Christian Cawley's Blog, page 388

An Adventure in Space and Time “lovingly rendered” says Shearsmith

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.

Mark Gatiss’ former League of Gentlemen colleague Reece Shearsmith has recently spoken of how impressed he was with An Adventure in Space and Time, the Doctor Who early years dramatisation in which he appears as Patrick Troughton.

Speaking to Digital Spy, Shearsmith enthused:

I was honoured to be part of it. Mark’s… had that idea for a long time and he’s finally got to do it this year. It’s the perfect time for it to happen, with it being the 50th anniversary in November.

I think he just always had this idea that I would [play Troughton]. It’s very small – I’m literally only in a very small little bit, but it was lovely to be part of it.

Unsurprisingly, Gatiss – who wrote and Executive Produced the drama that stars David Bradley as William Hartnell – is described by his friend as being “in his absolute element.”

The attention to detail was immaculate. He’s done a really good rendering of that time and that story. I think it’s a real treat.

An Adventure in Space and Time is expected to be broadcast in November.



(Via Digital Spy)

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Missing Episodes Rumour Rumbles On…

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.

That old “Doctor Who missing episodes have been found” rumour just refuses to die, doesn’t it?

Following the apparent dismissal by the man believed to have uncovered lost episodes from the 1960s, Philip Morris comes a rehash of the “a trailer for lost episode X is set to appear on DVD Y!” story which has been around longer than Matt Smith, frankly.

This time, the DVD in question is September’s overdue release of The Terror of the Zygons, starring Tom Baker, Lis Sladen and Nicholas Courtney, just a couple of months before we see the return of the Zygons in the 50th anniversary special. Which serial/episode will be trailed? Well, naturally no one is saying, as a lot of Bleeding Cool’s coverage of this topic has been based on the same cycle of rumours that have been going around for months, even years in this case.

According to them:

The rumour stands that whoever hold the films wants the films to be properly treated, with full restoration, the use of vidFIRE and the like, while BBC Worldwide wanted to release them quickly in the format they arrived in. And that has caused the delay, in negotiation and release.

 

Caroline Skinner, the then-producer of Doctor Who was assigned as chief negotiator, considered a senior enough figure. Earlier this year, after a major public falling out between showrunner Steven Moffat and Skinner, Private Eye reporting Moffat shouting “you are erased from Doctor Who”, she left the show.

 

Russell T Davies’ first response to that news was, apparently, “who is going to negotiate  now?” Apparently Moffat is not in favour with whoever has these films, and initial demands involved Moffat’s departure from the show. Clearly this did not happen.

 

Contracts have, however, been agreed with all concerned parties for BBC Worldwide for the return and release of Marco Polo, Enemy Of The World and Web Of Fear missing episodes. This would account for seventeen missing episodes, verified and in releasable condition.

Some of this is verifiable. Other aspects of it are not, and some could be pure conjecture. If you’ve stumbled into the whole rumour/storm/nonsense late, we continue to advise our readers to take this all with a dimensionally transcendental pinch of salt…

(Via Bleeding Cool)

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Illustrator John Ridgway Discusses Prisoners 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.

IDW’s Prisoners of Time series was launched  in January with some familiar names attached. Following a First Doctor story illustrated by Simon Fraser was a Second Doctor story drawn by Lee Sullivan (who we will be chatting to later today).

Meanwhile current DWM regular Mike Collins, Gary Erskine and Phillip Bond drew the Third, Fourth and Fifth Doctor stories, respectably, and bearing the responsibility of the Sixth Doctor is veteran John Ridgway, who recently spoke to Down The Tubes’ John Freeman about returning to the Doctor Who fold, as it were.

RIdgway, of course, was perhaps the most regular DWM comic strip artist in the 1980s, and spent a lot of time bringing Colin Baker’s Sixth Doctor to print. John Freeman, meanwhile, is a former DWM editor.

We would heartily recommend reading the full piece, which reveals that Peri and Frobisher the shapeshifting penguin both feature in this installment of IDW’s 50th anniversary celebration, but one section in particular stood out – John’s solution to the challenge of creating a reasonable likeness to the actor concerned.

I had a lot of trouble capturing a likeness for a cover for one of the reprints I had drawn earlier. Fortunately, working on computer means that if a picture “goes wrong” the picture can be replaced with a fresh drawing. I had several attempts at drawing Colin Baker’s face from photographs – without much success. Eventually, I put the photograph on a layer and traced over it to produce a reasonable likeness.

The tricky part is getting the eyes right and getting flexibility to the line width (otherwise the picture looks too bland). From there, it’s fairly easy to alter the expression to suit what the script calls for.

Ridgway is also quizzed as to whether he would like to illustrate a longer story.

Yes, I would like to draw another Doctor Who story. If I had to choose a monster I think it would be the Draconians, but I would rather work on some new monster (or creature). I’d like to do something with epic scope and grand scenery.

Read the full interview with John Ridgway at Down The Tubes.

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Convention Organizers Bash Colin Baker

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.

Here’s an oddity for a Sunday morning: Starfury Events, who organize many conventions including this weekend’s Return to the Eleventh Hour, have remarkably alienated a huge swathe of their potential customers (and thereby put their business at risk) by inexplicably attacking former Doctor Who star Colin Baker on Friday.

We wouldn’t like to speculate on the atmosphere at this weekend;s event (which Colin was not involved with) in light of this:

Charming. To which the great man responded:

I guess Starfury Events won't be inviting me ever then…
At least being fat ugly and grey is better than being cowardly and unkind.

— Colin Baker (@SawbonesHex) June 28, 2013

Really, this is a completely baffling and needless attack on Colin (he’s 70, for goodness sake!). We’re not really going to go to town on this and say: “oi, Kasterborites, boycott Starfury convention events” but we would suggest that before parting with your hard earned cash in this era of financial meltdowns that you seriously consider the reputation of the business you’re patronizing.

Make your feelings known to their Twitter account, @StarfuryEvents.

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Borusa Actor Angus MacKay Dies

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 is with great sadness that Kasterborous relates the passing of actor Angus MacKay who appeared in several classic era Doctor Who episodes.

The actor, a star with numerous television appearances, made two separate Doctor Who roles his own. He first appeared in the 1976 classic The Deadly Assassin and made Doctor Who history when he brought to life the Doctor’s old teacher Chancellor Borusa. The character then went on to make a further three appearances in the series but it was MacKay who first gave us the likeable pomposity of Borusa.

The actor then went on to play the role of Turlough’s headmaster at Brendon Public School in the 1983 Fifth Doctor story Mawdryn Undead.

Outside of the Doctor Who world, MacKay made many a television appearance in classic shows including Only Fools and Horses, The Sweeney, One Foot in the Grave, Howard’s Way, Z Cars, Minder, The Professionals and Steptoe and Son. He also dipped his toes into the world of film when he appeared in the 1971 movie Percy which also featured T P McKenna. He also made appearances in both the Chevy Chase film European Vacation and the John Cleese comedy Clockwise.

MacKay was 86.

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Daleks’ Master Plan 5: The Traitors

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’ve got another instalment of our World Wide Web-famous adaptation of The Daleks’ Master Plan, courtesy of the amazing Rick Lundeen, right here, right now!

This Doctor Who classic sadly doesn’t exist in its entirety (as far as we know, right?) but has been brought back to striking life with this superb comic strip which we’re all too pleased to host. So, click the first image below and enjoy!

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If you want to download and read at your own pace, the PDF version will be available later in the Kasterborous Store. Previous episodes can be downloaded now.

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Panini Sale Shouldn’t Affect DWM

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.

Interesting news is coming from Italy – Panini, publishers of Doctor Who Magazine and many other licences periodicals, is apparently up for sale…

With a business built on publishing licensed works from Marvel and DC Comics in Europe and South America, Panini are probably most famous as the company behind the collector sticker album craze, one that regularly features football and blockbuster movies among its subjects.

There is no suggestion at this stage that the sale will affect any of the licenced publications, least of all DWM; however, the sale of such a big name in European publishing is sure to raise a few eyebrows and open a few chequebooks.

(Via Down The Tubes)

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The Doctors Revisited 1 – 4 DVD Details

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.

More details have emerged of the DVD release of Doctor Who – The Doctor’s Revisited – BBC America’s month by month tribute to the each incarnation of the Time Lord, kicking off with the first four Doctor’s specials.

Doctor Who – The Doctors Revisited first aired in January 2013 and is a series of in-depth documentaries followed by a classic serial for each of the Doctor’s. Guests so far have included the companions, such as Frazer Hines, Louise Jameson and John Barrowman, the Doctors, David Tennant, Tom Baker and Peter Davison and the current showrunner, Steven Moffat

The 4 disc set is priced at $39.98 ($49.98 in Canada) and includes the documentaries as well as the accompanying episodes: The Aztecs (the First Doctor), The Tomb of the Cybermen (the Second Doctor), Spearhead from Space (the Third Doctor) and Pyramids of Mars (the Fourth Doctor).

Steven Moffat has also recorded a special introduction to each of the episode as an added bonus feature.

The North America release will be on 16 July, 2013

The sixth Doctor Who special The Doctors Revisited – The Sixth Doctor airs Saturday, June 29th at 8:30pm/7:30c on BBC America followed by the classic serial, Vengeance on Varos.

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Moffat Recalls Good Times with “my mate Matt”

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.

In a touching tribute to the departing Matt Smith, Steven Moffat has told Doctor Who Magazine that, one day in the future, he and Matt will work together again.

In the new issue of Doctor Who Magazine (#462) Moffat pays tribute to Matt Smith and all the mad adventures the pair have been on:

These have been the maddest few years of my writing career – so many ridiculous adventures, so many things I thought I’d never do – and I could not have shared them a with a kinder, more considerate, more entirely supportive friend than the man I completely refuse to call Smithers.

We’ve been to so many insane press launches, we’ve looned about New York, we’ve dropped in on a specialist Doctor Who bar to watch the show with some (fairly surprised) fans, travelled the country in a special Doctor Who bus (well he did, I just dropped in occasionally!) and shown the new Director General of the BBC how to fly the TARDIS. And we’ve spent a fair amount of time looking at each other, and wondering how the hell any of this happened, and how we ended up here.

Moffat went on to say, he hopes one day to work with Smith again:

Out there in the future, Matt’s finale is to be written and made and a new Doctor is to be summoned. Soon I’ll be lying on my sofa, in an agony of indecision again. Beyond that, someday I’m sure I’ll work with Matt again, and we’ll laugh about old times. But I don’t want to think about that right now. I want to think about the best of days…

I will never forget a moment of it – me and my mate Matt, making Doctor Who.

Enough to make a grown man cry. Or that might just be the hay fever…

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Watch the BFI’s Sixth Doctor Panel Online

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.

Couldn’t make it to the BFI’s Sixth Doctor screening of The Two Doctors? Well, fear not as a video of the guest panel discussing the 1985 serial has been made available online via the BFI’s website.

Lasting just over 15 minutes the video features the actors Frazer Hines and Tony Selby, script editor and writer Eric Saward, and special effects artist Grahame Flynn – an addition to the previously-announced guest list – in conversation with season co-curator Justin Johnson.

Unlike previous panels the video has not been made available on the BFI’s Youtube page. To view, head to the BFI website.

The screening of The Two Doctors took place earlier this month to mark the Sixth Doctor’s era as part of the BFI’s Doctor Who at 50 celebrations.

Up next, the Seventh Doctor and the classic 1988 serial Remembrance of the Daleks, with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred ready to reminisce about their adventures on the show on 27th July.

Unfortunately but not unsurprisingly, tickets have already sold out.

(via Doctor Who News)

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