Christian Cawley's Blog, page 369

Big Chief Studio’s 4th Doctor Signature Edition

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.

Get typing to be in with a chance of getting your hands on one of Big Chief Studio’s absolutely stunning Fourth Doctor 1:6 Scale Collector Figure - 50th Anniversary Edition.

Sign-up today to receive Priority Pre-order Notifications and be amongst the first to order this ultra-limited collectors figure.

To try and give everyone an equal opportunity, the Signature Edition Priority Pre-order commenced on Thursday 11th July 2013, a full 24 hours ahead of the Limited Edition Priority Pre-order. Standard Pre-order began last month too, and will continue until the figure goes on sale in October.

It’s everything you love about the Fourth Doctor; the fedora hat, velvet-like frock coat, tartan waistcoat and of course his trademark long scarf, his eccentric dress sense is brought breathtakingly to life in exacting detail.

The Doctor comes complete with numerous accessories including a bag of his favourite sweets – Jelly Babies, his Sonic Screwdriver, The Key to Time and Time Tracer, plus his yo-yo.

With eight interchangeable hands to adopt various poses and an illuminating display base, this is the ultimate collectable for fans of the Fourth Doctor.

Although he is missing his trademark grin.

The 50th Anniversary Signature Edition is limited to only 300 pieces worldwide. The Limited Edition size will be confirmed soon.

Both editions are exclusively available from Big Chief Studios, priced £169.99 plus postage, and will not be sold via other retailers.

The post Big Chief Studio’s 4th Doctor Signature Edition appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

50th Anniversary Celebration Symphonic Spectacular

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.

The Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular is returning to Australia bigger, better and with a new show based on the recent Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Proms concert.

Following the sold-out shows held in 2012, the Symphonic Spectacular will return to Melbourne for two nights on January 31 and February 1 2014 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra before getting its Queensland premiere on February 8 with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Helen Pendlebury, Head of Commercial, Entertainment and Children’s Brands, BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand, who the tour is presented in association with, said

“We are thrilled to work with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra to bring this unique event back to Melbourne following its huge success last year, and to give fans in Queensland the chance to experience it for the first time.”

Billed as a ‘musical celebration’, the show features Murray Gold’s captivating music from the series, and, inspired by the Doctor Who Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, the 2014 show will feature all-new content – including a look back at some of the previous Doctors and also some of the music from the last five decades – as well as performances of some audience favourites from the 2012 show. This, says Murray, is a chance for fans to hear the music the way it was originally recorded, adding that

“To hear the music performed by such world-class orchestras as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and the Queensland Symphony Orchestra is a fantastic opportunity for music lovers and Doctor Who fans alike.”

As with the BBC Prom the Symphonic Spectacular will feature a big screen showing specially edited montages of the Eleventh Doctors finest moments plus expect appearances from a host of the finest enemies the series has to offer, including The Silence, Daleks and Cybermen.

For more information regarding times and ticket prices visit www.mso.com.au for Melbourne dates and ticketek.com.au/doctorwho for Queensland.

BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand also hope to announce dates in New Zealand shortly.

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Did A Black Actor Turn Down Doctor Who?

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.

Back in late 2008, we were led to believe that actor Paterson Joseph had been cast as the Eleventh Doctor. So strong was our source that we even had an announcement pre-written. It came as a considerable surprise to find strong betting and an eventual announcement of Matt Smith on January 4th 2009.

In a recent exchange on his blog, writer Neil Gaiman (whose work beyond The Doctor’s Wife and Nightmare in Silver is well-regarded) revealed that he knew of a black actor who had turned down the chance to star in Doctor Who.

Was it Paterson Joseph, or perhaps Chiwetel Ejiofor?

Said Gaiman, when asked if he thought there would ever be a non-white Doctor:

Of course. (I thought I’d said that I was disappointed that it didn’t happen this time, and that there are some amazing actors out there. I was rather disappointed that Paterson Joseph didn’t get it last time, although I’ve loved Matt’s Eleven.) And yes, I have no doubt there will be. (I know one black actor who was already offered the part of the Doctor, and who turned it down.)

So who turned it down?

Back in 2009, Joseph and Ejiofor were both considered the most likely black actors, with Colin Salmon a little behind. Back in 2010 Joseph told the Coventry Telegraph that he would have accepted if offered.

Oh God yeah! I would have hesitated, but I think I would have done it – I think I would have had to have done it. What’s the worst that could happen? The worst that can happen of course is that you get typecast, but then you can’t be as the Doctor because [the show] is so old.

Back in June this year, Chiwetel Ejiofor was rumoured to have been high on the list of Twelfth Doctor actors, but as we now know, nothing came of this. Back in 2011, the actor admitted he would like the role if offered.

So was it the American Gangster actor who rejected the role?

We’ll probably find out in a few years time, but let’s not get too concerned – we’ve got a great new Doctor in Peter Capaldi!

The post Did A Black Actor Turn Down Doctor Who? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

A Strip In Time!

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.

It’s not often that Doctor Who events come with adult warnings, but Los Angeles’ A Strip In Time, an annual tribute to everyone’s favourite show by Burlesque company, Peepshow Menagerie, probably shouldn’t be viewed by minors.

Don’t worry, you won’t find any explicit content on Kasterborous. Alternatively: I’m really sorry, but you won’t find explicit content on Kasterborous.

Burlesque isn’t a strip show though: more of a big tease. And A Strip In Time teases with the Princess of the Ood, a ‘Supreme Sexy’ Dalek and a cat nurse, Sister Mercury, and then some. The show, which was held last Saturday, also featured companions like Ace, the second Romana, K9 and River Song, as well as monsters like the Weeping Angels, a Saturnyne, and a Cyberwoman – a bit like the one in Torchwood, but more tasteful (ho ho ho).

Oh, and Queen Victoria.

Performers included: Scarlett Letter, Glama Sutra, Caramel Knowledge, and Greta Grenade. Nerd Reactor’s Jaynesis Ong was on hand to see the show (you can read the full report here), or, if you want to see River Song’s, uh, bare-faced cheek, check out Nanette Gonzales’ photos here.

Hello sweetie!

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Just Who Is Peter Capaldi?

jtbelliott 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 know the 55-year-old Scot is the next actor to play the Doctor but beyond that he’s a hard man to pin down. From The Thick of It’s Malcolm Tucker to Oscar-winning director, incoming number 12 Peter Capaldi has been through almost as many incarnations as our favourite time-traveller…

Peter Capaldi was born in Glasgow in 1958 where, before a breakthrough role in Local Hero, he studied art and formed a punk rock band. Steven Moffat, another Scottish fiftysomething, has made something of a habit of putting his life into his work (see Joking Apart and Coupling). Is Moffat projecting himself into the role?

Capaldi is without a doubt most famous for playing the foul-mouthed spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker and the UK press has had a whale of a time imagining a Tucker-like Doctor in the TARDIS, and there’s a fun bit of foreshadowing in The Thick of It episode ‘Spinners And Losers’….

…half an hour you were in with a shot. This is half an hour hence! We’ve fucking time travelled, yes? We’re in a weird and wonderful world where everything is different! Maybe, outside, the polar ice caps have melted, maybe there’s fucking robots knocking about and Davina McCall’s the new pope. Maybe you can download rice! I want you, right now, to think about your future, OK?

For both copyright reasons and for the sake of peace and sanity, Malcolm Tucker will not be boarding the TARDIS – but the man who played him will. We can therefore expect the same lightning-fast delivery of Ten and Eleven and, perhaps, a grumpier, ruder Doctor, more alike to One and Six.

For both copyright reasons and for the sake of peace and sanity, Malcolm Tucker will not be boarding the TARDIS – but the man who played him will.

And then there’s that Oscar, which Capaldi won for writing and directing Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life. The film, starring The Great Intelligence  Richard E. Grant, is well worth a watch, and if the Twelfth Doctor’s era looks even a little like this audiences are in for a treat. Might this hint at Capaldi having more creative input on the series than his predecessors?

Because of course, like Tennant before him, the man’s a fan. A self-proclaimed anorak. He’s been in Doctor Who before and he came back for Torchwood: Children of Earth. And now he’s back.  An art student, a punk rocker, a Scot, a fiftysomething, Malcolm Tucker and an Oscar-winning writer-director – they are all the Twelfth Doctor.

A man’s the sum of his parts, and his Time Lord even more so…

The post Just Who Is Peter Capaldi? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Peter Capaldi Casting Reaction

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.

So there we have it. The perfect man takes on the perfect role. We couldn’t have asked for a more suitable actor to take the Doctor in a whole new direction following the departure of Matt Smith than The Thick of It star, Peter Capaldi.

What kind of Doctor will he be? Will he be darker? What will he be wearing? Will he be more alien? Will he be funny?

With so many questions hovering out there in the never-verse; we’ve collated, cross-examined and analysed the collective consciousness of fans, the media and those who know Peter to gauge just how excited the world is at his appointment.

We’ll start with a wonderful tribute from Armando Ianucci, the producer of The Thick of It, in which Capaldi plays political damage handler and “Spin Doctor” Malcolm Tucker.

There can't be a funnier, wiser, more exciting Time Lord than Peter Capaldi. The universe is in great hands. #DoctorWho

— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) August 4, 2013

For those who missed the whole shebang; SFX have this handy breakdown of key moments that lead to the unveiling of the Twelfth Doctor. In his own words, Peter told the waiting world that even though he knew he was to be the Doctor, he still can’t quite see him in the mirror yet:

I’m surprised now to see Doctor Who looking back – that’s what’s really strange. I do look in the mirror and suddenly, strangely, he’s looking back, and it’s not me yet, but he’s reaching out, and hopefully we’ll get it together.

Also reporting back on the night’s events The Telegraph spoke of the moment Matt Smith :

Smith added: “if I had to pick someone, I’d pick him, because I think he’s great. and wierdly enough, after the eleventh hour, he came up to me in the street and said, ‘ah mate, well done. I watched your episode last night, it was brilliant, I think you’re really good. and I really needed that, I needed a sort of boost and I never forgot it.

I’m excited because I know what’s coming and he’s going to have a blast.

Unsurprisingly, come the following day, most newspapers featured Peter Capaldi on the front page; The Telegraph collated and collected the headlines and reactions were overwhelmingly positive.

However, the Daily Mail surprised no-one by retrofitting the whole celebration of one of the greatest television shows ever produced evolving and changing again to slam the BBC for the hyperbolic manner in which the appointment was announced:

The Mail said that the casting of the 12th Doctor, code-named Houdini, was “the worst-kept secret in the galaxy”. TV critic Christopher Stevens said that after the live announcement, “Capaldi faces a tough job, justifying a build-up like that.

And on goes the cycle of trashing the BBC to sell more papers by attacking its flagship shows while using the popularity of those shows to sell more papers.

In all fairness to the Mail, they weren’t the only ones to attack the Next Doctor live special; The Telegraph’s Robert Colville wrote that the BBC’s unveiling of the Twelfth Doctor was:

…Less a casting announcement than a global product launch, an exercise to the unveiling of the latest iPhone.

Still, nothing could detract from the positivity most of the daily rags greeted the news that Malcolm Tucker would be piloting the TARDIS.

The Sun went to town with the notion that Capaldi could turn the Blue Box that little bit bluer:

TV reporter Jen Blackburn wrote:

“I can’t wait to hear him reduce a Cyberman to tears with a foul-mouthed tirade.”

The Daily Mirror, looking back at Capaldi’s previous roles, believes his appointment could attract ‘new fans’:

Capaldi’s work in the Doctor Who universe alone is enough to convert the most vehement Cyber-critic.

While in The Independent, TV presenter and Doctor Who expert Matthew Sweet wrote that Capaldi was a “thrillingly perfect choice for the twelfth Doctor.”

It wasn’t just the papers who garnered the choice of Capaldi with high praise; the Radio Times gathered together the initial reactions from the great and the good of past Doctor Who, their own writers and fans; and again, everyone was impressed!

Jo Grant herself, Katy Manning commented:

I’m over the moon. He’s going to make it absolutely his own. I have complete confidence that, as an actor, he’s going to come up with something wonderful. And he’s frightfully good-looking. There’s no two ways about it. He’s not an unattractive older man… In my case, he’s not an older man – he’s a toyboy! Another lovely surprise waiting for us is: how is he going to manifest the Doctor? What is this wonderful actor going to do with this gift of a part?

Perhaps the best summarisation of just what this casting means to most is Radio Times writer, Jack Seale:

It seems obvious now, doesn’t it? It could only have been Capaldi. Funny and scary, both at once or switching from one to the other in a second – Capaldi has all that naturally. Matt Smith was miraculously good at looking young but acting 900 years old – you’d never find another young actor to do that as well as Smith, so going older again makes sense. I’m so pleased they went for the right person without worrying too much about merchandise, fan-girls and America.

I also wonder if some of the more modish, kooky lines Moffat was giving Smith towards the end might not pass muster with Capaldi. I’m already hearing people who’d drifted away from the show saying they’ll come back now.

Another former companion who shared her thoughts on the casting was Sophie Aldred, who along with Who-ology co-author Cavan Scott appeared on the garish BBC Breakfast sofa to dissuade any notion that the casting of an older Doctor would have a negative impact upon the ratings:

Well I think the thing about having an older doctors you still got your gorgeous jenna-louise Coleman and the role if the assistant has always been to be with sensitive to be with the audience so that she will bring the audience along and it’s going to be great.

Watch more below, thanks to Blogtor Who

Finally, taking a more irreverent look at the news, writer James Delingpole, has spoken with relief that there’s finally going to be a no-nonsense, Tuckeresque Doctor:

Doctor Who has been getting far too cute and whimsical for its own good of late – almost as if it thinks of itself as some kind of children’s programme. I, for one, am very much looking forward to its new scheduling slot well after the 9pm watershed, in the safe hands of the kind of Doctor we can trust to tell it like it is, take no prisoners and refuse to tolerate any more of that touchy feely nonsense where it turns out that Daleks do have hearts after all and where the healing song of the lost children of the tragic planet of Poignos (or whatever new mawk-fest we have to endure this week) is replaced by the most richly colourful effing and blinding the galaxy has heard since Davros encountered his first staircase.

So what do you think of reaction so far? Are you pleased to see fans embrace the new Doctor? Are you confused by some of the criticism regarding casting an older Doctor?

The post Peter Capaldi Casting Reaction appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Series 1-7 Limited Edition Blu-ray Giftset

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.

Fanfare please as BBC Entertainment has announced ‘the definite Doctor Who collection for the ages.’

This towering monolith that will cast a shadow across all of time collects together the complete new Doctor Who on Blu-ray plus an amazing assortment of additional items, including the Doctor Who Universal Remote Control Sonic Screwdriver.

The epoch shattering, US only collection includes Series 1-4, featuring the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston and Tenth Doctor, David Tennant, making their Blu-ray debut in newly remastered versions at full 1080p high definition, plus the David Tennant Specials collection and Series 5-7 featuring Eleventh Doctor, Matt Smith, also at a suitably swanky resolution.

All the bonus features from the previous releases are included, as well as a bonus disc with three new-to-Blu-ray specials: The Brit List’s Ultimate Doctor Who List of Lists; The Best of the Christmas Specials; and the full 90-minute Doctor Who at the Proms, newly remastered with 5.1 Surround Sound.

The beautifully packaged Doctor Who: Series 1-7 Limited Edition Gift Set is available to pre-order now for an astronomical $314.99.

$314.99!

Well at least you can toggle the zoom feature over at Amazon US to get a closer look at The Thing You Can Never Have or if you’re like me, you can wiggle it to make it look as though you’re desperately trying to pull the gift set out of your letterbox during an earthquake.

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Big Finish Talks the 12th Doctor!

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.

By now, the very exciting news should have permeated its way through your system. Peter Capaldi IS the Doctor! The reveal on Sunday was fantastic and Kasterborous can think of no better actor to play the role of the Twelfth Doctor!

Another Doctor Who team that are also extremely excited by the casting news are Big Finish productions who, it turns out, have been trying to get Capaldi to work with them for a very long time now. The company’s Executive Producer, and voice of the Daleks, Nicholas Briggs revealed that after meeting the actor during the filming of Torchwood: Children of Earth, he kept trying to source Capaldi for a Big Finish role:

Peter was always enthusiastic, but he was always so busy. He just told me to keep asking…when we met on set, he was fully aware that we’d actually already asked him to appear in a Big Finish Doctor Who audio, but it was actually the Torchwood job that had clashed with it that time.

As revealed on Sunday, Capaldi is a lifelong fan of Doctor Who - not in a ‘distant respect’ way but more of a Kasterborous way. In fact, Jason Haigh-Ellery, Big Finish’s co-Executive Producer, produced the stage version of The Ladykillers last year and worked with Capaldi on the project when he played Professor Marcus. Capaldi’s love of Doctor Who was evident then as well:

He made no secret of his love of Doctor Who, indeed his dressing room was littered with Daleks and TARDIS models, mostly opening night presents from friends and family.

Nicholas Briggs added that during filming, Capaldi knew exactly who he was:

As I went up to him to shake his hand, he said, “You’ve no need to introduce yourself to me, Nick Briggs, I know exactly who you are!” And we proceeded to gossip and giggle about Doctor Who in our shooting breaks.

Essentially, this means that we have an incredibly gifted actor, both in drama and comedy, who also knows the character and history of the Doctor straight away. We’re sure that we’re not the first to say it but Capaldi’s casting could lead to the most perfect incarnation of the Doctor to date! Nicolas Briggs summed it up in one wonderful sentence:

I know he’s going to be a truly amazing Doctor Who.

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Big Finish’s Fifty For A Fiver Each!

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 is offering a very special treat for fans of Doctor Who in honour of the show’s 50th birthday this year, the first 50 titles in their main Doctor Who audio range will have their prices permanently reduced to £5 each on CD or £2.99 each via download!

From this month, the price cuts will take place which will also mean a reduction on the price of subscriptions for the first 50 titles as well.

As of now, a subscription for 12 Doctor Who main range releases within the first 1-50 will cost £50 for the CDs or £32 for download-only. If you were after a subscription for 6 main range releases within the first 50, that will now cost £25 for the CDs and £16 for downloads only.

Of course, there is another reason for this as well; Big Finish will be ceasing to repress their first 50 Doctor Who main range releases (covering stories from 1999-2003) once the CD stock runs out - from then on it will be available via download only. Big Finish is strongly committed to their ongoing CD releases but as the world has developed, so have they as Executive Producer Nicholas Briggs pointed out:

Most other CD publishers we’re aware of delete titles from their catalogues within months… We’ve had a policy of constantly repressing and keeping everything available on CD. But with the option of being able to keep everything available as downloads, we felt it was time to give these titles a last hurrah as shiny discs.

 

Most of our sales are still on CD, but for these much older releases the CD sales have trickled down to almost nothing, so it makes sense not to keep large amounts of stock of items that sell at a very low rate.

So don’t panic, you’ll still have the option to buy CDs of your favourite Big Finish Doctor Who adventures from story 51 onwards. If however, you have any gaps in your collection for stories 1-50, now is the best time to stock up.

So if you haven’t listened to The Genocide Machine, The Apocalypse Element, Dust Breeding, Loups-Garoux,  Bloodtide, The Chimes of Midnight, Neverland, Spare Parts, Jubilee, Davros or Zagreus then now is the perfect time to start.

Visit Big Finish for more details.

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Moffat: “Women Don’t Want A Female Doctor.”

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.

Well. There we have it! The Moff certainly knows how to set the cat amongst the pigeons. Can open. Worms everywhere: boy worms, girl worms, and worms demanding not to be defined by their gender…

Doctor Who is a progressive show, as we all know, and the current production team has made it very clear that regeneration allows a Time Lord to change both their race (Mels to River Song in Let’s Kill Hitler) and their gender (the Corsair didn’t feel himself ‘or herself’ without his or her trademark tattoo). So as Moffat says it’s ‘narratively possible’ for our beloved hero to emerge from the orange blaze of regeneration as a 1000+ year-old Adventuress. But should he/she?

Moffat believes the time is not right:

“I didn’t feel enough people wanted it. Oddly enough, most people who said they were dead against it – and I know I’ll get into trouble for saying this – were women, saying, ‘No, no, don’t make him a woman.’”

I suspect most people (including me) who have reservations about a female actor in the role, feel somehow we wouldn’t be watching the same character. But, as a self-proclaimed feminist I discussed this with asked me, ‘what does the Doctor do that a woman can’t?’ On reflection, I think I have to agree. If the character is about adventure, intelligence, justice and being a bit bonkers, why can’t that be a woman?

Some say it would change the traditional relationship with the companion. But some of the Doctor’s best friends have been fellas, like Jamie and the Brigadier (though Jamie was in a skirt…).

Steven also said he wanted an older Doctor for the Time Lord’s next incarnation because he couldn’t see anyone replacing Matt Smith’s take:

“I think it’s good that we’ve got a different age, just because I cannot imagine what somebody in their twenties would do with the Doctor after Matt showed us all how to be a twenties Doctor. I don’t know what you would do after that because he was so perfect. You’d have to be an alternative or deliberate contradiction. It wouldn’t work, I don’t think.”

So what do you think – is the Doctor first and foremost a man, or is that sexism that should be left in the last century? And how old should that 1000-and-something-year-old look?

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