Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

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

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.)

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Akward Pause with TARDIS

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




Thursday, May 19, 2011

You Always Get a Big Finish with Nick Briggs!


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

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Neil Gaiman Teases 'The Doctor's Wife'

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. 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sarah Jane Tribute

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.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Craig Ferguson is my Hero

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

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

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

Monday, November 29, 2010

Pixie Invasion London: 2010

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Doctor Arrives: Matt Smith on Craig Ferguson

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

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

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

   
 AWW! Dalek Love.

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

UNDT NAO ZEE UPDATE:

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

Friday, October 1, 2010

The BBC Teases Us With Some Christmas 'Who'

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

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

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

'Doctor Who' Earns NTA Nominations

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Katy Manning returns to Jo Grant

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

Q&A with Katy

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

Sunday, September 12, 2010

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

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

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Fake Christmas Trailer + The Making Of Video

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

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

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




Saturday, August 28, 2010

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

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

The exerpt begins:


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


THE DOCTOR
Why would I scan food with my screwdriver?

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

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Podshock Party in SL this Saturday!


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

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

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Moffat's on Twitter

Public Service Announcement:

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

AND Mark Gattis as well.

Let the WHO stampede begin.

@steven_moffat & @Markgatiss

Sunday, July 11, 2010

What the Pixie Saw

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

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





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

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Johnny Depp is Doctor WHO!?

Yeah. Seriously.
And supposedly RTD is behind it all. Please don't let there be magic potions in it...erm..I mean, -Yay...? A Doctor Who movie..well it's been done before, I guess. Could be awesome!

In the article, titled, "Johnny Depp Starring in Big Screen Doctor Who Adaptation?" Chris Greenland from Tor.com quips:

"To steal a phrase from the Tenth Doctor...
What?"

And continues:
"Sources are reporting that a big screen version of Doctor Who, written by former showrunner Russell T. Davies, is slated for release in 2012. Those same sources are also reporting that Johnny Depp has been confirmed in the iconic role of The Doctor."


Quoting from 'PubArticles' he includes "that the reason (Russell T. Davies)he moved on from the show was due to the opportunity to transform the Doctor to the big screen. 'Bringing the Who franchise to the theaters is a regeneration for the character beyond the usual one.' "

And apparently Johnny Depp has been confirmed as being cast as the Doctor in a 2012 film.

Is this a Good or a Bad thing? Honestly, I can't tell. Mr. Davies was so good at characterisations, and so, well, not so good in other writing areas, shall we say? I'm boggled by this news. And the possible storyline revealed in the article sounds a bit bizarre, so I'm hoping it's a red herring by Mr. Davies. So with fingers crossed let's hope it's a Good Thing and that it happens before the Mayan Apocalypse in 2012...

But I digress. Mr. Greenland has some interesting opinions on the subject. Peruse the complete article here.

Let the debate begin!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Now we know the Doctor is Real!

Amy's crack is real and we've got proof!


Turns out it's the image of the day and referred to as a "Ghost Snake" in the article (apparently sketched by the same Disney cartoonist that worked on the Jungle Book, in this animation) at the Daily Galaxy website. The article states:

"A cosmic snake appears to slither across the plane of our Milky Way galaxy in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The snake-like object located about 11,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius is actually the core of a thick, sooty cloud large enough to swallow dozens of solar systems and may be harboring beastly stars in the process of forming."

There's much more of it and quite interesting. But the really fun bit are the comments. I bet those astronomers weren't expecting those. Doctor Who fans are awesome. That's all. Click here to go directly to the article.


Monday, June 7, 2010

TARDIS introduces the BAFTAS.

Sort of..
OK, yeah yeah, real funny Graham. (Tosser.) But Tim Burton walking out of the TARDIS? YES Please~!
Watch this opener for the BAFTA awards from last night:

WebMaster: Terry Lightfoot
WebDoctor: Oolon Sputnik
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