February 02, 2012

The 3rd Doctor, Sara Kingom and Dr. Who - Classic Footage circa 1955!

Yes, that is our dapper, debonair dandy of a 3rd Doctor Jon Pertwee, pictured in 1955 with then-wife Jean Marsh (who played three different roles in Doctor Who, the most notable of which was companion Sara Kingdom in The Dalek Master Plan, a role she has recently reprised on a number of occasions for Big Finish audio productions). The photo is a still from recently released (and quite wonderful) footage of a “Waistcoats for Women” fashion gala which can be seen at the British Pathé website. If one Doctor wasn’t enough, the footage also includes 60’s movie “Dr. Who” himself, Peter Cushing. When looking at the footage, one can see that Jon Pertwee’s choice of dress as the Doctor didn’t exactly come out of nowhere!

Posted by Luca on Thursday, February 2 at 8:23 pm

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THE BATTLE OF THE BODY PARTS! -  UFC EXCLUSIVE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT

One Match Card.  One Headliner. Two Different Bouts. 

In this UFC Exclusive two of the universe’s most feared creatures will face-off in this Single Entity tag team match!  Alter Egos.  Flipside of the same coin.  Same persons.  Two Different Incarnations! 

Entering into the Octogon this spring: THE HAND OF FEAR!  Eldrad’s sentient torso free appendage -VS- THE BRAIN OF MORBIUS! The tyrant TimeLord’s disenskullified grey matter (brain stem included)!  This Battle of Body Parts is a must see pay-per-view event.  Who has the edge?  The unmanicured manos of Eldrad?  Or the squishy oozy floating brain of Morbius?  Literally the physical vs. the mental.  Mind over matter! 

AND THEN… if you think it couldn’t get any more insane both Eldrad and the Morbius monster will take center stage and duke it out for the championship!  With the kid gloves off, and the body parts reattached these two will see who is truly the boss of bosses! 

The 150 million year old, former hero of Kastria, Eldrad knows no fear as having been destroyed by King Rokon’s obliteration module once already is more than enough to banish all trepidation and give her the nickname The Hand Of Fear.  Eldrad, a creature of few words had but 6 to say at a recent news conference. “Eldrad must live.  Morbius must die”.

The Timelord Morbius from the House Dvora, The Scourge of Gallifrey, leader of the Cult of Morbius, master of the Death Zone, member of the Order of the Weal, and the King of Karn is now free and in control of the Solon Monster.  This deadly creature was created by Dr. Mehendri Solon, cobbled together out of sundry alien parts such as the lungs of a Birastrop, Condo’s left hand, Justin Bieber’s buttocks, Abe Lincoln’s feet and Lobsterboy’s Right arm!  The creature defiantly and eloquently called out his opponent, and espoused his philosophy on life, warfare, art, beauty and single combat: “Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggg”. 

Arg.  Arg indeed.  It will be a brilliant battle.

On Tavern TeeVee.

ORDER NOW!

-Rod

Report Filed by Rod
for DWBlog Sports

Posted by Rod on Thursday, February 2 at 4:06 am

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February 01, 2012

50th Anniversary Dreams#1

With the time flying by (its already February 2012….where did January go?) before we even know it we will probably know the extent of the BBC’s plans to celebrate the 50th Anniversay of Doctor Who next year. This is the big one - a milestone that should be celebrated like nothing else before, for which we will probably not have the same opportunity. Chances are, whatever they are planning will be exciting in itself, but the chances are that it won’t be exciting as all of the things which we might like to see happen. So until the announcements of what will happen occur, let’s take our chance to dream about what we might like to see happen. I’ll start off with the following.

1. Let’s get the obvious out of the way - a multi-Doctor special featuring all surviving Doctors, and re-use of old clips for the Doctors 1 to 3 and possibly Eccleston (assuming he refuses to take part - they can use deleted scene footage from his season, which would actually be new to us), with a clever Moffaty-way to incorporate the old clips into a new plot (you can see fans doing a half-decent-looking job of this sort of thing for fun on youtube - the BBC should have the money to make it look fully-decent).
2. Since Steven Moffat has hinted that there is to be more than one 50th Anniversary special, here’s my most unrealistic dream scenario (which I full expect not to happen) -  in addition to (or instead of) a multi-Doctor story featuring all of the Doctors, a new television story for each of the surviving Doctors, to be concluded with the Matt Smith one, with each being connected in some way. Explanations as to the older and fatter appearances of the older Doctors can be taken care of with a single line (just like it was in Time Crash). Ideally these new adventures should be written by a writer who wrote for the Doctor during their Doctor’s era (though in the case of Paul McGann, the choices are rather limited so we can count the audio adventures as his era) - for example - 4th Doctor Chris Boucher, 5th Doctor - Chris Bidmead, 6th Doctor - Eric Saward, 7th Doctor - Rona Munroe 8th Doctor - Rob Shearman, 9th Doctor - Russell T. Davies, 10th Doctor - Paul Cornell 11th Doctor - Steven Moffat. Well, a fan can dream, can’t he?
3. Two completely missing stories (one for each Doctor) animated and broadcast on television on one of the three BBC channels (who can help fund the project to make this feasible) - ideally I’d suggest Marco Polo and The Power of the Daleks as the earliest one for each, but if the funds were only available for a 4-part story, The Massacre and The Highlanders would do nicely. Both stories to be released on DVD & Blu Ray with extras after the broadcast.
4. Here’s one which is entirely realistic to happen. Both surviving original cast members of Doctor Who - Carole Ann Ford and William Russell - to appear in the main Anniversary special. Not with old clips, but as they are now. Before the continuity complainers come in and object that all of the Time Lords are dead so Susan can’t come back, that (just like the appearances of the older Doctors) can be fixed with one line. And we can safely ignore the suggestion made in The Sarah Jane Adventures that Ian (and Barbara) are immortal and never age, since there’s not anything in Doctor Who (the tv series that is) which indicates why that should be the case and even in the SJA episode in question it’s only suggested to be an internet rumour. We shouldn’t let trivial continuity issues like this get in the way of what would be a wonderful moment, as we would be very fortunate to have any original cast members to appear in Doctor Who 50 years later.

We’ll be back with some more dreams soon…...but in the meantime feel free to suggest some of your own in the comments section.

Posted by Luca on Wednesday, February 1 at 12:37 pm

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January 30, 2012

The 2012 Timelash Awards - Part Five

We’re almost at the end of our awards for the good, the bad and the Rills of 2011. Here we give some love (and scorn) for the spinoffs…

read more....

Posted by Graeme on Monday, January 30 at 9:25 am

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January 28, 2012

The 2012 Timelash Awards - Part Four

Our awards for the good, the bad and the Borad of 2011, the Timelash awards continues. This time the Lashy goes to a publication whom Alex just reported on its cancellation…

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Posted by Graeme on Saturday, January 28 at 9:14 am

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January 27, 2012

Doctor Who Insider cancelled

Doctor Who Magazine’s spin-off publication, Doctor Who Insider, launched last spring as a vehicle for promoting the franchise in North America, has been cancelled after nine issues, its publisher announced.

According to a report on the Doctor Who News Page, Panini – publisher of both DWM and DWI – announced in an e-mail on Jan. 27 that it was ending publication of DWI immediately, with Issue No. 9, which was first released to comic shops in Canada and the US on Dec. 8, being its final issue.

During its run, DWI ran a mix of articles on both the current and classic series, as well as large posters. Initially only available in the US and Canada, midway through its run distribution expanded to the UK and a special British-exclusive compilation of the first four issues was released there last summer.

As a regular reader of DWI, I felt it never really lived up to its promise. Launched amid fanfare as the first North American-focused (licensed) Doctor Who monthly, it very quickly became apparent it was simply DWM-lite. Offering shorter articles and extensive illustrations, it was pretty to look at, but always came off as lesser when compared to DWM (which, despite initial concerns it might not be, continued to be circulated to comic shops and magazine racks here, with DWI and DWM often filed side-by-side at places like Chapters and Indigo). And while DWI did turn the spotlight on some North American aspects of Who fandom, you were also just as likely to find promotional articles with little direct connection to North American fandom.

That doesn’t mean DWI didn’t have its moments, such as a great interview with Louise Jameson, and the final issue gave rare coverage to the Scream of the Shalka webcast. And unlike DWM, which suffers from a one-month lag between UK publication and North American sale (hence we got the Christmas issue of DWM in mid-January), DWI was able to provide more-timely promotion of upcoming episodes like the Christmas special. But, really, the magazine never seemed to find its place, not with it mostly covering stuff already covered in more in-depth form by DWM. Add to that the fact DWI was the only (licensed) Doctor Who-franchise magazine to offer no original fiction (neither comic strips – presumably disallowed due to IDW Publications having the rights for those over here – nor short stories), and it was a noble attempt always overshadowed by DWM, which during the same nine-month period released its first 100-page issue, two massive tribute issues to Nicholas Courtney and Elisabeth Sladen, and several Special Edition standalones. Even though they shared some editorial staff, DWI just couldn’t compete. 

At this point I’d normally bemoan the loss of yet another print publication and go into a woe-is-us tirade about the fading away of, to paraphrase what “Impossible Astronaut” alumni W. Morgan Sheppard once called as Blank Reg in Max Headroom, “permanent non-volatile physical media” like magazines, but in this case the magazine’s short life was wholly predictable. The good news is its demise will likely free up resources (editorial and otherwise) at the mothership, and reportedly subscribers are being offered a transfer to DWM. Which suggests DWM, now in its 33rd year and soon to hit issue No. 450, isn’t going anywhere, for now.

Nor is DWIN’s own Enlightenment, which recently published its 164th issue and which will continue to hold Canada’s end up for nationally focused Doctor Who franchise coverage.

Posted by Alex on Friday, January 27 at 9:41 am

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January 24, 2012

The 2012 Timelash Awards - Part Three

Here we are with the next category of the Timelash Awards (or the Lashies as someone suggested). This one is for the things lost and found in 2011…

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Posted by Graeme on Tuesday, January 24 at 8:54 am

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January 17, 2012

Land of the Lost

If you are interested the story behind Doctor Who’s lost episodes, have need of historical background on the BBC’s production of early Doctor Who, or required an (un)healthy OD level dose of television nerd serum. Then this book might be for you! 

Author Richard Molesworth has produced a wonderful book that shows great respect for the subject matter.  He’s provided us with a compelling and well researched tome.  It can be a bit technical and one wonders if that might turn off a number of fans. I however work in the television industry and enjoy it on that level too.  Too bad the cover is a bit rubbish.

It’s also the first Doctor Who book I’ve purchased since RTD’s A Writer’s Tale.  So in the modern era I’m 2 for 2!  WIN! 

read more....

Posted by Rod on Tuesday, January 17 at 4:16 pm

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January 11, 2012

The 2012 Timelash Awards - Part Three

Continuing our month long award ceremony for the best and worst in Who in 2011, today’s award goes to something most North American (and international) viewers really could do without…

read more....

Posted by Graeme on Wednesday, January 11 at 5:54 am

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January 10, 2012

The Mystery of April Walker

Rod scooped me on the news yesterday that the last great secret of Doctor Who’s past has been revealed, our version of the identity of Deep Throat: Who was originally cast to play Sarah Jane Smith? The identity yesterday was revealed to be April Walker, an actress who later (though not in 1973, Rod!) appeared in Fawlty Towers and other programs over the past several decades.

As I indicated a few years ago on this blog, this was one of those mysteries that fascinated me. I’m sort of disappointed that it’s turned out to be April Walker and not my own pet theory that it was Fiona Gaunt from Moonbase 3 (in the same way I’m sure people were disappointed Deep Throat turned out to be Mark Felt and not John Dean). But there are still some fascinating mysteries to be addressed, such as…

Why is a revelation like this tucked away in the DVD text commentary?

Will we actually see something about this casting on a future Season 11 DVD? Perhaps an actual interview with April Walker?

How the hell did this information manage to avoid discovery for all these years? You would think there would have been a paper trail somewhere in the BBC Records Centre in Cavesham.

Why is it coming out only now? Presumably someone knew and decided with Jon Pertwee, Barry Letts and Lis Sladen all gone now it was safe to release the information. Or did something else come to light?

Was April Walker cast to play Sarah Jane Smith? I’ve heard some experts say over the years that the character of Sarah hadn’t been invented fully yet and Walker was cast to play either “the next companion” or someone else entirely

Finally, do we actually believe the story that the reason Jon Pertwee didn’t want April Walker was she was too tall and too buxom?

It’s nice that some smaller mysteries still persist. I’m sure many of them will be solved in the coming days and months…

Posted by Graeme on Tuesday, January 10 at 6:23 am

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