Dirty Whoers

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 39 & 39a

2012-01-24T14:47:00.011Z

Fiesta Readers Daleks

And lo it came to pass, in a flurry of (almost) competent podcasting activity, we did take a shufty at 'Dalek' from Christopher Eccleston's much under-rated tennure as the Doctor back in 2005.

And lo the Proff did edit, and he found it good, but a bit sweary as usual.

And lo the audience did find we did deviate from the designated narrative - yet found it mercifully short and cost nowt. There was much rejoicing.

Written by (the terribly accommodating) Rob Shearman we've also got one of Fuschias stalking moments to go along with this - it was a bit long if we shoved them together, so it's included as an extra (below). Episode 39a, if ya like. Money back if not entirely satisfied.

Tom Baker Made Me a Dirty WHOer

2012-01-20T23:43:00.000Z

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM BAKER!!!

Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934).

Wow. Tom Baker is 78 and I am older than I wish to admit in writing. But I will admit one thing. Tom Baker made me a Dirty WHOer.

One of my all time favorite Doctors(and my first Doctor), Tom Baker really nailed the role, bringing to it most of the elements we associate with the character today. In a way, I think he completed the character together with the first 3 actors. I don't mean that the Doctor's character didn't continue to evolve with the ensuing actors that portrayed him but Tom added some of the most fascinating and essential characteristics to our understanding of this strange "Time Lord." Obviously the writers and producers had a lot to do with this, but his riveting interpretation left a lasting impact on the character, forever influencing any other actors to take on the role.

What did he add, exactly?

The Doctor became clearly alien. Tom reminded us that although the Doctor was a big Earth/human fan boy, he was after all an alien from a race of extremely advanced aliens that mostly liked to watch(pervy!)and just be smug in their own superiority in general. They set about protecting their own timeline and "meh!" to the rest of existence. One of the alien qualities that was added was a sort of Sherlockian detached asexuality. Other races were not sexually attractive to the Doctor, not even humans. The Doctor originally had a grand daughter, Susan Foreman, so we know that they reproduce somehow. But now there was the insinuation that perhaps Time Lord reproduction wasn't as straightforward as we thought. In the episode 'City of Death' the Doctor complements Countess Scarlioni with "You're a beautiful woman... probably." This unusual attitude served to increase the mystery of the character.
Another trait that made Tom's Doctor more alien is that he bacame oddly changeable. No I don't mean he changed his outfit often(he did), but that we now saw him at his silliest and most serious, often seconds apart. Again, in a human, this would be certifiable behaviour. In a Time Lord, uhm.... normal?
And even though he abhorred violence, a traditional Doctor trait, he could be ruthlessly violent when driven to it. Pertwee had the occasional Venusian karate, but Baker was shown even breaking a neck(Seeds of Doom).

Other aspects that were expanded on from earlier Doctor lore were his anti-authoritarianism and obvious atheism. I suppose if your race was hob-nobbing with misbehaving "Eternals" you'd be an atheist too. He also took the second Doctor's penchant for acting the fool to mislead dangerous villains and made it his own.

Tom had also had great companions. He had the luck of some excellent companions such as Sarah Jane, Leela, and Romana among others(and the "Rory" of his time, Doctor Harry Sullivan). These three were all very different from each other each bringing great new character interactions we hadn't seen before. Sarah, the more traditional but long serving assistant and investigative journalist, Leela, a primitive but armed and dangerous young woman that often had to be restrained from killing folks, and Romana, a Time Lord peer and educated Lady from the academy on Gallifrey, but inexperienced in actual time travel adventuring. All of them were recipes for varied but cracking good Doctor/companion fun!

Tom was dedicated to the role, staying in the role for longer than any other actor and when in public always kept in mind that children looked up to the Doctor, behaving himself(mostly). He was/is(check out the Big Finish audio adventures with Tom as the Doctor!) a very charismatic Doctor. Baker never had leading man looks but he had leading man charisma and a dynamic, expressive face and powerful personality. Big ego and portraying the Doctor go together well.

So I'm very grateful, extremely grateful he was given and took the role. I was a trekkie until I saw my first Doctor Who episode with Tom Baker. Star Trek's superior special effects and limited story premise couldn't compete with Tom Baker's fireworks and the TARDIS(Hello, did I mention it goes ANYWHERE and ANYTIME in the known and unknown universes?!) His Doctor blew my mind and I fell in love. Yes...sadly, I had a little crush, but let's not think about that.

Thank you Tom Baker and Happy 78th Birthday!

Signed,
by just another Dirty WHOer,
Terry Lightfoot.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 38

2012-01-19T16:54:00.001Z

Here we are again. Did you have a nice Christmas? Happy New Year!

Usual 4 with the usual dose of fanatical fan bigotry. This time reviewing last years Christmas Special, The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe, sliding into the esoterica (as one only can after enough booze).

Sputters and Lightfoot on the edit. Not 'Dalek', but that's on it's way.

Who is the Doctor? "The First Question"

2012-01-18T21:09:00.000Z

A beautiful video that made me cry because I'm such a girl. It really tugs on your heart strings, especially if you love all the Doctors. You get an inkling of who is this time lordy gestalt that we know as the Doctor.

Doctor Who: "The First Question", celebrates the Doctor Who's 50th anniversary.

/via Vikki Teinaki on Facebook

And to finish, a bit of disrespectful fun, Doctor Who the way I've always imagined it, very sweary:

/via Ken Deep on Facebook

:-)

2011 Christmas Interview Special [Pt. 2]

2011-12-25T12:11:00.001Z

Finally, Doctor Who Day is upon us one more, and in celebration here's a few more interviews courtasy of Fuchia's microphone and the Prof's dogged editing talents. Our resident pixie cuddles up on a sofa with Frazer Hines (literally), shoots the breeze with Professor Bernice (Benny) Summerfield (actress/director Lisa Bowerman) and wags chins with that Hadoke bloke (oh he of the brillient and heartwarming 'Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf' fame).

Have a splendind day folks, and remember, no matter what you believe in we can all believe in good quality TV, The Moff, Smith, and Auntie Beeb (and all who sail in here).

Charge your glasses and get off your asses - a festive toast, to The Doctor and the TARDIS. Cheers!

Let's hope todays episode's not shit.

2011 Christmas Interview Special [Pt. 1]

2011-12-24T13:08:00.003Z

Ding dong merrily we're high, la la la la la la laaaaa...

In the fine WHOers tradition of cobbling the last of the years interviews together by way of a festive gift to our (poor misguided) audience, here's some stuff for your ear. The irrepressible Nick Briggs and writer John Dorney talk (mostly) about Tom Baker and the upcoming Big Finish for 2012.

Stick this in your stocking. Part 2 to follow the next time we're sober.

Happy Doctor Who Day y'all! :)

It's a WHOvian Christmas: Two Classic Doctor Who Episodes Recovered!

2011-12-11T21:52:00.001Z

Great news for Doctor Who fans!
Two missing episodes of our favorite classic sci-fi series have been recovered, just in time for the holiday season - Joy to the whovian world.
The two recovered episodes are #3 of the William Hartnell story, Galaxy 4 and #2 of Patrick Troughton's Doctor in The Underwater Menace.

From the official BBC DW site:

[They were] "purchased by film collector Terry Burnett at a village fete near Southampton in the early 80s. He had been unaware that the canisters contained material missing from the BBC."
Thanks to the kind loan by Mr Burnett, the classic footage has been shown today at the British Film Institute's annual "Missing Believed Wiped" event at the National Film Theatre in London. Host at the event was Doctor Who writer and actor Mark Gatiss who said: "Christmas has come early for Doctor Who fans everywhere. It's always wonderful when a missing episode turns up but it's been years since the last one so to have two is just brilliant. Add to that a proper bit of action from the legendary Chumblies (and the horrifying Rills!) plus the utterly mesmeric Patrick Troughton on great form. Well, what more could we all ask for?"

It's really fantastic news, since there are over one hundred episodes that are still missing. Missing because, back in the 60's and 70's the episodes were wiped by the BBC and recorded over with other shows to save money and space. (This seems unbelievable to us whovians now, but I suppose it made sense to some heretical non-whovian BBC efficiency expert at the time.) There are 27 incomplete Doctor Who stories (composed of multiple episodes). 106 of those 256 episodes are still missing. Occasionally, over the years a few would be recovered, usually from overseas broadcasters. Luckily for Doctor Who, it has legions of dedicated fans who recorded the show. Many missing episode stills and short video clips have been found, enabling reconstructions of the episodes and giving fans a peek into those missing stories.

The article continues:

Research has shown that the returned episodes originated from the ABC channel in Australia. In fact, the copy of The Underwater Menace is still missing a few short sections which were removed by the Australian censors upon its original transmission Down Under. Fresh scans of the missing material have been made by the National Archives of Australia and will be incorporated into the restored episodes ahead of a DVD release.
Details of a commercial release will be announced by 2 entertain in 2012.

Preview clips from the two recovered episodes:

Galaxy 4 Clip

The Underwater Menace Clip

/both clips via Doctor Who TV

Troughton is so cool! (this opinion belongs to Terry Lightfoot and is in no way representative of any other Dirty WHOer.) Merry Christmas!

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 37

2011-12-09T10:05:00.001Z

This week we step back to 1974. A time of innocence, Watergate, the Godfather Pt. 2, a time when you could get 2 MoJo's for 1/2 a penny and large nostrilled hallucinations terrorized the streets of Old London Town.

Bickering and arguing our way through the Pertwee classic 'Invasion of the Dinosaurs', we investigate 'Operation Golden Age' and speak to Graham Harper about old special effects and his roll on the new series.

Watch out for a shameless plug for our new project with Brian Blessed.

Once again, bless The Prof for slaving away over Audacity (and all who sail in him). Enjoy. [KLAK]

Stop its Ginger Time Trock

2011-11-16T22:45:00.001Z

Promotion for the BBC's Christmas Doctor Who contest just became adorable:

/via Allegra from stopitsgingertime on YouTube

More details about the contest over at Anglophenia.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Ep. 36 - Brigadier Special

2011-11-14T13:18:00.003Z

Pour an extra brandy. You're going to need it at the end.

Our one-off Nicholas Courtney tribute special, with the usual muppets plus contributions c/o Tim Drury, Who director Mr. Graham Harper, series writer and Big Finish chappie Rob Sherman, the inestimable Nev Fountain, myth maker and Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe Mr. Nick Briggs, and Mr. Frazer Hines talks fond memories and poker.

A labour of editing love and collecting from The Prof and Fuschia. Nicholas and The Brig are sadly missed, and fondly remembered, and we take this time to raise a glass or 3 to the great man's memory.

To The Brig. Forever in Peru.

A look at each Doc

2011-11-13T21:32:00.000Z

So, I don't write a whole lot here, but this one has been wanting out of my system for a while – much like taco night gone wrong.. When people ask me who my favorite Doctor is, I always have trouble answering. I claim that every Doctor had at least one story that ranks as the best in the show's history. So, to back up that claim, I'm listing my top 11 stories in the show's history – one from each Doctor. Please, feel free to call me a dumb ass, but only if you post your own list :-).

Hartnell – The Edge of Destruction
Sci-fi perfection. Virtually no budget or special effects. Just 100% story with rock solid acting and directing to back it up. Twilight Zone eat your heart out.

Troughton – The War Games
The first of a couple outstanding regen eps. Troughton shows us a Timelord playing the big game for the first time, really. It just all works here, and is brilliant Who. For all his clown act, Troughton's Doctor knows what it means to be a Timelord as well as any.

Pertwee – The Daemons
Perfect ensemble cast. Great story. Great production values (for the era). 'Nuf said.

T Baker – The Deadly Assassin
In spite of all the amazing companions during Tom's era, he is just badass in this serial. The Doctor's character played to perfection, and Doctor Who telling a story that no other venue in sci-fi could ever tell.

Davison – The Caves of Androzani
An ok story completely stolen by Peter Davison, who simply acts the every-living-crap out of every scene. He is just amazing straight through.

C Baker – Attack of the Cybermen
Arrogance tempered with compassion, but on a scale that only a Timelord can appreciate. This is The Doctor as Colin Baker envisioned him, and it was written and played to perfection in this story.

McCoy – The Curse of Fenric
We see the character development cut short in the Colin Baker era played out here. McCoy's Doctor is just damn creepy here, playing a game on a scale that would make the Master blush at his own small mindedness. 10th Doc take notes – this is how you BE a god, and not just play one in the mirror.

McGann – well, duh. We only the one, but it had to be one of the strongest out-of-the-gates performances to date. Oh, what we could have had from him...

Eccleston – Dalek
Our beloved hero got screwed up by the Timewar. And Eccleston plays it brilliantly here. His emotional collapse (recovery?) at the end is exactly what we would expect. The badass-ness we saw develop with McCoy had to come to a head, and the human side of the Doctor we saw in Davison just couldn't cope with what he'd become.

Tennant – Blink
It may be “Doctor lite”, but still outstanding. This is how a Timelord should steer history. A perfect intervention into the course of history, with Tennant's few scenes reminding me of having just a few sips of a fine Scotch and realizing that more would spoil it.

Smith – The Doctor's Wife
Look at the evolution of the relationship between The Doctor and the TARDIS from Edge of Destruction to here. It's simply amazing, and something unique in all of sci-fi and all of TV. I'm a TARDIS freak, and I can't imagine this episode being written, acted, or directed any differently.

Upcycle a Fourth Doctor Scarf - No Knitting Required

2011-11-08T20:40:00.004Z

Love the fourth Doctor's scarf but don't know how to knit? Not a problem. Make your own knitted Tom Baker scarf with other people's cast offs (knitters: see what I did there?). Use thrift store sweaters and a sewing machine to make a recycled knitted scarf like the fourth Doctor's. That's what this whovian did.

Fully detailed "How To" instructions here, on Instructables, from KBthreads.

Genesis of the Daleks, by Paul Hanley

2011-11-05T21:13:00.000Z

Genesis of the Daleks

This may not be Michelangelo but it's pure genius, by Paul Hanley.
/via Quantum T.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 35

2011-10-29T21:48:00.001+01:00

Yup, we finally did another one.

Here's our 2-in-1 rantings on "Closing Time" & "The Wedding of River Song", with our very special guest, Nancy from Happiness Patrol. Thanks to The Prof, as usual, and to everyone out there for waiting.

I bet you're barely holding your fudge with excitement. Please leave any comments below or on the Facebook page. Enjoy.

Two Fantastic Musical Performances by Tennant, Cast & Crew of Doctor Who

2011-10-29T02:30:00.000+01:00

A lovely video with the cast and crew singing The Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", commemorating the end of David Tennant's tenure as the Doctor. It's got a terrifyingly high cute factor in the Tennant area: Caution, persistent squeeing may occur.

And now a polished broadway production based on the making of new WHO, starring David Tennant, Catherine Tate and John Barrowman, here is a thank you to Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner for their outstanding work on the series.

Find the complete lyrics on the original YouTube page here.

Originally found these via http://www.bleedingcool.com/

:-)

TARDIS Teapot, Serve 100's With 1 Brew

2011-10-29T01:27:00.004+01:00

A Whovian can dream...

...about this beautiful TARDIS teapot, being sold on Etsy by Rebekka Ferbrache. She makes them to order. More pictures on her Etsy site.

WANT.

;-)

Pushing Amy

2011-10-10T16:50:00.001+01:00

Click to play...

...I never grow tired of this.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 34

2011-10-02T18:11:00.001+01:00

Well, seems we were remarkably well behaved this time around. Or the Prof did a masterful bit of editing way above and beyond the call of duty.

Either way, we raise our glasses to a couple of Moffat's offerings from the latest season, and argue and nit-pick our way through "The Girl Who Waited" & "The God Complex".

Plus, at Whooverville, we talked to the lovely Sarah Sutton about wine, Jaffa Cake law, and lady pilots.

It's all bollocks, but it's under 35 minutes. Enjoy.

Doctor Who Hullabaloo!

2011-09-29T22:09:00.003+01:00

via Art n' Stuff , by *wallabri.

Still No Rory!

2011-09-29T16:12:00.001+01:00

Brace for Wave1C Figures. Seriously, who the hell is going to buy these? Are they for kids? Are they for collectors? 2 damaged Cybermen (one with a bust face, one with a dicky chest), a packet of 20 Cybermats, a Peg Soldier (about as much use as Uncle was in the last lot), and an 11th Doctor with a Beard (which may be a spoiler). Not exactly ground-breaking stuff.

No Rory. No Canton. No Madame Kovarian. No Nimon thing. No faceless white-handed robots.

Does anyone have ANY frickin' idea what Character Options are playing at anymore?

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 33

2011-09-20T23:34:00.005+01:00

Never say f...

Here we go again. Brace yourself and bite down hard on something.

2 in 1. A mish-mash ramble about "Let's Kill Hitler" and "Night Terrors." Bear with it, it settles down once we finally get it out of (and a drink into) our system.

Agree? Disagree? Tell us in the comments or come and have a moan on our Facebook page. Come an' 'ave a go.

Plus, at Whooverville, we talked to the awesome Nicola Bryant; even though she'd signed the official secrets act.

It's The Prof we feel sorry for, bless him (ta Prof). What do we do with things we don't like? We put them in the cupboard.

If you could produce Doctor Who, what would you do?

2011-08-27T19:50:00.000+01:00

Doctor Who is an all inclusive format. You can take the Doctor anywhere or anyplace in Time and Space. You can change out the characters, the main actor can change. You can even take away his TARDIS for a few seasons (those darn Timelords). What would you do with the show?

Sputters and Lightfoot WHOre themselves out to the 'Doctor Who: Podshock' podcast along with Victor1st Mornington and Saffia Widdershins. In the "Oncoming Storm Edition" featuring a panel discussion, "What Would YOU Do? What Would WHO Do?" from our meet up last week in Second Life with Louis Trapani as the moderator. He's a patient man..

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 32

2011-08-27T19:41:00.000+01:00

This is what happens when the lunatics run the asylum.

Er, really?

We asked the folks on our Facebook Page which episode we should review next, and they chose Pyramids of Mars. Naturally, being his favourite, Sputters got a bit excited. In fact we all did, and we may have lost it around the middle. Actually, some of us may have drunk a bit too much vino, and it kind of descends into a bit of a rambling love-fest for all things Sutekh and Robert Holmes, but what the hell, it's mercifully short and it's free. Bless the Prof for the time in the edit suite, again.

32 episodes. We really need a life...

City of Death, and Some Other Stuff

2011-08-19T15:58:00.002+01:00

A few new Doctor Who action figures out worth shouting about this week, which makes a change.

Let's start with the Classic stuff, another Forbidden Planet one-off. The 'City of Death' collectors set.

You get 'Big Tom', all open-shirted and in his prime, with obligatory sonic, plus (minor geek-gasum) the frightfully dapper Count Scarleoni with Scaroth Jagaroth interchangable head, pistol, and 'painting accessory' (whatever that means, it's not in the picture) for the relatively light anal damage of £26.99. Pre-order now for deliver after October 19th. Yes, I'll be having one. Feckers may as well have a direct debit out of my bank account for the classic tat.

Also this week there's been an addition to the new series collection, now on 20011 Wave 2 (or Series 5-6 Figure Wave 2a/b, depending how keen you are on keeping things in packets). There's kinda 2 lots, just to add to the confusion and to try and stop us going on about the last lot being so inexcusably shit. A ball-ache for collectors, in summing up they are, sorta:

Idris with 1 (or more, it's complicated) Psychic Container and River Song 'flesh mask' and 'flesh sachet'.
The Astronaut kid girl thing, and 'The Legs' 'flesh mask', plus another 'flesh sachet'.
River MILF with a 'flesh mask' with probably another 'flesh sachet'.
Ganger Brown Shoes 11th Doctor with 'flesh mask' and (guess what) 'flesh sachet'.
Matty-boy Doctor with 11th Doctor 'flesh mask' and the inevitable 'flesh sachet'.
Uncle Bollocks with Pond 'flesh mask' and (you guessed it) 'spunk sachet'.

Parents are going to be trying to get gooey white crap and spurious stains out of the hearth rug for years to come. Still no Rory, god knows why, but a River Song (all be her a bit slap-headed), and The Astronaut's ok to play with in the bath I suppose. £8.99 each. Worth it for the Idris, and at least a bit better than the first release.

Matt likes Badgers. But wait. There's more!

2011-08-17T22:56:00.010+01:00

This is about Badgers, how Matt Smith likes Badgers and how that fact can lead us to even more Badger and/or Doctor Who related knowledge
and joy.

1./ Matt Smith likes badgers.

Come on. Say it! You know you want to: AWWW!

Badgers and otters, respectively, are sort of my animals. -Matt Smith

We know this fun fact about Matt thanks to the amusing and silly video ramblings of Charlieissocoollike(Charlie McDonnell), another hopeless WHOvian. He's turned into a sort of regular or at least occasional 'Doctor Who Confidential' tourist, allowed to wander the sets of Doctor Who filming and production while being his charming Charlie self. Christmas rolled around and while they were filming those Almost Fleshy Creepy Milkshake People episodes, Charlie took it upon himself to spread some Christmas cheer to our favorite TARDIS team. During his detective work he found out that Matt Smith is partial to Badgers. And otters...and other things.

Here's the edited version of that video:

2./ The shorter badger story

You can watch the longer Doctor Who confidential version from the BBC3 YouTube channel.

But that's not all.

3./ This of course has spawned some adorable Doctor Who Badger art.

Yep. Get ready.

Awww!

But let's not forget 4./ Just the Badger facts, ma'am:

Badgers are short-legged, heavy-set omnivores in the weasel family, Mustelidae. There are eight species of badger, in three subfamilies (see links in species list below): Melinae (badgers of Europe and Asia), Mellivorinae (the Ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (the American badger).
The behavior of badgers differs by family, but all shelter underground, living in burrows called setts, which may be very extensive. Some are solitary, moving from home to home, while others are known to form clans. Clan size is variable from 2 to 15. Badgers can be fierce animals and will protect themselves and their young at all costs. Badgers are capable of fighting off much larger animals such as wolves and bears.

The diet of the Eurasian badger consists largely of earthworms, insects, and grubs. They also eat small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds as well as roots and fruit.[12][13] Indeed, in southern Spain, badgers mostly feed on rabbits.[14] The honey badger (<--click the link, you know you want to.) of Africa consumes honey, porcupines and even venomous snakes (such as the puff adder).

These and more facts at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger

Yes! 5./ Badgers are cool. Really!

6./ Some Badgers are in trouble.

The British government is ignoring scientists' advice on bovine TB and promoting the erroneous idea that killing badgers(thought to be spreading the disease to cattle) will solve the bovine Tuberculosis crisis. There's plenty of rational, scientific data and observation to contradict this idea.
Inform yourself and read about the proposed culling and why it's not based on actual science, in the article over at the Guardian's Environment Blog: 'Badger culls don't stop tuberculosis in cattle – the evidence is clear.'

7./ All this has led to Badger rolling.

Beware, do not click the cute baby badgers.

8./ Fun Fact: Badgers have been known to become intoxicated with alcohol after eating rotting fruit.

And that's about it, really. I'm tired of badgering you about badgers.

;-)

(btw, this post is partially Mr. Sputnik's fault.)

Bang on Target

2011-08-12T16:39:00.007+01:00

Its time for a shocking confession. Yes, I know, what could I possibly have to confess to (other than my dislike for the Seventh Doctor)? Well, up until yesterday, I’d never actually read a Target novelization.

“What?” I hear you cry. “Never?”

Well, no. Of course, I knew about them; they are somewhat legendary, after all, as well as being the cause of so much disappointment when missing stories are rediscovered. If I had a pound for all the times I’ve read about how let down people felt when they actually saw a lost episode because it wasn’t a patch on the novelization, I could probably afford one of those really big coffees you can have a bath in.

I blame Nev Fountain. When I was chatting to him for our memorial episodes, he mentioned how one of his schoolteachers thought he read far too many Doctor Who stories and he went on to extol their virtues in such a way that I felt I really should go out and have a look for myself. And, rather fortunately, the Beeb have tentatively re-released a select few titles to see if it’s worth their while to reproduce the entire output.

But where to start? I thought it sensible to begin not only with the Daddy of Doctor Who novelizations, Mr Terrance Dicks himself, but also a story that I’d actually seen just so I could compare the two versions. And of those available, the only one that fit the bill for me was “Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion”, better known to you and me as “Spearhead From Space”.

I wasn’t disappointed. Mr Dicks has always scared me silly (not that I’ve ever met him, but his on-screen persona is positively terrifying to this pixie), but the man can certainly crank out a rollickingly good adaptation. Dicks evokes the tone and voices of the characters beautifully and the story pelts along at a fair old pace with a few variations from the televised version (the differences are discussed in an appendix at the end of the book). And for readers who don’t know the earlier stories, there are solid introductory pieces describing the main characters and the series set-up so they can quickly get to grips with the action. I pretty much finished it in one sitting. Yes, stylistically it’s a little old-fashioned but, in a strange way, that’s actually quite comforting. This is what books were like in my childhood and there’s nothing wrong in that.

Would I read more? Definitely. In fact, I’m lining up “Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen” and probably “Doctor Who and the Crusades” so I can find out what’s going on in the episodes that aren’t on the “Lost In Time” DVD. But I’m also thinking of getting them because of what’s not here: all the rest of them (including the books written by Harry Sullivan, or rather Ian Marter, which I have been reliably informed are more than a little bit ace). Because if this limited re-release doesn’t sell, then for those of us who didn’t realise they were about at the time, and for a whole new generation eager to learn about the Doctor’s past, unless we’re very lucky in charity shops, we won’t get to experience the delight that is the Target novelization.

Boring Figures Announced, but Idris at Last.

2011-07-29T08:08:00.003+01:00

Idris (finally) and Uncle (lame) to go with your Junk Yard TARDIS this morning in the Wave 2 2011 release. Also, oddly, Doctor with Beard (gee kids, don't the rocking beardy mad-man look fun to play with), (plastic/flesh, trust us) Doctor with Stetson, and a of couple of Silents (yawn, then insert flashing palm joke here).

Some cool. Some decidedly average. We still don't have a plain clothes Rory, but at least we're getting a River Song in the Panopticon Chair Set. If you want our 2 cents, we'll be buying Idris and sod the rest. Uncle will be the collectable one in the future, cos no on will buy him, and we vote Silents as most likely to be seen in a child's colonic x-ray in the near future. Go consume.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 31

2011-07-27T00:14:00.009+01:00

Charge your glasses, and let's raise a toast to the lady.

It's a been a while in the making, and it's a big one (ooo, er, Mrs.), but this is our Elizabeth Sladen tribute episode with contributions from Dirty WHOers listeners and assorted Who peeps. This ones' from the heart.

A very big thank you to every one who contributed and supported this one, including Tim Drury, Adam and the guys at Staggering Stories Podcast, CyberTesticle (SexDalek), Nev Fountain, Graeme Harper, Rob Shearman, Bob Fischer, Abby (Queen of All), and loads of others too numerous to mention.

A especially big thanks to Fuscia and The Prof, for really pulling this one together. You rock.

Hooray for Who-Ray!

2011-07-24T16:11:00.011+01:00

Having been alerted by our good friend Dalek Bruce, on Saturday 2nd July we trundled down to Stockton for Re-Generations, Who-Ray’s first birthday party, with guests Graeme Harper and the Northern Charity Daleks.

Who-Ray describes itself as a gifts and memorabilia shop, but what it actually is is a little treasure. Nestled on a side street just off Stockton High Street (widest in Europe, you know), it caters to both the hippy chick (incense, candles, crafts and jewellery) and the geek (comics, toys, badges and books, mostly but not exclusively Doctor Who). Run by Brian and Martin, it’s a friendly place that found itself that Saturday very much the centre of attention. It felt like the whole of Stockton had turned out to celebrate in the sunshine and apparently by day’s end, approximately 1500 people had indeed done so.

The staff and volunteers were a little overwhelmed by the turn-out (having only been expecting a hundred or so), but coped superbly wrangling Daleks and members of the public backwards and forwards between the main shop and some borrowed vacant units over the road. First off was a fan-film, which was pretty entertaining from what I could hear (being short and at the back, I couldn’t see the telly). Then Graeme Harper was introduced, only to be rudely interrupted by the Daleks making their presence felt by bursting through a screen of wall-paper, to the great surprise of those assembled.

Not only was Dalek Bruce there, but also Dalek Mack and a new addition to the clan, Dalek Nation (who was only 3 days old, bless him). The children were all very keen to have their photos taken with the Daleks, although some were a little spooked when they started talking. Being Northern Charity Daleks, the proceeds from the photo-shoots went to Butterwick House Children’s Hospice. As the day wore on and the temperature rose, the Kaled mutants were starting to melt a bit, but they were steadfast in their fundraising activities. The Prof even bought a Dalek Bruce mug. Which has 60 rells on it. Needless to say, he couldn’t stop laughing…

Graeme Harper was there not only to promote his book, Calling the Shots, but also to be interviewed by BBC Tees’ DJ Bob Fischer, an ardent Doctor Who fan we first met at Dimensions last year. This “Audience With” session was highly entertaining; mind you, we knew it would be as we’d gone to see him, Nicola Bryant and Maurice Roëves at a showing of Caves of Androzani at the Quad in Derby for Oolon’s birthday last year. Mr Harper is a very friendly, considerate and generous man who can spin quite the tale and who kindly allowed himself to be dragged into an alley for an interview (coming soon, as they say, along with Bob’s interview). His experiences on Doctor Who were fascinating to listen to, seeing as he practically grew up, career-wise, on the show and so knew many of the Doctors and assistants even if he didn’t actually direct them. He also holds the distinction of being the only original series director to have directed Nu-Who.

The highlight of the day had to be the Baa-leks, though; knitted Daleks from Nana Val, being raffled to raise more money for Butterwick House. I had my heart set on Baa-lek Doreen, the shocking pink hussy, but the Prof did manage to win Baa-lek Custard for me (as some lucky blighter managed to get to Doreen before him). He even came with an adoption certificate, signed by Nana Val and Mr Harper. He’s a bit soppy for a Dalek; we have to give him cuddles every night (it says so on the certificate and we can’t argue with Graeme Harper).

So if you are in the vicinity of Stockton, please do pop in to visit Brian and Martin. If you’re there on Saturday 3rd September, there’s going to be a showing of the Cushing movies (yes, Martin says they’re not canon, either) along with a guest appearance by Terry Molloy, the artist formerly known as Davros

You can also follow Who-Ray on Facebook here

FOUND: Floating Down Amazon in hat box.

2011-07-22T09:30:00.002+01:00

San Diego Comic Con 2011 exclusive Leela action figure (Louise Jameson, from '77 (S14) to '78 (S15)) c/o Underground Toys and including dagger, Tesh blaster, Janus thorn, and crossbow. Forbidden Planet already have them pre-order.

You can check 'em out now at SDCC at the Underground Toys booth (#3849). It looks a bit generic from the pictures we've seen, but it's hard to tell. Let us know if it's any good, classic Doctor companion figures have been a long time coming. Also keep your eyes peeled for the 2011 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive River Song with Pandorica Chair (also on BBC America’s booth #3629) if you make it along.

TARDIS Console Room Mega Set

2011-07-21T23:27:00.006+01:00

Not much else to report yet, but, it's rare we break some action figure news and look at this bad bugga!

Officially announced, the Character Building Doctor Who TARDIS Console Room Mega Set, with (actual plastic) Rory, exclusive Pond-in-my-Pocket, The Doctor, and River MILF.

You'll never compulsively purchase a bigger dust magnet.

Watercolor TARDIS poster

2011-07-20T16:55:00.000+01:00

From Quantum T:

TARDIS poster
by Colin Capurso

Found: Ponds Anniversary Portrait

2011-07-12T22:34:00.002+01:00

Cute alert...

Amplify’d from quantumt.tumblr.com

Happy Anniversary, Ponds!by hoursago

Read more at quantumt.tumblr.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a17p7d

I Am The Doctor - by Mark Fowler

2011-07-02T16:49:00.001+01:00

This is a beautiful performance of Murray Gold’s 11th Doctor's theme, by Mark Fowler (UKpiano's Channel).He explains that ...

"This arrangement is my own and learnt purely by ear. The performance, as with all my performances on Youtube, is played straight/live with no before or after editing whatsoever, the strings sound you hear is just dual voiced with piano for effect, but still played at same time as the actual grand piano voice, so there is no added parts to the performance.I cant remember the last time I had so much fun with a piece or had so much enjoyment from learning a piece and practicing it..."

Excellent work. Well done Mr. Fowler!

Akward Pause with TARDIS

2011-06-29T16:27:00.000+01:00

[Neil Gaiman + Craig Ferguson] x TARDIS = Awesome.

Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?

2011-06-23T18:40:00.003+01:00

Having thoroughly insulted Tony Lee the other week (by accident, I hasten to add; blame our Colonial cousins for making me stay up past my bedtime), I thought it only fair to make my next review not only a Big Finish one, but his Big Finish one. So, having batted my eyelashes at the Prof to download it for me, I settled back to listen to Tony’s first foray into Big Finish audio adventures: Rat Trap.

This is a Fifth Doctor adventure (yay!), with Nyssa (even bigger yay!), Tegan and Turlough along for the ride. As often happens to our favourite time-traveller and his friends, the TARDIS has deposited them in the right place but not the right time, leaving them stranded in the allegedly abandoned tunnels deep beneath Cadogan Castle. The Doctor’s been here before, but not everything is as it seems. And there’s something out there in the darkness…

If you suffer from murophobia, this is probably not a good story to listen to unless you fancy giving yourself a serious case of the heebee-geebees. The anti-vivisection message is a little over-played although amusingly done (for the most part) and is very in-keeping with the whole Doctor Who evil scientist ethos. As an ex-research scientist (who never did any animal experiments, I hasten to add) it’s always interesting to see how lay-people tackle the field and I wasn’t disappointed by the cod-science in this story; it really made me giggle. This is a Good Thing(TM), because I have been known to shout rude words at the telly in response to the sheer crappiness of the “science” on display in some purported sci-fi offerings. I get glared at in cinemas as well.

I was always a fan of Nyssa; she was a smart, pretty scientist who only suffered the odd bout of utter girliness. She even got to change her outfit occasionally. Because of the story arc, this isn’t that Nyssa exactly, but she’s still in scientist mode and of all of the actors, Sarah Sutton still sounds virtually the same as she did in the TV series. Davison once again turns in a well-pitched performance and, as with Colin Baker, his Doctor really comes into his own through the audios. Janet Fielding and Mark Strickson are both good, although Tegan just doesn’t sound the same vocally. I’m reasonably new to Turlough as a character because I’d stopped watching by the time he showed up originally and have only seen a few of his appearances on DVD, where he came off as a bit of a slappable whiny brat. He seems to have grown out of that (thankfully) and let's face it, it’s always nice to have a bit of trouser in the TARDIS.

There is ongoing continuity here, but its not overwhelming and I’m sure a quick check on the précis for other recent Fifth Doctor adventures would quickly get you up to speed if need be. My only real issue with Rat Trap wasn’t the story, but the voice effects on the villains. I have a minor hearing issue and the processing made it difficult at times to work out exactly what was being said. It was worse for some characters (particularly during the first episode) so it did make it a bit of a struggle to keep up in some places. Having said that, this is a fun Fifth Doctor romp, and even if everybody doesn’t end up dead in the end there’s just enough psychological damage for all concerned to make you feel like you just stepped back in time to the 1980s.

Memories of Sarah Jane

2011-06-21T23:26:00.013+01:00

We at DirtyWHOers towers are getting ready for another session of alcohol abuse, and this time we'll be recording our tribute to the ever-awesome Liz Sladen. Wanna help?

We're looking for 30-60 second contributions from YOU. We want to know what SJS meant to YOU. What are your memories of Liz and SJS?

Just send your MP3 or WAV files to DirtyWHOers@gmail.com, and remember to say who you are and (if you're from another podcast) what podcast you're from. If you need a quality bit of free recording software to help you with this, check out Audacity.

Cut off date for this will be Friday 22nd July 2011. We can't accept files after that, as there will be a release within a few days. Any questions, or if you need more information, please just grab our attention through the DirtWHOers Facebook page.

Thanks, and let's keep it happy if we can, and under a minute each. Sing it, shout it, act it out with puppets, but do it from the heart ;-)

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 30

2011-06-14T23:57:00.000+01:00

Brace yourselves, fellow Whoers.

In uncharacteristic timely fashion, thanks to Terry and The Prof, we review end of mid-season ender 'A Good Man Goes to War'.

Did he rise and fall as much as Mr. Moffat would have us believe? Was the big reveal actually a big reveal at all? Was it the satisfying climax we'd all cough up the dollars for?

Enquiring minds want to know, and should probably get out more.

A Life on the Ocean (Radio) Wave

2011-06-13T22:39:00.007+01:00

Despite the exceedingly large back catalogue the Prof has of Big Finish audios that I’ve promised to listen to, I’ve been taking a bit of a detour into Nu-Who lately, inspired by our rather fun freebie “The Hounds of Artemis”. Having received a £5-off voucher for Audio Go, I decided to once again investigate what else James Goss had been up to. Perusing the extensive Doctor Who collection, I stumbled across “Dead Air”, a Tenth Doctor story which had won a best audio-book of the year award from The Audiobook Store (who?) in 2010. The sample sounded interesting, despite apparently having been recorded a fraction too slow, and for 49p (after using the voucher, obviously) I figured I couldn’t be robbed.

There’s a reason why the sample is too slow, which I won’t spoil for you; it’s another example of Goss playing with the story-telling format to give this audio-only story a little twist. There are overtones of “Blink” and “Empty Child” (no bad thing) in a variation on the base under siege story so beloved by Doctor Who writers over the years, when the Doctor lands on a pirate radio ship in 60s Britain hunting for an escaped super-weapon. There are also touches of Big Finish’s Sapphire and Steel (again, no bad thing), which all helps to create a claustrophobic atmosphere and the certainty that, as with so many of Tennant’s episodes, its all going to end really badly for someone.

Goss has captured the Tenth’s over-confident manner and glibness to a tee, including his incessant habit of saying sorry without ever actually meaning it, making this feel like a proper Tenth Doctor story. Now Tennant may not always have been my favourite incumbent of the role, but given the right director and story he could and did turn in some great performances. Which is what he does here, giving each of the characters a genuine voice (unlike his replacement, who needs a bit more practice at that sort of thing). Having said that, I enjoyed “The Hounds of Artemis” more, even though “Dead Air” has a much more interesting premise (now there’s perversity for you). Maybe it’s because I find Liverpudlian accents hard to cope with, or because our lovely mate Dave Bulmer had done a superb skit on the resolution mechanism in his "Festive Books on Tape" (here or here) last Crimble (completely unintentionally, it must be said), but “Hounds” just has more charm.

Even if you don’t have a fiver off, it is worth listening to and you will get repeat plays out of it if you want to catch all of the subtle sound effects. As with “Hounds” it’s not very long (almost an hour and a quarter), but if you enjoy Goss’ work, then it’s definitely one to add to the collection.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 29

2011-06-12T00:13:00.002+01:00

Double episodes. Double the Doctor. Double the conspiracy theories. Double the measures of spirits. This episode 3 drunks and the designated Pixie chew the podcasting fat over all things Flesh...

...on the plus side, it's mercifully short.

The TARDIS and I

2011-06-08T22:49:00.001+01:00

"We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!" Hang on, so that's 2 different Doctors in the same film but dressed like 9 and 4? WTF?

They seem to have forgotten to lock the TARDIS door, they must be well out of it.. This came to us via Phil on our Facebook page. Visit us there for more of the same.

MCM Expo Tony Lee Special

2011-06-07T22:23:00.002+01:00

Fuschia attacked fellow Whovian Tony Lee with a microphone at MCM Expo, the big comic con down in London. Here are his death cries.

Nice bloke. Great writer. Shame really.

Oh, I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside

2011-06-05T12:12:00.007+01:00

A few days ago I reviewed “The Hounds of Artemis”, a BBC audio-book written by James Goss. I enjoyed it, so much so that I began to investigate what other things he’d written for the franchise. One in particular caught my eye: “Doctor Who: Dead of Winter”. It sounded suitably creepy and, demanding instant gratification, I bought it for my precious, precious Kindle so I could set to straight away. That and its only available as a hardback and Pixies don’t do well with hardbacks (excellent weapons, but too heavy for delicate hands).

Basically, the Doctor and the Ponds crash-land on a beach in the South of France in the 1780s. Only problem is, they can’t really remember who they are and the sanatorium they’ve landed next to shouldn’t exist for another hundred years (give or take). Add to that the fact that the TARDIS has gone missing, there is a dense, clinging, glowing fog and the sea is singing to people and you have a very tidy little mystery on your hands. I really can't say anything more than that without giving the game away, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

The story is told from several people’s perspective, often in the form of the diary entries so nicely exploited in “Hounds of Artemis”. Mind you, you do have to wonder about the things some people include in a diary (although its not even close to the ludicrously salacious guff that gets included in the official ship’s log in one truly awful steampunk novel I read last year), but it still works very well.

It’s often a big problem with novelisations that the author doesn’t get a handle on the characters so that the portrayals never quite sit comfortably, jarring you out of the action. Once again, though, Goss has captured the characters’ voices really well, so much so that you can tell when things aren’t quite right. There are a couple of nice twists, which you can spot if you’re paying attention, but it doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of the story if you do. There are nods back to the original series and Goss gently plays games with past knowledge regarding the potential source of the mystery. And it is creepy, really, really creepy; in fact, this would have made a cracking TV episode, either of Doctor Who or Sapphire and Steel (for those of us old enough to remember, that should give you a fair idea of just how creepy it is).

The Prof was always a big Doctor Who novel reader, but he pretty much stopped when the reboot started as he found the books too childish. It’s not a problem he’ll have with this one; Goss has the ability to capture the feel of the series whilst delivering a story that works for both children and adults. In fact, I think I may have to lend him my Kindle for a few days…

OBEY this T-shirt

2011-06-04T20:19:00.002+01:00

If you recall a few weeks back Sputters made a fun Obama stylized design of the Master on his iPad. Well, I liked Sputnik's design so much I felt it needed to be on a T-shirt. I had an irresistible urge to make this happen and I can't explain why... I must obey....

The red version is a separate design and then there's another version that is available on other colored shirts. This one I made special for the red shirt to show through as the red on the design.
Here's a pic of the other version so I don't have to bore you with design details:

Click picks to find these on Red Bubble.

OBEY

What's Up, Doc?

2011-06-02T21:47:00.005+01:00

As you dear, loyal reader know, I’ve listened to a fair few Big Finish audios over the last few years, but I’d never actually listened to any of the Beeb’s audio-books until “The Hounds of Artemis” came along. I’ll fess up, I got it free. Pixies love free stuff although, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I do draw the line at free Touchwood. I am fond of Matt Smith’s interpretation of the Doctor, so I was more than willing to give this a go, seeing as its read by him and Clare Corbett (who’s done some other audio book stuff with Tom Baker). I’m not quite sure why they didn’t get Karen Gillan in to help out, but Ms Corbett does a very good job in her stead.

Make no mistake, this is a good old rip-roaring period adventure involving archaeologists, aliens and ancient curses. There’s even a loving nod to “Pyramids of Mars” at the beginning, showing that writer James Goss knows his stuff. The narrative has been very sensibly divided between the two actors, Smith (obviously) reading from the Doctor’s point of view with Corbett filling in much of the detail via a series of Amy’s diary entries. I did wonder at one point if Smith would only be reading the first chapter or so as Corbett does make up most of the running. To be honest, this is actually a blessing in some ways, for as good as Smith is as the Doctor, his impersonation of Karen Gillan’s accent is pure Sylvester McCoy with a not-so-helpful dollop of Jamie on top. It’s all very hilarious in a frightening sort of way, but does detract from the story at times. Still, when he’s not strangling the Scottish vernacular, Smith is most definitely enjoying himself immensely. In fact, that would be my only criticism of this CD; Smith is a bit too rushed and over-enthusiastic in his reading at times, and really could have done with the director slowing him down a touch when dealing with the exposition sections. Other than that it’s a good production, set up very much like an actual episode, including the obligatory pre-credit sequence.

I say only criticism; I’d need to check with our lovely Emilly Ladybird about 1929 corset construction, but I’m fairly certain they weren’t made the way the author thinks they were. Seriously, its just common-or-garden wire in there is it and no stays? Okay, it makes for a light-hearted solution to a plot problem, but I’d still like to know exactly how the Doctor gets all the wire out of Amy’s corset without completely defrocking her…

This is not a long piece by any means; at about 70 minutes it comes in around the same length as one of the TV specials, so is just long enough to let the story develop without making it too long for younger listeners. James Goss has taken what could have been a real pot-boiler and given it a sparkling sense of humour with some beautifully observed lines. He has captured the main characters extremely well; even though it isn’t Gillan playing Amy, you can still hear that it is the same character (although Corbett’s Doctor impersonation is almost as challenging as Smith’s Pond).

So if you’ve listened to all of your Big Finishes and still need your audio Who fix, I’d definitely recommend “The Hounds of Artemis” to while away the time until the next episode.

Nothing Fishy Going On Here, Guv

2011-05-22T12:40:00.004+01:00

As you know, myself and the Prof are fans of Big Finish. I have to say that the Prof is far more versed in their productions than am I, seeing as I am still very much a happy dabbler rather than an aficionado. Its something I keep meaning to rectify and now the weather’s improving, I have determined to listen to a few on the walk to work of a morning (and evening, obviously; it’s not like I sleep there or anything, despite what my students might think).

Having talked to Nev Fountain at Dimensions last year about his (then) upcoming Companion Chronicle, I decided to pick up “Peri and the Piscon Paradox”. For those of you interested in chronology, it takes place somewhere between Peri’s first meeting with the Fifth Doctor and also a bit after the mess commonly known as “Trial of a Timelord”. In it, Peri and both the Fifth and Sixth Doctors have to battle a fish-alien by the name of Zarl who, as you would expect, is up to no good on Earth in 2009. Problem is, there’s two Peris, one from the past and an older one who really shouldn’t be there at all…

Now I’m not a fan of Peri; originally I only saw her in “The Caves of Androzani” (having given up on the show somewhere around Omega’s search for happy flapjacks in Amsterdam) and was not impressed. She was whiny and annoying and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why everyone was determined to get themselves killed on her behalf. Nothing I’ve seen since has made me change my mind. So that makes this Companion Chronicle a bit of an odd choice then, really, doesn’t it?

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Nev had written it and I’m a big fan of “Kingmaker” (no matter what my illustrious podcast companions might say, its fab), I freely admit that I would never have looked at this. My dislike of the character did make the first disc difficult to get through despite the quality of the story, as Nev and Nicola Bryant have done far too good a job of catching young Peri’s voice. The Companion Chronicles rely on the person chosen to be able to pull off a reasonable impersonation of the Doctor they’re travelling with and even though there’s a joke about how rubbish she is at it in the script, Ms Bryant really doesn’t convey a sense of Davison at all well. That said, it’s the only misstep in an otherwise excellent production.

Things really get going in the second half of the story, told from old Peri’s point of view. It’s helped by the appearance of Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor (quite unusual for a Companion Chronicle, I’m told), doing sterling work as ever in these things, and the fact that older Peri is a far more sympathetic character. You can hear in her voice that all of that irritating brashness has been knocked out of her the hard way. Parts of the story were very painful to listen to, and if you know us and you’ve heard this production you will know why, but they were handled superbly by both Nev and Ms Bryant (proving here that she really can act her socks off, given the right script). Nev may be known as a comedy writer, but his ability to deliver tragedy is heartbreaking; let’s just say, I was grateful that there weren’t any dog-walkers about that morning to see my trying not to cry all over my iPod.

The wrap up is cleverly timey-wimey; even though I haven’t seen the episodes to which it refers, I know enough about them to get and appreciate the way the denouement deals with a particularly thorny fan problem. Yes, the underlying story is a bit daft when you look at it closely, but then, aren’t a lot of Doctor Who stories? It’s what’s going on between the lines that makes it. I’m never going to be a big fan of Peri, but all in all, I went away glad that I hadn’t let my age-old prejudices stop me from listening.

TARDIS Beer Label T-shirt

2011-05-21T03:29:00.000+01:00

Since all we do is get wasted and talk WHO around here, this seemed appropriate. A very nicely designed vintage beer label design, based on the password combination given to Rory by the TARDIS/IDris.

The artist's name is ZeroBriant. You'll find more of his fantastic and original designs over on his profile page at Redbubble.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 27

2011-05-19T22:17:00.001+01:00

Another review episode from the new series. Almost in two halves this one, as we argue and nit-pick our way through 'The Curse of the Black Spot', and froth on about the 'The Doctors Wife'.

After a masterful edit c/o The Prof we almost sound sober. Really. It's incredible. We don't know how he did it.

Performed under contractual obligation.

You Always Get a Big Finish with Nick Briggs!

2011-05-19T19:55:00.010+01:00

As we mentioned in the last podcast, Big Finish are having a special day at Barking Abbey School, Longbridge Road, Barking on Saturday 11th June from 10am - 4pm. There's lots of guests, ranging from stars to writers to the essential backroom staff without whom nothing would happen, including Dirty Whoers victims Mr Briggs, Mr Fountain, Mr Shearman and Ms Aldred (and a few others we've got our eye on for future stalking, sorry, interviews). Sadly David Warner will no longer be there, but there's always Katy Manning, Caroline Munro and Colin Baker. A new Doctor's assistant will also be revealed...

Tickets are £25 and available from the Tenth Planet website. Big Finish are a truly lovely, generous bunch, so it would be smashing if people could go along and support them

Series 6 Doctor Who Figures Announced

2011-05-18T05:07:00.000+01:00

More news from the action figure world. They had to get a couple of episodes out of the way so as these weren't spoilers. Here's a run down on the next (Series 6) release from Character Creations (for the current season, alas not classic) -

Eleventh Doctor (in a Stetson)

With rediculous American hat and obligatory sonic screwdriver. As seen in The Impossible Astronaut (2011). Utterly unimaginative.

Nephew

The green-eyed Ood (with green orb translation device) from The Doctor's Wife (2011) (I'd rather have Idris/TARDIS, but beggers can't be choosers).

Silent (open gob and closed gob variants)

As seen in Day of the Moon (2011), or not, as the case my be...

Junior Pond

Amelia Jessica Pond as per 'Eleventh Hour' 2010. First release May 2011. A limited edition exclusive 'Doctor Who Experience' junior Amy Pond with overcoat and suitcase is also (only) available at The Doctor Who Experience exhibition shop.

So, apart from Iris and Amy in a pirate/Dana Skully outfit, spotted any good stuff you'd like as figs in the series so far?

Delgado Master & Time Monster Set

2011-05-17T15:06:00.002+01:00

Check out this awesome new Forbidden Planet Time Monster Set (exclusive UK only, sorry) now on pre-order. Comes with Time Scanner (technically a Pertwee accessory), Delgado Master (with TCE), Master's TARDIS 70's computer exterior, and Atlantean Crystal of Kronos thingy.

A bargain at £19.99. This one's coming out of the packet and going on the mantle piece...

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 26

2011-05-15T18:59:00.001+01:00

Hello? Hello? Is anyone still out there? Yeah, we know, we're a bunch of lazy, unreliable, work-shy, lay-abouts who can't organize their lives enough to al be on Skype at the same time. It's a fair cop.

FINALY, here's another episode (and for the new season too). Sure you've probably listened to all the reviews from all the other podcast first. Presumably this is no new news. But this a review born or Gin, excess, and obsession. As such you owe it to yourself to grab your favorite tipple, run a nice hot bath, and join in us our non-sequential meanderings through the latest offerings from Auntie Beeb.

Oh, and don't forget, you can join us for daily disposable casual alcoholism and frothing about Whovian tat on our new Facebook Page - www.facebook.com/DirtyWHOers.

Boomshanka.

Sputters, Lightfoot, Sen, & Fuschia.

TARDIS IKEA Manual

2011-05-13T21:23:00.003+01:00

OH..see, mine didn't work because I was missing that little wooden peg.

Or:
There's always a bit left over..

Originally from - collegehumor

Junk Console Playset

2011-05-11T13:39:00.005+01:00

Added on the Who North American new TV board by Clavius (ta) here's a shot of the Junk Console Playset we discussed in the latest podcast. Designed by a Blue Peter viewer, Susannah Leah, and 'realized' by production designer Michael Pickwoad (whatever that means).

Not seen a release date for this yet. Hey, it may even be an exclusive, so please let us know if you know more about this.

Neil Gaiman Teases 'The Doctor's Wife'

2011-05-10T00:53:00.001+01:00

Yes, Neil Gaiman teases 'The Doctor's Wife' calling her names and pulling her pigtails...
Morgan Jeffery from Digital Spy interviews legendary fantasy author Neil Gaiman about the upcoming Doctor Who episode he scripted.

Warning: Spoilers.

More spoilery theories and speculation:

I'm very excited as it sounds like they'll finally do the pocket universe idea that was used in the 8th Doctor novels. I've always thought that it was a perfect way to circumnavigate what Russel T. Davies did to Gallifrey. Pocket universes are good places to hide...things...or people. I won't go into it further, and just keep my fingers crossed. AND it sounds like we finally get to see more of the TARDIS.

Anthony Ainley, Obamaized

2011-05-01T23:16:00.000+01:00

Had a long flight, and chance to fiddle with something vaguely artistic(ish) using Adobe Ideas on the iPad.

Curse of the Black Spot Prequel

2011-04-30T22:10:00.000+01:00

The prequel for the Doctor's next adventure, 'Curse of the Black Spot':

And here are two trailers/ teasers for that same adventure:

Our thanks to DoctorWhoTv for making these videos available on YouTube.

If you want further spoilage read on for the BBC synopsis to the story:

The TARDIS is marooned onboard a 17th-century pirate ship whose crew is being attacked by a mysterious and beautiful sea creature, as the time-travelling drama continues.

Becalmed and beset by cabin fever, the pirates have numerous superstitious explanations for the Siren's appearance. The Doctor has other ideas but, as his theories are disproved and every plan of escape is thwarted, he must work to win the trust of the implacable Captain Avery and uncover the truth behind the pirates' supernatural fears – and he must work quickly, for some of his friends have already fallen under the Siren's spell...

Pirates are cool...

Naked Matt Smith Painting. No..Not Really.

2011-04-28T20:10:00.001+01:00

Almost! If it weren't for that red capey thing. D'oh!

Another very nice bit of Doctor Who art. I love that the last couple of series have featured actual paintings. This is the painting that Matilda was working on in "The Impossible Astronaut", the Doctor Who season 6 opener. Titled "My Mysterious Doctor", get it at WHONA for only 14.95. What a steal.

Abnormal Service Will Resume, Er, Sometime. We Think

2011-04-23T20:05:00.004+01:00

Like the cast and crew of Doctor Who this week, part of our illustrious team is in the States. And I don't mean the usual two.

Sputters has abandoned us for a fortnight and apparently there aren't any TVs in the State of Colorado (poor souls), so we're not exactly certain when we'll be recording our usual drivel, um, carefully considered opinions for your delectation and delight.

But fear not, our carefully hand-crafted service should resume at some point. If you're really, really naughty. Until then, SPOILERS!!!

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 25

2011-04-20T23:22:00.000+01:00

A very sad week for Doctor Who.

This time around we slur our way through our review of Blink. We've cut this edit short, our trade-mark flippancy just didn't seem funny given the news this week, and in the hope of getting it our before the new season starts.

Please listen all the way to the end.

Farewell, Sarah Jane Smith

2011-04-19T22:05:00.039+01:00

Elisabeth Sladen 1948 - 2011

My first memories of Dr Who are of Sarah Jane Smith. Technically, I shouldn't be able to remember that much about her pairing with Tom Baker as I was only four at the time, but it left a lasting impression; she was beautiful, adventurous and out there doing really cool things. Even going back now (allowing for the somewhat erratic writing the character suffered from) she was, on the whole, very much the liberated young woman making her own way in the worlds. Her rapport with Baker was obvious and her performance always committed, no matter what ludicrous fashion or story she had to suffer (oh, the Andy Pandy suit and that yellow so'wester). My young, inquisitive mind couldn't have asked for a better role model.

I was very sad when she left to be replaced by Leela; Leela was even more liberated in many ways, but she wasn't Sarah Jane and I stopped watching not long after that. When Sarah Jane's return was announced for New Who, I was thrilled if apprehensive; would the character be handled in the way I remembered her? As anyone who listens to the podcast knows, "School Reunion" is my favourite New Who and with very good reason. Not only was Lis Sladen still gorgeous, but Sarah Jane was still doing what she always did. The story also addressed some very adult issues in a show that was teetering on the brink of descending into nothing more than teenaged angst and farting aliens. The look on Sarah Jane's face when she sees the TARDIS again after all those years had my heart in my mouth, it was so beautifully done. I'd also argue that its Tennant's finest performance as the Doctor, with genuine joy at seeing his old companion again, utter bewilderment at her anger and cold, calm control when dealing with Mr Finch. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up every time Tennant growls "I used to have so much mercy".

Even better, we got a spin-off series, the Sarah Jane Adventures; Touchwood may have claimed to be the adult show, but SJA was really dealing with mature themes, such as loss and separation, in a well balanced and rarely mawkish manner. The reappearance of the Doctors 10 & 11 and the Brigadier made it even more special; this was a series carefully pitched to fans both new and old. Okay, the Slitheen appeared a few times too many, but that was the only serious problem with it. Having been unable to stomach more than three Touchwoods, I avidly watched all of the SJAs. After Matt Smith's appearance on the show, I was so looking forward to more team-ups between the Doctor and his best companion. Sarah Jane just seemed to bring out the real Doctor in the Doctor; my Doctor, in fact, the one who had kept me coming back after all these years to share his adventures.

So it was with huge sadness that I read Nicola Bryant's post on Twitter this evening announcing Lis Sladen's death. I'd always hoped at some point that I might get the chance to interview her, although I suspect I would have been star-struck and bibbling (much in the same way that Oolon was when he met Katie Manning). Nicholas Courtney's death was very sad, but he was so frail when we met him last year that it wasn't too much of a surprise. But this was a complete shock, made worse by the fact that she really wasn't very old at all. At the time of writing, the details are very sketchy; I'm sure more will come out over the next few days, but it won't alter the fact that we as Dr Who fans have lost two very special actors this year who formed a very large chunk of our childhoods, who inspired our dreams and our imaginations. Thank you, Sarah Jane, for letting this little four year old know that girls could do what ever they wanted, and thank you Lis Sladen for giving the character so much heart and grace.

Goodbye, my Sarah Jane Smith.

(Art by Steve Caldwell, possibly one of his finest Dr Who prints)

Sarah Jane Tribute

2011-04-19T22:00:00.003+01:00

Elisabeth Sladen has passed away. I can't express what I feel right now. It's too much for words, but I am thankful she was here.

We love you Elisabeth and Sarah.

‎"Sarah Jane Smith was everybody's hero when I was younger, and as brave and funny and brilliant as people only ever are in stories. But many years later, when I met the real Sarah Jane - Lis Sladen herself - she was exactly as any child ever have wanted her to be. Kind and gentle and clever; and a ferociously talented actress, of course, but in that perfectly English unassuming way." -Steven Moffat

Goodbye.

New Doctor Who Radio Trailers PLUS a Scene - Are We Scared Yet?

2011-04-15T17:11:00.000+01:00

Radio Silence: Trailers 1 and 2:
The BBC has put out scary new radio trailers for the Impossible Astronaut. I'm a total scaredy cat and these give me goosebumps. I'm sure these would give my two little nephews nightmares for a lifetime:

But what the heck is that monster voice saying? The first word almost sounds like "five", but it's not. The rest is incoherent to me. Any thoughts?

I'm so happy Doctor Who is almost here. yay.

Oh wait!

One LAST total SPOILER of a Impossible Astronaut preview clip. DO NOT WATCH if you don't want spoilers. It's a whole scene.

All three of these videos are via StetsonsAreCool, on YouTube.

Doctor WHO Ketchup

2011-04-08T23:34:00.000+01:00

Just to catchup with a bunch of "news", all at once. Relatively Newest news first. Then the 'Not Really News Anymore News' last. We're lazy time travellers here and the temporal mechanics of life can occasionally make it tough to blog.
Frankly, I'm not sure this is news at all as much as BBC PR. In any case, there are some spoilers and trailers and lastly, the red nose charity episodes, in case there's anyone left on the planet that's not seen them. I just thought, I should post them, for the record(It is canon, now, after all).
Let's see...

Ooooh! SHINY: From the BBC Doctor Who website, fun desktop wallpaper images, promo pics, etc.

Not really a spoiler: The BBC Doctor Who website also features a brief Steven Moffat interview: 'All Aboard the Ghost Train!'. The interview doesn't spoil much. Mostly teases the hell out of it, making you want to go find spoilers.

Not sure this really counts as a spoiler? An Extended Trailer:

and another shorter trailer featuring a large blue alien with a definitely villainous laugh(Doctor Who Series 6 CBBC Trailer):

Some Spoilery stuff: ...Nah, don't watch this if you don't want spoilers. Move down a couple items.

It's not terribly spoilery but there are some short clips from the upcoming series, coupled with Matt Smith and Karen Gillan interviews about filming the season.

Spoilery story summaries: BBC Doctor Who website features a story synopsis for the first and second episodes of the series, 'The Impossible Astronaut' and 'Day of the Moon'. Click on that BBC link to go there directly and spoil yourself. Ahem.

..And now for the 'Not Really News Anymore News': The Red Nose Day Episode!
Red Nose day, as Comic Relief is sometimes referred to, is a traditional(sorta) British charity event. Lots of silly comedic skits, sketches, and shows, etc., to raise funds to help relieve famine in Africa.There is usually a Doctor Who segment included.And here is this year's Comic Relief episode, a two parter:

Doctor Who Ketchup. Shoot. Now I'm craving fries.

Doctor Who FULL LENGTH Trailer For Series 6

2011-03-30T16:40:00.001+01:00

OH. MY. GODNESS.

Sorry. Having a fangasm. I can't say anything coherent. Just...so good.

Gone But Not Forgotten

2011-03-28T10:37:00.040+01:00

We were going to try and interview Tony Lee at Thought Bubble last November because of his work on IDW's Dr Who comic line, but sadly he couldn't attend. Not that I'd read any of his stuff at that point, but then I'd not seen any of Deborah Watling's performances on Dr Who and it didn't stop me from interviewing her at Whooverville. So, whilst visiting our favourite comic shop Page 45 in Nottingham, I decided to rectify matters regarding Mr Lee's oeuvre and pick up a few collections. Okay, its all tenth Doctor, not my favourite by any means, but sometimes you just have to give these things a go.

The first one I opted to read was the stand-alone story "The Forgotten". This was partly because someone appeared to have scarpered with Volume 1 of the ongoing stuff, but partly also because its a ten Doctors story. Sort of. Finding himself in a museum dedicated (quite ego-massagingly) to himself, with no memory of how he arrived and only Martha for company, the tenth Doctor finds himself under attack and missing his memories. This gives the author a neat framing device for a series of vignettes involving each of the previous Doctors.

Some of these work better than others, particularly as each tale is acting as a clue to what is happening, with the result that sometimes the story-telling feels hampered by its own clever conceit. The Hartnell story is very slight, although there are some lovely nods to "Pyramids of Mars" and "The Aztecs" and the Tom Baker story is just odd, even if it does reference "City of Death". I must admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for Davison's encounter with the Judoon and Eccleston's visit to World War I (even if he does look like some sort of deranged, grinning serial killer throughout).

In fact, there are numerous witty, rye and touching references to huge tranches of the show's continuity, old and new, all done in a way that would not alienate new fans and might even encourage them to look further into the show's history. Some old favourites in the monster department make guest appearances, as do some frankly quite-impossible-to-pull-off-on-TV-without-causing-unintentional-hilarity new ones. The artwork is mostly good (apart from the really disturbing Eccleston and a point where Tennant goes a bit Cowboy BeBop in the sideburns department) and the choice of companions is almost spot on. Going as it does for a "best of" feel almost everywhere else, you do have to wonder why Mel & Kamelion get an appearance and I would be very interested to hear what the decision making process was behind who made it in and who didn't.

Despite having worked out one or two of the twists (playing as it did into something myself and the Prof thought might make an excellent plot point should they ever want to shoe-horn Tennant back into the show), the denouement was actually very touching and thankfully not what I was dreading from the build up. I can't be any more specific than that without giving the whole game away, so you'll just have to go and read it for yourself if you want to find out what I'm jabbering on about.

Multiple Doctor stories are incredibly difficult to do well, especially if you're trying to deal with every regeneration to date in a limited page count. "The Forgotten" manages it to pull it off, with an interesting story, a sympathetic tenth Doctor and a script where Rose's name hasn't just been crossed out and Martha's written in over the top. Once read, never forgotten...

Space Oddity and Then Some

2011-03-28T08:27:00.009+01:00

Last night, after we'd successfully bagged another podcast (tricky blighters, these podcasts, but that one went down without much of a fight), the Prof decided to do some fact checking about female Nu-WHo directors and discovered this little oddity, which we'd never even heard of. Probably because we haven't watched Jim'll Fix It type shows since we were knee high. Okay, some of us are still knee high, but you know what I mean...

It starts off cringe-makingly awful but stick with it, there's a really nice pay-off. The monster make-up isn't that bad, either and to be fair, the guy actually delivers a better performance than some of the genuine monsters from series 2-4. Definitely a space oddity...

Prequels, Presidents and Promo Pics. Oh My!

2011-03-26T23:06:00.004Z

In case you haven't heard, the new season is close at hand (it premiers April 23, in both the US and UK.)!
So, here's a bunch of previewy, trailery stuff to get you drooling. Thank you BBC. :-)

First: a two minute sixth season(series to you Brits)Prequel courtesy of the BBC. The new series starts in April with the two parter adventure 'The Impossible Astronaut' and 'Day of the Moon.'

That's actor Stuart Milligan as the President. And a super creepy...dude(NOT the president, silly, the other dude). Ugh! Eww. I really, REALLY don't like that "monster". I'm assuming that is President Nixon - just from the disturbingly ridiculous nose and over-Nixon-y acting. Sorry, one of my pet peeves: People doing Nixon, badly. Don't try so hard! It just makes you into a cartoon. Similar to that Churchill performance. Unless you are going for the comedy angle, in which case, good job. Oh well. As long as the Doctor and his retinue are all in attendance I won't mind.
Rory better be in this more than the Christmas special. MORE RORY! Please? sir? May we have some more Rory?

Second:Cool Doctor Who promo picture! :-)

It reminds me of images I've seen from a third Doctor era episode that I vaguely remember seeing, 'Ambassadors of Death'. Well, I guess I'm going to have to see it again now. Specifically it reminds me of this old promo pic for 'Ambassadors':

And of course THAT reminded me of THIS:

And then...

;-)

God Bless Forbidden Planet

2011-03-22T07:22:00.000Z

Adult size Leela costume. Forty quid. Available mid July from Forbidden Planet, by mail order, to anywhere in the UK. Say no more.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 24

2011-03-20T12:11:00.001Z

Yeah, we know, we're a bunch of lazy WHOers.

Real world circumstances got in the way recently, and the good old Prof swooped in again to take up the editing mantel (so blame HIM if it's shit).

This time we review (c/o The Wheel of Who) Pertwee classic, Terror of the Autons. Gin was spilt, Sen goes off on a bit of diversion, but mostly we stick (uncharacteristically) to the plot.

The Running Men

2011-03-10T17:30:00.063Z

Would you dedicate an entire year to sitting and watching every single Doctor Who television episode ever made, including the lost ones? I don't think I would; but then, I'm not exactly the most hard-core of Dr Who fans. I don't mind watching the ones that still exist, but having run screaming in terror after five minutes of the Shada reconstruction, I suspect that the other recons are probably not for me. But thanks to the bravery of Messers Robert Shearman (all round thoroughly nice chap who we kidnapped, er, interviewed last year) and Toby Hadoke (apparently he has a Lepidoptera problem with his knitwear), technically I no longer have to. Because they've done it for me.

And my, that's quite a weight of paper you have there. Its pretty small print as well, so its more than worth the asking price, if for no other reason than to honour the memory of the rainforests that gave their lives in its production. And there are little running men on the tops of all the pages; the ones on the right hand side even form a flickbook! Further evidence, if it were needed, that there's proper geeks behind this enterprise. Mad Norwegian ones, in fact.

The book itself is laid out like a diary, day by day, from January 1st to May 7th 2009, covering Hartnell and Troughton's tenures. Each participant gives his views on both of the episodes watched on that particular date, and occasionally a few asides about Dr Who news, conventions they're attending and life in general; Toby even manages to get married in the middle of it (but technically not in this installment). Rob is a good writer and his sections are positive, bouncy and mostly forgiving; I'm not familiar with Toby's work at all, but his sections are also witty if a little less rosy, on the whole, than Rob's.

I have to admit, I haven't read all of this book, just the sections for the episodes I've actually seen. And seeing as this volume (the first of three) covers the 1960s, that means there's an awful lot of episodes that the BBC kindly tossed in a skip, set fire to or just plain wiped. I have seen Invasion, though; I love what Cosgrove Hall did with the animated missing two parts and would dearly love to see more lost episodes resurrected this way, as would Toby. Sadly, seeing how long ago Invasion came out and there's been nothing else like it since, I suspect that's very unlikely to happen.

I don't agree with all of the opinions in there, although there's a lot that I do. Rob is right about the mistep of Roy Castle in the first Cushing movie (yes, I know its not canon, but they review both films anyway) but wrong about the TV version of Dalek Invasion Earth being better than the film (its alright, he doesn't respect me anymore since he found out I don't like Inferno, so I can say that with relative impunity).

Even having read just a teeny weeny bit of this book, I'm looking forward to the next two installments and I'm intrigued to see how they're going to divvy up the remaining Doctors between them. Stylistically, there are a few proofreading errors, but this is a small press publication and these things happen; ultimately, its still highly readable and I can't wait to fill in the gaps for the episodes I can catch up on properly on DVD, just to see whether I agree with the boys' take on the proceedings or not.

(Should you wish to follow the adventures of another pair of brave souls as they attempt this same gargantuan feat, the lovely Sue and her almost as lovely husband Neil Perryman are wading their way through everything over at the Tachyon TV site. I've never met Sue, but she must be lovely to sit through that lot. If that's not love, I don't know what is).

BabelColour Nicholas Courtney Tribute

2011-03-04T16:44:00.001Z

Nicholas Courtney tribute by one of our big YouTube favorites, BabelColor. Please check out his other Doctor Who videos. He's pure quality. This dedication made me cry at the end. I tried not to...

Safe journey, Mr. Courtney.

Farewell, Brigadier

2011-02-23T09:42:00.003Z

Nicholas Courtney 16th December 1929 - 22nd February 2011

A sweet, marvellous gentleman, who very kindly said some very silly things for a very novice interviewer last year. Rest in peace.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 22

2011-01-27T10:31:00.002Z

Here we are again, finally.

Once again capable of movement after the excesses of the festive season and (4 weeks after ever other Whoovian podcast got theirs recorded and edited) ready to poison your ears with our review of the Christmas Special. Frankly, if The Prof hadn't stepped up to bat and given us a hand (again) this would still be waiting for the edit.

Brace for more profanity, bigotry, Krap Daleks (TM), and the usual pointless 30 minutes of arguments and cocktail abuse.

Also, a look at the new trailer. Included here in case you wanna play it at the same time as your listening (if you can be arsed) to our froth at the end?

Enjoy, get out more, don't forget to phone your mum, and don't take everything too seriously.

The Keys to Time and Space

2011-01-21T17:06:00.001Z

My friends know that I just love the TARDIS key and all it symbolizes: a key to freedom, adventure and wonder. So I thought I'd share this lovely TARDIS key collection belonging to Police-Box-Traveler at Deviant art.

"...[These are] Tardis Keys I've collected and used in my photos and cos-play costumes and such. A few of these i have made, one was customized by me, and the rest are actual licensed collectibles."

Visit the Police-Box-Traveler on Deviant to read more about each key. :-)

Rose Tyler: Promise you won't disappear?
The Doctor: I'll tell you what. TARDIS key.
[hands her the key] The Doctor: It's about time you had one. See you later.

Twas the Night Before Christmas...

2011-01-03T15:55:00.030Z

The Prof said I should do this review in rhyming couplets, as befits the title. I said he should bl**dy well write it himself, then. Funnily enough, he shut up at that point. Also funnily enough, I never actually got round to writing a review of the third adventure game installment "TARDIS", which is slightly unfair as it was a fun little game. Bit short, but fun.

There was a "greatest" hits (well, I say greatest...) of mini-games, which because you weren't subjected to them ad nauseum made them far less irritating than the first time around. There was also a new room on the TARDIS. Sadly, there was only one new room on the TARDIS, which is the biggest weak point of the game; it would have been much nicer to have a few more to poke round in. It might even have explained why the BBC wouldn't let Michael Moorcock give Amy a bedroom, but no, one it is. You do have to wonder if they all sleep in the one big bed, like Eric and Ernie. Oh, the slash fiction! Ew...

Still, you do get to drive the TARDIS (its been a while, so we can't remember whether its take off or landing, as if that's important anyway). Yes, that's right, drive it! You get to examine all the control panels in detail, not really take all that much notice of what you're waggling, then panic briefly as you have to set the thing away without crashing it, which was really rather good fun and definitely the highlight of the game. Overall it won't take up much of your time, but its rather sweet and you can do the sound effects if you like.

And then, around Christmas Eve, "Shadows of the Vashta Nerada", the fourth and final installment, turned up.

Basically, this is Pocket Simon meets Jaws via Cooking Mama for the New Who generation. Yes, the wiring game is still there, but now you get to remember number sequences whilst trawling round the world's most boring undersea research station. There's some lovely voice work from our last victim, er, interviewee Nick Briggs, but as someone on Twitter pointed out (and I can't remember who, sorry) I have no idea why the Vashta Nerada are there. There's even a token Santa in one room, just to remind you its Christmas, which you can't actually interact with, more's the pity.

Now there is a very interesting premise to the game (which I won't tell you because its worth seeing for yourself), but its thrown away apparently simply for the sake of crow-barring in everyone's favourite scariest new monster after the Weeping Angels. The shark's quite nice, in a sort of chaos-spikey-death-armour way, but it did at least make some sense for him to be there. Not so the walking diving-suits.

That's about it. It was a bit rumpty-tumpty really; not desperately brilliant, but not desperately annoying either (not like that chuffing DS game). The biggest disappointment was the missed opportunity afforded by the major plot reveal and someone surely could have written a better game to go around it. It wasn't as much fun as the other games in the series, with "TARDIS" being the best to play as it had the least monotonous & annoying mini-games (besides the whole driving thing) and "City of the Daleks" definitely had the most squeeworthy plot.

Are they worth having a look at as a whole? Yes, as long as you remember to set your graphics appropriately so you're not wading through treacle all the time. Are they a good representation of the series? Yes, in that there are some flashes of brilliance, some nice acting and a rather uneven level of quality to the episodes. In fact, play them on a Saturday afternoon somewhere between 6-7pm until the new series starts.

Because they are canon, after all...

Christmas Interview Special #3

2010-12-23T21:47:00.001Z

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 G&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!

Gonna Spend My Christmas With a Dalek...

2010-12-23T18:12:00.011Z

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.

Christmas Interview Special #2

2010-12-19T21:28:00.003Z

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.

Christmas Interview Special #1

2010-12-17T17:45:00.001Z

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.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 22

2010-12-10T23:12:00.002Z

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.

Doctor Who: Evacuation Bleurgh

2010-12-04T21:49:00.037Z

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.

Craig Ferguson is my Hero

2010-12-02T16:04:00.002Z

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. ;-)

Pixie Invasion London: 2010

2010-11-29T10:32:00.076Z

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...

Leeds or Nothing

2010-11-21T14:59:00.042Z

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...

Tea and High Dudgeon

2010-11-17T07:59:00.100Z

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

2010-11-17T07:58:00.082Z

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...

Curse of the Cribbons

2010-11-16T19:51:00.015Z

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

2010-11-16T19:12:00.010Z

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. :-)

Lego Fezzes are Cool!

2010-11-08T20:26:00.006Z

Awesomely cute!
Posted on his tumblr blog "Quarries and Corridors" by Nat from the Doctor Who podcast "Bridging the Rift".

Lego fezzes are cool!

See more at quarridors.tumblr.com

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 21

2010-10-16T15:35:00.001+01:00

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.

Yay.

Redesigned Alpha Centauri by ~DarkAngelDTB

2010-10-16T14:47:00.000+01:00

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

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

2010-10-05T15:35:00.003+01:00

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

The BBC Teases Us With Some Christmas 'Who'

2010-10-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

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.

Dirty WHOers Podcast - Episode 20

2010-09-23T10:35:00.004+01:00

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 favorite Gallifreyan.

An obvious ratings 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.

TARDIS Tara Gets TARDIS Tat

2010-09-23T05:47:00.002+01:00

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

TARDIS Tara's Ramblings

Finished!

Wrapping Up

Admiring
Read more at tardistara.tumblr.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aznr

Whooverville Unplugged

2010-09-21T21:29:00.003+01:00

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.

'Doctor Who' Earns NTA Nominations

2010-09-21T20:18:00.003+01:00

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

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Moffat: Season Six & River Song's True Identity

2010-09-21T19:37:00.000+01:00

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.

"For the Dads"

2010-09-15T02:43:00.005+01:00

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

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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'!