“What did you do during the gap year, Daddy?”

Readers with long lawns and short tempers will recall this this blog had in its day a hard copy predecessor, Zeus Plug, the shortest, pluggiest and to date only pubzine in New Zealand. From March we’ll be reproducing those first eight issues and covering the zine’s short, glorious and expensive history. There’ll be behind the scenes stories, those articles presented in new and sometimes unexpurgated form, and who knows, perhaps along the way we’ll laugh a little, cry  little, and learn about life, love and the importance of family. Or something.

Stay tuned!

Now, sensible bloggers would now be putting links on their pages to the new Torchwood trailer and inviting commentary, opinion and fact-correcting from all and sundry. But that stuff’s too easy – things explode, Jack kisses Yentl, there’s something magical happenning with the kids and Peter bloody Capaldi is weaving his brilliance in another genre show. It’s possible that there’s something here to watch (although The Guardian’s Carrie Dunn seems pretty balanced on that note).

No. Go and find your Torchwood trailer elsewhere. We’ve looked on the forums and, my god, the sqee-ing…

Much more interesting is this on You Tube – How To make a Proper Doctor Who Anime. No, wait – it’s actually okay! In fact, bits of it are brilliant – Al should love it, aikido you not (arf!). Alright, the anime style is not for everyone, but where likenesses have been based on yer actual cast members and there’s stompy full on Cyb vs Dalek action and the action is fluid and there’s some very good storyboarding going on – well, it’s worth your time.

Fan animations are still something of a bete noir in some circles these days – even the fan-made Web of Fear ‘trailer’ copped some rather uncharitable comments from quarters that have traditionally looked more fondly at restoration attempts. But if either of these examples can make a convincing argument, it surely must be that for the foreseeable time the future of animated restoration lies in truly imaginative 2D, and not 3D.

Your thoughts?

The passage of time. We’ve seen it, and it’s not a pretty sight. It does things to a man. Nevertheless, we at ZeusBlog Terraces are a flinty-eyed steely bunch, and we don’t shrink from our blogging responsibilities no sir. Thankfully, nothing of any importance Who-wise happened in January to blog about – not a single thing, so it makes this instalment so much easier.

Let’s keep this in the manner of the TSV Message Board and start out by going completely off-topic…

OMG teh Prisoner is deads!
Okay, he was never in the series (even though The Village was of course), so let’s see some of that, as well as the late great scary man, put to the tune of some imminently-visiting senior songsters of the heavily metallic genre [indulge me, it's the only way I'll see them now. Curse you, parenthood!]

OMG Khaaaan is deads as well!
Aint It Cool News really pulled one out of the hat on the video tributes to this guy who was also never in DW. We spent a wee while – yes, a very wee while, finding one they missed. Khan. Say it once and there’s muuusic playing. Say it twice and it’s actually a little obsessive.

OMG Computer voice too? Curse you, mortality!
The fickle fulcrum of fate teeters cruelly in Roddenberryland. Majel Roddenberry, the precedent of all that’s lady sounding in computers of skiffy will be broadcast live no more. She was the antecedent of Mister Smith in the Sarah Jane Adventures we suppose.  Er, that’s about it. No, we’re not going to comment on the guy who was in the robot in Lost in Space.

OMG Dalek is deads!
Lest we forget and let it be said now: before Katy Manning it was John Scott Martin who was the first actual Who actor to pose topless with a Dalek. That man – what an innovator! And he had a career afterwards as well.

[Ed: It's possible we may be wrong on this and the picture is of that pesky Bob Jewel again. In which case, here's a blog covering some of the worst Dalek cakes of all time. Ye gods.]

Matt Smith not dead, but lives on in YouTube mash-ups
Which, after les Piper’s Call Girl antics, is writing ‘shipping’ videos all by itself…

RT Forum throws in towel, becomes news site instead.
And fair enough. The RT, it has to be said, isn’t alwasys the life of the party on the Interweb, what with its talk of colour spots, 72 edits (to which we say, hey – if you can remember them you were never there, eh punters?) and fending off the young enthusiasts and their weekly assault on the board with suggestions that, gosh – maybe other stories could be animated as well? That said, what a great mont for articles about forthcoming releases – and what releases! Planet of the Daleks in colour fully of course. Yeah, and Marinus! War Games! Attack of some Cybermen! Why, you’d never think there’s a global depression looming with that shopping list.

Bus Smashed en route to Dubai. (gate)
We got nothing. Why is this news? More David Tennant stories? Oh.
Aren’t we all over him now?

And there’s your January 2000 and nine. Peesha-pish!