These clips of behind-the-scenes action from Series 7 will never be Doctor Who Confidential – but let’s face it, they’re the next best thing and deserve all the support we can give.

So here’s a look at some of the stunt work from The Name of the Doctor, featuring the hugely popular Dan Starkey.

The big question now, of course, is will the BBC expand on these clips? Surely so much more is recorded, and with a very special episode coming soon – one that is being recorded in a brand new way (the addition of a second camera for 3D) wouldn’t it be fascinating to see a brand new Doctor Who Confidential for the 50th anniversary episode in November?

The post Behind the Scenes: The Name of the Doctor appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Until his sad death in 2011, Nicholas Courtney – better known as Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart – was the grand old man of Doctor Who, the paternal figure of fandom and honorary president of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society.

As the Brigadier, Courtney appeared in episodes spanning 1968-1989 (From The Web of Fear to Battlefield), along with the 30th anniversary Dimensions in Time (which we generally don’t talk about here), several straight-to-video spin-offs, Big Finish and other audios and of course in The Sarah Jane Adventures’ Enemy of the Bane.

Basically, he was well-loved and is sadly missed.

The DVD release earlier this year, The Legacy Collection, includes a fascinating interview with Courtney by his friend and memoir co-writer/editor Mark McManus (with occasional interjections from Tom Baker).

One of many reasons to buy the boxset, you can however see the extra now on YouTube…

Designed for hardcore Doctor Who fans with an interest in the classic series, The Legacy Collection DVD boxset is a collection of sought-after extras. It is also unmissable, and as it is available for just £11.00 from Amazon you really should have bought it by now…

The post Remembering Nicholas Courtney appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

I was looking forward to seeing The Macra Terror.  And of course, I still do. I’ll only be “seeing” the story in my head because it’s one of Doctor Who‘s lost tales.  So it’s recon time.

The Macra Terror starts off with a guy named Medok evading guards in a society that seemed to be a 60′s attempt at “futuristic”. There’s no easing in to this story, it just “starts”. If we could see this properly, I wonder what this would have looked like, as the music played early on isn’t a whole lot like other incidental music of the time.  As usual, the Doctor is introduced to the story by accident, when he materializes right when Medok is trying to evade the guards.  And as usual, their random appearance when some local law enforcement shows up is how the Doctor gets snared into the story.  Pretty common Doctor Who idea, that one.

The Doctor and his companions (three – an unusual thing even now) are taken into the compound, and more of the oddly cheerful music is playing.  The Doctor addresses that by asking about the music – and the response is that “we regulate our day by music”.  It’s an oddly weird feeling, especially given we can’t see this episode, can only hear it with a few pictures, it’s a weird dynamic for a story with “Terror” in its title.  The society seems to be built around making people comfortable, with massages, things for toning up the muscles, etc..  The continuing odd feel comes from a disembodied head that addresses the people on a video screen (the concept reminded me of the Borad from Timelash).

The story is a pretty common one early on.  The Doctor and his companions arrive, and are treated very nicely – the locals giving them all kinds of nice things.  The slight difference is that the angle here seems to be based around “beauty products”.  Massages, shampoos, things like that.  All the same time, we get the escaped guy from before counterbalancing the “happy” stuff the Doctor and his companions are involved in.  So it’s obvious where the story is going.

Patrick Troughton here does well, because it’s obvious even from just HEARING him that he’s doing what the Second Doctor does: seem innocent, non-offensive, yet still looking at and examining everything.  It’s not until much later in the story that he becomes more forceful.  I always liked the slow buildup of the Doctor in stories like this.

Interestingly, some of the patrol guards look a bit like the Bannermen warriors in the McCoy story of that same name.

The Doctor is captured with Medok when he discovers what ends up being the Macra, and when brought back for questioning, they tell the Doctor he’s free to go, and one of the overall character traits of every incarnation of the Doctor rears its head here.  That being his inquisitive nature.  Instead of caring about his own freedom, he wants to know what’s going to happen to Medok when given the opportunity to extricate himself.  I can quite easily see any of the other Doctors doing this.

The higher up people in the colony try and bring the “strangers” (the TARDIS crew) under the same kind of control they exhibit over everyone else.  Part of the training is him denying the existence of the Macra.  “THERE ARE NO MACRA!”  It’s all under the direction of the big disembodied face on the screen.  If you’re familiar with the James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the sleep control in use here reminds me a lot of what Blofeld used to send his “angels” around the world with the nerve agent.

Things pick up about halfway through the story, and the “Terror” in the title feels more amped up, and for me makes the story more interesting. I’m not sure why the first part of this story didn’t hold my interest as much, but once the Macra were shown, it seemed more interesting to me.

Ben is now an “agent” of the mind controlled colony. At this point of the story, the really strange happy music from the beginning feels even more strange against the context of forced labor, mind control, and disembodied heads that control everyone. A lot of time is spent with an underground gas work party, during which time the Doctor manages to work out what the colony is actually doing, which is pumping out gas from the mines which the Macra need. Shortly after this Medok is attacked by a Macra, leading to the full reveal of the Macra to Jamie.

When the Macra made a surprise cameo appearance in the Tenth Doctor story Gridlock, and it was said they used to be a big deal, I always wondered about The Macra Terror and how it tied in. So at this point, I’m wondering how (if at all) we’ll get to see the “glory” of the Macra. When the Macra are fully revealed for the first time, there’s no motive or anything else other than them being a “lumbering monster”. Or at least the one we saw menacing Jamie. I did enjoy these parts, felt more “traditional” to Doctor Who stories of the time, with corridors, monster drama, running around, the Doctor having that “Aha – I’ve figured it out” moment… From there, everything starts breaking down, control isn’t as “controlling”, and things are not as they were at the start of the story – again a familiar concept.

The resolution of the story was spent with the Doctor’s usual brand of interference in releasing a society under control from someone else. There are, however, two scenes in episode 4 that involve Jamie dancing.  I would have LOVED to have seen those!!  In the end, it turns out the colony is saved by the Doctor’s meddling around and turning the administrators against “control”. Control was the Macra themselves, who manifested themselves as the disembodied head from earlier.

On the whole I can say I enjoyed the story, but the beginning was a bit slower than I would have preferred.

Anyone have The Macra Terror lying around in a film canister in their basement?  I’d like to see it, please.

The post 034 The Macra Terror appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Someone is taking the Doctor’s friends out of time, a cloaked figure huddles in a dark room while looking on at the Time Lord’s various incarnations and comes to the conclusion that the Doctor has always had friends and that needs to change…

So began an epic 11 part series in 2013 called Prisoners of Time, a Doctor Who series from comic publisher IDW, released 1 issue a month to celebrate the Doctor’s birthday.

The series has had many well-known artists and writers attached to it so far and for issue 4 that was recently released, we’ve been treated to a Fourth Doctor adventure featuring the Judoon and drawn by Gary Erskine (assisted by Mike Collins). Erskine has drawn for many well-known comic series including Dan Dare, Judge Dredd and The Terminator but it’s with Doctor Who that he finally gets to embrace his fan side.

In the short interview, Erskine talks about his first encounter with Doctor Who:

Technically my first Doctor was Jon Pertwee with [Sarah Jane Smith] and Planet of the Spiders but my first vivid memory was the end of that particular episode and his regeneration into Tom Baker.

His first encounter with Louise Jameson before he got to draw her professionally many years later:

I had such a crush on her too and could barely speak.

And a bit about the issue of Prisoners of Time that he has drawn for:

The Judoon make an appearance and they have proved a new favourite alien species for the series. Leela’s interaction with them is particularly memorable but saying anything more would be a spoiler.

You can also find out about his other work and his other ideas for Doctor Who by reading the full interview at DownTheTubes.

The Prisoners of Time graphic novel is available to pre-order from Amazon for £10.80 ahead of its May 28th release.If you’re interested, don’t forget to check the preview first!

The post Prisoners of Time’s Gary Erskine Interviewed appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Big Finish is due to yet again mark a number of firsts as well as welcome back some familiar faces!

As we reach the endgame for the second series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, we already have the third series to look forward to come January 2014 and there’s no slowing the old Time Lord down.

The new series opening story, The King of Sontar, will see a welcome return of the Sontarans as they face off against the intrepid TARDIS team that is the Fourth Doctor and Leela and you can now view the cover for the adventure as well. Blurring the lines between Doctor Who’s current television adventures and the Big Finish universe, the company have enlisted the talents of Dan Starkey to play Sontaran Strang. If Starkey’s performance alongside Baker is anything like his performance alongside Matt Smith’s Eleventh Doctor (and we’re sure it will be) then we’re in for a real treat!

Once again, the Time Lords sense trouble and dispatch the Fourth Doctor to take care of it:

Dowcra base. The third Elite Sontaran Assassination Squad closes in on its target. A dozen trained killers, but even they will be unable to bring down the invincible Strang…

 

Manipulated by the Time Lords, the TARDIS also arrives on Dowcra. And the Doctor is set to encounter the greatest Sontaran ever cloned…

Reuniting Tom Baker and Louise Jameson once again as well as including Sapphire & Steel regulars David Collings (Poul from The Robots of Death), David Seddon, Jenny Funnell, Big Finish stalwart John Banks and the brillaint Dan Starkey, The King of Sontar will be a fine way to start off 2014!

You can pre order The King of Sontar on CD or via download from www.bigfinish.com now, the release date is marked as January 2014.

The post Big Finish Reveals The King of Sontar Cover! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Closing this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, Not Another Happy Ending, an indie rom com all about bringing a lightness to the cinematic portrayal of Glasgow, couldn’t have found a more geek-chic star to do that very thing than former Doctor Who companion Karen Gillan.

Suh-moking

Reporting from the last day of principal photography, Gaby Soutar, managed to catch a glimpse of Gillan in action as she spoke to the writer and producer about Sci-fi fans, romantic comedies, and filming a different Glasgow.

“Currently, in the sheltered concrete courtyard, Gillan has folded herself into a blue director’s chair. She has turned towards the wall at the back of the courtyard and is chatting enthusiastically to somebody on the phone – Grazia magazine, apparently.

 

A few minutes ago she was doing a “meet and greet” with 31-year-old Fabio from Switzerland. It seems he’s the ultimate Doctor Who Fan, and paid has $600 to meet Gillan…That’s because this film – though partially funded by BBC Scotland and Creative Scotland – used the increasingly popular method of international crowdfunding to raise some of its production costs.

 

Through the Indiegogo website, movie fans (or, more likely, extreme Gillan fans), could contribute cash to ensure this film got made, with $100 buying them a signed poster, or $1000 for one of Gillan’s size eight outfits including a co-ordinating pair of size six shoes. I’d imagine Fabio would love any of those items, though he’d never fit into them.”

Producer Claire Mundell adds:

“The sci-fi fans are very passionate… She was on a casting list of one. We think we’ve got her at the perfect point in her career, and we even put the shooting of Not Another Happy Ending back by a year because she was filming Doctor Who”.

In the film Gillan plays Jane Lockhart, who with her bleak debut novel, Happy Ending, has pulled off pulled off that rare double – critical acclaim and mainstream success. But now, with just the last chapter of the follow-up novel to write, she encounters crippling writer’s block.

This is not good news for her publisher, Tom.

His company is up against the wall financially and the only thing that will save him is a hit in the form of Jane’s next novel. Everyone knows you have to be miserable to write well, and Tom realises that the only way he’s going to get her to finish the novel is to make her life a misery.

Something miserable the filmmakers were adamant had to go was the portrayal of Scotland on film. That’s right; they’ll be no heroin, no poverty and definitely no ‘muuurddder’

Writer David Solomons told the Scotsman:

“There tends to be a culture of miserablism in Scotland – stories always have to be gritty and real. I think it’s important that we break away from that…”

Producer Mundell adds:

“Glasgow is an international place and this film could be set in any contemporary city. We took inspiration from indie films like Juno and The Squid and the Whale and I’m very influenced by Bill Forsyth”.

Solomons says that he’s most influenced by the work of Woody Allen and wanted to inject new life into the rom-com:

“I think the romcom has been devalued, they’re not made for grown-ups any more. I wanted to make something witty, charming and grown-up, to rival a classic Clark Gable film”.

Not Another Happy Ending will close the Edinburgh International Film Festival (19-30th June) on 30 June. For more information, see www.edfilmfest.org.uk.

(Via Scotsman.com.)

The post Not Another Happy Ending Closes Edinburgh Film Festival appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

“INTRODUCING JOHN HURT AS THE DOCTOR”

When those words flashed up in the final scene of The Name of the Doctor, a nation gasped. In fact, if it weren’t for the Daily Mail producing enough hot air to kill all the Ice Warriors in the universe, our atmosphere would’ve completely collapsed in our collective gasp.

Ah yeah – it’s that bloke who played Quentin Crisp! Y’know, the one who voiced the Dragon in Merlin! Younger viewers might’ve even recognised him as the voice of the owl in The Gruffalo.

The Doctor Exposed

Many will know 73-year-old, Chesterfield-born John Hurt from 1975’s The Naked Civil Servant and its 2009 follow-up, An Englishman in New York, in which he played flamboyant homosexual, Quentin Crisp. It brought Hurt into the public consciousness, but he was already a well-established name in the industry.

His first on-screen appearances were in 1961’s Probation Officer and Drama ’61- ’67 before playing James Hogan in Z Cars. He also starred in ITV Play of the Week, Gideon’s Way and Armchair Theatre before his big break came in 1966’s A Man For All Seasons, in which he played Richard Rich, Lord Chancellor from 1536. Based on true events, the film, written by Robert Bolt and directed by Fred Zinnemann, focuses on Sir Thomas More, whose strong Catholic beliefs stopped him from signing a letter to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of the marriage between King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. (Interestingly, More also coined the word, ‘utopia,’ which fans of a particular Doctor Who Series 3 episode might be thankful for…)

Following The Naked Civil Servant, Hurt’s next high-profile job was as Caligula in I, Claudius (1976), alongside Derek Jacobi (Utopia, of course!), George Baker (Full Circle) and Brian Blessed (Trial of a Time Lord).

Hurt is such a massively prolific actor, it’s a surprise he’s never been in Doctor Who before. But amongst his credits include seminal works like Alien (the first actor in what would become a film series to have his chest wrecked by HR Giger’s repulsive creations), the Harry Potter film series, and The Elephant Man, in which he took centre stage as the deformed John Merrick.There was also the superb performance as Winston Smith in the movie adaptation of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

More recently, Hurt has been seen in V For Vendetta (2005), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

For many, though, he will always be the voice of Watership Down’s lead character, Hazel, in the 1978 movie, Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings (another 1978 animated film), and General Woundwort in the 1999-2001 cartoon series, Watership Down (which I personally have loving memories of).

But now, he’ll forever be known as the Doctor.

Well, maybe…

The post Introducing: John Hurt appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

You may recall a few weeks ago that we reported the scheduled appearance of the Doctor Who Pop-up Shop in Sydney, Australia. Well, that time has come!

Reporting on the visit, 9 Stream LIVE host, and self-proclaimed massive Doctor Who fan, Rob McKnight headed to Newtown and crossed his own timestream to interview himself (yes, really) for the show.

Actually, don’t be perturbed by this potentially cliched nonsense – it is actually very well executed, particularly the moment when Rob interrupts himself!

One word of warning if you’re in Sydney – the original plan of the pop-up shop lasting six weeks looks unlikely based on the amount of stock sold already, so make your way down to the shop as soon as you can!

The post Timey Wimey Interview at the Sydney Doctor Who Pop-up Shop appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

There’s been a pervasive question this half-season; the first question, the oldest question, a question hidden in plain sight. No not that one! This one:

Has Doctor Who dropped the ball?

Attempting to get to the bottom and largely dismissing fans concerns that their beloved show has lost its way The Guardian writer and series blogger Dan Martin has sought to ease pre-anniversary nerves with a dose of common sense.

Citing online unrest at the scarcity of episodes in 2013, the large wait between half-seasons, the breakneck speed of the stories and apparent lack focus paid to the Clara mystery, the blog post calls to attention the lack of consistency within fandom:

“Doctor Who fans love nothing more than to moan, but out of 10, this series has been a steady stream of sixes and sevens, with the occasional eight. There haven’t been any stinkers – personally I was delighted with the warmth and poetry of the widely loathed The Rings Of Akhaten. But we haven’t had anything truly superlative either, such as The Impossible Astronaut or The Doctor’s Wife.

 

While the stories have been consistent, fandom has not. Most people loved the haunted house spooker Hide, but Neil Gaiman’s Cyber-adventure was either a series highlight or an awful nadir, depending on which review you read. A particularly bizarre review of Cold War in the official magazine even questioned Mark Gatiss as a Doctor Who writer, on the grounds that he was already a bit too good at writing Doctor Who.”

Listing the fabulous roster of guest-stars that have graced the show throughout the whole of Series Seven, the article goes on to explain why this season has been as good as, if not better than what has preceded it:

“A huge amount has happened to the overall plot, with the departure of Amy and Rory getting a storyline of its own, emotional fallout and all. And Matt Smith just gets more and more magnificent – he fizzes with the comedy and stirs with the tragedy. His Doctor is a complex man; we’ve seen a great deal happen to him, and week after week, Smith owns it. So let’s be frank: the show is as good as it’s ever been. In lots of ways, it’s better.

 

I think there’s something else going on here. We’re suffering from pre-50th anniversary wobbles. Fans are getting so worked up about what may or may not happen in the November special that we’ve forgotten how to enjoy the series as it is. We’re going through a hellish, year-long Christmas Eve, and we’re in danger of ruining things for ourselves.

 

It’s time to take a deep breath. November is still five months away.”

To continue the debate, the BBC Drama department issued a statement via audience feedback show Points of View on Sunday, the quote is below but if you wish to enrage/amuse yourself you can watch some of those audience responses on Blogtor Who’s clip from the show:

“Over eight million viewers are watching this series of Doctor Who every week and it has the highest audience share out of all dramas on any channel this year. We’ve received a fantastic response to this series and to the arrival of the Doctor’s new companion Jenna Coleman. The show has a huge reach; it’s the top rating show for males and younger age groups including children and continues to perform strongly amongst its core audience. We always welcome audience feedback and appreciate that Doctor Who fans are some of the most passionate in the UK.”

Has Doctor Who really lost its way? | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk.

The post Is Something Wrong with Doctor Who? appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.

Paul McGann has been making a lot of noises lately indicating that he would be happy to return to Doctor Who for the show’s 50th anniversary. Many fans have backed him, but so far there has been no action – none that we’re aware of.

The following GIF image (found on Tumblr) illustrates how angry Paul McGann – the Eighth Doctor – might feel about this.

It is, of course, just a bit of CGI-based fun. The look on McGann’s face is brilliant though, isn’t it?

(Thanks to Brian Terranova!)

The post Paul McGann Loses It with Steven Moffat! appeared first on Kasterborous Doctor Who News and Reviews.