Tag: Doctor Who

Review- Big Finish:Terror of the Sontarans

Terror of the Sontarans concludes the trilogy of main range stories for the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and Mel (Bonnie Langford).

The adventure takes place on a mining facility, which is now acting as a Sontaran research base. The Doctor and Mel are responding to a distress beacon and have arrived to find the base seemingly empty. Deep down in the depths of the facility, they stumble across the original crew, whom are being held prisoner.

Something is picking the crew off one-by-one and even the Sontarans are running scared.

I’ll admit, I am one of the Doctor Who fans that doesn’t like how the Sontarans have been handled on the TV series recently. But, with this the writers have found an intriguing balance between the seriousness of the classic Sontarans and the silliness of modern Sontarans and the end result is a perfect blend of the two ideologies.

Bonnie Langford and Sylvester McCoy are flawless here, they sound exactly the same as they did in the 80’s, at times it’s as if they’ve just finished recording an episode for the BBC and entered the recording booth for Big Finish.

Langford really suffered on the TV series, but Big Finish have given her some solid material, that really allows her to shine. She is fast becoming my favourite Big Finish companion.

The direction is also spot-on, by the ever-reliable Ken Bentley.

Big Finish have been consistently good this year, I  can’t wait for 2016.

 

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Colin Baker answers THE Question

This weekend saw Doctor Who fans flock to Derby for Whooverville 7.

Listeners to our podcast will know that sometimes we borrow a question from our good friend Mr.Paul from The Pharos Project.

This is a question Paul has asked at the previous 6 Whooverville conventions. Recently Paul moved to America so he was unable to attend, yet he still managed to pose his question, in the most spectacular way.

 

Video courtesy of Tim Drury.

New names added to the Doctor Who festival

BBC Worldwide have announced some new names for the official Doctor Who Festival, which takes place this November in Excel. 

Mark Gatiss (The Unquiet Dead, Night Terrors), Sarah Dollard (Primeval, Doctor Who Series 9, Episode 10), Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Doctor Who-School reunion), Catherine Tregenna (Torchwood, Doctor Who-The Woman Who Lived), Jamie Mathieson (Flatline, Mummy on the Orient Express) and Peter Harness (Kill The Moon, Invasion of the Zygons).
Will join the previously announced Peter Capaldi (The Doctor), Michelle Gomez (Missy), Ingrid Oliver (Osgood) and current showrunner  Steven Moffat. (Still no mention of Jenna Coleman). 

BBC Worldwide have come under a lot of fire about the cost of the event, but honestly I think they’re making it worth your money. 

Along with the guests and photo opportunities, there will be theatre panels with the show’s stars. 
You’ll get to attend panels with all the series 9 writers, plus watch shows by real SFX and Millennium FX, and exclusive looks at three sets from Series 9. 

Big Finish will also have a large presence there,  you’ll get the chance to take part in Acting sessions run by Nick Briggs. You’ll also get the chance to see what it’s like to work behind the scenes in production village. 

This sounds like it’s shaping up to be a great event for any Doctor Who fan.


For more information click here

River Song to return at Christmas

The BBC announced today that River Song will be joinging the Dcotor on his Christmas adventure.
The eleventh Christmas special started filming this week and is written by showrunner Steven Moffat and, is directed by Douglas Mackinnon.

The BBC also released this synopsis:

“It’s Christmas Day in the future and the TARDIS is parked on a snowy village street, covered in icicles, awaiting its next adventure. Time traveller River Song meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time this Christmas”.

Alex Kingston said on her reappearance:

“To be honest, I did not know whether River would ever return to the show, but here she is, back with the Doctor for the Christmas special. Steven Moffat is on glittering form, giving us an episode filled with humor and surprise guest castings. I met Peter for the first time at Monday’s read through. We had a laugh, and I am now excited and ready to start filming with him and the Doctor Who team. Christmas in September?, why not!”

Steven Moffat added:

“Another Christmas, another special for Doctor Who – and what could be more special than the return of Alex Kingston as Professor River Song? The last time the Doctor saw her, she was a ghost. The first time he met her, she died. So how can he be seeing her again? As ever, with the most complicated relationship in the universe, it’s a matter of time…”

The character of River first appeared in 2008. She’s often regarded as a marmite companion.
My feeling is that River is to Steven Moffat what Rose was to Russell T Davies. He’ll neve be able to resist bringing her back.

Get the The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure, early. 

Audio production company Big Finish announced today that they’re bringing the release date forward for The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure, exclusively to Big Finish customers

Older who fans may remember that the Sixth Doctor didn’t have a proper regeneration story. So Big Finish are rectifying that.

If you’re a Big Finish customer you’ll be able to download it via their website on Monday the 17th. Everyone else has to wait six more weeks.

This eagerly awaited box-set chronicles the Doctor’s ultimate battle against the Valeyard (Michael Jayston), the malevolent distillation of the Doctor’s negative impulses. The four adventures involve a commuter train that has lost its way, a werewolf-infested town on an alien world, strange events on the stage of the New Regency theatre in Victorian London and the space station where their rivalry began in 1986’s The Trial of a Time Lord. Check out the trailer below. 

David Tennant in series 9?

It’s now a well known fact that both David Tennant and former Doctor Who show runner Russell T Davies are in Cardiff. We just don’t know why.
Online speculation has been rife that Tennant is filming for the series 9 finale.

The rumour is that the series will culminate with the Twelfth Doctor returning to Pompeii and finding out just why he has that face. In the first promo picture for series 9, Pompeii is in the background of the right hand side.

The current show runner Steven Moffat has said that will be addressed this series.

A BBC source told us:

“I can confirm that David Tennant has been in the BBC Roath Lock studios twice this week. The number of security has also been increased for next week. So something is happening.”

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean David Tennant is actually appearing in an episode. Former Doctor Who executives, Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner have just launched Bad Wolf Productions, which is based in Cardiff. It’s entirely possible that both Tennant and Davies are there to talk about working on a new unrelated show. Why wouldn’t they pop in the Doctor Who set whilst in town?

What do you think? Hit me up on Twitter.

Big Finish Review-Doctor Who: We are the Daleks

“We Are the Daleks” marks the beginning of a new era for Big Finish, which has released over 200 audio dramas and now seeks to provide a fresh entry point for new listeners. Each Doctor will lead a new trilogy of stories, starting with the Seventh Doctor and Mel.

Set in 1987, the UK is a divided nation with striking workers in Bradford and wealthy stockbrokers in the City of London. Alek Zenos, the enigmatic head of the Zenos Corporation, offers an economic miracle to Britain, which proves too tempting for politicians and investors alike. While the Doctor investigates the Warfleet computer game craze, Mel goes undercover to uncover the truth about Zenos’s partners.

The Daleks have a new plan to conquer the universe: economic power through the free market. This old-school Dalek story pays homage to previous Dalek tales of the era while satirizing Thatcherism and the “greed is good” campaign.

McCoy excels as the Seventh Doctor, my personal favourite from the classic era. His final speech to the Daleks is chilling and on par with Matt Smith’s speech in “The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang.”

Big Finish excels at giving characters a second chance, as seen with Bonnie Langford’s Mel. Underserved on TV, Mel was originally intended to be played as Violet Elizabeth Bot. Big Finish has unlocked Mel’s full potential, turning her into the companion she should have been on screen.

This multi-layered story explores themes of ambition, greed, and exclusion, even taking a jab at Michael Fish. “We Are the Daleks” is an excellent start to Big Finish’s new era.

Rebecca Front to appear in Doctor Who 

Last year, we saw former the thick of it co-star Chris Addison reunite with Peter Capaldi. This year we will see Rebecca Front. 
Front will guest in the two-part adventure that sees the return of the Zygons, details of her role are currently being kept a secret but she is thought to be playing a member of UNIT. 
The episodes have been written by Peter Harness and will see the return of fan favourite Osgood (Ingrid Oliver). 

Doctor Who festival coming to Excel

BBC Worldwide announced today that they will be holding an Official Doctor Who Festival, at Excel on Friday 13th, Saturday 14th, Sunday 15th November. The festival will feature appearances from those involved in the production.  
Tickets go on sale from 10am on June 5th. 

Interestingly, Jenna Coleman doesn’t appear on the list. 

TICKET PRICES

• Standard ticket: £65

• Standard child ticket: £30

• Standard family ticket: £165

• TARDIS ticket: £110

• TARDIS child ticket: £50

• TARDIS family ticket: £285

Find out more information here. 

Book review-City of death

Being broadcast during the ITV strike and with there only being three channels at the time, meant that City of death received the highest overnight viewing figures in the history of Doctor Who. 

The other side being on strike isn’t the only reason City of death is so well regarded. The iconic shots of Tom Baker and Lalla Ward running through the streets of Paris are beautiful and have resonated throughout the generations, when you include Douglas Adams trademark witty dialogue, you have something that has the right to be called one of the greatest Doctor Who stories ever made. 
Novelisations are notoriously tricky, but James Goss does far more than just copy and paste the original source, he has added a whole new dimension to the story which enriches the overall experience. 

Goss’ characterisations of the Fourth Doctor and Romana II are fantastic, he fully captures the eccentricities of the long scarf wearing, mad uncle Doctor as well as the sarcastic wit of Romana. Tom Baker and Lalla Ward’s voices rang through my head as I read this book. 

My only criticism is that on paper, Duggan comes across as a dim wit, however I don’t think that’s the fault of Goss, I just think that Tom Chadbon added a lot of depth to his performance on screen, that can’t be put on to the page. 

Goss has also added some great Easter Eggs in the book, which will have die hard Doctor Who fans beaming from ear-to-ear but won’t distract a person who hasn’t seen the original (yes, sadly those people exist). 

City Of Death retains the spirit of the Douglas Adams story, but the author is clearly telling his own story. The result is a beautiful collaboration which I highly recommend.