New Companion?
Posted by Paul | Filed under General Musings
Despite news of the new companion, is there room for an alternative?
I wonder?
Tags: Karen Gillan, new companion
Reality Malfunction
Posted by Paul | Filed under Conventions and Events
Attended UK Games Expo on Saturday and Team TARDIS were in attendance. Basically, the team consist of look-a-likes who dress up appropriately and cause mild amounts of mayhem around an event. This seemed to involve running around, enigmatic stares and photo opportunities with Daleks. Another group came along dressed as stormtroopers (might have been these guys), so we had this unusual situation of the two sci-fi classics clashing across the centre of the event.
Here’s a picture of the Doctor looking more perturbed by the strangers in the background than the Dalek straight in front of him.
Tags: Birmingham, The Daleks, UK Games Expo
Flaming Hell
Posted by Paul | Filed under 21st Century Doctor
The new companion to tag along with Matt Smith has been announced, flamed haired Scot Karen Gillan - who, rather like Martha, previously had a bit part in the series as the Soothsayer in the episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’.
Having read in the new issue of SFX this morning that most fans likely couldn’t tolerate another bewildered Londoner has a companion, one can only hope they allow Karen to retain some vestige of her true accent, rather than requiring her to pull a Tennant.
I think, considering Gwen in Torchwood has a Welsh accent, we’re ready for something regional in Doctor Who. Why should the spin-off dominate in the funny voice stakes (what with Barrowman’s American, as well as Gwen’s Welsh).
Depending on how they kit her out, Karen certainly looks like she can fill the sexiness requirement for the role - though at just 16, perhaps I shouldn’t be making comments like that! Given the age of the Doctor and his companion, I just hope the whole series doesn’t suddenly go all Dawson’s Creek on us… This is family entertainment, not a channel for teenage angst and sudden mood swings.
Tags: Gwen Cooper, John Barrowman, Karen Gillan, Matt Smith, new companion
Doctor Who Role Playing Game
Posted by Paul | Filed under Games and Merchandise
When the Cubicle 7 web site goes from mentioning Dr Who to not mentioning at all - not on the front page nor the Our Games - one must assume some ‘complications’ have arisen. As the site is down for ‘Spring cleaning’ it’s tough to get a real grip on what be happening - but the department responsible for licensing concepts at the BBC never seems to work particularly quickly. The lawyers linger in that area, and they’re all about mind-boggling processes and delays.
I hope I’m grasping at the wrong straws here and that the game’s release schedule has not slipped to somewhere in the distant future (as opposed to Summer 2009, which was the last update).
Update: Poking around RPG.net other people have noticed the downtime (given that it started more than three weeks ago) and there have been posts from Cubicle 7 associated individuals to indicate all is well.
However, having a site/forum/development blog closed down for so long can’t be good for a business - especially if people come looking and they don’t hang out at places like RPG.net.
Tags: BBC, Cubicle 7, Doctor Who Role Playing Game
Under the Doctor
Posted by Paul | Filed under The Classic Doctor, Time Connections
Just watched Sylvester McCoy making a brief guest appearance on ‘Al Murray’s Multiply Personality Disorder’. Not the highlight of his comedy career exactly, playing doctor (ha!) to Murray’s gay Nazi. Still, nice to see him on telly again.
Tags: Al Murray, Multiple Personality Disorder, Sylvester McCoy
In The End
Posted by Paul | Filed under General Musings
Well, having watched the final episode of Battlestar Galactica it leaves me wondering how Who might conclude. Will we discover that the Time Lords have been hiding in the cupboard all along… The one in the TARDIS kitchen near the leaky pipe.
Oh, and the Ultimate Question is ‘What is the final Doctors European shoe size?’ … 42.
Tags: Battlestar Galactica, Gallifrey, Time Lord
New Gallifrey
Posted by Paul | Filed under Media and Tie-Ins, Time Connections
Coventry outlines credentials to become the new Gallifrey. Central shopping centre to be demolished and replaced with the new Panoptican. Local branch of PC World claims to have started work on reconstructing The Matrix by daisy chaining three Acer netbooks, a blender, and a 44″ plasma TV. Dave Ross, of nearby Kenilworth, quoted as being less than impressed with the plans and certain to lodge a complaint with the county council.
Tags: Coventry, Doctor Who Exhibition, Gallifrey
The Eleventh Doctor
Posted by Paul | Filed under General Musings
Less than an hour until they announce who the next Doctor will be. OK… I’ll plump for Paterson Joseph. I know he’s already quite high up at the bookies - but it presents all sorts of potential. His recent work on ‘Survivors‘ presents a fine Who link (as it was created originally by Terry Nation, who also created the Daleks).
I doubt they’d go as far as making the Doctor a woman - and I’d personally prefer Richard E. Grant (purely for the fan boy reason that this would explain the aberration of ‘The Scream of the Shalka‘, in which he starred as an unidentified future regeneration of the Doctor) - but Paterson makes for a change without going out on a limb. He has been in the series already (he got killed in the future version of the Weakest Link, didn’t he?), but I’ve always thought the regeneration process draws on the Doctor’s experiences, as much as anything, to choose a final form. So, memories of a certain appearance leak into the process and mean the chances of coming out the other end looking like someone else can happen as often as anything completely new. That would explain Colin Baker, too! (he appeared in The Arc of Infinity as Commander Maxil before becoming the Doctor himself)
We won’t be seeing him in action until sometime in 2010… so, we all have plenty of time to wean ourselves off Tennant.
My really far out selection for the Doctor would be to set Series 5 during the Time War and allow Paul McGann (and perhaps India Fisher) to have their moment in the limelight. You could have all sorts of adventures charting the progress into and through the War, culminating in the Doctor’s sacrifice to defeat the enemy and force his regeneration into the Ninth Doctor. Like a flashback… and then Series Six can return us to present day Who.
Addendum: Ah well. Matt Smith is the Eleventh Doctor. My suggestions, while entirely valid and viable, must have simply been too much for the BBC to handle. So, we have Matt - who, on first impressions, I have no good feelings about. I shall have to be won over, I suppose.
Tags: Eleventh Doctor, India Fisher, Matt Smith, Paterson Joseph, Paul McGann, regeneration, Richard E Grant, Time War
2009
Posted by Paul | Filed under General Musings
It may well be a quiet year for Doctor Who on the TV, but not totally devoid of content. We have four specials, a week long Torchwood epic, and the Sarah Jane Adventures - Series 3 to look forward to. On top of that, we should finally see the publication of Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who role playing game.
Resolutions for the New Year:
- Get episode reviews up-to-date for all series on this blog
- Complete FASA RPG version analysis piece on this blog
- Read at least three pieces of Doctor Who fiction - to quench the thirst
- Buy the RPG - and write at least one adventure for publication, either here or through some official channel
Well, that last one is worth a shot, right?
Tags: Cubicle 7, Doctor Who, role playing games, Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood
SJA: The Day of the Clown
Posted by Paul | Filed under Sarah Jane Adventures
I love anything rooted in mythology or modern day artifacts. That’s why episodes like ‘Blink’ work, because you take something commonplace and give it a disturbing spin. Clowns don’t really need much work to make them disturbing. ‘The Greatest Show in the Galaxy‘ may not have been the height of the Seventh Doctor’s adventures, but the clowns made a real impact, because they’re naturally scary. Yes, sometimes they make you laugh, but you have this unsettling feeling somewhere in the back of your mind that they’d just as soon leap out on you and offer up a solid pant-wetting opportunity.
Here, Bradley Walsh (showing a quite reasonable grasp of accents) plays Spellman (and Odd Bob) with just the right measure of creepiness. Odd Bob has been trapped here for a long time and feeds on fear, and kidnapping children generates a lot of fear. When kids start disappearing, Sarah Jane gets involved… and with a little assistance from Floella Benjamin (as Professor Rivers) at the Pharos Institute (previously seen in the final episode of Series One) finds a way to put a stop to the nefarious Spellman’s plans.
Like the episodes in Series One, Series Two makes it hard for you not to like Sarah Jane. Tight, well thought out, exciting episodes, with all the running about you want from kids’ drama. The show builds up back story - Sarah Jane is scared of clowns, one of whom haunted her youth while living with her Aunt Lavinia - and gives plenty of screen time to the ensemble of child actors. There is a hint of Stephen King’s ‘It’ about Odd Bob, but in this instance the whole thing works pretty well (which is more than you can say for the movie version of the King story!).
On top of all that, the story provides a neat introduction to Rani and her family, a solid replacement for Maria.
Tags: Blink, Bradley Walsh, Floella Benjamin, Sarah Jane Adventures, Spellman, Sylvester McCoy
