Christian Cawley's Blog, page 91
July 9, 2015
Doctor Who Heads Into LEGO Dimensions! [TRAILER]
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.
It’s finally here – the first trailer for LEGO Dimensions to feature Doctor Who! Unveiled to tie in with the San Diego Comic Con, the trailer features other franchises alongside the world’s longest running sci-fi adventure series.
Imagine an incredible world where the Doctor teams up with Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle to defeat his evil foes; where the Doctor can dance down a yellow brick road or travel in The Mystery Machine with Scooby Doo. LEGO Dimensions is the new Toys-To-Life game from Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and features the biggest brand mash ups the gaming world has ever seen – now including Doctor Who.
This all-new entertainment experience which merges physical LEGO brick building with digital gameplay and launches in the UK on 29th September.
Peter Capaldi comments “It’s fitting that Doctor Who now sits alongside some of the most iconic film and TV shows ever made. So go forth and help the Doctor make new friends on his quest to vanquish Lord Vortech!”
Batman, Gandalf and Wyldstyle will team up with Doctor Who, The Simpsons, Ghostbusters, Jurassic World, Back to the Future and many more fan favourites in a mission to thwart Lord Vortech’s evil plan to collide all dimensions into one.
Using an interactive LEGO Toy Pad which will plug into games consoles, gamers can place up to seven physical toys into the game through the toy pad. This allows gamers to embark on an adventure which merges the worlds of their favourite TV and film franchises.
The LEGO Dimensions Starter Pack includes three Doctor Who levels, where you can battle the Daleks and Cybermen, complete with a cameo from the Twelfth Doctor. From November you will be able to purchase an additional Doctor Who pack enabling gamers to play as the Doctor. The pack will also introduce new buildable characters, including the TARDIS and K-9, unlocking compelling game content with mission-based levels and unique in-game abilities. The Doctor Who level pack will provide players the opportunity to use everything interchangeably, anywhere throughout the game.
LEGO Dimensions will be available for Xbox One, the all-in one games and entertainment system from Microsoft and the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation4 and PlayStation3 computer entertainment systems and the Wii U system from Nintendo.
WE ARE EXCITED. If you are too, take a look at Kasterborous Magazine #2, which looks exclusively at Doctor Who video games over the years.
Could LEGO Dimensions represent Doctor Who‘s first console video game success?
The post Doctor Who Heads Into LEGO Dimensions! [TRAILER] appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
July 8, 2015
Capaldi, Coleman & Gomez Voice LEGO Dimensions Doctor Who
David Power is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
Fresh off Monday’s tease, TT Games have finally opened up more about Doctor Who‘s presence in their new game LEGO Dimensions.
First and foremost we have a new promotional picture of the LEGO-fied Twelfth Doctor, looking mighty impressive riding a dinosaur from TT’s newest game LEGO Jurassic World.
Secondly is the hugely exciting news that Jenna Coleman and Michelle Gomez will be joining Peter in voicing minifig versions of their on-screen characters, Clara Oswald and Missy respectively.
Associate producer at TT Games, Mark Warburton had this to say:
“We love these characters and these worlds, so we take great pleasure in imagining how they will interact.”
One can now begin to wonder if that means John Leeson will return to voice his LEGO counterpart, which was already confirmed to be in the works.
Now, while no proper trailer for LEGO Dimensions has been released that features Doctor Who, we do have still have this teaser released in March, proving that even in LEGO form Capaldi’s attack eyebrows are still very threatening.
On the 27th of September, LEGO Dimensions will release on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Wii U, and we’ll finally be able to see The Doctor interact with icons such Gandalf, Marty McFly and… the guys from LEGO Ninjago apparently. Meh, the more the merrier!
The post Capaldi, Coleman & Gomez Voice LEGO Dimensions Doctor Who appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
058 Colony in Space
docwhom 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.
Anyone who knows me (and the even fewer who’ll admit it) will be aware that, in the mid-1990s, when the UK GOLD channel used to broadcast omnibus Doctor Who stories early on a Sunday morning, I would watch these feeling slightly the worse for wear after a Saturday night. Also, the picture quality wasn’t the best, the Restoration Team not having got their hands on the tapes by that stage. So there was often little to stop me nodding off frequently during broadcast. As a result, I’ve classed certain stories in my memory as “Sensorite stories”. In other words, they only merit being watched once by anyone with any sense, alright?
My memory of the TV broadcast of Colony in Space was one of anti-climax because one of my favourite TARGET novelisations from my boyhood was Doctor Who and The Doomsday Weapon. You’ve got to admit that that’s a far more exciting title than Colony in Space. In those three-channel days before the arrival of VCR, we never thought that we’d ever get to see past stories on TV but that gave our young imaginations scope to roam. It’s not surprising then that finally seeing snatches (between hungover snoozing) of the TV version was a disappointment. Oh dear, thought I, it’s just team A taking over team B’s base, then team B taking over team A’s base, then GO TO START. It’s just a back and forth bore.
However, those of us who live with our faces ground into the dirt by the jackboot of the Kasterborous editor long ago resigned ourselves to unquestioning suffering and so, when the order came, I took the three year old DVD of Colony down from the shelf, unwrapped it from the cellophane, popped it into the coffee cup holder and pressed PLAY…to be pleasantly surprised.
This is an unusual start to a Master story in that his involvement is predicted in the first minute. So I expected that that would spoil any surprise reveal unless I could forget that the Master was going to turn up. It turned out that I’d already forgotten the prediction by the time Jo took her first step into the TARDIS, graced (as colour TVs were still a minority in the UK) with that lovely light green console. Colours are an important feature of this story which is unusual given that it’s set in a uniformly grey landscape and the colonists are all wearing fairly drab clothes. It’s the sparing use of colour which works so well. The Doctor is mostly swathed in his black cloak but his frequent use of Venusian Aikido (self defence using only one finger and the ability to shout very loud) reveals lovely flashes of its deep red lining. The red flashes, piping, yokes and crotches of the IMC uniforms are also very effective.
The Doctor really doesn’t deserve to have a TARDIS given that yet again he wanders off on some alien world and leaves its doors open. How are we expected to concentrate on the plot when we’re busy fretting about baddies sneaking into the TARDIS? The Doctor almost deserves to have it dragged away, which is what happens courtesy of a wonderfully effective shot of the TARDIS toppling into the camera. There’s quite a bit of good direction in this story. There are the moments of the stillness which you really need for the sort of top acting we get in this story. But these are juxtaposed (Matron!) with lots of action and movement. This china clay quarry in Cornwall isn’t just another Doctor Who quarry. It’s enormous enough to be convincing, as are the splashes of clay getting everywhere. The Haflinger vehicles also deserve a mention. We get some real “ooooooh look at that” moments when they’re driven so fast across the quarry that they leave the ground in some wonderfully convincing bumps which just scream “no models or CSO here”.
This is Doctor Who baddiedom at some of its finest. There’s no silly moustache-twirling here. No ranting and shouting, which British actors can’t do anyway… As someone on this DVD commentary remarks: ‘No overt viciousness.’
Much of the acting is top notch. Even for a Malcolm Hulke script, it’s not just capitalists versus workers. While it can’t be denied that there’s a little too much of the back and forth of each side invading the other’s base, far more interesting is the conflict within either team, whether it’s Ashe trying to control the hotheads among the colonists or Dent trying to override Caldwell’s moral qualms. It’s this which helps to fill a six-parter. As always, the devil always gets the best lines and, while I can take or leave the hoi polloi squabbling in their dome, I could never tire of watching the great IMC trio of Dent, Caldwell and Morgan.
The only pity is that it’s mainly Dent and Morgan versus Caldwell whereas in the novelisation (as far as I can remember, having not read it since the 1970s) Dent and Morgan have a bumpy relationship too. What a pity that the TV version doesn’t give us the scene from the novelisation where Dent slaps Morgan in the face for getting caught faking the attacks. This is Doctor Who baddiedom at some of its finest. There’s no silly moustache-twirling here. No ranting and shouting, which British actors can’t do anyway (with the possible exception of Tom Baker’s occasional explosions). As someone on this DVD commentary remarks: “No overt viciousness.”
That’s why all the sadistic rotters in Star Wars and Hollywood’s Roman epics are played by British actors and the rebels and Christians are played by Americans. It’s not a prejudice against the British. It just that a race as wearily cynical as the British can’t do idealistic passion. Our hearts just aren’t in it. But we can do chilling caddery in our sleep. If you don’t believe me, then you’ve never heard the Kasterborous podcast team.
The underplaying of the IMC villainy is in a way more chilling and convincing than the Master’s rather repetitive “I want to rule the cosmos” schtick. As Morgan says, getting rid of the colonists is “purely business, nothing personal”. While I was perfectly aware that the Master would be the Adjudicator, it wasn’t until he actually turned up that I remembered he was due an appearance which shows how much the story had been holding my attention. The story does pretty much switch to Doctor versus Master from now and becomes less engaging as a result.
Overall, Colony in Space is a splendid story full of sterling performances.
The post 058 Colony in Space appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
Doctor Who Adventures #4 Takes the TARDIS to Ancient Greece
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.
Doctor Who Adventures #4 is set to materialise on UK newsstands on 16th July and promises a summer holiday in Ancient Greece, a Sontaran Extravaganza and more excitement than most Time Lords can cope with in seven lifetimes!
When Clara asks the Doctor to introduce her to Homer, he whisks her off to Ancient Greece where our heroes soon find themselves on the menu for a tribe of hungry Cyclopes. Doctor on the Menu is drawn by Russ Leach, written by Jason Quinn and coloured by John Burns.
LIVING LEGENDS
The Cyclopes aren’t the only legendary creatures the Doctor has met in his travels, here we take a look at Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts and Sirens!
Here’s a preview:
CLARA’S CRAFT STUDIO
Ideal for all messy humans; Clara shows you how to make a TARDIS shelf to help keep your bedroom tidy. It may not be really bigger on the inside but it’s the coolest bookshelf ever!
UNIT ALIEN ARCHIVES
We then sneak into the UNIT ALIEN ARCHIVE to uncover the raging truth about yet another so-called mythological creature… the Minotaur, last seen in the Doctor Who episode The God Complex.
STRAX’S HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH
This month, Strax takes a break from his guide to the galaxy and takes you into Earth’s past where he gives you his views on Alexander the Great, Zeus, Heracles and Mount Olympus.
THE PATERNOSTER GANG INVESTIGATES
Strax seems to have taken over this issue and this time we are treated to a Sontaran Field Report as Strax relates the case of the House of Sorrows, in which he comes face to face with an alien threat in the heart of Victorian Yorkshire.
Doctor Who Adventures #4 contains all your favourite features, posters, games and puzzle activities and is sure to excite adventurers of all ages from 3-3000!
Issue 4 comes with a Free Doctor Who Stationery Set and a collection of awesome glow in the dark stickers!
On sale 16th July 2015, price £3.99
The post Doctor Who Adventures #4 Takes the TARDIS to Ancient Greece appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
Doctor Who Goes on Holiday!?
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.
Well, here’s a funny thing. Just a week after Rachel Talalay was confirmed as director for the Doctor Who Series 9 finale (which gave her a “head in spaghetti“) the entire production is off on holiday!
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Jul 7, 2015 at 6:27am PDT
This unprecedented break in shooting is, we’re told, across the board, but as the stars are already on their way to San Diego for the famous Comic-Con we don’t think that there is too much to worry about there. In fact, the biggest fear in the Doctor Who production office is probably the two weeks’ worth of dust that will no doubt build up in the interim.
Now, all this talk of holiday has got us thinking. If you were the Doctor, where would you go on holiday?
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Talalay’s “Head in spaghetti” Directing Doctor Who Series 9 Finale
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.
Doctor Who Series 9 finale director Rachel Talalay – who fulfilled the same role in Series 8 – has chatted briefly (and spoiler free, natch!) on camera about her work on the conclusion to the next series.
It would seem that there is (unsurprisingly) a lot going on in what could be the final adventure for the Doctor and Clara, with Talalay describing that she has her “head in spaghetti”. We just hope that the Tank Girl director has plenty of bolognese and parmesan to go with it…
Doctor Who will probably be back on the August Bank Holiday weekend, but as we don’t know for sure, just take that with a pinch of salt. Or generous sprinkling of a hard, grated cheese.
The post Talalay’s “Head in spaghetti” Directing Doctor Who Series 9 Finale appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
July 7, 2015
10 Intriguing Doctor Who Series 9 Pics on Instagram
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.
Bevy. Lovely word, isn’t it? Its origin is actually unknown, but we’ve been using it to collectives (especially birds) since the 1400s. An extra ‘v’ has also been added to refer to an alcoholic drink, though it’s thought that ‘bevy’ might’ve had something to do with flocks of birds drinking and bathing. What’s this got to do with Doctor Who? Well, not much – apart from the bevy of images released by the BBC on their Instagram feed, teasing what’s coming up for the Twelfth Doctor and Clara in Series 9.
Some are intriguing. Some are infuriating. And some are inconsequential. Let’s focus on the former two for now, as we gaze at this bevy of beauties…
And yes, minor spoilers may follow.
Leaving the Door Open
Okay, so let’s turn to a quarry first off. Y’know those first official images of Peter Capaldi making his way across a barren landscape? This looks to be that same location.
Who left the door open! #DoctorWho #BTS #behindthescene
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Mar 31, 2015 at 3:32am PDT
They were always leaving the door open in the olden days. Drives me nuts. It’s the TARDIS, people! Don’t let the riff-raff in!
This is likely from the opening two-parter, The Magician’s Apprentice/ The Witch’s Familiar, written by showrunner Steven Moffat and directed by Hettie MacDonald, whose work we last saw in 2008’s Blink. Capaldi previously described it as placing the Doctor “in a conflict that is central to his being, as well as containing some subtle tributes to the ’60s, and truly wonderful guest performances.”
Monster in the Making?
If only the cameraman focused on that secret bit of filming! #DoctorWho #BTS #behindthescenes
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Mar 20, 2015 at 6:11am PDT
Yep, this is infuriating and intriguing. What is that?! Looks like it could be an Ood, which would be great. The face at least looks like an Ood, but maybe the cast is too thin? Not much space for animatronics in there…
In fact, Series 8 was a bit of a let-down for its lack of Ood. Until then, they’d been appearing bi-series. They debuted in Series 2’s The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit; we found out more about Ood Operations in Planet of the Ood from Series 4; and then (ignoring essentially pointless appearances in The Waters of Mars and The End of Time – but I’ll let that one ride because we got to hear Brian Cox as the Elder Ood) we had Nephew in Series 6’s The Doctor’s Wife!
Speculation says it could also be a Sycorax, but the face is a bit wrong for that. Other guesses include Davros and the Vigil (The Rings of Akhaten).
Kate Stewart is Back!
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Mar 20, 2015 at 7:32am PDT
Yep, the Brigadier’s daughter returns once more and of course brings UNIT with her!
Here she is with guest star, Jaye Griffiths, who you might know from Bugs, Silent Witness, or even Sherlock, where she played the barrister in The Reichenbach Fall.
. Something interesting: even though she’ll appear in the opening two-parter, they reckon she’s returning for episodes seven and eight, written by Peter Harness. This other two-parter is the return of the Zygons, so maybe Jaye will be a regular officer at UNIT!
The set she and Jemma Redgrave are on looks similar to that from The Sontaran Stratagem/ The Poison Sky (2008), and just look at that world map. Can you see that man in there…?
Alien Symbols
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Apr 4, 2015 at 12:23pm PDT
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Jul 6, 2015 at 1:30am PDT
Yeah, two for the price of one. I’m cheating here because the BBC’s Instagram is full of great images. Let me get away with it, won’t you?
Frankly, we’ve no idea what these are. They’re probably from two different serials, likely from polar ends of the series: the first was posted early on when they were filming the first block of episodes, while the second is the Beeb’s latest attempt to tease the heck out of us. They are, of course, beautifully designed, one resembling a clock mechanism and the other having elements that remind me of an eye.
Gold! (Always Believe In Your Soul)
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Apr 6, 2015 at 1:08am PDT
Medieval coins, right? Wrong! Well, probably right actually. I’m no expert, but they look like they come from the historical period the linked stories, The Girl Who Died and The Woman Who Lived are set in.
Those two episodes feature Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones), and are written by Jamie Mathieson (Mummy on the Orient Express), Steven Moffat, and Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood). They also feature giant robot-seque things. They look like robots, sure, but I reckon they’re anti-radiation suits or the like.
Spook-Tacular
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Apr 9, 2015 at 2:49am PDT
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Apr 16, 2015 at 2:33am PDT
Yep, cheating again. Shut up.
Of course, I have absolutely no proof that these two photos are of the same place, but it’s pretty darn likely.
It’d be nice to get a Hide-like episode, or even a murder mystery like 2008’s The Unicorn and the Wasp – but these images, too, are probably from those linked stories, so this house is probably just a spooky historical location.
Keep Scrolling
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Apr 19, 2015 at 12:40am PDT
Ah, ancient scrolls. We don’t get enough of these. Sinister declarations, insidious secrets, terrifying demands: none pertain to these scrolls, which are, in fact, Chinese takeaway menus. Mmmm. Lovely.
Oh, actually, there’s talk that the script is a Viking language – which would certainly be a nice change of pace from Victorian London!
Osgood That Ends Good?
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on May 24, 2015 at 5:41am PDT
Infuriating. For some reason, the BBC doesn’t want us to see this potentially massive spoiler.
Yep, Osgood is back, played once again by Ingrid Oliver. Here she is in rehearsal, and wearing the Seventh Doctor Jumper – looks a lot like the Lovarzi replica, which is also used on the cover of the latest Doctor Who Magazine.
This is from the Peter Harness-penned two-parter, directed by Daniel Nettheim who’s responsible for the stunning visuals on the Channel 4 series, Humans. Flippin’ good it is too. Nettheim is perfect for Who.
So this ‘top secret’ thing looks to be on the table, so she’s not speaking to a person, per se. Maybe it’s Handles (though I hope they leave him in the glory of Trenzalore, personally), maybe it’s K9 (too small), or maybe it’s a Zygon communicator. Let the speculation continue!
Cybermen on the Fuselage?
A sneak peak #BehindTheScenes! #DoctorWho #BTS #DrWho #whovian #fandom
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Jun 14, 2015 at 12:59am PDT
This seems to be the same set used in Death in Heaven, as the, uh, President of Earth flew away from London to go to somewhere or other. On-location reports say that Capaldi was trailed by a parachute in a future episode (again, likely Harness’ Zygon two-parter), while Coleman donned black with shocking red lipstick – yowzah – and a missile launcher of some description.
Don’t Panic!
A photo posted by Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) on Jul 2, 2015 at 12:55am PDT
Well, would you look at this! Probably just an insubstantial prop, perhaps found in the TARDIS, but just look at that Gallifreyan! A bit of the Seal of Rassilon, I think, and a lovely tip of the hat to the one and only Douglas Adams (City of Death; The Pirate Planet).
Take a look at that label. If that’s Part 10, do you think there are 42 pieces?
So there we have it. Teasers for Series 9. Intriguing, infuriating, inconsequential.
And filming is winding down. Nonetheless, expect further behind-the-scenes glimpses over at their Instagram feed.
The post 10 Intriguing Doctor Who Series 9 Pics on Instagram appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
Doctor Who: The Fan Show Lands At San Diego Comic Con!
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.
Doctor Who: The Fan Show has landed at the San Diego Comic Con, the year’s biggest sci-fi & fantasy movie, books, comics and TV jamboree, where press and fans rub shoulders and costumes to get a sniff of exclusives, interviews, merchandise and autographs.
The DW:TFS team will be covering all of the action at SDCC, including exclusive announcements, cosplay fun, merchandise guides, fan meet-ups and guest appearances from Michelle Gomez, Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi! Hit play above to find out more, and don’t forget to follow them on Twitter to catch live tweets from San Diego Comic-Con.
The post Doctor Who: The Fan Show Lands At San Diego Comic Con! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
What Do Licence Fee Changes Mean to the BBC’s Television Budget?
Andrew Reynolds is a writer at Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews - All the latest Doctor Who news and reviews with our weekly podKast, features and interviews, and a long-running forum.
In a repeat of the move that once caused the BBC Trustees and then director-general Mark Thompson to consider resigning en masse, the government has confirmed that the BBC will have to bear the cost of free licence fees for the over 75s – with the Government likely to bring in proposals to recoup some of the £650 million cost by charging for catch up services like iPlayer.
Culture secretary John Whittingdale announced in the House of Commons yesterday that the corporation will have to bear the cost of the licence fee exemption, which represents around a fifth of the BBC’s £3.17bn licence fee revenue.
Whittingdale told MPs the changes would be phased in from 2018-19 with the BBC bearing the full cost by 2020-21.
The first impact of the exemption will be felt by the BBC in 2018/19, when it will amount to £250m. Its financial commitment will nearly double to £450m the following year, and £750m by 2020/21.
In return, the Government will bring in proposals on paying to use catch-up services like iPlayer, meaning that the corporation could potentially charge people to use the service (effectively closing the iPlayer loophole in the current service), raise the licence fee in line with inflation, subject to efficiency savings, or change the age at which it is available from 2020.
In a move called ‘a natural progression in a digital age’ the BBC will attempt to claw back some of the deficit by launching the BBC Store, a new commercial web service allowing fans to purchase downloads of hit shows including Doctor Who (preumably modern and classic) and Sherlock.
The site will offer permanent downloads just hours after programmes have aired – creating direct competition for Apple’s iTunes which currently charges around £4 to buy an episode of Sherlock.
The Independent says the store is currently in Beta and houses around 10,000 hours of content (6,000 recent programmes and 4,000 hours of archive programmes – some of which have never had a commercial release) to purchasers in the UK.
BBC Worldwide, the corporation’s commercial wing tasked with returning revenues to the licence-fee payer, will take a 70% cut of sales, with the rest going to independent production companies which have supplied the content. BBC sources said the Store was expected to make a modest initial contribution to Worldwide’s revenues with the launch catalogue building up to 10,000 hours of programming.
The BBC Trust approved the launch of the BBC Store, describing it as a “worthwhile commercial service that supplements what the BBC makes available through the licence fee and promises to bring value not only to audiences but also to the wider creative industries.”
However Rona Fairhead, the chair of the BBC Trust, was critical of the way yesterday’s announcement was made. In a letter to Whittingdale, she wrote: “We accept this decision is a legitimate one for the Government to take, although we cannot endorse the process by which it has been reached.
She added that while they couldn’t impede any proposal by the Government, there was still concern for the direction the policy is taking: “We acknowledge that nonetheless, following discussion with the BBC Executive and the Trust, you have agreed a number of significant mitigations… It is our presumption that the Government will not now seek to impose further costs on the BBC during the Charter Period.”
The Government’s plans emerged over the weekend in a newspaper briefing by Treasury officials, followed by an interview given by Chancellor George Osborne to the Andrew Marr Show.
In it, Osborne suggested that the BBC could cuts it’s spend on online content: “If you’ve got a website that’s got features and cooking recipes – effectively the BBC website becomes the national newspaper as well as the national broadcaster. There are those sorts of issues we need to look at very carefully,” he said.
“You wouldn’t want the BBC to completely crowd out national newspapers. If you look at the BBC website it is a good product but it is becoming a bit more imperial in its ambitions.”
Shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant called the announcement “an utter shambles”, adding it was “no way to run a whelk stall let alone the world’s most respected broadcaster”. Meanwhile The Telegraph reports that Philip Davies, a Conservative MP, said that the BBC is able to “suckle on the teat” of licence fee payers because its income rises every time a new home is built.
In response, the Culture Secretary hinted that the corporation’s rising income could be used to justify cuts during the charter negotiations: “My honourable friend is absolutely right that while the BBC licence fee has been frozen its income has been rising year on year due to the growth of households,” he said.
In a further blow to the BBC, Whittingdale said that decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee will be “carefully considered” by the Government.
Rallying to the BBC’s cause, David Tennant has backed a petition by Broadcast to protect the corporation declaring that ‘we must celebrate and protect the BBC for ourselves and our children.’
David Tennant on why we need to protect the BBC #BackingTheBBC
Sign the pledge here: http://t.co/Zh1MiD7keq pic.twitter.com/ton8WKwJ8N
— Broadcast (@Broadcastnow) July 6, 2015
When the idea of making the BBC pay for the licence fee exemption was floated five years ago, it prompted the BBC Trustees and then director-general Mark Thompson to consider resigning en masse. Thompson later wrote in his memoirs that the move would have pushed the BBC “down the cliff”.
The BBC Press Office issued this statement from Director-General Tony Hall on yesterday’s agreement with the Government.
Statement from BBC Director-General Tony Hall regarding today’s agreement with the Government: pic.twitter.com/dulfvL5t6u
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) July 6, 2015
What do you think of these changes? Do you fear an impact in the quality of the BBC’s broadcast TV?
The post What Do Licence Fee Changes Mean to the BBC’s Television Budget? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
Churchill? River Song!? My Big Finish Spinoff Wishlist
Richard Forbes 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.
June 26th, I sat down to write a new article called ‘Historical Characters for Big Finish?’ – it had occurred to me one night that it might be legally possible for Big Finish to depict historical characters from Doctor Who by using the voice of the same actors and actresses who had played them on television – thus, I had set out to write a wishlist of fun proposals that would see Doctor Who through Big Finish productions revisit past historical characters. First on the list was Series 5’s enchanting take on Sir Winston Churchill, played by Ian McNeice himself. However, the very next morning I awoke to the surprising headline, ‘River Song to Meet the Eight Doctor’ – attached was a picture of McNeice’s own Churchill giving me a dour, stern glare. I was crushed. Everyone wants their wishlist to be fulfilled, just after they’re published first preferably – otherwise you don’t get near the opportunity to brag! I’m a bragger at heart, after all.
With the much anticipated Doom Coalition 2, The Churchill Years, Classic Doctors, New Monsters and the previously announced, UNIT: Extinction, Big Finish Productions is boldly venturing into the world of Post-2005 Doctor Who which opens up many possibilities for future stories that the audio stories could tell and past characters and monsters it could revive. There are some obvious stories that I’m sure lots of us would want Big Finish to explore like the War Doctor’s adventures through the Time War and the Eleventh Doctor’s time on Trenzalore or, who knows, a Ninth Doctor return? I felt it might be more interesting to explore the stories that, while not the most obvious of choices, I’d been keen to listen to, with regards to Big Finish covering characters from the revived series.
Runner-Up: ‘A Slitheen’s Second Chance’
Not making the cut, but only barely, is the tale of Margaret Blaine. An early draft of The Stolen Earth saw an infant Margaret Blaine return to Doctor Who for a brief cameo – we can glean from Russell T Davies’ rough script that Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen was taken in by the Jingatheen family and called ‘Margaret’ of all things. Interestingly, Annette Badland actually recorded her voice for the cameo but the scene was eventually cut due to budget issues.
While I doubt the Slitheen is the first monster many would think of when they think of revisiting a monster, it’s my belief that one thing that Big Finish has excelled at has been taking badly maligned elements like Mel Bush from the Classic series and developing them with a better presentation. Boom Town ends with our favourite killer Slitheen transformed into a hatchling which gives her a second chance at a new life – I’d love to see just where this second chance led Margaret and what life she eventually lived.
1. ‘Deadly Danger to England’
Yes yes yes! Bring her back baby! Viewers last saw Queen Elizabeth in The Day of the Doctor romancing with the Tenth Doctor – it was there that we learnt the full extent of their relationship which had been hinted in previous stories as an infinitely satisfying running gag. I’d love to see a story or even a series exploring her complicated romance with the Last of the Time Lords – a previously unexplored history between the two characters which has been implied to have crossed both regenerations and timelines. There’s still lots to explore with the tragic tale of Queen Elizabeth – how did she get a hold of ‘Gallifrey Falls, No More’ -? Why does she consider the Doctor a sworn enemy later in life? Was the Doctor actually the King of England? (In the UK, the Queen is under no condition to award a title at all to her husband, but Queen Victoria’s case suggests Consort King would be inappropriate for a foreigner).
I’d like to see the Fourth Doctor or the Fifth Doctor, someone who we feel we know well, caught romancing in their private life with the Queen herself – perhaps he takes the Queen to see the stars? Eye of Orion? Gallifrey!? We know how much the Doctor loves showing the universe off and who better to show off to than the Last of the Tudor Monarchs, English’s most eligible Bachelorette. A secret affair that none of us, Whovian or not, knew about. It’d be an absolute pleasure to see Joanna Page and/or Angela Pleasence reprise their role as Elizabeth I along the course of her long, eventful life and reign as Queen. Pretty Please, Nick Briggs?
2. ‘Article 57’
Another potential series in the making: we haven’t seen much of the Shadow Proclamation as of late, have we? The universe’s very own ‘outer space police’ were last referenced in 2010’s The Eleventh Hour. The Shadow Proclamation like UNIT or Torchwood, being an enforcement agency concerned with galactic law abroad easily affords writers the opportunity for a good science fiction story with a solidly grounded format. Big Finish could flesh out Kelly Hunter’s Shadow Architect better and the role that the Shadow Proclamation plays in the universe to protect life, especially as the Jadoon are already set to return with Big Finish’s Classic Doctors, New Monsters set.
Perhaps the glorious hunt for Florence Finnegan can finally make a return? One can only hope.
3. ‘The Woman Who Walked the Earth’
A Doctor, but probably not the doctor you were expecting, Martha Jones stands as likely the most maligned of the revived series’ companions, despite being a thoroughly different kind of a character: a doctor in her own right with her own strengths and her own goals who eventually leaves the Doctor because she feels she can accomplish more with her life! In some respects, a bit of a modern-day Liz Shaw,
I think Big Finish could do a wonderful job in exploring Martha Jones further as a companion, especially by taking Martha Jones out of the context of Series 3 where her character was written purposefully as second pickings, the Doctor’s ‘rebound’ from Rose Tyler. Personally, if it didn’t involve a different Doctor than the Tenth, I’d like to see a prequel to Blink – we’ve seen Sally Sparrow’s side of the story, but what about Martha and the Doctor’s story? How did they find themselves trapped in 1969? What were they up to at Wester Drumlins? Quick, someone get Freema Agyeman on the phone!
4. ‘Seven Horsemen of the Tally’
Despite the criticism it received, some of it very deserving, I’d argue Series 7’s Power of Three delivered us a glimpse of a wonderful new race of monsters, the Shakri. Problem is, that’s all it was: a glimpse! A teaser! An itty bitty little tablespoon of the great and fabled race. I want to see the Shakri and their interesting backstory explored more – perhaps Chris Chibnall could take the opportunity to write for Big Finish? That’d certainly be a coup. The Shakri are fascinating partly because we know very little about them, they appear to be anti-imperialist in a sense and frightfully spiritual – they were a bed-time story on Gallifrey, a myth – they feared the day of reckoning (‘the tally’), fought the ‘contagion’ of imperialistic species and had a strange, mythical association with the number seven.
5. ‘Under the Silver Cloak’
Bernard Cribbins, bless him, ain’t getting any younger and I’d love to see a return of Wilf just as much as I’m sure you are. The ultimate Wilf story to me would be for another Doctor to visit Wilf, just after he thinks he’ll never see the Doctor again with our hero, tearfully departing him in The End of Time – the Doctor, with a new face, appears: ‘oi! You!’ and a new adventure begins. Wilf and the Doctor share a special relationship, a complex space-time event which suggests they’re destined to meet each other forever.
One of Russell T Davies’ more clever inventions was ‘the Silver Cloak’ – Wilf’s band of friends, no doubt gathered from the local senior home – and it’s the Silver Cloak especially that I’d like to see expanded upon because as a group they’d be prone to a Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys / Scooby Doo fashion which sees them lopped into the middle of an unraveling urban mystery.
Elderly folks are especially interesting for Doctor Who to explore as a community because seniors are often marginalised and excluded, just as children are – just as they may have the time to explore the urban myths and oddities around us, the Silver Cloak’s ravings about Zygons and Rutans are likely to receive about as much recognition from others as a five year old’s tea party with the Easter Bunny might.
6. ‘The Zeroth Hour’
‘Prisoner Zero has escaped! Prisoner Zero has escaped!’ Sound familiar? The Eleventh Hour introduced us to a little known race called the Atraxi, a kind of intergalactic police state, who we have yet to even see in their full form. The Atraxi were pursuing an escaped criminal of theirs, Prisoner Zero. When Steven Moffat was promoting Deep Breath, he mused that post-regeneration stories are never about the plot, but the new Doctor – so characters like Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi are rarely fleshed out.
However, another post-regeneration baddie, the Sycorax will be returning to Big Finish with its Classic Doctors, New Monsters set, so perhaps that suggests an Atraxi return isn’t as impossible as it might sound-? Personally I’d love to see a Big Finish story explore the background of Prisoner Zero – who are they? What’s their real name? Their home planet? What did they do to be imprisoned? And just what is an Atraxian prison like?
Likely impossible narrative wise, but it’d also be great to see Olivia Colman reprise her role as Prisoner Zero because I felt as though The Eleventh Hour wasted her potential as a villain in Doctor Who.
7. ‘Song of Freedom’
Russell T Davies’s finest creation? Perhaps others would disagree, but I always found the Oodkind to be a very special kind of creature in Doctor Who. Gentle, subservient and genuinely odd looking. The Ood as characters don’t rely on clever tricks to make them unique and interesting, they are just genuinely unique and interesting because of their nature; their vulnerability has taught them to be kind and compassionate – servants, even – but there’s also always something scary about ‘the quiet butler’ or ‘the quiet servant’ in the background especially when those servants are interconnected at a conscious level to a hive-mind.
Oftentimes, I think the Ood have been let down by Doctor Who’s producers because the Ood are apparently one of the cheaper designs for the monsters – hence why they’re regularly used for webcasts, minisodes, live appearances and cameos throughout Series 4-6 (including being a ‘backup’ monster for Series 3’s 42) – if a ‘monster’ was needed, the Ood’s rubber masks were dusted off. After so many unnecessary cameos, it’d be nice to see someone like Big Finish give the Oodkind another story of their own where they are one of the main focuses once again – a story which respects them as characters.
One idea that did pop in my head when I was thinking about potential Ood stories was a Sensorite / Oodkind cross-over – given the two species are similar and occupy neighboring spheres – but how the two species would interact is anyone’s guess. Would they try to out-serve each other? Murder one another systematically with acts of kindness? Scratch that, that’s rubbish.
8. ‘Brian’s Log’
Arguably the most severely underused character in recent years was Brian Williams, played by Mark Williams. No, not NBC’s disgraced anchor – the other Brian Williams. Williams was featured in a couple of stories in Series 7, playing the role of Rory Williams’ father – a humdrum personality, whose thoroughness, diligence and sense of duty was often the butt of a joke – he would later reject joining the Ponds on the TARDIS because ‘someone needs to water the plants’.
Mark Williams, only a few years previous to filming Series 7, had already played Maxwell Edison (yes, it’s a Beatles reference) in a Fifth Doctor story for Big Finish, The Eternal Summer – but if anything that only seems to make it more likely he might return once more to Big Finish. My hope is though that a future audio story could expand on Brian Williams’s life after the Ponds, especially after his work with UNIT. I’m drawn towards thinking that Williams could become an employee of sorts for UNIT, especially given he already knows about the existence of aliens and about the Doctor, but as a civilian he’d be the perfect audience surrogate for a cast of otherwise scientifically attune characters – a new doorman to replace Atkins, perhaps?
9. ‘Whitechapel’
It had to be said, didn’t it? The Paternoster Gang have often been touted as having the potential to carry their own show altogether – Moffat has said the BBC is keen to do a spin-off series with them too. Ultimately, if Moffat doesn’t have the time to pursue a spinoff series, I could see the characters having a life of their own with an audio series through Big Finish. If they were to be televised, the Paternoster Gang would almost surely appear on CBBC like the Sarah Jane Adventures. Another direction; a less obvious direction would be to use Big Finish as an environment to take the Paternoster Gang towards darker territory than BBC One might permit on their previous appearances in Doctor Who. When I had thought about this, it seemed to me that a darker, more adult Big Finish series could make a lot of sense…
First, the relationship between Madame Vastra and Jenny could be more delved into than Doctor Who’s programming permits (where they’re limited to the occasional ‘married, remember?’ and some sexual innuendo). Moreover, the enemies that the Paternoster Gang often face are violent sexual predators from the Whitechapel nightlife, like Jack the Ripper and Clarence DeMarco – who both were only glossed over as characters in Doctor Who. Likewise, the more adult format might detract from the fan criticism of Strax as repetitive slapstick comedy for kiddies.
One thing’s for certain: if a Big Finish Paternoster series happened, a Jago and Litefoot crossover would be near obligatory!
10. ‘Dinosaurs of Albion’
A bit more of a personal whimsy here, admittedly. You may have noticed in Deep Breath that part of Vastra’s conversation with Clara was cut off – Clara responds ‘And then we got swallowed by a big dinosaur. You probably noticed.’ – which implies there may have been some passage of time between The Time of the Doctor and Deep Breath – a, gah… pre-post-regeneration story. Yikes. Okay so…here, you play Nick Briggs and I’ll play the guy pitching it to you…
Imagine yourself in the Jurassic Age – strange birds tweet in the forests, dinosaurs rustle past. Silurians cowardly watch from the bushes, looking up towards the serene sky. The TARDIS hurls towards Earth. The Silurians cry for help, blowing into a conch. Clara, picking herself up from the crash, realises that the Doctor, newly regenerated, has wandered out of the TARDIS, stumbling into the untamed jungles. The madness of the Doctor is conveyed by his speech: he speaks his dialogue as Peter Capaldi, but thinks his inner dialogue as Matt Smith. Can Clara and the Doctor survive seven days and seven, long… frightening nights in the Jurassic world? Spoiler alert: they get eaten by a giant female dinosaur!
I’ve shared some of my ideas. Now it’s your turn! If you had your choice of new series characters, who would you bring to Big Finish?
The post Churchill? River Song!? My Big Finish Spinoff Wishlist appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.
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