Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas Interview Special #3

Don't worry, this is the last one before Christmas. Last of the Christmas interviews sees Nick Briggs talking Holmes, dream projects, kids, audio commentaries, politics, lime in and T, and the ritual of snowballs on Christmas day.

Only a couple of days now 'til the crushing annual disappointment of the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Yay!

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes etc., but is available for download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek...

In keeping with the Crimbley theme, we have a festive offering from the nearest thing the DirtyWhoers podcast has to a fan, everyone's favourite Dalek, Bruce.

Enjoy. Or quake in fear. Its Christmas, knock yourself out. Well not literally, obviously. That would hurt.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas Interview Special #2

More of the same in our Advent Calender of Who.

Sit back with a mince pie and a glass of sherry (or 3) and listen to the smooth tones of Rob Shearman (writer of 'Dalek' and assorted Big Finish gubbins) as he waxes lyrical on his journey through the Whooniverse and his outlook on life, the ideal writing job, biscuits, hostage situations, and the name 'Dirty WHOers'.

It makes you feel all warm and festive inside, or not, actually that's probably just wind from too much rich food. Either way it's a nice interview, he's a nice bloke, and worth a listen.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Christmas Interview Special #1

As close to a festive cocktail as you'll get without Warninks Advocar or Egg Nog.

Fuschia interviews Daleks (we don't know why, and neither does the Dalek - hi Bruce), Jake McGann, Nev Fountain, and some bloke called Paul Cornell.

Put that in your stocking, with bells on. Another 2 on the way. It's like an advent calender but cheaper and without chocolate.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 22

Well, this one took a while. Sorry about that. We've been slack, well Sputters was, and should probably be punished. Suggestions welcome.

This time round, thanks to "The Wheel of Who", we take a look at The Dalek Invasion of Earth. Terry Nation's 6 part 1964 TV epic (not the movie with Grand Moff Tarkin and Wilfred Mott).

It's all good clean fun, until someone looses an eye.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Doctor Who: Evacuation Bleurgh

The Prof, being the kindly soul he is, having read reviews that said it was a decent game and knowing my penchant for Professor Layton, decided to buy me Dr Who: Evacuation Earth for my DS.


Well that's £18 and six hours of my life I won't be getting back any time soon. The reviews the Prof had read said it was better than the Wii game, so I truly dread to think how abysmal that must be...

Let it be said, I have always had a fraught relationship with computer games, one which began with The Hobbit for the ZX Spectrum. I hated that sodding game; it was so bug ridden that I'd spend hours locked in a dungeon, listening to Thorin singing about gold before I'd finally lose it and attempt to kill the little @!*%$£!@, only to read the words "Thorin cleaves your skull in two". At least it meant I didn't have to listen to the singing anymore. It can be found here on this emulator, if you're really that masochistically inclined.

The DS game is very much in the spirit of its illustrious (pah!) predecessor. Its starts well enough; some nice banter and pretty good voice work, slightly duff facial animations (particularly for Matt Smith) and some scarily easy puzzles. Don't be fooled, though, its lulling you in to a false sense of security.

Things really go badly wrong when you get on board the spaceship. Its not a spoiler to tell you that, the game's called "Evacuation Earth" and they're hardly going to be rowing off the planet, now are they? Dialogue ceases to make sense, the grammar is abysmal, plot points start to appear in a completely random order (the worst offense being that you find out who the bad guys are from a throwaway line in a puzzle introduction before you actually meet them in game terms).

The fourth worst sin in the game is that far too many of the puzzles have multiple answers because of the terrible grammar and/or lack of explanation as to what you're supposed to be doing, but the game will only accept the answer its been programmed with.

The third worst sin is the reappearance of the crappy "move the ball of energy round this idiot maze" puzzle from the downloadable games (previously bemoaned here). This time there are other balls trying to kill you, giant fan blades a la The End of The World and you have to change the state of your ball (and no, there are no instructions as to how you do that; you have to guess). They also kept the most endearing feature, the fact that it doesn't matter where your stylus is, that pesky little ball will go where the hell it wants. And then blow up. Multiple times.

The second worst sin is that one of the clues for a puzzle is just plain wrong. By this point in the game, I was utterly convinced that a two year old must have been in charge of the QA. Allegedly Nintendo paid £10,000,000 for exclusivity on the franchise, which obviously didn't leave them enough money to pay for playtesters or proofreaders. I'm not blaming writer Oli Smith here, the plot seems fair enough, but the execution is awful. And it does feel like a professional hit, if you take my meaning.

The biggest sin, and the reason why I will not be finishing this game, is because the game does not save data in the way that it claims it does. Allegedly, every time you solve a puzzle or change locations, the game saves. No, it doesn't. I know this because of a well known console gaming law: if you cock something up, just turn off the power and have another crack at it, everything will be fine (unless you're playing Hamtaro Olympics, but at least that's honest and upfront with you about how its going to stuff you if you try it).

There were a few minor, easily fixed infractions but, after six hours of gameplay, the modern equivalent of Thorin cleaving my skull in two happened. Now, if I do want to get to the end of the story I will have to go all the way back to the beginning and start again FROM SCRATCH because the motherless beep-beep of a beep-beep game lost my saved data in such a way that three key items went missing and could not be recovered. Ever. (And don't get me started on the trouble I had getting those three items in the first place with the game's pixel perfect placement of objects requirement). The Prof had to prise my apoplexied fingers from the console.

So, Asylum Games, you have an aptly named company. You're obviously in one.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Craig Ferguson is my Hero

Look.
I know everyone AND their mother has blogged the crap out of this video. But I don't care. I LOVE this. THIS is WHY I LOVE DOCTOR WHO: Watch and listen (and laugh your ass off) if you want to understand my love of this sci-fi show that started in 1963.
 

Craig Ferguson: You're my hero. EXCELLENT LYRICS. Better than Shakespeare to my ears.
xox!

PS - if there's anyone left on the planet that didn't get to see the whole Doctor Who themed show on Craig Ferguson follow this LINK.  ;-)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Pixie Invasion London: 2010

Despite the best (and worst) the weather could throw at us, myself and the Prof tootled down to London this weekend in the last of our buggering about the countryside convention odyssies. We also got back again (which was something of a miracle), so here I am, replete with biccies and coffee in the comfort of the Pixie hovel, a bearer of good news for those of us who do like our roleplaying games.


The convention in question was Dragonmeet, the game Cubicle 7's Dr Who one (or why else would I be telling you this?). First up was the wonderful site of the Aliens & Creatures boxed set, which I reviewed here when it was still only available as a pdf. This hasn't (as far as I know) been updated from the previous version, but what can I say, I love me my shiny, shiny things, so of course I bought it again anyway. It's a Crimble pressie, honest...

Cubicle 7 also held a panel where they discussed the future of their gaming empire, including that of our beloved hero's game. As I've mentioned before, David Tennant leaving the series just as the game came out caused Cubicle 7 some major league headaches, particularly as the BBC rebranded the entire line as well as replacing the lead actors. I will admit that I was very worried about the game's future, particularly as the new version that was due this month hadn't materialised (see what I did there?), but it looks as if the future of the game is secure for at least the next 12 months, if not longer.

Angus & Dom (the benevolent patriarchs of Cubicle 7) were happy to announce that the "regeneration" edition of the game will be available sometime in the middle of 2011. It isn't a new edition of the game as such, mostly having been repackaged with lots of nice new piccies of young Mr Smith (and presumably Mr & Mrs Pond), but there will be updated stats for the monsters to take into account series 5's shennanigans (I've just realised that means i-Daleks, doesn't it? Oh well, can't win 'em all). Rather nicely, a true regeneration pdf file will be available for those who already own the game and don't want to buy the whole thing again in boxed form; it will contain only the new & revised material. The previously planned supplements will then follow under the new logo (the Unit source box, the Companions source box and the original Doctor source boxes, to name but a few).

It also became clear just why these things often get so badly delayed; not only is Cubicle 7 (like most roleplaying companies) a tiny affair, existing on the goodwill and devotion of its core staff, freelancers and fans, but having something printed in the Far East then shipped to the States is fraught with Customs & Excise related skull-duggery. Although the BBC insist on all of their partner firms being ethical (so no sweat-shops, despite Dom's insistence that they have an electro-shock buzzer to make the labourers pack the boxes faster), once the sets arrive in the US, they are subjected to whatever the box equivalent of the old rubber glove routine is before they are released to the distributors. Its probably going to be a rubber glove, isn't it? Ew.

It was also heartening to hear the feedback the game has been getting from schoolteachers who have been using it to introduce new bodies to the hobby. Every year, someone asks at a panel "So, is the roleplaying industry dying?" and the answer usually runs along the lines of "No more than it was last year". Its virtually impossible for any game to know how well it does in recruiting fresh blood unless people tell you that's what they've been using it for but fingers crossed, this one seems to be doing the trick, at least where its been attempted.

My only real request to Cubicle 7 would be please update your website. A lot of people don't get to go to conventions and listen to panels, and they look at the dedicated game site as a means of keeping informed about what's happening. Its one of the reasons we were worried about the game (no news is not necessarily good news in the rpg industry), so if you do get five minutes in between your other plans for world domination, that would be lovely, thank you ;)

Dr Who also made the discussion at the Sunday pub meet-up. Last year we discussed the need for RTD points in the roleplaying game so you could pee-pee away a solid story line and replace it with a desperately unsatisfying ending (and that was before any of us had even seen "The End of Time"); this year we had an in-depth discussion of Doctors 3 & 4. It was getting a bit involved even for me and as a friend pointed out, if the Pixie is finding it too much, what hope was there for normal people? (Cheers, Robin).

So yet another successful weekend of gathering Dr Who related news for you all. Remember to keep your eyes open for the rerelease next year and be forgiving next time a game gets delayed; its probably sat in a warehouse eyeing those big tubs of Vaseline suspiciously...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Leeds or Nothing

In our continuing odyssey of travelling about a bit and getting people to say silly things, the Prof and I ventured down to the Thought Bubble comic convention in...


Okay, so it wasn't predominantly about Dr Who, though there were a lot of Dr Who comics and a lot of people dressed as young Mr Smith (fezzes and bow ties as far as the eye could see). Tony Lee of IDW comics was supposed to be there, but sadly wasn't (he writes Dr Who stuff, in case you didn't know). Still, we managed to maintain a fairly Who-y theme in spite of all the other comic-y nonsense going on around us.

Our first triumph of the day was interviewing Mr Paul Cornell. As with all the writers we met last weekend, he's lovely and very kindly agreed to talk to us even though he doesn't do Dr Who interviews anymore. Its just as well we rarely ask anyone about Dr Who, really (bit odd perhaps for a Dr Who podcast but then, there you go, that's us all over). He's nearly as easily broken as Teedles and was a pleasure to talk to. We'll include that interview with the Dimensions Crimble Specials for a fair old festive line-up.

We finally got the chance to meet the wonderful and talented Abby Ryder and Dave Bulmer of Dumpy Little Robot. You can see Dave's rather nice legless David Tennant piccie here. The Prof and I challenged Dave to draw a leggy Matt Smith, which was quite handy as he'd been plotting one for a while, apparently. There's even a duck, Pond!


Now Terry has mentioned our next artist, John Allison on Twitter, but didn't put the piccie up on here. Needless to say, we own this one now (if you want to own it, it can be found in all its loveliness here)

Not too shabby for a non-Who convention, eh?



Next week, lets hope Cubicle 7 have the updated version of the Dr Who roleplaying game (or at least news of it) at Dragonmeet or the Prof isn't getting a Crimble pressie this year...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Tea and High Dudgeon

It must be said that I slept better than I thought I would (in fact, we were getting up not long after some of the people we'd been drinking with the night before had just gone to bed). A sense of foreboding hung over brekkie as I contemplated the potential train-wreck of the afternoon's festivities, which our morning encounter with Sylvester McCoy did nothing to dispel. Apparently he wasn't very well all weekend, so that must be taken in to account, but getting his signature was a rather awkward experience for some reason.

Colin Baker was as lovely as the last time we met him and we had a coded discussion about his appearance in the Inspector Morse stage play, much to the bemusement of those around us who hadn't seen it. Bless him, he'd piled on to a train on Saturday night straight after a performance in Derby, not arriving at the convention until 1.30am Sunday morning. Yet there he was, just after 9am, smiling and signing away. We chatted with Jennie Linden, who played Barbara in the Peter Cushing movies, about how much we'd enjoyed them (I don't care if they're not canon, they're fun and pretty to look at) and with Nicola Bryant's signature we Pokemon'd out (gotta catch 'em all, y'know!).


As promised, the contact sheet by Niki Hunter, provided so that everyone had a handy way of getting all their signatures. Sadly, we didn't get Mary Tamm as she couldn't attend. Neither could Paul Darrow, who wasn't actually on the sheet for some reason.

Our one interview of the day was Nev Fountain, writer of "The Kingmaker" (reviewed by your resident Pixie here), one of the two Big Finish audios that the Prof used to introduce me to the Dr Who range (the other being "The Chimes of Midnight" by Rob Shearman). As with Rob and Nick, Nev was very amusing and a pleasure to talk to. We even helped (accidentally, admittedly, just by being geeks) with his research for his next book.

I did feel very guilty about not asking Lisa Bowerman & Beth Chalmers for interviews, but we had kidnapped rather a lot of Big Finish folks over the weekend and after all, we do have to leave someone to talk to the next time we go to one of these things. We did ask for an interview with Mr McCoy, but were politely told to go away (in as many words) by the official handler, which was fair enough really.

For the rest of the morning we attended workshops, first with Beth & Charlie Ross on audio drama, then with Charlie & Keith Temple on comedy. Once we'd found the room, we settled in for two informative and cosy chats with on tap drinkies and biscuits and we weren't forced into doing anything embarrassing at all. Charlie's a hoot, and was very forgiving of the Prof's weird taste in comedy. I would have liked to interview Charlie & Keith too, but as official guests they were incredibly busy. Let's face it, I would have liked to interview pretty much everyone there; I enjoy talking to interesting people.

Then it was the tea. The event we'd been dreading all day. Finally.

We knew it was going to be a bit fraught when the guy told us we didn't need to show him our certificates to get in; we'd made that much of an impression on the Friday night, apparently. John, Neil and Rob were all hiding somewhere else so it was down to the four of us not to stick our feet in it any more than we already had. Things got off to a bit of a shaky start, but feeding cream cakes to people seemed to help a bit. Once Mr McCoy got warmed up, the stories started to flow.

Now sometimes people really annoy me. We weren't the only ones at this tea; there were raffle and auction winners there as well. Sadly, some of them were socially inept at best and downright rude at worst, completely ignoring and in some instances talking over Daphne Ashbrook and Yee Jee Tso when they attempted to answer questions. They seemed determined to have Mr McCoy trot out all the same old stories - heck, I'm not a fan, but even I'd heard most of the ones he related over the profiteroles. We tried our best to ask questions that would make sure everyone was included in the conversation, but when you're up against people asking Miss Ashbrook if she's ever known someone who comitted suicide, you know you're on a hiding to nothing.

(This might sound dreadful, because Miss Ashbrook & Mr Tso were very nice, entertaining people, but we were sort of wishing we could have gone to the tea with Jennie Linden instead. It would have been far less painful in the long run. Sadly, I get the feeling that Mr Tso is quite used to people pretending he isn't there, which made me feel ashamed on behalf of human beings in general and Dr Who fans in particular).

But we stayed and eventually asked one of our favourite questions: if you could be a biscuit or cake, what sort of biscuit or cake would you be? Although we don't have any audio, for posterity the replies were: Nesquick biscuit mix (Miss Ashbrook, 'cos her Mum used to make them for her when she was little), Walker's butter biscuits (Mr Tso, because apparently they're very rich and buttery) and custard pie (Mr McCoy, because he was on Tiswas with the Phantom Flan Flinger).

We emerged relatively unscathed after an hour (the scary man who'd muttered angrily at us all weekend turned up at one point as well, just to really make it as odd an experience as possible), full of cream cake and, as the convention was officially closed by the time we escaped, ready to say our goodbyes. We were tired but content, if a little weirded out. No matter how good these things have been though, there always comes that point when you just want to go home. So after many hugs and exchanges of details, we did just that.

My only real grumble for the weekend was the location. Not that there was anything wrong with the hotel. Far from it; it was warm, clean and comfortable and the staff were lovely (although the Ladies loos could do with some redecoration). Its just that the North East is a beautiful part of the world and it really wasn't showing it off to its best. Once you were there, you were there. At least if it had been in Newcastle, or Durham even, people could have seen just what this area has to offer. Yes, it would have made it more expensive but I think it might have been worth it (especially for the invited guests).

Overall though, it was a smashing weekend, full of generous, warm people who we instantly felt at ease with. Neither of us have laughed so much in ages. The Big Finish team really made it for us, along with Richard, Alan, Neil and John (our pub quiz partners in crime) and the lads from Saturday night. Its easy to see why Dimensions in particular has such a good reputation with the fans and why so many people keep on coming back year after year. We certainly will.

The Quest for Signatures

Saturday in Seaton Burn dawned bright and early, with only a slight hangover on the Prof's part. We almost had a plan of action (regarding talks and signatures), although we were still in shock at having won the pub quiz the night before. We'd been told to collect our certificates (no, really) from the front desk after breakfast...

We saw Paul McGann coming in for his brekkie just as we were finishing ours, so we thought we'd best go and get in the queue for his autograph. Having promised Lightfoot that we'd donate one of our freebs for her, we figured we'd better get on with it or risk righteous hippy wrath. We even managed to have a nice chat with him about San Francisco & Vancouver. He was thoroughly charming, thought it was lovely we were getting Teedles a piccie and said hello to us every time we passed him for the rest of the day. (Are you jealous yet, T?)

After we spoke to Mr McGann, we gathered the signatures of the other actors and writers (Daphne Ashbrook, Yee Jee Tso, Matthew Waterhouse, Andrew Smith, Beth Chalmers & Keith Temple) on the rather natty contact sheet provided by 10th Planet. The Prof thought it a terrible shame to get people to scrawl all over it, but it was specifically created for that purpose so I didn't mind too much. It was also entertaining to watch the celebs trying to fit dedications in to the teeny tiny spaces available (I'll let you have a look at that in the final installment). Mind you, I think it was a bit unsporting to have Keith represented by an Ood; he's a smashing bloke and much better looking than old squid-face Sigma. To add to the haul, we also grabbed Charlie Ross' book, even though he made us take a piccie as well (he's a hard man).

The Prof wanted to pop in to see the Big Finish crew and pick out his Crimble pressies (see the stash above) and we had a very pleasant chat with Lisa Bowerman about which CDs we should get (she even signed a fair few for us as well). The Prof bought me Nev Fountain's Mervyn Stone novels for my birthday, so I didn't do too badly either. Oh yes, and we picked up Rob Shearman's books as well, including his book of plays "Caustic Comedies" (the only other plays I own are some of Shakespeare's; I'm trying to be cultured here). Fortunately our room was only a few doors down from Big Finish, which was just as well considering the size of the haul we'd acquired by that time.

We continued in the same vein by going to the Big Finish talk, which was highly entertaining, although slightly worrying in some respects. Reading between the lines of this and other talks we saw (and this may well be my own misinterpretation here), there seems to be quite a degree of tension building in the BBC and television in general regarding intellectual properties and allowing writers to do their jobs free from management interference. It certainly left me concerned for the future of shows like Dr Who, which more and more seem to be under the control of bean counters rather than creative types.

After another voyage across the Muto wasteland to the Little Chef for lunch, we were back and raring to go. We began the afternoon in business mode by interviewing an old friend of ours, Dalek Bruce. He's not exactly friends with Oolon at the moment though, after comments made in a certain podcast, but you can hear that for yourselves when the Prof's finished editing the Dimensions Crimble Specials.

Flushed with success, we borrowed Nick Briggs from the Big Finish room and had a very lovely chat with him about his life, work and future ventures. He's an interesting and erudite man and I hadn't realised how long we'd talked for (he also complimented me on my interview technique, which made me squee ever so slightly). He then let us borrow Jake McGann (Paul's son) to find out all about possibly the world's greatest bit of work experience and playing the Doctor's great-grandson. He was slightly bemused that we didn't want to talk to him about his Dad, so we forced ourselves. Just for Terry, you understand.

Sadly we missed Nev and Nicola Bryant reading from Nev's novels, and the writers' workshop with Andrew and Keith, but we did blag an interview with Mr Shearman (if you can't hear the Prof guffawing his head off in that one, it'll be a miracle). Lets just say that we now have a South Bank Show Memorial Question and a terrible reputation forming amongst our interviewees (don't, whatever you do, look under the bed).

Finally, it was time for the drinking to begin again with the Tachyon TV crew and all their amazingly entertaining friends, including PJ, who does the most frighteningly accurate Tom Baker impersonation I've ever seen, and Bob Fischer from Radio Tees, who has a rather nice Tom Baker scarf. I was designated Pixie, I will admit, but I spent most of the evening crying with laughter without the need for any booze whatsoever. We learnt all about the Mayor of Scotland (don't ask), Kenneth Branagh & Brian Blessed's football watching antics (really, don't ask) and even came up with a plan of attack for the rapidly approaching afternoon tea with the stars (I'll never be able to hear the word kipper again; but seriously, don't ask). We wimped out before midnight, tired, happy and sore with laughing so much. My last memory of the evening was John William's disembodied voice crying "Why? WHY?" as we wandered off to the Land of Nod.

But however good the day had been, there was still the looming spectre of that tea...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Curse of the Cribbons

The Prof and I have just returned from Dimensions, which rather conveniently took place just up the road from us. We hadn't been sure whether to go or not, but a conversation with the rather smashing Dr Who artist Steve Caldwell at Whooverville convinced us to give it a go.


Still, it was a bit nerve-wracking turning up on Friday night knowing nary a soul. We got there just in time for the pub quiz, usually a pastime of massive bewilderment to me at conventions. It never seems to matter how long I've been involved in the field, or how widely read I think I might be, when the questions start I'm at an utter loss. They're invariably so pedantically precise and searching that I tend to sit there like a flabbergasted guppy. We nearly didn't go, but in the end thought we might as well start how we meant to go on by embarrassing ourselves thoroughly and earning the righteous scorn of our peers.

When we entered, we spotted the venerable Messers Perryman & Williams, purveyors of all things Tachyon TV. Having decided not to start the celebrity stalking quite so early in the proceedings, we instead surreptitiously lurked in the row behind them, nudging each other occassionally and whispering "That's them!". However fate, and our charming host, intervened as teams of two were strictly forbidden, forcing us to throw ourselves on the mercy of these podcasting demi-gods. Four wasn't enough either, so we co-opted two lovely gentlemen from the row in front. Then another few people wandered over, one of whom was a vaguely familiar beardy chap and another one who was Paul from Big Finish (we met him at Whooverville too, where he was on the podcast panel with Oolon). Having formed our team, Rob Shearman, for it was he, named us "Fuschia From the Deep" and it all went down-hill from there.

The quiz was hysterical, not least due to some comedy spelling (Bernard Cribbons, indeed!) and some very contentious answers. It soon became apparent that we were the naughty team, because we were laughing and enjoying ourselves. Much to our horror, we were also winning (perhaps this would be a good time to point out that the prize was afternoon tea with Sylvester McCoy, Daphne Ashbrook & Yee Jee Tso). To be fair, we were only taking part for a giggle, but some of the other teams were desperately serious about the whole thing and it didn't go down very well when we did eventually claim our victors' crown (at least, not with the team that came second, one of whom decided to mutter darkly at us every time he passed us for almost the entire rest of the weekend).

Fate has a cruel sense of humour, in that the two people least suited to have won the prize (myself and John, because of our deep and abiding enjoyment of the seventh Doctor and the TV movie) actually now had to go and drink tea with it's cast. But I'm getting ahead of myself; that wouldn't happen until Sunday...

Having been kidnapped and dragged across the Muto wasteland around the Holiday Inn by Mr Shearman on a quest for sustenance and a BLT sarnie, we returned older and wiser in time for a fair old drinking sesh with a wide variety of rather lovely people. Andrew Smith (writer of Full Circle, first of the E-Space trilogy, and introducer of Adric) gallantly shared a bottle of red wine with us at one point and lots of Big Finish people wandered by to pass the time of day. We learnt how not to put our foot in it with a potential interviewee, heard some wonderful gossip (none of which will ever be repeated in any way, shape or form so don't ask), found out more about Pointless than we ever thought was possible (hi Angela!) and eventually wandered off to bed at 1.30am.

Was it a well written & researched pub quiz? No.

Was it an ideal way to get a bunch of potential strangers to interact with each other? Yes. It would have been a very different weekend for us if we hadn't gone along, so even though at times it was buttock-clenchingly awful, this Pixie will always have fond memories of it.

Next stop: Saturday, and the quest for signatures...

The Doctor Arrives: Matt Smith on Craig Ferguson

OK, uhm.. Regarding the news that Matt Smith will be on Craig Ferguson:
FUCK YEAH!
I say this with full gusto, as an American, in the knowledge that Craig Ferguson, my favorite stateside late night comedian, will be having Matt Smith on as a guest!!!  It will air tonight, (Tuesday the 16th) at 12:35am on CBS stations. Or maybe I should say early early Wednesday morning?

I am FULL of superfluous exclamation points at this news and I apologise for my total EXCITEMENT. But Mr. Ferguson is perfect for introducing the newest Doctor to those Americans not familiar with Doctor Who or it's updated form, being that he's originally from Scotland. But he's ours now. You Brits can't have him back. He has been assimilated. He'll do a fantastic interview I'm sure.
Oh gosh, I'm jumping up and down like a girl. Oh right...I AM a girl. Dare I ... SQUEEEE!!!!
Oh dear. I'm outta CONTROL.

 Watch last night's little preview in Mr. Ferguson's monologue:

   
 AWW! Dalek Love.

====================================

UNDT NAO ZEE UPDATE:

YAY! It's done.
Thanks to TVsCraigFerguson from YouTube you can now view all parts of this show. The main Matt Smith interview video I include below. Go to his page and you can see all the other parts of the show including LOTS of WHOering about: Blasphemous use of the sonic(The Doctor's "magic pen") for purposes of genital torture of producers that forget to inform Mr. Ferguson of vitally important information until 5 minutes before the show. Major disappointment for Craigy but to his credit he stays calm(well, you know, as calm as a Whovian who's hosting the Doctor can be) and carries on to offer up an outstandingly amusing and ultra geek pleasing show. He warms up the show with a quick and silly "interview" with Chris Hardwick from The Nerdist, who was very fun, silly and kinda hot. Then came the main attraction, Mr. Matt Smith.
I'm not even going to say a word about it. OK, just one predictable word from me: Awesome!
Just watch it. :-)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Lego Fezzes are Cool!

Awesomely cute!
Posted on his tumblr blog "Quarries and Corridors" by Nat from the Doctor Who podcast "Bridging the Rift".
Lego fezzes are cool!
Lego fezzes are cool!<br />thethenardiers:<br /><br />Source

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 21

Something for the weekend Sir? Another podcast, for your sins. 21 episodes and you've still not seen the error of your ways? This time we review the classic series episode Curse of Fenric, and introduce our new feature "The Wheel of Who".

Again, thanks to The Proff for a hand with the edit on this one.

Four bored muppets take a rambling shufty at the teasers from the 'Brilliant Book' and (as usual) produce nothing of any cultural worth.

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes etc., but is available for download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

Redesigned Alpha Centauri by ~DarkAngelDTB

Excellent reinterpretation of Alpha Centauri ambassador. That race really needs a redesign if ever a race did. What was evolution thinking on that planet anyway? I mean they look like..a one eyed monster.
Ahem. Oh, never mind.
This was a monster redesign of Alpha Centauri from The classic Peladon stories from Doctor Who. Done completeley in photoshop.


See more at darkangeldtb.deviantart.com


Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Sarah Jane, wierd old bag lady? - Nightmare Man Pics.

OK, she's not REALLY a bag lady...but she sorta looks it. Still, a sweet old bag lady. It's that hat. eek! This clearly is a fashion nightmare, at the very least. These are from the new series opener, airing on October 11th, 2010. YAY! more Sarah!
SJA: The Nightmare Man Pics 

Here’s some new promo pics from The Nightmare Man – the opening two-part story from the fourth series of The Sarah Jane Adventures.
See more at doctorwhotv.co.uk

Friday, October 1, 2010

The BBC Teases Us With Some Christmas 'Who'

The BBC have released a trailer of their 2010 Autumn/Winter up coming dramas including a few tantalizingly short clips from this year’s Doctor Who Christmas special! The whole 2010 dramas preview is here if you care to see all the clips, some with previous Doctor Who actors, David Tennant and Christopher Eccleston and even "the next Doctor" actor, David Morrissey.

Below is the version made by Doctor Who TV, containing only the Doctor Who Christmas clips.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 20

Like busses. You don't get any for ages then loads turn up at once.

This one was a long time coming, so the news might be a bit last month. BIG thanks to The Prof and Lightfoot for pulling in an emergency edit while Sputters was trying to earn some mortgage.

So, let's get this out of the way, it's our review of the TV Movie, a feature-length first attempt to revive the franchise after it's woefully criminal cancellation in 1989. Intended as a 'back door pilot' for a new American-produced Doctor Who TV series, and introduced Paul (like butter) McGann as the 8th Doc in his only video appearance as our favourite Gallifreyan.

An obvious rating success in the UK, the movie flopped big-time on US TV and eventually came to nothing. A major bone of contention (on many levels) with fans, this 85 minutes of contentious Who history always raises voices and temperatures.

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes but available to download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

TARDIS Tara Gets TARDIS Tat

How can I not blog this gorgeous TARDIS tattoo that's materialized on TARDIS Tara arm? Made of AWESOME. Congrats! Amplify’d from tardistara.tumblr.com

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Whooverville Unplugged

Two Sundays ago, the British contingent decided it was high time that Sputters got his feet wet, at least as far as Dr Who conventions were concerned. Mind you, me and the Prof had only just been to our first one at Temple Park in June and I suspect that our gleeful frothing was what finally convinced his Time Lordship to go for it.


So myself, the Prof, Sputters and his good wife Emilly Ladybird trundled off to the Midland Railway Centre for Whooverville 2, organised by those smashing chappies, the Whoovers. We were met at the station by Dalek Derek, a fine specimen that Emilly was utterly entranced by. Now Em isn't a giant Who geek, but she does love a good Dalek and flirted outrageously with every Kaled mutant she could find (even the Special Weapons Dalek Storm, who otherwise was having a bit of a bad day, by all accounts).

Having been transported from the station to the railway shed (sorry, convention centre) by a steam train, we settled in for a day of talks, spending and trying to get celebrities to say "Dirty Whoers". We knew that Katy Manning (Jo Grant), Sophie Aldred (Ace), Deborah Watling (Victoria) and Michael Cochrane (way too much stuff) would be there, along with the bloke that did the design work on "Amy's Choice" and some vampire babes, but the great surprise was that John Leeson (K9) was there as well. The lovely artist Steve Caldwell was also there (and we bought a few more of his prints for good measure).

Sputters had carefully retrieved his 1973 & 1974 Dr Who annuals from their place of safety so that Miss Manning could sign them, and he and the Prof promptly caused chaos in the signing queue as both Miss Manning and Miss Aldred flicked through them, pointing out all the completed quizzes and dodgy artwork. Signatures and promises of interviews acquired, the boys joined myself and Em in a slice of coffee and walnut cake.

And so the pattern was set for the day: talks, signatures, waylaying hapless Dr Who assistants and sloping off for the occasional cuppa. Sputters also managed to blag his way on to the podcasting seminar and it was good to be able to put faces to voices (especially the rather dapper Tom from the Dr Who Podcast). Sadly James Naughton from Podshock couldn't be there, because he is a knight in shining armour and there was a fair damsel who needed rescuing, but we made sure we got a recording of Tom's voice for Terry, because its just as silky smooth and I'm sure it will make her go all giggly.

All of the people we interviewed were wonderfully generous and very gentle with us convention amateurs. Sophie Aldred's eldest son was a pleasure to talk to, even if he doesn't like peanut butter cookies, and I could have listened all afternoon to Mr Leeson's talk on which were the best red and white wines for a tenner. Katy Manning was very funny (Sputnik was in puppy heaven every time he went near her) and Deborah Watling has a twinklingly evil sense of humour. In short, the guests here confirmed what me and the Prof had found at South Shields: the Dr Who family is fab.

Fingers crossed, next stop - Dimensions on Tyne!

Check out the podcast, with interviews, below, listed as number 19.

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes etc., but is available for download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

'Doctor Who' Earns NTA Nominations

Come on Whovians - Go cast your votes now! Voting link is at the bottom.
Amplify’d from www.bbcamerica.com

'Doctor Who', 'Top Gear' Earn NTA Nominations

The National Television Award nominations were announced in the UK today and several BBC favorites such as Doctor Who, Top Gear, Ashes to Ashes, and Luther each earned several nominations, including most popular drama program and drama performance categories.

Polls are now open to the public to determine a winner in a host of categories. On January 20, a shortlist will be revealed at 16th annual The National Television Awards in London, which will once again be hosted by British radio and television personality Dermot O'Leary.
Whovians will be looking for Doctor Who to lock down their sixth consecutive award in the drama category, while also championing Guinness Book record holder Matt Smith and Karen Gillan for their own individual wins.
Cast your vote at The National Television Awards' official page.Read more at www.bbcamerica.com

Moffat: Season Six & River Song's True Identity

An interview with Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat reveals the following informative tidbits when 'Doctor Who: The Brilliant Book 2011' comes out later this month. As well as repeating how Christmassy the Christmas special is going to be, as he has a few times already, he also goes on to address the ongoing story arc including River Song's true identity.

Regarding the story lines left dangling from this past series:
"We’re going into the silence and what they are… There’s been a sort of tradition, which I semi-followed through with the crack, of there just being a sort of meme through the series, and I think, actually, a bigger mystery and a bigger story is possible now. I’m going to handle it slightly differently next year.”
On River Song’s true identity:
“That’s absolutely coming. You’re going to find out very soon, and that means we have to do it next series, really… The critical thing here is I want to explain who she is, not explain away who she is. If you don’t deliver on most people’s expectations, and you just say, ‘Ooh, she’s a specially programmed android who believes she’s the Doctor’s wife,’ people will go, ‘That‘s a cheat.’ You can’t do that… It’s a really good story, and it’s sort of the story of next year.”
Doctor Who: The Brilliant Book 2011, edited by Clayton Hickman, comes out on September 30th  from BBC Books (RRP £12.99).
Read more on this topic at the SFX website.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

"For the Dads"

You know how the Brits refer to certain companions as, "for the dads"?
*ahem* fancy a bit of Amy Pondage, anyone?
Amplify’d from blastr.com
 See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aiez

UPDATE:

Someone said it's a fake so I did a little investigating. It's a well done photoshop chop job by a guy who does nothing but this wi celebrity heads and latex catsuit photos. Geewiz, it's quite a collection. So if you'd like to browse more Karen Gillan, erm.....in catsuits...: do a flikr search for "headswapharry". 
Well, this blog isn't called Dirty WHOers for nuthin'!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Katy Manning returns to Jo Grant

Mr. Sputnik just recently met Miss Manning at Whooverville and was terribly impressed by how nice and charming she was. She's finally joined the modern world with her own website, despite claiming to be computer illiterate. Here I've included part of her Q&A page where she talks about her experience reprising her Jo Grant role from Doctor Who on 'The Sarah Jane Adventures'. I've only included a few bits of it, so definitely go visit her site at http://www.katy-manning.co.uk/ , check out the rest of the interview and submit more questions!

Q&A with Katy

Q. You recently filmed two episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures as Jo Grant.  What was it like playing Jo again?  Did you slip back into her skin easily?
Katy Q&A
Katy: Incredibly easily. I was really surprised at how it all came back, and how quickly I felt like Jo again. It was a genuine pleasure to be playing her once more.
Q. How do you think Jo has changed since she left the Doctor at the end of The Green Death?
Katy:
You'll have to watch the programme to see what I mean, but Russell T Davies has done a wonderful job of showing how Jo has developed over the years. You can still see the young and awestruck girl she was, but that's been tempered by experience and maturity - not replaced, but tempered.
Q. Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith was the person who stepped into your shoes – or platforms – after you left the series.  How was it working with her?
Katy: Fantastic. Liz and I never actually worked together on Doctor Who, but we've got to know each other well over the years. We're always bumping into each other at conventions. 
In terms of how Jo and Sarah Jane got on - you'll have to watch the show to see if there was any friction, or if it was plain sailing. Read more at www.katy-manning.co.uk

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Daniel Mays from 'Ashes to Ashes' to appear in Doctor Who

ATV News Network is reporting that actor Daniel Mays is one of the actors starring in the next series of Doctor Who. Most of us know him for his role as DCI Jim Keats, in the third and final series of 'Ashes to Ashes' (turns out he was the...oh, maybe I shouldn't spoil it. There are still a few who haven't seen it). He'll be appearing in episode three, the story written by Neil Gaiman.
"Also appearing in the episode is actress Emma Cunniffe whose previous roles include Clash of the Santas, The Lakes, Clocking Off and Great Expectations. Child actor Jamie Oram will also appear in the episode."

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Fake Christmas Trailer + The Making Of Video

Everyone got incredibly excited on the net when people began tweeting, posting, etc. about this awesome (fake) BBC 2010 Christmas Trailer posted on YouTube by dwcast25. I actually followed a link by someone(don't ask me who, I can't remember or I would credit them) who was already calling it a fake. However, another DirtyWHOer who shall remain nameless saw the "trailer" and didn't know, and of course like the rest of the whovian throngs, excitedly tweeted it as the BBC Christmas Trailer.

So I'm like: "Nah, duuude. It's just an awesome fake."
And so the other person's like: "Oh."
(how's that for clever script writing? No? ...right. Sorry.)

BUT, to stray back to my point:
It's an AWESOME fake trailer! So keeping that in mind, I post the Trailer version below and below that the even AWESOMER "The Making of" the fake 'Doctor Who: Christmas Special 2010 Trailer - BBC', which is really fun and interesting to watch. He shows from where the various pre-existing elements of this trailer were taken and how he tweaked them.
Terrific job.




Saturday, August 28, 2010

Deleted Scene from Neil Gaiman's 'Doctor Who' Episode

Neil Gaiman reports in his blog the ongoing evolution of his script for the coming season of Doctor Who. Now on it's tenth draft his script has been edited and pared down until "Anything that wasn't moving the plot forward has gone."
He says, "It hasn't really changed that much. It just gets tighter and, I hope, more like itself. Slowly, draft by draft, it's being turned up to eleven." He talks of how Steven Moffat helped him get through the worst of the editing process and about a scene that was cut out back during the 6th draft of the script in which the Doctor eats a bowl of possibly alien food.

The exerpt begins:


AMY
Is it something people can eat?
(to Doctor)
Shouldn’t you scan it with your screwdriver or something?


THE DOCTOR
Why would I scan food with my screwdriver?

and continues on for a nice little descriptive punchline at the end. Go read the complete scene on Mr. Gaiman's blog.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Amazing WHO-wear from Tess-san

TARDIS fascinator, ladies?

Awesome TARDIS dress with obligatory scarf accessory. My favorite detail is, however, the TARDIS key zipper pull. Genius. Designer Tess-san is currently completing a whole collection of Doctor Who based outfits for the fashionable WHOvian lady about town. She's currently taking orders! 
Here's another amazing outfit, a chic take on the 11th Doctor's outfit:
Go NOW to Tess-san's Deviant art gallery and favorite her stuff for her. She deserves all the attention she can get for her efforts. Beautiful work, thank you Miss Tess-san.
Ace!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 18

This one's a whopper.

Don't worry, back to short ones' again soon, we wouldn't want to make you sore.

The full Season 31 overview. Was it any cop? Did Matt cut the mustard or the cheese? Looking back, and looking forward. Alas Sen (when he shows up) mentions DS9, guest James runs off early (he has a life, apparently), Sputters waxes lyrical on great Who MILFS, Victor flexes his national pride, Ezy finally joins us for the first time (and probably wishes he hadn't), Terry does the edit (poor lass), and Fuchsia quietly drools over the boy in the fez.

Sod the quality. Look at the size. You don't get many of these to the pound.

Get in.

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes etc., but is available for download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Podshock Party in SL this Saturday!


Yes I know it's a different podcast. But one of the coolest and most organized, well made, and NOT drunk ones around. *cough*
Join us and a crazy gang of international Whovians including the boys from Podshock (@LouisTrapani, @KenDeep & @JamesNaughton) for a great time in SL celebrating all things Doctor Who AND Podshock's 5 year Anniversary!
Don't miss this! Brought to you by Victor Mornington (aka @Vic1st) & EzY McAlpine and the gang from the Katrina sim, it's great fun every time, with great music by DJ Mr. Edward Pearse, with TARDIS tours, Daleks and Doctor Who avs galore...
Second Life is free and you can log in and connect with other Whovians from around the globe. Hey! If you don't believe me, I went to the first one and met some of my best friends: @Oolon Sputnik, @FuschiaBegonia and Sen Pixie and now we make fools of ourselves regularly on the @DirtyWHOers podcast...oh wait, on second thought....never mind. ;-)

Check out the Podshock page for many more details and important information!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

A Clean Doctor

Have you ever wondered what soap the Doctor uses in the shower?

Wonder no more: Obviously he keeps clean with Doctor Who "Geek Soap".
And for you Dalek fans, apparently there will be a Dalek GeekSoap coming out soon:
"This is just the first of two Doctor Who geeky soaps... look for the custom mold one coming soon! HINT: exter-min-ate! Update: As promised in May 2010 when my original Dr. Who soap came out, the Dalek mold will be coming out sometime in August 2010... after Gen Con!" 

Click Soapy Pic to go to GeekSoap

Yup. Doctor Who soap. My life is now complete.

Monday, August 9, 2010

The Big Bang 2 Song!

Enjoy "The Big Bang 2" song by Charlieissocoollike(on YouTube) otherwise known as Charlie McDonnell (also a member of Chameleon Circuit, a fun "Who" band to check out). Creative lyrics, nice voice, great Ukulele playing, not to mention cute(just my personal opinion, yes...).


Excellent fun! Thank you Mr. McDonnell.  :-)

Jon Pertwee with Hartnell, in "Will Any Gentleman...?"

An awesome photo of Jon Pertwee with Hartnell, in "Will Any Gentleman...?", a 1953 movie.
I had no idea, being from the States, that this existed. Dying to see it as it sounds like a fun flick as well.

Fab picture!

Thanks to WhoFix.net for posting the picture that came
to my attention via Randall Thomas on FB.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

CubeeCraft Doctors & TARDIS by Cyberdrone.


Oh no!
Another thing to collect for you Doctor Who obsessives.
Cyberdrone over at Deviant art has posted a whole slew of wonderful Cubeecraft Doctor Who projects. Check out his Doctor Who catalog of templates here, including different TARDISes, 11 Doctors, Weeping Angels..well, the list goes on, and on, and...it's just plain cool.

Go look for yourself!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 17

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's really late. Some of us have lives you know? No, really, honest, we do. You'd be surprised. Ok, they're mainly virtual ones, but we do.


Ladies, gentle peeps, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centuri, for your delectation, series 31, episode 13, 'The Big Bang', comes under the usual WHOers eloquent frothing examination.

More in the next few weeks, but don't hold your breath. Season overview coming soon, with some very special guest stars from the dark fatty folds of the seedy feted underbelly of alcohol dependent Whovian podcasting.

This is one of the LOST DirtyWHOers Episodes, no longer available for streaming from iTunes etc., but is available for download from our Dropbox archive HERE.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Moffat's on Twitter

Public Service Announcement:

The Dude (yes, I say "dude", I'm from California, get over it). The Grand Moff. Lord Moffat. Steven Moffat's on Twitter. I've only just noticed thanks to @Paul_Cornell's twittering.

AND Mark Gattis as well.

Let the WHO stampede begin.

@steven_moffat & @Markgatiss

Sunday, July 11, 2010

What the Pixie Saw

We had a jolly old day out the other day at the Dr Who exhibition at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. Hover your cursor over the piccy to bring up the menu bars on it - that way you can go for autoplay or flick through at your own speed.

And don't ask what the heck that Aardman hamster's doing in the eyepiece of the big ass telescope from Tooth & Claw; we have even less of an idea than usual...





The console is actually in the Discovery Museum, and was an unexpected find worthy of inclusion.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Monster Mash

The new “Aliens And Creatures” sourcebook for Cubicle 7’s Dr Who: Adventures in Time and Space RPG is now available from DriveThru RPG’s website. Sadly, it’s only available as a downloadable pdf, although the shiny, shiny boxed set should be available sometime in August.


The reason is pretty simple and I feel quite a bit of sympathy for Cubicle 7 over this. It takes a long time to write a game of this size, test it fully, correct it, do the layouts, proof it, get it all ready to be printed and develop the supporting material, right in time to discover that the current production crew is leaving and so is the main actor. So, what do you do? Bring out a box of source material that is potentially out of date (at the very least in terms of imagery), or shift the release date back until you can redo the layout, all the while risking your game slipping out of the public’s attention?

Cubicle 7 have, quite sensibly in this Pixie’s opinion, gone for the middle ground: make the product available now in a cheaper, electronic format for the die-hards whilst aiming to release the print version later for those who are happy to wait, “reclothed” to fit with the new production team’s graphics and characters.

So what do you get with the pdf? As with the core game set, the production quality is very high indeed, full colour, lots of pictures and some crunchy stuff on the side. My personal favourite is the inclusion of creature cards, so you can quickly keep track of those dastardly little rascals during a game by looking them up in your card index. My only concern here is that its going to be a bugger getting the fronts and backs to line up when trying to print them out your self, but they’ll be a gorgeous addition to the boxed set. Helpfully, there are some blanks included for you own creations as well.

The main book concerns itself with a variety of alien races that the Doctor has encountered, as well as including alien and planet creation rules. It made me quite nostalgic looking at the random generator tables for planetary stats, and they’d certainly be useful for sparking the old brain cells should inspiration fail at some point in your gaming shenanigans.

The aliens are organised into alphabetical order, for the most part, although any slave races or creatures associated with a particular, more dominant race can be found with their overlords. Predominantly this is New Who, although there are some exceptions with the more long-standing villains. The sections on Daleks and Sontarans are good, and the one on Cybermen is excellent (pardon the pun), finally bringing the Mondasians in on the action.

Some of the alien descriptions contain information that I don’t remember being covered in the actual episodes they appeared in, leading me to suspect that the writers were privy to extra production notes to flesh the characters out fully. Notable individuals from a species are also given their own descriptions and stats, except for Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen, quite an odd omission given that she appears in a couple of episodes and there’s actually a picture of her above the general Slitheen stats. Also, slightly naughtily, there is a reference to the Wirrn with no other information on them, which is really going to confuse people who haven’t seen or read any of the old series’ material.

These really are minor niggles considering all of the excellent information that is present. Some material has been reproduced from the original core set to make the book’s usage that much simpler, but in terms of creating alien characters, I would have preferred a little more repetition or at least a summary of key stages, instead of having to refer back so much to the core player and GM guides.

To test out the alien creation rules, we decided to mock up a New Who Silurian warrior, which took us about 30 minutes, including all the arguing about whether to include old versus new series material and just how alien a Silurian was, as well as lots of flicking between books. It will be interesting to see how these compare to the actual game version, which I suspect will be in the November updates.

Silurian Warrior:
Awareness 4, Co-ordination 5, Ingenuity 3, Presence 2, Resolve 3, Strength 4
Traits: Alien, Alien Appearance (minor, reptilian), Armour (minor, tough scales), Fast (minor), Fear Factor (+1), Gadget (Silurian mask, major; alien senses - infrared vision +1, fear factor +1), Natural weapons (minor, claws), Natural weapons (major, poison tongue), Obligation (major, protection of species), Weakness (major, hexachromite gas)
Skills: Athletics 4, Fighting 5, Marksman 4, Subterfuge 3 (area of expertise: sneaking +1)

There is also another adventure book, containing two full scenarios (one written by Steve Lyons, who has written quite a few Big Finish stories and novels) and a whole load of story seeds. Obviously, we don’t want spoilers so I won’t tell you what any of them are about. There’s also a printed handout map of a spaceship, which caused much retro squeeing, some more gadget cards and a rather pretty sheet of story point tokens that will be an entertaining evening of paper cutting seeing as the little hex outlines haven’t been included for the spacially challenged.

Is it worth your $25? Yes. It’s pretty and informative and of the same quality as the core game and its always good to support gaming companies who are brave enough to take on this sort of franchise. Will I be buying it again as a boxed set? Yes, I probably will because I’m desperately old-fashioned and like books (and that little joke about the Vashta Nerada will be way more creepy with the printed version…)

WebMaster: Terry Lightfoot
WebDoctor: Oolon Sputnik
Blog by Terry Lightfoot
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