Christian Cawley's Blog, page 43

Tell Us What You Thought Of Sleep No More!

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.

Oh my, something has gotten into Doctor Who, rewired the opening titles and jettisoned most of the score – that’s right, we left normal service behind this week for the experimental Sleep No More; and once again, it’s time to let us know what you thought.

Did the sandmen bring you dreams? Did the found footage gimmick leave you lost? Or did the change of format blow the dust off the base under siege plot?

Personally, I didn’t really work for me. I love the idea of it being a found footage pre-base under siege episode – imagine a frantic, Aliens style episode shot in a similar fashion but, what we got instead was, and I know we don’t add space to things in the future, but it was Space Ringu right?

It feels a few years too late for both the found footage concept and the eventual reveal felt equally dated. It was difficult to care for the broadly drawn characters and the twist involving Clara was pretty obvious too.

I don’t know guys but, have your say! Vote in our poll which ranges from ‘Best of the Best’ right down to ‘I wish that footage had never been found’.

What did you think of Sleep No More?

Voted? Thank you very much! We would very much appreciate your views in the comments section below too. Basically, we want your ‘Sleep’ puns!

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Clara Isn’t in Doctor Who Spin-Off, Class – But Will The Doctor or K9 Be?!

Katie Gribble 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.

When the announcement of the new Doctor Who spin off show earlier this year, Class raised a great deal of excitement and a lot of questions about the direction it will take. We know that we will journey back to Coal Hill School to see some familiar faces and learn a little more about the goings on at that most famous of schools. Otherwise, very little has been confirmed so far.

Best-selling author and writer of the series, Patrick Ness, has already confirmed that Jenna Coleman, whose character in Doctor Who is a teacher at the school, will not be in the series. Clara’s exit from the mother show certainly left the opportunity for the English teacher to turn up in the new series, but with Ness’ confirmation that she will not appear in Class, the already fervent speculation concerning Clara’s ultimate fate has been given an extra boost. There has also been speculation about the Doctor’s possible appearance and the return of K-9 but very little solid facts have appeared this early on. For now, everything is open to speculation which is much more fun!

Class will air next year on BBC3 and be repeated on BBC 1.

 

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Advanced Review Round-Up: Sleep No More

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.

Genuinely innovative or surprisingly similar; there’s only a short while to wait before we discover whether or not Sleep No More is as ground breaking as its inception proved to be.

Borrowing the ‘found footage’ template which found success with horror movies like Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project and Chronicle before burning out relatively quickly by both a succession of poorly realised copycats and the very limitations of the format – we’re looking at you, the Paranormal Activity franchise; it seems a bit late for Doctor Who to adopt this style but does it work?

Den of Geek enjoyed the ‘horror undertones’ of the episode but found that the meld of traditional Doctor Who storytelling and ‘found footage’ aesthetics didn’t quite gel.

“I very much warmed to the boldness, and the commitment to what Gatiss and [director Justin ] Molotnikov have tried to do here, and Reece Shearsmith is a very welcome guest star. Furthermore, Gatiss’ wit shines through to punctuate the horror. But come the end credits, the final result didn’t feel that satisfying to me I’m afraid. There are positives, certainly, and much to talk about when we get to the spoiler-review.

“Sleep No More, though, takes an ambitious shot, but doesn’t quite hit the target. That’s a far better state of affairs than taking the safe route, mind.”

Indeed, it’s a familiar story with Doctor Who TV who, finding much to like in the innovative new monsters The Sandmen, there wasn’t quite the sense that Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman were given anything revelatory to do.

“After Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman’s outstanding performances over the last couple of weeks, things inevitably fall under the shadow here. This is a fairly standard affair in terms of the TARDIS duo’s characterisation, with a couple of nice moments. There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a bog-standard Doctor/companion episode where they are chased by monsters, but the pair could act out what’s required here in their sleep (ahem).”

Calling Sleep No More ‘the most divisive episode of the run yet’ Cultbox couldn’t see past Mark Gatiss – perhaps more at home with historical, lighter episodes – attempting to out Moffat, Moffat.

“Gatiss’s voice – decent, companionable, urbane – is usually a welcome fireside companion; but here, as his predilection for darkness plays out in a sci-fi setting, the act of ventriloquism falters.

“In fairness to Gatiss, there are no story twists here that are any less ridiculous than the Moon being an egg or a parasite god being placated by a lullaby. Even so, while we obviously can’t say much about the direction the story takes, there is, in the USP and modus operandi of the monster, the kind of meta-fiction at work that has become increasingly stale in Doctor Who, through overuse.”

‘Divisive’ seems to be the watch word of these early reviews with Impact Online reiterating the weariness with meta-fiction while adding a growing frustration with the lighting of the episode.

“Beauty and ugliness are in the eye of the beholder and it’s definitely going to be a divisive episode both in its presentational style and actual narrative. I know some fellow reviewers who’ve quite liked it, seeing it as an offbeat story with some of the tropes being given a twist. Certainly you can see what Mark Gatiss, a usually creative writer, was aiming for, but he landed wide of that mark.  Having now watched it twice, just to make sure I wasn’t missing something obvious – the second time with my wife, another big Who fan who cited exactly the same problems with it – it remains an outing that mistakes vastly under-lit corridors for ‘tension’ and shows all the reasons that Under the Lake / Before the Flood benefited from being given extra time and allowing to make us care about the supporting cast.

Anyone expecting something radical may well be disappointed in an episode that really doesn’t play to its potential.”

Make up your own mind when Sleep No More airs today at 20:15 on BBC 1.

 

 

 

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Doctor Who Festival Day One: Quotes and 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.

 

On day one of the Doctor Who Festival currently taking place this weekend at London’s ExCel centre attendees Peter Capaldi, Michelle Gomez, Ingrid Oliver, Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss chatted to gathered journalists about potential new companions, Twitter and on set injuries.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Steven Moffat, let slip that progress on just who will replace Jenna Coleman were not quite as advanced as we thought.

“We went to the BBC yesterday to talk about the type of person we might be looking at,” Moffat revealed. “To my unending terror, we have not yet finished episode 11 and episode 12 is nowhere near finished so we haven’t actually delivered the show yet.”

Speculation had put Ingrid Oliver’s UNIT Scientist Osgood in the frame to replace Coleman; it’s a thought that she herself hasn’t considered and, after the events of The Zygon Inversion, it looks as though she’s happy enough on Earth.

“I never thought I could be,” Oliver said. “As an actor you can’t let yourself go there.”

Plus there was the small matter of her being a tiny bit dead.

“I thought, ‘oh that’s a shame’. Steven definitively came up to me at the read-through and said, ‘sorry I killed you’ and laughed in my face. I had thought maybe I could come back but he was quite categorical about it. So I didn’t know until quite soon before we started filming this series.”

So who does Peter Capaldi want alongside the Twelfth Doctor in the TARDIS?

“I’m not quite sure where we’re at,” he said carefully, “but I will [be involved] at some point. Obviously at the end of the day, it has to be someone I’m happy to work with.”

Something that he isn’t currently happy with is the state of his knee – after he succumbed to the condition now known as ‘Doctor’s Knee’ an effect of all the running the length of many a corridor. The one upside? A sweet new cane for the Doctor.

“But I’ve become rather drawn to the cane that I had. Obviously I wanted one with a silver fox or a skull on the handle. You go between feeling rather elegant and feeling like a blatant idiot [when using a cane].”

Clearing up a few details, Capaldi quashed rumours that he was off to direct episode of Veep – the American satire from the team behind The Thick of It – as well as directing in general and it appears it’s not something that he doesn’t want to return to unless ‘it’s mine’.

As for more immediate matters, writer Mark Gatiss shared a few details on Saturday’s episode Sleep No More; which plays on our very human need to ‘meddle with things we don’t understand’.

“Maybe there’s a reason for sleep beyond just needing 40 winks,” he said. “Maybe it’s because it keeps the monsters away.”

And finally, speaking of monstrous things, as fans gather to capture intimate moments with their idols, Twitter wasn’t too far from the minds of some of the attendees.

“My goodness the power of Twitter,” said Missy herself, Michelle Gomez. “Whenever I’m feeling bad about myself I just read my Twitter feed because it’s full of love.”

However, it’s not always the case.

“It is nice,” said Ingrid Oliver. “When you’re feeling a bit down you get in the bath and read Twitter, with some candles. People post some horrible things as well but that’s kind of par for the course.”

The Doctor Who Festival continues over the weekend.

Sleep No More airs today at 20:15 on BBC 1.

 

 

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Christmas Special To Be Shown in US Cinemas

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.

Dearest Kasterborites! It has come to our attention that our esteemed Stateside friends will be able to attend CINEMA SCREENINGS of this year’s Christmas Special on Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th December.

The screenings of the episode are at 7.30pm on both days. That’s the same episode on different days – just so we’re all clear and no one complains about seeing the same glorious Christmas Special twice on the big screen in luxurious technicolor! Oh, wait a minute… That’s not such a bad thing, is it?

The special will be shown at around 300 cinemas nationwide in the USA and will include some exclusive extras as previous cinema showings have done. You will get an interview with Alex Kingston and a behind-the-scenes featurette with Mr Capaldi and The Grand Moff, themselves, no less. Worth the price of admission alone, surely? Well, maybe not – but it is a nice incentive to get down to the cinema and watch it all on a giant screen whilst munching turkey and cranberry flavoured popcorn. That doesn’t exist? It should!

In case you need any more incentive, here’s the synopsis that has also been released with this announcement…

“It’s Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure. Time traveller River Song meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas.”

This marks the continuation of the partnership between BBC Worldwide North America and Fathom Events, following on from the successful showing of the Season 8 finale, Death in Heaven, earlier this year.

Tickets are on sale now, so head over to the Fathom Events website and book yours while they are still available! Tickets can also be purchased at participating cinemas.

 

 

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Peter Capaldi Asked Tom Hanks to Appear on Doctor Who

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.

Well you can’t blame Peter Capaldi for trying. Not content to have some of the best guest stars British TV has to offer, the producers of Doctor Who decided to aim a little higher when a certain Hollywood star was in town.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Capaldi revealed that he asked Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks – star of Forrest Gump, Big and more importantly, The ‘Burbs – if he fancied a trip in the TARDIS.

“I think Doctor Who is a great venue for any kind of actor. Funnily enough they were trying to persuade me to…. I was working with Tom Hanks last night and the producer was on to me saying, ‘Try and persuade Tom to come and be in the show’. I did have a word with him but he is very busy at the moment.”

Not to be downhearted, Capaldi, like the rest of us, has a wish list of actors whom he could very well be elbowing in the ribs and promising the galaxy to when he’s onset or attending a gala première in the future.

“I think it would be good to have some rock stars: I’d like to see Keith Richards or David Bowie,” he said.

The Thin White Duke and Keef in the TARDIS? Maybe even Mick Jagger too! A Dancing in the Streets reunion! It’s like some sort of interstellar Live Aid gig! Ood Aid, perhaps.

Whilst on the comfy sofa of morning news – we’ve heard BBC Breakfasts’ is quite stiff – he also echoed the sentiments of Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss concerning the late air time for the current series.

“I think it’s nice, if you have a show which is a family show, that a family is able to build a ritual around it and I think it has to be on at a regular time in order for people to do that,” he said.

“So I would certainly be happier if it was on a little bit earlier and if people knew if it was on at the same time every week; I think it would certainly be a nice thing, but you know these are not my decisions. So I’m just expressing my opinion about it.”

You can currently catch Peter Capaldi at the Doctor Who Festival this weekend.

Sleep No More airs on Saturday at 8.15pm on BBC One.

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There’ll Be Romance at Christmas for River and 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.

This Christmas will the Doctor be giving his heart(s) to someone special?

It’s been more than two years since Alex Kingston’s River Song appeared in the series and; according to Peter Capaldi, there could be some romance in the air between her and the Twelfth Doctor.

“Yes, there is [a chance for romance],” Capaldi said today to the Radio Times  at the debut Doctor Who festival in London. “I’m trying not to give it away.”

The last time we saw the pair was 2013’s The Name of The Doctor where she shared a goodbye kiss with Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor however, Capaldi was quick to quash any potential rekindling of former relationships.

“My Doctor is different from the Doctors who were there when Alex first arrived,” Capaldi said. “This Doctor’s different from that. It’s a different dynamic.”

Speaking of different dynamics, the next series for Capaldi promises big changes both inside the TARDIS and potentially to the series itself – although Moffat has denied that the series will be truncated in any way. So what can we expect?

“Next year’s a different thing, and it’s quite interesting and challenging, and scary,” Capaldi said.

“I’ve only done two series, but I’m amazed at how fast it’s gone. I’ve done 26 episodes now, you know. And every time you’ve got through a season, and you’ve discovered all these things about this new Doctor, it’s sort of scrapped and you start again. You have to come to it afresh and find new things – but that’s quite challenging and interesting.

“So I’m fascinated to know where we’re going to go. Because in some ways he’s much more amenable, but in other ways he’s even darker. So I think that makes for a very interesting character.”

The post There’ll Be Romance at Christmas for River and The Doctor appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

The Adorable Cross Stitch Doctors You Need In Your Life

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.

If you’re planning to snap up some Doctor Who related merchandise for your fellow fans this Christmas then you could do no wrong with these beautifully realised cross stitched miniature Doctors!

Sewing up Christmas, creator Robin Hobbs has enchanted the Radio Times with her beautifully crafted versions of every Doctor from monochrome William Hartnell to perfectly coiffured David Tennant; assembling them to stare out longingly at a recently restored Gallifrey (clouds and briefly glimpsed missing home world not included).

Yes, as you may have counted, there’s an interloper amongst our ranks but what’s Christmas without inviting the crotchety old relative with the questionable past. And yes, of course the War Doctor loves tissue paper crowns, he’s not a monster!

Speaking of monsters, how about a Weeping Angel? Or a Dalek? Or even the greatest monster of them all, Santa Claus! No, wait…

And, yes, you can also get a 3-D TARDIS model.

Patterns for all thirteen 6-inch dolls and the TARDIS are available from Robins Etsy shop.

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The Zygon Inversion Airline Crash Sparks Complaints

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 Zygon Inversion has sparked complaints after parallels were drawn between an aircraft explosion and the recent Egyptian air crash.

The episode, which saw Clara’s evil clone Bonnie shoot down an airplane with a missile, received 30 complaints from Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom over the weekend.

Many viewers branded the episode insensitive due to the timing of its broadcast in the UK, which occurred a week after a Russian charter jet was brought down over the north of the rugged Sinai Peninsula in Egypt on 31st October – All 224 passengers were killed in the tragedy, thought to be caused by a bomb.

A BBC spokesman told Contact Music: “The episode was signposted as science fiction and no one died in the scene.”

Last year, Robots of Sherwood was cut to remove a potentially sensitive sequence in light of the death of two journalists, James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were murdered by IS (Islamic State) militants.

A scene in the climatic fight involving a decapitation was removed out of respect to the US Journalists.

This isn’t the first time that Ofcom have received complaints directed at Doctor Who. Last year, six people complained to the watchdog about a lesbian kiss involving lizard-woman Madame Vastra and her human wife Jenny Flint.

Ofcom did not investigate, saying at the time: “Our rules do not discriminate between scenes involving opposite sex and same sex couples.”

Officials will assess the complaints levelled at The Zygon Inversion before deciding whether to investigate.

 

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Reece Shearsmith Interview: “I’m Privileged to be Part of Such an Iconic Show”

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.

You might know Reece Shearsmith for playing Patrick Troughton in An Adventure in Space and Time, or maybe for series such as Inside No. 9 and The League of Gentlemen – but as of this weekend, you’ll know him as Professor Rassmussen.

The BBC spoke to Shearsmith about appearing in Doctor Who‘s first found-footage episode, Sleep No More.

BBC: You’re playing the role of a professor, can you tell us about him?

Reece Shearsmith: Professor Rassmussen has created a machine that has changed the very fabric of human existence. He is very proud of what he has done, but at what cost?

Can you explain your relationship with the Doctor in this episode?

The Doctor arrives on the space laboratory and begins asking some difficult questions in relation to the Professor’s work. The Doctor is a bit of an irritant to the Professor, who doesn’t like his work being questioned.

It’s shot in a very different way from the episodes we’ve seen so-far: was there a lot of discussion on set around the direction?

Time was taken during filming to make sure we never broke the conceit of the episode, and so a lot of time was spent capturing the action from various characters POV’s. It was quite meticulous and the action I think feels very raw and ‘captured’.

What did you initially think of the script?

I knew it had the potential to be very scary, and I was excited to be playing Rassmussen. I felt I knew exactly how Mark had intended it to be delivered. Hopefully I got somewhere near. I had a fantastic time filming the episode and felt really privileged to be part of such an iconic show.

How did you find acting directly in to the eye of the camera?

It’s very odd doing that because it is counter intuitive to the way you film anything else ever! You spend most of filming ignoring the camera, (whilst being very aware of its presence) and never looking right into it.

Have you worked with Peter and Jenna in the past?

I have met Peter a few times socially, but we have never worked together. I had never met Jenna, but the pair of them made me feel very welcome and part of the “Whoniverse.” It is quite daunting going into such an established world, so that was very gracious and lovely of them.

Sleep No More airs on Saturday 14th November at 8:15pm on BBCOne.

(Thanks to BlogtorWho.)

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