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
Over the next twelve months the life of the Doctor is about to become increasingly turbulent and uncertain. Out here in the real world and as a global society we too are entering what that old Chinese curse would call ‘interesting times’. Ignoring the whys and wherefores that have led to and contributed to the global financial meltdown, there’s opportunity to look into the near future and see how macroeconomics affect the little (or big) things in life like fandom. In fact, the effects are already in place, as anyone who has ordered books, comics or DVDs from overseas will tell you. At the heart of the programme the purse strings are being tightened too, as the Beeb has ordered its flagship programmes to work smarter and cheaper. Doctor Who is among these, and while 2009′s gap year (not to mention reduced Torchwood series) might be cause for relief in some quarters, the wisdom of filming in Dubai could be questioned. Doctor Who as a series has never enjoyed a reputation for being lavish and expensive – not until recently, perhaps, but leaner times lie ahead. We may yet be grateful that the show’s new producer has an admirable reputation for creating great stories and memorable aliens out of the mundane and affordable.
So then, we could say that there’s a good chance the Who of the near future (assuming it will still be made!) will be a slimmer, more slender beast. Merchandising is sure to take a king hit, as fewer manufacturers join the race for a dwindling fan dollar, and some quarters retrench to save some pounds – think fewer Big Finish audios and maybe a culling of DWM‘s sister ‘zines. If that means fewer tatty cash-ins like bottom-range wall clocks and stock photo greeting cards then perhaps it’s a small mercy. Fewer old series DVDs (or fewer extras on them) might be harder to swallow for some, when the likelihood of going out of an evening diminishes.
All of this is not intended to cast a pall over the coming months – we’ll read and hear enough as things continue to unfold. What should give us some heart in light of this is the community that fandom can offer. These days it’s online – slightly anonymous, but it’s immediate, affordable and exists in a way that is tangible and effective and Who fans, by and large, are good to one another. Communities, like cult television, can’t be bought or made but grow naturally. They are resilient, and perhaps the greatest hope we can have moving into such uncertain times, is that this community as it is will endure as it has for forty-five years.
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
Okay then. Things that happened last month. Here we go…
WHO THE FROCK IS DEAN GAFFNEY AND WHAT IS HE DOING IN DW NEWS?
You know, we live in fractious times, and none moreso than on the internet, with its Facebooks and MySpacings. News this week that Eastenders/reality TV curio Dean Gaffney would be in one of the specials this year was ‘revealed’ this week, then revealed to be a fake posting on that hive of scum and villainy, Twitter. Young fans who understand all this and probably care were alternately scandalated and then relieved that it all turned out bunkum. We dunno, having seen this we reckon he’d fit the bill perfectly.
KASTERBOROUS KEEPS ABREAST OF THINGS
It has to be said, Colin Baker running into sometime cinematic DW companion rumour Pamela Anderson is a hell of a story. And good on Kasterborous.com for not opting on an easy eyecatcher and instead going straight to cover reportage of said story without making mountains out of molehills. Er, by that we mean overinflating things. Um. Don’t open this at work, okay?
AND SPEAKING OF HARRY HILL…
That Poetry Corner, eh? Superb – and good to know we’ve made advances in the science of rhyming dialogue since “Seek, Locate – Exterminate!”
BIG FINISH ‘FIND’ SEASON 23!
Hooray! Simply years after once Producer Gary Russell said nix to number Six once more meeting (er, spoiler?) the Celestial Toymaker, Sil, the Ice Warriors, the Autons and theRaniortheMasterorperhapsbotheven via audio, aw no, look ! More recent Producer Nick ‘Ring Modulator’ Briggs has only gone an dun it! Fantastic news for those who’ve wanted to hear the stories, instead of shelling out the clams for a pretty patchy trio of Target specials. Naturally fans have gone one better and demnded that the ‘original’ ‘season’ 27 follow this. We’ll see. In the mean-time with the stock involved it wouldn’t be out of the question to call the remounted ‘lost season’ a bit of a risky move.
TSV 76 SPEEDS TO COMPLETION ‘SOMETIME SOON.’
Look, we recently swore off jabbing Her Madge’s Fanzine in the ribs for simultaneously celebrating 75 issues of longevity then gag-tastically slipping off the radar for over twelve months, so we’ll accentuate the positive and say that delays like this not only have not occurred since 1986, but with each passing month a year’s sub to TSV exponentially increases in value for money! Seriously, we can’t wait for those Season Four reviews (who was the companion again?)
NEW BIGSAVE FURNITURE AD SURFS ZEITGEIST, BREAKS FANBOY HEARTS, SCARES SMALL CHILDREN.
It’s good (we suppose) that someone else noticed this rather quaint throwback to 1980s advertising with its blocky ‘video’ effects and not-so-soundalike-a version of the DW feem toon, along with a handy disapperating blue shipping container (genius!). But to be frank, this ad has caused us all at ZeusBlog Terraces to hide behind the sofa more times than not due to the bug-eyed zaniness of its presenter and her scary shouty hypermania. Jesus Christ, woman – it’s only furniture!