Christian Cawley's Blog, page 87

Daftness to Darkness: Ten years of Doctor Who Trailers

James Baldock 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 love them, right? You watch them online and then you share them. Doctor Who trailers used to be fleeting things that happened between the National Lottery and Casualty. Now they’re events. They’re picked apart, watched and re-watched and even watched after everything in them has been seen in context many times over. And then they’re mashed and remade and uploaded as monetized art. In the days of quick attention spans, a decent TV spot is worth its weight in gold.

The trailer for Doctor Who series 9 launched last week, and you can’t have not seen it by now, even if you’ve been living under a rock (mostly because at least one of your Facebook friends will have lifted said rock, shone a torch underneath and dragged you out to look at a minute and a half of thudding, fleeting images). This latest preview has been greeted with general wonder and rapture. I am, I confess, somewhat ambivalent amongst the myriad “permission to squee!” comments. But we’ll get to that later.

Because here’s the thing: it’s been a little over ten years since we saw the very first ‘proper’ TV spot, that brief introduction to the re-launched Doctor and his new look. And while the sum total of my narcotic dabbling runs to thirty seconds of secondary smoke inhalation while a couple of friends were doing weed one evening at Leeds University, I imagine that in some respects the experience of that first trailer is probably not unlike taking heroin. Irrespective of my eventual feelings about how he did (and please, let’s not drag that up again) I don’t think we were ever quite so excited about any Who trailer as we were the first time Christopher Eccleston walked into the TARDIS, peered straight through the fourth wall and said “D’you want to come with me?”

After the series nine launch, I went back to those old trailers. I watched all of them in sequence, and I discovered that they change an awful lot. There’s a development. There’s a slow and steady growth of self-confidence. The trailers often reflect the style and tone of the series they’re previewing with far greater accuracy than anyone could have predicted. Looking back on it now, it’s amazing to think how radical that first trailer was: the Ninth Doctor actively extending his invitation to Rose to the audience at large, in precisely the same words. The goal of this is primarily to hook an unsuspecting public, many of whom expected the show to fail – and the effect is rather like a telethon, in the way that its central character broke with the previously established convention of keeping the focus confined entirely within the set (The Daleks’ Master Plan notwithstanding, of course). Amazingly, it works. The delay on Eccleston’s monologue is borderline irritating, but it sort of emphasises the time travel theme.

To contrast, the trailers for Tennant’s first two series are a disaster. The series two trailer sums up many of the worst things about the Tenth-Rose series: the two of them against the world, armed with nothing but a mortgage. The Doctor invites the audience along in much the same way Eccleston did, with twice the panache and none of the sincerity. Piper has one line, and even then she comes across as irritating, which more or less sets the tone. Series 3 isn’t much better: if the Doctor spent most of 2006 fawning over Rose, he spent most of 2007 completely ignoring Martha, and the series-wide gap between them is manifest in an interesting split screen effect. They’ve not even had a proper scene together yet, and already she can’t get close to him.

It’s in 2008 that things start to get interesting, because the fourth wall is re-bricked, the show apparently no longer feeling it needs to prove itself. Observe:

“It’s OK,” this one lets us know at the outset. “I know this is Donna, but look! She’s gone all sensible and calm! She’s taken up astronomy! SHE’S SPEAKING IN A REASONABLY PACED VOICE BELOW 95 DECIBELS!.” This embodiment of a grounded, mature Ms Noble is almost immediately followed by the memorable scene from Partners in Crime in which the Doctor-Donna mug at each other through two panes of glass, unaware that Sarah Lancashire is watching, but it was an amusing moment, so we’ll let that one go. And as a side note, this is where the booming starts big time – you know, the big, heavily reverberated THUD that accompanies each fresh image; it is a contemporary harbinger of doom. It is used in everything, and it sets my teeth on edge. Curiously there are five identifiable monsters in this one, if you include Clone Martha, and six if you include Billie Piper’s teeth.

Actually, spotting the recurring themes and images is a big part of the fun. Besides the booming, there are the explosions, usually (but not always) accompanied by someone diving away in slow motion. There is the TARDIS spinning through space. And the Doctor runs, sometimes quite a bit. From 2011 onwards, there’s a tendency to showcase certain scenery, particularly if it’s on foreign soil. “Somewhere different,” muses the Doctor as the camera rolls over the Utah desert; “somewhere brand new” – coded language for HEY, AMERICA! WE SPENT SHEDLOADS OF MONEY TRYING TO MAKE YOU ENJOY THIS!

Things change gradually. Series 7 – or at least its first half – was about the Ponds outgrowing the Doctor, of course: he’s next to useless in The Angels Take Manhattan and not much better in A Town Called Mercy. The trailer actually encapsulates this beautifully, even if the resulting effect grates. This is the Doctor’s ‘difficult, teenage phase’, the triceratops joyrides awkwardly juxtaposed with the moral angst he experiences when debating whether or not to turn Kahler Jex over to the Cyborg. Oh look, now he’s in his bedroom, and I think he’s smoking weed. I’m not angry, Doctor. I’m just disappointed.

What eventually happens is this: the Doctor sneezes in the TARDIS, and then Peter Capaldi turns up and from then on all we’ve had are jump cuts of briefly-seen monsters; nothing tangible, but enough for a quick screen grab and discussion on the forums. Capaldi looks sinister and ambiguous: this is a dark Doctor, who has traded ballet for moral indifference and acidic quips about rubbish humans. And then:

There are numerous things that could be monsters. The Doctor does look chirpier, mostly thanks to the hair, which is emulating Pertwee’s in the same way his clothes did last series. The rest of it seems to be a maelstrom of unconnected ambiguities that are about nothing at all, designed to keep the Tumblr feeds ticking over until September. Who was that masked woman? Is the hand-in-the-ground a deliberate nod to Carrie or simple coincidence? Am I confused because this is the only trailer I’m not able to view with the benefit of hindsight, or is this stuff actively getting worse?

And what do we learn from all this? Well, I’ve learned there’s more than one way to skin a cat, or re-invent the wheel, or flog a dead horse. I’ve learned that Murray Gold really needs to rein it in, although that’s hardly headline news. I’ve learned that I will always want to go with the Doctor, whatever the contents of his press releases and how much they either hook me or fail to.

But most of all I’ve learned that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Because there’s a bit in that final trailer that I notice each time I watch it, but whose significance was initially lost on me, until quite recently. And it’s marvellous because of what it does, perhaps even by accident. It’s a moment after the Doctor’s “kiss it to death” monologue where Capaldi is in the TARDIS, shot from below, and he looks down at the camera, shrugs, and offers the faintest of smiles, directly through the fourth wall. And in an instant I’m as excited as I was when Eccleston first proposed a little spin in his time machine.

In an instant, it’s ten years ago, and we’re right back where we started.

The post Daftness to Darkness: Ten years of Doctor Who Trailers appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Ianto Jones Returns for Big Finish’s Torchwood Series!

Nick Kitchen 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 most fans are pressed to name their three favorite Torchwood characters, the list usually contains some order of Capt. Jack Harkness, Gwen, and Ianto. And while Jack and Gwen made it out of Miracle Day unscathed and available for a series 5 should RTD make it happen, (minor Children of Earth spoiler…but come on. It’s 2015; watch it already!) Ianto’s demise sort of rules out a future televised encore.

However, Big Finish has been able to do what television cannot (without a serious dose of timey-wimey that is): bring Ianto back! They’ve announced that Gareth David-Lloyd will be reprising the role of Ianto in October’s release, Torchwood: Fall to Earth!

Here’s a brief look at what to expect in Ianto’s return:

“The SkyPuncher is the first private spaceflight. But Ephraim Salt’s visionary project has gone horribly wrong – the ship is falling out of the sky and there seems no way to stop it. Ianto Jones thought the flight would be sabotaged. The only problem is… he’s on board.”

The audio releases in October but is available for preorder now. While I understand the narrative reasons for disposing of Ianto in Children of Earth, the following series seemed a little poorer for lack of David-Lloyd’s character. That being said, you can count me in as anxiously awaiting this release!

What about you, dear readers? Are you excited to see Ianto return? Is this release on your radar? Or do you think Ianto should have stayed dead? Let us know below!

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Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol.2 The Weeping Angels Of Mons – Out This Week!

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.

Unbelievably, it’s time for another compilation release from Titan, as volume 2 of the Tenth Doctor’s adventures are released in graphic novel form.

Next Wednesday (22nd) sees the comic store release of Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol.2 The Weeping Angels Of Mons by Robbie Morrison (Spider-Man, Drowntown, Nikolai Dante) and art by Daniel Indro (Sherlock Holmes, Green Hornet) and Eleonora Carlini!

The second collection of the sell-out smash new Tenth Doctor series, from award-winning writer  Robbie Morrison  and  Daniel Indro  and   Eleonora Carlini , sends the Doctor and new companion Gabriella Gonzalez hurtling back into the past – and into the trenches of World War One!

Bombed by the German artillery, arrested as spies by the British, Gabby and the Doctor soon learn that there’s something even worse moving in the gas and wreathes of smoke out in No Man’s Land… stone statues who move only when you’re not looking at them! The Weeping Angels have come to feed on the futures of young soldiers — in their hundreds of thousands!

It’s an unmissable historical epic!

To get you in the mood, here’s a gallery…

You’ll be able to find Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol.2 The Weeping Angels Of Mons at all good comic book stores online and off from Wednesday, July 22nd 2015. If you’re in the UK, and can’t find a copy, head to Forbidden Planet.

The post Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor Vol.2 The Weeping Angels Of Mons – Out This Week! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Reviewed: The Omega Factor Series 1

Tony Jones 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.

Yet again, Big Finish has produced a powerful piece of audio drama any fan of the show or connoisseur of quality should listen to.

In 1979, BBC 1 broadcast a ten-part series, The Omega Factor, written by Jack Gerson, starring Louise Jameson and James Hazeldine. It dealt with themes of the supernatural and psychic powers. Set in Edinburgh, it charted the story of Tom Crane (Hazeldine), a journalist whose emerging powers bring him to the attention of Department 7, and Dr Anne Reynolds (Jameson). The series charted Tom Crane’s quest to challenge a secret organisation known as Omega, intent on taking over the world through mind control. The series was cancelled after one season as it fell foul of moral outrage as expressed by campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Following their success with the Survivors, Big Finish has produced a four CD boxset (plus a CD of behind the scenes material) telling the story of Department 7 in the twenty-first century.

The stories

The first story, From Beyond by Matt Fitton, has the unenviable task of both explaining the setup and telling a scary story in its own right. Matt was also script editor for the series and he neatly covers the arrival of John Dorney as Adam Dean (Tom Crane’s son with a different surname) who is in Edinburgh to let Dr Reynolds know his father has passed away. He has a legacy from his father in the form of a whole stack of papers. This is a great vehicle for the series and Adam is a sceptical character with some medical background who, like his father, has emerging psychic powers. The story introduces the two main characters and also a woman trying to contact her dead brother as part of an experiment. Underneath the gentle exterior lies a darker tale that sets the tone for the rest of the set.

The second story, The Old Gods, is by Phil Mulryne. Phil has acted in several Big Finish pieces, but this is his first foray into writing that we have heard. On the evidence of this taut script, it won’t be the last. The core of the story is a relatively timeless piece about a hippy (-ish) commune in the middle of nowhere. Around a familiar story of naivety and a simple life without technology, Phil weaves a tale of a dark presence reaching out to Adam and a would be druid/priest (Terry Molloy playing the part of Edmund Fennick) exploiting young people for his own ends, while Dr Jane Wyatt (Camilla Power) is studying their condition. The story is brought up to date with a condition whereby people are allergic to the electromagnetic radiation of modern life and this adds to the balance of science and supernatural threading through the stories. Adam gets to be the hero as he confronts the evil at the heart of the community and this story satisfies on many levels.

Cavan Scott wrote the third piece, Legion and this starts to link into the backstory of Adam’s father and his investigations into Omega. It is also a tale of a exorcist, the morally bankrupt Wanda Maccrum (Georgie Glen) who has more than one encounter with creatures more normally labelled as demons. I can’t give too much away except to say once again Adam and his as yet uncharted powers are pivotal to this story and it manages the tricky job of conveying the mostly visual acts of poltergeist on audio to powerful effect.

The final story, The Hollow Earth by director Ken Bentley is the most powerful of all and is constructed in real time. This gives the listener a strong sense of urgency and intimacy pulling them into the story of homeless people going missing and a dilapidated church at night. The setup has Anne and Adam in classic ghost hunter mode, setting up cameras and microphones all over the building as they attempt to garner evidence of the supernatural. Ken then takes the story up several gears by widening it to include ley lines and deeper secrets of the church. Every performance is spot on from Tracy Wiles as Reverend Lucy Douglas, Derek Huchinson as warden Fraser Kirkland and Lauro Dos Santos as a young homeless girl, Lorraine. Tensions rise until they peak in a climax that changes the destiny of Department 7.

The production

Not only does this set provide four stories straddling the supernatural / scientific / psychic / religious divides, but is also superbly directed and has a terrifying sound-scape to boot. Almost all Big Finish productions have high-quality music and sound, and should be listened to with decent equipment, not the basic headphones you get free with some MP3 players. If you can listen to this loud on decent speakers you will be rewarded. The effect will be stronger if you listen alone at night, but you may find you can’t sleep afterwards!

What next?

This series is clearly demanding of follow-ups, but these will inevitably depend on sales. The scope is wide, meaning there is a lot of opportunity to tell new stories. There is a lot we don’t know about Adam’s personal history and we have no sign of the mysterious off-stage Omega conspiracy. There is also a wider Department 7 in Edinburgh we haven’t met and even hints of other branches. We learn that Louise’s character hasn’t achieved as much as she wanted in the 35 years since the TV show, but she was clearly up to something. Plenty more to learn and enjoy, with plenty more scary moments lying in wait.

Wonderful stuff and I urge you all to discover this future classic for yourself — The Omega Series 1 from Big Finish.

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TARDIS Hits San Andreas, Billie’s Dubsmash and Jenna’s Female Doctor Endorsement

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’s today’s News Blast and this time we’ve got fashion tips, getting ‘wasted’ by Daleks, spaceship envy, landing your dream job, a speculative companion, Dubsmash antics and managing the spectacular.

Take the TARDIS to San Andreas!

It might not be the easiest of partnerships; the cruel, hard, cynical world of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, and the light, optimistic universe of Doctor Who but that’s not stopped the Daleks invading the sprawling urban landscape and adding an interstellar threat to its already perilous streets in this GTA/Doctor Who crossover mod.

The mod, created by Tommy and Mavl and Zach promises to be the biggest GTA/Doctor Who crossover bringing the TARDIS, Sonic Screwdriver, K-9 and the Psychic Paper (which actually tricks pedestrians – although the denizens of San Andreas aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed anyway) to the likes of Burger Shot, Vank Hoff Hotel and Wang Cars.

The Whoniverse’s Greatest Spaceships?

Just what is the best spaceship in Doctor Who? The TARDIS of course, but what about the other nine? Well the BBC have combed the whole galaxy to bring together the ten best interplanetary wagons in Doctor Who.

Sticking mostly with the new series the choices range from the Orient Express and the Dalek Fleet to the Judoon Fleet and Captain Jack’s love shack.

Graduating to Milk

Congratulations and best wishes to Final Year BA (Hons) Visual Effects and Motion Graphics students Katherine Sykes and Jordanne Richards who’ve just landed roles at the Cardiff-based hub of multi-Bafta-award-winners Milk Visual Effects.

Milk, who provide visual effects for Doctor Who, are taking advantage of the emerging talent pool from the University of South Wales.

Understandably, the pair, who are due to graduate with a first class degree, can’t wait to start: “I’m still in shock that I will be working for Milk VFX next week, but that feeling is overthrown by the excitement to work with a company that have helped create some of my favourite Television shows!” said Ms Richards. “It will be great to finally put everything I learnt from the past three years into practice”.

Ms Sykes added: “The visual effects course has been really great fun and allowed me to learn something that I genuinely enjoy, at a high standard…Milk work on some amazing shows and I can’t wait to be part of the team.”

Jenna: Female Doctor is “absolutely possible”

It’s a point of contention amongst fans but for Jenna Coleman it’s a forgone conclusion; there will one day be a female Doctor. Speaking at Comic-Con, Jenna praised the current Time Lord Peter Capaldi, before speculating on the possibility of a female Doctor: “I think it’s absolutely possible. There’s no reason why not.

I think Peter Capaldi is doing the most wonderful job so there’s not currently a vacancy.”

Peter agreed with his co-star, adding that he “absolutely” thinks a female Doctor should, and will, happen. “I would expect it at any moment. If you turn around right now I might suddenly transform,” he joked.

Stars do Dubsmash

Dubsmash – the lip-synching app that lets you and anyone else you can rope in film a Vine-style video of you dubbing the words to well know pop song or quote – is growing in popularity after storming stateside thanks to US celebrities sharing their efforts online.

Well now it’s making its way across the Atlantic and let it not be said that Doctor Who stars are not on trend. Taking up the challenge, former Doctor Who companion and Penny Dreadful star Billie Piper teams up with Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell for a bit of Salt ‘n’ Peppa action and its glorious.

Billie! She got skillz pic.twitter.com/BIwaXGc1na

— Hayley Atwell (@HayleyAtwell) July 5, 2015

And, just because it’s amazing, here’s Sherlock’s Amanda Abbington and her Cuffs co-star Shaun Dooley channelling Homer and Bart.

 

pic.twitter.com/UkTcBRbP0a

— amanda abbington (@CHIMPSINSOCKS) June 25, 2015

And just so you know that any pillock (not just celebrities) can waste time express themsleves with dubsmash, here’s our editor Christian Cawley in a very rare moment of wisdom.

Yoda, I am. #dubsmash

A video posted by Christian (@atomickarma) on Jul 6, 2015 at 8:10am PDT

 

The White (Guardian) Light

Breaking down the Spectacular, White Light – the lighting, rigging and crew provider for the Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular – have been sharing the planning, staging and then packing it all up and doing it again hundreds of miles down the road secrets behind the awesome live show.

And when it comes to building and rebuilding the show, it’s in the the Prolyte S36PR A that we truss: “We had a very tight schedule, with there being as little as seven hours from arriving at a new arena to commencing the sound check,” said White Light’s event technician Ben Tucker. “Having the new truss meant that everything which we had pre-rigged could literally be wheeled out into each new arena – ensuring that we remained on schedule and used our limited time as efficiently as possible.”

It’s this level-headed and reverential approach to lighting and staging that made sure their love for the show shone through: “The majority of those coming to see the show were huge Doctor Who fans so already had a well-grounded knowledge of the series,” said Tom Sabin, technical director at Vision Nine, the company that worked with BBC Worldwide to bring the show to life. “We called on White Light to effectively use unique lighting in a large arena space in order to provide the fans with an unforgettable experience and do justice to such a renowned piece of television.”

Dress Like Clara

And finally, if you’ve ever wondered how the girl does it, learn the secrets and get Clara look in this exclusive video featuring Jenna Coleman and Doctor Who costume designer Ray Holman.

Look out for another news blast soon!

The post TARDIS Hits San Andreas, Billie’s Dubsmash and Jenna’s Female Doctor Endorsement appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Looking for Awesome Doctor Who Wallpaper? Step Inside…

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.

Just in case you hadn’t realised, 2015 marks 10 years since Kasterborous officially launched on January 1st, 2005, just a few months before Doctor Who Series 1. To celebrate this, we’ve been giving things away all year, from books to digital copies of Kasterborous Magazine. Today, we’re bringing you a collection of 19 desktop backgrounds, Doctor Who wallpaper that you can use to liven up your PC or Mac, your tablet and even your smart TV.

Just click an image to view, and look for the View full size button. Click this, then right-click the chosen image to save to your computer (long tap on your tablet for similar options). Each of these wallpapers is 2500×1827 px, and as such should look great on most modern devices with high definition displays.

Long running visitors to the site will recognise the majority of these images as our 2013 celebratory backgrounds, and they’ve been created by Brian A Terranova. One other piece, from Kasterborous Magazine #2, was created from scratch by James McLean.

Enjoy!

The post Looking for Awesome Doctor Who Wallpaper? Step Inside… appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

How Can We Save The BBC?

Jonathan Appleton 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 a question that may appear alarmist, but it’s surely a valid one to ask given recent developments affecting the future of Britain’s national broadcaster. Fresh from imposing a new licence fee settlement (with no public debate or consultation) on the corporation requiring it to shoulder the substantial cost of free television licences for over-75’s, the UK government has now launched a major review of the BBC’s entire operations.

New Culture secretary John Whittingdale has appointed an advisory panel of grandees to examine the BBC’s purpose, services and content, funding, governance and regulation. Quite a list. Cue a worried response from the corporation’s supporters and (finally, after that rather-too-accommodating acceptance of the new licence fee deal) an outspoken response from the corporation itself. The BBC can’t always be relied upon to stand up for itself, however, as evidenced by its tendency to lapse into self-recrimination and cravenly apologetic tone whenever it becomes subject to another bout of criticism from whatever quarter.

Others have been quick to jump to the corporation’s defence, suspecting that the motives of the newly elected majority Conservative government lie less in ensuring that the BBC is fit-for-purpose in the twenty-first century broadcasting landscape and more in cutting down to size what they view as an old-style, publicly run corporation which impedes the free market and embodies the outdated nanny state. Steven Moffat has joined other well-known names from the worlds of film and television to sign a letter to the Prime Minister defending the BBC and ‘place on record… our concern that nothing should be done to diminish the BBC or turn it into a narrowly focused market-failure broadcaster’. The letter, also signed by former Doctor Who alumni Brian Cox and Richard Curtis, goes on to argue that ‘a diminished BBC would simply mean a diminished Britain’.

Broadcasting union BECTU have added their voice to the debate, launching a ‘Love it or lose it’ petition calling on the government scrap the new funding deal, arguing it will mean cuts in services, programmes being dropped and many job losses.

Steven Moffat makes his living from the BBC, of course, as do many members of BECTU but it would surely be a mistake to dismiss all of this as simply a case of vested interests speaking out when they see the prospect of their livelihoods being threatened. The BBC, for all its faults, still enjoys widespread public support and the fact that some of those who have spoken out to voice concern about the review hail from Conservative-leaning backgrounds demonstrates that this isn’t just a partisan issue. This is way too important for that.

So what is to be done? Letters and petitions are tried and tested campaign methods but is it time for something a bit more innovative, more public, more modern? There has been no shortage of campaigns in recent years which have used new technology to get their message across – maybe there are some lessons for the BBC’s champions to learn? There has to be a political dimension to this, naturally, and UK opposition parties, still bruised and wounded by the general election defeat, will want to seize the opportunity presented by an issue which puts them in tune with public opinion against the government.

But the BBC belongs to the public, not to the politicians or the government or the people who work for it. It surely has to be the public who decide what they want from the BBC. So what do you think? What should those who are worried by recent events concerning the BBC be doing about it? How do we save the BBC?

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Just Who Is Maisie Williams Playing in Doctor Who Series 9?

Connor Farley 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.

I don’t think Doctor Who would be Doctor Who if every series of the show didn’t provide the fans with a burning question. A burning question that would have them speculating mindlessly for many months before the series or indeed the individual episode premiered on our television screens.

Last week the first official trailer of Series 9 was released, and once again it set up a question that would irritate and excite fans for weeks to come. This year, the question is: Who exactly is Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark) playing?

First of all let’s look at what we already know about Williams’ character. Well firstly, when the initial announcement that the now recognisable Maisie Williams was to star in two period adventures of the new series, a quote came alongside the announcement. The quote, which was issued by executive producer Steven Moffat said: “… It’s not possible to say too much about who or what she’s playing, but she is going to challenge the Doctor in very unexpected ways. This time he might just be out of his depth, and we know Maisie is going to give him exactly the right sort of hell.”

We know that there are very few characters who can give the Doctor hell, and something to think about. And now with the trailer coming out that provided us with a glimpse of the character, where she said a line that indicates she knows who the Doctor is (“Hello, old man,”) has sent fans even more Stark (pun intended!) raving mad.

It was also established by Williams herself, as well as Capaldi that her character would indeed have a connection to the Doctor, and also us as an audience.

So let’s look at the possibilities as to who this hell-raising character could be…

Susan Foreman

Could Maisie Williams be playing Susan?

Probably the option that people are hoping Maisie’s character to be the most. For those fans out there who have never seen Classic Doctor Who, Susan Foreman was a pupil at Coal Hill School in the very first serial of the show An Unearthly Child. She was later established in the same serial to be the Doctor’s granddaughter. A girl from another world, who was a wanderer in the fourth dimension.

Susan (once again played by Carole Ann Ford) was last seen in the anniversary special The Five Doctors alongside the First Doctor again, after she initially left in The Dalek Invasion of Earth in 1964, with the Doctor vowing to see her again in the future. Aside from the 1983 special, we are yet to see the Doctor revisit his granddaughter. Could this be the series he finally does that, even if unintentionally? With Capaldi’s Doctor being a Hartnell-esque Doctor at heart, maybe Moffat is seeing the opportunity more clearly than ever here?

Unfortunately, there is always something that could straight away debunk such speculation, until it is proven otherwise. A few factors come into play that may mean it isn’t Susan. Firstly, when the Doctor left her, Susan didn’t have a TARDIS, and because the last serial she was ever seen in was set in the 2100’s. It seems unlikely that she would be able to travel back to what looks like Viking times and the 1700’s in The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived.

Also, it was never established on-screen that Susan was in fact a Time Lord and had powers of regeneration. While it was assumed she was, there is also the possibility that she is simply a Gallifreyan girl and never attended the Academy. So there is no evidence that she could change her face from Carole Ann Ford’s original Susan into the younger Maisie Williams.

Alongside that, another thing that could debunk the speculation, albeit far less solid than the two reasons above is how Williams came across in the trailer. I may be reading in between the lines here, but Susan was intially portrayed as an often timid, terrified teenager when on the travels through time and space. Maisie looks confident and full of personality, with maybe a hint of no-nonsense of scheming also mixed into the cauldron, which likens more to the Doctor’s daughter, Jenny as seen in Series 4 of the new series. But then again, as seen with the Doctor himself, regeneration can change people, so who knows…?

Jenny

To me, this option seems much more plausible, however possibly a little predictable.

Fans have, much like Susan, been wanting Jenny to return after her debut and only appearance in Series 4’s The Doctor’s Daughter for a number of years now. However, since then, the show itself seems to have ignored that by the end of that episode, it transpired that *SPOILERS* Jenny didn’t actually die, instead regeneration energy brought her back.*SPOILERS* This means that they could realistically explain a comeback in the future, and because we don’t know what happened to Jenny even moments after the rocket took off at the end of The Doctor’s Daughter, that perhaps she regenerated shortly afterwards and found a way to time travel to various historical locations, just like her father can.

As mentioned in the Susan sub-section. I feel that in that one scene alone, what Maisie was portraying, was more in key with Georgia Moffett’s performance as Jenny than it was for Carole-Ann Ford’s portrayal as Susan in the 60’s.

A young or unseen incarnation of River Song

Knowing Moffat, this is probably what it will be. River is Steven’s go-to strong female character when the going gets tough for the Doctor. And she is always there to help him out, as are most wives to their husbands. We know this series is mainly going to focus on the adrenaline and adventure sides of things, but we also know there is some great evil out there that is being set up in the finale. So maybe following the old status quo, Steven feels the need to reinvigorate the character into a new younger form along with the new Doctor. It would also keep Moffat clear of explaining how she was still alive after the events of The Name of the Doctor.

We know for certain that River can regenerate, because we saw it twice on screen in the same series. Once in Day of the Moon, where little girl River regenerates in New York, then during the events of Let’s Kill Hitler, we discovered that Amy and Rory’s childhood friend Mels, was in fact their future child Melody Pond. Who after being shot, regenerated into Alex Kingston’s version of River Song.

This theory could also be considered as one of the frontrunners in answering the question of who Maisie is playing, because of who is in the episode itself. As Norse legend goes, Odin is the god of Asgard. Odin will be appearing in one, if not both episodes that Williams is set to star in played by Merlin actor David Schofield. We know that in River’s diary conceals of tale of how the Doctor and River went to a picnic on Asgard, and we know how much Moffat loves to bring those diary adventures to the screen whenever River appears. So maybe this is the time we will see another of their mysterious, unexplained adventures together?

… or is she … a young Missy?

To me this is a twist I wouldn’t see coming. What if Maisie Williams is to portray a younger version of Missy? We don’t yet know the origins of Michelle Gomez’s Master, how she escaped Gallifrey and regenerated from her previous form (John Simm) into her new devilishly feminine form.

Peter Capaldi himself said that we are not sure if she is wholly good or if she has an evil side. And from what we saw in the trailer, it seems that Missy may well be a focal point of the series to come. Also it would fit into the rumoured sightings of


Series 9 SPOILERS!

two Osgoods in the filming for Episodes 7 and 8 and the two versions of Capaldi seen filming for Episode 11.

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This is the least likely to be the case, but I certainly think it would put a spin on things, and would make it possible in the future for Maisie to return if ever they wanted her. Plus, I think she would be great as a young Missy.

Who do you think Maisie Williams is playing in episodes 5 and 6? Do you have any unique speculation as to who she could be? Share down below in the comments.

The post Just Who Is Maisie Williams Playing in Doctor Who Series 9? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

How Much Will LEGO Dimensions with Doctor Who Cost?

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.

The combination of Doctor Who and LEGO has been a personal dream for a long time. Growing up playing with LEGO as a kid and watching the new wave of PC and console games grow to turn some of the worlds most popular film franchises into playable playgrounds has made the block based building game increasingly engaging. With the inclusion of these big franchises over the last few years such as Star Wars, Batman and Harry Potter with their mad little worlds enhanced by the LEGO game play, it always felt like our favourite Time Lord was being left out despite being perfect for adaptation.

Finally, at San Diego Comic Con (after a veritable flood of rumours) the official confirmation came that the new LEGO Dimensions video game would feature Doctor Who. Travels in the TARDIS and famous monsters would join a host of other popular franchises which were yet to be a part of the LEGO universe such as the Wizard of Oz, Back to the Future, Portal and Jurassic World to be released on pretty much every console in September 2015 with subsequent releases of new material and expansion packs.

The catch, however, is the expense it will bring to those wishing to indulge in the long awaited LEGO/Doctor Who crossover. Initial pricing for the starter pack for all consoles on average pushes £80 to £100 dependent on where you look. However, LEGO has always operated on a high price, high quality system with the games Starter Pack including a whole load of extras such as  3 LEGO minifigures (Batman, Gandalf, and The Lego Movie‘s Wyldstyle) and a LEGO Batmobile vehicle along with the game and game play necessities. However, these along with the price tag they bring will not be for everyone. There have been discussions about the release of the game for the start pack only without the additional extras but it appears that it will be some time before it becomes a reality.

The good news, however, is that Doctor Who has his own level in the LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack, and for those of us who just can’t get enough can purchase the Doctor Who Level Pack which includes an additional level, a LEGO minifigure of the Twelfth Doctor, and LEGO models of the TARDIS and K-9.

There is certainly a lot for the Doctor Who fan in the new LEGO Dimensions game. It’s just a question of hoping the price comes down and that hopefully, some time in the future, Doctor Who gets its own independent LEGO game.

Will you be buying LEGO Dimensions? Is the pull of little LEGO Doctor’s simply too much to handle?

The post How Much Will LEGO Dimensions with Doctor Who Cost? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Reviewed: Counter-Measures Series 4

Tony Jones 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 time last year, we left the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group at rather a cliff-hanger. Sir Toby Kinsella and Group Captain “Chunky” Gilmore kidnapped, Allison Williams on the slow road to recovery from brain damage and she and Rachel Jenson both under a strange mental influence leaving them unaware Sir Toby and Gilmore have been replaced. The first thing would surely be to sort this all out; wouldn’t it?

Too easy, instead this series dives straight into a wonderful story of monorails and new science from the joint pens of Mark Wright and Cavan Scott. The side-step takes you by surprise, though this doesn’t diminish the story of a cult, mad scientist and a mini government conspiracy — they don’t care who invents something useful, if it confers favour they’ll take it. During the various goings on Allison gets exposed to a fabled substance and this seems to help clear her lingering mental problems. By the end of the story status quo is restored, London is saved from a vision of the future and both Rachel and Allison realise something is not right at Counter-Measures.

Director Ken Bentley wrote the second story, The Keep and this gets Sir Toby and Gilmore back on-stage, though only to a super-secure prison, designed by Toby himself. Their task? Escape from an escape-proof location! Where this story excels is in the way it brings back some of the elements of earlier stories without over-egging them. It is all done with great skill and takes the excitement up another gear. It also takes on a certain gritty darkness showing how far this series has evolved since its appearance in 2012.

The final two stories, Rise and Shine (by John Dorney) and Clean Sweep (by Matt Fitton) form a pair that resolve the issues from the first two stories, and bring in many more elements from the wider Counter Measures canon. They provide a powerful resolution meaning things can never be the same again for the team. The stories give us great insight into how far certain people are prepared to go to protect their values, and the use of ideas from earlier stories provides a way to show us how some of the characters, in particular Rachel Jensen, have developed over the series. It is not possible to say more without enormous spoilers, which is a great shame as these are good stories and the overall boxset is as good as any of the others, indeed better in many ways. It does make this a set of stories that needs other content to fully appreciate.

As ever there is no news on what happens next, and in a crowded schedule Big Finish has a lot of new titles to focus its love and attention on. It would be a shame if Counter-Measures were to be left on the shelf, but at least there are no dangling threads from this story.

Available now this can be picked up from the Big Finish website at the pre-release price of £30 CD, £25 download, until the end of July; details here: Counter-Measures: Series 4.

The post Reviewed: Counter-Measures Series 4 appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.