of Telesnaps (photos of the story taken at various intervals throughout, from the actual broadcast, by a forward-thinker called John Cura).

Extras

William Hartnell Interview – this is one of the main reasons for buying this DVD. A very rare find of an interview that William Hartnell agreed to do, not long after leaving the show, when he was on tour with a pantomime. It’s from a regional news programme and appears on the disc unedited and not how it was originally broadcast. So, you get a warts and all chat, with the actor coming across as tetchy, forthright and totally different from the often avuncular character he created. In a way, it reinforces the fan’s view of him being a ‘grumpy, old man’ but you can see he’s just a seasoned professional talking intelligently about his time on the show and his wider work. It’s almost depressing to watch as there’s that sense of him knowing his career is winding down and that he won’t ever have as good a part again (which was unfortunately true, though he did return for a very brief cameo as the Doctor in The Three Doctors when he was very unwell and near the end of his life). But, it’s amazing to watch– especially as this kind of ‘behind the scenes’ footage of William Hartnell hasn’t been available before. In an age where every movie and every TV series has its own ‘Making Of’ or its stars appearing on the chat show circuit, it’s amazing to think of how little footage there is of those from yesteryear in an age when the media circus was a ramshackle tent rather than a full-on marquee.
Commentary, moderated by Toby Hadoke – the always-nifty moderation of Toby Hadoke keeps the chat-track bubbling along nicely, with a nice variety of behind and in front of the camera talent. It’s always fascinating to hear commentary on these older stories, where new facts and memories come to light by the gentle probing of questions and fellow workers.
Frozen Out (Making Of) – a good, solid documentary charting the making of The Tenth Planet, which this DVD range has so excelled at and continues to do so.
Episode Four VHS Reconstruction – using the surviving soundtrack and embellishing it with the individual images from the Telesnaps mentioned earlier, including any surviving clips (of which the regeneration scene is, in fact, one), this was how Episode Four could be viewed if you had bought the VHS release over a decade ago. A good attempt at helping a visual-hungry generation appreciate the soundtrack!
Anneke Wills Interview - an extended version from 2003′s Story Of Doctor Who.
Boys! Boys! Boys! - interviews with Peter Purves, Frazer Hines and Mark Strickson – companions to the First, Second and Fifth Doctor respectively. The latter, strangely, is beamed in via video-link, which makes for a slightly disjointed chat.
Companion Piece - an at times odd examination, by actors and writers, on what it means to be a companion of the good Doctor.
Blue Peter: Doctor Who’s Tenth Anniversary - a section from the popular and equally long-running children’s TV show, featuring the clip of the regeneration from The Tenth Planet.
Radio Times Listing, Production Subtitles, Photo Gallery and the always well-edited Coming Soon trailer are all present and correct as they have been on previous DVDs of the Doctor Who range.

This 2-disc set is certainly stocked full of extras and has a great animation that captures the style of the previous episodes perfectly. All in all, BBC Worldwide have produced a fitting package for a story of the First Doctor’s regeneration.

Released on Monday October 14th, The Tenth Planet is available from Amazon UK for just £13.50. Release in the US is on November 14th, and you can pre-order now from Amazon where The Tenth Planet is listed for $29.73

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Madame Vastra’s Thoughts on Capaldi Casting

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.

Occasional Doctor Who companion Neve McIntosh – bestial Madame Vastra in the who – recently gave her opinion on the casting of Matt Smith’s successor, Peter Capaldi.

Speaking to Flicks and the City at the London Film and Comic Con where she was meeting her fans (apparently called the Nevelets), McIntosh also shared her thoughts on whether there should be a Vastra, Jenny and Strax spin-off show and confirmed that the trio would be returning for Series 8.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg… click the play button above to find out more!

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Karen: Doctor Who the “mother of all sci-fi!”

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.

Former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan has told Yahoo Movies UK that fans of the show are more passionate than those of Marvel!

Despite the crossover between the two universes (which Karen is probably as unaware of as most of you reading this), the actress –  currently promoting romcom Not Another Happy Ending but taking questions on her super-villain role in Guardians of the Galaxy – nevertheless risked the ire of the Excelsior crowd when she declared:

’Doctor Who’ is like the mother of all sci-fi!

This is why we love her.

It’s being going for 50 years, it’s the longest running sci-fi show in the world and people are absolutely passionate – they have this sense of ownership over it. It’s actually incredible to witness.

Karen is also disappointed that she knows nothing about The Day of the Doctor.

I’m going to be watching like everybody else. I don’t know what’s in it. Nobody’s told me… I feel like I have a right to know these things! Apparently not though.

Click the play button above to enjoy the full interview, and head to your local cinema listings to find out when you can catch Not Another Happy Ending, which is out now!

 

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Get Ready For ‘The Doctor & I’, Released 23rd November!

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 Doctor & I – a celebration of Doctor Who fandom as told by the fans themselves – has been confirmed for release on (yes, that’s right!) 23rd November 2013.

Asking fans how they got into the show, it’s effect on their lives and those special stories that moved them, inspired them and got them hooked, the souvenir book serves as WhovianNet’s global celebration of our favourite Time Lord featuring over eighty essays detailing an array of personal accounts and memories of the Doctor Who fandom.

The youngest contributor was BeyondTheMarquee’s resident Doctor Who reviewer Lindalee Rose – whose tale can be heard in this video.

The Doctor & I is available to pre-order in paperback incarnation for £8.99 from GJB Publishing and Amazon from 23rd October.

An eBook edition will also be available from the site.

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Davison Suspects Regeneration Limit Will Be Solved

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.

Has the moment already been prepared for? Fifth Doctor Peter Davison believes that a plan is already in place to give extra regenerations to our favorite Time Lord:

“I know people are worried about it, but I think there will be a way around that rule.”

And he adds that showrunner and international man-of-mystery Steven Moffat may be ready to put a solution into action:

“I know that Steven has put in the groundwork already in an episode so that there can be more.”

What does Mr. Davison know that we don’t, hmm? Could Moffat have planned for this when Professor River Song saved the Eleventh by giving him all of her regeneration energy in Series 6′s Let’s Kill Hitler?

Or was it something as simple as the infamous “507 regenerations” quote in the Death of the Doctor episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures? Perhaps it will be something to do with the as-yet-unrevealed true identity of John Hurt’s Doctor in the upcoming anniversary special?

Whatever the case, we will find out soon enough in the coming months.

Surely all of this talk must have The Valeyard feeling a bit nervous?

, if you were going to extend the Doctor’s life in some amazing way, how would you do it?

(Via Doctor Who TV.)

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Doctor Who Magazine Hits the Web!

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.

Everyone’s favorite Time Lord periodical has now found itself a shiny new home online. www.doctorwhomagazine.com has now gone live and, while it is still a work in progress, it certainly looks impressive.

Its current theme, a rather fetching black and red affair seems to match up with the forthcoming new issue and its twin collectors covers colour scheme (something to do with some old episodes turning, news to me) which suggests that much like our own trend setting site the layout could be re-dressed month my month to match the new issue.

Looking beyond the snazzy veneer, the content itself, as you would expect is top-notch too. Though still a little sparse, what is there is of the high standards that we have come to expect from the team, including details for The Day of the Doctor, the rediscovered Hartnell interview to be featured on The Tenth Planet DVD and a small piece about some press event yesterday about Yeti’s and Dictators. It also features an up to date twitter feed on the right hand side of the screen too just to save you the trip to another site.

Overall the site looks like it is going to be every bit as indispensable as its printed counterpart, and equally as visually arresting.

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Editorial: iTunes, BBC? Really?

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 is nine episodes heavier this year thanks to Phillip Morris, his TIEA organization and the work of BBC Worldwide in bringing the now complete serial The Enemy of the World and it’s slightly less fulsome companion The Web of Fear to fans.

That is, fans who use iTunes.

Now, iTunes is hugely popular, with over 25 billion songs sold, and 575 million active user accounts. It’s a successful application and digital delivery service although, of course, you can’t hold whatever you’ve downloaded. You can’t smell the PVC on the box, pull out the cover art or reflect your desk lamp off the shiny disc. It’s impersonal, and it isn’t the way things are meant to be.

The main problem is, however, that not every Doctor Who fan has an iTunes account, or indeed wants one. In a marketplace where the domination of the iPhone is shrinking, limiting these newly found Doctor Who classics to a single outlet seems odd. But that’s only the start of it…

Amazon, for instance, is more than ably equipped to supply digital delivery of these episodes. So is, crucially, Google Play. Both have the market reach and the latter has the larger share of the mobile and tablet market.

If I was to install iTunes (a horrendous piece of bloatware that instantly negates every pretty word you’ve ever heard from an Apple fan) on my PC today, I could easily purchase and download iTunes, providing the software doesn’t refuse on a couple of episodes as it did with one of our esteemed contributors earlier today (hint: if this happens to you, turn it off and back on again).

From then on, I could watch the episodes on my PC. But I wouldn’t be able to transfer them to my Android phone or tablet, thanks to DRM. Digital Rights Management – presumably the very reason why BBC Worldwide chose iTunes – prevents this. Yet it is a system in place on Amazon and iTunes.

Now, this isn’t to say that I agree that the episodes should be given away. That is clearly madness and we don’t know whether any of the TIEA-BBC Worldwide agreement includes payment; the smart money would suggest that something must have exchanged hands.

However, subscription-based international BBC iPlayer aside (something that proves the BBC is geared up to take cash for viewing content), there remains the issue of the pricing.

$9.99 for US viewers seems fair enough, doesn’t it, equating to around £6 back home (and as a freelancer working largely with US-based companies, don’t I just know it…). But wait… £9.99 in the UK?

Really?

The management of the missing episodes official narrative over the past few weeks has left much to be desired. While Thursday’s press conference was superbly arranged and conducted, this pricing, and the distribution channels chosen, seems like a major misfire.

I’m loathe to fall back on the “well my licence fee paid for it” because in most cases, our licence fee didn’t pay for either of these episodes to be produced, unless you happen to be one of the very old Doctor Who fans. As for the TIEA deal, well, that would fall under BBC Worldwide in most cases and presumably this one too.

That leaves us, then, with a platform-related misstep (that is sadly indicative of the general BBC attitude to non-Apple technology) and an abhorrent pricing difference between British fans and US fans.

It would be irresponsible to suggest anyone use a proxy avoidance technique to get these episodes for the same price as former colonial cousins. Therefore, let’s hope that the price is reduced to £5.99 or thereabouts forthwith.

For me, after a certain amount of soul searching, I’ve decided that a complete DVD release – vanilla or not – is more important.

At least I can hold it.

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Missing Episodes Poll: DVD, iTunes or Both?

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.

So, nine missing Doctor Who episodes are now no longer missing. The magic figure of 106 is now 97. The only thing left to discuss is how will you be watching?

Fans around the world have already viewed the rediscovered episodes from The Enemy of the World and The Web of Fear; others plan to watch later tonight. But what about you? Have you headed to iTunes where Doctor Who is storming the charts? Or are you waiting for the DVD release?

Could you even be one of those fans that thinks that these episodes should be available free via BBC iPlayer, given the lack of extras?

You should know what to do: select an option in our poll!

Take Our Poll

Once you’ve done that, let’s talk in the comments section: DVD, iTunes, both or should the episodes be free?

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