Christian Cawley's Blog, page 41

Karen Gillan: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is So Cool”

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.

Former Doctor Who companion, Karen Gillan who played Amy Pond regularly between 2010 and 2012 has spoken briefly about returning to the Marvel Universe for the second Guardians of the Galaxy film.

Gillan plays Nebula, the troublesome daughter of Thanos (essentially, the Big Bad of Marvel Phase Three), who sadly didn’t play a massive role in the first Guardians movie but is expected to have a larger role in its sequel. Describing directors, James Gunn’s enthusiasm as infectious, she reveals that she has indeed read the script for the following film:

“I took it in my hands – because they don’t send it over email; they deliver it by hand – and it was so cool. I was so excited, and I ran upstairs, and I put on the soundtrack, the Awesome Mixtape 2, and then got into it. It’s so good.”

Gunn is a Doctor Who fan – hello James, if you’re reading this! Big fan! – and particularly wanted to see Gillan as the blue-skinned villain.

Nebula is the sister of Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and the pair had a little tiff in Guardians of the Galaxy; Karen says this will be expanded upon in Vol. 2:

“I think what I’m really excited about it delving into the sisterly relationship between Gamora and Nebula. I think that we’re going to see a little bit more of that, and it’s going to be a bit more fleshed out.”

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is expected in cinemas on 5th May 2017.

The post Karen Gillan: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is So Cool” appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Spoilers: Hell Bent Synopsis Sees The Doctor Return To…

Simon Mills 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 that time of year again, folks! We are entering the final stretch, the home run, the last leg of the epic journey that has been Series 9 of Doctor Who that took us from Vikings to Zygons, from the distant past to the far future – all accompanied by some electric guitar shredding! Oh, and we took in some fish and chips along the way. Probably. It’s the time of year when we look toward the finale and desperately try to avoid spoilers while at the same time sneaking a peek through our fingers for a glimpse of what delights and devilment may await us.

We know that Clara is leaving us. That’s a fact. No secret. So long and thanks for all the fish. What we DON’T know is the manner in which she will leave, but we know for sure it’s going to be a heart-breaker. Or rather “hearts-breaker”!


I shall now pause to allow for our esteemed editor to insert one of those "spoiler warning" thingies

Is it done? Are you still here? Good! Let’s crack on with some spoilers and wild speculation, then!

That esteemed free news organ, The Metro, has published some juicy tidbits about the finale that reveal that The Doctor will be returning to… wait for it… Gallifrey!

The Grand Moff has revealed in Doctor Who Magazine that episode 11 will see The Doctor pushed to the brink of madness and that episode 12 will see what happens when he passes that point. The official synopsis for the finale, “Hell Bent”, goes like this… ‘If you took everything from him, betrayed him, trapped him, and broke both his hearts…how far might the Doctor go? Returning to Gallifrey, the Doctor faces the Time Lords in a struggle that will take him to the end of time itself.’

Obviously, we can assume that something really horrid happens to Clara and it is this grief that sends him doolally. Coupled with this madness, The Doctor somehow manages to reach Gallifrey which we last saw in the 50th Anniversary Special, The Day of the Doctor, consigned to some nether region of the multiverse and seemingly out of reach forever. So, where the heck is it and how does he get there? What dark deeds and depths will the despairing Doctor descend to in order to reach Gallifrey? Also… why? Or more specifically, why now? Is there something on Gallifrey that he needs in order to try and bring Clara back? Some powerful artefact he needs to undo some universe shattering mischief he unleashed? Or maybe it was the Missy/Master that brought about this series of events in order to manipulate the Doctor into finding Gallifrey for her/him so s/he can grab some hitherto unknown MacGuffin her him/herself. Also, I need a new set of gender-neutral pronouns.

Now, what’s all that about “the end of time”… again? We’ve been there several times, no biggie. So, what new twist has The Grand Moff come up with this time to keep it fresh? It sounds more like a chase through time, maybe, rather than an end to time itself. At least it’s not a rather silly “reality bomb” idea. I hope. And there had better not be a “big red button” to fix it all at the end.

One other thing we ought to mention is the recurring theme of “hybrids” this year and how it might play into the finale? We’ve had numerous version of Clara since she first appeared – being various human/Dalek, human/Time Lord hybrids – and even calling herself “The Doctor” at one point. We also have Ashildr who the Doctor called a hybrid of human and Mire technology. And finally, there was Davros’ attempt to create Dalek/Time Lord hybrids by using The Doctor’s regeneration energy to make them immortal. Personally, I feel that this latter option is the most likely scenario to intertwine with the reappareance of Gallifrey and the Time Lords – they’ll be mighty upset to hear that The Doctor had a hand in giving regeneration energy to the Daleks!

We’ve also been promised some returning characters and “monsters”. I can feel a montage coming on… And I would rather not keep calling alien creatures “monsters”. That’s just rude.

[collapse]

Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll see some fireworks and another outstanding performance from Peter Capaldi, similar to the masterclass he gave us at the end of The Zygon Inversion. After all, we were promised a darker and a more closed off Doctor for next year, so the finale is bound to be epic and emotionally charged. Get the tissues ready!

So, there we have it. Spoilers spoiled. Wild theories theorised. Speculation speculated… What do you think will happen in the finale?

The post Spoilers: Hell Bent Synopsis Sees The Doctor Return To… appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Audio Clip: David Tennant and Catherine Tate Return for Big Finish

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.

Aaargh! This is too exciting! We’ve been dribbling (just a little) at the possibility of hearing The Tenth Doctor Adventures from Big Finish, but it’s aaaages away. But wait! There’s a very exciting clip from the audio online already!

It’s very exciting! We’re excited; are you excited? We’re excited! Exclamation marks!

Yep, the Tenth Doctor and Donna Noble are returning in three audio stores next year, and in the excerpt from the second of the new audio dramas, Time Reaver, written by Jenny Colgan (Dark Horizons), we find the pair in the TARDIS – and Donna’s in search for the Planet of the Boys…

Here’s what it’s about:

Calibris. The spaceport planet where anything goes. Where anyone who doesn’t want to be found can be lost, and where everything has its price. Where betentacled gangster Gully holds sway at the smugglers’ tavern, Vagabond’s Reach.

The alien Vacintians are trying to impose some order on the chaos. Soon the Doctor and Donna discover why. An illegal weapon is loose on the streets. A weapon that destroys lives… Slowly and agonisingly.

The Time Reaver.

The series is released in May 2016, but you won’t be surprised to know that I’ve already pre-ordered the set.

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The Valeyard Judges The Zygon Invasion/Inversion

The Valeyard 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, that was tense wasn’t it?

I rather hate to admit it but I quite enjoyed that. All these two parters are making me quite nostalgic for the days where I took several episodes to resolve anything. Except nothing was really resolved was it? The only thing that was really any different at the end was that there was a Zygon wondering on the set of a Benedict Cumberbatch historical film. You’d never catch me in a duffel coat.

More than twice at any rate.

But the real disappointment for me was that young Miss Bonnie wasn’t kept around in the TARDIS rather than her more human, and quite frankly snobbish, counterpart. It really does make one yearn for the days when I travelled with companions that weren’t human, female, and/or from either the 20th or 21st Century United Kingdom. London in particular. You know things are bad when you actually miss Turlough. True, he was dark, dangerous, and tried to kill me on multiple occasions, but he had his bad points as well. The poor chap was ginger after all. Hell, I even miss the damned penguin some days. And let’s not talk about Adric!

But I digress.

The whole affair was rather wonderfully put together and paced and I had completely forgotten how much I enjoyed being Scottish, even if I did keep referring to myself as Doctor Disco. Is it the guitar? Sometimes, I don’t make sense. Get used to it.

At this rate I might even find myself looking forward to the next episode.

The post The Valeyard Judges The Zygon Invasion/Inversion appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Heaven Sent/ Hell Bent to have Extended Running 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.

Great news: Hell Bent, the Doctor Who Series 9 finale, will have a longer running time than usual – a full 20 minutes extra!

Yep, the episode will be 65 minutes long, airing on BBCOne on 5th December from 8pm to 9:05pm. Which is scarily close. Seriously, it seems Series 9 has just begun, and yet here we are with only three episodes left…

Heaven Sent, the penultimate episode – devoted entirely to Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and Jami Reid-Quarrell as the mysterious villain – will also have en extended duration, clocking in at 55 minutes, screening between 8:05pm to 9pm on 28th November.

In total, then, the final tale of this series will be 2 hours in length! Wonderful stuff.

Last year’s finale, Death in Heaven, was an hour, so Hell Bent will be the longest episode of Doctor Who since Capaldi’s debut story, Deep Breath, which ran to 76 minutes.

And so we approach the finale with the usual excitement and dread as usual.

The post Heaven Sent/ Hell Bent to have Extended Running Time appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Out Now from Big Finish: Shield of the Jötunn

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 Sixth Doctor and Constance face a legendary Viking in the deserts of Arizona for Big Finish’s latest release, Doctor Who: Shield of the Jötunn.

The full-cast adventure rounds of the latest trilogy of Sixth Doctor adventures, as the Doctor (Colin Baker) and Constance Clarke (Miranda Raison) take a trip to an unusually cold Arizona, in the year 2029 AD.

In the desert, billionaire philanthropist Dr Hugo Macht is trying to save the world from climate change. But his great project to “scrub the sky clean” with nanoatomic machines grinds to an unexpected halt when his diggers break into something unexpected: a Viking burial barrow containing eight corpses, a mysterious shield, an even more mysterious inscription… and a yet more mysterious traveller in time and space, known only as the Doctor.

And that’s not even the strangest part of Dr Macht’s day. Soon, it’ll begin to snow. Soon, the Doctor and his Girl Friday, Mrs Constance Clarke, will come face-to-face with an ancient horror in the blizzard. A Frost Giant, in need of a new body. In need of flesh…

Starring Colin Baker, Miranda Raison, Michael J Shannon and James Caroll Jordan and written by Ian Edginton, Doctor Who: Shield of the Jötunn is available to buy on CD for £14.99 or Download for £12.99 today – and don’t forget, all Big Finish CD orders through the website also come with a complimentary Download so you can be listening only minutes after ordering.

The post Out Now from Big Finish: Shield of the Jötunn appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish Announce The War Doctor 1: Only The Monstrous Details

David Power 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 information has surfaced about the upcoming War Doctor boxset Only the Monstrous, written by Nicholas Briggs!

In the first new Time War story The Innocent, the Daleks prepare for the final assault on Gallifrey, unaware of what’s waiting for them at Omega One. Meanwhile stunning news has reached Cardinal Ollistra (Jacqueline Pearce) of the War Doctor’s apparent demise. And that’s not all, on the planet Keska a parochial war has returned to affect a peaceful civilisation. A war that has unknown connections to the great Time War. That’s a lot to deal with when the Doctor’s dead.

The next story titled The Thousand Worlds, features the War Doctor on a rescue mission to save high ranking Time Lord Seratrix from behind enemy lines in the Null Zone. Meanwhile times have changed on Keska, as a countdown to destruction is starting. Also questions arise about the identity and purpose of the Taalyens.

The last story in this boxset is The Heart of Battle. As the Daleks appear to plan to rule the Null Zone, rumours fly about whether their bloodlust has been quenched. The War Doctor doesn’t believe so, but struggles to prove it. As the countdown to the destruction of Keska proceeds, the War Doctor must make a defining choice.

Cor, they sound exciting, don’t they?

You can pre-order the set here. While you can pre-order all 4 War Doctor boxsets plus the Eighth Doctor prequel story right here!

Also, recording has completed on the second War Doctor boxset Infernal Devices. More details to come soon!

So, are you all excited? Are you gonna buy the full saga?

The post Big Finish Announce The War Doctor 1: Only The Monstrous Details appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Natalie Dormer Would Play A Female Doctor…If The Script Was Right

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.

Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer has thrown her hat into the ring should the Doctor ever change – provided, that is, if the script was there.

A self-confessed ‘geek’ Dormer said, just like any other role, she would consider taking the part was right.

“For me it’s always about the script,” she comment while doing press for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.

She went on to add that while the concept may sound good, it’s pointless if the ‘multi-layering’ isn’t there.

“It has to be real human beings, contradictory, flawed, complex multidimensional characters” she said. “It can’t just be concept.

“You know, female James Bond – CONCEPT. It has to have quality in the writing of real human psychology.”

It’s an interesting point because, so far, the conversation has solely been about the concept in the broadest of terms – with the onus on how an actor will fit into the role of the Doctor, rather than an actor being interested in what the Doctor offers an actress – beyond the very act of taking the role.

Perhaps it’s The Hunger Games itself that presents the best example of how to address the issue of gender – the characters, in Dormers eyes, are written gender neutral. The parts could be played by any particular gender, and the same cannot be said of the Doctor.

His gender identity is fluid but he’s written as a male character – admittedly one that tends more towards parity than James Bond but still a male character.

Of course, you could argue that under-pinning the psychology of the Doctor, isn’t a complex, multi-dimensional human, but a Time Lord, and it’s this where the attraction is for an actor.

How these details would ironed out if the role was taken by a female actor isn’t really what Steven Moffat has been trying to do – the very act of opening up the potential for change, it seems is as far as this showrunner will take us.

The details, and the reality of it, will be down to someone else – hence his need to be wowed by an actor that could embody the Doctor regardless of gender – I’m not sure that the two things are mutually exclusive.

The post Natalie Dormer Would Play A Female Doctor…If The Script Was Right appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Doctor Who Festival: Peter Capaldi Gives Jenna Coleman An Emotional Send Off

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.

Bringing the Doctor Who Festival to an emotional close, Peter Capaldi bid his departing companion Jenna Coleman a touching farewell with a huge bouquet of flowers.

As the final panel drew to a close, the Twelfth Doctor himself stood in front of hundreds of costumed fans and gave a heart-felt speech to Coleman, who will depart the role of Clara Oswald, at the end of this series.

“We just want to say good luck to you in the future and everything that you do,” he said. “We wanted to say thank you for being the most wonderful companion. For giving us the gift of your talent, your time, your friendship and for being Clara.  But more important than anything else, for being Jenna.”

The pair then embraced on stage before Capaldi added: “The last four years have been the most wonderful journey, and incredible, unique, wonderful and mad and amazing.

“I will forever treasure the life experiences. I remember a conversation with Steven [Moffat], actually. We were talking about the 50th anniversary and how it was one of those that we will be looking back on for years and years to come and how special it was that we were apart of that. It’s such a special pocket of time. To have had so much warmth and enthusiasm and love from the fans has been incredible.”

*Sob! That’s a pretty moving goodbye. In fact, it’s a perfect goodbye and one that Jenna has been looking for since she had a change of heart at the end of series eight, and then again at Christmas. Here’s hoping the episode also delivers a similar emotional punch.

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Face The Raven: New Image Gallery

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.

It looks like Maisie Williams’ Ashildr/Me isn’t the only returning character to encounter the Doctor when he takes a trip down ‘trap street’ in this week’s ominous Face the Raven.

If these new images are anything to go by, it looks like everyone’s favourite intergalactic rhino police, the Judoon – last seen in The Magician’s Apprentice – are back and judging by the shackle device on the Twelfth Doctor’s arm, they’re there to enforce the law.

The device appears to be some sort of tracker or perhaps a vortex manipulator, albeit a basic one – perhaps even a teleporter?

Elsewhere in this collection of new images, we get a better look at Ashildr’s new look, a few shots of Rigsy in action and that moment from the recent trailer where Clara says goodbye to the Peter Capaldi’s Doctor – God, no wonder everyone looks so glum.

We won’t know for sure just what’s in store until this Saturday when we’ll Face the Raven…

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