[via]
Glen here…
…with our first new Docback of 2015.
For the moment, at least, it’s looking like we’ll be posting a new Docback roughly every 45 days. 45 days, it seems, is the built-in expiration date of the average Disqus discussion thread. They literally self-terminate around that time, and I’m told there’s not a great deal we can do about this on our end.
As the last two Docbacks - both impressively epic in length - have remained in the “Top Talkbacks” sidebar throughout the duration of their lives, I’m figuring we’ll keep the party rolling by ensuring that there’s always a Docback running/available during the long and torturous stretches of time during which new DOCTOR WHO is not on the air. Hence: a new Docback 45 days or so. This pattern may change a bit if the rumored minisodes ultimately materialize, should a particular juicy piece of WHOnews develop, etc. We’ll return to our traditional weekly format when Season/Series 9 proper arrives.
NOTE: while there are definitely ‘regulars’ participating in the Docback, please don’t hesitate to jump into the conversation - you’re sincerely invited and warmly welcomed to be a part of this undertaking, which I truly believe is unique to the Internet and amazing in its chemistry and personality. There are some very good folks and great conversation to be found here, so don’t be shy…
Here are a few newslets which’ve come around over the past few weeks…
OFFICIAL DOCTOR WHO LEGOS ARE COMING
Per a press release on the matter…
#LEGODoctorWho
LEGO®Doctor Who set to materialize later this year
Doctor Who and LEGO® fans around the world received exciting news today as The LEGO Group announced that it would be producing a LEGO Doctor Who set.
The concept for a Doctor Who set came from the LEGO® IDEAS website where fans can submit ideas for a set and vote for their favorite idea to be produced.
Doctor Who began in 1963 on BBC Television and is the world’s longest running sci-fi drama. Starring Peter Capaldi as the Doctor and Jenna Coleman as his companion, the hit BBC One show has become a global phenomenon with a loyal and passionate fan base.
The Doctor Who concept from fan Andrew Clark received the 10,000 votes requisite for The LEGO Group to consider it for production.
A licensing agreement between BBC Worldwide and The LEGO Group will see the new set available in all of The LEGO Group’s key markets before the end of the year.
Andrew’s winning design featured a range of Doctors, companions and monsters across the show’s history, but fans will have to wait until later this year to discover what will be produced.
Marcus Arthur, MD of BBC Worldwide UK said, “Both Doctor Who and LEGO enjoy a particularly close relationship with their fans and I can’t wait to see what LEGO produce.”
Emma Owen, UK spokesperson for LEGO Ideas commented:
“We’re extremely excited to announce that a Doctor Who and a WALL-E set will be released as our next LEGO Ideas fan based sets, congratulations to the designers Andrew Clark and Angus MacLane!
“After receiving over 10,000 votes from the online community and having gone through rigorous toy testing from our expert panel, these awesome sets are on track to be on shelves later this year. The final set designs, pricing and availability are being worked out as we speak, so watch this space for the final details!”
Obviously, we’ll bring you more about the upcoming LEGO DOCTOR WHO offerings as more information becomes available. My hope is that this means we may now be one step closer to getting the LEGO DOCTOR WHO videogame - a potentiality I’ve actually heard nothing about, but I somehow stuck the notion in my head and can’t see to shake it loose.
RTD v SM ON DOCTOR’S HUMPYNESS
Previous DOCTOR WHO showrunner Russell T. Davies has affectionately called out current showrunner Steven Moffat regarding a twist of phrase once uttered in the series - wording which might or might not be discontinuitous depending on which gentleman you find most persuasive.
This important discussion about the Doctor’s carnal knowledge of Queen Elizabeth the First can be found HERE.
A PRESUMED LOST INTERVIEW WITH FIRST DOCTOR WILLIAM HARTNELL…
…has resurfaced. A portion of it has, at least.
Here’s William Hartnell from 1965, while he was still playing the Doctor (he departed the show in 1966).
COLIN BAKER’S SIXTH DOCTOR TO FINALLY RECEIVE A PROPER EXIT/HANDOVER…
…via a Big Finish audio adventure to be released this September.
Per a post at BF…
Colin’s last outing in the Doctor Who role on television was The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986, but there was no proper handover story to Sylvester McCoy when he joined the series in 1987. Now, 28 years later, the full details of the Sixth Doctor’s death will be revealed - and it’s part of an epic battle that spans many sections of his life, and involves many of his companions.
[EDIT]
Doctor Who - The Sixth Doctor: The Last Adventure will be released in a lavish book-sized box set that contains special photography, bespoke illustrations and behind the scenes interviews, as well as four hour-long episodes. The stories are connected by the presence of Michael Jayston as the Valeyard, the entity that exists between the Doctor’s twelfth and thirteen incarnations.
The Sixth Doctor won't be alone in battle though, as he'll be joined across the adventures by Constance (Miranda Raison), Charlotte Pollard (India Fisher), Flip (Lisa Greenwood) and Mel (Bonnie Langford), as well as those dedicated detectives, Jago & Litefoot (Christopher Benjamin and Trevor Baxter, alongside Lisa Bowerman as Ellie Higson!)
You can learn much more about the fascinating sounding, and long overdue, undertaking HERE.
HORNORSILK REVIEWS THE MASTERS OF EARTH BIG FINISH AUDIO
Big Finish 193: Masters of Earth
Written By: Mark Wright and Cavan Scott
Directed By: Nicholas Briggs
Cast
Colin Baker (The Doctor), Nicola Bryant (Peri), Tracy Wiles (Moira Brody), Brian McCardie (Alan Weir), Sean Biggerstaff (Ross Nicolson), Hugh Ross (Kyle Inskip), Damian Lynch (Curbishly), Nicholas Briggs (The Daleks/Roboman)
Without much surprise, we come to another Big Finish Dalek story. While Big Finish seems, at times, to be going further into “fanwank” territory with the constant return to old monsters, places, and storylines (not necessarily a bad thing, when it is balanced out with new, original ideas), this usually includes several Dalek related stories: it almost feels as if it is a necessity for a new companion (or an old one returning) to eventually face the Daleks because their reaction to the Daleks gives us a good insight to their character and how they will interact with the Doctor.
While the constant return of the Daleks might be a problem for some, I certainly like the foundation of this story, because it goes in a direction with the Daleks I believe is necessary. The Doctor and Peri find themselves on Earth, in Scotland, in the middle of the Dalek’s reign. What this means is that the Doctor cannot entirely “save the day.” He has to let the Daleks remain as they are, confusing those near him by his attitude towards their conquest of the Earth. Of course, he knows that is to come later. For this reason, as soon as he realized where and when he was at, he wanted to leave so not to cause any harm to his own time line.
The Daleks make that impossible by capturing Peri.
The Doctor wants to free her. He finds it is not an easy task. Indeed, he is not the one who frees her: she works a way out by herself, taking others with her, freedom fighters like Moira Brody. The problem is, the Doctor has heard of Moira: she is famous in the future as being an important resistance fighter, but she was supposed to escape from the Daleks at a later time. Peri has inadvertently changed time; it was only a small change, but the Doctor soon fears it could become worse: now that she was free, her life was at risk and the Doctor felt obligated to make sure she remained relatively safe until she could become the freedom fighter of legend.
This means we have a story where the Doctor has to live in and interact with the Dalek Empire, knowing its future fate, knowing he cannot change history, but also having the extra difficulty of making sure he is not captured and interrogated (because he knows the Daleks would change history from his knowledge) while he seeks to keep Moira alive.
It doesn’t prove to be an easy task. The Doctor wants to take her to a place he believes she would be safe, but to get there, the Doctor, Peri, and those with them have to face all kinds of dangers, like Vagra plants and a new version of the Robomen.
In this way, the story does something I’ve thought has been long needed: the Daleks become a threat which can’t really be defeated. The Doctor has to face a situation in which he knows there is no ultimate victory other than survival. Or so, at least, it seems.
There is something more going on. There are Dalek plans which the Doctor learns about, plans which must be stopped, because if they were successful, history would change for the worse. But how can the Doctor do that and yet remain distant from the Daleks? Can he do it?
More stories like that would go a long way to make the Dalek threat what it should be: a thing to fear. While we do not see it here, stories like this could show us more of the existential side of the Doctor. And because this is lacking, the story itself is somewhat lacking; it is good, but a bit long. It could easily lose an episode, and if it did, it probably would be much better. Some of the sub-plots, though somewhat important in the overall scheme of the story, could easily have been excised (the Varga plants, I believe, are a prime example here) and what they imparted to the story could easily have been done in a more interesting way.
Colin’s Doctor is excellent as usual, and he certainly fits with the story quite well. This is the kind of environment his rougher ways are needed, as he deals with the mixed bag of humanity (some people are selfish, some are cowardly, and some have plans of their own which the Doctor must uncover and stop). It leads him to do a few things in the end which might be a bit surprising as he eventually has to face the Daleks and even work amongst them while keeping his identity a secret.
Peri, however, I think suffered a bit here. I felt her relationship with the Doctor was worse than it should be; after the Doctor had “grown” with previous companions and all that Peri had gone through, why does she have to keep whining at the Doctor, acting like he has not changed? Of course he has. And it should be obvious, even here. He still has to make tough decisions, and that will never change; he will sometimes have the opportunity to explain things, sometimes not, but that again is what one expects if they travel with the Doctor. But behind his bluster, he clearly cares, and wants what is best, even if it is not always easy or with the solutions Peri would like. Yet, she should know that now; she should understand more than before what the Doctor has to do, and the difficult decisions he always has to make. If anyone hasn’t changed, it’s Peri.
There is a bit of humor with the Doctor’s interactions with the Daleks and with some of the humans he meets. He has to keep low key, but it is clear, even to the Daleks, there is something different with him. And since these Daleks are early representations of the Daleks from their own time line, they really have little to no knowledge of the Doctor – they do not see the Doctor for who he is, but only for being more than what he seems. Certainly, this gives the Doctor an advantage, but he can only use it so much before he himself away, and here lies the fun with his interaction with the Daleks. As for humans – the best interaction is with a recluse who wants nothing to do with the Daleks, either fighting them or working for them – he just wants to live on his own, apart from responsibility. I wasn’t too fond of Moira Brady, but the overall story arc I believe explains it by the end, and I don’t think she really is meant to be likeable.
All in all, there are good ideas here, but the story drags just a slight too much. I would give it a 7.5/10 stars.
-- HornOrSilk
==================
————
Glen Oliver
“Merrick”
DOCBACK CODE OF CONDUCT
1) a Docback should be about completely open and free discourse regarding all things WHO with, obviously, some variation on subject matter from time to time - the real world intervenes, discussions of other shows are inevitable, etc....
2) converse, agree, disagree, and question as much as you want - but the freedom to do so is NOT a license to be rude, crass, disrespectful, or uncivilized in any way. Not remaining courteous and civil, as well as TROLLING or undertaking sensational efforts to ignite controversy, will result in banning. Lack of courtesy may receive one (1) warning before a ban is instigated. Obvious Trolling or Spamming will result in summary banning with no warning.
