Fast Return – January 2013
WE HAVE BEEN PERSUADED TO RETURN!
Well of course we would. Who ever doubted it. In 2013? The Fiftieth Anniversary? To fall silent and wait for others to fill the void or do the hard work? 2013 is going to be a BIG ‘UN, even if the likelihood of this year’s TV input includes a mere eight episodes, a 60-minute ‘tentpole’ anniversary episode and a 90-minute Genesis of DW docu-drama. Even without a Christmas Special noted yet (which would be part of the 2014 programming block, surely?) there’s plenty going on and plenty to talk about. And we haven’t even mentioned further potential animations on the DVD schedule or the re-released BBC Books with new covers (including the novelisation of Remembrance? Well worth it, but… weird) We might even get a local fanzine out before year’s end – wouldn’t that be something? Us, stay away? Keep taking those crazy pills, missus.
KEEP TAKING THOSE CRAZY PILLS, MISSUS
Good Lord, Gallybase. NINETEEN pages on (for Gog’s sake don’t Google him!)RogueCyberman (no I’m not Linking! I’m not Linking!) and his dodgy dodgy attempt to stir up interest and links to his adult pay site though a constant feed of claims in non-existent missing episodes? If you want to know the story it’s on the Past Doctors board, and it’s a litany of lies, being discussed and given undue longevity. Seriously, avoid. Shameful, exploitative and oily.
SHAMEFUL, EXPLOITIVE AND OILY
The expansion of the DW Expanded Universe continues to expand like the Cybercontroller’s waistline! I dunno. eBooks based on peripheral (sorry, sorry – ‘core cast’) characters from the Who Universe like River Song and Paternoster? Not for me, sorry. I’m you’re your ‘THIS GUY is the main character, not the second-banana’ type, which is why I refuse to acknowledge Eccleston as a true Doctor (he’s more a locum.) Granted, I’m in a minority and this sort of thing is probably very popular and the kids love it, don’t they?
THE KIDS LOVE IT, DON’T THEY?
Annnnimation! The way of the future! Now that The Reign of Turn- er, Terror is out and The Ice Warriors teased through a ‘Coming Soon’ (tho no firm suggestion of animation at ‘time of writing), could it be the floodgates are finally opening?
THE FLOODGATES ARE FINALLY OPENING
Oh but hey – Scott Gray’s new strip in DWM with its fun Kiwi inclusions again! A character with the surname Clutha? Lovely bit of Otago-ite namedropping there (look it up, northerners!), and then there’s the (CAUTION: SPOILERS!) cute ‘NZ’ on a certain blackboard courtesy of (non-Antipodean) Martin Geraghty. With this story being DWM’s ‘tentpole’ anniversary release of 2013, we wonder if there are more local cameos to come?
MORE LOCAL CAMEOS TO COME?
A serious case of Crossed purposes in the Waikato Times? Interview with Jon Preddle turns from request for an Arabic translation (found, apparently – God bless crowdsourcing!) to odd suggestion that Sir Peter Jackson directing a NZ episode writ by Neil ‘Mama’ Cross at behest of Matt Smith. It’s bobbins as far as we know, which is about as much as anyone else. But you know these newspapers…
YOU KNOW THESE NEWSPAPERS…
Sigh. That bastion of the Fourth Estate the Birmingham Mail reports that there’ll be a full-on multi-doc story for the anniversary oh yes there will. Oh yes there might, of course, but let’s not jump to the same conclusions reported here, folks. Worse still, don’t go believing the Daily Mail’s avowed hand-on-heart confusion between The light At The End (Big Finish’s ‘tentpole’ anniversary release of 2013) with whatever shows on the telly. Fact-checking and retractions are a twentieth-century media thing. This is what we invented the internet for, isn’t it?
THIS IS WHAT WE INVENTED THE INTERNET FOR, ISN’T IT?
Oh well, look. Time for some fun. If you’re after some miniature Detectivesauruses and maidservants to complete your lead mountain (because 28mm scale is where it’s at, daddio) then head on over to Crooked Dice in a month or so and check out their potential listings. The kids love it, let’s have more lizard ladies, comedy Sontarans and a little less explanation. Elsewhere, Drathro looks like he’s for the chop. Only the good, as they say
ONLY THE GOOD, AS THEY SAY
RIP Mr Bernard Horsfall. A decent Thal Taran, a mysterious Time Lord, a Supreme Chancellor Goth, and to this blogger’s mind, the only Lemuel Gulliver you’ll ever need. Already missed. Well played, sir
WELL PLAYED, SIR
But we thumpingly applaud, in full Citizen Kane style, the casting of David Bradley as William Hartnell in Mark Gatiss’ feature-length adaptation of the Pitch Sketch. A great look, and let’s face it – enough people were fooled by the trailer for last season to think that was the character Bradley was playing in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship. Is it possible to have a dress rehearsal for a retrospective lookeelikey documentary through drama I’m drifting…
Hey, you know what’s cool? The new title sequence and redone theme music. Oh and Star Wars coming back. Muse? I could pass, but hey.
Roll the clip!