Christian Cawley's Blog, page 6

Doctor Who to Stream on CraveTV in Canada

It’s the end… but the moment has been prepared for!

Fear not, brave citizens of Canada, for when Netflix ceases to offer Doctor Who you will be saved by CraveTV who will take up the mantle of satisfying your Time Lord cravings!

From EVP Content Production, Sales and Distribution, BBC Worldwide North America, Maat Forde says:

“Space and Bell Media have done a phenomenal job with one of the BBC’s crown jewels, that is Doctor Who. They have nurtured it, and built it, and are now going to make it accessible to everyone on multiple judi bola platforms – exclusively. This longstanding partnership exemplifies dedication in giving the fans what they want, when they want it, and hopefully attracting loads more along the way.”

Doctor Who News have reported on this and accompanied the news with lots of demographics and statistics and probably other stuff ending with “…ics”, most noteworthy of which is that the last Christmas special, The Husbands of River Song, was the most watched show on Christmas Day in Canada! Nice.

Series 9 will become available in the summer with Series 1-8 following suit later in the year after the agreement with Netflix expires. Series 10 onwards will be shown on SPACE first and will then move to CraveTV for streaming after the series has finished its run.

Original Kasterborous Crew Leave For Pastures New

 

Andrew Reynolds, Mez Burdett, and myself are leaving Kasterborous. Today is our last day at the helm of a ship that’s carried us through all time and space.

Oh, but it’s been fun. And part of what’s made it so great is the fandom. That includes you. In fact, that includes all the readers who have digested our work, so thank you. It also includes the wonderful people we’ve worked alongside; thank you to that dedicated bunch of lovely folk as well.

This is the end for us, but the moment has been prepared for. Because this isn’t It.

We’re not stopping; we’re moving on, and so we hope all the working relationships continue as we set sail on a new judi online site, The Doctor Who Companion. Please join us. We’re not quite ready to launch, but it’s just around the corner, I promise. We’re very excited about the content we’ve got coming up, including pieces from regular Kasterborous writers.

It feels strange to leave the K. It’s been our home for indulging in our passion for so long now. Indeed, Andy and Mez were the first regular news writers, while I joined in 2011. In our time, we’ve covered regenerations, the 50th anniversary, and plenty of goodness from Big Finish. That’s the tip of the iceberg.

But as a good man aptly put it, times change and so must we.

Don’t forget to twist the helmic regulator, and head over to the Doctor Who Companion. We’ll be more than happy to have you with us.

Goodbye. It’s been a genuine pleasure.

Fiver For Six And Evelyn!

Big Finish must really love five pound notes. Their ‘Big Finish for a Fiver’ offer, which includes audios like Her Final Flight, Shada (with the Eighth Doctor) and the Dalek Empire series, has been going for a while now.

And for this weekend only, they’re celebrating the wonderful late Maggie Stables, who played Evelyn Smythe between 2000 and 2011. Stables retired from acting in 2013, and sadly passed away in September 2014. Big Finish’s latest offer includes all her adventures alongside the Doctor.

The first 50 CDs of the Doctor Who Main Range (from The Sirens of Time to Zagreus) are available for just £2.99 on download, and this includes Evelyn’s introduction in The Marian Conspiracy, her meeting the Brigadier and Romana in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, and her battles against the Daleks in tales like The Apocalypse Element and Jubilee.

From Arrangements for War onwards, all her audio tales are available on CD and download for £5, including Medicinal Purposes (guest starring David Tennant), Pier Pressure, and 100. The Feast of Axos is also downloadable for £2.99 as part of Big Finish’s Listeners promotion.

The Family stories, Sophie Aldred and Philip Oliver, starring Sylvester McCoy, brings a decade’s worth of adventures to a close for Big Finish’s first original companion is starring by Sylvester McCoy.

although, The Maggie appeared as Evelyn in two extra adventures, Just War (permanently reduced to £5 on CD) and in Sarah Jane Smith: The Tao Connection, featuring the late Elisabeth Sladen as the irreplaceable journalist. both available for just £5: A Town Called Fortune takes the professor back to the Wild West.

Maggie Stables appears as alternative characters in two other dramas; aiding Lisa Bowerman in Bernice Summerfield.

Alternatively, you can enjoy all of the titles on offer in two special bundles. The Maggie CD bundle have 15 agen sbobet titles for only price £60 while the Download Maggie Stables Collection bundle contains 22 releases for the low of £85.

Karen Gillan Is Back in Blue (For Guardians of the Galaxy)

Karen Gillan is now back in blue – playing Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!

The former Doctor Who companion took to Twitter to tease her return as Thanos’ adopted daughter, with a simple photo of her blue hand. It has to be said, her costume looks a little battered…

It’s good to be back in blue. #GuardiansoftheGalaxy2 pic.twitter.com/LQcH4T5mXX

— Karen Gillan (@karengillan) February 24, 2016

Gillan previously said of her make-up:

“I was mentally prepared to go through it again. It’s so cool. The finished product is so cool that it’s just so worth it when I see it at the end.”

Gillan added:

“I think what I’m really excited about 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.”

And in related Marvel-but-also-Doctor-Who news, Finn Jones has been cast as Danny Rand aka. Iron Fist in the upcoming TV series of the same name. Fans might know Finn for playing Loras Tyrell in Game of Thrones, but the main interest to Whoviansis his part as Santiago Jones – the grandson of Jo Grant!

He appeared in the 2010 two-part story, Death of the Doctor in The Sarah Jane Adventures, which saw Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor teaming up with not only Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith but also Katy Manning as Jo Jones.

Iron Fist will come to TV screens later this year with 13 episodes, before he becomes part of The Defenders with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.

The Day(s) the Doctors Met

Max 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 Day(s) the Doctors Met

We all know that the Doctor is a Time Lord, but sometimes his command of time and space isn’t quite up to scratch and that often results in him meeting himself in a different guise. Of course, if science fiction has taught us anything over the years it’s that meeting yourself or someone in your family in the past is never a good thing. For example, when Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) told Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) not to interact with his family members after travelling through time in Back to the Future (1984), hundreds of millions of people (the movie grossed $385 million worldwide) learned that crossing paths with a relative in the past can alter the whole course of history.

Naturally, for this hypothesis to be accepted by the science fiction community, it needs to be tested and that’s something the Doctor has done on numerous occasions. Although the consequences of two or more Doctors meeting aren’t always as dire as they are in other shows and movies, they often result in some sort of epic battle with creatures from another dimension. Which, come to think of it, is a pretty average day in the Doctor’s life.

The Doctors’ Perfect Poker Faces

(Image: comicvine.com)

One memorable episode where multiple Doctors got their heads together and subsequently clashed them was in Five Card Draw. Throughout the Doctor Who series, we often get hints that the man himself is something of a gambler, someone willing to take a risk and put it all on the line when it matters. Anytime he’s battling his top enemies, such as the Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels, the Doctor is always willing to take a risk to win and that’s probably why he’s a canny poker player.

Looking back through the history of Doctor Who, there are numerous times where the game is referenced. From Lonely Days, where he won a planet playing poker on 25th Century Earth to the 1870s American Frontier where the Eighth Doctor played against himself in The 100 Days of the Doctor, poker seems to be the Time Lord’s game of choice when it comes to settling disputes and having some fun.

Thanks to studies carried out into the common traits of casino players, we know that the Doctor is actually well suited to the game of poker. By looking through the skills that define certain gambling types, we can see that blackjack players are persistent while roulette can often be impulsive decisions makers.

Assessments of gambling personality types also tell us that poker is the “ultimate skill game” and a combination of timing, mathematics and courage. The Doctor certainly is a combo of those traits. He meets enough of them to be considered someone who could potentially thrive at the poker table. But again, most poker players are disciplined and patient, according to the experts, and that’s certainly not the Doctor. Still depending on which Doctor you’re talking about.

However, the greats also don’t mind spending a lot of time on their own and have a calculating yet unpredictable streak. This is the Doctor’s personality down to a tee and that’s why the showdown in Five Card Draw is so engaging. With the Second Doctor, Third Doctor, Fifth Doctor and Sixth Doctor playing a single hand of five card draw to see who would face the knights in a battle, it was unclear which player would come out victorious.

Eventually, the Third Doctor won with a full house while the Fifth Doctor had to face the knights. In the end, it was the cards that had to decide the hand, rather than one player’s psychological advantage (as they essentially all had the same mind). In fact, such is the connection between Doctor Who and cards that British games company Cubicle 7 has actually created a five card draw style game called: Doctor Who: The Card Game.

The Missing Doctor

(Image: colonelrainestoychest.blogspot.com)

Of course, the Doctor facing off against himself in a game of wit and logic isn’t the only time we’ve seen multiple incarnations of the Time Lord appear in the same episode. The famous 20th anniversary episode titled The Five Doctors saw an unprecedented four Doctors actually appear on screen together.

The 1983 Children in Need special, which was one of host Terry Wogan’s top moments, lasted for 90 minutes and saw the four Doctors (Tom Baker declined to take part) work with each other in a bid to stop the Eye of Harmony being drained. Naturally, each one completes his task successfully (in the end) and harmony is eventually restored, but not before a series of near misses and untimely deaths (including the Fifth Doctor).

One of the other interesting times when multiple Doctors joined forces was the 239th story and the first feature-length multiple-Doctor episode shot by BBC Wales: The Day of the Doctor.

Despite almost falling flat on its face, the episode aired on November 23 and 24, 2013, around the world at exactly the same time (the discrepancy in dates was a result of the programme being shown in multiple time zones). The episode attracted 12.8 million viewers in the UK alone and saw ten Doctors make an appearance.

A Day for Doctor Who Fans to Remember

(Image: forbes.com)

Leading the way with live appearances in the 50th anniversary special was David Tennant and Matt Smith, but we also got cameos from the likes of John Hurt, who is now using his Doctor Who name to support junior doctors in the UK, Tom Baker and Billie Piper, as Tennant and Smith race back through time in attempt to stop their own demise in a past life.

Appropriately, the 50th anniversary episode is packed with action, excitement and, of course, drama. In fact, if there was ever a perfect example of how things go wrong every time the Doctors cross paths, it’s this episode. While some may still criticise the modern incarnations of Doctor Who for their movement away from the kitsch, this episode has been highlighted as an excellent representation of the franchise as a whole.

Indeed, by bringing in as many Doctors as possible (through live appearances and archive footage), director Nick Hurran was able to show the rich history of the show and epitomise exactly why we love seeing old and new incarnations join forces on screen. So, while it’s true that Doctors mixing on screen doesn’t always work out well (although it usually turns out alright in the end), it’s certainly a tradition we wouldn’t swap for anything.

The post The Day(s) the Doctors Met appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Why a Doctor Who Slot Machine Makes Sense

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.

Recently, I came across a slot machine titled Doctor Who The Timelord “Fruit Machine.” It was obviously a game created in the UK for it is only in that region where slot machines are still called fruit machines, despite the game having no fruit symbols on the reels at all.

To those who haven’t been to Las Vegas or haven’t really played any casino games lately, slot machines that carry with them commercially-licensed themes from popular TV series or big movie franchises have become a trend with casino game developers over the past few years. There are now slot machines that are themed after Batman, King Kong, and many others that are designed after pop culture icons with a huge cult following.

When you think about how huge Dr. Who is, it makes sense for game developers to actually make a casino title about the most popular Time Lord on Earth.

Doctor Who was first shown on TV in 1963, which means fans of the show back then are already old enough to go visit Vegas casinos to play the game. And with the program’s re-launch in 2005, fans of the show, who were teenagers then, are also old enough today to enter Las Vegas casinos and play. It’s a win-win situation for any casino to have this The Timelord title in their gaming area.

Slot machines have evolved quite beautifully over the years. If you checked out the YouTube link above that shows the Dr. Who Timelord Fruit Machine, you’ll see that it’s far from the basic slot machines that existed in the 70s that featured simple cherries, bars, and 7s on their reels. Today, slots have advanced in such a way that players are given free spins and bonus rounds whenever they unlock certain symbols on the reel. As for the Doctor Who The Timelord slot game, there’s some sort of a Monopoly board on top of the machine that allows players to randomly pick an icon that grants cash rewards. It looks like a pretty enjoyable game to play, what with celebratory music that comes along with every jackpot the player hits.

Slot machines have indeed come a long way, and that’s apparent not only with The Timelord slot game but with other slot machines as well. The wants of people change along with the times, and that includes the taste in technology that they interact with everyday. By taking advantage of today’s advancements in animation and design, slot machines are keeping themselves updated with what’s currently popular among gamers, especially the tech-savvy ones.

The post Why a Doctor Who Slot Machine Makes Sense appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Original Kasterborous Crew Leave For Pastures New

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.

Andrew Reynolds, Mez Burdett, and myself are leaving Kasterborous. Today is our last day at the helm of a ship that’s carried us through all time and space.

Oh, but it’s been fun. And part of what’s made it so great is the fandom. That includes you. In fact, that includes all the readers who have digested our work, so thank you. It also includes the wonderful people we’ve worked alongside; thank you to that dedicated bunch of lovely folk as well.

This is the end for us, but the moment has been prepared for. Because this isn’t It.

We’re not stopping; we’re moving on, and so we hope all the working relationships continue as we set sail on a new site, The Doctor Who Companion. Please join us. We’re not quite ready to launch, but it’s just around the corner, I promise. We’re very excited about the content we’ve got coming up, including pieces from regular Kasterborous writers.

It feels strange to leave the K. It’s been our home for indulging in our passion for so long now. Indeed, Andy and Mez were the first regular news writers, while I joined in 2011. In our time, we’ve covered regenerations, the 50th anniversary, and plenty of goodness from Big Finish. That’s the tip of the iceberg.

But as a good man aptly put it, times change and so must we.

Don’t forget to twist the helmic regulator, and head over to the Doctor Who Companion. We’ll be more than happy to have you with us.

Goodbye. It’s been a genuine pleasure.

The post Original Kasterborous Crew Leave For Pastures New appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Fiver For Six And Evelyn!

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.

Big Finish must really love five pound notes. Their ‘Big Finish for a Fiver’ offer, which includes audios like Her Final Flight, Shada (with the Eighth Doctor) and the Dalek Empire series, has been going for a while now.

And for this weekend only, they’re celebrating the wonderful late Maggie Stables, who played Evelyn Smythe between 2000 and 2011. Stables retired from acting in 2013, and sadly passed away in September 2014. Big Finish’s latest offer includes all her adventures alongside the Doctor.

The first 50 CDs of the Doctor Who Main Range (from The Sirens of Time to Zagreus) are available for just £2.99 on download, and this includes Evelyn’s introduction in The Marian Conspiracy, her meeting the Brigadier and Romana in The Spectre of Lanyon Moor, and her battles against the Daleks in tales like The Apocalypse Element and Jubilee.

From Arrangements for War onwards, all her audio tales are available on CD and download for £5, including Medicinal Purposes (guest starring David Tennant), Pier Pressure, and 100. The Feast of Axos is also downloadable for £2.99 as part of Big Finish’s Listeners promotion.

A Death in the Family, starring Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred and Philip Oliver, brings a decade’s worth of adventures to a close for Big Finish’s first original companion.

Furthermore, Maggie appeared as Evelyn in two extra adventures, both available for just £5: Real Time pits our heroes against the Cybermen; while The Companion Chronicles: A Town Called Fortune takes the professor back to the Wild West. Maggie appears as alternative characters in two other dramas; aiding Lisa Bowerman in Bernice Summerfield: Just War (permanently reduced to £5 on CD) and in Sarah Jane Smith: The Tao Connection, featuring the late Elisabeth Sladen as the irreplaceable journalist.

Alternatively, you can enjoy all of the titles on offer in two special bundles. The Maggie Stables Collection CD bundle contains 15 titles for only £60 (with free UK postage and reduced international shipping) while the Download Collection bundle contains 22 releases for the low price of £85.

All offers end noon Monday February 29th (UK Time) – exclusively from Big Finish.

The post Fiver For Six And Evelyn! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish’s The Waters of Amsterdam Reviewed!

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.

And springing out of its cage and bursting out in the lead for wonderfully entertaining new Doctor Who is Jonathan Morris’ The Waters of Amsterdam!

Big Finish’s first release from January 2016 of its main range Doctor Who stories is a cracking romp that will leave long term fans happily fulfilled and serve new listeners to Big Finish with a healthy ‘stepping on’ point.

Picking up directly from a 1980s televised adventure, we find the TARDIS crew consisting of the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa happily reunited with their friend Tegan after her (long or short, you be the judge – it’s a matter of canon!) leave of absence from the TARDIS. Whilst their thirst for adventure is evident, none of them quite expect to be thrust so quickly in dangerous events, all of which begin as soon as Tegan’s sycophantic ex-boyfriend turns up.

Tegan Jovanka, one of the more boisterous and stronger companions to the Doctor in the 1980s never quite got her onscreen dues, perhaps partly due to a lack of character background. Sure, we had fleeting glimpses of aunties and cousins but no follow up when it came to the emotional connection that she shared with these people. There were small moments of remembrance but not enough to build the character fully. Writer Jonathan Morris capitalises on this with his latest tale and offers us a Tegan with a past, a Tegan with a boyfriend and more importantly, a Tegan that didn’t live happily ever after. Because life can sometimes be complicated after the TARDIS; that’s what makes the experience at the time more rich. The fact that Tegan doesn’t have quite the most industrious romps after she initially leaves the TARDIS, makes her willingness to re-join her time travelling crew on TV even more understandable. Her wariness with her current life is evident: she’s struck gold with the Doctor and this is where she wants her life to lead, it makes the sense of adventure even more satisfying here.

And the adventure itself? Satisfying to the extreme. Whilst episode one begins as something of a comedy, episodes two, three and four delve into a more serious drama which includes celebrity historical star Rembrandt. The Doctor notices that some of his paintings are somewhat odd and decides to journey back in time to have a quick chat with the painter. Rather than an extremely happy-go-lucky character or an extremely-toured-soul, we’re offered a great meeting in the middle. Rembrandt is hilariously grumpy, with grounded problems and real money issues. He also has an emotional crux to bear with the death of his beloved, explored in a wonderful speech during a conversation with Nyssa. This is the way that one imagines a figure of the past would actually come across if encountered.

This leads listeners to an adventure including creatures made from water, fire extinguishers used as weapons and aliens from another world needing a lift home. Jonathan Morris may have taken elements from other Doctor Who stories but he makes them work in his own, unique way. The outcome is exemplary.

With a sterling musical score by Jamie Robertson, excellent writing by Jonathan Morris, wonderful sound effects from Martin Montague, some tight direction by Jamie Anderson and of course resounding performances from the regular and guest cast, this is a splendid start to the Doctor Who 2016 range.

The Waters of Amsterdam is available now on CD or via download from Big Finish.

The post Big Finish’s The Waters of Amsterdam Reviewed! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Karen Gillan Is Back in Blue (For Guardians of the Galaxy)

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.

Karen Gillan is now back in blue – playing Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!

The former Doctor Who companion took to Twitter to tease her return as Thanos’ adopted daughter, with a simple photo of her blue hand. It has to be said, her costume looks a little battered…

It's good to be back in blue. #GuardiansoftheGalaxy2 pic.twitter.com/LQcH4T5mXX

— Karen Gillan (@karengillan) February 24, 2016

Gillan previously said of her make-up:

“I was mentally prepared to go through it again. It’s so cool. The finished product is so cool that it’s just so worth it when I see it at the end.”

Gillan added:

“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.”

She apparently read the script for this second Guardians while listening to the soundtrack in the background!

And in related Marvel-but-also-Doctor-Who news, Finn Jones has been cast as Danny Rand aka. Iron Fist in the upcoming TV series of the same name. Fans might know Finn for playing Loras Tyrell in Game of Thrones, but the main interest to Whovians is his part as Santiago Jones – the grandson of Jo Grant!

He appeared in the 2010 two-part story, Death of the Doctor in The Sarah Jane Adventures, which saw Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor teaming up with not only Elisabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith but also Katy Manning as Jo Jones.

Iron Fist will come to TV screens later this year with 13 episodes, before he becomes part of The Defenders with Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.

The post Karen Gillan Is Back in Blue (For Guardians of the Galaxy) appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.