Is It All Falling Apart?

SEASON 6 REVIEW/DISCUSSION (pre season finalae!)

Time Lords. You sort of wish they were still around really. Yes, they were a bit boring, but they sort of did some useful things - you know, keeping an eye on the laws of time, and, most importantly (from our perspective) keeping Time Lord time-streams in line with each other.

For example, in the ‘classic series’, the Doctor could never cross time lines with another Time Lord – they would always meet in a linear time stream – no bumping into the Master in his earlier regenerations for example, not like this River Song stuff. Say, for example, the Doctor did bump into a younger Master, and killed him, then what would happen to the older Master? I suppose it would explain his obsession to try and kill the Doctor. But surely he would disappear ‘and none of it would have happened’. A classic time-travelling story-telling loop-hole which we know can’t happen – more than a paradox, it’s a flippin’ “I woke up and it was all a dream” joke at our expense.

In the ‘new series’, our latest megalomaniac (hey, I am one – I know one when I see one!) producer, the Moff, has been flying dangerously close to this ‘don’t even go there’ scenario. In fact he’s probably pinned a tail on it and called it name. Yep, it’s more than wibbly-wobbly!

With just a day or so left until the final episode of this season, I’m having a good old think about what we’ve seen so far in an attempt to prepare myself for what is undoubtedly going to make me, and all of you out there, go… ‘What the f…? b.. bu. but he can’t do that!’. Without doubt I'm confused already.

And whilst I’m gonna keep most of my musings to myself, I can’t help but wonder about our lovely Amy and her plastic-fantastic lover. At the beginning of the Impossible Astronaut, we find Amy and Rory in a nice new house, the Doctor having disappeared to play silly buggers all over the place (shouldn’t he be trying to find baby Melody or something?). Invitations arrive and off they go to catch up with the Doctor in the good old’ US of A. But this Doctor is an older Doctor (despite the fact he decided to put one of his ‘younger’ jacket on – perhaps he thought someone might be watching), and he promptly gets himself killed. Then up pops ‘our’ Doctor, or, more to the point, ‘their’ Doctor, and off they go on a new series of adventures.

Now the other week, ‘our/their’ Doctor drops them off at a lovely new home, which they'd never seen before, presumably with the mortgage paid for (lucky buggers), and leaves them to it. Last week he pops into see his old mate what’s-his-name (I’ve tried to block it out of my Whoniverse, as I found it softer for than a gang of adipose), and pinches some envelopes – which he then uses to invite everyone to the little jolly at the beginning of the season.

So… what can we conclude from this? Well, at some point, obviously, ‘our’ doctor becomes the later Doctor, and a couple of hundred Time Lord years have gone by. Great. No problem there. And the Doctor we’re watching now is the ‘older’ one who we saw getting himself blasted at the beginning of the season… which again, I fine. [Although I’m still a bit confused as to how he’s converted the date of his death (in ‘Earth’ terms) with his timeline/age, if you know what I mean, so as to be able to know that its coming up soon… that would require some sort of Time Lord like relative time, which now they’ve all gone and been flushed down the toilet of the universe is a bit tricky…]

But… doesn’t this leave Amy and Rory in a bit of a time-loop, starting off in their lovely new home, catching up with the older, and then younger Doctor, who then, after the usual fun and games, drops them off at their lovely new house which they’ve never seen before…

Something’s wrong somewhere (probably in my head, but I know that), and I doubt the Moff is silly enough to try and pull the wool over our eyes – or perhaps he’s even confused himself? Not only have we been watching fake plastic Rory’s, fake flesh Amy’s, and divergent Doctors, but he’s been weaving a web of time-lines so complicated that it really does make one wish that those oh so boring Time Lords were still here. At least we new what was going on then!

Personally, I think we’re going to be presented with something so convoluted that it won’t answer any of these questions and will just leave an even bigger continuity hole for the Moff to try and dig himself out of next season. And we thought old RTD was making it up as he went along…

Wibbly Wobbly, timey wimey indeed...

It's RT cover day...

Eye-patches. No doubt they're cool...

As ever, Combom has all the scanned pages here.

Target Artwork Origins

I was really interested to find this, the blog of Paul Scoones, whose currently putting the final touches to his Who book, 'The Comic Strip Companion 1964-1979' (tip of the hat to Combom once again!). Now I love the early comics, and have a nice collection of scans of many thanks to the online Who scanners and uploaders. And I also dig the artwork, another one of my interets.

So I was pleased to find this cool graphic, illustrating Target artist Chris Achilleos rather direct influences for his first cover, The Daleks.


I'd known about this before, and even mentioned it on this blog way back towards the end of 2009 (here), where I posted:

"The now classic cover illustration was by Chris Achilleos, who has acknowledged the influence of Ron Turner's artwork for The Dalek Chronicles comic published in TV Century 21 (more about that soon!), in particular the two Daleks were modelled from Issue 60 (The Rogue Planet, part 2) and the title graphic from Issue 76 (Legacy of Yesteryear) onwards."

So a bit surprised to find that Paul didn't know about this, or indeed many folk at all. Now unfortuantely I can't even remember where I got this information, but when I find out, I'll update and link on this post. I obviously had more info, as I promised a follow up post on it!). I guess it must have been an old interview with Chris, probably in DW Monthly or some other mag of the period. (Anyway, I'm looking!).

I see nothing wrong in Achilleous being inspired so directly from the comic artwork of Ron Turner, or his strong influences from Frank Bellamy. I think it continues a proud and original style of artwork which became a huge attraction in itself, and a huge part of the early magic of Who for many.

Here's the Day of the Daleks cover, again with Daleks inspired by Ron Turner's artowork.


Thanks Paul for the images, and can't wait for the book...

Spoilers? No thanks

Spoilers. They spoil it a bit don't they? I've gone through phases of both following seasons in production (and obviously finding out all about it) and not knowing a thing (as I'm often in remote parts of the world for long periods without internet!).

This second half of season 6 has been my first 'live' who watching since I don't know when, and I really thought I would have followed its every move online after I'd caught up with the first half. But for some reason I found myself avoiding those blogs that so well document every snippit of information which leaks from the beeb. And I can honestly say it's better without the spoilers. And it's also my excuse for a lack of activity on this blog!

In fact I've watched all of season 6 without access to any prior knowledge, and it's been it's saviour for me. With 99% of the cat out of the bag, and only the season finale to go, I've just done a huge wade through one of my favourite blogs, Combom, to try and catch up with everything, and I really think if I'd known all the spoilers this whole season would have been rather flat and unsatisfactory. As it is there's been some dodgy episodes, as always, and I've got some serious issues with some of these storylines and archs, but I'm gonna sit it out till the end before I comment. Mind you, even reviewing episodes once they've been shown can be spoilery for folk who haven't seen them yet, but then, you shouldn't be reading reviews!

But as ever, I’ve still got loads of catching up to do on what’s been happening in the world of Who that tickles my fancy, so watch out for a few back posts as I slot things into their correct time-streams – Radio Times covers on their date of publication and boring stuff like that.

Reign of Terror DVD Animated Preview

Nearly missed this - there's an advanced preview of the forthcoming Reign of Terror DVD release, with animated sequences replacing the lost episodes (as with The Invaision). Looks pretty damn cool...

It's a dodgy vid of the clip - hopefully we'll get a proper version soon.

Watch it here...

Invasion of the Dinosaurs DVD update

Here's another story which needs doctoring... after the Day of the Daleks 'Special Edition', with new fancy-dancy CGI scenes, some fans have wondered if we would get an updated version of this story... sadly not. Or perhaps not so sadly.


The missing colour version of Episode 1 has been recreated, but not with great success, and the release will include the black and white print as well. But no CGI dinosaurs. Can't say I blame them realy... lot of work for a naff story. I'm hoping the guys are saving the money for more animated recons of missing episodes from classic stories rather than fiddling around with something which, let's be honest, is always going to look a bit poor. If only we could go back in time and swap these tapes for a story worth saving...

Due for release early 2012...

[Thanks Combom]

Day of the Daleks 'Special Edition' DVD release

It's here - 'with new special effects and sounds',the re-jigged SE version of Pertwee's first encounter with the Daleks... (original version is also an option on the DVD, as is standard practice, so you really can throw away your VHS collection...)

Does it do the job? Only you can tell...

Combom's got a great review of whats new here.

Karen, not falling around drunk or anything

Few days ago we posted a nice little quote from the lovely Karen Gillan...

"You’ve got to have your own life and do what you want to do, but it is something I take into consideration and I wouldn’t want to fall around drunk or anything."

Good excuse for this little collection of gems I think...






Now don't get me wrong - I have no problem with Karen, or anyone, go out and getting a bit sloshed. Or walking around hotels semi-naked... but just as long as she scrubs up well for filming the next day, that's all... and generally speaking she does!

A while back we read that Karen called Matt a 'drunken giraffe'... I've been wracking my brain for a similar analogy for the lovely Karen, but have yet to find the right one... any ideas?

Time for another RT cover...

Combom has the page scans, here

Karen says it all

Here's some pics of Karen Gillan from ShortList.com (see original, with more pics, here). Think it's an old interview/photoshoot, just using the new series as a good excuse to show them again, and who can blame them.



The best quote? This one...

"You’ve got to have your own life and do what you want to do, but it is something I take into consideration and I wouldn’t want to fall around drunk or anything."

No you wouldn't, would you Karen.

Matt Smith Interview (Daily Mail)

He's a superstar, dates a supermodel and is on a super salary, here the actor talks about fame, childhood dreams and when he'll say goodbye to the Time Lord



See the interview here .

Here's a little snippet about new Who being too sexy... (it's all Karen's fault)...

When Doctor Who was reborn in 2005 it was said to have saved Saturday teatime telly as a family event – but some parents say it has now become too dark, too scary and too sexy. Does Smith agree?

‘No! I think it’s ridiculous to say so. I think it should be all of those things. I think it should be dark, I think it should be scary. And sexy? I mean, for God’s sake, look at the companions of Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker (the third and fourth Doctors) in their tiny, Tarzanian tops…’

We pause for a moment, to consider the attractions of Jo Grant and Leela in the Seventies. Did it screw him up badly as a boy, watching them?

‘Of course not. It will always be family entertainment and it has to adhere to that, but you know, I don’t think it’s gone too far. I mean, how sexy is it?’

Very sexy, some would say.

‘Because of Karen?’

Well, let’s start there. Karen Gillan plays Amy Pond, who spent her first few episodes in a strippergram police outfit with a draughtily short skirt. She has made it clear she’d like to explore more than the Doctor’s Tardis.

‘What do people want Karen to dress in – a floor-length skirt, a pair of jeans and a hoodie? I mean, she’s a beautiful woman. Amy Pond is a sexy character, by her very nature. No one’s quite like Amy.’

Well said Matt.

Day of the Daleks SE DVD preview

Combom's got a preview trailer for the forthcoming Day of the Daleks Special Edition DVD, with new special effects and all that... looking forward to this one!

Watch it here.

Who Tube

Some days we discover amazing things. Some days we forget them. And some days we blog. The above comes from 'Science, Reason and Critical Thinking - Waving a Shitty Stick at Irrational Nonsense', and is, I think, explained far better by its original designer than I could ever attempt. Visit here.

I like tube maps. I recently saw that some bright spark developed an updated tube map which showed the realtive distances between stops. Good bit of self-advertising for someone's graphic design talents I thought to myself. If only I could find it now to share with you all. Did a quick Google and all I can find is a load of waffle about pocket maps, zones and some guy called Boris. Who the heck is he?!

PS I think the owner of 'Science, Reason and Critical Thinking - Waving a Shitty Stick at Irrational Nonsense' should get his shitty stick ready, cause there's more irrational nonsense here that you can shake a pointy thing at...

Timey Wimey Waffle

You may, or more probably may not, have noticed I've a bad habit of back-posting items. Readers of my bits of waffle will know that I spend alot of time out of the country, with limited internet connection, and whilst I'll continue the blog whenever I can, there are going to be big gaps. Now when I'm back, like now, I get to wade through months of blog postings to catch up with stuff, and, as anyone with any basic time travel knowledge knows, it's very important that everything is left in its right place in the time line and all that. So when I find something related to a specific date, I'm back-posting it around that time so that it sits in the time continum correctly. It's mostly New Season stuff like merchanside releases, Radio Times coverage, interviews and the like. In between all this I'll post all the usual padding and waffle which I know you all love so much.


Daleks board the 207 bus without knowing that round the next corner...

Now one danger of doing this is I might say or post something that will make me look like I knew it before anyone else. One such example is a reference to the News of the World hacking scandal, which I've just made in a post about Matt Smith falling over and needing stiches (see '"Drunken giraffe" bangs head, and knocks over coffee, alot' here). Now to any police investigation looking at my blog it may look like I had inside knowledge of such said scandal at a time when no-one else did, and that I may, therefore, be implicated by this knowledge. Well I'm not, and I don't, and I didn't and I never have. So there.

Just to prove this I plan to back-post a whole load of Radio Rimes cuttings from the very early days of Who soon (time is relative, don't forget), and most of these I'm gonna back date to their publication dates, which will be before I was born. Proof, therefore, that either I am a down-right dirty blog back-poster or time-traveller with amazing internet access abilities. Take your pick.


...a troop of cybermen are waiting patentily for their bus. Tune in next week for the next episode of 'Doctor Who and the Bus' a really exciting new/old adventure.

Now you may wonder what all this has to do this the photographs accompanying this post. Well, I had to make it interesting somehow. Perhaps it's a clue that I really am a time traveller and I snapped these on a recent visit back to the past... no, I pinched them from WhoFix!

Note to self: Defence if Police enquire as to knowledge of News of the World hacking scandal...

1. I'm a down right dirty blog back-poster.
2. I'm a time traveller
3. I'm of unsound mental disposition (probably dillusional) and should be left alone to live out my sad and pathetic life in whatever way I want.

The biggest, baddest Doctor Who monster...

Doctor Who BBC Worldwide's biggest-selling TV show internationally
The Guardian
Tuesday 12 July 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/12/doctor-who-bbc-worldwide

Along with brands including Top Gear, Lonely Planet and BBC Earth, Dr Who helps commercial arm earn £308m in revenue

Doctor Who was BBC Worldwide's biggest-selling TV show internationally last year and, along with brands including Top Gear, Lonely Planet, the international version of Strictly Come Dancing and BBC Earth, helped earn more than £300m in revenue.

The exploitation of everything from TV programmes to live events, DVDs and magazines for the five BBC power brands raked in £308.1m in revenue for BBC Worldwide, the corporation's commercial arm, in the year to the end of March.

This represented a 12.6% year-on-year revenue increase for the elite group of brands, which will be soon be joined by Walking with Dinosaurs. These brands accounted for 27% of the total £1.16bn revenues BBC Worldwide made last year. BBC Worldwide said that 45% of its total sales now come from just 12 brands.

The top five individual TV series sold internationally by BBC Worldwide in the year to the end of March were Doctor Who series five, the debut series of Sherlock, the 15th and 16th series of Top Gear, and Human Planet.

The Doctor Who franchise made the biggest value leap last year with revenue climbing 49%, thanks to significant growth in the US. BBC Worldwide has seen a 45% increase in DVD and download-to-own sales, with Doctor Who the third-biggest seller in the US iTunes chart behind Mad Men and Glee.

Sales also increased in Europe, moving the revenue mix to 50% from outside the UK. In the previous year 70% of revenues had come from sales of Doctor Who DVDs and merchandise in its home market.

Source

Pond on Pond

No Dalek in sight but no reason why we can't have legs without daleks... what is he on about you wonder. What is he on would be a better question.

Pic from WhoFix, who have a much better caption than my waffle...

Doctor and nurses

Get it? Doctor and nurses? Rather than Doctors and nurses? I mean, who wants to play that! From Who Fix, which is very sadly closing down, after only a year... mmm, not sure if we like that, was a great site and source of old unusual photos, but at least I have nine months of back plundering to do.

Too hot to not...

...post


You all know I have a weakness for the lovely Nicola. Well we had to focus on something during those Colin Baker years.


With thanks from WhoFix. Boy we're gonna miss you guys.

More Daleks with legs...

Yep, its just another excuse for a pic of Kylie. Do we love Kylie or what. I think it's a different photo to last time, but who cares if it's not.

No padding in Padders

Another new photo I hadn't seen before, with thanks and appreciation to WhoFix.