Christian Cawley's Blog, page 364

Awesome Doctor Who Dalek R/C Watch!

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.

With the advent of the time-telling mobile phone the humble watch has had to up its game and in order to stop its time running out, it has desperately sided with the ultimate evil – the Daleks!

This blue LCD watch comes with a remote-controlled blue mini Dalek. Using the buttons on the watch you can drive the Dalek around and exterminate tiny things. How cool it that! (Well not for the ‘tiny things’).

When not being used to exterminate every crumb on your carpet the Dalek can attach to the watchband or (more practically) can hang from your keychain but seriously, when are you not going to be using this?

Our American readers can order the Doctor Who Dalek R/C Watch now from Entertainment Earth for $39.99!

The post Awesome Doctor Who Dalek R/C Watch! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Sacred Bond

Melinda Moo Sue 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.

Fandom is a sacred thing. It has the power to turn perfect strangers into kin, and the best of friends into enemies. A fandom isn’t just some game or some show or some book that we like, it’s a way of life. And that’s why I think it is so amazing that Doctor Whohas cast two life-long Whovians as the role of the Doctor.

When I first delved into the time-traveling galaxy-hopping world of Doctor Who, I wasn’t aware that David Tennant was such a huge fan himself. Upon meeting him at the end of Series 1, I quickly jumped online to learn more about this tenth incarnation actor. I quickly learned that he had been a Whovian his entire life, and that at the age of 3 or 4, he declared he was going to grow up to be an actor due to his love for Doctor Who. Now if that’s not a true dream come true, I don’t know what is.

This information cemented my fandom and took it to another level. I was so proud to know that my Doctor wasn’t just some actor, but a Whovian just like me. My excitement was impossible to contain, which led me to spread the news to every person that I knew – they totally cared. Chest swelled, head high, I wore this pride like a badge of honor.

I didn’t think I could fall further down the wormhole, but I did, oh I did. The glorious Sunday afternoon when the 12th Doctor was revealed as the wonderful Peter Capaldi, I – like every one of you reading this I’m sure – once again went straight to Google to brush up on any and everything I could find on good ol’ Number 12.

And what did I find? Oh just a little article published in a 1974 issue of Radio Times written by a little 15-year old Peter Capaldi. But not just any article, it was an article praising them for the wonderful Doctor Who special they had aired, and expressing his hopes and dreams that one day they will be celebrating “25 years of wandering in time with the Doctor.” Lo and behold, his dreams have not only come true, but he may very well be starring in the 50th anniversary special! (My personal prediction: The Doctor will be regenerating at the end of the special. What better way to conclude such an epic and long-awaited special?)

Upon learning this little tidbit of information, I once again shouted in exultation as tears of joy came to my eyes – a tad bit dramatic, maybe. With that said, it’s clear that I am very excited to see Peter step into the TARDIS.

To know that two of my Doctors are Whovians themselves fills me with so much pride. I also can’t help but to feel a wee little bit of hope deep down inside that maybe I too might one day walk through the doors of the TARDIS and go traveling with the Doctor.

The post Sacred Bond appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

New William Hartnell TV Footage Found!

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.

While the discussion into rumours of lost episodes continues to rumble on, here’s a genuine discovery – former First Doctor, William Hartnell, interviewed in his dressing room at Gaumont Theatre in Taunton where he starred in Puss in Boots just a few months after his final appearance in Doctor Who.

Discovered by Doctor Who Restoration Team member and researcher extraordinaire Richard Bignell, the interview was conducted in-vision (ie., on camera) and aired on Tuesday 17th January 1967. The interview will feature on the upcoming DVD release of The Tenth Planet, and has been unearthed for some months – Restoration Team member Steve Roberts revealed on Gallifrey Base that David Bradley had viewed the material as preparation for his portrayal of Hartnell in Mark Gatiss’ An Adventure In Space And Time, which airs later this year.

Further details (including Richard Bignell’s description of the discovery) can be found at Doctor Who News. Naturally, we cannot wait to see it!

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Hide’s Neil Cross Back for Doctor Who Series 8?

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.

Names have been thin on the ground for Doctor Who Series 8, but while Chris Chibnall may be too busy with Broadchurch’s second series, one name up for the challenge is Neil Cross, whose Rings of Akhaten and Hide split viewers in Series 7.

Chatting with Stuff.co.nz, the Auckland-based writer revealed that he is preparing for more involvement with the show, Peter Capaldi’s first series as the Doctor.

I have got story ideas tucked away, but if I told you about them I would have to kill you. There’s a whole bunch of stuff I want to do. Steven is clearly very busy with the 50th anniversary special and Christmas special, but I have to find out from Steven what his intentions for the Doctor are and what sort of stories he wants me to write.

Although a fan of Matt Smith’s Doctor and sad not to be writing for him again, the Luther creator observed about Capaldi:

There’s something about his physicality, his image, his wit, that evokes the Doctor. There’s something about him that evokes classic Doctor Who.

He’s right, isn’t he? Would you like to see Cross back on Doctor Who? What would you prefer, more stories like The Rings of Akhaten or closer in tone to Hide?

The post Hide’s Neil Cross Back for Doctor Who Series 8? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Mission to the Unknown Motion Comic!

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.

If there’s one good thing about 106 episodes of Doctor Who being missing from the archives, it’s the ingenuity it’s resulted in, trying to get these stories back into our consciousness.

The soundtracks show how passionate fans are. The TARGET novels are a joy. And, y’know, some people like to do comic strips about them. One such person is the excellent Rick Lundeen, who has delighted Whovians with weekly instalments, detailing the terrible things those pesky Daleks did in The Daleks’ Master Plan, and showing how everyone’s favourite physician and his time-travelling companions stopped them.

There’s also a manic bloke who’s in charge of the solar system. Thanks to this guy, ‘Mavic’ was the most popular boys name of 1966. (Not actual fact.)

The last instalment, The Destruction of Time, went live on Saturday, prompting a national day of grief. But calm those nerves and steady yourself. Because part of the story’s prequel, Mission to the Unknown, has been turned into a motion comic!

It’s only about 5 minutes long, but the planet Kembel is a dangerous place, and it seems that the jungle around them is determined to kill leads, Marc Cory and Gordon Lowery. It all goes a bit Day of the Triffids.

The sample motion comic is certainly nicely done, combining Lundeen’s visuals with the actual soundtrack. Take your hats off to ‘markhuk’ and Rick for bringing this lost tale back to life, and hopefully look forward to the rest of the serial being brought back into motion over the coming months!

The post Mission to the Unknown Motion Comic! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

A Transforming 3D Printed TARDIS!

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.

Some older fans and those familiar with the Doctor Who Magazine comic strip may already know this: Doctor Who and the Transformers occupy the same fictional universe, thanks to a crossover appearance by the Seventh Doctor into the first Death’s Head series (a spinoff from Marvel UK’s run of Transformers) of comic books in the 1990s.

This exciting link (Transformers was one of the biggest selling comics in the UK in the 1980s and early 1990s) is often overlooked, but perhaps it was at the back of Andrew Lindsey’s mind when he made a 3D printed transforming TARDIS/Optimus Prime (who else?).

2013 is predicted to be the year in which 3D printing comes of age as printers and materials are deemed affordable (here in the UK Maplin sells a sub-£1000 DIY printer kit, for example) and creative minds set to work printing new Lego bricks, RPG figurines and USB sticks (not guns though, we hope).

But could any project be better than this? What the hell is wrong with someone who doesn’t think that building a transforming TARDIS with your 3D printer isn’t a good idea?

All we need next is the development of the 4D printer, so that the toy can really travel in time…

(Via Technabob)

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Daleks’ Master Plan 12: The Destruction of Time

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.

It doesn’t feel like twelve weeks ago when we kicked off Rick Lundeen’s amazing comic book adaptation of The Daleks’ Master Plan, but here we are at the end of the road.

The Destruction of Time is our bumper 21 page final instalment, in which the Daleks make their own, Mavic Chen-free plans known and the Doctor has to take desperate (and potentially life-shortening…) steps in order to defeat his old enemies…

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The PDF version is now available from the Kasterborous Store, and CBR and CBZ editions will also be available for the whole collection soon.

Keep an eye out for future news about the print version of this superb comic strip!

The post Daleks’ Master Plan 12: The Destruction of Time appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Reviewed: Destiny of the Doctor: Trouble in Paradise

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.

The Sixth Doctor meets a very well known historical face in Destiny of the Doctor: Trouble in Paradise after being sent on a mission by his future self to retrieve an Omni Paradox.

Just a second, you say, didn’t the Fifth Doctor meet a well-known historical face in the previous entry to this series? Yes, he did but the two tales are so very different that both Big Finish and AudioGo should receive no discredit for doing things this way. In fact, it’s rather fitting for a story that is meant to represent the Sixth Doctor’s era should be similar to one that took place during the Fifth Doctor’s.

To explain, many of the events that occurred during the televised stories of the Sixth Doctor contained similar scripting elements or music to that of the Fifth Doctor’s. Attack of the Cybermen is a good example of reused ideas and musical cues that appear in Colin Baker’s tenure. For that era, the Fifth Doctor and Sixth Doctor sometimes can be bookends for one another. Whilst Attack may have been slightly convoluted, the same cannot be said of Trouble in Paradise. Certainly, there’s a lot of wibbly-wobbly style Steven Moffat storytelling that takes place (and believe this reviewer, it takes a second listen at the end to understand exactly how the story was resolved) but the overall finished product is a wonderful piece of storytelling.

Nicola Bryant takes on the duties of narrator here and it’s fantastic to hear her native voice using its full vocal talents rather than just playing Peri. As the Doctor and Peri arrive on the ship of renowned explorer Christopher Columbus, the Doctor is as excited as a child on Christmas Eve but Peri, however, is all too aware of Columbus’ more nasty qualities. Bryant not only conveys the Sixth Doctor’s overbearing charm and resilience but also brings a new level of maturity to Peri by being able to let this story dramatically grow at a solid pace. Her readings of the Doctor and Peri arguing are some of the finest examples of how to do things right in the Destiny of the Doctor series so far.

When Peri appears to fall overboard, the Doctor is finally distraught and tears into Columbus, his hero worshipping finally over. These are the parallels that make comparing this story to the Fifth Doctor’s entry so interesting. The Sixth Doctor’s temper is still something that troubles him from time to time, the Fifth Doctor’s was never a problem that needed controlling, and comparing the two is a fascinating thing to do.

The villain of the piece, a rather unscrupulous cow (listen and you’ll understand) is perhaps the only stumbling point within the story. He’s loud, abrasive, unscrupulous, not as clever as he thinks, may just end the whole if history to get his own way and might also end up becoming part of established history by interfering in the first place. Although this could sum up many of the dastardly people the Sixth Doctor encountered on-screen it still leaves you wanting just a bit more out of a Doctor Who foe.

This, however, is another solid entry in the Destiny of the Doctor series, with some funny lines, great performances and solid story that keeps the listener thoroughly entertained. It’s also worth the price of the admission just to find out which voice the Eleventh Doctor uses for his GPS SatNav.

Destiny of the Doctor: Trouble in Paradise is available from www.bigfinish.com now for £10.20 on CD or £3.99 download.

The post Reviewed: Destiny of the Doctor: Trouble in Paradise appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Which of Big Finish’s August Titles Will You Buy?

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.

Big Finish celebrate August with the release of two very important titles in their range of continuing Doctor Who chronicles this month.

Starlight Robbery

In the main range, the story of the Seventh Doctor’s continued adventures with ex-Nazi Elizabeth Klein meet exciting new heights in Starlight Robbery as Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor finally comes face to face (or voice to voice) with the Sontarans!

Sick of the same-old slaughter-appliances? In need of a killer new killing-machine? Then look no further than Garundel Galactic’s secret arms auction. Blasters, tanks, missiles and bombs – no bang too big or micro-laser too small. If you’ve got the credits, Garundel’s got the kill-sticks. (Cash buyers get preferential rates.)

In search of the key to a sinister alien technology, the Doctor, Klein and Will set their sights on an illicit intergalactic arms fair run by an old acquaintance – the slippery Urodelian crook, Garundel. But what are their chances of pulling off a particularly audacious heist from under the noses of Garundel and his alien clients, the ever-belligerent Sontarans…?

Written by Matt Fitton and starring Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Tracey Childs as Elizabeth Klein and Christian Edwards as Will Arrowsmith, Starlight Robbery also sees the return of Garundel from last year’s Seventh Doctor story Black and White.

Starlight Robbery is available for £14.99 on CD, or £12.99 on download.

The Alchemists

In the Companion Chronicles range, which is sadly coming to an end soon, Big Finish are finally releasing The Alchemists which finds the First Doctor and Susan arriving in Berlin during Hitler’s rise to power…

The TARDIS lands in Berlin in the 1930s, where Hitler and his National Socialist party are in the ascendant.

Some of the greatest scientific minds are gathering here: Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck, Schrödinger, Wigner. The people who will build the future of planet Earth.

But the Doctor and Susan have brought something with them. Something apparently harmless, something quite common. Yet something that could threaten the course of history…

For many listeners, The Alchemists will be a hotly anticipated release as it was held back from April 2013 and replaced by another First Doctor story, The Library of Alexandria. But have no more sleepless nights, as the adventure is finally here!

The Alchemists is available for £8.99 on CD, or £7.99 on download. All titles can be purchased via the official Big Finish website www.bigfinish.com.

The post Which of Big Finish’s August Titles Will You Buy? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Is This the Greatest TARDIS Building Video on YouTube?

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 love TARDIS building on Kasterborous – our associate editor Brian Terranova has spent a lot of time on his own – but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a video quite as good as this!

It’s a simple idea – the builder demonstrates the effort required to build a full replica police box using time lapse photography. The results are superb; they might also temper some TARDIS-building aspirations, so be warned…

You can watch it here:

Isn’t it great?!

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