Spotted at birthday celebrations at a pub in Chiswick…

An interesting little piece of casting news HERE in today’s edition of The Sun (small amount of salt required of course…)

If true (and adding in the companion-fest that’s being bandied about), it looks like the Tenth Doctor will regenerate from being crushed under the sheer weight of continuity…

JP

 A great little story here from this morning’s free tube paper.

 A free copy of TSV 77* to the first person (Jon) who can identify the story this came from…

JP

* 2012 London Olympics tie-in edition

This will mean very little to anyone, but I have to just share my excitement that after 19 years, many close calls, one full sell-off, and numerous crossed oceans, I have today… FINALLY… completed a full Target collection.

I’ve been stuck on my final 3 for a year (An Unearthly Child, Black Orchid and Mindwarp for anyone who’s interested), but picked them up on eBay within 48 hours of each other for a combined cost of 4 pounds. Too easy.

I’m happy now.

JP

Just a quick dispatch from the South Bank!

I attended the recording of an episode of Have I Got News For You last night, and was greatly surprised when the guest host turned out to be Tom Baker! 

Lots of Who references on the night (though how many make the cut I don’t know – 2 hours of recording are cut into 30 minutes) and Tom was on great form. 

It airs in the UK tonight (Friday 31st), so will be on Youtube soon enough I would imagine. Well worth a watch if you get a chance. 

JP

Am I the only person watching Turn Left who didn’t pick up on this apparently horrific teeth / lisp / accent disaster from Ms Piper? Not only did it hit the message boards straight away, but numerous newspaper reviews the following days were stating how odd they found the overbite thing. I just didn’t see it / care. Perhaps we should be taking more notice of features rather than, say, plot and drama. Next week: hair styles and nail lengths?

The latest issue of DWM is out in stores today, sporting both a ‘Bad Wolf Takeover’ and a free Target novel. There’s 27 to choose from, though every single one I saw contained The Twin Dilemma. So… if anyone wants a copy of The Twin Dilemma… Inside, it does seem to be a bit of a case of ‘we can’t say anything!’. There are numerous mentions of the returning villain, though no images. This should change next week, when the Radio Times is celebrating ( Inviso-text follows – Ed) the return of Davros – a 4^th Series 4 cover perhaps?

Series 4 has been getting consistently good reviews in that bastion of cultural excellence, the London Underground Metro newspaper. Most likely to be found half ripped on the floor, should one be lucky enough to get their hands on one, you’ll find four star reviews for every story of the series thus far. Will TSE / JE be able to achieve the elusive 5 stars… watch this space (or don’t).

Overheard in HMV Oxford St – ‘I met Colin Baker at a convention… I was quite lucky cos he doesn’t do many’

JP

Good god, I’m a fanboy. 5 days in London and I was already at the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre to check out Who’s At Earl’s Court.

Perhaps due to the midday weekday arrival time, the exhibition was pretty much empty, which, whilst giving some welcome relief from hordes of screaming children, did take away from the buzz a little bit. The lighting and sound effects were pretty impressive, though seeing David Tennant’s visage projected onto a faceless dummy with a wig was little odd.

The exhibition was planned out in order of broadcast, so you essentially walk through the seasons.

And there was some pretty cool stuff on show. Of note:

• The Face of Boe (pictured)
• A Slitheen, Sycorax and Clockwork Man
• A Green Screen room which transposes you into the TARDIS console room – well… it sort of does… one slight move to the right and your shoulders disappear – think episode 4 of Robot.
• K9 (of the ‘push the button’ display variety – tail wags, ears move, eyes light up, voice starts – brill).
• The Cyber Controller (sitting), closely followed by the ‘Blink’ statues
• No Season 4 exhibits at that stage, despite notices saying there would be. There was Kylie Minogue’s costume from Voyage on a rotating stand just near the extensive gift shop (Doctor Who gift wrap anyone?)

To be fair, some of the displays are pretty standard – great if you’ve ever wanted to see the model of Cardiff from Boomtown, or Peter Kay’s cane from Love and Monsters, but a bit ‘meh’ if you’re looking for something truly interesting from the show.

Of most interest though was how basic some of the props were when you looked at them up close. The back of the Face of Boe was barely painted, with wires and tubing just stuck on randomly. Also, the Trinny and Susannah robots from Bad Wolf looked pretty scruffy – damaged during transit? Or just not made to be displayed after being packed with explosives? And if you thought the Big Ben prop looked a bit fake on screen… The TARDIS prop looked great but made a very plastic sound when you tapped it (fibreglass if I remember correctly?).

That said, the Racnoss costume was pretty impressive close up, and long-held dreams were fulfilled when I was finally able to sit inside a Dalek, listen to the voice changer and extend the plunger (oh, sir!).

Only major drawback – the lack of old series props… a trip to Blackpool beckons. Hoo-ray….

JP