Christian Cawley's Blog, page 385

Classic TARDIS Recon Set at Paris Comic Con

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 rebuilt original TARDIS console from Mark Gatiss’ An Adventure in Space and Time has been a key attraction at the Paris Comic Con this year, where the unusual shade of green was apparently a popular talking point.

Reconstructed First Doctor TARDIS set from An Adventure in Space and Time on display at @ComicConParis @markgatiss pic.twitter.com/IQfRCsN2id

— Classic Doctor Who (@classicdw) July 5, 2013

(In the black and white days, colouring a prop or set object green made it appear white, fact fans!)

Tweeted by many, the console is a faithful reproduction of the original, and is seen here with the TARDIS internal doors positioned at the opposite side.

How long is it until November…?

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Radio 2 Asks: Who Is The Doctor?

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.

BBC Radio 2 is to produce a brand new documentary entitled Who is the Doctor? just in time for the show’s 50th anniversary.

Apparently the 90 min documentary will air on Thursday 21st November just two days before the big day itself.

Other Doctor Who documentaries broadcast by the station have included Who on Who? which served as an ‘exit interview’ for both Russell T Davies and David Tennant airing between the first and second parts of The End of Time and Doctor Who: Regenerations which was hosted by Mark Gatiss and looked at the Doctor’s previous regenerations on the eve of David Tennant’s debut as the Tenth Doctor.

(Via Doctor Who News)

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The Name of the Doctor ReKapped! (Part One)

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.

GALLIFREY. A VERY LONG TIME AGO…

“What kind of idiot would steal a faulty TARDIS?”

The First Doctor and Susan bustle into the TARDIS – but there’s someone behind them. “Sorry,” the figure says. “But you’re about to make a very big mistake.” She’s Clara Oswald, and she was born to save the Doctor.

I don’t know where I am. It’s like I’m breaking into a million pieces and there’s only one thing I remember. I have to save the Doctor. He always looks different – A flash of a colourful jacket and then a scarf – But I always know it’s him. Sometimes I think I’m everywhere at once, running every second just to find him – the Seventh Doctor dangles from a cliff on Iceworld – Just to save him – Bessie speeds past, the Third Doctor at the helm – a ponce in a frock coat and a clown in a fur coat – the Fifth Doctor floats in a reactor chamber, his image shimmering – But he never hears me – Victorian London – Almost never. I blew into this world on a leaf – Dave Oswald stumbles into the road – only to be saved by Ellie – I’m still blowing. I don’t think I’ll ever land. I’m Clara Oswald. I’m the Impossible Girl. I was born to save the Doctor.

LONDON, 1893.

Madame Vastra visits Clarence DeMarco, a doomed man, haunted by the whispers in the babble of the world. The blood of 14 women is on his hands. Yet there’s still something that can save him from the rope: “The Doctor. The Doctor has a secret, y’know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.”

Vastra calls a conference.

- The trap is set for the Doctor’s friends/ They’ll travel where the Doctor ends. -

Strax is in Glasgow, in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives, when he’s handed Vastra’s urgent message. “Sorry, Archie,” he tells his opponent. “I’m going to have to ask you to render me unconscious.”

THE MAITLAND HOME, 2013.

Clara is busy making her Mum’s soufflé. “How can it be your mum’s soufflé if you’re making it?” asks Artie. “Because, Artie,” she replies, “it’s like my mum always said: the soufflé isn’t the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe.”But she’s interrupted by Vastra’s important message:

My dearest Clara,

The Doctor entrusted me with your contact details in the event of an emergency, and I fear one has now arisen. Assuming this letter will have reached you as planned, on April 10th, 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle. It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state, enabling direct communication across the years. However, as I realise you have no reason to trust this letter, I have taken the liberty of embedding the same soporific into the fabric of the paper you are now holding. Speak soon.

Clara falls to the floor -

- And into the conference call. She’s surrounded by Vastra, Jenny and Strax, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons playing in the background. They all sit comfortably around a table, drinking tea drawn from one of the Silurian’s favourite memories. “Time travel has always been possible in dreams,” Vastra explains.

And then Professor River Song arrives.

After introductions, they get down to business: DeMarco has exchanged space-time co-ordinates for his life. The location of the Doctor’s greatest secret. Clara asks what this secret is – but no one knows. It’s a secret. And if she’s still entertaining the notion that she is the exception that proves the rule… What is the Doctor’s name?

“I know it,” River tells them.

Vastra says that there was one word that saved DeMarco’s life: Trenzalore. She replays exactly what DeMarco told her and River realises their misunderstanding. But too late. Jenny feels something; almost as if someone were passing over her grave. It suddenly dawns on her: she forgot to lock the doors before falling into this dream state. “Someone’s broken in. Someone’s with us. I can hear them.”

A tear rolls down her cheek. “I think I’ve been murdered.” And she fades away.

Under attack, Vastra and Strax wake up, and are surrounded by Whisper Men, strange creatures in Victorian garb and ashy-white faces, like cloth stretched over a skull.

– Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor –

They infiltrate the conference call as well, only River and Clara there. “Tell him what?!” River yells. And the Great Intelligence appears.

“His friends are lost forever more/ Unless he goes to Trenzalore.”

And then Clara wakes up.

The Doctor is there, supposed to be looking after Angie and Artie… who have eluded him and are now at the cinema. He looks at his impossible girl; she’s sombre, confused, scared. “What’s wrong?”

She tells him about the conference call; about Clarence; about the Whisper Men; about Jenny and Vastra and Strax and River; about the Great Intelligence; and about Trenzalore.

They go to the TARDIS and the Doctor extracts the time-space co-ordinates from Clara’s memory. He knows what Trenzalore is, of course: the one place he must never go. “The Doctor has a secret, y’know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.” Clarence wasn’t talking about his secret being discovered. He was talking about the Doctor’s grave.

But he has to go there: he has to save the Paternoster Gang.

Vworp! Vworp! Vworp! Vwo-orp-orp-orp!

The TARDIS dematerialises but then realises where they’re heading. The console blows up and the whole ship shuts down, orbiting the war-stricken planet of Trenzalore. “So that’s where I end up,” the Doctor says, mournfully, opening the TARDIS doors to have a look at his final resting place.

He turns off the ship’s anti-gravs – and the TARDIS plummets towards the planet.

It crash lands in a battlefield graveyard, the collision having cracked one of its exterior windows. They then spot another TARDIS. It’s the Doctor’s TARDIS – of the future. “What else would they bury me in?” he says, rhetorically. “When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down. They used to call it a size leak. All the bigger on the inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows.”

Clara then sees River. “Don’t speak; don’t say my name,” River explains. “He can’t see or hear me. Only you can. We’re mentally linked. It’s the conference call. I kept the line open.”

- This man must fall, as all men must/ The fate of all is always dust. –

The Whisper Men are there! They approach the time travellers, just as the Doctor notices another gravestone: River’s. Thanks to the professor prompting her, Clara convinces the Doctor that River can’t be buried here. It’s a false grave; a secret entrance to the tomb!

“Yes, of course!” the Doctor yells, pressing his sonic screwdriver to the stone. “Makes sense. They’d never bury my wife out here!”

“Your what?!”

And the ground gives way beneath them.

- The man who lies will lie no more/ When this man lies at Trenzalore. –

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Miss Doctor Who at Vivid Sydney? Watch It Here!

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.

Want to learn how creative bods behind Vivid Sydney managed to dazzle the crowds gathered at their goosebump-inducing 3D lightshow in New South Wales, Australia?

This clip showcases the work that went into turning the grand façade of Customs House into a humongous screen for a 7m tall 3D adventure featuring the Doctor, the TARDIS and a whole host of some of his most dangerous adversaries.

Vivid Sydney is an 18-day celebration of light, music and ideas, showcasing the amazing innovations of teams like The Spinifex Group, who created the amazing visual feast of 3D mapped projections of Doctor Who.

The projections were seen by hundreds of Doctor Who fans over a six hour period on the 1st June this year.

 

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Are Baker and Purves Antiques Experts?

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.

Colin Baker and Peter Purves are to appear in Celebrity Antiques Road Trip.

The actors, who played the Sixth Doctor and companion, Steven Taylor, respectively, were paired with antiques ‘experts,’ James Braxton and – yes, really – Will Axon as they tried to out-sell each other’s (sometimes) great finds at the British Bespoke Auctions in Gretton Road, Winchcombe.

They began their journey in Cheltenham in late June and took to the road in a Morris 1000 before ending up in Winchcombe. Colin told the Gloucestershire Echo:

“I’ve never been here before, but it has been a real delight. I have loved every minute filming with the crew and being at British Bespoke Auctions. Winchcombe is just a lovely town. The people who came to the auction did not seem to want to part with too much of their money though.”

Presumably, the Time Lords banned the use of the Doctor’s TARDIS so the competition was fair. The money they make goes to their selected charities.

The newspaper also questioned the pair about the Twelfth Doctor, after it was announced (in case you missed it) that Matt Smith is to depart the Type 40 ship at Christmas. Baker said:

“I think it should be someone we have never heard of. That will be a great change. Every actor in Britain has the capability to be the Doctor, but it is up to the producer to find the ideal Doctor. I absolutely loved being the Doctor. It was the best three years of my professional life.”

Purves, meanwhile, maintained that, to him, there will only ever be one Doctor:

“To be honest, I have no idea who the next one should be. I hope they don’t change it too much. To me, William Hartnell will always be the Doctor.”

Their episode of Celebrity Antiques Road Trip is yet to be scheduled – so keep an eye on BBC1, folks!

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Celebrate Regenerate Out Now!

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.

Celebrate Regenerate, the book made by the fans for the fans, is out now. (And what’s more, it’s free!)

The project, celebrating 50 years of Doctor Who by focussing on what’s great about every single serial, began in July 2012 and has since expanded to include specials like A Fix with Sontarans, Time Crash and The Curse of Fatal Death; The Sarah Jane Adventures’ stories, The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith and Death of the Doctor; and every televised story up until the Series 7 finale, The Name of the Doctor.

The book also features original art throughout, as well as special features and exclusive interviews with companion, Anneke Wills (Polly Wright); The Girl Who Waited scribe, Tom MacRae; Series 1 director, Joe Ahearn (Dalek; Bad Wolf/ The Parting of the Ways); and the prolific Joe Lidster, whose credits include Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Big Finish’s Doctor Who range.

The book’s main selling point, however, is its collaborative take on the series as a whole – a true celebration from the people who love it. Editor, Lewis Christian, says:

“This project, for me, sums up how awesome fandom can be when it comes together. We’re only a tiny percentage of Doctor Who‘s *entire fandom* but I think this makes its mark on the history of the show, and I think it’s a wonderful addition to the countless other celebrations going on – if I may say so myself. And, of course, this would not be possible without you guys. Yes I put it together, but you all *made* the thing, so a big collective pat on the back! (Or, if you can’t reach, just give yourself a big thumbs up.)”

Published on 3rd July, the book is available to read for free both online and as a PDF download, and a physical copy is just £8.99, including a £1.00 donation to Children in Need. The remaining £7.99 pays solely for printing and shipping.

It’s been a long time coming, but it’s definitely worth it. I submitted a piece about The Power of Three late last year and I’m happy to say I made the cut. It’s so great to see such love not just for critically-acclaimed episodes like The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Midnight and The Impossible Astronaut/ Day of the Moon, but also for those underappreciated tales like The Space Museum, Time-Flight and Time and the Rani (are you sure about this? – Ed)

What’re you waiting for?! Dig in now!

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BBC Cancels Future 3D Projects

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.

One of the most curious aspects of the Doctor Who 50th anniversary has been the decision to produce the adventure in 3D, one of the most faddish of visual trends that has been in and out of fashion since the 1950s.

In fact, the trend seems to recur every 30 years or so, and this time around has been backed up by a surprising selection of 3D TVs for the home – some of which can even be viewed without stupid special glasses!

However despite the impact of a small number of 3D movies, once again the desire to produce films and TV shows that can be viewed as if the audience was really there is flagging. Now, I’ve seen various reports about how audiences aren’t convinced by 3D, or feel nauseous after prolonged exposure. I myself have noticed that with a 3D TV there is too much that is in focus, which seems to overload things somewhat.

But what of the BBC? In an age of austerity and ex gratia payments under scrutiny, what are they doing about their 3D project, of which Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary is only a small part?

Well, dear reader, it seems that they’re cancelling it. Kim Shillinglaw, the BBC’s head of 3D, was at least realistic:

“I have never seen a very big appetite for 3D television in the UK.

 

“Watching 3D is quite a hassly experience in the home. You have got to find your glasses before switching on the TV. I think when people watch TV they concentrate in a different way. When people go to the cinema they go and are used to doing one thing – I think that’s one of the reasons that take up of 3D TV has been disappointing.”

The BBC’s pointless 3D experiment will conclude with the Doctor Who 50th anniversary in November.

Of course, this is hardly a surprise; do you have a 3D TV?

(Via Radio Times | thanks to Phil)

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BBC Wanted Tom Baker or Judi Dench for 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.

Could Tom Baker have been the Doctor if the BBC had revived the show in the 1990s? Perhaps Judi Dench would have been more suitable around the turn of the century…

Thanks to BBC Worldwide we have a preview copy of the forthcoming special edition release of The Green Death, and I was intrigued to watch the latest instalment of Doctor Forever in which Russell T Davies recalls his various meetings with BBC personnel before finally taking on the biggest job in television and breathing new life into Doctor Who.

In it, we learn that during Russell’s first meeting with the BBC they thought it would be a good idea to bring Doctor Who back with Tom Baker, the actor who will always be remembered as the fourth incarnation from 1974-1981.

I remember, actually, someone in the room said, ‘Why don’t we bring Tom Baker back?’ and we all said, ‘Yes!’ I was sitting there, going with anything, ‘Yeah, that’d be great!’

Later, we also learn that aside from being a massive Doctor Who fan, Jane Tranter also fancied Judi Dench (who in those days was M in the James Bond series) in the TARDIS as a female incarnation.

Imagine just what could have been! We’ll have more details from this fascinating interview later in the week…

Y ou can pre-order The Green Death: Special Edition for just £15.25 from Amazon(RRP £20.42) ahead of its 5th August release.

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Iwan Roberts: Location Manager Supreme!

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.

It’s something that we probably all take for granted. When watching an episode of Doctor Who, the first thoughts that normally pop into one’s head are to do with the costumes and the script and the acting and even the VFX.

But, as the saying goes, when something’s done right people won’t know you’ve done anything at all. Cue Iwan Roberts, Doctor Who’s Location Manager since 2010 and the person responsible for finding those all important areas in Wales as well as the rest of the world that will bring the Doctor’s adventures to life.

Keeping tens of thousands of pictures of Wales on his laptop for reference, unsung hero Roberts has to make sure that every location chosen is perfect for the episode that it’s going to be played out on, one wrong move and you’ve got a fan backlash the size of Belgium.

So how exactly does he do it? In a recent interview with the Daily Mirror, he explained all:

I have a huge database of pictures on my laptop, from parks and woods, to residential houses, just so many of them. And you use that as your library, so you look at a Doctor Who script when you get sent it, and think to yourself ‘I’ve got that location’, ‘I know a great place for this scene’

But it’s not all plain sailing, some locations are harder to find than others:

The Doctor Who Christmas special in 2011, we had to find a wood or a forest, and it took us so long to find the right woods for that episode.

It also makes a huge difference to his job that he also has so much incredible support as well:

It’s such an easy city to work in; the authorities here make it easy to work. We have the full support of the police and the council, which helps a great deal.

And sometimes, as some of you may have done on location, fans turn up for a Doctor Who shoot just for a single glance at Matt Smith in character and costume, something that Roberts has no problem with at all:

But they’re great [the fans], so dedicated. I remember we were filming a night scene in Penarth, we were there all night and the fans were there until 5am just to get an autograph from Matt Smith. And he did it too; he’s good with the fans.

To read the full interview with Roberts and to discover his top filming locations, visit The Mirror.

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Are There Daleks Among Us?

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.

Davros’s timeline is both clear and unclear. We can track the creator of the Daleks through televised Doctor Who adventures from Genesis of the Daleks all the way up to Journey’s End.

But when Big Finish have used the character in stories against the Sixth and Eighth Doctors, we’ve discovered more about Davros’s story than we thought possible. Details that create a richer background for the mad scientist have helped to flesh out his troubled journey through life.

So it’s with some excitement that we can tell you that Davros is set to make a return to the Big Finish world this September to once again battle the Seventh Doctor in Daleks Among Us.

Terry Molloy will once again give us his unique version of the character and hopefully get a little more one on one time with Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor than he did in 1988’s Remembrance of the Daleks. The Doctor’s somewhat-shady friend Elizabeth Klein will also be along for the adventure.

Daleks Among Us concludes the newest Seventh Doctor trilogy that starts in July with Persuasion and continues in August with Starlight Robbery, which features the Sontarans voiced by Dan Starkey (occasional TV companion Commander Strax).

We’re sure that everyone will agree that this will be a very exciting Doctor Who story and will shed some light on the Seventh Doctor and Davros’s angry relationship.

Daleks Among Us is available for pre order from www.bigfinish.com now.

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