Torchwood: Children of Earth extended trailer.

The new, extended, trailer for series three of Torchwood (subtitled "Children of Earth") is no on line at the BBC website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/torchwood/

It's bloody good! :)

The best line - "A man who cannot die has nothing to fear."

No word on a transmission time or date yet, but probably sometime in July.

Can't wait!!!!! :D

A New Companion.

So, Matt Smith's 11th Doctor now has a companion/assistant (the two terms are pretty much interchangeable as far as I'm concerned).

Actress Karen Gillan will play the - as yet unnamed - character in next year's series of episodes.

The full story can be read here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8073734.stm

Now, for the sake of argument, and just for something to call the poor girl (until the character 's name is revealed) - let's call her Miss X.

Suppose, just for a change, Miss X's "family member" (in the style of Jackie Tyler, Francine Jones and the Jones gang, Sylvia Noble and dear ol' Wilf Mott) was her father. Maybe a widower? Maybe divorced? Maybe Miss X was adopted?

We don't know yet.

Only time will tell...

Two more for the collection

Bought a couple more DVDs while I was out on Sunday afternoon, "The Deadly Assassin" and "Black Orchid" (Fourth and Fifth Doctors respectively).

Like I said in a previous post, it's addictive...

I quite fancy getting the "Key To Time" boxed set, but it's kind of hard to come by, and those on-line retailers who do have it are selling it for huge amounts of money.

Still, it's fun reliving my childhood. Even if I don't remember a complete story, quite often I'll recognise a bit here and a bit there, and go "Ooh, I remember that."

For example, the Fifth Doctor story "Four To Doomsday" I have no recollection of at all, except for the bit where the Doctor (in space, in zero gravity) bowls a cricket ball onto the alien spaceship in order to use its return momentum to propel himself back to the TARDIS.

Hmm, "Return momentum" is that actually a phrase? Does it make sense?

Anyway, "Black Orchid" is of interest because it's the last time (to date) that there's been a purely historical Dr. Who story. I.E. one set in the past with no sc-fi elements. No evil aliens trying to take over the world/change history etc.

Kind of a shame really, sometime I'd like to see the Doctor face a purely human threat - and if the story is somewhat educational, historically speaking, then so much the better.
After all, the orignal purpose of Dr. Who was to teach kid about history, whilst telling a rattling good yarn at the same time.

In these days of the Credit Crunch, it makes sense to me that the BBC would want to save money. So, if a new historical drama series is comissioned - some piece of Jane Austen nonsense or something of that ilk (not to my personal tastes, but they sell well overseas - apparently) - then surely it would make sense to film a historical Dr. Who on the same sets?

Yes? No? Am I talking rubbish?

Probably...

Getting the habit, or do I mean Who-bit?

I blame Davie. It's all his fault.

There, I'vc said it. :)

Up until a year ago, the only Dr. Who DVDs I had were the new series box sets.

Then Davie and the guys bought me "Genesis of the Daleks" for my birthday last year. That was that until later in the year when I bought "The Invasion" for myself cos I was curious about how the two missing episodes would look like in FLASH animation (pretty good as it happened).

Then, a month or so ago, I bought "Image of the Fendahl" because I'd such vivid memories of watching it on the TV when I was a kid.

And that was it - addicted. I bought the Sontaran boxed set cos it was going cheap (£20 for four stories). Then I got a couple more, then some more, then...

I think it's getting a wee bit out of hand... ;)


At last count, including the three I bought while I was in Glasgow earlier, I've got twenty.

Three from the First Doctor's (William Hartnell) era - "The Rescue", "The Romans" and "The War Machines".

One each from from the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) - "The Invasion", and the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) - "The Time Warrior".

A whopping eleven from the Fourth Doctor's (Tom Baker) time - "Robot", "The Ark in Space", "The Sontaran Experiment", "Genesis of the Dalek", "Planet of Evil", "The Brain of Morbius", "The Hand of Fear", "The Talons of Weng-Chiang", "Image of the Fendahl", "The Invasion of Time", and "Destiny of the Daleks".

Two Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) stories - "Four to Doomsday", and "The Five Doctors".

Three from the Sixth Doctor(Colin Baker) - "Attack of the Cybermen", "The Two Doctors", and "Revelation of the Daleks".

So far, no Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and I've not seen the 1996 Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) TV movie going cheap.


It's a funny thing though, there's some stories I have no memory of - or only fragments.
Possibly that's because when I was young, my folks liked to "go for a run" in the car on a Saturday, taking me with them, getting me out in the fresh air and so on.

Sometimes, we wouldn't get home in time for Dr. Who - which would leave me somewhat grumpy - or the queue in the fish and chip shop would be longer than usual, leading to the same results.
Occasionally though, the tiny wee black and white telly in the chippy would have Dr. Who on, and I'd quite happily watch what I could while mum and I were waiting for the fish suppers. :)

Now, back when I was a kid - this is pre-video - the only way to catch the stories you'd missed (or were before your time) was either to hope that the BBC would repeat it during the "off" season, or read one of the novelisations.

But that's another tale for another day... :)

Oh, and Davie? If you read this, I was kidding... :D

The difficult first post...

Well then, here we are. First post in a new blog.

I suppose the first thing I should do is explain what I'm trying to do here.

I've been a Dr. Who fan all of my life. It's one of the first (if not the first) things I ever remember watching on the TV.

The story was "Planet of the Spiders", the last of Jon Pertwee's tenure as the Third Doctor.

Four episodes, broadcast on Saturday evenings between May 4th and June 8th 1974, and I would've been aged three, nearly four at the time.

I've a very vivid memory of sitting open mouthed as - in the closing moments of episode 4 - the Doctor staggered out of the TARDIS, fell to the ground, and changed...

That was it. I was hooked.

I've another very strong memory of being at the supermarket with my mum (I used to think it was the next day, but shops didn't generally open on a Sunday back in the 70s. Must've been the Monday) and telling the lady at the checkout all about this amazing thing that I'd seen on the telly...

That would also be the first time I got "the look". You know, the one non sci-fi fans give sci-fi fans when we prattle on about something in our favourite shows that was, y'know, just really really cool!
It's sort of equal parts disdain, pity, bewilderment and maybe just a touch of horror. Or as I sometimes like to put it - "Good heavens! A talking dog!"

So, anyway, I'll be posting thoughts, musings, the odd review of Dr. Who and related general sci-fi related stuff.