This old blog of mine is wearing thin, and so with days to spare and a heavy conscience, here are a few things that slipped through the cracks this year and didn’t make publication as promised. First up, a couple of bon mots from Foo Discovers. Chief among Foo’s puddings is his shot of a tube ad for Mark Wallinger’s celebrated mirror TARDIS, formally titled ‘Time and relative dimensions in space’ , late of the Venice Biennale, 2001.

Good god 2001 is a long time ago! Here’s a pic from the Independent showing the work in ‘action’. Phew.

Secondly, and more intimately, a flavour of home, abroad. Foo was ever a great attendee of the Wellington ‘Chapter’ (ho ho) pub meet at J.J.Murphy’s, and was a welcome presence in the snug. And so, as a gift to us all back home, he provided us a ppicture of what surroundings we could one day aspire to be seated in:

…Although something tells me membership may be a little select.

Foo also proved himself a right terrier with his search for the Truth about The Doctor. Although it seems he struck a bit of a blind alley with that famous family casping aspergers his way. Still, it was a stressful time and who knows what things grief will drive people to?

 Ooh! And how could I forget his discovery of Vwoorped’s twisted version of DWM‘s Deathworld? Well, clearly I did forget. Criminal of me, because it’s fantastic!

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And on that high note, a big thanks from me to you Foo for providing the updates, the whimsy and the inside skinny on life in the UK!

Cardiff seems to get its fair share of Doctor Who mania, but little do we realise that Scotland echoes with the spirit of Who too.

During a recent trip up to the far North, I began to realise that the removal of Police Boxes from the British Isles hadn’t quite made it to Scotland.

First up:

The shop window of what appeared to be the only Sci-Fi store in Inverness.

Very nice! In my day, all we had were the little Dalek cut-outs from the ’25 Years of Target’ celebration.

After taking a scenic trip back from Inverness to Edinburgh and not a Skarasen to be seen – unless this counts

We took a guided tour around Edinburgh and it was here that we spotted our first TARDIS!

Hmmm, it’s not quite right – just needs a couple more tweaks of the ol’ Chameleon.

After departing Edinburgh, it was off to Glasgow. Just don’t get into any discussions with ANYONE about football – and never respond when asked “What foot do you kick with?”

Glasgow managed to almost get it right:

I think red beats pink any day of the week, but blue is still my favourite.

Finally, on our last day, we spotted one in the wild AND the right species too:

I also managed to catch the Who exhibition being held in town – but it seemed to be a little bit of a repeat of the previous Earl’s Court exhibition. Oh well, still fun

Foo

So, last week we went to Oliver!. Many cherubic angels singing in the workhouse… so that’s where they got them from for The Next Doctor. I surprised they didn’t break out in Christmas song when being herded along by the Cybermen.

A flight of fancy, especially as it all works out for little Oliver in the end (awwwwww).

A few Who luminaries are performing to full magnificence – funny man Rowan ‘Fatal Death’ Atkinson, Julian ‘Richard Count Scarlioni Lionheart’, Julian ‘new Davros’ Bleach. However, when Fagin mentions Bill Sykes, something suddenly pops in my head…I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before…some comment on a previous Zeus Blog post?

Ah, yes, it IS him. Burn Gorman strides onto the stage as the nasty Bill. It appears that he has bulked up a bit, or perhaps it is suit padding, however he does have a damn nice haircut. Bad burglar Bill flogs some pretty shiny things off to Fagin and then leaves while I whisper to my partner “that’s Owen from Torchwood”. Alas, Sha didn’t realise despite sitting next to him for the previously mentioned haircut.

In the second half, Burn gets his single solo musical outing with My Name and while visually rousing, is not the best showcase of his talents. With his singing voice not being a highpoint, you only really notice it when he sings with others later on. Compare and contrast people, compare and contrast.

At curtain call, he was the only person to be booed, but this was for him being a bad bad man (poor Nancy), not a bad singer (he admits as much on one of the videos on the Oliver! website). Bill had a great death scene too – falling off a chimney certainly beats being drowned in nuclear reactor coolant.

In other news…

Doctor Who Discount 1 – Seems no one wants Lazlo! Poor Lazlo. His Character Options figure has been reduced to 99p at Forbidden Planet. I guess pig faced humans aren’t as popular with the kids as they used to be. Or maybe it’s the swine flu?

Doctor Who Discount 2 – It’s not just Lazlo who is getting the short shrift. At nearby Modelzone, mini busts of Jabe (ooh err) and a Slitheen have been reduced from £40 to £10. Even poor mister Cyberman has been reduced, but only to £20. Your stock will be DELETED.

Doctor Who Discount 3 – Ever wanted to build your own TARDIS? Well, now you can. The Airfix TARDIS model has been reduced from £25 to £10 and even comes with the paint, brushes AND glue. But wait, there’s more – it also includes electronic lighting and sound effects. Just remember kids – it’s a lot more embarrassing to go hospital with a TARDIS stuck to your nose than a model aeroplane. (Actually, either would be embarrassing).

DWM Special 200 Golden Moments – I can’t find this anywhere. Have tried four book stores with good magazine selections and even Forbidden Planet doesn’t have it. Who stole all the issues? Very mysterious indeed.

With all the discounts going on over here, it seems that it really is a case of ‘Who Will Buy’!

Foo

Well, I went to Little Shop of Horrors (the musical)…

…on Saturday for the Matinee performance.

A certain Mr McCoy was Mushnick (the flower shop owner) and was simply brilliant. Who would have thought the champion ferret in pants record holder could sing as well! At the end of the performance, the voice of the plant came out onto stage and lo’ it was Morvin Van Hoff (Foon’s husband) from Voyage of the Damned.

Actually, the original cast had Sheridan Smith as Audrey, but this time it was someone different (Claire Buckfield). Of course, after googling her, turns out she has been in three Doctor Who audios. I think everyone in theatre has been in Doctor Who or an audio at some point in time.

Anyway, all up, a fantastic performance and Sylv really looks good for his age.

SB

You hear a lot about Smith in the new series. Doctor John (both of them we guess), Sarah Jane, Mickey, Mister – it’s a regular Smith City. Also Joneses – the whole fandamily of them. Noone ever mentions the Browns, and that among a few other things is what’s wrong with NuWho, because if you neglect the Browns you miss out on the great stuff our new cub reporter in the UK, Stu ‘Foo’ Brown sends us. A cut above yer actual Metro article and Chiswick zeppelin, that boy Foo knows how to rock the party. Viz this scoop:

 ”So, my partner is out having a haircut at a salon in London, just around the corner from Forbidden Planet. I get a text message saying “You are going to be so jealous” followed by “I’m sitting next to Owen”. Owen who? Ohhh, THAT Owen. I ask her to get his autograph with the text “You ducking joking. Ask for an autograph. Please. And say that he was my fav”.

Half an hour later, text received “It all done” and lo, I am the proud holder of an autograph (no hair though).

It also turns out the stylist’s wife does the hair of Tosh. A case of hair together, die together? I’ll let you know if I manage to get Naoko Mori’s autograph!”

He signs his name “Blu”? Who knew?

Foo has sent us more great stuff which we’ll post soon!